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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 20, No. 119,
+September, 1867, 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: The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 20, No. 119, September, 1867
+
+Author: Various
+
+Release Date: August 17, 2010 [EBook #33451]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ATLANTIC MONTHLY, SEPT 1867 ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Joshua Hutchinson, Josephine Paolucci and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net.
+(This file was produced from images generously made
+available by Cornell University Digital Collections.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE
+
+ATLANTIC MONTHLY.
+
+_A Magazine of Literature, Science, Art, and Politics._
+
+VOL. XX.--SEPTEMBER, 1867.--NO. CXIX.
+
+Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1867, by TICKNOR AND
+FIELDS, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of
+Massachusetts.
+
+
+
+
+THE GUARDIAN ANGEL.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+MUSTERING OF FORCES.
+
+Not long after the tableau performance had made Myrtle Hazard's name
+famous in the school and among the friends of the scholars, she received
+the very flattering attention of a call from Mrs. Clymer Ketchum, of 24
+Carat Place. This was in consequence of a suggestion from Mr. Livingston
+Jenkins, a particular friend of the family.
+
+"They've got a demonish splendid school-girl over there," he said to
+that lady,--"made the stunningest-looking Pocahontas at the show there
+the other day. Demonish plucky-looking filly as ever you saw. Had a row
+with another girl,--gave the war-whoop, and went at her with a knife.
+Festive,--hey? Say she only meant to scare her,--_looked_ as if she
+meant to stick her, anyhow. Splendid style. Why can't you go over to the
+shop and make 'em trot her out?"
+
+The lady promised Mr. Livingston Jenkins that she certainly would, just
+as soon as she could find a moment's leisure,--which, as she had nothing
+in the world to do, was not likely to be very soon. Myrtle in the mean
+time was busy with her studies, little dreaming what an extraordinary
+honor was awaiting her.
+
+That rare accident in the lives of people who have nothing to do, a
+leisure morning, did at last occur. An elegant carriage, with a coachman
+in a wonderful cape, seated on a box lofty as a throne, and wearing a
+hat-band as brilliant as a coronet, stopped at the portal of Madam
+Delacoste's establishment. A card was sent in bearing the open sesame of
+Mrs. Clymer Ketchum, the great lady of 24 Carat Place. Miss Myrtle
+Hazard was summoned as a matter of course, and the fashionable woman and
+the young girl sat half an hour together in lively conversation.
+
+Myrtle was fascinated by her visitor, who had that flattering manner
+which, to those not experienced in the world's ways, seems to imply
+unfathomable depths of disinterested devotion. Then it was so delightful
+to look upon a perfectly appointed woman,--one who was as artistically
+composed as a poem or an opera,--in whose costume a kind of various
+rhythm undulated in one fluent harmony, from the spray that nodded on
+her bonnet to the rosette that blossomed on her sandal. As for the lady,
+she was captivated with Myrtle. There is nothing that your fashionable
+woman, who has ground and polished her own spark of life into as many
+and as glittering social facets as it will bear, has a greater passion
+for than a large rough diamond, which knows nothing of the sea of light
+it imprisons, and which it will be her pride to have cut into a
+brilliant under her own eye, and to show the world for its admiration
+and her own reflected glory. Mrs. Clymer Ketchum had taken the entire
+inventory of Myrtle's natural endowments before the interview was over.
+She had no marriageable children, and she was thinking what a killing
+bait Myrtle would be at one of her own parties.
+
+She soon got another letter from Mr. William Murray Bradshaw, which
+explained the interest he had taken in Madam Delacoste's school,--all
+which she knew pretty nearly beforehand, for she had found out a good
+part of Myrtle's history in the half-hour they had spent in company.
+
+"I had a particular reason for my inquiries about the school," he wrote.
+"There is a young girl there I take an interest in. She is handsome and
+interesting, and--though it is a shame to mention such a thing--has
+possibilities in the way of fortune not to be undervalued. Why can't you
+make her acquaintance and be civil to her? A country girl, but fine old
+stock, and will make a figure some time or other, I tell you. Myrtle
+Hazard,--that's her name. A mere school-girl. Don't be malicious and
+badger me about her, but be polite to her. Some of these country girls
+have got 'blue blood' in them, let me tell you, and show it plain
+enough."
+
+("In huckleberry season.") said Mrs. Clymer Ketchum, in a
+parenthesis,--and went on reading.
+
+"Don't think I'm one of your love-in-a-cottage sort, to have my head
+turned by a village beauty. I've got a career before me, Mrs. K., and I
+know it. But this is one of my pets, and I want you to keep an eye on
+her. Perhaps when she leaves school you wouldn't mind asking her to come
+and stay with you a little while. Possibly. I may come and see how she
+is getting on if you do,--won't that tempt you, Mrs. C. K.?"
+
+Mrs. Clymer Ketchum wrote back to her relative how she had already made
+the young lady's acquaintance.
+
+"Livingston Jenkins (you remember him) picked her out of the whole lot
+of girls as the 'prettiest filly in the stable.' That's his horrid way
+of talking. But your young milkmaid is really charming, and will come
+into form like a Derby three-year-old. There, now, I've caught that
+odious creature's horse-talk, myself. You're dead in love with this
+girl, Murray, you know you are.
+
+"After all, I don't know but you're right. You would make a good country
+lawyer enough, I don't doubt. I used to think you had your ambitions,
+but never mind. If you choose to risk yourself on 'possibilities,' it is
+not my affair, and she's a beauty,--there's no mistake about that.
+
+"There are some desirable _partis_ at the school with your Dulcinea.
+There's Rose Bugbee. That last name is a good one to be married from.
+Rose is a nice girl,--there are only two of them. The estate will cut up
+like one of the animals it was made out of,--you know,--the
+sandwich-quadruped. Then there's Berengaria. Old Topping owns the Planet
+Hotel among other things,--so big, they say, there's always a bell
+ringing from somebody's room day and night the year round. Only
+child--unit and six ciphers--carries diamonds loose in her
+pocket--that's the story--good-looking--lively--a little slangy--called
+Livingston Jenkins 'Living Jingo' to his face one day. I want you to see
+my lot before you do anything serious. You owe something to the family,
+Mr. William Murray Bradshaw! But you must, suit yourself, after all: if
+you are contented with a humble position in life, it is nobody's
+business that I know of. Only I know what life is, Murray B. Getting
+married is jumping overboard, any way you look at it, and if you must
+save some woman from drowning an old maid, try to find one _with a cork
+jacket_, or she'll carry you down with her."
+
+Murray Bradshaw was calculating enough, but he shook his head over this
+letter. It was too demonish cold-blooded for him, he said to himself.
+(Men cannot pardon women for saying aloud what they do not hesitate to
+think in silence themselves.) Never mind,--he must have Mrs. Clymer
+Ketchum's house and influence for his own purposes. Myrtle Hazard must
+become her guest, and then, if circumstances were favorable, he was
+certain of obtaining her aid in his project.
+
+The opportunity to invite Myrtle to the great mansion presented itself
+unexpectedly. Early in the spring of 1861 there were some cases of
+sickness in Madam Delacoste's establishment, which led to closing the
+school for a while. Mrs. Clymer Ketchum took advantage of the dispersion
+of the scholars to ask Myrtle to come and spend some weeks with her.
+There were reasons why this was more agreeable to the young girl than
+returning to Oxbow Village, and she very gladly accepted the invitation.
+
+It was very remarkable that a man living as Master Byles Gridley had
+lived for so long a time should all at once display such liberality as
+he showed to a young woman who had no claim upon him, except that he had
+rescued her from the consequences of her own imprudence and warned her
+against impending dangers. Perhaps he cared more for her than if the
+obligation had been the other way,--students of human nature say it is
+commonly so. At any rate, either he had ampler resources than it was
+commonly supposed, or he was imprudently giving way to his generous
+impulses, or he thought he was making advances which would in due time
+be returned to him. Whatever the reason was, he furnished her with
+means, not only for her necessary expenses, but sufficient to afford her
+many of the elegances which she would be like to want in the fashionable
+society with which she was for a short time to mingle.
+
+Mrs. Clymer Ketchum was so well pleased with the young lady she was
+entertaining, that she thought it worth while to give a party while
+Myrtle was staying with her. She had her jealousies and rivalries, as
+women of the world will, sometimes, and these may have had their share
+in leading her to take the trouble a large party involved. She was tired
+of the airs of Mrs. Pinnikle, who was of the great Apex family, and her
+terribly accomplished daughter Rhadamantha, and wanted to crush the
+young lady, and jaundice her mother, with a girl twice as brilliant and
+ten times handsomer. She was very willing, also, to take the nonsense
+out of the Capsheaf girls, who thought themselves the most stylish
+personages of their city world, and would bite their lips well to see
+themselves distanced by a country miss.
+
+In the mean time circumstances were promising to bring into Myrtle's
+neighborhood several of her old friends and admirers. Mrs. Clymer
+Ketchum had written to Murray Bradshaw that she had asked his pretty
+milkmaid to come and stay awhile with her, but he had been away on
+business, and only arrived in the city a day or two before the party.
+But other young fellows had found out the attractions of the girl who
+was "hanging out at the Clymer Ketchum concern," and callers were
+plenty, reducing _tete-a-tetes_ in a corresponding ratio. He did get one
+opportunity, however, and used it well. They had so many things to talk
+about in common, that she could not help finding him good company. She
+might well be pleased, for he was an adept in the curious art of being
+agreeable, as other people are in chess or billiards, and had made a
+special study of her tastes, as a physician studies a patient's
+constitution. What he wanted was to get her thoroughly interested in
+himself, and to maintain her in a receptive condition until such time as
+he should be ready for a final move. Any day might furnish the decisive
+motive; in the mean time he wished only to hold her as against all
+others.
+
+It was well for her, perhaps, that others had flattered her into a
+certain consciousness of her own value. She felt her veins full of the
+same rich blood as that which had flushed the cheeks of handsome Judith
+in the long summer of her triumph. Whether it was vanity, or pride, or
+only the instinctive sense of inherited force and attraction, it was the
+best of defences. The golden bracelet on her wrist seemed to have
+brought as much protection with it as if it had been a shield over her
+heart.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+But far away in Oxbow Village other events were in preparation. The
+"fugitive pieces" of Mr. Gifted Hopkins had now reached a number so
+considerable, that, if collected and printed in large type, with plenty
+of what the unpleasant printers call "fat,"--meaning thereby blank
+spaces,--upon a good, substantial, not to say thick paper, they might
+perhaps make a volume which would have substance enough to bear the
+title, printed lengthwise along the back, "Hopkins's Poems." Such a
+volume that author had in contemplation. It was to be the literary event
+of the year 1861.
+
+He could not mature such a project, one which he had been for some time
+contemplating, without consulting Mr. Byles Gridley, who, though he had
+not unfrequently repressed the young poet's too ardent ambition, had yet
+always been kind and helpful.
+
+Mr. Gridley was seated in his large arm-chair, indulging himself in the
+perusal of a page or two of his own work before repeatedly referred to.
+His eye was glistening, for it had just rested on the following
+passage:--
+
+"_There is infinite pathos in unsuccessful authorship. The book that
+perishes unread is the deaf mute of literature. The great asylum of
+Oblivion is full of such, making inaudible signs to each other in leaky
+garrets and unattainable dusty upper shelves._"
+
+He shut the book, for the page grew a little dim as he finished this
+elegiac sentence, and sighed to think how much more keenly he felt its
+truth than when it was written,--than on that memorable morning when he
+saw the advertisement in all the papers, "This day published, 'Thoughts
+on the Universe. By Byles Gridley, A. M.'"
+
+At that moment he heard a knock at his door. He closed his eyelids
+forcibly for ten seconds, opened them, and said, cheerfully, "Come in!"
+
+Gifted Hopkins entered. He had a collection of manuscripts in his hands
+which it seemed to him would fill a vast number of pages. He did not
+know that manuscript is to type what fresh dandelions are to the dish of
+greens that comes to table, of which last Nurse Byloe, who considered
+them very wholesome spring grazing for her patients, used to say that
+they "biled down dreadful."
+
+"I have brought the autographs of my poems, Master Gridley, to consult
+you about making arrangements for publication. They have been so well
+received by the public and the leading critics of this part of the
+State, that I think of having them printed in a volume. I am going to
+the city for that purpose. My mother has given her consent. I wish to
+ask you several business questions. Shall I part with the copyright for
+a downright sum of money, which I understand some prefer doing, or
+publish on shares, or take a percentage on the sales? These, I believe,
+are the different ways taken by authors."
+
+Mr. Gridley was altogether too considerate to reply with the words which
+would most naturally have come to his lips. He waited as if he were
+gravely pondering the important questions just put to him, all the while
+looking at Gifted with a tenderness which no one who had not buried one
+of his soul's children could have felt for a young author trying to get
+clothing for his new-born intellectual offspring.
+
+"I think," he said presently, "you had better talk with an intelligent
+and liberal publisher, and be guided by his advice. I can put you in
+correspondence with such a person, and you had better trust him than me
+a great deal. Why don't you send your manuscript by mail?"
+
+"_What_, Mr. Gridley? Trust my poems, some of which are unpublished, to
+the post-office? No, sir, I could never make up my mind to such a risk.
+I mean to go to the city myself, and read them to some of the leading
+publishers. I don't want to pledge myself to any one of them. I should
+like to set them bidding against each other for the copyright, if I sell
+it at all."
+
+Mr. Gridley gazed upon the innocent youth with a sweet wonder in his
+eyes that made him look like an angel, a little damaged in the features
+by time, but full of celestial feelings.
+
+"It will cost you something to make this trip, Gifted. Have you the
+means to pay for your journey and your stay at a city hotel?"
+
+Gifted blushed. "My mother has laid by a small sum for me," he said.
+"She knows some of my poems by heart, and she wants to see them all in
+print."
+
+Master Gridley closed his eyes very firmly again, as if thinking, and
+opened them as soon as the foolish film had left them. He had read many
+a page of "Thoughts on the Universe" to his own old mother, long, long
+years ago, and she had often listened with tears of modest pride that
+Heaven had favored her with a son so full of genius.
+
+"I'll tell you what, Gifted," he said. "I have been thinking for a good
+while that I would make a visit to the city, and if you have made up
+your mind to try what you can do with the publishers, I will take you
+with me as a companion. It will be a saving to you and your good mother,
+for I shall bear the expenses of the expedition."
+
+Gifted Hopkins came very near going down on his knees. He was so
+overcome with gratitude that it seemed as if his very coat-tails wagged
+with his emotion.
+
+"Take it quietly," said Master Gridley. "Don't make a fool of yourself.
+Tell your mother to have some clean shirts and things ready for you, and
+we will be off day after to-morrow morning."
+
+Gifted hastened to impart the joyful news to his mother, and to break
+the fact to Susan Posey that he was about to leave them for a while, and
+rush into the deliriums and dangers of the great city.
+
+Susan smiled. Gifted hardly knew whether to be pleased with her
+sympathy, or vexed that she did not take his leaving more to heart. The
+smile held out bravely for about a quarter of a minute. Then there came
+on a little twitching at the corners of the mouth. Then the blue eyes
+began to shine with a kind of veiled glimmer. Then the blood came up
+into her cheeks with a great rush, as if the heart had sent up a herald
+with a red flag from the citadel to know what was going on at the
+outworks. The message that went back was of discomfiture and
+capitulation. Poor Susan was overcome, and gave herself up to weeping
+and sobbing.
+
+The sight was too much for the young poet. In a wild burst of passion he
+seized her hand, and pressed it to his lips, exclaiming, "Would that you
+could be mine forever!" and Susan forgot all that she ought to have
+remembered, and, looking half reproachfully but half tenderly through
+her tears, said, in tones of infinite sweetness, "O Gifted!"
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+THE POET AND THE PUBLISHER.
+
+It was settled that Master Byles Gridley and Mr. Gifted Hopkins should
+leave early in the morning of the day appointed, to take the nearest
+train to the city. Mrs. Hopkins labored hard to get them ready, so that
+they might make a genteel appearance among the great people whom they
+would meet in society. She brushed up Mr. Gridley's best black suit, and
+bound the cuffs of his dress-coat, which were getting a little worried.
+She held his honest-looking hat to the fire, and smoothed it while it
+was warm, until one would have thought it had just been ironed by the
+hatter himself. She had his boots and shoes brought into a more
+brilliant condition than they had ever known: if Gifted helped, it was
+to his credit as much as if he had shown his gratitude by polishing off
+a copy of verses in praise of his benefactor.
+
+When she had got Mr. Gridley's encumbrances in readiness for the
+journey, she devoted herself to fitting out her son Gifted. First, she
+had down from the garret a capacious trunk, of solid wood, but covered
+with leather, and adorned with brass-headed nails, by the cunning
+disposition of which, also, the paternal initials stood out on the
+rounded lid, in the most conspicuous manner. It was his father's trunk,
+and the first thing that went into it, as the widow lifted the cover,
+and the smothering, shut-up smell struck an old chord of associations,
+was a single tear-drop. How well she remembered the time when she first
+unpacked it for her young husband, and the white shirt bosoms showed
+their snowy plaits! O dear, dear!
+
+But women decant their affection, sweet and sound, out of the old
+bottles into the new ones,--off from the lees of the past generation,
+clear and bright, into the clean vessels just made ready to receive it.
+Gifted Hopkins was his mother's idol, and no wonder. She had not only
+the common attachment of a parent for him, as her offspring, but she
+felt that her race was to be rendered illustrious by his genius, and
+thought proudly of the time when some future biographer would mention
+her own humble name, to be held in lasting remembrance as that of the
+mother of Hopkins.
+
+So she took great pains to equip this brilliant but inexperienced young
+man with everything he could by any possibility need during his absence.
+The great trunk filled itself until it bulged with its contents like a
+boa-constrictor who has swallowed his blanket. Best clothes and common
+clothes, thick clothes and thin clothes, flannels and linens, socks and
+collars, with handkerchiefs enough to keep the pickpockets busy for a
+week, with a paper of gingerbread and some lozenges for gastralgia, and
+"hot drops," and ruled paper to write letters on, and a little Bible,
+and a phial with _hiera picra_, and another with paregoric, and another
+with "camphire" for sprains and bruises,--Gifted went forth equipped for
+every climate from the tropic to the pole, and armed against every
+malady from Ague to Zoster. He carried also the paternal watch, a solid
+silver bull's-eye, and a large pocket-book, tied round with a long tape,
+and, by way of precaution, pinned into his breast-pocket. He talked
+about having a pistol, in case he were attacked by any of the ruffians
+who are so numerous in the city, but Mr. Gridley told him, No! he would
+certainly shoot himself, and he shouldn't think of letting him take a
+pistol.
+
+They went forth, Mentor and Telemachus, at the appointed time, to dare
+the perils of the railroad and the snares of the city. Mrs. Hopkins was
+firm up to near the last moment, when a little quiver in her voice set
+her eyes off; and her face broke up all at once, so that she had to hide
+it behind her handkerchief. Susan Posey showed the truthfulness of her
+character in her words to Gifted at parting. "Farewell," she said, "and
+think of me sometimes while absent. My heart is another's, but my
+friendship, Gifted--my friendship--"
+
+Both were deeply affected. He took her hand and would have raised it to
+his lips; but she did not forget herself, and gently withdrew it,
+exclaiming, "O Gifted!" this time with a tone of tender reproach which
+made him feel like a profligate. He tore himself away, and when at a
+safe distance flung her a kiss, which she rewarded with a tearful smile.
+
+Master Byles Gridley must have had some good dividends from some of his
+property of late. There is no other way of accounting for the handsome
+style in which he did things on their arrival in the city. He went to a
+tailor's and ordered a new suit to be sent home as soon as possible, for
+he knew his wardrobe was a little rusty. He looked Gifted over from head
+to foot, and suggested such improvements as would recommend him to the
+fastidious eyes of the selecter sort of people, and put him in his own
+tailor's hands, at the same time saying that all bills were to be sent
+to him, B. Gridley, Esq., parlor No. 6, at the Planet House. Thus it
+came to pass that in three days from their arrival they were both in an
+eminently presentable condition. In the mean time the prudent Mr.
+Gridley had been keeping the young man busy, and amusing himself by
+showing him such of the sights of the city and its suburbs as he thought
+would combine instruction with entertainment.
+
+When they were both properly equipped and ready for the best company,
+Mr. Gridley said to the young poet, who had found it very hard to
+contain his impatience, that they would now call together on the
+publisher to whom he wished to introduce him, and they set out
+accordingly.
+
+"My name is Gridley," he said with modest gravity, as he entered the
+publisher's private room. "I have a note of introduction here from one
+of your authors, as I think he called himself,--a very popular writer
+for whom you publish."
+
+The publisher rose and came forward in the most cordial and respectful
+manner. "Mr. Gridley?--Professor Byles Gridley,--author of 'Thoughts on
+the Universe'?"
+
+The brave-hearted old man colored as if he had been a young girl. His
+dead book rose before him like an apparition. He groped in modest
+confusion for an answer. "A child I buried long ago, my dear sir," he
+said. "Its title-page was its tombstone. I have brought this young
+friend with me,--this is Mr. Gifted Hopkins of Oxbow Village,--who
+wishes to converse with you about--"
+
+"I have come, sir--" the young poet began, interrupting him.
+
+"Let me look at your manuscript, if you please, Mr. Popkins," said the
+publisher, interrupting in his turn.
+
+"Hopkins, if you please, sir," Gifted suggested mildly, proceeding to
+extract the manuscript, which had got wedged into his pocket, and seemed
+to be holding on with all its might. He was wondering all the time over
+the extraordinary clairvoyance of the publisher, who had looked through
+so many thick folds, broadcloth, lining, brown paper, and seen his poems
+lying hidden in his breast-pocket. The idea that a young person coming
+on such an errand should have to explain his intentions would have
+seemed very odd to the publisher. He knew the look which belongs to this
+class of enthusiasts just as a horse-dealer knows the look of a green
+purchaser with the equine fever raging in his veins. If a young author
+had come to him with a scrap of manuscript hidden in his boots, like
+Major Andre's papers, the publisher would have taken one glance at him
+and said, "Out with it!"
+
+While he was battling for the refractory scroll with his pocket, which
+turned half wrong side out, and acted as things always do when people
+are nervous and in a hurry, the publisher directed his conversation
+again to Master Byles Gridley.
+
+"A remarkable book, that of yours, Mr. Gridley,--would have a great run
+if it were well handled. Came out twenty years too soon,--that was the
+trouble. One of our leading scholars was speaking of it to me the other
+day. 'We must have a new edition,' he said; 'people are just ripe for
+that book.' Did you ever think of that? Change the form of it a little,
+and give it a new title, and it will be a popular book. Five thousand or
+more, very likely."
+
+Mr. Gridley felt as if he had been rapidly struck on the forehead with a
+dozen distinct blows from a hammer not quite big enough to stun him. He
+sat still without saying a word. He had forgotten for the moment all
+about poor Gifted Hopkins, who had got out his manuscript at last, and
+was calming the disturbed corners of it. Coming to himself a little, he
+took a large and beautiful silk handkerchief, one of his new purchases,
+from his pocket, and applied it to his face, for the weather seemed to
+have grown very warm all at once. Then he remembered the errand on which
+he had come, and thought of this youth, who had got to receive his first
+hard lesson in life, and whom he had brought to this kind man that it
+should be gently administered.
+
+"You surprise me," he said,--"you surprise me. Dead and buried. Dead and
+buried. I had sometimes thought that--at some future period, after I was
+gone, it might--but I hardly know what to say about your suggestions.
+But here is my young friend, Mr. Hopkins, who would like to talk with
+you, and I will leave him in your hands. I am at the Planet House, if
+you should care to call upon me. Good morning. Mr. Hopkins will explain
+everything to you more at his ease, without me, I am confident."
+
+Master Gridley could not quite make up his mind to stay through the
+interview between the young poet and the publisher. The flush of hope
+was bright in Gifted's eye and cheek, and the good man knew that young
+hearts are apt to be over-sanguine, and that one who enters a
+shower-bath often feels very differently from the same person when he
+has pulled the string.
+
+"I have brought you my Poems in the original autographs, sir," said Mr.
+Gifted Hopkins.
+
+He laid the manuscript on the table, caressing the leaves still with one
+hand, as loath to let it go.
+
+"What disposition had you thought of making of them?" the publisher
+asked, in a pleasant tone. He was as kind a man as lived, though he
+worked the chief engine in a chamber of torture.
+
+"I wish to read you a few specimens of the poems," he said, "with
+reference to their proposed publication in a volume."
+
+"By all means," said the kind publisher, who determined to be very
+patient with the _protege_ of the hitherto little-known, but remarkable
+writer, Professor Gridley. At the same time he extended his foot in an
+accidental sort of way, and pressed it on the right-hand knob of three
+which were arranged in a line beneath the table. A little bell in a
+distant apartment--the little bell marked C--gave one slight note, loud
+enough to start a small boy up, who looked at the clock, and knew that
+he was to go and call the publisher in just twenty-five minutes. "A,
+five minutes; B, ten minutes; C, twenty-five minutes";--that was the
+small boy's working formula. Mr. Hopkins was treated to the full
+allowance of time, as being introduced by Professor Gridley.
+
+The young man laid open the manuscript so that the title-page, written
+out very handsomely in his own hand, should win the eye of the
+publisher.
+
+    BLOSSOMS OF THE SOUL.
+
+    A WREATH OF VERSE; _Original_.
+
+    BY GIFTED HOPKINS.
+
+    "A youth to Fortune and to Fame unknown."
+
+    _Gray._
+
+"Shall I read you some of the rhymed pieces first, or some of the
+blank-verse poems, sir?" Gifted asked.
+
+"Read what you think is best,--a specimen of your first-class style of
+composition."
+
+"I will read you the very last poem I have written," he said, and
+began:--
+
+
+    "THE TRIUMPH OF SONG.
+
+    "I met that gold-haired maiden, all too dear;
+    And I to her: Lo! Thou art very fair,
+    Fairer than all the ladies in the world
+    That fan the sweetened air with scented fans,
+    And I am scorched with exceeding love,
+    Yea, crisped till my bones are dry as straw.
+    Look not away with that high-arched brow,
+    But turn its whiteness that I may behold,
+    And lift thy great eyes till they blaze on mine.
+    And lay thy finger on thy perfect mouth,
+    And let thy lucent ears of carven pearl
+    Drink in the murmured music of my soul,
+    As the lush grass drinks in the globed dew;
+    For I have many scrolls of sweetest rhyme
+    I will unroll and make thee glad to hear.
+      "Then she: O shaper of the marvellous phrase
+    That openeth woman's heart as doth a key,
+    I dare not hear thee--lest the bolt should slide
+    That locks another's heart within my own.
+    Go, leave me,--and she let her eyelids fall
+    And the great tears rolled from her large blue eyes.
+      "Then I: If thou not hear me, I shall die,
+    Yea, in my desperate mood may lift my hand
+    And do myself a hurt no leech can mend;
+    For poets ever were of dark resolve,
+    And swift stern deed--
+                        That maiden heard no more,
+    But spake: Alas! my heart is very weak,
+    And but for--Stay! And if some dreadful morn,
+      After great search and shouting thorough the wold,
+    We found thee missing,--strangled,--drowned i' the mere,--
+      Then should I go distraught and be clean mad!
+    O poet, read! read all thy wondrous scroll!
+    Yea, read the verse that maketh glad to hear!
+    Then I began and read two sweet, brief hours,
+    And she forgot all love save only mine!"
+
+"Is all this from real life?" asked the publisher.
+
+"It--no, sir--not exactly from real life--that is, the leading female
+person is not wholly fictitious--and the incident is one which might
+have happened. Shall I read you the poems referred to in the one you
+have just heard, sir?"
+
+"Allow me, one moment. Two hours' reading, I think, you said. I fear I
+shall hardly be able to spare quite time to hear them all. Let me ask
+what you intend doing with these productions, Mr----rr--Popkins."
+
+"Hopkins, if you please, sir, not Popkins," said Gifted, plaintively. He
+expressed his willingness to dispose of the copyright, to publish on
+shares, or perhaps to receive a certain percentage on the profits.
+
+"Suppose we take a glass of wine together, Mr.----Hopkins, before we
+talk business," the publisher said, opening a little cupboard and taking
+therefrom a decanter and two glasses. He saw the young man was looking
+nervous. He waited a few minutes, until the wine had comforted his
+epigastrium, and diffused its gentle glow through his unspoiled and
+consequently susceptible organization.
+
+"Come with me," he said.
+
+Gifted followed him into a dingy apartment in the attic, where one sat
+at a great table heaped and piled with manuscripts. By him was a huge
+basket, half full of manuscripts also. As they entered he dropped
+another manuscript into the basket and looked up.
+
+"Tell me," said Gifted, "what are these papers, and who is he that looks
+upon them and drops them into the basket?"
+
+"These are the manuscript poems that we receive, and the one sitting at
+the table is commonly spoken of among us as The Butcher. The poems he
+drops into the basket are those rejected as of no account."
+
+"But does he not read the poems before he rejects them?"
+
+"He tastes them. Do you eat a cheese before you buy it?"
+
+"And what becomes of all these that he drops into the basket?"
+
+"If they are not claimed by their author in proper season they go to the
+devil."
+
+"What!" said Gifted, with his eyes stretched very round.
+
+"To the paper factory, where they have a horrid machine they call the
+devil, that tears everything to bits,--as the critics treat our authors,
+sometimes,--_sometimes_, Mr. Hopkins."
+
+Gifted devoted a moment to silent reflection.
+
+After this instructive sight they returned together to the publisher's
+private room. The wine had now warmed the youthful poet's praecordia, so
+that he began to feel a renewed confidence in his genius and his
+fortunes.
+
+"I should like to know what that critic of yours would say to _my_
+manuscript," he said boldly.
+
+"You can try it, if you want to," the publisher replied, with an ominous
+dryness of manner which the sanguine youth did not perceive, or,
+perceiving, did not heed.
+
+"How can we manage to get an impartial judgment?"
+
+"O, I'll arrange that. He always goes to his luncheon about this time.
+Raw meat and vitriol punch,--that's what the authors say. Wait till we
+hear him go, and then I will lay your manuscript so that he will come to
+it among the first after he gets back. You shall see with your own eyes
+what treatment it gets. I hope it may please him, but you shall see."
+
+They went back to the publisher's private room and talked awhile.
+Then the small boy came up with some vague message about a
+gentleman--business--wants to see you, sir, etc, according to the
+established programme; all in a vacant, mechanical sort of way, as if he
+were a talking-machine just running down.
+
+The publisher told the small boy that he was engaged, and the gentleman
+must wait. Very soon they heard The Butcher's heavy footstep as he went
+out to get his raw meat and vitriol punch.
+
+"Now, then," said the publisher, and led forth the confiding literary
+lamb once more, to enter the fatal door of the critical shambles.
+
+"Hand me your manuscript, if you please, Mr. Hopkins. I will lay it so
+that it shall be the third of these that are coming to hand. Our friend
+here is a pretty good judge of verse, and knows a merchantable article
+about as quick as any man in his line of business. If he forms a
+favorable opinion of your poems, we will talk over your propositions."
+
+Gifted was conscious of a very slight tremor as he saw his precious
+manuscript deposited on the table under two others, and over a pile of
+similar productions. Still he could not help feeling that the critic
+would be struck by his title. The quotation from Gray must touch his
+feelings. The very first piece in the collection could not fail to
+arrest him. He looked a little excited, but he was in good spirits.
+
+"We will be looking about here when our friend comes back," the
+publisher said. "He is a very methodical person, and will sit down and
+go right to work just as if we were not here. We can watch him, and if
+he should express any particular interest in your poems, I will, if you
+say so, carry you up to him and reveal the fact that you are the author
+of the works that please him."
+
+They waited patiently until The Butcher returned, apparently refreshed
+by his ferocious refection, and sat down at his table. He looked
+comforted, and not in ill humor. The publisher and the poet talked in
+low tones, as if on business of their own, and watched him as he
+returned to his labor.
+
+The Butcher took the first manuscript that came to hand, read a stanza
+here and there, turned over the leaves, turned back and tried
+again,--shook his head--held it for an instant over the basket, as if
+doubtful,--and let it softly drop. He took up the second manuscript,
+opened it in several places, seemed rather pleased with what he read,
+and laid it aside for further examination.
+
+He took up the third. "Blossoms of the Soul," etc. He glared at it in a
+dreadfully ogreish way. Both the lookers-on held their breath. Gifted
+Hopkins felt as if half a glass more of that warm sherry would not hurt
+him. There was a sinking at the pit of his stomach, as if he was in a
+swing, as high as he could go, close up to the swallows' nests and
+spiders' webs. The Butcher opened the manuscript at random, read ten
+seconds, and gave a short, low grunt. He opened again, read ten seconds,
+and gave another grunt, this time a little longer and louder. He opened
+once more, read five seconds, and, with something that sounded like the
+snort of a dangerous animal, cast it impatiently into the basket, and
+took up the manuscript that came next in order.
+
+Gifted Hopkins stood as if paralyzed for a moment.
+
+"Safe, perfectly safe," the publisher said to him in a whisper. "I'll
+get it for you presently. Come in and take another glass of wine," he
+said, leading him back to his own office.
+
+"No, I thank you," he said faintly, "I can bear it. But this is
+dreadful, sir. Is this the way that genius is welcomed to the world of
+letters?"
+
+The publisher explained to him, in the kindest manner, that there was an
+enormous over-production of verse, and that it took a great part of one
+man's time simply to overhaul the cart-loads of it that were trying to
+get themselves into print with the _imprimatur_ of his famous house.
+"You're young, Mr. Hopkins. I advise you not to try to force your
+article of poetry on the market. The B----, our friend, there, that is,
+knows a thing that will sell as soon as he sees it. You are in
+independent circumstances, perhaps? If so, you can print--at your own
+expense--whatever you choose. May I take the liberty to ask
+your--profession?"
+
+Gifted explained that he was "clerk" in a "store," where they sold dry
+goods and West India goods, and goods promiscuous.
+
+"O, well, then," the publisher said, "you will understand me. Do you
+know a good article of brown sugar when you see it?"
+
+Gifted Hopkins rather thought he did. He knew at sight whether it was a
+fair, salable article or not.
+
+"Just so. Now our friend, there, knows verses that are salable and
+unsalable as well as you do brown sugar.--Keep quiet now, and I will go
+and get your manuscript for you.----There, Mr. Hopkins, take your
+poems,--they will give you a reputation in your village, I don't doubt,
+which is pleasant, but it will cost you a good deal of money to print
+them in a volume. You are very young: you can afford to wait. Your
+genius is not ripe yet, I am confident, Mr. Hopkins. These verses are
+very well for a beginning, but a man of promise like you, Mr. Hopkins,
+mustn't throw away his chance by premature publication! I should like to
+make you a present of a few of the books we publish. By and by, perhaps,
+we can work you into our series of poets; but the best pears ripen
+slowly, and so with genius.--Where shall I send the volumes?"
+
+Gifted answered, to parlor No. 6, Planet Hotel, where he soon presented
+himself to Master Gridley, who could guess pretty well what was coming.
+But he let him tell his story.
+
+"Shall I try the other publishers?" said the disconsolate youth.
+
+"I wouldn't, my young friend, I wouldn't. You have seen the best one of
+them all. He is right about it, quite right: you are young, and had
+better wait. Look here, Gifted, here is something to please you. We are
+going to visit the gay world together. See what has been left here this
+forenoon."
+
+He showed him two elegant notes of invitation requesting the pleasure of
+Professor Byles Gridley's and of Mr. Gifted Hopkins's company on
+Thursday evening, as the guests of Mrs. Clymer Ketchum, of 24 Carat
+Place.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+MRS. CLYMER KETCHUM'S PARTY.
+
+Myrtle Hazard had flowered out as beyond question the handsomest girl of
+the season. There were hints from different quarters that she might
+possibly be an heiress. Vague stories were about of some contingency
+which might possibly throw a fortune into her lap. The young men about
+town talked of her at the clubs in their free-and-easy way, but all
+agreed that she was the girl of the new crop,--"best filly this grass,"
+as Livingston Jenkins put it. The general understanding seemed to be
+that the young lawyer who had followed her to the city was going to
+capture her. She seemed to favor him certainly as much as anybody. But
+Myrtle saw many young men now, and it was not so easy as it would once
+have been to make out who was an especial favorite.
+
+There had been times when Murray Bradshaw would have offered his heart
+and hand to Myrtle at once, if he had felt sure that she would accept
+him. But he preferred playing the safe game now, and only wanted to feel
+sure of her. He had done his best to be agreeable, and could hardly
+doubt that he had made an impression. He dressed well when in the
+city,--even elegantly,--he had many of the lesser social
+accomplishments, was a good dancer, and compared favorably in all such
+matters with the more dashing young fellows in society. He was a better
+talker than most of them, and he knew more about the girl he was dealing
+with than they could know. "You have only got to say the word, Murray,"
+Mrs. Clymer Ketchum said to her relative, "and you can have her. But
+don't be rash. I believe you can get Berengaria if you try; and there's
+something better there than possibilities." Murray Bradshaw laughed, and
+told Mrs. Clymer Ketchum not to worry about him; he knew what he was
+doing.
+
+It so happened that Myrtle met Master Byles Gridley walking with Mr.
+Gifted Hopkins the day before the party. She longed to have a talk with
+her old friend, and was glad to have a chance of pleasing her poetical
+admirer. She therefore begged her hostess to invite them both to her
+party to please her, which she promised to do at once. Thus the two
+elegant notes were accounted for.
+
+Mrs. Clymer Ketchum, though her acquaintances were chiefly in the world
+of fortune and of fashion, had yet a certain weakness for what she
+called clever people. She therefore always variegated her parties with a
+streak of young artists and writers, and a literary lady or two; and, if
+she could lay hands on a first-class celebrity, was as happy as an
+Amazon who had captured a Centaur.
+
+"There's a demonish clever young fellow by the name of Lindsay," Mr.
+Livingston Jenkins said to her a little before the day of the party.
+"Better ask him. They say he's the rising talent in his line,
+architecture mainly, but has done some remarkable things in the way of
+sculpture. There's some story about a bust he made that was quite
+wonderful. I'll find his address for you." So Mr. Clement Lindsay got
+his invitation, and thus Mrs. Clymer Ketchum's party promised to bring
+together a number of persons with whom we are acquainted, and who were
+acquainted with each other.
+
+Mrs. Clymer Ketchum knew how to give a party. Let her only have _carte
+blanche_ for flowers, music, and champagne, she used to tell her lord,
+and she would see to the rest,--lighting the rooms, tables, and toilet.
+He needn't be afraid; all he had to do was to keep out of the way.
+
+Subdivision of labor is one of the triumphs of modern civilization.
+Labor was beautifully subdivided in this lady's household. It was old
+Ketchum's business to make money, and he understood it. It was Mrs. K.'s
+business to spend money, and she knew how to do it. The rooms blazed
+with light like a conflagration; the flowers burned like lamps of
+many-colored flame; the music throbbed into the hearts of the
+promenaders and tingled through all the muscles of the dancers.
+
+Mrs. Clymer Ketchum was in her glory. Her _point d'Alencon_ must have
+spoiled ever so many French girls' eyes. Her bosom heaved beneath a kind
+of breastplate glittering with a heavy dew of diamonds. She glistened
+and sparkled with every movement, so that the admirer forgot to question
+too closely whether the eyes matched the brilliants, or the cheeks
+glowed like the roses. Not far from the great lady stood Myrtle Hazard.
+She was dressed as the fashion of the day demanded, but she had added
+certain audacious touches of her own, reminiscences of the time when the
+dead beauty had flourished, and which first provoked the question and
+then the admiration of the young people who had a natural eye for
+effect. Over the long white glove on her left arm was clasped a rich
+bracelet, of so quaint an antique pattern that nobody had seen anything
+like it, and as some one whispered that it was "the last thing out," it
+was greatly admired by the fashion-plate multitude, as well as by the
+few who had a taste of their own. If the soul of Judith Pride, long
+divorced from its once beautifully moulded dust, ever lived in dim
+consciousness through any of those who inherited her blood, it was then
+and there that she breathed through the lips of Myrtle Hazard. The young
+girl almost trembled with the ecstasy of this new mode of being,
+soliciting every sense with light, with perfume, with melody,--all that
+could make her feel the wonderful complex music of a fresh life when all
+its chords first vibrate together in harmony. Miss Rhadamantha Pinnikle,
+whose mother was an Apex (of whose race it was said that they always
+made an obeisance when the family name was mentioned, and had all their
+portraits painted with halos round their heads), found herself
+extinguished in this new radiance. Miss Victoria Capsheaf stuck to the
+wall as if she had been a fresco on it. The fifty-year-old dynasties
+were dismayed and dismounted. Myrtle fossilized them as suddenly as if
+she had been a Gorgon, instead of a beauty.
+
+The guests in whom we may have some interest were in the mean time
+making ready for the party, which was expected to be a brilliant one;
+for 24 Carat Place was well known for the handsome style of its
+entertainments.
+
+Clement Lindsay was a little surprised by his invitation. He had,
+however, been made a lion of several times of late; and was very willing
+to amuse himself once in a while with a peep into the great world. It
+was but an empty show to him at best, for his lot was cast, and he
+expected to lead a quiet domestic life after his student days were over.
+
+Master Byles Gridley had known what society was in his earlier time, and
+understood very well that all a gentleman of his age had to do was to
+dress himself in his usual plain way, only taking a little more care in
+his arrangements than was needed in the latitude of Oxbow Village. But
+Gifted must be looked after, that he should not provoke the unamiable
+comments of the city youth by any defect or extravagance of costume. The
+young gentleman had bought a light sky-blue neckerchief, and a very
+large breastpin containing a gem which he was assured by the vendor was
+a genuine stone. He considered that both these would be eminently
+effective articles of dress, and Mr. Gridley had some trouble to
+convince him that a white tie and plain shirt-buttons would be more
+fitted to the occasion.
+
+On the morning of the day of the great party Mr. William Murray Bradshaw
+received a brief telegram, which seemed to cause him great emotion, as
+he changed color, uttered a forcible exclamation, and began walking up
+and down his room in a very nervous kind of way. It was a foreshadowing
+of a certain event now pretty sure to happen. Whatever bearing this
+telegram may have had upon his plans, he made up his mind that he would
+contrive an opportunity somehow that very evening to propose himself as
+a suitor to Myrtle Hazard. He could not say that he felt as absolutely
+certain of getting the right answer as he had felt at some previous
+periods. Myrtle knew her price, he said to himself, a great deal better
+than when she was a simple country girl. The flatteries with which she
+had been surrounded, and the effect of all the new appliances of beauty,
+which had set her off so that she could not help seeing her own
+attractions, rendered her harder to please and to satisfy. A little
+experience in society teaches a young girl the arts and the phrases
+which all the Lotharios have in common. Murray Bradshaw was ready to
+land his fish now, but he was not quite sure that she was yet hooked,
+and he had a feeling that by this time she knew every fly in his book.
+However, as he had made up his mind not to wait another day, he
+addressed himself to the trial before him with a determination to
+succeed, if any means at his command would insure success. He arrayed
+himself with faultless elegance: nothing must be neglected on such an
+occasion. He went forth firm and grave as a general going into a battle
+where all is to be lost or won. He entered the blazing saloon with the
+unfailing smile upon his lips, to which he set them as he set his watch
+to a particular hour and minute.
+
+The rooms were pretty well filled when he arrived and made his bow
+before the blazing, rustling, glistening, waving, blushing appearance
+under which palpitated, with the pleasing excitement of the magic scene
+over which its owner presided, the heart of Mrs. Clymer Ketchum. He
+turned to Myrtle Hazard, and if he had ever doubted which way his
+inclinations led him, he could doubt no longer. How much dress and how
+much light can a woman bear? That is the way to measure her beauty. A
+plain girl in a simple dress, if she has only a pleasant voice, may seem
+almost a beauty in the rosy twilight. The nearer she comes to being
+handsome, the more ornament she will bear, and the more she may defy the
+sunshine or the chandelier. Murray Bradshaw was fairly dazzled with the
+brilliant effect of Myrtle in full dress. He did not know before what
+handsome arms she had,--Judith Pride's famous arms, which the
+high-colored young men in top-boots used to swear were the handsomest
+pair in New England, right over again. He did not know before with what
+defiant effect she would light up, standing as she did directly under a
+huge lustre, in full flower of flame, like a burning azalea. He was not
+a man who intended to let his sentiments carry him away from the serious
+interests of his future, yet, as he looked upon Myrtle Hazard, his heart
+gave one throb which made him feel in every pulse that this was a woman
+who in her own right, simply as a woman, could challenge the homage of
+the proudest young man of her time. He hardly knew till this moment how
+much of passion mingled with other and calmer motives of admiration. He
+could say _I love you_ as truly as such a man could ever speak these
+words, meaning that he admired her, that he was attracted to her, that
+he should be proud of her as his wife, that he should value himself
+always as the proprietor of so rare a person, that no appendage to his
+existence would take so high a place in his thoughts. This implied also,
+what is of great consequence to a young woman's happiness in the married
+state, that she would be treated with uniform politeness, with
+satisfactory evidences of affection, and with a degree of confidence
+quite equal to what a reasonable woman should expect from a very
+superior man, her husband.
+
+If Myrtle could have looked through the window in the breast against
+which only authors are privileged to flatten their features, it is for
+the reader to judge how far the programme would have satisfied her. Less
+than this, a great deal less, does appear to satisfy many young women;
+and it may be that the picture just drawn, fairly judged, belongs to a
+model lover and husband. Whether it does or not; Myrtle did not see this
+picture. There was a beautifully embroidered shirt-bosom in front of
+that window through which we have just looked, that intercepted all
+sight of what was going on within. She only saw a man, young, handsome,
+courtly, with a winning tongue, with an ambitious spirit, whose every
+look and tone implied his admiration of herself, and who was associated
+with her past life in such a way that they alone appeared like old
+friends in the midst of that cold, alien throng. It seemed as if he
+could not have chosen a more auspicious hour than this; for she never
+looked so captivating, and her presence must inspire his lips with the
+eloquence of love. And she--was not this delirious atmosphere of light
+and music just the influence to which he would wish to subject her
+before trying the last experiment of all which can stir the soul of a
+woman? He knew the mechanism of that impressionable state which served
+Coleridge so excellently well,--
+
+    "All impulses of soul and sense
+    Had thrilled my guileless Genevieve;
+    The music, and the doleful tale,
+      The rich and balmy eve,"--
+
+though he hardly expected such startling results as happened in that
+case,--which might be taken as an awful warning not to sing moving
+ballads to young ladies of susceptible feelings, unless one is prepared
+for very serious consequences. Without expecting that Myrtle would rush
+into his arms, he did think that she could not help listening to him in
+the intervals of the delicious music, in some recess where the roses and
+jasmines and heliotropes made the air heavy with sweetness, and the
+crimson curtains drooped in heavy folds that half hid their forms from
+the curious eyes all round them. Her heart would swell like Genevieve's
+as he told her in simple phrase that she was his life, his love, his
+all,--for in some two or three words like these he meant to put his
+appeal, and not in fine poetical phrases: that would do for Gifted
+Hopkins and rhyming tomtits of that feather.
+
+Full of his purpose, involving the plans of his whole life, implying, as
+he saw clearly, a brilliant future or a disastrous disappointment, with
+a great unexploded mine of consequences under his feet, and the spark
+ready to fall into it, he walked about the gilded saloon with a smile
+upon his lips so perfectly natural and pleasant, that one would have
+said he was as vacant of any aim, except a sort of superficial
+good-natured disposition to be amused, as the blankest-eyed simpleton
+who had tied himself up in a white cravat and come to bore and be bored.
+
+Yet under this pleasant smile his mind was so busy with its thoughts
+that he had forgotten all about the guests from Oxbow Village who, as
+Myrtle had told him, were to come this evening. His eye was all at once
+caught by a familiar figure, and he recognized Master Byles Gridley,
+accompanied by Mr. Gifted Hopkins, at the door of the saloon. He stepped
+forward at once to meet and to present them.
+
+Mr. Gridley in evening costume made an eminently dignified and
+respectable appearance. There was an unusual look of benignity upon his
+firmly moulded features, and an air of ease which rather surprised Mr.
+Bradshaw, who did not know all the social experiences which had formed a
+part of the old Master's history. The greeting between them was
+courteous, but somewhat formal, as Mr. Bradshaw was acting as one of the
+masters of ceremony. He nodded to Gifted in an easy way, and led them
+both into the immediate Presence.
+
+"This is my friend Professor Gridley, Mrs. Ketchum, whom I have the
+honor of introducing to you,--a very distinguished scholar, as I have no
+doubt you are well aware. And this is my friend Mr. Gifted Hopkins, a
+young poet of distinction, whose fame will reach you by and by, if it
+has not come to your ears already."
+
+The two gentlemen went through the usual forms, the poet a little
+crushed by the Presence, but doing his best. While the lady was making
+polite speeches to them, Myrtle Hazard came forward. She was greatly
+delighted to meet her old friend, and even looked upon the young poet
+with a degree of pleasure she would hardly have expected to receive from
+his company. They both brought with them so many reminiscences of
+familiar scenes and events, that it was like going back for the moment
+to Oxbow Village. But Myrtle did not belong to herself that evening, and
+had no opportunity to enter into conversation just then with either of
+them. There was to be dancing by and by, and the younger people were
+getting impatient that it should begin. At last the music sounded the
+well-known summons, and the floors began to ring to the tread of the
+dancers. As usual on such occasions there were a large number of
+non-combatants, who stood as spectators around those who were engaged in
+the campaign of the evening. Mr. Byles Gridley looked on gravely,
+thinking of the minuets and the gavots of his younger days. Mr. Gifted
+Hopkins, who had never acquired the desirable accomplishment of dancing,
+gazed with dazzled and admiring eyes at the wonderful evolutions of the
+graceful performers. The music stirred him a good deal; he had also been
+introduced to one or two young persons as Mr. Hopkins, the poet, and he
+began to feel a kind of excitement, such as was often the prelude of a
+lyric burst from his pen. Others might have wealth and beauty, he
+thought to himself, but what were these to the gift of genius? In fifty
+years the wealth of these people would have passed into other hands. In
+fifty years all these beauties would be dead, or wrinkled and
+double-wrinkled great-grandmothers. And when they were all gone and
+forgotten, the name of Hopkins would be still fresh in the world's
+memory. Inspiring thought! A smile of triumph rose to his lips; he felt
+that the village boy who could look forward to fame as his inheritance
+was richer than all the millionnaires, and that the words he should set
+in verse would have a lustre in the world's memory to which the
+whiteness of pearls was cloudy, and the sparkle of diamonds dull.
+
+He raised his eyes, which had been cast down in reflection, to look upon
+these less favored children of Fortune, to whom she had given nothing
+but perishable inheritances. Two or three pairs of eyes, he observed,
+were fastened upon him. His mouth perhaps betrayed a little
+self-consciousness, but he tried to show his features in an aspect of
+dignified self-possession. There seemed to be remarks and questionings
+going on, which he supposed to be something like the following:--
+
+Which is it? Which is it?--Why, that one, there,--that young
+fellow,--don't you see?--What young fellow are you two looking at? Who
+is he? What is he?--Why, that is _Hopkins_, the poet.--Hopkins, the
+poet! Let me see him! Let _me_ see him!--Hopkins? What! Gifted Hopkins?
+etc., etc.
+
+Gifted Hopkins did not hear these words except in fancy, but he did
+unquestionably find a considerable number of eyes concentrated upon him,
+which he very naturally interpreted as an evidence that he had already
+begun to enjoy a foretaste of the fame of which he should hereafter have
+his full allowance. Some seemed to be glancing furtively, some appeared
+as if they wished to speak, and all the time the number of those looking
+at him seemed to be increasing. A vision came through his fancy of
+himself as standing on a platform, and having persons who wished to look
+upon him and shake hands with him presented, as he had heard was the way
+with great people when going about the country. But this was only a
+suggestion, and by no means a serious thought, for that would have
+implied infatuation.
+
+Gifted Hopkins was quite right in believing that he attracted many eyes.
+At last those of Myrtle Hazard were called to him, and she perceived
+that an accident was making him unenviably conspicuous. The bow of his
+rather large white neck-tie had slid round and got beneath his left ear.
+A not very good-natured or well-bred young fellow had pointed out the
+subject of this slight misfortune to one or two others of not much
+better taste or breeding, and thus the unusual attention the youthful
+poet was receiving explained itself. Myrtle no sooner saw the little
+accident of which her rural friend was the victim, than she left her
+place in the dance with a simple courage which did her credit. "I want
+to speak to you a minute," she said. "Come into this alcove."
+
+And the courageous young lady not only told Gifted what had happened to
+him, but found a pin somehow, as women always do on a pinch, and had him
+in presentable condition again almost before the bewildered young man
+knew what was the matter. On reflection it occurred to him, as it has to
+other provincial young persons going to great cities, that he might
+perhaps have been hasty in thinking himself an object of general
+curiosity as yet. There had hardly been time for his name to have become
+very widely known. Still, the feeling had been pleasant for the moment,
+and had given him an idea of what the rapture would be, when, wherever
+he went, the monster digit (to hint a classical phrase) of the
+collective admiring public would be lifted to point him out, and the
+whisper would pass from one to another, "That's him! That's Hopkins!"
+
+Mr. Murray Bradshaw had been watching the opportunity for carrying out
+his intentions, with his pleasant smile covering up all that was
+passing in his mind, and Master Byles Gridley, looking equally
+unconcerned, had been watching him. The young man's time came at last.
+Some were at the supper-table, some were promenading, some were talking,
+when he managed to get Myrtle a little apart from the rest, and led her
+towards one of the recesses in the apartment, where two chairs were
+invitingly placed. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes were
+sparkling,--the influences to which he had trusted had not been thrown
+away upon her. He had no idea of letting his purpose be seen until he
+was fully ready. It required all his self-mastery to avoid betraying
+himself by look or tone, but he was so natural that Myrtle was thrown
+wholly off her guard. He meant to make her pleased with herself to begin
+with, and that not by point-blank flattery, of which she had had more
+than enough of late, but rather by suggestion and inference, so that she
+should find herself feeling happy without knowing how. It would be easy
+to glide from that to the impression she had produced upon him, and get
+the two feelings more or less mingled in her mind. And so the simple
+confession he meant to make would at length evolve itself logically, and
+hold by a natural connection to the first agreeable train of thought
+which he had called up. Not the way, certainly, that most young men
+would arrange their great trial scene; but Murray Bradshaw was a lawyer
+in love as much as in business, and considered himself as pleading a
+cause before a jury of Myrtle Hazard's conflicting motives. What would
+any lawyer do in a jury case, but begin by giving the twelve honest men
+and true to understand, in the first place, that their intelligence and
+virtue were conceded by all, and that he himself had perfect confidence
+in them, and leave them to shape their verdict in accordance with these
+propositions and his own side of the case?
+
+Myrtle had, perhaps, never so seriously inclined her ear to the pleasing
+accents of the young pleader. He flattered her with so much tact, that
+she thought she heard an unconscious echo through his lips of an
+admiration which he only shared with all around him. But in him he made
+it seem discriminating, deliberate, not blind, but very real. This it
+was which had led him to trust her with his ambitions and his
+plans,--they might be delusions, but he could never keep them from her,
+and she was the one woman in the world to whom he thought he could
+safely give his confidence.
+
+The dread moment was close at hand. Myrtle was listening with an
+instinctive premonition of what was coming,--ten thousand mothers and
+grandmothers and great-grandmothers, and so on, had passed through it
+all in preceding generations until time reached backwards to the sturdy
+savage who asked no questions of any kind, but knocked down the great
+primeval grandmother of all, and carried her off to his hole in the
+rock, or into the tree where he had made his nest. Why should not the
+coming question announce itself by stirring in the pulses and thrilling
+in the nerves of the descendant of all these grandmothers?
+
+She was leaning imperceptibly towards him, drawn by the mere blind
+elemental force, as the plummet was attracted to the side of
+Schehallion. Her lips were parted, and she breathed a little faster than
+so healthy a girl ought to breathe in a state of repose. The steady
+nerves of William Murray Bradshaw felt unwonted thrills and tremors
+tingling through them, as he came nearer and nearer the few simple words
+with which he was to make Myrtle Hazard the mistress of his destiny. His
+tones were becoming lower and more serious; there were slight breaks
+once or twice in the conversation; Myrtle had cast down her eyes.
+
+"There is but one word more to add," he murmured softly, as he bent
+towards her--
+
+A grave voice interrupted him. "Excuse me, Mr. Bradshaw," said Master
+Byles Gridley, "I wish to present a young gentleman to my friend here. I
+promised to show him the most charming young person I have the honor to
+be acquainted with, and I must redeem my pledge. Miss Hazard, I have the
+pleasure of introducing to your acquaintance my distinguished young
+friend, Mr. Clement Lindsay."
+
+Once more, for the third time, these two young persons stood face to
+face. Myrtle was no longer liable to those nervous seizures which any
+sudden impression was liable to produce when she was in her
+half-hysteric state of mind and body. She turned to the new-comer, who
+found himself unexpectedly submitted to a test which he would never have
+risked of his own will. He must go through it, cruel as it was, with the
+easy self-command which belongs to a gentleman in the most trying social
+exigencies. He addressed her, therefore, in the usual terms of courtesy,
+and then turned and greeted Mr. Bradshaw, whom he had never met since
+their coming together at Oxbow Village. Myrtle was conscious, the
+instant she looked upon Clement Lindsay, of the existence of some
+peculiar relation between them; but what, she could not tell. Whatever
+it was, it broke the charm that had been weaving between her and Murray
+Bradshaw. He was not foolish enough to make a scene. What fault could he
+find with Clement Lindsay, who had only done as any gentleman would do
+with a lady to whom he had just been introduced,--addressed a few polite
+words to her? After saying those words, Clement had turned very
+courteously to him, and they had spoken with each other. But Murray
+Bradshaw could not help seeing that Myrtle had transferred her
+attention, at least for the moment, from him to the new-comer. He folded
+his arms and waited,--but he waited in vain. The hidden attraction which
+drew Clement to the young girl with whom he had passed into the Valley
+of the Shadow of Death overmastered all other feelings, and he gave
+himself up to the fascination of her presence.
+
+The inward rage of Murray Bradshaw at being interrupted just at the
+moment when he was, as he thought, about to cry checkmate and finish the
+first great game he had ever played, may well be imagined. But it could
+not be helped. Myrtle had exercised the customary privilege of young
+ladies at parties, and had turned from talking with one to talking with
+another,--that was all. Fortunately for him the young man who had been
+introduced at such a most critical moment was not one from whom he need
+apprehend any serious interference. He felt grateful beyond measure to
+pretty Susan Posey, who, as he had good reason for believing, retained
+her hold upon her early lover, and was looking forward with bashful
+interest to the time when she should become Mrs. Lindsay. It was better
+to put up quietly with his disappointment; and, if he could get no
+favorable opportunity that evening to resume his conversation at the
+interesting point where he left it off, he would call the next day and
+bring matters to a conclusion.
+
+He called accordingly, the next morning, but was disappointed in not
+seeing Myrtle. She had hardly slept that night, and was suffering from a
+bad headache, which last reason was her excuse for not seeing company.
+
+He called again, the following day, and learned that Miss Hazard had
+just left the city, and gone on a visit to Oxbow Village.
+
+
+
+
+PROPHETIC VOICES ABOUT AMERICA: A MONOGRAPH.
+
+
+The discovery of America by Christopher Columbus is the greatest event
+of all secular history. Besides the potato, the turkey, and maize, which
+it introduced at once for the nourishment and comfort of the Old World,
+this discovery opened the door to influences infinite in extent and
+beneficence. Measure them, describe them, picture them, you cannot.
+While this continent was unknown, imagination invested it with
+proverbial magnificence. It was the Orient. When afterwards it took its
+place in geography, imagination found another field in trying to portray
+its future history. If the Golden Age is before, and not behind, as is
+now happily the prevailing faith, then indeed must America share at
+least, if it does not monopolize, the promised good.
+
+Before the voyage of Columbus in 1492, nothing of America was really
+known. A few scraps from antiquity, a few rumors from the ocean, and a
+few speculations from science, were all that the inspired navigator
+found to guide him. Foremost among all these were the well-known verses
+of the Spaniard Seneca, in the chorus of his "Medea," which for
+generations had been the finger-point to an undiscovered world.
+
+    "Venient annis saecula seris
+    Quibus Oceanus vincula rerum
+    Laxet, et ingens pateat tellus,
+    Tethysque novos detegat orbes;
+    Nec sit terris ultima Thule."[1]
+
+"In tardy years the epoch will come in which the ocean will unloose the
+bonds of nature, and the great earth will stretch out, and the sea will
+disclose new worlds; nor will Thule be the most remote on the globe."
+
+Two, if not more, different copies of these verses are extant in the
+handwriting of Columbus,--precious autographs; one in the sketch of his
+work on the Prophecies, another in a letter addressed to Queen Isabella;
+and it would seem as if there was still a third entered among his
+observations of lunar eclipses at Hayti and Jamaica. By these verses the
+great discoverer sailed. But Humboldt, who has illustrated the
+enterprise with all that classical or mediaeval literature affords,[2]
+does not hesitate to declare his conviction, that the discovery of a new
+continent was more completely foreshadowed in the simple geographical
+statement of the Greek Strabo, who, after a long life of travel, sat
+down in the eighty-fourth year of his age, during the reign of Augustus,
+to write the geography of the world, including its cosmography. In this
+work, where are gathered the results of ancient study and experience,
+the venerable author, after alluding to the possibility of passing
+direct from Spain to India, and explaining that the inhabited world is
+that which we inhabit and know, thus lifts the curtain: "There may be in
+the same temperate zone _two and indeed more inhabited lands_,
+especially nearest the parallel of Thinae or Athens, prolonged into the
+Atlantic Ocean."[3] This was the voice of ancient science.
+
+Before the voyage of Columbus, Pulci, the Italian poet, in his _Morgante
+Maggiore_, sometimes called the last of the romances and the earliest of
+the Italian epics, reveals an undiscovered world beyond the Pillars of
+Hercules.
+
+    "Know that this theory is false; _his bark
+    The daring mariner shall urge far o'er
+    The western wave, a smooth and level plain_,
+    Albeit the earth is fashioned like a wheel.
+    Man was in ancient days of grosser mould,
+    And Hercules might blush to learn how far
+    _Beyond the limits he had vainly set
+    The dullest sea-boat soon shall wing her way_.
+
+    "_Men shall descry another hemisphere_,
+    Since to one common centre all things tend;
+    So earth, by curious mystery divine
+    Well balanced, hangs amid the starry spheres.
+    _At our Antipodes are cities, states,
+    And thronged empires, ne'er divined of yore._
+    But see, the sun speeds on his western path
+    To glad the nations with expected light."[4]
+
+This translation is by our own eminent historian, Prescott, who first
+called attention to this testimony,[5] which is not mentioned even by
+Humboldt. Leigh Hunt referred to it at a later day.[6] Pulci was born in
+Florence, 1431, and died there, 1487, five years before Columbus sailed,
+so that he was not aided by any rumor of the discovery which he so
+distinctly predicts.
+
+Passing from the discovery, it may not be uninteresting to collect some
+of the prophetic voices about the future of America, the "All-Hail
+Hereafter" of our continent. They will have a lesson also. Seeing what
+has been already fulfilled, we may better judge what to expect. I shall
+set them forth in the order of time, prefacing each prediction with an
+account of the author sufficient to explain its origin and character. If
+some are already familiar, others are little known. Brought together
+into one body, on the principle of our national Union, _E pluribus
+unum_, they must give new confidence in the destinies of the Republic.
+
+Of course I shall embrace only what has been said seriously by those
+whose words are important; not an oracular response, which may receive a
+double interpretation, like the deceptive replies to Croesus and to
+Pyrrhus; and not a saying, such as is described by Sir Thomas Browne
+when he remarks, in his "Christian Morals," that "many positions seem
+quodlibetically constituted, and, like a Delphian blade, will cut both
+ways."[7] Men who have lived much and felt strongly see further than
+others. Their vision penetrates the future. Second sight is little more
+than clearness of sight. Milton tells us,
+
+    "That old experience does attain
+    To something like prophetic strain."
+
+Sometimes this strain is attained even in youth.
+
+
+SIR THOMAS BROWNE.--1682.
+
+Dr. Johnson called attention to a tract of Sir Thomas Browne entitled,
+"A Prophecy concerning the Future State of Several Nations," where the
+famous author "plainly discovers his expectation to be the same with
+that entertained later with more confidence by Dr. Berkeley, _that
+America will be the seat of the fifth empire_."[8] The tract is vague,
+but prophetic.
+
+Sir Thomas Browne was born 19th October, 1605, and died 19th October,
+1682. His tract was published, two years after his death, in a
+collection of Miscellanies, edited by Dr. Tenison. As a much-admired
+author, some of whose writings belong to our English classics, his
+prophetic prolusions are not unworthy of notice. They are founded on
+verses entitled "The Prophecy," purporting to have been sent to him by a
+friend. Among these are the following:--
+
+    "When New England shall trouble New Spain,
+    When Jamaica shall be lady of the isles and the main;
+    When Spain shall be in America hid,
+    And Mexico shall prove a Madrid;
+    _When Africa shall no more sell out their blacks
+    To make slaves and drudges to the American tracts_;
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    _When America shall cease to send out its treasure,
+    But employ it at home in American pleasure;
+    When the New World shall the Old invade,
+    Nor count them their lords but their fellows in trade_;
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    Then think strange things have come to light,
+    Whereof but few have had a foresight."[9]
+
+Some of these words are striking, especially when we consider their
+early date. The author of the "Religio Medici" seems in the main to
+accept the prophecy. In a commentary on each verse he seeks to explain
+it. New England is "that thriving colony which hath so much increased in
+his day"; its people are already "industrious," and when they have so
+far increased "that the neighboring country will not contain them, they
+will range still farther, and be able in time to set forth great
+armies, seek for new possessions, or _make considerable and conjoined
+migrations_." The verse about Africa will be fulfilled "when African
+countries shall no longer make it a common trade to sell away their
+people." And this may come to pass "whenever they shall be well
+civilized and acquainted with arts and affairs sufficient to employ
+people in their countries." It would also come to pass "if they should
+be converted to Christianity, but especially into Mahometism; for then
+they would never sell those of their religion to be slaves unto
+Christians." The verse about America is expounded as follows:--
+
+"That is, when America shall be better civilized, new policied, and
+divided between great princes, it may come to pass that they will no
+longer suffer their treasure of gold and silver to be sent out to
+maintain the luxury of Europe and other ports; but rather employ it to
+their own advantages, in great exploits and undertakings, magnificent
+structures, wars, or expeditions of their own."[10]
+
+The other verse, on the invasion of the Old World by the New, is thus
+explained:--
+
+"That is, when America shall be so well peopled, civilized, and divided
+into kingdoms, _they are like to have so little regard of their
+originals as to acknowledge no subjection unto them_; they may also have
+a distinct commerce themselves, or but independently with those of
+Europe, and may hostilely and piratically assault them, even as the
+Greek and Roman colonies after a long time dealt with their original
+countries."[11]
+
+That these speculations should arrest the attention of Dr. Johnson is
+something. They seem to have been in part fulfilled. An editor remarks
+that, "To judge from the course of events since Sir Thomas wrote, we may
+not unreasonably look forward to their more complete fulfilment."[12]
+
+
+BISHOP BERKELEY.--1726.
+
+It is pleasant to think that Berkeley, whose beautiful verses predicting
+the future of America are so often quoted, was so sweet and charming a
+character. Atterbury wrote of him, "So much understanding, knowledge,
+innocence, and humility I should have thought confined to angels, had I
+never seen this gentleman." Swift said, "He is an absolute philosopher
+with regard to money, title, and power." Pope let drop a tribute which
+can never die, when he said,
+
+    "To Berkeley every virtue under Heaven."
+
+Such a person was naturally a seer.
+
+He is compendiously called an Irish prelate and philosopher; he was born
+in Kilkenny, 1684, and died in Oxford, 1753. He began as a philosopher.
+While still young, he wrote his famous treatise on "The Principles of
+Human Knowledge," in which he denies the existence of matter, insisting
+that it is only an impression produced on the mind by Divine power.
+After travel for several years on the Continent, and fellowship with the
+witty and learned at home, among whom were Addison, Swift, Pope, Garth,
+and Arbuthnot, he conceived the project of educating the aborigines of
+America, which was set forth in a tract, published in 1725, entitled,
+"Scheme for Converting the Savage Americans to Christianity by a College
+to be erected in the Summer Islands, otherwise called the Isles of
+Bermuda." Persuaded by his benevolence, the ministers promised twenty
+thousand pounds, and there were several private subscriptions to promote
+what was called by the king "so pious an undertaking." Berkeley
+possessed already a deanery in Ireland, with one thousand pounds a year.
+Turning away from this residence, and refusing to be tempted by an
+English mitre, offered by the queen, he set sail for Rhode Island,
+"which lay nearest Bermuda," where, after a tedious passage of five
+months, he arrived, 23d January, 1729. Here he lived on a farm back of
+Newport, having been, according to his own report, "at great expense
+for land and stock." In familiar letters he has given his impression of
+this place, famous since for fashion. "The climate," he says, "is like
+that of Italy, and not at all colder in the winter than I have known it
+everywhere north of Rome. This island is pleasantly laid out in hills
+and vales and rising grounds, hath plenty of excellent springs and fine
+rivulets and many delightful landscapes of rocks and promontories and
+adjacent lands. The town of Newport contains about six thousand souls,
+and is the most thriving, flourishing place in all America for its
+bigness. It is very pretty and pleasantly situated. I was never more
+agreeably surprised than at the first sight of the town and its
+harbor."[13] He seems to have been contented here, and when his
+companions went to Boston stayed at home, "preferring," as he wrote,
+"quiet and solitude to the noise of a great town, notwithstanding all
+the solicitations that have been used to draw us thither."[14]
+
+The money which he had expected, especially from the ministry, failed,
+and after waiting in vain expectation two years and a half, he returned
+to England, leaving an infant son buried in the yard of Trinity Church,
+and bestowing upon Yale College a library of eight hundred and eighty
+volumes, as well as his estate in Rhode Island. During his residence at
+Newport he had preached every Sunday, and was indefatigable in pastoral
+duties, besides meditating, if not composing, "The Minute Philosopher,"
+which was published shortly after his return.
+
+He had not been forgotten at home during his absence; and shortly after
+his return he became Bishop of Cloyne, in which place he was most
+exemplary, devoting himself to his episcopal duties, to the education of
+his children, and the pleasures of composition.
+
+It was while occupied with his plan of a college, especially as a
+nursery for the Colonial churches, shortly before sailing for America,
+that the future seemed to be revealed to him, and he wrote the famous
+poem, the only one to be found among his works, entitled, "Verses on the
+Prospect of Planting Arts and Learning in America."[15] The date may be
+fixed at 1726. Such a poem was an historic event. I give the first and
+last stanzas.
+
+    "The Muse, disgusted at an age and clime
+      Barren of every glorious theme,
+    _In distant lands now waits a better_,
+      _Producing subjects worthy fame_.
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    "_Westward the course of empire takes its way_;
+      The first four acts already past,
+    A fifth shall close the drama with the day;
+      Time's noblest offspring is the last."
+
+It is difficult to exaggerate the value of these verses, which have been
+so often quoted as to become one of the commonplaces of literature and
+politics. There is nothing from any oracle, there is very little from
+any prophecy, which can compare with them. The biographer of Berkeley,
+who wrote in the last century, was very cautious, when, after calling
+them "a beautiful copy of verses," he says that "another age will,
+perhaps, acknowledge the old conjunction of the prophetic character with
+that of the poet to have again taken place."[16] The _vates_ of the
+Romans was poet and prophet; and such was Berkeley.
+
+The sentiment which prompted the prophetic verses of the good Bishop was
+widely diffused; or, perhaps, it was a natural prompting.[17] Of this an
+illustration is afforded in the life of Benjamin West. On his visit to
+Rome in 1760, the young artist encountered a famous improvvisatore, who,
+on learning that he was an American come to study the fine arts in Rome,
+at once addressed him with the ardor of inspiration, and to the music of
+his guitar. After singing the darkness which for so many ages veiled
+America from the eyes of science, and also the fulness of time when the
+purposes for which America had been raised from the deep would be
+manifest, he hailed the youth before him as an instrument of Heaven to
+raise there a taste for those arts which elevate man, and an assurance
+of refuge to science and knowledge, when, in the old age of Europe, they
+should have forsaken her shores. Then, in the spirit of prophecy, he
+sang:--
+
+"_But all things of heavenly origin, like the glorious sun, move
+westward_; and truth and art have their periods of shining and of night.
+Rejoice then, O venerable Rome, in thy divine destiny; for though
+darkness overshadow thy seats, and though thy mitred head must descend
+into the dust, _thy spirit immortal and undecayed already spreads
+towards a new world_."[18]
+
+John Adams, in his old age; dwelling on the reminiscences of early life,
+records that nothing was "more ancient in his memory than the
+observation that arts, sciences, and empire had travelled westward, and
+in conversation it was always added, since he was a child, that their
+next leap would be over the Atlantic into America." With the assistance
+of an octogenarian neighbor, he recalled a couplet that had been
+repeated with rapture as long as he could remember:--
+
+    "The Eastern nations sink, their glory ends,
+    And empire rises where the sun descends."
+
+It was imagined by his neighbor that these lines came from some of our
+early pilgrims,--by whom they had been "inscribed, or rather drilled,
+into a rock on the shore of Monument Bay in our old Colony of
+Plymouth."[19]
+
+Another illustration of this same sentiment will be found in Burnaby's
+"Travels through the Middle Settlements of North America, in 1759 and
+1760," a work which was first published in 1775. In his reflections at
+the close of his book the traveller thus remarks:--
+
+"An idea, strange as it is visionary, has entered into the minds of the
+generality of mankind, _that empire is travelling westward: and every
+one is looking forward with eager and impatient expectation to that
+destined moment when America is to give the law to the rest of the
+world_."[20]
+
+The traveller is none the less an authority for the prevalence of this
+sentiment because he declares it "illusory and fallacious," and records
+his conviction that "America is formed for happiness, but not for
+empire." Happy America! What empire can compare with happiness! But, to
+make amends for this admission, the jealous traveller, in his edition of
+1796, after the adoption of our Constitution, announces that "the
+present union of American States will not be permanent, or last for any
+considerable length of time," and "that that extensive country must
+necessarily be divided into separate states and kingdoms."[21] Thus far
+the Union has stood against all shocks, foreign or domestic; and the
+prophecy of Berkeley is more than ever in the popular mind.
+
+
+TURGOT.--1750.
+
+Among the illustrious names of France there are few equal to that of
+Turgot. He was a philosopher among ministers, and a minister among
+philosophers. Malesherbes said of him, that he had the heart of
+L'Hopital and the head of Bacon. Such a person in public affairs was an
+epoch for his country and for the human race. Had his spirit prevailed,
+the bloody drama of the French Revolution would not have occurred, or it
+would at least have been postponed. I think it could not have occurred.
+He was a good man, who sought to carry into government the rules of
+goodness. His career from beginning to end was one continuous
+beneficence. Such a nature was essentially prophetic, for he discerned
+the natural laws by which the future is governed.
+
+He was of an ancient Norman family, whose name suggests the _god Thor_;
+he was born at Paris, 1727, and died, 1781. Being a younger son, he was
+destined for the Church, and commenced his studies as an ecclesiastic
+at the ancient Sorbonne. Before registering an irrevocable vow, he
+announced his repugnance to the profession, and turned aside to other
+pursuits. Law, literature, science, humanity, government, now engaged
+his attention. He associated himself with the writers of the
+Encyclopaedia, and became one of its contributors. In other writings he
+vindicated especially the virtue of toleration. Not merely a theorist,
+he soon arrived at the high post of intendant of Limousin, where he
+developed a remarkable talent for administration, and a sympathy with
+the people. He introduced the potato into that province. But he
+continued to employ his pen, especially on questions of political
+economy, which he treated as a master. On the accession of Louis XVI. he
+was called to the cabinet as Minister of the Marine, and shortly
+afterwards he gave up this place to be the head of the finances. Here he
+began a system of rigid economy, founded on a curtailment of expenses
+and an enlargement of resources. The latter was obtained especially by a
+removal of disabilities from trade, whether at home or abroad, and the
+substitution of a single tax on land for a complex multiplicity of
+taxes. The enemies of progress were too strong at that time, and the
+king dismissed the reformer. Good men in France became anxious for the
+future; Voltaire, in his distant retreat, gave a shriek of despair, and
+addressed to Turgot some remarkable verses entitled _Epitre a un Homme_.
+Worse still, the good edicts of the minister were rescinded, and society
+was put back.
+
+The discarded minister gave himself to science, literature, and
+friendship. He welcomed Franklin to France and to immortality in a Latin
+verse of marvellous felicity. He was already the companion of the
+liberal spirits who were doing so much for knowledge and for reform. By
+writing and by conversation he exercised a constant influence. His
+"ideas" seem to illumine the time. We may be content to follow him in
+saying, "The glory of arms cannot compare with the happiness of living
+in peace." He anticipated our definition of a republic, when he said "it
+was formed upon the _equality of all the citizens_,"--good words, not
+yet practically verified in all our States. Such a government he, living
+under a monarchy, bravely pronounced the best of all; but he added that
+he "had never known a constitution truly republican." This was in 1778.
+With similar plainness he announced that "the destruction of the Ottoman
+empire would be a real good for all the nations of Europe," and--he
+added still further--for humanity also, because it would involve the
+abolition of negro slavery, and because to strip "our oppressors is not
+to attack, but to vindicate, the common rights of humanity." With such
+thoughts and aspirations, the prophet died.
+
+But I have no purpose of writing a biography, or even a character. All
+that I intend is an introduction to Turgot's prophetic words relating to
+America. When only twenty-three years of age, while still an
+ecclesiastic at the Sorbonne, the future minister delivered a discourse
+on the Progress of the Human Mind, in which, after describing the
+commercial triumphs of the ancient Phoenicians, covering the coasts of
+Greece and Asia with their colonies, he lets drop these remarkable
+words:--
+
+"Les colonies sont comme des fruits qui ne tiennent a l'arbre que
+jusqu'a leur maturite; devenues suffisantes a elles-memes, elles firent
+ce que fit depuis Carthage,--_ce que fera un jour l'Amerique_."[22]
+
+"Colonies are like fruits, which hold to the tree only until their
+maturity; when sufficient for themselves, they did that which Carthage
+afterwards did,--_that which some day America will do_."
+
+On this most suggestive declaration, Dupont de Nemours, the editor of
+Turgot's works, published in 1808, remarks in a note as follows:--
+
+"It was in 1750 that M. Turgot, being then only twenty-three years old,
+and devoted in a seminary to the study of theology, divined, foresaw the
+revolution which has formed the United States,--which has detached them
+from the European power apparently the most capable of retaining its
+colonies under its domination."
+
+At the time Turgot wrote, Canada was a French possession; but his words
+are as applicable to this colony as to the United States. When will this
+fruit be ripe?
+
+
+JOHN ADAMS.--1755, 1776, 1780, 1785, 1787.
+
+Next in time among the prophets was John Adams, who has left on record
+at different dates several predictions which show a second-sight of no
+common order. Of his life I need say nothing, except that he was born
+19th October, 1735, and died 4th July, 1826. I mention the predictions
+in the order of their utterance.
+
+1. While teaching a school at Worcester, and when under twenty years of
+age, he wrote a letter to one of his youthful companions, _bearing date
+12th October, 1755_, which is a marvel of foresight. Fifty-two years
+afterwards, when already much of its prophecy had been fulfilled, the
+original was returned to its author by the son of his early comrade and
+correspondent, Nathan Webb, who was at the time dead. In this letter,
+after remarking gravely on the rise and fall of nations, with
+illustrations from Carthage and Rome, he proceeds:--
+
+"England began to increase in power and magnificence, and is now the
+greatest nation of the globe. Soon after the Reformation, a few people
+came over into this New World for conscience' sake. Perhaps this
+apparently trivial incident _may transfer the great seat of empire to
+America. It looks likely to me_; for if we can remove the turbulent
+Gallics, our people, according to the exactest computations, will, in
+another century, become more numerous than England itself. Should this
+be the case, since we have, I may say, all the naval stores of the
+nations in our hands, it will be easy to obtain the mastery of the seas;
+and then the united force of all Europe will not be able to subdue us.
+The only way to keep us from setting up for ourselves is to disunite us.
+_Divide et impera._ Keep us in distinct colonies, and then, some great
+men in each colony desiring the monarchy of the whole, they will destroy
+each others' influence, and keep the country _in equilibrio_."[23]
+
+On this letter his son, John Quincy Adams, remarks:--
+
+"Had the political part of it been written by the minister of state of a
+European monarchy, at the close of a long life spent in the government
+of nations, it would have been pronounced worthy of the united wisdom of
+a Burleigh, a Sully, or an Oxenstiern.... _In one bold outline he has
+exhibited by anticipation a long succession of prophetic history, the
+fulfilment of which is barely yet in progress, responding exactly
+hitherto to his foresight_, but the full accomplishment of which is
+reserved for the development of after ages. The extinction of the power
+of France in America, the union of the British North American Colonies,
+the achievement of their independence, and the establishment of their
+ascendency in the community of civilized nations by the means of their
+naval power, are all foreshadowed in this letter, with a clearness of
+perception and a distinctness of delineation which time has done little
+more than to convert into historical fact."[24]
+
+2. The Declaration of Independence bears date 4th July, 1776, for on
+that day it was signed; but the vote which determined it was on the 2d
+July. _On the 3d July_, John Adams, in a letter to his wife, wrote as
+follows:--
+
+"Yesterday the greatest question was decided which ever was debated in
+America, and a greater, perhaps, never was nor will be decided among
+men.... I am surprised at the suddenness as well as greatness of this
+revolution. Britain has been filled with folly, and America with wisdom.
+At least this is my judgment. Time must determine. _It is the will of
+Heaven that the two countries should be sundered forever_.... The day is
+past. The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epocha in
+the history of America. _I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated
+by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival._ It ought
+to be commemorated, as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of
+devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and
+parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and
+illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this
+time forward, forevermore. You will think me transported with
+enthusiasm, but I am not. I am well aware of the toil and blood and
+treasure that it will cost us to maintain this Declaration, and support
+and defend these States. _Yet, through all the gloom, I can see the ray
+of ravishing light and glory; and that posterity will triumph in that
+day's transaction_, even although we should rue it, which I trust in God
+we shall not."[25]
+
+Here is a comprehensive prophecy, first, that the two countries would be
+separated forever; secondly, that the anniversary of Independence would
+be celebrated as a great annual festival; and, thirdly, that posterity
+would triumph in this transaction, where, through all the gloom, shone
+rays of ravishing light and glory; all of which has been fulfilled to
+the letter. Recent events give to the Declaration additional importance.
+For a long time its great promises that all men are equal, and that
+rightful government stands only on the consent of the governed, were
+disowned by our country. Now that at last they are beginning to prevail,
+there is increased reason to celebrate the day on which the mighty
+Declaration was made, and new occasion for triumph in the rays of
+ravishing light and glory.
+
+3. Here is another prophetic passage in a letter _dated at Paris, 13th
+July, 1780_, and addressed to the Count de Vergennes of France, pleading
+the cause of the colonists:--
+
+"The United States of America are a great and powerful people, whatever
+European statesmen may think of them. If we take into our estimate the
+numbers and the character of her people, the extent, variety, and
+fertility of her soil, her commerce, and her skill and materials for
+ship-building, and her seamen, excepting France, Spain, England,
+Germany, and Russia, there is not a state in Europe so powerful.
+Breaking off such a nation as this from the English so suddenly, and
+uniting it so closely with France, is one of the most extraordinary
+events that ever happened among mankind."[26]
+
+Perhaps this may be considered a statement rather than a prophecy; but
+it illustrates the prophetic character of the writer.
+
+4. In an official letter to the President of Congress, _dated at
+Amsterdam, 5th September, 1780_, the same writer, while proposing an
+American Academy for refining, improving, and ascertaining the English
+language, thus predicts the extension of this language:--
+
+"_English is destined to be in the next and succeeding centuries more
+generally the language of the world than Latin was in the last or French
+is in the present age._ The reason of this is obvious,--because the
+increasing population in America, and their universal connection and
+correspondence with all nations, will, aided by the influence of England
+in the world, whether great or small, force their language into general
+use, in spite of all the obstacles that may be thrown in their way, if
+any such there should be."[27]
+
+In another letter of an unofficial character, _dated at Amsterdam, 23d
+September, 1780_, he thus repeats his prophecy:--
+
+"You must know _I have undertaken to prophesy that English will be the
+most respectable language in the world, and the most universally read
+and spoken in the next century, if not before the close of this_.
+American population will in the next age produce a greater number of
+persons who will speak English than any other language, and these
+persons will have more general acquaintance and conversation with all
+other nations than any other people."[28]
+
+This prophecy is already accomplished. Of all the European languages,
+English is most extensively spoken. Through England and the United
+States it has become the language of commerce, which, sooner or later,
+must embrace the globe. The German philologist, Grimm, has followed our
+American prophet in saying that it "seems chosen, like its people, to
+rule in future times in a still greater degree in all the corners of the
+earth."[29]
+
+5. There is another prophecy, at once definite and broad, which
+proceeded from the same eminent quarter. In a letter _dated London, 17th
+October, 1785_, and addressed to John Jay, who was at the time Secretary
+for Foreign Affairs under the Confederation, John Adams reveals his
+conviction of the importance of France to us, "while England held a
+province in America";[30] and then, in another letter, _dated 21st
+October, 1785_, reports the saying of people about him, "_that Canada
+and Nova Scotia must soon be ours_; there must be war for it; they know
+how it will end, but the sooner the better. This done, we shall be
+forever at peace; till then, never."[31] These intimations foreshadow
+the prophecy which will be found in the Preface to his "Defence of the
+American Constitutions," written in London, while he was Minister there,
+and _dated at Grosvenor Square, 1st January, 1787_:--
+
+"The United States of America have exhibited, perhaps, the first example
+of governments erected on the simple principles of nature.... Thirteen
+governments thus founded on the natural authority of the people alone,
+without a pretence of miracle or mystery, and _which are destined to
+spread over the northern part of that whole quarter of the globe_, are a
+great point gained in favor of the rights of mankind. The experiment is
+made, and has completely succeeded."[32]
+
+Here is foretold nothing less than that our system of government is to
+embrace the whole continent of North America.
+
+
+GALIANI.--1776, 1778.
+
+Among the most brilliant persons in this list is the Abbe Galiani, a
+Neapolitan, who was born in 1728, and died at Naples in 1787. Although
+Italian by birth, yet by the accident of official residence he became
+for a while domesticated in France, wrote the French language, and now
+enjoys a French reputation. His writings in French and his letters have
+the wit and ease of Voltaire.
+
+Galiani was a genius. Whatever he touched shone at once with his
+brightness, in which there was originality as well as knowledge. He was
+a finished scholar, and very successful in lapidary verses. Early in
+life, while in Italy, he wrote a grave essay on Money, which contrasted
+with another of rare humor suggested by the death of the public
+executioner. Other essays followed, and then came the favor of that
+congenial pontiff, Benedict XIV. In 1760 he found himself at Paris, as
+Secretary of the Neapolitan Embassy. Here he mingled with the courtiers
+officially, according to the duties of his position, but he fraternized
+with the liberal and sometimes audacious spirits who exercised such an
+influence over society and literature. He was soon recognized as one of
+them, and as inferior to none. His petty stature was forgotten, when he
+conversed with inexhaustible faculties of all kinds, so that he seemed
+an Encyclopaedia, Harlequin, and Machiavelli all in one. The atheists at
+the Thursday dinner of D'Holbach were confounded, while he enforced the
+existence of God. Into the questions of political economy which occupied
+attention at the time he entered with a pen which seemed borrowed from
+the French Academy. His _Dialogues sur le Commerce des Bles_ had the
+success of a romance; ladies carried this book on corn in their
+work-baskets. Returning to Naples, he continued to live in Paris through
+his correspondence, especially with Madame d'Epinay, the Baron
+d'Holbach, Diderot, and Grimm.[33]
+
+Among his later works, after his return to Naples, was a solid
+volume--not to be forgotten in the History of International Law--on the
+"Rights of Neutrals," where a difficult subject is treated with such
+mastery that, half a century later, D'Hautefeuille, in his elaborate
+treatise, copies from it at length. Galiani was the predecessor of this
+French writer in the extreme assertion of neutral rights. Other works
+were left at his death in manuscript, some grave and some humorous; also
+letters without number. The letters he had preserved from Italian
+_savans_ filled eight large volumes; those from _savans_, ministers, and
+sovereigns abroad filled fourteen. His Parisian correspondence did not
+see the light till 1818, although some of the letters may be found in
+the contemporary correspondence of Grimm.
+
+In his Parisian letters, which are addressed chiefly to that clever
+individuality, Madame d'Epinay, the Neapolitan Abbe shows not only the
+brilliancy and nimbleness of his talent, but the universality of his
+knowledge and the boldness of his speculations. Here are a few words
+from a letter dated at Naples, 12th October, 1776, in which he brings
+forward the idea of "races," so important in our day, with an
+illustration from Russia:--
+
+"_All depends on races._ The first, the most noble of races, comes
+naturally from the North of Asia. The Russians are the nearest to it,
+and this is the reason why they have made more progress in fifty years
+than can be got out of the Portuguese in five hundred."[34]
+
+Belonging to the Latin race, Galiani was entitled to speak thus freely.
+
+1. In another letter to Madame d'Epinay, _dated at Naples, 18th May,
+1776_, he had already foretold the success of our Revolution. Few
+prophets have been more explicit than he was in the following passage:--
+
+"Livy said of his age, which so much resembled ours, 'Ad haec tempora
+ventum est quibus, nec vitia nostra, nec remedia pati possumus,'--'We
+are in an age where the remedies hurt as much as the vices.' Do you know
+the reality? _The epoch has come of the total fall of Europe, and of
+transmigration into America._ All here turns into rottenness,--religion,
+laws, arts, sciences,--and all hastens to renew itself in America. This
+is not a jest; nor is it an idea drawn from the English quarrels; I have
+said it, announced it, preached it, for more than twenty years, and I
+have constantly seen my prophecies come to pass. _Therefore, do not buy
+your house in the Chaussee d'Antin; you must buy it in Philadelphia._ My
+trouble is that there are no abbeys in America."[35]
+
+This letter was written some months before the Declaration of
+Independence was known in Europe.
+
+2. In another letter, _dated at Naples, 7th February, 1778_, the Abbe
+alludes to the "quantities" of English men and women who have come to
+Naples "for shelter from the American tempest," and adds, "Meanwhile the
+Washingtons and Hancocks will be fatal to them."[36] In still another,
+_dated at Naples, 25 July, 1778_, he renews his prophecies in language
+still more explicit:--
+
+"You will at this time have decided the greatest revolution of the
+globe; namely, _if it is America which is to reign over Europe, or if it
+is Europe which is to continue to reign over America_. I will wager in
+favor of America, for the reason merely physical, that for five thousand
+years genius has turned opposite to the diurnal motion, and travelled
+from the East to the West."[37]
+
+Here again is the idea of Berkeley which has been so captivating.
+
+
+ADAM SMITH.--1776.
+
+In contrast with the witty Italian is the illustrious philosopher and
+writer of Scotland, Adam Smith, who was born 5th June, 1723, and died
+17th July, 1790. His fame is so commanding that any details of his life
+or works would be out of place on this occasion. He was a thinker and an
+inventor, through whom mankind was advanced in knowledge.
+
+I say nothing of his "Theory of Moral Sentiments," which constitutes an
+important contribution to the science of ethics, but come at once to his
+great work of political economy, entitled "Inquiry into the Nature and
+Sources of the Wealth of Nations," which first appeared in 1776. Its
+publication marks an epoch which is described by Mr. Buckle when he
+says: "Adam Smith contributed more, by the publication of this single
+work, toward the happiness of man, than has been effected by the united
+abilities of all the statesmen and legislators of whom history has
+preserved an authentic account." The work is full of prophetic
+knowledge, and especially with regard to the British colonies. Writing
+while the debate with the mother country was still pending, Adam Smith
+urged that they should be admitted to Parliamentary representation in
+proportion to taxation, so that their representation would enlarge with
+their growing resources; and here he predicts nothing less than the
+transfer of empire.
+
+"The distance of America from the seat of government, the natives of
+that country might flatter themselves, with some appearance of reason
+too, would not be of very long continuance. Such has hitherto been the
+rapid progress of that country in wealth, population, and improvement,
+that, in the course of little more than a century, perhaps, the produce
+of America might exceed that of British taxation. _The seat of the
+empire would then naturally remove itself to that part of the empire
+which contributed most to the general defence and support of the
+whole._"[38]
+
+In these tranquil words of assured science this great author carries the
+seat of government across the Atlantic.
+
+
+GOVERNOR POWNALL.--1777, 1780, 1785.
+
+Among the best friends of our country abroad during the trials of the
+Revolution was Thomas Pownall, called by one biographer "a learned
+antiquary and politician," and by another "an English statesman and
+author." Latterly he has so far dropped out of sight, that there are few
+who recognize in him either of these characters. He was born, 1722, and
+died at Bath, 1805. During this long period he held several offices. As
+early as 1745 he became secretary to the Commission for Trade and
+Plantations. In 1753 he crossed the ocean. In 1755, as Commissioner for
+Massachusetts Bay, he negotiated with New York, New Jersey, and
+Pennsylvania, in union with New England, the confederated expedition
+against Crown Point. He was afterwards Governor of Massachusetts Bay,
+New Jersey, and South Carolina, successively. Returning to England, he
+was, in 1761, Comptroller-General of the army in Germany, with the
+military rank of Colonel. He sat in three successive Parliaments until
+1780, when he passed into private life. Hildreth gives a glimpse at his
+personal character, when, admitting his frank manners and liberal
+politics, he describes his "habits as rather freer than suited the New
+England standard."[39]
+
+Pownall stands forth conspicuous for his championship of our national
+independence, and especially for his foresight with regard to our
+national future. In both these respects his writings are unique. Other
+Englishmen were in favor of our independence, and saw our future also;
+but I doubt if any one can be named who was his equal in strenuous
+action, or in minuteness of foresight. While the war was still
+proceeding, as early as 1780, he openly announced, not only that
+independence was inevitable, but that the new nation, "founded in nature
+and built up in truth," would continually expand; that its population
+would increase and multiply; that a civilizing activity beyond what
+Europe could ever know would animate it; and that its commercial and
+naval power would be found in every quarter of the globe. All this he
+set forth at length with argument and illustration, and he called his
+prophetic words "the _stating of the simple fact_, so little understood
+in the Old World." Treated at first as "unintelligible speculation" and
+as "unfashionable," the truth he announced was neglected where it was
+not rejected, but generally rejected as inadmissible, and the author,
+according to his own language, "was called by the wise men of the
+British Cabinet _a Wild Man_, unfit to be employed." But these writings
+are a better title now than any office. In manner they are diffuse and
+pedantic; but they hardly deserve the cold judgment of John Adams, who
+in his old age said of them, that "a reader who has patience to search
+for good sense in an uncouth and disgusting style will find in those
+writings proofs of a thinking mind."[40]
+
+He seems to have written a good deal. But the works which will be
+remembered the longest are not even mentioned by several of his
+biographers. Rose, in his Biographical Dictionary, records works by him,
+entitled Antiquities of Ancient Greece; Roman Antiquities dug up at
+Bath; Observations on the Currents of the Ocean; Intellectual Physics;
+and also contributions to the _Archaeologia_. Gorton in his Biographical
+Dictionary adds some other titles to this list. But neither mentions his
+works on America. This is another instance where the stone rejected by
+the builders becomes the head of the corner.
+
+At an early date Pownall comprehended the position of our country,
+geographically. He saw the wonderful means of internal communication
+supplied by its inland waters, and also the opportunities of external
+commerce supplied by the Atlantic Ocean. On the first he dwells, in a
+memorial _drawn-up in 1756_ for the Duke of Cumberland.[41] Nobody in
+our own day, after the experience of more than a century, has portrayed
+more vividly the two masses of waters,--one composed of the great lakes
+and their dependencies, and the other of the Mississippi and its
+tributaries. The great lakes are described as "a wilderness of waters
+spreading over the country by an infinite number and variety of
+branchings, bays, and straits." The Mississippi, with its eastern
+branch, called the Ohio, is described as having, "so far as we know, but
+two falls,--one at a place called, by the French, St. Antoine, high up
+on the west or main branch"; and all its waters "run to the ocean with a
+still, easy, and gentle current." The picture is completed by exhibiting
+the two masses of water in combination:--
+
+"The waters of each respective mass--not only the lesser streams, but
+the main general body of each going through this continent in every
+course and direction--have by their approach to each other, by their
+communication to every quarter and in every direction, an alliance and
+unity, and form one mass, or one whole."[42]
+
+Again, depicting the intercommunication among the several waters of the
+continent, and how "the watery element claims and holds dominion over
+this extent of land," he insists that all shall see these two mighty
+masses in their central throne, declaring that "the great lakes which
+lie upon its bosom on one hand, and the great river Mississippi and the
+multitude of waters which run into it, form there a communication,--an
+alliance or dominion of the watery element, that commands throughout the
+whole; that these great lakes appear to be the throne, the centre of a
+dominion, whose influence, by an infinite number of rivers, creeks, and
+streams, extends itself through all and every part of the continent,
+supported by the communication of, and alliance with the waters of the
+Mississippi."[43]
+
+If these means of internal commerce were vast, those afforded by the
+Atlantic Ocean were not less extensive. The latter were developed in the
+volume entitled "The Administration of the Colonies," the fourth edition
+of which, published in 1768, is now before me. This was after the
+differences between the Colonies and the mother country had begun, but
+before the idea of independence had shown itself. Pownall insisted that
+the Colonies ought to be considered as parts of the realm, entitled to
+representation in Parliament. This was a constitutional unity. But he
+portrayed a commercial unity also, which he represented in attractive
+forms. The British isles, and the British possessions in the Atlantic
+and in America, were, according to him, "one grand marine dominion," and
+ought, therefore, by policy, to be united into one empire, with one
+centre. On this he dwells at length, and the picture is presented
+repeatedly.[44] It was incident to the crisis produced in the world by
+the predominance of the commercial spirit which already began to rule
+the powers of Europe. It was the duty of England to place herself at the
+head of this great movement.
+
+"As the rising of this crisis forms precisely the _object_, on which
+government should be employed, so the taking leading measures towards
+the forming all those Atlantic and American possessions into one empire,
+of which Great Britain should be the commercial and political centre, is
+the _precise duty_ of government at this crisis."
+
+This was his desire. But he saw clearly the resources as well as the
+rights of the Colonies, and was satisfied that, if power were not
+consolidated under the constitutional auspices of England, it would be
+transferred to the other side of the Atlantic. Here his words are
+prophetic:--
+
+"The whole train of events, the whole course of business, must
+perpetually bring forward into practice, and necessarily in the end into
+establishment, _either an American or a British union_. There is no
+other alternative."
+
+The necessity for union is enforced in a manner which foreshadows our
+national Union:--
+
+"The Colonial Legislature does not answer all purposes; is incompetent
+and inadequate to many purposes. Something more is necessary,--_either a
+common union among themselves_, or a common union of subordination under
+the one general legislature of the state."[45]
+
+Then, again, in another place of the same work, after representing the
+declarations of power over the Colonies as little better than mockery,
+he prophesies again:--
+
+"Such is the actual state of the really existing system of our
+dominions, that _neither the power of government over these various
+parts can long continue under the present mode of administration_, nor
+the great interests of commerce extended throughout the whole long
+subsist under the present system of the laws of trade."[46]
+
+Recent events may give present interest to his views, in this same work,
+on the nature and necessity of a paper curency, where he follows
+Franklin. The principal points of his plan were, that bills of credit,
+to a certain amount, should be printed in England for the use of the
+Colonies; that a loan-office should be established in each Colony to
+issue bills, take securities, and receive the payment; that the bills
+should be issued for ten years, bearing interest at five per cent,--one
+tenth part of the sum borrowed to be paid annually, with interest; and
+that they should be a legal tender.
+
+When the differences had flamed forth in war, then the prophet became
+more earnest. His utterances deserve to be rescued from oblivion. He was
+open, and almost defiant. As early as _2d December, 1777_, some months
+before our treaty with France, he declared, from his place in
+Parliament, "that the sovereignty of this country over America is
+abolished and gone forever"; "that they are determined at all events to
+be independent, _and will be so_"; and "that all the treaty this country
+can ever expect with America is federal, and that, probably, only
+commercial." In this spirit he said to the House:--
+
+"Until you shall be convinced that you are no longer sovereigns over
+America, but that the United States are an independent, sovereign
+people,--until you are prepared to treat with them as such,--it is of no
+consequence at all what schemes or plans of conciliation this side of
+the House or that may adopt."[47]
+
+The position taken in Parliament he maintained by writings, and here he
+depicted the great destinies of our country. He began with a work
+entitled "A Memorial to the Sovereigns of Europe," which was published
+early in 1780, and was afterwards, through the influence of John Adams,
+while at the Hague, abridged and translated into French. In this
+remarkable production independence was the least that he claimed for us.
+Thus he foretells our future:--
+
+"North America is become a new primary planet in the system of the
+world, which, while it takes its own course, must have effect on the
+orbit of every other planet, and shift the common centre of gravity of
+the whole system of the European world. North America is _de facto_ an
+independent power, which has taken its equal station with other powers,
+and must be so _de jure_.... The independence of America is fixed as
+fate. She is mistress of her own future, knows that she is so, and will
+actuate that power which she feels she hath, so as to establish her own
+system _and to change the system of Europe_."[48]
+
+Not only is the new power to take an independent place, but it is "to
+change the system of Europe." For all this its people are amply
+prepared. "Standing on that high ground of improvement up to which the
+most enlightened parts of Europe have advanced, like eaglets, they
+commence the first efforts of their pinions from a towering
+advantage."[49] Then again, giving expression to this same conviction in
+another form, he says:--
+
+"North America has advanced, and is every day advancing, to growth of
+state, with a steady and continually accelerating motion, of which there
+has never yet been any example in Europe."[50] "It is a vitality, liable
+to many disorders, many dangerous diseases; but it is young and strong,
+and will struggle, by the vigor of internal healing principles of life,
+against those evils, and surmount them. Its strength will grow with its
+years."[51]
+
+He then dwells in detail on "the progressive population" here; on our
+advantage in being "on the other side of the globe, where there is no
+enemy"; on the products of the soil, among which is "bread-corn to a
+degree that has wrought it to a staple export for the supply of the Old
+World"; on the fisheries, which he calls "mines of more solid riches
+than all the silver of Potosi"; on the inventive spirit of the people;
+and on their commercial activity. Of such a people it is easy to predict
+great things; and our prophet announces,--
+
+1. That the new state will be "an active naval power," exercising a
+peculiar influence on commerce, and, through commerce, on the political
+system of the Old World,--becoming the arbitress of commerce, and,
+perhaps, the mediatrix of peace.[52]
+
+2. That ship-building and the science of navigation have made such
+progress in America, that her people will be able to build and navigate
+cheaper than any country in Europe, even Holland, with all her
+economy.[53]
+
+3. That the peculiar articles to be had from America only, and so much
+sought in Europe, must give Americans a preference in those markets.[54]
+
+4. That a people "whose empire stands singly predominant on a great
+continent" can hardly "suffer in their borders such a monopoly as the
+European Hudson Bay Company"; that it cannot be stopped by Cape Horn or
+the Cape of Good Hope; that before long they will be found "trading in
+the South Sea and in China"; and that the Dutch "will hear of them in
+the Spice Islands."[55]
+
+5. That by constant intercommunion of business and correspondence, and
+by increased knowledge with regard to the ocean, "America will seem
+every day to approach nearer and nearer to Europe"; that the old alarm
+at the sea will subside, and "a thousand attractive motives will become
+the irresistible cause of _an almost general emigration to the New
+World_"; and that "many of the most useful, enterprising spirits, and
+much of the active property, will go there also."[56]
+
+6. That "North America will become a _free port_ to all the nations of
+the world indiscriminately, and will expect, insist on, and demand, in
+fair reciprocity, a _free market_ in all those nations with whom she
+trades"; and that, adhering to this principle, "she must be, in the
+course of time, the chief carrier of the commerce of the whole
+world."[57]
+
+7. That America must avoid complication with European politics, or "the
+entanglement of alliances," having no connections with Europe other than
+commercial;[58]--all of which at a later day was put forth by Washington
+in his Farewell Address, when he said, "The great rule of conduct for
+us, in regard to foreign nations, is, in extending our commercial
+relations, to have with them as little political concern as possible."
+
+8. That similar modes of living and thinking, the same manners and same
+fashions, the same language and old habits of national love, impressed
+on the heart and not yet effaced, _the very indentings of the fracture
+where North America is broken off from England, all conspire naturally
+to a rejuncture by alliance_.[59]
+
+9. That the sovereigns of Europe, "who have despised the unfashioned,
+awkward youth of America," and have neglected to interweave their
+interests with the rising States, when they find the system of the new
+empire not only obstructing, but superseding, the old system of Europe,
+and crossing all their settled maxims, will call upon their ministers
+and wise men, "Come, curse me this people, for they are too mighty for
+me."[60]
+
+This appeal was followed by two other memorials, "drawn up solely for
+the king's use, and designed solely for his eye," _dated at Richmond,
+January, 1782_, in which the author most persuasively pleads with the
+king to treat with the Colonies on the footing of independence, and
+with this view to institute a preliminary negotiation "as with free
+states _de facto_ under a truce." On the signature of the treaty of
+peace, he wrote a private letter to Franklin, dated at _Richmond, 28th
+February, 1783_, in which be testifies again to the magnitude of the
+event, as follows:--
+
+"My old Friend,--I write this to congratulate you on the establishment
+of your country as a free and sovereign power, taking its equal station
+amongst the powers of the world. I congratulate you, in particular, as
+chosen by Providence to be a principal instrument in this great
+Revolution,--_a Revolution that has stranger marks of Divine
+interposition, superseding the ordinary course of human affairs, than
+any other event which this world has experienced_."
+
+He closes this letter by saying that he thought of making a tour of
+America, adding that, "if there ever was an object worth travelling to
+see, and worthy of the contemplation of a philosopher, it is that in
+which he may see the beginning of a great empire at its foundation."[61]
+He communicated this purpose also to John Adams, who answered him, that
+"he would be received respectfully in every part of America,--that he
+had always been considered friendly to America,--and that his writings
+had been useful to our cause."[62]
+
+Then came another work, first published in 1783, entitled, "A Memorial
+addressed to the Sovereigns of America, by Governor Pownall," of which
+he gave the mistaken judgment to a private friend, that it was "the best
+thing he ever wrote." Here for the first time American citizens are
+called "sovereigns." At the beginning he explains and indicates the
+simplicity with which he addresses them:--
+
+"Having presumed to address to the Sovereigns of Europe a Memorial ...
+permit me now to address this Memorial to you, Sovereigns of America. I
+shall not address you with the court titles of Gothic Europe, nor with
+those of servile Asia. I will neither address your Sublimity or Majesty,
+your Grace or Holiness, your Eminence or High-mightiness, your
+Excellence or Honors. What are titles, where things themselves are known
+and understood? What title did the Republic of Rome take? The state was
+known to be sovereign and the citizens to be free. What could add to
+this? Therefore, United States and Citizens of America, I address you as
+you are."[63]
+
+Here again are the same constant sympathy with liberty, the same
+confidence in our national destinies, and the same aspirations for our
+prosperity, mingled with warnings against disturbing influences. He
+exhorts that all our foundations should be "laid in nature"; that there
+should be "no contention for, nor acquisition of, unequal domination in
+men"; and that union should be established on the attractive principle
+by which all are drawn to a common centre. He fears difficulty, in
+making the line of frontier between us and the British Provinces "a line
+of peace," as it ought to be; he is anxious lest something may break out
+between us and Spain; and he suggests that possibly, "in the cool hours
+of unimpassioned reflection," we may learn the danger of our
+"alliances,"--referring plainly to that original alliance with France
+which, at a later day, was the occasion of such trouble. Two other
+warnings occur. One is against Slavery, which is more noteworthy,
+because in an earlier memorial he enumerates among articles of commerce
+"African slaves carried by a circuitous, trade in American shipping to
+the West India market."[64] The other warning is thus strongly
+expressed:--"Every inhabitant of America is, _de facto_ as well as _de
+jure_, equal, in his essential, inseparable rights of the individual, to
+any other individual, and is, in these rights, independent of any power
+that any other can assume over him, over his labor, or his property.
+This is principle in act and deed, and not a mere speculative
+theorem."[65]
+
+I close this strange and striking testimony, all from one man, with his
+farewell words to Franklin. As Pownall heard that the great philosopher
+and negotiator was about to embark for the United States, he wrote to
+him from Lausanne, _under date of 3d July, 1785_, as follows:--
+
+"Adieu, my dear friend. You are going to a New World, formed to exhibit
+a scene which the Old World never yet saw. You leave me here in the Old
+World, which, like myself, begins to feel, as Asia hath felt, that it is
+wearing out apace. We shall never meet again on this earth; but there is
+another world where we shall, and _where we shall be understood_."
+
+Clearly Pownall was not understood in his time; but it is evident that
+he understood our country as few Englishmen since have been able to
+understand it.
+
+
+DAVID HARTLEY.--1775, 1785.
+
+Another friend of our country in England was David Hartley. He was
+constant and even pertinacious on our side, although less prophetic than
+Pownall, with whom he co-operated in purpose and activity. His father
+was Hartley the metaphysician, and author of the ingenious theory of
+sensation. The son was born 1729, and died at Bath, 1813, During our
+revolution he sat in Parliament for Kingston-upon-Hull. He was also the
+British plenipotentiary in negotiating the definitive Treaty of Peace
+with the United States. He, too, has dropped out of sight. In the
+biographical dictionaries he has only a few lines. But he deserves a
+considerable place in the history of our independence.
+
+John Adams was often austere, and sometimes cynical in his judgments.
+Evidently he did not like Hartley. In one place he speaks of him as
+"talkative and disputatious, and not always intelligible";[66] then, as
+"a person of consummate vanity";[67] and then, again, when he was
+appointed to sign the definitive Treaty, he says, "it would have been
+more agreeable to have finished with Mr. Oswald";[68] and, in still
+another place, he records, "Mr. Hartley was as copious as usual."[69]
+And yet, when writing most elaborately to Count de Vergennes on the
+prospects of the negotiation with England, he introduces opinions of
+Hartley at length, saying that he was "more for peace than any man in
+the kingdom."[70] Such testimony may well outweigh the other
+expressions, especially as nothing of the kind appears in the
+correspondence of Franklin, with whom Hartley was much more intimate.
+
+The Parliamentary History is a sufficient monument for Hartley. He was a
+frequent speaker, and never missed an opportunity of pleading our cause.
+Although without the immortal eloquence of Burke, he was always clear
+and full. Many of his speeches seem to have been written out by himself.
+He was not a tardy convert. He began as "a new member" by supporting an
+amendment favorable to the Colonies, 5th December, 1774. In March, 1775,
+he brought forward "propositions for conciliation with America," which
+he sustained in an elaborate speech, where he avowed that the American
+Question had occupied him already for some time:--
+
+"Though I have so lately had the honor of a seat in this House, yet I
+have for many years turned my thoughts and attention to matters of
+public concern and national policy. This question of America is now of
+many years' standing."[71]
+
+In the course of this speech he thus acknowledges the services of New
+England at Louisburg:--
+
+"In that war too, sir, they took Louisburg from the French,
+single-handed, without any European assistance,--as mettled an
+enterprise as any in our history,--an everlasting memorial of the zeal,
+courage, and perseverance of the troops of New England. The men
+themselves dragged the cannon over a morass which had always been
+thought impassable, where neither horses nor oxen could go, and they
+carried the shot upon their backs. And what was their reward for this
+forward and spirited enterprise,--for the reduction of this American
+Dunkirk? Their reward, sir, you know very well; it was given up for a
+barrier to the Dutch."[72]
+
+All his various propositions were negatived; but he was not
+disheartened. On every occasion he spoke,--now on the budget, then on
+the address, and then on specific propositions. At this time he asserted
+the power of Parliament over the Colonies, and he proposed on the 2d
+November, 1775, that a test of submission by the Colonists should be the
+recognition of an act of Parliament, "enacting that all the slaves in
+America should have the trial by jury."[73] Shortly afterwards _on the
+5th December, 1775_, he brought forward another set of "propositions for
+conciliation with America," where, among other things, he embodied the
+test on slavery, which he put forward as a compromise; and here his
+language belongs, not only to the history of our Revolution, but to the
+history of anti-slavery. While declaring that in his opinion Great
+Britain was "the aggressor in everything," he sought to bring the two
+countries together on a platform of human rights, which he thus
+explained:--
+
+"The act to be proposed to America, _as an auspicious beginning to lay
+the first stone of universal liberty to mankind_, should be what no
+American could hesitate an instant to comply with, namely, that every
+slave in North America should be entitled to his trial by jury in all
+criminal cases. America cannot refuse to accept and enroll such an act
+as this, and thereby to re-establish peace and harmony with the parent
+state. _Let us all be re-united in this, as a foundation to extirpate
+slavery from the face of the earth. Let those who seek justice and
+liberty for themselves give that justice and liberty to their
+fellow-creatures._ With respect to putting a final period to slavery in
+North America, it should seem best that, when this country had led the
+way by the act for jury, each Colony, knowing their own peculiar
+circumstances, should undertake the work in the most practicable way,
+and that they should endeavor to establish some system by which slavery
+should be in a certain term of years abolished. _Let the only contention
+henceforward between Great Britain and America be, which shall exceed
+the other in zeal for establishing the fundamental rights of liberty for
+all mankind._"[74]
+
+The motion was rejected; but among the twenty-three in its favor were
+Fox and Burke. During this same month the unwearied defender of our
+country came forward again, declaring that he could not be "an adviser
+or a well-wisher to any of the vindictive operations against America,
+because the cause is unjust; but at the same time he must be equally
+earnest to secure British interests from destruction," and he thus
+prophesies:--
+
+"The fate of America is cast. You may bruise its heel; but you cannot
+crush its head. It will revive again. _The new world is before them.
+Liberty is theirs._ They have possession of a free government, their
+birthright and inheritance, derived to them from their parent state,
+which the hand of violence cannot wrest from them. If you will cast them
+off, my last wish is to them, May they go and prosper!"
+
+Again, on the 10th May, 1776, he vindicated anew his original
+proposition, and here again he testifies for peace and against slavery.
+
+"For the sake of peace, therefore, I did propose a test of compromise by
+an act of acceptance, on the part of the Colonists, of an act of
+Parliament which should lay _the foundation for the extirpation of the
+horrid custom of slavery in the New World_. My motion was simply an act
+of compromise and reconciliation; and, as far as it was a legislative
+act, it was still to have been applied in correcting the laws of slavery
+in America, which I considered as repugnant to the laws of the realm of
+England and to the fundamentals of our constitution. Such a compromise
+would at the same time have saved the national honor."[75]
+
+All gratitude to the hero who at this early day vowed himself to the
+abolition of slavery. Hartley is among the first of abolitionists, with
+hardly a predecessor except Granville Sharp, and in Parliament
+absolutely the first. Clarkson was at this time fifteen years old,
+Wilberforce sixteen. It was only in 1787 that Clarkson obtained the
+prize for the best Latin essay on the question, "Is it right to make men
+slaves against their will?" It was not until 1791 that Wilberforce moved
+for leave to bring in a bill for the abolition of the slave-trade.
+Surely it is a great honor for one man, that he should have come forward
+in Parliament as an avowed abolitionist, while he was at the same time a
+vindicator of our independence.
+
+Again, on the 15th May, 1777, Hartley pleaded for us, saying:--
+
+"At sea, which has hitherto been our prerogative element, they rise
+against us at a stupendous rate; and if we cannot return to our old
+mutual hospitalities towards each other, a very few years will show us a
+most formidable hostile marine, ready to join hands with any of our
+enemies.... I will venture to prophesy that the principles of a federal
+alliance are the only terms of peace that ever will and that ever ought
+to obtain between the two countries."[76]
+
+On the 15th June, immediately afterwards, the Parliamentary History
+reports briefly:--
+
+"Mr. Hartley went upon the cruelties of slavery, and urged the Board of
+Trade to take some means of mitigating it. He produced a pair of
+handcuffs, which he said was a manufacture they were now going to
+establish."[77]
+
+Thus again the abolitionist reappeared in the vindicator of our
+independence. On the 22d June, 1779, he brought forward another formal
+motion "for reconciliation with America," and, in the course of a
+well-considered speech, denounced the ministers for "headstrong and
+inflexible obstinacy in prosecuting a cruel and destructive American
+war."[78] On the 3d December, 1779, in what is called "a very long
+speech," he returned to his theme, inveighing against ministers for "the
+favorite, though wild, Quixotic, and impracticable measure of coercing
+America."[79] These are only instances.
+
+During this time he had maintained a correspondence with Franklin, which
+appears in the "Diplomatic Correspondence of the Revolution," and all of
+which attests his desire for peace. In 1778 he came to Paris on a
+confidential errand, especially to confer with Franklin. It was on this
+occasion that John Adams met him and judged him severely. In 1783 he was
+appointed a commissioner to sign the definitive Treaty of Peace.
+
+These things belong to history. Though perhaps not generally known, they
+are accessible. I have presented them partly for their intrinsic value
+and their prophetic character, and partly as an introduction to an
+unpublished letter from Hartley which I received some time ago from an
+English friend who has since been called away from important labors. The
+letter concerns _emigration to our country and the payment of the
+national debt_.
+
+The following indorsement will explain its character:--
+
+"_Note._ This is a copy of the material portion of a long letter from D.
+Hartley, the British Commissioner in Paris, to Lord Sydenham, January,
+1785. The original was sold by C. Robinson, of 21 Bond Street, London,
+on the 6th April, 1859, at a sale of Hartley's MSS. and papers chiefly
+relating to the United States of America. It was Hartley's copy, in his
+own hand.
+
+"The lot was No. 82 in the sale catalogue. It was bought by J. R. Smith,
+the London bookseller, for L2 6_s._ 0_d._
+
+"I had a copy made before the sale.
+
+     "_Joseph Parkes._
+
+     "London, 18 July, '59."
+
+The letter is as follows:--
+
+     "MY LORD,--In your Lordship's last letter to me, just before
+     my leaving Paris, you are pleased to say that any
+     information which I might have been able to collect of a
+     nature to promote the mutual and reciprocal interests of
+     Great Britain and the United States of America would be
+     extremely acceptable to his Majesty's government.... Annexed
+     to this letter I have the honor of transmitting to your
+     Lordship some papers and documents which I have received
+     from the American Ministers. One of them (No. 5) is a Map of
+     the Continent of North America, in which the land ceded to
+     them by the late treaty of peace is divided, by parallels of
+     latitude and longitude, into fourteen new States. The whole
+     project, in its full extent, would take many years in its
+     execution, and therefore it must be far beyond the present
+     race of men to say, 'This shall be so.' Nevertheless, _those
+     who have the first care of this New World will probably give
+     it such directions and inherent influences as may guide and
+     control its course and revolutions for ages to come_. But
+     these plans, being beyond the reach of man to predestinate,
+     are likewise beyond the reach of comment or speculation to
+     say what may or may not be possible, or to predict what
+     events may hereafter be produced by time, climates, soils,
+     adjoining nations, or by the unwieldy magnitude of empire,
+     and _the future population of millions superadded to
+     millions_. The sources of the Mississippi may be unknown.
+     The lines of longitude and latitude may be extended into
+     unexplored regions, and the plan of this new creation may be
+     sketched out by a presumptuous compass, if all its
+     intermediate uses and functions were to be suspended until
+     the final and precise accomplishment, without failure or
+     deviation, of this unbounded plan. But this is not the case;
+     the immediate objects in view are limited and precise; they
+     are of prudent thought, and within the scope of human power
+     to measure out and to execute. The principle indeed is
+     indefinite, and will be left to the test of future ages to
+     determine its duration or extent. I take the liberty to
+     suggest thus much, lest we should be led away to suppose
+     that the councils which have produced these plans have had
+     no wiser or more sedate views than merely the amusement of
+     drawing meridians of ambition and high thoughts. There
+     appear to me to be two solid and rational objects in view:
+     the first is, by the sale of lands nearly contiguous to the
+     present States (receiving Congress paper in payment
+     according to its scale of depreciation) _to extinguish the
+     present national debt_, which I understand might be
+     discharged for about twelve millions sterling.
+
+     "If your Lordship will cast your eye upon the map to the
+     south and east of the Ohio and the Mississippi, you will see
+     many millions of acres, which, valued at a single dollar per
+     acre, would discharge many millions sterling. The whole
+     space within the boundaries lately conceded to the United
+     States, together with the unoccupied lands eastward of the
+     great rivers, may perhaps contain near half a million of
+     square miles (in acres, perhaps three hundred millions, more
+     or less). A sixth part of this, the nearest parts being
+     likewise the most valuable, would discharge the whole of
+     their national debt. It is a new proposition to be offered
+     to the numerous common rank of mankind in all the countries
+     of the world, to say that there are in America fertile soils
+     and temperate climates in which an acre of land may be
+     purchased for a trifling consideration, which may be
+     possessed in freedom, together with all the natural and
+     civil rights of mankind. The Congress have already
+     proclaimed this, and that no other qualification or name is
+     necessary but to become settlers, without distinction of
+     countries or persons. The European peasant, who toils for
+     his scanty sustenance in penury, wretchedness, and
+     servitude, will eagerly fly to this asylum for free and
+     industrious labor. The tide of immigration may set strongly
+     outward from Scotland, Ireland, and Canada to this new land
+     of promise. A very great proportion of men in all the
+     countries of the world are without property, and generally
+     are subject to governments of which they have no
+     participation, and over whom they have no control. The
+     Congress have now opened to all the world a sale of landed
+     settlements where the liberty and property of each
+     individual is to be consigned to his own custody and
+     defence. The first settlers, as the seedlings of a new
+     State, will be under a temporary government of their own
+     choice, provided it be similar to some one of the present
+     American governments. But as soon as their numbers shall
+     amount to twenty thousand, their temporary government is to
+     cease, and they are to establish a permanent government for
+     themselves, and whenever such new State shall have of free
+     inhabitants as many as shall be in any one the least
+     numerous of the original States. These are such propositions
+     of free establishments as have never yet been offered to
+     mankind, and cannot fail of producing great effects in the
+     future progress of things. The Congress have arranged their
+     offers in the most inviting and artful terms, and lest
+     individual peasants and laborers should not have the means
+     of removing themselves, they throw out inducements to
+     moneyed adventurers to purchase and to undertake the
+     settlement by commission and agency, without personal
+     residence, by stipulating that the lands of proprietors
+     being absentees shall not be higher taxed than the lands of
+     residents. This will quicken the sale of lands, which is
+     their object. For the explanation of these points, I beg
+     leave to refer your Lordship to the documents annexed, Nos.
+     5 and 6, namely, the Map and Resolutions of Congress, dated
+     April, 1784. There is another circumstance would confirm
+     that it is the intention of Congress to invite moneyed
+     adventurers to make purchases and settlements, which is the
+     precise and mathematical mode of dividing and marking out
+     for sale the lands in each new proposed State. These new
+     States are to be divided by parallel lines running north and
+     south, and by other parallels running east and west. They
+     are to be divided into hundreds of ten geographical miles
+     square, and then again into lots of one square mile. The
+     divisions are laid out as regularly as the squares upon a
+     chessboard, and all to be formed into a Charter of Compact.
+
+     "They may be purchased by purchasers at any distance, and
+     the titles may be verified by registers of such or such
+     numbers, north or south, east or west; all this is explained
+     by the document annexed, No. 7, viz. _The Ordinance for
+     ascertaining the mode of locating and disposing of lands in
+     the Western Territory. This is their plan and means for
+     paying off their national debt, and they seem very intent
+     upon doing it._ I should observe that their debt consists of
+     two parts, namely, domestic and foreign. The sale of lands
+     is to be appropriated to the former.
+
+     "The domestic debt may perhaps be nine or ten millions, and
+     the foreign debt two or three. For payment of the foreign
+     debt it is proposed to lay a tax of five per cent upon all
+     imports until discharged, which, I am informed, has already
+     been agreed to by most of the States, and probably will
+     soon be confirmed by the rest. Upon the whole, it appears
+     that this plan is as prudently conceived and as judiciously
+     arranged, as to the end proposed, as any experienced cabinet
+     of European ministers could have devised or planned any
+     similar project. The second point which appears to me to be
+     deserving of attention, respecting the immense cession of
+     territory to the United States at the late peace, is a point
+     _which will perhaps in a few years become an unparalleled
+     phenomenon in the political world_. As soon as the national
+     debt of the United States shall be discharged by the sale of
+     one portion of those lands, we shall then see the
+     Confederate Republic in a new character, as a proprietor of
+     lands, either for sale or to let upon rents, while other
+     nations may be struggling under debts too enormous to be
+     discharged either by economy or taxation, and while they may
+     be laboring to raise ordinary and necessary supplies by
+     burdensome impositions upon their own persons and
+     properties. _Here will be a nation possessed of a new and
+     unheard of financial organ of stupendous magnitude, and in
+     process of time of unmeasured value, thrown into their lap
+     as a fortuitous superfluity, and almost without being sought
+     for._
+
+     "When such an organ of revenue begins to arise into produce
+     and exertion, what public uses it may be applicable to, or
+     to what abuses and perversions it might be rendered
+     subservient, is far beyond the reach of probable discussion
+     now. Such discussions would only be visionary speculations.
+     However, thus far it is obvious and highly deserving of our
+     attention, that it cannot fail becoming to the American
+     States a most important instrument of national power, the
+     progress and operation of which must hereafter be _a most
+     interesting object of attention to the British American
+     dominions which are in close vicinity to the territories of
+     the United States, and I should hope that these
+     considerations would lead us, inasmuch as we value those
+     parts of our dominions, to encourage conciliatory and
+     amicable correspondence between them and their neighbors_.
+
+     "I have thus, my Lord, endeavored to comply with your
+     Lordship's commands to the best of my power, in stating such
+     information to his Majesty's government as I have been
+     enabled to collect of such nature as may tend to the mutual
+     and reciprocal interest of Great Britain and the United
+     States of America. I do not recollect at present anything
+     further to trouble your Lordship with. If any of the
+     foregoing points should require any further elucidation, I
+     shall always be ready to obey your Lordship's summons, or to
+     give in any other way the best explanations in my power."
+
+
+COUNT D'ARANDA.--1783.
+
+The Count d'Aranda was one of the first of Spanish statesmen and
+diplomatists, and one of the richest subjects of Spain in his day; born
+at Saragossa, 1718, and died 1799. He, too, is one of our prophets.
+Originally a soldier, he became ambassador, governor of a province, and
+prime minister. In the latter post he displayed character as well as
+ability, and was the benefactor of his country. He drove the Jesuits
+from Spain and dared to oppose the Inquisition. He was a philosopher,
+and, like Pope Benedict XIV., corresponded with Voltaire. Such a liberal
+spirit was out of place in Spain. Compelled to resign in 1773, he found
+a retreat at Paris as ambassador, where he came into communication with
+Franklin, Adams, and Jay, and finally signed the Treaty of Paris, by
+which Spain acknowledged our independence. Shortly afterwards he
+returned to Spain and took the place of Florida Blanca as prime
+minister.
+
+Franklin, on meeting him, records, in his letter to the secret committee
+of Congress, that he seemed "well disposed to us."[80] Shortly
+afterwards he had another interview with him, which he thus chronicles
+in his journal:--
+
+"_Saturday, June 29th_ [1782].--We went together to the Spanish
+Ambassador's, who received us with great civility and politeness. He
+spoke with Mr. Jay on the subject of the treaty they were to make
+together.... On our going out, he took pains himself to open the
+folding-doors for us, which is a high compliment here, and told us he
+would return our visit (_rendre son devoir_), and then fix a day with us
+for dining with him."[81]
+
+Adams, in his journal, describes a Sunday dinner at his house, then a
+"new building in the finest situation of Paris,"[82] being a part of the
+incomparable palace, with its columnar front, which is still admired as
+it looks on the Place de la Concorde. Jay also describes a dinner with
+the Count, who was "living in great splendor, with an assortment of
+wines the finest in Europe," and was "the ablest Spaniard he had ever
+known"; showing by his conversation "that his court is in earnest," and
+appearing "frank and candid, as well as sagacious."[83] These
+hospitalities have a peculiar interest, when it is known, as it now is,
+that Count d'Aranda regarded the acknowledgment of our independence with
+"grief and dread." But these sentiments were disguised from our
+ministers.
+
+After signing the Treaty of Paris, by which Spain acknowledged our
+independence, D'Aranda addressed a memoir secretly to King Charles III.,
+in which his opinions on this event are set forth. This prophetic
+document slumbered for a long time in the confidential archives of the
+Spanish crown. Coxe, in his "Memoirs of the House of Bourbon in Spain,"
+which are founded on a rare collection of original documents, makes no
+allusion to it. The memoir appears for the first time in a volume
+published at Paris in 1837, and entitled _Gouvernement de Charles III.,
+Roi d'Espagne, ou Instruction reservee a la Funte d'Etat par ce
+Monarque. Publiee par D. Andre Muriel_. The editor had already
+translated into French the Memoirs of Coxe, and was probably led by this
+labor to make the supplementary collection. An abstract of the memoir of
+D'Aranda appears in one of the historical dissertations of the Mexican
+authority, Alaman, who said of it that it has "a just celebrity, because
+results have made it pass for a prophecy."[84] I translate it now from
+the French of Muriel.
+
+     "_Memoir communicated secretly to the King by his Excellency
+     the Count d'Aranda, on the Independence of the English
+     Colonies, after having signed the Treaty of Paris of 1783._
+
+     "The independence of the English colonies has been
+     acknowledged. This is for me an occasion of grief and dread.
+     France has few possessions in America; but she should have
+     considered that Spain, her intimate ally, has many, and that
+     she is left to-day exposed to terrible shocks. From the
+     beginning, France has acted contrary to her true interests
+     in encouraging and seconding this independence; I have so
+     declared often to the ministers of this nation. What could
+     happen better for France than to see the English and the
+     colonists destroy each other in a party warfare which could
+     only augment her power and favor her interests? The
+     antipathy which reigns between France and England blinded
+     the French Cabinet; it forgot that its interest consisted in
+     remaining a tranquil spectator of this conflict; and, once
+     launched in the arena, it dragged us unhappily, and by
+     virtue of the family compact, into a war entirely contrary
+     to our proper interest.
+
+     "I will not stop here to examine the opinions of some
+     statesmen, our own countrymen as well as foreigners, which I
+     share, on _the difficulty of preserving our power in
+     America. Never have so extensive possessions, placed at a
+     great distance from the metropolis, been long preserved_.
+     To this cause, applicable to all colonies, must be added
+     others peculiar to the Spanish possessions; namely, the
+     difficulty of succoring them in case of need; the vexations
+     to which the unhappy inhabitants have been exposed from some
+     of the governors; the distance of the supreme authority to
+     which they must have recourse for the redress of grievances,
+     which causes years to pass before justice is done to their
+     complaints; the vengeance of the local authorities to which
+     they continue exposed while waiting; the difficulty of
+     knowing the truth at so great a distance; finally, the means
+     which the viceroys and governors, from being Spaniards,
+     cannot fail to have for obtaining favorable judgments in
+     Spain; all these different circumstances will render the
+     inhabitants of America discontented, and make them attempt
+     efforts to obtain independence as soon as they shall have a
+     propitious occasion.
+
+     "Without entering into any of these considerations, I shall
+     confine myself now to that which occupies us from the dread
+     of seeing ourselves exposed to dangers from the new power
+     which we have just recognized in a country where there is no
+     other in condition to arrest its progress. _This Federal
+     Republic is born a pygmy_, so to speak. It required the
+     support and the forces of two powers as great as Spain and
+     France in order to attain independence. _A day will come
+     when it will be a giant, even a colossus formidable in these
+     countries._ It will then forget the benefits which it has
+     received from the two powers, and will dream of nothing but
+     to organize itself. _Liberty of conscience, the facility for
+     establishing a new population on immense lands, as well as
+     the advantages of the new government, will draw thither
+     agriculturists and artisans from all the nations; for men
+     always run after fortune. And in a few years we shall see
+     with true grief the tyrannical existence of this same
+     colossus of which I speak._
+
+     "The first movement of this power, when it has arrived at
+     its aggrandizement, will be to obtain possession of the
+     Floridas, in order to dominate the Gulf of Mexico. After
+     having rendered commerce with New Spain difficult for us, it
+     will aspire to the conquest of this vast empire, which it
+     will not be possible for us to defend against a formidable
+     power established on the same continent, and in its
+     neighborhood. These fears are well founded, Sire; they will
+     be changed into reality in a few years, if, indeed, there
+     are not other disorders in our Americas still more fatal.
+     This observation is justified by what has happened in all
+     ages, and with all nations which have begun to rise. Man is
+     the same everywhere; the difference of climate does not
+     change the nature of our sentiments; he who finds the
+     opportunity of acquiring power and of aggrandizing himself,
+     profits by it always. How then can we expect the Americans
+     to respect the kingdom of New Spain, when they shall have
+     the facility of possessing themselves of this rich and
+     beautiful country? A wise policy counsels us to take
+     precautions against evils which may happen. This thought has
+     occupied my whole mind, since, as Minister Plenipotentiary
+     of your Majesty, and conformably to your royal will and
+     instructions, I signed the Peace of Paris. I have considered
+     this important affair with all the attention of which I am
+     capable, and after much reflection drawn from the knowledge,
+     military as well as political, which I have been able to
+     acquire in my long career, I think that, in order to escape
+     the great losses with which we are threatened, there remains
+     nothing but the means which I am about to have the honor of
+     exhibiting to your Majesty.
+
+     "Your Majesty must relieve yourself of all your possessions
+     on the continent of the two Americas, _preserving only the
+     islands of Cuba and Porto Rico_ in the northern part, and
+     some other convenient one in the southern part, to serve as
+     a seaport or trading-place for Spanish commerce.
+
+     "In order to accomplish this great thought in a manner
+     becoming to Spain, three infantas must be placed in
+     America,--one as king of Mexico, another as king of Peru,
+     and the third as king of the Terra Firma. Your Majesty will
+     take the title of Emperor."
+
+I have sometimes heard this remarkable memoir called apocryphal, but
+without reason, except because its foresight is so remarkable. The
+Mexican historian Alaman treats it as genuine, and, after praising it,
+informs us that the proposition of Count d'Aranda to the king was not
+taken into consideration, which, according to him, was "disastrous to
+all, and especially to the people of America, who in this way would have
+obtained independence, without struggle or anarchy."[85] Meanwhile all
+the American possessions of the Spanish crown, except Cuba and Porto
+Rico, have become independent, as predicted, and the new power, known as
+the United States, which at that time was a "pygmy," has become a
+"colossus."
+
+D'Aranda was not alone in surprise at the course of Spain. The English
+traveller Burnaby, in his edition of 1796, mentions this as one of the
+reasons for the success of the colonists, and declares that he had not
+supposed, originally, "that Spain would join in a plan inevitably
+leading by slow and imperceptible steps to the final loss of all her
+rich possessions in America."[86] This was not an uncommon idea. One of
+John Adams's Dutch correspondents, under date of 14th September, 1780,
+writes he has heard it said twenty times, that, "if America becomes
+free, it will some day give the law to Europe; it will seize our islands
+and our colonies of Guiana; it will seize all the West Indies; it will
+swallow Mexico, even Peru, Chili, and Brazil; it will take from us our
+freighting commerce; it will pay its benefactors with ingratitude."[87]
+Mr. Adams also records in his diary, under date of 14th December, 1779,
+on his landing at Ferrol in Spain, that, according to the report of
+various persons, "the Spanish nation in general have been of opinion
+that the Revolution in America was of bad example to the Spanish
+colonies, and dangerous to the interests of Spain, as the United States,
+should they become ambitious, and be seized with the spirit of conquest,
+might aim at Mexico and Peru."[88] All this is entirely in harmony with
+the memoir of the Count d'Aranda.
+
+
+BURNS.--1788.
+
+From Count d'Aranda to Robert Burns,--from the rich and titled minister,
+faring sumptuously in the best house of Paris, to the poor ploughboy
+poet, struggling in a cottage,--what a contrast! Of the poet I shall say
+nothing, except that he was born 25th January, 1759, and died 21st July,
+1796, in the thirty-seventh year of his age.
+
+There is only a slender thread of Burns to be woven into this web, and
+yet, coming from him, it must not be neglected. In a letter _dated 8th
+November, 1788_, after saying a friendly word for the unfortunate house
+of Stuart, he thus prophetically alludes to our independence:--
+
+"I will not, I cannot, enter into the merits of the cause, but I dare
+say the American Congress, in 1776, will be allowed to be as able and as
+enlightened as the English Convention was in 1688; _and that their
+posterity will celebrate the centenary of their deliverance from us, as
+duly and sincerely as we do ours from the oppressive measures of the
+house of Stuart_."[89]
+
+The year 1788, when these words were written, was a year of
+commemoration, being the hundredth from the famous revolution by which
+the Stuarts were excluded from the throne of England. The "centenary" of
+our independence is not yet completed; but long ago the commemoration
+began. On the coming of that hundredth anniversary, the prophecy of
+Burns will be more than fulfilled.
+
+
+FOX.--1794.
+
+In quoting from Charles James Fox, the statesman, minister, and orator,
+I need add nothing, except that he was born 24th January, 1749, and died
+13th September, 1806, and that he was an early friend of our country.
+
+Many words of his, especially during our Revolution, might be introduced
+here; but I content myself with a single passage of a later date, which,
+besides its expression of good-will, is a prophecy of our power. It will
+be found in a speech on his motion for putting an end to war with France
+in the House of Commons, _30th May, 1794_.
+
+"It was impossible to dissemble that we had a serious dispute with
+America, and although we might be confident that the wisest and best man
+of his age, who presided in the government of that country, would do
+everything that became him to avert a war, it was impossible to foresee
+the issue. America had no fleet, no army; but in case of war she would
+find various means to harass and annoy us. Against her we could not
+strike a blow that would not be as severely felt in London as in
+America, so identified were the two countries by commercial intercourse.
+_To a contest with such an adversary he looked as the greatest possible
+misfortune._ If we commenced another crusade against her, we might
+destroy her trade, and check the progress of her agriculture, but we
+must also equally injure ourselves. Desperate, therefore, indeed, must
+be that war in which each wound inflicted on our enemy would at the same
+time inflict one upon ourselves. He hoped to God that such an event as a
+war with America would not happen."[90]
+
+All good men on both sides of the ocean must join with Fox, who thus
+early deprecated a war between the United States and England, and
+portrayed the consequences. Time, which has enlarged and multiplied the
+relations between the two countries, makes his words more applicable now
+than when he first uttered them.
+
+
+GEORGE CANNING.--1826.
+
+George Canning was a successor of Fox, in the House of Commons, as
+statesman, minister, and orator; he was born 11th April, 1770, and died
+8th August, 1827, in the beautiful villa of the Duke of Devonshire, at
+Chiswick, where Fox had died before. Unlike Fox in sentiment for our
+country, he is nevertheless associated with a leading event of our
+history, and is the author of prophetic words.
+
+The Monroe Doctrine, as it is now familiarly called, proceeded from
+Canning. He was its inventor, promoter, and champion, at least so far as
+it bears against European intervention in American affairs. Earnestly
+engaged in counteracting the designs of the Holy Alliance for the
+restoration of the Spanish colonies to Spain, he sought to enlist the
+United States in the same policy, and when Mr. Rush, who was at the time
+our Minister at London, replied that any interference with European
+politics was contrary to the traditions of our government, he argued
+that, however just such a policy might have been formerly, it was no
+longer applicable,--that the question was new and complicated,--that it
+was "full as much American as European, to say no more,"--that it
+concerned the United States under aspects and interests as immediate and
+commanding as those of any of the states of Europe,--that "they were the
+first power on that continent, and confessedly the leading power"; and
+he then asked, "Was it possible that they could see with indifference
+their fate decided upon by Europe? Had not a new epoch arrived in the
+relative position of the United States toward Europe, which Europe must
+acknowledge? _Were the great political and commercial interests_ which
+hung upon the destinies of the new continent to be canvassed and
+adjusted in this hemisphere, without the co-operation, or even the
+knowledge, of the United States?" With mingled ardor and importunity the
+British Minister pressed his case. At last, after much discussion in the
+Cabinet at Washington, President Monroe, accepting the lead of Mr.
+Canning, put forth his famous declaration, where, after referring to the
+radical difference between the political systems of Europe and America,
+he says, that "we should consider any attempt on their part to extend
+their systems to any portion of this hemisphere as _dangerous to our
+peace and safety_," and that, where governments have been recognized by
+us as independent, "we could not view any interposition for the purpose
+of oppressing them, or controlling in any other manner their destiny, by
+any European power, in any other light than as _a manifestation of an
+unfriendly disposition toward the United States_."[91]
+
+The message of President Monroe was received in England with
+enthusiastic congratulations. It was upon all tongues; the press was
+full of it; the securities of Spanish America rose in the market; the
+agents of Spanish America were happy.[92] Brougham exclaimed, in
+Parliament, that "no event had ever dispersed greater joy, exultation,
+and gratitude over all the freemen of Europe." Mackintosh rejoiced in
+the coincidence of England and the United States, "the two great
+commonwealths, for so he delighted to call them; and he heartily prayed
+that they may be forever united in the cause of justice and
+liberty."[93] The Holy Alliance abandoned their purposes on this
+continent, and the independence of the Spanish colonies in America was
+established. Some time afterwards, on the occasion of assistance to
+Portugal, when Mr. Canning felt called to review and vindicate his
+foreign policy, he assumed the following lofty strain. This was in the
+House of Commons, _12th December, 1826_:--
+
+"It would be disingenuous not to admit that the entry of the French army
+into Spain was, in a certain sense, a disparagement,--an affront to our
+pride,--a blow to the feelings of England. But I deny that, questionable
+or censurable as the act may be, it was one that necessarily called for
+our direct and hostile opposition. Was nothing then to be done? If
+France occupied Spain, was it necessary, in order to avoid the
+consequences of that occupation, that we should blockade Cadiz? No. I
+looked another way. I sought materials for compensation in another
+hemisphere. Contemplating Spain, such as our ancestors had known her, I
+resolved that, if France had Spain, it should not be Spain 'with the
+Indies.' _I called the New World into existence to resist the balance of
+the Old._"[94]
+
+The republics of Spanish America, thus called into independent
+existence, were to redress the balance of the Old World. If they have
+not contributed the weight thus vaunted, the growing power of the United
+States is ample to compensate any deficiencies on this continent. There
+is no balance of power which it cannot redress, if occasion requires.
+
+
+RICHARD COBDEN.--1849.
+
+Coming to our own day, we meet a familiar name, now consecrated by
+death,--Richard Cobden; born 3d June, 1804, and died 2d April, 1865. In
+proportion as truth prevails among men, his character will shine with
+increasing glory until he is recognized as the first Englishman of his
+time. Though thoroughly English, he was not insular, and he served
+mankind as well as England.
+
+His masterly faculties and his real goodness made him a prophet always.
+He saw the future, and strove to hasten its promises. The elevation and
+happiness of the human family were his daily thought. He knew how to
+build as well as to destroy. Through him disabilities upon trade and
+oppressive taxes were overturned; also a new treaty was negotiated with
+France, quickening commerce and intercourse. He was never so truly
+eminent as when bringing his practical sense and enlarged experience to
+commend the cause of Permanent Peace in the world by the establishment
+of a refined system of International Justice, and the disarming of the
+nations. To this great consummation all his later labors tended. I have
+before me a long letter, dated at _London, 7th November, 1849_, where he
+says much on this absorbing question, from which, by an easy transition,
+he passes to speak of the proposed annexation of Canada to the United
+States. As what he says on the latter topic concerns America, and is a
+prophetic voice, I have obtained permission to copy it for this
+collection.
+
+"Race, religion, language, traditions, are becoming bonds of union, and
+not the parchment title-deeds of sovereigns. These instincts maybe
+thwarted for the day, but they are too deeply rooted in nature and in
+usefulness not to prevail in the end. I look with less interest to these
+struggles of races to live apart for what they want to undo, than for
+what they will prevent being done in future. _They will warn rulers that
+henceforth the acquisition of fresh territory, by force of arms, will
+only bring embarrassments and civil war_, instead of that increased
+strength which, in ancient times, when people were passed, like flocks
+of sheep, from one king to another, always accompanied the incorporation
+of new territorial conquests.
+
+"This is the secret of the admitted doctrine, that we shall have no more
+wars of conquest or ambition. In this respect _you_ are differently
+situated, having vast tracts of unpeopled territory to tempt that
+cupidity which, in respect of landed property, always disposes
+individuals and nations, however rich in acres, to desire more. This
+brings me to the subject of Canada, to which you refer in your letters.
+
+"I agree with you, that _nature has decided that Canada and the United
+States must become one, for all purposes of free intercommunication_.
+Whether they also shall be united in the same federal government must
+depend upon the two parties to the union. I can assure you that there
+will be no repetition of the policy of 1776, on our part, to prevent our
+North American colonies from pursuing their interest in their own way.
+If the people of Canada are tolerably unanimous in wishing to sever the
+very slight thread which now binds them to this country, I see no reason
+why, if good faith and ordinary temper be observed, it should not be
+done amicably. I think it would be far more likely to be accomplished
+peaceably, _if the subject of annexation were left as a distinct
+question_. I am quite sure that _we_ should be gainers, to the amount of
+about a million sterling annually, if our North American colonists would
+set up in life for themselves and maintain their own establishments, and
+I see no reason to doubt that they might be also gainers by being thrown
+upon their own resources.
+
+"The less your countrymen mingle in the controversy, the better. It will
+only be an additional obstacle in the path of those in this country who
+see the ultimate necessity of a separation, but who have still some
+ignorance and prejudice to contend against, which, if used as political
+capital by designing politicians, may complicate seriously a very
+difficult piece of statesmanship. It is for you and such as you, who
+love peace, to guide your countrymen aright in this matter. You have
+made the most noble contributions of any modern writer to the cause of
+peace; and as a public man I hope you will exert all your influence to
+induce Americans to hold a dignified attitude and observe a 'masterly
+inactivity' in the controversy which is rapidly advancing to a solution
+between the mother country and her American colonies."
+
+A prudent patriotism among us will appreciate the wisdom of this
+counsel, which is more needed now than when it was written. The
+controversy which Cobden foresaw "between the mother country and her
+American colonies" is yet undetermined. The recent creation of what is
+somewhat grandly called "The Dominion of Canada" marks one stage in its
+progress.
+
+
+LUCAS ALAMAN.--1852.
+
+From Canada I pass to Mexico, and close this list with Lucas Alaman, the
+Mexican statesman and historian, who has left on record a most pathetic
+prophecy with regard to his own country, intensely interesting to us at
+this moment.
+
+Little can be gathered here with regard to this remarkable character.
+His name does not appear in any biographical or bibliographical
+dictionary,--not in the late editions of Michaud or Brunet,--although
+his public life and his literary labors might claim for him a place in
+biography and bibliography. From the title-page of one of his volumes it
+appears that, besides being a member of the Mexican Society of Geography
+and Statistics, and also of the Fine Arts, he was a corresponding member
+of several foreign societies, among which were the Royal Academy of
+History at Madrid, the Royal Institute of Sciences in Bavaria, the
+Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, and the Massachusetts Historical
+Society. It is only in the dearth of authentic information with regard
+to him that I mention these circumstances. It does not appear when he
+died. The Preface to the last volume of his History is dated 18th
+November, 1852; and, as his name is not noticed in Mexican affairs since
+then, it is not unreasonable to suppose that he died shortly after this
+date, although his death first appears in the Transactions of the
+Massachusetts Historical Society for 1861.
+
+Alaman figured in the Mexican Cortes, and also as Minister of Foreign
+Affairs, especially under President Bustamente. In the latter capacity
+he inspired the respect of foreign diplomatists. One of these, who had
+occasion to know him officially, says of him, in answer to my inquiries,
+that he "was the greatest statesman which Mexico has produced since her
+independence." His portrait, as engraved in one of his volumes,
+resembles the late Mr. Clayton of Delaware. He was one of the few
+persons in any country who have been able to unite literature with
+public life, and obtain honors in each department.
+
+His first work was "Dissertations on the History of the Mexican
+Republic," _Disertaciones sobre la Historia de la Republica Megicana_,
+in three volumes, published at Mexico, 1844. In these he considers the
+original conquest by Cortez; its consequences; the conqueror and his
+family; the propagation of the Christian religion in New Spain; the
+formation of the city of Mexico; the history of Spain and the house of
+Bourbon. All these topics are treated somewhat copiously. Then followed
+the "History of Mexico, from the First Movements which prepared its
+Independence in 1808, to the present Epoch," (_Historia de Mejico desde
+los primeros Movimientos que prepararon a su Independencia en el Ano de
+1808 hasta la Epoca presente_,) in five volumes, published at Mexico,
+the first bearing date 1849, and the fifth 1852. From the Preface to the
+first volume, it appears that the author was born in Guanajuato, and
+witnessed there the beginning of the Mexican revolution in 1810, under
+Don Miguel Hidalgo, the curate of Dolores; that he was personally
+acquainted with the curate and with many of those who had a principal
+part in the successes of that time; that he was experienced in public
+affairs, as deputy and as member of the cabinet; and that he had known
+directly the persons and things of which he wrote. His last volume
+embraces the government of Iturbide as Emperor, and also his unfortunate
+death, ending with the establishment of the Mexican Federal Republic in
+1824. The work is careful and well considered. The eminent diplomatist
+already mentioned, who had known the author officially, writes that "no
+one was better acquainted with the history and causes of the incessant
+revolutions in his unfortunate country, and that his work on this
+subject is considered by all respectable men in Mexico a
+_chef-d'oevre_ for purity of sentiments and patriotic convictions."
+
+It is on account of the valedictory words of this History that I have
+introduced the name of Alaman on this occasion. They are as follows:--
+
+"Mexico will be, without doubt, a land of prosperity from its natural
+advantages, _but it will not be so for the races which now inhabit it_.
+As it seemed the destiny of the peoples who established themselves
+therein at different and remote epochs to perish from the face of it,
+leaving hardly a memory of their existence; even as the nation which
+built the edifices of Palenque, and those which we admire in the
+peninsula of Yucatan, was destroyed without its being known what it was
+nor how it disappeared; _even as the Toltecs perished by the hands of
+barbarous tribes coming from the North_, no record of them remaining but
+the pyramids of Cholulu and Teotihuacan; and, finally, even as the
+ancient Mexicans fell beneath the power of the Spaniards, _the country
+gaining infinitely by this change of dominion, but its ancient masters
+being overthrown_;--so likewise its present inhabitants shall be ruined
+and hardly obtain the compassion they have merited, and the Mexican
+nation of our days shall have applied to it what a celebrated Latin poet
+said of one of the most famous personages of Roman history, STAT MAGNI
+NOMINIS UMBRA,[95]--nothing more remains than the shadow of a name
+illustrious in another time.
+
+"May the Almighty, in whose hands is the fate of nations, and who by
+ways hidden from our sight abases or exalts them, according to the
+designs of his providence, be pleased to grant unto ours the protection
+by which he has so often deigned to preserve it from the dangers to
+which it has been exposed."[96]
+
+Most affecting words of prophecy! Considering the character of the
+author as statesman and historian, it could have been only with
+inconceivable anguish that he made this terrible record with regard to
+the land whose child and servant he was. Born and reared in Mexico,
+honored by its important trusts, and writing the history of its
+independence, it was his country, having for him all that makes a
+country dear; and yet thus calmly he consigns the present people to
+oblivion, while another enters into those happy places where nature is
+so bountiful. Thus does a Mexican leave the door open to the foreigner.
+
+
+CONCLUSION.
+
+Such are some of the prophetic voices about America, differing in
+character and importance, but all having one augury, and opening one
+vista, illimitable in extent and vastness. Farewell to the idea of
+Montesquieu, that a republic can exist only in a small territory.
+
+Ancient prophecy foretold another world beyond the ocean, which in the
+mind of Christopher Columbus was nothing less than the Orient with its
+inexhaustible treasures. Then came the succession of prophets, who
+discerned the future of this continent, beginning with that rare genius,
+Sir Thomas Browne, who, in the reign of Charles II., while the
+settlements were in their infancy, predicted their growth in power and
+civilization; and then that rarest character, Bishop Berkeley, who, in
+the reign of George I., while the settlements were still feeble and
+undeveloped, heralded a Western empire as "Time's noblest offspring."
+
+These voices are general. Others more precise followed. Turgot, the
+philosopher and minister, saw in youth, with the vision of genius, that
+all colonies must at their maturity drop from the parent stem, like ripe
+fruit. John Adams, one of the chiefs of our own history, in a youth
+illumined as that of Turgot, saw the predominance of the Colonies in
+population and power followed by the transfer of empire to America; then
+the glory of Independence and its joyous celebration by grateful
+generations; then the triumph of our language; and, finally, the
+establishment of our republican institutions over all North America.
+Then came the Abbe Galiani, the Neapolitan Frenchman, who, writing from
+Naples while our struggle was still undecided, gayly predicts the total
+downfall of Europe, the transmigration to America, and the consummation
+of the greatest revolution of the globe by establishing the reign of
+America over Europe. There is also Adam Smith, the illustrious
+philosopher, who quietly carries the seat of government across the
+Atlantic. Meanwhile Pownall, once a Colonial Governor and then a member
+of Parliament, in successive works of great detail, foreshadows
+independence, naval supremacy, commercial prosperity, immigration from
+the Old World, and a new national life, destined to supersede the
+systems of Europe and arouse the "curses" of royal ministers. Hartley,
+also a member of Parliament, and the British negotiator who signed the
+definitive treaty of Independence, bravely announces in Parliament that
+the New World is before the Colonists, and that liberty is theirs; and
+afterwards, as diplomatist, instructs his government that, through the
+attraction of our public lands, immigration will be quickened beyond
+precedent and the national debt cease to be a burden. D'Aranda, the
+Spanish statesman and diplomatist, predicts to his king that the United
+States, though born a "pygmy," will soon be a "colossus," under whose
+influence Spain will lose all her American possessions except only Cuba
+and Porto Rico. Burns, the truthful poet, looks forward a hundred years,
+and beholds our people rejoicing in the centenary of their independence.
+Fox, the liberal statesman, foresees the increasing might and various
+relations of the United States, so that a blow aimed at them must have a
+rebound as destructive as itself. Canning, the brilliant orator, in a
+much-admired flight of eloquence, discerns the New World, with its
+republics just called into being, redressing the balance of the old.
+Cobden, whose fame will be second only to that of Adam Smith among all
+in this catalogue, calmly predicts the separation of Canada from the
+mother country by peaceable means. Alaman, the Mexican statesman and
+historian, announces that Mexico, which has already known so many
+successive races, will hereafter be ruled by yet another people, who
+will take the place of the present possessors; and with these prophetic
+words, he draws a pall over his country.
+
+All these various voices, of different times and countries, mingle and
+intertwine in representing the great future of our Republic, which from
+small beginnings has already become great. It was at first only a grain
+of mustard-seed, "which is, indeed, the least of all seeds; but when it
+is grown, it is the greatest among herbs and becomes a tree, so that the
+birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof." Better still,
+it was only a little leaven, but it is fast leavening the whole
+continent. Nearly all who have prophesied speak of "America" or "North
+America," and not of any limited circle, colony, or state. It was so, at
+the beginning, with Sir Thomas Browne, and especially with Berkeley.
+During our Revolution the Colonies, struggling for independence, were
+always described by this continental designation. They were already
+"America," or "North America," thus incidentally foreshadowing that
+coming time when the whole continent, with all its various States, shall
+be a Plural Unit, with one Constitution, one Liberty, and one Destiny.
+The theme was also taken up by the poet, and popularized in the often
+quoted lines:--
+
+    "No pent-up Utica contracts your powers,
+    But the whole boundless continent is yours."[97]
+
+Such grandeur may justly excite anxiety rather than pride, for duties
+are in corresponding proportion. There is occasion for humility also, as
+the individual considers his own insignificance in the transcendent
+mass. The tiny polyp, in its unconscious life, builds the everlasting
+coral; each citizen is little more than the industrious insect. The
+result is accomplished by continuous and combined exertion. Millions of
+citizens, working in obedience to nature, can accomplish anything. Of
+course, war is an instrumentality which a true civilization disowns.
+Here some of our prophets have erred. Sir Thomas Browne was so much
+overshadowed by his own age, that his vision was darkened by "great
+armies," and even "hostile and piratical attacks" on Europe. It was
+natural that D'Aranda, schooled in worldly affairs, should imagine the
+new-born power ready to seize the Spanish possessions. Among our own
+countrymen, Jefferson looked to war for the extension of dominion. The
+Floridas, he says on one occasion, "are ours on the first moment of war,
+and until a war they are of no particular necessity to us."[98] Happily
+they were acquired in another way. Then again, while declaring that no
+constitution was ever before so calculated as ours for extensive empire
+and self-government, and insisting upon Canada as a component part, he
+calmly says that "this would be, of course, in the first war."[99]
+Afterwards, while confessing a longing for Cuba, "as the most
+interesting addition that could ever be made to our system of States,"
+he says that "he is sensible this can never be obtained, even with her
+own consent, without war."[100] Thus at each stage is the baptism of
+blood. In much better mood the good Bishop recognized empire as moving
+gently in the pathway of light. All this is much clearer now than when
+he prophesied. It is easy to see that empire obtained by force is
+unrepublican, and offensive to that first principle of our Union
+according to which all just government stands only on the consent of the
+governed. Our country needs no such ally as war. Its destiny is mightier
+than war. Through peace it will have everything. This is our talisman.
+Give us peace, and population will increase beyond all experience;
+resources of all kinds will multiply infinitely; arts will embellish the
+land with immortal beauty; the name of Republic will be exalted, until
+every neighbor, yielding to irresistible attraction, will seek a new
+life in becoming a part of the great whole; and the national example
+will be more puissant than army or navy for the conquest of the world.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] Seneca, Medea, Act II. v. 371.
+
+[2] Humboldt, _Examen critique de la Geographie_, Tome I. pp. 101, 162.
+See also Humboldt, _Kosmos_, Vol. II. pp. 516, 556, 557, 645.
+
+[3] Strabo, Lib. I. p. 65; Lib. II. p. 118.
+
+[4] Pulci, _Morgante Maggiore_, Canto XXV. st. 229, 230.
+
+[5] Prescott, Ferdinand and Isabella, Vol. II. pp. 117, 118.
+
+[6] Leigh Hunt, Stories from the Italian Poets, p. 171.
+
+[7] Browne, Works, Pickering's edition. Vol. IV. p. 81.
+
+[8] Johnson, Life of Sir Thomas Browne.
+
+[9] Browne, Works, Vol. IV. pp. 232, 233.
+
+[10] Browne, Works, Vol. IV. p. 236.
+
+[11] Ibid.
+
+[12] Ibid., p. 231, note.
+
+[13] Berkeley, Works, Vol. I., Life prefixed, p. 53.
+
+[14] Ibid., p. 53.
+
+[15] Berkeley. Works, Vol. II. p. 443.
+
+[16] Ibid., Vol. I., Life prefixed, p. 15.
+
+[17] Grahame, History of the United States, Vol. IV. pp. 136, 448.
+
+[18] Galt, Life of West, Vol. I. pp. 116, 117.
+
+[19] John Adams, Works Vol. IX. pp. 597-599.
+
+[20] Burnaby, Travels, p. 115.
+
+[21] Ibid., Preface, p. 21.
+
+[22] Turgot, _Oeuvres_, Tome II. p. 66. See also Condorcet, _Oeuvres_,
+Tome IV., _Vie de Turgot_; Louis Blanc, _Histoire de la Revolution
+Francaise_, Tome I. pp. 527-533.
+
+[23] John Adams, Works, Vol. I. p. 23. See also Vol. IX. pp. 591, 592.
+
+[24] Ibid., Vol. I. pp. 24, 25.
+
+[25] John Adams, Works, Vol. I. pp. 230, 232.
+
+[26] Ibid., Vol. VII. p. 227.
+
+[27] Ibid., p. 250.
+
+[28] John Adams, Works, Vol. IX. p. 510.
+
+[29] Keith Johnston, Physical Atlas p. 114.
+
+[30] John Adams, Works, Vol. VIII. p. 322.
+
+[31] Ibid. p. 33.
+
+[32] John Adams, Works, Vol. IV. p. 293.
+
+[33] _Biographie Universelle_ of Michaud; also of Didot; Louis Blanc,
+_Histoire de la Revolution Francaise_, Tome I. pp. 390, 545-551.
+
+[34] Galiani, Correspondence, Tome II. p. 221. See also Grimm,
+Correspondence, Tome IX. p. 282.
+
+[35] Galiani, Tome II. p. 203; Grimm, Tome IX. p. 285.
+
+[36] Galiani, Tome II. p. 275.
+
+[37] Galiani, TOME II. p. 275.
+
+[38] Smith, Wealth of Nations, Book IV. cap. 7, part 3.
+
+[39] Hildreth, History of the United States, Vol. II. p. 476.
+
+[40] John Adams, Works, Vol. X. p. 241.
+
+[41] Pownall, Administration of the Colonies, Appendix, P. 7.
+
+[42] Pownall, Administration of the Colonies, Appendix, p. 6.
+
+[43] Ibid., p. 9.
+
+[44] Pownall, Colonies, pp. 9, 10, 164.
+
+[45] Pownall, Administration of the Colonies, p. 165.
+
+[46] Ibid., p. 164.
+
+[47] Parliamentary History, Vol. XIX. pp. 527, 528. See also p. 1137.
+
+[48] Pownall, Memorial to the Sovereigns of Europe, pp. 4, 5.
+
+[49] Ibid., p. 43.
+
+[50] Ibid., p. 56.
+
+[51] Ibid., p. 69.
+
+[52] Pownall. Memorial to the Sovereigns of Europe, pp. 74, 77.
+
+[53] Ibid., p. 82.
+
+[54] Ibid., p. 83.
+
+[55] Ibid., p. 85.
+
+[56] Ibid., p. 87.
+
+[57] Pownall, Memorial to the Sovereigns of Europe, pp. 80, 97.
+
+[58] Ibid., p. 78.
+
+[59] Ibid., p. 93.
+
+[60] Ibid., p. 91.
+
+[61] Franklin, Works, Vol. IX. p. 491.
+
+[62] John Adams, Works, Vol. VIII. p. 179.
+
+[63] Pownall, Memorial to the Sovereigns of America, pp. 5, 6.
+
+[64] Pownall, Memorial to the Sovereigns of Europe, p. 83.
+
+[65] Pownall, Memorial to the Sovereigns of America, p. 55.
+
+[66] John Adams, Works, Vol. IX. p. 517.
+
+[67] Ibid., Vol. III. p. 137.
+
+[68] Ibid., Vol. VIII. p. 54.
+
+[69] Ibid., Vol. III. p. 363.
+
+[70] Ibid., Vol. VII. p. 226.
+
+[71] Parliamentary History, Vol. XVIII. p. 553.
+
+[72] Parliamentary History, Vol. XVIII. p. 556.
+
+[73] Ibid., p. 846.
+
+[74] Parliamentary History, Vol. XVIII. p. 1050.
+
+[75] Parliamentary History, Vol. XVIII. p. 1356.
+
+[76] Parliamentary History, Vol. XIX. pp. 259, 260.
+
+[77] Ibid., p. 315.
+
+[78] Ibid., p. 904.
+
+[79] Ibid., p. 1190.
+
+[80] Franklin, Works, Vol. VIII. p. 194.
+
+[81] Franklin, Works, Vol. IX. p. 350.
+
+[82] John Adams, Works, Vol. III. p. 379.
+
+[83] Jay, Life of John Jay, Vol. I. p. 140; Vol. II. p. 101
+
+[84] Alaman, _Disertaciones sobre la Historia de la Republica Megicana_,
+Tomo III. pp. 351, 352.
+
+[85] Alaman, _Disertaciones_, Tomo III. p. 333.
+
+[86] Burnaby, Travels in North America, Preface, p. 10.
+
+[87] John Adams, Works, Vol. VII p. 484
+
+[88] John Adams, Works, Vol. III. p. 234.
+
+[89] Currie, Life and Works of Burns, p. 266, Grahame, History of United
+States, Vol. IV. p. 462.
+
+[90] Parliamentary History, Vol. XXXI. p. 627.
+
+[91] Annual Message to Congress of 2d December, 1823.
+
+[92] Rush, Memoranda of Residence at London, Vol. II. p. 458: Wheaton,
+Elements of International Law, pp. 97-112, Dana's note.
+
+[93] Stapleton, Life of Canning, Vol. II. pp. 46, 47.
+
+[94] Canning, Speeches, Vol. VI. pp. 108, 109.
+
+[95] In the original text of Alaman this is printed in large capitals,
+and it is explained in a note as said by Lucan in his Pharsalia, with
+regard to Pompey.
+
+[96] Alaman, _Historia_, Tomo V. pp. 954, 955.
+
+[97] By Jonathan M. Sewall, in an epilogue to Addison's tragedy of
+"Cato," written in 1778 for the Bow Street Theatre, Portsmouth, N. H.
+
+[98] Jefferson's Works, Vol. V. p. 444.
+
+[99] Jefferson's Works, Vol. V. p. 444.
+
+[100] Ibid., Vol. VII. p. 316. See also pp. 288, 299.
+
+
+
+
+SUNSHINE AND PETRARCH.
+
+
+Near my summer home there is a little cove or landing by the bay, where
+nothing larger than a boat can ever anchor. I sit above it now, upon the
+steep bank, knee-deep in buttercups, and amid grass so lush and green
+that it seems to ripple and flow instead of waving. Below lies a tiny
+beach, strewn with a few bits of driftwood and some purple shells, and
+so sheltered by projecting walls that its wavelets plash but lightly. A
+little farther out, the sea breaks more roughly over submerged rocks,
+and the waves lift themselves, ere breaking, in an indescribable way, as
+if each gave a glimpse through a translucent window, beyond which all
+ocean's depths might be clearly seen. On the right side of my retreat a
+high wall limits the view, while on the left the crumbling parapet of
+Fort Greene stands out into the foreground, its grassy scarp so relieved
+against the blue water, that each inward-bound schooner seems to sail
+into a cave of grass. In the middle distance is a white lighthouse, and
+beyond lie the round tower of old Fort Louis and the soft low hills of
+Conanicut.
+
+Behind me an oriole chirrups in triumph amid the birch-trees which wave
+around the house of the haunted window; before me a kingfisher pauses
+and waits, and a darting blackbird shows the scarlet on his wings. From
+the mossy and water-worn stones of the fort the bright-eyed rats peep
+out, or, emerging, swim along the beach, with a motion made graceful, as
+is all motion, by contact with the water. Sloops and schooners
+constantly come and go, careening in the wind, and their white sails
+taking, if remote enough, a vague blue mantle from the delicate air.
+Sailboats glide in the distance,--each a mere white wing of canvas,--or
+coming nearer, and glancing suddenly into the cove, are put as suddenly
+on the other tack, and almost in an instant seem far away. There is
+to-day such a live sparkle on the water, such a luminous freshness on
+the grass, that it seems, as is so often the case in early June, as if
+all history were a dream, and the whole earth were but the creation of a
+summer's day.
+
+If Petrarch still knows and feels the consummate beauty of these earthly
+things, it may seem to him some repayment for the sorrows of a lifetime
+that one reader, after all this lapse of years, should choose his
+sonnets to match this grass, these blossoms, and the soft lapse of these
+blue waves. Yet any longer or more continuous poem would be out of place
+to-day. I fancy that this narrow cove prescribes the proper limits of a
+sonnet; and when I count the lines of ripple within yonder projecting
+wall, there proves to be room for just fourteen. Nature meets our whims
+with such little fitnesses. The words which build these delicate
+structures are as soft and fine and close-textured as the sands upon
+this tiny beach, and their monotone, if such it be, is the monotone of
+the neighboring ocean. Is it not possible, by bringing such a book into
+the open air, to separate it from the grimness of commentators, and
+bring it back to life and light and Italy? The beautiful earth is the
+same as when this poetry and passion were new; there is the same
+sunlight, the same blue water and green grass; yonder pleasure-boat
+might bear, for aught we know, the friends and lovers of five centuries
+ago; Petrarch and Laura might be there, with Boccaccio and Fiammetta as
+comrades, and with Chaucer as their stranger guest. It bears, at any
+rate, if I know its voyagers, eyes as lustrous, voices as sweet. With
+the world thus young, beauty eternal, fancy free, why should these
+delicious Italian pages exist but to be tortured into grammatical
+examples? Is there no reward to be imagined for a delightful book that
+can match Browning's fantastic burial of a tedious one? When it has
+sufficiently basked in sunshine, and been cooled in pure salt air, when
+it has bathed in heaped clover, and been scented, page by page, with
+melilot, cannot its beauty once more blossom, and its buried loves
+revive?
+
+Emboldened by such influences, at least let me translate a sonnet, and
+see if anything is left after the sweet Italian syllables are gone.
+Before this continent was discovered, before English literature existed,
+when Chaucer was a child, these words were written. Yet they are to-day
+as fresh and perfect as these laburnum-blossoms that droop above my
+head. And as the variable and uncertain air comes freighted with
+clover-scent from yonder field, so floats through these long centuries,
+a breath of fragrance, the memory of Laura.
+
+
+SONNET 129.
+
+"_Lieti fiori e felici._"
+
+      O joyous, blossoming, ever-blessed flowers!
+    'Mid which my queen her gracious footstep sets;
+    O plain, that keep'st her words for amulets
+    And hold'st her memory in thy leafy bowers!
+      O trees, with earliest green of spring-time hours,
+    And spring-time's pale and tender violets!
+    O grove so dark, the proud sun only lets
+    His blithe rays gild the outskirts of your towers!
+      O pleasant country-side! O purest stream,
+    That mirrorest her sweet face, her eyes so clear,
+    And of their living light can catch the beam!
+      I envy you her haunts so close and dear.
+    There is no rock so senseless but I deem
+    It burns with passion that to mine is near.
+
+Goethe compared translators to carriers, who convey good wine to market,
+though it gets unaccountably watered by the way. The more one praises a
+poem, the more absurd becomes one's position, perhaps, in trying to
+translate it. If it is so perfect,--is the natural inquiry,--why not let
+it alone? It is a doubtful blessing to the human race, that the instinct
+of translation still prevails, stronger than reason; and after one has
+once yielded to it, then each untranslated favorite is like the trees
+round a backwoodsman's clearing, each of which stands, a silent
+defiance, until he has cut it down. Let us try the axe again. This is to
+Laura singing.
+
+
+SONNET 134.
+
+"_Quando Amor i begli occhi a terra, inclina._"
+
+      When Love doth those sweet eyes to earth incline,
+    And weaves those wandering notes into a sigh
+    Soft as his touch, and leads a minstrelsy
+    Clear-voiced and pure, angelic and divine,
+      He makes sweet havoc in this heart of mine,
+    And to my thoughts brings transformation high,
+    So that I say, "My time has come to die,
+    If fate so blest a death for me design."
+      But to my soul thus steeped in joy the sound
+    Brings such a wish to keep that present heaven,
+    It holds my spirit back to earth as well.
+      And thus I live; and thus is loosed and wound
+    The thread of life which unto me was given
+    By this sole Siren who with us doth dwell.
+
+As I look across the bay, there is seen resting over all the hills, and
+even upon every distant sail, an enchanted veil of palest blue, that
+seems woven out of the very souls of happy days,--a bridal veil, with
+which the sunshine weds this soft landscape in summer. Such and so
+indescribable is the atmospheric film that hangs over these poems of
+Petrarch's; there is a delicate haze about the words, that vanishes when
+you touch them, and reappears as you recede. How it clings, for
+instance, around this sonnet!
+
+
+SONNET 191.
+
+"_Aura che quelle chiome._"
+
+      Sweet air, that circlest round those radiant tresses,
+    And floatest mingled with them, fold on fold,
+    Deliciously, and scatterest that fine gold,
+    Then twinest it again, my heart's dear jesses,
+      Thou lingerest on those eyes, whose beauty presses
+    Stings in my heart that all its life exhaust,
+    Till I go wandering round my treasure lost,
+    Like some scared creature whom the night distresses.
+      I seem to find her now, and now perceive
+    How far away she is; now rise, now fall;
+    Now what I wish, now what is true, believe.
+      O happy air! since joys enrich thee all,
+    Rest thee; and thou, O stream too bright to grieve!
+    Why can I not float with thee at thy call?
+
+The airiest and most fugitive among Petrarch's love-poems, so far as I
+know,--showing least of that desperate earnestness which he has somehow
+imparted to almost all,--is this little ode or madrigal. It is
+interesting to see, from this, that he could be almost conventional and
+courtly in moments when he held Laura farthest aloof; and when it is
+compared with the depths of solemn emotion in his later sonnets, it
+seems like the soft glistening of young birch-leaves against a
+background of pines.
+
+
+CANZONE XXIII.
+
+"_Nova angeletta sovra l'ale accorta._"
+
+    A new-born angel, with her wings extended,
+    Came floating from the skies to this fair shore,
+    Where, fate-controlled, I wandered with my sorrows.
+    She saw me there, alone and unbefriended.
+    She wove a silken net, and threw it o'er
+    The turf, whose greenness all the pathway borrows.
+    Then was I captured; nor could fears arise,
+    Such sweet seduction glimmered from her eyes.
+
+The following, on the other hand, seems to me one of the Shakespearian
+sonnets; the successive phrases set sail, one by one, like a yacht
+squadron; each spreads its graceful wings and glides away. It is hard to
+handle this white canvas without soiling. Macgregor, in the only version
+of this sonnet which I have seen, abandons all attempt at rhyme; but to
+follow the strict order of the original in this respect is a part of the
+pleasant problem which one cannot bear to leave out. And there seems a
+kind of deity who presides over this union of languages, and who
+sometimes silently lays the words in order, after all one's own poor
+attempts have failed.
+
+
+SONNET 128.
+
+"_O passi sparsi; o pensier vaghi e pronti._"
+
+      O wandering steps! O vague and busy dreams!
+    O changeless memory! O fierce desire!
+    O passion strong! heart weak with its own fire;
+    O eyes of mine! not eyes, but living streams;
+      O laurel boughs! whose lovely garland seems
+    The sole reward that glory's deeds require;
+    O haunted life! delusion sweet and dire,
+    That all my days from slothful rest redeems;
+      O beauteous face! where Love has treasured well
+    His whip and spur, the sluggish heart to move
+    At his least will; nor can it find relief.
+      O souls of love and passion! if ye dwell
+    Yet on this earth, and ye, great Shades of Love!
+    Linger, and see my passion and my grief.
+
+Yonder flies a kingfisher, and pauses, fluttering like a butterfly in
+the air, then dives toward a fish, and, failing, perches on the
+projecting wall. Doves from neighboring dove-cotes alight on the parapet
+of the fort, fearless of the quiet cattle who find there a breezy
+pasture. These doves, in taking flight, do not rise from the ground at
+once, but, edging themselves closer to the brink, with a caution almost
+ludicrous in such airy things, trust themselves upon the breeze with a
+shy little hop, and at the next moment are securely on the wing.
+
+How the abundant sunlight inundates everything! The great clumps of
+grass and clover are imbedded in it to the roots; it flows in among
+their stalks, like water; the lilac-bushes bask in it eagerly; the
+topmost leaves of the birches are burnished. A vessel sails by with
+plash and roar, and all the white spray along her keel is sparkling with
+sunlight. Yet there is sorrow in the world, and it reached Petrarch even
+before Laura died,--when it reached her. This exquisite sonnet shows
+it:--
+
+
+SONNET 123.
+
+"_I' vidi in terra angelici costumi._"
+
+      I once beheld on earth celestial graces,
+    And heavenly beauties scarce to mortals known,
+    Whose memory lends nor joy nor grief alone,
+    But all things else bewilders and effaces.
+      I saw how tears had left their weary traces
+    Within those eyes that once like sunbeams shone,
+    I heard those lips breathe low and plaintive moan,
+    Whose spell might once have taught the hills their places.
+      Love, wisdom, courage, tenderness, and truth,
+    Made in their mourning strains more high and dear
+    Than ever, wove sweet sounds for mortal ear;
+      And Heaven seemed listening in such saddest ruth
+    The very leaves upon the boughs to soothe,
+    Such passionate sweetness filled the atmosphere.
+
+These sonnets are in Petrarch's earlier manner; but the death of Laura
+brought a change. Look at yonder schooner coming down the bay, straight
+toward us; she is hauled close to the wind, her jib is white in the
+sunlight, her larger sails are touched with the same snowy lustre, and
+all the swelling canvas is rounded into such lines of beauty as nothing
+else in the world--not even the perfect outlines of the human form--can
+give. Now she comes up into the wind, and goes about with a strong
+flapping of the sails, which smites our ears at a half-mile's distance;
+and she then glides off on the other tack, showing us the shadowed side
+of her sails, until she reaches the distant zone of haze. So change the
+sonnets after Laura's death, growing shadowy as they recede, until the
+very last seems to merge itself in the blue distance.
+
+
+SONNET 251.
+
+"_Gli occhi di ch' io parlai._"
+
+      Those eyes, 'neath which my passionate rapture rose,
+    The arms, hands, feet, the beauty that erewhile
+    Could my own soul from its own self beguile,
+    And in a separate world of dreams enclose,
+      The hair's bright tresses, full of golden glows,
+    And the soft lightning of the angelic smile
+    Which changed this earth to some celestial isle,
+    Are now but dust, poor dust, that nothing knows.
+      And yet I live! Myself I grieve and scorn,
+    Left dark without the light I loved in vain,
+    Adrift in tempest on a bark forlorn;
+      Dead is the source of all my amorous strain,
+    Dry is the channel of my thoughts outworn,
+    And my sad harp can sound but notes of pain.
+
+"And yet I live!" What immeasurable distances of time and thought are
+implied in the self-recovery of those words. Shakespeare might have
+taken from them his "Since Cleopatra died,"--the only passage in
+literature which has in it the same wide spaces of emotion. There is a
+vastness of transition in each, which, if recited by Fanny Kemble, would
+take one's breath away.
+
+The next sonnet seems to me the most stately and concentrated of the
+whole volume. It is the sublimity of all hopelessness, destined to
+deliverance, but unable to foresee it.
+
+
+SONNET 253.
+
+"_Soleasi nel mio cor._"
+
+      She ruled in beauty o'er this heart of mine,
+    A noble lady in a humble home,
+    And now her time for heavenly bliss has come,
+    'Tis I am mortal proved, and she divine.
+      The soul that all its blessings must resign,
+    And love whose light no more on earth finds room
+    Might rend the rocks with pity for their doom,
+    Yet none their sorrows can in words enshrine;
+      They weep within my heart; and ears are deaf
+    Save mine alone, and I am crushed with care,
+    And naught remains to me save mournful breath.
+      Assuredly but dust and shade we are,
+    Assuredly desire is blind and brief,
+    Assuredly its hope but ends in death.
+
+In the next he has risen to that dream which is more than earth's
+realities.
+
+
+Sonnet 261
+
+"_Levommi il mio pensiero._"
+
+      Dreams bore my fancy to that region where
+    She dwells whom here I seek, but cannot see.
+    'Mid those who in the loftiest heaven be
+    I looked on her, less haughty and more fair.
+      She touched my hand, she said "Within this sphere,
+    If hope deceive not, thou shall dwell with me:
+    I filled thy life with war's wild agony;
+    Mine own day closed ere evening could appear.
+      My bliss no human brain can understand;
+    I wait for thee alone, and that fair veil
+    Of beauty thou dost love shall wear again."
+      Why was she silent then, why dropped my hand
+    Ere those delicious tones could quite avail
+    To bid my mortal soul in heaven remain?
+
+In the next sonnet visions multiply upon visions. Would that one could
+transfer into English the delicious way in which the sweet Italian
+rhymes recur and surround and seem to embrace each other, and are woven
+and unwoven and interwoven, like the heavenly hosts that gathered around
+Laura!
+
+
+SONNET 302.
+
+"_Cli angeli cletti._"
+
+      The holy angels and the spirits blest,
+    Celestial bands, upon that day serene
+    When first my love went by in heavenly mien,
+    Came thronging, wondering at the gracious guest.
+      "What light is here, in what new beauty drest?"
+    They said among themselves; "for none has seen
+    Within this age come wandering such a queen
+    From darkened earth into immortal rest."
+      And she, contented with her new-found bliss,
+    Ranks with the purest in that upper sphere,
+    Yet ever and anon looks back on this,
+      To watch for me, as if for me she stayed.
+    So strive my thoughts, lest that high path I miss.
+    I hear her call, and must not be delayed.
+
+These odes and sonnets are all but parts of one vast symphony, leading
+us through a passion strengthened by years and only purified by death,
+until at last the graceful lay becomes an anthem and a _Nunc dimittis_.
+In the closing sonnets he withdraws from the world, and they seem like a
+voice from a cloister, growing more and move solemn till the door is
+closed. This is one of the very last:--
+
+
+SONNET 309.
+
+"_Dicemi spesso il mio fidato speglio._"
+
+      Oft by my faithful mirror I am told,
+    And by my mind outworn and altered brow,
+    My earthly powers impaired and weakened now,--
+    "Deceive thyself no more, for thou art old!"
+      Who strives with Nature's laws is over-bold,
+    And Time to his commandments bids us bow.
+    Like fire which waves have quenched, I calmly vow
+    In life's long dream no more my sense to fold.
+      And while I think, our swift existence flies,
+    And none can live again earth's brief career,--
+    Then in my deepest heart the voice replies
+      Of one who now has left this mortal sphere,
+    But walked alone through earthly destinies,
+    And of all women is to fame most dear.
+
+How true this was! Who can wonder that women prize beauty, and are
+intoxicated by their own fascinations, when these fragile gifts are yet
+strong enough to outlast all the memories of statesmanship and war? Next
+to the immortality of genius is that which genius may confer upon the
+object of its love. Laura, while she lived, was simply one of a hundred
+or a thousand beautiful and gracious Italian women; she had her little
+loves and aversions, joys and griefs; she cared dutifully for her
+household, and embroidered the veil which Petrarch loved; her memory
+appeared as fleeting and unsubstantial as that woven tissue. After five
+centuries we find that no armor of that iron age was so enduring. The
+kings whom she honored, the popes whom she revered, are dust, and their
+memory is dust, while literature is still fragrant with her name. An
+impression which has endured so long is ineffaceable; it is an earthly
+immortality.
+
+"Time is the chariot of all ages to carry men away, and beauty cannot
+bribe this charioteer." Thus wrote Petrarch in his Latin essays; but his
+love had access to a treasury more potent, and for Laura the chariot
+stayed.
+
+
+
+
+CANADIAN WOODS AND WATERS.
+
+
+The monotony so characteristic generally of the woodlands of Upper
+Canada is mitigated, to a great extent, by the pleasant waters with
+which many of the tracts of that country are intersected. Away back from
+the great lakes, chains of smaller lakes glisten in the bosom of the
+immense forest. Rivers take their course from these, narrow at first,
+but noisy, rushing along by sparse settlements and lonely Indian camps
+to their junction with the big lakes, where mills, and factories, and
+ships, and human dross in general, soon pollute with unclean contact
+their fair waters. Many of the early settlers of these regions were of a
+stamp far different from that of the rough pioneers by whom new
+settlements have generally been opened in the United States and their
+territories. Here and there throughout Upper Canada there are
+communities--some of them progressive, if not actually flourishing,
+others yet in a backward state--which were founded by men whose early
+lives had been passed amid the highest refinements of Old World
+civilization. Among these, retired officers of the army and navy were
+very frequently to be met with. They were generally married men, with
+incomes wretchedly inadequate to the support of themselves and their
+families on the "European plan." Land in Canada was to be acquired in
+fee for a mere song, and it was something for the cadet of a landed
+family to become the squire of a thousand acres upon some remote
+Canadian lake or river, even although six hundred of his acres might be
+nothing but cedar swamp. The native British keenness for the pursuit of
+wild creatures had much to do with the choice of locality by the
+adventurers, who generally set up their log-houses in districts where
+game and fish were to be had in abundance. Communication by road, until
+within the last twenty years or so, was so imperfect in many of these
+tracts, that but little intercourse existed between one settlement and
+another. On this account agricultural operations were very limited,
+being confined, generally, to the raising of sufficient grain for family
+use. In these communities somebody was always found to build a mill; and
+as the gentleman settlers themselves were not above doing carpenter and
+blacksmith work, no matter how bunglingly, things were made to look
+shapely enough in the course of time, and thus were founded villages,
+some of which have since expanded into towns of considerable size and
+local importance.
+
+Strangely grotesque, with their half-civilization, were these places in
+their earlier days. Characters which would not have been out of place at
+a _bal masque_ were frequently to be met with in all of them. Blanket
+coats in winter, adorned with beaded epaulets, scarlet woollen stockings
+pulled up over the legs to fend off the snow, and Indian moccasons, were
+considered quite the proper thing. Once, as I was travelling by sleigh
+in a comparatively settled part of the country, a young man, who was
+driving rapidly in the opposite direction, pulled up to greet my
+companion, with whom he was acquainted. He was coming to the town, from
+his residence in the heart of the woods, thirty or forty miles from
+where we met him, and certainly I was astonished--being then newly
+arrived in the country--at the extreme slenderness of the outfit of one
+who was bound to do the "man about town" for a few days, and that in
+midwinter too. He was in his shirt-sleeves, having no coat with him
+whatever. His black velvet waistcoat, now foxy and threadbare with much
+use, might once have been a _chef-d'oevre_ from the hand of some
+London tailor whose gossip was of Guardsmen and their measurement. The
+rest of his costume consisted of a pair of buckskin breeches fastened at
+the knee with pearl buttons, heavy woollen stockings, and pegged
+boots,--the latter indebted for their lustre more to the rind of pork
+than to the blacking-brush. Singularly incongruous with this get-up was
+the kid-gloved hand with which he removed the black pipe from his mouth;
+nor was his straw hat exactly the sort of head-dress that one might have
+expected to meet with during a Canadian sleigh-ride. But it was only
+when he rose to his feet on the little rough sleigh, three feet by two,
+on which he had been sitting, that the full splendor of his wardrobe
+became revealed to us; for then he threw around his shoulders a
+magnificent cloak, made, I think, of some kind of Siberian fur, and
+which, folded up, had served him for a cushion on his journey. I
+frequently afterwards met this exquisite of the backwoods, wrapped in
+that showy mantle, walking in the streets of the little wooden town,
+where his appearance, so strange to me, did not seem to excite any
+particular comment. In those parts, men would often come into the towns,
+in winter, dressed in blanket coats, with the rather inappropriate
+accompaniment of white duck trousers and straw hats. Residents did not
+appear to see anything eccentric in this; but in the mind of a stranger
+a sense of the ludicrous was naturally excited by it.
+
+Contrasts were ever to be observed among the striking features of these
+queer settlements. In one very remote township of which I have memories,
+there dwelt a family whose eccentricities of costume and manner of life
+entitle them to some brief record here. A retired officer of the army,
+with a large troop of well-grown sons and daughters, had built himself a
+log-house in this dreary wilderness, the roads leading to which were
+impassable for four months in the year. The girls of this family were of
+a beauty that may truthfully be described as magnificent. No painter
+that I know of ever gave to the world a Diana on canvas at all
+comparable in beauty of face and form to the eldest of these. The
+family, although English, had been brought up, I think, in the Greek
+Archipelago, with the language and dialects of which they were
+familiar. At home these young wood-nymphs always went barefooted in
+summer. Their costume, whether in the woods or when they visited the
+more advanced settlements, was of the Oriental style. Ahead of Mrs.
+Bloomer, whose note of reform had not yet ruffled the sweeping skirts of
+the period, they walked fearlessly abroad in loose trousers, fastened at
+the ankle. Close-fitting bodices, with narrow skirts falling a little
+below the knee, completed their costume, and the luxuriant masses of
+their golden-brown hair fell in natural curls to their shoulders from
+beneath their wide-brimmed straw hats. It was strange thus to find a
+leaf from "Eothen" amid the black-ash swamps and rickety "corduroy"
+causeways of one of the dreariest districts of Canada.
+
+In the social life of these places, where rough hospitality is often
+curiously mingled with a strain of former luxury, incidents of a
+humorous character will sometimes attract the notice of the visitor. I
+remember being told by an acquaintance about a visit once made by him to
+the family of an English gentleman, who had settled upon a small
+clearing in the depth of the forest. The young men of the family were
+engaged in burning brushwood when my informant arrived, and he, anxious
+to win their approbation, set to work with a will, and toiled with them
+until the distant horn announced that dinner-time had arrived. Ablution
+became necessary before the visitor, who by this time was as black as a
+charcoal-burner, could venture to greet the ladies of the household, and
+pails of water were accordingly furnished hard by the gable end of the
+house. There was no towel visible, however, and the visitor, with his
+hands and face dripping from recent immersion, was pained to see that
+some difficulty had arisen out of his request for one. Then, with sudden
+impulse, one of the young men went away, and returned in a minute or two
+with a long and richly embroidered scarf, the golden web interwoven with
+which, as well as the deep lace border, stamped it as a tissue of price.
+Assured by the young men that this brocade was inured to duty as the
+regular family towel, the visitor made use of it as such. The texture of
+it, as he told me, was not pleasant to the face, and it abraded a good
+deal of the skin from his nose. It went the rounds after he had used it,
+and the party adjourned to the dinner-table, where some remark was made
+as to the non-appearance of the daughter of the house. Presently that
+young lady entered, however, and took her place at the dinner-table. She
+had evidently bestowed some extra care upon her toilet in honor of the
+guest from beyond the "timber limits"; but what chiefly attracted his
+notice in her costume was a curious, gold-embroidered scarf, with deep
+lace edges, the folds of which, although artfully cast, revealed here
+and there the smudges of soiled hands. Indeed, my informant--who was a
+little given to exaggeration, perhaps--used to aver that he recognized
+upon the mystic garment, just at the point where it was crossed upon the
+bosom of the lovely sylvan damsel, a portion of the cuticle of his own
+Roman nose.
+
+In another of these settlements,--it was remote, then, though now it has
+a great line of railway running through it,--things used to be carried
+to an extreme just the opposite of that above noticed. It was a little
+English colony, several of the members of which were persons of
+tolerably good means, with influential family connections at home.
+Engaged, mostly, in agricultural pursuits, they could chop down trees,
+and drive oxen, and plough, and mow, as well as any lout in the country
+round, and some of them built their own houses and made furniture for
+them. They had been swells, though, before they became "hawbucks," and
+they brought some of their standard manners and customs with them. It
+was considered proper in this community to dine at the fashionable hour
+of six, when every person was expected to be precise in the matter of
+costume,--the ladies _decolletees_ to the admissible extent, and the
+gentlemen in black dress-coats and white "chokers." The necessity of
+supporting the position suggested by this attempt at style, though,
+induced extravagance. Many of the swells became bankrupt. Their farms
+passed into more homespun hands. Their black dress-coats have long since
+become rusty and out of the mode, and the mortiferous whiskey of the
+country now tantalizes such of them as it has not killed with melancholy
+remembrances of the Burgundy that was.
+
+The simple faith and primitive arrangements that existed in some of
+these clearings before the advent of the iron horse were peculiarities
+that never failed to impress visitors from far-off cities and
+settlements of older growth. Bolts and bars were the last things that a
+settler would think about, when fitting up his house. A man would leave
+his rifle in the canoe, upon the river's bank, for days together,
+without the least misgiving as to its being spirited away. Rust would
+not touch it, the climate of Western Canada being singularly free from
+moisture; and the roving Indians who traversed these woods were
+dependent in a great measure upon the white man, and had learned to look
+upon his property with respect. Looking over one of my note-books, I
+recall the picture of a deserted old shanty that stood in a meadow by
+the margin of a bright and swift river. The gentleman who had formerly
+occupied this weather-stained hut had built himself a larger and more
+ambitious mansion upon the opposite bank of the stream. For some time
+after he had moved into this, the interior of the house remained in an
+unfinished state, and he had no accommodation for his books. Of these he
+had a choice collection, and they were left in their large wooden cases,
+for two years or so, on the upper floor of the old shanty, the doors of
+which had already parted from their hinges, and the windows yielded to
+the autumnal blasts. To this most curious of circulating libraries the
+owner accorded free access to the few neighbors who occupied the
+clearings around. Many a time I have swung myself up by the crazy ladder
+that led to the attic where the books were; and in summer I would often
+sit there for hours, reading Cooper's novels, which had then an
+attraction enhanced by the circumstances and place. In winter I would
+take books away. If it was the season for wild ducks I would have a gun
+beside me, to get a shot at them from the attic window as they flew
+along the course of the stream. So lonely was the hut, that the mink
+would often haunt it in search of such small plunder as attracts his
+kind; and once I encountered upon the threshold of it a milk-snake about
+five feet long, which disappeared through the chinks of the flooring
+before I could administer to it the _coup de grace_ by which man feels
+it to be his stern duty to cut short the serpentine career.
+
+There is a wonderful fascination in these grand old Canadian woods for
+sportsmen, whose wildest experiences of their craft, previous to their
+essay in it there, had been associated with stalking deer upon Highland
+mountains, or shooting grouse upon the moors. The solitude of woods is
+of a more impressive character, I think, than that of bare
+mountains,--in countries, at least, where one may expect to find traces
+of civilized man. From mountain peaks there is a wide range of view, in
+which some points of guidance to the traveller are usually visible.
+Wandering in the woods is much like groping one's way in the dark; and I
+know by experience how easy it is for an explorer not well accustomed to
+them to keep moving in circles, until, after hours of what he imagined
+to be a straight course, he finds himself back again at some wood-mark
+long since passed, instead of the place for which he was bound. There is
+something decidedly sensational in this, especially in winter, as
+anybody who has ever experienced it will allow. The sounds of the forest
+are impressive, too, while its stillness, at times almost absolute, is
+painful. In the mystery of its voices lies a good deal of the
+fascination of the wood. In the clear, frosty air of winter the cry of
+the great black woodpecker rings out like an elfin laugh, as he wings
+his curved way through the gray stems in quest of some skeleton tree.
+Explosions caused by the frost are heard among the branches of the
+trees. They are sometimes as loud as pistol-shots, and--as I can aver
+from my own observation--the deer, after they have become accustomed to
+them, will not bound away at the crack of a rifle, and the hunter will
+often get several shots at one herd, by keeping close in his ambush. But
+the slightest sound of a twig beneath his moccason, or the tinkle of the
+powder-flask against the muzzle of the rifle as he reloads, will send
+the herd crashing and flashing away. In the stillness of a summer
+evening there is something very weird in the cry of the loon, or great
+Northern diver, as it comes vibrating over the surface of a woodland
+lake. Where the woods are very thick and dark and lonely, the hooting of
+owls is commonly to be heard in the daytime. Once only--it was in early
+summer--I heard the wild turkey-cock utter his vehement call. I made my
+way in the direction whence the sound came, until I was stopped by a
+river, on the farther side of which I saw a magnificent "gobbler,"
+strutting with drooped wings and expanded tail along the strip of
+greensward that lay between the water and the woods, while he issued, in
+very loud and imperious tones, his orders for the ladies of his seraglio
+to attend. This action, in the case of the domestic turkey, is always
+provocative of ridicule; but it was absolutely grand and striking as
+displayed by the large-feathered free bird, parading to and fro there
+upon the river-bank. I watched him for a while, expecting to see the
+hen-birds come, but they did not; and so the noble Mormon of the
+thickets furled his tail at last, and, tucking up his wings, strode
+moodily into the bush, as if to search for the truants.
+
+To hunters who are accustomed to glide through the forest observantly
+and with caution, most interesting little scenes of animal life are
+sometimes revealed. One day, in the snow-time, as I was roaming the
+woods close by a Canadian river, after wild-turkeys, I noticed a flock
+of mergansers,--thereabouts usually called saw-billed ducks, or
+sheldrakes,--swimming in a small air-hole that had remained open in the
+frozen surface of the river. There were four or five ducks, and the pool
+might have been about ten feet by six in size. I watched them for some
+time, as they kept stemming the current, but without any intention of
+wasting ammunition upon them. My attention was attracted elsewhere for a
+moment, and I was surprised, on again looking towards them, to see a
+splendid red fox sitting at the upper edge of the little pool, where he
+could not have been more than a couple of yards from the nearest of the
+ducks. Presently he jumped up, and, running to the other end of the
+pool, stretched out a paw, as if to seize one of them; but they were too
+quick for him, placing themselves well beyond his reach with a few
+strokes of their paddles. He was far too cunning to plunge into the
+water and risk being carried under the ice by the current; and the ducks
+appeared to be quite aware of this, for they did not make any attempt to
+rise, nor indeed did they seem to be at all uneasy at the proximity of
+their natural enemy. It was exceedingly interesting, not to say amusing,
+to watch the many stratagems of the fox to get at them. Sometimes he
+would lie down upon the snow and lash about him with his bushy tail,
+whimpering in a querulous and imbecile manner at being thus outwitted by
+simple water-fowl. Then a new idea would take possession of him, and he
+would start up and run round and round the pool at a tremendous pace,
+probably to try and get a chance at the ducks by flurrying them; but
+they knew too much for Master Reynard, and always edged away from him
+just at the right moment. Tired at last of watching these manoeuvres,
+I "drew a bead" upon the fox; but my hands were numbed from keeping
+still so long, so that, instead of hitting him in a vital spot, as I had
+intended, I only broke one of his forelegs, and away he went into the
+woods on three paws with amazing speed, while the ducks rose into the
+air at the report of the rifle, and flew up the course of the river in
+search of lonelier water. I followed the track of the fox for a mile or
+more, but had to give up the chase at last. The snow was flecked with
+spots of blood where he ran; and although the fox is not usually an
+object of sympathy around Canadian borders, yet I regretted much that I
+had not missed this one altogether, instead of maiming him, after all
+the amusement he had just afforded me by his curious pranks. This little
+incident of fox and ducks might offer a good subject for the pencil of
+an animal painter, and I hereby present it either to Mr. W. H. Beard or
+to Mr. Hays,--whichever of them may first happen to glance over these
+pages.
+
+In some of the districts where game is yet plentiful, and where the
+maskinonge--prince of the pike tribe--reigns supreme in the woodland
+lakes, and the speckled trout haunts the eddies of the clear streams,
+men who cannot be called settlers, in the proper sense of the word, are
+often to be met with. They have been attracted thither by the free, wild
+romance of the forester's life, the Bohemianism of which is a kind by
+itself, although based, like other phases of that philosophy, upon
+impatience of the formalities by which society is cramped. On one of
+these lakes, in a picturesque and not very remote part of Upper Canada,
+there was generally a little knot of such men to be found,--men who had
+forsworn the gay world, and come from beyond the sea to live among
+Indians and make havoc of the wild beasts and birds that still abounded
+in the region. Sometimes they would come to the cities, and return for a
+brief time to the usages of civilized life. After their arrival, their
+affectation was to despise such luxuries as chairs and beds. Of an
+evening they spread blankets on the floor, and sat there with their
+pipes and "fire-water," like gentle savages as they were. I have met
+with several who, for the first few nights, declined to avail themselves
+of either house or bed, resorting in preference to some open shed or
+garden, where they wrapped themselves in their inevitable blankets, and
+slept the sleep of wild men upon the hard ground, with their knives and
+rifles at hand, ready to resist any attack that might be made upon them
+by hostile tribes during the night. Once in the streets of a city I
+remarked a couple of Indian stragglers, such as are common in Canadian
+towns. They were dressed in blanket coats, handsomely ornamented, and
+bound at the waist with sashes of gay colors, in which long knives and
+tobacco-pouches of marten fur were stuck, and they smoked black pipes as
+they strolled leisurely along. One of them was a Chippewa of the
+half-breed stamp, and rather a good specimen of his caste. His
+companion, who wore a Scotch bonnet, was far too light in complexion to
+be an Indian, for, though his face was tanned to a healthy brown by
+exposure to the weather, his hair, which fell down in long ringlets to
+his shoulders, was of a fair, yellowish hue, and I observed, besides,
+that he did not turn his toes inward when walking, as Indians invariably
+do. On inquiry I found that this romantic young man was an English
+baronet of moderate fortune, who had been living among the Indians at
+the lake for two or three years. He had been a Guardsman in his time,
+and a man about the clubs, and, having drained society to the dregs, had
+taken to Canadian woods and waters as a change from the comforts and
+inconveniences of too much civilization. Some time afterwards I saw him
+again, but in far different guise. He was once more a swell, and was
+driving a smart English "trap," with a handsome team, in the streets of
+the same town. Not long after this he returned to England, I believe,
+and is none the worse, probably, for his adventures by the shores of
+the pleasant lake of the woods.
+
+Farther down the St. Lawrence, where Lower Canada stretches away to the
+northeast until it reaches melancholy Labrador, lies an immense field of
+exploration. More picturesque in its features than the upper or western
+province, this offshoot of old France offers peculiar attractions to
+persons who would escape, for a while, from the turmoils and cares of
+the too-busy world. On the south side of the river, within thirty or
+forty miles of the picturesque fortress of Quebec, moose are still
+plentiful, and during the winter months their venison is always to be
+found in the markets of the old town. The caribou haunts the
+wildernesses of timbered mountains that rise away back from the north
+shore. Parties of hardy sportsmen set out every winter from Quebec for
+the chase of these noble deer. It is only upon snow-shoes, the
+_raquettes_ of the French Canadians, that this sport can be pursued; the
+snow generally lying to the depth of three or four feet on the level in
+the woods. The practice of walking upon these contrivances is general
+throughout Lower Canada. On fine afternoons, when the snow is well
+packed, hundreds of young men, and not unfrequently young ladies, may be
+seen scudding across the country, in every direction, outside the walls
+of Quebec. The fences are covered by the snow, so that no obstacles are
+offered to pedestrians unless they are bold enough to enter the woods.
+Walking upon snow-shoes is a regular part of the training of soldiers in
+garrison here and at Montreal. There are snow-shoe clubs, which have
+races during the season, sometimes over hurdles three feet high. I have
+seen a good performer jump higher than that upon his snow-shoes. This
+training enables the sportsman to range the forest with ease, and to
+follow the tracks of the moose until he brings it to bay,--for the
+animal is heavy, and sinks deep into the snow at every plunge. With the
+caribou it is not so easy to come up, the hoofs of that animal being so
+arranged as to spread out and offer some resistance to the snow. When
+the hunter goes about his work in earnest, the hardship and fatigue
+attending this kind of sport are very great. In the little churchyard at
+Riviere-du-Loup, one hundred and twenty miles below Quebec, there is a
+tombstone to the memory of Captain Turner, an English officer who went
+there many years ago to hunt moose. I made inquiries about him from the
+people of the village, who told me that his death was caused by
+over-fatigue in running down moose, and afterwards conveying the
+venison, together with the immense heads and horns, on _trebogans_
+through miles of the wild bush. One of two Indians whom he had with him
+as guides died from the same cause. Sometimes hunters are seized with
+what is called by Canadians the _mal-aux-raquettes_, which is a kind of
+cramp caused by the pressure of the snow-shoe thongs near the instep,
+not unfrequently obliging the sufferer to set up camp and rest for
+several days before resuming his journey.
+
+But summer is, after all, the season in which to enjoy best the wild
+scenery and sports of the Lower St. Lawrence. On the north shore,
+especially, rivers of wondrous grandeur succeed each other at intervals
+all along the rock-bound coast. About one hundred and thirty miles below
+Quebec the savage, gloomy Saguenay rolls between its walls of rock into
+the St. Lawrence, which here is nearly twenty miles in width. A wild and
+beautiful spot is the little bay of Tadousac at the mouth of the
+Saguenay, with its curved beach of white sand. When I last visited the
+place there was a post of the Hudson's Bay Company there, established
+chiefly for the purpose of the salmon fishery. Since that time, however,
+all these rivers have been taken under the immediate protection of the
+government. Laws have been passed for the protection of the fish, and
+they are rigidly enforced, too, under the direction of a Superintendent
+of Fisheries. The result of this is, that within a few years the salmon
+have gradually returned to many splendid rivers from which they had been
+driven. The system of netting has been regulated so as to favor the
+fish, although, as I am informed, there is much room for improvement in
+this respect yet. It is incumbent upon owners of saw-mills now to
+furnish their dams with "passes" of peculiar construction, up which the
+fish can travel by a succession of leaps. The Indians are forbidden to
+devastate the waters with the destructive _negogue_, or fish-spear; with
+which weapon they used to mutilate more fish than they killed. One dark
+night, as I lay on the bank of the Escoumain, one of the most beautiful
+of these rivers, I was surprised to see a number of lights flashing out
+suddenly over the dark pool below the lower fall. A horde of Milicete
+Indians had silently paddled their canoes past us under cover of night,
+and were now busily engaged in spearing the salmon. It was a curious and
+beautiful sight to see these ragged savages, by the light of their
+torches, darting their long spears into the water with wonderful
+quickness and precision, bringing up every now and then a bright-sided
+salmon, and knocking it off the barbs into the canoe. The perfect
+wildness and remoteness of the place added much to the impressive
+character of the scene. But it was mortifying to think of the wholesale
+slaughter that was going on, and of our incapacity to put a stop to it,
+for our party consisted of but four, and would have been of no avail
+against twenty red savages armed with rifles and spears. It is true that
+we had brought with us a letter from the agent of the Hudson's Bay
+Company at Tadousac to the net-keeper at the Escoumain, enjoining that
+functionary to give us every assistance and information in his power.
+One of the instructions contained in that missive ran, as I remember,
+"_chasses les sauvages_"; but the chase of twenty armed savages by one
+small and smoke-dried old Canadian, like the net-keeper, would have been
+a futile, not to say ridiculous, proceeding. And so the Indians had the
+pool to themselves on that dark July night, and at gray dawn they
+drifted past us down the stream, their canoes loaded with salmon, to
+which we had fondly, though delusively, fancied that we had an exclusive
+right.
+
+One of the "gamest" and most beautiful fish for which angler ever busked
+artificial fly is the sea-trout that comes up with the summer tides into
+all these tributaries of the Lower St. Lawrence. Seldom under one pound
+in weight, and often weighing as much as four pounds, these fish are so
+similar in appearance to the common brook-trout, that many experienced
+fishermen declare them to be one and the same species, the slight
+difference between the two being accounted for by the influence of the
+salt water and the peculiar feeding to be found in it. In color they are
+rather more silvery than the brook-trout, but they are marked, like that
+fish, with brilliant spots of red and blue along the sides. The best
+place to fish for them is where the sea-tide meets the clear, fresh
+water of the river, near its mouth. There are times when the salmon
+becomes unaccountably reserved, and will not condescend to reply to the
+line of invitation wafted to him by the angler across the eddies of the
+pool. It is then that the sea-trout is found to be a valuable substitute
+for his larger congener of the river, to whom he is only second in
+affording excellent sport. In casting for the trout it is advisable to
+use but one fly. Once, in the Saguenay, I used a casting-line with three
+flies attached to it, as for ordinary trout-fishing. At the first cast
+three sea-trout, each apparently over a pound in weight, were upon my
+tackle at once, and the consequence was a tangle which resulted in the
+loss of my casting-line and flies.
+
+But for the mosquitoes and black-flies, which are very troublesome in
+all this region, there can be no pleasanter summer resort for the angler
+and the overworked city man. In winter there must be an awful, arctic
+dreariness upon the place, and I can hardly imagine any person not a
+French Canadian or an Esquimau taking up his abode there. And yet upon
+one of the most savage of these rivers--the Mingan, I think--an angler
+with whom I am acquainted fell in with a man of ancient Scottish family.
+He bore a distinguished name, and had probably once been an ornament to
+the social circles in which he moved. When my informant saw him, he had
+ceased to be ornamental in any sense of the word, and had long been a
+dweller in the wilderness. In appearance he differed but little from the
+dirty half-breeds of the coast. Like them, he lived in a wigwam, with a
+squaw, and had around him a family of children so numerous and dirty
+that they were a wonder to see. He had been there for many years, and
+did not seem to think that he should ever go back to England again.
+Society had galled him with its harness, and the "raw" was visible yet.
+He was in occasional communication with his relatives at home, had a
+small, but independent income, and was heir, I think, to a much larger
+one. Occasionally he would make his way to the nearest settlement or
+Hudson's Bay post, where he sometimes found letters and newspapers
+awaiting him; so that, although a little backward as to dates, he had
+still some general idea of how matters were going on in the great world.
+Strong indeed must be the fascination of the free Indian life, thus to
+work its spells upon a man of education and refinement like this
+eccentric dweller by the waters of the rugged Mingan.
+
+Among the creatures that visit the Lower St. Lawrence is the white
+whale,--_beluga_ of the naturalists. On a fine summer's day, when the
+water is blue and calm, these curious rovers of the deep may be seen
+basking with their backs just over the surface, looking so like small
+icebergs that they convey an agreeable sense of coolness to the
+observer. At other times, and especially just about nightfall, they are
+very active, tumbling and splashing and spouting in every direction, as
+if in play. Often have I been startled by one as it rose, suddenly, and
+with a loud snort, close by the little yacht, while we lay at anchor for
+the night. I was told here, that the calf, or young, of this whale
+utters a kind of bleating cry, and that the mother whales frequently
+carry their young ones upon their backs. Some few years ago I had an
+opportunity of verifying the truth of these statements by observing the
+habits of a white whale and her calf that were exhibited by Mr. Cutter,
+of Boston, at Jones's Wood, near New York. The calf used to throw itself
+upon the back of its dam, with a peculiar squeal, and remain there till
+carried several times round the tank. Brush wears are built by the
+inhabitants of these coasts for the capture of this kind of whale, which
+is generally called the white porpoise here. These wears are merely
+hedges of stiff brushwood, arranged so as to enclose a wedge-like space,
+with its wide end open to the river. The whales wander up into them,
+when they soon become embarrassed by the obstacles on either side,
+losing their reckoning at last, and "coming to grief" by being stranded
+upon the beach when the tide ebbs. They are not uncommonly from sixteen
+to twenty feet in length, and specimens have occasionally been captured
+which had attained the great length of forty feet. One of average size
+will yield about a hundred gallons of oil. A soft and excellent leather,
+well adapted for shoemakers' and other work, is now manufactured from
+their skins, which were first discovered to be available for this
+purpose by an enterprising Canadian named Tetu, residing, I think, at
+Kamouraska, on the southern bank of the river.
+
+The chase of the _pourcil_--a small species of whale, not often
+exceeding five or six feet in length, and of a sooty color--affords good
+sport, hereabouts, to those who are skilful and hardy enough to follow
+it. In calm, clear weather only the hunter dares to pursue this creature
+in his frail canoe, and even then he runs the risk of being caught in
+one of the squalls that arise so suddenly on this part of the St.
+Lawrence. One hunter sits in the stern of the canoe, and paddles, while
+the other, armed with a long duck-gun, loaded with buck-shot, kneels in
+the bow. Now and then the _pourcil_ emerges partly from the water, and
+the canoe is kept swiftly upon his course until a chance offers for a
+shot. Sometimes the creature is killed by the shot, but more frequently
+only stunned, so as to enable the hunters to approach near enough to
+despatch him with their harpoons.
+
+Seals in great numbers haunt the mouths of the tributaries here,
+attracted by the travelling salmon, upon which they commit sad
+depredations, often following them even into the fishermen's nets. The
+hunting of seals is carried on chiefly in the winter time, when the
+great river is partially blocked up with ice. About twenty-five years
+ago, at a place called Trois Pistoles, on the south bank, an immense
+number of seals made their appearance upon the ice just after it had
+become fixed along the shore. Seals are reckoned valuable game in those
+parts, and the inhabitants of the parish, armed with clubs, turned out
+to chase them, under the direction of six priests. They had killed some
+four hundred, when suddenly the ice parted from the shore, and went
+drifting down with the tide, priests, _habitans_, seals, and all. Down
+they drifted, past dreary shores, the sparse inhabitants of which did
+all they could to aid them, but succeeded in taking off only a few in
+their canoes. On, on, still they floated, past other parishes, where
+people knelt and prayed loudly for them on the shore; then past other
+parishes, again, where the canoe-men were more adventurous, and picked
+the poor fellows off the ice in detail, until every one of them was
+brought safely to land, yet not before they had suffered great hardship
+from cold and fright. The old French Canadian from whom I heard this was
+one of the hunters on the occasion; and although he expressed exceeding
+gratitude to _le bon Dieu_ for the rescue of himself and his companions,
+yet he had words of lamentation for the loss of the seals, not one of
+which was recovered.
+
+A primitive and interesting race are the French Canadians of these
+coasts. Many of their villages, and churches--the latter with very steep
+roofs, generally painted red--have a quaint, antiquated air, and some of
+the settlements hereabouts are really of very remote date. Wind-bound
+for a couple of days at one of the oldest and queerest of these
+villages, on a forlorn little bay, not far from the Saguenay, I went
+ashore to observe the manners and customs of the place. By the threshold
+of every house there lay two or three pair of huge wooden clogs, looking
+almost like "dug-out" canoes, and into these the people popped their
+feet when the roads were muddy, and their occupations obliged them to go
+out of doors. A large wooden crucifix stood by the roadside near the
+entrance of the village, with a small space around it enclosed by a
+wooden railing. Young girls in wide-brimmed straw hats were kneeling at
+the foot of it, and I noticed that they had left their clogs outside the
+railing. Presently an old woman came along, and she too deposited her
+dug-outs reverently outside the little sanctuary before she entered.
+These roadside crosses are to be met with everywhere in the French
+Canadian settlements, many of them curiously fitted up as shrines, and
+decorated with votive offerings. The valley in which this little village
+stood had a pastoral appearance, but the hills to the north of it were
+of a wild and dreary character, suggesting endless tracts of wilderness
+beyond their dark ridges.
+
+At this place, near the margin of the little bay, there stood a frame
+house of better appearance than the ordinary dwellings of the village.
+It had a weird and weather-stained look, nevertheless, which was in
+keeping with the clump of stunted and sea-blighted pines by which it was
+partially sheltered. The garden belonging to it appeared to have been
+once well stocked, but it had run much to weeds and tangle now, and the
+fence had rotted away in places, and left it open to the road. From this
+house there came, as I strolled past, an old man, whose appearance was
+at once so singular, and so different from, that of the ordinary
+inhabitants of the place, that my curiosity impelled me to stop and
+speak to him as he saluted me in passing. He was tall and very thin,
+and, though apparently between seventy and eighty years of age, walked
+with an erect carriage, leaning but slightly upon the cane he carried.
+His face, which was remarkably small, looked like shrivelled parchment,
+and his iron-gray hair hung straight down to his shoulders, like that of
+an Indian. He was dressed, not in the gray cloth of the country, but in
+an old-fashioned suit, which might once have been black, but was now
+faded to a dingy greenish hue, and there was about him a decided air of
+tarnished gentility very much out of character with the place and its
+inhabitants. Speaking excellent English, he invited me to accompany him
+to his house; and as dinner was nearly ready when we entered, he pressed
+me to remain and partake of it. The table was spread by an old lady
+quite as faded and decayed as himself. She was his sister, he told me;
+adding that she was very deaf, and so nervous that he hoped I would
+excuse her for not joining us at the repast. And so we two sat down
+quite companionably together to a dinner consisting of boiled pork and
+excellent potatoes and milk, with wild strawberries for a dessert.
+
+The record of this old man's life was a strange one. He was born at
+Quebec, of Swiss parents, who took him with them, while he was yet a
+child, to Switzerland, in which country and in France he received his
+education and passed the earlier years of his life. Returning to Canada
+when a grown-up young man, he became a trader among the Indians, and was
+for some time in charge of a frontier post hard by where the city of
+Detroit now stands. After various ups and downs in life, he joined his
+brothers at this old settlement, where they had a mill and a country
+store. That was nearly fifty years before, and he had never been out of
+the place since. His brothers were all dead, and the sister to whom I
+have referred was the only one of the family besides himself now left.
+Another sister had died only two months previously, and this accounted
+for the bit of black crape twisted round the old gentleman's little
+gallipot-shaped glazed hat, which he had lifted so politely when I met
+him on the road. One of his brothers was drowned by accident, and
+another had committed suicide,--a fact which he communicated to me in a
+hollow whisper, as we sat there in the dim old room. Fourteen members of
+his family were buried, he told me, under the shade of the pine-trees
+near the house. Two more graves must have been added to the row long
+since; and that is the end of a family which evidently had once enjoyed
+good social position, judging from the cultivated manners and
+conversation of the strange old man, who had been fossilizing for nearly
+half a century in this remote place.
+
+Among the reminiscences imparted to me by the old man of the bay, I have
+note of the following.
+
+While he was at the frontier post near Detroit, engaged in commerce with
+the savage tribes and pioneering trappers, there was a gathering of
+warriors at the place,--a sort of carnival in celebration of some event
+interesting to the red men. One day the Indians got drunker than usual,
+and, having exhausted their stock of liquor, a deputation of them
+entered the store of the trader, and demanded a fresh supply on credit,
+which was refused. Upon this the savages became insolent and abusive,
+and the trader's partner, a man of great determination and personal
+strength, struck down the leader of them with an axe-handle, just as the
+tomahawks began to gleam. The savages were now leaping forward to cut
+down the white man, who had intrenched himself among some barrels, when
+a fiendish yell rang through the building, seeming to paralyze them like
+an electric shock, and a short, thickset Indian, of very dark
+complexion, suddenly made his appearance in the midst of them. Raising
+his tomahawk aloft, and uttering a few words in his native tongue, the
+dark-faced warrior pointed to the door, through which the cowed savages
+filed sullenly away and sought their wigwams. This was the renowned
+Tecumseh, and such was the influence he exercised over his people, even
+when they were maddened by drink.
+
+From the rough and sterile nature of the country through which many of
+these north-shore Canadian rivers run, it seems unlikely that their
+solitudes will ever be converted into fields for the permanent
+civilization that agriculture alone can establish. Lumbering operations
+and the fisheries constitute their only inducements for settlers, and
+these branches of industry are chiefly carried on by a nomadic
+population, nearly as wild in their ways of life as the aborigines of
+the region. Sportsmen will be glad to know, however, that of late years
+the facilities for reaching these rivers have been much improved.
+Steamers now ply regularly upon the St. Lawrence, at least as far down
+as the Saguenay. Landing-piers have been built at many points where it
+was necessary, not many years ago, for passengers to wade ashore from
+their boats; and the roads over the capes and highlands--where any roads
+have yet been made--are of a less impracticable and aggravating
+character than formerly. The right of leasing the rivers for fly-fishing
+is vested in the government, from whose Superintendent of Fisheries at
+Quebec all desired information on the subject can be obtained.
+
+It is from Upper Canada that the curious old-time features of the
+country are passing rapidly away with the grand old woods. Within the
+present century the celebrated Joseph Brant, called Thayendenegea by the
+red men, held his half-barbaric court, as Chief of the Six Nations, at
+the very spot on the Grand River where the thriving town of Brantford
+now stands. Brant had seen European civilization, and was the friend and
+companion of English statesmen; and he curiously grafted that
+civilization upon the Six Nations' manners and customs when he returned
+to his strong-hold on the Grand River. Old men in Upper Canada yet spin
+yarns about the entertainments given by this chief at his hospitable
+mansion, where the guests were waited on by negro servants dressed in
+liveries of green and gold, and a gigantic Indian with a barrel-organ
+used to be stationed in the hall, to enhance the pleasures of the
+banquet with sweet music. This condition of things can never exist
+again, for which people have reason to be thankful, perhaps; but away
+into the past with the Indian and his gauds are vanishing the deer, and
+the wild-turkeys, and the creatures that men covet for their fur. Many
+of the deep, cold brooks, in which the speckled trout used to abound,
+are evaporating to mere threads as the country is cleared. Others have
+been poisoned by manufactures or choked up with the _debris_ of
+saw-mills, to the extinction of the fish; and Upper Canada, on the
+whole, offers but a cheerless prospect now to the blighted young man of
+leisure who would forswear society and seek to live primitively in
+backwoods solitudes on the produce of his rod and gun.
+
+
+
+
+THE NIGHTINGALE IN THE STUDY.
+
+
+    "Come forth!" my cat-bird calls to me,
+      "And hear me sing a cavatina,
+    That, in this old familiar tree,
+      Shall hang a garden of Alcina.
+
+    "These buttercups shall brim with wine
+      Beyond all Lesbian juice or Massic;
+    May not New England be divine?
+      My ode to ripening Summer, classic?
+
+    "Or, if to me you will not hark,
+      By Beaver Brook a thrush is ringing,
+    Till all the alder-coverts dark
+      Seem sunshine-dappled with his singing.
+
+    "Come out beneath the unmastered sky,
+      With its emancipating spaces,
+    And learn to sing as well as I,
+      Unspoiled by meditated graces.
+
+    "What boot your many-volumed gains,
+      Those withered leaves forever turning,
+    To win, at best, for all your pains,
+      A nature mummy-wrapped in learning?
+
+    "The leaves wherein true wisdom lies
+      On living trees the sun are drinking,
+    Those white clouds drowsing through the skies
+      Grew not so beautiful by thinking.
+
+    "Come out! with me the oriole cries,
+      Escape the demon that pursues you!
+    And, hark, the cuckoo weather wise,
+      Still hiding, further onward wooes you."
+
+    "Ah, dear old friend, that, all my days,
+      Hast poured from that syringa thicket
+    The quaintly discontinuous lays
+      To which I hold a season ticket,--
+
+    "A season ticket cheaply bought
+      With a dessert of pilfered berries,--
+    And who so oft my soul hast caught,
+      With morn and evening voluntaries,--
+
+    "Deem me not faithless, if all day
+      Among my dusty books I linger,
+    Nor am, like thee, June's pipe to play
+      With fancy-led, half-conscious finger.
+
+    "A bird is singing in my brain,
+      And bubbling o'er with mingled fancies,
+    Gay, tragic, rapt,--right heart of Spain
+      Fed with the sap of old romances.
+
+    "I ask no ampler skies than those
+      His magic music vaults above me,
+    No falser friends, no truer foes,--
+      And does not Dona Clara love me?
+
+    "Cloaked shapes, a twanging of guitars,
+      A rush of feet, and rapiers clashing,
+    Then silence deep with breathless stars,
+      And overhead a white hand flashing.
+
+    "O, music of all moods and climes,
+      Vengeful, forgiving, sensuous, saintly,
+    Where still between the Christian chimes
+      The Moorish cymbal tinkles faintly!
+
+    "Bird of to-day, thy songs are stale
+      To his, my singer of all weathers,
+    My Calderon, my nightingale,
+      My Arab soul in Spanish feathers.
+
+    "Yes, friend, these singers dead so long,
+      And still, perhaps, in purgatory,
+    Give its best sweetness to all song,
+      To Nature's self her better glory."
+
+
+
+
+HOSPITAL MEMORIES.
+
+
+II.
+
+In March, the first fresh fragrance of the Southern spring, and the
+merry songs of birds in the evergreen-trees, filled the soft air with a
+delusive promise that summer was near at hand. But cold, stormy weather
+tediously delayed its coming, and resulted calamitously for the soldiers
+of the Ninth Army Corps, who came from the bravely borne hardships and
+well-earned honors of the siege of Knoxville, as well as for many other
+regiments that joined them at Annapolis before starting on the last
+campaign of the war. Indeed, throughout the war, it seemed as if the
+inception of an expedition was a signal for the elements to lash
+themselves into a fury in some remarkable manner. Sleet, snow, and
+bitter blasts did their worst for many weeks at this time; and pneumonia
+in its most fearful forms, and rheumatism, attacked hundreds in their
+unavoidable exposure.
+
+About seventy colored men, many Indians, and scores of others were
+brought into the hospital. I think that no one regiment sent more
+patients than the First Michigan Sharpshooters, who had come from
+Chicago in a violent storm in partially open cars. Their
+lieutenant-colonel lay in a critical state for several days with typhoid
+pneumonia. The officers and men of the regiment were continually coming
+in to inquire for him, and their words of interest and esteem bore
+witness to the beauty of a character of which his noble face was alone
+sufficient assurance. The disease of which he was apparently dying
+needs, perhaps more than any other, the closest watchfulness and good
+judgment. The doctors were indefatigable in their consultations. Ice
+held constantly in the mouth was the only nourishment he could take.
+When medicine had done its utmost, Dr. Vanderkeift sadly said, he feared
+that he must die. During five days and nights sleep had not at all
+calmed his delirious ravings, and nature seemed exhausted. "But you are
+determined that he shall not die," said one of the doctors to the lady
+in charge of the ward. "Not if good care can save his life," she
+answered. (And here let me record the uniform courtesy and respect with
+which suggestions from the ladies were received by the doctors. Their
+wishes were always acceded to, if possible, with a gentlemanly deference
+which showed they were not considered intrusive.) Life, however, seemed
+almost gone, and hope at an end for our patient, when at nightfall a
+group of doctors whispered together that there was no use in doing
+anything more,--that he could not live till morning. Then, with a
+pertinacity which could not yield, the lady in charge requested that a
+blister might be applied to the back of his neck. "It will do no harm,
+and, if it will be the slightest gratification to you, it shall be put
+on; but," added the doctors, "you had better make up your mind to lose
+him, for he must die." With what intense satisfaction, at five o'clock
+the next morning, was the doctor welcomed in the ward, and told that
+four hours of refreshing sleep had followed the application of the
+blister! He was surprised even to find the patient alive, and with joy
+pronounced him much better. He ordered the strongest beef essence, with
+a fresh egg lightly beaten mixed with it, to be given by the teaspoonful
+every twenty minutes, alternating it with brandy and water. There was a
+wonderful improvement that day, and before his friends arrived on the
+next, the sick man was quite out of danger.
+
+One of the most highly prized of all the various gifts which were
+offered in grateful remembrance to the ladies in the hospital was a
+volume of Autograph Leaves of American Authors from this patient. On the
+blank page was written:--
+
+     "---- ---- ----:--I owe you a better memento, but here is
+     one that I know your good taste will appreciate.
+
+     "I met you first in my delirium; and knew you only in the
+     purest and sweetest character a woman can exhibit,--a true
+     and faithful Florence Nightingale, supporting and
+     encouraging the weary, bathing the feverish brow of the
+     brave soldier dying far from other friends.
+
+     "I never can forget, and I trust you never will, how you
+     night and day kept watch over me when wife and father were
+     yet far away, when fever and delirium were racking my brain
+     and sapping life from my lungs,--how you bore with every
+     impatience of mine, or kindly answered every severe word.
+
+     "Please accept this book from
+
+     "Your devoted friend,
+
+     "---- ---- ---- ----."
+
+
+There was a general commotion and eager haste in the hospital the day
+before the Ninth Army Corps left. The convalescents assured the doctors
+of their ability to go, but the doctors, differing in opinion, made many
+a brave man unhappy. One old soldier, John Paul, chief saddler of the
+Third Division of the Corps, insisted stoutly on the necessity of his
+joining his command. If the whole success of the undertaking had rested
+upon his shoulders, he could not have felt the responsibility more. At
+the last moment he was allowed to go.
+
+All were ambitious to share the glory of the coming triumph, little
+dreaming of the terrible cost of life and limb with which it was to be
+achieved. Of those who went from the hospital, numbers were stricken
+down, never to need care again. How sadly the words "Shot through the
+head" looked opposite the name of Frank Wagner, in the first lists which
+came from the front! He was a spirited boy of seventeen, who by great
+care had been raised from a dangerous illness. But almost sadder than
+the death-lists were the names of those taken prisoners. We had learned
+but too well that it would be death in the end to most; to very few life
+worth having.
+
+Back to the hospital, too, came letters, telling of long marches and
+hard fighting; and of the amount of sickness which would be kept off,
+and pain and misery saved, if there were two or three hundred Miss ----s
+down there. The wounded might be counted, the letters said, by tens of
+thousands; the Ninth Army Corps had earned imperishable laurels, but
+they had lost heavily. The Michigan regiment from which we had had so
+many patients suffered severely; of the company of Indians, which
+started one hundred and ten in number, only six remained; and the other
+companies were hardly more fortunate. Dismay and anguish filled the land
+at the tidings of the desolation which was the price of victory.
+
+Early in the spring another exchange of paroled prisoners was made. The
+New York came several times, bringing hundreds of starved men. Death had
+released many from their sufferings during the winter. The men had had
+no meat since New-Year's, and their tortures on Belle Isle and in Libby
+Prison had been excruciating. Smallpox had broken out among them. The
+dead had lain by the side of the living for days without burial.
+
+Among the prisoners who came were twenty-five little drummer-boys. They
+had endured the hardships of exile better than the men, and were in the
+best of spirits. A little flaxen-haired boy of about thirteen years of
+age, on being asked if he were not rather young to come to the war,
+answered, "O no, and there are plenty more just as able as I to come and
+help put down this Rebellion." There was a man by the name of Schwarz,
+who unfurled the flag of his regiment on landing. He was the
+color-bearer of the First Maryland, and had succeeded in concealing the
+flag, until now, with proud joy, he held it high once more in free air.
+His brother was the first man wounded in the war, at Fort Sumter.
+
+General Neal Dow came at this time, having passed nearly a year in Libby
+Prison. He was able to come in and take tea with the ladies on his
+arrival, and to start for home the next day. He gave a graphic account
+of his prison-life in Virginia. The colored people he had always found
+good friends. Being without the news of the day was among the
+deprivations of Libby, and the prisoners were indebted to the colored
+attendants in the prison for an occasional newspaper. When any great
+victory had taken place on the Union side, there was always a stricter
+watch kept over our men, lest even this gleam of joy should brighten
+their dull life; and particular care was taken constantly to inform them
+that great battles had been fought, that the South had gained immense
+advantages, and that the North would soon be forced to give up the war.
+One morning a colored man came to General Dow and told him that there
+was a "mighty big piece of news," but that he was afraid to tell, lest
+he should be detected in giving information. But after the General had
+promised that he should not be betrayed, "Vicksburg is taken!" resounded
+in a loud whisper through the room. It was too good a secret to be kept
+in silence, and inspired their hearts with fresh courage to bear their
+hard lot.
+
+Major Calhoun came too at this time. He was from Kentucky, a man of
+marked character and superior education. He had made an attempt to
+escape, and, being caught, was taken back and confined in a cell, in
+which he Could neither lie down nor stand up. For six weeks he was kept
+there, and then taken out with a brain-fever settled upon him, from
+which he had not fully recovered when brought to us. As his pale, thin
+face looked forth from the coarse brown blanket in which he was wrapped,
+it was as pitiable a sight as can be imagined. It was enough to melt the
+stoutest heart to hear him relate his woful experiences, and tell how
+many comrades he had left in misery. "Good by, Cap',--we're glad you are
+going to God's land; but tell them at home how we fare here, and see if
+they can't get us away." These were the parting words from his sorrowful
+comrades.
+
+    "Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased?"
+
+was often the piteous appeal of countenances among the returned
+prisoners, betraying a brain disturbed by depressing fancies or
+harrowing imaginations. In some cases the malady amounted to insanity,
+and then the patients were removed to an asylum. Homesickness was
+frequently the cause of the most unmanageable of cases. No medicine was
+effectual in giving an appetite or producing sound sleep. All attempts
+to cheer or amuse these childish patients were regarded by them as the
+evidence of a heartless want of sympathy. "Just think, I have been out
+four months, and not had a furlough yet!" said an officer one day at the
+conclusion of an hour's effort to divert his mind; and, with violent
+sobbings, he buried his face in the pillow. A leave of absence proved
+his cure.
+
+There was a Pennsylvania man who had never before he became a soldier
+left his native farm,--a vigorous-looking youth, hearty and robust in
+stature. At night he would awake from dreams of haying-scenes or
+apple-gatherings, shouting out the names of his brothers; and when he
+found himself so far away, and in the hospital, he would break into the
+most grievous wails and lamentations. This of course disturbed the other
+sick men seriously, and night after night the poor nurse strove in vain
+to soothe him. In the daytime a quieter kind of crying would satisfy
+him. There was nothing but talking about his home that would bring a
+gleam of gladness to his disconsolate countenance. Every time that the
+lady in charge of the ward left him was the occasion of a trembling lip
+and tearful eyes. At last it was proposed to treat him as if he were a
+child. "Now you must try and be a good boy, Joseph, and when you wake up
+not make such a noise and disturb the men; if you are quiet, you shall
+have something nice given you in the morning." This was a good-night
+promise. The experiment succeeded; for on our going into the ward in the
+morning, he said, "I have been real good, and only woke the men up
+once." And then he wondered what he should get. An orange satisfied his
+most ardent expectations; and then a promise of something more at noon,
+and again at night, if he continued his improved behavior, kept him
+happier through the day. This system was followed up for a few days,
+when he recovered his spirits, and was able to rejoin his regiment in a
+short time.
+
+Where nostalgia was the only complaint, it would yield, but was almost
+hopeless if disease had undermined the constitution. There were two boys
+about seventeen years old in one ward, both dolefully sad, and pining
+continually for home and familiar faces. One was from Tennessee, the
+other from Connecticut. They were equally low, being among the worst
+cases from prison life. The father of one came to him; the sister whom
+the other talked constantly about could not even hear from him, the
+Rebels cutting off postal communication. The evening West's father came,
+he seemed nearer death than the little Tennesseean, but his father's
+presence saved his life; he quickly rallied, the pressure of his
+melancholy was removed by hearing a home voice, his appetite returned,
+his strength was restored. But the other boy sank lower and lower in
+despondency for which there was no remedy; and the last words he spoke
+were of his sister,--he would be content to die if he could only see her
+once more.
+
+The enlivening music of a fine band was added this spring to the
+hospital organization. For an hour every morning and evening its
+animating strains stirred the martial spirit in the worn-out and
+suffering, and brought cheer and courage to hours of loneliness. The
+little "Knapsack," too, was merged into a printed sheet called "The
+Crutch," the weekly publication of which furnished an occasion for the
+patients to amuse themselves in writing articles in prose or verse.
+
+A complete photographic establishment appeared in one corner of the
+hospital grounds at this time, and became the resort of hundreds of
+officers and men in their leisure hours of convalescence. The instrument
+was used in taking pictures of uncommon cases in surgery, and in
+faithfully delineating the spectral features of the returned prisoners.
+
+The month of June found our hospital comparatively deserted: all the men
+who were able had left for their regiments, and all but two or three
+prisoners had gone to Camp Parole to await exchange, or had been laid
+beneath the sods of Maryland. In the wards were to be found patients who
+had been there for months, prostrated either by chronic illness or
+stubborn wounds,--mere human wrecks, bones and breath alone remaining of
+once rugged frames and constitutions.
+
+Gently the balmy summer breezes creep into the tent wards, laden with
+the rich fragrance of roses, violets, and jasmine, offering their mute
+sympathy to those who shall never more walk forth to behold them growing
+in luxuriant beauty. William Miller, a boy of fifteen, is one of these.
+He is an orphan, and was the pet of fond grandparents, who consented to
+let him join the Union army to escape Rebel conscription. He is a mere
+child; his dark, deep, expressive eyes, shaded by long, drooping lashes,
+light up with happiness his face of marble paleness, as he receives the
+comforts of life and the kindness of friends once more, after long
+months of homesickness and starvation. His spirit is buoyant with the
+anticipation of seeing his native State of Tennessee entirely rescued
+from the destroying hand of treason, and he is proud of having suffered
+for the flag of freedom. But at times those bright eyes are clouded; not
+that he for one moment regrets his experiences, bitter as they have
+been, in contrast with the doting care in which he was reared; yet he
+talks a good deal about that little home in the far-off mountains, and
+it is easy to discern that the tidings which cannot come from those he
+so dearly loves there would bring him great happiness. He is too manly
+in his patriotism, however, to give way to these restless longings, and
+stifles the secret unquiet of his heart by a bravely forced
+cheerfulness. The doctor is sure that he cannot live much longer, and
+thinks best that he should be told. It is a painful duty thus to blight
+all the hopes which cling to earth.
+
+One day, as he was talking about his grandparents, and how much he
+should have to tell them when he got home, he was asked, "But suppose,
+Miller, that it was God's will for you not to get well, but to go to a
+better world above, how would you feel?" The awful possibility flashed
+upon him for the first time, and, bursting into tears, he exclaimed,
+"Must I die, and never see grandpapa and grandmamma again?... I can die
+for the country, but I do want to see them once more." After a little
+while, with a maturity and strength of character far beyond his years,
+he sweetly acquiesced in the will of the wise Disposer of our joys and
+sorrows, and transferred his thoughts to eternal realities. He was
+comforted by the thought that he should meet those he loved in the
+heavenly home. "And perhaps they may be there now," he said, "waiting
+for me." At another time, on being reminded that his best and most
+loving Friend was always near him, he said that he wished that he loved
+him better, and knew how to pray to him aright. "Can't you say, God be
+merciful to me a sinner?" "O yes, but do you call that praying?" With
+his thin, white hands meekly clasped upon his breast, he would lie for
+hours repeating with his slowly moving lips this petition. God heard and
+answered it A settled peace filled his soul, making those last few days
+the beginning of immortal glory to him, as he awaited with triumphant
+faith the hour of transition. To the end his patriotism glowed warmly;
+he asked, the day before he died, that a little flag which was in the
+tent might be put up where he could see it: "I would love to have that
+dear flag the last thing that my eyes shall rest upon on earth."
+Patiently he suffered until within a few hours of his death, when he
+sank into a deep sleep, to awake no more here. As we gazed at his little
+form in the coffin, with the flag he died for laid across his snowy
+shroud, that impressive, mysterious "Why?" which is so often asked in
+life, came to our thoughts. Why should one so pure and innocent be
+called to offer his young life in a struggle for which he was in no
+manner responsible? Eternity will unfold all the hidden reasons; but
+cannot we even now catch a glimpse of them, remembering that no devotion
+is too precious a sacrifice for the principles of truth and liberty, and
+that the longest life could not be crowned with loftier praise than the
+death of a child-patriot? A wreath of white rose-buds was woven for the
+funeral of our little loved one; a single pink rose was laid with tears
+on the flag-covered coffin by the soldier-nurse who had tenderly cared
+for him through his illness.
+
+Impelled by an intense feeling of the importance of a speedy exchange of
+the large number of men who had been taken prisoners since the opening
+of the spring campaign, two of the ladies in the hospital went to
+Washington one day. They were kindly received by President Lincoln, and,
+in the few minutes' interview they had with him, the pictures of some of
+the released prisoners were shown to him. As he gazed at them, a pitying
+sadness crossed his brow. He asked if indeed they could be correct, and
+gave a promise that those who were then in the hands of the enemy should
+be exchanged as soon as it was in his power to effect it. Could that
+time have sooner come, what unutterable tortures would have been saved
+to thousands!
+
+Strawberry festivals were given to the men at this time; gingerbread,
+and a plentiful supply of fruit, adding a little variety to their
+every-day fare. The time afforded for such diversions by a less pressing
+amount of care than usual was cut short by the arrival of the steamer
+Connecticut, bringing six hundred of those most seriously wounded at the
+disastrous attack upon Petersburg on the 18th of June. These men were
+landed at midnight; their wounds had been carefully attended to before
+their arrival, and were found to be in good order. Yet many were in a
+dying state, and it was impossible to do for every man all that we
+desired on the morning that followed, and added by its heat to their
+weakness, thirst, and discomfort. Hastily the hospital attendants moved
+from one helpless sufferer to another, in the thickly crowded tent
+wards. One man would shriek, in frenzied agony, for a drink of water;
+another would beg to be fanned; while others would ask to be bathed with
+ice-water.
+
+Among the newly arrived was General Chamberlain, the present Governor of
+Maine. Supposed to have been "mortally wounded," so terribly had a
+Minie-rifle-ball shattered his body, he was, after having been borne by
+painful and exhausting stages from the extreme front, landed in an
+almost dying condition. Leaving Bowdoin College as Colonel of the Maine
+Twentieth, he had already distinguished himself by dashing bravery in
+many of the great battles of the war. At Petersburg he was raised to the
+rank of General by Grant for gallantry in leading a charge,--the only
+case of actual promotion on the field during the war. Bravest in battle,
+his courage was not less evinced during months of intense and tedious
+suffering. Partially restored to health as by a miracle, he resumed his
+command five months from the day of his desperate wound. In Grant's last
+campaign he opened the attack on the left at Quaker Road and White Oak
+Road, for which he received the brevet of Major-General. Although
+several times wounded, he valiantly pressed on, fighting through the
+campaign, and taking a prominent and important part in the battle of
+Five Forks. His command, the First Division of the Fifth Army Corps, was
+designated to receive the surrender of the arms and colors of Lee's
+army; and the flag that waved that day over a conquered rebellion now
+hangs in his peaceful study at Brunswick.
+
+Of those who died on the morning after the arrival of the Connecticut
+was a young man belonging to the Rebel army. He had by chance been taken
+up among our wounded. He had his little Bible in his pocket, which he
+requested should be sent to his mother, with the message that he died
+happy, and hoped to meet her in a better world, but that he was a fool
+for having joined the army. As it was supposed that he might have some
+such regret in his last hours, he was asked if he were sorry that he had
+fought against the old flag. "Well, you need not say that," he said,
+"but that I was a fool ever to come to this war." With a smile of peace
+upon his countenance, he passed away. Several attempts have been made,
+in vain, since the close of the war, to find his mother; the Bible, and
+a ring taken from his finger, will possibly never reach her now.
+
+Among the wounded were four men who had lost both legs; they were in the
+best of spirits, surely thinking to live, and earnestly planning for the
+future. Had the heat not been so excessive for the ten days after they
+came, they would probably have survived; but, one after another, they
+died, suddenly, overcome by fainting weakness. I remember, too, one boy,
+only sixteen years old, who had lost his right arm. "You have given a
+good deal for the country," was said to him. "Yes, and I would willingly
+give my other arm to help put down this Rebellion." Little did he think
+that within a few hours his life would be yielded in his country's
+cause.
+
+Every day a funeral procession moved forth to the place of burial, the
+band playing the "Russian Dirge" or the "Dead March in Saul."
+
+It seemed as if a special inspiration of silent endurance and courageous
+patience were given to the men who lingered in the most acute
+sufferings. Gangrene spread through the wards, and the remedy was like
+the application of fire to open wounds. Three times a day was this agony
+endured with a martyr's spirit. One man by the name of Hollenbeck would
+sing in joyous tones,--
+
+    "I'm glad I'm in this army,
+    I'm glad I'm in this army,
+      And I'll battle till the end.
+
+    "He will give me grace to conquer,
+    He will give me grace to conquer,
+      And keep me to the end."
+
+While consciousness lasted, he firmly retained his self-control; but at
+last reason gave way, and the groans and distressing cries which for a
+few days preceded his death told over what a depth of agony his soul had
+triumphed, before his brain lost its power.
+
+Not alone by the men themselves was this sublime fortitude shown.
+Mothers, who came to visit their sons, though crushed with grief at
+their hopeless state, would yet calmly and even cheerfully minister to
+their comfort.
+
+There was one mother, especially, whom I remember,--a slight, fragile
+little woman, dressed in widow's mourning, for her husband had been
+killed in the war, and it was her third and last son who was now dying
+for the country. Her strength of mind and body was almost superhuman.
+She had an angelic expression of countenance, such as comes from
+learning the full and perfect love of God in the sharp lessons of
+suffering. She was only too thankful at being permitted to spend these
+last days and nights by the side of her son,--begging him to put his
+trust in the Saviour, and telling of the celestial glory prepared for
+him beyond the grave. She could hardly be persuaded to take even a few
+hours' sleep; she felt that she could not leave him with the nurse, but
+consented, if one of the ladies would stay with him, to take a little
+rest. It was my privilege to watch by him through that last night of
+restless pain, and then I found that he was in every way worthy of so
+noble a mother. He expressed his willingness to die, saying that it had
+been his duty to fight, and that now he gloried in dying for the nation.
+The tent sides' fluttering in the light breeze from the bay was the only
+sound that disturbed the quiet of that starry night, as in the solemn
+solitude the departing soul gathered fresh energy as the body grew
+weaker and weaker. Chapters of the Bible and Psalms were read over and
+over to him; he earnestly listened to each promise and benediction, and
+would at the low singing of hymns sleep gently for a few moments at a
+time. Early in the morning his mother resumed her place of loving care.
+In the afternoon she sent for two of the ladies to come over and sing to
+Frank. The chaplain was there, and life was fast ebbing away. After
+prayer, the hymn, "My heavenly home is bright and fair," was sung. As
+the dying boy thanked the ladies, he said that there was a hymn about
+"rest" that he would like to hear once more. "There is rest for the
+weary" having been sung, he folded his wasted hands, and said: "This is
+the last hymn I shall hear on earth. In a little while I shall know of
+that rest." He breathed for a few hours longer, and then his spirit was
+among the redeemed, "in the Christian's home in glory." The faithful,
+trusting mother only said, in the depth of her affliction, "It is the
+Lord; let Him do what seemeth Him best."
+
+Dr. Vanderkeift mingled with the pride of a surgeon the utmost
+kindliness toward each patient. He would, on examining a critical case,
+immediately after amputation, bend in the most fatherly manner over the
+man, and, patting him gently, would say, with his German accent: "Now,
+my dear fellow, do please to live. I am doing all I can for you, and
+will send you milk from my own Alderney every day."
+
+Flowers were never more appreciated than in the hospital that summer. A
+bunch of these bright little treasures would make a man happy for hours,
+and would receive the most endearing care to preserve their beauty. On
+going in to see a wounded man one day, the attention of one of the
+ladies was attracted by a strange-looking object hanging from the tent.
+Her curiosity being excited, she inquired, "What have you here, John?"
+"Well, miss, it is a long while since I had seen any flowers before
+those you brought me in yesterday, and it was so warm that I was afraid
+water wouldn't keep them, and I hated to see them wither; so I got Evans
+to make me this calico bag and put some earth in it, and I am in hopes
+they will grow here by my side, if I keep them moist." Sure enough, when
+this admiring florist was able to leave on crutches in a few weeks, he
+carried these specimens of Maryland floriculture, all rooted and
+growing, to his Western home.
+
+For the sake of convenience, the ladies usually dressed in dark attire;
+but when a light muslin appeared in the wards the effect was quite
+noticeable. I remember that one day a man asked the lady in charge of
+his own ward to get another lady, who was arrayed in pink, to come in
+from her ward and see him. "But what do you want with her? Can't I do
+everything for you?" "W-e-ll, y-e-s; but then she is dressed up so nice;
+if she would only walk through the tent, it would make me feel better."
+
+In July there was threatened an invasion of the city of Annapolis, which
+produced much excitement in the hospital. As there were between six and
+seven hundred officers there at the time as patients, it was not deemed
+unlikely that Harry Gilmore, with his band of raiders, would, after
+burning Governor Bradford's house at Baltimore, make a dash in our
+direction, if only to terrify and then parole the officers and men. By
+degrees the telegraphic wires and railway lines were destroyed nearer
+and nearer to us, thus isolating the city, and giving rise to fearful
+anticipations. Outside the two entrances to the hospital were dug broad
+moats, protected by ramparts of earth and a very ludicrous structure of
+barrels; while about a mile off a line of rifle-pits was prepared, with
+cannon mounted in hastily made forts behind them. Every steamer,
+fishing-boat, or craft capable of carrying persons or property was put
+into requisition by the people of Annapolis, and kept constantly ready
+to start at the first appearance of the foe, and some of the valuable
+possessions of the hospital floated on the bay for a few days. Messages
+were left with us for home friends by the men hurrying off to the front,
+as we termed the spot of the impending encounter, as if the ladies were
+expected to be the sole survivors of the affair. Every man who could
+handle a spade or a pickaxe was required at this season of alarm. For
+three days and nights the reign of terror lasted, causing an injuriously
+nervous inquietude to the helpless and sick. It was useless to try to
+allay their apprehensions, for those who smiled at the idea of an attack
+were merely regarded as endowed with a Quixotic cheerfulness. When
+gunboats arrived to protect the city, a ray of hope dawned; and when the
+news reached us that the raiders had retreated across the Potomac, all
+felt safe once more. A man by the name of Beck, one of the most valued
+of the hospital attendants, was accidentally shot, though not fatally.
+He was the sole hero of this brief campaign of fright.
+
+It was not until August that any of our wounded who had been taken
+prisoners were exchanged on parole. The New York came about the middle
+of the month, bringing six hundred. Many said that their wounds had been
+slight, but that amputation had been performed with the assurance from
+the Rebels that they would fix them so that they would never fight any
+more. I think that these were exceptional victims of cruelty, for the
+almost universal testimony of our soldiers was that the surgeons were
+their best friends at the South. They would insist upon the necessity of
+more food being given to their patients, and remonstrate with the Rebel
+authorities,--unfortunately without success.
+
+One of the officers who came at this time was Lieutenant F----,
+belonging to a New York regiment. He had lost a limb, and remained a few
+weeks in the hospital. The first letter of joyous welcome which he
+received from home told him that his family had been wearing mourning
+four months for him, and a printed funeral sermon which shortly followed
+the letter gave an account of his supposed death at the Battle of the
+Wilderness, and contained a eulogy upon his character.
+
+I remember being particularly impressed by a description of hunger in
+the hospital at Libby, given by Lieutenant William Foy Smith, who came
+at this time. He belonged to the First Massachusetts Cavalry. He was
+shot through the lungs, and left for dead on the battle-field. By the
+kind care of colored women, who brought him milk, he was
+resuscitated--to find himself a prisoner. He said that often at night in
+Libby he would amuse himself by calculating how many places there were
+in Washington Street, Boston, where edibles were to be had, and he would
+fancy the people getting oysters and thousands of good things; and then
+he would muse over all the bountiful dinners that he used to have at
+home, and reproach himself for not having partaken more heartily,
+resolving, if ever he had another opportunity, that his gnawing appetite
+should forever do itself justice. Then he would wildly scrape the wall
+by which he was lying, and ravenously devour the atoms from it, until at
+last he would dream in his sleep of happier days to come. After several
+months, Lieutenant Smith was able to rejoin his regiment, whose entrance
+into Richmond he thus describes: "I shall never repine again, while I
+have health; but who talks of repining after such a march as our last? I
+joined the regiment at Manchester, opposite Richmond. How often have I
+looked across the river to the field on which we camped, and longed for
+liberty! We passed in review through the city the next day. I cannot
+describe my sensations as I went by the old prison-house, with a good
+horse under me,--one seemed hardly sufficient,--health in my veins, and
+freedom,--it was too much. I had to shout. A lank, unshorn Rebel was
+looking through the bars where I had so often looked. We had the finest
+of music and the gayest of banners, but the people let us have them all
+to ourselves. But our glorious reception in Washington repaid us."
+
+It was a great recompense for all his sufferings that this brave, modest
+young officer lived to see the day of victorious peace; but within a few
+months the wound from which he had partially recovered was the cause of
+his death.
+
+Malarial fever was the prevalent disease in the hospital in the early
+autumn. Hundreds sank with it, after the hard marches and
+counter-marches with Sheridan in the hot Valley of the Shenandoah
+through the summer. Stimulating and nourishing diet came too late to
+many of these undermined constitutions, and disease worked its deadly
+ravages where ball and bayonet had missed their aim. Dr. Hunter, surgeon
+of a Pennsylvania regiment, lived but a short time in severe suffering.
+A man of strong character, his patriotism had responded when an urgent
+call for men had come from the War Department. Having no son to send to
+the war, he felt it to be his duty to leave a large practice and enlist
+as a private. He was immediately made surgeon of the regiment which he
+devotedly served for several months. His death-bed was the scene of the
+most serene peace. "Why should I stay longer below? I am only too glad
+to depart and be with Christ: it is far better." These and similar words
+showed the tone of his mind. His earnest prayers for the nation were his
+last rich legacy of dying faith. He cheerfully gave his life as part of
+the ransom of liberty and peace.
+
+On one of those autumnal days died, too, Major Butler. Wounded at
+Petersburg, one leg had been fractured in seven places, from the thigh
+to the ankle. Three months he lingered in distress which can be
+imagined, but to which his heroic spirit never gave utterance.
+
+The hospital was brilliantly illuminated when the result of the
+Presidential election was made known, in November. Music and shouts of
+rejoicing rent the air, and all were filled with exulting confidence
+that the beginning of the end had been accomplished by the overwhelming
+verdict of the people at home.
+
+The National Thanksgiving was celebrated by a service in the chapel, and
+a fine dinner, which one man said he "could not have enjoyed better had
+he eaten it at his grandmother's,--only the folks would have been
+there."
+
+At last, in December, the earnest entreaties of hearts breaking with
+wild anguish and suspense prevailed upon the authorities in Washington
+to effect the release of our prisoners. To no one person was this happy
+result so much due as to General Mulford, our Commissioner of Exchange.
+He was unceasing in his exertions to accomplish this end on almost any
+terms, for he knew what tortures our men were enduring, and how rapidly
+they were dying. The soldiers looked upon him as their deliverer, and
+with good reason. His arduous care and kindly manner deserved their
+warmest enthusiasm and gratitude. His personal watchfulness in receiving
+the men may be illustrated by a little incident. A man who was feebly
+walking fell down quite exhausted, just before reaching the New York; he
+lay behind a pile of wood, and could not make himself heard. Just as the
+boat was about putting off, General Mulford stepped on shore to look
+round and be certain that no one was left. "I should have lain there
+till I died had he not in his kindness found me," said the man.
+
+The first exchange was of ten thousand men. Large ocean steamers found
+their way up Chesapeake Bay, and our band played "Home again," "Home,
+Sweet Home," and other strains of welcome, to their ghastly passengers.
+As one man looked up, in landing, to the flag waving in the hospital
+grounds, he said earnestly, "We're glad to see you; we know there's grub
+enough under you." Such inexpressible relief and joy were never felt by
+mortals before. Libby Prison and Belle Isle had startled the ear of
+humanity by their records of woe, but the story of Andersonville far
+exceeded theirs. The revolting torments inflicted in that place are too
+well known to need repetition. Rather let us dwell upon the happiness of
+those fortunate enough to escape. The hospital was crowded to its utmost
+capacity. Many lived only a few minutes or hours after reaching the
+wards; others survived but a day or two, breathing their last in peace
+and comfort. An elderly man, quite pulseless when brought in, was
+resuscitated with brandy sufficiently to express his gratitude. "God has
+been very good in bringing me here," he said, as a beam of joy
+irradiated his wan face; "I can die willingly here, and lay my bones
+under the old flag, but I didn't want to die down there." And when asked
+if he had kept his faith in God while suffering so much at
+Andersonville: "O yes! He has been my leader these twenty years, and I
+thought He would bring me out all right." His name was John Buttery; he
+did not live long enough to hear from his wife and six children, in
+Connecticut.
+
+Among the unknown was a boy apparently about seventeen years old, with
+clustering curls of auburn hair, and eyes, that once must have been full
+of life, now sending forth only a vacant stare. I worked over him,
+hoping to get him to utter one word before he died that would give some
+hint of his name or home, but in vain.
+
+That month of December, with its cold, leaden sky, and bleak, wintry
+winds, will never be forgotten. On going down one dreary morning, in the
+obscurity of early dawn, I found that a tent in which five men
+dangerously ill had been left the night before was not to be seen; at
+first I distrusted my senses,--it was surely the place where the tent
+had stood, but the only vestige left was the plank floor. On inquiry, I
+found that in the middle of the night the tent had blown over, and men,
+furniture, and all had been moved in a furious storm.
+
+Sixty men were buried at one time, and several times over forty were
+borne in a long train of ambulances to the cemetery. The martial dirge,
+with the sound of its muffled drum, was daily mingled with the groans of
+the dying. Many a man who did not shrink from death still desired to
+live long enough to hear from his home once more, and died piteously
+lamenting his lot. Others, though dying, would cling to the hope of
+going home; and when told that the doctor feared they could not live an
+hour, and asked if they had any messages to leave, with their last gasp
+would say, "O, I shall live! I am going home to see my mother."
+
+In contrast with such cases were others of calm fortitude. These lines
+were dictated at midnight by a man who had hoped to live, but whose
+strength suddenly failed:--
+
+     "DEAR WIFE:--I am on my death-bed. Get N---- E---- to settle
+     our affairs, draw my pay, &c. If our daughter is still
+     living, I want her to have a share of three hundred dollars.
+     I die under the protecting folds of the starry banner of
+     freedom. You must take good care of the little one. Trust in
+     God, and meet me in heaven. I bid a last farewell to all my
+     friends. I die happy. God bless you.
+
+     "Your husband,
+
+     "H. W. VARNEY."
+
+
+The friends of many came as soon as they heard of their arrival and
+illness, but often failed to recognize them. One woman, on being taken
+into the ward where her husband was asleep, persisted in saying that she
+had never seen that man before; and on being shown his name and regiment
+on the card, she refused to be convinced, feeling sure that there must
+be some mistake, till he opened his eyes and greeted her by name.
+
+On the evening of a day on which there had been a new arrival of men, I
+was sitting in the comfortably heated tent, while eight happy faces
+looked from the warmly blanketed beds. Each man had his own tale of
+prison experience to tell. "Not for all the gold that could be heaped
+into this tent would I voluntarily spend one more day at Andersonville."
+Another said, "We suffered enough in body; but the mental agony, the
+mental agony, no one can ever imagine." And so they went on, dwelling at
+last upon their anxiety for home friends, wondering if mothers, wives,
+and children were yet alive. Then one manly voice told, in earnest
+tones, how he could bless the Lord for the perilous trials through which
+he had passed; that he had been brought up religiously, but never had
+truly loved the Saviour until he became his only refuge. "His love in my
+heart is well worth all the discipline I have endured, and I can thank
+him for it." These words came from John S. Farnell, a Michigan boy of
+eighteen years of age. Since the battle of Gettysburg, seventeen months
+before, he had been a prisoner. He enjoyed reading his own little new
+Bible, and the meetings for prayer and singing held in his tent. He
+seemed to be gaining strength, until an attack of pneumonia occurred,
+when the utmost care failed to save his life. He talked peacefully of
+dying, in intervals of consciousness, but at last sank into a heavy
+stupor. Just as I closed his eyes, and while he ceased to breathe, the
+band struck up the strain, "Do they miss me at home?"
+
+It needed a stout heart to turn from the frequent scenes of death, at
+that gloomy time, to cheer and amuse the less dangerously ill. The
+coming of Christmas was a source of excitement for a few days. Some of
+the boys had never heard of Santa Claus and his visits down the chimney
+at this merry season; and when his descent through the pipes, and
+passage through the stove-doors, and appearance in the tents became
+possibilities, there was as much amusement and anticipation among them
+as ever gladdened a nursery full of children. On the morning of this
+happy festival every man found a sock hanging by his side stuffed with
+mittens, scarfs, knives, suspenders, handkerchiefs, and many little
+things. Out of the top of each sock peeped a little flag; and as the men
+awoke, one by one, and examined the gifts of Santa Claus, shouts of
+merriment rang through the wards, and they were satisfied that he was a
+friend worth having.
+
+All that was possible under the pressure of the melancholy circumstances
+was done to make the day a happy one; but it was not celebrated with the
+same rejoicings as the year before, nor was there much time to be spared
+from the sick and dying. Steamers were constantly arriving, and filling
+up the vacant places with new patients.
+
+On a ragged, soiled piece of paper which a man handed me on landing were
+these lines, written at Andersonville by a boy of sixteen who died
+there. They are surely worthy of remembrance.
+
+    "Will you leave us here to die?
+    When our country called for men,
+    We came from forge and store and mill,
+    The broken ranks to fill;
+    We left our quiet, happy homes,
+    And ones we loved so well,
+    To vanquish all the Union foes,
+    Or fall where others fell.
+    Now, in prisons drear we languish,
+    And it is our constant cry,
+    O ye who yet can save us,
+    Will you leave us here to die?
+
+    "The voice of slander tells you
+    That our hearts were weak with fear,
+    That nearly every one of us
+    Was captured in the rear.
+    The scars upon our bodies
+    From the musket-ball and shell,
+    The missing legs and shattered arms
+    A truer tale will tell.
+    We have tried to do our duty
+    In the sight of God on high:
+    O ye who yet can save us,
+    Will you leave us here to die?
+
+    "There are hearts with hope still beating
+    In our pleasant Northern homes,
+    Waiting, watching for the footsteps
+    That may never, never come.
+    In Southern prisons pining,
+    Meagre, tattered, pale, and gaunt,
+    Growing weaker, weaker daily
+    From pinching cold and want.
+    Here brothers, sons, and husbands,
+    Poor and hopeless, captured lie:
+    O ye who yet can save them,
+    Will you leave us here to die?
+
+    "From out our prison gate,
+    There's a grave-yard close at hand,
+    Where lie ten thousand Union men
+    Beneath the Georgia sand.
+    Scores and scores are laid beside them,
+    As day succeeds to day;
+    And thus it ever will be
+    Till they all shall pass away,
+    And the last can say when dying,
+    With upturned and glazing eye,
+    Both love and faith are dead at home,--
+    They have left us here to die!"
+
+A proof of the humanity with which the Rebel prisoners were treated by
+our government is found in the fact of their reluctance to be exchanged;
+they said that they were very comfortable, and would far rather remain
+at the North until the war was over. One general, who was having an
+artificial leg made, was forced to return against his will. His
+entreaties to be left behind prevailed for a few days; but at last he
+was obliged to take passage on the transport for exchange, as one of our
+own generals was awaiting his return to come home.
+
+Among the prisoners who came in January was Boston Corbett, of the
+Seventeenth New York Cavalry. Every name made public even in remote
+connection with the death of our beloved President becomes an object of
+interest. The following is a characteristic letter from the brave and
+earnest-hearted patriot at whose hand the assassin met his doom:--
+
+
+     "VIENNA, VA., March 9, 1865.
+
+     "MISS ----:--Many times I have thought I would write to
+     acknowledge the kindness shown by you and the other good
+     ladies of the hospital to us poor soldiers when we were
+     brought from Savannah, Andersonville, and Millen. I remember
+     with gratitude the first kind words expressed towards us,
+     and how strange and good they sounded after being so long
+     deprived of them. Although they might not seem much to the
+     giver, yet I believe they will live in the memory of us
+     soldier boys long after the war is over. I can never forget
+     how much was done for us all on our return from prison to
+     hospital; but many thousands lie under the soil of Georgia,
+     monuments of the cruelty and wickedness of this
+     Rebellion,--the head of all the rebellions of earth for
+     blackness and horror. Those only can feel the extent of it
+     who have seen their comrades, as I have, lying in the
+     broiling sun, without shelter, with swollen feet and parched
+     skin, in filth and dirt, suffering as I believe no people
+     ever suffered before in the world. But, thank God, these
+     things have come, I hope, to an end. May they never exist
+     again in the good land! With kind regards to all,
+
+     "Very truly,
+
+     "BOSTON CORBETT."
+
+
+The ravages of the malignant fever which had broken out in the hospital
+were not confined to the patients. Surgeons and chaplain yielded their
+lives at its deadly touch. Then, too, was the bond severed which had
+harmoniously united a happy sisterhood for many months. Of the six who
+went down to the brink of the river of death, five crossed over to the
+heavenly shore. She who alone remained gives these simple memories to
+the reader.
+
+
+
+
+MINOR ITALIAN TRAVELS.
+
+
+I.
+
+PISA.
+
+I am afraid that the talk of the modern railway traveller, if he is
+honest, must be a great deal of the custodians, the _vetturini_, and the
+_facchini_, whose agreeable acquaintance constitutes his chief knowledge
+of the population among which he journeys. We do not now-a-days carry
+letters recommending us to citizens of the different places. If we did,
+consider the calamity we should be to the be-travelled Italian
+communities we now bless! No; we buy our through-tickets, and we put up
+at the hotels praised in the hand-book, and are very glad of a little
+conversation with any native, however adulterated he may be by contact
+with the world to which we belong. I do not blush to own that I love the
+whole rascal race which ministers to our curiosity and preys upon us,
+and I am not ashamed to have spoken so often as I have done in former
+sketches of the lowly and rapacious but interesting porters who opened
+to me the different gates of that great realm of wonders, Italy. I doubt
+if they can be much known to the dwellers in the land, though they are
+the intimates of all sojourners and passengers; and if I have any regret
+in the matter, it is that I did not more diligently study them when I
+could. The opportunity, once lost, seldom recurs; they are all but as
+transitory as the Object of Interest itself. I remember that years ago,
+when I first visited Cambridge, there was an old man appeared to me in
+the character of Genius of the College Grounds, who showed me all the
+notable things in our city,--its treasures of art, its monuments,--and
+ended by taking me into his wood-house, and sawing me off from a
+wind-fallen branch of the Washington Elm a bit of the sacred wood for a
+remembrancer. Where now is that old man? He no longer exists for me,
+neither he nor his wood-house nor his dwelling-house. Let me look for a
+month about the College Grounds, and I shall not see him. But somewhere
+in the regions of traveller's faery he still lives, and he appears
+instantly to the new-comer; he has an understanding with the dryads who
+keep him supplied with boughs from the Washington Elm, and his
+wood-house is full of them.
+
+Among memorable cicerones in Italy was one whom we saw at Pisa, where we
+stopped on our way from Leghorn after our accident in the Maremma, and
+spent an hour in viewing the Quattro Fabbriche. The beautiful old town,
+which every one knows from the report of travellers, one finds possessed
+of the incommunicable charm which keeps old towns forever novel to the
+visitor. Lying on either side of the Arno, it mirrors in the flood
+architecture almost as fair and noble as that glassed in the Canalazzo,
+and its streets seemed to us as tranquil as the canals of Venice. Those
+over which we drove, on the day of our visit, were paved with broad
+flag-stones, and gave out scarcely a sound under our wheels. It was
+Sunday, and no one was to be seen. Yet the empty and silent city
+inspired us with no sense of desolation. The palaces were in perfect
+repair; the pavements were clean; behind those windows we felt that
+there must be a good deal of easy, comfortable life. It is said that
+Pisa is one of the few places in Europe where the sweet, but timid,
+spirit of Inexpensiveness--everywhere pursued by Railways--still
+lingers, and that you find cheap apartments in those well-preserved old
+palaces. No doubt it would be worth more to live in Pisa than it would
+cost, for the history of the place would alone be to any reasonable
+sojourner a perpetual recompense and a princely income far exceeding his
+expenditure. To be sure, the Tower of Famine, with which we chiefly
+associate the name of Pisa, has been long razed to the ground, and built
+piecemeal into the neighboring palaces; but you may still visit the dead
+wall which hides from view the place where it stood, and you may thence
+drive on, as we did, to the great Piazza where stands the unrivalledest
+group of architecture in the world after that of St. Mark's Place in
+Venice. There is the wonderful Leaning Tower, there is the old and
+beautiful Duomo, there is the noble Baptistery, there is the lovely
+Campo Santo. There, too,--somewhere lurking in portal or behind pillar,
+and keeping out an eagle eye for the marvelling stranger,--is the much
+experienced cicerone who shows you through the edifices. Yours is the
+fourteen-thousandth American family to which he has had the honor of
+acting as guide, and he makes you feel an illogical satisfaction in thus
+becoming a contribution to statistics.
+
+We entered the Duomo in our new friend's custody, and we saw the things
+which it was well to see. There was mass, or some other ceremony,
+transacting, but, as usual, it was made as little obtrusive as possible,
+and there was not much to weaken the sense of proprietorship with which
+travellers view objects of interest. Then we ascended the Leaning Tower,
+skilfully preserving its equilibrium, as we went, by an inclination of
+our persons in a direction opposed to the tower's inclination, but
+perhaps not receiving a full justification of the Campanile's appearance
+in pictures till we stood again at its base, and saw its vast bulk and
+height as it seemed to sway and threaten in the blue sky above our
+heads. There the sensation was too terrible for endurance,--even the
+architectural beauty of the tower could not save it from being monstrous
+to us,--and we were glad to hurry away from it to the serenity and
+solemn loveliness of the Campo Santo.
+
+Here are the frescos painted five hundred years ago to be ruinous and
+ready against the time of your arrival in 1864, and you feel that you
+are the first to enjoy the joke of the Vergognosa,--that arch jade who
+peers through her fingers at the shameful condition of deboshed Father
+Noah, and seems to wink one eye of wicked amusement at you. Turning
+afterward to any book written about Italy during the time specified, you
+find your impression of exclusive property in the frescos erroneous, and
+your Muse naturally despairs where so many muses have labored in vain to
+give a just idea of the Campo Santo. Yet it is most worthy celebration.
+Those exquisitely arched and traceried colonnades seem to grow like the
+slim cypresses out of the sainted earth of Jerusalem; and those old
+paintings enforce more effectively than their authors conceived the
+lessons of life and death, for they are themselves becoming part of the
+triumphant decay they represent. If it was awful once to look upon that
+strange scene where the gay lords and ladies of the chase come suddenly
+upon three dead men in their coffins, while the devoted hermits enjoy
+the peace of a dismal righteousness on a hill in the background, it is
+yet more tragic to behold it now, when the dead men are hardly
+discernible in their coffins, and the hermits are but the vaguest
+shadows of gloomy bliss. Alas! Death mocks even the homage done him by
+our poor fears and hopes: with dust he wipes out dust, and with decay he
+blots the image of decay.
+
+I assure the reader that I made none of these apt reflections in the
+Campo Santo at Pisa, but have written them out this morning, in
+Cambridge, because there happens to be an east wind blowing. No one
+could have been sad in the company of our cheerful and patient cicerone,
+who, although visibly anxious to get his fourteen-thousandth American
+family away, still would not go till he had shown us that monument to a
+dead enmity which hangs in the Campo Santo. This is the mighty chain
+which the Pisans, in their old wars with the Genoese, once stretched
+across the mouth of their harbor to prevent the entrance of the hostile
+galleys. The Genoese with no great trouble carried the chain away, and
+kept it ever afterward till 1860, when Pisa was united to the kingdom of
+Italy. Then the trophy was restored to the Pisans, and with public
+rejoicings placed in the Campo Santo, an emblem of reconciliation and
+perpetual amity between ancient foes.[101] It is not a very good
+world,--_e pur si muove_.
+
+The Baptistery stands but a step away from the Campo Santo, and our
+guide ushered us into it with the air of one who had till now held in
+reserve his great stroke and was ready to deliver it. Yet I think he
+waited till we had looked at some comparatively trifling sculptures by
+Nicolo da Pisa before he raised his voice and uttered a melodious
+species of howl. While we stood in some amazement at this, the conscious
+structure of the dome caught the sound, and prolonged it with a variety
+and sweetness of which I could not have dreamed. The man poured out in
+quick succession his musical wails, and then ceased, and a choir of
+heavenly echoes burst forth in response. There was a supernatural beauty
+in these harmonies of which I despair of giving any true idea. They were
+of such tender and exalted rapture that we might well have thought them
+the voices of young-eyed cherubim, singing as they passed through
+Paradise over that spot of earth where we stood. They seemed a celestial
+compassion that stooped and soothed, and rose again in lofty and solemn
+acclaim, leaving us poor and penitent and humbled.
+
+We were long silent, and then broke forth with cries of admiration of
+which the marvellous echo at once made eloquence.
+
+"Did you ever," said the cicerone after we had left the building, "hear
+such music as that?"
+
+"The papal choir does not equal it," we answered with one voice.
+
+The cicerone was not to be silenced even with such a tribute, and he
+went on:--
+
+"Perhaps, as you are Americans, you know Moshu Feelmore, the President?
+No? Ah, what a fine man! You saw that he had his heart actually in his
+hand! Well, one day he said to me here, when I told him of the
+Baptistery echo, 'We have the finest echo in the world in the Hall of
+Congress.' I said nothing, but for answer I merely howled a
+little,--thus! Moshu Feelmore was convinced. Said he, 'There is no other
+echo in the world besides this. You are right.' I am unique," pursued
+the cicerone, "for making this echo. But," he added with a sigh, "it has
+been my ruin. The English have put me in all the guide-books, and
+sometimes I have to howl twenty times a day. When our Victor Emanuel
+came here, I showed him the church, the tower, and the Campo Santo. Says
+the king, 'Pfui!'"--here the cicerone gave that sweeping, outward motion
+with both hands by which Italians dismiss a trifling subject,--"'make me
+the echo!' I was forced," concluded the cicerone, with a strong sense of
+injury in his tone, "to howl half an hour without ceasing."
+
+
+II.
+
+COMO.
+
+My visit to Lake Como has become to me a dream of summer,--a vision that
+remains faded the whole year round, till the blazing heats of July bring
+out the sympathetic tints in which it was vividly painted. Then I behold
+myself again in burning Milan, amidst noises and fervors and bustle that
+seem intolerable after my first six months in tranquil, cool, mute
+Venice. Looking at the great white Cathedral, with its infinite
+pinnacles piercing the cloudless blue, and gathering the fierce sun upon
+it, I half expect to see the whole mass calcined by the heat, and
+crumbling, statue by statue, finial by finial, arch by arch, into a vast
+heap of lime on the Piazza, with a few charred English tourists
+blackening here and there upon the ruin, and contributing a smell of
+burnt leather and Scotch tweed to the horror of the scene. All round
+Milan smokes the great Lombard plain, and to the north rises Monte Rosa,
+her dark head coifed with tantalizing snows as with a peasant's white
+linen kerchief. And I am walking out upon that fuming plain as far as to
+the Arco della Pace, on which the bronze horses may melt any minute; or
+I am sweltering through the city's noonday streets, in search of Sant'
+Ambrogio, or the Cenacolo of Da Vinci, or what know I? Coming back to
+our hotel, "Alla Bella Venezia," and greeted on entering by the immense
+fresco which covers one whole side of the court, it appeared to my
+friend and me no wonder that Garibaldi should look so longingly from the
+prow of a gondola toward the airy towers and balloon-like domes that
+swim above the unattainable lagoons of Venice, where the Austrian then
+lorded it in coolness and quietness, while hot, red-shirted Italy was
+shut out upon the dusty plains and stony hills. Our desire for water
+became insufferable; we paid our modest bills, and at six o'clock we
+took the train for Como, where we arrived about the hour when Don
+Abbondio, walking down the lonely path with his book of devotions in his
+hand, gave himself to the Devil on meeting the bravos of Don Rodrigo. I
+counsel the reader to turn to _I Promessi Sposi_, if he would know how
+all the lovely Como country looks at that hour. For me, the ride through
+the evening landscape, and the faint sentiment of pensiveness provoked
+by the smell of the ripening maize, which exhales the same sweetness on
+the way to Como that it does on any Ohio bottom-land, have given me an
+appetite, and I am to dine before wooing the descriptive Muse.
+
+After dinner, we find at the door of the hotel an English architect whom
+we know, and we take a boat together for a moonlight row upon the lake,
+and voyage far up the placid water through air that bathes our heated
+senses like dew. How far we have left Milan behind! On the lake lies the
+moon, but the hills are held by mysterious shadows, which for the time
+are as substantial to us as the hills themselves. Hints of habitation
+appear in the twinkling lights along the water's edge, and we suspect an
+alabaster lamp in every casement, and in every invisible house a villa
+such as Claude Melnotte described to Pauline, and some one mouths that
+well-worn fustian. The rags of sentimentality flutter from every crag
+and olive-tree and orange-tree in all Italy,--like the wilted paper
+collars which vulgar tourists leave by our own mountains and streams, to
+commemorate their enjoyment of the landscape.
+
+The town of Como lies, a swarm of lights, behind us; the hills and
+shadows gloom around; the lake is a sheet of tremulous silver. There is
+no telling how we get back to our hotel, or with what satisfied hearts
+we fall asleep in our room there. The steamer starts for the head of the
+lake at eight o'clock in the morning, and we go on board at that hour.
+
+There is some pretence of shelter in the awning stretched over the after
+part of the boat; but we do not feel the need of it in the fresh morning
+air, and we get as near the bow as possible, that we may be the very
+first to enjoy the famous beauty of the scenes opening before us. A few
+sails dot the water, and everywhere there are small, canopied row-boats,
+such as we went pleasuring in last night. We reach a bend in the lake,
+and all the roofs and towers of the city of Como pass from view, as if
+they had been so much architecture painted on a scene and shifted out of
+sight at a theatre. But other roofs and towers constantly succeed them,
+not less lovely and picturesque than they, with every curve of the
+many-curving lake. We advance over charming expanses of water lying
+between lofty hills; and as the lake is narrow, the voyage is like that
+of a winding river,--like that of the Ohio, but for the primeval
+wildness of the acclivities that guard our Western stream, and the
+tawniness of its current. Wherever the hills do not descend sheer into
+Como, a pretty town nestles on the brink, or, if not a town, then a
+villa, or else a cottage, if there is room for nothing more. Many little
+towns climb the heights half-way, and where the hills are green and
+cultivated in vines or olives, peasants' houses scale them to the crest.
+They grow loftier and loftier as we leave our starting-place farther
+behind, and as we draw near Colico they wear light wreaths of cloud and
+snow. So cool a breeze has drawn down between them all the way that we
+fancy it to have come from them till we stop at Colico, and find that,
+but for the efforts of our honest engine, sweating and toiling in the
+dark below, we should have had no current of air. A burning calm is in
+the atmosphere, and on the broad, flat valley,--out of which a marshy
+stream oozes into the lake,--and on the snow-crowned hills upon the
+left, and on the dirty village of Colico upon the right, and on the
+indolent beggars waiting to welcome us, and sunning their goitres at the
+landing.
+
+The name Colico, indeed, might be literally taken in English as
+descriptive of the local insalubrity. The place was once large, but it
+has fallen away much from sickness, and we found a bill posted in its
+public places inviting emigrants to America on the part of a German
+steamship company. It was the only advertisement of the kind I ever saw
+in Italy, and I judged that the people must be notoriously discontented
+there to make it worth the while of a steamship company to tempt from
+home any of the home-keeping Italian race. And yet Colico, though
+undeniably hot, and openly dirty, and tacitly unhealthy, had merits,
+though the dinner we got there was not among its virtues. It had an
+accessible country about it; that is, its woods and fields were not
+impenetrably walled in from the vagabond foot, and after we had dined we
+went and lay down under some greenly waving trees beside a field of
+corn, and heard the plumed and panoplied maize talking to itself of its
+kindred in America. It always has a welcome for tourists of our nation
+wherever it finds us in Italy, and sometimes its sympathy, expressed in
+a rustling and clashing of its long green blades, or in its strong,
+sweet perfume, has, as already hinted, made me homesick; though I have
+been uniformly unaffected by potato-patches and tobacco-fields. If only
+the maize could impart to the Italian cooks the beautiful mystery of
+roasting-ears! Ah! then indeed it might claim a full and perfect
+fraternization from its compatriots abroad.
+
+From where we lay beside the cornfield, we could see, through the
+twinkling leaves and the twinkling atmosphere, the great hills across
+the lake, taking their afternoon naps, with their clouds drawn like
+handkerchiefs over their heads. It was very hot, and the red and purple
+ooze of the unwholesome river below "burnt like a witch's oils." It was
+indeed but a fevered joy we snatched from nature there; and I am afraid
+that we got nothing more comfortable from sentiment, when, rising, we
+wandered off through the unguarded fields toward a ruined tower on a
+hill. It must have been a relic of feudal times, and perhaps in the cool
+season it is haunted by the wicked spirits of such lords as used to rule
+in the terror of the people beside peaceful and happy Como. But in
+summer no ghost, however sultrily appointed in the other world, could
+feel it an object to revisit that ruined tower. A few scrawny
+blackberries and other brambles grew out of its fallen stones; harsh,
+dust-dry mosses painted its weather-worn walls with their blanched gray
+and yellow. From its foot, looking out over the valley, we saw the road
+to the Spluegen Pass lying white-hot in the valley; and while we looked,
+the diligence appeared, and dashed through the dust that rose like a
+flame before. After that it was a relief to stroll in dirty by-ways,
+past cottages of saffron peasants, and poor stony fields that begrudged
+them a scanty vegetation, back to the steamer blistering in the sun.
+
+Now indeed we were glad of the awning, under which a silent crowd of
+people with sunburnt faces waited for the departure of the boat. The
+breeze rose again as the engine resumed its unappreciated labors, and,
+with our head toward Como, we pushed out into the lake. The company on
+board was such as might be expected. There was a German
+landscape-painter, with three heart's-friends beside him; there were
+some German ladies; there were the unfailing Americans and the unfailing
+Englishman; there were some French people; there were Italians from the
+meridional provinces, dark, thin, and enthusiastic, with fat, silent
+wives, and a rhythmical speech; there were Milanese with their families,
+out for a holiday,--round-bodied men, with blunt, square features, and
+hair and vowels clipped surprisingly short; there was a young girl whose
+face was of the exact type affected in rococo sculpture, and at whom one
+gazed without being able to decide whether she was a nymph descended
+from a villa gate, or a saint come from under a broken arch in a
+Renaissance church. At one of the little towns two young Englishmen in
+knickerbockers came on board, who were devoured by the eyes of their
+fellow-passengers, and between whom and our kindly architect there was
+instantly ratified the tacit treaty of non-intercourse which travelling
+Englishmen observe.
+
+Nothing further interested us on the way to Como, except the gathering
+coolness of the evening air; the shadows creeping higher and higher on
+the hills; the songs of the girls winding yellow silk on the reels that
+hummed through the open windows of the factories on the shore; and the
+appearance of a flag that floated from a shallop before the landing of a
+stately villa. The Italians did not know this banner, and the Germans
+loudly debated its nationality. The Englishmen grinned, and the
+Americans blushed in silence. Of all my memories of that hot day on Lake
+Como, this is burnt the deepest; for the flag was that insolent banner
+which in 1862 proclaimed us a broken people, and persuaded willing
+Europe of our ruin. It has gone down long ago from ship and fort and
+regiment, and they who used to flaunt it so gayly in Europe probably
+pawned it later in the cheap towns of South France, whither so much
+chivalry retired when wealth was to be wrung from slaves no more
+forever. Still, I say, it made Como too hot for us that afternoon, and
+even breathless Milan was afterwards a pleasant contrast.
+
+
+III.
+
+TRIESTE.
+
+If you take the midnight steamer at Venice you reach Trieste by six
+o'clock in the morning, and the hills rise to meet you as you enter the
+broad bay dotted with the sail of fishing-craft. The hills are bald and
+bare, and you find, as you draw near, that the city lies at their feet
+under a veil of mist, or climbs earlier into view along their sides. The
+prospect is singularly devoid of gentle and pleasing features, and
+looking at those rugged acclivities, with their aspect of continual
+bleakness, you readily believe all the stories you have ever heard of
+that fierce wind called the Bora, which sweeps from them through Trieste
+at certain seasons. While it blows, ladies walking near the quays are
+sometimes caught up and set afloat, involuntary Galateas, in the bay,
+and people keep in-doors as much as possible. But the Bora, though so
+sudden and so savage, does give warning of its rise, and the peasants
+avail themselves of this characteristic. They station a man on one of
+the mountain-tops, and when he feels the first breath of the Bora, he
+sounds a horn, which is a signal for all within hearing to lay hold of
+something that cannot be blown away, and cling to it till the wind
+falls. This may happen in three days or in nine, according to the
+popular proverbs. "The spectacle of the sea," says Dall' Ongaro, in a
+note to one of his ballads, "while the Bora blows, is sublime, and when
+it ceases the prospect of the surrounding hills is delightful. The air,
+purified by the rapid current, clothes them with a rosy veil, and the
+temperature is instantly softened, even in the heart of winter."
+
+The city itself, as you penetrate it, makes good with its stateliness
+and picturesqueness your loss through the grimness of its environs. It
+is in great part new, very clean, and full of the life and movement of a
+prosperous port; but, better than this so far as the mere sight-seer is
+concerned, it wins a novel charm from the many public staircases by
+which you ascend and descend its hillier quarters, and which are made of
+stone, and lightly railed and balustraded with iron.
+
+Something of all this I noticed in my ride from the landing of the
+steamer to the house of friends in the suburbs. There I grew better
+disposed toward the hills, which, as I strolled over them, I found
+dotted with lovely villas, and everywhere traversed by perfectly-kept
+carriage-roads, and easy and pleasant foot-paths. It was in the
+spring-time, and the peach-trees and almond-trees hung full of blossoms
+and bees; the lizards lay in the walks absorbing the vernal sunshine;
+the violets and cowslips sweetened all the grassy borders. The scene did
+not want a human interest, for the peasant-girls were going to market at
+that hour, and I met them everywhere, bearing heavy burdens on their own
+heads, or hurrying forward with their wares on the backs of donkeys.
+They were as handsome as heart could wish, and they wore that Italian
+head-dress which I have never seen anywhere in Italy except at Trieste
+and in the Roman and Neapolitan provinces,--a kerchief of dazzling white
+linen, laid square upon the crown, and dropping lightly to the
+shoulders. Later I saw these comely maidens crouching on the ground in
+the market-place, and selling their wares, with much glitter of eyes,
+teeth, and ear-rings, and a continual babble of bargaining.
+
+It seemed to me that the average of good looks was greater among the
+women of Trieste than among those of Venice, but that the instances of
+striking and exquisite beauty were rarer. At Trieste, too, the Italian
+type, so pure at Venice, is lost or continually modified by the mixed
+character of the population, which perhaps is most noticeable at the
+Merchants' Exchange. This is a vast edifice roofed with glass, where are
+the offices of the great steam navigation company, the Austrian
+Lloyds,--which, far more than the favor of the Imperial government, has
+contributed to the prosperity of Trieste,--and where the traffickers of
+all races meet daily to gossip over the news and the prices. Here a
+Greek or a Dalmat talks with an eager Italian, or a slow, sure
+Englishman; here the hated Austrian button-holes the Venetian or the
+Magyar; here the Jew meets the Gentile on common ground; here
+Christianity encounters the superstitions of the East, and makes a good
+thing out of them in cotton or grain. All costumes are seen here, and
+all tongues are heard, the native Triestines contributing almost as much
+to the variety of the latter as the foreigners. "In regard to language,"
+says Cantu, "though the country is peopled by Slavonians, yet the
+Italian tongue is spreading into the remotest villages, where a few
+years since it was not understood. In the city it is the common and
+familiar language; the Slavonians of the North use the German for the
+language of ceremony; those of the South, as well as the Israelites, the
+Italian; while the Protestants use the German, the Greeks the Hellenic
+and Illyric, the employees of the civil courts the Italian or the
+German, the schools now German and now Italian, the bar and the pulpit
+Italian. Most of the inhabitants, indeed, are bi-lingual, and very many
+tri-lingual, without counting French, which is understood and spoken
+from infancy. Italian, German, and Greek are written, but the Slavonic
+little, this having remained in the condition of a vulgar tongue. But it
+would be idle to distinguish the population according to language, for
+the son adopts a language different from the father's, and now prefers
+one language and now another; the women generally incline to the
+Italian; but many of the upper class prefer now German, now French, now
+English, as, from one decade to another, affairs, fashions, and fancies
+change. This in the salons; in the squares and streets, the Venetian
+dialect is heard."
+
+And with the introduction of the Venetian dialect, Venetian discontent
+seems also to have crept in, and I once heard a Triestine declaim
+against the Imperial government quite in the manner of Venice. It struck
+me that this desire for union with Italy, which he declared prevalent in
+Trieste, must be of very recent growth, since even so late as 1848
+Trieste had refused to join Venice in the expulsion of the Austrians.
+Indeed, the Triestines have fought the Venetians from the first; they
+stole the Brides of Venice in one of their piratical cruises in the
+lagoons; gave aid and comfort to those enemies of Venice, the Visconti,
+the Carraras, and the Genoese; revolted from St. Mark whenever subjected
+to his banner; and finally, rather than remain under his sway, gave
+themselves five centuries ago to Austria.
+
+The objects of interest in Trieste are not many. There are remains of an
+attributive temple of Jupiter under the Duomo, and there is near at hand
+the museum of classical antiquities founded in honor of Winckelmann,
+murdered at Trieste by that ill-advised Pistojese, Ancangeli, who had
+seen the medals bestowed on the antiquary by Maria Theresa and believed
+him rich. There is also a scientific museum founded by the Archduke
+Maximilian, and, above all, there is the beautiful residence of this
+unhappy prince,--the Miramare, where the half-crazed Empress of the
+Mexicans vainly waits her husband's return from the experiment of
+paternal government in the New World. It would be hard to tell how art
+has there charmed rock and wave, until the spur of one of those rugged
+Triestine hills, jutting into the sea, has been made the seat of ease
+and luxury; but the visitor is aware of the magic as soon as he passes
+the gate of the palace grounds. These are in great part perpendicular,
+and are overclambered with airy stairways climbing to pensile arbors.
+Where horizontal, they are diversified with mimic seas for swans to sail
+upon, and summer-houses for people to lounge in and look at the swans
+from. On the point of land farthest from the acclivity stands the castle
+of Miramare, half at sea, and half adrift in the clouds above.
+
+    "And fain it would stoop downward
+      To the mirrored wave below;
+    And fain it would soar upward
+      In the evening's crimson glow."
+
+I remember that a little yacht lay beside the pier at the castle's foot,
+and lazily flapped its sail, while the sea beat inward with as languid a
+pulse. That was some years ago, before Mexico was dreamed of at
+Miramare. Now, perchance, she who is one of the most unhappy among women
+looks down distraught from those high windows, and finds in the helpless
+sail and impassive wave the images of her baffled hope, and that
+immeasurable sea which gives back its mariners neither to love nor to
+sorrow. I think, though she be the wife and daughter of royalty, we may
+pity this poor Empress at least as much as we pity the Mexicans to whom
+her dreams have brought so many woes.
+
+It was the midnight following the visit to Miramare when the fiacre in
+which I had quitted my friend's house was drawn up by its greatly
+bewildered driver on the quay near the place where the steamer for
+Venice should be lying. There was no steamer for Venice to be seen. The
+driver swore a little in the polyglot profanities of his native city,
+and, descending from his box, went and questioned different
+lights--blue lights, yellow lights, green lights--to be seen at
+different points. To a light, they were ignorant, though eloquent, and,
+to pass the time, we drove up and down the quay, and stopped at the
+landings of all the steamers that touch at Trieste. It was a snug fiacre
+enough, but I did not care to spend the night in it, and I urged the
+driver to further inquiry. A wanderer whom we met declared that it was
+not the night for the Venice steamer; another admitted that it might be;
+a third conversed with the driver in low tones, and then leaped upon the
+box. We drove rapidly away, and before I had, in view of this mysterious
+proceeding, composed a fitting paragraph for the _Fatti Diversi_ of the
+_Osservatore Triestino_, descriptive of the state in which the Guardie
+di Polizia should find me floating in the bay, exanimate and too clearly
+the prey of a _triste evvenimento_, the driver pulled up once more, and
+now beside a steamer. It was the steamer for Venice, he said, in
+precisely the tone which he would have used had he driven me directly to
+it without blundering. It was breathing heavily, and was just about to
+depart; but even in the hurry of getting on board I could not help
+noticing that it seemed to have grown a great deal since I had last
+voyaged in it. There was not a soul to be seen except the mute steward
+who took my satchel, and, guiding me below into an elegant saloon,
+instantly left me alone. Here again the steamer was vastly enlarged.
+These were not the narrow quarters of the Venice steamer, nor was this
+lamp, shedding a soft light on cushioned seats and panelled doors and
+wainscotings, the sort of illumination usual in that humble craft. I
+rang the small silver bell on the long table, and the mute steward
+appeared.
+
+_Was_ this the steamer for Venice?
+
+_Sicuro!_
+
+All that I could do in comment was to sit down; and in the mean time the
+steamer trembled, groaned, choked, cleared its throat, and we were under
+way.
+
+"The other passengers have all gone to bed, I suppose," I argued
+acutely, seeing none of them. Nevertheless, I thought it odd, and it
+seemed a shrewd means of relief to ring the bell, and, pretending
+drowsiness, to ask the steward which was my state-room.
+
+He replied, with a curious smile, that I could have any of them. Amazed,
+I yet selected a state-room, and while the steward was gone for the
+sheets and pillow-cases I occupied my time by opening the doors of all
+the other staterooms. They were empty.
+
+"Am I the only passenger?" I asked, when he returned, with some anxiety.
+
+"Precisely," he answered.
+
+I could not proceed and ask if he composed the entire crew: it seemed
+too fearfully probable that he did.
+
+I now suspected that I had taken passage with the Olandese Volante, but
+there was now nothing in the world for it, except to go to bed, and
+there, with the accession of a slight sea-sickness, my views of the
+situation underwent a total change. I had gone down into the Maelstrom
+with the Ancient Mariner,--I was a Manuscript Found in a Bottle!
+
+Coming to the surface about six o'clock A. M., I found a daylight as
+cheerful as need be upon the appointments of the elegant cabin, and upon
+the good-natured face of the steward when he brought me the _caffe
+_caffe latte_, and the buttered toast for my breakfast. He said,
+"_Servitor suo!_" in a loud and comfortable voice, and I perceived the
+absurdity of having thought that he was in any way related to the
+Nightmare-Death-in-life-that-thicks-man's-blood-with-cold.
+
+"This is not the regular Venice steamer, I suppose," I remarked to the
+steward as he laid my breakfast in state upon the long table.
+
+No. Properly, no boat should have left for Venice last night, which was
+not one of the times of the tri-weekly departure. This was one of the
+steamers of the line between Trieste and Alexandria, and it was going at
+present to take on an extraordinary freight at Venice for Egypt. I had
+been permitted to come on board because my driver said I had a return
+ticket, and would go.
+
+Ascending to the deck, I found nothing whatever mysterious in the
+management of the steamer thus pressed for the first time, probably,
+into the service of an American citizen. The captain met me with a bow
+to the gangway; seamen were coiling wet ropes at different points, as
+they always are; the mate was promenading the bridge, and taking the
+rainy weather as it came, with his oil-cloth coat and hat on. The wheel
+of the steamer was as usual chewing the sea, and finding it unpalatable,
+and vainly expectorating.
+
+We were in sight of the breakwater outside Malamocco, and a pilot-boat
+was making us from the land. Even at this point the fortifications of
+the Austrians began, and they multiplied as we drew near Venice, till we
+entered the lagoon, and found it a nest of fortresses, one within
+another.
+
+Unhappily, the day being rainy, Venice did not spring resplendent from
+the sea, as I had always read she would. She rose slowly and languidly
+from the water,--not like a queen, but like the slovenly, heart-broken
+old slave she was.
+
+
+IV.
+
+CANOVA'S BIRTHPLACE.
+
+From Venice to the city of Vicenza by rail it is two hours, and thence
+you must take a carriage if you would go to Bassano, which is an opulent
+and busy little grain mart of some twelve thousand souls, about thirty
+miles north of Venice, at the foot of the Alps. We reached the town at
+nine o'clock. It was moonlight; and as we looked out we saw the quaint,
+steep streets full of promenaders, and everybody in Bassano seemed to be
+making love. Young girls strolled about the picturesque way with their
+lovers, and tender couples were cooing at all the doors and windows.
+Bassano is the birthplace of the painter Jacopo da Ponte, who was one of
+the first Italian painters to treat Scriptural story as accessory to
+mere landscape, and who had a peculiar fondness for painting Entrances
+into the Ark, because he could indulge without stint the taste for
+pairing-off early acquired from observation of the just-mentioned local
+customs in his native town. This was the theory offered by one who had
+imbibed the spirit of subtile speculation from Ruskin, and I think it
+reasonable. At least it does not conflict with the fact that there is at
+Bassano a most excellent gallery of paintings entirely devoted to the
+works of Jacopo da Ponte and his four sons, who are here to be seen to
+better advantage than anywhere else. As few strangers visit Bassano, the
+gallery is little frequented. It is in charge of a very strict old man,
+who will not allow people to look at the pictures till he has shown them
+the adjoining cabinet of geological specimens. It is in vain that you
+assure him of your indifference to these scientific _seccature_; he is
+deaf, and you are not suffered to escape a single fossil. He asked us a
+hundred questions, and understood nothing in reply, insomuch that when
+he came to his last inquiry, "Have the Protestants the same God as the
+Catholics?" we were rather glad that he should be obliged to settle the
+fact for himself.
+
+Underneath the gallery was a school of boys, whom, as we entered, we
+heard humming over the bitter honey which childhood is obliged to gather
+from the opening flowers of orthography. When we passed out, the master
+gave these poor busy bees an atom of holiday, and they all swarmed forth
+together to look at the strangers. The teacher was a long, lank man, in
+a black threadbare coat, and a skull-cap,--exactly like the schoolmaster
+in "The Deserted Village." We made a pretence of asking him our way
+somewhere, and went wrong, and came by accident upon a wide, flat space,
+bare as a brick-yard, beside which was lettered on a fragment of the old
+city wall, "Giuoco di Palla." It was evidently the play-ground of the
+whole city, and it gave us a pleasanter idea of life in Bassano than we
+had yet conceived, to think of its entire population playing ball there
+in the spring afternoons. We respected Bassano as much for this as for
+her diligent remembrance of her illustrious dead, of whom she has very
+great numbers. It appeared to us that nearly every other house bore a
+tablet announcing that "Here was born," or "Here died," some great or
+good man of whom no one out of Bassano ever heard. There is enough
+celebrity there to supply the world; but as laurel is a thing that grows
+anywhere, I covet rather from Bassano the magnificent ivy that covers
+the portions of her ancient wall yet standing. The wall, where visible,
+is seen to be of a pebbly rough-cast, but it is clothed almost from the
+ground in glossy ivy, that glitters upon it like chain-mail upon the
+vast shoulders of some giant warrior. The bed of the moat is turned into
+a lovely promenade, bordered by quiet villas, with shepherds and
+shepherdesses carved in marble on their gates. Where the wall is built
+to the verge of the high ground on which the city stands, there is a
+swift descent to the wide valley of the Brenta, waving in corn and vines
+and tobacco.
+
+It did not take a long time to exhaust the interest of Bassano; but we
+were sorry to leave the place, because of the excellence of the inn at
+which we tarried. It was called "Il Mondo," and it had everything in it
+that heart could wish. Our rooms were miracles of neatness and comfort;
+they had the freshness, not the rawness, of recent repair, and they
+opened into the dining-hall, where we were served with indescribable
+salads and _risotti_. During our sojourn we simply enjoyed the house;
+when we were come away we wondered that so much perfection of hotel
+could exist in so small a town as Bassano. It is one of the pleasures of
+by-way travel in Italy, that you are everywhere introduced in fanciful
+character,--that you become fictitious, and play a part as in a novel.
+To this inn of "The World" our driver had brought us with a clamor and
+rattle proportioned to the fee received from us, and when, in response
+to his haughty summons, the _cameriere_, who had been gossiping with the
+cook, threw open the kitchen door, and stood out to welcome us in a
+broad square of forth-streaming ruddy light, amid the lovely odors of
+broiling and roasting, our driver saluted him with, "Receive these
+gentle folks, and treat them to your very best. They are worthy of
+anything." This at once put us back several centuries, and we never
+ceased to be lords and ladies of the period of Don Quixote as long as we
+rested in that inn.
+
+It was a bright and breezy Sunday when we left "Il Mondo," and gayly
+journeyed toward Treviso, intending to visit Possagno, the birthplace of
+Canova, on our way. The road to the latter place passes through a
+beautiful country, that gently undulates on either hand, till in the
+distance it rises into pleasant hills and green mountain-heights.
+Possagno itself lies upon the brink of a declivity, down the side of
+which drops terrace after terrace, all planted with vines and figs and
+peaches, to a water-course below. The ground on which the village is
+built, with its quaint and antiquated stone cottages, slopes gently
+northward, and on a little rise upon the left hand of us coming from
+Bassano, we saw that stately religious edifice with which Canova has
+honored his humble birthplace. It is a copy of the Pantheon, and it
+cannot help being beautiful and imposing, but it would be utterly out of
+place in any other than an Italian village. Here, however, it consorted
+well enough with the lingering qualities of that old pagan civilization
+still perceptible in Italy. A sense of that past was so strong with us,
+as we ascended the broad stairway leading up the slope from the village
+to the level on which the temple stands at the foot of a mountain, that
+we might well have fancied we approached an altar devoted to the elder
+worship: through the open doorway and between the columns of the portico
+we could see the priests moving to and fro, and the voice of their
+chanting came out to us like the sound of hymns to some of the deities
+long disowned; and I could but recall how Padre L---- had once said to
+me in Venice, "Our blessed saints are only the old gods baptized and
+christened anew." Within, as without, the temple resembled the Pantheon,
+but it had little to show us. The niches designed by Canova for statues
+of the saints are empty yet; but there are busts by his own hand of
+himself and his brother, the Bishop Canova. Among the people present was
+the sculptor's niece, whom our guide pointed out to us, and who was
+evidently used to being looked at. She seemed not to dislike it, and
+stared back at us amiably enough, being a good-natured, plump, comely,
+dark-faced lady of perhaps fifty years.
+
+Possagno is nothing if not Canova, and our guide, a boy, knew all about
+him,--how, more especially, he had first manifested his wonderful genius
+by modelling a group of sheep out of the dust of the highway, and how an
+Inglese, happening along in his carriage, saw the boy's work and gave
+him a plateful of gold napoleons. I dare say this is as near the truth
+as most facts. And is it not better for the historic Canova to have
+begun in this way, than to have poorly picked up the rudiments of his
+art in the work-shop of his father, a maker of altar-pieces and the like
+for country churches? The Canova family has intermarried with the
+Venetian nobility, and probably would not believe those stories of
+Canova's beginnings which his townsmen so fondly cherish. I dare say
+they would even discredit the butter lion with which the boy-sculptor is
+said to have adorned the table of the noble Falier, and first won his
+notice.
+
+Besides the temple at Possagno, there is a very pretty gallery
+containing casts of all Canova's works. It is an interesting place,
+where Psyches and Cupids flutter, where Venuses present themselves in
+every variety of attitude, where Sorrows sit upon hard, straight-backed
+classic chairs, and mourn in the society of faithful Storks; where the
+Bereft of this century surround death-beds in Greek costume appropriate
+to the scene; where Muses and Graces sweetly pose themselves and
+insipidly smile, and where the Dancers and Passions, though nakeder, are
+no wickeder than the Saints and Virtues. In all, there are a hundred and
+ninety-five pieces in the gallery, and among the rest the statue named
+George Washington which was sent to America in 1820, and afterwards
+destroyed by fire in the Capitol of North Carolina, at Raleigh. The
+figure is in a sitting posture; naturally, it is in the dress of a Roman
+general; and if it does not look much like George Washington, it does
+resemble Julius Caesar.
+
+The custodian of the gallery had been Canova's body-servant, and he
+loved to talk of his master. He had so far imbibed the spirit of family
+pride that he did not like to allow that Canova had ever been other than
+rich and grand, and he begged us not to believe the idle stories of his
+first essays in art. He was delighted with our interest in the imperial
+Washington, and our pleasure in the whole gallery, which we viewed with
+the homage due to the man who had rescued the world from Swaggering in
+sculpture. When we were tired, he invited us, with his mistress's
+permission, into the house of the Canovas adjoining the gallery; and
+there we saw many paintings by the sculptor,--pausing longest in a
+lovely little room decorated, after the Pompeian manner, with _scherzi_
+in miniature panels representing the jocose classic usualities,--Cupids
+escaping from cages, and being sold from them, and playing many pranks
+and games with Nymphs and Graces.
+
+Then Canova was done, and Possagno was finished; and we resumed our way
+to Treviso.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[101] I read in Mr. Norton's "Notes of Travel and Study in Italy," that
+he saw in the Campo Santo, as long ago as 1856, "the chains that marked
+the servitude of Pisa, now restored by Florence," and it is of course
+possible that our cicerone may have employed one of these chains for the
+different historical purpose I have mentioned. It would be a thousand
+pities, I think, if a monument of that sort should be limited to the
+commemoration of one fact only.
+
+
+
+
+THE MYSTERY OF NATURE.
+
+
+    The works of God are fair for naught,
+      Unless our eyes, in seeing,
+    See hidden in the thing the thought
+      That animates its being.
+
+    The outward form is not the whole,
+      But every part is moulded
+    To image forth an inward soul
+      That dimly is unfolded.
+
+    The shadow, pictured in the lake
+      By every tree that trembles,
+    Is cast for more than just the sake
+      Of that which it resembles.
+
+    The dew falls nightly, not alone
+      Because the meadows need it,
+    But on an errand of its own
+      To human souls that heed it.
+
+    The stars are lighted in the skies
+      Not merely for their shining,
+    But, like the looks of loving eyes,
+      Have meanings worth divining.
+
+    The waves that moan along the shore,
+      The winds that sigh in blowing,
+    Are sent to teach a mystic lore
+      Which men are wise in knowing.
+
+    The clouds around the mountain-peak,
+      The rivers in their winding,
+    Have secrets which, to all who seek,
+      Are precious in the finding.
+
+    Thus Nature dwells within our reach,
+      But, though we stand so near her,
+    We still interpret half her speech
+      With ears too dull to hear her.
+
+    Whoever, at the coarsest sound,
+      Still listens for the finest,
+    Shall hear the noisy world go round
+      To music the divinest.
+
+    Whoever yearns to see aright
+      Because his heart is tender,
+    Shall catch a glimpse of heavenly light
+      In every earthly splendor.
+
+    So, since the universe began,
+      And till it shall be ended,
+    The soul of Nature, soul of Man,
+      And soul of God are blended!
+
+
+
+
+A WIFE BY WAGER.
+
+
+On a sunny afternoon in the middle of August, 1756, a gayly-dressed
+young gentleman of evident rank and wealth, apparently about
+twenty-three years old, sat in the doorway of the Cafe de la Regence,
+languidly surveying the passers-by, and occasionally vouchsafing a nod
+of recognition to some noble cavalier, or graciously waving from his
+perfumed handkerchief a sentimental salutation to some lively beauty of
+high estate or doubtful fame. So very inert and imperturbable was this
+gayly-dressed young gentleman, that it seemed that nothing could disturb
+his dainty suavity; but suddenly, and without apparent cause, his eyes
+were lighted with a feeble expression of vexation, and, by a petulant
+movement, he thrust back his chair as if anxious to avoid observation.
+
+The object that kindled this momentary spark of animation was a tall,
+broad-chested man, whose appearance, as he sauntered along the
+promenade, casting glances of contempt, which might or might not be
+sincerely felt, at the fashionable vanities which surrounded him,
+presented a striking contrast to that of the majority of strollers on
+that summer afternoon. His dress, though neat, was simple, and almost
+sombre, being destitute of any species of decoration. His step was bold
+and vigorous, and, in his indifference to the gay panorama which glided
+past him, he held his chin so high in the air that the listless young
+gentleman hoped he might, in his loftiness, overlook him with the rest.
+
+But possibly the new-comer's unconsciousness may not have been so
+absolute as he endeavored to make it appear; or possibly his attention
+may have been particularly attracted by the sounds of mirth issuing from
+the famous Cafe. At any rate, as he approached it, he turned his head,
+and, gazing a moment at the first-named gentleman, exclaimed, "Ah, my
+little Fronsacquin, is it really you?"
+
+The "little Fronsacquin" rose with a vapid smile, from which every trace
+of annoyance had vanished. To be associated, even by a title of
+questionable compliment, with that social hero, the Due de Fronsac,
+whose nimble caperings had been the admiration of Young France for
+nearly half a century, was sufficient to banish from his mind any other
+thoughts than those of proud complacency and self-content. He welcomed
+his interrogator with all the ardor of which he was capable. That is to
+say, he lifted his hat with one effort, inclined his body with a second,
+and motioned to a vacant chair beside him with a third, after which he
+sank back exhausted.
+
+Rallying presently, he said, "You are soon back again, M. de Montalvan."
+
+"Yea, M. de Berniers, our part of the fighting is over for the present."
+
+"Then why not leave off your fighting dress?" said M. de Berniers. "You
+look as if you knew nothing of the age we are living in."
+
+"My friend, we live in an age when nobody occupies himself with anything
+but the pleasures of life. One of the pleasures of my life is to wear a
+soldier's dress; and you very well know the reason why."
+
+"Don't snarl, M. de Montalvan. Yes, I remember the reason now. Never
+mind. Some wine; and tell me about the great Duke. Is he really as
+gallant in the field as in the boudoir?"
+
+"Hum. The great Duc de Richelieu looked on with remarkable bravery while
+we took St. Philippe. Yes, now that the _salons_ refuse him for a hero,
+I suppose we must make a place for him in the camp."
+
+"Ah! I have heard why you begrudge the Marechal his fame. But it matters
+very little; even Madame de Pompadour has given him her acclamations at
+last."
+
+"She knows when to hide her hatreds and how to cherish them. But that's
+a dull subject, M. de Berniers; give me news of home. The Queen?"
+
+"More virtuous than ever."
+
+"And the King?"
+
+"Less."
+
+"Impossible!"
+
+"Quite true."
+
+"Some more wine, then. And the Pompadour?"
+
+"Cold, but still powerful."
+
+"I have heard," said M. de Montalvan, lowering his voice, "strange tales
+about the Parliament,--that it holds secret meetings, and that the court
+should keep itself prepared for some unexpected action."
+
+"Bah!" said M. de Berniers, with a laugh, or rather a gentle
+inarticulate murmur of mockery; "put aside those notions, my dear M. de
+Montalvan. There is no power on earth can move the court of France."
+
+"Good! And the theatres?"
+
+"Intolerable. La Clairon has done something in a play by M. de
+Voltaire,-a play stolen from a Chinese tragedy, 'The Orphan of Tchao.'
+He calls it 'The Orphan of China.' It is dreary stuff. I wonder if our
+well-beloved king could not be induced to keep M. de Voltaire's plays in
+exile, as well as M. de Voltaire himself."
+
+"Precisely," said M. de Montalvan. "Some more wine."
+
+"And yet," said M. de Berniers, whose usually pale face was flushed by
+the repeated draughts of Burgundy with which he had found it necessary
+to stimulate himself to the effort of conversation, "and yet Mlle. de
+Terville, they say, will hear of nothing but M. de Voltaire. We shall
+quarrel finely about that, for one thing,"--and his eyes gleamed with
+what would have been amusement if they had been capable of so definite
+an expression.
+
+"Mlle. de Terville!" said M. de Montalvan in some surprise, which,
+however, the other did not observe; "do you know her?"
+
+"Perfectly."
+
+"Is it possible?"
+
+"All about her."
+
+"Tell me, how does she look?"
+
+"Ah, now you ask too much. I have never seen her."
+
+"But you say--"
+
+"That I know all about her. Yes, I am to wed her in six weeks."
+
+"The Devil and St. Philippe!"
+
+"I don't wonder you are astonished, my dear De Montalvan. It's quite
+throwing myself away to marry any woman at my time of life. Think how
+many adventures I shall lose. I never intended to be married until I had
+risen to something like the glory of Richelieu. Imagine having two
+beauties fight a duel for you, for example! Richelieu was only
+twenty-two when Mesdames de Nesle and de Polignac fought for his favor.
+I am twenty-three, and no woman ever fought for me. At least, not that I
+am aware of."
+
+"Courage, De Berniers; if you had lived in Richelieu's day you would
+have had forty duels upon your account instead of one."
+
+"Quite likely. The age has degenerated. Some wine, De Montalvan. Yes,
+the affair was arranged by our relatives. Contiguous estates; enormous
+_dot_. I know very little about it myself, except that I am the victim.
+Apropos," added M. de Berniers, as energetically as was consistent with
+his sense of what a disciple of Fronsac owed himself, "you are at
+leisure. The contract is to be signed early in September. Come to
+Brittany, and help me through. They say Brittany is a fine country. I
+have never seen it, though I have a chateau there. Will you come?"
+
+De Montalvan looked keenly at his companion, as if endeavoring to detect
+some hidden meaning in these last words, drank some more wine, and
+remained silent.
+
+"Come, De Montalvan, an answer."
+
+M. de Montalvan scowled, and drank again. He appeared to be considering
+in what manner he could most readily make himself offensive to M. de
+Berniers. Presently he remarked, in a tone which was intended to be
+deeply satirical, but which his frequent imbibitions rendered merely
+malicious, "Have you made any wagers of late, my little friend?"
+
+M. de Berniers's countenance fell into the same expression of discontent
+as that which it had displayed on his companion's first appearance. He
+essayed a frown,--a feat it would have been difficult for him to execute
+at any time, but which was now simply impossible. He was not equal even
+to a distortion. But he answered spitefully: "To the Devil with you and
+your wagers! But I will make it even yet. Perhaps another time you will
+not dare to compete so readily."
+
+"Dare, Monsieur!" said De Montalvan, hastily. Then, checking himself, he
+added, more composedly: "But why should I quarrel with Fronsacquin? It
+is clear he knows nothing. If I must ease my mind by quarrelling, there
+are plenty hereabout," and he glared around quite savagely. His eye
+lighted upon a _brouette_, one of the small hand-carriages then in
+vogue, in which a large and heavily built young man was reclining, while
+the owner of the vehicle, a slender lad, toiled with difficulty before
+him. "Dare, is it, De Berniers? Do you see that sluggard, wasting this
+beautiful day in a lazy _brouette_? Ten louis that I have him out, and
+walking, as he ought, in less than five minutes."
+
+"You are mad, M. de Montalvan."
+
+"You decline?"
+
+"No, I accept!" and De Berniers, who was not so tipsy but that he could
+plainly see De Montalvan was more so, wore upon his face what by one who
+was acquainted with him would have been understood as an air of triumph,
+but to a casual observer would convey no direct idea of any kind.
+
+M. de Montalvan rose and advanced, hat in hand. "Pardon me, Monsieur,"
+he began, "I have a few observations to address to you. It is a singular
+spectacle to behold a man of your health and vigor, and especially of
+your size, compelling a poor wretch like this to drag you through the
+streets in the midsummer heat."
+
+"It is more singular, Monsieur, that you should venture to address me in
+this manner," said the stranger, and he directed his attendant to move
+forward.
+
+"No, Monsieur," said De Montalvan, placing himself in the way, "that is
+out of the question. I feel it my duty to object to your making use of a
+_brouette_ on such a day as this."
+
+"Ah, you object!"
+
+"Most decidedly. In fact I will not allow it."
+
+The stranger sprang with alacrity upon the sidewalk, and, drawing his
+sword, advanced upon his persecutor. "We shall see," he said, grimly.
+
+"As you please, Monsieur," said De Montalvan, putting himself on guard.
+
+But, as may be supposed, the soldier's hand was unsteady, and his eye
+uncertain. After a few rapid passes, he let fall his right arm, which
+had been sharply punctured above the elbow. M. de Berniers absolutely
+cackled with delight.
+
+"Now, Monsieur," said the stout stranger, "you will probably suffer me
+to traverse the streets in the manner that best suits me."
+
+"Pardon me again," responded De Montalvan; "you have fairly wounded me,
+but I am sure you are too gallant a gentleman to deprive a bleeding
+adversary of the most convenient means of reaching his home";--with
+which he quietly stepped into the _brouette_ and was wheeled away, while
+the stranger gazed after him in stupefaction.
+
+De Berniers would have gnashed his teeth, but that he had not yet
+recovered from the exertion of his previous cackle. For a week
+thenceforth he was the sport of Paris, and, to complete his disgust, the
+adventure was circulated by the celebrated _raconteur_, M. de Lugeac, in
+the _salons_ of the Dauphine and elsewhere, with embellishments by no
+means favorable to his reputation as a _bel esprit_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Raoul de Montalvan was a young gentleman of moderate fortune, who, at
+the age of twenty, sold his small estates in Avignon in order to equip a
+company and join the Chevalier de Modene in the campaign of 1745, under
+the Marechal Saxe. At Fontenoy he was acknowledged to have distinguished
+himself; but his recollections of that battle were embittered by the
+fact that the Comte de Lally had robbed him of the honor which he most
+coveted,--that of having detected, by a bold reconnoissance, the weak
+point in the enemy's front, by piercing which the field was ultimately
+won.[102] Nevertheless, he had been praised; and praise, at that period,
+was his best reward. With a light heart and high hopes he started for
+Paris, in further pursuit of fortune. In company with his patron, M. de
+Modene, he presented himself at court. The sentinel on duty curiously
+eyed their uniforms, and refused to admit them. The King, fatigued with
+war's alarms, and anxious to banish from court all memories of carnage
+and confusion, had ordered that no military dresses should appear in his
+_salons_. In vain the young soldiers represented that they had parted
+with all their possessions to serve their monarch, and that they had
+surrendered the last means of otherwise arraying themselves; in vain
+they insisted that the noblest decorations in the eyes of his Majesty
+should be the dust and blood of the field of Fontenoy. They were
+repulsed. De Modene revenged himself by the famous epigram which caused
+an order of arrest, and compelled his flight. De Montalvan, taking the
+insult more to heart, swore furiously that, excepting as a soldier and
+in soldier's dress, he would never enter the French court, and from that
+time had steadfastly persisted in the rigorous costume which excited M.
+de Berniers's criticism. There were, indeed, some who declared that he
+claimed as a virtue of obstinacy that which was only a necessity of
+poverty; but for such aspersions he cared little.
+
+As a further mark of his disgust, he quitted France altogether, and, in
+his twenty-first year, joined the expedition of the Pretender; but as
+his fortunes were not materially improved by this enterprise, he next
+year became loyal, and assisted M. de Belle-Isle in the extirpation of
+the Austrians from Dauphiny. In 1748 he again followed his old leader,
+M. de Saxe, to victory, after which, the war in France having ceased, he
+turned his attention to foreign fields of glory and profit. He served
+two years in India, with Dupleix, where he found that, although the
+glory was free to any man's clutch, the profit was sacred to a few.
+After Dupleix's fall, he joined the French troops in America, where,
+with his comrades, he assisted in the defeat of Lieutenant-Colonel
+Washington in the action which followed the massacre of M. de
+Jumonville. Finally, after ten years of military hardship and heroism,
+he returned to Paris, bringing with him as the result of his career a
+high repute for skill and courage, a well-worn sword, and a dozen deep
+scars.
+
+It may be imagined that these ten years had not softened the asperity
+with which M. de Montalvan regarded the court and society. His manners
+were bizarre, his language was cynical, and his wilful deviations from
+the strict etiquette of the day could never have been tolerated
+excepting for the brilliant notoriety he had gained as a daring
+adventurer. He permitted himself to mingle in fashionable circles, that
+he might the better ridicule them, which he did audaciously. The edict
+against military dress was no longer in force, so that he was enabled to
+hover upon the outskirts of the court without sacrifice of dignity. But
+nothing in that effeminate world seemed to satisfy his turbulent
+instincts. _Homo erat_,--yet _everything_ human, in that sphere, was
+foreign to him. At one of the court balls, however, an incident occurred
+which momentarily turned him from the course of his ill-humor.
+
+Mlle. Virginie de Terville, a noble Nantaise, whose life, though not one
+of seclusion, had been judiciously kept apart from the corrupting
+influences of the capital, was at Paris for the first time, with her
+uncle, an ex-officer of the king's household. To the fair neophyte the
+scene was one of rare enchantment; and although her keen instincts
+enabled her to conform with aptitude to the usages of the lively world
+around her, there was a freshness and a _naivete_ in her manner which
+contrasted charmingly with the effete and ceremonious forms of the
+experienced. M. de Montalvan met her at a masked ball, and was
+captivated with becoming rapidity. Although poor beyond description, his
+family was among the best, and he found no difficulty in making M. de
+Terville's acquaintance, and in due season that of his niece. For once
+he abandoned his acerbity, and returned to the character which had been
+natural to him ten years before. None could be more winning than M. de
+Montalvan if the impulse prompted him; and his graceful conversation,
+overflowing with anecdote and illustration which the homely wits of the
+home-keeping youth of Paris could not rival, made a vivid impression
+upon Virginie's imagination. They met only twice; for, just as M. de
+Montalvan was beginning to take serious thought of where this would lead
+him, he received an appointment from M. de Richelieu to the command of a
+company in the Minorca expedition, and was obliged to sail for Port
+Mahon without even the opportunity of a hasty adieu. Partly by good
+luck, partly by hard fighting, and partly owing to the blunders of
+Admiral Byng, the island was captured in a few months, and it was not
+long after his return from victory--as full of honors and as empty in
+purse as ever--that De Montalvan encountered his "little Fronsacquin" on
+the threshold of the Cafe de la Regence.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Louis de Berniers was the incarnation of aristocratic _niaiserie_. He
+was young, titled, not ill-looking, and had vast wealth at his command.
+But for this latter possession he might possibly have distinguished
+himself otherwise than by his follies; for he was not without one or two
+good qualities,--for example, generosity. But with him generosity took
+the form of a reckless prodigality, which caused him to be surrounded by
+a swarm of flatterers and parasites, male and female, who so fed and
+pampered his raging vanity that he believed himself a Crichton at
+eighteen. His ambition soared only to the height of emulating the
+boudoir exploits of M. de Richelieu, and he fancied himself a master of
+all the social ceremonies of the capital. So far as his languid nature
+would allow him, he sought notoriety in every quarter. "No man's pie was
+free from his ambitious finger." He had acted with Madame de Pompadour's
+company of amateurs at Versailles, and, though surrounded by clever
+gentlemen like D'Entragues and De Maillebois, firmly believed himself
+the only worthy supporter of Madame d'Etioles. On the strength of his
+supposed supremacy, he had from time to time graciously volunteered his
+aid to Lekain and Mlle. Clairon in the preparation of their most
+difficult _roles_. He had supplied the poet Beauverset with now and then
+a topic, and imagined himself to be the true source whence that
+incendiary rhymer drew his choicest inspirations. After the success of
+Rousseau's _Devin du Village_, he had driven the composer wild by his
+offers to assist him in the purification of his melodies. Nothing in the
+way of notoriety was too high or too low for him. He had laid out a plan
+for the replanting of the Trianon gardens, and was disgusted because
+Richard, the king's gardener, politely declined to adopt it; and he had
+been heard to say that in the composition of sauces and _ragouts_ he
+could easily rival his Majesty himself, and would prove his superiority,
+but for the fear of losing favor at court.
+
+M. de Berniers and M. de Montalvan had met a short time before the
+attack upon Minorca. The gallant soldier was no flatterer, but the
+conceited little Parisian amused him sufficiently to occupy a good
+share of his leisure. He satirized De Berniers mercilessly from morning
+till night, to the latter's great astonishment, he having up to that
+time received only adulation and deference from his companions. But the
+name of "Fronsacquin," which De Montalvan had jestingly applied, so
+gratified his puerile vanity, that for a few days he looked upon the
+warlike adventurer almost with affection. Their intimacy had, however,
+been broken off a few days before De Montalvan's departure, in
+consequence of De Berniers's chagrin at losing a wager he had boastingly
+made. He had declared himself capable of securing the attention of any
+lady, however distinguished in appearance and however reserved in
+manner, that his friends might indicate, at a certain masked ball, and
+of bringing her openly to sup with them. De Montalvan defied him, and,
+selecting a fresh-faced lad from the opera, trained him to a perfect
+illustration of feminine modesty and simplicity, and set De Berniers
+upon him. Of course the farce was easily carried through. After the
+requisite preliminaries of shy evasion and coy resistance, the supposed
+fair one was led triumphantly to the supper-table,--the mask was
+removed, the secret exposed, and for ten humiliating days De Berniers
+was the laugh of the town.
+
+It may be supposed that his peevishness was not diminished by the loss
+of a second public wager; but his opponent had been wounded, and that
+afforded him some comfort. Besides, he was still confident of winning
+his revenge, so he stifled his angry feelings, and renewed the request
+that De Montalvan would accompany him to Nantes. De Montalvan was moody,
+and swore he would go and join Montcalm in Canada. But his own
+recollection of the charms of Mademoiselle de Terville, added to the
+solicitations of De Berniers,--who was all unconscious that they had
+ever known one another,--induced him to change his resolution, and he
+half graciously consented.
+
+Virginie de Terville, as has been said, was a different being, not only
+in the freshness and bloom of her beauty, but also by virtue of her
+domestic education, from the artificial goddesses of the Parisian sphere
+with whom she had been thrown into temporary contact. But her visit had
+not been long enough to reveal to her what lay beneath the glittering
+exterior of life at court. Her cautious uncle had cut short their
+sojourn at what he deemed a judicious period, and brought his ward back
+to the tranquil old chateau near Nantes, not entirely, it must be
+admitted, to her satisfaction. The splendors of the capital had just
+begun to fascinate her, and, what was more, she had been loath to think
+that that last brief interview with the handsome and eccentric captain,
+who had seen so much and told what he had seen so well, might never be
+repeated. Not that she cared to hear anything beyond his strange tales
+of adventure. Indeed no. He had lightly touched upon one or two other
+topics, during that same last interview, and she was sorry she had not
+checked him. Yet she _did_ wonder what ever had become of him, and
+really would have been glad to know the result of his long journey
+through the tropical Indian forests with that beautiful Rajah's daughter
+of whom he had begun to tell her.
+
+But these ideas did not occur to Virginie until after she had left
+Paris. While there, the constant succession of gayeties left no room for
+other than merry thoughts. She was a belle of high distinction,--an
+heiress, and a lovely one. For a month she was a leader of fashionable
+revels, and a very princess of masquerade. If it were known that at a
+particular ball she would appear as a heathen goddess, the _salons_ were
+thronged with illustrations of mythology. When she wore the quaint dress
+of a Brittany peasant, all classes affected a rural simplicity. She had
+only to personate Joan of Arc, and a martial spirit fired the assembly;
+and when she crowned her triumphs by enacting a dashing young cavalier
+of the period, women as well as men yielded their admiration and
+contended for her smiles. After so brilliant a career, what could she
+care for the applause which her dexterous disguises excited in the
+drowsy masquerades of Nantes. It served only to recall to her the
+vanished glories of the capital.
+
+M. de Berniers, as chance would have it, was ignorant of the peculiar
+sensation which Virginie had created in the _beau monde_. During her
+month at Paris he had been hunting upon the estates of a noble friend in
+the East of France, and when he returned to his accustomed haunts, some
+time after, the fickle heart of society was fixed upon some new object
+of adoration, and cherished no recollection of the past. So he arrived
+at Terville with little knowledge of his intended _fiancee_, except that
+she was young, reputed good-looking, and the possessor of great riches.
+Leaving M. de Montalvan at the village inn, he rode over to the chateau
+the first morning after their arrival, to present himself in due form.
+
+The fresh country atmosphere and the picturesque surroundings of the
+journey had done more to cheer M. de Montalvan's spirits than a college
+of physicians could have accomplished. The wound which he had received
+in his ridiculous duel was nearly healed, and he seemed more a man of
+the world than at any previous period in ten years,--always excepting
+the brief term of his acquaintance with Virginie. In spite of his
+natural hardihood, he was somewhat uneasy at the thought of again
+meeting that young lady, for whom he entertained, to say the least, a
+feeling of profound admiration; but curiosity was powerful within him,
+and he waited anxiously for the expected summons to the chateau. Any
+other sentiment than that of curiosity it would have been absurd for him
+to acknowledge. He was poor, and therefore unavailable in a matrimonial
+way. He had no domains adjoining the Terville estates, nor indeed
+anywhere else. He had nothing but his sword and his renown; and these
+would not serve him in such a case. So, if ever the flame of hope had
+for a moment lighted his mind, he had summarily extinguished it, and
+flung aside, as it were, the tinder-box of every inflammable
+recollection.
+
+The day before M. de Berniers's arrival, M. de Terville had been
+suddenly called to the South in consequence of the dangerous illness of
+a relative. The ceremony of welcome rested therefore with Mlle.
+Virginie. That young lady was far better acquainted with the habits and
+character of her proposed bridegroom than he imagined. She had heard
+much of him in Paris, and, since the project of an alliance had been
+submitted, contrived to learn more. Being a girl of spirit and
+intelligence, the information which she gained was not agreeable to her.
+She regretted not having met M. de Berniers in Paris, and longed for the
+opportunity of encountering him at least once or twice under other
+circumstances than those which now seemed inevitable. Upon the departure
+of her uncle, she set her wit to work; and as of wit she had no lack,
+there presently arose from the depths of her consciousness a scheme
+which promised to be successful.
+
+"Mariotte," she said, summoning her waiting-maid, "bring me my
+cavalier's dress,--wig, buckles, stockings, everything."
+
+"Yes, Ma'm'selle. Would Ma'm'selle wish to put them on?"
+
+"Most certainly."
+
+"But Monsieur de Berniers is expected this morning."
+
+"Precisely."
+
+"And Ma'm'selle will hardly have time--"
+
+"I shall receive him _en cavalier_."
+
+"_Seigneur Dieu du ciel!_" said Mariotte, astounded, "but that is
+impossible."
+
+"Be reasonable, Mariotte," said Virginie, "and listen to me. M. de
+Berniers proposes to do me the honor of espousing me. I have never seen
+M. de Berniers, but I know something of him and I wish to know more. My
+uncle earnestly desires this marriage, and it is my duty to oblige him.
+But he will not urge it against my inclination. If M. de Berniers, on
+arriving here, finds only the delicate and decorous young lady to whom
+he offers his hand, he will assume his best manner, conceal his faults,
+affect a hundred good qualities, and present nothing but a virtuously
+colored portrait of himself, which, I may afterward find out, bears
+little resemblance to the actual man. If, on the other hand,--do you
+see?"
+
+"Not exactly."
+
+"Mariotte, your stupidity pains me. You know that in my cavalier's dress
+nobody can distinguish me from a young gentleman of the court."
+
+"A very young gentleman, Ma'm'selle."
+
+"They are all mature at seventeen, now. At Paris I was taken for a man
+of fashion by half the ladies at the court ball, and even found myself
+with many a pretty quarrel on my hands. Well, M. de Berniers arrives;
+finds not me, but my cousin Charles, do you understand, who remains at
+the _chateau_ to receive him in the temporary absence of M. and Mlle. de
+Terville. With one of his own sex he will have no concealments, and we
+shall soon know, my good Mariotte, what sort of gentleman we have to
+deal with."
+
+"Then you will be--"
+
+"My cousin Charles."
+
+"O, impossible, Ma'm'selle! Think of the Count, your uncle."
+
+"Mariotte, think of me. It is I who am to be married, not the Count, my
+uncle. Consider, it is for my happiness."
+
+"One would almost think, Ma'm'selle, that you _wished_ to detect some
+excuse for ridding yourself of M. de Berniers."
+
+"Perhaps."
+
+"Ah, ah! then there is a reason."
+
+"Possibly."
+
+"And that reason is--"
+
+"Tall, brave, and handsome. Mariotte, do me justice; do you think it was
+for nothing that I used to dress with such double, triple care for the
+last few court balls at Paris?"
+
+"Ma'm'selle, say no more; I consent."
+
+"A thousand thanks, Mariotte."
+
+"But it is dreadful to so deceive one's husband before marriage."
+
+"Much better than to deceive him after, Mariotte."
+
+This swept aside all Mariotte's hesitation, and the plot was carried out
+accordingly. M. de Berniers was received in due form by the fictitious
+cousin Charles, whose disguise a keener observer could not easily have
+penetrated. According to her expectation, the conceited Parisian soon
+became free and confidential.
+
+"A neat little figure," said De Berniers, patronizingly. "Come to court
+a year hence, and I will point you the way to any victory you please."
+
+"Ah, M. de Berniers, it is easy to point the way; but there are few who
+can follow it so triumphantly as you. I am not so young but that I have
+heard of your conquests."
+
+"True," said De Berniers, affecting indifference; "a few countesses here
+and there, and once in a way a duchess or two. But of course Mlle. de
+Terville suspects nothing of that sort."
+
+"I suspect she knows it all as well as I."
+
+"Fancy this adventure," began De Berniers, languidly. "Only eight or ten
+nights ago--"
+
+"Pardon, Monsieur," interrupted Virginie, who began to think she had
+opened a questionable game, "let me order some refreshment."
+
+"No, I breakfasted at the inn. As I was saying, only eight or ten
+nights' ago--"
+
+"At least, take some wine," broke in Virginie again; and she rose and
+summoned Mariotte, who had been listening, and who entered not without
+perturbation.
+
+"Thanks," said De Berniers. "Eight or ten nights ago--"
+
+But the impending peril was averted by Mariotte, who dexterously spilled
+a glass of wine over M. de Berniers's wig, causing him to rage after an
+impotent fashion, and to drawl an oath.
+
+Virginie was greatly confused at the unexpected and awkward prospect
+which this attempt at conversation opened to her; but her thoughts were
+presently diverted by the startling intelligence that Raoul de Montalvan
+had accompanied her suitor, and was in attendance at the inn. Her first
+sensation was one of pleasure,--unaccountable pleasure, she thought; for
+why should the mere knowledge that the handsome captain was near her
+occasion any particular joy? Ah! she knew; she could now have the end of
+that mysterious and interesting story of the Rajah's daughter, with whom
+De Montalvan had travelled through the tropical forests.
+
+But her next feeling was one of deep embarrassment. How could she meet
+M. de Montalvan in that dress? In the first place, he might have seen
+her wear it in Paris, and in that case would at once detect her; perhaps
+he would detect her under any circumstances, not being a vain, blind
+fool like De Berniers. But, beyond that, she could not bear the idea of
+such a masquerade with him. Of course she did not know why, but there
+was the fact, fixed and unblinkable.
+
+She was relieved in the way she would least have expected, and by M. de
+Berniers himself. That gentleman, who was not fecund in ideas, and who,
+even after becoming conscious of the existence of one within him, was
+obliged to struggle with more violence than suited his temper in order
+to give it birth, had, immediately after mentioning De Montalvan's name,
+sunk into a profound revery. He gazed through his eye-glass from head to
+foot at Virginie, until she began to fear he had discovered her secret.
+At last his brow cleared, and, with a smile of self-congratulation, he
+said, "I have it now! I have it now!"
+
+Then he confided, not without a pang of wounded _amour-propre_, the fact
+that, in the merry conflicts of wit at the capital, he had
+sometimes--not often, like the others--suffered defeat. He related the
+anecdote of the masquerade wager which he had lost to De Montalvan, and
+exhorted his new friend to assist him in an appropriate revenge.
+
+"You are young," he said; "not too tall; your complexion is as delicate
+as need be; you can easily borrow one of your cousin's dresses, and,
+without the slightest difficulty, could transform yourself into one of
+the most charming young ladies in the world."
+
+"But, Monsieur," hesitated Virginie.
+
+"Say no more," added De Berniers; "I count upon your friendship. Aha! M.
+de Montalvan, now we shall see. O, it is easily done, my little friend.
+I will ride over for De Montalvan myself. You shall be ready when we
+return. Of course I will first see you alone, and give you a few
+suggestions. The principal thing, you understand, is to fascinate him to
+the last extremity."
+
+Virginie smiled, possibly with an inward conviction that she had already
+learned the way to do that.
+
+"By all means fascinate him. Spare no methods. He is a rough soldier,
+and will suspect nothing. Make him declare his passion, if you can; and
+perhaps we may bring him to the point--who knows? ha! ha!--of offering
+marriage."
+
+Virginie fluttered a little at this comprehensive announcement of her
+guest's design, but she was amused at the unexpected turn the affair was
+taking, and, without much delay, consented to array herself in feminine
+apparel.
+
+M. de Berniers returned to the inn, with exultation in his heart. While
+riding with De Montalvan to the castle, he said, carelessly, "These
+rosy-cheeked peasants are delightful, my friend. Are you on the watch
+for adventure?"
+
+"Not especially," said De Montalvan.
+
+"Listen," said De Berniers. "Who knows but that in the country I might
+have better fortune than at Paris. Change of scene may bring me change
+of luck."
+
+"In what respect?"
+
+"De Montalvan, I have a fancy to renew some of our old wagers. If I fail
+here, nobody will know it."
+
+"And if you succeed, you will send an express to Paris to publish the
+news."
+
+"I don't say no; but I am willing to undertake to ensnare you as you
+deluded me last year at the court ball. And that during our visit here,
+or at any rate before we go back to the world."
+
+"As you please," said De Montalvan, indifferently.
+
+"Is it a wager, then?" asked De Berniers, half trembling with
+impatience. "Yes.
+
+"For ten louis?"
+
+"Very well."
+
+On arriving at the chateau, M. de Berniers sought his fellow-conspirator
+alone, and, finding her duly attired, proceeded to criticise.
+
+"Hum, another patch on the left cheek, I should say. But no matter. Pray
+be careful of your voice. Nothing is so difficult to disguise as the
+voice. I always detect a man instantly by his voice; though, to be sure,
+De Montalvan is not experienced, like me, and there will be up trouble
+in deceiving him. Now let me see you walk."
+
+Virginie took a few steps to and fro.
+
+"My dear friend, don't stride like that," said De Berniers; "short
+steps, in this manner, if you please";--and he mincingly illustrated, to
+Virginie's intense gratification.
+
+"Now, a salutation," he added.
+
+Virginie courtesied.
+
+"Bad, bad," said De Berniers; "it is clear you are not used to this sort
+of thing. Try this";--and he executed a profound feminine obeisance.
+
+"That's better," he remarked, approvingly, as she affected to imitate
+him; "and now these shoulders. Ah, but these shoulders are very bad. You
+should curve them forward, thus,"--with which he seized Virginie's
+shoulders, and endeavored to press them into what he conceived to be the
+proper position.
+
+"Take your hands away, Monsieur," screamed the young lady, springing
+from him with great precipitation.
+
+"Ticklish, I see," he quietly remarked. "And now there is one thing
+more. Whatever else you do, speak low, and do not swear. I have known
+many a comedy of this sort to be ruined by an inadvertent oath."
+
+"I will try, Monsieur."
+
+Then De Montalvan was brought, and was in proper form presented. At
+sight of him, Virginie faintly blushed, which circumstance enchanted De
+Berniers. "The rascal does better than I could have expected," he
+thought. After a short conversation, he contrived an excuse to leave
+them alone together,--his accomplice and his dupe.
+
+"At last, Mademoiselle," said De Montalvan, dismissing the pretence of
+reserve which he had maintained during his friend's presence,--"at last
+we meet again; but how unexpectedly, and under what strange
+circumstances!"
+
+"Indeed, Monsieur, I am hardly less surprised at seeing you again, than
+I was at your mysterious disappearance from Paris, some months ago."
+
+"But were you not aware--"
+
+"Of what?"
+
+"That I was ordered to accompany M. de Richelieu to Port Mahon?"
+
+"The orders of M. de Richelieu must be very imperative."
+
+"To a soldier they are, Mademoiselle. But at present I am not a soldier.
+The expedition is gloriously ended, and I submit myself to your orders,
+and to yours only."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+During the few days that intervened before M. de Terville's return, De
+Berniers labored heart and soul--that is to say, with as much of either
+as was in him--to still further entangle his misguided and infatuated
+friend. It was clear to him that De Montalvan was hopelessly in love,
+and, since he had so well succeeded in the beginning of his enterprise,
+he saw no reason why he might not conduct it to a more triumphant
+conclusion than he had at first thought possible. He took counsel with
+Virginie, and besought the supposed cousin to send a messenger to M. de
+Terville, explaining the case, and asking his co-operation. He even
+stimulated De Montalvan's passion by privately declaring that the
+prospect of marriage was irksome to him, suggesting that he should
+transfer his claims, and offering to intercede with Mlle. de Terville's
+uncle, if De Montalvan could assure himself of the young lady's favor.
+
+While this bungling disciple of Mephistopheles was digging his own
+pitfall, Virginie was in some perplexity. She did not reveal to her
+admirer that De Berniers was hoping to entrap him; for that, she said to
+herself, there was no immediate necessity; and the days were passing so
+agreeably that she shrunk from making any explanation that might disturb
+their tranquillity. De Berniers, pursuing his scheme, kept himself
+resolutely in retirement. From the treasures of his varied experience,
+De Montalvan exhumed volumes of adventurous history for the young girl's
+amusement. "The dangers he had passed" endeared him to her, and, though
+his apparel was still sombre, there fortunately was no black face to
+interfere with the pleasant growth of her regard; for the ladies of
+Louis the Fifteenth's time were not generally so indifferent to personal
+appearance as the fair Venetian was said to be. And then she had
+obtained the sequel of the story of the Rajah's daughter, whom Raoul had
+protected in the Indian forests; and it was satisfactory to know that
+his guardianship over her, though gallant and chivalrous, had not been
+prompted by too ardent an emotion. Her only apprehension was in regard
+to what might occur upon her uncle's return. That he would not urge her
+to espouse a man whom she thoroughly detested, she very well knew; but
+whether he would sanction her betrothal to a poor soldier of fortune,
+was a question which she hardly dared to ask herself. Not knowing what
+to do, she did nothing, and, with considerable anxiety, waited for
+events to work their own solution.
+
+M. de Terville did not appear until the day fixed for the signing of the
+contract, when he arrived in great haste, accompanied by a notary, and
+expressed his wish that the ceremony should not be delayed, as he was
+obliged to return at once, to the South of France. As soon as it was
+known that he was within the chateau, De Berniers sought Virginie, and
+inquired whether her uncle had received due warning; to which she
+answered that he knew all that was necessary. She then prepared to
+surrender herself to destiny; for, though a spirited girl, she had not
+courage enough even now to take the control of affairs into her own
+hands, and could only indulge a vague hope that some beneficent
+interposition of fortune might smoothly shape the course of her true
+love.
+
+The two young gentlemen joined M. de Terville and the notary in the
+library, where the blank contract and writing-materials were
+conspicuously displayed. De Berniers wore an air of almost supernatural
+intelligence, at which the noble Count marvelled, though he was too
+hurried to seek an explanation. On greeting M. de Montalvan, he
+expressed regret at not having immediately recognized him. De Berniers,
+fully convinced that the Count was in the plot, took this as a piece of
+by-play, not, however, thoroughly understanding its purport. De
+Montalvan was wretchedly ill at ease, but gathered a little reassurance
+from De Berniers's declaration that he would voluntarily renounce his
+pretensions, and abdicate in favor of his friend.
+
+"Now, Monsieur, if you please, as follows," said M. de Terville to the
+notary--"between Monsieur Louis de Berniers and--"
+
+"Excuse me," interrupted De Berniers, making singular and inexplicable
+signs to the Count, "Monsieur Raoul de Montalvan, if you please."
+
+"How, Monsieur," exclaimed the Count, with hauteur.
+
+"But surely you understand," whispered De Berniers, hastily; "of course
+you must understand."
+
+"Explain your observation," said the Count, aloud.
+
+"Most extraordinary!" thought De Berniers. "He will spoil everything."
+Then again, in an undertone, "You know he is supposed to take my
+place."
+
+"Monsieur," said the Count, more stiffly than ever, "I do not understand
+this enigma."
+
+"How stupid I am!" said De Berniers suddenly to himself. "To be sure, it
+is necessary for him to affect surprise and indignation. The fact is, he
+acted it too well; for a moment he almost deceived me." Then turning to
+Raoul, he exclaimed: "M. de Montalvan, the Count shall know all. Learn,
+M. de Terville, that, finding a total absence of sympathy between myself
+and your charming niece, and feeling that I could in no way insure her
+happiness, I have determined to ask you to receive, instead of my own,
+the addresses of my noble friend, M. Raoul de Montalvan."
+
+"The proposition, Monsieur, is scandalous. I refuse to entertain it. My
+niece would never listen to it."
+
+"You are wrong, Monsieur; Mlle. de Terville joins us in this request."
+
+"Impossible. Am I to understand, Monsieur," said the Count, addressing
+De Montalvan, "that my niece has indicated a preference for you over
+this gentleman?"
+
+"I hardly dare to avow it, Monsieur, but--"
+
+"Enough!" interposed the Count, turning with rage upon De Berniers. "And
+as for you, Monsieur, your conduct is nothing better than an insult to
+me."
+
+"Saperlotte!" said De Berniers to himself, "but he acts better than
+Cousin Charles."
+
+"I will deal with you presently, Monsieur," continued the Count. "M. de
+Montalvan, you love my niece?"
+
+"Devotedly," said De Montalvan.
+
+"O, frantically!" cried De Berniers.
+
+The Count cast a withering glance upon the unfortunate plotter. "It is
+sufficient," he said; "the contract shall be drawn as you desire, if
+only to punish this imbecile. But I have no disposition to control my
+niece's wishes. She shall have perfect liberty to sign, or not, as she
+chooses."
+
+"That is all we ask," said De Berniers, essaying a comical grimace,
+which tempted M. de Terville to order his ejection by the domestics. In
+fact, he suddenly did summon a servant, but, after a moment's
+reflection, merely directed him to notify Mlle. Virginie that her
+attendance was requested.
+
+Three persons awaited her appearance with vivid emotions. Raoul's hope
+was higher than his expectation, and, notwithstanding his ten years of
+exposure to every kind of mortal peril, he now felt for the first time
+the physical panic of fear. M. de Terville was not less curious than
+angry; and he was by no means indisposed to see his niece complete De
+Berniers's humiliation by accepting the new rival. As for De Berniers
+himself, he was revelling in all the ecstasies of satisfied revenge, and
+could hardly restrain his exultation long enough to witness the _coup de
+grace_.
+
+Of course, Virginie signed without hesitation. The fate to which she
+trusted had been as kind as she could wish. As her pen left the
+parchment, a remarkable scene ensued. De Berniers actually laughed
+aloud, seized the Count affectionately by the hand, and so far forgot
+the laws of decorum as to slap the notary upon the shoulder. He would
+next have embraced Virginie with effusion, had not De Montalvan
+interposed.
+
+"You shall answer for this, Monsieur," cried M. de Terville, furiously.
+"Another such offence, and I will have you expelled by the lackeys."
+
+"My dear Count," said De Berniers, "the comedy is finished, and we can
+all drop our _roles_, except M. de Montalvan, who, I imagine, will
+continue to hold his longer than he desires. And now, where is Mlle.
+Virginie?"
+
+"Is he mad?" said De Terville.
+
+"Mlle. Virginie is here, at your service," said the lady, coolly.
+
+"That's very well," replied De Berniers, "but I tell you the curtain has
+fallen. Poor M. de Montalvan is puzzled enough already. Let us send for
+Mlle. Virginie, and show him his error."
+
+"No mere of this senseless jesting," said the Count; "Mlle. Virginie is
+here; say what you desire, respectfully, and allow us to wish you good
+day and a comfortable journey."
+
+De Berniers's head began to swim. "But this is her cousin, not herself,"
+he exclaimed.
+
+"My niece has no cousin," said the Count.
+
+"The fact is," said Virginie, "that my cousin Charles and I are one; and
+my reason for the little masquerade was--"
+
+But De Berniers heard no more. He rushed frantically from the library,
+straight to the stables, mounted his horse, and galloped wildly away to
+the inn, whence he departed for Paris within an hour.
+
+M. de Terville was as much mystified as he was outraged by De Berniers's
+behavior; but Virginie, although she at once confided the secret to De
+Montalvan, thought it prudent to conceal it for a while from her uncle,
+who remained unacquainted with all the details until after the marriage,
+which was not long deferred.
+
+It is a lamentable fact, that M. de Berniers never paid this wager. He
+even contemplated sending M. de Montalvan, instead of the ten louis, an
+invitation to mortal combat; but the friends whom he consulted convinced
+him that he had no just cause of complaint against the captain. The only
+person by whom he had really been aggrieved was Mlle. de Terville; M. de
+Montalvan could not in decency be held responsible for the non-success
+of a conspiracy of which he was to have been the victim. So M. de
+Berniers had to accept all the ridicule of the position, without the
+consolation of directing his vengeance against anybody. He did not pay
+the ten louis, but it was never said that M. de Montalvan felt
+dissatisfied with the result of his third wager.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[102] The Lieutenant-General Duc de Richelieu enjoyed the fame and
+received the reward of this important discovery, due really to an
+unknown adventurer. Even the claim of De Lally was set aside in favor of
+the illustrious impostor.
+
+
+
+
+THE JESUITS IN NORTH AMERICA IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.[103]
+
+
+Mr. Francis Parkman has been fortunate in finding unappropriated,
+untried even, a dramatic subject of well-defined and completed
+historical interest, for the treatment of which his taste and talents
+give him an extraordinary adaptation. He has rightfully asserted his
+claims to be regarded as occupying the whole of a field whose scope and
+contents he has so ably mastered, and portions of which he has wrought
+to such good purpose. He has for many years had in view a series of
+historical narratives,--each complete and independent in itself, though
+having an organic relation to the others,--which should present the
+whole story of early French and English enterprise and rivalry in North
+America. Under the title of "Pioneers of France in the New World,"
+published two years ago, and noticed at the time in these pages, we had
+a volume which initiated the full development of the results of his
+labors as far as they dealt with the earliest events and actors
+connected with French enterprise on this continent. In his "History of
+the Conspiracy of Pontiac," published sixteen years ago, Mr. Parkman had
+already given us the last act in a drama of intense interest.
+
+"The Jesuits in North America" is the title of a new volume, and of a
+well-rounded and nobly-wrought theme. The English reader had nothing
+within his reach before from which he could learn what is offered to him
+here. Rich as the subject actually is in documentary and printed
+materials of prime authenticity, and in the infinite minuteness of
+detail in their contents, these materials were widely scattered and not
+readily accessible. Mr. Parkman has either copied or procured the
+copying of many thousand pages of manuscripts illustrating his theme. He
+has gathered all the pamphlets, volumes, and maps which have any
+relation to it. He has put himself in communication with officials,
+custodians, and antiquarian students, who could help him in his
+researches, and, by visits of exploration and inquiry to the localities
+which form the scene of his narratives, he has faithfully met all the
+conditions external to his own more special qualifications for the
+exacting work which he has undertaken, and, so far, so successfully
+accomplished.
+
+We have intimated that Mr. Parkman has special qualifications, taste,
+and talents for the line of historical studies to which he has devoted
+his life, and in which--in spite of most discouraging and embarrassing
+impediments of ill-health and physical suffering in eye and limb, and
+the sympathetic demands of the brain for rest and inaction except at
+long intervals and for short efforts--he has already done enough to give
+him place in our foremost literary ranks. We might emphasize our
+assertion of these special aptitudes and talents of his even up to a
+point which to those who are not familiar with his pages would seem
+enthusiastic or exaggerated. The curiosity, or sympathy, or reference to
+his own historical purposes,--call it and regard it which of these
+motive influences we will,--which has led Mr. Parkman to seek the
+closest contact with many of the Indian tribes in our domains,--to share
+their life, to be domiciled in their dirty lodges, to partake of their
+unappetizing feasts, to listen to their traditionary and tribal lore,
+and to endeavor to put himself into communication with the inner
+workings of their thought and being,--has accrued most helpfully to the
+benefit of his readers. We feel that he is for us a faithful and
+competent interpreter and commentator of Indian life, manners,
+superstitions, and fortunes. He has a marvellous skill in observing and
+describing the phenomena of nature,--the features and scenes of the
+wilderness amid which they roved. Those gentle or strong touches for
+shading and blending, for bringing into bold relief, or for suggesting
+what is alone for the thought and not for the sight, which the skilful
+painter uses in his service, are paralleled by Mr. Parkman in the
+felicity of his verbal delineations. We know of no writer whose pages
+are so real and vivid in qualities harmonizing with his theme as are
+his. The abundant material to which we have referred required just that
+elucidation and illustration which he has given to it by familiarity
+with the scenes and subjects embraced in it. In some very important
+points the author, by his thoroughness, candor, and judicial spirit,
+corrects some false impressions generally accepted, and substitutes fact
+for the fancies of romance.
+
+_Ad majorem Dei gloriam_,--"For the greater glory of God,"--the noble
+motto of the Society of Jesus, had inspiration enough in its sublime
+simplicity and fulness of aim to consecrate any great enterprise into
+which piety and zeal and self-sacrificing toil could throw themselves,
+under whatever limitations of ignorance or superstition. All the
+perplexing questions, shifting and deepening from age to age, and
+finding more adequate answers as to _what consists with the glory of
+God_, may help to train a more intelligent and practical judgment in the
+estimate of means and ends. But no comparative allowance of this sort
+can reduce the tribute due to devotion and heroism in an untried service
+for a holy cause, however bewildered and futile the endeavor. Mr. Lecky
+confronts us with the perhaps undeniable, but still unwelcome fact, that
+ardor and zeal cool proportionately as intelligent and practical aims
+direct the humane or the religious activities of men. Enthusiasm has an
+affinity, if not with superstition, yet with exaggerated and
+ill-adjusted estimates of the relations between the body and the soul,
+the visible and the invisible, the temporal and the eternal.
+
+There can be no reasonable doubt that the missionary Jesuits, whose life
+was so sore a martyrdom that they must have found relief even in a cruel
+death inflicted by the Indians, did balance their view of what would
+consist with the glory of God by some equivalent benefit which they
+thought to secure for the barbarians. It has become very desirable, for
+various good reasons, to concentrate all the efforts of thorough
+research and of discriminating judgment upon the actual condition of the
+native tribes on the northern part of this continent when European
+enterprise or zeal introduced among them new and potent agencies for
+good or ill. Is their decay, their extermination, to be ascribed to the
+cupidity and heartlessness of the white man, with his skilled and
+calculating arts for overmastering the rude children of nature? Were
+they a happy, contented race, supported by the forest and the stream,
+and sharing among themselves such relations as served for their uses in
+the stead of the more elaborate and artificial institutions of
+civilization? Did their compensatory advantages balance to any extent
+the rude and stern conditions of their existence? Did the white man try,
+even with moderate humanity and sympathy, to lift them to an equality
+with himself, and to share peacefully and with mutual benefit their old
+domain? Was their destruction a foredoomed conclusion, a calculated
+purpose, an acknowledged necessity from the first? or was it slowly and
+reluctantly accepted as an inevitable destiny decided by conditions
+which overruled and thwarted every scheme and device of philanthropy?
+Were the Indians in the way of self-development, working upwards to
+intelligent improvement in their means and ways of life? Would they have
+retained their heritage here up to this day, had the white man never
+come among them? These and many similar questions may be asked, either
+by curiosity or in the interest of humanity, or in the service of
+ethnologic science. Mr. Parkman contributes more abundant and more
+instructive means for discussing and for deciding these questions in the
+light of authenticated facts, and of fair deductions from them, than do
+all who have preceded him on the subject.
+
+In an Essay, introductory to his present volume, he embodies the results
+of many years of study, research, and personal observation concerning
+our Northern aborigines,--their tribal, treaty, and confederate
+relations, their distribution and numbers, their government, their
+family life, their customs, modes of subsistence, and warfare, their
+character and traits, their intellectual stage, their superstitions,
+their religious notions and observances. It is evident that his task, to
+this extent, was made an exacting one, not only by its inherent
+difficulties and complications, but by the misleading and guess-work
+representations of other writers who have been accepted as authorities.
+He makes stupendous reductions from the romance which has invested
+Indian character and life. "The noble savage," the ideal of so much
+fanciful and morbid sentimentality, becomes in his pages the
+representative of quite other qualities than those ascribed to him. In
+all that constitutes and ennobles manhood, and in all the conditions
+which should elevate the human above the brute creature, the savage and
+his lot are wanting.
+
+Mr. Parkman says of the Huron-Iroquois family, that, from average
+capacity, superior cranium, and such advancement as is indicated by what
+we must call their mode of government, we might look to them, if to any
+of the aborigines, for examples of the higher traits popularly ascribed
+to Indians. But if we so look, we look in vain. Rather do we find in
+them the more repulsive and hideous qualities of the fiercest and the
+foulest brutes and reptiles,--a relentless and untamable ferocity and a
+homicidal frenzy. From the calm and exhaustive analysis of the
+philosophy of his theme, as well as from the tragic story which fills
+his thrilling pages, it is evident that Mr. Parkman traces to the nature
+and circumstances of the savage himself the prime causes of his
+extermination. Independently of the white man's agency,--saving only the
+sale of guns by the Dutch traders at Albany to the Iroquois,--the decay
+of the Indian tribes is to be ascribed to their own incapacity for
+civilization, and to their own homicidal passion. One might as well
+expect to neutralize the game flavor in the deer or the sea-fowl, as to
+bring an Indian tribe under the conditions of what we call culture and
+civilization. Mr. Everett, in his address in commemoration of the
+massacre at Bloody Brook, near Deerfield, Massachusetts, vindicated the
+general course of the white men towards the aborigines of these regions,
+by claiming for it an accordance with the manifest will of Providence
+from an economical point of view. The Indian was a wasteful, wretched,
+improvident consumer and spoiler of the means of subsistence and
+enjoyment for communities of civilized men. So reckless and ruthless was
+he, so idle and thriftless, that he required for his precarious and
+beastly subsistence a domain which would furnish cities with all their
+comforts and luxuries. A thousand white men might subsist in comfort
+through the whole year where five Indians could find but enough with
+which to gorge themselves for a small part of the year, while for the
+rest of it they suffered for lack of food, fire, and shelter.
+
+Undeniable, also, is the fact that, according to the measure of what
+represented Christianity to themselves, and the form and degree of
+benefit which they personally by experience derived from it, the
+earliest European comers labored sincerely, and at cost, to impart the
+blessing to the Indians. They made this attempt with equal fidelity
+under the inspiration and guidance respectively of the two very
+different forms in which Christianity, as a religion, was accepted by
+themselves, and divided the range of Christendom. Eliot and the Mayhews
+stand, and will ever stand, as exponents of the purest, most patient and
+persistent zeal of Protestantism, matched only, but not surpassed, by
+the chivalrous devotion, constancy, and martyr-heroism of the subjects
+of Mr. Parkman's volume, in all the aims and toils of their
+impracticable work. The Protestant offered the Gospel to the Indians
+through intellectual teachings; the Romanist tried the experiment
+through a symbolism which one might, at first thought, regard as
+admirably adapted to the nature and circumstances of the savage. Success
+of a certain sort seemed to have secured, in both experiments, the
+promise of an ultimate reward for labor.
+
+Happily, too, the Jesuit and the Protestant might alike find comfort in
+referring the disastrous overthrow of their hopes, not to the failure of
+their work, nor even to the inconstancy of their respective converts,
+but to the fortunes of the ferocious warfare by which the native tribes
+exterminated each other. Mr. Parkman first, or most lucidly and
+emphatically among our historians, and without a particle of special
+pleading, but simply by the fidelity of his narrative, makes it appear
+that the common impression as to the prime or fatal agency of the white
+man in visiting so ruthless a destiny on the Indians is exaggerated, if
+not substantially false. The tragic element in his pages, deep and
+plaintive as it is, comes in to show how Christian zeal and humane
+effort were thwarted by animosities and passions working among the
+Indian tribes before the continent was occupied by Europeans.
+
+One of the most suggestive exercises to which the perusal of Mr.
+Parkman's book will quicken the minds of many of his readers, and for
+the more intelligent pursuit of which his pages will be found to afford
+the most helpful material, will be a comparison or contrast, not only of
+the genius of the Catholic and the Protestant religions in the work of
+missions among barbarians, but of the less spiritual and more homely
+qualities of the French and English proclivities, as exhibited in their
+respective relations with the savages. The French came more closely and
+familiarly into sympathy and intercourse with them. The English never
+could fraternize with them. If an Englishman of the lowest grade took a
+squaw for his partner, he sank to the level of barbarism himself. It was
+quite otherwise with the Frenchman. After the permanent occupation of
+Canada was secured, a race of half-breeds constituted, so to speak, a
+very respectable, as well as the most efficient, element in its
+population. It was enough if the squaw of the Frenchman had been the
+subject of Christian baptism. But that ordinance, however effective for
+the life to come, did not qualify a native woman for English wedlock.
+Sir William Johnson, indeed, made no disguise of his manner of life,
+which the complexion of the daughters who sat at his table with his most
+honored guests would have rendered rather difficult; but their
+mother--or mothers--were not presentable.
+
+A very engaging episode in Mr. Parkman's narrative--we propose it to our
+artists as a subject of rare and novel interest, and rich in
+capacity--presents us two noble specimens of Christian zeal, in the
+persons of a Jesuit and a Protestant missionary in amicable intercourse
+with each other. Would that we had a more detailed account of the
+interview, and of the conversation which must have given it the highest
+charm of courteous sympathy, though with reserve, between two men who
+represented the sharpest antagonisms of creed, while a common faith may
+have proved an inner attraction for their hearts. The Colony of
+Massachusetts had applied to the French at Quebec, in negotiations
+looking toward a reciprocity of trade. The Jesuit missionary Druilletes
+was sent in that behalf to Boston. His diplomatic character saved him
+from the penalty of the halter, which Puritan law had pronounced upon
+any one of his profession who should be caught in this jurisdiction. He
+arrived in the autumn of 1650, and had a most hospitable and kindly
+reception, though he failed in his object. The scene we have proposed to
+a painter is that which finds Druilletes a welcome and honored guest in
+the humble dwelling of the apostle Eliot, at Roxbury, who invited the
+Jesuit to remain through the winter. We are sure they met and communed
+as friends,--high-souled, respecting each other, recognizing in each
+other aims and purposes, and the experience, alike in success and
+failure, of the arduous nature of a work which brought into a true
+communion of piety the spirits consecrated by it.
+
+Not quite a score of years--from 1634 to 1650--suffice for the dates of
+the chief events in the profoundly interesting and saddening story of
+effort and failure which Mr. Parkman rehearses with such masterly
+ability. Starting with the renewed occupancy of Quebec in 1634, and the
+accession of the Jesuits to the abortive enterprise of the Recollet
+Fathers, he traces out for us the history of the Mission to the Hurons,
+giving us the characters of all its agents, an account of the
+settlements established, and the methods pursued till the work was
+frustrated.
+
+It is but a sad and painful story--in some of its incidents harrowing
+and revolting--which Mr. Parkman has to tell us. So far as strict
+fidelity to his subject would admit, he has had regard to the
+sensibilities of his readers, and where he could neither hide nor
+soften, he has contented himself with intimating and suggesting what it
+would have been simply shocking for him to follow into further details.
+
+With an acute skill in the reading of human nature, and a cosmopolitan
+spirit of his own which identifies religious toleration and charity with
+common sense, Mr. Parkman, in a few paragraphs crowded with facts and
+philosophy, takes us into the inner organization of Jesuitism, indicates
+the spring and aliment of its vitality, and explains to us how it
+reconciles the abnegation of the will with the concentration of resolve
+in obedience. Starting from Quebec as a centre of operation, and the
+place where French supplies and Indian traders were brought into contact
+in the spring of each year, the Fathers, following the direction of
+their Provincial at home, through their Superior resident, Le Jeune,
+radiated towards the dismal localities where each looked to live and
+die, as the majority of them did. We ought to have their names before
+us. The first six of them at Quebec were Le Jeune, Brebeuf, Masse,
+Daniel, Davost, and De Noue. To these were added Buteux, Bressani,
+Ragueneau, Chabanel, Garreau, Garnier, Lalemant, Jogues, Chaumonot, and
+Vimont. Most of them were very young men, of noble lineage, and with the
+finest prospects of worldly success had they sought the prizes of courts
+and of civilized life. With few exceptions, they were not robust, but
+delicate. Eight of them died under Indian torture. Not one of them
+failed in purpose or in courage.
+
+It is not possible for the pen of either Romanist or Protestant to make
+a Jesuit a lovely or attractive object to a Protestant. The flaw, if not
+the falsehood, in their claim to the loftiest homage, vitiates the
+appeal of the disciples of Loyola to the profoundest regard of the human
+heart, independently of the antipathies of creed. It is enough to know
+that their fellow-Romanists of other orders share to the full the
+sentiment of distrust towards them which no pleading in their defence
+has weakened in the common Protestant mind. Their devotion, their
+heroism, their stern constancy to the recognized principles of their
+severe discipline, does not neutralize, even if it qualifies, the
+persuasion, which has not lacked evidence to support it, that, in the
+service of God, they have been willing to learn art and subtlety from
+the Devil. True, we are told that a generous candor will always enable
+and dispose us to honor and reverence self-sacrifice with a sincere
+purpose, even when folly, instead of necessity, crowns it with
+martyrdom. The plausibility of this plea lies in a vague use of the word
+_sincere_. The honors of martyrdom are yielded by a fine discrimination,
+as graduated by a scale recognizing a varying proportion of truth and
+value in the purpose for which the self-sacrifice is made. Every grain
+of superstition, duplicity, or recklessness reduces--every element of
+loftiness, high-thinking, and wise-purposing exalts--the honors rendered
+to a sufferer and a victim. We think that Mr. Parkman has held a fair
+balance in those almost alternate sentences in which, with a terse and
+comprehensive way of communicating his judgment, he recognizes the
+personal devotion, and compassionates the puerility and aimless toil, of
+the Jesuit missionaries. They might be pardoned for believing that the
+direction which the soul of a dying Indian child would take, either for
+heaven or for hell, was decided by their being able to cross a moistened
+finger upon its face. But to turn that saving charm into an act of
+jugglery, deceiving or falsifying to the parents, was an act which
+reduced the performer of it, either in intelligence or honesty, below
+the level of the sorcerer.
+
+Mr. Parkman sets up no plea, positive or comparative, in behalf of that
+remarkable--we cannot say engaging--class of all-enduring men whose grim
+toils and sufferings he so faithfully narrates. Yet we have been
+spellbound, and deeply stirred, as we have slowly read and mused over
+his pages. So graphic and skilful is his method, so animated is his
+style, so vivid and real does he make the scenes, the surroundings, and
+the phenomena of his subject, that, while we might dispense wholly with
+the exercise of the imagination, we find that it has actually beguiled
+us into its most effective exercise by persuading us that we have seen
+and shared in many of the personages and incidents of the narrative.
+
+The rules of the Order required of the missionaries something in the
+nature of a diary, or journal, which, passing through the hands of the
+local Superior, should reach the Provincial at Paris. From these
+official papers, entering into the fullest minuteness of detail,
+confidential in their contents, and of the utmost trustworthiness, were
+composed "The Relations," which, annually made public, were of double
+service,--in reporting the hopeful labors of those already in the hard
+and dreary field, and in quickening the fervent zeal for new accessions
+to it. From these Relations, and from the voluminous and equally rich
+private correspondence between the missionaries and their European
+friends, Mr. Parkman, contributing what he has learned from other
+sources, is able to construct for us a continuous narrative, which
+anticipates every question we might ask, and informs us fully on every
+point of interest in his theme. He describes to us the Jesuit living on
+visions and dreams, reinforcing his spirit by meditations, and keeping
+his enthusiasm up to the needed point by assuring himself, on
+emergencies, of the direct interposition of the saints in his behalf. He
+makes us join the travelling party of the missionary as he avails
+himself of an Indian escort to penetrate into the wilderness, sharing
+its perils and its annoyances, aggravated always, even when not created,
+by the shiftlessness of his companions. We are initiated into all the
+methods and appliances of travel, of hunting, of encamping, of
+lodge-building, of feasting and starving, on the trail and in the
+village. The resources of forest life as presented by Thoreau, who had
+houses into which he might bring up at night, the furnishings of a
+wardrobe, and the comfort of salt, will be found on comparison to
+obtrude many broad contrasts with the realities encountered by the
+Jesuits and their entertainers. These all-enduring, patient men, born
+amid the luxuries of civilized life, left all behind them when they
+embarked in the canoe which was itself, with its contents, to be carried
+as a burden over the frequent portages connecting streams or avoiding
+cataracts. The first care of the "Black-Robes" was to provide the
+vessels and materials for the mass, with paper, pen, and ink. A few
+trinkets, and perhaps some implements of the rudest home-use, completed
+their outfit. They were disgusted, all but infuriated, by the filth and
+vermin, the loathsome familiarities, and the blinding smoke of the
+wigwam. Their feelings as civilized men were outraged by the fiendish
+barbarities of which they were spectators. Their lives always hung on a
+thread, at the mercy of caprice, jealousy, superstition, and hate, which
+were always active in savage breasts. Yet they toiled and suffered and
+persevered and hoped, as men can do and will do only when they believe
+themselves working for heaven,--to obtain heaven for themselves and to
+fit others for it.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[103] The Jesuits in North America in the Seventeenth Century. By
+FRANCIS PARKMAN. Boston: Little, Brown, & Co.
+
+
+
+
+THE BLUE AND THE GRAY.
+
+     "The women of Columbus, Mississippi, animated by nobler
+     sentiments than are many of their sisters, have shown
+     themselves impartial in their offerings made to the memory
+     of the dead. They strewed flowers alike on the graves of the
+     Confederate and of the National soldiers."--_New York
+     Tribune._
+
+
+    By the flow of the inland river,
+      Whence the fleets of iron have fled,
+    Where the blades of the grave-grass quiver,
+      Asleep are the ranks of the dead;--
+        Under the sod and the dew,
+          Waiting the judgment day;--
+        Under the one, the Blue;
+          Under the other, the Gray.
+
+    These in the robings of glory,
+      Those in the gloom of defeat,
+    All with the battle-blood gory,
+      In the dusk of eternity meet;--
+        Under the sod and the dew,
+          Waiting the judgment day;--
+        Under the laurel, the Blue;
+          Under the willow, the Gray.
+
+    From the silence of sorrowful hours
+      The desolate mourners go,
+    Lovingly laden with flowers
+      Alike for the friend and the foe;--
+        Under the sod and the dew,
+          Waiting the judgment day;--
+        Under the roses, the Blue;
+          Under the lilies, the Gray.
+
+    So with an equal splendor
+      The morning sun-rays fall,
+    With a touch, impartially tender,
+      On the blossoms blooming for all;
+        Under the sod and the dew,
+          Waiting the judgment day;--
+        Broidered with gold, the Blue;
+          Mellowed with gold, the Gray.
+
+    So, when the Summer calleth,
+      On forest and field of grain
+    With an equal murmur falleth
+       The cooling drip of the rain;--
+         Under the sod and the dew,
+           Waiting the judgment day;--
+         Wet with the rain, the Blue;
+           Wet with the rain, the Gray.
+
+    Sadly, but not with upbraiding,
+      The generous deed was done;
+    In the storm of the years that are fading,
+      No braver battle was won;--
+        Under the sod and the dew,
+          Waiting the judgment day;--
+        Under the blossoms, the Blue,
+          Under the garlands, the Gray.
+
+    No more shall the war-cry sever,
+      Or the winding rivers be red;
+    They banish our anger forever
+      When they laurel the graves of our dead!
+        Under the sod and the dew,
+          Waiting the judgment day;--
+        Love and tears for the Blue.
+          Tears and love for the Gray.
+
+
+
+
+FUGITIVES FROM LABOR.
+
+
+Young America in on the anxious-seat. An imploring cry comes up from the
+hearts of thousands, "What shall we do to be saved--from work?"
+
+In the happy days of the Adamses, as Professor Agassiz has taught us to
+say, when every vine was a lodging rent-free, and the fig-trees
+furnished ready-made clothing, life was a pleasant pastime. But this is
+an age of cash or barter. The old common-law maxim concerning pains and
+penalties is the rule of modern society: _Qui non habet in crumena, luat
+in corpore_,--"He who cannot pay his fare must work his passage." To
+evade this law, to shirk the forecastle, and to devise some means of
+climbing into the cabin-windows, is the problem that the youth of this
+generation are trying to solve.
+
+The United States offer so many _unprospected_ or half-worked placers to
+sharp eyes, that we must look for a great deal of vagabondry.
+Gold-miners do not settle themselves down to crushing quartz, so long as
+there are nuggets to be picked up. Rare chances lie hidden in the
+by-paths of this broad country, to tempt men to straggle from the ranks
+of the steady workers and turn foragers and _bummers_.
+
+And in this generation money has attained an extraordinary value. Since
+Dr. Johnson announced, in his Tour to the Hebrides, that the feudal
+system was giving way to wealth, most other social distinctions have
+yielded to it,--particularly in America, where there were few barriers
+to break down,--and money has become the chief good. Our standard of
+position in society is financial worth. Our patents of nobility are
+railway bonds, stock certificates, and mortgages. The income-return list
+of the United States Internal Revenue Department is the _Libro d'Oro_ of
+the American Venice. In this age of scepticism, the excellence of
+accumulated capital is the one thing no man doubts; and when I take off
+my hat to a rich man, which I always do when I meet him, I feel that I
+cannot be mistaken in paying respect to something demonstrable,
+tangible, real.
+
+Money furnishes all the blessings of life in this Western
+World,--health, beauty, wisdom, virtue, consideration; and some
+theologians have held that even the eye of the needle may expand to
+admit the camel who has dropped enough of his precious burden upon their
+premises.
+
+If wealth cannot always give health, it can help to preserve it; it is
+the best of physicians.
+
+There is nothing so becoming as property. "Handsome is who handsome
+has," is the accepted modern version of the old saw.
+
+If a rich man does not pass for sensible and good, it is his own fault.
+Wisdom can be bought, generally at low prices; and virtue is always
+assumed to be an attribute of Fortune except in moral didactic
+treatises. A cubic ounce of gold can be beaten to cover fourteen hundred
+and sixty-six square feet; and a skilful capitalist can make it hide
+quite as large an area of meanness.
+
+What weight an income adds to a man's sayings and doings! Your lucky
+broker, who has just turned a corner in stocks with a fortune, thinks
+Two Shillings has no right to an opinion when Half a Dollar is in the
+room. Although a man with a threadbare coat may say anything now-a-days,
+in spite of the Roman satirist, he can get no one to listen to him. Even
+genuine wit, like a good picture, shows better in a gilt frame with the
+varnish of success upon it.
+
+It is not surprising that young men want money, and much of it, and
+quickly.
+
+There is another stumbling-block in the path of steady work. Politically
+our progress in democracy is complete; but socially we hang back. The
+aristocracies of Europe despised trade; with us trade is an aristocracy
+that looks down upon manual labor,--an aristocracy with its gradations
+of rank and of titles, from merchant-prince to pedler. All who buy and
+sell consider themselves as belonging to the peerage of business. And as
+the _petite noblesse_ of France liked to take a better title and gayer
+armorials than belonged to them, so our lesser nobility and gentry are
+fond of using a brevet business-title considerably above the position
+they really fill. They are ashamed of the old English words that have
+designated their callings for centuries. We all know that shops and
+shopkeepers are not to be found in the United States. Even
+thread-and-needle establishments and apple-stands are stores. Within
+sight of where I write, a maker of false calves, and other cotton or
+sawdust contrivances to supply the padding which careless Nature often
+forgets to furnish, calls his workshop a studio. If I were to use the
+word "slops" in a "ready-made clothing depot," the Sir Piercie Shafton
+who keeps it would summarily expel me for my lack of euphemism. As a
+general rule, everybody is above his business, and thinks manual labor
+mean, and only fit for emigrants.
+
+It is said that our mechanics are nearly all foreigners, and that an
+American apprentice is an extinct species, like the cave bear or the
+dodo. Farmers' sons prefer any way of getting their bread to working
+with their hands. The pedler's caste ranks higher than the manly
+independence of the plough. A country store is an object of ambition,
+where the only toil is to deal out a glass of wretched tipple to the
+village sots who haunt those castles of indolence to drink, to smoke,
+and to twaddle over stale village news. Some young fellows solicit
+subscriptions for maps or for great American works, or drum for fruit
+nurseries, patent clothes-wringers, or baby-jumpers. Others aspire to
+enter the religious mendicant orders of America as paid brethren. They
+are too proud to work, but not ashamed to beg. Beg is perhaps a hard
+word; but solicitation is begging when the solicitor personally profits
+by it.
+
+The sons of trading fathers despise the old tiresome roads to wealth of
+their class. Ledgers and law-books are too slow. All are in search of
+the short cut to fortune. They believe in the philosopher's stone as
+implicitly as the alchemists; they seek for it as earnestly. It is a
+jewel that will last forever, but its composition varies with each
+generation.
+
+We of the press get scores of letters from young men, who spread out
+therein what they imagine to be their qualifications and
+accomplishments,--and plenty of them, for self-satisfaction is really
+the first law of Nature. Then follow their hopes and wishes and askings
+for advice, which, stripped of the flimsy rhetorical wrappers they feel
+obliged to use in deference to the old prejudice in favor of steady
+industry, come simply to this: "What is the minimum of work on which a
+clever creature like myself can live? And what kind of work is the least
+irksome and the most respectable?"
+
+My colleague Tarbox, justly celebrated as a local reporter, belongs to
+the earnest school, and wishes me to take high ground, and write a
+sermon on the holiness and dignity of labor. He is always ready with his
+_laborare est orare_, and has by heart a passage from a German
+professor, who, writing of the manners of the Romans in an epoch of
+their history not unlike this of ours, says: "When a man works merely in
+order to attain as quickly as possible to enjoyment, it is a mere
+accident that he does not become a criminal."
+
+But I tell Tarbox that these foreigners never understand the working of
+our institutions, nor the genius of our people. As to the dignity of
+labor, I have written a good deal on that text, particularly just before
+elections. The phrase sounds well in leading articles and on the stump,
+and may carry some comfort to a hard-working man. But I doubt if he
+believes it in his heart. I certainly do not. It is not true. There is
+no dignity in labor. Honesty, wisdom, manliness, there may be in labor,
+but not dignity. Dignity is in repose; the proverb is as old as Julius
+Caesar. I might perhaps serve out some cut-and-dried bits of morality
+that have been prescribed as specifics for such complaints since the
+days of the Seven Wise Men. We keep them "set up" and ready for use. The
+only fault of these excellent old remedies is, that they never cure
+chronic cases of inefficiency, whether it be constitutional or
+contracted. They are good for nothing unless as a mild tonic for people
+who could do well enough without them. Now the cases we have to deal
+with are generally constitutional. When a young man writes to a stranger
+to ask upon what career in life he shall enter, he sends a diagnosis of
+his character in his letter. You know at once to what subdivision of the
+species he belongs. The hunting British squire recognizes only three
+orders of animals,--game, vermin, and stock. The human race may be
+divided in the same way. Game men take care of themselves; the vermin
+make others take care of them; and the stock, useful, harmless, and
+insignificant, except as an aggregate, furnish the first class with
+tools and the second with victims, and hitherto have done most of the
+drudgery of the world. Our correspondents belong to a sluggish but
+ambitious variety of the stock, that is seeking for some respectable or
+semi-respectable method of avoiding the primeval labor curse. Their own
+ingenuity failing them, they apply for the use of ours. The robust men,
+who have "the wrestling thews that throw the world," know how to get
+what they want, and ask no one to teach them. Indeed, to ask advice at
+any time is an indication of weakness. We feel kindly to those who
+consult us. It is a compliment that we were chosen, and not another; but
+I do not think that we respect them the more for it.
+
+It is evident that the heroic remedies recommended by my colleague are
+likely to do harm rather than good to young persons who have outgrown
+their moral strength. It would be more humane to prescribe a treatment
+which, though it cannot cure, may alleviate their most distressing
+symptoms, and enable them to bear the burden of life without too much
+suffering. I shall, therefore, exhibit some of the methods by which
+young fellows of tolerable education and address may get along without
+undue exertion,--_Disce puer fortunam ex me, verumque laborem ex aliis_.
+For a youngster of good nerves and hopeful temperament there is nothing
+better than speculation,--as gambling without pasteboard and ivory is
+called. Up to-day and down to-morrow is as pleasant and exciting to men
+of that mould as seesaws and swings to children with strong stomachs.
+But let those made of feebler stuff beware. Between the two millstones
+of winning and losing they will be ground into despair, or into
+shameless roguery. "Broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and
+many there be which go in thereat."
+
+There is no simpler way of "achieving honorable maintenance" than to
+marry an heiress. But to seek fortune in matrimony is almost like
+looking for it in a lottery. By some mysterious law of Providence, rich
+people draw the high prizes. Money is apt to fall in love with money.
+The female dollar prefers the attentions of her own kind. Cupid, "once a
+god," as Tennyson writes, "is now a lawyer's clerk," with sharp eyes
+wide open; and suits _in forma pauperis_ are as little likely to succeed
+in courts of love as in courts of law.
+
+Politics being a subject everybody understands by instinct, young men
+will naturally turn their attention that way. The number of offices with
+salaries make this country almost that Frenchman's Utopia imagined by
+Madame de Stael, where every adult male was to be a public officer paid
+by the state. We have even more than this. When all other hopes break
+down, there is the custom-house,--that last infirmary of noble minds who
+have failed in every attempt to cure the aches that empty pockets are
+heirs to. No doubt the profession of politics is generally remunerative;
+but where I live, a foreign order of nature's nobility rules us. We
+Saxons have fought our battle of Hastings at the polls, and have lost
+it; and no one can hope to hold office here, unless he came over with
+Murphy the Conqueror. Even should he combine in his person that
+profitable conjunction of knavery, impudence, and laziness which we call
+a politician, with the physical requisites described by a philosopher of
+the last century,--_Vox stentoria, sempiterna, cum cerebello vacuo_,--it
+would profit him nothing.
+
+The poet Gray makes Jemmy Twitcher marry Divinity, after being refused
+by Law and Physic. These two smile only upon serious admirers. They who
+follow the law--at a distance, as some one remarks, never pick up a
+living. And in medicine, unless the indolent practitioner can invent a
+pill or a syrup, and can borrow enough to publish lying certificates
+from country clergymen, and to hire bill-stickers to dirty the face of
+Nature with the names of his specifics and the wonders they work, he
+will never earn his daily bread. But Divinity is more easily pleased. It
+was usual in the generation now passing away to recommend the Church to
+young gentlemen of moderate energy without capital. And indeed the path
+seemed easy, and the prospect pleasant.
+
+A year or two in a seminary, a white cravat, a "call" made audible by a
+salary, Paley's advice in the matter of sermons,--to make one and to
+steal three,--all the young women of the parish sitting at his feet,
+working worsted slippers for them, and swinging their intoxicating
+little censers of flattery under his nose,--such was the imaginary
+programme of his career. Certainly a tolerable existence while it
+lasted. But it seldom did last. The "young probationer and candidate for
+heaven" married. He selected--destiny always seemed to impel him to
+it--a "sweet woman," who overstocked his parsonage, and, like the
+magician's apprentice in the ballad, could not rule the young spirits
+she had evoked. The salary did not increase with the family, and sweet
+women are never good housekeepers. The congregation began to criticise
+the old sermons; a jury of stern matrons, who spoke what minds they had,
+sat in perpetual session on his doctrines, his wife's dress, and his
+children's behavior;--and the end of that man was dreary, if he was only
+a drone in the hive of the Lord. In our day The Church is militant, and
+needs her ministers in the field. Those who are not able to fight will
+be sent to garrison some remote post, where there is no danger and
+little pay.
+
+Art offers many more inducements to our young friends. If they have a
+knack for sketching and a "feeling for color," as the slang goes, they
+need not waste much time in preparatory study. Let them devote
+themselves to landscape. It is easy to draw a tree that will not shock
+the eye of an ordinary observer. Little outlay is needed to hire a room;
+none whatever to call it a studio. This magical word furnishes it at
+once, and covers every deficiency in chairs, tables, and carpet. Studio,
+Artist,--excellent, well-sounding names! In them is often the secret of
+the whole business.
+
+An artist has this advantage over other men,--he may indulge in whatever
+amusements his means can afford him, and no one will find fault. Every
+class has its own standard of manners and conduct. The measure and rule
+for artists have come over the sea, condensed from French _feuilletons_
+and _Vies de Boheme_. They are supposed to belong, by right of
+profession, to a reckless, witty, singing, and carousing guild. It is
+almost needless to say that the real life of the hard-working men who
+have earned fame by the brush is as unlike all this as possible. But
+these vague, ultramarine notions of fun and revelry have taken
+possession of the American mind, just opening to art, and established
+the standard for artists here. It exists in fact only in the
+imagination; for, excepting a few ebullitions in the way of hair,
+beards, and black sombreros, our artists are as saturnine as the rest of
+us, and not as good company around the mahogany as a judicious
+combination of clergymen and lawyers. Nevertheless, so powerful is the
+conventional, when it has once taken root in the imagination, that some
+of our younger artists believe themselves to be wild, rollicking
+fellows, who despise the humdrum existence of the rest of us, although
+they are sober and economical, pay their bills weekly, and talk their
+morning paper like other people. Young correspondents! you will perceive
+what a chance is here for you. If a kind public, in its youthful
+enthusiasm for art, invests these steady-going citizens with such
+delightful romantic qualities, it will of course wink at any
+irregularities of conduct on your part, as in strict keeping with the
+character.
+
+In addition, you will always find us of the press your trusty friends.
+Although behind the scenes myself, the peculiar connection that exists
+between items-men and artists is as inexplicable to me as the
+partnership of the owl and the prairie-dog in their dwellings on the
+plains. Why, when we make every other calling pay roundly for a notice,
+we puff the artists gratis in the most conspicuous columns of the paper,
+is a puzzle to me. But the fact exists. Hire your studio, nail up your
+name on the door, and we will make a pet of you at once, and pat you
+encouragingly on the back. You shall have little paragraphs of this
+kind: "Salvator Smith is studying atmospheric effects in the Brooklyn
+Mountains"; or, "Smith, our own Salvator, is making studies from nature
+near Roxbury"; or, "He has a grand classical picture on his easel in
+Green Street, representing a celebrated American in the character of the
+infant Hercules, strangling the British lion with one hand and the
+Gallic cock with the other." Few of our readers may have heard of Smith,
+but they read these iterated notices, and soon believe Smith to be
+somebody. And he has the sweet sensation of seeing his name in print at
+no expense to himself, and the rare luck of fame before it is earned. In
+the circle he adorns he will be looked upon as a judge in all matters
+aesthetical. It is only necessary to have painted a poor picture in order
+to be an authority in architecture, music, poetry, dress, decoration,
+furniture, private theatricals, and fancy balls.
+
+At this moment the fashionable world is an oyster, which with his
+spatula an artist may open. A picture mania rages. Good works bring
+enormous prices, and any discoloration of canvas in a gilt frame finds a
+ready purchaser, if signed by a known name. We are a commercial people,
+and are satisfied with a first-rate indorsement. The patron of art can
+soon educate himself for the position. The pet little phrases--"chalky,"
+"sketchy," "tone," "repose," "opaque coloring," and all the rest of the
+technical vocabulary--are soon learned; and then if Lorenzo is able and
+willing to give ten thousand dollars for a picture, he may hold a court
+of artists and be sure of having a number of pleasant fellows about him.
+They, too, will be sure of champagne and oysters. All the schools,
+however different their theories of art may be, agree, I believe, that
+both of these compositions are excellent.
+
+Lastly, I should like to say a few words in favor of my own noble
+profession, newspaper editing. Mr. Carlyle may spitefully call it "the
+California of the spiritually vagabond," but there is a proud pleasure
+in knowing that we gentlemen of the press furnish the great American
+people with their ideas and their phrases ready made, just as Brooks
+Brothers and Oak Hall provide them with their clothes. All very much
+alike, it is true,--"our spring style,"--and often ill-fitting and
+graceless; but we seem to fill a national want. Our names may be unknown
+outside of our offices, but the great planets are perceptibly influenced
+in their courses by little asteroids invisible to the naked eye, and
+many a celebrity who appears daily in large type is moved by the strings
+we pull, and knows it not. My comrade Tarbox says: "The oracles that
+became dumb in the year of our Lord were really a necessity to mankind,
+and consequently were made vocal again by the agency of Renaudot, who
+invented newspapers. The Delphis and Dodonas of the nineteenth century
+are newspaper offices." This may explain why young men in search of a
+profitable career write to us instead of applying to rich merchants or
+to dashing brokers. How fortunate that those who consult us never see
+the shrine or the priests! No gold or silver glitters in the modern
+_adytum_, or editor's room, and the tripod from which we distribute our
+_afflatus_ to the compositors is a wooden three-legged stool, unpainted
+and uncushioned. That great oracle, Tarbox himself, was not long ago a
+noble savage who ran wild in the woods near some country college. Caught
+and caged in that institution, he devoted three years to pipes, and one
+to _belles lettres_, and receiving from a good-natured Faculty some sort
+of a degree, probably that of tobacco-laureate, came thence to town;
+where, inspired by a salary of ten dollars a week, he enlightens the
+public on finance and politics, art and literature, manners and taste,
+and writes those brilliant articles the world willingly lets die. When
+the California gold mines were first discovered, a clever fellow said
+that he knew of no opening for a young man like the Southwest Pass. That
+is still true for rough, coarse, self-asserting characters; but for
+delicate, refined, stay-at-home natures, who have wishes without wills,
+there are many ways of getting their porridge without selling their
+birthright of doing as little as possible. If they cannot float
+buoyantly on the surface, at least they need not sink far beneath it,
+but may enjoy a quiet, water-logged kind of existence, not devoid of
+comfort.
+
+
+
+
+REVIEWS AND LITERARY NOTICES.
+
+
+     _May-Day and other Pieces._ By RALPH WALDO EMERSON. Boston:
+     Ticknor and Fields.
+
+We wonder whether those who take up Mr. Emerson's poem now, amid the
+glories of the fading summer, are not giving the poet a fairer audience
+than those who hurried to hear his song in the presence of the May he
+celebrates. As long as spring was here, he had a rival in every reader;
+for then we all felt ourselves finer poets than ever sang of the season,
+and did not know that our virtue was but an effect of Spring
+herself,--an impression, not an expression of her loveliness, which must
+pass with her. Now, when the early autumn is in every sense, and those
+days when the year first awoke to consciousness have grown so far away,
+we must perceive that no one has yet been allowed to speak so well for
+the spring of our New World as this poet. The very irregularity of Mr.
+Emerson's poem seems to be part of its verisimilitude, and it appears as
+if all the pauses and impulses and mysterious caprices of the
+season--which fill the trees with birds before blossoms, and create the
+soul of sweetness and beauty in the May-flowers under the dead leaves of
+the woodlands, while the meadows are still bare and brown--had so
+entered into this song, that it could not emulate the deliberation and
+consequence of art. The "May-Day" is to the critical faculty a
+succession of odes on Spring, celebrating now one aspect and now
+another, and united only by their title; yet since an entire idea of
+spring is evolved from them, and they awaken the same emotions that the
+youth of the year stirs in us, we must accept the result as something
+undeniably great and good. Of course, we can complain of the way in
+which it is brought about, just as we can upbraid the New England
+climate, though its uncertain and desultory April and May give us at
+last the most beautiful June weather in the world.
+
+The poem is not one that invites analysis, though it would be easy
+enough to instance striking merits and defects. Mr. Emerson, perhaps,
+more than any other modern poet, gives the notion of inspiration; so
+that one doubts, in reading him, how much to praise or blame. The most
+exquisite effects seem not to have been invited, but to have sought
+production from his unconsciousness; graces alike of thought and of
+touch seem the unsolicited gifts of the gods. Even the doubtful quality
+of occasional lines confirms this impression of unconsciousness. One
+cannot believe that the poet would wittingly write,
+
+    "Boils the world in tepid lakes,"
+
+for this statement has, for all that the reader can see to the contrary,
+the same value with him as that preceding verse, telling how the waxing
+heat
+
+    "Lends the reed and lily length,"
+
+wherein the very spirit of summer seems to sway and droop. Yet it is
+probable that no utterance is more considered than this poet's, and that
+no one is more immediately responsible than he. We must attribute to the
+most subtile and profound consciousness the power that can trace with
+such tenderness and beauty the alliance he has shown between earth and
+humanity in the exultation of spring, and which can make matter of
+intellectual perception the mute sympathies that seemed to perish with
+childhood:--
+
+    "The pebble loosened from the frost
+    Asks of the urchin to be tost.
+    In flint and marble beats a heart,
+    The kind Earth takes her children's part,
+    The green lane is the school-boy's friend,
+    Low leaves his quarrel apprehend,
+    The fresh ground loves his top and ball,
+    The air ring's jocund to his call,
+    The brimming brook invites a leap,
+    He dives the hollow, climbs the steep."
+
+Throughout the poem these recognitions of our kindred with external
+nature occur, and a voice is given to the blindly rejoicing sense within
+us when the poet says,
+
+    "The feet that slid so long on sleet
+    Are glad to feel the ground"
+
+and thus celebrates with one potent and satisfying touch the instinctive
+rapture of the escape from winter. Indeed, we find our greatest pleasure
+in some of these studies of pure feeling, while we are aware of the
+value of the didactic passages of the poem, and enjoy perfectly the high
+beauty of the pictorial parts of it. We do not know where we should
+match that strain beginning,
+
+    "Why chidest thou the tardy spring?"
+
+Or that,
+
+    "Where shall we keep the holiday,
+    And duly greet the entering May?"
+
+Or this most delicate and exquisite bit of description, which seems
+painted _a tempera_,--in colors mixed with the transparent blood of
+snowdrops and Alpine harebells:--
+
+    "See, every patriot oak-leaf throws
+    His elfin length upon the snows,
+    Not idle, since the leaf all day
+    Draws to the spot the solar ray,
+    Ere sunset quarrying inches down,
+    And half-way to the mosses brown:
+    While the grass beneath the rime
+    Has hints of the propitious time,
+    And upward pries and perforates
+    Through the cold slab a hundred gates,
+    Till green lances, piercing through,
+    Bend happy in the welkin blue."
+
+There is not great range of sentiment in "May-Day," and through all the
+incoherence of the poem there is a constant recurrence to the
+master-theme. This recurrence has at times something of a perfunctory
+air, and the close of the poem does not seal the whole with any strong
+impression. There is a rise--or a lapse, as the reader pleases to
+think--toward a moral at the close; but the motion is evidently willed
+of the poet rather than the subject. It seems to us that, if the work
+have any climax, it is in those lines near the end in which the poet
+draws his reader nearest his own personality, and of which the
+delicately guarded and peculiar pathos scarcely needs comment:--
+
+    "There is no bard in all the choir,
+    Not Homer's self, the poet sire,
+    Wise Milton's odes of pensive pleasure,
+    Or Shakespeare, whom no mind can measure,
+    Nor Collins' verse of tender pain,
+    Nor Byron's clarion of disdain,
+    Scott, the delight of generous boys,
+    Or Wordsworth, Pan's recording voice,--
+    Not one of all can put in verse,
+    Or to this presence could rehearse,
+    The sights and voices ravishing
+    The boy knew on the hills in spring,
+    When pacing through the oaks he heard
+    Sharp queries of the sentry-bird,
+    The heavy grouse's sudden whir,
+    The rattle of the kingfisher;
+    Saw bonfires of the harlot flies
+    In the lowland, when day dies;
+    Or marked, benighted and forlorn,
+    The first far signal-fire of morn.
+    These syllables that Nature spoke,
+    And the thoughts that in him woke,
+    Can adequately utter none
+    Save to his ear the wind-harp lone.
+    And best can teach its Delphian chord
+    How Nature to the soul is moored,
+    If once again that silent string,
+    As erst it wont, would thrill and ring.
+
+        "Not long ago, at eventide,
+    It seemed, so listening, at my side
+    A window rose, and, to say sooth,
+    I looked forth on the fields of youth:
+    I saw fair boys bestriding steeds,
+    I knew their forms in fancy weeds,
+    Long, long concealed by sundering fates,
+    Mates of my youth,--yet not my mates,
+    Stronger and bolder far than I,
+    With grace, with genius, well attired,
+    And then as now from far admired,
+    Followed with love
+    They knew not of,
+    With passion cold and shy.
+    O joy, for what recoveries rare!
+    Renewed, I breathe Elysian air,
+    See youth's glad mates in earliest bloom,--
+    Break not my dream, obtrusive tomb!
+    Or teach thou, Spring! the grand recoil
+    Of life resurgent from the soil
+    Wherein was dropped the mortal spoil."
+
+Among the other poems in this volume, it appears to us that "The Romany
+Girl," "Voluntaries," and "The Boston Hymn" are in their widely
+different ways the best. The last expresses, with a sublime
+colloquiality in which the commonest words of every-day parlance seem
+cut anew; and are made to shine with a fresh and novel lustre, the idea
+and destiny of America. In "Voluntaries" our former great peril and
+delusion--the mortal Union which lived by slavery--is at first the
+theme, with the strong pulse of prophecy, however, in the mournful
+music. Few motions of rhyme so win and touch as those opening lines,--
+
+    "Low and mournful be the strain,
+    Haughty thought be far from me;
+    Tones of penitence and pain,
+    Moanings of the tropic sea,"--
+
+in which the poet, with a hardly articulate sorrow, regards the past;
+and Mr. Emerson's peculiarly exalted and hopeful genius has nowhere
+risen in clearer and loftier tones than in those stops which open full
+upon us after the pathetic pleasing of his regrets:--
+
+    "In an age of fops and toys,
+    Wanting wisdom, void of right,
+    Who shall nerve heroic boys
+    To hazard all in Freedom's fight,--
+    Break sharply off their jolly games,
+    Forsake their comrades gay,
+    And quit proud homes and youthful dames,
+    For famine, toil, and fray?
+    Yet on the nimble air benign
+    Speed nimbler messages,
+    That waft the breath of grace divine
+    To hearts in sloth and ease.
+    So nigh is grandeur to our dust,
+    So near is God to man,
+    When Duty whispers low, _Thou must_,
+    The youth replies, _I can_.
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    "Blooms the laurel which belongs
+    To the valiant chief who fights;
+    I see the wreath, I hear the songs
+    Lauding the Eternal Rights,
+    Victors over daily wrongs:
+    Awful victors, they misguide
+    Whom they will destroy,
+    And their coming triumph hide
+    In our downfall, or our joy:
+    They reach no term, they never sleep,
+    In equal strength through space abide;
+    Though, feigning dwarfs, they crouch and creep,
+    The strong they slay, the swift outstride:
+    Fate's grass grows rank in valley clods,
+    And rankly on the castled steep,--
+    Speak it firmly, these are gods,
+    All are ghosts beside."
+
+It is, of course, a somewhat Emersonian Gypsy that speaks in "The Romany
+Girl," but still she speaks with the passionate, sudden energy of a
+woman, and flashes upon the mind with intense vividness the conception
+of a wild nature's gleeful consciousness of freedom, and exultant scorn
+of restraint and convention. All sense of sylvan health and beauty is
+uttered when this Gypsy says,--
+
+    "The wild air bloweth in our lungs,
+    The keen stars twinkle in our eyes,
+    The birds gave us our wily tongues,
+    The panther in our dances flies."
+
+"Terminus" has a wonderful didactic charm, and must be valued as one of
+the noblest introspective poems in the language. The poet touches his
+reader by his acceptance of fate and age, and his serene trust of the
+future, and yet is not moved by his own pathos.
+
+We do not regard the poem "The Adirondacks" as of great absolute or
+relative value. It is one of the prosiest in the book, and for a
+professedly out-of-doors poem has too much of the study in it. Let us
+confess also that we have not yet found pleasure in "The Elements," and
+that we do not expect to live long enough to enjoy some of them.
+"Quatrains" have much the same forbidding qualities, and have chiefly
+interested us in the comparison they suggest with the translations from
+the Persian: it is curious to find cold Concord and warm Ispahan in the
+same latitude. Others of the briefer poems have delighted us. "Rubies,"
+for instance, is full of exquisite lights and hues, thoughts and
+feelings; and "The Test" is from the heart of the severe wisdom without
+which art is not. Everywhere the poet's felicity of expression appears;
+a fortunate touch transfuses some dark enigma with color; the riddles
+are made to shine when most impenetrable; the puzzles are all
+constructed of gold and ivory and precious stones.
+
+Mr. Emerson's intellectual characteristics and methods are so known that
+it is scarcely necessary to hint that this is not a book for instant
+absorption into any reader's mind. It shall happen with many, we fancy,
+that they find themselves ready for only two or three things in it, and
+that they must come to it in widely varying moods for all it has to
+give. No greater wrong could be done to the poet than to go through his
+book running, and he would be apt to revenge himself upon the impatient
+reader by leaving him all the labor involved in such a course, and no
+reward at the end for his pains.
+
+But the case is not a probable one. People either read Mr. Emerson
+patiently and earnestly, or they do not read him at all. In this earnest
+nation he enjoys a far greater popularity than criticism would have
+augured for one so unflattering to the impulses that have heretofore and
+elsewhere made readers of poetry; and it is not hard to believe, if we
+believe in ourselves for the future, that he is destined to an
+ever-growing regard and fame. He makes appeal, however mystically, only
+to what is fine and deep and true and noble in men, and no doubt those
+who have always loved his poetry have reason to be proud of their
+pleasure in it. Let us of the present be wise enough to accept
+thankfully what genius gives us in its double character of bard and
+prophet, saying, when we enjoy the song, "Ah, this is the poet that now
+sings!" and when the meaning is dark, "Now we have the seer again!"
+
+
+     _An Historical Sketch of Sacerdotal Celibacy in the
+     Christian Church._ By HENRY C. LEA. Philadelphia: J. B.
+     Lippincott & Co. 1867.
+
+This exhaustive treatise of Mr. Lea upon ecclesiastical celibacy we take
+to possess, like his excellent work upon "Superstition and Force," all
+the capital requisites of an historical monograph,--an immense body of
+information and of reference on the subject in hand, a sufficiently cool
+and dispassionate manner of presenting facts, and a severe adherence to
+the central question. The amount of research and indeed of scholarship
+involved in the preparation of this volume is such as to command the
+warmest recognition. In these days of "picturesque" histories, of hasty
+criticism, and of precipitate generalizations, it is very gratifying to
+encounter a writer who construes his obligations with such austerity as
+Mr. Lea. He is content to marshal his facts and his _data_ into such an
+order that under a close inspection no one of them conceals the
+half-genuine look of its neighbor. He lets them tell their own story for
+good or for evil, and is never guilty, through the wish to be vivid and
+effective, of spreading his colors outside of the lines drawn by his
+authorities. Within these lines even his tints are sober and discreet,
+and careful not to depart too widely from those somewhat neutral hues
+which, wherever man's knowledge of the past rests upon accidentally
+preserved documents and monuments, must continue to be the colors of
+history. Nevertheless, with all the various merits of a well-executed
+monograph, Mr. Lea's work has certain of the corresponding defects.
+Perhaps, indeed, it were more just to say that these defects correspond
+to the limitations of the general reader's knowledge, rather than to any
+imperfection in the author's programme. In the course of a special
+history executed on such a scale as the present one, and with all its
+soberness of style, so little mechanical in spirit, and so free from
+chronological dryness, it is almost inevitable that the reader's
+impressions should become somewhat overbalanced. He is likely to forget
+that he is taking a partial view of a great subject, and that he must
+hold his opinions liable to correction when he has surveyed the whole
+field. A dishonest writer, we conceive, may readily take advantage of
+this perfectly logical error. He has accumulated an immense mass of
+material bearing on a particular point, extracted and expressed, by long
+labor, from a field in which it has lain interfused with material of a
+very different, and even of a directly opposite significance. There are
+a hundred literary arts by which a writer may put forward his fractional
+gleaning as a representation of the whole. In this matter of
+ecclesiastical celibacy, for instance, the result of Mr. Lea's
+researches is that practically the thing has never existed in the
+Christian Church. That is to say, the regulations enforcing it have at
+all times been more violated and eluded than obeyed. With the
+Reformation a large section of the Church ceased to admit its
+needfulness, and the field of its enforcement was very much curtailed.
+But the Catholic Church continued to cling to it as almost the central
+principle of its being, and continued likewise to connive at an
+inveterate system of escape from its harsh conditions. Mr. Lea's volume
+is a long record of reiterated legislation and exhortation against
+unchastity, formal and actual, and of a series of equally uninterrupted
+disclosures of the futility of such legislation. And, nevertheless,
+there is no doubt that, during all the long ages of its history, the
+Church was the abode and the refuge of a vast deal of purity and
+continence, to say nothing of the various other virtues by which its
+members have been distinguished. But the reader sees only the obverse of
+the medal: he sees a custom of prodigious bearings, if duly carried out,
+honored chiefly in the breach; and he will be very apt to close the book
+with an impression that the Church has been through all time a sink of
+incurable corruption. It is superfluous to say that this impression will
+be quite as erroneous as it would be to assert that, on the other hand,
+its practice has kept pace with its high pretensions. Neither view of
+the case is just. If there is one thing that strikes us more than
+another, in reading Mr. Lea's work, it is that, on the whole, the Church
+must have been at any moment a tolerably faithful reflection of the
+manners and feelings of the time. Its empire was practicable only by
+means of a constant renewal of the exquisite and everlasting compromise
+between man's transient interests and his external destiny. Taken as a
+whole, it never pretended to ride rough-shod over his natural passions
+and instincts. It pretended to convert them to its own service and
+aggrandizement. It respected them, it handled them gently. And as these
+passions and instincts have never been exclusively evil or exclusively
+good, so the Church has never been wholly corrupt or wholly pure. It has
+been animated by the average moral enlightenment of the time, and it has
+grown with men's moral growth. Reared, as it was, upon the primitive
+needs of men's nature, it is difficult to see how the result should have
+been different. And if the Catholic Church has lost that firmness of
+grasp upon human affection which it once possessed, it is not that
+laymen have become more virtuous than priests; it is that they have
+become more intelligent. The intellectual growth of the Church has
+lagged behind its moral growth. Secular humanity is perfectly willing to
+admit that its sacerdotal counterpart observes the Decalogue equally
+well with itself; but it contests the right of an institution, of whose
+long spiritual efforts this insignificant accomplishment is the only
+surviving result, to impose itself further upon men's respect and
+obedience. The reader has only to remember, then, that Mr. Lea's volume
+is not a history of the Church at large, but only a history of a single
+province, and he will find it full of profit and edification.
+
+It is no exaggeration to repeat, as we have said, that the Church never
+achieved anything like complete celibacy. A rapid survey of the ground
+under Mr. Lea's guidance will confirm and explain this statement. During
+the first three centuries there is no evidence that celibacy was deemed
+essential to the clerical character, or even that it was thought
+especially desirable. It was natural that during the early years of the
+Church, and under the stress of persecution, it should not multiply the
+restrictions placed upon the freedom of its adherents. Up to the period
+of the Council of Nicaea, therefore, the virtues of chastity were
+maintained only by isolated groups of ascetics, animated by that spirit
+of Puritanism which seems to have existed in every faith in every stage
+of its history. When men are looking about them for means to mortify the
+flesh and to stifle the heart, a prohibition of marriage is the first
+expedient that suggests itself. Until this is done away with, further
+severities are impossible. Marriage, however, was not condemned at a
+single blow. The first step was to forbid second marriages. A bachelor
+in holy orders might marry with impunity; a widower did so at his peril.
+Having effected this concession, the ascetic spirit found means to
+increase its influence. It received a strong impulse at the close of the
+second century, as Mr. Lea affirms, by the rise of the Neoplatonic
+philosophy, with all its mystical and stoical tendencies, and by the
+introduction into Europe and the rapid spread of the great Manichaean
+heresy. In the view of this doctrine, man's body was the work of the
+Devil, and condemned as such to ceaseless abuse and mortification by his
+soul. Among the ascetic excesses which were the logical consequences of
+such a dogma, inveterate chastity was, of course, not the last to be
+enjoined. Manichaeism was an object of violent detestation to the Church;
+but as the latter could not afford to let itself be outdone in austerity
+by a vulgar heresy, it began to adopt a similar uncompromising attitude
+towards marriage. The Council of Nicaea was held in 325. This body,
+however, was chiefly occupied with debates upon Arianism, and is
+responsible but for a single enactment bearing on the subject in hand.
+The bearing of this enactment is, moreover, indirect, inasmuch as Mr.
+Lea conclusively proves that it refers not to lawful wives, (as in later
+ages of the Church it became needful to assume that it _did_ refer,) but
+to female companions of the unlicensed sort. For more than half a
+century after the Nicaean Council, the movement of the celibatarian
+spirit is lost sight of in the all-absorbing disputes on the Arian
+heresy. A strong reaction, however, is signalized by the issue, under
+Pope Damasus, in the year 385, of the first definite command imposing
+perpetual celibacy as an absolute rule of discipline on the ministers of
+the altar. This was very well as an injunction, but it was nothing
+without enforcement. More than half a century again elapsed before the
+new discipline was substantially acknowledged. By the mass of the
+servants of the Church--among which several names stand apart as those
+of its more eminent opponents--it was received with bitter resentment
+and incompliance. But it had the popular favor for it on one side, and
+on the other the passionate energies of the three great Latin
+fathers,--Augustine, Ambrose, and Jerome. The people had not yet reached
+that state of mind when it clamored imperiously either for priestly
+marriage, or, in simple self-defence, for an organized substitute. Mr.
+Lea at this point devotes a chapter to the Eastern Church, of which it
+is sufficient for us to say, that in this establishment the question of
+celibacy was less violently agitated than among its neighbors, and that
+a final decision was more speedily reached. Early in the sixth century,
+Justinian published an edict which still forms the basis of its
+celibatarian discipline. Marriage in orders is forbidden, and men who
+have been twice married are inadmissible. Monks are of course bound to
+chastity, but the lower grades of the secular clergy are free to marry.
+
+The rise of the monastic orders in the West dates from the close of the
+fifth century, when St. Benedict founded in the Latian Apennines the
+community which subsequently became famous as the Convent of Monte
+Cassino. With this enterprise begins the real growth of the Church,
+which, of course, we do not propose to trace. With each succeeding
+century its area expanded, its power increased, and its responsibilities
+multiplied. It was called to preside at the organization of a new
+Europe, to witness and to accelerate the extinction of the Roman Empire
+and the foundation of the new nationalities, to save whatever was worth
+saving from the wreck of the old society, to stand firm against the
+Barbarians, to prosecute constant and wholesale conversions, and to
+preserve in the midst of these various cares the integrity of the idea
+of sacerdotal chastity. The idea, we say; for we may be sure that the
+practice was left to take care of itself. We are told that the Barbarian
+invaders were inexpressibly shocked by the licentiousness and immorality
+of the Latin civilization; and if this were so, it promised well for a
+thorough purgation of the Church in proportion as the new-comers were
+admitted into its fold. But as we continue to read, we see that,
+although upon society at large their arrival may have produced in
+certain directions a healthful and renovating effect, they speedily
+became converted to the general tolerance of ecclesiastical laxity.
+Italy and France, up to the domination of Charlemagne, were the only
+important countries in Europe. The history of France from Clovis to
+Charlemagne is a long record of disorder and iniquity, in which, if the
+Church plays no worse part than the state, it at least plays no better.
+In Italy religion and politics are involved in an inextricable tangle of
+convulsions and dissensions. During this time there is no better proof
+of the practical neglect into which the canon of celibacy had fallen,
+than the continual iteration to which it is subjected by councils and
+synods. Gregory the Great, in his conscientious efforts in the seventh
+century to enforce sacerdotal chastity at least,--or rather to check the
+flagrant violation of it,--in default of celibacy, had to contend, where
+France was concerned, with the powerless imbecility of the Merovingian
+monarchs.
+
+His successors found more effectual assistance in the first
+strong-handed Carlovingians. Pope Zachary, in concert with Carloman, and
+St. Boniface, the great apostle of the Saxons, for the first time
+attached the penalties of deposition, degradation, and penance to proved
+impurity of life. This was the beginning of a series of reforms, of
+which Boniface was the leading spirit, and Pepin and Charlemagne the
+rigid guardians. But, although sacerdotal marriage became really the
+exception rather than the rule, in consequence of these enactments, it
+is doubtful whether morality was improved. It was a licentious age, and
+the clergy as well as the laity belonged to their age. In the tenth
+century clerical marriage began again to prevail, and again the strong
+hands of Gregory VII., and of the Popes who reigned under his direction,
+were needed to restore some degree of discipline. But vigorous as were
+their measures, and persevering their efforts, it was restored chiefly
+in name. Gregory's dissensions with the Empire offer Mr. Lea an occasion
+to exhibit the condition of morality in the German Church. We are unable
+to see that at this moment, as for some time to come, it differed
+materially in any of the countries of Europe. In many outlying
+provinces--in Wales, in Bohemia, in Sweden--lawful marriage took the
+place of simple cohabitation; but in the great central states the vices
+of the laity were still those of the clergy. If there was one spot
+indeed where these vices were more flourishing than elsewhere, all
+through the Middle Ages and into recent times, that spot was the very
+head-quarters of sanctity,--Rome itself. But this circumstance admits
+doubtless of a sufficiently logical explanation. Rome was the spiritual
+head of Christendom, but she was also a great temporal power, and to a
+great extent the social metropolis of the world. This character
+necessarily involved a vast deal of magnificent corruption.
+
+In the course of the Middle Ages it is apparent that the clergy not only
+continued to possess their share of the general unchastity, but to carry
+it to excesses by which they alone were distinguished. The amount of
+legislation bearing on this subject, recorded by Mr. Lea with immense
+patience and care, is such as to defy memory and imagination, and almost
+to challenge belief. There can be assuredly no better proof of the very
+imperfect observation of the canons than this unceasing repetition of
+them. By the time the Middle Ages had passed away, and the masses had
+emerged into the comparatively brilliant light of the Renaissance,
+sacerdotal unchastity had grown into an enormous evil. The disparity
+between the theory of the priestly character and its actual form had
+become too flagrant to be endured. Popular protests accordingly became
+frequent. The abuse of those intimate relations into which the priest is
+brought with the life of families, and that of the confessional more
+especially, acquires horrible proportions. And as the question grows
+more complex on the side of the people, so it grows more complex with
+regard to the general government of the Church. This government had long
+since made up its mind, with a firmness destined to be proof against
+even the most formidable remonstrance, that, whatever might be the
+manners of its servants, they were to remain inviolably single. The mere
+ascetic and sentimental reason for celibacy had long been supplanted by
+good logical and material reasons. A wife and children were speedily
+found to be incompatible with the exclusive service of the Church. To it
+alone, if the ambition of its great rulers was to be fulfilled, its
+ministers were to be devoted. When, with the development of the feudal
+system, the transmission of property and of functions from father to
+sons became the groundwork of social order, ecclesiastical benefices
+were disposed of in the same way as manors and baronies, to the utter
+prejudice of the temporality of the Church. With this tendency the
+Church waged a long and violent contest, in which she was finally
+victorious. But she purchased her victory only at the price of the most
+scandalous concessions; and by the system of immorality reared upon
+these concessions she found her hands almost fatally entangled at the
+Reformation. Dispensation to unchastity in her ministers had become a
+prominent feature among those various indulgences against which the
+consciences of the early Reformers rose in wrath. In every country in
+Europe the people had grown weary of crying out for the abolition of
+these dispensations, and the reintroduction of marriage. In Germany,
+accordingly, the marriage of apostate monks and priests was among the
+foremost measures of the more ardent Reformers. Luther, whose discretion
+was as great as his courage, was content to wait; but he, too, finally
+gave in, and united himself with a nun. It is characteristic of the
+English people, that the monarchs under whose guidance they embraced the
+Reformation should have shown in this particular more than the
+hesitation of Luther. Henry VIII. broke short off with Rome, overturned
+the monasteries, and filled the land with the beggared servants of the
+old ecclesiastical order, but he would not hear of the marriage of the
+Reformed clergy. It was certainly not from a general disapproval of the
+institution. Under Edward, the old restrictions on this matter were done
+away; but under Mary they were of course restored with a high hand. With
+Elizabeth they were eventually removed forever; but it is known that the
+measure had very little sympathy from the queen, and that her assent was
+grudgingly bestowed.
+
+The Council of Trent was expected to do great things toward the
+pacification of the Reformers and the healing of the great schism, and
+among others to pave the way for the gradual abolition of clerical
+celibacy. The measure had the approval of Charles the Fifth, and of
+Ferdinand and Maximilian, his successors. The Council of Trent did very
+little that was expected of it, however, and least of all did it
+accomplish this. It contented itself with a reenactment of certain
+obsolete and threadbare canons in favor of chastity, and launched an
+anathema against all those who affirmed the validity of such marriages
+as had been made or should yet be made by the apostate clergy. This was
+the last word of the Catholic Church for some time to come upon this
+important subject. Animated with a new vitality by the great Jesuit
+reaction, she had no apprehension that her hour had come, and that she
+was brought so low as to be compelled to belie the sagacity of her great
+founders and lawgivers. For the past three hundred years she has firmly
+adhered to the principle of celibacy, and assuredly with incontestable
+wisdom. With the universal elevation of the moral tone throughout
+Europe, she has been less frequently mortified by having to look with
+indulgence upon the licentious manners of her priests.
+
+It seems to us that this rapid survey of the immense subject treated by
+Mr. Lea is calculated to confirm rather than to enfeeble an unprejudiced
+reader's sense of the marvellous achievements of the Church. The
+enumeration, made in the volume before us, of its enactments with regard
+to celibacy and chastity, constitutes a chapter in its internal history.
+This is, to our perception, the worst that can be said of them and of
+the state of things which they reveal. If the Catholic Church is to be
+pronounced an institution of the past, a mockery, a delusion, and a
+snare, it is not on these grounds alone, or on any exclusive grounds,
+but from a broadly comprehensive point of view. Every human institution
+has a private history which is very different from its public one. In
+some respects the former is the more, in others the less, admirable of
+the two. In the present case, the element in the picture which appeals
+to our admiration is the heroic patience and perseverance, the
+fortitude, the tact, and the courage with which the Church applied
+herself to the healing of her internal wounds when they were curable,
+and to the enduring of them when they were not, in order that, at any
+cost, she might produce upon the world the impression of unity, sanity,
+and strength.
+
+
+     _Ten Months in Brazil; with Incidents of Voyages and
+     Travels, Descriptions of Scenery and Character, Notices of
+     Commerce and Productions, etc._ By JOHN CODMAN. Boston: Lee
+     and Shepard.
+
+The title of this book leaves its reviewer little to say in explanation
+of its purposes. It is a lively enough book, and a book well enough
+written, with a good deal of dash and piquancy in the style; and yet,
+like the blameless dinner to which Doctor Johnson objected that it was
+not a dinner to ask a man to, it is not a book to advise one to read. It
+does not appear to us, after reading it, that we are wiser concerning
+Brazil than before; even the facts in it we greeted, in many cases, with
+the warmth due to old statistical acquaintances. The philosophy of the
+author seems to be that the Brazilians are a bad set, and that they have
+become so mainly by mingling their blood with that of their negroes,--a
+race never so useful and happy as when in the discipline of slavery. Mr.
+Codman contrasts their hopeless state on the lands of a good-hearted
+Scotchman in Brazil, who intends to let them earn their freedom by
+working for him, with their condition on the neighboring estate of a
+sharp, slave-driving Yankee, who acquiesces unmurmuringly in the
+purposes of Providence; "his theory being, that, as labor is their
+condition, the greatest amount of work compatible with their health and
+fair endurance is to be got from them. With this end in view, there is a
+judicious distribution of rewards and punishments." Mr. Codman finds the
+charm of novelty in these just and simple ideas, but we think we have in
+past years met with the same ingenious reasoning in Southern speeches
+and newspapers; and we suspect the system was one commonly adopted in
+our slave States, where the occasional omission of punishments was
+economically made to represent the judicious distribution of rewards.
+
+In fact, Mr. Codman seems to have travelled and written too late to
+benefit his generation. Six or seven happy years ago, an enlightened
+public sentiment would have received his views of slavery with acclaim;
+but we doubt if they would now sell a copy of his book even in
+Charleston.
+
+
+     _A Story of Doom, and other Poems._ By JEAN INGELOW. Boston:
+     Roberts Brothers.
+
+People who remember things written as long ago as five years have a
+certain stiffness in their tastes which disqualifies them for the
+enjoyment of much contemporaneous achievement; and it is fortunate for
+the poets that it is the young who make reputations. Miss Ingelow's
+first volume, indeed, had something in it that could please not only the
+inexperience of youth, for which nothing like it existed, but even the
+knowledge of those arrived at the interrogation-point in life, who felt
+that here there was a movement toward originality in much familiar
+mannerism and uncertain purpose. If there was not a vast deal for
+enjoyment, there was a reason for hope. It was plain that the author's
+gift was not a great one, but it was also clear that she had a gift. She
+was a little tedious and diffuse; she was often too long in reaching a
+point, and sometimes she never reached it at all. But then she wrote
+"The High Tide on the Coast of Lincolnshire," and the "Songs of Seven,"
+and "Divided,"--none of them perfect poems, yet all very good and
+fresh,--and showed a true feeling for nature, and some knowledge of
+humanity as women see it. In this second volume, however, she abandons
+her maturer admirers to their fate, and seeks the favor of the young
+ladies and gentlemen who have begun to like verses since Mr. Tennyson's
+latest poems were written, and the old balladists and modern poetical
+archaists ceased to be read. In fact, it is amazing to see how this
+author, who had a talent of her own, has contentedly buried it, and gone
+to counterfeiting the talents of others. The "Story of Doom" here given
+is an unusually dreary copy of the unrealism of Mr. Tennyson's "Idyls
+of the King," and makes the history of Noah more than ever improbable;
+while "Laurance," mimicking all the well-known effects and smallest airs
+and movements of the laureate's poems of rustic life, is scarcely to be
+read without laughter. "Winstanley" presents an incident that, if told
+in simple contemporary English, would have made a thrilling ballad; but
+what with its quoth-he's, brave skippers, good master mayors, ladies
+gay, and red suns, it is factitious, and of the library only,--it came
+from Percy's "Reliques" and "The Ancient Mariner," not from the poet's
+heart. It seems worthy of the sentimental purpose with which it was
+written; but we doubt if any child in the National School in Dorsetshire
+learned it by heart as his forefathers did the old ballads.
+
+In pleasant contrast with its affectations is the beautiful little song
+entitled "Apprenticed," which the author tells us is in the old English
+manner, but which we find full of a young feeling and tenderness
+belonging to all time, expressed in diction quite of our own. This, and
+that one of the Songs with Preludes entitled "Wedlock," seem to us the
+best, if not the only, poems in the book. Miss Ingelow's forte is not in
+single lines and detachable passages, and her efforts are apt to be
+altogether successful or unsuccessful. In the long rhyme called "Dreams
+that came True," there is but one inspired line, and that is merely
+descriptive,--
+
+    "In eddying rings the silence seemed to flow"
+
+round him that waked suddenly from an awful dream. There is an
+inglorious ease in the sarcasm, but we must express our regret that Miss
+Ingelow did not leave this story in the prose which she says first
+received it.
+
+We suppose we need scarcely call the reader's attention to the fact that
+certain faults of Miss Ingelow's first book are exaggerated in this. The
+rush of half-draped figures, and the pushing and crowding of weak and
+unruly fancies, are too obviously unpleasant for comment. Perhaps they
+are most unpleasant in the Song with a Prelude which opens with the
+bewildering statement that
+
+    "Yon moored mackerel fleet
+      Hangs thick as a swarm of bees,
+    Or a clustering village street
+      Foundationless built on the seas."
+
+
+     _Critical and Social Essays._ Reprinted from the New York
+     "Nation." New York: Leypoldt and Holt.
+
+These brief papers very fairly represent the quality of the excellent
+journal from which they are taken, and treat subjects suggested by
+literary events and social characteristics with a bright intelligence
+and an artistic feeling only too uncommon in our journalism. All the
+essays are good, and several are of quite unique merit. The first in the
+volume, entitled "The Glut in the Fiction Market," is full of a
+felicitous badinage and an exquisite power of travesty, which we should
+not know how to match elsewhere. The author of this admirable paper
+wrote also, as we imagine, the essays on "Some of our Social
+Philosophers," "Critics and Criticism," and "Voyages and Travels," which
+are the best of the humorous articles in the volume. The graver essays
+are almost as good in their way as these, and we especially like "Why we
+have no Saturday Reviewers," "Popularizing Science," "Something about
+Monuments," and "American Ministers abroad." The paper on "The European
+and American Order of Thought" considers the subject with an originality
+and penetration which we would willingly have had applied in a more
+extended study of it.
+
+In fine, we like all these articles from "The Nation," for the reasons
+that we like "The Nation" itself, which has been, in a degree singular
+among newspapers, conscientious and candid in literary matters; while in
+affairs of social and political interest it has shown itself friendly to
+everything that could advance civilization, and notably indifferent to
+the claims of persons and parties.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 20, No.
+119, September, 1867, by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ATLANTIC MONTHLY, SEPT 1867 ***
+
+***** This file should be named 33451.txt or 33451.zip *****
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