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diff --git a/33451.txt b/33451.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8642a16 --- /dev/null +++ b/33451.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9302 @@ +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 ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/4/5/33451/ + +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.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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