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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 61,
+No. 377, March 1847, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 61, No. 377, March 1847
+
+Author: Various
+
+Release Date: April 1, 2010 [EBook #31859]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE, MARCH 1847 ***
+
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+
+Produced by Brendan OConnor, Jonathan Ingram, and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net.
+(This file was produced from images generously made
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+
+BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.
+
+No. CCCLXXVII.     MARCH, 1847.   VOL. LXI.
+
+
+
+
+ON PAUPERISM, AND ITS TREATMENT.
+
+                                    "If I oft
+  Must turn elsewhere--to travel near the tribes
+  And fellowships of men, and see ill sights
+  Of maddening passions mutually inflamed;
+  Must hear humanity in fields and groves
+  Pipe solitary anguish; or must hang
+  Brooding above the fierce confederate storm
+  Of sorrow, barricadoed evermore
+  Within the walls of cities--may these sounds
+  Have their authentic comment!"
+                                        WORDSWORTH.
+
+
+In order to deal effectively with pauperism, it is necessary to know the
+causes which lead to the impoverishment of individuals and masses of
+individuals, and to be familiar with the condition, manners, customs,
+habits, prejudices, feelings, and superstitions of the poor.
+
+We do not propose to institute an elaborate inquiry into the _causes of
+pauperism_, or to make the topic a subject of separate investigation.
+Our chief object will be, to collect into classes those of the poor who
+are known, from personal observation, to become chargeable to parishes,
+which process will afford abundant scope for remark upon the causes
+which led to their impoverishment. We may require the company of the
+reader with us in the metropolis for a short space, and may satisfy him
+that he need not travel ten miles from his own door in search of
+valuable facts, and at the same time convince him _that pauperism is not
+that simple compact evil_ which many would wish him to believe. We might
+also show that, in the metropolis and its suburbs, there exist types of
+every class of poor that can be found in the rural and manufacturing
+districts of England; just as it might be shown, that its inhabitants
+consist of natives of every county in the three kingdoms. Its fixed
+population, according to the quarter in which they live, would be found
+to resemble the inhabitants of a great town, a cathedral city, or a seat
+of manufactures. And that portion of its inhabitants which may be
+regarded as migratory, would complete the resemblance, except that the
+shadows would be deeper and the outline more jagged. These persons make
+London their winter-quarters. At other seasons they are employed by the
+farmer and the grazier. It is a fact, that the most onerous part of the
+duties of the metropolitan authorities are those which relate to these
+migratory classes. Among them are the most lawless and the most
+pauperised of the agricultural districts. Others, during the spring,
+summer, and autumn months, were engaged, or pretend that they were
+engaged (and the statement cannot be tested,) in the cutting of
+vegetables, the making of hay, the picking of pease, beans, fruit, and
+hops, and in harvest work. Or they travelled over the country,
+frequenting fairs, selling, or pretending to sell, knives, combs, and
+stay-laces. Or they were knife-grinders, tinkers, musicians, or
+mountebanks. As the winter approaches, they flock into the town in
+droves. There they obtain a precarious subsistence in ways unknown; some
+pick up the crumbs that fall from the rich man's table, others overcrowd
+the workhouses. It would lead to many curious and useful results if this
+matter were fully investigated. The reader's company is not, however,
+required for this purpose; at the same time, the previous remarks may,
+in some measure, prepare his mind for the consideration of kindred
+topics. It may introduce a train of reflection, and prompt him to
+inquire whether the wandering habits of these outcasts have been in any
+degree engendered by the strict workhouse system and workhouse test
+enforced in their native villages, by the destruction of cottages, and
+the breaking up of local associations, and whether these habits have
+been fostered by the facilities with which a bed and a mess of porridge
+may be obtained at the unions, without inquiry into their business and
+object in travelling.
+
+Let us steer our course along the silent "highway," the Thames, and make
+inquiries of the few sailor-looking men who may still be seen loitering
+at the several "stairs;" we shall learn that not many years since these
+narrow outlets were the marts of a thriving employment, and that there
+crowds of independent and privileged watermen plied successfully for
+fares. These places are now forsaken, and the men have lost their
+occupation. Some still ply; and the cry at a few stairs, of "Boat, your
+honour?" may still be heard. Others have been draughted into situations
+connected with the boat companies, which support them during the summer
+months. A large number swell the crowds of day-labourers, who frequent
+the legal quays, the sufferance wharves, and the docks. And the rest,
+unfitted by their age or habits to compete with labourers accustomed to
+the other fields of occupation, sink lower and lower; sustained for a
+time by the helping hands of comrades and old patrons, but at last
+obliged to seek a refuge at the parish workhouse. Death also does his
+part. At Paul's Wharf stairs, a few inches above high-water mark, a few
+shrubs have been planted against the river wall--and above them is a
+small board, rudely cut, and on it are inscribed these words,--"To the
+memory of old Browny, who departed this life, August, 26, 1846." Let us
+stroll to the coach offices. Here again we see a great change--great to
+the common eye of the public, who miss a raree show, and a still greater
+one to the hundreds and thousands of human beings whose subsistence
+depended upon the work done at those places. A few years ago, the reader
+may have formed one of a large group of spectators, collected at the
+"Peacock" at Islington, to witness the departure of the night mails, on
+the high north road. The cracking of whips, the blowing of horns, the
+prancing horses, the bustle of passengers and porters, and the
+consciousness of the long dreary distance they had to go, exercised an
+enduring influence upon the imagination and memory of the youthful
+observer. Now, a solitary slow coach may be sometimes seen. In those
+days, all the outlets of the metropolis presented similar scenes. Then
+call to remembrance the business transacted in those numerous, large,
+old-fashioned, square-galleried inn-yards; and reflect upon the hundreds
+who have been thrown out of bread. The high-roads and the way-side inns
+are now forsaken and silent. These remarks are not made merely to show
+that there is an analogy between the several districts and employments
+in the metropolis, and those of the country. If this were all, not
+another word would be written. But it so happens that the comparison
+affords an opportunity, which cannot be passed over, of referring to the
+changes which are going on in the world; and forcibly reminds us, that
+while some are rising, others are falling, and many are in the mire,
+trodden under foot, and forgotten. It is with the miserable beings who
+are in the last predicament, that poor-laws have to do.
+
+The political economist may be right when he announces, that the
+introduction of machinery has, on the whole, been beneficial; and that
+the change of employment from one locality to another, depends upon the
+action of natural laws, of which he is merely the expositor. It may be
+the case, too, that he is attending carefully to the particular limits
+of his favourite science, when he occupies his mind with the laws
+themselves, rather than with their aberrations. But those who treat upon
+pauperism as an existing evil, to be dealt with now, should remember
+that they have to do not with natural laws, as they are separated and
+classified in the works of scientific men, but with the laws in all
+their complexity of operation, and with the incidents which arise from
+that complexity.
+
+The coachmen, the guards, the ostlers, the horse-keepers, the
+harness-makers, the farriers, the various workers in the trade of
+coach-builders, and the crowd of tatterdemalions who performed all sorts
+of offices,--where are they? The inquirer must go into the back streets
+and alleys of London. He must search the records of benevolent
+institutions; and he must hold frequent converse with those who
+administer parochial relief. But his sphere must not be confined to the
+metropolis. Let the reader unroll his library map of England, and devote
+an entire afternoon to the study of it. Trace the high-roads with a
+pointer. Pause at every town, and at every stage. Refer to an old book
+of roads, and to a more modern conveyance directory. Let memory perform
+its office: reflect upon the crowds of persons who gained a subsistence
+from the fact that yourselves and many others were obliged to travel
+along the high-road on your way from London to York. There were
+inn-keepers, and waiters and chambermaids, post-boys and "boots." Then
+there were hosts of shop-keepers and tradesmen who were enabled to
+support their families decently, because the stream of traffic flowed
+through their native towns and villages. Take a stroll to Hounslow. Its
+very existence may be traceable to the fact that it is a convenient
+stage from London. It was populous and thriving, and yet it is neither a
+town, a parish, nor a hamlet. Enter the bar of one of the inns, and take
+nothing more aristocratic than a jug of ale and a biscuit. Lounge about
+the yard, and enter freely into conversation with the superannuated
+post-boys who still haunt the spot. You will soon learn, that it is the
+opinion of the public in general, and of the old post-boys in
+particular, that the nation is on the brink of ruin; and they will refer
+to the decadence of their native spot as an instance. The writer was
+travelling, not many months ago, in the counties of Rutland,
+Northampton, and Lincoln; and while in conversation with the coachman,
+who then held up his head as high, and talked as familiarly of the "old
+families," whose mansions we from time to time left behind us, as if the
+evil days were not approaching, our attention was arrested by the
+approach of a suite of carriages with out-riders, advancing rapidly from
+the north. An air of unusual bustle had been observed at the last
+way-side inn. A waiter had been seen with a napkin on his arm, not
+merely waiting for a customer, but evidently expecting one, and of a
+class much higher than the travelling bagmen: and this was a solitary
+way-side inn. We soon learnt that the cortege belonged to the Duke of
+----. The coachman added, with a veneration which referred much more to
+his grace's practice and opinions than to his rank,--"He always travels
+in this way,--he is determined to support the good old plans," and then,
+with a sigh, continued, "It's of no use--it's very good-natured, but it
+does more harm than good; it tempts a lot of people to keep open
+establishments they had better close. It's all up."
+
+It is not necessary to pursue this matter further. Nor is it required
+that we should follow these unfortunates who have thus been thrown out
+of bread, or speculate upon their fallen fortunes. Nor need we specially
+remind the reader, that this is only one of many changes which have come
+upon us during the last quarter of a century, and which are now taking
+place. Space will not permit a full exposure of the common fallacy,
+that men soon change their employments. As a general rule, it is false.
+The great extent to which the division of labour is carried, effectually
+prevents it. Each trade is divided into a great many branches. Each
+branch, in large manufactories, is again divided. A youth selects a
+branch, and by being engaged from day to day, in the same manipulation,
+he acquires, in the course of years, an extraordinary degree of skill
+and facility of execution. He works on, until the period of youth is
+beginning to wane; and then his particular division, or branch, or
+trade, is superseded. Is it not clear that the very habits he has
+acquired, his very skill and facility in the now obsolete handicraft,
+must incapacitate him for performing any other kind of labour, much less
+competing with those who have acquired the same skill and facility in
+those other branches or trades?
+
+The most important preliminary inquiry connected with an improved and
+extended form of out-door relief is, how can the mass of pauperism be
+broken up and prepared for operation? We are told that the total number
+of persons receiving relief in England and Wales is 1,470,970, of which
+1,255,645 receive out-door relief. Without admitting the strict accuracy
+of these figures, we may rest satisfied that they truly represent a
+dense multitude. It is the duty of the relieving officers to make
+themselves acquainted with the circumstances of each of these cases, and
+to perform other duties involving severe labour. The number of relieving
+officers is about 1310. This mass is broken up and distributed among
+these officers, not in uniform numerical proportion, but in a manner
+which would allow space and number to be taken into account. The officer
+who is located in a thickly populated district, has to do with great
+numbers; while the officer who resides in a rural district, has to do
+with comparative smallness of numbers, but they are spread over a wide
+extent of country. The total mass of pauperism is thus divided and
+distributed; but division and distribution do not necessarily involve
+classification, and they ought not to be regarded as substitutes for it.
+
+To the general reader, the idea of the classification of the many
+hundreds of thousands of paupers, and the uniform treatment of each
+class according to definite rules, may appear chimerical. To him we may
+say, Look at the enormous amount of business transacted with precision
+in a public office, or by a "City firm" in a single day. All is done
+without noise or bustle. There is no jolting of the machinery, or
+running out of gear. There is that old house in the City. It has existed
+more than a hundred years. And it has always transacted business with a
+stately and aristocratic air,--reminding us of Florence and Venice, and
+the quaint old cities of Ghent and Bruges. The heads of the house have
+often changed. One family passed into oblivion. Another, when nature
+gave the signal, bequeathed his interests and powers to his heirs, who
+now reign in his stead. But, however rapid, or however complete the
+revolutions may have been, no sensible interruption occurred in the
+continued flow of business. The principles of management have apparently
+been the same through the whole period. Yet, as times changed, as one
+market closed and another opened, as new lands were discovered, trading
+stations established and grew into towns, as the Aborigines left the
+graves of their fathers, and retired before the advance of
+_civilisation_, and as India became English in its tastes and desires,
+so did the business and resources of the old house expand, and its
+machinery of management change. Once in a quarter of a century, a group
+of sedate looking gentlemen meet in the mysterious back-parlour; a few
+words are spoken, a few strokes of the pen are made, a few formal
+directions are given to the heads of departments, a new book is
+permitted, an addition to the staff is confirmed, and the power of the
+house is rendered equal to the transaction of business in any quarter of
+the world, and to any amount. Now, look at this great house of business
+from the desk. Study the machinery. A young man, perhaps the eldest son
+of a senior clerk, enters the house, and takes his seat at a particular
+desk: and there he remains until superannuation or death leaves a
+vacancy, when he changes his place, from this desk to that, and so on,
+until old age or death creeps upon him in turn. He is chained daily to
+the desk's dull wood, and makes entry after entry in the same columns of
+the same book. This is his duty. He may be unsteady, irregular, inapt,
+or incorrect, and his being so may occasion his brethren some trouble,
+and draw down upon himself a rebuke from a higher quarter; but the
+machinery goes on steadily notwithstanding. Each clerk, or each desk,
+has its apportioned duty, which continued repetition has rendered
+habitual and mechanical. In the head's of departments, a greater degree
+of intellect may appear necessary. It is hardly the fact, however. For
+the head of the department has passed through every grade--he has
+laboured for years at each desk, and knows intuitively, as it were, the
+possible and probable errors. His discernment or judgment is a
+spontaneous exercise of memory, and resembles the chess-playing skill of
+one who plays a gambit. Now, what is all this? It is called "official
+routine." It appears, then, that an extensive business may be transacted
+steadily and successfully, providing always that a few general rules are
+laid down, and steadily adhered to, and enforced. _In books these rules
+are simplified, classified, and rendered permanent._ A book-keeper may
+imagine that thousands of voices are above him and around him, giving
+orders and directions, and admonishing to diligence, and accuracy,--all
+of which are restrained, subdued, and silenced, and yet all are still
+speaking, without audible utterance, from the pages before him. And in
+strictness, it would not be a flight of imagination, but a mode of
+stating a truth which, from its obviousness, has escaped observation. Of
+course, these books may speak incoherently and discursively, just as the
+human being will do; and if they do speak, thus the evils which arise
+are apt to be perpetuated. The books, then, must have a large share of
+attention, and be carefully arranged. Then they must have a keeper, and
+his duties must be explicitly stated, and his character and his means of
+subsistence made dependent upon his accuracy and vigilance. There is
+then the choice of the person who is to perform the business which the
+books indicate and record. The requirements vary in different
+occupations. In one, strict probity is a grand point; in another, strict
+accuracy as to time, or skill in distinguishing fabrics and signatures.
+In some cases, firmness, mildness, and activity, under circumstances of
+excitement, is required; and these qualities, among others, would appear
+to be indispensable in parochial and union officers,--if the fact of
+their oversight did not render it doubtful. The last lesson we learn is,
+that business should be checked as it proceeds. There are two methods.
+The one is a system of checks, and is practicable when the business does
+not occupy much space. The other is a system of minute inspection; there
+are cases in which both methods may be partially applied, and that of
+poor-law administration is one of them.
+
+The machinery by which pauperism may be efficiently dealt with, may be
+thus generally expressed. There would be required:--
+
+_First_, A Board of Guardians, elected according to law, and with powers
+and duties defined and limited by legal enactment.
+
+_Second_, A staff of efficient officers.
+
+_Third_, A scroll of duties.
+
+_Fourth_, A set of books, drawn up by men of scientific ability, and
+submitted to the severest scrutiny of practical men.
+
+_Fifth_, A system of inspection under the immediate control of the
+government.
+
+_Sixth_, District auditors, whose appointment and duties are regulated
+by the law.
+
+_Seventh_, And in the negative, the absence of any speculative,
+interfering, disturbing, and irritating power, which may be continually
+adding to, varying and perplexing the duties and the management, in
+attempting to carry into practical operation certain crotchets, and in
+rectifying resulting blunders.
+
+Much might be said upon each of these requisitions. But we propose
+rather to limit our remarks, and to turn them in that direction which
+will afford opportunities for exhibiting the various classes and
+varieties of poor, and suggesting modes of treatment.
+
+The books which are necessary to enable the several boards of guardians
+to deal with each individual case, not only as regards the bare fact of
+destitution, but also with reference, to its causes and remedies, are
+the Diary or Journal, and the Report Book. The Diary is simple, and may
+be easily constructed to suit the circumstances of each locality. Every
+person who has any business to transact, and values punctuality,
+possesses a Diary, which is drawn up in that form which appears most
+suitable to his peculiar business or profession. In it is entered the
+whole of his regular engagements for the day or year, and also those
+which he makes from day to day. Then on each day, he regularly, and
+without miss, consults his remembrancer, and learns from thence his
+engagements for the time being, and so arranges his proceedings. Such a
+book, drawn up in a form adapted to the nature of the business
+transacted, and ruled and divided in a manner which a month's experience
+would suggest, would be, the DIARY. It would differ from that raised by
+the man of ordinary business in the respect that its main divisions
+would not be daily, but weekly or fortnightly, according as the board
+held its meetings. It would be kept by the relieving officer, and laid
+before the Chairman at each Board meeting--it is in fact a "business
+sheet." The name of each poor person who appears before the Board, and
+with respect to whom orders are made, would appear in this book on each
+occasion. And the arrangements of its contents would depend upon the
+classification of the poor.
+
+The Report Book[1] was briefly commented upon in a former article. Its
+size should be ample--for it is presumed that each page will record the
+results of many visits, and be referred to on each occasion that the
+pauper appears before the Board. The lapse of time between the first
+entry and the last, may be seven or even ten years.
+
+
+PROPOSED FORM OF THE RELIEVING OFFICER'S REPORT BOOK.
+
+                                  |Present Relief|
+        | Names of| Date|         |______________|The circumstances
+  No. I |Dependent|  of |Residence|Money. | Bread|
+        | Family. |Birth|         |s.  d. |  lb. |
+                  |_____|_________|_______|______|
+                  |     |         |       |      |
+                  |     |         |       |      |
+                  |     |         |       |      |
+                  |     |         |       |      |
+                  |     |         |       |      |
+                  |     |         |       |      |
+                  |     |         |       |      |
+                  |     |         |       |      |
+  The cause       }                              |
+  and date of     }                              |
+  first           }                              |
+  application.    }                              |
+                                                 |
+  The FACTS of    }                              |
+  the history of  }                              |
+  the case,       }                              |
+  abstracted to   }                              |
+  the date of     }                              |
+  the last visit  }                              |
+                                                 |
+                                                 |
+  Relations who,  }                              |
+  according to    }                              |
+  law, should     }                              |
+  assist.         }                              |
+                                                 |
+  Friends who     }                              |
+  do assist, or   }                              |
+  are likely      }                              |
+  to do so.       }                              |
+
+
+                            |
+                            |The circumstances as  Orders of
+                            |they existed when     the Board,
+                            |visited by R. O.,&c.  and Remarks
+                            |                      ___________
+                            |
+                            |Visited Dec. 16, 1846.
+                            |
+                            |
+                            |Visited, &c.
+                            |
+                            |
+                            |Visited.
+
+This report is prepared from the actual visit of the relieving officer
+at the home of the applicant, and by coincidental inquiry. Upon its
+first reading, there would appear the names of the heads of the
+family--the names of their children who may be dependent upon them, and
+the several dates of birth, the residence, the occupation of the several
+members of the family, their actual condition, the admitted cause of the
+application for relief, and a statement of such facts as a single visit
+may disclose respecting their past history. This would form a basis for
+a future report, and would lead the guardians to make comparisons, and
+judge whether the case is rising or falling, having reference not only
+to weeks, but years. The practical man will perceive, that the chief
+point of difference between this form of Report Book and that enforced
+by the Commissioners, is, that the latter speaks of the present only,
+while the proposed form speaks of the past as well,--an addition of
+vital importance, if character is to be considered. It is clear, if the
+past and present condition of the applicant be stated, together with the
+main facts of his history, the mental act of classification will follow
+inevitably, and will require merely the mechanical means of expression.
+It may be stated generally with reference to this book: _First_, Every
+case must be visited, and reported upon by a statement of facts, not
+opinions. _Second_, The report must be made returnable on a given
+day--this would be secured by the Chairman's Diary. _Third_, Each
+applicant must appear personally before the Board, unless distance or
+infirmity prevent.
+
+With these books in our possession, we may begin to separate the poor
+into masses, and collect them into groups. The facts contained in the
+Report Book would enable Boards of Guardians to decide in which class
+the applicants ought to be placed. But in order to preserve the classes
+in their distinctness, a ready and simple mode of grouping them in a
+permanent manner must be devised; and as it is desirable that old and
+existing materials should be used in preference to new, the "Weekly
+Out-Door Relief List," now in daily use, may be made the basis of an
+improved form.[2]
+
+How are we to proceed? Let the reader call to mind a parish or union
+with which he is acquainted, and make it the scene of his labours. That
+period of the year when the demands upon the attention of the Board of
+Guardians, and its officers, are at zero, may be selected for making the
+first step in advance. The most convenient season of the year would
+probably be a late Easter; for at that time the weekly returns for
+in-door and out-door relief are rapidly descending. The winter is losing
+its rugged aspect and is rapidly dissolving into spring: and labour is
+busy in field and market. And so it continues until the fall of the
+year, except when the temperature of the summer may be unusually high,
+and then low fever and cholera prevail in low, marshy, crowded, or
+undrained districts. Those cases which have received relief for the
+longest period may be taken first. The technicalities of the report may
+be made up from existing documents. The history of each case may not be
+so readily prepared. It being a collection of facts, they may be added
+slowly. The space allotted to this important matter is amply sufficient,
+unless the officer should unfortunately be afflicted with a plethora of
+words. The whole number of ordinary cases may be reported upon, and
+their classes apportioned, before the winter sets in. In the month of
+November, the _medical list_ would begin to be augmented. And as the
+dreary season for the poor advances, the _casual applications_ would
+multiply. In two or three years the names of all persons who ordinarily
+receive relief, or are casually applicants, would be found in the Report
+Book: and the facts having been recorded there, the labours of the
+officer would then decrease, and be confined to the investigation of
+existing circumstances.
+
+The reader may have inquired, upon observing the number of classes into
+which the recipients of relief are proposed to be arranged, how can
+accuracy be ensured--how can they be preserved intact? It is admitted,
+that unless the grounds of the distinctions are clearly defined, and the
+facts of frequent occurrence, the classes will manifest a tendency to
+amalgamation. If the reader will take the trouble to refer to the form
+of "Weekly Relief List" below,[3] he will perceive that the fourth,
+fifth, and sixth classes, have but one column. This was done, because it
+might be deemed that the distinctions which are there noted might escape
+the observation of Boards of Guardians. It is not our opinion. We have
+great confidence in the yeomanry and gentry of England, of whom Boards
+of Guardians are composed; and we believe that much of the bitter
+animosity manifested by the local boards against the triumvirate at
+Somerset House, owes its existence to the authoritative attempts on the
+part of the latter to prevent these boards from recognising in any
+practical manner these very distinctions. Independently of this, the
+period for which the relief is ordered may be so determined as to allow
+of a particular time for each class; this will be made clear as we
+proceed. And, lastly, a brief and accurate description of each of the
+classes may be printed at the head of each of the pages of the Diary,
+Report Book, and Relief List.
+
+The first class consists of aged and infirm persons who have no natural
+relations, but are enabled to eke out a subsistence with the aid of an
+out-door allowance from the parish. The poor of this class are
+frequently in receipt of other relief. It may be a tribute of memory
+from a child she nursed, from a family he served, an occasional donation
+from the church they attend, or a weekly trifle from one of those
+benevolent societies that assist the aged poor to retain their
+accustomed dwelling, or to enjoy the unexpensive luxuries which habit
+has made necessary. The circumstances of each of the individuals in
+these classes are presumed to be known through the report of the
+officer; and as each case, when health and vicinity of residence permit,
+appears personally before the board, it may be _carried forward for
+revisal that day twelve months_. The whole of the cases belonging to
+this class would be so treated. They may be distributed over a given
+number of Board days, and during a particular month of the year. In the
+month of July all the names of the poor of this class would appear in
+the Diary; and the reports of the relieving officer would then be called
+for, in the order in which the names are entered. Of course, if any
+change of circumstances should occur in the interval, application may be
+made to the officer; and as they are paid at their homes in the majority
+of instances, the application may then be made. At the end of twelve
+months, each case is formally revisited and reported. It would then
+appear that some are dead, some are bed-ridden, some are childish, and
+require an asylum--second childhood has commenced, and they require the
+nurture of children; they are therefore admitted into the Union. A few
+others have lost a bounty through the death of a friend, and their
+allowance requires augmentation.
+
+The entrance to this class should be carefully guarded against admission
+by accident or undue influence. For instance, a lady not indisposed to
+relieve human suffering, receives an indirect application from a
+respectable elderly female, for charitable aid. Her charitable list is
+full, but she does not like to send her empty away, although she knows
+nothing of the person except through the excellent note of introduction.
+Temporary relief is given. The lady's husband has an intimate friend,
+who is a guardian. And, through this medium, the female becomes an
+applicant for parochial relief. Forms are complied with. A sketch of her
+circumstances is entered in the Report Book, with such accuracy as the
+fact of the report being required at the next board meeting permitted.
+Her name appearing at the end of the page of the Diary which now lies
+before the chairman, and her turn having come, the guardian blandly
+informs the meeting, that a case has come to his knowledge, of whose
+fitness to be a recipient of their bounty he is credibly informed there
+can be no doubt; and the chairman is only too certain that a case so
+brought before them should be liberally responded to. An unusual amount
+of relief is given, and the name put on the yearly list. And thus, a
+decent person, who had by sometimes working, and by sometimes receiving
+those occasional aids to which her long life of probity and prudence had
+given her a title, is beguiled into that which it had really been the
+great object of her life to avoid. Thousands who have been accustomed to
+a life of labour, and especially those females who have lived in decent
+servitude, regard the workhouse with horror. Now, to avoid errors of
+this kind, and also to ensure that the necessities of the case are
+thoroughly known, it ought to be a "standing order" of the board that no
+case shall be draughted into the yearly list, without having been
+visited and reported upon six several times.
+
+The second class consists of those aged and infirm persons who possess
+relations who are legally liable to be made to contribute towards their
+support, or who have friends and relations who, in virtue of those
+social ties which bind men together, may be reasonably expected to
+assist them. The separation of the individuals of this class from those
+of the former one, is not made on the single ground that, according to
+law, sons and unmarried daughters, and grandchildren, call be compelled
+to support their sires. If the parochial authorities had no stronger
+appeal than that which the law of Elizabeth affords, the pauper list
+would soon be filled to overflowing. The law is more correct in
+principle than efficient in practice. Fortunately, the natural feelings
+of humanity effect that spontaneously, which the law with its penalties
+cannot compel. It is a matter of daily remark by those who mix much and
+observantly among the poor--not the class merely who struggle hard to
+preserve a decent appearance, and to drive destitution from their
+dwelling's but those who have no qualities which can engage, whose
+ordinary habits are those of intemperance, whose manners are rough, and
+whose language is coarse and obscure--and to a class still lower, who
+are steeped in vice and crime, who seem regardless of God or man, and to
+whom society appears to have done its worst; that even in these rude,
+uncultivated, and depraved human beings, a strong under-current of
+natural feeling wells up and flows perpetually. So strongly are these
+feelings sometimes manifested in such characters, that they appear to be
+developed with an intensity proportionate to the extent to which the
+other feelings have been wrecked, and to the loss of sympathy which
+these miserables have sustained from the world. It is too often
+forgotten by those who are concerned for the poor, that these
+feelings--the love of parents for offspring, and the reverence of
+children for parents--are instinctive, and that their activity depends
+upon the fact, whether there are children to be loved and parents to be
+revered. And this being so, we may be satisfied that they are not
+extinct in any case. They may not be expressed in good set terms, or in
+the ordinary language of endearment. The conversation of these persons
+may sound harsh to unaccustomed ears, and the acts may often coincide
+with the words. But the bond of union is seen in acts of mutual defence,
+in acts of mutual aggression, and in acts of mutual assistance. The true
+ground of separation is, that it would be highly inexpedient, and
+prejudicial to public morals, if the duties of these relations were to
+be forgotten or superseded. And, therefore, when it appears from the
+relieving officer's report that such connexions exist, the cases should
+be relieved of course; but it should be intimated that these parties are
+expected to assist; and it should be formally declared, that they are
+legally and morally bound so to do. In the majority of instances, the
+result would be satisfactory. This is not said because a trifle might be
+saved to parishes. It would most frequently happen, that all these
+parties could do would be to add a luxury very dear to the aged person,
+but which the parochial board could hardly grant. A daughter in service
+may send an article of apparel, a son-in-law may give a Sunday's dinner,
+and a son may make a weekly contribution of grocery. In general, it
+being presumed that the several boards of guardians present a fair
+average of human nature, no reduction of allowance would ensue. In many
+instances the result flowing from this method would be still more
+satisfactory. It so happens in the strife for subsistence, that each
+striver is so occupied by his own affairs--and even when increased
+ability or established probity and diligence, has led, to the receipt of
+a higher wage, the mind is either so entirely absorbed by the new duties
+and increased responsibilities, or luxuries have so stealthily slipped
+from their places and become necessities--that he is apt to forget his
+poorer brethren, who, less fortunate than himself, or unblessed with his
+own patience and steadiness--
+
+  "Poor wights! nae rules nor roads observin',
+   To right or left eternal swervin',
+                   They zig-zag on,
+   'Till, curst with age obscure and starvin',
+                   They aften groan."
+
+The attention of this prosperous relation must be arrested. Here is a
+fact. A man at the advanced age of seventy-six years, and his wife still
+more aged, applied for relief. He is a mechanic. He had never applied
+for relief during the threescore years and ten, and upwards, to which
+his life has spun out. Assistance was rendered. The law of settlement
+intervened, occasioned much trouble, and prevented the case from being
+dealt with permanently. This hinderance afforded an opportunity for the
+relations to consult and arrange. One son is at work in a distant
+county. Another is a mechanic with a full wage; he has four
+children--but he is industrious and temperate. The daughter is married
+to a clerk in a lawyer's office, and has already two children. No
+magistrate would make an "order of maintenance" upon the sons, and the
+daughter being married is not liable. But a consultation is held of
+relations and friends. That member of the family upon whom there can be
+no legal demand, and whose circumstances are the least flourishing, is
+the first to make a proposal. He will take the old lady home: she can
+have a chair in the chimney-corner, and mind the children when their
+mother is away. The son in the country will give one or two shillings
+weekly, according as work is abundant. The son in town will guarantee
+the payment for the old man's lodging. The right to a meal is not
+thought of--it is a matter of course. The old man had supposed that his
+work on earth was done; and he had therefore fallen into despondency.
+But the events of the last week have restored him to that elasticity of
+mind which had sustained him through many trials. Hope is again in the
+ascendant, and pours upon him her genial influence. His helpmate is
+provided for; and he has a home secured to himself, and is not in danger
+of starvation. He now says, "There is some work left in me yet." He can
+no longer be the first in the throng, but he can take his place in the
+crowd. He can do all sorts of odd, light, casual jobs; and by the
+exercise of that perseverance and care, which enabled him during his
+long life to drive want from his homestead, he can provide for the
+future. He is no longer an applicant for parochial relief. This class
+may be easily distinguished, practically, from the former one, and from
+all others, without making any distinction or reference to the mode or
+value of the relief. Each case, after it has been visited and reported
+upon by the officer six several times, in the same way, and for the same
+reasons as class number one, must be carried forward in the chairman's
+Diary to that board day in the summer months which has been appropriated
+for the class. _This class would undergo revision twice in the year._
+The reports of the officer would especially refer to the circumstances
+of relations, and state the assistance which they do or are able to
+render. All this would become matter of routine.
+
+The third class differs from the two former, in respect that the
+individuals who compose it are not aged, but are likely to be permanent
+burdens on parishes, from malformation of brain, or a disturbance in the
+sensuous system. They are idiotic, fatuous, blind, deaf or lame, or
+permanently disabled by chronic disease. It has been said that the
+workhouse is the best place for such persons; and in some localities it
+may be so. But there are places, where benevolent expedients have been
+adopted, which have saved these unfortunates from that stagnation of
+soul approaching melancholia, to which they would have been otherwise
+doomed. They may now hold converse in books. They are taught trades.
+They receive assistance which enables them to enter fields of
+competition with their more perfectly organised fellows. But this aid is
+often-times withheld, or it is insufficient, and so they become
+chargeable to parishes.
+
+The fourth class consists of those widows with families upon whom the
+officer, after a series of visits, is enabled to report facts which must
+satisfy the guardians that she is industrious, temperate, and of strict
+probity. Her thoughts as a wife were confined to two great domestic
+questions,--how can my husband's income be economised, without making
+his home no home? and how can I qualify my children to fill their
+appointed stations in life? During the lifetime of her husband, her
+mind was so entirely absorbed by her household and family duties, that
+now she feels and acts like one who has just been disturbed from a long
+and troubled dream. Death has now turned the channel of her ideas. The
+change was one of bitter suffering. And now she must provide bread for
+her children by her own "hand-labour,"--without the habitude of labour.
+Death acts thus daily; and yet the number of widows so circumstanced,
+who apply for parochial relief, bears a very small proportion to the
+total number of persons thus bereaved. The fact is curious; and as sound
+methods of dealing with pauperism can be discovered only from a minute
+and comprehensive knowledge of the anatomy and pathology of the lower
+classes of society, the facts must be studied. The widows who compose
+this class were, previous to their marriage, either trusted servants in
+quiet families, daughters of respectable shop-keepers, or younger
+daughters of widows with small annuities: and their husbands were
+probably members of religious communities. Suppose the condition of the
+widow to have been that of a decent servitude. She performed her duties
+with credit; and her name is not forgotten. During the state of
+wifehood, intercourse was kept up by the exercise of kindly greetings on
+the one side, and respectful inquiries on the other. Her present
+circumstances excite sympathy. "Something _must_ be done for poor Ann!"
+But she desires to subsist by labour rather than by gifts of charity.
+This is thought of by the reflecting patron, who knows full well how
+benefits unearned weaken the moral powers. But there are many ways by
+which the feeling of charity may be manifested without moral injury. A
+son may be in chambers, and who can so well clean and arrange them, as
+the nurse of his infancy? She may be intrusted with the care of an
+office; or she may be recommended to friends, who have hitherto taken
+labour from the labour market, at the lowest market price, and are just
+beginning to perceive that the moral qualities manifested in a prudent
+carriage, strict honesty, and taciturnity with respect to private
+affairs, are valuable, and have yet to learn that they are not common,
+and to be obtained must be paid for. The recommendation is well-timed.
+And although this friend of the family may miss the moral points of the
+matter, and would, if the patroness had not fixed her wages, by the
+force of example, tell the widow how little she gave the other "person,"
+and offer the same. The widow's eyes now sparkle. She has reason to be
+grateful, and is not absolutely dependent. She is now in a fair way to
+gain an honest livelihood. The parish has not once been thought of. Then
+she may be a member of a religious body: which congregation is not a
+question of moment. As a member of the Established Church she has many
+advantages. Did you, reader, ever hear of a member of the Society of
+Friends being an applicant for parochial relief? The question may be
+repeated with respect to the Jews; not, however, with the expectation of
+an universal negative; but, having regard to the precariousness of their
+callings, the answer must be--_No!_ The widow is a Wesleyan methodist.
+She is united with a religious body which includes within its pale many
+of those who compose the middle--or rather the lower middle--and lower
+classes of society. The members of it are closely cemented
+together--spiritually and temporally. As a member of a "class meeting,"
+her hopes and fears, her temptations, and trials, are known; not only to
+the members of her own section, but to the minister, and the members of
+the congregation. It may be true that the class system engenders
+spiritual pride and hypocrisy: that is not in point. We are dealing with
+facts. And it is a fact, and one which might be predicated from the
+circumstances, that the frequent meeting together of persons in nearly
+the same social position, to converse and advise upon practical
+religious matters, from which personal interests and temporalities, when
+they bear down the spirit, cannot be excluded, does exert an important
+influence on the fortunes of the distressed. In the Church of England, a
+minister may not mix so freely with his flock. His social position--his
+language, is different. But although that sense of common interest and
+common danger, which opens the flood-gates of the soul, and allows it to
+pour forth an uninterrupted tide of emotion, cannot exist when one order
+of mind stammers to another order of wind, yet there are compensating
+circumstances. Learning does not necessarily enervate the active powers.
+And in these latter we find a common ground of meeting, chords which
+vibrate sympathetically. "One touch of nature makes the whole world
+kin." Then the clergy are the almoners of the rich. These influences,
+with many kindred ones, might be investigated with advantage; but enough
+is said to indicate why this class of poor, who at first sight appear so
+helpless, are not sustained by the poor-rate. But they are sometimes
+applicants, and as such form a class. It happens that, from the number
+of her family, her wants are greater than her limited connexions can
+relieve; or she may be alone. It must be again repeated, that the duty
+of a board of guardians is not only to relieve destitution, but likewise
+to check pauperism. This being so, the widow must not be allowed to sink
+so low as to drive hope away. Her projects, her means, and her actual
+necessities must be ascertained. _Relief in money is the best mode of
+relief to this class_; and it should be given liberally. It will not be
+given in vain. Of course there are many in this class not gifted with an
+active temperament, or a strong, mind. To such the warning from the
+chairman, that parochial assistance can only be temporary, must be
+frequently given: and sometimes her views and progress may be
+scrutinised and commented upon. The relief would be continued from time
+to time and in descending amounts, until it vanishes altogether. By this
+method of treatment an increase of expenditure may be occasioned for a
+time; but the widow will be delivered from her affliction, _and her
+children's names permanently erased from the black roll of pauperism_.
+
+The fifth class includes those widows who have, throughout their lives,
+been accustomed to labour. They have not the advantages of the former
+class, as regards connexions. They have been "dragged"[4] up. As an
+infant, "it was never sung to: no one ever told it a tale of the
+nursery. It was dragged up, to live or die, as it happened. It had no
+young dreams: it broke at once into the iron realities of life. The
+child exists not for the very poor as any object of dalliance; it is
+only another mouth to be fed, a pair of little hands to be betimes
+inured to labour. It is the rival, till it can be the co-operator, for
+food with the parent. It is never his mirth, his diversion, his solace;
+it never makes him young again, with recalling his young times. The
+children of the very poor have no young times. It makes the very heart
+bleed to overhear the casual street-talk between a poor woman and her
+little girl, a woman of the better sort of poor, in a condition rather
+above the squalid beings which we have been contemplating. It is not of
+toys, of nursery-books, of summer holidays, (fitting that age); of the
+promised sight, or play; of praised sufficiency at school. It is of
+mangling and clear-starching, of the price of coals, or of potatoes. The
+questions of the child, that should be the very outpourings of curiosity
+in idleness, are marked with forecast and melancholy providence. It has
+come to be a woman before it was a child. It has learned to go to
+market; it chaffers, it haggles, it envies, it murmurs; it is knowing,
+acute, sharpened: it never prattles." Such was the child. The passage
+from the single to the married state, which generally changes the course
+of woman's life, has to her been nothing more than a brief interval of
+pleasure. She soon joins the bands of the busy daughters of care. So the
+loss of her husband has been to her but a tragedy. The last act is over;
+the curtain has fallen: she is now in the outer world again; she is
+oppressed by sadness, vague and undefinable; but the noise and bustle
+around her, the tumult of her own thoughts, and her continued labour,
+afford that alleviation which the solitary and the unemployed seek for
+in vain. Those who would step in and, relieve her of her toil, may be
+well-meaning persons; but, they are interfering in matters they do not
+understand. They would spend their money more beneficially, and with
+greater regard to the principles of Christian charity, if each would
+take care that those who do for him any kind of labour, receive an
+adequate remuneration. It may be a politico-economic law, that we buy in
+the cheapest market, and sell in the dearest; and, by a sophistical
+process, the limits of the principle may have been enlarged, so as not
+only to include raw materials, but manufactured products, and the labour
+which we ourselves employ. But it is forgotten, that a law which
+expresses merely what men do, has not the universality or fixity of a
+law of matter, but is liable to variation from the action of moral
+causes. The law may be partially true, as eliminated from a study of the
+present age. It is an age of calculators and economists. In a moral age
+it would be false. It is false in the present day, when moral men have
+to do directly with their lower and ruder brethren. This is an
+individual and personal matter, and each one will find that he has
+enough of his own work to do in his own sphere. This widow is an
+applicant for parochial relief. Repeated visits, and a succession of
+reports, at brief intervals, have enabled the officer to present an
+accurate narration of facts, both with reference to her past life and
+her present condition. It becomes clear that this widow differs from the
+other, in respect that she has greater habitude for labour, and that her
+mind is cramped down to the hard matters of the present hour: she goes
+to her work in the morning, and she returns home fatigued in the
+evening. To-morrow's meal is secured, and the scene of to-morrow's
+labour is known. Within the narrow limits of a week is her soul penned
+up. It is clear, then, what the duties of the guardians are. If their
+wish is to check pauperism, they must attend to that which this widow's
+limited capacities prevent her from doing. In her young day, reading and
+writing were accomplishments; but the world has jogged on a little since
+then, without her knowing it. Reading and writing, as one of the
+mechanical arts, have become indispensable to every boy and girl. The
+same economic reasons which lead to the inference, that a girl should be
+taught to darn her own stockings, or mend her own frock, would also show
+that a boy and girl should be taught to read and write. The spread of
+education is something very different from the diffusion of knowledge.
+So, then, the officer's report would show whether the children are duly
+sent to school; their progress might also be tested. At a future period,
+it might appear that the girl is strong enough to enter service, and the
+boy fit to be apprenticed either to a trade, or to the sea. In either
+case, the fitness of the master or mistress is ascertained and reported.
+A premium or outfit is given; and the particulars of the case are duly
+entered in the appropriate book, according to the existing method, and
+the master and child visited from time to time. The widow would thus be
+relieved in that particular respect in which she is least qualified to
+help herself, and her children are saved. She would soon discover that
+the time occupied in waiting for relief could be more profitably
+employed, and she soon ceases to apply.
+
+The sixth class consists also of widows; but they are remarkable for
+idleness, intemperance, or improvidence. We know of no means of washing
+the Ethiop white. To this class, money-relief is the most objectionable
+form of relief. An allowance of bread should be given for brief periods,
+and given in instalments. Sometimes it may be necessary to intimate that
+work may be required for the value given, and at other times the order
+may be made. It will, however, be found that the individuals of this
+class are careless about every thing. If they are dealt with leniently,
+they take advantage of the supposed imbecility of the guardians: if they
+are dealt with too severely, they become familiarised with the interior
+of a prison; and the instant the gloomy portal of the county jail loses
+its terrors, they place themselves in attitude of defiance. As the
+inmates of workhouses, they are dangerous spies, and are regarded with
+awe by master and matron; as recipients of out-door relief, they are
+insolent and full of threats. Perhaps the best mode of dealing with
+these cases may be ascertained, by allowing the attention to become
+abstracted from the mother, and concentrated upon the children. The
+mother is like a wild beast, whose nature and habits cannot now be
+subdued; but her cubs, her little ones, may still be tamed and
+humanised. At this point, reference may be made to a document which has
+not emanated from the Poor-law Commissioners, or from any parochial
+board, but from the magistrates of the county of Middlesex. It appears
+that a committee was appointed, in April last, to "inquire into the best
+means of checking the growth of juvenile crime, and promoting the
+reformation of juvenile offenders." At a meeting of the magistrates of
+Middlesex, on the 3d of December, the report of the committee was read,
+and "received amidst repeated cheering." The committee recommend that a
+bill should be introduced to Parliament, a draught of which is given in
+the report. The preamble states, "that the fearful extent of juvenile
+depravity and crime, in the metropolitan districts, and in large and
+populous towns, requires general and immediate interference on the part
+of the legislature; that the great causes of juvenile crime and
+depravity appear to be ignorance, destitution, and the absence of proper
+parental or friendly care; and that all children above the age of seven
+and under the age of fifteen years, suffering from these and similar
+causes, require protection, to prevent their getting into bad company,
+acquiring idle and dissolute habits, growing up in vice, and becoming an
+expense and burden on the county as criminals, and that such protection
+should be afforded by the county." There are fourteen clauses: the first
+and fifth may be quoted--"1_st_, That an asylum for unprotected and
+destitute children be founded in and for the county of Middlesex by
+legislative enactment, and placed under the direction and management of
+the justices of the peace for the county." "5_th_, That unprotected and
+destitute children shall be deemed to include all children above seven,
+and under fifteen years of age, under the following circumstances:
+--Children driven from their homes by the bad conduct of their parents;
+children neglected by their parents; children who are orphans, and
+neglected by their friends; children who are bastards; and children who
+are orphans, and have no one to protect them, or to provide for them, or
+for whom no one does provide; children who, from their own misconduct,
+have no protection or provision found them; children who are idle and
+dissolute, and whose parents or friends cannot control their bad conduct;
+children who are destitute of proper food, clothing, or education, owing
+to the poverty of their parents or friends, but whose friends or parents
+do not apply for, or receive parish relief; children who are destitute of
+employment; and children of the class which become juvenile offenders
+generally."
+
+It is probable that a plan of this description might have a great and
+beneficial effect in diminishing juvenile crime; and it is conceivable
+that the clauses of the bill may be so framed as to develop all the
+good, and avoid the evil. It is to be feared, however, that the bill is
+founded on partial views. The children who agree with the descriptions
+given in clause number five, are the offspring of those who reside in
+poor neighbourhoods, where the inhabitants are already paying high
+rates,--high in proportion to the poverty of the locality. If this be
+so, then every possible species of opposition, which can be offered
+legally or illegally, will be directed against the bill, and against its
+being carried into operation. The authorities of these poor and populous
+parishes already find it a matter of extreme difficulty to collect the
+rates, and are overwhelmed by the number of those poor housekeepers who
+apply to be "excused their rates" on the ground of poverty. All the
+schemes of the present day have one good point only, or it may be
+discovered by minute observation that the original idea was a good one.
+The bill is brought forth with a grand display of benevolent feeling;
+and it is passed, after suffering further distortion in Parliament. The
+law is, after all, found to be inoperative, from the omission or
+misapprehension of a plain obvious matter of detail, or because it
+originated from partial views, or came directly from the brain of an
+unpractical theorist. It is, however, admitted, in the case of the
+magistrates' bill, that the _original idea_ is a good one. And if it
+should be realised, the children of the class of widows now under
+consideration, might in this "County Juvenile Asylum," find a home, and
+be saved from destruction.
+
+The seventh class consists of women who have cohabited with men, and
+have families. The individuals composing it generally resemble those of
+the two classes last mentioned--_i.e._ they are industrious or idle,
+intemperate or sober. Generally, this class requires relief more
+urgently than the several classes of widows; because by their past
+conduct they are shut out from any participation in many of the
+charities. It is needless to say that strict investigation into their
+circumstances and proceedings is necessary.
+
+The eighth and ninth classes consist of single women. The eighth is
+composed of women who have had two children, and are prostitutes; the
+ninth of those who have only committed the first offence. The inquiries
+of the officer, in the ordinary routine, would develop the facts. The
+utility of this distinction is, that it would afford boards of guardians
+an opportunity of dealing fairly with the latter class: the fact of the
+distinction being noted in all the books would attract their attention
+to the point. To confound these cases together, and to act with, equal
+severity to all, is obviously unjust. In those unions where the
+prohibitory order has been issued, all the individuals of both these
+classes are relieved only in the house. In the case of their admission,
+the cognisance of this distinction, not casually, not specially, because
+a guardian may have had his attention drawn to a particular case, but as
+a matter of routine, would necessarily lead to a good result. No board
+of guardians, when their attention has been regularly and officially
+directed to the facts of the case, could compel both classes to herd
+together in one common room.
+
+The medical relief list is composed of poor persons who are suffering
+from acute disease, and are, in consequence of their illness and extreme
+poverty, receiving relief in money or food. Those who are in the receipt
+of other relief by order of the board, and who belonged to one of the
+other classes, would be excluded from this list. There are two modes of
+regulating the medical out-door relief in kind. One mode is to require
+the medical officers to attend the meetings of the boards of guardians.
+It is their duty to report upon the state of health of each out-door
+sick person at specified times, and to state the kind of nutriment
+adapted to each case. The board is thus furnished with a sanatory report
+from one officer, and a report upon circumstances from the other. This
+is a satisfactory system. The other mode is, for the medical officer to
+report to the relieving officer in a prescribed form, that A B is ill
+with consumption, and requires ---- food per diem. The relieving officer
+has a veto. If, upon visiting the case, he is satisfied that the head of
+the family can supply the articles recommended, the relief is withheld.
+The case is reported to the next board, who issue the necessary
+instructions thereon. The first plan is undoubtedly the preferable one,
+in all those parishes or unions where the population is large and the
+area small. But in all large rural unions, where the medical officers
+are many and their labours great, from bad roads and extent of district,
+the plan would be inapplicable. As regards the second method, it would
+be found to prevail as a rule, that, in the majority of cases, the
+recommendation of the medical officer is regarded by the relieving
+officer as tantamount to an order. The exception would be in those
+unions where the board is infested by persons who know of no means of
+estimating the value of an officer excepting by his supposed power of
+reducing expenditure; and in those parishes where the inhabitants are
+poor and embarrassed. And it is to be feared that this evil, against
+which the press exclaim so loudly, will continue to predominate so long
+as the existing unequal charge upon parishes continues. The magnates of
+St. George, Hanover Square, can afford to be magnanimous and humane. In
+St. Luke, Middlesex, or St. Leonard, Shoreditch, where the rate-payers
+are poor, it is a different matter altogether. And yet it is in these
+poor neighbourhoods that the poor live; and where they live, there they
+must be relieved.
+
+The administration of the relief given in consequence of poverty and
+illness requires great care. The list contains the most meritorious of
+the poor: and as the relief given is of the greatest value, it is the
+relief most sought after by "cadgers" and impostors. The great abuses
+which creep into the administration of out-door relief do not arise from
+the relief of the able-bodied, but from affording relief to persons who
+allege that they are suffering from bodily ailments without proper
+investigation. In ordinarily well managed parishes, impostors, cadgers,
+and mendicants have no chance of obtaining relief in money. Therefore
+the whole of their practised cunning is brought to bear upon this more
+valuable form of relief. Now, from the peculiar habits of this class of
+persons, there is often strong ground for the claim. They will starve
+three days, and complete the week in revel and debauchery. Those
+periods, which they consider days of prosperity, are too often occasions
+for emaciating their bodies by drinking gin and eating unnutritious
+food. A chilly, foggy, November night is the time when the supposed
+widow can parade her children on the highway with the best chance of
+exciting the compassion of the passersby; and it is the time, too, when,
+if there is any predisposition to disease, the circumstances are most
+favourable for its development. It is to this class that the workhouse
+may be offered--as an infirmary. It is a fact, however, that those of
+this class who suffer from external diseases, and especially those which
+may be exposed with impunity, do not desire to enter a workhouse, and
+will not remain there until they are completely cured. And then, with
+reference to children who are exposed at night in the streets,
+notwithstanding the parents may be warned that they are sowing the seeds
+of incurable disease in the bodies of these infants, and are offered
+relief sufficient to constitute the greater part of their support; yet,
+however they may promise, they will continue to sleep in the day-time,
+and prowl about as homeless outcasts in distant neighborhoods at night.
+It is useless to offer them the workhouse; they will refuse it, and
+make, the offer a ground of appeal to the benevolent. As regards the
+children, the medical officer declares that his medicines are useless,
+and even dangerous. They are taken in the morning, the child is exposed
+in the evening, and in a few months it dies--_a natural death_? Here is
+lower depth of crime and misery which baffles the benevolent and
+wise.[5]
+
+The aged, the infirm, the sufferers from chronic disease, the
+permanently disabled, the several classes of widows, the single women
+who have one or more children, and those who are chargeable mainly from
+temporary illness, have been collected and separated from the dense mass
+of pauperism. Who are those that remain? There is much error abroad upon
+this question. They are legion, whether they be regarded in connexion
+with the causes which have led to their impoverishment, or with
+reference to their various modes of obtaining a livelihood. Reference
+has already been made to that portion of the population of England who
+are in a transition state--_i.e._ those whose ordinary employment has
+been superseded by more rapid and cheaper methods, and who have thereby
+lost their ordinary means of livelihood, and been drifted down from
+stage to stage until they have reached the lowest depth, and have at
+last been compelled to ask for a morsel of bread at the workhouse door.
+Then it will appear upon inquiry that each separate locality will
+present its peculiar species of casual poor, who fall into a state of
+destitution from the action of peculiar causes. It frequently happens
+that the individuals were never trained to any ordinary species of
+labour. At an early period of their lives, they were put in the way to
+learn a trade, but from early habits of idleness, from the criminal
+neglect of masters or parents, from natural incapacity for the
+particular trade, or from an unconquerable dislike to it, they have
+never been able to earn "salt to their porridge," as the saying is. They
+never received a regular or an average amount of wage. If they are
+tailors, they compete with old women in making "slopwork" for the lower
+class of salesmen. Or they convert old coat tails into decent cloth
+caps, and may be industrious enough to supply a tribe of women with a
+Saturday night's stock. As cobblers, they ply the craft of
+"translation"--a trade, even in this lower acceptation of the term,
+peculiarly liable to abuse. To the unlearned, it may be necessary to
+state that translation is the act of converting old boots into new ones,
+and is done with thin strips of varnished leather, and plenty of wax and
+large nails. There are carpenters, whose ingenuity is confined to the
+manufacture of money-boxes, cigar-cases, and children's stools. Smiths,
+male and female, forge garden rakes, small pokers, and gridirons, as the
+season may suggest. And then their wives and children, or other men's
+wives and children, hawk them for sale in populous neighbourhoods on
+market evenings. Tin funnels are sold "at the low price of a halfpenny."
+Minute and useless candlesticks, wire forks, children's toys, and old
+umbrellas, are a few specimens of this miscellaneous merchandise, the
+sale of which brings bread to hundreds of families. They live in
+foetid alleys, are not cleanly, and are sometimes intemperate; hence
+they are peculiarly liable to the attacks of disease. During illness,
+there are many things which the sick man craves which a parochial
+officer cannot grant, and which a medical man could neither recommend
+nor allow. The desire is gratified by the sale of a useful and
+indispensable tool; and thus, by degrees, he exits off his own means of
+subsistence. Then, like manufacturers of a higher grade, he may mistake
+the public wants, and the articles he has made may remain unsaleable on
+his hands, or he may fall into the error of over-production like a
+Manchester house. Then, in seasons when those commodities which
+constitute the common diet of the poor are scarce and dear, the persons
+who deal in them who are unable to buy, or uncertain to sell, are thrown
+back upon the few shillings which compose their capital. In large cities
+and towns, and in the neighbourhood of great markets, there are crowds
+of poor persons who gain their livelihood by the purchase and sale of
+the articles of daily food, and their combined purchases form a large
+item in the business of those markets. The costermongers, or
+costardmongers, consist of various grades. That brisk-looking man, who
+is riding so proudly in his donkey-cart, with his wife at his elbow, may
+be a very mean person in the estimation of the passer-by, but, in his
+world, he is a man of importance. He watches the "turns of the market,"
+and being either in the possession of capital himself, or in a position
+to command it, he is able to compete with large dealers. He is a
+money-lender; and, if security be left with him--a poor woman's marriage
+certificate, or her wedding-ring is sufficient--he will enable her to
+buy her "little lot." Through him many are able to procure a stock at a
+trifling expenditure, who otherwise would be unable to buy in sufficient
+quantities to satisfy the original salesman. This class has its peculiar
+casualties, and in consequence become chargeable to parishes. Their
+habits may be irregular and intemperate. Or a poor woman may have
+expended her last farthing in the purchase of a tempting basket of fish.
+Her child falls ill, or she herself is unable, from the same cause, or
+from an accidental injury, to stand the necessary number of hours in the
+drenching rain; and so her stock is spoiled, and she suffers a greater
+calamity in her sphere than the brewer whose consignment of ale has
+turned sour on an India voyage.
+
+In the vicinity of cathedrals and abbeys, in districts where dowagers
+and elderly maiden ladies most do congregate, and in
+
+  "Those back-streets to peace so dear,"
+
+there is always to be found a great number of kindly-disposed people,
+who have wherewithal to make life flow smoothly, leisure to listen to
+tales of wo, and the ability and inclination liberally to relieve. Now
+wherever these benevolent persons may be located, there will a troop of
+jackals herd, and run them down. Wherever public or private charities
+exist, there do these persons thrive. Their organisation, the degree to
+which they endure occasional privations and exposure, the recklessness
+with which they endanger the health and lives of those connected with
+them, is so passing strange, and, if fully expatiated upon, would be a
+chapter in the history of man and society, so disgusting, as to be unfit
+and morally unsafe to publish. Among the beings who infest these
+neighbourhoods, are men and women of keen wit--too keen, in truth--who
+have been well educated. Clerks who have been discharged for peculation.
+Women who, from the turbulence of their passions, have descended from
+the position of governesses, and who possess talent and tact equal to
+any emergency. They can write petitions in the highest style of
+excellence, as regards composition and penmanship. And they can also
+write letters on dirty slips of paper, in such a manner as that the
+homely phrase and the supposed ignorance of the petitioner shall be
+correctly sustained. They know all the charitable people of the
+district. They know the species of distress each person is most likely
+to relieve, and the days and hours they are most likely to be seen. They
+are in a position to instruct the several members of the fraternity as
+to the habits and foibles of the "gentlefolks." One is open-handed, but
+apt to exact a large degree of humility, and must be approached with
+deference. Another, if applied to at the wrong time, may give liberally
+to rid himself of their importunities. Another is rough and noisy; but
+if the applicant can endure it--which these people can, but decent
+people cannot--a largess is certain. With one, clean linen, a
+well-starched front, or a neat cap-border, is a desideratum, because it
+is supposed to indicate that the wearers were once in a better sphere.
+Another will only relieve those who are clothed in well-patched rags, or
+"real misery;" and then the appearance must be that of squalid
+destitution.
+
+It happened the other day that an individual, in the regular exercise of
+his duty, was engaged in making inquiries in one of these
+neighbourhoods. The cooped-up dwellings were situated in the centre of a
+mass of buildings, round which a carriage might roll in five minutes,
+and yet nothing would appear to excite suspicions that within the area
+of a few hundred yards, so much real distress, and so much deceit, vice,
+and crime were in existence. The visitor has left the crowded
+thoroughfare, and entered a narrow cutting which leads to the heart of
+the mass of houses. In former days the street was the abode of the
+wealthy. Many of these aristocratic dwellings are still standing. They
+large and high. The rooms were once magnificent. Their great size is
+still visible, notwithstanding the partitions which now divide them. The
+elaborate, quaint, and, in some instances, beautiful style of ornament
+on the ceilings, the massive mouldings, and richly carved
+chimney-pieces, satisfy the observer that, in former days, they were the
+abodes of wealth and luxury. They are now tottering with age: the other
+day, the interior of one of them fell inwards. These houses may be
+entered, one after another, without intrusion. To the uninitiated, the
+rooms present the appearance of an unoccupied hospital. All the rooms on
+the upper floors are entirely filled with beds. If they are entered at
+the close of a cold winter evening, the aspect is cold and desolate. If
+you pause on the landing, you may hear sounds of voices. The whole of
+the occupants of these rooms are congregated at the bottom of the
+building. You should not enter, for, at the sight of a stranger, they
+would instantly reassume their several characters. If you look through a
+chink in the partition, you will see an assemblage of men, women, and
+children, in whose aspect and mien--if you can read the biography of a
+human being by studying the lines on the countenance--you may read many
+a tale and strange eventful history,--illustrating the adage that "truth
+is stranger than fiction." If the hour be midnight, and the season
+winter, the large hall will be lit up by a blazing fire. Around it are
+grouped men and women of all ages. Some are dressed as sailors. In a
+corner, some Malays are eating their mess alone. They pay their
+threepence, and are not disturbed:--they are supposed, with truth, to be
+unacquainted with the rules of English boxing, and to carry knives.
+Their white dresses and turbans, their dark but bright and expressive
+countenances, their jet-black hair, and strange language, give an air of
+romance to the scene. There are widows with children, traveling tinkers,
+and knife-grinders. All these are talking, laughing, shouting, singing,
+and crying in discordant chorus. There is no lack of good cheer; and it
+is but justice to add, that the less fortunate, providing they are "no
+sneaks," are allowed a share. At the door, or busily employed among the
+guests, is mine host, and his female companion:--"old cadgers" both, but
+stalwart, and able to maintain the "respectability" of the house.
+
+The visitor passes on, and turns down a lane. By day or night, it hath
+an ancient and a fish-like smell. Apparently the dwellings are inhabited
+by the very poor. In the day time there are no noises, except that of
+women bawling to their children, who are sitting in the middle of the
+causeway, making dikes of vegetable mud and soap-suds. There are no
+sewers;--the commissioners have no power to make them,--and do not ask
+for it. There is nothing outwardly to indicate that the inhabitants are
+other than honest. If you open the doors, you may perceive that the
+staircases are double and barricaded, that rooms communicate with each
+other, and that, in the rear, there are facilities for hiding or escape.
+If you stroll about this place at night, you may be surprised by the
+sight of two policemen patrolling together. You will be an object of
+scrutiny and suspicion,--notwithstanding your respectable appearance.
+And then, as you appear to have no business in the neighbourhood, you
+will be civilly greeted with, "You are entering a dangerous
+neighbourhood, sir!" In the newspapers of the following day, you may
+read of a gang of housebreakers, or coiners, having been secured in this
+spot. And if it be revisited when a group of felons have just left the
+wharf, you will find it a scene of drunken lamentation.
+
+In this lane is a _cul-de-sac_. It is inhabited by persons with respect
+to whose actual condition the shrewdest investigator is at fault. The
+visitor enters a dwelling, and climbs the narrow staircase. Upon
+entering the small room, he is almost stifled by the foetid smells. In
+one corner, on a mattress, lies a man, whose gaunt arms, wasted frame,
+milky eye-balls, and dry cough, sufficiently indicate the havoc which
+disease is doing at the seat of life. A fire has been recently kindled
+by the hand of charity. Near it, and seated upon a tub, is a woman,
+busily employed in toasting a slice of ham, which is conveyed rapidly
+out of sight upon hearing the ascending footsteps. Her dress is gay, but
+soiled, and her face is familiar to the pedestrian. Upon the entrance of
+the visitor, the Bible is hastily seized, and an attitude of devotion
+assumed. The question the visitor asks, is, Are you married? "Oh yes, I
+was married at a village near Bury, in Suffolk; I was travelling as a
+mountebank at the time." The tale is not well told. After a few
+interrogatories, and the utterance of a score of lies, the truth
+appears,--he was never in the county of Suffolk in his life. In a few
+days he makes a merit of his confession, and marries,--a week before his
+death.
+
+Within a few yards, another scene is presented. This is a case of a man,
+his wife, and his large family. The visitor is shown into a miserable
+apartment, destitute of furniture; and, upon some loose shavings in a
+corner, a child has been left to cry itself to sleep. The case is
+relieved as one of great suffering. Relief flows freely. The wife
+appears ill; and the medical man is much puzzled by her account of the
+symptoms. Apparently she has been intemperate; but, according to the
+symptoms, it should be something between rheumatism and tic-doloreux.
+By-and-by a quarrel ensues, about the division of the spoil. An
+anonymous letter is received, declaring that the party has several
+residences,--that the room in which such a scene of destitution was
+presented, was not their ordinary place of habitation,--that they are in
+the receipt of fixed charities, names being given, and concluding with
+the allegation, subsequently verified, that their weekly receipts
+exceeded a mechanic's highest wage. The bubble bursts, and the family
+migrates.
+
+It is hardly necessary to remark, that this order of applicants require
+strict attention on the part of the parochial officers. It is of
+importance to ascertain whether the several applicants really do any
+work,--whether they cannot get it, or are likely to be disconcerted at
+the offer of it. If they belong to the orders last described, the fact
+of visitation from an officer, with a note-book in his hand, would, of
+itself, be a disagreeable circumstance, not to be endured unless
+necessity compelled. It is frequently a matter of difficulty to collect
+the facts; and appearances are very deceitful. Idleness assumes the garb
+and language of industry. Idleness can take the part of industry, and
+perform it with technical accuracy; and it will be rendered more
+interesting than the original. When an industrious man falls into
+misfortune, he is more disposed to conceal, than to expose it
+ostentatiously. His language is often abrupt and rude: betraying a
+conflict with his own feelings of independence and pride. This a
+judicious and accustomed eye can discern. But it must not be forgotten
+that the relieving officer's inquiries have no legitimate reference to
+features, or doubtful signs, but to places and facts. These facts being
+added together, as they are collected from time to time, in the
+appropriate page in the report book, the board of guardians would have
+no difficulty in estimating the real character and circumstances of
+these applicants.
+
+With the further consideration of the casual poor, the subject of
+_Out-door employment_ may be usefully connected. We may state at once as
+our opinion, that any scheme which proposes to test destitution by
+offering the workhouse with its terrors, on the one hand, or which
+offers out-door employment _indiscriminately_ to the able-bodied on the
+other, is detrimental to the interests of society. It is admitted that
+the offer of work to the well-disposed independent labourer may scare
+him away; he will consume his savings, sell his furniture, and break his
+constitution, rather than accept the relief on the terms offered. And
+some may be content with this. They may rejoice at the sight of the
+shillings saved. But it will soon be found, that when work has been
+offered indiscriminately, and after the lapse of time, that a large and
+yearly increasing number of labourers of various classes will accept the
+relief and do the work. This fact indicates with accuracy that the moral
+feelings of the labouring population are in process of deterioration.
+Then how unjust it is! Here is a stout, broad-shouldered, hard-handed,
+weather-tanned railway navigator, who would perform the hardest task
+with the greatest case and indifference; but it is a very different
+matter to the sedentary Liliputian workman of a manufacturing town. We
+can understand why the smooth-fingered silk-weavers of Spitalfields
+complained of being set to break stones. It is still presumed that the
+great object is to diminish pauperism. It is not a question of this day
+or this year, or of a parish or union; but of the age and nation. This
+being so, we have to ascertain which of two modes is the preferable one:
+should labour be offered to all comers, or should the right to make the
+performance of labour a condition of receiving relief, be reserved as a
+right, and used with caution and discrimination? Let us inquire. Among
+the higher classes of society, the gradations of rank are distinctly
+marked. Among the middle classes, the gradations and varieties of social
+position are more numerous, less distinctly marked, and therefore fenced
+round with a world of form and ceremony. And as we descend, and enter
+the lower ranks, and approach the lowest, the distinctions and grades
+multiply. To the common observer, these distinctions may be unworthy of
+regard; but to the parties themselves, they are of importance. The
+higher grades among the poor have attained their position by the
+exercise of tact and talent, and by hard labour. Not that the accident
+of birth, or the position of the parents, are circumstances destitute of
+force--the son often follows the employment of the father, and the
+eldest son in many trades is permitted to do so, without the sacrifice
+of expense and time involved in an apprenticeship. There is a broad line
+of demarcation drawn between the skilled and unskilled trades. There are
+lines, equally as distinct, drawn between skilled trades, which
+correspond with the ancient guilds of cities. And in the present day,
+when the several ancient trades are so minutely divided, and subdivided,
+there are grades of workmen corresponding. Reference is not made to
+those distinctions which are recognised by the masters, but to those
+especially which obtain among the men themselves; for it is with their
+feelings we have to do. Now, these distinctions do not involve questions
+of difference and separation merely, but those also of resemblance and
+unity. Each "tradesman"[6] stands by his order; and that not only to
+preserve its dignity and privileges inviolate, but to render mutual aid.
+Many vanities may be associated with this, and many mummeries may be
+enacted, at which many who believe themselves wise may fancy they blush;
+but the mechanic is only guarding in an imperfect manner an ancient
+institution. It is when we look at labour from this point of view, that
+we begin to conceive how it happens that so few regular labourers, in
+proportion to the mass, become chargeable to parishes; and this,
+notwithstanding the vicissitudes of their several employments. This
+inwardly sustaining power, of which the world in general is ignorant, is
+worthy of study. The intensity varies as we descend. In a populous
+parish, there are many who, from the action of a thousand disturbing
+influences, drop from the ranks. Now, is it not obvious, that to offer,
+with the eyes of the understanding and judgment firmly closed, to each
+able-bodied applicant a degrading employment, must drag him to its
+level? In most cases the feeling of repugnance on the part of the head
+of the family against applying for relief in person--a rule in all
+parishes--is so intense, as to require the fact of his family being in a
+state bordering on starvation, to weaken it. If he is required to do
+labour for the relief proffered, in a place where he is known, and among
+an order of workmen who are pauperised and below him, who would welcome
+him with sneers and derision, the chances are that he will not accept
+the relief on the terms offered. Is pauperism checked thereby? Wait and
+see. It is likely he will not remain in a place where all his cherished
+associations have been so rudely broken up. Home he has none. The four
+naked walls, the mattress on the floor, the single rug, his sickly and
+fretful children--and these regarded with a jaundiced eye, are not the
+objects and associations which make up the idea of home. He hears
+strange tales from trampers about an abundance of work in other places,
+and misguidedly he wanders, with or without his wife and children, in
+search of the imaginary spot. He travels from town to town, and subsists
+on the pittance which the trades allow, so long as he journeys to the
+south. His original feeling of independence has become weakened: its
+main prop has been removed. The apprehension of what the denizens of our
+little world may say, is frequently a powerful auxiliary to a steady and
+moral course of action. This houseless man, by leaving his native
+village, or his usual haunts in the crowded city, has deprived himself
+of this sustaining power; and he falls, morally and socially. Another,
+with less strength of body, is subdued by his privations, and receives
+that relief as a sufferer from low fever or incipient consumption, which
+was withheld from him while in health. All this is natural, and it is
+true in point of fact. The inference is, that no able-bodied applicant
+should be set to work, until it formally and clearly appears from a
+statement of facts, in the relieving officer's report book, that he is
+idle or drunken. In the regular order of business, the man would be
+charged with the fault by the chairman, and should be allowed the
+benefit of any doubt. The applicant may say, "I worked last for A. B. at
+----, and I left with others when the job was finished." Let him have
+relief without labour, until the fact is ascertained. And as a page is
+opened to each case in the report book, the statement resulting from the
+inquiry is recorded, and is either for, or against him. If he pleads for
+another chance, give it him. Let the labour be regarded in all cases as
+a _dernier resort_.
+
+What work should be given? This is mainly a local question: a few
+general remarks may, however, be made. Under the old system, the
+out-door work done by paupers, gradually assimilated with that performed
+by independent labourers, and at last became undistinguishable. It
+appears to have been a practice, if a man alleged that he was unable to
+support his family, to set him to work; and the parishioners were
+required to employ the labour. Now, the parishioners already employed as
+much labour as they required, and the individuals they preferred, and
+the necessity of employing the pauper labour, had the effect of reducing
+the wages of the independent labourer: he was either employed less, or
+paid less. Thus the labourer, who by his industry, and the exercise of
+temperance and frugality, had saved, and was therefore in a position to
+weather a long and dreary winter, by the influence of this baneful
+system, was reduced to the level of the idle and intemperate. This evil
+maybe averted. The old abuses were attributable to the fact, that the
+several parishes and hamlets were so small, and so poor, as to, render
+it impossible to adopt any system of management. The work given should
+be hard work, and preserved as distinct as possible from that performed
+by the independent labourer; and, in course of time, a wholesome feeling
+of aversion would grow up respecting it, similar to that which was
+entertained against the workhouse, before it became the compulsory
+residence of the casually unfortunate, as well as of those who had sunk
+morally and socially. The work given should be public work; or work
+which has a remote reference to a private good, but which no individual
+under ordinary circumstances would perform. For example, there is
+stone-breaking, and the general preparation of materials for the repair
+of the highway; the levelling of hills, and the raising of valleys; the
+clearing of main ditches; the draining of mosses; the dredging of
+rivers; the reclaiming of lands from the waste, or the sea; the
+collecting of certain manures; the raising of embankments to prevent the
+overflow of rivers; the cleansing of streets and the performance of
+certain kinds of labour for union-houses and other institutions
+supported at the public expense; and if the highway trusts should be
+consolidated, and placed under competent management, it is likely that
+some of the labour required might be performed by paupers.
+
+The labour done must be tasked and estimated. This is indispensable. To
+allow an able-bodied man to lie upon his back, and bask in the mid-day
+sun, while he lazily picks up grass and weeds with his outstretched
+hands, and throws it in the air, may be considered as employment; but to
+call it labour is absurd. Pauper labour is proverbially unproductive,
+_i.e._ it costs nearly its value in superintendence. But, if it is
+resorted to, it must be watched with care, or its introduction will be
+injurious. Now, during the last few years, a class of men have arisen
+from the labouring class, who might be found qualified to superintend
+this labour. Railway enterprise has developed a certain order of skill
+which might be rendered available. It is well known that the several
+miles of railway are divided into a number of contracts, which are again
+divided, and taken by sub-contractors, and the sub-division proceeds
+until yards of work are taken by the men who engage or govern the lower
+class of labourers. A similar class of men is to be found on the banks
+of rivers, who are known as gangers. Then there are discharged sergeants
+and corporals, and even privates, who can produce their discharge with a
+favourable report upon character endorsed upon it. We know the severity
+of the army, in this particular. A discharge, with that portion of it
+cut off on which the endorsement favourable to the soldier's character
+should have been, ought not to lead necessarily to the inference that
+his character has been bad in a civil point of view. But, if the
+endorsement exists, we may rest assured that he has been staid in his
+deportment, clean in his person, careful in the performance of his duty,
+and regular as regards time. The classes of sergeants and corporals have
+the additional advantage of being accustomed to order, as well as to
+obey. Discharged soldiers generally require an active employment, or
+they sink morally and socially. Men from this class might be selected
+with advantage.
+
+But some may exclaim, what an expense! Possibly! It remains, however, to
+be seen whether the weight is not felt because the pressure is unequal.
+A guardian of an ancient parish and borough, in an agricultural
+district, observed the other day, "This new removal act is a serious
+matter to us,--as the cottars in the out-parishes die off, the cottages
+are pulled down, and this impoverished borough will have to support the
+children, because they reside here." Of course, while the inducement to
+such proceedings exists, and the poor are compelled to support the poor,
+every attempt at permanent improvement will meet with either active
+opposition or passive resistance. Then, again, it is said, that as the
+manufacturing system has created a weak and dangerous population, and
+one likely to be suddenly impoverished by the vicissitudes of the
+system, they should be compelled to relieve it when those adverse
+periods arrive. Does the rating of the manufacturer bear any proportion
+to his capital, the extent of his business, or his profits? His
+poor-rate receipt records an inappreciable item of expenditure. The
+pressure of the rate is not upon him, but upon the householders of the
+suburbs where the poor reside. It is not just that the manufacturer who
+owns a mill, or he who merely owns a warehouse, and employs out-door
+work-people--that the dealer in money, the discounter, the various large
+agencies, the merchant who transacts his business in a single office and
+sends his ship all over the world, and the great carriers, because their
+business happens not to be rateable according to the law, should bear no
+greater burden than the shop-keepers in a great London thoroughfare. It
+is likely that there would be a _temporary_ increase of expenditure; but
+then justice would be done to the aged, the infirm, and the sick. In
+this respect the expenditure would increase; but as regards the
+able-bodied there would be a reduction, and in this way: If a man is
+thrown out of work, and his habits being known, he is relieved; he is
+thereby sustained, and when work begins to abound he starts fairly. If
+he is compelled to sink, the chances are he will never rise. Every
+guardian in the kingdom knows, from personal observation, how difficult
+it is to dispose of a family which has been forced into the union-house,
+and has lost a home. It is confidently expected, if out-door relief,
+accompanied by labour, be given only to those able-bodied applicants who
+are known, from the facts of their history as officially reported, to be
+idle, dissolute, and intemperate;--if the labour required to be done be
+public work; if it be apportioned and tasked by judiciously chosen
+task-masters, and given to each individual at a low rate of prices,
+lower than those of ordinary labour, and paid in food, or even in
+lodging when specially applied for and deemed necessary,--then, as
+regards the able-bodied applicants, the nearest approach will have been
+made to a perfect system. And if the system here sketched, or rather if
+the hints which have been dropped from time to time in the progress of
+this article, be collected and arranged, it is believed, that inasmuch
+as they have reference to the moral principles of our nature, as well as
+to the physical condition of the pauper, they will operate beneficially
+upon the poor of England. And if it should appear, from the statistics
+officially reported by a _minister_ in the regular exercise of his duty
+in parliament, that the number of poor receiving relief who belong to
+the first three classes have slightly increased, that report should be
+considered as highly satisfactory, and not as a disclosure injurious to
+national honour. It is not a matter of which Englishmen ought to be
+ashamed, or a subject to be bewailed, that the aged, the infirm, and the
+sick among the very poor, are not allowed either to perish, or to have
+their cherished habits and associations destroyed. Then, as regards the
+class of widows, if it should appear that the numbers do not go on
+increasing in the ratio of deaths, but continue nearly stationary, the
+report would be still satisfactory; because the inference from it would
+be, that, as new cases have been added, old ones must have discontinued.
+And the report respecting the two great divisions of the
+able-bodied--those who are not set to do work, and those who are--would
+be pregnant with information. And lastly, that part of the report which
+discloses the number of cases which have not been distributed in the
+several classes, would be of great value, as indicating the quarter
+where the inspectors under the orders of Government might most
+advantageously make their inquiries.
+
+The classes and orders of poor that ordinarily become chargeable to
+parishes have been commented upon; and a few of the peculiar traits have
+been sketched of that motley group, which cannot be classified in any
+other way, than as persons who, from their admitted idleness, ought to
+be set to labour; or as persons to whom the exaction of labour in return
+for relief would be detrimental,--and not only detrimental to their
+personal interests, but to those of society. We have also stirred up and
+exposed the dregs of society: an operation neither pleasant nor useful
+under ordinary circumstances. But our inquiries have been pathological.
+And it is the duty of the physician or surgeon to probe the wound, and
+examine minutely the abscess, and then to institute inquiries equally
+minute and more general into the habits and constitution of the patient.
+Then the physician may have occasion to comment, in the lecture-room,
+upon this class of diseases; and he would then show how many
+circumstances must be considered and estimated before the true mode of
+treatment can be known. And as quacks thrive upon ignorance and
+credulity, he might gratify the curious student by an exposition upon
+the facility with which imaginary cures might be effected. He might show
+that by the employment of quack medicines the diseased part might be
+made to assume the appearance of health. The abscess can be closed; but
+the corruption, of which the open wound was only the outlet, will still
+circulate through the system, deteriorate the blood, and at last
+seriously derange the vital organs. The reader will apply these remedies
+in the proper quarter. And then, as in the consideration of the first
+series of classes we had occasion to dwell mainly upon those
+characteristics of the poor which attract regard and sympathy, it became
+necessary, in order that the general idea might be in accordance with
+the general bearing of the facts, to conduct the reader into strange
+scenes, and among classes of human beings, which might otherwise have
+been disregarded or unknown. The reader now sees distinctly that which
+the clamour and clash of rigourists and universal-benevolence-men might
+have led him to overlook, viz.--_that pauperism includes in its legions
+the most virtuous, the most vicious, the most industrious, and the most
+idle_; and refers to decent, honest poverty as well as to squalid
+destitution. We may conclude by averring, that the tendency of an
+extended system of out-door relief, administered in the manner, and
+according to the principles laid down, would be, to raise one class from
+the state of pauperism,--to confront distresses which the complexity of
+civilised society, and the extension of the manufacturing systems have
+occasioned, boldly, firmly, and humanely,--to distinguish between the
+honest industrious poor, and the lazy vagabond--to give one a fair
+chance of obtaining employment, and to remove inducements from the other
+to prowl about and live upon the public. And if this can be in any
+degree attained, it will so far stand out in bold contrast to the
+doctrines of _The Edinburgh Review_, and the practice of the Poor-Law
+Commissioners, which have reference only to the health of the animal
+fibre, and not to the soul which gives it life.
+
+
+
+
+THE POACHER;
+
+OR, JUTLAND A HUNDRED AND THIRTY YEARS SINCE.
+
+From the Danish.
+
+
+I.--THE DEER-RIDER.
+
+The Danish isles have such a pleasant, friendly, peaceful aspect, that,
+when carried by our imagination back to their origin, the idea of any
+violent shock of nature never enters into our thoughts. They seem
+neither to have been cast up by an earthquake, nor to have been formed
+by a flood, but rather to have gradually appeared from amid the
+subsiding ocean. Their plains are level and extensive, their hills few,
+small, and gently rounded. No steep precipices, no deep hollows remind
+one of the throes at Nature's birth; the woods do not hang in savage
+grandeur on cloud-capt ridges, but stretch themselves, like living
+fences, around the fruitful fields. The brooks do not rush down in
+foaming cataracts, through deep and dark clefts, but glide, still and
+clear, among sedge and underwood. When, from the delightful Fyen, we
+pass over to Jutland, we seem, at first, only to have crossed a river,
+and can hardly be convinced that we are on the continent, so closely
+resembling and near akin with the islands is the aspect of the
+peninsula. But the further we penetrate, the greater is the change in
+the appearance of the country. The valleys are deeper, the hills
+steeper; the woods appear older and more decayed; many a rush-grown
+marsh, many a spot of earth covered with stunted heath, huge stones on
+the ridgy lands--every thing, in short, bears testimony to inferior
+culture, and scantier population. Narrow roads with deep wheel-ruts, and
+a high rising in the middle, indicate less traffic and intercourse among
+the inhabitants, whose dwellings towards the west appear more and more
+miserable, lower and lower, as if they crouched before the west wind's
+violent assault. In proportion as the heaths appear more frequent and
+more extensive, the churches and villages are fewer and farther from
+each other. In the farm-yards, instead of wood, are to be seen stacks of
+turf; and instead of neat gardens, we find only kale-yards. Vast
+heath-covered marshes, neglected and turned to no account, tell us in
+intelligible language that there is a superabundance of them.
+
+No boundaries, no rows of willows, mark the division of one man's land
+from another's. It appears as if all were still held in common. If, at
+length, we approach the hilly range of Jutland, vast flat heaths lie
+spread before us, at first literally strewn with barrows of the dead;
+but the number of which gradually decreases, so that it may reasonably
+be supposed that this tract had never, in former times, been cultivated.
+This high ridge of land, it is thought, and not improbably, was the part
+of the peninsula that first made its appearance, rising from the ocean
+and casting it on either side, where the waves, rolling down, washed up
+the hills and hollowed out the valleys. On the east side of this heath,
+appear, here, and there, some patches of stunted oaks, which may serve a
+compass to travellers, the tops of the trees being all bent towards the
+east. On the large heath-covered hills but little verdure is to be
+seen,--a solitary grass-plot, or a young asp, of which one asks, with
+surprise, how it came here? If a brook or river runs through the heath,
+no meadow, no bush indicates its presence: deep down between
+hollowed-out hills, it winds its lonely course, and with a speed as if
+it were hurrying out of the desert.
+
+Across such a stream rode, one beautiful autumn-day, a young
+well-dressed man, towards a small field of rye, which the distant owner
+had manured by scraping off the surface, and burning it to ashes. He and
+his people were just in the act of reaping it, when the horseman
+approached them, and inquired the road to the manor-house of Ansbjerg.
+The farmer, having first requited his question with another,--to wit,
+where did the traveller come from?--told him what he knew already, that
+he had missed his way; and then calling a boy who was binding the
+sheaves, ordered him to set the stranger in the right road. Before,
+however, the boy could begin to put this order in execution, a sight
+presented itself which, for a moment, drew all the attention both of the
+traveller and the harvest people. From the nearest heath-covered hill
+there came directly towards them, at full speed, a deer with a man on
+his back. The latter, a tall stout figure, clad in brown from head to
+foot, sat jammed in between the antlers of the crown-deer, which had
+cast them back, as these animals are wont to do when running. This
+extraordinary rider had apparently lost his hat in his progress, as his
+long dark hair flowed back from his head, like the mane of a horse in
+full gallop. His hand was in incessant motion, from his attempt to
+plunge a knife it held into the neck of the deer, but which the violent
+springs of the animal prevented him from hitting. When the deer-rider
+approached near enough to the astonished spectators, which was almost
+instantaneously, the farmer, at once recognising him, cried, "Hallo,
+Mads! where are you going to?"
+
+"That you must ask the deer or the devil!" answered Mads; but before the
+answer could be completely uttered, he was already so far away, that the
+last words scarcely reached the ears of the inquirer. In a few seconds
+both man and deer vanished from the sight of the gazers.
+
+"Who was that?" inquired the stranger, without turning his eyes from the
+direction in which the centaur had disappeared.
+
+"It is a wild fellow called Mads Hansen, or Black Mads: he has a little
+hut on the other side of the brook. Times are hard with him: he has many
+children, I believe, and so he manages as he can. He comes sometimes on
+this side and takes a deer; but to-day it would seem that the deer had
+taken him: that is," added he, thoughtfully, "if it really be a deer.
+God deliver us from all that is evil! but Mads is certainly a dare-devil
+fellow, though I know nothing but what is honourable and good of him. He
+shoots a head of deer now and then; but what matters that? there's
+enough of them; far too many, indeed. There, you may see yourself how
+they have cropped the ears of my rye. But here have we Niels the
+game-keeper. Yes; you are tracking Black Mads. To-day he is better
+mounted than you are."
+
+While he was saying this, a hunter appeared in sight, coming towards
+them at a quick trot from the side where they had first seen the
+deer-rider. "Have you seen Black Mads?" cried he, before he came near
+them.
+
+"We saw one, sure enough, riding on a deer, but can't say whether he was
+black or white, or who it was; for he was away in such haste that we
+could hardly follow him with our eyes," said the farmer.
+
+"The fiend fetch him!" cried the huntsman, stopping his horse to let him
+take breath; "I saw him yonder in the Haverdal, where he was skulking
+about, watching after a deer. I placed myself behind a small rising,
+that I might not interrupt him. He fired, and a deer fell. Mads ran up,
+leaped across him to give him the death-blow, when the animal, on
+feeling the knife, rose suddenly up, squeezed Mads between his
+antlers--and hallo! I have got his gun, but would rather get himself."
+With these words he put his horse into a trot, and hastened after the
+deer-stealer, with one gun before him on his saddle-bow, and another
+slung at his back.
+
+The traveller, who was going in nearly the same direction, now set off
+with his guide, as fast as the latter could go at a jog-trot, after
+having thrown off his wooden shoes. They had proceeded little more than
+a mile, and had reached the summit of a hill, which sloped down towards
+a small river, when they got sight of the two riders. The first had
+arrived at the end of his fugitive course: the deer had fallen dead in
+the rivulet, at a spot where there was much shallow water. Its slayer,
+who had been standing across it, and struggling to free himself from its
+antlers, which had worked themselves into his clothes, had just
+finished his labour and sprung on land, when the huntsman, who at first
+had taken a wrong direction, came riding past our traveller with the
+rein in one hand and the gun in the other. At a few yards' distance from
+the unlucky deer-rider he stopped his horse, and with the comforting
+words, "Now, dog! thou shalt die," deliberately took aim at him. "Hold!
+hold!" cried the delinquent, "don't be too hasty, Niels! you are not
+hunting now; we can talk matters to rights."
+
+"No more prating," answered the exasperated keeper, "thou shalt perish
+in thy misdeeds!"
+
+"Niels, Niels!" cried Mads, "here are witnesses; you have now got me
+safe enough, I cannot go from you; why not take me to the manor-house,
+and let the owner do as he likes with me, and you will get good
+drink-money into the bargain."
+
+At this moment the traveller rode up, and cried out to the keeper, "For
+heaven's sake, friend, do not commit a crime, but hear what the man has
+to say."
+
+"The man is a great offender," said the keeper, uncocking his gun, and
+laying it across the pommel of his saddle, "but as the strange gentleman
+intercedes for him, I will give him his life. But thou art mad, Mads!
+for now thou wilt come to drive a barrow before thee[7] for the rest of
+thy life. If thou hadst let me shoot thee, all would now have been
+over." Thereupon he put his horse into a trot, and the traveller, who
+was also going to Ansbjerg, kept them company.
+
+They proceeded a considerable way without uttering a word, except that
+the keeper, from time to time, broke silence with an abusive term, or an
+oath. At length the deer-stealer began a new conversation, to which
+Niels made no answer, but whistled a tune, at the same time taking from
+his pocket a tobacco-pouch and pipe. Having filled his pipe, he
+endeavoured to strike a light, but the tinder would not catch.
+
+"Let me help you," said Mads, and without getting or waiting for an
+answer, struck fire in his own tinder, blew on it, and handed it to the
+keeper; but while the latter was in the act of taking it, he grasped the
+stock of the gun which lay across the pommel, dragged it with a powerful
+tug out of the strap, and sprang three steps backwards into the heather.
+All this was done with a rapidity beyond what could have been expected
+from the broad-shouldered, stout and somewhat elderly deer-stealer.
+
+The poor gamekeeper, pale and trembling, roared with rage at his
+adversary, without the power of uttering a syllable.
+
+"Light thy pipe," said Mads, "the tinder will else be all burned out;
+perhaps it is no good exchange thou hast made; this is certainly
+better,--"here he patted the gun,--"but thou shalt have it again when
+thou givest me my own back."
+
+Niels instantly took the other from behind him, held it out to the
+deer-stealer with one hand, at the same time stretching forth the other
+to receive his own piece.
+
+"Wait a moment," said Mads, "thou shalt first promise me--but it is no
+matter, it is not very likely you'd keep it--though should you now and
+then hear a pop in the heather, don't be so hasty, but think of to-day
+and of Mike Foxtail." Turning then towards the traveller, "Does your
+horse stand fire?" said he, "Fire away," exclaimed the latter. Mads held
+out the keeper's gun with one hand, like a pistol, and fired it off;
+thereupon he took the flint from the cock, and returned the piece to his
+adversary, saying, "There, take your pop-gun; at any rate it shall do no
+more harm just yet. Farewell, and thanks for to-day." With these words
+he slung his own piece over his shoulder, and went towards the spot
+where he had left the deer.
+
+The keeper, whose tongue had hitherto been bound by a power like magic,
+now gave vent to his long-repressed indignation, in a volley of oaths
+and curses.
+
+The traveller, whose sympathy had transferred itself from the escaped
+deer-stealer to the almost despairing game-keeper, endeavoured to
+comfort him as far as lay in his power. "You have in reality lost
+nothing," said he, "except the miserable satisfaction of rendering a man
+and all his family unhappy."
+
+"Lost nothing!" exclaimed the huntsman, "you don't understand the
+matter. Lost nothing! The rascal has spoiled my good gun."
+
+"Load it, and put in another flint," said the traveller.
+
+"Pshaw!" answered Niels, "it will never more shoot hart or hare. It is
+bewitched, that I will swear; and if one remedy does not succeed--aha!
+there lies one licking the sunshine in the wheel-rut; he shall eat no
+young larks to-day." Saying this, he stopped his horse, hastily put a
+flint in his gun, loaded it, and dismounted. The stranger, who was
+uninitiated in the craft of venery, and equally ignorant of its
+terminology and magic, also stopped to see what his companion was about
+to perform; while the latter, leading his horse, walked a few steps
+forward, and with the barrel of his piece poked about something that lay
+in his way, which the stranger now perceived to be an adder.
+
+"Will you get in?" said the keeper, all the while thrusting with his gun
+at the serpent. At length, having got its head into the barrel, he held
+his piece up, and shook it until the adder was completely in. He then
+fired it off with its extraordinary loading, of which not an atom was
+more to be seen, and said, "If that won't do, there is no one but Mads
+or Mike Foxtail who can set it to rights."
+
+The traveller smiled a little incredulously, as well at the witchcraft
+as at the singular way of dissolving it; but having already become
+acquainted with one of the sorcerers just named, he felt desirous to
+know a little about the other, who bore so uncommon and significant a
+name. In answer to his inquiry, the keeper, at the same time reloading
+his piece, related what follows:--"Mikkel, or Mike Foxtail, as they call
+him, because he entices all the foxes to him that are in the country, is
+a ten times worse character than even Black Mads. He can make himself
+hard.[8] Neither lead nor silver buttons make the slightest impression
+on him. I and master found him one day down in the dell yonder, with a
+deer he had just shot, and was in the act of flaying. We rode on till
+within twenty paces of him before he perceived us. Was Mike afraid,
+think you? He just turned round, and looked at us, and went on flaying
+the deer. 'Pepper his hide, Niels,' said master, 'I will be answerable.'
+I aimed a charge of deer-shot point-blank at his broad back, but he no
+more minded it than if I had shot at him with an alder pop-gun. The
+fellow only turned his face towards us for a moment, and again went on
+flaying. Master himself then shot; that had some effect; it just grazed
+the skin of his head: and then only, having first wrapped something
+round it, he took up his little rifle that lay on the ground, turned
+towards us, and said, 'Now, my turn is come, and if you do not see about
+taking yourselves away, I shall try to make a hole in one of you.' Such
+for a chap is Mike Foxtail."
+
+
+II.--ANSBJERG.
+
+The two horsemen having reached Ansbjerg, entered the yard containing
+the outhouses, turned--the keeper leading the way--towards the stable,
+unsaddled their horses, and went thence through an alley of limes, which
+led to the court of the mansion. This consisted of three parts. The
+chief building on the left, two stories high, with a garret, gloried in
+the name of "tower"--apparently because it seems that no true
+manor-house ought to be without such an appurtenance, and people are,
+as we all know, very often contented with a name. The central building,
+which was tiled, and consisted only of one story, was appropriated to
+the numerous domestics, from the steward down to the lowest stable-boy.
+The right was the bailiff's dwelling. In a corner between the two stood
+the wooden horse, in those days as indispensable in a manor-house as the
+emblazoned shields over the principal entrance.
+
+At the same instant that the gamekeeper opened the wicket leading into
+the court-yard of the mansion, a window was opened in the lowest story
+of the building occupied by the family, and a half-length figure
+appeared to view, which I consider it my duty to describe. The noble
+proprietor--for it was he whose portly person nearly filled the entire
+width of the large window--was clad in a dark green velvet vest, with a
+row of buttons reaching close up to the chin, large cuffs, and large
+buttons on the pockets; a coal-black peruke, with a single curl quite
+round it, completely concealed his hair. The portion of his dress that
+was to be seen consisted, therefore, of two simple pieces, but as his
+whole person will hereafter appear in sight, I will, to avoid
+repetition, proceed at once to describe the remainder. On the top of the
+peruke was a close-fitting green velvet cap with a deep projecting
+shade, nearly resembling those black caps which have been worn by
+priests even within the memory of man.[9] His lower man was protected by
+a pair of long wide boots with spurs; and a pair of black unutterables,
+of the kind still worn by a few old peasants, even in our own days,
+completed the visible part of his attire.
+
+"Niels keeper!" cried the master. The party thus addressed, having shown
+his companion the door by which he was to enter, stepped, holding his
+little gray three-cornered hat in his hand, under the window, where the
+honourable and well-born proprietor gave audience to his domestics and
+the peasants on the estate, both in wet and dry weather. The keeper on
+these occasions had to conform to the same etiquette as all the others,
+though a less formal intercourse took place between master and man at
+the chase.
+
+"Who was that?" began the former, giving a side-nod towards the corner
+where the stranger had entered.
+
+"The new writing-lad, gracious sir," was the answer.
+
+"Is that all! I thought it had been somebody. What have you got there?"
+This last inquiry was accompanied by a nod at the gamekeeper's pouch.
+
+"An old cock and a pair of chickens, gracious sir!" (This "gracious
+sir," we shall in future generally omit, begging the reader to suppose
+it repeated at the end of every answer.)
+
+"That's little for two days' hunting. Is there no deer to come?"
+
+"Not this time," answered Niels sighing. "When poachers use deer to ride
+on, not one strays our way."
+
+This speech naturally called for an explanation; but as the reader is
+already in possession of it, we will, while it is being given, turn our
+attention to what was passing behind this gracious personage's broad
+back.
+
+Here stood, to wit, the young betrothed pair, Junker Kai and Froeken
+Mette.[10] The first, a handsome young man of about twenty-five,
+elegantly dressed and in the newest fashion of the time. To show with
+what weapons ladies' hearts were in those days attacked and won, I must
+attempt to impart some idea of his exterior, beginning with the feet,
+that I may go on rising in my description: these, then, were protected
+by very broad-toed short boots, the wide legs of which fell down in many
+folds about his ankles; under these he wore white silk stockings, which
+were drawn up about a hand's-breadth above the knees, and the tops of
+which were garnished with a row of the finest lace; next came a pair of
+tight black velvet breeches, a small part only of which appeared in
+sight, the greater portion being concealed by the spacious flap of a
+waistcoat also of black velvet. A crimson coat with a row of large
+covered buttons, short sleeves, scarcely reaching to the wrists, but
+with cuffs turned back to the elbows, and confined by a hook over the
+breast, completed his outward decorations. His hair was combed back
+perfectly smooth, and tied in a long stiff queue close up in his neck. I
+should merit, and get but few thanks from my fair readers, if I did not
+with the same accuracy describe the dress of the honourable young lady,
+which may be considered under three principal divisions: firstly, the
+sharp-pointed, high-heeled, silver-buckled shoes; secondly, the little
+red, gold-laced cap, which came down with a sharp peak over the
+forehead, and concealed all the turned up hair; and thirdly, the
+long-waisted, sky-blue flowered damask gown, the wide sleeves of which,
+hardly reaching to the elbows, left the shoulders and neck bare,
+and--what may seem singular--was not laced; but Froeken Mette's face was
+so strikingly beautiful, that, in looking at her, her dress might easily
+be forgotten.
+
+These two comely personages stood there, as we have said, behind the old
+gentleman, hand in hand, and, as it seemed, engaged in a flirtation. The
+Junker from time to time protruded his pointed lips as if for a kiss,
+and the lady as often turned her face away, not exactly with
+displeasure, but with a roguish smile. The most singular thing was, that
+every time she bent her head aside, she peeped out into the court, where
+at the moment nothing was to be seen (for the gamekeeper stood too close
+under the window to be visible) but the wooden horse and the new
+writing-lad, who, the instant he entered the office, had placed himself
+at the open window. That this latter, notwithstanding the predicate
+"writing-lad," was a remarkably handsome youth, it may seem strange to
+say, for, in the first place, he had a large scar above his cheek, and,
+in the second, he was clad wholly and solely as a writing-lad. It is
+needless to stay my narrative in portraying the mother of Froeken Mette,
+the good Fru[11] Kirsten, who was sitting in another window, and, with a
+smile of satisfaction, observing the amorous play of the two young
+people. The good old lady could with the greater reason rejoice at this
+match, as, from the beginning, it was entirely her own work. She had, as
+her gracious spouse in his hunting dialect jocosely expressed it, among
+a whole herd of Junkers scented out the fattest, and stuck a ticket on
+his foot. As the young gentleman was an only son, the heir to Palstrup,
+as well as many other lordships, the match was soon settled between the
+parents, and then announced to their children. The bridegroom, who was
+just returned from Paris when Fru Kirsten, in her husband's phraseology,
+took him by the horn, was perfectly well inclined to the match, for
+which no thanks were due to him, as Froeken Mette was young, beautiful,
+an only child, and heiress to Ansbjerg, the deer, wild-boars, and
+pheasants of which were as good as those of Palstrup, while with respect
+to heath-fowl and ducks it was vastly superior. As to the bride, she was
+so completely under subjection to the will of her parents, that for the
+present we may leave it doubtful how far her own inclination was
+favourable to the Junker. We know, indeed, that the female heart usually
+prefers choosing for itself, and often rejects a suitor for no other
+reason than because he was chosen by the parents; though if Junker Kai
+had been first in the field we should not have been under any
+apprehension on his account.
+
+When the keeper had recounted all his misfortunes, which he did not
+venture to conceal, as both the writing-lad and his guide, and probably
+also the deer-stealer himself, would have made it known, the harsh
+master, whose anger often bordered on frenzy, broke forth into the most
+hearty maledictions on the poacher, from which shower of unpropitious
+wishes a few drops fell on poor Niels, who, out of fear of his master,
+was obliged to swallow his own equally well-meant oaths. As soon as the
+first fury of the storm had subsided and given place to common sense, a
+plan was devised for immediate and ample vengeance; the daring culprit
+should be seized, and, as he could now be easily convicted of
+deer-stealing, should be transferred to the hands of justice, and
+thence, after all due formalities, to Bremerholm. The difficulty was to
+catch him, for if he got but the slightest hint of his danger, he would,
+it was reasonable to imagine, instantly take to flight, and leave his
+wife and children in the lurch. The lord of the manor, who had been
+severely wounded in so tender a part, was for setting forth without a
+moment's delay, as so much of the day was left, that before the
+appearance of night they might reach the hut of Black Mads. But the
+gracious lady, in whose revenge a surer plan and maturer consideration
+were always manifest, represented to her impetuous mate, that the
+darkness would also favour the culprit's flight; or, if this were
+prevented, a desperate defence; it would therefore be better to march
+out a little after midnight, so that the whole armed force might invest
+and take the hut at break of day. This proposition was unanimously
+approved, and the Junker was invited to share in the peril and glory of
+the undertaking. The bailiff (who had just entered to announce the
+arrival of the new writing-lad, and to show a letter of recommendation
+brought by him from the bailiff at Vestervig) received orders to hold
+himself in readiness, together with the gardener, the steward, and the
+stable-boys, and also to order a peasant-cart to follow the march.
+
+
+III.--THE NISSE.[12]
+
+Who does not know--at least by name--the Nisse, the being whose
+waggeries almost all bear the stamp of good-humoured frolic? Who has not
+heard tell of his little rotund figure and his red Jacobin cap, the
+symbol of unrestricted liberty? Who knows not that the house he chooses
+as a dwelling, is perfectly safe from fire and other calamities? The
+Nisse is a true blessing to the habitation that he honours with his
+presence; it is secure against fire, storms, and thieves,--who, then,
+would take so greatly amiss the little fellow's gambols? If he now and
+then takes out one of the horses and rides him till he is white with
+sweat, it is merely for the sake of improving his action; if he milks a
+cow before the milk-maid is up, it is solely to get her into the habit
+of early rising; if he occasionally sucks an egg, cries "miou" with puss
+in the cock-loft, or oversets a utensil, who can be angry with him, or
+grudge, him his little dish of Christmas porridge, which no considerate
+housewife omits setting for him in a corner of the loft? It is only when
+this is neglected that his character assumes a slight dash of
+vindictiveness: for then the mistress of the house may be tolerably sure
+of having her porridge burnt, or her soup grouty; her beer will turn, or
+her milk will not cream, and she must not be surprised if she churn a
+whole day without getting butter.
+
+Such a little domestic goblin had from time out of mind (and still has,
+for aught I know to the contrary,) his abode at Ansbjerg; though it
+seems probable that this was not his only habitation, as many years
+sometimes passed without a trace appearing of his existence. But just at
+the period in which the events recorded in our history took place, he
+began to resume his old pranks. The gardener from time to time missed
+some of his choicest flowers, or several of the largest and ripest
+peaches; but, what was most wonderful, these were often found in the
+morning in Froeken Mette's chamber, whence it was reasonably concluded
+that the lady stood high in the good graces of the beforementioned
+Nisse. The grooms, moreover, declared that often during the night there
+seemed witchery among the horses, and that in the morning one of them
+would be found so jaded, that it would appear to have just come off a
+very long and rapid journey. They protested--and who could doubt
+it--that they had often been heard springing about the stable, but that
+on entering every thing was perfectly quiet. Once indeed they even got a
+glimpse of the portentous red cap, and afterwards took great care to
+meddle no farther in the concerns of the Nisse,--a very prudent resolve.
+Such unquestionable testimony failed not to make a deep impression on
+all the inmates of the mansion, particularly the womankind; even the
+gracious lord of the manor himself listened to these reports with a
+silence big with signification.
+
+Such was the state of things when the expedition against Black Mads was
+undertaken, which formed an epoch in the history of Ansbjerg, and was
+used for many years after as an era in the dating of events, as, "that
+happened in the year we went in search of Black Mads; that was two or
+three years after," &c. &c. In anxious expectation those left behind
+waited the whole day for the return of the army of execution. Noon came,
+evening, midnight; but still not one of the party appeared. They at home
+comforted themselves with the supposition, that the delinquent, after
+his capture, might have been conducted to Viborg, in which case the
+whole day might easily have been spent, and after so wearying a march,
+it was but right that the troops should get an evening's refreshment,
+and a night's rest, in the town. On the strength of this extremely
+reasonable hypothesis, both mistress and domestics went to bed, one
+servant only remaining up. At length, about an hour after midnight, came
+Junker Kai and his groom. But before I proceed further, it will be
+desirable to explain the cause of his late arrival, and of the continued
+absence of the rest of the party.
+
+The poacher's hut, which he had himself erected in a remarkably simple
+style, with walls of green turf, and a covering of heather, which rested
+unconfined on crooked oak branches set together like the timbers of a
+roof, had, considered as a fortress, an advantageous position. In the
+centre of a moor, about eight miles in circuit, arose a little eminence,
+which not even the most rapid thaw ever placed under water, and which,
+to a horseman at least, was inaccessible, except along a narrow strip of
+land, which wound among turf-pits and gushing springs. On this spot
+Black Mads had raised his Arcadian abode, where, with a wife and five
+children, he lived by hunting. The larger game was eaten fresh, salted,
+or smoked; the smaller he sold under the rose, together with the deer
+and fox-skins, and with the money thus gained bought bread and other
+eatables. Milk the wife and children begged from the neighbouring
+peasants.
+
+Just as the day was beginning to peep forth, the Lord of Ansbjerg
+approached the moor at the head of his troop. Niels gamekeeper, who was
+well acquainted with the country, now rode forwards, and led the entire
+united force in safety to the spot where the hut ought to have stood.
+With consternation he looked in every direction: no hut was to be seen;
+and yet it was already so light, that, if there, no one could avoid
+seeing it. The first thing he had recourse to--his usual refuge in all
+times of affliction and perplexity--was a long and energetic
+malediction. His gracious lord, who at this moment approached for the
+purpose of learning the cause of so cordial an outpouring, gave his
+keeper an equally cordial morning salutation, and maintained that he had
+mistaken the road and led them all astray. But Niels, who was confident
+on the point, assured him, and even called a dozen black angels to
+witness, that the hut stood there, but that Mads had most probably
+rendered it invisible, no doubt with the assistance of his good friend
+with the horse's foot;[13] for it was beyond all doubt that he
+understood what the common people call "at hverre syn." His master was
+just on the point of coinciding in this opinion as the most rational,
+when the Junker, who had ridden further forwards, cried, "Here is fire!"
+All now hurried to the spot; and it was soon discovered that the entire
+hut lay in ashes, the glowing embers of which here and there still
+glimmered. This discovery led Niels to the conclusion, that the
+aforesaid long-tailed personage had carried the poacher off, together
+with his whole brood; while the Junker, on the other hand, was of
+opinion, that Black Mads himself had set fire to the hut, and then fled.
+During these debates it had become broad day-light, when a closer
+examination of the spot was undertaken, though nothing was found but
+ashes, embers, charcoal, and burnt bones, which the huntsmen pronounced
+to be those of deer. In accordance with the Junker's hypothesis, it was
+resolved to search the neighbouring heath, as the fugitive, with his
+family and baggage, could not possibly have reached any considerable
+distance. They, therefore, divided themselves into four bodies. The
+Junker, with his own and another servant, took an eastern direction,
+probably that he might be the nearer to Ansbjerg and his beloved; but
+all his endeavours proved fruitless. It was to no purpose that he
+hurried to and fro, and exhausted himself, his attendants, and his
+horses. Sometimes he fancied that he saw something moving in the
+distance, but which, on a nearer view, appeared to be sheep grazing, or
+a stack of turf. Once, indeed, he was certain that he perceived people
+about the spot on which the German church now stands; but, by degrees,
+the nearer they approached, the forms became more and more indistinct,
+until they at length wholly disappeared. Amid the preparations for this
+unlucky expedition, a supply of provisions--that necessary basis of
+heroism--had, as it sometimes happens in greater wars, been entirely
+forgotten. A third part of the Junker's division was, therefore,
+despatched to supply the omission; but as the man, on the approach of
+evening, had not returned, the half-famished Junker resolved on turning
+his face homewards. This resolve, however, was more easily adopted than
+executed. The horses were as exhausted and faint as their riders.
+Matters, therefore, proceeded but slowly; and they were unable to wend
+their way out of the heath before darkness came on. The consequence was,
+that they lost their road, and did not reach Ansbjerg till after
+midnight.
+
+To avoid retrograding in my narrative, I will just briefly mention, that
+the other three divisions met with a share of luck equally slender: not
+one of them found what they sought. In vain did they traverse every
+turf-moor; in vain descend into every dell, or mount every rising; in
+vain did they seek through all the neighbouring villages and farms--no
+one had seen or heard of Black Mads. Day was drawing to a close, and a
+night's lodging was to be provided. The Lord of Ansbjerg himself landed
+on Rydhauge, whence, after two days' successful sport in shooting
+heath-fowl, he returned to his home.
+
+The fatigued Junker had scarcely satisfied the cravings of hunger before
+he began seriously to think of doing like justice to those of
+drowsiness, and therefore ordered his servant to light him to his
+sleeping-room. It happened, however, as the latter was in the act of
+opening the door, that he snapt the key in two, so that a part remained
+fixed in the lock. To wrench it off required a crow and hammer; and then
+the noise caused by this operation would wake the whole house. For to
+what end had he hitherto been so quiet, but that he might not disturb
+the ladies' repose? and had even been contented with a morsel of cold
+meat, which his servant had succeeded in procuring for him. In such
+dilemmas, the first suggestion generally proves the best; and on this
+occasion the servant was provided with one.
+
+"The tower-chamber," said he, in a half-suppressed voice, and casting a
+look of doubt on his master. At the name of this well-known, though
+ill-famed apartment, a slight shudder passed over the Junker, but he
+strove to conceal his fear both from the servant and himself, with a
+forced smile, and with the question, tittered in a tone of indifference,
+whether the bed there was in order for sleeping?
+
+The answer was in the affirmative, as the gracious lady always had the
+bed in this chamber held in readiness, although it had never been used
+within the memory of man. As she kept the keys of all the other spare
+bed-chambers--a precaution quite needless with the one we speak of,
+which contained only a bed, two chairs and a table, and was, moreover,
+by its ghostly visiters, considered as sufficiently secured against
+depredations--no excuse nor objection could be made. The Junker,
+therefore, suffered himself to be conducted to the formidable apartment;
+and the servant having assisted him to undress, left a light on the
+table, took his departure, and closed the door after him.
+
+It was a darkish autumnal night. The waning moon was approaching her
+last quarter, her curved half disc stood deep in the heavens, and shone
+in at the chamber's one high and narrow bow-window; the wind was up;
+small clouds drifted in rapid, almost measured time over the moon. Their
+shadows glided, as it were, like figures in the magic lantern, along the
+white wall, and vanished in the fire-place. The leaden window flames
+clattered with each gust, which piped and whistled through the small
+loose panes; it thundered in the chimney; the chamber door rattled.
+Junker Kai was no coward, his heart was set pretty near the right place;
+he dared to meet his man, ride his horse, had it even been a Bucephalus;
+in short, he feared no living, or, more correctly speaking, no bodily
+creature; but spirits he held in most awful respect. The time and
+circumstances, but more particularly the bad reputation of the chamber,
+set his blood in quicker motion; and all the old ghost-stories presented
+themselves unbidden before his excited imagination. Phantasus and
+Morpheus contended for possession of him: the first had the advantage.
+He did not venture to shut his eyes, but stared unceasingly on the
+opposite wall, where the shapeless shadows seemed gradually to assume
+form and meaning. Under such circumstances, it is a comfort to have
+one's back free, and all one's foes in front. He therefore sat up,
+dashed aside the curtain at the bed's head, and cast a glance backwards.
+The bed stood in a corner; at the foot was the window; opposite the side
+of the bed was the plain wall, the fire-place, and beyond that the door.
+His eyes glided along to the wall behind him, where hung an ancient
+portrait of a doughty knight in plate armour, with a face in form and
+dimensions resembling a large pumpkin, and shadowed with dark thick
+locks. On this his anxious looks were fixed. It appeared and vanished
+alternately, as the clouds passed from or covered the face of the moon.
+In the first case, the countenance seemed to expand itself into a smile,
+in the latter, to shrink into a gloomy seriousness. It might possibly,
+thought he, be the spirit of a former possessor of the manor, which now,
+after the extinction of his race, had taken possession of this remote
+apartment. Like the shadows on the wall, courage and fear chased each
+other in the Junker's soul; at length courage having gained the mastery,
+he lay down and delivered himself into the power of Morpheus.
+
+He had hardly slumbered more than half-an-hour, when he was waked by a
+noise like that caused by the opening of a rusty lock. He involuntarily
+opened his eyes, which fell on the opposite door, where a white figure
+appeared and vanished almost at the same instant. The door was then shut
+with a soft creaking. A shivering sensation passed over him. He,
+nevertheless, continued master of his terror, his cooler reason had not
+quite succumbed under the powers of imagination. It was probably the
+servant, thought he, who, although undressed, wished to see if the light
+were extinguished. Somewhat tranquilised by this supposition, he
+withdrew his looks from the door, but now perceived before the window
+the dark upper half of a human figure. The outline of the head and
+shoulders was perfectly distinguishable. The Junker's courage now
+forsook him; but what was to be done? flight was not to be thought of,
+for if he would escape by the door, by which the white figure had
+disappeared, he might again encounter it; the window was out of the
+question, and other outlets he had not noticed. His natural courage rose
+again to a pitch that enabled him to cry out, "Who is there?" At this
+exclamation, the figure seemed to turn quickly round, but made no
+answer; and after some moments sank down slowly under the window, and
+nothing more was afterwards to be seen or heard. No be-nighted wanderer
+could long more heartily for day-light than our poor Junker: he did not
+venture to close his eyes again, fearing, when he opened them, he should
+see something appalling. He looked alternately towards the door, the
+fire-place, and the window, in painful expectation; he listened with the
+most intense anxiety, but heard nothing save the howling of the wind,
+the rattling of the windows, and his own breathing. Day at length broke
+forth, and as soon as it was sufficiently light to distinguish the
+several objects in the chamber, he arose and examined every thing with
+the utmost attention. In vain, he found not a trace of his nightly
+visiters. Having thus paid dearly for his experience, he hastened to
+leave this unquiet lodging, with the sincere resolve of never more
+passing a night in the haunted chamber.
+
+As soon as the family met at breakfast, and the Junker had given an
+account of their fruitless expedition, the lady of the house put to him
+the very natural question, How he had slept after so much fatigue?
+
+"Quite well," was the answer.
+
+The Froeken smiled. "I think you slept in the tower-chamber," said she.
+
+The Junker acknowledged he had; but, being desirous of concealing his
+fright from his intended, he deemed it advisable flatly to deny his
+nocturnal acquaintances, while the young lady seemed equally bent on
+extorting a confession from him. She assured him that she could see by
+his eyes he had not slept, and that he looked uncommonly pale; but he
+declared the ill-famed chamber to have acquired its character unjustly,
+and added, she might very safely sleep there herself if she only had the
+courage.
+
+"I think," said she, laughing, "that I shall one night make the trial of
+it." The subject was now dropt, and the conversation turned to other
+matters.
+
+After the old gentleman's return, a few days passed before any further
+mention was made of the tower-chamber; for, in the first place, every
+one was fully occupied in devising, setting forth, and passing judgment
+on the several ways by which Black Mads might have been captured, as
+well as in forming the most plausible conjectures as to his actual
+whereabout; and, secondly, much time was consumed in accurately and
+circumstantially describing the two days' sport at Rydhauge. This
+copious topic being also exhausted,--that is, when the history of each
+bird, hit or missed, had been related, satisfactory reasons alleged for
+each miss, sagacious comparisons made between dogs and guns, &c.
+&c.,--Froeken Mette began to lead the conversation to the subject of the
+haunted chamber, by informing her father of the night passed therein by
+her intended; at the same time playfully directing his attention to the
+seriousness of the latter. In this second examination he had two
+inquisitors to answer, of whom the young lady pressed him so
+unmercifully by her arch bantering, that he at length found it advisable
+to recall his former denial, and confess that he was not particularly
+desirous of sleeping there again.
+
+"Is it becoming a cavalier," said Mette, "to be afraid of a shadow? I am
+but a woman, and yet I dare undertake the adventure."
+
+"I will stake my Sorrel," answered the Junker, "that you will not try
+it."
+
+"I will wager my Dun against it," cried Mette.
+
+It was believed that she was in jest; but as she obstinately insisted on
+adhering to the wager, both her lover and father strove to dissuade her
+from so hazardous an enterprise. She was inflexible. The Junker now
+considered it his duty to make a full confession. The old man shook his
+head; Froeken Mette laughed, and maintained he had dreamed, and, in order
+to convince him that he had, she felt herself the more bound to fulfil
+her engagement. The father, whose paternal pride was flattered by the
+courage of his daughter, now gave his consent; and all that Junker Kai
+could obtain was, that a bell-rope should be brought close to the bed,
+and that her waiting-maid should lie in the same chamber. Mette, on the
+other hand, stipulated, that all persons in the house should continue in
+their beds, that it might not afterwards be said they had frightened
+away the spectre; and that no one should have a light after eleven
+o'clock. Her father and the Junker would take up their quarters for the
+night in the so-called gilded chamber, which was separated from the
+tower-chamber only by a long passage. In this room hung the bell with
+which, in case of need, the young lady was to sound an alarm. The
+mother, no less heroic than the daughter, readily gave her consent to
+the adventure, the execution of which was fixed for the following night.
+
+
+IV.-THE ELOPEMENT.
+
+Throughout this momentous night, which was to fix the future lot of the
+Isabel, or Dun, and the Sorrel, neither family nor domestics enjoyed
+much sleep: all lay in anxious expectation of the extraordinary things
+that were likely to come to pass. Mewing of cats, screeching of owls,
+barking of dogs, drove the dustman[14] away every time he came sneaking
+in. The stable-boys heard the horses pant, snort, and kick; to the
+bailiff it seemed as if sacks were being dragged about the granary; the
+dairy-maid declared it was precisely like the noise of churning; and the
+housekeeper heard, plainly enough, a sort of rummaging in the pantry.
+Nor did sleep find its way into the gilded chamber. The lord of the
+manor and the Junker lay silent, from time to time casting a look at the
+little silver bell that hung between them; but it was mute, and so
+continued to be. When the tower-clock struck one, the Junker began to
+regard his wager as half-lost; but comforted himself with the
+reflection, that a loss to one's wife is merely a transfer from one hand
+to the other. In short, the night passed, and--as far as the
+tower-chamber was concerned--as quietly as if there had never been ghost
+or goblin in the world. With the first discernible peep of day-light,
+both the half-undressed gentlemen rose, and hastened, with a morning
+greeting, to the bold layer of spirits. They tapped at the door,--no
+"Come in." "They must both still be asleep." Papa opened the door--they
+entered--the lady's bed was deserted and the bed-clothes cast aside.
+"Bravo," cried the Junker, "she has taken flight and the Dun is mine."
+The old man did not utter a syllable, but proceeded to the servant's
+bed, where no one was to be seen; but, on raising the clothes, she
+appeared to view, with a face like crimson, and in a state of profuse
+perspiration. To her master's first eager inquiry she returned no
+answer, but stared at them both with a bewildered half-frantic look.
+Having at length recovered the faculty of speech, she informed them, in
+broken and unconnected sentences, that, soon after midnight, she had
+seen a terrific spectre come through the wall. In her fright she had
+buried herself under the bed-clothes, and had not afterwards ventured to
+raise them; of what subsequently took place she knew nothing. This,
+however, did not long continue a mystery, for the window was open, and
+under it stood a ladder--Froeken Mette had been carried off, but by whom?
+
+What an uproar was now in the mansion! what outcry, screaming, and
+maledictions without object--questions without answer! "After them!" was
+the first order, both of father and lover; but in what direction? The
+mother, the most sagacious of them all, proposed a general muster of the
+whole household, which the father undertook to carry into effect
+personally. Having, therefore, summoned each living being by name, he
+declared that no one was missing. The whole assembled corps were of the
+same opinion, until Fru Kirsten exclaimed, "Where is the writing lad?"
+"The writing lad! the writing lad!" now resounded from every mouth. They
+looked around--looked at each other--no! no writing lad was there. The
+bailiff, with two or three others, went over to the writing-room, and
+the master cried to the stable-boys, "Saddle the horses and bring them
+to the gate like thunder and lightning!" The bailiff soon returned, with
+a rueful countenance, and almost breathless, with the intelligence, that
+the missing sheep must actually have decamped, for the bed showed
+plainly that no one had slept in it that night; nor were his spurs or
+riding-whip to be found. At the same instant, one of the stable-boys
+came running with the news, that the Dun was away. All now stood as
+petrified, speechless and looking at each other, until Fru Kirsten broke
+the silence. "Our Froeken daughter," said she, "cannot have been carried
+off by a writing-boy; he only came sneaking here as a spy. If I greatly
+err not, the robber is from the west; see, therefore, if you cannot
+trace them on the road to Vium, and now away! It is even yet possible to
+overtake them, for the Dun cannot have gone any great distance with
+two." Her surmise was correct; on the road she mentioned, traces of a
+quick-trotting horse were plainly to be seen; and, as a further proof,
+not far from the mansion, a bow was found, and, a little further, a
+glove, both belonging to Froeken Mette.
+
+Armed with guns, pistols, and swords, master, Junker, bailiff, and
+gamekeeper, with four other well equipped men, hastened away in chase of
+the fugitives, while Fru Kirsten exclaimed, "After them! Bring them back
+dead or alive!" We will now accompany the lord of Ansbjerg a little way
+on his second expedition. As far as Vium, the traces were visible
+enough; but here they would have been lost, if a peasant, of whom they
+made inquiry, had not informed them, that about two hours before
+daybreak he had heard the tramp of a horse leaving the town in a
+westward direction. Profiting by this intelligence, they soon recovered
+the track, which continued in the same direction by the inn at Hvam.
+Here they learned that, about two hours before, the dogs had made a
+great disturbance. The speed of the fugitives, therefore, it was now
+evident, had began to slacken, as might also be seen by the traces. The
+pursuers had reached Sjoerup, where a man, standing before the mansion,
+had heard a horse pass by, and thought he could discern two persons on
+it. Now the track was at an end; here were many roads, all with deep
+narrow wheel-ruts; which was the one to follow? The fugitives had
+followed none of them, probably from fear that the horse might fall, but
+had ridden among the heath. The pursuers now halted to hold a
+consultation. Of three high roads, one followed a north-west, one a
+south-west direction, the third lay between them. While these, one after
+another, were under consideration, the conversation turned on the great
+event of the night, and particularly on the suspicious writing-lad. One
+of the men remarked, that it occurred to him that he had seen the youth
+before, though he could not just then recollect where. Another had seen
+a stranger a few days previously speaking with him privately in the
+wood, and he thought the stranger addressed him twice by the title of
+Cornet. Now a sudden light burst in upon the old gentleman. "Ha!"
+exclaimed he, "then let us take the middle road leading to Vestervig. I
+dare swear that the writing-lad is no other than the Major's third son,
+who is a Cornet in the cuirassiers. I remember that Fru Kirsten once
+cautioned me against him, and said that he came prowling after Froeken
+Mette. And you," cried he to the bailiff, "yourself saw the handwriting
+of the bailiff at Vestervig. Either he has made fools of us all, or the
+letter was forged. And all the while he was so still, orderly, and
+diligent, so courteous, and so humble, that I could never have imagined
+he was of noble race." Then putting his horse into a trot, "He who first
+gets sight of the runaways," said he, "shall have three crowns." The
+troop had about six miles to ride before they could reach the ford
+through the rivulet at Karup; in the meanwhile, therefore, with our
+reader's leave, I will hasten forward to our fugitives, who have just
+reached the opposite side. The poor Dun, exhausted under her double
+burden, and with the first four or five miles' hurried flight, walked
+slowly and tottering up the heath-covered bank. The Cornet--for it
+really was he--from time to time cast an anxious look backwards, and at
+each time gained a kiss from his dear Mette, who sat behind him, holding
+him fast round the waist. "Do you yet see nothing?" she asked, in a tone
+of anxiety, for she herself did not dare to look round. "Nothing yet,"
+answered he; "but I fear--the sun is already a little above the
+horizon--they must be on the road in pursuit of us. If the mare could
+but hold out." "But where is your brother's carriage?" asked she, after
+a pause.
+
+"It ought to have met us by the rivulet at day-break; nor can I imagine
+what detains it, for my brother promised to send his young Hungarian
+servant with it, whose life I saved five years ago in the war with the
+Turks, when I received this sabre cut in the face. That he is not here
+is perfectly inexplicable. We have still eight miles before we get out
+of the heath."
+
+While he was thus speaking, they had reached the top of the bank, and
+the great west heath lay spread out before them like a vast sea; but no
+carriage, no living being was to be seen. The Cornet stopped to let the
+mare take breath, at the same time making a half turn, the more easily
+to survey that part of the heath that lay behind them. This was also
+naked and desolate; nothing was there to be seen save a few scattered
+turf stacks, nothing to be heard but the cry of the heathcock, the
+rushing of the rivulet, the panting of the mare, and their own sighs.
+Awhile they thus remained, until the Froeken broke silence with the
+question, "Is there not something moving yonder?" She uttered this in a
+suppressed voice, as if she feared it would be heard on the other side
+of the waste.
+
+"There is no time for staying longer," answered he; "I am fearful it is
+your father who is coming yonder." With these words, he turned again
+towards the west.
+
+"Oh! my father," exclaimed Mette sighing, and at the same time clasping
+her lover still more closely.
+
+He again looked round. "They seem to draw nearer," said he; "if I urge
+on the mare, I fear she will fall." They rode onwards a short distance,
+he with an oppressed, she with an anxiously throbbing heart.
+
+"I must walk," cried he, and dismounted, "that will so far help; do not
+look back, dearest girl."
+
+"Ah heaven! can it be our pursuers?"
+
+"There are seven or eight of them, as far as I can discern."
+
+"How far off may they be?" asked Mette again.
+
+"Scarcely more than two miles," he replied, and notwithstanding his
+admonition she again looked back.
+
+"I see no one," said she.
+
+"Nor do I at this moment," he answered, "they are most probably down in
+a valley: one is just now making his appearance, and now another. Come,
+come, poor Bel," cried he, drawing the mare after him, "you are
+accustomed at other times to carry an arched neck, and to lift your
+feet high enough; now you drag them along the ground, and stretch out
+your neck like a fish when it is being hauled out of the water."
+
+After a pause, the Froeken asked, "Can they see us?"
+
+"They ride point blank after us," answered the Cornet, "and gain more
+and more upon us."
+
+"Heavens! if they overtake us, I fear my father will kill you, dearest
+Holger! but I will shield you with my weak body, for I cannot outlive
+you."
+
+During these painful, interrupted conversations, they had travelled
+about two miles from the rivulet, across the western heath. Their
+pursuers were already close to the east bank, and might be both
+distinguished and counted. The apprehension of the fugitives was rapidly
+passing into despair; there seemed not a gleam of hope. The Cornet vied
+with the mare in panting, the Froeken wept. At this moment, a tall man
+clad in brown, with a gun in one hand, and a low-crowned hat in the
+other, started up before them out of the high heather. The fugitives
+made a stand. "Who is there? Where are you from?" cried the Cornet, in a
+military tone.
+
+"From there," answered the man, "where the houses stand out of doors,
+and the geese go barefoot. And where are you from? and where are you
+going? But stop, have not we two seen each other before? Are you not the
+person who lately begged for me, when Niels keeper would have laid me
+sprawling?"
+
+"Black Mads!" exclaimed the Cornet.
+
+"So they call me," answered the poacher; "but how happens it that I meet
+you here so early with such a pretty companion? You have also apparently
+been out poaching. If I can help you in any way, let me know." "In time
+of need," said the Cornet, "the first friend is the best. I am the
+Major's son at Vestervig, and have been fetching a bride from Ansbjerg.
+Her father and a whole troop of horse are after us. If you can save or
+conceal us, I will be grateful while I live; but it must be instantly,
+for they are on the other side of the rivulet."
+
+Holding his hat before his eyes on account of the sun, Mads exclaimed,
+"Faith! here we have him sure enough, with all his people. Kinsmen are
+hardest towards kinsmen, as the fox said, when the red dogs were after
+him. If you will promise never to make known the place to which I take
+you, I will try to hit upon some plan."
+
+The Froeken promised, and the Cornet swore.
+
+"Hear then, children," continued he, "they are just now riding along the
+bank on the opposite side of the rivulet; before they can arrive on this
+side, a good time must pass; and they cannot see what we are about. In
+the mean while we will set up a hedge for them that they will not so
+easily jump over." Saying these words, he laid down his gun, drew forth
+his tinder-box and struck fire. He then rubbed two or three handfuls of
+dry moss together, placed the tinder-box among it, blew till he caused
+it to blaze, then cast it down into the midst of the heather, where,
+after crackling and smoking for a few seconds, the fire spread itself in
+all directions. While engaged in this occupation, the object of which
+was not immediately manifest to the fugitives, Black Mads did not cease
+giving vent to his thoughts in the following broken sentences:--"The
+wind is with us, the heather's dry; now Niels keeper can soon get a
+light for his pipe--it is the second time he has had the benefit of my
+tinder-box; the man will, no doubt, curse and swagger about the
+heath-fowl, because I roast them without basting; but need knows no law,
+and a brave fellow takes care of himself. See now! it's beginning to
+smoulder." With these words he rose, and said to the Cornet, "Do now as
+you see I do, pull up a head of heather, set fire to it, run ten paces
+towards the north, and fire the heath; then pull up another, run, and
+again set fire, all towards the north, till you approach that little
+heath-hill yonder two or three gunshots distant. I will do the same
+towards the south, and then we will run as quickly back. The Froeken can
+in the mean time stay here with the horse. It will soon be done: now let
+us begin! Light before and dark behind." With this formula the poacher
+commenced his operations. The Cornet followed his instructions, and
+soon a tract of heath, two miles in breadth, stood in a blaze, and both
+incendiaries immediately rejoined the trembling Froeken.
+
+"We have now earned our breakfast!" cried Mads, "be so good as follow
+me, and put up with very humble accommodation--but what can we do with
+this?" he gave the mare a slap with his open hand, "Can you find your
+way home alone?"
+
+"O," said the Froeken, "she follows me wherever I go."
+
+"No, that she certainly must not, for she would betray us: the door of
+my house is too narrow for her to enter, and we dare not let her stand
+without. You are too good to suffer harm," said he to the mare, while
+taking off the saddle and pillion, "but every one is nearest to
+himself."
+
+The Cornet, who saw his design, took his mistress by the hand and led
+her some stops aside, as if to place her beyond the range of the
+conflagration. The poacher took his piece, cocked it, went up to the
+side of the mare, held it behind her ear, and fired. The Froeken turned
+round with a shriek of horror, just in time to see her poor Dun, sinking
+down among the heather. Tears of pity flowed down the pale cheeks of the
+sorrowful girl.
+
+"The jade is as dead as a herring," cried Mads, by way of comforting
+her; "she did not even hear the report."
+
+He then took off the bridle, laid saddle and pillion on one shoulder,
+his gun on the other, and began to move onwards, at the same time
+encouraging the lovers to follow as fast as they could, with the
+grateful intelligence that his castle lay at no great distance.
+
+"Only don't look behind you," added he, at the same time quickening his
+pace, "but think of Lot's wife."
+
+The Froeken, though in a riding habit,[15] was unable to go so fast
+through the tall heather. She frequently stumbled and entangled herself
+in the branches. The Cornet, therefore, without waiting for permission,
+took her in his arms, and, notwithstanding her reluctance, bore her
+away.
+
+"Now we are at home," at length cried their conductor, at the same time
+flinging saddle and package at the foot of a little heath-grown hill.
+
+"Where," cried the Cornet, also relieving himself of his burden. He
+looked around without discovering any thing bearing the remotest
+resemblance to a human habitation. A suspicion darted rapidly into his
+mind; but for a moment only. Had the man been a murderous robber, he
+could long ago have executed his villanous purpose without any risk of
+resistance, as long as he himself had literally both hands full.
+
+"Here," answered the poacher; at the same time raising a very broad
+piece of turf and laying it aside, he said, "Some days since I lived
+above ground, there I might not remain; but it is a poor mouse that has
+but one hole." While saying this, he lifted and laid aside four or five
+stones, each as large as a strong man could carry, and now an opening
+was disclosed to view sufficiently wide for a person to creep into it.
+
+"It looks as if they had been digging out foxes here," said the Cornet.
+
+"So it should look," answered Mads; "but before we go in, we will just
+see around us, not on account of the Ansbjerg folks, who cannot yet have
+passed by the fire, but there might possibly be others in the
+neighbourhood." They looked on every side: to the south, west, and north,
+not a living being was to be seen, and all the eastern quarter was
+hidden in clouds of smoke so dense that the beams of the morning sun
+were unable to penetrate them.
+
+"Have the kindness to stoop," said Mads, while he himself crept in on
+all fours, "and just follow me. The door is low, but the place will very
+well hold us; I will bring your baggage in instantly."
+
+With some difficulty they followed their conductor, and soon found
+themselves in the subterranean dwelling, a spacious apartment, the walls
+of which were composed of huge unhewn stones, and the roof of beams
+laid close to each other, from which hung a lamp, whose faint light but
+imperfectly illumined the objects present. On the one side were two
+beds, a larger and a smaller; on the other a bench, a table, two or
+three chairs, a chest, and two hanging presses. In the smaller bed lay
+three naked children, who, on the entrance of the strangers, dived, like
+so many young wild ducks, under the covering. On the side of the large
+bed sat Lisbeth, _alias_ Madame Mads, knitting a stocking, which in her
+astonishment she let fall with both hands into her lap. At the end of
+the table stood a little red-haired man, clad in skin from his chin to
+his knees, whom the host introduced to his guest as his good friend
+Mikkel Foxtail. "We were once digging here," added he, smiling, and
+pointing to Mikkel, "after his half-brother,[16] and so found this nook.
+Mike thinks it has been a robber's cave in former times; but it may also
+have been some old warrior's burial-place, for there stood there two or
+three black pots with bones and ashes in them." At the name of "robber's
+cave," a shudder passed over all the Froeken's frame: her lover observing
+it, said in French, "Fear not, my dearest, here we are secure; but it
+pains me that the first habitation into which I conduct you, should
+inspire you with horror and disgust."
+
+"I will show you all my conveniences and luxuries," continued the
+poacher, at the same time opening a door in the background. "There is my
+kitchen, where we dare have fire only in the night; here is also my
+dining-room," added he, pointing to a salting trough and some legs of
+venison that were hung to smoke over the fire-place. "Bread and meat I
+have also got, and I bought a drop of mead in Viborg with the last
+deer-skin." With these words, he set a stone bottle and a wooden dish,
+with the aforesaid provisions on the table. "Eat and drink as much as
+you desire, and of whatever the house affords; and when you wish to
+depart, you shall have a trustworthy guide."
+
+The Cornet pressed the hand of the honest Troglodyte, and said, "At the
+present moment I have nothing to offer you but my thanks--"
+
+"I require nothing," said Black Mads, interrupting him; "but promise me
+only that you will never betray me or my cave."
+
+With the most solemn assurances, this promise was given; and the lovers
+now partook of a breakfast, to which hunger and joy at their safety
+imparted a double relish.
+
+At the suggestion of their host, they resolved on waiting till evening,
+before they again entered on their interrupted journey. In the meantime,
+Mikkel offered to go out and reconnoitre; both to watch the pursuers,
+and make inquiry after the carriage from Vestervig. The first time he
+went no further than the opening of the cavern, from whence he informed
+them, that the party had ridden round the burnt space, and, in two
+divisions, proceeded westwards. Some hours after, he ventured out a
+short distance on the heath, and returned with the intelligence, that
+they had now taken a north-west direction, and that the heath would most
+probably be quite safe, as they could not suspect that the fugitives
+were still on it, and had no doubt been led out of the right track by
+false information. A little past noon Mads and Mikkel went out together,
+the latter to order a conveyance in one of the villages lying to the
+west. After an hour had passed, Mads returned with the intelligence that
+he had met with a young fellow who appeared to him somewhat suspicious,
+and who from his accent seemed to be a German. He inquired the way to
+the inn at Hvam, and whether some travellers had not passed by in the
+course of the day. From the description of the young man's person and
+dress, the Cornet felt convinced that it was his brother's Hungarian
+servant. They therefore both went out, and were so fortunate as to
+overtake him about a mile from the cave. We will not detain the reader
+with the Hungarian's account relative to the non-appearance of the
+carriage, but merely mention, that both he and the coachman had mistaken
+for Karup rivulet that which runs some miles to the west, and where the
+carriage was then waiting. With equal brevity, we will further remark,
+that a little before noon he had been stopped and interrogated by the
+pursuers, and that he had not only skilfully extricated himself out of
+this examination, but had sent them in a direction which he rightly
+judged would not lead them into the track of the fugitives, of whose
+fate, however, he was in a state of the most painful uncertainty.
+
+The next morning, the Cornet and his fair companion arrived safe at
+Vestervig, where they became man and wife, and obtained from his elder
+brother, the owner of the estate, a small country house at Thye for
+their habitation. Junker Kai got at first a galling disappointment, and
+secondly, after the lapse of a twelve-month, a still richer Froeken from
+the Isle of Fyen. The lord of Ansbjerg and his lady washed their hands
+clean of their daughter, and, notwithstanding the humble and penitent
+letters of her and her husband, were not to be reconciled.
+
+
+THE HORSE-GARDEN
+
+Near the west end of Ansbjerg wood there is an open space, consisting of
+an extensive green, entirely surrounded by old venerable beeches.
+Annually, on the first afternoon of Whitsuntide, the greater part of the
+inhabitants of the neighbouring parishes are accustomed to assemble at
+this spot. On that day many houses stand empty, and in many are left
+only the blind and the bed-ridden; for the halt and crippled, provided
+they lack not the sense of seeing, must once a-year enjoy themselves
+amid the new fresh verdure, and--like Noah's dove--bring home a bright
+green beechen bough to their dusky dwellings.
+
+What joy! what shoals! The Horse-Garden--so is this trysting-place
+named--at this time resembles a bee-hive; incessant bustle, endless
+pressing backwards and forwards, in and out: every soul bent only on
+sucking in the honey of joyousness, and imbibing the exhilarating summer
+air. How they hasten, how they flutter from flower to flower! greet,
+meet, separate, familiarly, gaily and hastily! How many a young swain
+brings or finds here the lady of his heart! At a considerable distance
+from the hive may be heard its ceaseless hum and tumult.
+
+The nearer you approach, the more varied is the joyous uproar. The
+monotonous hum resolves itself into shout, song, and laughter, rattling
+of leaves, sound of fiddles and flutes. Swarms pour in and out on every
+side of the green wood. The lower orders in their Sunday garments, the
+higher classes in elegant summer attire, cavaliers in black, ladies in
+white.
+
+"Is there dancing here?"
+
+"Oh, yes, here is a forest ball, a dance on the elastic greensward."
+
+"Do you see that village fiddler by the large beech yonder, towering
+high above the surrounding multitude? Do you see how rapidly his bow
+dances up and down amid hats adorned with flowers? And there is a
+regular country dance, a real Scottish!"
+
+"Am I in the Deer-park, in Charlottenlund?"[17] you will ask. "See what
+a number of carriages, elegant equipages, coachmen in livery, horses
+with plated harness, tents with cold meat and confectionery, coffee-pots
+on the fire, families reclining on the grass around a basket of
+eatables!"
+
+You are in the Horse-Garden. This is Whitsuntide's evening in Lysgaard
+district,--the beauteous Nature's homage-day. Thus is this holiday
+celebrated till the sun goes down; but formerly it was only the common
+people of two or three neighbouring parishes that assembled here, though
+this innocent merry-making is, without doubt, an ancient custom, as old
+as the wood itself.
+
+Ten years after the events related in the foregoing chapters had taken
+place, the summer festival was, as usual, held in the Horse-Garden. A
+man from whose grandson I in my young days heard the story, gave the
+following account of it:--
+
+"It was during my first year's service as bailiff at Kjaersholm, I had my
+sweetheart at Vium; she was distantly related to the clergyman there. On
+the first day of Whitsuntide she agreed to meet me in the Horse-Garden,
+where we arrived so early that we found ourselves the only persons in
+the place. We wandered for an hour or two in the wood, until the sound
+of a violin announced to us that the people were assembled. We went to
+the spot as lookers on, sat down and observed the dancers. Shortly
+after, I noticed that two gentlemen, with a lady and two children, were
+approaching along the path leading from Ansbjerg. Being a stranger in
+the neighbourhood, I inquired of my companion who they were. 'Hush,'
+answered she, 'it is the family. The tall stout man is the old gentleman
+who became a widower about five years since. The young one, with a scar
+on his cheek, is his son-in-law, the lady his daughter, and the two
+Junkers their children. Ten years ago she eloped by night with the young
+gentleman. While the old lady was living, a reconciliation was not to be
+thought of; but after her death, the old gentleman allowed himself to be
+persuaded, and he received them into his house. At his decease they will
+inherit both house and land.' The party continued standing for some
+time, amusing themselves with looking at the country folks, and then
+gave them something for drink. On a tree that had been levelled by the
+wind, sat two elderly men, with a jug of beer between them, and each
+with his pipe. On the family approaching them they rose and took the
+pipes from their mouths.
+
+"'Sit still,' I heard the young man say; and turning to the elder, 'you
+are now better friends than when you struck a light for Niels' pipe by
+Karup rivulet?'
+
+"'Yes, gracious sir,' answered the person addressed with a smile; 'there
+is no animal however small that will not fight for its life. It was a
+bad business, yet has turned out well.' The party laughed.
+
+"'Be careful,' said the old gentleman in going away, 'that you do not
+get jammed between the branches of the deer you are riding on there.' At
+this they all laughed heartily, and I could, from time to time, hear the
+old man's jolly roar, that resounded far in the wood.
+
+"'What does that allude to?' said I to my companion, 'and who are these
+two old men?'
+
+"'The one,' answered she, 'in the green frock, with the gray hat, is the
+gamekeeper. The other, in the brown habit, is Mads the under-ranger, who
+lives close by, and whom the young gentleman brought with him. The story
+of the deer I will tell you.'
+
+"While she was relating this and the whole history of the elopement, my
+notice was attracted by a pair, who were having a dance to themselves,
+while all the others stood watching them.
+
+"'Who are they?' inquired I; 'they look a little remarkable,
+particularly the youth in the long yellow skin ineffables, in that blue
+jacket, and that extraordinary cap on his head?'
+
+"'He is no youth,' answered she, 'but a married man; it is his wife he
+is dancing with; he comes from Turkey, and accompanied his young master
+home from the wars. He is secretary and gardener, and is both pot and
+pan in the house. His wife has been long in the young lady's service,
+and, they say, helped her away when she eloped from her parent's
+house.'"
+
+And now my story is ended. Many ages of man lie between then and now.
+There has been ringing and singing over several generations since the
+persons therein commemorated passed to eternal rest. Both the old and
+the young lords of Ansbjerg have long been forgotten in the
+neighbourhood, and no one now knows aught to tell of Black Mads. The
+manor-house has often changed its proprietors, the lands have been sold
+and divided.
+
+Of the robber's cave alone, an obscure and confused tradition has been
+preserved. On the great heath, about two miles west of Karup stream, are
+some heath-covered hills, which yet bear, and ever will bear that
+sinister name; but no one now thinks that there was once an asylum for
+tender and steadfast love, a paradise underground.
+
+
+
+
+A RIDE TO MAGNESIA.
+
+
+The sun was already below the horizon, when we entered on the plain of
+Magnesia. Our poor brutes were sadly jaded; for the latter part of the
+journey had been very severe. For some time it had been over a rocky
+path, strewn with loose stones; and the last stage is by a pretty
+abrupt, and very rough descent. My poor animal had cast a shoe, and the
+only relief that could be afforded in his calamity, was to dismount and
+lead him. We, too, were somewhat tired; but the glorious sight that
+burst upon us, bathed our spirits afresh in the waters of invigoration.
+The road had, for some time, kept us dodging among crags and corners,
+which allowed no prospect, and where, indeed, we were well employed
+picking out our way. But when we emerged, what a sight did we behold!
+One of the noble Asiatic plains stretched before us. Far as the eye
+could reach, to right and left, the green expanse extended; and
+immediately before us, it was only in the far distance that the boundary
+of hills was seen. Here and there clumps of trees variegated the turf;
+and a fair river wound itself amid all, looking like some huge and
+silvery serpent disporting itself in this apt solitude. Think how
+beautiful such a scene must have looked at evening, when the tops of the
+hills, and a few fleecy clouds were rosy in the sunbeams. Its expression
+was Paradisaical, the rather because the empire of Peace was invaded by
+no sight nor sound. The air was absolutely still, except for the sound
+of our own footsteps: as for our voices, after the first expression of
+delight, they were hushed. We seemed to be gazing on some primeval
+solitude,--on the spot where Astraea might have last lingered, and whence
+the impress of her footstep had not been yet obliterated by the violence
+of man. It was a perfect presentation of the still and calm, and touched
+the same associations that are made to thrill by Flaxman or Retsch.
+
+On the verge of this plain, snugly ensconced under the lee of the hills
+we had been descending, lies the city of Magnesia. It is of reverend
+aspect, and quite worthy of its incomparable situation. It is placed so
+closely under the hills, that its details are very gradually unfolded to
+one advancing. First appears a minaret, that most graceful of
+architectural conceptions; then comes a burying ground, and at last peep
+out the domes of the baths and mosques, and particular houses. The place
+has quite the air of having come to hide itself in this quiet nook; and
+its inhabitants seemed to be of the same mind, for not one of them could
+we see. At such an hour, poetic justice demanded that there should have
+been, scattered over the ways, groups of peasants returning from their
+toil, and citizens refreshing themselves with an evening walk. But here
+seemed to be no fields to cultivate. All looked as if it were common
+land; and one could but feel what a first-rate exercising ground Oglu
+Pascha had for his cavalry. As for the citizens, walking does not come
+within their idea of enjoyment; to which exertion is so essentially
+opposed, that probably half of them would forego their very pipes, if
+smoking were attainable only on condition of filling and lighting for
+one's self.
+
+Now, let me say, that a wayfarer's trouble is not always over when he
+has arrived at the city of his destination. I should like to put any one
+who thinks it is, outside of one or two places that I know, and tell him
+to find his way in. _Le grand capitain_ thanked the garrison of Malta
+for having had the kindness not only to capitulate, but to open the
+gates for him, as otherwise he did not see how he should ever have got
+in. And so, I opine, there be places where a capitulation would be
+incomplete without the attendance of one of the indigenous to act as
+pilot. I am afraid that I might have taken this journey in vain, and
+sighed in exclusion, had I been left to my own devices for the effecting
+of an entry. The river surrounds, in great part, the walls; and one
+might make pretty well the entire circuit before hitting the right point
+of ingress. But one of us was gifted with topographical instinct in
+high degree, and at once nosed the course that was to lead us to the
+bridge. Our poor brutes seemed to sympathise in the refreshment of our
+spirits; and even my unfortunate Rosinante consented to his burden, and
+put his best foot foremost. One of his feet, alas! was what maritime
+gentlemen would call a regular _worser_--the foot which lacked a shoe,
+and which, defenceless, had to sustain such rude battering. The hoof of
+this foot was cracked, and I was in much tribulation, both on the poor
+horse's account and on my own. But I made the best of the circumstances;
+encouraging the animal with all that I could remember and imitate of the
+dialect in which man converses with the horse; and comforting myself
+with thinking how soon the poor fellow would be stabled and shod.
+
+The bridge, over which we passed, was very pretty and not very shaky,
+nor by any means so broken-backed as are the greater number of Turkish
+specimens. At the moment of our passing, it was lined with venerable old
+fellows, who had turned out to enjoy their evening pipe. They were
+dressed in the most approved and unreformed style, and many of them had
+long beards, descending to the girdle. They sat in perfect stillness, no
+man speaking to, or seeming to care for his neighbour. Indeed, from
+experiences among them, we might almost argue that though man is by
+nature gregarious, he is conversational only by acquirement. At any
+rate, they show how few words may answer all the purposes of business,
+and how little all of us would talk, if wives and domestic matters were
+proscribed subjects. As we passed through the midst of them, not a soul
+looked at us, not a nudge did one of them give to his neighbour, not a
+puff less of smoke was emitted. One might have concluded it to be with
+them an every day occurrence to see three Europeans ride in such style
+into their town. Yet you might be bold to say, that they had never seen
+such an entry before. The mode of travelling is so strictly regulated by
+necessity, that, in all probability, of all the few Franks who have
+entered this place, none have ever done so in the independent style we
+affected. At least if, by chance, some couple may have done so, it has
+certainly been where there has existed a knowledge of the people and
+language. If our appearance did not at first enlighten them as to our
+greenness and ignorance, we soon stood confessed by our attempts at
+inquiry. Our first object was, of course, to discover the habitation of
+the Seraph, whose name we had written down in our own character; as the
+hieroglyphics which stood for direction to the letter would have been no
+guide to us. Now, our stock of words did not go the length of any direct
+inquiry; for _Katch Sahet_, our old stand-by, was now used up.
+
+"Seraph,--Seraph,"--we sang out, with as strong an expression of inquiry
+as we could throw into our looks and gestures. At this some of them
+certainly did look up, but with the least excitement conceivable. One of
+the more benevolent vouchsafed to us a few words, but soon stopped with
+the most unmistakeable look of pity when he saw that we did not
+understand him. Evidently he pitied our ignorance and despised us. No
+farther attempt was made to enlighten us; nor were the peaceful seniors
+in the least discomposed at the unsuccessful result of the inquiries
+that possibly were uttered in the speech of the old man. We had nothing
+for it but to go a-head, and trust to the chance of falling in with some
+one better skilled in the language of signs. Oh, thought we, had it been
+any where near Naples that this escapade had conducted us, we might have
+done well. Among those pantomimic people the language of the lips
+becomes an unimaginative and lazy expedient, by no means necessary to
+the uses of communication. Nature, whose voice is one to all, has given
+to them such force of gesture, that it must be a very long and difficult
+story that they could not tell or understand without words. But poor old
+John Turk is a different animal, and can be dealt with only by dialectic
+precision. Never had we seen such an exemplification of their incurious,
+impassible diathesis as they now presented to our cost. We turned back a
+long and admiring gaze at the group as we passed onwards, for truly it
+was a most picturesque position. But we had to revert to the present
+necessity of finding some lodging, more perhaps on account of the horses
+than of ourselves. For us it would have been no great hardship to pass
+the night, should need be, on the dry soft turf, beneath the clear sky,
+which shone so purely above us that we absolved the neighbourhood from
+all suspicion of marshes, which are the only objection to sleeping in
+the open air in this country. All looked dry, and clear, and pure. But
+our poor horses, who had been beguiled into an effort by the sight of
+the town, began now again to droop, and evidently considered us
+chargeable with a breach of promise in thus prolonging their labours.
+Whither to go we could not tell. A labyrinth of streets lay before us,
+and amongst them it was our object to pick out the way to the Armenian
+quarter. Turks keep early hours, and but few people were astir in the
+streets when we entered, and after our wanderings had continued but a
+short time scarcely a soul was to be seen. Now I am prepared to say,
+that no desolation is like the desolation of strangeness in a large
+city. St. Jerome in the wilderness, or Stylites on his pillar, were not
+more lonely than many a poor recluse in our city of two million
+inhabitants. And we ourselves would have been infinitely more at ease
+had we been called upon to bivouac beyond the sight of human habitation.
+
+Up one street and down another we passed, till we were wearied almost
+beyond endurance, and really uneasy for our cattle. We met no one; or if
+we did, no one that noticed us. The muffled figure of some woman would
+pass by, who, when she saw the gaoors, would draw her veil yet more
+closely over her, and hurry, on her way. One or two children stopped to
+stare at us; but we knew experimentally that their untutored fanaticism
+was more likely to have a shy at our heads, than to attempt to
+understand or direct us. We kept a sharp look-out for some Greek or
+Armenian house wherein, for lucre's sake, we might be received in the
+first instance: reserving to ourselves the introduction to the Seraph as
+a _bonne bouche_. But still we wearied on, and saw no hospice. All was,
+shut up, and closed. They were evidently not of the social temperament
+that distinguished our Smyrna friends,--no doors were open, no family
+parties visible, no suppers spread out. Some two hours passed
+away--night fairly descended; and then the place might have passed for a
+city of the dead.
+
+The fix was becoming unquestionably awkward, and our mirth, which had
+thriven wonderfully on the absurdity of our position, was passing over
+to what old ladies call the wrong side of our mouths. Such an incurious,
+apathetic set we had never before met. If our expectation had not been
+exactly that some bustling Boniface, would have come rushing out to
+welcome us to his best parlour, we had at least reckoned on finding some
+person who knew the value of money, and the requirements of strangers.
+But we were completely nonplused at the actual complexion of affairs,
+and I am afraid began to be out of humour with this particular part of
+the Sultan's dominions. Still, however, we retained that facetious
+satisfaction that every wise man finds at the bottom of a really good
+embroglio,--viz., the sense of having concocted an adventure, and the
+curiosity of seeing what will come of it. Thus, though appearances were
+as if we should have to remain riding about those streets _in
+infinitum_, we knew that something or other must turn up; and were only
+a little impatient for the denouement.
+
+At last we stumbled on the benevolent stranger who was to help us out of
+our difficulty. A man in Christian costume was seen hastening towards us
+with the air of one who had heard that his friends were in trouble, and
+needed his assistance.
+
+"Bona sera, signori."
+
+How musical did the words sound!
+
+"Oh man," said we, "_per carita_, tell us what good soul of a Greek will
+take us into his house this night."
+
+"_Padroni miei_, you are too late to get into any house this night. They
+are all gone to bed, and their houses are shut up. You must go to the
+Khan."
+
+"Do you know where the Seraph ---- lives?"
+
+"Surely I know--it is not far from this spot."
+
+"Then, if you would be very kind, you will take us to his house: for we
+have a letter for him, and we hope to put up at his house."
+
+"_Andiam_,--come along; it is late, but the Seraph will not have gone to
+bed, for he is rich, and has much business. Only, my masters, you must
+make haste, so that if he cannot receive you, I may have time to lead
+you to the Khan before that be also shut."
+
+This last was a very disagreeable suggestion; but we would not admit in
+our own minds the probability of our needing the resources of public
+entertainment. We had made up our conclusions that the Seraph was a very
+good fellow; and that no good fellow would turn us adrift under the
+circumstances, even though the entertainment of us might cost him a
+little inconvenience.
+
+For something like another quarter of an hour we followed our benevolent
+guide, who led us into a quarter of comfortable and respectable
+appearance. It was not inferior to the Armenian quarter of Smyrna,
+except in respect to pictorial effect as a whole. The houses were
+particularly good, and built in a more seclusive spirit; the better ones
+being almost all detached. Before one of the very best of these our
+guide stopped.
+
+"Here lives the Seraph ----."
+
+It was a domicile of most promising appearance, surrounded by a garden,
+and in every respect snug and unexceptionable. We had so lived in hopes
+of finding this house, and so thoroughly made up our minds to stop
+therein, that we were nearly riding at once into the enclosure as if we
+had been invited and expected. We were discreet enough, though, to
+consider that the worthy Armenian might possibly be a little startled at
+the unexpected apparition of such a party, so detached K---- as a
+deputation, to present our compliments, and accept the invitation which
+we doubted not would follow.
+
+J---- and myself remained without the gate to take care of the steeds,
+and to expect the result of our embassy. We exchanged congratulations on
+the good fortune of having brought up in such snug quarters, and agreed
+that we were all right now. If the Seraph could not receive us himself,
+he would be sure to know some family of the place which would, on his
+recommendation, receive us. But after some few minutes we began to think
+our messenger was a long time away, and I determined to have a peep at
+what was going on. I entered the garden, and saw at once that the work
+was in no prosperous condition--the letter was not even yet read. The
+worthy merchant had evidently been disturbed in the prosecution of
+culinary duties, for a vessel of water was before him, and a lettuce in
+his hand. He had taken a good look at K----, who was not quite unabashed
+at this cold reception, and was now minutely inspecting the letter
+before opening it. Like most moneyed men, he was very silent and very
+deliberate. At last he got the length of opening the letter, and slowly
+read it through. This being achieved, it did not seem to occur to him
+that it was necessary to say any thing to us. The scene was much such as
+might take place at the reception of some poor relative by a rich London
+merchant.
+
+"Signore Seraph," said K----, "our friend John gave us this letter to
+you, because he thought you might like to be of some service to us
+during our short visit."
+
+"What can I do for you?"
+
+"You can tell us of some house where we can put up for the night."
+
+"I do not know any such house. There is none such in Magnesia."
+
+"You cannot mean to say that none will receive the friends of your
+countryman, John."
+
+"Gentlemen, you must go to the Khan. I know of no place but the Khan. In
+the Khan you will find excellent accommodation." And having said thus
+much, he recommenced scuttling about among his cookery, and fairly
+turned the cold shoulder on the whole party of strangers.
+
+Now this gentleman was a bad specimen of his kind, thus to dishonour the
+recommendation of his very respectable friend at Smyrna. Or perhaps
+something had gone wrong with him that day on 'Change. Certain it is
+that such a reception we had never before experienced. In every place to
+which we had come, we had always found some one who, for love or money,
+was glad to receive us. In more than one case, it had been for the
+former consideration; and indeed in some villages it is the recognised
+privilege of the greatest man to receive the wayfarer. It is to them a
+rare occasion of playing the entertainer, and, besides, gives them an
+opportunity of hearing all sorts of travellers' tales. Besides, it is a
+good office, which they themselves may require at any time; and it is,
+even on sordid grounds, good policy for them to establish relations of
+hospitality throughout the country. One case is in my recollection,
+where a large party of us, with I know not how many followers and
+horses, were received most cheerfully, though arriving at a late hour,
+and in such formidable numbers. The most hospitable attention was paid
+to us, and abundant provision of all kinds made; and at our departing
+our entertainers would receive no penny of recompense. And other such
+can I remember, though none perhaps where the demand was so strong.
+
+Rejected from the gate of the Seraph, whom we voted a barbarian and a
+curmudgeon, our ambition resolved itself into the anxiety to reach the
+Khan before they shut up for the night. Our new acquaintance, who had
+guided us to this inhospitable threshold, was waiting for us outside, as
+though in distrust of our being received. He stuck by us like a good man
+and true, till he had conducted us far away to the upper part of the
+town, where lies the Khan.
+
+We saw a large building, with a frontage something like Newgate. On a
+rude sort of divan, in the doorway, sat the Khandgi smoking, who gave
+not the least sign of noticing our approach. Through the doorway we had
+a perspective view of an inner court of considerable extent, in
+different parts of which glimmered the cheerful blaze of fire and lamp.
+Several people were passing to and fro, and altogether the place looked
+far more life-like than the dull streets through which we had been
+passing.
+
+Our friend approached and saluted the Khandgi, who returned the
+compliment with all grave civility. A colloquy then followed on the
+subject of ourselves, during which the Turk read our personal
+presentments with some apparent interest. It probably required some
+scrutiny to convince him that men travelling thus unattended were not
+vagabonds. Perhaps the same idea had something to do with the
+shortcomings of our friend the Seraph. In the present case the result
+was of a more satisfactory kind, for the Khandgi uttered a courteous
+welcome, and motioned to us to dismount. Our friend, to whom we had
+previously explained our necessities, told us that, in consideration of
+his request, the Khandgi would take the trouble of supplying our wants
+in the way of eating, though, as the bazaar was long since closed, we
+should have to wait some time for our supper. We were only too glad to
+hear that there was any prospect of a refection, and, thanking him
+heartily for his good offices, we entered the caravanserai.
+
+Immediately at the entrance of this hostelry was an uncommonly snug
+little apartment, wherein many of the more sociable of the guests were
+taking their baccy. Our will was very good to have made a temporary
+lodgement here while the more substantial repast was in course of
+preparation. But we followed the respectable gentleman to whose care we
+had been consigned. Our luggage was not very cumbersome, consisting only
+of our saddles and holsters, which we were able to remove at once, as
+the two hours' patrolling had quite cooled the horses. Poor things! they
+had still to wait for their provender, for though we signified that we
+wished them to be fed directly, the authorities gave us to understand
+that they must wait. They have a great objection in these parts to feed
+any particular horse, or horses, except at the same time with all the
+others, believing that those of the animals who have nothing to eat,
+hearing the others chumping their corn, are made envious. It is but fair
+to them to say, that they are very kind to the brute creation. To their
+care we left our quadrupeds awhile, and ascended to what was to be our
+chamber. We passed along an extensive gallery with a great many doors,
+at one of which our conductor stopped and produced a large key. We were
+introduced to a moderately capacious cell, entirely bare of furniture,
+but quite clean. Of this room and key we were put into possession, and,
+throwing down our traps, made ourselves comfortable. It was exactly like
+the cell of a prison; massy stone walls, with one little aperture by way
+of window, which, however, was not barred, neither was it glazed; at
+which we were not astonished, for glass is hereaway an expensive, or at
+least an unusual luxury. The character of the Khan is consistently
+observed throughout, as we learnt subsequently more particularly--viz.,
+that of a place which affords necessities, but no superfluities--nothing
+portable. House and home you cannot easily carry about with you, and
+these the public institution provides; but all things edible, or
+wearable, or convenient, you must provide for yourself.
+
+Our good friend brought a lamp, which he set upon the floor; and, as the
+evening was coolish, and the cell had the air of not having been
+tenanted for a long time, we signified to him that a fire would be
+agreeable. Having made the exception in our favour, in virtue of which
+he had undertaken to supply our various necessities, he set about
+fulfilling his contract with a good will, and seemed only anxious to
+know what he could do for us. We pointed to the bare floor, and
+insinuated an appeal to him, as a man of honour and a gentleman, whether
+such a couch did not admit of improvement. It is very probable that he
+uttered in his sleeve some objurgation on Frankish luxury, that could
+not be contented to sleep as other people did; or, at any rate, to
+provide capotes like other people. But he signified to us his
+intelligence of our meaning, and his ready acquiescence; and soon
+entered a satellite laden with rugs, on which a prince might have
+reposed, to say nothing of a weary traveller.
+
+Behold us, then, stretched on our couches around the fire, soothing our
+spirits with that best of smoking inventions, the nargille. The
+providing of these, and of coffee, _without sugar_, came within the
+legitimate province of the Khandgi, who keeps a cafe in the
+establishment; every thing else that he may give you, is of pure grace.
+Should any body, in these travelling days, be ignorant of the
+constitution of a nargille, let him understand that it is a smoking
+device on the same principle as a hookah, but marvellously superior in
+effect. The smoke is drawn through water by means of a long, snake-like
+tube. Herein lieth its agreement with the Indian vanity; but the
+difference is this, that instead of the sickly composition, half
+rose-leaves, half guava jelly, that composes the chillum of the hookah,
+the nargille is fed with pure tobacco; of a particular kind, indeed, and
+passing by a particular name, but still a veritable specimen of the
+genus nicotiana. It is called timbooke, and professes to come only from
+Persia.
+
+We were not left long in undisturbed possession of our apartment. The
+key had been made over to us with much formality; but we soon found that
+our tenancy was understood to imply no right of seclusion. The news of
+our arrival had spread, and sundry of the other inhabitants of the Khan
+were smitten with the desire of seeing what sort of animals these were
+who travelled in such fashion. Our door opened, and first one man, and
+then another, entered in the most unconcerned style. It was highly
+amusing to see how coolly they walked in: some saluted us, and some did
+not. Some brought their pipes or nargilles, with which they squatted on
+the floor, and watched us. As we could not talk to them, they talked to
+one another about us; staring, at the same time, with all their eyes,
+and pointing unconstrainedly to the individual or object that happened,
+for the time being, to engage their curiosity. Many addressed inquiries
+to us, and shrugged their shoulders at our ignorance of a language with
+which, probably, they had never before met any one unacquainted. These
+gentlemen, be it remembered, were not of the sober inhabitants, but
+chance occupants of the inn--merchants and vagabonds of all kinds.
+Merchants, among them, always are vagabonds; men who travel with their
+wares from one place to another, according to the complexion of markets.
+
+We were at least as much amused at marking them, as they were with us,
+and not much more constrained in our personal observations. Many an
+equivocal compliment fell harmless on their ears, which, had it been
+understood, would have ruffled their smiles. At last an individual
+entered, who evidently came on business. He made a short announcement to
+us, and waited for a reply. Of course no reply was forthcoming, except
+some general invitation to sit down and make himself happy. This he was
+by no means disposed to do. He repeated his words with an emphasis that
+seemed to imply that he was not to be trifled with, and that it was no
+use pretending not to understand him. He exemplified what I suppose to
+be a general fallacy of our nature,--for I have often encountered the
+same anomaly,--that is to say, he repeated his words slowly and
+emphatically, as if one, though ignorant of the language, could not fail
+to comprehend his meaning, if expressed clearly and deliberately. We
+were brought no whit nearer to a sense of the emergency.
+
+As in despair he continued to repeat one word, "Aivan, aivan," in a tone
+that appealed to our every sympathy as reasonable beings, we felt the
+full indecorum of our continued unintelligence, and would gladly have
+compounded, by appearing to understand, and allowing the event to work
+itself out. But this would not satisfy our friend: there was evidently
+something to be done by us.
+
+"Aivan, aivan!" shouted the assistants, in chorus.
+
+It was useless. The word was not in our vocabulary. He now began to
+gesticulate vehemently, passing his hand several times over his face,
+and performing other evolutions. These to me, I confess, conveyed no
+meaning; but K----, being of quicker apprehension, somehow extracted
+from the pantomime an idea of the fact.
+
+"Depend upon it, he means something about the horses."
+
+S---- improved upon this suggestion, turning to account the extra
+knowledge that he possessed of the ways of these people. "I have it. He
+means where are the halters for our horses. These are never provided in
+the Khan stables, and all travellers take them for themselves."
+
+Here we were at fault: none of us had been provident of this article,
+and we wanted words to beg the stable-man to provide, if he could, the
+halters, and put them in the bill. In the midst of our perplexity a man
+entered, whom we hailed as a friend in need. He was a Greek,
+unmistakeable by physiognomy, even had he not been so by dress. How
+delightful it was to find a channel of communication re-opened, those
+only can judge who, like us, have been deprived of the uses of speech.
+Our words became, indeed, epea pteroenta. In a trice he
+explained to us the whole matter, which was as we had supposed. He
+appeared to be quite proud of the distinction of being the only person
+who could communicate with us, and assumed the office of interpreter
+with great gusto. Through him we explained that we should like to pay a
+visit to the stables, and the groom summoned us at once to follow him.
+The company all cleared out as we rose; partly from civility, and partly
+because they wanted to see a little more of us. We did not, in the
+least, doubt the honesty of these gentry; but, seeing that so little
+ceremony existed as to right of entry into our apartment, we did not
+know but that some unscrupulous person might take advantage of our
+absence to overhaul our effects. We therefore judged it prudent to
+remove those of our effects which might most strongly provoke their
+cupidity. Our saddles were heavy, and could not easily be pocketed, but
+our pistols might have been stowed away under their voluminous dresses,
+and carried off without the observation of the Khandgi. These,
+therefore, we carried with us, and with such garniture I personally cut
+a pretty figure. My weapons were so prodigiously long, that their
+but-ends considerably overtopped the boundary of my pockets, and gave me
+thoroughly the air of a highwayman. The exhibition amazed us, but did
+not appear to strike the natives as extraordinary, who doubtless thought
+that such was the ordinary walking attire of our nation.
+
+The unintelligible groom walked foremost with a lantern, and led us
+across the great quadrangle of the Khan, to his particular domain. It
+was a right good stable, comfortable and clean, and in which a horse
+might rejoice himself. It was full of horses, and asses, and camels--for
+which last species of animal a stable is only an occasional luxury.
+Generally, the track of these hardy brutes lies where there is no stable
+to be found, and they are wont to travel in such numbers as to defy any
+ordinary bounds of habitation. Here they seemed to be quiet neighbours,
+and not at all offensive to the smaller quadrupeds. Once on the spot, we
+managed to get over the difficulty of the halters, and as the time of
+feeding was approaching, we led our steeds out to water. The poor
+shoeless one was sensibly the worse for his journey, and stuck out his
+off fore-leg in a manner that boded ill for the morrow. However, they
+all took their corn well, so we bade them good-night, and hoped for the
+best. As we were out, we pursued our peregrinations awhile, and
+inspected the domestic economy of the establishment. The building
+occupied a large square, with the court open in the middle. The stables
+and other offices occupied most of the ground floor, though some little
+room was left for public apartments. The gallery, on one side of which
+we were lodged, extended round the court, and was throughout divided
+into separate guest chambers. These were all, like ours, solid, square
+cells, affording the accommodation of four walls, and a pan for fire.
+Besides this, each room contained a water pitcher, and this was the sum
+of furniture. We promenaded for some time up and down the gallery, and
+peeped into many open doors, so that we saw several samples. In one or
+two of these we saw parties of travellers, on whom we gazed with as
+little ceremony as had been used towards ourselves, and with as little
+offence. They certainly were worth looking at, for they were wild
+fellows, collected from no one knows where, and looked uncommonly
+picturesque. At last our host brought in the supper, for which we were
+particularly well disposed. We were at no time fastidious, and at that
+precise moment of most indulgent mood toward all cooks. But the mess
+that appeared almost baffled appetite. Turkish cookery, as practised by
+the great, is first-rate in its kind. But if this supper was a fair
+sample of their homely fare, I should not be ambitious of again proving
+the cookery of a Khan. It was presented in a tub of vile aspect, which
+one would have scrupled to admit to the office of a pediluvium, and
+which certainly any respectable scullion would have rejected from the
+service of washing dishes. Its contents were of the most suspicious
+character. In a greasy soup floated fragments of animal substance,
+corresponding in texture and form to the parts of no edible creature
+within our knowledge. This was garnished with anchovies, and a goodly
+loaf of bread, which last article was beyond reproach. Of course we had
+no spoons, nor forks; so we tucked up our sleeves, and dived into the
+soup. That which had offended the sight proved yet more vile in the
+tasting; yet, since it pretty well quenched all desire to eat, it in
+some sort, after all, did the duty of a supper.
+
+All was quiet in the Khan at an early hour, and nothing disturbed our
+slumbers. Early the next morning we rose and wandered forth into the
+town. It is a happy custom for the traveller, that the Mussulmans are
+careful to place a fountain near all places of public resort, for thus
+has he always means of performing in some sort his ablutions. What with
+the fountain, and a Turkish bath, we contrived to put ourselves into
+condition for the emergencies of the day. The first thing was to sally
+forth into the bazaar in search of a breakfast. Here we made it out on
+kabobs, and a sort of cake like a large crumpet; the cake doing the
+office of a plate. Kabobs are things better in a story than in
+manducation, being excessively greasy compositions of odd pieces of meat
+stuck on skewers, a poor imitation of the sausage. We found the town
+rising in our estimation as we viewed it by daylight. The bazaar does
+not, of course, afford such a display of rich merchandise as is to be
+found in that of Smyrna. There is no show of costly carpets, and silks
+from Brousa and Damascus. But the town, _quoad_ town, is decidedly
+superior to the Asiatic metropolis. The streets are wider, the
+buildings more substantial, the vagabonds not so many. All looks clean
+and respectable. Here is no bustle of commerce, no appearance of social
+fermentation. All has the quiet and settled air of a place where the
+inhabitants have made their fortunes, and retire to enjoy themselves.
+Seclusion and blissful ignorance have preserved them from the crotchets
+of reformers, and continued to them the benefits of a wholesome
+despotism.
+
+But a sound burst upon our ears which made us start. A gush of music as
+from a full military band was borne upon the air: and in good tune and
+measure, moreover, did it sound. We knew that we were in a country
+accustomed to raise any given number of soldiers at short notice; but
+irregulars, wont to be disbanded on the termination of their special
+service. But the case turned out to be that Magnesia was a grand cavalry
+depot. We followed the sound and came up with the regiment, returning to
+their barracks. A noble appearance they presented. The horses were
+first-rate, and the men fine strapping fellows, who looked as if they
+could do the state some service. We stood at the corner of a street past
+which they were marching, and had a good view of them. It was a very
+strong regiment, with a full complement of a thousand men. Their uniform
+was of the new school, that is to say, after the European model. The
+specimens of the regular infantry that are to be seen at Smyrna and
+Constantinople, give but an unfavourable idea of the Turkish troops of
+the line. It becomes them little to be cross-belted after our fashion,
+and they seem to be sulky under the constraint of their accoutrements.
+But these horsemen rode by in gallant style, showing, as occasion arose,
+excellent horsemanship, and gathering perhaps some vivacity from the
+noble animals whose curvetings demanded a vigilant eye, and firm seat.
+After all, cavalry seems to be their natural strength, as it has been
+ever since the days when they rode wild in the plains of the Selinga.
+The natural genius of the people may be sufficiently understood, by a
+comparison of the gallant-looking, serviceable dragoons, with the
+sluggish fellows who carry the musket. They seem to be no more the stuff
+whereof infantry is to be composed, than they are the stuff of which
+sailors are to be composed. At this latter transmutation many efforts
+have recently been made, and a good deal certainly effected, so far as
+regards the mechanical duties of the sailor. All who were in presence
+with the Capitan Pasha, lately, on the coast of Syria, were surprised at
+the improved state of their powers of nautical evolution. But this is
+merely an effort, whose effects cannot last, for the stuff is not in
+them of which a sailor is made. Their look and bearing is enough to
+condemn them immediately, and, moreover, enough to show that the
+training is by no means agreeable to them. Now all these dragoons looked
+as if their occupation was exactly to their taste, and as if they were
+proud of their horses and themselves. The only absurdity on the parade
+(for there was all absurdity, or it would have been contrary to all
+Turkish precedent) was, that after the colonel, as gallant-looking a
+fellow as one would wish to see, came his pipe-bearer, with the tools of
+his craft strapped to his back. This certainly did come at the tail of
+the procession with something of the air of an anti-climax.
+
+We followed closely after them to see the fun, and arrived at the parade
+ground before the barracks, just as they had dismounted, and were
+walking about their horses to cool. We had some little hesitation about
+venturing among them; for they have curious notions on the subject of
+the evil eye; and it had happened to one of our friends to get a
+particularly good pummeling from some soldiers, merely for looking
+attentively at their horses. But these men were very civil, and even
+invited our approach. One or two of the officers spoke to us. Presently
+came a man who beckoned us to follow him, which we did without the least
+idea of whither it was that we were bound. He led us right across the
+parade ground, and into the grand entrance of the barracks. Here we were
+received by a gentleman, who addressed us in Italian, and informed us
+that he was the head physician to the regiment, and the particular
+friend of the colonel, who was waiting up stairs to receive us. Up
+stairs we went, the doctor preceding us, and volunteering to interpret.
+The room was a most delightful retreat from the glaring heat of the day.
+The floor was coolly matted, the walls were nearly bare, the sun was
+excluded, and nothing hot met the eye. The colonel was sitting on the
+divan at the upper end of the room. He rose as we entered, and received
+us most politely. I call him _colonel_ to express the fact of his being
+at the head of a regiment. But in truth he was a much greater man than
+such a title is wont to describe. Not only was his regiment so strong in
+numbers, but he was the military governor of the town; his correct
+style, in their own language is Miralahi.
+
+We could see plainly enough that he was a person of some consequence;
+but the Italian doctor was determined to leave us, if possible, no
+chance of a mistake in this matter. He interlarded his internunciary
+discourse, with a continual annotation of asides, which became
+monstrously amusing, seeing that they were spoken in full audience of
+the individual who was their unsuspecting subject. He impressed on our
+serious consideration that the colonel was a very great man indeed; able
+to do pretty well what he liked in Magnesia: and we were to take note
+that he, the doctor, could do what he liked with the colonel. I do not
+know whether he handed over our speeches to the colonel in a more
+genuine state, than we were quite sure he did those of the colonel to
+us, from the quantity of alloy that we were able to detect. It is
+probable that at least he polished our compliments, and somewhat
+exaggerated our conditions. At any rate we were a very pleasant party,
+and seemed mutually satisfied with our conversation. After a
+considerable interval, during which we had partaken of his hospitable
+cheer, we arose to depart. But he would not allow us to go, saying, that
+English officers visiting that strange place must be his guests. He
+would first show us the barracks, and then we must go home with him, and
+dine. This proposal delighted us much, and we bowed a willing assent. We
+had the curiosity to inquire how he had been made aware of our arrival,
+as he evidently must have been, by the token of his having recognized us
+on the parade ground, and having sent to us the invitation. He told us
+that in the routine of his daily reports, our descriptions had been
+presented to him as having arrived at the Khan: so that when he saw us,
+he knew who we must be.
+
+Presently we proceeded to inspect the barracks. Nothing could be nicer
+or better kept than they were in all respects. No English barracks could
+be cleaner or better ventilated. We saw also some of the officers'
+quarters, which spoke well for the taste of the occupiers. The band, we
+found, was composed entirely of natives. We had supposed that the master
+of the band at least would have been a foreigner; but were assured that
+Turkish skill, unassisted, had the training of the musicians, and even
+the composition of much of the music. We went into the kitchen, and
+tasted the men's dinner, which was ready prepared. It was a most
+excellent soup or hodge-podge, that Meg Dods herself might have owned.
+Thence we went to the stables, and here all was admirable. One might be
+bold to say that no European regiment is better mounted. The colonel's
+special stud was a noble collection, in whose exhibition he had
+evidently much pride. We wound up our inspection with a visit to the
+hospital, which we found the most admirable part of their menage. This
+was the doctor's own province, and he minutely exhibited particulars. I
+have seen a great many hospitals in my day, and am able to judge that
+this was excellent. The building was of no pretence, but substantial
+convenience was consulted. It was quite spacious enough for ventilation;
+and the beds were all clean and comfortable, and disposed at
+sufficiently wide intervals. This establishment is governed in chief by
+the Italian doctor; but the second in direction, the surgeon as they
+term him, and all the other functionaries, are native Turks. The
+dispensary is excellently well kept, and among its duties is the keeping
+of a regular sick-register. This details in form the malady and
+treatment of each patient: so that satisfactory information concerning
+any particular inmate may as readily be obtained here as in any London
+hospital; and medical precedents as certainly established.
+
+This register our friend had the complaisance to submit to our
+inspection, and we were astonished at the exactitude of its detail. He
+told us that among his duties, is that of making a regular nosological
+return to government periodically, and a report of the number of deaths
+with their respective causes. Few people would have been prepared to
+find the exhibition of so much solicitude for the life and well-being of
+the private soldier, on the part of the Turkish government. Such
+humanised policy is at least wonderfully in contrast with all that we
+hear of the domestic economy of these people but a few years back, and
+with what, by all accounts, is the method pursued, even at this day, in
+the armies of Mehemet Ali. In a very recent number of a French
+periodical are given some details concerning the military usages of that
+potentate, that, with every allowance for possible exaggeration, leave
+the impression of a terrible reality. Indeed, without precise data, it
+is easy to conceive that disease and death must riot among such
+subjects, unless checked by vigilant supervision. Their habits are very
+dirty, in spite of the ablutions to which they are constrained by their
+religion, which affect only their arms and legs. Of the benefits of
+clean linen they are in mere ignorance, and their fatalism is the spring
+of all kinds of indiscretion. Think of seven or eight hundred such
+fellows congregated in a barrack, with more than the probability that
+some one of the number may have brought with him, from his dirty home,
+the contagion of fever, perhaps of plague; and it will be easy to
+conceive how great and constant must be the care that can maintain them
+in tolerable health and comfort--a care that must subsist not only in
+the hospital, but be extended over all arrangements affecting them.
+
+The healthy and active appearance of the men was the best presumptive
+evidence of the excellence of their regime. Had we even left Magnesia
+without positive witness of their barrack economy, we should have felt
+sure that these men must be ably officered and well looked after. It is,
+with regiments as with ships, a standing truth, that efficiency of
+condition is compatible only with efficiency and sympathy on the part of
+the officers. The grand secret of our naval discipline is the
+recognition of this truth: and no where does it find a more full
+exemplification than on board our ships. There every officer (every
+_good_ officer) feels for, and with, his men. Nothing, save the positive
+requirement of the service, is allowed to interfere with their comfort.
+The care of their health is as much the ambition and duty of the captain
+as is the care of his ship. Few things in the strange world afloat would
+strike a landsman more, than the minute attention habitually paid to men
+who are hourly liable to the most perilous risks. At the need of the
+service, limb and life are freely ventured; but not a wet jacket is
+inflicted, nor a meal prorogued wantonly. Jack, who is burdened with no
+care for himself, becomes devoted to his officers who care for him;
+ready at their bidding to jump overboard, or to turn to and get the
+mainmast out all standing. A well-ordered man-of-war, where this feeling
+prevails from the quarter-deck to the forecastle, affords perhaps the
+finest exhibition of harmony of purpose of which our nature is capable.
+The inspection of a single regiment is insufficient ground whereon to
+found general observations; but so far as this one specimen is
+concerned, we can speak of the Turks as having made some slight approach
+to this most desirable condition. We were surprised to find an Osmanli
+in the position of surgeon to the establishment; because the religious
+principles of such a one are understood to be invincibly opposed to the
+prosecution of the studies that must qualify for such a post. Without
+dissection what can they know of anatomy? and unskilled in anatomy, how
+can they guide the knife healingly among the intricacies of the human
+frame? Yet all the operative surgery in this hospital is the care of the
+native surgeon, by whom the most formidable operations are successfully
+performed. The best proof that these medicos are up to their work, is
+found in the fact, that the sick-list was very small. It was quite
+surprising to see how few beds were occupied. Indeed, the men are so
+well clothed, well fed, and lodged so airily, that their tenure of
+health must be far more secure when on service than when in their own
+homes.
+
+Our inspection had occupied some time, and brought the day well on to
+the hour of dinner. The hospitable colonel having right courteously
+satisfied all our inquiries, led the way to his domicile. Among the
+notable experiences of this day, it was not the least that he himself by
+his presence afforded us, enabling us to mark the tone of feeling
+subsisting between himself and his men. I will defy any harsh taskmaster
+to take me among his men, and prevent my reading in their demeanour the
+fact of his ungentleness. Aversion and constrained fear, are motives too
+powerful for the possibility of suppression in the presence of their
+object. The eye is too faithful an index of the soul to give no spark
+when the fire of hatred rages within. But as we passed through the
+different buildings, every eye expressed cheerfulness and satisfaction.
+They seemed pleased at our curiosity, and gratified with his visit. He
+himself seemed delighted to play the part of exhibitor. He walked
+through the different compartments, not exactly with the air of an
+English dragoon, but still with a good deal of the soldier about him.
+Take him all in all, he was one of the two best specimens of Turkish
+great men that I have seen. The first place I reserve for my excellent
+friend the Pasha of Rhodes. With all his slouching, happy-go-lucky air,
+it was astonishing to see how much grace he managed to preserve; and how
+the sense of authority was kept up, notwithstanding the simplicity of
+his good humour.
+
+When a man asks you to dinner, unless, indeed, he be a gipsy living
+under a hedge, it is usual to suppose that you must enter his house. We
+had reckoned on being introduced to the particular establishment of the
+Miralahi, and rejoiced in the prospect of so befitting a conclusion
+to our morning's researches. But our friend marshalled us onward through
+stables and gardens, to the prettiest little kiosk you would wish to
+see, snugly ensconced beneath vines and creepers, at one end of his
+dwelling. Here-away nature assumes a regularity in her moods of which we
+Englishmen know little in our own land. Here it really does rain in the
+rainy season, and really is hot in summer. Thus knowing, almost to a
+degree, the heat or cold they are at any time to expect, the happy
+indigenous are in condition to suit their manner of life to the humour
+of the season. This kiosk was the usual summer sitting-room; contrived
+to a nicety in all respects so as to woo all cooling influences, and
+exclude the sun. The sides were open towards that quarter whence the
+breeze was wont to come; and a beautiful fountain threw up its abundant
+stream so near to us that we almost received its splashing. We were
+raised somewhat above the level of the garden, which lent to our
+enjoyment the blended odours of lemon and citron. No carpet was there,
+nor woollen substance, nor aught that looked hot. Cool mats covered the
+tesselated floor within; and without, the eye was refreshed by gushing
+water, and by the deep green of the orange and lemon trees. Truly, one
+might be in a worse billet on a hot day!
+
+But nothing edible appeared, nor any table, nor other appliance whose
+presence we are wont to associate with the idea of dinner. One might
+almost have supposed the kiosk to be the drawing-room, reserved for the
+collecting together of the guests before their proceeding to the
+banquet. Our host had picked up another friend in the course of the
+morning, so that, with ourselves and the doctor, he had a very
+respectable party.
+
+We had been but a short time sitting in that state of palpable waiting
+for dinner, which from St. James' to Otaheite is one and the same
+recognised misery, when our host propounded to us, through the doctor,
+the following thesis.
+
+"There are different modes of dining, according to different nations."
+The proposition was axiomatic: we looked assent, and waited for what was
+to come next.
+
+"The English have their way, the French theirs, and the Turks theirs.
+How will you dine to-day?"
+
+"Like true Osmanlis," we cried, emphatically and enthusiastically.
+"Truly, mine host, we have capital appetites, and, moreover, an old
+proverb on our side."
+
+Now, it is not to be supposed that this worthy gentleman could really
+have given us an entertainment in the styles he offered. No doubt it was
+but a conventional phrase, and meant no more than the speech of the
+Mexican does, who tells you to consider his house and all he possesses
+as your own:--still it was civil. A sign was made to one of the
+domestics, and significant preparations were forthwith commenced. Each
+of us was furnished with a napkin, which we spread out upon our knees.
+We further followed lead so far as to tuck up our sleeves: then came a
+pause. Presently arrived an attendant, bringing an apparatus much like a
+camp-stool, which was planted in the midst of us; and, on the top of
+this, was anon deposited a large and bright brass tray. On this, in a
+twinkling, appeared a basin filled with a savoury composition of kind
+unknown. Into this all hands began to dig. It was uncommonly good
+indeed, and disposed one for another taste. But almost before a second
+taste could be had, the dish had vanished and was succeeded by another.
+And so it was throughout the repast: the first momentary pause in the
+attack was the signal for removal of the reigning basin, and the
+production of another. There could not have been less than eighteen or
+twenty dishes in all; most of them quite capital, and deserving of more
+serious attention than the bird-like pecking for which alone space was
+allowed. On the whole, it was a style of thing which would hardly suit
+men seriously hungry: but it suits these fellows well enough, who, as
+they never take more exercise than they can help, may be supposed never
+to know what downright hunger is. Among their _plats_ was one of
+pancakes, made right artistically, and as though in regard of
+Shrovetide. We wound up with a bowl of sherbet, or some variety of that
+genus, for the consumption of which we were allowed the use of spoons.
+It would be pleasant enough to dine with them, were it not for the
+barbarity of eating with one's fingers: an evil which their notions of
+hospitality tend still further to aggravate. On occasions when they wish
+to do particular honour to a guest, it is their custom to pick tit-bits
+out of the dish, perhaps to roll up such morsels in a ball, and pop them
+into the stranger's mouth. Sometimes the attentive host will dig his
+fingers into the mass, and pile up the nicest pieces on the side of the
+dish, ready for your consumption, and this by way of saving you the
+trouble of selection. Happy were we that our friendly entertainer was
+content with this milder exhibition of benevolence; for it did not
+require any great ingenuity to pretend a mistake as to the identity of
+morceaux. The malicious doctor seemed bent on making us undergo this
+trial, and did his best, with winks and whispers, to rob us of our
+ignorance. Very kind was this good Miralahi to us. We sat long, and
+talked much with him, and he was urgent in invitations to us to prolong
+our stay in the city. The inducement that he held out was certainly
+tempting--nothing less than the promise that he would have, on our
+especial behoof, a grand review of all his troops. Had we been free to
+follow our will, we should most assuredly have accepted his invitation,
+as well for the sake of its kindness, as because the chance of such a
+review is not to be met with every day. He did give us a military
+spectacle in a small way. In the course of conversation he fell upon
+some inquiries concerning the cutlass exercise, and requested
+illustrations. He then called one of his dragoons, and put him through
+the cavalry sword exercise, after their manner: and a particularly
+ferocious-looking exercise it was.
+
+But the time was now come when we must bid farewell to the good colonel;
+and we did so with a cordial sense of his hospitality, and a great
+increase of respect for him as an officer. He pursued us with his good
+offices; sending the doctor to the Khan with us, to assist us in a
+settlement there, and giving us good counsel for our progress. He tried
+very seriously, at first, to dissuade us from attempting a start so late
+in the day, as he conceived it would be impossible for us to reach
+Manimen, whither we were bound, that night. It is a fact, that
+travelling after dark is not safe in Turkey: indeed, you would hardly be
+allowed, after nightfall, to pass a guard-house. But we were determined
+to take our chance of doing the distance within the time, as we knew
+well that the number of hours allowed by authority were very much beyond
+the mark of what we should take. Like a truly hospitable man, when he
+found us bent on departing, he set himself to speed our departure. His
+friend the doctor was at the trouble of repeating to us several times,
+till we had pretty well learned them by rote, some of the most necessary
+inquiries for food and provender, in the vernacular. When we had written
+these down in the characters, and after the orthography of our
+mother-tongue, we felt fully prepared for all contingencies.
+
+How different was the spirit of our departure from that of our entry!
+Not four-and-twenty hours since, we had ridden into the town, unnoticed
+and unsheltered: we were now almost pained to say farewell. So short a
+time had sufficed to work the difference between desolation and
+good-fellowship. And though this instance be but of a feebly marked, an
+almost ludicrous difference; you have but to multiply the degrees, and
+you arrive at a picture of what is every day happening in the course of
+the long journey on which we are all engaged. A man is stricken and
+mourning to-day, because he is desolate; to-morrow he is radiant with
+joy, because he has found a soul with which he can hold fellowship. The
+spirit makes music only as the spheres do, in harmony. When I have
+thought of these things, and felt that they tend to the cultivation of
+human sympathies, it has seemed to me that I might draw a moral lesson
+even from the recollection of my "Ride to Magnesia."
+
+
+
+
+JAVA.[18]
+
+
+The wealthy owner of a vast estate takes little heed of the peasant
+gardens fringing its circumference. Absorbed in the consideration of his
+forest glades and fertile corn-fields, his rich pastures and countless
+kine, he forgets the existence of the paddocks and cabbage-plots that
+nestle in the patronising shadow of his park paling. Occasionally he may
+vouchsafe a friendly glance to the trim borders of the one, or the
+solitary milch cow grazing in the other: he must be a very Ahab to view
+them with a covetous eye; for the most part he thinks not of them. In
+the broad domains that call him master, he finds ample employment for
+his energies, abundant subject of contemplation. Thus it is with
+Englishmen and colonies. Holding, in right and virtue of their
+adventurous spirit and peculiar genius for colonisation, immense
+territories in every quarter of the globe--territories linked by a chain
+of smaller possessions and fortified posts encircling the world--they
+slightly concern themselves about the scanty nooks of Asia, America, and
+Africa, over which wave the banners of their European rivals and allies.
+They visit them little--write about them less. In some cases this
+indifference has been compulsory. When the second title of the Sovereign
+of Spain and the Indies was something more than an empty sound, and half
+America crouched beneath the Spanish yoke, every discouragement was
+shown to travellers in those distant regions; lest some French democrat
+or English Protestant should disseminate the tenets of Jacobinism and
+heresy, and awaken the oppressed multitude to a sense of their wrongs.
+Thus was it with Mexico, of whose condition, until she rebelled against
+the mother country, scarce any thing was known save what could be
+gathered from the lying writings of Spanish monks. Again, remote
+position and pestilential climate have daunted curiosity and repelled
+research. To the Dutch possessions in the island of Java this especially
+applies. Seized by the English in 1811--to prevent their falling into
+the hands of the French--upon their restoration to Holland at the peace,
+their ex-governor, Sir Stamford Raffles, wrote his voluminous and
+erudite "History of Java." Three years later, further accounts were
+given of the island in Crawford's "History of the Indian Archipelago."
+In 1824, Marchal's book was published at Brussels, but proved a mere
+compilation from those above named. And since then, several works upon
+the same subject, some possessing merit, have been produced in Holland
+and Germany, out of which countries they are little known. At the
+present day, a periodical, appropriated to the affairs of the Dutch East
+Indies, appears regularly at Amsterdam. But Englishmen take little
+interest in Dutch colonies and colonists; and although now and then some
+Eastern traveller has devoted to them a casual chapter, for a quarter of
+a century nothing worth the naming has been written in our language with
+reference to the island of Java.
+
+Most men have a pet country which, above all others, they desire to
+visit. Some long to roam amidst the classic relics of Italian grandeur,
+or to explore the immortal sites and renowned battle-fields of Greece;
+some set their affections upon Spain, and languish after Andalusia and
+the Alhambra; whilst others, to whose imagination the hardy North
+appeals more strongly than the soft and enervating South, meditate on
+Scandinavia, thirst after the Maelstrom, and dream of Thor and Odin, of
+glaciers and elk-hunts. We have a friend for whom the West Indies had a
+peculiar and irresistible fascination, to which neither length of voyage
+nor dread of Yellow Jack prevented his yielding; we have another--who
+has never yet lost sight of Britain's cliffs--whose first period of
+absence from his native land is to be devoted to a pleasure trip to
+Hindostan. Such fancies and predilections may often be traced to early
+reading and association, but not unfrequently they are capricious and
+unaccountable, and we shall not investigate why the Eastern Archipelago,
+of all the regions he had read and heard of, had the greatest
+attractions for Dr. Edward Selberg, a young German physician of much
+intelligence but little fortune, strongly imbued with a love of
+adventure and the picturesque, and with a desire to increase his stores
+of medical and scientific knowledge. The motives of his preference he
+himself is puzzled to explain. Many difficulties opposed themselves to
+the realisation of his darling project--a visit to the Sunda Islands.
+His means were inadequate to the cost of so expensive an expedition; and
+although the advantage of science was one of his objects, he had no hope
+that his expenses would be defrayed by the government of his own or of
+any other country. At last, through friends in Amsterdam, he obtained
+the appointment of surgeon to a transport, on board of which, in
+September 1837, he sailed from the Helder for the island of Java.
+Besides the ship's company, he had for companions of his voyage a
+hundred soldiers and two officers. The Dutch East Indies hold out small
+temptation either to civil or military adventurers. Few visions of
+speedy fortune, fewer still of rank and glory, dazzle the young and
+ardent, and lure them from their native land to the fever-breeding
+swamps of Batavia. Thus the Dutch government cannot afford to be very
+squeamish as to the character and quality of the men it sends thither.
+Dr. Selberg's account of his fellow-passengers is evidence of this.
+"Amongst the soldiers," he says, "were natives of various countries,
+Dutch, Belgians, French, Swiss; nearly half of them consisted of the
+refuse of the different German states. Most villanous was the
+physiognomy of many of these; the traces of every vice, and the ravages
+of the various climates they had lived in, were visible upon their
+countenances. They were men who had served in Algiers, Spain, or the
+West Indies, who had been driven back to Germany by a craving after
+their native land, and who, after a short residence there, weary of
+inactivity, or urged by necessity, had enlisted in the Dutch East India
+service. The Dutchmen consisted of convicts, whose imprisonment had been
+remitted or abridged, on condition of their entering a colonial
+regiment. These were the worst of the whole lot; they feared no
+punishment, being fully persuaded that death awaited them in the
+terrible climate of Java, and it was scarcely possible to check their
+insubordination and excesses. Another very small section of the
+detachment was composed of adventurers, whom wild dreams of fortune,
+never to be realised, had induced to enlist for the sake of a free
+passage."
+
+Idleness would render such motley herds of evil-doers doubly difficult
+to restrain, and the Dutch government provides, as far as is possible on
+board ship, for their occupation and amusement. On the Betsey and Sara,
+the name of Dr. Selberg's transport, guards were regularly mounted;
+pipes, tobacco, dominos, nine-pins, and even musical instruments, were
+abundantly supplied to the restless and discontented soldiery. But it
+was the season of the equinox, and, for some time, sea-sickness caused
+such toys to be neglected. Only when they had passed Madeira, the
+weather became fine, and Dr. Selberg was able to enjoy his voyage and
+make his observations. The latter were at first confined to the
+dolphins, sharks, and shoals of flying-fish which surrounded the vessel;
+and as to the enjoyment, it was of very short duration. After the first
+month, the cool trade-wind left them, and they suffered from intolerable
+heat. The soldiers had a comical appearance, standing on sentry with
+musket and side-arms, but with a night-cap, shirt, linen shoes, and
+trousers for their sole garments. To add to the irksomeness of life at
+sea, there was little cordiality amongst the officers, who lived apart
+as much as their narrow quarters would allow. One of them, a young
+lieutenant, who, in hopes of advancement, had abandoned his country,
+family, and mistress, was unable to bear up against the regrets that
+assailed him, and shot himself early in the voyage. For fear of quarrels
+between soldiers and sailors, the Line was passed without the usual
+burlesque ceremonies. At last, on New-Year's-day, the ship dropped her
+anchor in Batavia roads, at about a league and a half from shore. The
+mud banks at the entrance of the two rivers which there enter the sea,
+prohibit the nearer approach of large vessels; and many ships observe a
+still greater distance to avoid the malaria blown over to them by the
+land-wind.
+
+The heat of those latitudes rendering rowing too violent an exertion for
+European sailors, four Malays were taken on board the Betsey and Sara,
+to maintain the communication with shore. It was with a joyful heart
+that Dr. Selberg, weary of his protracted voyage, sprang into a boat,
+and was landed in the port of Batavia. He found few traces of the
+grandeur which once gave to that city the title of the Pearl of the
+East. The gem has lost its sparkle; scarce a vestige of former
+brilliancy remains. Choked canals, falling houses, lifeless streets, on
+all sides meet and offend the eye; only here and there a stately edifice
+tells of better days. The most remarkable is the Stadt-Huis, or
+town-house, a gigantic building of a simple but appropriate style of
+architecture, with handsome wings enclosing a large paved court.
+Formerly, this structure included the tribunals, bank, and
+foundling-hospital, but the unhealthiness of the city has caused the
+removal of those institutions to the elevated suburb of Weltevreden. The
+wings are still used as prisons. None of the other public buildings
+claim especial notice. Built after the plan of Amsterdam, the close
+streets, and the canals that intersect them, have contributed no little
+to the insalubrity of Batavia. Only in the day-time does the city show
+signs of life; towards evening, all Europeans fly the poisonous
+atmosphere that has destroyed so many of their countrymen, and seek the
+purer air of the suburbs and adjacent villages. There they have their
+dwelling-houses, and pass the night. At nine in the morning, the roads
+leading to Batavia are covered with carriages,--as necessary in Java as
+boots and shoes are in Europe, walking being out of the question in that
+climate,--and life returns to the deserted city. Chinese, Arabs, and
+Armenians busy themselves in their shops, where the products of
+three-quarters of the globe are displayed; the European merchant, clad
+in a loose cotton dress, repairs to his counting-house, the public
+offices are thrown open, and the bazaar is crowded with the numerous
+races of men whom commerce has here assembled.
+
+Including the neighbouring villages and country-houses properly
+belonging to it, the city of Batavia contains about 3000 European
+inhabitants, exclusive of the garrison, 23,000 Javans and Malays, 14,700
+Chinese, 600 Arabs, and 9000 slaves. A grievous falling off from the
+time when the population was of 160,000 souls. The Arabs, Chinese, and
+Javans, have each their allotted quarter, or camp, as it is termed. That
+of the Arabs is in the Rua Malacca--a remnant of the old Portuguese
+nomenclature--and consists of a medley of low, Dutch-built houses, and
+of light bamboo huts. The Arabs are greatly looked up to by the
+aborigines, who attribute to them an especial holiness on account of
+their strict observance of the Mahomedan law; and to such an extent is
+this reverence carried that vessels known to belong to them are
+respected by the pirates of the Archipelago. Remarkable for their quiet,
+orderly lives, crime is said to be unknown amongst them. They are under
+the orders of a chief upon whom the Dutch government confers the title
+of Major, and who is answerable for the good behaviour of his
+countrymen. Whilst traversing their quarter, Dr. Selberg observed, in
+front of many of the doors, triumphal arches of green boughs, decorated
+with coloured paper--an indication that the occupants of those dwellings
+had recently returned from a pilgrimage to Mecca, and thence had a
+peculiar claim on the respect of all true believers.
+
+The way to the Chinese district is through a labyrinth of deserted
+streets and crumbling houses, abandoned on account of their
+unhealthiness. The contrast is striking on emerging from this scene of
+solitude and desolation into the bustling Chinese Kampong, where that
+active and ingenious people carry on their innumerable trades and
+handicrafts. Here mechanics, with the simplest and seemingly most
+inadequate tools, give a perfect finish to their manufactures; here are
+shops full of toys, clothes, food, of every thing in short that can
+minister to the wants and tastes of Chinese, Javans, or Europeans. "On
+the roofs of several Chinese houses, I saw jars, some with the mouth,
+others with the bottom turned towards the street. They are so placed in
+conformity with a singular custom. The jar whose bottom is turned to the
+street indicates that there is in the house a daughter not yet grown up.
+When the damsel becomes marriageable, the position of the jar is
+reversed; and when she marries, it is taken down altogether."
+
+Both numerically and by reason of their energy and industry the Chinese
+form a very important part of the population of Java, and but for the
+precautions of the Dutch government they would soon entirely overrun the
+island. The number allowed to settle there annually, is limited by law,
+and during Dr. Selberg's stay at Surubaya, he saw a large junk,
+containing four hundred of them, compelled to put back without landing a
+passenger. Thus their numbers are kept stationary, or may even be said
+to decrease; for in 1817, Raffles estimated the Chinese in Java at
+nearly a hundred thousand, whilst Dr. Selberg, twenty years later,
+calculates them at eighty-five thousand. Although in China emigration is
+forbidden by law, from the over-populated districts, and when the
+harvest fails, thousands of Chinese make their escape, and repair to
+various of the East Indian islands. The majority of those in Java have
+been born there of Javan women married to Chinese men, who compel their
+wives to adopt their national usages. The children of these unions are
+called _pernakans_ by the Dutch, and in their turn are married to
+Chinese. The result has been a race which cannot be distinguished from
+the pure Chinese. New comers from the mainland generally arrive with
+little besides the clothes upon their backs, and obtain employment and
+support from their more prosperous countrymen until they know the
+customs and language sufficiently to make their way unassisted. Proud
+and conceited as they are in their own land, in Java they are humble and
+submissive, and seek their ends by craft and cunning. Laborious and
+clever, they would be of great benefit to their adopted country, but for
+their greediness and want of principle. In that oppressive and relaxing
+climate, the European workman has no chance with them, and moreover they
+accomplish the same results with half the number of tools. On the other
+hand, they are sensual and debauched, and desperate gamblers. Their
+favourite game is Topho, a bastard Rouge et Noir, at which they swindle
+the simple Javans in the most unscrupulous and barefaced manner.
+
+The unhealthiness of Batavia, arising from stagnant canals, bad
+drinking-water, and adjacent swamps, has often been erroneously
+considered to extend to the entire island. The whole has been condemned
+for the fault of a fraction. Intermittent and remittent fevers, and
+dysentery, are the diseases most common, but they are generally confined
+to small districts. "Java," says Mr. Currie, surgeon of the 78th
+Regiment, which was quartered in Batavia during the whole period of the
+British occupation, from 1811 to 1815, "need no longer be held up as the
+grave of Europeans, for, except in the immediate neighbourhood of
+salt-marshes and forests, as in the city of Batavia, and two or three
+other places on the north coast, it may be safely affirmed that no
+tropical climate is superior to it in salubrity." The author of a
+hastily written and desultory volume of oriental travel,[19] founded,
+however, on personal experience, goes much further than this, and
+maintains, that "with common prudence, eschewing _in toto_ the vile
+habit of drinking gin and water whenever one feels thirsty, living
+generously but carefully, avoiding the sun's rays by always using a
+close or hooded carriage, and taking common precautions against wet feet
+and damp clothing, a man may live, and enjoy life too, in Batavia, as
+long as he would in any other part of the world." Mr. Davidson here
+refers not to the city of Batavia--which he admits to be a fatal
+residence, especially in the rainy season--but to the suburbs where he
+resided some years. These, however, only come in the second class, as
+regards salubrity, and are much too near the swamps, forests, and slimy
+sea-shore, to be a desirable abode, except for those whom business,
+compels to live within a drive of the city. Waitz, the Dutch writer, in
+his _Levensregeln voor Oost Indie_, divides the European settlements in
+Java into three classes; the healthy, or mountain districts, where the
+air is dry, and the temperature moderate; the less healthy, which are
+warm and damp; and finally, the positively pestiferous, where, besides
+tremendous heat and great moisture, the atmosphere is laden with marsh
+miasmata. Weltevrede, Ryswyk, and the other villages, or rather,
+_faubourgs_, south of Batavia, belong to the second class; Batavia
+itself, Bantam, Cheribon, Tubang, and Banjowangie, to the third, or
+worst division. And Dr. Selberg informs us, that the only two upas-trees
+whose existence he could ascertain, grow at Cheribon and Banjowangie,
+which of course was likely to confirm the popular superstition
+concerning the baneful influence of that tree. The coincidence, which at
+first appears remarkable, is of easy explanation, the upas preferring a
+swampy soil.
+
+With respect to the possible longevity of Europeans in Java, Dr.
+Selberg's account materially differs from Mr. Davidson's estimate. The
+Dutch _employes_ have to serve sixteen years in the colony to be
+entitled to a furlough and free passage home, and twenty years for a
+pension. Very few, according to the doctor, live long enough to enjoy
+the one or the other. And those who do, buy the privilege at a dear
+rate. Their emaciated bodies, enfeebled minds, thin hair, and dim eyes,
+show them to be blighted in their prime. True it is that, with few
+exceptions, they utterly neglect the primary conditions of health in a
+hot country. They enervate themselves by sensual indulgences, and
+consume spirits and spices by wholesale. There is an absurd belief
+amongst them, that drink keeps off disease and preserves life, a case
+of _aut bibendum aut moriendum_; whereas the truth is precisely the
+contrary, for in that climate spirits are poison. The fact probably is,
+that they drink to dispel ennui, and to banish, at least for a while,
+the regret they feel at having exchanged Europe for Java. Dr. Selberg,
+states, that every European he spoke to in the colony, longed to leave
+it. But the voyage home is costly, and so they linger on until death or
+their furlough relieves them. Some lucky ones succeed in making rapid
+fortunes, but these are the very few, whose example, however, suffices
+to seduce others of their countrymen from their Dutch comforts, to brave
+fevers, tigers, mosquitoes, and the other great and little perils of
+Java, in pursuit of wealth which they rarely acquire, and which, when
+obtained, their impaired health renders it difficult for them to enjoy.
+Another class of the colonists consists of men who, having committed
+crimes in their own country, have fled from the vengeance of the law.
+These are thought little the worse of in Java, where the transition from
+one quarter of the globe to the other seems admitted as a species of
+moral whitewashing. And indeed, bad characters so abound amongst the
+scanty European population, that if the respectable portion kept
+themselves aloof, they would probably be found the minority. Many of the
+reprobates have realised considerable property. The rich host of the
+principal hotel at Surabaya, is a branded galley-slave. Dr. Selberg
+often found himself in the society of hard drinkers, and these, when
+wine had loosened their tongues, would let out details of their past
+lives, which at first greatly shocked his simplicity. "I was once," he
+says, "invited to a dinner, which ended, as usual, with a drinking bout.
+My neighbour at the table, was a German from the Rhine provinces, who
+had been twelve years in Java. He got very drunk, and spoke of his
+beloved country, which he should never see again. He was a man of
+property, well looked upon in the island, and I asked him what had first
+induced him to settle there. He replied very quietly, that it was on
+account of a theft he had committed. I started from my chair as if an
+adder had bitten me, and begged the master of the house to let me sit
+elsewhere than beside that man. He complied with my request, at the same
+time remarking, with a smile, that I should hear similar things of many,
+but that they were Europeans, and jolly fellows, and their conduct had
+been blameless since their residence in Java." In such a state of
+society, the best plan was to abstain from inquiries and intimacies. So
+the doctor found, and after a while, was able to eat the excellent Javan
+dinners, and sip his Medoc and Hochheimer, without asking or caring
+whether his fellow-feeders would not have been more in their places in
+an Amsterdam Zuchthaus, than in an honest man's company.
+
+Dr. Selberg was at Batavia during the wet season, when torrents of rain,
+of whose abundance and volume Europeans can form no idea, alternate with
+a sun-heat that cracks the earth and pumps up pestilence from the low
+marshy ground upon which this fever-nest is built. He had abundant
+opportunity to investigate the causes and symptoms of the fevers and
+other prevalent maladies. His zeal in the cause of science led him into
+serious peril, by inducing him to pass a night in the city, at a time
+when that unlucky portion of the inhabitants whom poverty or other
+causes prevent from leaving it, were dying like flies from the effects
+of the noxious exhalations. The quality of the air was so bad as
+sensibly to affect the lungs and olfactories, and impede respiration;
+and, though exposed to it but a very few hours, he experienced various
+unpleasant symptoms, only to be dissipated by recourse to his medicine
+chest. Hence some idea may be formed of the terrible effect of that
+corrupt atmosphere upon those who continually breathe it. The plague of
+mosquitoes, who find their natural element in the marsh-vapour, also
+contributes to render Batavia an intolerable sleeping-place. One very
+singular phenomenon observed by Dr. Selberg, but for which he does not
+attempt to account, is the strong odour of musk constantly perceptible
+in the city and its environs.
+
+As less interesting to the general than to the medical reader, we pass
+over the doctor's febrile researches, and accompany him to the town of
+Surabaya, to which he proceeded after a few days' stay at Batavia. "It
+was four in the afternoon when we came to an anchor: in an instant the
+ship was surrounded by a swarm of the small native boats--tambangans, as
+they are called; and we were assailed by all manner of noisy greetings
+and offers of service. Some of the applicants wished to row us to the
+town, others insisted upon selling us fruit and eatables, pine-apples,
+shaddocks, arrack, dried fish, boiled crabs, &c. &c., contained in tubs
+and jars of very dubious cleanliness. Chinese pressed upon our notice
+their various wares;--large straw hats, beautifully plaited; cigars,
+parasols, Indian ink, fans, and the like trifles. Here was a Javan proa,
+full of boots and shoes, of all colours; yonder, a floating menagerie of
+parrots, macaws, apes, and cockatoos, equally variegated, and to be sold
+for a song. There were jewellers, and diamond merchants, and dealers in
+carved horn and ivory; washer-women petitioning for custom, and
+exhibiting certificates of honesty in a dozen different languages, not
+one of which they understood; canoes full of young Javan girls,--these
+last also for sale. I at once saw that I had come into a neighbourhood
+where European civilisation had made considerable progress. Without
+exception, I found the morals of the aborigines at the lowest pitch in
+the vicinity of the large European establishments.
+
+"It was a cheerful bustling scene. 'Here, sir, food!' 'Sir, you are
+welcome!' 'Gold from Padang!' 'Shoes for a silver florin!' 'Capital
+arrack!' and fifty other cries, mingled with the screams and chatter of
+the birds; whilst a great orang-outang from Borneo, and a number of
+monkeys, in different boats, insulted one another by the most diabolical
+grimaces. Many of the canoes were mere hollow trees, enclosed, to
+prevent their capsizing, in a frame-work of large bamboo stems, two of
+these being fixed transversely to bow and stern of the boat, and having
+their extremities connected by others running parallel to it. The
+lightness and buoyancy of the bamboos obviate all risk of the boats
+swamping. I have seen them out in a rough sea, tossed upon the waves,
+and showing nearly the whole of their keel, but I never knew one to
+upset."
+
+The town of Surabaya, or Sorabaya, (Crocodile Resort,) is situated
+towards the eastern extremity of the north coast of Java, opposite the
+island of Madura, and at five hundred English miles from Batavia. It
+stands in a large plain near the mouth of the Kalimas, or Gold River;
+and, at the present day, is the most flourishing of the Dutch
+establishments in Java. The climate is damp and hot, the thermometer
+often standing at eighty-five in the night; but it is less unhealthy
+than that of Batavia. The river is not drained and frittered away by
+canals; the town is well planned and open; and the handsome houses are
+interspersed with beautiful gardens. As at Batavia, however, the harbour
+is more or less impeded by mud-banks, which prevent the entrance of
+large ships. Favoured and encouraged by the Dutch governor, General
+Daendels, and by his successor, Baron Van der Capellen, the place grew
+rapidly in size and prosperity. It possesses a mint, an arsenal, docks
+for ship-building, anchor-founderies, and other similar establishments.
+Notwithstanding these advantages, the European population amounts, in
+the town and entire province, which latter is of considerable extent, to
+no more than six hundred and fifty persons, exclusive of the troops. The
+whole population, of all nations and colours, reaches a quarter of a
+million. The mode of living is far gayer and more agreeable than at
+Batavia, which, whatever it may have been in former days, is now a mere
+place of business, a collection of offices, shops, and warehouses. At
+Surabaya life is more secure and its enjoyment greater. Every evening,
+during the fine season, the large square in the Chinese
+quarter--composed of massive comfortable buildings, contrasting
+favourably with the fragile huts of the Javans--is converted into a kind
+of fair, where the whole city assembles. "The place is illumined with a
+thousand torches, which increase, to a stranger's eyes, the curious
+exotic character of the scene. Javans, Chinese, Europeans, Liplaps, (the
+Batavian term for the children of Europeans and Javan women,) and
+various other races, crowd thither to gaze at the shows and
+performances. There jugglers and rope-dancers display their dexterity,
+far surpassing that of their European brethren; Chinese comedies are
+acted, and Chinese orchestras jar upon the ear of the newly arrived
+foreigner; the Rongengs (dancing girls) go through their series of
+voluptuous attitudes; gongs are beaten, trumpets blown; Chinese gamblers
+lie upon the ground and rob the Javans at the much-loved games of tzo
+and topho." The people of Java are very musical, after their fashion,
+and have all manner of queer instruments, many of a barbarous
+description, some borrowed from the Chinese. They are much addicted to
+dramatic exhibitions and puppet shows, and claim to be the original
+inventors of the _ombres chinoises_, figures moved behind a transparent
+curtain. Crawford, in his "History of the Indian Archipelago," gives
+them the credit of this triumph of inventive genius, which has found its
+way from the far Fast to the streets of London, and to Monsieur
+Seraphin's saloon in the Palais Royal.
+
+Javan diversions are not all of the same human and gentle character as
+those just cited. Although mild and peaceable in disposition, the Javans
+are passionately fond of fights between animals. Whilst beholding these
+encounters, their usual calm gravity and mysterious reserve disappear,
+and are replaced by the noisy, vehement eagerness of an excited boy.
+Cock-fights are in great vogue, and in many an old Javan poem the
+exploits of the crested combatants are related in a strain of laughable
+magniloquence. But other and more serious contests frequently take
+place. Before speaking of them, we turn to Dr. Selberg's spirited
+account of a tiger-hunt, which occurred during his stay at Surabaya.
+Tigers of various species abound in Java. The commonest are the royal
+tiler and the leopard, of which latter animal the black tiger is a
+bastard variety. Cubs of both kinds are frequently found in the same
+lair; and when the black tiger is very young, leopard-like spots are
+discernible on its skin. As it grows older, they disappear, and the hair
+becomes of a uniform black. In the interior of Java much mischief is
+done by these cowardly but bloodthirsty and cunning beasts. In the
+neighbourhood of the large European settlements, accidents are less
+frequent, the tiger shunning populous districts, and retreating into the
+forest on the approach of man. When one makes its appearance, the
+authorities generally order a battue. Very few, however, are killed,
+though a price is set upon their heads, and they continue to destroy
+about three hundred Javans per annum, on a moderate average. This is, in
+great measure, the fault of the natives themselves, who, instead of
+doing their utmost to exterminate the breed, entertain a sort of
+superstitious respect for their devourers, and carry it so far as to
+place food in the places to which they are known to resort, thinking
+thereby to propitiate the foe, and keep his claws off their wives and
+children. They themselves, when compelled to oppose the tiger, or when
+led against him by their European allies, show vast coolness and
+courage, the more remarkable, as, in ordinary circumstances of danger,
+they are by no means a brave people. Raffles quotes several anecdotes of
+their fearlessness before wild beasts, and Dr. Selberg furnishes one of
+a similar kind. "A Javan criminal was condemned by the sultan to fight a
+large royal tiger, whose ferocity was raised to the highest point by
+want of food, and artificial irritation. The only weapon allowed to the
+human combatant was a kreese with the point broken off. After wrapping a
+cloth round his left fist and arm, the man entered the arena with an air
+of undaunted calmness, and fixed a steady menacing gaze upon the brute.
+The tiger sprang furiously upon his intended victim, who with
+extraordinary boldness and rapidity thrust his left fist into the gaping
+jaws, and at the same moment, with his keen though pointless dagger,
+ripped up the beast to the very heart. In less than a minute, the tiger
+lay dead at his conqueror's feet. The criminal was not only forgiven but
+ennobled by his sovereign."
+
+A tiger having attacked and torn a Javan woman, a hunt was ordered, and
+Dr. Selberg was invited to share in it. He got on horseback before
+daybreak, but the sun was up and hot when he reached the place of
+rendezvous, where he found a strong muster of Europeans and Javans. "In
+front of us was a small wood, choked and tangled with bushes: this was
+the tiger's lair. At about twenty paces from the trees, we Europeans
+posted ourselves, with our rifles, twelve paces from each other, and in
+the form of a semicircle. Behind us was a close chain of several hundred
+Javans, armed with long lances, kreeses, and short swords. If the tiger
+broke through our ranks, they were to kill him after their fashion. The
+natives--those, at least, who have not served as soldiers--being
+unskilled in the use of fire-arms, are not trusted with them, for fear
+of accidents. From the opposite side of the wood a crowd of musicians
+now advanced, beating drums, triangles, and gongs, and making an
+infernal din, intended to scare the tiger from his lurking place, and
+drive him towards us. We were all on the alert, guns cocked, eyes
+riveted on the wood. The instruments came nearer and nearer, and I
+expected each moment to see the monster spring forth. There were no
+signs of him, however, and presently the beaters stood before us.
+Heartily disappointed at this fruitless chase and unexpected result, I
+was about to join the hunter stationed to my left, when the one on my
+other hand called a Javan, and bade him thrust his lance into a bush on
+my right front, between our line and the little wood. Impossible,
+thought I, that the beast should be there: and I turned to speak to my
+friend. I had uttered but a word or two, when a rustle and rush made me
+look round. The Javan stood before the bush, clutching a tiger by the
+throat with both hands. The brute was already pierced with bullets,
+lances, and daggers: a broad stream of blood flowed over the face of the
+Javan, who continued firmly to grasp his enemy, until we released the
+lifeless carcase from his hands. His wound was not so serious as we had
+at first feared: a bit of the scalp was torn off, and the nose slightly
+injured. He stood silent, and apparently stupefied, and revived only
+when an official informed him that he should receive the reward of ten
+dollars, set upon the head of every tiger."
+
+Although these field-days occasionally take place, the Javans have
+another and easier way of tiger catching, by means of a magnified
+rat-trap, baited with a goat, and of which the door closes as the tiger
+rushes in. The captive is then killed with bamboo spears, or, more
+frequently, transferred to a strong wooden cage, and taken to a town,
+where he contributes to the amusement of his conquerors by fighting the
+buffalo. The Java buffalo is of the largest species, is covered with
+short thick hair, and has sharp horns, more than two feet long, growing
+in a nearly horizontal direction. His colour is of a dirty blue-black,
+and altogether he is a very ugly customer, as the unfortunate tiger
+usually finds. For these duellos between the forest grandee and the lord
+of the plain, a regular arena is erected, surrounded by strong
+palisades, behind which stand Javans armed with lances. After the
+buffalo has been brought into the ring, a native, generally a chief,
+approaches the tiger's cage with a dancing step, accompanied by music,
+opens it, and retires in the same manner, keeping his eyes fixed upon
+the tiger. The tiger, who well knows his formidable opponent, comes
+unwillingly forth, and creeps round the arena, avoiding his foe, and
+watching an opportunity to spring upon his head or neck. Presently the
+buffalo, who is lost always the assailant, rushes, with a tremendous
+bellow, at his sneaking antagonist. The tiger seizes a favourable
+moment, and fixes his long claws in the buffalo's neck; but the furious
+bull dashes him against the palisades, and, yelling fearfully, he
+relinquishes his hold. He now shirks the combat more than ever; but the
+buffalo follows him up till he pierces him with his horns, or crushes
+him to death against the barrier. Sometimes friend Tiger proves dunghill
+from the very first, and then the Javans goad him with pointed sticks,
+scald him with boiling water, singe him with blazing straw, and resort
+to other humane devices to spur his courage. If the buffalo fights shy,
+which does not often happen, he is subjected to similar persecutions.
+But the poor tiger has no chance allowed him; for if he does, through
+pluck and luck, prove the better beast, the Javans, who evidently have
+not the slightest notion of fair play, or any sympathy with bravery,
+subject him to an unpleasant operation called the _rampoh_. They make a
+ring round him, and torment him till he hazards a desperate spring, and
+finds his death upon their lance points.
+
+It is a remarkable fact, that the Java tigers seldom or never attack
+Europeans. They consume the natives by dozens; but Dr. Selberg could get
+no account of an onslaught on a Dutchman or any other white man. The
+Javans are well aware of this, and assert, that if a number of
+Europeans, amongst whom there is only one native, are exposed to the
+attack of a tiger, the native is invariably the victim. This assertion
+is confirmed by many examples. Dr. Selberg conjectures various reasons
+for this eccentricity or epicurism, whichever it may be termed, on the
+part of the tiger, and amongst other hypotheses, suggests that the
+animal may be partial to the hogoo of the Javans, who anoint their
+yellow carcases with cocoa-nut oil. The Javans themselves explain it
+differently, and maintain that the souls of Europeans pass, after death,
+into the bodies of tigers--a bitter satire upon those whose mission it
+was to civilise and improve, and who, but too often, have preferred to
+persecute and deprave. Such a superstition demonstrates more than whole
+volumes of history, after what manner the first acquaintance was made
+between this artless, peaceful people, and their European conquerors.
+The early administration of the Dutch in Java was marked by many acts of
+cruelty. "Their leading traits," says Raffles, "were a haughty
+assumption of superiority, for the purpose of over-awing the credulous
+simplicity of the natives, and a most extraordinary timidity, which led
+them to suspect treachery and danger in quarters where they were least
+to be apprehended." Thus we find them, in the sixteenth century,
+murdering the Prince of Madura, his wives, children, and followers,
+merely because, when he came to visit them on board their ships, with
+friendly intentions and by previous agreement, his numerous retinue
+inspired them with alarm. The massacre of the Chinese in the streets of
+Batavia, in the year 1731, when nine thousand were slain in cold blood
+in the course of one morning, is another crime on record against the
+Dutch. Step by step, their path marked with blood, the people who had at
+first thankfully received permission to establish a single factory,
+obtained possession of the whole island. On its southern side there are
+still two nominally independent princes, in reality vassals of the
+Dutch, and existing but at their good pleasure. The present character of
+the Dutch administration is mild; the slaves, especially, now few and
+decreasing in number, are humanely treated, and in fact are better off
+than the lower orders of the free Javans, being employed as household
+servants, whilst the natives drag out a painful and laborious existence
+in the rice and coffee-fields. But, however good the intentions of the
+Dutch government, however meritorious the endeavours of certain
+governors-general, especially of the excellent Van der Capellen, to
+civilise and improve the Javans, little progress has as yet been made
+towards that desirable end. In the interior of the island, where
+Europeans are scarce, the character of the natives is far better than on
+the coast, where they have contracted all the vices of which the example
+is so plentifully afforded them by their conquerors. Dwelling in
+wretched huts, the cost of whose materials and erection varied, in the
+time of Raffles, from five to ten shillings, they till, for a wretched
+pittance, the soil that their forefathers possessed. Brutalised,
+however, as they are, living from hand to mouth, and suffering from the
+diseases incident to poverty and the climate, and from others introduced
+from Europe, they appear tolerably contented. In the midst of their
+misfortunes, they have one great solace, one consoling and engrossing
+vice; they live to gamble. For a game of chance, they abandon every
+thing, forget their duties and families, spend their own money and that
+of other people, and even set their liberty on a cast of the die. It is
+a national malady, extending from the prince to the boor, and including
+the Liplaps or half-breeds, who generally unite the vices of their
+European fathers and Indian mothers. The beast-fights are popular,
+chiefly because they afford such glorious opportunity for betting.
+Besides cocks and quails, tigers and buffaloes, other animals, the least
+pugnacious possible, are stimulated to a contest. Locusts are made to
+enter the lists, and are tickled on the head with a straw until they
+reach the fighting pitch. Wild pigs are caught in snares and opposed to
+goats, who generally punish them severely, the Javan pigs being small,
+and possessing little strength and courage. Then there are races between
+paper kites, whose strings are coated with lime and pounded glass, so
+that, on coming in contact, they cut each other, and the falling kite
+proclaims its owner's bet lost. And by day and night, Dr. Selberg,
+informs us, on the high roads, and near the villages, groups are to be
+seen stretched upon the earth, playing games of chance. Nor are these by
+any means the lowest of the people. The doctor cites several instances
+of the extraordinary addiction both of men and women to this vice. He
+had ordered a quantity of cigars of a Javan, who undertook to make and
+deliver a hundred daily, for which he was to be paid a florin. For two
+days the man kept to his contract, and then did not show his face for a
+week. On inquiry, it appeared that, although wretchedly poor, and having
+a large family to support, he had been unable to resist the dice-box,
+and had gone to gamble away his brace of florins. To get rid even of
+this small sum might take him some time, thanks to the infinite
+subdivisions of Javan coinage, which descend to a Pichi, or small bit of
+tin with a hole through it, whereof 5,600 make a dollar. When Dr.
+Selberg left Java, a Dutch pilot steered the ship as far as Passaruang.
+The man appeared very melancholy, and, on being asked the of his
+sadness, said that, during his previous trip, his wife had gambled all
+his savings. He had forgotten the key in his money-box, and, on going
+home, the last doit had disappeared. Dr. Selberg asked him if he could
+not cure his better-half of so dangerous a propensity. "She is a Liplap,
+sir," replied the man, with a shrug, meaning that correction was
+useless, and a good lock the only remedy. The merchants who ship specie
+and other valuable merchandise on vessels manned by Javans, supply the
+crew with money to gamble, as the only means to rouse them from their
+habitual indolent lethargy, and ensure their vigilance.
+
+Whilst rowing up the Kalimas, Dr. Selberg was greatly dazzled by the
+bright eyes and other perfections of a young half-breed lady, as she
+took her airing in a _tambangan_, richly dressed in European style, and
+attended by two female slaves. A few days afterwards, when driving out
+to visit his friend Dr. F., the German chief of the Surabaya hospital,
+he again caught sight of this brown beauty, reclining in an elegant
+carriage-and-four, beneath the shadow of large Chinese parasols, held by
+servants in rich liveries. Our adventurous Esculapius forthwith galloped
+after her. Unfortunately, his team took it into their heads to stop
+short in full career--no uncommon trick with the stubborn little Javan
+horses--and before they could be prevailed upon to proceed, all trace of
+the incognita was lost. Subsequently the doctor was introduced to her
+husband, a German of good family, who had left his country on account of
+an unfortunate duel, and who, after a short residence in Java, where he
+held a government situation, had been glad to pay his debts and supply
+his expensive habits by a marriage with a wealthy half-caste heiress.
+The history of the lady is illustrative of a curious state of society.
+She was the daughter of a Javan slave and a Dutch gentleman, the
+administrator of one of the richest provinces of the island. As is there
+the case with almost all half-breed children, and even with many of pure
+European blood, she grew up under the care of her mother--that is to
+say, under no care at all--in the society of Javans of the very lowest
+class, her father's domestics. The Dutchman died when she was about ten
+years old, having previously acknowledged her as his daughter, and left
+her the whole of his property. The child, who, till then, had been
+allowed to run about wild and almost naked, was now taken in hand by her
+guardians, and converted, by means of European clothes, into an
+exceedingly fine lady. Education she of course had none, but remained in
+her original state of barbarous ignorance. Four years afterwards she
+became acquainted with the German gentleman above-mentioned, and soon
+afterwards they were married. Dr. Selberg gives a characteristic account
+of his first visit at their house. "I went with Dr. F. to call upon Mr.
+Von N., but that gentleman was out. 'Let us wait his return,' said my
+friend, 'and in the meantime we will see what his lady is about, and you
+can pay your respects to her. N. likes his wife to be treated with all
+the ceremony used to a lady of condition in our own country.' We passed
+through several apartments, filled with European and Asiatic furniture
+and luxuries, and paused at the entrance of a large open room. With a
+slight but significant gesture, F. pointed to a group which there
+offered itself to our view. On a costly carpet lay several of Mr. Von
+N.'s black servants, both male and female, and in the midst of them was
+Mevrouw Von N., only to be distinguished from her companions by the
+richer materials of her dress. A silken _sarong_ (a kind of plaid
+petticoat,) and a _kabaya_ of the same material composed her costume; a
+pair of Chinese slippers, of red velvet, embroidered with gold, lay near
+her naked feet. She rattled a dice-box, and the servants anxiously
+awaited the throw, watching with intense eagerness each movement of
+their mistress. Down came the dice, and with an inarticulate cry the
+winners threw themselves on the stakes. So preoccupied were the whole
+party, that for some moments we were unobserved. At last an exclamation
+of surprise warned the lady of our unwelcome presence. The slaves ran
+away helter-skelter. Mevrouw Von N. snatched up her slippers, and with a
+confused bow to Dr. F., disappeared. I was confounded at this strange
+scene. My companion laughed, led me into another room, and desired me to
+say nothing of what I had seen to N., who presently came in, and
+received us with the unaffected frankness and hospitality universal in
+Java." The _Vrouw_ was now summoned, and, after a while, made her
+appearance in full European fig. Conversation with her was difficult,
+for she could not speak Dutch, and through a feeling of shame at her
+ignorance, would not speak Malay. Neglected by her husband, and placed
+by her birth in an uncertain position between Javan and European women,
+the poor girl had neither the education of the latter, nor the domestic
+qualities inherent in the former. Subsequently Dr. Selberg passed some
+time in Von N.'s house, and his account of what there occurred is not
+very creditable to the tone and morals of Javan society. Driving out one
+morning with his host, the latter quietly asked him if he was not
+carrying on an intrigue with his wife. "You may speak candidly," said
+he, with great unconcern, and to the infinite horror of the innocent
+doctor. It appeared that Von N. had allowed his lady to discover a
+conjugal dereliction on his part, and he suspected her of using
+reprisals. "She is a Liplap," he said, "and though you are only an
+_orang bar_ (a new comer,) you know what that means." Shocked by this
+cynical proceeding on the part of his entertainer, Dr. Selberg left the
+house the next day, after presenting Von N. with a double-barrelled gun
+in payment of his hospitality. Throughout Java, and even where hotels
+exist, private houses are invariably open to the stranger, and his
+reception is most cordial. But on his departure, it is incumbent on him,
+according to the custom of the island, to make his host a present,
+sufficiently valuable to show that he has not accepted hospitality from
+niggardly motives.
+
+The credulity and superstition of the Javans exceed belief. Dreams,
+omens, lucky and unlucky days, astrology, amulets, witchcraft, are with
+them matters of faith and reverence. They believe each bush and rock,
+even the air itself, to be inhabited by _Dhewo_ or spirits. Not
+satisfied with the numerous varieties of supernatural beings with which
+their own traditions supply them, they have borrowed others from the
+Indians, Persians, and Arabs. The Dhewos are good spirits, and great
+respect is shown to them. They regulate the growth of trees, ripen the
+fruit, murmur in the running streams, and abide in the still shades of
+the forest. But their favourite dwelling is the Warinzie tree (_ficus
+Indica_,) which droops its long branches to the earth to form then a
+palace. The Javans mingle their superstitions with the commonest events
+of every-day life. Thieves, for instance, will throw a little earth,
+taken from a new-made grave, into the house they intend to rob,
+persuaded that the inmates will thereby be plunged into a deep sleep.
+When they have done this, and especially if they have managed to place
+the earth under the bed, they set to work with full conviction of
+impunity. Bamboo boxes of soil are frequently found in the possession of
+captured thieves, who usually confess the purpose to which they were to
+be applied. During the English occupation, it was casually discovered
+that a buffalo's skull was constantly carried backwards and forwards
+from one end of the island to the other. The Javans had got a notion
+that a frightful curse had been pronounced upon the man who should allow
+it to remain stationary. After the skull had travelled many hundred
+miles, it was brought to Samarang, and there the English resident had it
+thrown into the sea. The Javans looked on quietly, and held the curse to
+be neutralised by the white men's intervention. Dr. Selberg gives
+various other examples, observed by himself, of the ridiculous
+superstitions of these simple islanders. A very remarkable one is given
+in the works of Raffles and Crawford. In 1814, it was found out that a
+road had been made up to the lofty summit of the mountain of Sumbing.
+The road was twenty feet broad, and about sixty English miles in length,
+and a condition of its construction being that it should cross no
+water-course, it straggled in countless zig-zags up the mountain side.
+This gigantic work, the result of the labours of a whole province, and
+of a people habitually and constitutionally averse to violent exertion,
+was finished before the government became aware of its commencement. Its
+origin was most absurd and trifling. An old woman gave out that she had
+dreamed a dream, and that a deity was about to alight upon the mountain
+top. A curse was to fall upon all who did not work at a road for his
+descent into the plain. Such boundless credulity as this, is of course
+easily turned to account by mischievous persons, and has often been
+worked upon to incite the Javans to revolt. The history of the island,
+even in modern times, abounds in insurrections, got up, for the most
+part, by men of little talent, but possessing sufficient cunning to turn
+the imbecility of their countrymen to their own advantage.
+
+The weakness of the Javans' intellects is only to be equalled by their
+strange want of memory. A few weeks after the occurrence of an event in
+which they themselves bore a share, they have totally forgotten both its
+time and circumstances. None of them have any idea of their own age. Dr.
+Selberg had a servant, apparently about sixteen years old. He frequently
+asked him how old he was, and never got the same answer twice. Marsden
+remarked this same peculiarity in the Sumatra Malays, and Humboldt in
+the Chaymas Indians. The latter people, however, do not know how to
+count beyond five or six, which is not the case with the Javans. Their
+want of memory renders their historical records of questionable value,
+producing an awful confusion of dates, in addition to the childish tales
+and extraordinary misrepresentations which they mingle with narratives
+of real events.
+
+Although, is already observed, the corruption and immorality of the
+natives in and near European establishments is as great as their virtue
+and simplicity in the interior, it cannot be said that crime abounds in
+any part of Java. Within the present century prayers were read for the
+Governor-general's safety when he went on a journey, and thanksgivings
+offered up on his return; now the whole island may be travelled over
+almost as safely as any part of Europe. The Javans are neither
+quarrelsome nor covetous, and even when they turn robbers they seldom
+kill or ill-treat those they plunder. On the other hand they are
+terribly sensitive of any injury to their honour, and all insult is apt
+to produce the terrible _Amok_, _freely_ rendered in English as "running
+a muck." It is a Malay word, signifying to attack some one furiously and
+desperately with intent to murder him. It is also used to express the
+rush of a wild beast on his prey, or the charge of a body of troops,
+especially with the bayonet. This outbreak of revengeful fury is
+frequent with Malays, and by no means uncommon amongst Javans. In the
+latter, whose usual character is so gentle, these sudden and frantic
+outbursts strike the beholder with astonishment, the greater that there
+is no previous indication of the coming storm. A Javan has received an
+outrage, perhaps a blow, but he preserves his usual calm, grave
+demeanour, until on a sudden, and with a terrible shriek, he draws his
+kreese, and attacks not only those who have offended him, but
+unoffending bystanders, and often the persons he best loves. It is a
+temporary insanity, which usually lasts till he sinks from exhaustion,
+or is himself struck down. The paroxysm over, remorse assails him, and
+he bewails the sad results of his _matta glab_ or blinded eye, by which
+term the Javans frequently designate the _amok_. Apprehension of danger
+often brings on this species of delirium. "Two Javans," says Dr.
+Selberg, "married men, and intimate friends, went one day to Tjandjur,
+to sell bamboo baskets. One got rid of all his stock, went to a Chinese
+shop, bought a handkerchief and umbrella for his wife, and set out on
+his return home with his companion, who had been unfortunate, and had
+sold nothing. The lucky seller was in high spirits, childishly delighted
+at his success, and with the presents he took to his wife; his friend
+walked by his side, grave and silent. Suddenly the former also became
+mute; he fancied his comrade envied and intended to stab him. Drawing
+his kreese, he fell upon the unoffending man, and laid him dead upon the
+ground. Sudden repentance succeeded the groundless suspicion and cruel
+deed, and some Javans, who soon afterwards came up, found him raving
+over the body of his friend, and imploring to be delivered to justice."
+Seldom, however, does an _amok_ make only one victim. The Javan women
+are not subject to these fury-fits, but are not on that account the less
+dangerous. Of an extremely jealous disposition, they have quiet and
+subtle means of revenging themselves upon their rivals. They are skilled
+in the preparation of poisons--of one especially, which kills slowly,
+occasioning symptoms similar to those of consumption. When a Javan
+perceives these, she resigns herself to her fate, knowing well what is
+the matter with her, and rejecting antidotes as useless. And European
+physicians have as yet done little against the effects of this poison,
+whose ingredients they cannot discover with sufficient accuracy to
+counteract them. A medical man told Dr. Selberg that copper dust and
+human hair were amongst them, combined with other substances entirely
+unknown to him. The dose is usually administered in rice, the chief food
+of the Javans. Arsenic, another poison in common use, is sold in all the
+bazaars. This poisoning practice is not unusual amongst Liplap women
+married to Europeans, and who, although nominally Christians, possess,
+for the most part, all the vices and superstitious of their Mahometan
+sisters. The latter can hardly be said to have any religion, for they
+know little of the faith of Mahomed beyond a few of its outward forms.
+It has been remarked, that since Java has been more mildly governed, and
+that the natives have been better treated by the Dutch, _amoks_ have
+been far less frequent. By kindness, it is evident that much may be done
+with the Javans, whose gratitude and fidelity to those who show it them
+are admitted by all Europeans who have lived any time in the island.
+Another excellent quality is their love of truth. The tribunals have
+little trouble in ascertaining a criminal's guilt. He at once confesses
+it, and seeks no other extenuation than is to be found in the usual plea
+of moral and momentary blindness.
+
+Passaruang was the last Javan town visited by Dr. Selberg. He had
+promised himself much pleasure in exploring the province of the same
+name, and in examining the various objects of interest it contains. He
+intended to ascend the volcano of Pelian Bromo, whose fiery crater, seen
+from a distance at sea, had excited his lively curiosity; he wished to
+visit the ruins of old temples, vestiges of Javan civilisation a
+thousand years ago, and to gaze at the cataracts which dash, from a
+height of three hundred feet, down the rocky sides of Mount Arjuna. But
+he was doomed to disappointment. Up to this time his health had been
+excellent; neither heat nor malaria had succeeded in converting his
+wholesome German complexion into the bilious tint that stains the cheeks
+of most Europeans in Java. The climate, however, would not forego its
+customary tribute, and, on his passage from Surabaya to Passaruang, he
+fell seriously ill. After suffering for a week on board ship, he felt
+somewhat better, and went on shore, but experienced a relapse, and was
+carried senseless into the house of a rich Javan. He was gradually
+getting acquainted with the comforts of the country he had so lunch
+desired to visit. Already he had been nearly choked by the marsh vapour
+at Batavia, half devoured by mosquitoes, and all but drowned in a
+squall. In the island of Madura, whilst traversing a swamp, on the
+shoulders of a native, his bearer had attempted to rob him of his watch,
+and, on his resenting this liberty, he and his boat's crew were
+attacked, and narrowly escaped massacre. And now came disease,
+aggravated by the minor nuisances incidental to that land of vermin and
+venom. Confined to bed by sudden and violent fever, he received every
+kindness and attention from his friendly host, who, on leaving him at
+night, placed an open cocoa nut by his bed-side, a simple but delightful
+fever-draught. Awaking with a parched tongue and burning thirst, he
+sought the nut, but it was empty. The next night the same thing
+occurred, and he could not imagine who stole his milk. He ordered two
+nuts and a light to be left near him: towards midnight a slight noise
+attracted his attention, and he saw two small beasts steadily and
+cautiously approach, stare at him with their protruding eyes, and then
+dip their ugly snouts into his cocoa nuts. These free-and-easy vermin
+were _geckos_, a species of lizard, about a foot long, of a pale
+grayish-green colour, spotted with red, having a large mouth full of
+sharp teeth, a long tall, marked with white rings, and sharp claws upon
+their feet. Between these claws, by which they cling to whatever they
+touch, is a venomous secretion that distills into the wounds they make.
+Dr. Selberg was well acquainted with these comely creatures, and had
+even bottled a couple, which now grace the shelves of a German museum;
+but, in his then feeble and half delirious state, their presence
+intimidated him; and, fancying that if he disturbed their repast, they
+might transfer their attentions to himself, he allowed them to swill at
+leisure, until an accidental noise scared them away. Their visit was,
+perhaps, a good omen, for, on the following day, the doctor found
+himself sufficiently recovered to return on board his transport. After
+some buffeting by storms, and a passing ramble in St. Helena, he reached
+Europe, his cravings after Eastern travel tolerably assuaged, to give
+his countrymen the benefit of his notes and observations upon the fair
+but feverish shores of the Indian Archipelago.
+
+
+
+
+THE CAVE OF THE REGICIDES;
+
+AND HOW THREE OF THEM FARED IN NEW ENGLAND.
+
+
+"Oliver Newman" is a poem which I opened with trembling; for the last
+new poem that ever shall be read from such an one as Southey, is not a
+thing that can be looked upon lightly. Then it came to us from his
+grave, "like the gleaming grapes when the vintage is done;" and the last
+fruit of such a teeming mind must be relished, though far from being the
+best; as we are glad to eat apples out of season, which, in the time of
+them, we should hardly have gathered. But this is not to the purpose. I
+was surprised to find the new poem built on a history which novelists
+and story-tellers have been nibbling at these twenty years, and which
+seems to be a peculiarly relishable bit of _news_ on an old subject, if
+we may judge by the way in which literary epicures have snatched it up
+piecemeal. In the first place, Sir Walter Scott, who read every thing,
+got hold of a "North American publication,"[20] from which he learned;
+with surprise, that Whalley the regicide, "who was never heard of after
+the Restoration," fled to Massachusetts, and there lived concealed, and
+died, and was laid in an obscure grave, which had lately been
+ascertained. Giving Mr. Cooper due credit for a prior use of the story,
+he made it over, in his own inimitable way, and puts it into the mouth
+of Major Bridgenorth, relating his adventures in America. Southey seems
+next to have got wind of it, reviewing "Holmes' American Annals,"[21] in
+the _Quarterly_, when he confesses he first thought of King Philip's war
+as the subject for an epic--a thought which afterwards became a flame,
+and determined him to make Goffe (another regicide) the hero of his
+poem. A few details of the story got out of romance and gossip into
+genuine history, in a volume of "Murray's Family Library;"[22] and the
+great "Elucidator" of Oliver Cromwell's mystifications condenses them
+again into a single sentence, observing, with his usual buffoonery, that
+"two of Oliver's _cousinry_ fled to New England, lived in caves there,
+and had a sore time of it." And now comes the poem from Southey, full of
+allusions to the same story, and, after all, giving only part of it; for
+I do not see that any one has yet mentioned the fact, that _three_
+regicides lived and died in America after the Restoration, and that
+their sepulchres are there to this day.
+
+In truth, the new poem led me to think there might be some value in a
+certain MS. of my own,--mere notes of a traveller, indeed, but results
+of a tour which I made in New England in the summer of 18--, during
+which, besides visiting one of the haunts of the fugitives, I took the
+pains to investigate all that is extant of their story. I found there a
+queer little account of them, badly written, and worse arranged; the
+work of one Dr. Stiles, who seems to have been something of a pious
+Jacobin, and whose reverence for the murderers of King Charles amounts
+almost to idolatry. He was president of Yale College, at Newhaven, and
+thoroughly possessed of all the hate and cant about Malignants, which
+the first settlers of New England brought over with them as an heir-loom
+for their sons. A member of his college told me, that Stiles used to
+tell the undergraduates that silly story about the king's being hanged
+by mistake for Oliver, after the Restoration; and that he only left it
+off when a dry fellow laughed out at the narration, and on being asked
+what there was to laugh at, replied, "hanging a man that had lost his
+neck." After reading the doctor's book on the Regicides, I cannot doubt
+the anecdote, for he carries his love of Oliver into rapture; talks of
+"entertaining angels" in the persons of Goffe and Whalley, and applies
+to them the beautiful language in which St. Paul commemorates the
+saints--"they wandered about, being destitute, afflicted, tormented;
+they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the
+earth--_of whom the world was not worthy_." The book itself is the most
+confused mass of repetition and contradiction I ever saw, and yet proved
+to me vastly entertaining. In connexion with it, I got hold of several
+others that helped to "elucidate" it; and thus, with much verbal
+information, I believe I came to a pretty clear view of the case. I can
+only give what I have gathered, in the off-hand way of a tourist, but
+perhaps I may serve some one with facts, which they will arrange much
+better, in performing the more serious task of a historian.
+
+After spending several weeks in the vicinity of New York, I left that
+city in a steamer for a visit to the "Eastern States;" our passage lying
+through the East River and Long Island Sound, and requiring about five
+hours sail to complete the trip to Newhaven. I found the excursion by no
+means an agreeable one. The Sound itself is wide, and our way lay at
+equal distances between its shores, which, being quite low, are not
+easily descried by a passenger. Then there came up a squall, which
+occasioned a great swell in the sea, and sickness was the consequence
+among not a few of the company on board. Altogether, the steamer being
+greatly inferior to those on the Hudson, and crowded with a very
+uninteresting set of passengers, I was glad to retreat from the cabin,
+going forward, and looking out impatiently for the end of our voyage.
+
+Here it was that I first caught sight of two bold headlands, looming up,
+a little retired from the shore, and giving a dignity to the coast at
+this particular spot, by which it is not generally distinguished. We
+soon entered the bay of Newhaven, and the town itself began to appear,
+embosomed very snugly between the two mountains, and deriving no little
+beauty from their prominent share in its surrounding scenery. I judged
+them not more than four or five hundred feet high, but they are marked
+with elegant peaks, and present a bold perpendicular front of trap-rock,
+which, with the bay and harbour in the foreground, and a fine outline of
+hills sloping away towards the horizon, conveys a most agreeable
+impression to the approaching stranger of the region he is about to
+visit. A person who stood looking out very near me, gave me the
+information that the twin mountains were called, from their geographical
+relations to the meridian of Newhaven, East and West Rocks, and added
+the remark, for which I was hardly prepared, that West Rock was
+celebrated as having afforded a refuge to the regicides Goffe and
+Whalley.
+
+My fellow-passenger, observing my interest in this statement, went on to
+tell me, in substance, as follows. A cleft in its rugged rocks was once
+actually inhabited by those scape-goats, and still goes by the name of
+"The Regicides' Cave." Newhaven, moreover, contains the graves of these
+men, and regards them with such remarkable veneration, that even the
+railroad speed of progress and improvement has been checked to keep them
+inviolate;--a tribute which, in America, must be regarded as very
+marked, since no ordinary obstacle ever is allowed to interfere with
+their perpetual "go-ahead." It seems the ancient grave-yard, where the
+regicides repose, was found very desirable for a public square; and as a
+mimic Pere-la-Chaise had just been created in the outskirts of the town,
+away went coffins and bones, grave-stones and sepulchral effigies, and
+monumental urns, to plant the new city of the dead, and make way for
+living dogs, as better than defunct lions. Such a resurrection the
+towns-folk gave to their respectable grandfathers and grandmothers; but
+not to the relics of the regicides. At these shrines of murder and
+rebellion, the spade and the mattock stood still; and their once
+restless tenants, after shifting between so many disturbances while
+living, were suffered to sleep on, in a kind of sepulchral limbo,
+between the marble in Westminster Abbey, to which they once aspired, and
+the ditch at Tyburn, which they so narrowly escaped.
+
+I was cautioned by my communicative friend not to speak too freely of
+'the Regicides.' I must call them "the Judges," he said; for, in
+Newhaven, where Puritanism perpetuates some of its principles, and all
+of its prejudices, it appears that such is the prevailing euphuism which
+is employed, as more in harmony with their notions of Charles as a
+sinful Malignant, and of the Rebellion as a glorious foretaste of the
+kingdom of the saints. "The Judges' Cave" is therefore the expression by
+which they speak of that den of thieves on West Rock; and they always
+use an equally guarded phrase when they mention those graves in the
+square,--graves, be it remembered, that enclose the ashes of men, who
+should have been left to the tender mercies of the public executioner,
+had they only received in retribution what they meted out to their
+betters.
+
+Newhaven, in addition to these treasures, boasts another Puritan relic,
+of a different kind. The early settlers founded here a Calvinistic
+college, which has become a very popular sectarian university, and my
+visit at this time was partly occasioned by the recurrence of the annual
+commemoration of its foundation. I suspect the person who leaned over
+the bulwarks of the steamer, and gave me the facts--which I have related
+in a very different vein from that in which I received them--was a
+dissenting minister going up to be at his college at this important
+anniversary. There was _a tone in his voice_, as was said of Prince
+Albert's, when he visited the _savans_ at Southampton, which
+sufficiently indicated his sympathies.[23] The regicides were evidently
+the calendared saints of his religion, and their adventures his _Acta
+Sanctorum_. He was nevertheless very civil and entertaining, and I was
+glad, on arriving at the quay, to find no worse companion forced upon me
+in the carriage which I had engaged (as I supposed for myself alone) to
+take me into the city. There was so great a rush for cabs and coaches,
+however, that there was no going single; and I accordingly found myself
+again in close communication with my narrative fellow-traveller, who
+soon made room for two others; grave personages with rigid features and
+polemical address, which convinced me that I was in presence of the dons
+and doctors of a Puritan university.
+
+"Go-ahead!" sung out somebody, as soon as our luggage was strapped
+behind; and away we drove, in full chase, with drays and cabs, towards
+the central parts of the city. The newer streets are built, I observed,
+with snug little cottages, and intersect at right angles. The suburban
+Gothic, so justly reprobated by the critics of Maga, is not quite as
+unusual as it ought to be; but a succession of neat little
+shrubbery-plots around the doors, and a trim air about things in
+general, suits very well the environs of such a miniature city as
+Newhaven. I never saw such a place for shade-trees. They are planted
+every where; little slender twigs, boxed carefully from wheels and
+schoolboys, and struggling apparently against the curse, "bastard slips
+shall not thrive;" and venerable overarching trees, in long avenues, so
+remarkable and so numerous that the town is familiarly called, by its
+poets, the "City of Elms."
+
+The Funereal Square, of which I had already learned the history, was
+soon reached, and we were set down at a hotel in its neighbourhood. Its
+"rugged elms" are not the only trace of the fact, that the rude
+forefathers of the city once reposed in their shadow; for, in the middle
+of the square, a church of tolerable Gothic still remains; in amiable
+proximity to which appear two meeting-houses, of a style of architecture
+truly original, and exhibiting as natural a development of Puritanism,
+as the cathedrals display of Catholic religion. Behind one of these
+meeting-houses protrudes, in profile, the classic pediment of a brick
+and plaster temple, of which the divinity is the Connecticut Themis, and
+in which the Solons of the commonwealth biennially enact legislative
+games in her honour. Still farther in the back-ground are seen spire and
+cupola, peering over a thickset grove, in the friendly shade of whose
+academic foliage a long line of barrack-looking buildings were pointed
+out to me as the colleges.
+
+These shabby homes of the Muses were my only token that I had entered a
+university town. The streets, it is true, were alive with bearded and
+mustached youth, who gave some evidences of being yet _in statu
+pupillari_; but they wore hats, and flaunted not a rag of surplice or
+gown. In the old and truly respectable college at New York, such things
+are not altogether discarded; but, at Newhaven, where they are devoutly
+eschewed as savouring too much of Popery, not a member of its faculties,
+nor master, doctor, or scholar, appears with the time-honoured decency
+which, to my antiquated notion, is quite inseparable from the true
+regimen of a university. The only distinction which I remarked between
+Town and Gown, is one in lack of which Town makes the more respectable
+appearance of the twain; for the college badges seem to be nothing more
+than odd-looking medals of gold, which are set in unmeaning display on
+the man's shirt ruffles, or dangle with tawdry effect from their watch
+ribbons. I have no doubt that the smart shopmen who flourish canes and
+smoke cigars in the same walks with the collegians, very much envy them
+these poor decorations; but in my opinion, they have far less of the
+Titmouse in their appearance without them, and would sooner be taken for
+their betters by lacking them. My first impressions were, on the whole,
+far from favourable, therefore; as from such things in the young men, I
+was forced to judge of their _alma mater_. And I must own, moreover,
+that my subsequent acquaintance with the university did little to
+diminish the disappointment which I unwillingly felt in this visit to
+one of the most popular seats of learning in America. I certainly came
+prepared to be pleased; for I had met in New York several persons of
+refined education, who had taken their degrees at this place; but, to
+dismiss this digression from my main purpose, I must say that the
+Commencement was any thing but a creditable affair. After carefully
+observing all that I could unobtrusively hear and see, I cannot speak
+flatteringly of the performances, whether the matter or the manner be
+considered. I can scarcely account for it that so many educated men as
+took part in the exercises should make no better exhibition of
+themselves. One oration delivered by a bachelor of arts, was vociferated
+with insolence so consummate, that I marvelled how the solemn-looking
+divines, whom it occasionally seemed to hit, were able to endure it. In
+all that I heard, with very few exceptions, there was a deficiency of
+good English style, of elevated sentiment, and even of sound morality.
+Many of the professors and fellows of the University are confessedly men
+of cultivated minds, and even of distinguished learning: yet this great
+celebration was no better than I say. I can account for it only by the
+sectarian influences which imbue every thing in Newhaven, and by the
+want of a thoroughly academic atmosphere, which sectarianism never can
+create. It was really farcical to see the good old president confer
+degrees with an attempt at ceremony, which seemed to have no rubric but
+extemporary convenience, and no purpose but the despatch of business.
+All this may seem to have nothing to do with my subject; yet I felt
+myself that the regicides had a good deal to do with it. In this
+college, one sees the best that Puritanism could produce; and I thought
+what Oxford and Cambridge might have become under the invading reforms
+of the usurpation, had the Protectorate been less impotent to reproduce
+itself, and carry out its natural results on those venerable
+foundations.
+
+On the day following that of the Commencement, I took a drive to West
+Rock. I was so happy as to have the company of a very intelligent person
+from the Southern States, and of a young lady, his relative, who was
+very ambitious to make the excursion. It was a pleasant drive of about
+three miles to the foot of the mountain, where we alighted, the driver
+leaving the horses in charge of themselves, and undertaking the office
+of guide. It was somewhat tedious climbing for our fair friend; but up
+we went, over rough stones, creeping vines and brushwood, that showed no
+signs of being very frequently disturbed; our guide keeping the bright
+buttons of his coat-skirts before us, and in some other respects
+reminding me of Mephistopheles on the Hartz. It certainly was very
+accommodating in Nature, to provide the lofty chambers of the regicides
+with such a staircase; for in their day it must have defied any ordinary
+search, and when found must have presented as many barriers of brier and
+thicket, as grew up around the Sleeping Beauty in the fairy tale.
+
+As we reached what seemed to be the top of the rock, we came suddenly
+into an open place, but so surrounded by trees and shrubs, as
+effectually to shut in the view. Here was the cave; and very different
+it was from what we had expected to find it! We had prepared ourselves
+to explore a small Antiparos, and were quite chagrined to find our
+grotto diminished to a mere den or covert, between two immense stones of
+a truly Stonehengian appearance and juxtaposition. I doubted for a
+moment whether their singular situation, on the top of this mountain,
+were matter for the geologist or the antiquary; and would like to refer
+the question to the learned Dean of Westminster, who hammers stones as
+eloquently as some of his predecessors have hammered pulpits. The stones
+are well-nigh equal in height, of about twenty feet perpendicular, one
+of them nearly conical, and the other almost a true parallelopiped.
+Betwixt them another large stone appears to have fallen, till it became
+wedged; and the very small aperture between this stone and the ground
+beneath, is all that justifies the name of a cave, though there are
+several fissures about the stones, in which possibly beasts might be
+sheltered, but hardly human beings. To render the cave itself large
+enough for the pair that once inhabited it, the earth must have been dug
+from under the stone, so as to make a covered pit; and even then, it was
+hardly so good a place as is said to have been made for "a refuge to the
+conies," being much fitter for wild-cats or tigers. I could scarcely
+persuade myself, that English law could ever have driven a man three
+thousand miles over the sea, and then into such a burrow as this! But so
+it was; and it was retribution and justice too.
+
+Bad as it was, it looked more agreeable Goffe and Whalley, than a
+cross-beam and two halters, or even than apartments in the Tower of
+London. They had it fitted up with a bed, and other "creature-comforts"
+of a truly Crusoe-like description. The mouth of the cave was screened
+by a thick growth of bushes, and the place was in several other respects
+well suited to their purposes. The parallelopiped, of which I have
+spoken, was easily climbed, being furnished with something like stairs,
+and its top commands a fine view of the town, the bay, and the country
+for miles around. It served them, therefore, as a watch-tower, and must
+have been very useful as a means of protection, and as an observatory
+for amusement. I mounted the stone myself, and tried to fancy how
+different was the scene two hundred years ago. There the exile would sit
+hour after hour, not as one may sit there now, to see sails and steamers
+entering and leaving the harbour, and post-coaches and railroad cars
+passing and re-passing continually; but to gaze in astonishment and
+fear, if one lone ship might be descried coming up the bay, or if a
+solitary horseman was to be seen or heard pursuing his journey in the
+valley below.
+
+While the fugitives lived in this den, they were regularly supplied with
+daily bread and other necessaries of life, by a woodman, who lived at
+the foot of the rock. A child came up the mountain daily with a supply
+of provisions, which he left on a certain stone, and returned without
+seeing any body, or asking any questions of Echo. In this way he always
+brought a full basket and took back an empty one, without the least
+suspicion that he was becoming an accessory in high treason, and, as it
+is said, without ever knowing to whom, or for what, he was ministering.
+As a Brahmin sets rice before an idol, so the little one fed the stone,
+or left the basket to "the unseen spirit of the wood;" and well it was
+that the little Red-riding-hood escaped the usual fate of all lonely
+little foresters, for it seems there were mouths and maws in the
+mountain which cheesecakes would not have satisfied. The dwellers in the
+rock had a terrible fright one night from the visit of some
+indescribable beast--a panther, or something worse--that blazed its
+horrid eyes into their dark hole, and growled so frightfully, that if
+all the bailiffs of London had surrounded their den, they would have
+been less alarmed. It seemed some motherly tigress in search of her
+cubs, and when she discovered the intruders, she set up such an
+ululation of maternal grief as made every aisle of the forest ring
+again, and so scared the inmates of her den, that, as soon as they
+dared, they took to their heels down the mountain, ready to hear any hue
+and cry on their track, rather than hers. This story was told us by our
+guide, who gave it as the reason for their final desertion of the place.
+
+On the stone which I climbed, I found engraven a great number of names
+and initials, with dates of different years. Apparently they had been
+left there by visiters from the university. In more than one place, some
+ardent youth, in his first love with democracy, had taken pains to renew
+the inscription, which tradition says Goffe and Whalley placed over
+their retreat. "Opposition to tyrants is obedience to God." I suppose
+there will always be fresh men to do Old Mortality's office for this
+inscription, for the maxim is one which has long been popular in America
+among patriotic declaimers. How long it will continue generally popular,
+may indeed be doubted, since the abolitionists have lately adopted it,
+and in their mouths it becomes an incendiary watchword, which the
+supporters of slavery have no little reason to dread. I myself saw this
+motto on an anti-slavery placard set up in the streets of New York.
+
+I inferred from this inscription, and the names on the rock, that the
+spot is visited by some with very different feelings from those which it
+excited in me and my companions. Our valuable conductor, it is true,
+spoke of "the Judges" with as much reverence as so sturdy a republican
+would be likely to show to any dignity whatever; and really the honest
+fellow seemed to give us credit for more tenderness than we felt, and
+tried to express himself in such a manner, when telling of the misery of
+the exiles, as not to wound our sensibilities. But I fear his
+consideration was all lost; for, sad as it is to think of any fellow-man
+reduced to such extremity as to take up a lodging like this, we could
+only think how many of the noble and the lovely, and how many of the
+true and loyal poor, had been brought by Goffe and Whalley to greater
+miseries than theirs. I could not force myself, therefore, to the
+melting mood; it was enough that I thought of January 30, 1648, and said
+to myself, "Doubtless there is a God that judgeth in the earth." The
+lady recalled some facts from Lord Clarendon's History, and said that
+her interest in the spot was far from having anything to do with
+sympathy for the regicides. Her patronising protector expressed his
+surprise, and jokingly assured me that she regarded it as a Mecca, or he
+would not have given himself the trouble of waiting on her to a place he
+so little respected. She owned that she was hardly consistent with
+herself in feeling any interest at all in the memorial of regicides; but
+I reminded her that Lord Capel kissed the axe which completed the work
+of rebellion, and deprived his royal master of life;[24] and we agreed
+that even the intelligent instruments of that martyrdom acquired a sort
+of reliquary value from the blood with which they were crimsoned.
+
+The troglodytes, then, were but two; but there was a third fugitive
+regicide who came to Newhaven, and now lies there in his grave. This was
+none other than John Dixwell, whose name, with those of Goffe and
+Whalley, may be found on that infamous death-warrant, which some have
+not scrupled to call the Major Charta. Dixwell's is set among the
+oi polloi, who, in the day of reckoning, were judged hardly worth a
+hanging; but Whalley's occupies the bad eminence of being fourth on the
+list, and next to the hard-fisted autograph of Oliver himself; while
+William Goffe's is signed just before the signature of Pride, whose
+miserable penmanship that day, it will be remembered, cost his poor
+body an airing on the gibbet, in the year 1660. Scott, by the way, gives
+Whalley the _praenomen_ Richard; but there it is on the parchment, too
+legible for his soul's good--Edward Whalley. Shall I recur to the rest of
+their history in England before I come to my American narrative? Perhaps
+in these days of "elucidations," when it is said that every thing about
+two hundred years since is, for the first time, undergoing a calm but
+earnest review, I may be indulged in recapitulating what, if every body
+knows, they know only in a great confusion with other events, which impair
+the individual interest.
+
+Of Dixwell, comparatively little is known, save that his first act of
+patriotism seems to have consisted in leaving his country. Enough that
+he served in the parliamentary army; sat as judge, and stood up as
+regicide in that High Court of Treason in Westminster Hall; was one of
+Oliver's colonels during the Protectorate; became sheriff of Kent, and
+no doubt hanged many a rogue that had a better right to live than
+himself; and finally sat in parliament for the same county in 1656.[25]
+His experiences after the Restoration are not known, till he emerged in
+America almost ten years after the last-mentioned date.
+
+Whalley was among the more notorious of the rebels. He was cousin to
+Oliver, and one of the few for whom Oliver sometimes exhibited a savage
+sort of affection. He proved himself a good soldier in a bad cause, at
+Naseby; and a furious one at Banbury. When the rogues fell out among
+themselves, he was the officer that met Cornet Joyce as he was convoying
+the king's majesty from Holmby,[26] and offered to relieve the royal
+prisoner of his protector; an offer which Charles with great dignity
+refused, preferring to let them have all the responsibility in the
+matter, and not caring a straw which of the two villains should be his
+jailor. At Hampton Court, however, fortune decided in favour of Whalley,
+and put the king, for a time, into his power; till like fortune put it
+into the king's power to get rid of his brutality by flight, an accident
+for which our hero got a hint of displeasure from parliament. Just at
+this point Cromwell addressed a letter to his "dear cousin Whalley,"[27]
+begging him _not to let_ any thing happen to his majesty; in which his
+sincerity was doubtless as genuine as that of certain patriots in the
+Pickwick history, who, out of regard to certain voters coming down to
+the election, with money in their hands and tears in their eyes,
+besought the senior Weller _not to upset_ the whole cargo of them into
+the canal at Islington. After getting out of this scrape, and doing the
+damning deed that got him into a worse one, he fleshed his sword against
+the king's Scottish kinsmen, at Dunbar, where he lost a horse under him,
+and received a cut in his wrist,[28] though not severe enough to prevent
+his writing a saucy letter to the governor of Edinburgh castle. He was
+the man that took away the mace, when Cromwell broke up his Barebones'
+parliament. Then he rode through Lincoln, and five other counties,
+dealing with recusant Anabaptists,[29] as one of the "Major Generals;"
+demurred a little, at first, at the king-manufacturing conference, but
+finally came into the project; and, from a sense of duty, so far
+overcame his republican scruples as to allow himself to take a seat in
+the House of Lords, as one of the Oliverian peerage.[30] If titles were
+to be had with estates, like the Lordship of Linne, he was surely
+entitled to his peerage, for he was growing fat on the Duke of
+Newcastle's patrimony, with part of the jointure of poor Henrietta
+Maria, when, God be praised, the day of reckoning arrived; and my Lord
+Whalley, surmising that, should any one come to the rope, he was likely
+to swing if he remained in England, made off beyond seas.
+
+Goffe, too, was of the Cromwellian cousinry, having married a daughter
+of Whalley.[31] He was a soldier, but could do a little exposition
+besides, when there was any call for such an exercise; as, for instance,
+at that celebrated groaning and wrestling which was performed at
+Windsor, and ended in resolving on the murder of the king,[32] after
+extraordinary supplication and holding forth. When father Whalley
+removed the mace, son-in-law Goffe led in the musqueteers, and bolted
+out the Anabaptists, against whom he rode circuit through Sussex and
+Berks, growing rich, and indulging dreams of disjointing the nose of
+Richard, and thrusting himself into the old shoes of the Protector, as
+soon as they should be empty.[33] He, too, sacrificed his feelings so
+far as to become a lord; and, perhaps, thinking that royal shoes would
+fit him as well as republican ones, he at last consented to making
+Oliver a king.[34] Nor were his honours wholly of a civil character, for
+he was made an M.A. at Oxford, and so secured himself a notice in
+Anthony Wood's biographies, where his story concludes with a set of
+mistakes, so relishably served up, that I must give it in the very words
+of the _Fasti_, as follows:--"In 1660, a little before the restoration
+of King Charles II., he betook himself to his heels to save his neck,
+without any regard had to his majesty's proclamation; wandered about
+fearing every one that he met should slay him; and was living at
+Lausanna in 1664, with Edmund Ludlow, Edward Whalley, and other
+regicides, when John l'Isle, another of that number, was there, by
+certain generous royalists, despatched. He afterwards lived several
+years in vagabondship; but when he died, or where his carcase was
+lodged, is as yet unknown to me."[35]
+
+On Christmas day, 1657, good John Evelyn went to London, in spite of
+many severe penalties incurred thereby, to receive the holy sacrament
+from a priest of the Church of England.[36] Mr. Gunning, afterwards
+Bishop of Ely, was the officiating clergyman, and preached a sermon
+appropriate to the festival. As he was proceeding with the Eucharist,
+the place where they were worshipping was beset by Oliver's ruffians,
+who, pointing their muskets at the communicants, through the doors and
+windows, threatened to shoot them as they knelt before the altar. Evelyn
+surmises that they were not authorised to go so far as that, and
+consequently they did not put their threat into execution; but both
+priest and people were taken prisoners, and brought under guard before
+the magistrates to answer for the serious misdemeanour of which they had
+been guilty. Before whom should the gentle friend of Jeremy Taylor find
+himself standing as a culprit, but these worshipful Justices, Whalley
+and Goffe! It was, doubtless, by their orders that the solemnities of
+the day had been profaned.
+
+Evelyn seems to have got off with only a severe catechizing; but many of
+his fellow-worshippers were imprisoned, and otherwise severely punished.
+The examination was probably conducted by the theologically exercised
+Goffe, for the specimen preserved by Evelyn is worthy of his genius in
+every way. The amiable confessor was asked how he dared to keep "the
+superstitious time of the Nativity;" and was admonished that in praying
+for kings, he had been praying for Charles Stuart, and even for the king
+of Spain, who was a Papist! Moreover, he was told that the Prayer-book
+was nothing but the Mass in English, and more to the like effect; "and
+so," says Evelyn, "they dismissed me, pitying much my ignorance."
+
+This anecdote, accidentally preserved by Evelyn, shows what kind of
+characters they were. They seem to have been as sincere as any of their
+fanatical comrades, though it is always hard to say of the Puritan
+leaders which were the cunning hypocrites, and which the deluded
+zealots. Whatever they may have been, their time was short, so far as
+England is concerned with them; and in three years after this event,
+they suddenly disappeared. So perfectly did they bury themselves from
+the world, that from the year 1660, till the romance of Scott[37] again
+brought the name of Whalley before the world, it may be doubted whether
+any thing was known in England of lives, which in another hemisphere
+were protracted almost into another generation. Nobody dreamed there
+was yet an American chapter in the history of the regicides.
+
+Yet, considering the known disposition of the colonies, and their
+inaccessible fastnesses, it is remarkable that only three of the
+fugitives found their way across the Atlantic. Another, indeed, there
+was, a mysterious person, of whom it is only known, that though
+concerned in the regicide, he was not probably one of "the judges." He
+lived in Rhode Island till he was more than a hundred years old,
+begetting sons and daughters, to whom he bequeathed the surname of
+Whale. Whoever he was, he seems to have been a sincere penitent, whose
+conscience would not let him rest. He slept on a deal board instead of a
+bed, and practised many austerities, accusing himself as a man of blood,
+and deprecating the justice of God. The particulars of his guilt he
+never disclosed; and as his name was probably an assumed one, it is
+difficult to surmise what share he had in the murder of his king. There
+was in Hacker's regiment one Whalley, a lieutenant; and Stiles, the
+American writer, thinks this Whale may have been the same man. But then,
+what did this Whalley perpetrate to account for such horrible remorse?
+Considering Hacker's active part in the bloodiest scene of the great
+tragedy, and the conflicting testimony in Hulet's trial,[38] as to the
+man that struck the blow; and coupling this with the fact, that an
+effort was made to procure one of several lieutenants to do the
+work,[39] I confess I once thought there was some reason to suspect that
+this fellow's accusing conscience was terribly earned, and that he at
+least had been one of the masks that figured on the scaffold. This
+surmise, though shaken by nothing that came out on the state trials, I
+have since discharged, in deference to the opinion of Miss
+Strickland,[40] who is satisfied that the greybeard was Hulet, and the
+actual regicide, Gregory Brandon.
+
+The American history of the regicides begins with the 27th of July
+following the Restoration, when Whalley and Goffe landed at Boston,
+bringing the first news that the king had been proclaimed, of which it
+seems they had tidings before they were clear of the Channel. Proscribed
+as they were, they were heroes among the colonists, and even Endicott,
+the governor, ventured to give them a welcome. The inhabitants of Boston
+and its environs paid them many attentions, and they appeared at large
+with no attempt at concealing their names and character. The Bostonians
+were not all Republicans, however; and several zealously affected
+Royalists having been noticed among their visiters, they suddenly
+conceived the air of Cambridge more salubrious than that of Boston, and
+took up their abode in that village, now a mere suburb of the city.
+There they freely mingled with other men, and were admitted as
+communicants in the Calvinistic meetings of the place; and sometimes, it
+appears, they even ventured, like the celebrated party at the Peak, "to
+exhibit their gifts in extemporaneous prayer and exposition." On
+visiting the city, they once received some insult, for which the
+assailant was bound over to keep the peace; though, if he had but known
+it, he was so far from having done any wrong in the eye of law, that he
+was entitled to a hundred pounds reward, for bringing before a
+magistrate either of the worthies who appeared against him. The
+authorities, however, had received no official notice of the
+Restoration, and chose to go on as if still living under the golden sway
+of the second Protector.
+
+A story is told of one of the regicides, while living at Cambridge,
+which deserves preservation, as it not only illustrates the open manner
+in which thy went to and fro, but also shows how well exercised were the
+soldiers of Cromwell in military accomplishments. A fencing-master had
+appeared at Boston, challenging any man in the colonies to play at
+swords with him; and this bravado he repeated for several days, from a
+stage of Thespian simplicity, erected in a public part of the town. One
+day, as the mountebank was proclaiming his defiance, to the terror and
+admiration of a crowd of bystanders, a country-bred fellow, as it
+seemed, made his appearance in the assembly, accepting the challenge,
+and pressing to the encounter with no other weaponry than a cheese done
+up in a napkin for a shield, and a broom-stick, well charged with puddle
+water, which he flourished with Quixotic effect as a sword. The shouts
+of the rabble, and the confusion of the challenger, may well be
+imagined; but the countryman, throwing himself into position, lustily
+defied the man of foils to come on. A sharp command to be gone with his
+nonsense, was all the notice which the other would vouchsafe; but the
+rustic insisted on having satisfaction, and so stubbornly did he persist
+in brandishing his broomstick, and opposing his cheese, that the
+gladiator, in a towering fury, at last drove at him desperately enough.
+The thrust was very coolly received in the soft and savoury shield of
+the countryman, who instantly repaid it by a dexterous daub with his
+broom, soaking the beard and whiskers of the swordsman with its odorous
+contents. A second and more furious pass at the rustic was parried with
+masterly skill and activity, and rewarded by another salute from the
+broomstick, which ludicrously besmeared the sword-player's eyes; the
+crowd setting up a roar of merriment at his crest-fallen appearance. A
+third lunge was again spent upon the cheese, amid shouts of laughter;
+while the broomsman calmly mopped nose, eyes, and beard, of his
+antagonist's puffing and blowing physiognomy. Entirely transported with
+rage and chagrin, the champion now dropped his rapier, and came at his
+ridiculous adversary with the broadsword. "Hold, hold, my good fellow,"
+cried Broomstick, "so far all's fair play! but if that's the game, have
+a care, for I shall certainly take your life." At this, the confounded
+gladiator stood aghast, and staring at the absurd apparition before him,
+cried out, amid the jeers of the mob, "Who is it? there were but two in
+England that could match me! It must be Goffe, Whalley, or the Devil!"
+And so it proved, for it was Goffe.
+
+In November, came out the Act of Indemnity, by which it appeared that
+Goffe and Whalley were not included in the amnesty which covered a
+multitude of sins. It was nevertheless far in February before the
+governor had entered upon even a formal inquiry of his council, as to
+what he should do with the fugitives; a formality which, empty as it
+was, must have occasioned their abrupt departure from Massachusetts. At
+Newhaven, a concentrated Puritanism seems to have offered them a much
+safer asylum;[41] and as a brother-in-law of Whalley's had lately held a
+kind of pastoral dignity in that place, it is not improbable that they
+received pledges of protection, should they choose it for their city of
+refuge. One now goes from Boston to Newhaven, by railroad and steamer,
+in less than a day; but in those times it was very good travelling which
+brought them to their Alsatia in less than a fortnight. There they were
+received as saints and confessors; and Davenport, the strait-laced
+pastor of the colony, seems to have taken them under his especial
+patronage. He seems to have been a kind of provincial Hugh Peters,
+though he was not without his virtues: and there was far more fear of
+him before the eyes of the local authorities, than there was of King
+Charles and his Council. His Majesty was in fact completely browbeaten
+and discomfited, when his warrant was afterwards brought into collision
+with the will of this doughty little Pope: and to him the regicides owed
+it, that they finally died in America.
+
+The government at home seems really to have been in earnest in the
+matter, and a royal command was not long in reaching Endicott, requiring
+him to do all his power for the arrest of the runaways. He seems to have
+been scared into something like obedience, and two zealous young
+royalists offering their services as pursuers, he was obliged to
+despatch them to Newhaven. So vigorously did these young men prosecute
+their errand, that but for the bustling fanaticism of Davenport, they
+would certainly have redeemed the honour of the colonies, and given
+their lordships at Westminster Hall the trouble of two more state
+trials. For its own sake, no one, indeed, can be sorry that such was not
+the result. But when one thinks how many curious details of history
+would have transpired on the trials of such prominent rebels, it seems a
+pity that they could not have been made serviceable in this way, and
+then set, with Prynne, to do penance among the old parchments in the
+Tower.
+
+The governor of the Newhaven colony, one Leete, lived a few miles out of
+the town, but not far enough off to be out of the control of Davenport,
+whose spiritual drill had got him in good order for the expected
+encounter. That painstaking pastor had, moreover, felt it his duty to
+give no uncertain blast of preparation on his Sabbath-day trumpet, and
+had sounded forth his deep concern for the souls committed to his care,
+should they, by any temptation of the devil, be led to think it
+scriptural to obey the king and magistrate, instead of him, their
+conscience-keeper and dogmatist. With a skill in the application of holy
+writ, peculiar to the Hugh Peters' school of divinity, he had
+laboriously pounded his cushion, in some thirty or forty illustrations
+of the following text from the prophet Isaiah: "Hide the outcasts,
+bewray not him that wandereth. Let mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab!
+be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler."[42] After this
+exposition, there was of course no dispute as to duty. The Pope is a
+deceiver, and Catholic Councils are lies; but when was a Puritan
+preacher ever doubted, by his followers, to be an oracle from heaven?
+
+It was in vain that the loyal pursuers came to Newhaven, after the
+little general had thus got his forces prepared for the contest.
+Wellington, with the forest of Soignies behind him, at Waterloo, was not
+half so confident of wearing out Napoleon, as Davenport was of beating
+back King Charles the Second, in his presumptuous attempt to govern his
+Puritan colonies. Accordingly, when the pursuers waited on Governor
+Leete, they found his conscience peculiarly tender to the fact, that
+they were not provided with the original of his Majesty's command, which
+he felt it his duty to see, before he could move in the business. He
+finally yielded so far, however, as to direct a warrant to certain
+catchpoles, requiring them to take the runaways, accompanying it, as it
+would seem, with assurances of affectionate condolence, should they
+happen to let the criminals, when captured, effect a violent escape. A
+preconcerted farce was enacted, to satisfy the forms of law, the
+bailiffs seizing the regicides, a mile or two from town, as they were
+making for East Rock; and they very sturdily defending themselves, till
+the officers had received bruises enough, to excuse their return without
+them. But after this pleasant little exercise, the regicides had an
+escape of a more really fortunate character, and quite in the style of
+King Charles Second's Boscobel adventures. For while cooling themselves
+under a bridge, they discovered the young Bostonians galloping that way,
+and had only time to lie close, when a smart quadrupedal hexameter was
+thundered over their heads, as they lay peering up through the chinks of
+the bridge at their furious pursuers. No doubt the classic ear of Goffe,
+the Oxford Master of Arts, was singularly refreshed with the delightful
+prosody, which the retiring horse-hoofs still drummed on the dusty
+plain; but they seem to have been so seriously alarmed by their escape,
+that if they ever smiled again, they certainly had little cause for
+their good-humour; for that very day they took to the woods, and entered
+upon a long and wretched life of perpetual apprehension, from which
+death, in any shape, would have been, to better men, a comfortable
+relief. They immediately directed their course towards West Rock, where,
+with an old hatchet which they found in the forest, they built
+themselves a booth in a spot which is still called, from the
+circumstance, "Hatchet-Harbour." Here they became acquainted with one
+Sperry, the woodman who finally fitted up the cave, and introduced them
+to their life in the rock.
+
+It seems that on stormy days, and sometimes for mere change of air, the
+poor Troglodytes would come down the mountain, and stay a while with the
+woodman at his house. They had lived about a month in their cave, when
+such an excursion to the woodman's had nearly cost them their liberty.
+The pursuers, meantime, had accomplished a wild-goose chase to New York,
+and had returned, after more perils and troubles than the regicides were
+worth. Somehow or other, they got scent of their game this time, and
+actually came upon them at Sperry's before they had any notice of their
+approach. Fortune favouring them, however, they escaped by a back-door,
+and got up to their nest, without giving a glimpse of themselves to the
+pursuers, or even leaving any trace of their visit to favour a suspicion
+that they had recently been in Sperry's protection. But Leete, who had
+received at last the original warrant, and thus was relieved of his
+scruples, seems to have been so alarmed about this time, that he sent
+word to the fugitives that they must hold themselves ready to surrender,
+if it should prove requisite for his own safety and that of the town. To
+the credit of the poor men, on receiving this notice, they came out of
+their cave like brave fellows, and went over to their cowardly
+protector, offering to give themselves up immediately.
+
+Here the redoubtable Davenport again interfered, and though all the
+colony began to be of another opinion, he fairly drubbed the prudent
+Leete into a postponement of the time of surrender; and Goffe and
+Whalley were accordingly respited for a week, during which they lived in
+painful suspense, in the cellar of a neighbouring warehouse, supplied
+with food from the governor's table, but never admitted to his presence.
+Meantime, the bustling pastor preached and exhorted, and stirred up all
+the important settlers to take his part against the timorous counsels of
+the governor, and finally succeeded in preventing the surrender
+altogether; and the fugitives went back to their cave, never again to
+show themselves openly before men, though their days were prolonged
+through half another lifetime.
+
+It seems incredible that there was any real call for such singular
+caution, under the loose reign of Charles the Second: yet it is
+remarkable how timid they had become, and how long they supported their
+patient mousing in the dark. Nothing seems to have inspired them with
+confidence after this. The pursuers returned to Boston, and made an
+indignant report of the contempt with which his Majesty's authority had
+been treated at Newhaven; all which had no other effect than to give
+colour to a formal declaration of the united colonies of New England,
+that an ineffectual though thorough search had been made. On this the
+hue-and-cry was suffered to stop; but the regicides still kept close,
+and shunned the light of day. Who would have believed that the lusty
+Goffe and Whalley, whose fierce files of musqueteers seemed once their
+very shadow, could have subsided into such decorous subjects, as to live
+for three lustres in the heart of a village, so quietly, that, save
+their feeder, not a soul ever saw or heard of them. Yet so it proved;
+for so much do circumstances make the difference between the anchorite
+and the revolutionist, and so possible is it for the same character to
+be very noisy and very still.
+
+After two months more in the cave, they probably found it time to go
+into winter quarters, and accordingly shifted to a village a little
+westward of Newhaven, where one Tompkins received them into his cellar.
+There they managed to survive two years, during which their only
+recreation seems to have been, the sorry one of hearing a maid abuse
+them, as she sung an old royalist ballad over their heads. Even this was
+some relief to the monotony of their life in the cellar, and they would
+often get their attendant to set it agoing. The girl, delighted to find
+her voice in request, and little dreaming what an audience she had in
+the pit, would accordingly strike up with great effect, and fugue away
+on the names of Goffe and Whalley, and their fellow Roundheads, another
+Wildrake. Perhaps the worthies in the cellar consoled themselves with
+recalling the palmy days, when the same song, trolled out on the night
+air from some royalist pothouse, had been their excuse for displaying
+their vigilant police, and putting under arrest any number of drunken
+malignants.
+
+If they had any additional consolation, it seems to have been derived
+from an enthusiastic interpretation of Holy Writ, in which, after the
+manner of their religion, they saw their own peculiar history very
+minutely foreshadowed. They had heard of the sad end of Hugh Peters, and
+his confederates, which they were persuaded was the slaying of the two
+witnesses, predicted in the Apocalypse;[43] and they now looked in sure
+and certain hope for the year 1666, which they presumed would be marked
+by some great revolution, probably on account of its containing "the
+number of the Beast."[44] But after two years in this cellar, there
+arrived in Boston certain royal commissioners, in fear of whom they
+again retreated to their cave, and stayed there two months, till the
+wild beast drove them away. About the same time, an Indian getting sight
+of their tracks, and finding their cave, with a bed in it, made such an
+ado about his discovery, that they were obliged to abandon Newhaven for
+ever. It is probable that Davenport now counselled their removal, and
+provided their retreat; for one Russell, the pastor of Hadley, a
+backwood settlement in Massachusetts, engaged to receive and lodge them;
+and thither they went by star-light marches, a distance of an hundred
+miles, through forests, where, if "there is a pleasure in the pathless
+woods," they probably found it the only one in their journey. Rogues as
+they were, who can help pitying them, thus skulking along by night
+through an American wilderness, in terror of a king, three thousand
+miles away, who all the while was revelling with his harlots, and
+showing as little regard for the memory of his father as any regicide
+could desire.
+
+At Hadley, pastor Russell received them into his kitchen, and then into
+a closet, from which, by a trap-door, they were let down into the
+cellar--there to live long years, and there to die, and there--one of
+them--to be buried, for a time. While dwelling in this cellar, poor
+Goffe kept a record of his daily life; and it is much to be regretted
+that this curious journal perished, at Boston, in the succeeding
+century, during the riots about the Stamp Act, in which several houses
+were burned. Scraps of it still exist, however, in copies; and enough is
+known of it, to prove that the exiles were kept in constant information
+of the progress of events in England; that Goffe corresponded with his
+wife, addressing her as his mother, and signing himself Walter
+Goldsmith; and that pastor Russell was supplied with remittances for
+their support. One leaf of the diary which, fortunately, was copied, is
+a mournful catalogue of the regicides, and their accomplices, all
+classed according to their fate, with some touching evidences of the
+melancholy humour in which the records had been set down. It is a table
+of sixty-nine as great rogues, or as deluded fanatics, as have left
+their names on the page of English history; but there they stand on
+Goffe's list, a doleful registry indeed,
+
+                 "Some slain in war,
+  Some haunted by the ghosts they had deposed;"
+
+but all noted by the wanderer as his friends, "faithful and just to
+him." Twenty-six are marked as certainly dead; others, as condemned and
+in the Tower; some as fugitives, and some, as quietly surviving their
+ruin and disgrace. How dark must have been the past and the future
+alike, to men whose histories were told in such chronicles; but thus
+timorously from their "loop-hole of retreat," did they look out on the
+Great Babel; and saw their cherished year of the Beast go by, and still
+no change; and then consoled themselves with hoping there was some
+slight error in the vulgar computation; and so hoped on against hope,
+and kept in secret their awful memories, and perchance with occasional
+misgivings of judgment to come, pondered them in their hearts.
+
+At Hadley they had one remarkable visiter, from whom they probably
+learned much gloomy gossip about things at home. In 1665, John Dixwell
+joined them, having made his escape to the colonies with astonishing
+secrecy. He seems to have been a venturous fellow, who was far from
+willing to spend his days in a cellar, and accordingly he soon left them
+to their own company, and went, nobody knows where; but it is certain
+that in 1672 he appeared in Newhaven as Mr. James Davids, took a wife,
+and settled down with every sign of a determination to die in his bed.
+The first Mrs. Davids dying without issue, we find him, a few years
+after, married again, begetting children, and supporting the reputation
+of a grave citizen, who kept rather shy of his neighbours, and was fond
+of long prosy talks with his minister--the successor of Davenport, who
+seems to have rested from his labours. I wonder if those talks were so
+prosy! The good wife of the house, no doubt, supposed Mr. Davids and her
+husband engaged in edifying conclave upon the five points of Calvinism:
+but who does not envy that drowsy New England pastor the stories he
+heard of the great events of the Rebellion, from the lips of one who had
+himself been an actor therein! How often he filled his pipe, and puffed
+his pleasure, or laid it down at a more earnest moment, to hear the
+stirring anecdotes of Oliver; how he looked; how he spoke and commanded!
+What unwritten histories the pastor must have learned of Strafford,--of
+Laud,--of Pym pouncing on his quarry,--of how the narrator felt, when he
+sat as a regicide judge,--and of that right royal face which he had
+confronted without relenting, with all its combined expressions, of
+resignation and resolution, of kingly dignity and Christian submission.
+
+Time went on, and the Hadley regicides wasted away in their cellar,
+while Dixwell thus flourished like a bay-tree in green old age. A letter
+from Goffe, to his "mother Goldsmith," written in August, 1674, of which
+a copy is preserved, shows that years had been doing their work on the
+once bold and stalwart Whalley. "Your old friend Mr. R.," he says, using
+the feigned initial, "is yet living, but continues in that weak
+condition. He is scarce capable of any rational discourse (his
+understanding, memory, and speech, doth so much fail him,) and seems not
+to take much notice of any thing ... and it's a great mercy to him, that
+he hath a friend that takes pleasure in being helpful to him ... for
+though my help be but poor and weak, yet that ancient servant of Christ
+could not well subsist without it. The Lord help us to profit by all,
+and to wait with patience upon him, till we shall see what end he will
+make with us."
+
+Boys grew to be men, and little girls marriageable women, while they
+thus dwelt in the cellar; and the people of Hadley passed in and out of
+their pastor's door, and doubled and trebled in number around his house,
+and not a soul dreamed that such inhabitants lived amongst them. This
+remarkable privacy accounts for the historical fact, given as a story in
+"Peveril of the Peak."[45] It occurred during the war of King Philip, in
+1675, the year following the date of Goffe's letter, and when Whalley
+must have been far gone in his decline, so that he could not have been
+the hero, as is so dramatically asserted by Bridgenorth to Julian
+Peveril. It was a fast day among the settlers, who were imploring God
+for deliverance from an expected attack of the savages; and they were
+all assembled in their rude little meeting-house, around which sentinels
+were kept on patrol. The house of the pastor was only a few rods
+distant; and probably, through the miserable panes that let in all the
+sun-light of their cellar, Goffe watched the invasion of the Indians,
+and all the horrors of the fight, till the fires of Dunbar began to burn
+again in his old veins, and, overcoming his usual caution, sent him
+forth to his last achievement in this world, and perhaps his best. On a
+sudden, as the settlers were giving up all for lost, and about to submit
+to a general massacre, a strange apparition was seen among them
+exhorting them to rally in the name of God. An old man, with long white
+locks, and of unusual attire, led the last assault with the most daring
+bravery. Not doubting that it was an angel of God, they followed up his
+blows, and in a short time repulsed the savages; but their deliverer was
+gone. No clue or trace could be found of his coming or going. He was to
+them as Melchisedek, "without beginning of life, or end of days;" and
+their confirmed superstition that the Lord had sent his angel in answer
+to their prayers, though quite in accordance with their enthusiasm, was
+doubtless not a little encouraged by the wily pastor himself, as an
+innocent means of preventing troublesome inquiries. In many parts of New
+England it was long regarded as a miracle, and the final disclosure of
+the secret has spoiled the mystery of a genuine old wives' tale.
+
+About three years after this, Whalley gave his soul to God, and was
+temporarily buried in the cellar, where he had lived a death-in-life of
+fourteen years. Russell was now in a great fright, and with good reason,
+for a new crown officer was at work in New England, with a zealous
+determination to bring all offenders to justice, and if not the
+offenders themselves, then somebody instead of them. Edward Randolph,
+who has left a judge Jeffreys' reputation in America to this day, was a
+Jehu for the government, and his feelings towards the regicides are well
+touched off by Southey, in the words put into his mouth in "Oliver
+Newman:"--
+
+                 "Fifteen years,
+  They have hid among them the two regicides,
+  Shifting from den to cover, as we found
+  Where the scent lay. But, earth them as they will,
+  I shall unkennel them, and from their holes
+  Drag them to light and justice."
+
+Alarmed by the energetic measures of such a man, Goffe, who was now
+released from his personal attentions to his friend, appears to have
+departed from Hadley for a time; while Russell gave currency to a
+report, that when last seen, he was on his way towards Virginia. It was
+soon added, that he had been actually recognised in New York, in a
+farmer's attire, selling cabbages; but he probably went no further than
+Newhaven, where he would naturally visit Dixwell, and so returned to
+Hadley, whence his last letter bears date, 1679, and where he
+undoubtedly died the following year.
+
+How the two bodies ever got to Newhaven has long been the puzzle. It
+seems that Russell buried Goffe at first in a grave, dug partly on his
+own premises, and partly on those adjoining, intending by this stratagem
+to justify himself, should he ever be forced to deny that the bones were
+in his garden. But, in the years 1680 and 1684, Randolph's fury being at
+its height, he probably dug up the remains of both the regicides, and
+sent them to Newhaven, where they were interred secretly by Dixwell and
+the common gravedigger of the place. Some suppose, indeed, that they
+were not removed till the sad results of the Duke of Monmouth's
+rebellion had put the colonists in terror of the inexorable Jeffreys.
+The fate of Lady Alicia Lisle,--herself the widow of a regicide,--who
+had suffered for concealing two of the Duke's followers, may very
+naturally have alarmed the prudent Russell, and led him to remove all
+traces of his share in harbouring Goffe and Whalley. His friendship for
+two "unjust judges" seems to have led him to dread the acquaintance of a
+third. As for Dixwell, he lived on in Newhaven, maintaining the
+character of Mr. James Davids with great respectability, and so quietly,
+that Randolph seems never to have suspected that a third regicide was
+hiding in America. He had one narrow escape, nevertheless, from another
+zealous partisan of the crown, quite as lynx-eyed, and even more
+notorious in American history. In 1686, Sir Edmund Andross paid a visit
+to Newhaven, and was present at the public worship of the inhabitants,
+when James Davids did not fail to be in his usual place, nor by his
+dignity of person and demeanour to attract the special notice of Sir
+Edmund, who probably began to think he had got scent of Goffe himself.
+After the solemnities were over, he made very particular inquiries as to
+the remarkable-looking worshipper, but suffered himself to be diverted
+from more searching measures, by the natural and unstudied description
+which he received of Mr. Davids and his interesting family. It was well
+that they could answer so unaffectedly, for Andross was ready to pick a
+quarrel with them, conceiving himself to have received a great affront
+at the religious exercise which he had honoured with his presence. It
+seems the clerk had felt it his duty to select a psalm not incapable of
+a double application, and which accordingly had hit Sir Edmund in a
+tender part, by singing "to the praise and glory of God" the somewhat
+insinuating stave--
+
+  "Why dost thou, tyrant, boast abroad,
+  Thy wicked works to praise."
+
+After this, though for forty years the righteous blood of a murdered
+king had been crying against him, Dixwell's hoar hairs were suffered to
+come to the grave in a peace he had denied to others, in 1688. Meantime,
+that king had lain in his cerements at Windsor, "taken away from the
+evil to come," and undisturbed alike by the malice that pursued his
+name, and the far more grievous contempt that fell on his martyr-memory
+from the conduct of his two sons, false as they were to his honour,
+recreant to his pure example, and apostate to the holy faith for which
+he died. Such sons had at last accomplished for the house of Stuart that
+ruin which other enemies had, in vain, endeavoured; and two weeks after
+James Davids was laid in his grave, came news which was almost enough to
+wake him from the dead. "The glorious Revolution," as it is called, was
+a "crowning mercy" to the colonies; and the friends of the late regicide
+now boldly produced his will, and submitted it to Probate. It devised to
+his heirs a considerable estate in England, and described his own style
+and title as "John Dixwell, _alias_ James Davids, of the Priory of
+Folkestone, in the county of Kent, Esquire."
+
+After my visit to West Rock, I went in the early twilight to the graves
+of the three regicides. I found them in the rear of one of the
+meeting-houses, in the square, very near together, and scarcely
+noticeable in the grass. They are each marked by rough blocks of stone,
+having one face a little smoothed, and rudely lettered. Dixwell's
+tomb-stone is far better than the others, and bears the fullest and most
+legible inscription. It is possibly a little more than two feet high, of
+a red sand-stone, quite thick and heavy, and reads thus:--"I. D. Esq.,
+deceased March y{e} 18th, in y{e} 82{d} year of his age, 1688-9." To
+make any thing of Whalley's memorial, I was obliged to stoop down to it,
+and examine it very closely. I copied it, head and foot, into my
+tablets, nor did I notice, at the time, any peculiarity, but took down
+the inscription, as I supposed correctly, "1658, E. W." While I was busy
+about this, there came along one of the students, escorting a young
+lady, who bending down to the headstone of Goffe's grave, examined it a
+few minutes attentively, and then started up, and went away with her
+happy protector, exclaiming, "I must leave it to Old Mortality, for I
+can see nothing at all." I found it as she had said, and left it without
+any better satisfaction; but, during the evening, happening to mention
+these facts, I was shown a drawing of both Goffe's and Whalley's
+memorials; by help of which, on repeating my visit early next morning, I
+observed the very curious marks which give them additional interest.
+Looking more carefully at Whalley's headstone, one observes a 7 strongly
+blended with the 5, in the date which I had copied; so that it may be
+read as I had taken it, or it may be read 1678, the true date of
+Whalley's demise. This same cipher is repeated on the footstone, and is
+evidently intentional. Nor is the grave of Goffe less curious. The stone
+is at first read, "M. G. 80;" but, looking closer, you discover a
+superfluous line cut under the M, to hint that it must not be taken for
+what it seems. It is in fact a W reversed, and the whole means, "W. G.
+1680;" the true initials, and date of death of William Goffe. If Dixwell
+was not himself the engraver of these rude devices, he doubtless
+contrived them; and they have well accomplished their purpose, of
+avoiding detection in their own day, and attracting notice in ours.
+
+There was something that touched me, in spite of myself, in thus
+standing by these rude graves, and surveying the last relicts of men
+born far away in happy English homes, who once made a figure among the
+great men, and were numbered with the lawful senators of a free and
+prosperous state! I own that, for a moment, I checked my impulses of
+pity, and thought whether it would not be virtuous to imitate the Jews
+in Palestine, who, to this day, throw a pebble at Absalom's pillar, as
+they pass it in the King's Dale, to show their horror of the rebel's
+unnatural crime. But I finally concluded that it was better to be a
+Christian in my hate, as well as in my love, and to take no worse
+revenge than to recite, over the ashes of the regicides, that sweet
+prayer for the 30th of January, which magnifies God, for the grace given
+to the royal martyr, "by which he was enabled, in a constant meek
+suffering of all barbarous indignities, to resist unto blood, and then,
+according to the Saviour's pattern, to pray for his murderers."
+
+Two hundred years have gone, well-nigh, and those mean graves continue
+in their dishonour, while the monarchy which their occupants once
+supposed they had destroyed, is as unshaken as ever. Nor must it be
+unnoticed, that the church which they thought to pluck up, root and
+branch, has borne a healthful daughter, that chaunts her venerable
+service in another hemisphere, and so near these very graves that the
+bones of Goffe and Whalley must fairly shake at Christmas, when the
+organ swells, hard-by, with the voices of thronging worshippers, who
+still keep "the superstitious time of the Nativity," even in the
+Puritans' own land and city. What a conclusion to so much crime and
+bloodshed! Such a sepulture--thought I,--instead of a green little
+barrow, in some quiet churchyard of England, "fast by their fathers'
+graves!" Had these poor men been contented with peace and loyalty, such
+graves they might have found, under the eaves of the same parish church
+that registered their christening; the very bells tolling for their
+funeral, that pealed when they took their brides. How much better the
+"village Hampden," than the wide-world's Whalley; and how enviable the
+uncouth rhyme, and the yeoman's honest name, on the stone that loving
+hands have set, compared with these coward initials, and memorials that
+skulk in the grass!
+
+  Sta, viator, _judicem_ calcas!
+
+A judge, before whose unblenching face the sacred majesty of England
+once stood upon deliverance, and awaited the stern issues of life and
+death; an _unjust judge_, who, for daring to sit in judgment, must yet
+come forth from this obscure grave, and give answer unto Him who is
+judge of quick and dead.
+
+
+
+
+LATEST FROM THE PENINSULA.[46]
+
+
+We have lately been surfeited with the affairs of that portion of Europe
+south of the Pyrenees, and did intend not again to refer, at least for
+some time, to any thing connected with it. We are sick of Spanish
+revolutions, disgusted with causeless _pronunciamentos_, and corrupt
+intrigues, weary of Madame Munoz and "the innocent Isabel," of palace
+plots and mock elections, base ministers and imbecile Infantas. We care
+not the value of a flake of _bacallao_, if Das Antas the Bearded,
+Schwalbach the German, Saldanha the Duke, or any other leader of
+Lusitania's hosts, wins a fight or takes to his heels. Profoundly
+indifferent is it to us whether her corpulent majesty of Portugal,
+(eighteen stone by the scale, so she is certified,) holds on at the
+Necessidades, or is necessitated to cut and run on board a British
+frigate. Portugal we leave to the care of Colonel Wylde, homoeopathic
+physician-in-ordinary to all trans-Pyrennean insurrections and civil
+wars; and Spain we consign to the tender mercies of Camarillas, propped
+by bayonets and inspired by the genial influences of the Tuileries. We
+have been pestered with these two countries, and with their annual
+revolutions, reminding us of a whirlwind in a wash-tub, until, in
+impatience of their restless, turbulent population, we have come to
+dislike their very names. Nevertheless, here are a brace of books about
+the Peninsula, concerning which we have a word to say, although we shall
+not avail ourselves of the opportunity they offer to discuss Portuguese
+rebellions and Spanish politics.
+
+Writers on Spain, long resident in the country, acquire a _borracha_
+twang, a smack of the pig-skin, a propensity to quaint and proverb-like
+phrases, characteristic of the land they write about. The peculiarity is
+perceptible in the books before us; in both of them the racy Castilian
+flavour reeks through the pages. And first--to begin with the most
+worthy--as regards Mr. Ford's "Gatherings." There be cooks so cunning in
+their craft, that out of the mangled remains of yesterday's feast, they
+concoct a second banquet, less in volume, but more savoury, than its
+predecessor. This to do, needs both skill and judgment. Spice must be
+added, sauces devised, heavy and cumbrous portions rejected, great
+ingenuity exercised, fitly to furnish forth to-day's delicate collation
+from the fragments of yesterday's baked meats. Mr. Ford has shown
+himself an adept in the art of literary _rechauffage_. His masterly and
+learned "Handbook of Spain," having been found by some, who love to run
+and read, too small in type, too grave in substance, he has skimmed its
+cream, thrown in many well-flavoured and agreeable condiments, and
+presented the result in one compact and delightful volume. He has at
+once lightened and condensed his work. Mr. Hughes, the Lisbon pilgrim,
+has gone quite upon another tack. He makes no pretensions to brevity or
+close-packing, but starts with a renunciation of method, and an avowed
+determination to be loquacious. Dashing off in fine desultory style,
+with a fluent pen, and a flux of words, he proclaims that his sole
+ambition is to amuse, and with that view he proposes to be discursive
+and parlous. Amusing he certainly is; his irrepressible tendency to
+exaggeration is exceedingly diverting, whilst the excellent terms he is
+upon with himself, frequently compel a smile. His prolixity we can
+overlook, but we have difficulty in pardoning the questionable taste of
+certain portions of his book. In commenting on its defects, however,
+allowances must be made for the bad health of the writer. Doubtless he
+intends that they should be, for he repeatedly informs us that he is
+troubled with a pulmonary complaint of many years' standing, to which he
+anticipates a fatal termination. "I strive," he says, "to escape, by
+observation of the outer world, and of mankind, from the natural
+tendency to brood over misfortune, and seek to discover in occupation
+that cheerfulness which would be inevitably lost in an unemployed
+existence, and in dwelling on the phases of my illness." What can we say
+after such an appeal to our feelings? how criticise with severity a book
+written under these circumstances? If we hint incredulity as to the
+gravity of the author's malady, we shall be classed with those unfeeling
+persons, "whose levity and heartlessness not only refuse to sympathise,
+but often even doubt if my sickness be real." Truly, when we learn that
+between the months of September and December last, the sick man
+travelled fifteen hundred miles--the latter portion of the distance
+through districts where he was compelled to rough it--exposed to
+frequent vicissitudes of temperature, and to the unhealthy climate of
+Madrid--sudden death to consumptive patients--eating, according to his
+own record, with the appetite of a muleteer, "rushing into ventas, and
+roaring lustily for dinner," (vide vol. i. p. 206.)--holding furious
+discussions in coffee-houses, and winding them up, after utterly
+extinguishing his opponents, with Propagandist harangues eight pages
+long, (ibid. p. 334,)--and, finally, writing--in the intervals of his
+journey, we presume,--the two bulky and closely printed volumes now upon
+our table, we must say that many persons in perfect health would rejoice
+to vie with so sturdy an invalid. We do hope, therefore, and incline to
+believe, that the yellow flag thus despondingly hung out is a false
+signal; that Mr. Hughes, if not to be ranked altogether under the head
+of imaginary valetudinarians, is at any rate in a far less desperate
+state than he imagines; and that he will live long, long enough to amend
+his style, refine his tone, and write a book as commendable in all
+respects as this one often is for its fun and originality.
+
+It is very unfavourable to the "Overland Journey," that its coincidence
+of publication and similarity of subject with the "Gatherings from
+Spain," render a comparison between them scarcely avoidable. A
+comparison with so elegant and scholarly a book as Mr. Ford's, very few
+works on the Peninsula that have come under our notice could
+advantageously sustain. But, after dismissing all idea of establishing a
+contrast, we still find much to quarrel with in Mr. Hughes's recent
+production. It is careless, often flippant, sometimes even coarse, and
+as we read, we regret that a shrewd observer and intelligent man should
+thus run into caricature, and neglect the proprieties expected from all
+who present themselves in print before the public. Against these he
+offends at the very outset. Scarcely has he put foot in France, when he
+begins his comments on the fair sex, in which, whilst aiming at
+acuteness and wit, he displays very little delicacy. Neither are his
+inferences the most charitable. The young ladies at Havre, who, to
+preserve their drapery from mud and dust, display, according to the
+universal French custom, some inches of their very handsome legs, are
+assumed to do so at mamma's instigation, and to ensnare husbands. "She
+is not more than seventeen, and appears to have no consciousness--her
+face all seeming simplicity and serenity, as are those of most French
+unmarried misses, (after marriage it is a little t'other.) How
+ridiculous to suppose that she is not conscious of _her exquisite
+shapes_!" Mr. Hughes has a shocking opinion of the maidens of Gaul,
+whose conduct towards him seems to have been somewhat indecorous. "Very
+young girls abroad appear to have attained to consciousness, and often
+laugh out if you only give them a casual glance." We know not whether
+there is any thing especially mirth-provoking in the glances of our
+lively invalid, but this is the first time we have heard tell of such
+very unbecoming behaviour on the part of respectable young French women.
+The next insinuation we stumble upon is of a different nature, although
+it would scarcely be more relished by its objects. Mr. Hughes is at
+Paris, indulging in a _flanerie_ on the Boulevards, and taking notes of
+the latest fashions. "The dresses are now worn extravagantly high, stuck
+up into the throat, and suggesting a suspicion that there may be
+_something blotchy underneath_." To say nothing of the suggestive and
+unsavoury nature of this remark, we are quite puzzled to know what would
+satisfy so captious a critic. One lady shows her ankle, and is set down
+as an immodest schemer; another covers her neck, and is suspected of a
+cutaneous affection. On a par with such an inference, is the gross
+account of an alabaster group in a shop window, and the wit of the
+conjecture whether Dr. Toothache, who attends to the "teeth, gums,
+tongue, throat, &c., has any cure for a long tongue, or if he _patches
+the gums with gum elastic_!" Such stuff as this would hardly pass muster
+in familiar conversation, or in a gossipping letter to an intimate
+friend; but in a printed book, intended, doubtless, for the perusal of
+thousands, it is sadly out of place. It is a relief to revert from it to
+the strong good sense and graceful raillery of Mr. Ford's pages.
+
+Sure, where all is good, to fall in a pleasant place, we open the
+"Gatherings" at random. Upon what have we stumbled? Railroads.
+Interesting to Threadneedle Street. True that the mania days are past,
+when an English capitalist caught at any new line puffed by a plausible
+prospectus, however impossible the gradients and desolate the district.
+Nevertheless, and in case of relapse, a word or two about the
+practicability of Spanish railroads will not be out of place. Mr. Ford
+is a man who knows Spain thoroughly: that none can doubt. Neither can
+there be any question of his veracity and impartiality. Whatever
+interest he might have to cry up such projects, he can have none to cry
+them down. We, therefore, recommend all persons who have not already
+made up their minds as to the bubble nature of Peninsular railway
+schemes, to send forthwith to Mr. Murray for a copy of the "Gatherings,"
+and to read thrice, with profound attention, the last six pages of
+Chapter Five. They may also glance at pages 8 and 13, and learn, what
+the majority of them are probably ignorant of, that the Peninsula is an
+agglomeration of mountains, divided by Spanish geographers into seven
+distinct chains, all more or less connected with each other, and having
+innumerable branches and off-shoots. Notwithstanding this very
+discouraging configuration of the land, "there is," says Mr. Ford, "just
+now much talk of railroads, and splendid official and other documents
+are issued, by which 'the whole country is to be intersected (on paper)
+with a net-work of rapid and bowling-green communications,' which are to
+create a 'perfect homogeneity amongst Spaniards.'" The absurdity of this
+last notion is only appreciable by those who know the vast differences
+that exist, in character, interests, feelings, and even race, between
+the different provinces of Spain. Time, tranquillity, and a secure and
+paternal government, may eventually produce the blending deemed so
+desirable, and railways would of course largely contribute to the same
+end, could they be made. But to say nothing of the mountains, there are
+a few other impediments nearly as formidable. Spain is an immense
+country, thinly peopled, whose inhabitants travel little, and whose
+commerce is unimportant. And, moreover, projectors of Peninsular rails
+have reckoned without a certain two-legged animal, indigenous to the
+soil, and known as the MULETEER. To this gentleman is at present
+committed the whole inland carrying trade of Spain. What will he say
+when he finds his occupation gone? how will he get his chick peas and
+sausage when he has been run off the road by steam? Mr. Ford opines that
+he, as well as the smuggler, who also will be seriously damaged by the
+introduction of locomotives, will turn robber or patriot,--the two most
+troublesome classes in all Spain. As to prevailing on him to act as
+guard to a railway carriage, to trim lamps, ticket portmanteaus, or
+stand with outstretched arm by the road-side, the idea will only be
+entertained by persons who know nothing either of Spain or Spanish
+muleteers. By the side of the line he doubtless would often be found;
+but not as a telegraph to warn of danger. In his new capacity of
+brigand, his look-out would be for the purses of the passengers. He
+could hardly stop an express train in the old Finchley style of
+presenting himself and his pistol at the carriage window, but a few
+stones and tree-trunks would answer the purpose as well. "A handful of
+opponents," says Mr. Ford, "in any cistus-grown waste, may at any time,
+in five minutes, break up the road, stop the train, stick the stoker,
+and burn the engines in their own fire, particularly smashing the
+luggage-train." To English ears this may sound like absurd exaggeration.
+We have difficulty in imagining a gang of stage-coachmen, even though
+they have been puffed off their boxes by the mighty blast of steam,
+combining, under the orders of Captain Brown or Jones, the gentleman
+driver of some Cambridge, Rockingham, or Brighton bang-up, to build
+barricades across railways and pick off engineers from behind a quickset
+hedge. Here there would be no impunity for such malefactors; their
+campaign against innovation would speedily conduct them to Newgate and
+the hulks. Not so in the Peninsula, where roads are few, police
+defective, and where, at the present time, smugglers and other notorious
+law-breakers strut upon the crown of the causeway, appear boldly in
+towns, and hold themselves in every respect for as honest men as their
+neighbours. But it is not to be supposed that popular opposition,
+probable, almost certain, as it is, to be met with in such a half
+African, semi-civilized country, would be held worth a moment's
+consideration by the dashing schemers who propose to cover the Peninsula
+with iron arteries. The audacity of those persons is only to be equalled
+by their consummate geographical ignorance, several instances of which
+are shown up with much humour and irony by the author of the
+"Gatherings." Some of the most notoriously absurd of the schemes set
+afloat, have had their origin with Englishmen, of whom, since the close
+of the civil war, and especially within the last year or two, a vast
+number have betaken themselves to Spain, to follow up ventures more or
+less hopeful or hopeless. Owing to a long peace, to a rapid growth of
+population, and to the daily-increasing difficulty of fortune-making,
+the class ADVENTURER has of late years, both in this country and the
+sister kingdom, greatly augmented its numbers. This is evident from the
+throng of unemployed and aspiring gentlemen ever ready to engage in any
+undertaking, however desperate and doubtful of success. Let a
+clandestine expedition be contemplated to some hole-and-corner state or
+antipodean republic, and up start a host of mettlesome cavaliers, from
+all ranks and classes, including Irish lords and English baronets and
+squires of low degree, having all fought in three or four services, more
+or less piratical or illegitimate, all bearded like the pard, and
+be-ribboned like maypoles, and all eager once more to rush to the fray,
+and signalise themselves under a foreign banner. These are specimens of
+the adventurer bellicose, the Mike Lambournes and Dugald Dalgettys of
+the nineteenth century. Of a more calculating and ambitious class is the
+adventurer speculative, who possesses a Dousterswivel aptitude for
+discovering mines, devising railways, projecting canals, and the like
+undertakings. Spain has of late been favoured with the attentions of
+many of these gentlemen, flying at every thing, from a common sewer to a
+coal mine, an omnibus company to a hundred leagues of railway. With
+geniuses of this stamp have originated some of the impracticable
+projects so eagerly caught at by English capitalists, whose unemployed
+cash had mounted, as Mr. Ford expresses it, from their pockets to their
+heads. We know not who was the projector of that most magnificent scheme
+to connect Madrid with the Atlantic, in defiance of such trifling
+impediments as the Guadarama range and the Asturian Alps, but we learn
+from the "Gatherings" that he was "to receive L40,000 for the cession of
+his plan to the company, and actually did receive L25,000, which,
+considering the difficulties, natural and otherwise, must be considered
+an inadequate remuneration." Unfortunately, when he sold his plan, he
+did not show the buyers how to surmount the difficulties; and indeed he
+would have been puzzled to do so, since they subsequently proved
+insurmountable. But the whole of the facts relating to Spanish railroads
+lie in a nutshell, and may be set forth in ten lines. Neither by the
+nature of its surface, nor by amount of population and importance of
+trade, is Spain adapted to receive this greatest invention of the
+present century. As to a regular system of railways, diverging from
+Madrid to the frontiers and principal seaport towns, on the plan laid
+down for France, it is not to be thought of, and can never be
+accomplished. And with respect to those lines which _might_ be made
+along the valleys, and by following the course of rivers, the country is
+not yet ripe for them. Spain has not yet been able to get canals; her
+highroads, worthy of the name, are few and far between, leading only
+from the capital to coast or frontier, whilst cross roads and
+communications between towns are for the most part mere _caminos de
+herradura_, horse-shoe or bridle roads of a wretched description. A few
+short lines of cheap construction over level tracts, and favoured by
+peculiar circumstances, such as a populous district, the proximity of
+large towns, or of a country unusually rich in natural productions, are
+the only railways that can as yet be undertaken in Spain without
+certainty of heavy loss. The line between Madrid and Aranjuez is the
+only one, Mr. Ford thinks, at all likely to be at present carried out.
+
+We have been greatly delighted with the pictures scattered through Mr.
+Ford's book, pictures that owe nothing to pencil or graver, half pages
+of letter-press placing before our eyes, with the brilliant minuteness
+of a richly-coloured and highly-finished painting, men, things, and
+scenes characteristic of Spain. Amongst these, the sketch of the
+muleteer, that errant descendant of the old Morisco carriers, is full of
+life; and we defy the brush of the most cunning artist to bring the man,
+in all his peculiarities, more vividly before us than is done by Mr.
+Ford's vigorous and graceful pen and ink touches. We see the long line
+of tall mules, with dusty flanks and well-poised burdens, winding their
+way over some rugged sierra, or across a weary _despoblado_, their gay
+worsted head-gear nodding in the sunbeams, the tinkle of their
+innumerable bells mingling with the mournful song of their conductor, to
+which, when the latter, weary of striding beside his beasts, mounts
+aloft upon the bales for a temporary rest, is added the monotonous thrum
+of a guitar. The song is as unceasing as the bells, unless when
+interrupted by a pull at the wine _bota_, or by the narration of some
+wild story of bandit cruelty or contrabandist daring. "The Spanish
+muleteer is a fine fellow; he is intelligent, active, and enduring; he
+braves hunger and thirst, heat and cold, mud and dust; he works as hard
+as his cattle, never robs or is robbed; and whilst his betters in this
+land put off every thing till to-morrow, except bankruptcy, _he_ is
+punctual and honest." Mr. Ford's book will hardly find much favour in
+the country of which it treats. It tells too many home truths. We have
+heard his "Hand-book" found fault with by Spaniards, although it was
+evident they were puzzled where to attack him, and equally so that their
+hyper-critical censure of certain trifling inaccuracies, real or
+imaginary, was merely a mode of venting their vexation at the
+shrewdness, wit, and delicious impertinence with which he shows up the
+national vices and foibles. He dives into the most secret recesses of
+the Spanish character, and whilst admitting its good points, probes its
+weakness with an unsparing hand. No people in the world entertain such
+an arrogant overstrained good opinion of themselves and their country as
+Spaniards. To hear them refer to Spain, one would imagine it to be the
+first kingdom in the world, combining the advantages of all the most
+civilized and flourishing countries in Europe. We here speak of the
+masses; of course there is an enlightened and clear-sighted minority,
+that sees and deplores its fallen condition. But the popular notion is
+the other way. "Who says Spain, says every thing;" so runs the proverb.
+And yet whilst they mouth about Espana, and exalt it, not in the way of
+an empty boast, which the utterer believeth not, but in full conviction
+of the good foundation of their vaunts, above all the kingdoms of the
+earth, they are, in fact, the least homogeneous nation in
+existence,--the least patriotic, in the comprehensive sense of the word.
+Nowhere are distinctions of provinces so strongly marked, in no country
+are so many antipathies to be found between inhabitants of different
+districts. "Like the German, they may sing and spout about Fatherland:
+in both cases the theory is splendid, but in practice each Spaniard
+thinks his own province or town the best in the Peninsula, and himself
+the finest fellow in it." The _patriotisme du clocher_, with which
+French provincials have been reproached, but which, in France, the
+system of centralisation has done so much to eradicate, the prejudice
+which narrows a man's sympathies to his own country or department, is
+extra-ordinarily conspicuous in Spaniards. It is traceable to various
+causes; to the former divisions of the country, when it consisted of
+several kingdoms, independent and jealous of each other; to want of
+convenient communications and to the stay-at-home habits of the people;
+and also to the unimportance of the capital, which title has been so
+frequently transferred from city to city. When one Spaniard talks of
+another as his countryman, he does not refer to their being both
+Spaniards, but means that both are from the same province. "The much
+used phrase, 'Espanolismo,'" says Mr. Ford, who is very hard upon the
+poor Dons on this head, "expresses rather a dislike of foreign
+dictation, and the self-estimation of Spaniards, 'Espanoles sobre
+todos,' than any real patriotic love of country, however highly they
+rate its excellencies and superiority to every other one under heaven."
+
+So much for a go off. We find this in the first chapter, and few of the
+subsequent ones conclude without some similar rap on the knuckles for
+the countrymen of Don Quixote; raps always dexterously applied, and in
+most instances well deserved. On Spanish securities, (to use a
+misnomer,) whether loan, land, or rail, and on the _unremitting_
+punctuality of Spanish finance ministers, Mr. Ford is particularly
+severe, and not without good cause. The _Hispanica fides_ of the present
+day may well rival the _Punica fides_ of the ancients. It has become as
+proverbial. Painful is it to behold a people, possessing so many noble
+qualities, held up to the scorn of surrounding nations for repeated acts
+of dishonesty, which, under a good government, and with a proper
+administration of their immense resources, they would never have been
+tempted to perpetrate. Under the present plan, however, with their
+absurd tariff, the parent of the admirably organised system of smuggling
+that supplies the whole country with foreign commodities, and reduces
+the customs revenue to a tithe of what it might be made, we see no
+possible exit for Spain from the labyrinth of financial embarrassment in
+which dishonesty and corruption have plunged her. She resembles a
+reckless spendthrift, who, having exhausted his credit and ruined his
+character amongst honest money-lenders, has been compelled to resort to
+Jews and usurers, and who now, when the days of his hot youth and
+uncalculating dissipation are past, and he wishes to redeem his
+character and compound with his creditors, lacks resolution to
+economise, and judgment to avail himself of, the resources of his
+encumbered but fertile estates. The debts of Spain are stated by Mr.
+Ford at about two hundred and eighty millions sterling, this estimate
+being based on reports laid before parliament in 1844 by Mr. Macgregor.
+The statement, however, whose possible exaggeration, owing to the
+difficulty of getting at correct information, is admitted in the
+"Gatherings," is fiercely contradicted by an anonymous correspondent,
+whose letter Mr. Ford prints at the end of his volume. Some of the
+assertions of this "Friend of Truth" (so he signs himself) are so
+astonishing, as utterly to disprove his right to the title. According to
+him, the whole Spanish debt is less than a fourth of the sum above set
+down, the country is very rich, quite able to meet her trifling
+engagements, and Spanish stock is a fortune to whomsoever is lucky
+enough to possess it! After this, it was supererogatory on the part of
+the unknown letter-writer to inform us that he is a large holder of the
+valuable bonds he so highly esteems, and whose rise to their _proper_
+price, about 60 or 70, he confidently predicts. Crumbs of comfort these,
+for the creditors of insolvent Spain. Nevertheless, Mr. Ford persists
+in his incredulity as to the sunny prospects of Peninsular bond-holders;
+and whilst hoping that the bright visions of his anonymous friend may be
+fully and promptly realised, declares his extreme distaste for any thing
+in the shape of Spanish stock, whether active, passive, or deferred.
+"Beware," he says, in his pithy and convincing style, "of Spanish stock,
+for, in spite of official records, _documentos_, and arithmetical mazes,
+which, intricate as an Arabesque pattern, look well on paper without
+being intelligible; in spite of ingenious conversions, fundings of
+interest, &c. &c. the thimblerig is always the same. And this is the
+question:--Since national credit depends on national good faith, and
+surplus income, how can a country pay interest on debts, whose revenues
+have long been, and now are, miserably insufficient for the ordinary
+expenses of government? You cannot get blood from a stone; _ex nihilo
+nihil fit_." After which warning, coming from such a quarter, sane
+persons on the look-out for an investment will, we imagine, as soon
+think of making it in Glenmutchkin railway shares, as in the dishonoured
+paper of all-promising, non-performing Spain.
+
+The popular notion prevalent in England, and still more so in France,
+that Spain is an unsafe country to travel in, is energetically combated
+by Mr. Ford. It, of course, would be highly impolitic in the author of a
+hand-book to admit that, in the country he described, the chances were
+about equal whether a man got to his journey's end with a whole throat
+or a cut one. But this consideration, we are sure, has had no weight
+with Mr. Ford, both of whose books are equally adapted to amuse by an
+English fireside or to be useful on a Spanish highway. His contempt for
+the exaggerated statements and causeless terrors of tourists leads him,
+however, rather into the opposite extreme. Believe him, and there is
+scarcely a robber in the Peninsula, although he admits that thieves
+abound, chiefly to be found in confessional boxes, lawyers' chambers,
+and government offices. The _naivete_ of the following is amusing:--He
+speaks of travellers who, by scraping together and recording every idle
+tale, gleaned from the gossip of muleteers and chatter of coffee-houses,
+"keep up the notion entertained in many counties of England, that the
+whole Peninsula is peopled with banditti. If such were the case society
+could not exist." The assertion is undeniable. Equally so is it that in
+a country where civil war so lately raged, and where, until a very
+recent date, revolutions were still rife, where a large portion of the
+population lives by the lawless and demoralising profession of
+smuggling, where the police is bad, where roads are long and solitary
+and mountains many, highwaymen must abound and travelling be unsafe.
+That it is so, may be ascertained by a glance at any file of Spanish
+newspapers. And the peculiar state of Spain, its liability to the petty
+insurrections and desperate attempts of exiled parties and pretenders,
+encourages the growth of robber bands, who cloak their villanous calling
+with a political banner. These insurgents, Carlists, Progresista, or
+whatsoever they may style themselves, act upon the broad principle that
+those who are not with them are against them, and consequently are just
+as dangerous and disagreeable to meet as mere vulgar marauders of the
+"stand and deliver" sort, who fight upon their own account, without
+pretending to defend the cause either of King or Kaiser, liberty or
+absolutism. At the same time to believe, as many do, that of travellers
+in Spain the unrobbed are the exceptions or even the minority, is a
+gross absurdity, and the delusion arises from the romancing vein in
+which scribbling tourists are apt to indulge. It is certain that nearly
+all travellers, especially French ones, who take a run of a month or two
+in the Peninsula, and subsequently print the eventful history of their
+ramble, think it indispensable to introduce at least one robber
+adventure, as having occurred to themselves or come within their
+immediate cognisance. And if they cannot manage to get actually robbed,
+positively put down with their noses in the mud, whilst their carpet
+bags are rummaged, and their Chub-locks smashed by gloomy ruffians with
+triple-charged blunderbusses, and knives like scythe-blades, they at
+least get up a narrow escape. They encounter a troop of thorough-bred
+bandits, unmistakable purse-takers, fellows with slouched hats,
+truculent mustaches and rifle at saddle-bow, who lower at them from
+beneath bushy brows, and are on the point of commencing hostilities,
+when the well-timed appearance of a picket of dragoons, or perhaps the
+bold countenance of the travellers themselves, makes them change their
+purpose and ride surlily by. Mr. Ford shows how utterly groundless these
+alarms usually are. Most Spaniards, when they mount their horses for a
+journey, discard long-tailed coats and Paris hats, and revert in great
+measure to the national costume as it is still to be found in country
+places. A broad-brimmed, pointed hat, with velvet band and
+trimmings--the genuine melodramatic castor--protects head and face from
+the sun; a jacket, frequently of sheepskin, overalls, often of a
+half-military cut and colour, and a red sash round the waist, compose
+the habitual attire of Spanish wayfarers. Such a dress is not usual out
+of Spain, and to French and English imaginations does not suggest the
+idea of domestic habits and regular tax-paying. And when the cavaliers
+thus accoutred possess olive or chocolate complexions, with dark
+flashing eyes and a considerable amount of beard, and are elevated upon
+demi-pique saddles, whose holsters may or may not contain "pistols as
+long as my arm," whilst some of their number have perhaps fowling-pieces
+slung on their shoulder, it is scarcely surprising if the English
+Cockney or Parisian _badaud_ mistakes them for the banditti whom he has
+dreamed about ever since he crossed the Bidassoa or landed at Cadiz. And
+upon encounters of this kind, and incidents of very little more gravity,
+repeated, distorted, and hugely exaggerated, are founded five-sixths of
+the robber stories to which poor Spain is indebted for its popular
+reputation of a country of cut-throats and highwaymen.
+
+Amongst the measures adopted for the extirpation of banditti, was the
+establishment of the _guardias civiles_, a species of gendarmerie,
+dressed upon the French model, and who, from their stations in towns,
+patrol the roads and wander about the country in the same prying and
+important style observable amongst their brethren of the cocked hat
+north of the Pyrenees. Spaniards have a sneaking regard for bold
+robbers, whom they look upon as half-brothers of the contrabandist--that
+popular hero of the Peninsula: they have also an innate dislike of
+policemen, and a still stronger one for every thing French. They have
+bestowed upon the Frenchified _guardias_ the appellations of
+_polizones_,--a word borrowed from their neighbours,--and of _hijos de
+Luis Felipe_, sons of Louis Philippe. "Spaniards," saith Richard Ford,
+"are full of dry humour;" he might have added, and of sharp wit. Nothing
+escapes them: they are ever ready with a sarcasm on public men and
+passing events, and when offended, especially when their pride is hurt,
+they become savage in their satire. When it was attempted to force Count
+Trapani upon Spain as a husband for the Queen, the indignation of the
+people burst out in innumerable jokes and current allusions, any thing
+but flattering to the Neapolitan prince. Every thing filthy and
+disgusting received his name. In the Madrid coffee-houses, when a dirty
+table was to be wiped, the cry was invariably for a _Trapani_, instead
+of a _trapo_, the Spanish word for a dishclout or rag used for the most
+unclean purposes. Since then, the Duke of Montpensier has come in for
+his share of insulting jests. The Madrilenos got all unfounded notion
+that he was short-sighted, and made the most of it. Mr. Hughes was at a
+bull-fight where one of the bulls showed the white feather, and ran from
+the _picador_. "The crowd instantly exclaimed, '_Fuera el toro
+Monpenseer! Fuera Monpenseer!_ Turn him out!' They used to call every
+lame dog and donkey a _Trapani_; and now every blind animal is sure to
+be christened a _Monpenseer_."
+
+If the danger to which peaceable travellers are exposed, in Spain, from
+the knives of robbers, be considerably less than is generally believed,
+great peril is often incurred at the hands of men who wield cutting
+weapons professedly for the good of their species. The ignorance and
+inefficiency of Spanish surgeons and physicians is notorious, and
+admitted even by their countrymen, who, it has already been shown, are
+not prone to expose the nakedness of the land. "The base, bloody, and
+brutal _Sangrados_ of Spain," says Mr. Ford, "have long been the butts
+of foreign and domestic novelists, who spoke many a true word in their
+jests." The eagerness with which Spaniards have recourse to French and
+English medical men whom chance throws in their way, proves how low they
+estimate the skill and science of their professional countrymen. Many a
+naval surgeon whose ship has been stationed on the Spanish coast, could
+tell strange tales of the fatal ignorance he has had opportunity to
+observe amongst the native faculty. It will be remembered how
+Zumalacarregui, whose wound would have offered little difficulty to an
+English village practitioner, was hurried out of the world by the
+butchering manoeuvres of his conclave of Spanish quacks and _medicos_,
+terms too often synonymous. And it may be remarked, that in Spain, where
+there has been so much fighting during the last fifteen years, amputated
+persons are more rarely met with than in countries that have enjoyed
+comparative peace during the same period. The natural inference is, that
+the unlucky soldier whose leg or arm has been shattered by the enemy's
+fire, usually dies under the hands of unskilful operators. "All
+Spaniards," Mr. Ford remarks, "are very dangerous with the knife, and
+more particularly if surgeons. At no period were Spaniards careful even
+of their own lives, and much less of those of others, being a people of
+untender bowels." If the Peninsula surgeon is reckless and destructive
+with his steel, the physician, on the other hand, is usually
+overcautious with his drugs. Almond-milk and vegetable decoctions,
+impotent to cure or aggravate disease, are prominent remedies in the
+Spanish pharmacopoeia; minerals are looked upon with awe, and the
+timid _tisane_ practice of the French school is exaggerated to
+absurdity. Upon the principle of keeping edged tools out of the hands of
+children, it is perhaps just as well that Spanish doctors do not venture
+to meddle with the strong drugs commonly used in England. Left to
+nature, with whose operation asses'-milk and herb-broth can in few cases
+interfere, the invalid has at least a chance of cure.
+
+Unassailed by either variety of Spanish bloodletters, the doctor or the
+bandit, Mr. Hughes pursued, in high spirits and great good humour, his
+long and leisurely journey from Irun to Lisbon, _via_ Madrid. We left
+him at Paris, strolling in the passages, dining with his friends of the
+_Charivari_, frequenting the _foyer de l'opera_, leading, in short,
+rather a gay life for a man in such delicate health; we take him up
+again upon his own favourite battle-ground of the Peninsula, where we
+like him far better than in the French metropolis. At Burgos he is in
+great feather, winning hearts by the dozen, frightening the garrison by
+sketching the fortress, waging a victorious warfare of words at the
+_table-d'hote_, and playing pranks which will doubtless cause him to be
+long remembered in the ancient capital of Castile. There the maid of the
+inn, a certain black-eyed Francisca, fell desperately in love with him,
+and so far forgot maidenly reserve as to confess her flame. "She had
+large and expressive eyes," says the fortunate man, "and had tried their
+power on me repeatedly, and the like, I am bound to say, (in narrating
+this truthful history,) did sundry Burgalese dames and damsels of more
+pretensions and loftier state." These were far from being the sole
+triumphs achieved at Burgos by this lover of truth, and loved-one of the
+ladies. He managed to excite the suspicions of the whole population,
+especially of the police, who set spies to dog him. He was taken for a
+political agent, a propagandist, and at last for a diplomatist of the
+first water, and secretary of legation at Madrid. The origin of these
+suspicions was traceable to his disregard of a ridiculous and barbarous
+prejudice, a relic of orientalism worthy of the Sandwich islanders,
+still in force amongst Spaniards. "Nothing throughout the length and
+breadth of the land"--we quote from Mr. Ford--"creates greater suspicion
+or jealousy than a stranger's making drawings, or writing down notes in
+a book; whoever is observed 'taking plans,' or 'mapping the
+country,'--for such are the expressions of the simplest pencil
+sketches,--is thought to be an engineer, a spy, or, at all events, to be
+about no good." Mr. Hughes was caught taking notes; forthwith Burgos was
+up in arms, whilst he, on discovering the sensation made by his
+sketch-book, and by his free expression of political opinions, did his
+utmost to increase the mysterious interest attached to him. He galloped
+about the castle, book and pencil in hand, making imaginary sketches of
+bastions and ravelins; he talked liberalism by the bushel, and raved
+against the Montpensior alliance. The results of the triumphant logic
+with which he electrified a brigadier-general, a colonel, and the whole
+company at his hotel, are recorded by him in a note. It will be seen
+that they were not unimportant. "I have the satisfaction to state that
+the words which I said that day bore good fruit subsequently, for the
+Ayuntamiento of Burgos declined to vote any taxation for extraordinary
+expenses to commemorate the Duke of Montpensier's marriage." A dangerous
+man is the overland traveller to Lisbon, and we are no way surprised
+that, at Madrid, Senor Chico, chief of police, vouchsafed him his
+special attention, and even called upon him to inquire whether he did
+not intend to get up a commotion on the entrance of the Infanta's
+bridegroom. Mr. Bulwer also, aware that a book was in embryo, and
+anxious for a patronising word in its pages, paid his court to the
+author by civilities, "all of which I carefully abstained from
+accepting, except one formal dinner, to which I first declined going;
+but, on receiving a renewal of the invitation, could not well refrain
+from appearing.... I have had six years' experience of foreign
+diplomatists, and know that the dinner was pressed on me a second time
+for the very purpose of committing me to a particular line of
+observation." After this, let any one tell us that Mr. Hughes has not
+fulfilled his promise of being amusing. Unfettered by obligations, he
+runs full tilt at poor Mr. Bulwer, the fatal error of whose career is,
+he says, an excessive opinion of himself. This fault must be especially
+odious to the author of the "Journey to Lisbon." The British ambassador
+at Madrid, we are told, by his vanity and lack of energy, left full
+scope for the active and tortuous intrigues of M. Bresson, who fairly
+juggled and outmanoeuvred him. "The marriages were arranged in his
+absence. He was not consulted on the question, nor was its decision
+submitted to him; and when the news, on the following day, reached the
+British legation, after having become previously known to the
+metropolis, our minister was at Carabanchal! (one of his
+country-houses.) Then, indeed, he became very active, and displayed much
+_ex post facto_ energy, writing a series of diplomatic notes and
+protests, in one of which he went the length of saying, 'Had he known
+this result, he would have voted for Don Carlos instead of Queen
+Isabel,'--for even the ambassador cannot lose sight of the
+individual,--'when he (Mr. Bulwer) was member of Parliament!'" Did Mr.
+Hughes _see_ this note or protest? Unless he did, we decline believing
+that a man of Mr. Bulwer's talents and reputation would expose himself
+to certain ridicule by so childish and undiplomatic a declaration. Such
+loose and improbable statements need confirmation.
+
+Very graphic and interesting is Mr. Hughes' narrative of his journey
+from Madrid to Portugal, especially that of the three days from Elvas to
+Aldea Gallega, which were passed in a jolting springless cart, drawn by
+mules, and driven by Senhor Manoel Alberto, a Portuguese carrier and
+cavalheiro, poor in pocket, but proud as a grandee. Manoel was a good
+study, an excellent specimen of his class and country, and as such his
+employer exhibits him. At Arroyolos Mr. Hughes ordered a stewed fowl for
+dinner, and made his charioteer sit down and partake. "I soon had
+occasion to repent my politeness, for Manoel, without hesitation,
+plunged his fork into the dish, and drank out of my glass; and great was
+his surprise when I called for another tumbler, and, extricating as much
+of the fowl as I chose to consume, left him in undisturbed possession of
+the remainder." His next meal Mr. Hughes thought proper to eat alone,
+but sent out half his chicken to the muleteer. "He refused to touch it,
+saying that he had ordered a chicken for himself! This was a falsehood,
+for he supped, as I afterwards ascertained, on a miserable _sopa_, but
+his pride would not permit him to touch what was given in a way that
+indicated inferiority." In his rambles through Alemtejo, a province
+little visited and not often described by Englishmen, Mr. Hughes exposes
+some of the blunders of Friend Borrow, of Bible and gipsy celebrity,
+whose singularly attractive style has procured for his writings a
+popularity of which their mistatements and inaccuracies render them
+scarcely worthy. He refers especially to the absurd notion of the
+English _caloro_, that the Portuguese will probably some day adopt the
+Spanish language; a most preposterous idea, when we remember the
+shyness, not to say the antipathy, existing between the two nations, and
+the immense opinion each entertains of itself and all belonging to it.
+He regrets "that one who has so stirring a style should take refuge in
+bounce and exaggeration from the honourable task of candid and searching
+observation, and prefer the fame of a Fernao Mendez Pinto to that of an
+honest and truthful writer." With respect to exaggeration, Mr. Borrow
+might, if so disposed, retaliate on his censor, who, whilst wandering in
+the olive groves of Venda do Duque, encounters "black ants as large
+almost as _figs_, unmolested in the vivid sun-beam." Before such
+monsters as these, the terrible _termes fatalis_ of the Indies, which
+undermines houses and breakfasts upon quarto volumes, must hide its
+diminished head. A misprint can scarcely be supposed, unless indeed an
+_f_ has been substituted for a _p_, which would not mend the matter.
+Apropos of Mr. Borrow: it appears that the ill success of his tract and
+Testament crusade did not entirely check missionary zeal for the
+spiritual amelioration of the Peninsula. His followers, however, met
+with small encouragement. One of their clever ideas was to bottle
+tracts, throw them into the sea, and allow them to be washed ashore!
+This ingenious plan, adopted before Cadiz, did not answer, "first," says
+Mr. Hughes, who, we must do him the justice to say, is a stanch foe to
+humbug, "because the bottling gave a ludicrous colour to the
+transaction; and, secondly, for the conclusive reason, that Cadiz, being
+surrounded by fortified sea walls, mounted with frowning guns and
+sentries, the bottles never reached the inhabitants."
+
+Whilst touching on Portuguese literature, Mr. Hughes refers to what he
+considers the depreciating spirit of English critics. "There is a
+ludicrous difference," he says, "in the criticism of London and Lisbon.
+Every thing is condemned in the former place, and every thing hailed
+with rapture in the latter. There are faults on both sides." We have
+been informed that previous literary efforts of the author of the
+"Overland Journey" met, at the hands of certain reviewers, with rougher
+handling than they deserved. His present book is certainly not so
+cautiously written as to guarantee it against censure. The good that is
+in it, which is considerable, is defaced by triviality and bad taste. We
+shall not again dilate on faults to which we have already adverted, but
+merely advise Mr. Hughes, when next he sits down to record his rambles,
+to eschew flimsy and unpalatable gossip, and, bearing in mind Lord
+Bacon's admonition to travellers, to be "rather advised in his discourse
+than forward to tell stories."
+
+
+
+
+TO THE STETHOSCOPE
+
+  "Tuba mirum spargens sonum."
+                              _Dies Irae._
+
+[The Stethoscope, as most, probably, of our readers are aware, is a
+short, straight, wooden tube, shaped like a small post-horn. By means of
+it, the medical man can listen to the sounds which accompany the
+movements of the lungs and heart; and as certain murmurs accompany the
+healthy action of these organs, and certain others mark their diseased
+condition, an experienced physician can readily discover not only the
+extent, but also the nature of the distemper which afflicts his patient,
+and foretell more or less accurately the fate of the latter.
+
+The Stethoscope has long ceased to excite merely professional interest.
+There are few families to whom it has not proved an object of horror and
+the saddest remembrance, as connected with the loss of dear relatives,
+though it is but a revealer, not a producer of physical suffering.
+
+As an instrument on which the hopes and fears, and one may also say the
+destinies of mankind, so largely hang, it appears to present a fit
+subject for poetic treatment. How far the present attempt to carry out
+this idea is successful, the reader must determine.]
+
+
+  STETHOSCOPE! thou simple tube,
+    Clarion of the yawning tomb,
+  Unto me thou seem'st to be
+    A very trump of doom.
+
+  Wielding thee, the grave physician
+    By the trembling patient stands,
+  Like some deftly skilled musician;
+    Strange! the trumpet in his hands.
+  Whilst the sufferer's eyeball glistens
+    Full of hope and full of fear,
+  Quietly he bends and listens
+    With his quick, accustomed ear--
+  Waiteth until thou shalt tell
+    Tidings of the war within:
+  In the battle and the strife,
+  Is it death, or is it life,
+    That the fought-for prize shall win?
+
+  Then thou whisperest in his ear
+  Words which only he can hear--
+  Words of wo and words of cheer.
+    Jubilates thou hast sounded,
+      Wild exulting songs of gladness;
+    Misereres have abounded
+      Of unutterable sadness.
+  Sometimes may thy tones impart,
+  Comfort to the sad at heart;
+  Oftener when thy lips have spoken,
+  Eyes have wept, and hearts have broken.
+
+  Calm and grave physician, thou
+    Art like a crowned KING;
+  Though there is not round thy brow
+    A bauble golden ring,
+  As a Czar of many lands,
+  Life and Death are in thy hands.
+  Sceptre-like, that Stethoscope
+    Seemeth in thy hands to wave:
+  As it points, thy subject goeth
+    Downwards to the silent grave;
+    Or thy kingly power to save
+  Lifts him from a bed of pain,
+  Breaks his weary bondage-chain,
+  And bids him be a man again.
+
+  Like a PRIEST beside the altar
+    Bleeding victims sacrificing,
+  Thou dost stand, and dost not falter
+    Whatsoe'er their agonising:
+  Death lifts up his dooming finger,
+  And the Flamen may not linger!
+
+  PROPHET art thou, wise physician,
+    Down the future calmly gazing,
+    Heeding not the strange amazing
+  Features of the ghastly vision.
+  Float around thee shadowy crowds,
+  Living shapes in coming shrouds;--
+  Brides with babes, in dark graves sleeping
+    That still sleep which knows no waking;
+  Eyes all bright, grown dim with weeping;
+    Hearts all joy, with anguish breaking;
+  Stalwart men to dust degraded;
+  Maiden charms by worms invades;
+  Cradle songs as funeral hymns;
+  Mould'ring bones for living limbs;
+  Stately looks, and angel faces,
+  Loving smiles, and winning graces,
+  Turned to skulls with dead grimaces.
+  All the future, like a scroll,
+    Opening out, that it may show,
+  Like the ancient Prophet's roll,
+    Mourning, lamentation, anguish,
+    Grief, and every form of wo.
+
+  On a couch with kind gifts laden,
+    Flowers around her, books beside her,
+    Knowing not what shall betide her,
+  Languishes a gentle maiden.
+  Cold and glassy is her bright eye,
+    Hectic red her hollow cheek,
+  Tangled the neglected ringlets,
+    Wan the body, thin and weak;
+  Like thick cords, the swelling blue veins
+    Shine through the transparent skin;
+  Day by day some fiercer new pains
+    Vex without, or war within:
+  Yet she counts it but a passing,
+    Transient, accidental thing;
+  Were the summer only here,
+    It would healing bring!
+  And with many a fond deceit
+    Tries she thus her fears to cheat:
+  "When the cowslip's early bloom
+  Quite hath lost its rich perfume;
+  When the violet's fragrant breath
+  Tasted have the lips of death;
+  When the snowdrop long hath died,
+  And the primrose at its side
+    In its grave is sleeping;
+  When the lilies all are over,
+  And amongst the scented clover
+    Merry lambs are leaping;
+  When the swallow's voice is ringing
+    Through the echoing azure dome,
+    Saying, 'From my far-off home
+  I have come, my wild way winging
+  O'er the waves, that I might tell,
+  As of old, I love ye well.
+  Hark! I sound my silver bell;
+  All the happy birds are singing
+               From each throat
+               A merry note,
+  Welcome to my coming bringing.'
+  When that happy time shall be,
+  From all pain and anguish free,
+  I shall join you, full of life and full of glee."
+
+  Then, thou fearful Stethoscope!
+  Thou dost seem thy lips to ope,
+  Saying, "Bid farewell to hope:
+  I foretell thee days of gloom,
+  I pronounce thy note of doom--
+  Make thee ready for the tomb!
+  Cease thy weeping, tears avail not,
+  Pray to God thy courage fail not.
+  He who knoweth no repenting,
+  Sympathy or sad relenting,
+  Will not heed thy sore lamenting--
+  Death, who soon will be thy guide
+  To his couch, will hold thee fast;
+  As a lover at thy side
+  Will be with thee to the last,
+  Longing for thy latest gasp,
+  When within his iron grasp
+  As his bride he will thee clasp."
+
+  Shifts the scene. The Earth is sleeping,
+    With her weary eyelids closed,
+      Hushed by darkness into slumber;
+    Whilst in burning ranks disposed,
+      High above, in countless number,
+  All the heavens, in radiance steeping,
+         Watch and ward
+         And loving guard
+  O'er her rest the stars are keeping.
+
+  Often has the turret-chime
+  Of the hasty flight of time
+      Warning utterance given;
+  And the stars are growing dim
+  On the gray horizon's rim,
+      In the dawning light of heaven.
+  But there sits, the Bear out-tiring,
+  As if no repose requiring,
+  One pale youth, all unattending
+  To the hour; with bright eye bending
+  O'er the loved and honoured pages,
+  Where are writ the words of sages,
+  And the heroic deeds and thoughts of far distant ages.
+
+  Closed the book,
+    With gladsome look
+    Still he sits and visions weaveth.
+    Fancy with her wiles deceiveth;
+      Days to come with glory gildeth;
+        And though all is bleak and bare,
+      With perversest labour buildeth
+        Wondrous castles in the air.
+    He who shall possess each palace,
+    Fortune has for him no malice,
+        Only countless joys in store:
+    Over rim,
+    And mantling brim,
+        His full cup of life shall pour.
+    Whilst he dreams,
+    The future seems
+      Like the present spread before him:
+    Nought to fear him,
+    All to cheer him,
+      Coming greatness gathers o'er him;
+    And into the ear of Night
+    Thus he tells his visions bright:--
+
+  "I shall be a glorious Poet!
+  All the wond'ring world shall know it,
+    Listening to melodious hymning;
+      I shall write immortal songs.
+
+    "I shall be a Painter limning
+  Pictures that shall never fade;
+  Round the scenes I have portrayed
+    Shall be gathered gazing throngs:
+  Mine shall be a Titian's palette!
+
+  "I shall wield a Phidias' mallet!
+    Stone shall grow to life before me,
+    Looks of love shall hover o'er me,
+    Beauty shall in heart adore me
+  That I make her charms immortal.
+  Now my foot is on the portal
+    Of the house of Fame:
+    Soon her trumpet shall proclaim
+    Even this now unhonoured name,
+  And the doings of this hand
+  Shall be known in every land.
+
+  "Music! my bewitching pen
+  Shall enchant the souls of men.
+  Aria, fugue, and strange sonata,
+  Opera, and gay cantata,
+  Through my brain,
+  In linked train,
+  Hark! I hear them winding go,
+  Now with half-hushed whisper stealing,
+  Now in full-voiced accent pealing,
+  Ringing loud, and murmuring low.
+  Scarcely can I now refrain,
+  Whilst these blessed notes remain,
+  From pouring forth one undying angel-strain.
+
+  "Eloquence! my lips shall speak
+    As no living lips have spoken--
+  Advocate the poor and weak,
+    Plead the cause of the heart-broken;
+  Listening senates shall be still,
+  I shall wield them at my will,
+  And this little tongue, the earth
+      With its burning words shall fill.
+
+    "Ye stars which bloom like flowers on high,
+    Ye flowers which are the stars of earth,
+  Ye rocks that deep in darkness lie,
+  Ye seas that with a loving eye
+  Gaze upwards on the azure sky,
+    Ye waves that leap with mirth;
+  Ye elements in constant strife,
+  Ye creatures full of bounding life:
+  I shall unfold the hidden laws,
+  And each unthought-of wondrous cause,
+    That waked ye into birth.
+  A high-priest I, by Nature taught
+    Her mysteries to reveal:
+  The secrets that she long hath sought
+    In darkness to conceal
+  Shall have their mantle rent away,
+  And stand uncovered to the light of day.
+  O Newton! thou and I shall be
+    Twin brothers then!
+  Together link'd, our names shall sound
+    Upon the lips of men."
+
+  Like the sullen heavy boom
+    Of a signal gun at sea,
+  When athwart the gathering gloom,
+  Awful rocks are seen to loom
+    Frowning on the lee;
+  Like the muffled kettle-drum,
+    With the measured tread,
+  And the wailing trumpet's hum,
+    Telling that a soldier's dead;
+  Like the deep cathedral bell
+  Tolling forth its doleful knell,
+  Saying, "Now the strife is o'er,
+  Death hath won a victim more"--
+  So, thou doleful Stethoscope!
+      Thou dost seem to say,
+  "Hope thou on against all hope,
+     Dream thy life away:
+     Little is there now to spend;
+     And that little's near an end.
+     Saddest sign of thy condition
+     is thy bounding wild ambition;
+     Only dying eyes can gaze on so bright a vision.
+     Ere the spring again is here,
+          Low shall be thy head,
+  Vainly shall thy mother dear,
+  Strive her breaking heart to cheer,
+  Vainly strive to hide the tear
+      Oft in silence shed.
+  Pangs and pains are drawing near,
+  To plant with thorns thy bed:
+  Lo! they come, a ghastly troop,
+      Like fierce vultures from afar;
+  Where the bleeding quarry is,
+      There the eagles gathered are!
+  Ague chill, and fever burning,
+  Soon away, but swift returning,
+  In unceasing alternation;
+      Cold and clammy perspiration,
+  Heart with sickening palpitation,
+      Panting, heaving respiration;
+  Aching brow, and wasted limb,
+  Troubled brain, and vision dim,
+  Hollow cough like dooming knell
+  Saying, 'Bid the world farewell!'
+  Parched lips, and quenchless thirst,
+  Every thing as if accurst;
+  Nothing to the senses grateful;
+  All things to the eye grown hateful;
+  Flowers without the least perfume;
+  Gone from every thing its bloom;
+  Music but an idle jangling;
+  Sweetest tongues but weary wrangling;
+  Books, which were most dearly cherished,
+  Come to be, each one, disrelished;
+  Clearest plans grown all confusion;
+  Kindest friends but an intrusion:
+    Weary day, and weary night--
+      Weary night, and weary day;
+    Would God it were the morning light!
+      Would God the light were pass'd away!
+  And when all is dark and dreary,
+  And thou art all worn and weary,
+  When thy heart is sad and cheerless,
+  And thine eyes are seldom tearless,
+  When thy very soul is weak,
+  Satan shall his victim seek.
+  Day by day he will be by thee,
+  Night by night will hover nigh thee,
+  With accursed wiles will try thee,
+  Soul and spirit seek to buy thee.
+  Faithfully he'll keep his tryst,
+  Tell thee that there is no Christ,
+  No long-suffering gracious Father,
+  But an angry tyrant rather;
+  No benignant Holy Spirit,
+  Nor a heaven to inherit,
+  Only darkness, desolation,
+  Hopelessness of thy salvation,
+  And at best annihilation.
+
+  "God with his great power defend thee!
+  Christ with his great love attend thee!
+  May the blessed Spirit lend thee
+  Strength to bear, and all needful succour send thee!"
+  Close we here. My eyes behold,
+  As upon a sculpture old,
+  Life all warm and Death all cold
+  Struggling which alone shall hold--
+  Sign of wo, or sign of hope!--
+  To his lips the Stethoscope.
+
+  But the strife at length is past,
+  They have made a truce at last,
+  And the settling die is cast.
+  Life shall sometimes sound a blast,
+      But it shall be but "Tantivy,"
+    Like a hurrying war reveillie,
+      Or the hasty notes that levy
+    Eager horse, and man, and hound,
+      On an autumn morn,
+    When the sheaves are off the ground,
+      And the echoing bugle-horn
+    Sends them racing o'er the scanty stubble corn.
+    But when I a-hunting go,
+      I, King Death,
+    I that funeral trump shall blow
+      With no bated breath.
+    Long drawn out, and deep and slow
+      Shall the wailing music go;
+      Winding horn shall presage meet
+      Be of coming winding-sheet,
+    And all living men shall know
+      That beyond the gates of gloom,
+      In my mansions of the tomb,
+      I for every one keep room,
+    And shall hold and house them all, till the very
+                                Day of Doom.
+
+                                                V. V.
+
+
+
+
+EPIGRAMS.
+
+
+  Bait, hook, and hair, are used by angler fine;
+  Emma's bright hair alone were bait, hook, line.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Faraday was the first to elicit the electric spark from the magnet; he
+found that it is visible at the instants of breaking and of renewing the
+contact of the conducting wires; and _only then_.
+
+  Around the magnet, Faraday
+  Is sure that Volta's lightnings play;
+    But _how_ to draw them from the wire?
+  He took a lesson from the heart:
+  'Tis when we meet, 'tis when we part,
+    Breaks forth the electric fire.
+
+                                                M.
+
+
+
+
+LETTERS ON THE TRUTHS CONTAINED IN POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS.
+
+1.--THE DIVINING ROD.
+
+
+_February_, 1847.
+
+DEAR ARCHY,--As a resource against the long ennui of the solitary
+evenings of commencing winter, I determined to betake me to the
+neglected lore of the marvellous, the mystical, the supernatural. I
+remembered the deep awe with which I had listened many a year ago to
+tales of seers, and ghosts, and vampires, and all the dark brood of
+night; and I thought it would be infinitely agreeable to thrill again
+with mysterious terrors, to start in my chair at the closing of a
+distant door, to raise my eyes with uneasy apprehension towards the
+mirror opposite, and to feel my skin creep with the sensible "afflatus"
+of an invisible presence. I entered, accordingly, upon what I thought a
+very promising course of appalling reading; but, alack and well-a-day! a
+change has come over me since the good old times, when Fancy, with Fear
+and Superstition behind her, would creep on tiptoe to catch a shuddering
+glimpse of Cobbold Fay, or Incubus. Vain were all my efforts to revive
+the pleasant horrors of earlier years. It was as if I had planned going
+to the play to enjoy again the full gusto of scenic illusion, and
+through some unaccountable absence of mind, was attending a morning
+rehearsal only; when, instead of what I had expected, great coats, hats,
+umbrellas, and ordinary men and women, masks, tinsel, trap-doors,
+pulleys, and a world of intricate machinery, lit by a partial gleam of
+sunshine, had met my view. The spell I had anticipated was not there.
+But yet the daylight scene was worth a few minutes' study. My
+imagination was not to be gratified; but still it might be entertaining
+to see how the tricks are done, the effects produced, the illusion
+realised. I found myself insensibly growing philosophical; what amused
+me became matter of speculation--speculation turned into serious
+inquiry--the object of which shaped itself into "the amount of truth
+contained in popular superstitions." For what has been believed for ages
+must have something real at bottom. There can be no prevalent delusion
+without a corresponding truth. If the dragons, that flew on scaly wings
+and expectorated flames, were fabulous, there existed nevertheless very
+respectable reptiles, which it was a credit to a hero or even a saint to
+destroy. If the Egyptian worship of cats and onions was a mistake, there
+existed nevertheless an object of worship.
+
+Among the immortal productions of the Scottish Shakspeare,--you smile,
+but _that_ phrase contains the true belief, not a popular delusion; for
+the spirit of the poet lived not in the form of his productions, but in
+his creative power and vivid intuition of nature; and the form even is
+often nearer you than you think: See the works of imaginative prose
+writers, _passim_.
+
+Well, among the novels of Scott, I was going to say, none perhaps more
+grows upon our preference than the Antiquary. In no one has the great
+Author more gently and more indulgently, never with happier humour,
+displayed the mixed web of strength and infirmity of human character,
+(never, besides, with more facile power evoked pathos and terror, or
+disported himself in the sublimity and beauty of nature.) Yet gentle as
+is his mood, he misses not the opportunity, albeit in general he betrays
+an honest leaning towards old superstitions, mercilessly to crush one of
+the humblest. Do you remember the Priory of St. Ruth, and the pleasant
+summer party made to visit it, and the preparation for the subsequent
+rogueries of Dousterswivel, in the tale of Martin Waldeck, and the
+discovery of a spring of water by means of the divining rod?
+
+I am disposed, do you know, to rebel against the judgment of the
+novelist on this occasion,--to take the part of the charlatan against
+the author of his being, and to question, whether his performance last
+alluded to might not have been something more and better than a trick.
+Yet I know not if it is prudent to brave public opinion, which has
+stamped this pretension as imposture. But, courage! I will not flinch. I
+will be desperate, with Sir Arthur, defy the sneeze of the great
+Pheulphan, and trust to unearth a real treasure in this discredited
+ground.
+
+Therefore leave off appealing to the shade of Oldbuck, and listen to a
+plain narrative, and you shall hear how much truth there is in the
+reputed popular delusion of the divining rod.
+
+I see my tone of confidence has already half-staggered your disbelief;
+but pray do not, like many other incredulous gentry, run off at once
+into the opposite extreme. Don't let your imagination suddenly instal
+you perpetual chairman of the universal fresh-water company, or of the
+general gold-mine-discovery-proprietary-association. What I have to fell
+you falls very far short of so splendid a mark.
+
+But perhaps you know nothing at all about the divining rod. Then I will
+enlighten your primitive ignorance.
+
+You are to understand, that, in mining districts, a superstition
+prevails among the people, that some are gifted with an occult power of
+detecting the proximity of veins of metal, and of underground springs of
+water. In Cornwall, they hold that about one in forty possesses this
+faculty. The mode, of exercising it is very simple. They cut a hazel
+twig that forks naturally into two equal branches; and having stripped
+the leaves off, they cut the stump of the twig, to the length of three
+or four inches, and each branch to the length of a foot or something
+less: for the end of a branch is meant to be held in each hand, in such
+a manner that the stump of the twig may project straight forwards. The
+position is this: the elbows are bent, the forearms, and hands advanced,
+the knuckles turned downwards, the ends of the branches come out between
+the thumbs and roots of the forefingers, the hands are supinated, the
+inner side of each is turned towards its fellow, as they are held a few
+inches apart. The mystic operator, thus armed, walks over the ground he
+intends exploring, with the full expectation, that, when he passes over
+a vein of metal, or underground spring of water, the hazel fork will
+move spontaneously in his hands, the point or stump rising or falling as
+the case may be. This hazel fork is the DIVINING ROD. The hazel has the
+honour of being preferred, because it divides into nearly equal branches
+at angles the nearest equal.
+
+Then, assuming that there is something in this provincial superstition,
+four questions present themselves to us for examination.
+
+Does the divining fork really move of itself in the hands of the
+operator, and not through motion communicated to it by the intentional
+or unintentional action of the muscles of his hands or arms?
+
+What relation has the person of the operator to the motion observed in
+the divining rod?
+
+What is the nature of the influence to which the person of the operator
+serves as a conductor?
+
+Finally, what is the thing divined? the proximity of veins of metal or
+of running water? what or what not?
+
+Then, let me at once premise, that upon the last point I have no
+information to offer. The uses to which the divining fork may be turned,
+are yet to be learned. But I think I shall be able to satisfy you, that
+the hazel fork in some hands, and in certain localities, held as I have
+described, actually moves spontaneously, and that the intervention of
+the human body is necessary to its motion; and that it serves as a
+conductor to an influence, which is either electricity, or something
+either combined with electricity, or very much resembling that principle
+in some of its habitudes.
+
+I should observe, that I was no wiser than you are upon this subject,
+till the summer of 1843, and held the tales told of the divining rod to
+be nonsense, the offspring of mere self-delusion, or of direct
+imposture. And I think the likeliest way of removing _your_ disbelief,
+will be to tell you the steps by which my own conversion took place.
+
+In the summer of 1843, I lived some months under the same roof with a
+Scottish gentleman, well informed, of a serious turn of mind, endowed
+with the national allowance of caution, shrewdness, and intelligence. I
+saw a good deal of him; and one day by accident the subject of the
+divining rod was mentioned. He told me that at one time his curiosity
+having been raised upon the subject, he had taken pains to learn what
+there was in it. And for that purpose he had obtained an introduction to
+Mrs. R., sister of Sir G. R., then residing at Southampton, whom he
+learned to be one of those in whose hands the divining rod was said to
+move. He visited the lady, who was polite enough to show him what the
+performance amounted to, and to answer all his questions, and to allow
+him to try some simple experiment to test the reality of the phenomenon
+and its nature.
+
+Mrs. R. told my friend, that being at Cheltenham in 1806, she saw for
+the first time the divining rod used by the late Mrs. Colonel Beaumont,
+who possessed the power of imparting motion to it in a very remarkable
+degree. Mrs. R. tried the experiments herself at the time, but without
+any success. She was, as it happened, very far from well. Afterwards, in
+the year 1815, being asked by a friend how the divining rod was held,
+and how it is to be used, on showing it she observed that the hazel fork
+moved in her hands. Since then, whenever she had repeated the
+experiment, the power has always manifested itself, though with varying
+degrees of energy.
+
+Mrs. R. then took my friend to a part of the shrubbery, where she knew,
+from former trials, the divining rod would move in her hands. It did so,
+to my friend's extreme astonishment; and even continued to do so, when,
+availing himself of Mrs. R.'s permission, my friend grasped her hands
+with such firmness, as to preclude the possibility of any muscular
+action of her wrist or fingers influencing the result.
+
+On another day my friend took with him pieces of copper and iron wire
+about a foot and a half long, bent something into the form of the letter
+V, with length enough in the horizontal limbs of the figure to form a
+sufficient _handle_ for either branch of these new-fashioned divining
+forks. He found that these instruments moved quite as freely in Mrs.
+R.'s hands as the hazel fork had done. Then he coated the two handles of
+one of them with sealing-wax, leaving, however, the extreme ends free
+and uncovered. When Mrs. R. used the rod so prepared, grasping it by the
+parts alone which were coated with sealing-wax, and walked over the same
+piece of ground as before, the wires exhibited no movement whatever. As
+often, however, as, with no greater change than touching the free ends
+of the wire with her thumbs, Mrs. R. established again a direct contact
+with the instrument, it again moved. The motion again ceased, as often
+as that direct contact was interrupted.
+
+This simple narrative, made to me by the late Mr. George Fairholm,
+carried conviction to my mind of the reality of the phenomenon. I asked
+my friend why he had not pursued the subject further. He said he had
+often thought of doing so; and had, he believed, been mainly prevented
+by meeting with a work of the Count de Tristan, entitled, "Recherches
+sur quelques Effluves Terrestres," published at Paris in 1826, in which
+facts similar to those which he had himself verified were narrated, and
+a vast body of additional curious experiments detailed.
+
+At my friend's instance, I sent to Paris for the book, which I have,
+however, only recently read through. I recommend it to your perusal, if
+the subject should happen to interest your wayward curiosity. Any thing
+like an elaborate analysis of it is out of the question in a letter of
+this sort; but I shall borrow from it a few leading facts and
+observations, which, at all events, will surprise you. I am afraid,
+after all, I should have treated the Count as a visionary, and not have
+yielded to his statements the credence they deserve, but for the good
+British evidence I had already heard in favour of their trustworthiness;
+and still I suspect that I should have imagined many of the details
+fanciful had I perused them at an earlier period than the present; for,
+it is but lately that I have read Von Reichenbach's experiments on the
+action of crystals, and of what not, upon sensitive human bodies; a
+series of phenomena utterly unlike those explored by the Count de
+Tristan, but which have, nevertheless, the most curious analogy and
+interesting points of contact with them, confirmatory of the truth of
+both.
+
+But permit me to introduce you to the Count: he shall tell you his own
+tale in his own way; but as he does not speak English, at least in his
+book, I must serve as dragoman.
+
+"The history of my researches is simply this:--Some twenty years ago, a
+gentleman who, from his position in society, could have no object to
+gain by deception, showed to me, for my amusement, the movements of the
+divining rod. He attributed the motion to the influence of a current of
+water, which I thought no unlikely supposition. But my attention was
+rather engaged with the action produced by the influence, let that be
+what it might. My informant assured me he had met with many others,
+through whom similar effects were manifested. When I was returned home,
+and had opportunities of making trials under favourable circumstances, I
+found that I possessed the same endowment myself. Since then I have
+induced many to make the experiment; and I have found a fourth, or at
+all events a fifth of the number, capable of setting the divining rod in
+motion at the very first attempt. Since that time, during these twenty
+years, I have often tried my hand, but for amusement only, and
+desultorily, and without any idea of making the thing an object of
+scientific investigation. But at length, in the year 1822, being in the
+country, and removed from my ordinary pursuits, the subject again came
+across me, and I then determined to ascertain the cause of these
+phenomena. Accordingly, I commenced a long series of experiments, from
+1500 to 1800 in number, which occupied me nearly fifteen months. The
+results of above 1200 were noted down at the time of their performance."
+
+The scene of the Count's operations was in the valley of the Loire, five
+leagues from Vendome, in the park of the Chateau de Ranac. The surface
+of ground which gave the desired results, was from 70 to 80 feet in
+breadth. But there was another spot equally efficient near the Count's
+ordinary residence at Emerillon, near Clery, four leagues southwest of
+Orleans, ten leagues south of the Loire, at the commencement of the
+plains of Sologne. The surface was from north to south, and was about of
+the same breadth with the other. These _exciting tracts_ form, in
+general, bands or zones of undetermined, and often very great length.
+Their breadth is very variable. Some are only three or four feet across,
+while others are one hundred paces. These tracts are sometimes sinuous
+and sometimes ramify. To the most susceptible they are broader than to
+those who are less so.
+
+The Count thus describes what happens when a competent person, armed
+with a hazel fork, walks over these _exciting_ districts.
+
+When two or three steps have been made upon the exciting tract of
+ground, the fork (which I have already said is to be held horizontally
+with its central angle forward,) begins gently to ascend; it gradually
+attains a vertical position--sometimes it passes beyond that, and
+lowering itself with its point towards the chest of the operator, it
+becomes again horizontal. If the motion continue, the rod, descending,
+becomes vertical with the angle downwards. Finally, the rod may again
+ascend and reassume its first horizontal position, having thus completed
+a revolution. When the action is very lively, the rod immediately
+commences a second revolution; and so it goes on as long as the operator
+walks over the exciting surface of ground.
+
+It is to be understood that the operator does not grasp the handles of
+the fork so tightly but that they may turn in his hands. If, indeed, he
+tries to prevent this, and the fork is only of hazel twig, the rotatory
+force is so strong as to twist it at the handles and crack the bark, and
+finally, fracture the wood itself.
+
+I can imagine you at this statement endeavouring to hit the proper
+intonation of the monosyllable "Hugh," frequently resorted to by Uncas,
+the son of Chingachkook, as well as by his parent, on similar occasions;
+though I remember to have read of none so trying in their experience. I
+anticipate the remarks you would subsequently make, which the graver
+Indian would have politely repressed:--"By my patience, this bangs
+Banagher, and exhausts credulity. The assertion of these dry
+impossibilities is too choking to listen to. The fork cannot go down in
+this crude and unprotected state. It is as inconvenient a morsel as the
+'Amen' inopportunely suggested to the conscience-stricken Macbeth.
+Cannot you contrive some intellectual cookery to make the process of
+deglutition easier? Suppose you mix the raw facts with some flowery
+hypothesis, throw in a handful of familiar ideas to give a congenial
+flavour, and stir into the mess some leaven of stale opinion to make it
+rise; so, do try your hand at a philosophical souffle."
+
+_Do manus._
+
+Then you are to imagine that a current of electricity, or of something
+like it, may use your legs as conductors, as you walk over the soil from
+which it emanates, the circuit which it seeks being completed through
+your arms and the divining rod.
+
+Nothing, then, would be more likely, upon analogy,--the extreme part of
+the current traversing a _curved_ and movable conductor,--than that the
+latter should be attracted or repelled, or both alternately, by or from
+the soil below, or by your person, or both.
+
+And see, what would render such an explanation plausible? Why, the
+cessation of the rotatory motion of the divining fork, on the operator
+simultaneously holding in his hands a _straight_ rod of the same
+substance,--that is, conjointly with the other,--offering a shorter road
+to the journeying fluid, and so superseding the movable one. Well, the
+Count de Tristan did this, and the result was conformable to the
+hypothesis. When he walked over the exciting soil, with two rods held in
+his two hands, the one a hazel fork, the other a straight hazel twig, no
+motion whatever manifested itself in the former.
+
+I flatter myself, that if you now continue to disbelieve, the fault is
+not mine: the fault must lie in your organisation. You must have a very
+small bump of credulity, and a very large bump of incredulity. You must
+be, actively and passively, incapable of receiving new ideas. How on
+earth did you get your old ones?--They must come by entail. But you are
+still a disbeliever?
+
+Bless me! how am I to proceed? I catch at the slenderest straw of
+analogical suggestion. I have heard that the best cure, when you have
+burned your finger, is to hold it to the fire. Let me try a
+corresponding proceeding with you. My first statement has sadly
+irritated and blistered your belief; oblige me by trying the soothing
+application of the following fact:--
+
+Although, in general, the divining rod behaves with great gravity and
+consistency, and looks contemplatively upward, when it comes upon
+grounds that move it, and then twirls respectably round, as you might
+twirl your thumbs in a tranquil continuity of rotation, yet there are
+some--a small proportion only--in whose hands it gibs at starting, and
+with whom it delights to go in the opposite direction. I say "delights"
+considerately; for it has a voice in the matter. So that a divining rod
+that has been used for some little time to go the wrong way, requires
+further time before it will go round right again.
+
+The Count de Tristan found out the key to this anomaly.
+
+He had discovered that a thick cover of silk upon the handles of the
+divining fork, like Mr. Fairholm's coating of sealing wax, entirely
+arrested its motion. Then he tried thinner covers, and found they only
+lowered, as it were, and lessened it. The thin layer of silk was only an
+imperfect impediment to the transmission of the influence. Then he tried
+the effect of covering one handle only of the divining rod with a thin
+layer of silk stuff. He so covered the right handle, and then the enigma
+above proposed was explained. The divining fork, which hitherto had gone
+the usual way with him, commencing by ascending, now, when set in
+motion, descended, and continued to perform an inverse rotation.
+
+I think this is the place for mentioning, that when the Count walked
+over the exciting soil, rod in hand, but trailing likewise, from each
+hand, a branch of the same plant, (which therefore touched the ground
+with one end, and with the other touched, in his hand, the magic fork,)
+the latter had lost its virtue. There is no motion when the ends of the
+divining rod are in direct communication with the soil. The intervention
+of the human body is necessary for our result.
+
+Then we are at liberty to suppose that the two sides of our frame have
+some fine difference of quality; that there is in general a sort of
+preponderance upon the right side; that in general, in reference to the
+divining rod, there is a superior vigour of transmission in the right
+side; that _this difference_, whatever it may be, of kind or degree,
+determines a current, causes motion, in the unknown fluid, which, in a
+simple arched conductor, with its ends upon the soil, remains in
+equilibrium. To explain the result of the last experiment I have cited
+of the Count de Tristan, no difference in quality in the two sides of
+the body need be assumed. Difference in conducting power alone will do.
+Then it might be said, that by covering the right handle of the divining
+rod, he checked the current rushing through the right side of the frame,
+and so gave predominance to the left current. One cannot help
+conjecturally anticipating, by the way, that with left-handed diviners,
+the divining rod will be found habitually to move the wrong way.
+
+But it will not do _now_, to let this indication of a curious
+physiological element pass slurred over and unheeded,--this evidence so
+singularly furnished by the Count de Tristan's experiments, of a
+positive difference between the right and left halves of the frame, as
+if our bodies were the subjects of a transverse polarity. I expect it is
+too late to pass over now any such facts, the very genuineness of which
+derives confirmation, from their pointing to a conclusion so new to, and
+unexpected by their observer, yet recently made certain through an
+entirely different order of phenomena, observed by one clearly not
+cognisant of the Count de Tristan's researches.
+
+I allude to the investigations of the Baron Freyherr von Reichenbach,
+published in Wohler and Liebig's "Annals of Chemistry," and already
+translated for the benefit of the English reader, and familiar to the
+reading public.
+
+I take it for granted, Archy, that you have read the book I refer to,
+and that I have only to bring to your recollection two or three of the
+facts mentioned in it, bearing upon the present point.
+
+Then you remember that Von Reichenbach has shown, that the two ends of a
+large crystal, moved along and near the surface of a limb, in certain
+sensitive subjects, produced decided but different sensations, one that
+of a draught of cool air, the other of a draught of warm air. That the
+proximity of the northward pole of a magnet again produces the former,
+of the southward pole the latter; of the negative wire of a voltaic
+pile, the former, of the positive wire, the latter; finally, that _the
+two hands_ are equally and similarly efficient, the right acting like
+the negative influence, the left like the positive, of those above
+specified. Von Reichenbach came to the conclusion, from these and other
+experiments, that the two lateral halves of the human body have opposite
+relations to the influence, the existence of which he has proved, while
+he has in part developed its laws. And he throws out the very idea of a
+transverse polarity reigning in the animal frame. Do you remember, in
+confirmation of it, one of the most curious experiments which he leads
+Fraeulein Maix to execute; valueless it might be thought if it stood
+alone, but joined with parallel effects produced on others, its weight
+is irresistible. Miss M. holds a bar magnet by its two ends. In any case
+it is sensibly inconvenient to her to do so. But when she holds the
+southward or positive pole of the magnet in her right hand, the
+northward or negative pole in her left, the thing is bearable. When, on
+the contrary, she reverses the position of the magnet, she immediately
+experiences the most distressing uneasiness, and the feeling as of an
+inward struggle in her arms, chest, and head. This ceases instantly on
+letting go the magnet.
+
+I will not inflict upon you more of Von Reichenbach, though sorely
+tempted, so much is there in common between his Od and the influence
+investigated by the Count de Tristan. If you know the researches of the
+former already, why _verbum sat_; if not, I had better not attempt
+further to explain to you the _ignotum per ignotum_.
+
+And in truth, with reference to the divining rod, I have already given
+my letter extension and detail enough for the purpose I contemplated,
+and I will add no more. I had no intention of writing you a scientific
+analysis of all that I believe to be really ascertained upon this
+curious subject. My wish was only to satisfy you that there is something
+in it. I have told you where you may find the principal collection of
+facts elating to it, should you wish further to study them; most likely
+you will not. The subject is yet in its first infancy. And what interest
+attaches to a new-born babe, except in the eyes of its parents and its
+nurse? I do not in the present instance affect even the latter relation.
+I am contented with exercising the office of registrar of the births of
+this and of two or three other as yet puling truths, the feeble voices
+of which have hitherto attracted no attention, amidst the din and roar
+of the bustling world. Hoping that I have not quite exhausted your
+patience, I remain, Dear Archy, yours faithfully.
+
+MAC DAVUS.
+
+
+
+
+HORAE CATULLIANE.
+
+LETTER TO EUSEBIUS.
+
+
+MY DEAR EUSEBIUS,--I have lately spent a few weeks with our old friend
+Gratian, at his delightful retreat in Devonshire, which he has planted,
+fenced, and cultivated, and made as much a part of himself in its every
+fit and aspect as his own easy coat. You see him in every thing, in the
+house and out of it. Cheerful, happy, kind, and best of men! Not an
+animal in his stall, or his homestead, but partakes of his temper. His
+horses neigh to you, his cows walk up to you, his pigs run to you,
+rather disappointed, for you have not his stick to rub their backs with.
+Rise in the early morning, when the dew is sparkling on the lawn, and
+his spaniel greets you, runs round and round you with a bark of joyous
+welcome; and even his cat will, as no other cat will, show you round the
+gravel walks. And thrice happy are all when their expected master
+appears, somewhat limping in his gait, (and how few, under his continual
+pain, would preserve his cheerfulness as he does!) Every creature looks
+up into his face as better than sunshine, and he forgets none. He has a
+good word for all, and often more than that in his pockets. The alms
+beggar, the Robin, is remembered and housed. There is his little
+freehold of wood raised some feet from the ground opposite the breakfast
+room window--an entrance both ways--there is he free to come and go, and
+always find a meal laid for him. Happy bird, he pays neither window-tax
+nor servant's tax, and yet who enjoys more daylight, or is better
+served?
+
+Our good old friend still goes on improving this and improving that--has
+his little farm and his garden all in the highest perfection. Nor is the
+_least_ care bestowed on the greenhouse, and the little aviary
+adjoining; for here are objects of feminine pleasure, and he loves not
+himself so well as he does the mistress of all, the mother and the
+partner. O the terrestrial paradise, in which to wait old age, and still
+enjoy, and breathe to the last the sunshiny breath of heaven, and feel
+that all is blessed and blessing; for there is peace, and that is the
+true name for goodness within! You shall have, my dear Eusebius, no
+farther description. A drop-scene, however, is not amiss to any little
+conversational drama. You may shift it, if you like, occasionally to the
+small snug library--just such a one as you would have for such a
+retreat. Our excellent friend took less part in our talk than we could
+have wished; for it began generally at night, and his infirmity sent
+him to bed early. But in spite of a little remnant of influenza, I and
+the Curate often kept it up to a late hour, which you, Eusibius, will
+construe into an _early_ one. Never mind; though, perhaps, it was
+whispered to his discredit that the Curate kept bad hours. Those,
+however, who _knew_ the fact did not keep better, and so he thought all
+safe. How sweet and consoling is sometimes ignorance!
+
+Now, the Curate--let me introduce you,--"My dear Eusebius, the Curate, a
+class man some year or two from Oxford--a true man, in a word, worthy of
+this introduction to you, Eusebius." "Mr. Curate, my friend Eusebius;
+see, don't trust to his gravity of years; it is quite deceptive, and the
+only deceit he has about him. He is Truth in sunshine and a fresh
+healthy breeze. So now you know each other." I wish, Eusebius, this were
+not a passage out of an imaginary conversation. Wait but for the
+swallow, and you shall shake hands; and you, I know, will laugh merrily
+within ten minutes after; and a laugh from you is as good as a ticket
+upon your breast, "All is natural here;" and for the rest, let come what
+will, that is uppermost. There will be no restraint. I cannot forbear,
+Eusebius, writing to you now, early in this new year, paying you this
+compliment, that your real conversations resemble in much "Landor's
+Imaginary," which you tell me you so greatly admire. Full, indeed, are
+they, these last two volumes, his works, of beautiful thoughts set off
+with exquisitely appropriate eloquence. You are in a garden, and if you
+do not always recognise the fruit as legitimate, you are quite as well
+pleased to find it like Aladdin's, and would willingly store all, as he
+did, in the bosom of your memory. Precious stones, bigger than plums and
+peaches, are good for sore eyes, and something more, though they have
+not the flavour of apricots.
+
+We--that is, the Trio--had been reading one evening; or rather, our
+friend Gratian read to me and the Curate, the "Conversation with the
+Abbe Delille and W. L." We loitered, too, in the reading, as we do when
+the country is of a pleasant aspect, to look about us and admire--and we
+interspersed our own little talk by the way. Our friend could not
+consent that Catullus should walk with, and even, as it should seem,
+take the lead of his favourite Horace. "Catullus and Horace," says
+Landor, "will be read as long as Homer and Virgil, and more often, and
+by more readers."
+
+"If," said the Curate, "Catullus were not nearly banished from our
+public schools and our universities."
+
+"As he deserves," replied Gratian; "for although there is in him great
+elegance, yet is there much that should not be read; and his most
+beautiful and most powerful little poem, his 'Atys,' is in its very
+subject unfit for schoolboys."
+
+CURATE.--Yes, if in the presence of a master; that makes the only
+difficulty. The poem itself is essentially chaste, and of a grand tragic
+action, and grave character--is in fact a serious poem, and as such any
+youth may read it _to himself_, scarcely to another. The very subject
+touches on that mystical, though natural sanctity that every uncorrupted
+man is conscious of in the temple of his own person. To _impart_ a
+thought of it is a deterioration. But a master must not hear it; and
+even for a very inferior reason. He cannot be a critical instructor.
+
+GRATIAN.--You are right: that was a deep observation of Juvenal; it gave
+the caution,
+
+  "Maxima debetur pueris _reverentia_."
+
+I have often thought that good masters have ever shown very great tact
+in reading the Classics, where there is so much, even in the purest,
+that it is best not to understand.
+
+AQUILIUS. (I choose to give myself that name)--Or rather to pass lightly
+over, for you cannot help seeing it; put your foot across it, and not
+lengthways; as you would over a rut in a bad bit of road, which may
+nevertheless lead to a most delightful place at the end. I cannot but
+think the "Atys" to be a borrowed poem. It is quite Greek--unlike any
+thing Roman. What Roman ever expressed downright mad violent action? How
+much there is in it that reminds you of the story of Pentheus of
+Euripides. Both deny a deity, and both are punished by their own hands.
+But the resemblance is less in the characters than in the vivid pictures
+and rapidity of action; and the landscape glows like one fresh from
+Titian's pencil. Our friend Landor, here, I see, calls the author
+"graceful." He says of Virgil that he is not so "graceful as Catullus."
+
+CURATE.--Grace, as separate from beauty, I suppose, means something
+lighter. It admits a feeling not quite in earnest, not so serious but it
+may be sported with.
+
+GRATIAN.--It is a play, however, at which only genius is expert. It is
+many years since I read Catullus,--I confess I thought him rather a
+careless fellow, and that his Lesbia was but a doll to dress out in the
+tawdry ribbons of his verse.
+
+AQUILIUS.--Whatever his Lesbia was, his verses are chaste; and if I find
+a Lesbia that is not as his verse, I think it a duty of charity to
+conclude there were two of the name; and we know that one Lesbia was a
+feigned name for Clodia.
+
+GRATIAN.--That is not very complimentary to the constancy of Catullus.
+
+CURATE.--I am afraid we are speaking of a virtue that was not Roman. I
+have been reading Catullus very recently, and was so much pleased with
+his gracefulness, that I thought it no bad practice to translate one or
+two of his small pieces: as I translated I became more and more aware of
+the clear elegance of his diction.
+
+AQUILIUS.--I have always been an admirer of Catullus; and as I think a
+little employment will dissipate the remaining imaginary symptoms of
+influenza, when our friend and host is indulging his pigs by rubbing
+their backs with the end of his stick, and extending his walk to admire
+his mangel-worzel, or talking to his horses, his dogs, or his cat, and
+learning their opinions upon things in general, (for he is persuaded
+they have opinions, and says he knows many of them, and intends one day
+to catalogue them;) or while he is beyond his own gates, (and whoever
+catches a sight of his limp and supporting stick, is sure to hasten pace
+or to slacken it, loving his familiar talk,) looking out for an object
+of human sociality, I will steal into his library--take down his
+Catullus, and try my hand, good master Curate, against you. We will be,
+or at least believe ourselves to be,
+
+  "Et cantare pares et decantare parati."
+
+GRATIAN.--Ay, do; and as the shepherds were rewarded by their umpires of
+old, will I reward one or both with this stick. Shall I describe its
+worth and dignity after the manner of Homer, that it may be worthy of
+you, if you are "baculo digni;" but whatever Aquilius may say in its
+disparagement, it is not a bit the worse for its familiarity with my
+pig's back. It is a good pig, and shall make bacon for the winner, which
+is the best lard he will get for his poetry. But I feel a warning hint,
+and must to bed--it is no longer with me the
+
+                "Cynthius aurem
+  Vellit et admonuit."
+
+The warning comes rather stronger upon bone and muscle. Heaven preserve
+you both from the pains of rheumatism in your old age. I suppose a
+troubled conscience, which they say never rests, is but the one turn
+more of the screw: so good night.
+
+Our friend gone, we took down Catullus, and read with great pleasure
+many of his short pieces, agreeing with Landor as to the gracefulness of
+the poet, and resolved, if it be trifling, to trifle away some portion
+of our time in translating him, and with this resolve we parted for the
+night.
+
+We did not, Eusebius, meet again for some days, the Curate being fully
+employed in his rounds of parochial visiting by day, and in preparation
+by night for his weekly duty. You must imagine you now see us after tea
+retired to the snug library. Gratian, some years the elder, resting, (if
+that word may be allowed to his pain,--if not to his pain, however, it
+shall be due to his patience) resting, I say, his whole person in his
+easy chair, and tapping pretty smartly with his stick the thigh from his
+hip to his leg, and then settling himself into the importance of a
+judge; but do not imagine you see us like two culprits about to be
+condemned for feloniously breaking into the house of one Catullus, and
+stealing therefrom sundry articles of plate, which we had melted down in
+our own crucibles, and which were no longer, therefore, to be recognised
+as his, but by evidence against us. All translators show a bold front;
+for if they come short of the meed of originality, they shift off from
+them the modesty of responsibility, and unblushingly ascribe all faults
+to their author. We were therefore easy enough, and ready to make as
+free with our Rhadamanthus as with our Catullus. Not to be too
+long--thus commenced our talk.
+
+AQUILIUS.--The first piece Catullus offers is his dedication--it is to
+an author to whom I owe a grudge, and perhaps we all of us do. He has
+caused us some tears, and more visible marks, and I confess something
+like an aversion to his concise style. It is to Cornelius Nepos. How
+much more like a modern dedication, than one of Dryden's day, both as to
+length and matter.
+
+AD CORNELIUM NEPOTEM.
+
+  This little-book--and somewhat light--
+  'Tis polished well, and smoothly bright,
+  To whom shall I now dedicate?
+  To you, Cornelius, wont to rate
+  My trifling wares at highest worth.
+  E'en then, when boldly you stepped forth,
+  First of Italians to compose,
+  In three short books of nervous prose,
+  All age's annals--work of nice
+  Research, and studiously concise.
+  Such as it is receive--and look
+  With usual favour on my book;
+  And grant, O queen of wits and sages,
+  Motherless Virgin, these my pages
+  May pass from this to future ages.
+
+CURATE.--Queen of wits and sages,--"O Patrima Virgo"--is that
+translating?
+
+GRATIAN.--That's right--have at him!
+
+AQUILIUS.--To be sure it is. What English reader would know else that
+Minerva was meant by "Motherless Virgin?" he would have to go back to
+the story of Jupiter beating her out of his own brains. So as he is not
+familiar with the creed, as one of it, I let him into the secret of it
+at once; and thus out comes the book from the "Minerva Press," "labe to
+bublion."
+
+GRATIAN.--(Reads, "O Patrima Virgo," &c.) Well, well--let it pass. The
+dedication won't pay along reckoning. We must not look too nicely into
+the mouth of the book--let it speak for itself. Now, Mr. Curate, what
+have you?
+
+CURATE.--I didn't trouble myself with such a dedication, but passed on
+to "Ad Passerem Lesbiae."
+
+GRATIAN.--More attractive metal.
+
+CURATE.--Not at all attractive; for there is considerable difficulty,
+and as I suppose a corrupted text, before we reach six lines. Here I let
+the bird loose.
+
+  Sparrow, minion of my dear,
+    Little animated toy,
+  Whom the fair delights to bear
+    In her bosom lapt in joy.
+
+  Whom she teases and displeases,
+    With her white forefinger's end,
+  Thus inviting savage biting
+    From her tiny feather'd friend.
+
+  Image burning of my yearning,
+    When at fondness she would play;
+  Thus she takes her aught that makes her
+    Pensive moments glide away.
+
+  'Tis a balm for her soft sorrow,
+    Tranquillising beauty's breast;
+  Would I might her plaything borrow,
+    So to lull my cares to rest.
+
+  I would prize it, as the maiden
+    Prized the golden apple thrown,
+  Which displacing her in racing,
+    Loosed at last her virgin zone.
+
+AQUILIUS.--Here lies the difficulty:
+
+  "Quum desiderio meo nitenti
+  Carum nescio quid lubet jocari,
+  (Ut solatiolum sui doloris
+  Credunt, quum gravis acquiescet ardor.")
+
+Another edition has it:
+
+  "Credo ut gravis acquiescat ardor."
+
+GRATIAN.--Leave it to OEdipus--make sense of it, and we must not be
+too nice.
+
+AQUILIUS.--Well, then, it possibly means, that she passes off the pain
+of the bite with a little coquetry and action, as we move about a limb
+pretty briskly when it tingles.
+
+GRATIAN.--O, the cunning--argumentum ad hominem.
+
+AQUILIUS.--Thus I venture--
+
+AD PASSEREM LESBIAE.
+
+  Little sparrow, gentle sparrow,
+    Whom my Lesbia loveth so;
+  Her sweet playmate, whom she petteth,
+      And she letteth
+    To her bosom come and go.
+
+  Loving there to hold thee ever,
+    Her forefinger to thy bill,
+  Oft she pulleth and provoketh;
+      And she mocketh,
+    Till you bite her harder still.
+
+  Then new beauty glistening o'er her,
+    Pain'd and blushing doth she feign,
+  Some sweet play of love's excesses,
+      And caresses
+    More to soothe or hide her pain.
+
+  Would thou wert my pretty birdie,
+    Plaything--playmate unto me,
+  Knowing when her loss doth grieve me,
+      To relieve me,
+    For she seeks relief from thee.
+
+  Birdie, thou shouldst be such treasure
+    As the golden apple thrown,
+  Was to Atalanta, spying
+      Which in flying,
+    Cost the loosening of her zone.
+
+CURATE.--That may be a possible translation of the difficulty, if the
+text be somewhat amended; but who ever heard of a hurt from the peck of
+a sparrow?
+
+GRATIAN.--I'll take you into our aviary to-morrow, and you shall try on
+your own rough-work finger the peck of a bullfinch; and I think you may
+grant that Lesbia's finger was a little softer. Who would trust the
+tenderness of a Curate's forefinger, case-hardened as it is with his
+weekly steel-pen work, and deadened by the nature of it, against all
+Lesbias and their sparrows. Lesbia's forefinger was the very pattern of
+a forefinger, soft to touch as to feel--that did no work. I dare to say
+Shakspeare was thinking of such a one, when he said,
+
+  "The hand of little employment hath the daintier sense."
+
+There's something playfully pretty, and lightly tender in this little
+piece; but I don't see by what link of thought poor Atalanta is brought
+in, and thus stripped to the skin, as she was out-stripped in the race.
+Admitting the text emendable, may not there be supposed such a connexion
+as this,--that he wishes the bird would be his plaything, that he might
+lay it as an offering at her feet,--that she might take it, as did
+Atalanta the golden apple, and become herself the winner's reward? Why
+should not I come in with an ad libitum movement? We, limping
+rheumaticists, have ever a spiteful desire to trip up the swift-footed.
+Now, then, for an old man's limp against Atalanta's speed.
+
+  Birdie, be my plaything, go--
+  At her flying feet be thrown;--
+  Like the golden apple, woo her,
+  Atalanta's wise pursuer
+  Cast and won her for his own;--
+  Pretty birdie aid me so.
+
+Galatea won her lover by the apple. "Malo me Galatea petit."
+
+CURATE.--A well thrown apple that golden pippin, grown doubtless from a
+pip dropt on Mount Ida, and hence the name. We shall not run against
+you, I perceive.
+
+GRATIAN.--Don't talk of golden pippins, or I shall mount my hobby, and
+go through the genealogy of my whole orchard, and good-bye to Catullus.
+
+CURATE.--If you give way to your imagination, you may invent a thousand
+meanings to the passage; but taking it as I find it, I would attach only
+this meaning to it,--that Catullus would say, "Lesbia's favourite
+sparrow" would be as attractive to me as was the golden apple which was
+thrown in her way when she was racing, to Atalanta. She was to be
+married to the first youth who could outrun her, so that literally she
+was very much run after.
+
+GRATIAN.--Run after, indeed! Her pursuer, Hippomanes, hadn't my
+rheumatism (tapping his knee and leg with his stick) or she would have
+had the apple, and not him. You young men of modern days do not throw
+your golden apples, but look to pick up what you can. These old tales,
+or old fables, cast a shade of shame upon our unromantic days. There was
+a king's daughter offered like a "handy-cap," as if the worthy of
+mankind were a racing stud.
+
+AQUILIUS.--But the lady was not so easily won after all; for there were
+three golden apples to be picked up: and a bold man was he that threw
+them, for if he lost, there was neither love nor mercy for him. The
+condition was worse than Sinbad's. It is a strange story this of
+Atalanta and her lover, turned into lions by Cybele. The passage in
+Catullus being corrupt, there is probably an omission, for, as it is,
+the transition is very abrupt.
+
+GRATIAN.--I see the golden apples running about in all directions, and
+am half asleep, and should be quite so but for this rheumatic hint that
+it is time to retire: so good-night.
+
+Now you will conclude, Eusebius, that I and the Curate made a night and
+morning of it. On the present occasion, at least, it was not the case;
+we very soon parted.
+
+The following morning, which for the season was freshly sunny, found us
+on a seat under a verandah near the breakfast room, and close to the
+aviary, from which we had a moment before come; and the Curate was then
+wringing his finger after the bites and pecks the bullfinch had given
+him, which Gratian told him, jocularly, was having a comment on the text
+at his finger's end, and immediately asked for Catullus. The book was
+opened--and the Curate put his finger upon the "Death of Lesbia's
+Sparrow,"--which he read as he had thus rendered it:--
+
+DE PASSERE MORTUO LESBIAE.
+
+  Ye Graces, and ye Cupids, mourn,
+  And all that's graceful, woman born,
+    My sweet one's sparrow dead!
+  Smitten by death's fatal arrow
+    Lies my darling's darling sparrow!
+  As the eyes in her sweet head
+    She did love him, and he knew her
+    As my fair one knows her mother;
+    He was sweet as honey to her,
+    In her lap for ever sitting,
+    Hither thither round her flitting,
+    To his mistress and no other
+    He address'd his twittering tale.
+    Now adown death's darksome vale
+    He is gone to seek a bourn
+    Whence they tell us none return.
+    Plague upon you, dark and narrow
+    Shades of Orcus, without pity
+    Swallowing every thing that's pretty--
+    As ye took the pretty sparrow.
+    Wo's the day that you lie dead!
+    Little wretch, 'tis all your doing
+    That my fair one's eyes are red,
+    Swoln and red with tearful rueing.
+
+AQUILIUS.--It would be childish to blame the poor bird for the crime of
+dying, as if he had died out of spite; when, if the truth could be told,
+perhaps the cat killed him. (At this moment, Gratian's favourite cat
+rubbed herself against his legs, first her face and head, and then her
+back, and looked up to him, as if begging him to plead for her race; and
+he did so, and spoke kindly to her, and said, pussey would not kill any
+bird though he should trust her in the aviary; and she, as if she knew
+what he said, walked off to it, and rubbed her face against the wires,
+and returned to us again.) Well, I continued, I don't see why the bird
+should be called wretch fer that; and _factum male_ means to express
+misfortune, not fault. So let the _malefactum_ be the Curate's, and
+treat him accordingly.
+
+GRATIAN.--Come, let us see your bird. Perhaps it may be necessary to
+kill two with one stone. But I forget--_the_ bird is dead already.
+
+AQUILIUS.--
+
+DE PASSERE MORTUO LESBIAE.
+
+  Ye Cupids, every Queen of Love,
+    Whate'er hath heart or beauty, shed
+    Your floods of tears, now hang the head--
+  My darling's sparrow, pet, and dove,
+  Is dead: that bird she prized above
+    Her own sweet eyes, is dead, is dead.
+
+  That little bird, that honey bird,
+    As fair child knows her mother, knew
+    His own own mistress; and he, too,
+  From her sweet bosom never stirred,
+  As prompt at every look and word,
+    He to that nest of softness flew.
+
+  But archly pert and debonnair,
+    Still further in he fondly nestled,
+    For her alone piped, chirped, and whistled.
+  But he has reached that dismal where,
+  Whose dreary path none ever dare
+    Retrace, with whom death once hath wrestled.
+
+  O Orcus' unrequiting shade,
+    Devouring all the good, the dear,
+    Couldst thou not spare one birdling here?
+  Alas, poor thing! for thou hast made
+  Her eyes, how loved, with grief o'erweighed,
+    Grow red, and gush with many a tear.
+
+CURATE.--Is that translating? Look at the first line of the original--
+
+  Lugete, o Veneres, Cupidinesque.
+
+You have acted the undertaker to the sorrow, dressed it out, and
+protracted it, and set it afloat upon a river of wo, with Queens of Love
+as chief-mourners, hanging out their weepers.
+
+AQUILIUS.--Yes, for the Zephyrs to blow. They are light, airy, graceful.
+They did not come from the first room of the mourning institution, where
+the soft-slippered man in black gently, and bowing low as he shows his
+grief-items, whispers, "Much in vogue for deep affliction." The Queens
+of Love pass on to "the mitigated wo department," and I hope you will
+confess they have _put on_ their sorrow with grace and taste.
+
+GRATIAN.--That's good--"the mitigated wo department." But there's a
+department in these establishments farther on still. There is a little
+glass door, generally left half open, where there is a most delicate
+show of "orange blossoms." But my good worthy Curate, I don't blame our
+friend for this little enlargement, because, if it is not in the _words_
+of the original, it is every bit of it in the tune and melody of the
+verses. See how it swells out in full flow in "venustiorum,"--stays but
+a moment, and is off again without stop to "puellae,"--and that again is
+repeated ere grief can be said to take any rest. I shall acquit the
+translator as I would the landscape painter, who, seeing how flowing a
+line of easy and graceful beauty pervades all nature, and is indeed her
+great characteristic, rather aims to realise that, than laboriously to
+dot in every leaf and flower. Characteristic expression is every thing.
+I am not quite satisfied that either of you have hit the
+
+  Flendo turgiduli rubent ocelli.
+
+CURATE.--If we have not, you remember that Juvenal has, and hit those
+eyes rather hard, considering whose they are. He, however, only meant
+the hit for Catullus:
+
+                        nec tibi, cujus
+  Turbavit nitidos extinctus passer ocellos.
+
+GRATIAN.--_Turbavit_ is "mitigated wo" again:
+
+  Unlike the Lesbias of our modern years,
+  Who for a sparrow's death dissolve in tears.
+
+AQUILIUS.--Satire is like a flail, an ugly weapon in a crowd, and hits
+more than it aims at. I won't allow the blow to be a true hit on
+Catullus. But let us pass on; there is a vessel waiting for us, though
+we should be loth to trust to her sheathing, no longer sea-worthy. Our
+poet now addresses his yacht. Are there many of the "Club" who would
+write better verses on theirs?
+
+DE PHASELO, QUO IN PATRIAM REVECTUS EST.
+
+  This bark that now, my friends, you see,
+    Asserts she once was far more swift
+  Than other craft, whate'er the tree
+    Might ply the oar or sailyard shift,
+  She passed them all on every sea.
+
+  She asked the Cyclad Isles to say--
+  Can they deny--rough Adria's shore,
+  Proud Rhodes, and every land that lay
+    Where savage Thracia's tempests roar--
+  She asked her native Pontic bay--
+
+  Where first her leafy crown was stirred
+    By winds that swept Cytorian rocks.
+  (Through rustling leaves her voice was heard.)
+    And you, Cytorus, crowned with box,
+  And you, Amastris, hear the word.
+
+  For all, she says, was known to you,
+    And still is known. For on your top
+  She first took root and proudly grew,
+    Till severed trunk and branches drop,
+  And keel and oars thy waves embue.
+
+  How oft she bore, when winds were light,
+    Her master over sea and strait,
+  Stemmed currents strong, and tacked to right
+    Or left, and bravely held the weight
+  Of breeze that strained her canvass tight.
+
+  Nor was there need for her to make
+    Or costly vows, or incense burn;
+  Or sea-shore gods her guides to take
+    On her last voyage, last return,
+  From sea-ward to this limpid lake.
+
+  Now all is o'er--grown old, in rest
+    She waits decay--with homage due,
+  And grateful thought, and prayer addressed,
+    She dedicates herself to you,
+  Twin stars, twin gods, twin brothers blest.
+
+GRATIAN.--Ah! well done, poor old timber-toe--laid up at last--no
+"mutile lignum," that's clear enough. I hope she had a soft berth, and
+lay evenly in it. It is quite uncomfortable to see a poor thing, though
+it be little more than decayed ribs, with hard rock piercing them here
+and there, and the creature labouring still to keep the life in and
+weather out of her unsupported sides and bottom, and looking piteously
+to be moved off those jutting points that pin her down in pain, as boys
+serve a cock-chafer. He is a hard man that does not animate inanimate
+things. He is out of nature's kin. All sailors love their ships, and
+they are glorious. Catullus is more to my humour here than in his
+love-lines on Lesbia. She could get another lover, and if truth be told,
+and that by Catullus himself, did; but his poor boat! If captured and
+taken to the slave-market, she would not find a bidder. Well, well, it
+is pleasanter to see her laid up high and dry, with now and then her
+master's and owner's affectionate eye upon her, than to look at the
+broom at her mast head. Catullus knew the wood she came from, and how it
+grew--it had vitality, and he never can believe it quite gone.
+
+AQUILIUS.--There is a poem by Turner on this subject.
+
+GRATIAN.--By Turner?--what Turner?--You don't mean, "The Fallacies of
+Hope" Turner?
+
+AQUILIUS.--The same--but I should be sorry indeed, to see a vessel built
+after the measure of his verses. She would require too nice an
+adjustment of ballast. I doubt if she would bear a rough sea. The poem I
+speak of was written with his palette's pen. It was the towing in the
+old Temeraire to be broken up. There she was, on the waters, as her own
+element, a Leviathan still, a history of "battle and of breeze"--behind
+her the night coming in, sun setting, and in glory too. Her days are
+over, and she is towed in to her last anchorage. The feeling of the
+picture was touching, and there was a dignity and greatness in it of
+mighty charm.
+
+GRATIAN.--I remember it well, and it is well remembered now: but here is
+the Curate with his paper in his hand: let us hear what he has to say.
+
+CURATE.--I have the worse chance with you, for you have poeticised the
+subject so much more largely than Catullus himself, that you will listen
+with less pleasure to my translation; but you shall have it.
+
+DEDICATIO PHASELI.
+
+  Strangers, the bark you see, doth say
+    Of ships the fleetest far was she.
+
+AQUILIUS.--Stay for a moment: "the fleetest," then she was one of a
+_fleet_, and sailed perhaps under convoy, and ought not to have
+outsailed the _fleet_--say quickest.
+
+GRATIAN.--No interruption, or by this baculus! Go on, Mr. Curate.
+
+CURATE.--If you please, I'll heave anchor again.
+
+  Strangers, this bark you see doth say,
+    Of ships the fleetest far was she:
+  And that she passed and flew away
+    From every hull that ploughed the sea,
+  That fought against, or used the gale
+    With hand-like oar or wing-like sail.
+
+  She cites, as witness to her word,
+    The frowning Adriatic strand;
+  The Cyclades which rocks engird,
+    And noted Rhodus' distant land;
+  Propontis and unkindly Thrace,
+    And Savage Pontus' billowy race.
+
+  That which is now a shallop here,
+    Was once a tract of tressed wood,
+  Its foliage was Cytorus' gear,
+    Upon the topmost ridge it stood,
+  And when the morning breeze awoke
+    Its whistling leaves the silence broke.
+
+  Pontic Amastris, says the bark,
+    Box-overgrown Cytorus, you
+  Know me by each familiar mark,
+    And testify the tale is true.
+  She says you saw her earliest birth
+    Upon your nursing mountain-earth,
+
+  She dipped her blades, a maiden launch,
+    First in your waves, and bent her course
+  Thence, ever to her master staunch,
+    Through seas that plied their utmost force.
+  If right or left the breeze did strike,
+    Or gentle Jove did strain alike,
+
+  Each sheet before the wind. She came
+    From that remotest ocean-spot
+  To this clear inlet, still the same,
+    And yet audaciously forgot
+  The bribes which, under doubtful skies,
+  Are vowed to sea-side deities.
+
+  Her deeds are done, her tale is told,
+    For those were feats of bygone strength;
+  In secret peace she now grows old,
+    And dedicates herself at length,
+  Twin-brother Castor, at thy shrine,
+  And Castor's brother twin, at thine.
+
+GRATIAN.--Hand me the book. I thought so--that "audaciously forgot" is
+your audacious interpolation. She does not forget her vows, for she
+never made any. You bring her back, good Master Curate, not a little in
+the sulks, like a runaway wife, that had forgotten her vows, and
+remembered all her audacity. We see her reluctantly taken in
+tow--looking like a profligate, weary, and voyage worn, buffeted and
+beaten by more storms than she likes to tell of. You must alter
+audaciously.
+
+AQUILIUS.--And I object to bribes; it is a satire upon the underwriters.
+
+CURATE.--The underwriters?
+
+AQUILIUS.--Yes, the "Littoralibus Diis;" what were they but an insurance
+company, with their chief temple, some Roman "Lloyd's," and offices in
+every sea-port?
+
+CURATE.--Or perhaps the "Littoralibus Diis," referred to a
+"coast-guard."
+
+GRATIAN.--Worse and worse, for that would imply that they took bribes,
+and that she was an old smuggler. Keep to the original, and if you will
+modernize Catullus, you must merely say, she was so safe a boat that the
+owner did not think it worth while to insure.
+
+CURATE.--The learned themselves dispute as to the identity of the "Dii
+Littorales." In the notes, I find they are said to be Glaucus, Nereus,
+Melicerta, Neptune, Thetis, and others; but in the notes to Statius, you
+will find Gevartius bids the aforesaid learned tell that to the marines.
+He knows better. I remember his words,--"Sed male illi marinos et
+littorales deos confundunt. Littorales enim potissimum Dii Caelestes
+erant, Pallas, Apollo, Hercules, &c., unde illi potius apud Catullum
+sunt intelligendi."
+
+GRATIAN.--She might have been doubly insured; for besides Glaucus,
+Neptune, Thetis, and Co., there was the company registered by Gevartius.
+
+CURATE.--I have looked again at the passage, and think I have not quite
+given the meaning of "novissimo." I doubt if it does mean remote--it
+more likely means the last voyage--so let me substitute this:--
+
+                   She came,
+  'Twas her last voyage, from far sea,
+  To this clear inlet-home, the same
+  Good bark and true, and proudly free
+  From vows which under doubtful skies,
+  Are made to sea-side Deities.
+
+GRATIAN.--_Probatum est._--We have, however, run the vessel down. Let me
+see what comes next. Oh, "To Lesbia." This is the old well-known
+deliciously elegant little piece that I remember we were wont to try our
+luck with in our youth; and many a translation of it may yet be found
+among half-forgotten trifles. We are, some of us, it is true, a little
+out of this cherry-season of kissing--there is a time for all things,
+and so there was a time for that. It is pleasant still to trifle with
+the subject: even the wise Socrates played with it in one of his
+dialogues, and so may we, innocently enough. Though there be some
+greybeards, (no, I am wrong, they are not greybeards, but grave-airs,
+and they, more shame to them, with scarcely a beard at all,) that would
+open the book here, and shut it again in haste, and look as if they had
+just come out of the cave of Trophonius. That is not a healthy and
+honest purity.
+
+AQUILIUS.--But these do not object to a little professional kissing.
+
+GRATIAN.--More shame to them--that is the worst of all, but pass on;
+here is nothing but a little harmless play. Yet I don't see why the
+young poet, (you know he died at thirty,) should mock his elders in
+"rumoresque senum severiorum," these "sayings of severe old men." Why
+should old men be severe? O' my conscience, I believe they are far less
+severe than the young. Had I been present when the poet indited this to
+his Lesbia, I might just have ventured to hint to him thus:--"My dear
+friend, you have had enough, perhaps too much of kissing; my advice is,
+that you keep it to yourself, and tell it to no one; and don't despise
+the words of us old men, and mine are words of advice, that if not
+married already, after all this kissing, you take her, your Lesbia, to
+wife, as soon as you conveniently can."
+
+This was pronounced with an amusingly affected gravity. I and the Curate
+assumed the submissive. We were, as I told you, Eusebius, sitting under
+the verandah, and very near the breakfast room; the window of which
+(down to the ground) was open. While our good old friend and host was
+thus Socratically lecturing, I saw a ribbon catch the air, and float out
+towards us a little from the window--then appeared half a bonnet,
+inclined on one side, and downwards, as of one endeavouring to catch
+sounds more clearly. Seeing that it continued in this position, as soon
+as my friend had uttered the last words, I walked hastily towards the
+room, and saw the no very prepossessing countenance of a lady, whose
+privilege it is to be called young. She blushed, or rather reddened, and
+boldly came forward, and addressed our friend,--that she had come to see
+some of the family on a little business for the "visiting and other
+societies," and seeing us so enjoying ourselves out of doors, she could
+not but come forward to pay her respects, adding, with a look at the
+Curate, whom she evidently thought to be under reproof, that she hoped
+she had not arrived mal-apropos. Our friend introduced her thus,--Ah, my
+dear Miss Lydia Prate-apace, is that you?--glad to see you. But
+(retaining his assumed gravity,) you are not safe here: there has been
+too much kissing, and too much talk about it, for one of your known
+rectitude to hear. Dear me, said she, you don't say so: then I shall bid
+good-day; and with an inquisitive look at me, and an awful one at the
+Curate, she very nimbly tripped off. You will be sure to hear of that
+again, said I to the Curate. He laughed incredulous, in his innocency.
+Not unlikely, upon my word, said Gratian; for I see them there trotting
+down the church-path, Lydia Prate-apace, and her friend Clarissa
+Gadabout; so look to yourself, Mr. Curate. But we have had enough for
+the present. I must just take a look at my mangel, and my orchard, which
+you must know is my piggery. Good-bye for the present. In the evening we
+meet again in the library, and let Catullus be of our company. It was
+time to change our quarters; for the little spaniel, knowing the hour
+his master would visit his stock, and intending as usual to accompany
+him, just then ran in to us, and jumping about and barking, gave us no
+rest for further discussion.
+
+You must now, my dear Eusebius, behold us in the library as before--G.
+reads,--
+
+  "Vivamus, mea Lesbia, atque amemus,
+  Rumoresque senum severiorum."
+
+Ah, that's where we were; I remember we did not like the senum
+severiorum.
+
+CURATE.--We!!
+
+G.--Yes, we; for the veriest youth that shoots an arrow at old age, is
+but shooting at himself some ten or a dozen paces off. I remember, when
+a boy, being pleased with a translation of this by Langhorne; but I only
+remember two stanzas, and cannot but think he left out the "soles
+occidere et redire possunt;" if so, he did wrong; and I opine that he
+vulgarised and removed all grace from it by the word "pleasure." Life
+and love, Catullus means to say, are commensurate; but "pleasure" is a
+wilful and wanton intrusion. If I remember, his lines are,--
+
+  "Lesbia, live to love and _pleasure_,
+    Careless what the grave may say;
+  When each moment is a treasure,
+    Why should lovers lose a day?
+
+  Give me then a thousand kisses--
+    Twice ten thousand more bestow;
+  Till the sum of endless blisses,
+    Neither we nor envy know."
+
+Catullus himself might as well have omitted the "malus invidere." Why
+should he trouble his head about the matter--envied or not? but now, Mr.
+Curate, let us hear your version.
+
+CURATE.--AD LESBIAM.
+
+  Love we, live we, Lesbia, proving
+  Love in living, life in loving,
+  For all the saws of sages caring
+  Not one single penny's paring.
+  Suns can rise again from setting,
+    But our short light,
+    Once sunk in night,
+  Sleeps a slumber all forgetting:
+  Give me then a thousand kisses,
+  Still a hundred little blisses--
+  Yet a thousand--yet five score,
+  Yet a thousand, hundred more.
+  Then, when we have made too many
+  Thousands, we'll confound them all,
+  So as not to know of any
+    Number, either great or small;
+  Or lest some caitiff grudge our blisses
+    When he knows the tale of kisses----
+
+GRATIAN.--Tale is an ambiguous word, "Kiss and tell" is not fair
+play--Tale, talley, number. I hope it will be so understood at first
+reading.--It reminds me of the critical controversy respecting a passage
+in "L'Allegro,"--
+
+  "And every shepherd tells his tale
+  Under the hawthorn in the dale."
+
+The unsusceptible critic maintained that the shepherd did but count, or
+take the _tale_ of his sheep. Why not avoid the ambiguity thus--a hasty
+emendation.
+
+  "Knowing our amount of kisses."
+
+AQUILIUS.--In the other sense, it will go sadly against him, if Miss
+Prate-apace should be a listener--she would like to have all the telling
+to herself.
+
+GRATIAN.--Doubtless, and matter to tell of too--but, as I suppose that
+paper in your hand is your translation of this common-property bit of
+Latin, read it.
+
+AQUILIUS.--Here it is.
+
+AD LESBIAM.
+
+  We'll live and love while yet 'tis ours,
+    To live and love, my Lesbia, dearest,
+    And when old greybeard saws thou hearest,
+  (Since joy is but the present hour's,)
+    We'll laugh them down as none the clearest.
+
+  For suns will set again to rise,
+    But our brief day once closed--we slumber
+    Long nights, long days--too long to number;--
+  Perpetual sleep shall close our eyes,
+    And one dark night shall both encumber.
+
+  A thousand kisses then bestow;
+    Ten thousand more,--ten thousand blisses,--
+    And when we've counted million kisses--
+  Begin again,--for, Lesbia, know,
+    We way have made mistakes and misses.
+
+  Then let our lips the full amount
+    Commingle so, in one delusion,
+    Blending beginning with conclusion,
+  Nor we, nor envy's self can count
+    How many in the sweet confusion.
+
+CURATE.--I protest against this as a translation. There is addition.
+Catullus says nothing of "mistakes and misses."
+
+AQUILIUS.--I maintain it is implied in "conturbabimus illa:" it shows
+they had given up all idea of counting correctly.
+
+GRATIAN.--I think it may pass; but you have a word twice,--"day closed,"
+and "_close_ our eyes." Why not have it thus:--
+
+"But our brief day once o'er," or once pass'd,--yet it is not so good,
+as "closed." I see in the note on "conturbabimus," great stress is laid
+on the mischievous spell that envy was supposed to convey, like the
+"evil eye." This does not make much for Catullus--for a good kiss in
+real earnest, not your kiss poetical, might bid defiance to every
+_charm_ but its own.
+
+CURATE.--There is something of the same superstition in the piece but
+one following, "mala fascinare lingua" alludes evidently to the euphemia
+of the Greeks,--the superstition of the evil eye and evil tongue. The very
+word _invidere_ seems to have been adopted in its wider sense, from the
+particular superstition of the evil eye. The Neapolitans of the present
+day inherit, in full possession, both superstitions.
+
+GRATIAN.--Nor are either quite out of England; and I can hardly think
+that a legacy left us by the Romans. There is something akin to the
+feeling in the dislike old country gossips show to having their
+likenesses taken. I have known a sketcher pelted for putting in a
+passing figure. And I have seen a servant girl, in the house of a
+friend, who, having never, until she came into his service, seen a
+portrait, could not be prevailed upon, for a long while, to go alone
+into a room where there were some family portraits. What comes next
+after all these kisses?
+
+AQUILIUS.--More kisses.
+
+GRATIAN.--Then you force a bad pun from me, and put my aching bones into
+an _omni-bus_, and it is as much as I can do to bear the shaking. Give
+your account of them, Aquilius.
+
+AQUILIUS.--AD LESBIAM.
+
+  How many kisses will suffice,
+    You ask me, Lesbia,--ask a lover!
+  Go bid him count the sands;--discover,
+    Even to a very grain precise,
+  How many lie in heaps, or hover,
+  When gusty winds the sand hills stir
+    About the benzoin-bearing plain,
+    Between Jove's Cyrenean fane,
+  And Battus' sacred sepulchre.
+
+  How many stars, in stillest night,
+    On loving thefts look down approving,--
+  So many kisses should requite
+    Catullus, ah too madly loving.--
+  Ye curious eyes, be closed in slumber,
+    That would be spies upon our wooing,
+  That there be none to note the number,
+    Nor tongue to babble of our doing.
+
+GRATIAN.--Read that last again--for "my eyes," I confess, were not as
+"curious" as they should have been, and were just closing as you came to
+the wooing.
+
+AQUILIUS.--
+
+  That there be none to note the number,
+  Nor tongue to babble of our doing.
+
+GRATIAN.--Well, rubbing his eyes, I am quite awake now; let us have your
+version, Master Curate.
+
+CURATE.--AD LESBIAM.
+
+  Dost bid me, my Lesbia,
+    A number define,
+  To fill me, and glut me
+    With kisses of thine?
+
+  When equal thy kisses
+    The atoms of sand,
+  By spicy Cyrene
+    On Lybia's strand,
+
+  The sand grains extending
+    From Ammon's hot shrine,
+  To the tomb of old Battus,
+    That land-mark divine.
+
+  Or count me the star-lights
+    That see from above,
+  In still night, the thievings
+    Of mortals in love.
+
+  Thus canst thou, my Lesbia,
+    A number assign,
+  To glut thy mad lover
+    With kisses of thine.
+
+  A number the prying
+    To reckon may spare;
+  And gossips, unlucky,
+    Give up in despair.
+
+GRATIAN.--(After a pause, his eyes half closed,)
+
+  "Give up in despair."
+
+Very mu--si--cal--sooth--ing.
+
+AQUILIUS.--See, you have set our host asleep; and, judging from his last
+words, his dream will not be unpleasant. We must not come to a sudden
+silence, or it will waken him. The murmur of the brook that invites
+sleep, is pledged to its continuance. The winds and the pattering rain,
+says the Roman elegiast, assist the sleeper.
+
+  Aut gelidas hibernus aquas eum fuderit auster
+  Securum somnos imbre juvante sequi.
+
+We must not, however, proceed with our translations. Take up Landor's
+Pentameron, and begin where you left off, when we first entered upon
+this discussion of Catullus. He seemed to give the preference to
+Catullus over Horace. Here is the page,--read on.
+
+The Curate at once took the volume and read aloud.--The following
+passage arrested our attention:--
+
+"In return for my suggestion, pray tell me what is the meaning of
+
+                Obliquo laborat
+  Lympha fugax trepidare rivo.
+
+"PETRARCHA.--The moment I learn it you shall have it. Laborat trepidare!
+lympha rivo! fugax, too! Fugacity is not the action for hard work or
+_labour_.
+
+"BOCCACCIO.--Since you cannot help me out, I must give up the
+conjecture, it seems, while it has cost me only half a century. Perhaps
+it may be _curiosa felicitas_."
+
+AQUILIUS--Stay there:--that criticism is new to me. I never even fancied
+there was a difficulty in the passage. Let us consider it a moment.
+
+CURATE.--Does he then think Horace not very choice in his words? for he
+seems to be severe upon the "_curiosa felicitas_." Surely the diction of
+the Latin poets is all in all--For their ideas seem hard
+stereotyped,--uninterchangeable, the very reverse of the Greek, in whom
+you always find some unexpected turn, some new thought, thrown out
+beautifully in the rapidity of their conception--excepting in
+Sophocles--who, attending more to his diction, deals perhaps a little
+too much in common-place.
+
+The object of the Latin poets should seem to have been to introduce
+gracefully, into their own language, what the Greeks had left them; and
+the nature of this labour quenched the fire of originality, if they had
+any.--It is hard, however, to deny them the fruits of this labour; and
+who was more happy in it than Horace?
+
+AQUILIUS.--Surely, and the familiar love that all bear to Horace,
+confirms your opinion--the general opinion. Now, I cannot but think
+Horace happy in his choice of words, in this very passage of
+
+          obliquo laborat,
+  Lympha fugax trepidare rivo.
+
+Let me suggest a meaning, which to me is obvious enough, and I am
+surprised it should have escaped so acute and so profound a critic.
+Horace supposes his friend enjoying the landscape in _remoto gramine_,
+and there describes it accurately; and it is a favourite scene with him,
+which he often paints in words, with the introduction of the same
+imagery. Suppose, then, the scene to be in _remoto gramine_ at Tiber,
+our modern Tivoli; where, as I presume, the water was always, as now,
+though not in exactly the same way, turned off from the Anio into _cut
+channels_; and such I take to be the meaning generally of rivers, a
+_channel_, not a river. And the Lympha here is appropriate; not the
+_body_ of the stream, but a portion of its water. In this case,
+"obliquo" may express a new direction, and some obstacle in the _turn_
+the river takes, where the water would for a moment seem to _labour_,
+"laborare fugax," expressing its desire to escape. May not, therefore,
+the first evident meaning be allowed to "trepidare," to tremble, or
+_undulate_, showing the motion a rivulet assumes, just after it has
+turned the angle of its obstruction. "Obliquo," may, too, mean the
+slope, such as would be in a garden at Tivoli, on the verge of the
+precipice. Possibly Horace generally uses "rivus" in this sense, "Purae
+rivus aquae."--Then, again, describing the character of Tibur or Tivoli,
+he does not say the Anio; but "aquae," as in the other instance "Lympha."
+
+  "Sed quae Tibur aquae fertile praefluunt,"
+
+--"fertile," being the effect of the _irrigation_, the purpose for which
+the aquae are turned from the river; and this agrees well with the word
+_praefluunt_, as applied to irrigated gardens. Pliny thus uses the
+adjective praefluus: "Hortos esse habendos _irriguos praefluo amne_." But
+there is one passage in Horace where this meaning is so distinctly given
+to rivers, and which is so characteristic of the very scene of Tibur,
+that to me it is conclusive.
+
+                 "et uda
+  _Mobilibus_ pomarea rivis."
+
+Evidently channels, _moveable_ and diverse at pleasure, for
+_irrigation_.
+
+Nor would Horace use Lympha for a river, or be amenable to a charge of
+such tautology as this:--
+
+  "Labuntur _altis interim ripis aquae_,
+  Quaeruntur in sylvis aves,
+  _Fontesque Lymphis_ obstrepunt manantibus,
+  Somnos quod inortet leves."
+
+CURATE.--I fancy I now see the garden, where somewhat artificial
+planting had put together the "Pinus ingens albaque Populus," to
+consociate, and form the shady arbour, where the wine and unguents are
+to be brought, and through which the _rivus_ passes angularly, and
+doubtless with a view to the garden-beauty. It is a sketch from nature
+of some particular and favourite spot.
+
+  Quo Pinus ingens albaque Populus
+  Umbram _hospitalem_ consociare amant
+  Ramis, et obliquo laborat
+  Lympha fugax trepidare rivo.
+
+AQUILIUS.--Truly, in many places Horace delights to paint this one
+individual spot. We have in all, the wood, the waters from their higher
+banks, making falls such as to induce sleep, the garden with its shade,
+and its fountain, _near the house_, this continual "aquae fons." Such as
+was his "Fons Bandusiae," not _fons_ a mere spring, but sanctified by
+architectural art, as well as feeling.
+
+  "Fies nobilium tu quoque fontium,
+  Me dicente cavis impositam illicem
+  Saxis, unde loquaces
+  _Lymphae_ desiliunt tuae."
+
+But listen to what he desired to possess, and did possess.
+
+  "Hoc erat in votis, modus agri non ita magnus,
+  Hortus ubi, et tecto vicinus jugis aquae fons,
+  Et paulum sylvae super his foret."
+
+Is he describing his Sabine villa?--I have a sketch on its site--and
+there is now, whatever there may have been in his days, a high bank,
+over which the water still falls, (I believe from the Digentia) which by
+conduits supplied the house, and cattle returned from their labour, and
+the flocks. There is a small cascade filling a marble basin (the
+fountain) and thence flowing off through the garden. Perhaps he had in
+these descriptions one or two scenes in his mind's eye much alike. A
+poet's geography shifts its scenery _ad libitum_. But see what his
+Sabine farm was.
+
+CURATE.--I remember it.
+
+  "Scribetur tibi forma loquaciter, et situs agri."
+
+But does he not in that passage make _rivus_ a river?--
+
+  "Fons etiam rivo dare nomen idoneus, ut nec
+  Frigidior Thracam, nec purior ambiat Hebrus."
+
+AQUILIUS.--The river was the Digentia, the cold Digentia.
+
+  "Me quoties reficit gelidus Digentia rivus."
+
+It _may_ be here a river, but not _certainly_. Do you suppose he went
+down in sight of the whole neighbourhood to bathe in the little river?
+for _little_ river it is, and cold enough, too; for I have bathed in it,
+and can testify of its coldness. Would you take him, 1 say, down from
+his house to the river itself, when he had it conveyed to his own home
+by a _rivus_, or channel, and by a _fons_ such as has been described,
+from which, without doubt, he was supplied with water enough for his hot
+and his cold baths? The gelidus Digentia rivus, I well know, and, as I
+said, bathed in it. A countryman seeing me, cried out, "Fa morir!" The
+Italians now (at least inland) never bathe; they have a perfect
+hydrophobia. Few even wash themselves. I asked a boy, whom we took about
+with us to carry our sketching materials, when he had last washed his
+face. He confessed he had _never_ washed it, and that nobody did.
+
+CURATE.--We know Horace delighted in Tibur,--his "Tibur argeo, positum
+colono." In the passage criticised in the Pentameron, I shall always see
+Tivoli, with its wood, its rocks, and cascatelle. He had the scene
+before him when he wrote,--
+
+            "ego laudo ruris amaeni
+  _Rivos_; et museo circumlita saxa, nemusque."
+
+Tibur still; its rocks, woods, and rivus again; and perhaps the "nemus"
+was "Tiburni lucus."
+
+AQUILIUS.--Perhaps a line in this epistle from the lover of country to
+the lover of town, may throw some light on "obliquo" and "trepidare," if
+indeed he has _the_ scene in his eye.
+
+  "Purior in vicis aqua tendit rumpere plumbum,
+  Quam que _per pronum_ trepidat cum murmure _rivum_."
+
+Great indeed is the difference, whether the water passes through a
+leaden pipe, or by the rivers, a mere direction by a channel open to the
+sky, and whose bed is the rock.
+
+But there is a passage which still more clearly, I think, marks the
+distinction between the rivus and the river. The poet invites Maecenas to
+the country, and tells him,--
+
+  "Jam pastor umbras cum grege languido
+  _Rivumque_ fessus querit, et horridi
+  Dumeta Silvani, caretque
+  _Ripa_ vagis taciturna ventis."
+
+Now, if the shepherd had driven his flock to the river, all bleating and
+languid with heat, the bank of the river would scarcely have been
+_taciturn_; doubtless the shepherd sought the "fontem," into which the
+water was _conveyed_, and under shade, a place not exposed to the sun,
+or the wind, as was the ripa, the river's bank. And besides, in this
+passage, the rivos and the ripa are certainly spoken of as two separate
+places.
+
+Here our friend and host began to mutter a little. He was evidently
+going over his model-farm, while we were at the Sabine. He now talked
+quicker--"John," (so he always called his hind, his factotum,) "plant
+'em a little farther apart, d'ye see, and trench up well." "That's the
+way." "Now, John, d'ye know how--to clap an old head on young
+shoulders--why dig a trench the width of the spade, from the stem of an
+apple-tree, and fill up with good vegetable mould. First pollard your
+tree, John." "That's it, John." This and more was said, with a few
+sleepy interruptions; he soon awoke, and said with an amusing
+indifference,--"Well, any more news of Catullus?"
+
+AQUILIUS.--We left Catullus asleep some time ago, and thinking it
+probable that you and he might wake at the same time, we determined to
+wait for you both, and, in the meanwhile, we have been discussing a
+passage in Horace, of which, (for we will not now renew the
+discussion,) I will one day hear your opinion. A very favourite author,
+however, of yours, doubts the _felicity_ of Horace in the choice of
+words.
+
+CURATE.--And in the structure of his sentences, and says, "How simple in
+comparison are Catullus and Lucretius."
+
+GRATIAN.--Indeed! now I think that is but finding one fault, for the
+choice of words and construction of sentences go pretty much together.
+An ill-constructed sentence can hardly have a good choice of words, for
+it is most probably unmusical, and that fault would make the choice a
+jumble. If the words were nonsense in Milton, the music of them would
+make you believe he could have used no other. They are breathed out so
+naturally; take the first line of Paradise Lost--it is in this manner
+perfect. Good words are, to good thoughts, what the stars are to the
+night, sunshine to the brook, flowers to the field, and foliage to the
+woods; clothing what is otherwise bare, giving glory to the dark, and to
+the great and spacious; investing the rugged with grace, and adding the
+vigour and motion of life to the inanimate, the motionless, and the
+solid. I must defend my friend Horace against all comers.
+
+  "--rura, quae Liris quieta
+  Mordet aqua, taciturnus amnis."
+
+Is there a bad choice of words there? How insidiously the silent river
+_indents_ the banks with its quiet water, and how true to nature! It is
+not your turbulent river that eats into the land, (it may overflow it,)
+but that ever heavy weight of the taciturn rivers, running not in a
+rocky bed, but through a deep soft soil.
+
+CURATE.--You are lucky in your quotation, for we were discussing some
+such matter. Horace is particularly happy in his river scenes. Did not
+he know the value of his own words--he thus speaks of them:
+
+  "Verba loquor socianda chordis."
+
+AQUILIUS.--Yes, but he speaks of them as immortal. "Ne credas
+interitura." But if the "socianda chordis," means they are to be set to
+music, I deny that music is
+
+  "Married to immortal verse,"
+
+or there has long ago been a divorce. I am told, the more manifest the
+nonsense, the better the song.
+
+GRATIAN.--Then I leave you to sing it, and reserve your sense and
+sense-verses for to-morrow. But it cannot be till the evening, for I
+must attend an agricultural meeting in the morning, some distance off.
+Would you believe it, I have to defend my own statement. A stupid fellow
+said publicly, that he would not believe that the produce of my Belgian
+carrots, which you saw, was 360 lbs. per land-yard, which is at the rate
+of 25 tons, 14 cwt. 1 qr. 4 lbs. per acre. There are people who will
+doubt every thing. You see they doubt what I say of my carrots, and what
+Horace says of his own words.--So, good-night.
+
+This "good night," Eusebius, was not the abrupt leave-taking which it
+may here appear. For our friend's habit was to close the day not
+unthankful. We regularly retired to the dining-room, where the servants
+and family were assembled, and prayers were read. So that this
+"good-night" of our excellent host were but his last worldly and social
+words. And if devotion, and most kind feelings towards all
+creatures--man and beast--can ensure pleasant and healthful sleep, his
+pillow is a charm against comfortless dreams and rheumatic pains.
+
+There we leave him--and if, Eusebius, you are amused with this our chat,
+you may look again for Noctes Catullianae.
+
+POSTSCRIPT.--This should have gone to you, my dear Eusebius, two days
+ago, but by some accident it was left out of the post-bag. By the
+neglect, however, I am enabled to tell you that our friend the Curate is
+in trouble: the very trouble, too, which I foresaw. He came to us this
+morning with a very long face, and told us that yesterday, on going as
+usual to his parochial Sunday school, he was surprised that nearly all
+the bigger girls were absent; that the mistress of the school did not
+receive him with her usual respect; that the three maiden ladies, Lydia
+Prateapace, Clarissa Gadabout, and Barbara Brazenstare, were at the
+farther end of the room, affectedly busy with the children; that seeing
+him, they slightly acknowledged his presence, as Goldsmith well
+expresses it, by a "mutilated curtsey." He approached them, and
+expressed his surprise at the absence of the elder children. Prateapace
+looked first down, then away from him, and said it was no business of
+hers to question their parents. Miss Gadabout added, that every body
+knew the reason. And Brazenstare looked him boldly in the face, and
+said, she supposed nobody knew so well as himself. Prateapace put in her
+word, that now he was come, there was no need of their presence, as
+there were not too many to teach. Upon which Gadabout cried, "Then let
+us be off: it is quite time we should." And as they were moving off,
+Brazenstare turned round and asked him, mutteringly, if he intended to
+kiss the schoolmistress. Upon this, he went to some of the parents to
+inquire respecting the absence of their daughters, and little
+satisfaction could he get. They didn't like to say--but people did
+say--indeed it was all about the township--that they were quite as well
+at home, for that they might learn more than the book taught--for that
+his honour had been reproved by good Mr. G. for too great familiarity.
+
+So ends the matter, or rather such is the position of affairs at
+present--the Curate has come to consult what is to be done. I tell him,
+that if he knows what he is about, it will proceed with some violence,
+then an opposition, and end with offerings of bouquets, and perhaps the
+presentation of a piece of plate. Gratian tells him he hopes nothing so
+bad as that will come to pass--the Curate almost fears it will, and is
+vexed at his present awkward position.
+
+You, Eusebius, already see enough mischief in it to delight you; you
+are, I know, laughing immoderately, and determine to write the
+inscription for the plate in perspective. Adieu, ever yours.      AQUILIUS.
+
+
+_Printed by William Blackwood & Sons, Edinburgh._
+
+
+
+
+Footnotes:
+
+[1] See No. CCCLXXIII, page 555.
+
+[2] See next page.
+
+[3] FORM 25 (_a._)
+
+   WEEKLY OUT-DOOR RELIEF LIST, for the quarter ending
+
+
+              Ordinary.           Medical.  Casual.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+              Classes                   Able-bodied.
+                                                    Unclassified.
+
+                                  ------ ---------- ------
+                                         U p     p
+                                         n l   E l
+                                         e o   m o
+                                         m y   - y
+                               8         - e     e
+   1   2    3    4 5   7   8 9 &           d     d.
+                  6            8
+  --- --- ------ ---- ---- ------ ------ --- ------ -----
+  M|F M|F M|F|Ch F|Ch F|Ch F|F|Ch M|F|Ch M|F M|F|Ch M|F|Ch
+  -+- -+- -+-+-- -+-- -+-- -+-+-- -+-+-- -+- -+-+-- -+-+--
+   |   |   | |    |    |    | |    | |    |   | |    | |
+   |   |   | |    |    |    | |    | |    |   | |    | |
+   |   |   | |    |    |    | |    | |    |   | |    | |
+   |   |   | |    |    |    | |    | |    |   | |    | |
+
+
+
+                18  ,   District.       Relieving Officer.
+
+
+
+                     Ordinary            Medical.  Casual.
+
+                                 F R a
+                                 o e n
+                    I i   N i    r l d    1st         2d to
+                    f n   o n      i      Week.       13th
+                          .      w e d                Week.
+                    n P     t    h f a ----------- -----------
+                    o a r o h A  a   t                  |
+         N p w      t r e f e b  t o e                  |
+         a a i        i s     s    r                    |
+         m u f  W   r s i C Q t  P d o   I           I  |
+         e p e  h   e h d l u r  e e f   n     I     n  |  I
+           e    e   s , e a a a  r r           n        |  n
+         o r i  n   i   n s r c  i e o   M           M  |
+         f , f      d w t s t t  o d r   o     K     o  |  K
+                b   i h .   e .  d , d   n     i     n  |  i
+         t a a  o   n e     r        e   e     n     e  |  n
+         h n n  r   g r     l        r   y     d     y  |  d
+         e d y  n     e     y        .   .     .     .  |  .
+         ----- ---- ----- ----- ------ ----- ----- -----+-----
+                         |             s. d. s. d. s. d.|s. d.
+         ----- ---- ----- ----- ------ ----- ----- -----+-----
+                         |                              |
+                         |                              |
+                         |                              |
+                         |             ----- ----- -----+-----
+                                                        |
+                     TOTALS.                            |
+
+It is possible that a union maybe found in which the number of poor are
+so few, as to allow of the four orders of poor--the Ordinary, the
+Medical, the Casual, and the Unclassified--to be contained in one book;
+but in general it would be necessary to separate them and to appropriate
+a book to each order; and there are parishes so large, and in which
+certain classes of poor abound, as to require separate books for those
+particular cases.
+
+[4] Elia
+
+[5] If the reader will refer again to the form of "Relief List," he will
+perceive that there are three general divisions, named severally,
+ordinary, medical, and casual. These terms were preserved, because they
+are well known in actual practice, rather than because they express a
+really broad distinction. The ordinary relief list is supposed to
+contain all those recipients of relief who are likely to continue
+chargeable for a long period. But the distinction attempted to be drawn
+between those who may require relief for a long and those who require it
+for a short period only, depends upon circumstances too vague and
+variable to be of any practical utility. These objections are not
+applicable to the generic term "medical."
+
+[6] A tradesman is not a shopkeeper, but a mechanic who is skilled in
+his particular branch of industry.
+
+[7] In other words, that he will be condemned to slavery, and employed
+on the public works in wheeling a barrow.
+
+[8] The belief in _hard men_, _i.e._ of men whose skins were impervious
+to a musket or pistol ball, was extremely prevalent during the sixteenth
+and seventeenth centuries. They could be killed only by a silver bullet.
+Fitzgerald, the notorious duellist and murderer, in the middle of the
+last century, was said to have been a hard man.--See _Thoms' Anecdotes
+and Traditions_, printed for the Camden Society, p. 111.
+
+[9] It must be borne in mind that the priests here alluded to are
+Danish.
+
+[10] Junker (_pronounced_ Yunker,) the title given to a son of noble
+family. Froeken (_dimin. of_ Frue, _madam_, _lady_; Ger. Fraeulein) is the
+corresponding title of a young lady of rank.
+
+[11] _Madam_, applied strictly to ladies of rank only.
+
+[12] The Nisse of the Scandinavian nations is, in many respects, the
+counterpart of the Scottish Brownie, while, in others, he occasionally
+resembles the Devonian and Cornish Pixie and Portune. He is described as
+clad in gray, with a pointed red cap. Having once taken up his abode
+with a family, it is not easy to dislodge him, as is evident from the
+following anecdote:--A man, whose patience was exhausted by the
+mischievous pranks of a Nisse that dwelt in his house, resolved on
+changing his habitation, and leaving his troublesome guest to himself.
+Having packed his last cart-load of chattels, he chanced to go to the
+back of his cart, to see whether all was safe, when, to his dismay, the
+Nisse popped his head out of a tub, and with a loud laugh, said, "See,
+we flit to-day," (_See, idag flytte vi._)--_Thiele, Danske Folkesagn_,
+i. p. 134, and _Athenaeum_, No. 991.
+
+There are also ship Nisses, whose functions consist in shadowing out, as
+it were, by night all the work that is to be performed the following
+day,--to weigh or cast anchor, to hoist or lower the sails, to furl or
+reef them--all which operations are forerunners of a storm. For the duty
+even of a swabber, he does not consider himself too high, but washes the
+deck most delicately clean. Some well-informed persons maintain that
+this _spiritus navalis_, or nautical goblin, proves himself of kindred
+race with the house or land Nisse by his roguish pranks. Sometimes he
+turns the vane, sometimes extinguishes the light in the binnacle,
+plagues the ship's dog, and if there chance to be a passenger on board
+who cannot bear the sea, the rogue will appear before him with
+heart-rending grimaces retching in the bucket. If the ship is doomed to
+perish, he jumps overboard in the night, and either enters another
+vessel or swims to land.
+
+[13] According to the Germanic nations, the devil has a horse's, not a
+cloven foot.
+
+[14] In the original, "Ole Lukoeje," _i.e._, _Olave Shut-eye_, a
+personage as well known by name to the children of Denmark, as the
+dustman is to those of England.
+
+[15] She was no doubt habited _en Amazone_, as was the fashion in
+Denmark about the date to which our story refers. At a much later
+period, Matilda (sister of our George III.) Queen of Christian VII. rode
+in a garb nearly resembling a man's.
+
+[16] Viz. a fox, in allusion to Mikkel's surname of Foxtail.
+
+[17] Two places of public resort and great beauty in the neighbourhood
+of Copenhagen. On St. John's (Hans') eve, the former place is thronged
+with the inhabitants of the capital and vicinity, for the purpose of
+drinking the waters of a well held in great esteem.
+
+[18] _Reise nach Java, und Ausfluege nach den Inseln Madura und St.
+Helena._ Von Dr. EDUARD SELBERG. Oldenburg and Amsterdam: 1846.
+
+[19] _Trade and Travel in the Far East._ London: 1846.
+
+[20] Notes to "Peveril of the Peak."
+
+[21] Notes to "Oliver Newman."
+
+[22] Trial of Charles I. and the Regicides, which I see referred to in
+"Oliver Newman," but I have not the book myself.
+
+[23] London _Times_ of that date.
+
+[24] State Trials, ii. 389.
+
+[25] Somers' Tracts, vi. 339.
+
+[26] Carlyle and Clarendon.
+
+[27] Carlyle.
+
+[28] Carlyle.
+
+[29] Clarendon, iii. 590.
+
+[30] Percy's Reliques, 121.
+
+[31] Fasti Oxon. ii. 79.
+
+[32] Letters and Speeches, &c. by Carlyle.
+
+[33] Fasti Oxon. ii. 79.
+
+[34] Carlyle.
+
+[35] Fasti Oxon, ii. p. 79. Anno 1649.
+
+[36] Evelyn's Memoirs, i. 308.
+
+[37] Notes to Peveril of the Peak.
+
+[38] Sir Thomas Herbert's Two Last Years, p. 189.
+
+[39] State Trials, ii. 886.
+
+[40] Lives of the Queens, vol. viii.
+
+[41] Holmes' American Annals.
+
+[42] Isaiah xvi. 3.
+
+[43] Rev. xi. 8.
+
+[44] Rev. xiii. 18.
+
+[45] Holmes' American Annals, _in Ann_. Also, Notes to "Oliver Newman."
+
+[46] _Gatherings from Spain_, by Richard Ford. London, 1846.
+
+     _An Overland Journey to Lisbon, &c._, by T. M. Hughes. London, 1847.
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+Passages in italics are indicated by _underscore_.
+
+Superscripted letters are shown in {brackets}.
+
+The original text includes Greek characters. For this text version these
+letters have been replaced with transliterations.
+
+Due to their width, tables have been split in half.
+
+The first page of this issue is 261.
+
+The following misprints have been corrected:
+  "deterimental" corrected to "detrimental" (page 285)
+  "architectue" corrected to "architecture" (page 335)
+  "appearrance" corrected to "appearance" (page 336
+  "assocation" corrected to "association" (page 369)
+  "banches" corrected to "branches" (page 369)
+  "Frauelein" corrected to "Fraeulein" (page 373)
+  "triflle" corrected to "trifle" (page 376)
+
+Other than the corrections listed above, printer's inconsistencies in
+spelling and hyphenation usage have been retained.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume
+61, No. 377, March 1847, by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE, MARCH 1847 ***
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