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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/33938-8.txt b/33938-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3c8bc0a --- /dev/null +++ b/33938-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10724 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 58, +No. 362, December 1845, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 58, No. 362, December 1845 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: October 10, 2010 [EBook #33938] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH *** + + + + +Produced by Brendan OConnor, Erica Hills, Jonathan Ingram +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Library of Early +Journals.) + + + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: A few obvious misprints have been corrected, but +in general the originally erratic spelling, punctuation and typesetting +conventions have been retained. Accents in foreign-language poetry and +phrases, particularly the Greek, are inconsistent in the original, and +have not been standardised. + + +BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE. + +No. CCCLXII. DECEMBER, 1845. VOL. LVIII. + + +CONTENTS. + + + MARLBOROUGH No. II., 649 + + THE STUDENT OF SALAMANCA Part II., 673 + + WHITE'S THREE YEARS IN CONSTANTINOPLE, 688 + + THE MOUNTAIN AND THE CLOUD, 704 + + THE SECOND PANDORA, 711 + + THE REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD, 713 + + A FEW PASSAGES CONCERNING OMENS, DREAMS, APPEARANCES, &C., 735 + + A MOTHER TO HER FORSAKEN CHILD, 752 + + SUMMER NOONTIDE, _ib._ + + TO CLARA, 753 + + SECLUSION, _ib._ + + THE LAST HOURS OF A REIGN. Part I., 754 + + THE SCOTTISH HARVEST, 769 + + + + +EDINBURGH: + +WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, 45, GEORGE STREET; + +AND 37, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON. + +_To whom all Communications (post paid) must be addressed._ + +SOLD BY ALL THE BOOKSELLERS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. + + +PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE AND HUGHES, EDINBURGH. + + + + +MARLBOROUGH. No. II.[1] + + +It might have been expected, that after the march into Bavaria had +demonstrated the military genius of the Duke of Marlborough, and the +battle of Blenheim had in so decisive a manner broken the enemy's +power, the principal direction of military affairs would have been +entrusted to that consummate commander; and that the Allied cabinets, +without presuming to interfere in the management of the campaigns, +would have turned all their efforts to place at his disposal forces +adequate to carry into execution the mighty designs which he +meditated, and had shown himself so well qualified to carry into +execution. It was quite the reverse. The Allied cabinets did nothing. +They did worse than nothing--they interfered only to do mischief. +Their principal object after this appeared to be to cramp the efforts +of this great general, to overrule his bold designs, to tie down his +aspiring genius. Each looked only to his own separate objects, and +nothing could make them see that they were to be gained only by +promoting the general objects of the alliance. Relieved from the +danger of instant subjugation by the victory of Blenheim, and the +retreat of the French army across the Rhine, the German powers +relapsed into their usual state of supineness, lukewarmness, and +indifference. No efforts of Marlborough could induce the Dutch either +to enlarge their contingent, or even render that already in the field +fit for active service. The English force was not half of what the +national strength was capable of sending forth. Parliament would not +hear of any thing like an adequate expenditure. Thus the golden +opportunity, never likely to be regained, of profiting by the +consternation of the enemy after the battle of Blenheim, and their +weakness after forty thousand of their best troops had been lost to +their armies, was allowed to pass away; and the war was permitted to +dwindle into one of posts and sieges, when, by a vigorous effort, it +might have been concluded in the next campaign.[2] + +It was not thus with the French. The same cause which had loosened +the efforts of the confederates, had inspired unwonted vigour into +their councils. The Rhine was crossed by the Allies; the French armies +had been hurled with disgrace out of Germany; the territory of the +Grand Monarque was threatened both from the side of Alsace and +Flanders; and a formidable insurrection in the Cevennes both +distracted the force and threatened the peace of the kingdom. But +against all these evils Louis made head. Never had the superior vigour +and perseverance of a monarchy over that of a confederacy been more +clearly evinced. Marshal Villars had been employed in the close of the +preceding year to appease the insurrection in the Cevennes, and his +measures were at once so vigorous and conciliatory, that before the +end of the following winter the disturbances were entirely appeased. +In consequence of this, the forces employed in that quarter became +disposable; and by this means, and the immense efforts made by the +government over the whole kingdom, the armies on the frontier were so +considerably augmented, that Villeroi and the Elector of Bavaria took +the field in the Low Countries at the head of seventy-five thousand +men, while Marshal Marsin on the Upper Rhine, covered Alsace with +thirty thousand. Those armies were much larger than any which the +Allies could bring against them; for although it had been calculated +that Marlborough was to be at the head of ninety thousand men on the +Moselle on the 1st May, yet such had been the dilatory conduct of the +States-general and the German princes, that in the beginning of June +there were scarcely thirty thousand men collected round his standards; +and in Flanders and on the Upper Rhine the enemy's relative +superiority was still greater. + +The plan of the campaign of 1705, based on the supposition that these +great forces were to be at his disposal, concerted between him and +Prince Eugene, was in the highest degree bold and decisive. It was +fixed that, early in spring, ninety thousand men should be assembled +in the country between the Moselle and the Saar, and, after +establishing their magazines and base of operations at Treves and +Traerbach, they should penetrate, in two columns into Lorraine; that +the column under Marlborough in person should advance along the course +of Moselle, and the other, under the Margrave of Baden, by the valley +of the Saar, and that Saar-Louis should be invested before the French +army had time to take the field. In this way the whole fortresses of +Flanders would be avoided, and the war, carried into the enemy's +territory, would assail France on the side where her iron barrier was +most easily pierced through. But the slowness of the Dutch, and +backwardness of the Germans, rendered this well-conceived plan +abortive, and doomed the English general, for the whole of a campaign +which promised such important advantages, to little else but +difficulty, delay, and vexation. Marlborough's enthusiasm, great as it +was, nearly sank under the repeated disappointments which he +experienced at this juncture; and, guarded as he was, it exhaled in +several bitter complaints in his confidential correspondence.[3] But, +like a true patriot and man of perseverance, he did not give way to +despair when he found nearly all that had been promised him awanting; +but perceiving the greater designs impracticable, from the want of all +the means by which they could be carried into execution, prepared to +make the most of the diminutive force which alone was at his disposal. + +At length, some of the German reinforcements having arrived, +Marlborough, in the beginning of June, though still greatly inferior +to the enemy, commenced operations. Such was the terror inspired by +his name, and the tried valour of the English troops, that Villars +remained on the defensive, and soon retreated. Without firing a shot, +he evacuated a strong woody country which he occupied, and retired to +a strong defensive position, extending from Haute Sirk on the right, +to the Nivelles on the left, and communicating in the rear with +Luxembourg, Thionville, and Saar-Louis. This position was so strong, +that it was hopeless to attempt to force it without heavy cannon; and +Marlborough's had not yet arrived, from the failure of the German +princes to furnish the draught-horses they had promised. For nine +weary days he remained in front of the French position, counting the +hours till the guns and reinforcements came up; but such was the +tardiness of the German powers, and the universal inefficiency of the +inferior princes and potentates, that they never made their +appearance. The English general was still anxiously awaiting the +promised supplies, when intelligence arrived from the right of so +alarming a character as at once changed the theatre of operations, and +fixed him for the remainder of the campaign in the plains of Flanders. + +It was the rapid progress which Marshal Villeroi and the Elector of +Bavaria, at the head of seventy-five thousand men, were making in the +heart of Flanders, which rendered this change necessary. General +Overkirk was there entrusted with the army intended to cover Holland; +but it was greatly inferior to the enemy in point of numerical amount, +and still more so in the quality and composition of the troops of +which it was composed. Aware of his superiority, and of the timid +character of the government which was principally interested in that +army, Villeroi pushed his advantages to the utmost. He advanced boldly +upon the Meuse, carried by assault the fortress of Huys, and, marching +upon Liege, occupied the town without much resistance, and laid siege +to the citadel. Overkirk, in his lines before Maestricht, was unable +even to keep the field. The utmost alarm seized upon the United +Provinces. They already in imagination saw Louis XIV. a second time at +the gates of Amsterdam. Courier after courier was dispatched to +Marlborough, soliciting relief in the most urgent terms; and it was +hinted, that if effectual protection were not immediately given, +Holland would be under the necessity of negotiating for a separate +peace. There was not a moment to be lost: the Dutch were now as hard +pressed as the Austrians had been in the preceding year, and in +greater alarm than the Emperor was before the battle of Blenheim. A +cross march like that into Bavaria could alone reinstate affairs. +Without a moment's hesitation, Marlborough took his determination. + +On the 17th June, without communicating his designs to any one, or +even without saying a word of the alarming intelligence he had +received, he ordered the whole army to be under arms at midnight, and +setting out shortly after, he marched, without intermission, eighteen +miles to the rear. Having thus gained a march upon the enemy, so as to +avoid the risk of being pursued or harassed in his retreat, he left +General D'Aubach with eleven battalions and twelve squadrons to cover +the important magazines at Treves and Saarbruck; and himself, with the +remainder of the army, about thirty thousand strong, marched rapidly +in the direction of Maestricht. He was in hopes of being able, like +the Consul Nero, in the memorable cross march from Apulia to the +Metaurus in Roman story, to attack the enemy with his own army united +to that of Overkirk, before he was aware of his approach; but in this +he was disappointed. Villeroi got notice of his movement, and +instantly raising the siege of the citadel of Liege, withdrew, though +still superior in number to the united forces of the enemy, within the +shelter of the lines he had prepared and fortified with great care on +the Meuse. Marlborough instantly attacked and carried Huys on the 11th +July. But the satisfaction derived from having thus arrested the +progress of the enemy in Flanders, and wrested from him the only +conquest of the campaign, soon received a bitter alloy. Like Napoleon +in his later years, the successes he gained in person were almost +always overbalanced by the disasters sustained through the blunders or +treachery of his lieutenants. Hardly had Huys opened its gates, when +advices were received that D'Aubach, instead of obeying his orders, +and defending the magazines at Treves and Saarbruck to the last +extremity, had fled on the first appearance of a weak French +detachment, and burned the whole stores which it had cost so much time +and money to collect. This was a severe blow to Marlborough, for it at +once rendered impracticable the offensive movement into Lorraine, on +which his heart was so set, and from which he had anticipated such +important results. It was no longer possible to carry the war into the +enemy's territory, or turn, by an irruption into Lorraine, the whole +fortresses of the enemy in Flanders. The tardiness of the German +powers in the first instance, the terrors of the Dutch, and misconduct +of D'Aubach in the last, had caused that ably conceived design +entirely to miscarry. Great was the mortification of the English +general at this signal disappointment of his most warmly cherished +hopes; it even went so far that he had thoughts of resigning his +command.[4] But instead of abandoning himself to despair, he set +about, like the King of Prussia in after times, the preparation of a +stroke which should reinstate his affairs by the terror with which it +inspired the enemy, and the demonstration of inexhaustible resources +it afforded in himself. + +The position occupied by the Elector of Bavaria and Marshal Villeroi +was so strong that it was regarded as impregnable, and in truth it was +so to a front attack. With its right resting on Marche aux Dames on +the Meuse, it stretched through Leau to the strong and important +fortress of Antwerp. This line was long, and of course liable to be +broken through at points; but such was the skill with which every +vulnerable point had been strengthened and fortified by the French +engineers, that it was no easy matter to say where an impression could +be made. Wherever a marsh or a stream intervened, the most skilful use +had been made of it; while forts and redoubts, plentifully mounted +with heavy cannon, both commanded all the approaches to the lines, and +formed so many _points d'appui_ to its defenders in case of disaster. +Such a position, defended by seventy thousand men, directed by able +generals, might well be deemed impregnable. But Marlborough, with an +inferior force, resolved to attempt it. In doing so, however, he had +difficulties more formidable to overcome than even the resistance of +the enemy in front; the timidity of the authorities at the Hague, the +nervousness and responsibility of the Dutch generals, were more to be +dreaded than Villeroi's redoubts. It required all the consummate +address of the English general, aided by the able co-operation of +General Overkirk, to get liberty from the Dutch authorities to engage +in any offensive undertaking. At length, however, after infinite +difficulty, a council of war, at headquarters, agreed to support any +undertaking which might be deemed advisable; and Marlborough instantly +set about putting his design in execution. + +The better to conceal the real point of attack, he gave out that a +march to the Moselle was to be immediately undertaken; and to give a +colour to the report, the corps which had been employed in the siege +of Huys was not brought forward to the front. At the same time +Overkirk was detached to the Allied left towards Bourdine, and +Marlborough followed with a considerable force, ostensibly to support +him. So completely was Villeroi imposed upon, that he drew large +reinforcements from the centre to his extreme right; and soon forty +thousand men were grouped round the sources of the Little Gheet on his +extreme right. By this means the centre was seriously weakened; and +Marlborough instantly assembled, with every imaginable precaution to +avoid discovery, all his disposable forces to attack the weakened part +of the lines. The corps hitherto stationed on the Meuse was silently +brought up to the front; Marlborough put himself at the head of his +own English and German troops, whom he had carried with him from the +Moselle; and at eight at night, on the 17th July, the whole began to +march, all profoundly ignorant of the service on which they were to be +engaged. Each trooper was ordered to carry a truss of hay at his +saddle-bow, as if a long march was in contemplation. At the same +instant on which the columns under Marlborough's orders commenced +their march, Overkirk repassed the Mehaigne on the left, and, hid by +darkness, fell into the general line of the advance of the Allied +troops. + +No fascines or gabions had been brought along to pass the ditch, for +fear of exciting alarm in the lines. The trusses of hay alone were +trusted to for that purpose, which would be equally effectual, and +less likely to awaken suspicion. At four in the morning, the heads of +the columns, wholly unperceived, were in front of the French works, +and, covered by a thick fog, traversed the morass, passed the Gheet +despite its steep banks, carried the castle of Wange, and, rushing +forward with a swift pace, crossed the ditch on the trusses of hay, +and, in three weighty columns, scaled the rampart, and broke into the +enemy's works. Hitherto entire success had attended this admirably +planned attack; but the alarm was now given; a fresh corps of fifteen +thousand men, under M. D'Allegré, hastily assembled, and a heavy fire +was opened upon the Allies, now distinctly visible in the morning +light, from a commanding battery. Upon this, Marlborough put himself +at the head of Lumley's English horse, and, charging vigorously, +succeeded, though not till he had sustained one repulse, in breaking +through the line thus hastily formed. In this charge the Duke narrowly +escaped with his life, in a personal conflict with a Bavarian officer. +The Allies now crowded in, in great numbers, and the French, +panic-struck, fled on all sides, abandoning the whole centre of their +intrenchments to the bold assailants. Villeroi, who had become aware, +from the retreat of Overkirk in his front, that some attack was in +contemplation, but ignorant where the tempest was to fall, remained +all night under arms. At length, attracted by the heavy fire, he +approached the scene of action in the centre, only in time to see that +the position was broken through, and the lines no longer tenable. He +drew off his whole troops accordingly, and took up a new position, +nearly at right angles to the former, stretching from Elixheim towards +Tirlemont. It was part of the design of the Duke to have intercepted +the line of retreat of the French, and prevented them from reaching +the Dyle, to which they were tending; but such was the obstinacy and +slowness of the Dutch generals, that nothing could persuade them to +make any further exertion, and, in defiance of the orders and +remonstrances alike of Marlborough and Overkirk, they pitched their +tents, and refused to take any part in the pursuit. The consequence +was, that Villeroi collected his scattered forces, crossed the Dyle in +haste, and took up new ground, about eighteen miles in the rear, with +his left sheltered by the cannon of Louvain. But, though the +disobedience and obstinacy of the Dutch thus intercepted Marlborough +in the career of victory, and rendered his success much less complete +than it otherwise would have been, yet had a mighty blow been struck, +reflecting the highest credit on the skill and resolution of the +English general. The famous lines, on which the French had been +labouring for months, had been broken through and carried, during a +nocturnal conflict of a few hours; they had lost all their redoubts +and ten pieces of cannon, with which they were armed; M. D'Allegré, +with twelve hundred prisoners, had been taken; and the army which +lately besieged Liege and threatened Maestricht, was now driven back, +defeated and discouraged, to seek refuge under the cannon of Louvain. + +Overkirk, who had so ably co-operated with Marlborough in this +glorious victory, had the magnanimity as well as candour, in his +despatch to the States-general, to ascribe the success which had been +gained entirely to the skill and courage of the English general.[5] +But the Dutch generals, who had interrupted his career of success, had +the malignity to charge the consequences of their misconduct on his +head, and even carried their effrontery so far as to accuse him of +supineness in not following up his success, and cutting off the +enemy's retreat to the Dyle, when it was themselves who had refused to +obey his orders to do so. Rains of extraordinary severity fell from +the 19th to the 23d July, which rendered all offensive operations +impracticable, and gave Villeroi time, of which he ably availed +himself, to strengthen his position behind the Dyle to such a degree, +as to render it no longer assailable with any prospect of success. The +precious moment, when the enemy might have been driven from it in the +first tumult of success, had been lost. + +The subsequent success in the Flemish campaign by no means +corresponded to its brilliant commencement. The jealousy of the Dutch +ruined every thing. This gave rise to recriminations and jealousies, +which rendered it impracticable even for the great abilities and +consummate address of Marlborough to effect any thing of importance +with the heterogeneous array, with the nominal command of which he was +invested. The English general dispatched his adjutant-general, Baron +Hompesch, to represent to the States-general the impossibility of +going on longer with such a divided responsibility; but, though they +listened to his representations, nothing could induce them to put +their troops under the direct orders of the commander-in-chief. They +still had "field deputies," as they were called who were invested with +the entire direction of the Dutch troops; and as they were civilians, +wholly unacquainted with military affairs, they had recourse on every +occasion to the very fractious generals who already had done so much +mischief to the common cause. In vain Marlborough repeatedly +endeavoured, as he himself said, "to cheat them into victory," by +getting their consent to measures, of which they did not see the +bearing, calculated to achieve that object; their timid, jealous +spirit interposed on every occasion to mar important operations, and +the corps they commanded was too considerable to admit of their being +undertaken without their co-operation. After nine days' watching the +enemy across the Dyle, Marlborough proposed to cross the river near +Louvain, and attack the enemy; the Dutch Deputies interposed their +negative, to Marlborough's infinite mortification, as, in his own +words, "it spoiled the whole campaign."[6] + +Worn out with these long delays, Marlborough at length resolved at all +hazards to pass the river, trusting that the Dutch, when they saw the +conflict once seriously engaged, would not desert him. But in this he +was mistaken. The Dutch not only failed to execute the part assigned +them in the combined enterprise, but sent information of his designs +to the enemy. The consequence was, Villeroi was on his guard. All the +Duke's demonstrations could not draw his attention from his left, +where the real attack was intended; but nevertheless the Duke pushed +on the English and Germans under his orders, who forced the passage in +the most gallant style. But when the Duke ordered the Dutch generals +to support the attack of the Duke of Wirtemberg, who had crossed the +river, and established himself in force on the opposite bank, they +refused to move their men. The consequence was that this attack, as +well planned and likely to succeed as the famous forcing of the lines +a fortnight before, proved abortive; and Marlborough, burning with +indignation, was obliged to recall his troops when on the high-road to +victory, and when the river had been crossed, before they had +sustained a loss of a hundred men. So general was the indignation at +this shameful return on the part of the Dutch generals to Marlborough +for all the services he had rendered to their country, that it drew +forth the strongest expressions from one of his ablest, but most +determined opponents, Lord Bolingbroke, who wrote to him at this +juncture:--"It was very melancholy to find the malice of Slangenberg, +the fears of Dopf, and the ignorance of the deputies, to mention no +more, prevail so to disappoint your Grace, to their prejudice as well +as ours. We hope the Dutch have agreed to what your Grace desires of +them, without which the war becomes a jest to our enemies, _and can +end in nothing but an ill peace, which is certain ruin to us_."[7] + +Still the English general was not discouraged. His public spirit and +patriotism prevailed over his just private resentment. Finding it +impossible to prevail on the Dutch deputies, who, in every sense, were +so many viceroys over him, to agree to any attempt to force the +passage of the Dyle, he resolved to turn it. For this purpose the army +was put in motion on the 14th August; and, defiling to his left, he +directed it in three columns towards the sources of the Dyle. The +march was rapid, as the Duke had information that strong +reinforcements, detached from the army at Alsace, would join Villeroi +on the 18th. They soon came to ground subsequently immortalized in +English story. On the 16th they reached Genappe, where, on 17th June +1815, the Life-guards under Lord Anglesea defeated the French lancers; +on the day following, the enemy retired into the forest of Soignies, +still covering Brussels, and the Allied headquarters were moved to +Braine la Leude. On the 17th August, a skirmish took place on the +plain in front of WATERLOO; and the alarm being given, the Duke +hastened to the spot, and rode over the field where Wellington and +Napoleon contended a hundred and ten years afterwards. The French +upon this retired into the forest of Soignies, and rested at Waterloo +for the night. + +The slightest glance at the map must be sufficient to show, that by +this cross march to Genappe and Waterloo, Marlborough had gained an +immense advantage over the enemy. _He had interposed between them and +France._ He had relinquished for the time, it is true, his own base of +operations, and was out of communication with his magazines; but he +had provided for this by taking six days' provisions for the army with +him; and he could now force the French to fight or abandon Brussels, +and retire towards Antwerp--the Allies being between them and France. +Still clinging to their fortified lines on the Dyle, and desirous of +covering Brussels, they had only occupied the wood of Soignies with +their right wing; while the Allies occupied all the open country from +Genappe to Frischermont and Braine la Leude, with their advanced posts +up to La Haye Sainte and Mount St John. The Allies now occupied the +ground, afterwards covered by Napoleon's army: the forest of Soignies +and approaches to Brussels were guarded by the French. Incalculable +were the results of a victory gained in such a position: it was by +success gained over an army of half the size, that Napoleon +established his power in so surprising a manner at Marengo. Impressed +with such ideas, Marlborough, on the 18th August, anxiously +reconnoitred the ground; and finding the front practicable for the +passage of troops, moved up his men in three columns to the attack. +The artillery was sent to Wavre; the Allied columns traversed at right +angles the line of march by which Blucher advanced to the support of +Wellington on the 18th June 1815. + +Had Marlborough's orders been executed, it is probable he would have +gained a victory, which, from the relative position of the two armies, +could not have been but decisive; and possibly the 18th August 1705, +might have become as celebrated in history as the 18th June 1815. +Overkirk, to whom he showed the ground at Over-Ische which he had +destined for an attack, perfectly concurred in the expedience of it, +and orders were given to bring the artillery forward to commence a +cannonade. By the malice or negligence of Slangenberg, who had again +violated his express instructions, and permitted the baggage to +intermingle with the artillery-train, the guns had not arrived, and +some hours were lost before they could be pushed up. At length, at +noon, the guns were brought forward, and the troops being in line, +Marlborough rode along the front to give his last orders. The English +and Germans were in the highest spirits, anticipating certain victory +from the relative position of the armies; the French fighting with +their faces to Paris, the Allies with theirs to Brussels. But again +the Dutch deputies and generals interposed, alleging that the enemy +was too strongly posted to be attacked with any prospect of success. +"Gentlemen," said Marlborough to the circle of generals which +surrounded him, "I have reconnoitred the ground, and made dispositions +for an attack. I am convinced that conscientiously, and as men of +honour, we cannot now retire without an action. Should we neglect this +opportunity, we must be responsible before God and man. You see the +confusion which pervades the ranks of the enemy, and their +embarrassment at our manoeuvres. I leave you to judge whether we +should attack to-day, or wait till to-morrow. It is indeed late; but +you must consider, that by throwing up intrenchments during the night, +the enemy will render their position far more difficult to force." +"Murder and massacre," replied Slangenberg. Marlborough, upon this, +offered him two English for every Dutch battalion; but this too the +Dutchman refused, on the plea that he did not understand English. Upon +this the Duke offered to give him German regiments; but this too was +declined, upon the pretence that the attack would be too hazardous. +Marlborough, upon this, turned to the deputies and said--"I disdain to +send troops to dangers which I will not myself encounter. I will lead +them where the peril is most imminent. I adjure you, gentlemen! for +the love of God and your country, do not let us neglect so favourable +an opportunity." But it was all in vain; and instead of acting, the +Dutch deputies and generals spent three hours in debating, until night +came on and it was too late to attempt any thing. Such was +Marlborough's chagrin at this disappointment, that he said, on +retiring from the field, "I am at this moment _ten years_ older than I +was four days ago." + +Next day, as Marlborough had foreseen, the enemy had strengthened +their position with field-works; so that it was utterly hopeless to +get the Dutch to agree to an attack which _then_ would indeed have +been hazardous, though it was not so the evening before. The case was +now irremediable. The six days' bread he had taken with him was on the +point of being exhausted, and a protracted campaign without +communication with his magazines was impracticable. With a heavy +heart, therefore, Marlborough remeasured his steps to the ground he +had left in front of the Dyle, and gave orders for destroying the +lines of Leau, which he had carried with so much ability. His vexation +was increased afterwards, by finding that the consternation of the +French had been such on the 18th August, when he was so urgent to +attack them, that they intended only to have made a show of +resistance, in order to gain time for their baggage and heavy guns to +retire to Brussels. To all appearance Marlborough, if he had not been +so shamefully thwarted, would have illustrated the forest of Soignies +by a victory as decisive as that of Blenheim, and realized the +triumphant entrance to Brussels which Napoleon anticipated from his +attack on Wellington on the same ground a hundred years afterwards. + +Nothing further, of any moment, was done in this campaign, except the +capture of Leau and levelling of the enemy's lines on the Gheet. +Marlborough wrote a formal letter to the States, in which he regretted +the opportunity which had been lost, which M. Overkirk had coincided +with him in thinking promised a great and glorious victory; and he +added, "my heart is so full that I cannot forbear representing to your +High Mightinesses on this occasion, that I find my authority here to +be much less than when I had the honour to command your troops in +Germany."[8] The Dutch generals sent in their counter-memorial to +their government, which contains a curious picture of their idea of +the subordination and direction of an army, and furnishes a key to the +jealousy which had proved so fatal to the common cause. They +complained that the Duke of Marlborough, "without holding a council of +war, made two or three marches _for the execution of some design +formed by his Grace_; and we cannot conceal from your High +Mightinesses that all the generals of our army think it very strange +_that they should not have the least notice of the said marches_."[9] +It has been already mentioned that Marlborough, like every other good +general, kept his designs to himself, from the impossibility of +otherwise keeping them from the enemy; and that he had the additional +motive, in the case of the Dutch deputies and generals, of being +desirous "to cheat them into victory." + +Chagrined by disappointment, and fully convinced, as Wellington was +after his campaign with Cuesta and the Spaniards at Talavera, that it +was in vain to attempt any thing further with such impediments, on the +part of the Allies, thrown in his way, Marlborough retired, in the +beginning of September, to Tirlemont, the mineral waters of which had +been recommended to him; and, in the end of October, the troops on +both sides went into winter quarters. His vexation with the Dutch at +this period strongly appeared in his private letters to his intimate +friends;[10] but, though he exerted himself to the utmost during the +suspension of operations in the field, both by memorials to his own +government, and representations to the Dutch rulers, to get the +direction of the army put upon a better footing, yet he had +magnanimity and patriotism enough to sacrifice his private feelings to +the public good. Instead of striving, therefore, to inflame the +resentment of the English cabinet at the conduct of the Dutch +generals, he strove only to moderate it; and prevailed on them to +suspend the sending of a formal remonstrance, which they had prepared, +to the States-general, till the effect of his own private +representation in that quarter was first ascertained. The result +proved that he had judged wisely; his disinterested conduct met with +the deserved reward. The Patriotic party, both in England and at the +Hague, was strongly roused in his favour; the factious accusations of +the English Tories, like those of the Whigs a century after against +Wellington, were silenced; the States-general were compelled by the +public indignation to withdraw from their commands the generals who +had thwarted his measures; and, without risking the union of the two +powers, the factious, selfish men who had endangered the object of +their alliance, were for ever deprived of the means of doing mischief. + +But while the danger was thus abated in one quarter, it only became +more serious in another. The Dutch had been protected, and hindered +from breaking off from the alliance, only by endangering the fidelity +of the Austrians; and it had now become indispensable, at all hazards, +to do something to appease their jealousies. The Imperial cabinet, in +addition to the war in Italy, on the Upper Rhine, and in the Low +Countries, was now involved in serious hostilities in Hungary; and +felt the difficulty, or rather impossibility, of maintaining the +contest at once in so many different quarters. The cross march of +Marlborough from the Moselle to Flanders, however loudly called for by +the danger and necessities of the States, had been viewed with a +jealous eye by the Emperor, as tending to lead the war away from the +side of Lorraine, with which the German interests were wound up; and +the instances were loud and frequent, that, now that the interests of +the Dutch were sufficiently provided for, he should return with the +English contingent to that, the proper theatre of offensive +operations. But Marlborough's experience had taught him, that as +little reliance was to be placed on the co-operation of the Margrave +of Baden, and the lesser German powers, as on that of the Dutch; and +he felt that it was altogether in vain to attempt another campaign +either in Germany or Flanders, unless some more effectual measures +were taken to appease the jealousies, and secure the co-operation of +this discordant alliance, than had hitherto been done. With this view, +after having arranged matters to his satisfaction at the Hague, when +Slangenberg was removed from the command, he repaired to Vienna in +November, and thence soon after to Berlin. + +Marlborough's extraordinary address and powers of persuasion did not +desert him on this critical occasion. Never was more strongly +exemplified the truth of Chesterfield's remark, that manner had as +much weight as matter in procuring him success; and that he was +elevated to greatness as much on the wings of the Graces as by the +strength of Minerva. Great as were the difficulties which attended the +holding together the grand alliance, they all yielded to the magic of +his name and the fascination of his manner. At Bernsberg he succeeded +in obtaining from the Elector a promise for the increase of his +contingent, and leave for it to be sent into Italy, where its +co-operation was required; at Frankfort he overcame, by persuasion and +address, the difficulties of the Margrave of Baden; and at Vienna he +was magnificently received, and soon obtained unbounded credit with +the Emperor. He was raised to the rank of prince of the empire, with +the most flattering assurances of esteem; and fêted by the nobles, who +vied with each other in demonstrations of respect to the illustrious +conqueror of Blenheim. During his short sojourn of a fortnight there, +he succeeded in allaying the suspicions and quieting the apprehensions +of the Emperor, which no other man could have done; and, having +arranged the plan of the next campaign, and raised, on his own credit, +a loan of 100,000 crowns for the imperial court from the bankers, as +well as promised one of L.250,000 more, which he afterwards obtained +in London, he set out for Berlin, where his presence was not less +necessary to stimulate the exertions and appease the complaints of the +King of Prussia. He arrived there on the 30th November, and on the +same evening had an audience of the King, to whose strange and +capricious temper he so completely accommodated himself, that he +allayed all his discontents, and brought him over completely to his +views. He prevailed on him to renew the treaty for the furnishing of +eight thousand men to aid the common cause, and to repair the chasms +occasioned by the campaign in their ranks, as well as revoke the +orders which had been issued for their return from Italy, where their +removal would have proved of essential detriment. This concession, in +the words of the prime minister who announced it, was granted "as a +mark of respect to the Queen, and of particular friendship to the +Duke." From Berlin he went, loaded with honours and presents, to +Hanover, where jealousies of a different kind, but not less dangerous, +had arisen in consequence of the apprehensions there entertained, that +the Whigs were endeavouring to thwart the eventual succession of the +House of Hanover to the throne of England. Marlborough's address, +however, here also succeeded in overcoming all difficulties; and, +after a sojourn of only a few days, he departed in the highest favour +both with the Elector and his mother. From thence he hastened to the +Hague, where he remained a fortnight, and succeeded in a great degree +in removing those difficulties, and smoothing down those jealousies, +which had proved so injurious to the common cause in the preceding +campaign. He prevailed on the Dutch to reject separate offers of +accommodation, which had been made to them by the French government. +Having thus put all things on as favourable a footing as could be +hoped for on the Continent, he embarked for England in the beginning +of January 1705--having overcome greater difficulties, and obtained +greater advantages, in the course of this winter campaign, with his +divided allies, than he ever did during a summer campaign with the +enemy. + +Every one, how cursorily soever he may be acquainted with Wellington's +campaigns, must be struck with the great similarity between the +difficulties which thus beset the Duke of Marlborough, in the earlier +periods of his career, and those which at a subsequent period so long +hampered the genius and thwarted the efforts of England's greatest +general. Slangenberg's jealousy as an exact counterpart of that of +Cuesta at Talavera; the timidity of the Dutch authorities was +precisely similar to that of the Portuguese regency; the difficulty of +appeasing the jealousy of Austria and Prussia, identical with that +which so often compelled Wellington to hurry from the field to Lisbon +and Cadiz. Such is the selfishness of human nature that it seems +impossible to get men, actuated by different interests, to concur in +any measures for the general good but under the pressure of immediate +danger, so threatening as to be obvious to every understanding, or by +the influence of ability and address of the very highest order. It is +this which in every age has caused the weakness of the best-cemented +confederacies, and so often enabled single powers, not possessing a +fourth part of their material resources, to triumph over them. And it +is in the power of overcoming these difficulties, and allaying those +jealousies, that one of the most important qualities of the general of +an alliance is to be found. + +Marlborough sailed for the Continent, to take the command of the +armies in the Low Countries, on the 20th April 1706. His design was to +have transferred the seat of war into Italy, as affairs had become so +unpromising in that quarter as to be well-nigh desperate. The +Imperialists had been surprised by the French general, Vendôme, in +their quarters near Como, and driven into the mountains behind that +town with the loss of three thousand men; so that all hold of the +plain of Lombardy was lost. The Duke of Savoy was even threatened with +a siege in his capital of Turin. The Margrave of Baden was displaying +his usual fractious and impracticable disposition on the Upper Rhine: +it seemed, in Marlborough's words, "as if he had no other object in +view but to cover his own capital and residence." In Flanders, the +habitual procrastination and tardiness of the Dutch had so thrown back +the preparations, that it was impossible to begin the campaign so +early as he had intended; and the jealousies of the cabinets of Berlin +and Copenhagen had again revived to such a degree, that no aid was to +be expected either from the Prussian or Danish contingents. It was +chiefly to get beyond the reach of such troublesome and inconstant +neighbours, that Marlborough was so desirous of transferring the seat +of war to Italy, where he would have been beyond their reach. But all +his efforts failed in inducing the States-general to allow any part of +their troops to be employed to the south of the Alps; nor, indeed, +could it reasonably have been expected that they would consent to +hazard their forces, in an expedition not immediately connected with +their interests, to so distant a quarter. The umbrage of the Elector +of Hanover at the conduct of Queen Anne, had become so excessive, that +he positively refused to let his contingent march. The Danes and +Hessians excused themselves on various pretences from moving their +troops to the south; and the Emperor, instead of contributing any +thing to the war in Flanders, was urgent that succour should be sent, +and that the English general should, in person, take the command on +the Moselle. Marlborough was thus reduced to the English troops, and +those in the pay of Holland; but they amounted to nearly sixty +thousand men; and, on the 19th May, he set out from the Hague to take +the command of this force, which lay in front of the old French +frontier on the river Dyle. Marshal Villeroi had there collected +sixty-two thousand men; so that the two armies, in point of numerical +strength, were very nearly equal. + +The English general had established a secret correspondence with one +Pasquini, an inhabitant of Namur, through whose agency, and that of +some other citizens of the town who were inclined to the Imperial +interest, he hoped to be able to make himself master of that important +fortress. To facilitate that attempt, and have troops at hand ready to +take advantage of any opening that might be afforded them in that +quarter, he moved towards Tirlemont, directing his march by the +sources of the Little Gheet. Determined to cover Namur, and knowing +that the Hanoverians and Hessians were absent, Villeroi marched out of +his lines, in order to stop the advance of the Allies, and give battle +in the open field. On the 20th May, the English and Dutch forces +effected their junction at Bitsia; and on the day following the Danish +contingent arrived, Marlborough having by great exertions persuaded +them to come up from the Rhine, upon receiving a guarantee for their +pay from the Dutch government. This raised his force to seventy-three +battalions and one hundred and twenty-four squadrons. The French had +seventy-four battalions and one hundred and twenty-eight squadrons; +but they had a much greater advantage in the homogeneous quality of +their troops, who were all of one country; while the forces of the +confederates were drawn from three different nations, speaking +different languages, and many of whom had never acted in the field +together. Cadogan, with six hundred horse, formed the vanguard of +Marlborough's army; and at daybreak on the 22d, he beheld the enemy's +army grouped in dense masses in the strong camp of Mont St André. As +their position stretched directly across the allied line of march, a +battle was unavoidable; and Marlborough no sooner was informed of it, +than with a joyous heart he prepared for the conflict. + +The ground occupied by the enemy, and which has become so famous by +the battle of RAMILIES which followed, was on the summit of an +elevated plateau forming the highest ground in Brabant, immediately +above the two sources of the Little Gheet. The plateau above them is +varied by gentle undulations, interspersed with garden grounds, and +dotted with coppice woods. From it the two Gheets, the Mehaigne and +the Dyle, take their source, and flow in different directions, so that +it is the most elevated ground in the whole country. The descents from +the summit of the plateau to the Great Gheet are steep and abrupt; but +the other rivers rise in marshes and mosses, which are very wet, and +in some places impassable. Marlborough was well aware of the strength +of the position on the summit of this eminence, and he had used all +the dispatch in his power to reach it before the enemy; but Villeroi +had less ground to go over, and had his troops in battle array on the +summit before the English appeared in sight. The position which they +occupied ran along the front of a curve facing inwards, and +overhanging the sources of the Little Gheet. Their troops extended +along the crest of the ridge above the marshes, having the village of +Autre Eglise in its front on the extreme left, the villages of Offuz +and Ramilies in its front, and its extreme right on the high grounds +which overhung the course of the Mehaigne, and the old _chaussée_ of +Brunehand which ran near and parallel to its banks. Their right +stretched to the Mehaigne, on which it rested, and the village of +Tavieres on its banks was strongly occupied by foot-soldiers. The +French foot were drawn up in two lines, with the villages in their +front strongly occupied by infantry. In Ramilies alone twenty +battalions were posted. The great bulk of their horse was arranged +also in two lines on the right, across the chaussée of Brunehand, by +which part of the Allied column was to advance. On the highest point +of the ridge occupied by the French, and in the rear of their extreme +right, commanding the whole field of battle, behind the mass of +cavalry, was the tomb or barrow of Ottomond, a German hero of renown +in ancient days, which it was evident would become the subject of a +desperate strife between the contending parties in the conflict which +was approaching. + +Marlborough no sooner came in sight of the enemy's position than he +formed his own plan of attack. His troops were divided into ten +columns; the cavalry being into two lines on each wing, the infantry +in six columns in the centre. He at once saw that the French right, +surmounted by the lofty plateau on which the tomb of Ottomond was +placed, was the key of the position, and against that he resolved to +direct the weight of his onset; but the better to conceal his real +design, he determined to make a vehement false attack on the village +of Autre Eglise and the French left. The nature of the ground occupied +by the allies and enemy respectively, favoured this design; for the +French were posted round the circumference of a segment, while the +allies occupied the centre and chord, so that they could move with +greater rapidity than their opponents from one part of the field to +another. Marlborough's stratagem was entirely successful. He formed, +in the first instance, with some ostentation, a weighty column of +attack opposite to the French left, menacing the village of Autre +Eglise. No sooner did Villeroi perceive this than he drew a +considerable body of infantry from his centre behind Offuz, and +marched them with the utmost expedition to reinforce the threatened +point on his left. When Marlborough saw this cross-movement fairly +commenced, skilfully availing himself of a rising ground on which the +front of his column of attack on his right was placed, he directed the +second line and columns in support when the front had reached the edge +of the plateau, where they obstructed the view of those behind them, +to halt in a hollow where they could not be seen, and immediately +after, still concealed from the enemy's sight, to defile rapidly to +the left till they came into the rear of the left centre. The Danish +horse, twenty squadrons strong, under the Duke of Wirtemberg, were at +the same time placed in a third line behind the cavalry of the left +wing, so as to bring the weight of his horse as well as foot into that +quarter. + +At half past twelve the cannonade began on both sides, and that of the +French played heavily on the columns of the confederates advancing to +the attack. The Allied right wing directed against Autre Eglise, +steadily advanced up the slopes from the banks of the Little Gheet to +the edge of the plateau; but there they halted, deployed into line, +and opened their fire in such a position as to conceal entirely the +transfer of the infantry and cavalry in their rear to the Allied left. +No sooner had they reached it, than the attack began in real earnest, +and with a preponderating force in that direction. Colonel +Wertonville, with four Dutch battalions, advanced against Tavieres, +while twelve battalions in columns of companies, supported by a strong +reserve, began the attack on Ramilies in the left centre. The +vehemence of this assault soon convinced Villeroi that the real attack +of the Allies was in that quarter; but he had no reserve of foot to +support the troops in the villages, every disposable man having been +sent off to the left in the direction of Autre Eglise. In this +dilemma, he hastily ordered fourteen squadrons of horse to dismount, +and, supported by two Swiss battalions, moved them up to the support +of the troops in Tavieres. Before they could arrive, however, the +Dutch battalions had with great gallantry carried that village; and +Marlborough, directing the Danish horse, under the brave Duke of +Wirtemberg, against the flank of the dismounted dragoons, as they were +in column and marching up, speedily cut them in pieces, and hurled +back the Swiss in confusion on the French horse, who were advancing to +their support. + +Following up his success, Overkirk next charged the first line of +advancing French cavalry with the first line of the Allied horse, and +such was the vigour of his onset, that the enemy were broken and +thrown back. But the second line of French and Bavarian horse soon +came up, and assailing Overkirk's men when they were disordered by +success, and little expecting another struggle, overthrew them without +difficulty, drove them back in great confusion, and almost entirely +restored the battle in that quarter. The danger was imminent that the +victorious French horse, having cleared the open ground of their +opponents, would wheel about and attack in rear the twelve battalions +who were warmly engaged with the attack on Ramilies. Marlborough +instantly saw the danger, and putting himself at the head of seventeen +squadrons at hand, himself led them on to stop the progress of the +victorious horse; while, at the same time, he sent orders for every +disposable sabre to come up from his right with the utmost expedition. +The moment was critical, and nothing but the admirable intrepidity and +presence of mind of the English general retrieved the Allied affairs. +Leading on the reserve of the Allied horse with his wonted gallantry, +under a dreadful fire from the French batteries on the heights behind +Ramilies, he was recognised by some French troopers, with whom he had +formerly served in the time of Charles II., who made a sudden rush at +him. They had well-nigh made him prisoner, for they succeeded in +surrounding the Duke before his men could come up to the rescue, and +he only extricated himself from the throng of assailants by fighting +his way out, like the knights of old, sword in hand. He next tried to +leap a ditch, but his horse fell in the attempt; and when mounting +another horse, given him by his aide-de-camp Captain Molesworth, +Colonel Bingfield, his equery, who held the stirrup, had his head +carried off by a cannon ball. The imminent danger of their beloved +general, however, revived the spirit of his troops, whom the dreadful +severity of the cannonade had, during the scuffle, thrown into +disorder; and, re-forming with great celerity, they again returned +with desperate resolution to the charge. + +At this critical moment, when nothing was as yet decided, the twenty +fresh squadrons whom Marlborough had so opportunely called up from the +Allied right, were seen galloping at full speed, but still in regular +order, on the plain behind this desperate conflict. Halting directly +in rear of the spot where the horse on both sides were so vehemently +engaged, they wheeled into line, and advanced, in close order and +admirable array, to the support of the Duke. Encouraged by this +powerful reinforcement, the whole Allied cavalry re-formed, and +crowded forward in three lines, with loud shouts, to the attack of the +now intimidated and disheartened French. They no longer withstood the +onset, but, turning their horses' heads, fled with precipitation. The +low grounds between Ramilies and the old chaussée were quickly passed, +and the victorious horse, pressing up the slope on the opposite side, +erelong reached the summit of the plateau. The tomb of Ottomond, its +highest point, and visible from the whole field of battle, was soon +seen resplendent with sabres and cuirasses, amidst a throng of horse; +and deafening shouts, heard over the whole extent of both armies, +announced that the crowning point and key of the whole position was +carried. + +But Villeroi was an able and determined general, and his soldiers +fought with the inherent bravery of the French nation. The contest, +thus virtually decided, was not yet over. A fierce fight was raging +around Ramilies, where the garrison of twenty French battalions +opposed a stout resistance to Schultz's grenadiers. By degrees, +however, the latter gained ground; two Swiss battalions, which had +long and resolutely held their ground, were at length forced back into +the village, and some of the nearest houses fell into the hands of the +Allies. Upon this the whole rushed forward, and drove the enemy in a +mass out of it towards the high grounds in their rear. The Marquis +Maffei, however, rallied two regiments of Cologne guards, in a hollow +way leading up from the village to the plateau, and opposed so +vigorous a resistance that he not only checked the pursuit but +regained part of the village. But Marlborough, whose eye was every +where, no sooner saw this than he ordered up twenty battalions in +reserve behind the centre, and they speedily cleared the village; and +Maffei, with his gallant troops, being charged in flank by the +victorious horse at the very time that he was driven out of the +village by the infantry, was made prisoner, and almost all his men +taken or destroyed. + +The victory was now decided on the British left and centre, where +alone the real attack had been made. But so vehement had been the +onset, so desperate the passage of arms which had taken place, that +though the battle had lasted little more than three hours, the victors +were nearly in as great disorder as the vanquished. Horse, foot, and +artillery, were blended together in wild confusion; especially between +Ramilies and the Mehaigne, and thence up to the tomb of Ottomond, in +consequence of the various charges of all arms which had so rapidly +succeeded each other on the same narrow space. Marlborough, seeing +this, halted his troops, before hazarding any thing further, on the +ground where they stood, which, in the left and centre, was where the +enemy had been at the commencement of the action. Villeroi skilfully +availed himself of this breathing-time to endeavour to re-form his +broken troops, and take up a new line from Geest-a-Gerompont, on his +right, through Offuz to Autre Eglise, still held by its original +garrison, on his left. But in making the retrograde movement so as to +get his men into this oblique position, he was even more impeded and +thrown into disorder by the baggage waggons and dismounted guns on the +heights, than the Allies had been in the plain below. Marlborough +seeing this, resolved to give the enemy no time to rally, but again +sounding the charge, ordered infantry and cavalry to advance. A strong +column passed the morass in which the Little Gheet takes its rise, +directing their steps towards Offuz; but the enemy, panic-struck as at +Waterloo, by the general advance of the victors, gave way on all +sides. Offuz was abandoned without firing a shot; the cavalry pursued +with headlong fury, and soon the plateau of Mont St André was covered +with a mass of fugitives. The troops in observation on the right, +seeing the victory gained on the left and centre, of their own accord +joined in the pursuit, and soon made themselves masters of Autre +Eglise and the heights behind it. The Spanish and Bavarian +horse-guards made a gallant attempt to stem the flood of disaster, but +without attaining their object; it only led to their own destruction. +Charged by General Wood and Colonel Wyndham at the head of the English +horse-guards, they were cut to pieces. The rout now became universal, +and all resistance ceased. In frightful confusion, a disorganized mass +of horse and foot, abandoning their guns, streamed over the plateau, +poured headlong down the banks of the Great Gheet, on the other side, +and fled towards Louvain, which they reached in the most dreadful +disorder at two o'clock in the morning. The British horse, under Lord +Orkney, did not draw bridle from the pursuit till they reached the +neighbourhood of that fortress; having, besides fighting the battle, +marched full five-and-twenty miles that day. Marlborough halted for +the night, and established headquarters at Mildert, thirteen miles +from the field of battle, and five from Louvain. + +The trophies of the battle of Ramilies were immense; but they were +even exceeded by its results. The loss of the French in killed and +wounded was 7000 men, and, in addition to that, 6000 prisoners were +taken. With the desertion in the days after the battle, they were +weakened by full 15,000 men. They lost fifty-two guns, their whole +baggage and pontoon train, all their caissons, and eighty standards +wrested from them in fair fight. Among the prisoners were the Princes +de Soubise and Rohan, and a son of Marshal Tallard. The victors lost +1066 killed, and 2567 wounded, in all, 3633. The great and unusual +proportion of killed to the wounded, shows how desperate and hand to +hand, as in ancient battles, the fighting had been. Overkirk nobly +supported the Duke in this action, and not only repeatedly charged at +the head of his horse, but continued on horseback in the pursuit till +one in the morning, when he narrowly escaped death from a Bavarian +officer whom he had made prisoner, and given back his sword, saying, +"You are a gentleman, and may keep it." The base wretch no sooner got +it into his hand than he made a lounge at the Dutch general, but +fortunately missed his blow, and was immediately cut down for his +treachery by Overkirk's orderly. + +The immediate result of this splendid victory, was the acquisition of +nearly all Austrian Flanders--Brussels, Louvain, Mechlin, Alort, +Luise, and nearly all the great towns of Brabant, opened their gates +immediately after. Ghent and Bruges speedily followed the example; and +Daun and Oudenarde also soon declared for the Austrian cause. Of all +the towns in Flanders, Antwerp, Ostend, Nieuport, and Dunkirk alone +held out for the French; and to their reduction the Duke immediately +turned his attention. The public transports in Holland knew no bounds; +they much exceeded what had been felt for the victory of Blenheim, for +that only saved Germany, but this delivered themselves. The wretched +jealousy which had so long thwarted the Duke, as it does every other +really great man, was fairly overpowered in "the electric shock of a +nation's gratitude." In England, the rejoicings were equally +enthusiastic, and a solemn thanksgiving, at which the Queen attended +in person at St Paul's, gave a willing vent to the general +thankfulness. "Faction and the French," as Bolingbroke expressed +it,[11] were all that Marlborough had to fear, and he had fairly +conquered both. But the snake was scotched, not killed, and he +replenished his venom, and prepared future stings even during the roar +of triumphant cannon, and the festive blaze of rejoicing cities.[12] + +The French army, after this terrible defeat, retired in the deepest +dejection towards French Flanders, leaving garrisons in the principal +fortresses which still held out for them. Marlborough made his +triumphant entry into Brussels in great pomp on the 28th May, amidst +the acclamations of the inhabitants. The Three Estates of Brabant +assembled there, acknowledged Charles III. for their sovereign, and +received, in return, a guarantee from the English government and the +States-general, that the _joyeuse entrée_, the Magna Charta of +Flanders, should be faithfully observed. "Every where, says +Marlborough, the joy was great at being delivered from the insolence +and exactions of the French." The victory of Ramilies produced no less +effect on the northern courts, where jealousies and lukewarmness had +hitherto proved so pernicious to the common cause. The King of +Prussia, who had hitherto kept aloof, and suspended the march of his +troops, now on the mediation of Marlborough became reconciled to the +Emperor and the States-general; and the Elector of Hanover, forgetting +his apprehensions about the English succession, was among the foremost +to offer his congratulations, and make a tender of his forces to the +now triumphant cause. It is seldom that the prosperous want friends. + +The Dutch were clear, after the submission of Brabant, to levy +contributions in it as a conquered country, to relieve themselves of +part of the expenses of the war; and Godolphin, actuated by the same +short-sighted views, was eager to replenish the English exchequer from +the same source. But Marlborough, like Wellington in after days, had +magnanimity and wisdom enough to see the folly, as well as injustice, +of thus alienating infant allies at the moment of their conversion, +and he combated the project so successfully, that it was +abandoned.[13] At the same time, he preserved the strictest discipline +on the part of his troops, and took every imaginable precaution to +secure the affections and allay the apprehensions of the inhabitants +of the ceded provinces. The good effects of this wise and conciliatory +policy were soon apparent. Without firing a shot, the Allies gained +greater advantages during the remainder of the campaign, than they +could have done by a series of bloody sieges, and the sacrifice of +thirty thousand men. Nor was it less advantageous to the English +general than to the common cause; for it delivered him, for that +season at least, from the thraldom of a council of war, the invariable +resource of a weak, and bane of a lofty mind.[14] + +The Estates of Brabant, assembled at Brussels, sent injunctions to +the governor of Antwerp, Ghent, and all the other fortresses within +their territories, to declare for Charles III., and admit these +troops. The effects of this, coupled with the discipline preserved by +the Allied troops, and the protection from contributions, was +incredible. No sooner were the orders from the States at Brussels +received at Antwerp, than a schism broke out between the French +regiments in the garrison and the Walloon guards, the latter declaring +for Charles III. The approach of Marlborough's army, and the +intelligence of the submission of the other cities of Brabant, brought +matters to a crisis; and after some altercation, it was agreed that +the French troops should march out with the honours of war, and be +escorted to Bouchain, within the frontier of their own country. On the +6th June this magnificent fortress, which it had cost the Prince of +Parma so vast an expenditure of blood and treasure to reduce, and +which Napoleon said was itself worth a kingdom, was gained without +firing a shot. Oudenarde, which had been in vain besieged in the last +war by William III. at the head of sixty thousand men, at the same +time followed the example; and Ghent and Bruges opened their gates. +Flanders, bristling with fortresses, and the possession of which in +the early part of the war had been of such signal service to the +French, was, with the exception of Ostend, Dunkirk, and two or three +smaller places, entirely gained by the consternation produced by a +single battle. Well might Marlborough say, "the consequences of our +victory are almost incredible. A whole country, with so many strong +places, delivered up without the least resistance, shows, not only the +great loss they must have sustained, but likewise the terror and +consternation they are in."[15] + +At this period, Marlborough hoped the war would be speedily brought to +a close, and that a glorious peace would reward his own and his +country's efforts. His thoughts reverted constantly, as his private +correspondence shows, to home, quiet, and domestic happiness. To the +Duchess he wrote at this period--"You are very kind in desiring I +would not expose myself. Be assured, I love you so well, and am so +desirous of ending my days quietly with you, that I shall not venture +myself but when it is absolutely necessary; and I am sure you are so +kind to me, and wish so well to the common cause, that you had rather +see me dead than not do my duty. I am persuaded that this campaign +will bring in a good peace; and I beg of you to do all that you can, +that the house of Woodstock may be carried up as much as possible, +that I may have the prospect of living in it."[16]--But these +anticipations were not destined to be realized; and before he retired +into the vale of years, the hero was destined to drain to the dregs +the cup of envy, jealousy, and ingratitude. + +His first step of importance, after consolidating the important +conquests he had made, and averting the cupidity of the Dutch, which, +by levying contributions on their inhabitants, threatened to endanger +them before they were well secured, was to undertake the siege of +Ostend, the most considerable place in Flanders, which still held out +for the French interest. This place, celebrated for its great +strength, and the long siege of three years which it had withstood +against the Spanish under Spinola, was expected to make a very +protracted resistance; but such was the terror now inspired by +Marlborough's name, that it was reduced much sooner than had been +anticipated. Every preparation had been made for a protracted +resistance. A fleet of nine ships of the line lay off the harbour, and +a formidable besieging train was brought up from Antwerp and Brussels. +Trenches were opened on the 28th June; the counterscarp was blown in +on the 6th July; and the day following, the besieged, after a +fruitless sally, capitulated, and the Flemish part of the garrison +entered the service of the Allies. The garrison was still five +thousand strong, when it surrendered; two ships of the line were +taken in the harbour; and the total loss of the besiegers was only +five hundred men. + +Menin was next besieged, but it made a more protracted resistance. Its +great strength was derived from the means which the governor of the +fortress possessed of flooding at will the immense low plains in which +it is situated. Its fortifications had always been considered as one +of the masterpieces of Vauban; the garrison was ample; and the +governor a man of resolution, who was encouraged to make a vigorous +resistance, by the assurances of succour which he had received from +the French government. In effect, Louis XIV. had made the greatest +efforts to repair the consequences of the disaster at Ramilies. +Marshal Marsin had been detached from the Rhine with eighteen +battalions and fourteen squadrons; and, in addition to that, thirty +battalions and forty squadrons were marching from Alsace. These great +reinforcements, with the addition of nine battalions which were in the +lines on the Dyle when the battle of Ramilies was fought, would, when +all assembled, have raised the French army to one hundred and ten +battalions, and one hundred and forty squadrons--or above one hundred +thousand men; whereas Marlborough, after employing thirty-two +battalions in the siege, could only spare for the covering army about +seventy-two battalions and eighty squadrons. The numerical +superiority, therefore, was very great on the side of the enemy, +especially when the Allies were divided by the necessity of carrying +on the siege; and Villeroi, who had lost the confidence of his men, +had been replaced by the Duke de Vendôme, one of the best generals in +the French service, illustrated by his recent victory over the +Imperialists in Italy. He loudly gave out that he would raise the +siege, and approached the covering army closely, as if with that +design. But Marlborough persevered in his design; for, to use his own +words, "The Elector of Bavaria says, he is promised a hundred and ten +battalions, and they are certainly stronger in horse than we. But even +if they had greater numbers, I neither think it is their interest nor +their inclination to venture a battle; for our men are in heart, and +theirs are cowed."[17] + +Considerable difficulties were experienced in the first instance in +getting up the siege equipage, in consequence of the inundations which +were let loose; but a drought having set in, when the blockade began, +in the beginning of August, these obstacles were erelong overcome, and +on the 9th August the besiegers' fire began, while Marlborough took +post at Helchin to cover the siege. On the 18th, the fire of the +breaching batteries had been so effectual, that it was deemed +practicable to make an assault on the covered way. As a determined +resistance was anticipated, the Duke repaired to the spot to +superintend the attack. At seven in the evening, the signal was given +by the explosion of two mines, and the troops, the English in front, +rushed to the assault. They soon cut down the palisades, and, throwing +their grenades before them, erelong got into the covered way; but +there they were exposed to a dreadful fire from two ravelins which +enfiladed it. For two hours they bore it without flinching, labouring +hard to erect barricades, so as to get under cover; which was at +length done, but not before fourteen hundred of the brave assailants +had been struck down. This success, though thus dearly purchased, was +however decisive. The establishment of the besiegers in this important +lodgement, in the heart as it were of their works, so distressed the +enemy, that on the 22d they hoisted the white flag, and capitulated, +still 4300 strong, on the following day. The reduction of this strong +and celebrated fortress gave the most unbounded satisfaction to the +Allies, as it not only materially strengthened the barrier against +France; but having taken place in presence of the Duke de Vendôme and +his powerful army, drawn together with such diligence to raise the +siege, it afforded the strongest proof of the superiority they had now +acquired over their enemy in the field.[18] + +Upon the fall of Menin, Vendôme collected his troops, and occupied a +position behind the Lys and the Dyle, in order to cover Lille, against +which he supposed the intentions of Marlborough were directed. But he +had another object in view, and immediately sat down before +Dendermonde, still keeping post with his covering army at Helchin, +which barred the access to that fortress. Being situated on the banks +of the Scheldt, it was so completely within the power of the governor +to hinder the approaches of the besiegers, by letting out the waters, +that the King of France said, on hearing they had commenced its +siege--"They must have an army of ducks to take it." An extraordinary +drought at this period, however, which lasted seven weeks, had so +lowered the Scheldt and canals, that the approaches were pushed with +great celerity, and on the 5th September the garrison surrendered at +discretion. Marlborough wrote to Godolphin on this occasion--"The +taking of Dendermonde, making the garrison prisoners of war, was more +than could have been expected; but I saw they were in a consternation. +That place could never have been taken but by the hand of God, which +gave us seven weeks without rain. The rain began the day after we had +taken possession, and continued without intermission for the three +next days."[19] + +Ath was the next object of attack. This small but strong fortress is +of great importance, as lying on the direct road from Mons to Brussels +by Halle; and, in consequence of that circumstance, it was rendered a +fortress of the first order, when the barrier of strongholds, insanely +demolished by Joseph II. before the war of the Revolution, was +restored by the Allies, under the direction of Wellington, after its +termination. Marlborough entrusted the direction of the attack to +Overkirk, while he himself occupied, with the covering army, the +position of Leuze. Vendôme's army was so much discouraged that he did +not venture to disturb the operations; but retiring behind the +Scheldt, between Condé and Montagne, contented himself with throwing +strong garrisons into Mons and Charleroi, which he apprehended would +be the next object of attack. The operations of the besiegers against +Ath were pushed with great vigour; and on the 4th October the +garrison, eight hundred strong, all that remained out of two thousand +who manned the works when the siege began, surrendered prisoners of +war. Marlborough was very urgent after this success to undertake the +siege of Mons, which would have completed the conquest of Brabant and +Flanders; but he could not persuade the Dutch authorities to furnish +him with the requisite stores to undertake it.[20] After a parade of +his army in the open field near Cambron, in the hope of drawing +Vendôme, who boasted of having one hundred and forty battalions and +one hundred and eighty squadrons at his command, to a battle, in which +he was disappointed, he resigned the command to Overkirk, put the army +into winter quarters, and hastened to Brussels, to commence his +arduous duties of stilling the jealousies and holding together the +discordant powers of the alliance.[21] + +Marlborough was received in the most splendid manner, and with +unbounded demonstrations of joy, at Brussels, not only by the +inconstant populace, but by the deputies of the Three Estates of +Brabant, which were there assembled in regular and permanent +sovereignty. Well might they lavish their demonstrations of respect +and gratitude on the English general; for never in modern times had +more important or glorious events signalized a successful campaign. In +five months the power of France had been so completely broken, and the +towering temper of its inhabitants so lowered, that their best +general, at the head of above a hundred thousand men, did not venture +to measure swords with the Allies, not more than two-thirds of their +numerical strength in the field. By the effects of a single victory, +the whole of Brabant and Flanders, studded with the strongest +fortresses in Europe, each of which, in former wars, had required +months--some, years--for their reduction, had been gained to the +Allied arms. Between those taken on the field of Ramilies, and +subsequently in the besieged fortresses, above twenty thousand men had +been made prisoners, and twice that number lost to the enemy by the +sword, sickness, and desertion; and France now made head against the +Allies in Flanders only by drawing together their forces from all +other quarters, and starving the war in Italy and on the Rhine, as +well as straining every nerve in the interior. This state of almost +frenzied exertion could not last. Already the effects of Marlborough's +triumph at the commencement of the campaign had appeared, in the total +defeat of the French in their lines before Turin, by Prince Eugene, on +the 18th September, and their expulsion from Italy. It was the +reinforcements procured for him, and withheld from his opponents, by +Marlborough, which obtained for him this glorious victory, at which +the English general, with the generosity of true greatness, rejoiced +even more sincerely than he had done in any triumphs of his own;[22] +while Eugene, with equal greatness of mind, was the first to ascribe +his success mainly to the succours sent him by the Duke of +Marlborough.[23] + +But all men are not Marlboroughs or Eugenes: the really great alone +can witness success without envy, or achieve it without selfishness. +In the base herd of ignoble men who profited by the efforts of these +great leaders, the malignant passions were rapidly gaining strength by +the very magnitude of their triumphs. The removal of danger was +producing its usual effect, among the Allies, of reviving jealousy. +Conquest was spreading its invariable discord in the cupidity to share +its fruits. These divisions had early appeared after the battle of +Ramilies, when the Emperor Joseph, as a natural mark of gratitude to +the general who had delivered his people from their oppressors, as +well as from a regard to his own interests, appointed Marlborough to +the general command as viceroy of the Netherlands. The English general +was highly gratified by this mark of confidence and gratitude; and the +appointment was cordially approved of by Queen Anne and the English +cabinet, who without hesitation authorized Marlborough to accept the +proffered dignity. But the Dutch, who had already begun to conceive +projects of ambition by an accession of territory to themselves on the +side of Flanders, evinced such umbrage at this appointment, as tending +to throw the administration of the Netherlands entirely into the hands +of the English and Austrians, that Marlborough had the magnanimity to +solicit permission to decline an honour which threatened to breed +disunion in the alliance.[24] This conduct was as disinterested as it +was patriotic; for the appointments of the government, thus declined +from a desire for the public good, were no less than sixty thousand +pounds a-year. + +Although, however, Marlborough thus renounced this splendid +appointment, yet the court of Vienna were not equally tractable, and +evinced the utmost jealousy at the no longer disguised desire of the +Dutch to gain an accession of territory, and the barrier of which they +were so passionately desirous, at the expense of the Austrian +Netherlands. The project also got wind, and the inhabitants of +Brabant, whom difference of religion and old-established national +rivalry had long alienated from the Dutch, were so much alarmed at the +prospect of being transferred to their hated neighbours, that it at +once cooled their ardour in the cause of the alliance, and went far to +sow the seeds of irrepressible dissension among them. The Emperor, +therefore, again pressed the appointment on Marlborough; but from the +same lofty motives he continued to decline, professing a willingness, +at the same time, to give the Emperor every aid privately in the new +government which was in his power; so that the Emperor was obliged to +give a reluctant consent. Notwithstanding this refusal, the jealousy +of the Dutch was such, that on the revival of a report that the +government had been again confirmed to the Duke of Marlborough, they +were thrown into such a ferment, that in the public congress the +Pensionary could not avoid exclaiming in the presence of the English +ambassador, "Mon Dieu! est-il possible qu'on voudrait faire ce pas +sans notre participation?"[25] + +The French government were soon informed of this jealousy, and of the +open desire of the Dutch for an accession of territory on the side of +Flanders, at the expense of Austria; and they took advantage of it, +early in the summer of 1706, to open a secret negotiation with the +States-general for the conclusion of a separate peace with that +republic. The basis of this accommodation was to be a renunciation by +the Duke of Anjou of his claim to the crown of Spain, upon receiving +an equivalent in Italy: he offered to recognize Anne as Queen of +England, and professed the utmost readiness to secure for the Dutch, +_at the expense of Austria_, that barrier in the Netherlands, to which +he conceived them to be so well entitled. These proposals elated the +Dutch government to such a degree, that they began to take a high +hand, and assume a dictatorial tone at the Hague: and it was the +secret belief that they would, if matters came to extremities, be +supported by France in this exorbitant demand for a slice of Austria, +that made them resist so strenuously the government of the Low +Countries being placed in such firm and vigorous hands as those of +Marlborough. Matters had come to such a pass in October and November +1706, that Godolphin regarded affairs as desperate, and thought the +alliance was on the point of being dissolved.[26] Thus was +Marlborough's usual winter campaign with the confederates rendered +more difficult on this than it had been on any preceding occasion; for +he had now to contend with the consequences of his own success, and +allay the jealousies and stifle the cupidity which had sprung up, out +of the prospect of the magnificent spoil which he himself had laid at +the feet of the Allies. + +But in this dangerous crisis, Marlborough's great diplomatic ability, +consummate address, and thorough devotion to the common good, stood +him in as good stead as his military talents had done him in the +preceding campaign with Villeroi and Vendôme. In the beginning of +November, he repaired to the Hague, and though he found the Dutch in +the first instance so extravagant in their ideas of the barrier they +were to obtain, that he despaired of effecting any settlement of the +differences between them and the Emperor;[27] yet he at length +succeeded, though with very great difficulty, in appeasing, for the +time, the jealousies between them and the cabinet of Vienna, and +obtaining a public renewal of the alliance for the prosecution of the +war. The publication of this treaty diffused the utmost satisfaction +among the ministers of the Allied powers assembled at the Hague; and +this was further increased by the breaking off, at the same time, of a +negotiation which had pended for some months between Marlborough and +the Elector of Bavaria, for a separate treaty with that prince, who +had become disgusted with the French alliance. But all Marlborough's +efforts failed to make any adjustment of the disputed matter of the +barrier, on which the Dutch were so obstinately set; and finding them +equally unreasonable and intractable on that subject, he deemed +himself fortunate when he obtained the adjourning of the question, by +the consent of all concerned, till the conclusion of a general peace. + +After the adjustment of this delicate and perilous negotiation, +Marlborough returned to England, where he was received with transports +of exultation by all classes of the people. He was conducted in one of +the royal carriages, amidst a splendid procession of all the nobility +of the kingdom, to Temple Bar, where he was received by the city +authorities, by whom he was feasted in the most magnificent manner at +Vintners' Hall. Thanks were voted to him by both Houses of Parliament; +and when he took his seat in the House of Peers, the Lord Keeper +addressed him in these just and appropriate terms--"What your Grace +has performed in this last campaign has far exceeded all hopes, even +of such as were most affectionate and partial to their country's +interest and glory. The advantages you have gained against the enemy +are of such a nature, so conspicuous in themselves, so undoubtedly +owing to your courage and conduct, so sensibly and universally +beneficial to the whole confederacy, that to attempt to adorn them +with the colouring of words would be vain and inexcusable. Therefore I +decline it, the rather because I should certainly offend that great +modesty which alone can and does add lustre to your actions, and which +in your Grace's example has successfully withstood as great trials, as +that virtue has met with in any instance whatsoever." The House of +Commons passed a similar resolution; and the better to testify the +national gratitude, an annuity of £5000 a-year, charged upon the +Post-Office, was settled upon the Duke and Duchess, and their +descendants male or female; and the dukedom, which stood limited to +heirs-male, was extended also to heirs-female, "in order," as it was +finely expressed, "that England might never be without a title which +might recall the remembrance of so much glory." + +So much glory, however, produced its usual effect in engendering +jealousy in little minds. The Whigs had grown spiteful against that +illustrious pillar of their party; they were tired of hearing him +called the just. Both Godolphin and Marlborough became the objects of +excessive jealousy to their own party; and this, combined with the +rancour of the Tories, who could never forgive his desertion of his +early patron the Duke of York, had well-nigh proved fatal to him when +at the very zenith of his usefulness and popularity. Intrigue was rife +at St James's. Parties were strangely intermixed and disjointed. Some +of the moderate Tories were in power; many covetous Whigs were out of +it. Neither party stood on great public principle, a sure sign of +instability in the national councils, and ultimate neglect of the +national interests. Harley's intrigues had become serious; the prime +minister, Godolphin, had threatened to resign. In this alarming +juncture of domestic affairs, the presence of Marlborough produced its +usual pacifying and benign influence. In a long interview which he had +with the Queen on his first private audience, he settled all +differences; Godolphin was persuaded to withdraw his resignation; the +cabinet was re-constructed on a new and harmonious basis, Harley and +Bolingbroke being the only Tories of any note who remained in power; +and this new peril to the prosecution of the war, and the cause of +European independence, was removed. + +Marlborough's services to England and the cause of European +independence in this campaign, recall one mournful feeling to the +British annalist. All that he had won for his country--all that +Wellington, with still greater difficulty, and amidst yet brighter +glories, regained for it, has been lost. It has been lost, too, not by +the enemies of the nation, but by itself; not by an opposite faction, +but by the very party over whom his own great exploits had shed such +imperishable lustre. Antwerp, the first-fruits of Ramilies--Antwerp, +the last reward of Waterloo--Antwerp, to hold which against England +Napoleon lost his crown, has been abandoned to France! An English +fleet has combined with a French army to wrest from Holland the +barrier of Dutch independence, and the key to the Low Countries. The +barrier so passionately sought by the Dutch has been wrested from +them, and wrested from them by British hands; a revolutionary power +has been placed on the throne of Belgium; Flanders, instead of the +outwork of Europe against France, has become the outwork of France +against Europe. The tricolor flag waves in sight of Bergen-op-Zoom; +within a month after the first European war, the whole coast from +Bayonne to the Texel will be arrayed against Britain! The Whigs of +1832 have undone all that the Whigs of 1706 had done--all that the +glories of 1815 had secured. Such is the way in which nations are +ruined by the blindness of faction. + +[Footnote 1: Continued from No. I., in July 1845, Vol. lviii. p. 1.] + +[Footnote 2: "C'est le retard de toutes les troupes Allemandes qui +dérange nos affaires. Je ne saurais vous expliquer la situation où +nous sommes qu'en vous envoyant les deux lettres ci jointes,--l'une +que je viens de recevoir du Prince de Bade, et l'autre la réponse que +je lui fais. En vérité notre état est plus à plaindre que vous ne +croyez; mais je vous prie que cela n'aille pas outre. _Nous perdons la +plus belle occasion du monde--manque des troupes qui devaient être ici +il y a deja longtemps._ Pour le reste de l'artillerie Hollandaise, et +les provisions qui peuvent arriver de Mayence, vous les arrêterez, +s'il vous plait, pour quelques jours, jusqu'à ce que je vous en +écrive."--_Marlborough à M. Pesters; Trêves, 31 Mai 1705. Despatches_, +II. 60-1.] + +[Footnote 3: Even so late as the 8th June, Marlborough wrote.--"J'ai +d'abord pris poste dans ce camp, où je me trouve à portée +d'entreprendre la siège de Saar-Louis, si les troupes qui devaient +avoir été ici il y a quelques jours m'avaient joint. Cependant je n'ai +pas jusqu'ici un seul homme qui ne soit à la solde d'Angleterre ou de +la Hollande. Les troupes de Bade ne peuvent arriver avant le 21 au +plutôt; quelques-uns des Prussiens sont encore plus en arrière; et +pour les trois mille chevaux que les princes voisins devaient nous +fournir pour méner l'artillerie et les munitions, et sans quoi il nous +sera impossible d'agir, je n'en ai aucune nouvelle, nonobstant toutes +mes instances. J'ai grand peur même qu'il n'y ait, à l'heure même que +je vous écris celle-ci, des regulations en chemin de la Haye qui +détruiront entièrement tous nos projets de ce côté. Cette situation me +donne tant d'inquiétude que je ne saurais me dispenser de vous prier +d'en vouloir part à sa Majesté Impériale."--_Marlborough au Comte de +Wroteslau; Elft, 8 Juin 1705. Despatches_, II. 85.] + +[Footnote 4: "Par ces contretemps tous nos projets de ce côté-ci sont +évanouis, au moins pour le present; et j'espère que V.A. me fera la +justice de croire que j'ai fait tout ce qui a dependu de moi pour les +faire réussir. Si je pouvais avoir l'honneur d'entretenir V.A. pour +une seule heure, je lui dirai bien des choses, par où elle verrait +combien je suis à plaindre. J'avais 94 escadrons et 72 bataillons, +tous à la solde de l'Angleterre et de la Hollande; de sorte que, si +l'on m'avait secondé nous aurions une des plus glorieuses campagnes +qu'on pouvait souhaiter. Après un tel traitment, V.A., je suis sûr, ne +m'aurait pas blâmé si j'avais pris la résolution _de ne jamais plus +servir_, comme je ne ferai pas aussi, je vous assure, après cette +campagne, à moins que de pouvoir prendre des mésures avec l'empereur +sur lesquelles je pourrais entièrement me fier."--_Marlborough à +Eugène, 21 Juin 1705. Despatches_, II. 124.] + +[Footnote 5: "It is a justice I owe to the Duke of Marlborough to +state, that the whole honour of the enterprise, executed with so much +skill and courage, is entirely due to him."--_Overkirk to +States-general, 19th July 1705. Coxe_, II. 151.] + +[Footnote 6: "On Wednesday, it was unanimously resolved we should pass +the Dyle, but that afternoon there fell so much rain as rendered it +impracticable; but the fair weather this morning made me determine to +attempt it. Upon this the deputies held a council with all the +generals of Overkirk's army, who have unanimously retracted their +opinions, and declared the passage of the river too dangerous, which +resolution, in my opinion, _will ruin the whole campaign_. They have, +at the same time, proposed to me to attack the French on their left; +but I know they will let that fall also, as soon as they see the +ground. It is very mortifying to meet more obstruction from friends +than from enemies; but that is now the case with me; yet I dare not +show my resentment for fear of alarming the Dutch."--_Marlborough to +Godolphin, 29th July 1705. Coxe_, II. 158.] + +[Footnote 7: Bolingbroke to Marlborough, August 18, 1705. _Coxe_, II. +160.] + +[Footnote 8: Marlborough to the States, Wavre, 19th August 1705. +_Desp._ II. 224.] + +[Footnote 9: Dutch Generals' Mem. _Coxe_, II. 174.] + +[Footnote 10: "Several prisoners whom we have taken, as well as the +deserters, assure us, that they should have made no other defence but +such as might have given them time to draw off their army to Brussels, +where their baggage was already gone. By this you may imagine how I am +vexed, seeing very plainly I am joined with people who will never do +any thing."--_Marlborough to Godolphin, August 24 1705._ + +"M. Overkirk et moi avons d'abord été reconnaitre les postes que nous +voulions attaquer, et l'armée étant rangée en bataille sur le midi, +nous avions tout d'esperer, avec la benediction du ciel, vu notre +supériorité, et la bonté des troupes, une heuruse journée; mais MM. +les deputés de l'état ayant voulu consulter leurs généraux, et les +trouvant de differentes sentiments d'avec M. Overkirk et moi, ils +n'ont pas voulu passer outre. De sorte que tout notre dessein, après +l'avoir méné jusque là, a échoué, et nous avons rebroussé chemin pour +aller commencer la démolition des Lignes, et prendre Leau. Vous pouvez +bien croire, Monsieur, que je suis au désespoir d'être obligé +d'essuyer encore ce contretemps; mais je vois bien qu'il ne faut pas +plus songer à agir offensivement avec ces messieurs, puisqu' ils ne +veulent rien risquer quand même ils ont tout l'advantage de leur +côté."--_Marlborough au Comte de Wartenberg, Wavre, 20 Août 1705. +Despatches_, II. 226.] + +[Footnote 11: "This vast addition of renown which your Grace has +acquired, and the wonderful preservation of your life, are subjects +upon which I can never express a thousandth part of what I feel. +_France and faction are the only enemies England has to fear_, and +your Grace will conquer both; at least, while you beat the French, you +give a strength to the Government which the other dares not contend +with."--_Bolingbroke to Marlborough, May 28, 1706. Coxe_, II. 358.] + +[Footnote 12: "I shall attend the Queen at the thanksgiving on +Thursday next: I assure you I shall do it, from every vein within me, +having scarce any thing else to support either my head or heart. The +_animosity and inveteracy one has to struggle against is +unimaginable_, not to mention the difficulty of obtaining things to be +done that are reasonable, or of satisfying people with reason when +they are done."--_Godolphin to Marlborough, May 24, 1706._] + +[Footnote 13: Duke of Marlborough to Mr Secretary Harley, June 14, +1706.] + +[Footnote 14: "The consequences of this battle are likely to be +greater than that of Blenheim; for we have now the whole summer before +us, and, with the blessing of God, I will make the best use of it. +_For as I have had no council of war before this battle, so I hope to +have none during the whole campaign_; and I think we may make such +work of it as may give the Queen the glory of making a safe and +honourable peace, for the blessing of God is certainly with +us."--_Marlborough to Lord Godolphin, May 27, 1706. Coxe, II. 365._] + +[Footnote 15: Marlborough to Mr Secretary Harley, 3d June 1706. _Desp. +II._ 554.] + +[Footnote 16: Marlborough to Duchess of Marlborough, May 31, 1706.] + +[Footnote 17: Marlborough to Secretary Harley, Helchin, 9th August +1706. _Desp._ III. 69.] + +[Footnote 18: Marlborough to Duke of Savoy, Helchin, 25th August 1706. +_Desp._ III. 101.] + +[Footnote 19: Marlborough to Godolphin, September 4, 1706. _Coxe_, +III. 10.] + +[Footnote 20: "If the Dutch can furnish ammunition for the siege of +Mons, we shall undertake it; for if the weather continues fair, we +shall have it much cheaper this year than the next, when they have had +time to recruit their army. The taking of that town would be a very +great advantage to us for the opening of next campaign, which we must +make if we would bring France to such a peace as will give us quiet +hereafter."--_Marlborough to Godolphin, October 14, 1706. Coxe_, III. +14.] + +[Footnote 21: "M. de Vendôme tells his officers he has one hundred and +forty battalions and one hundred and eighty squadrons, and that, if my +Lord Marlborough gives him an opportunity, he will pay him a visit +before this campaign ends. I believe he has neither will nor power to +do it, which we shall see quickly, for we are now camped in so open a +country that if he marches to us we cannot refuse fighting."--_Marlborough +to Lord Godolphin, October 14, 1706. Ibid._] + +[Footnote 22: "I have now received confirmation of the success in +Italy, from the Duke of Savoy and Prince Eugene, and it is impossible +for me to express the joy it has given me; _for I not only esteem, but +really love, that Prince_. This glorious action must bring France so +low, that if our friends can be persuaded to carry on the war one year +longer with vigour, we could not fail, with God's blessing, to have +such a peace as would give us quiet in our days. But the Dutch are at +this time unaccountable."--_Marlborough to the Duchess, Sept. 26, +1706. Coxe_, III. 20, 21.] + +[Footnote 23: "Your highness, I am sure, will rejoice at the signal +advantage which the arms of his Imperial Majesty and the Allies have +gained. _You have had so great a hand in it, by the succours you have +procured_, that you must permit me to thank you again."--_Eugene to +Marlborough, 20th Sept. 1706. Coxe_, III. 20.] + +[Footnote 24: "This appointment by the Emperor has given some +uneasiness in Holland, by thinking that the Emperor has a mind to put +the power in this country into the Queen's hands, in order that they +may have nothing to do with it. If I should find the same thing by the +Pensionary, and that nothing can cure this jealousy but my desiring to +be excused from accepting this commission, I hope the Queen will allow +of it; for the advantage and honour I have by this commission is _very +insignificant in comparison of the fatal consequences that might be if +it should cause a jealousy between the two nations_. And though the +appointments of this government are sixty thousand pounds a-year, I +shall with pleasure excuse myself, since I am convinced it is for her +service, if the States should not make it their request, which they +are very far from doing."--_Marlborough to Godolphin, July 1 and 8, +1706. Coxe_, III. 391, 393.] + +[Footnote 25: Mr Stepney to Duke of Marlborough, _Hague, Jan. 4, 1707. +Coxe_, II. 407.] + +[Footnote 26: "Lord Somers has shown me a long letter which he has had +from the Pensionary, very intent _upon settling the barrier_. The +inclinations of the Dutch are so violent and plain, that I am of +opinion nothing will be able to prevent their taking effect but our +being as plain with them upon the same subject, and threatening to +publish to the whole world the terms for which they solicit."--_Lord +Godolphin to Marlborough_, Oct. 24, 1706. Coxe, III. 74.] + +[Footnote 27: "My inclinations will lead me to stay as little as +possible at the Hague, though the Pensionary tells me I must stay to +finish the succession treaty and their barrier, which, should I stay +the whole winter, I am very confident would not be brought to +perfection. For they are of so many minds, and are all so very +extravagant about their barrier, that I despair of doing any thing +good till they are more reasonable, which they will not be till they +see that they have it not in their power to dispose of the whole Low +Countries at their will and pleasure, in which the French flatter +them."--_Marlborough to Godolphin, Oct. 29, 1706. Coxe_, III. 79.] + + + + +THE STUDENT OF SALAMANCA. + +PART II. + + "Por estas montañas, + Facciosos siguiendo, + Vamos defendiendo + La Constitucion." + + _Himno de Navarra._ + + +Rarely had the alameda of the picturesque old town of Logroño +presented a gayer or more brilliant appearance than on a certain July +evening of the year 1834. The day had been sultry in the extreme, and +the sun was touching the horizon before the fair Riojanas ventured to +quit their artificially darkened rooms, and the cool shelter of their +well-screened _miradores_, for the customary promenade. It was +pleasant, certainly, in those sombre apartments, and beneath those +thick awnings, which excluded each ray of sun, although they did not +prevent what little breeze there was from circulating freely between +the heavy stone balustrades or quaintly moulded iron-work of the +spacious balconies, rustling the leaves and blossoms of the +orange-trees, and wafting their fragrance to the languid beauties who +sat dozing, chatting, or love-making within. But if the _farniente_ +and languor induced by the almost tropical heat, were so agreeable as +to tempt to their longer indulgence, on the other hand the _paseo_, +that indispensable termination to a Spaniard's day, had, upon the +evening in question, peculiar attractions for the inhabitants of +Logroño, and especially for their fairer portion. Within the preceding +three days, a body of troops, in number nearly twenty thousand men, a +large portion of them the pick and flower of the Spanish army, had +been concentrated at Logroño, whence, under the command of Rodil--a +general of high reputation--they were to advance into Navarre, and +exterminate the daring rebels, who, for some months past, had +disturbed the peace of Spain. All had been noise and movement in the +town during those three days; every stable full of horses, every house +crowded with soldiers; artillery and baggage-waggons encumbering the +squares and suburbs; the streets resounding with the harsh clang of +trumpets and monotonous beat of drums; muleteers loading and unloading +their beasts; commissaries bustling about for rations; beplumed and +embroidered staff-officers galloping to and fro with orders; the clash +of arms and tramp of horses in the barrack-yards; the clatter of +wine-cups, joyous song, and merry tinkle of the guitar, from the +various wine-houses in which the light-hearted soldiery were snatching +a moment of enjoyment in the intervals of duty;--such were a few of +the sights and sounds which for the time animated and gave importance +to the usually quiet town of Logroño. Towards evening, the throng and +bustle within the town diminished, and were transferred to the +pleasant walks around it, and especially to the shady and +flower-bordered avenues of the alameda. Thither repaired the proud and +graceful beauties of Castile and Navarre, their raven locks but +partially veiled by the fascinating mantilla, their dark and lustrous +eyes flashing coquettish glances upon the gay officers who accompanied +or hovered around them. Every variety of uniform was there to be seen; +all was blaze, and glitter, and brilliancy; the smart trappings of +these fresh troops had not yet been tattered and tarnished amidst the +hardships of mountain warfare. The showy hussar, the elegant lancer, +the helmeted dragoon, aides-de-camp with their cocked-hats and blue +sashes, crossed and mingled in the crowd that filled the alameda, at +either end of which a band of music was playing the beautiful and +spirit-stirring national airs of Spain. On the one hand arose the +dingy masses of the houses of Logroño, speckled with the lights that +issued from their open casements, their outline distinctly defined +against the rapidly darkening sky; on the other side was a wide +extent of corn-field, intersected and varied by rows and clusters of +trees, amongst the branches of which, and over the waving surface of +the corn, innumerable fire-flies darted and sparkled. Here, a group of +soldiers and country girls danced a bolero to the music of a guitar +and tambourine; there, another party was collected round an Andalusian +ballad-singer, of whose patriotic ditties "_la Libertad_" and "_la +inocente Isabel_" were the usual themes. In a third place, a few +inveterate gamblers--as what Spanish soldiers are not?--had stretched +themselves upon the grass in a circle, and by the flickering light of +a broken lantern, or of a candle stuck in the earth, were playing a +game at cards for their day's pay, or for any thing else they might +chance to possess. On all sides, ragged, bare-footed boys ran about, +carrying pieces of lighted rope in their hands, the end of which they +occasionally dashed against the ground, causing a shower of sparks to +fly out, whilst they recommended themselves to the custom of the +cigar-smokers by loud cries of "_Fuego! Buen fuego! Quien quiere +fuego?_" + +At few of the young officers, who, on the evening referred to, paraded +the alameda of Logroño, was the artillery of eyes and fan more +frequently levelled by the love-breathing beauties there assembled, +than at Luis Herrera, who, in the uniform of the cavalry regiment to +which he now belonged, was present upon the paseo. But for him fans +waved and bright eyes sparkled in vain. He was deeply engaged in +conversation with Mariano Torres, who, having recently obtained a +commission in the same corps with his friend, had arrived that evening +to join it. The two young men had parted soon after the death of Don +Manuel Herrera, and had not met since. One of Mariano's first +questions concerned the Villabuenas. + +"The count went to France some months ago, I believe," replied Luis, +dryly. + +"Yes," said Torres, "so I heard, and took his daughter with him. But I +thought it probable that he might have returned in the train of his +self-styled sovereign. He is capable of any folly, I should imagine, +since he was mad enough to sacrifice his fine fortune and position in +the country by joining in this absurd rebellion. You of course know +that he has been declared a traitor, and that his estates have been +confiscated?" + +Luis nodded assent. + +"Well, in some respects the count's losses may prove a gain to you," +continued Torres, pursuing the train of his own thoughts, and not +observing that the subject he had started was a painful one to his +friend. "When we have put an end to the war, in a month or two at +furthest, you can go to France, and obtain his consent to your +marriage with his daughter. In the present state of his fortunes he +will hardly refuse it; and you may then return to Spain, and make +interest for your father-in-law's pardon." + +"I am by no means certain," said Herrera, "that the war will be over +so soon as you imagine. But you will oblige me, Mariano, by not +speaking of this again. My engagement with Rita is long at an end, and +not likely ever to be renewed. It was a dream, a vision of happiness +not destined to be realized, and I endeavour to forget it. I myself +put an end to it; and not under present circumstances, perhaps under +none, should I think myself justified in seeking its renewal. Let us +talk of something else--of the future if you will, but not of the +past." + +The hours passed by Luis beside Don Manuel's death-bed, had witnessed +a violent revolution in his feelings and character. Devotedly attached +to his father, who had been the sole friend, almost the only +companion, of his boyhood, the fiercer passions of Herrera's nature +were awakened into sudden and violent action by his untimely fate. A +burning desire of revenge on the unscrupulous faction to which the +persecution, exile, and cruel death of Don Manuel were to be +attributed, took possession of him; and in order to gratify this +desire, and at the same time to fulfil the solemn pledge he had given +to his dying parent, he felt himself at the moment capable of +sacrificing even his love for Rita. No sooner was the mournful +ceremony of the interment over, than he wrote to Villabuena, informing +him, in a few stern words, how those who professed like him to be the +defenders of religion and legitimacy, had enacted the part of +assassins and incendiaries, and shed his father's blood upon his own +threshold. This communication he considered to be, without further +comment, a sufficient reply to the proposition made to him by the +count a few days previously. At the same time--and this was by far the +most difficult part of his self-imposed task--he addressed a letter to +Rita, releasing her from her engagement. He felt, he told her, that, +by so doing, he renounced all his fondest hopes; but were he to act +otherwise, and at once violate his oath, and forego his revenge, he +should despise himself, and deserve her contempt. He implored her to +forget their ill-fated attachment, for his own misery would be +endurable only when he knew that he had not compromised her happiness. + +Scarcely had he dispatched these letters, written under a state of +excitement almost amounting to frenzy, when Herrera, in pursuance of a +previously formed plan, and as if to stifle the regrets which a forced +and painful determination occasioned him, hastened to join as a +volunteer the nearest Christino column. It was one commanded by +General Lorenzo, then operating against Santos Ladron and the +Navarrese Carlists. In several skirmishes Herrera signalized himself +by the intrepidity and fury with which he fought. Ladron was taken and +shot, and Lorenzo marched to form the advanced guard of a strong +division which, under the command of Sarsfield, was rapidly nearing +the scene of the insurrection. On the mere approach of the Christino +army, the battalions of Castilian Realistas, which formed, numerically +speaking, an important part of the forces then under arms for Don +Carlos, disbanded themselves and fled to their homes. Sarsfield +continued his movement northwards, took possession, after trifling +resistance, of Logroño, Vittoria, Bilboa, and other towns occupied by +the Carlists; and, after a few insignificant skirmishes, succeeded in +dispersing and disarming the whole of the insurgents in the three +Basque provinces. A handful of badly armed and undisciplined Navarrese +peasants were all that now kept the field for Charles V., and of the +rapid capture or destruction of these, the sanguine Christinos +entertained no doubt. The principal strength of the Carlists was +broken; their arms were taken away; the majority of the officers who +had joined, and of the men of note and influence in the country who +had declared for them, had been compelled to cross the Pyrenees. But +the tenacious courage and hardihood of the Navarrese insurgents, and +the military skill of the man who commanded them, baffled the +unceasing pursuit kept up by the Queen's generals. During the whole of +the winter the Carlists lived like wolves in the mountains, surrounded +by ice and snow, cheerfully supporting the most incredible hardships +and privations. Nay, even under such disadvantageous circumstances, +their numbers increased, and their discipline improved; and when the +spring came they presented the appearance, not of a band of robbers, +as their opponents had hitherto designated them, but of a body of +regular troops, hardy and well organized, devoted to their general, +and enthusiastic for the cause they defended. Their rapid movements, +their bravery and success in several well-contested skirmishes, some +of which almost deserved the name of regular actions, the surprise of +various Christino posts and convoys, the consistency, in short, which +the war was taking, began seriously to alarm the Queen's government; +and the formidable preparations made by the latter for a campaign +against the Carlists, were a tacit acknowledgment that Spain was in a +state of civil war. + +In the wild and beautiful valley of the Lower Amezcoa, in the +_merindad_ or district of Estella, a large body of Christino troops +was assembled on the fifteenth day after Rodil's entrance into +Navarre. The numerous forces which that general found under his +command, after uniting the troops he had brought with him with those +already in the province, had enabled him to adopt a system of +occupation, the most effectual, it was believed, for putting an end to +the war. In pursuance of this plan, he established military lines of +communication between the different towns of Navarre and Alava, +garrisoned and fortified the principal villages, and having in this +manner disseminated a considerable portion of his army through the +insurgent districts, he commenced, with a column of ten thousand men +that remained at his disposal, a movement through the mountainous +regions, to which, upon his approach, the Carlists had retired. His +object was the double one of attacking and destroying their army, and, +if possible, of seizing the person of Don Carlos, who but a few days +previously had arrived in Spain. The heat of the weather was +remarkable, even for that usually sultry season; the troops had had a +long and fatiguing march over the rugged sierra of Urbasa; and Rodil, +either with a view of giving them rest, or with some intention of +garrisoning the villages scattered about the valley, which had +hitherto been one of the chief haunts of the Carlists, had come to a +halt in the Lower Amezcoa. + +It was two in the afternoon, and, notwithstanding the presence of so +large a body of men, all was stillness and repose in the valley. The +troops had arrived that morning, and after taking up their cantonments +in the various villages and hamlets, had sought refuge from the +overpowering heat. In the houses, the shutters of which were carefully +closed to exclude the importunate sunbeams, in the barns and stables, +under the shadow cast by balconies or projecting eaves, and along the +banks of the stream which traverses the valley, and is noted in the +surrounding country for the crystal clearness and extreme coldness of +its waters, the soldiers were lying, their uniforms unbuttoned, the +stiff leathern stock thrown aside, enjoying the mid-day slumber, which +the temperature and their recent fatigue rendered doubly acceptable. +Here and there, at a short distance from the villages, and further +off, near the different roads and passes that give access to the +valley through or over the gigantic mountain-wall by which it is +encircled, the sun flashed upon the polished bayonets and +musket-barrels of the pickets. The men were lying beside their piled +arms, or had crept under some neighbouring bush to indulge in the +universal _siesta_; and even the sentries seemed almost to sleep as +they paced lazily up and down, or stood leaning upon their muskets, +keeping but a drowsy watch and careless look-out for an enemy whose +proximity was neither to be anticipated nor dreaded by a force so +superior to any which he could get together. + +Such was the scene that presented itself to one who, having approached +the valley from the south, and ascended the mountains that bound it on +that side, now contemplated from their summit the inactivity of its +occupants. He was a man of the middle height, but appearing rather +shorter, from a slight stoop in the shoulders; his age was between +forty and fifty years, his aspect grave and thoughtful. His features +were regular, his eyes clear and penetrating, a strong dark mustache +covered his upper lip and joined his whisker, which was allowed to +extend but little below the ear. His dress consisted of a plain blue +frock, girt at the waist by a belt of black leather, to which a sabre +was suspended, and his head was covered with a _boina_, or flat cap, +of the description commonly worn in the neighbourhood of the Pyrenees, +woven in one piece of fine scarlet wool, and decorated with a _borla_, +or tassel of gold cord, spreading like a star over the crown of the +head. In his hand he held a telescope, which he rested on the top of a +fragment of rock, and through which he attentively noted what passed +in the valley below. The case of the field-glass was slung across his +body by a strap, and, upon inspection, a name would have been found +stamped upon its leathern surface. It was that of Tomas +Zumalacarregui. + +A short distance in rear of the Carlist leader, and so posted as not +to be visible from the valley, stood a little group of officers, and +persons in civilian garb, and a few orderlies, one of whom held the +general's horse. Behind, a battalion of infantry was drawn up--fine, +muscular, active fellows, inured to every hardship, and as indifferent +to the scorching heat to which they were now exposed, as they had been +to the bitter cold in the mountains amongst which they had passed the +preceding winter. Their appearance was not very uniform in its +details; short jackets, loose trousers, and sandals, composed the +dress of most of them--one well adapted to long marches and active +movements--and they all wore caps similar to those of the officers, +but of a blue colour, and coarser material. A second battalion of +these hardy guerillas was advancing with light and elastic step up the +rugged and difficult path; and this was followed by two others, which, +as fast as they arrived, were formed up by their officers in the best +manner that the uneven nature of the ground would admit. Half a dozen +mules, laden with ammunition, brought up the rear. When the four +battalions, consisting together of nearly three thousand men, were +assembled on the summit of the mountain, the arms were piled, and the +soldiers allowed to sit down or repose themselves as they chose from +the fatigues of their long and wearisome ascent, and of a march that +had lasted from early dawn. + +The mountain upon which these troops were now stationed was less +precipitous upon its inner side than most of those that surrounded the +valley. It shelved gradually downwards, broken here and there by +ravines, its partially wooded slopes forming a succession of terraces, +which extended right and left for a distance of more than a mile. At +the foot of these slopes, and immediately below the spot occupied by +the Carlists, a low hill ran off at right angles from the higher +range, projecting into the valley as a promontory does into the sea. +With the exception of the side furthest from the mountains, which +consisted of pasture land, the base and skirts of this hill were +covered with oak and chestnut, and upon the clearing on its summit +stood a shepherd's hut, whence was commanded a view of a considerable +extent of the face of the sierra, as well as of the entrance of a +neighbouring pass that led out of the valley in the direction of +Estella. At this hut a Christino picket was stationed, to which, when +the Carlist chief had completed his general survey of the valley, his +attention became more particularly directed. The outpost consisted of +about thirty men, little, brown-complexioned, monkey-faced creatures +from the southern provinces, who, sunk in fancied security and in the +indolence natural to them, were neglecting their duty to an extent +which might seriously have compromised the safety of the Christino +army, had it depended upon their vigilance. The majority of them were +lying asleep in and around the picket-house, which was situated on one +side of the platform, within fifty yards of the trees. Of the three +sentinels, one had seated himself on a stone, with his musket between +his knees, and, having unbuttoned the loose grey coat that hung like a +sack about his wizened carcass, was busily engaged in seeking, between +his shirt and his skin, for certain companions whom he had perhaps +picked up in his quarters of the previous night, and by whose presence +about his person he seemed to be but moderately gratified. One of the +other two sentries had wandered away from the post assigned to him, +and approached his remaining comrade, with the charitable view of +dividing with him a small quantity of tobacco, which the two were now +deliberately manufacturing into paper cigars, beguiling the time as +they did so by sundry guardroom jokes and witticisms. + +An almost imperceptible smile of contempt curled the lip of +Zumalacarregui as he observed the unmilitary negligence apparent in +the advanced post of the Christinos. It was exchanged for a proud and +well-pleased glance when he turned round and saw his gallant Navarrese +awaiting in eager suspense a signal to advance upon the enemy, whom +they knew to be close at hand. Zumalacarregui walked towards the +nearest battalion, and on his approach the men darted from their +various sitting and reclining postures, and stood ready to seize their +muskets, and fall into their places. Their chief nodded his +approbation of their alacrity, but intimated to them, by a motion of +his hand, that the time for action was not yet come. + +"_Paciencia, muchachos!_" said he. "Patience, you will not have long +to wait. Refresh yourselves, men, whilst the time is given you. +Captain Landa!" cried he, raising his voice. + +The officer commanding the light company of the battalion stepped +forward, and, halting at a short distance from his general, stood +motionless, with his hand to his cap, awaiting orders. + +"Come with me, Landa," said Zumalacarregui; and, taking the officer's +arm, he led him to the spot whence he had been observing the valley, +and pointed to the Christino picket. + +"Take your company," said he, "and fetch me those sleepy fellows here; +without firing a shot if it be possible." + +The officer returned to his men, and, forming them up with all speed, +marched them off at a rapid pace. When they had disappeared amongst +the rocks, Zumalacarregui turned to the chief of his staff. + +"Colonel Gomez," said he, "take the third and fourth battalions, and +move them half a mile to our left, keeping them well out of sight. We +are not strong enough to attack in the plain, but we shall perhaps get +our friends to meet us in the mountain." + +Gomez--a tall, portly man, of inexpressive countenance, and whose +accent, when he spoke, betrayed the Andalusian--proceeded to execute +the orders he had received, and Zumalacarregui once more resumed his +post of observation. + +The carelessness of the Christino picket, and the practice which the +Carlists had already had in a warfare of stratagem and surprise, +enabled the company of light infantry to execute, with great facility, +the instructions they had received. The young ensign who commanded the +outpost was walking listlessly along the edge of the wood, cursing the +wearisome duty entrusted to him, and referring to his watch to see how +far still the hour of relief was off, when he was suddenly struck to +the ground by a blow from a musket-butt, and before he could attempt +to rise, the point of a bayonet was at his throat. At the same instant +three score long-legged Navarrese dashed from under cover of the wood, +bayoneted the sentinels, surrounded the picket-house, and made +prisoners of the picket. The surprise was complete; not a shot had +been fired, and all had passed with so little noise that it appeared +probable the _coup-de-main_ would only become known to the Christinos +when the time arrived for relieving the outposts. + +A trifling oversight, however, on the part of the Carlists, caused +things to pass differently. A soldier belonging to the picket, and who +was sleeping amongst the long grass, just within the wood, had escaped +all notice. The noise of the scuffle awoke him; but on perceiving how +matters stood, he prudently remained in his hiding-place till the +Carlists, having collected the arms and ammunition of their prisoners, +began to reascend the mountain. At a distance of three hundred yards +he fired at them, and then scampered off in the contrary direction. +His bullet took no effect, and the retreating guerillas, seeing how +great a start he had, allowed him to escape unpursued. But the report +of his musket spread the alarm. The pickets right and left of the one +that had been surprised, saw the Carlists winding their way up the +mountain; the vedettes fired, and the drums beat to arms. The alarm +spread rapidly from one end of the valley to the other, and every part +of it was in an instant swarming with men. Dragoons saddled and +artillery harnessed; infantry formed up by battalions and brigades; +generals and aides-de-camp dashed about hurrying the movements of the +troops, and asking the whereabouts of the enemy. This information they +soon obtained. No sooner was the alarm given, than Zumalacarregui, +relying upon the tried courage of his soldiers, and on the advantage +of his position, which must render the enemy's cavalry useless, and +greatly diminish the effect of the artillery, put himself at the head +of his two battalions, and rapidly descended the mountain, dispatching +an officer after Gomez with orders for a similar movement on his part. +Before the Carlists reached the plain, the Christinos quartered in the +nearest village advanced to meet them, and a smart skirmish began. + +Distributed along the clifts and terraces of the mountain, kneeling +amongst the bushes and sheltered behind the trees that grew at its +base, the Carlists kept up a steady fire, which was warmly replied to +by their antagonists. In the most exposed situations, the Carlist +officers of all ranks, from the ensign to the general, showed +themselves, encouraging their men, urging them to take good aim, and +not to fire till they could distinguish the faces of their enemies, +themselves sometimes taking up a dead man's musket and sending a few +well-directed shots amongst the Christinos. Here a man was seen +binding the sash, which forms part of the dress of every Navarrese +peasant, over a wound that was not of sufficient importance to send +him to the rear; in another place a guerilla replenished his scanty +stock of ammunition from the cartridge-belt of a fallen comrade, and +sprang forward, to meet perhaps, the next moment, a similar fate. On +the side of the Christinos there was less appearance of enthusiasm and +ardour for the fight; but their numbers were far superior, and each +moment increased, and some light guns and howitzers that had been +brought up began to scatter shot and shell amongst the Carlists, +although the manner in which the latter were sheltered amongst wood +and rock, prevented those missiles from doing them very material +injury. The fight was hottest around the hill on which the picket had +been stationed, now the most advanced point of the Carlist line. It +was held by a battalion, which, dispersed amongst the trees that +fringed its sides, opposed a fierce resistance to the assaults of the +Christinos. At last the latter, weary of the protracted skirmishing, +by which they lost many men, but were unable to obtain any material +advantage, sent forward two battalions of the royal guards to take the +hill at the point of the bayonet. With their bugles playing a lively +march, these troops, the finest infantry in the Spanish army, advanced +in admirable order, and without firing a shot, to perform the duty +assigned to them. On their approach the Carlists retreated from the +sides of the hill, and assembled in the wood on its summit, at the +foot of the higher mountains. One battalion of the guards ascended the +hill in line, and advanced along the open ground, whilst the other +marched round the skirt of the eminence to take the Carlists in flank. +The Navarrese reserved their fire till they saw the former battalion +within fifty yards of them, and then poured in a deadly volley. The +ranks of the Christinos were thinned, but they closed them again, and, +with levelled bayonets and quickened step, advanced to clear the wood, +little expecting that the newly-raised troops opposed to them would +venture to meet them at close quarters. The event, however, proved +that they had undervalued their antagonists. Emerging from their +shelter, the Carlists brought their bayonets to the charge, and, with +a ringing shout of "_Viva Carlos Quinto!_" rushed upon their foe. A +griding clash of steel and a shrill cry of agony bore witness to the +fury of the encounter. The loss on both sides was severe, but the +advantage remained with the Carlists. The guards, unprepared for so +obstinate a resistance, were borne back several paces, and thrown into +some confusion. But the victors had no time to follow up their +advantage, for the other Christino battalion had entered the wood, and +was advancing rapidly upon their flank. Hastily collecting their +wounded, the Carlists retired, still fighting, to the higher ground in +their rear. At the same moment Zumalacarregui, observing a body of +fresh troops making a movement upon his right, as if with the +intention of outflanking him, ordered the retreat to be sounded, and +the Carlist line retired slowly up the mountains. Some of Rodil's +battalions followed, and the skirmishing was kept up with more or less +spirit till an end was put to it by the arrival of night. + +From the commencement of the fight, several squadrons of the Queen's +cavalry had remained drawn up near a village in which they had their +quarters, at about a mile from the left of the Carlists. A short +distance in front of the line, a number of officers had collected +together, and were observing the progress of the combat, in which the +impracticability of the ground for horsemen prevented them from taking +a share. There was considerable grumbling, especially amongst the +juniors, at the inactivity to which they found themselves condemned. + +"If this is the kind of fighting we are always to have," said a young +cornet sulkily, "they might as well have left us in our garrisons. We +were a deuced deal more comfortable, and quite as useful, in our snug +quarters at Valladolid. The faction, it is well known, have no +cavalry, and you will not catch their infernal guerillas coming down +into the plain to be sabred at leisure." + +"No," said another subaltern, "but they are forming cavalry, it is +said. Besides, we may catch their infantry napping some day, as they +did our picket just now." + +"Pshaw!" replied the first speaker. "Before that time comes every +horse in the brigade will be lame or sore-backed, and we ourselves +shall be converted into infantry men. All respect for lance and +sabre--but curse me if I would not rather turn foot-soldier at once, +than have to crawl over these mountains as we have done for the last +fortnight, dragging our horses after us by the bridle. For six hours +yesterday did I flounder over ground that was never meant to be trod +by any but bears or izards, breaking my spurs and shins, whilst my +poor nag here was rubbing the skin off his legs against rocks and +tree-stumps. When I entered the cavalry I expected my horse would +carry me; but if this goes on, it is much more likely I shall have to +carry him." + +"A nice set of fellows you are," said an old grey-mustached captain, +"to be grumbling before you have been a month in the field. Wait a +bit, my boys, till your own flesh and your horses' have been taken +down by hard marching and short commons, and until, if you mount a +hill, you are obliged to hold on by the mane, lest the saddle should +slip back over the lean ribs of your charger. The marches you have as +yet seen are but child's play to what you _will_ see before the +campaign is over." + +"Then hang me if I don't join the footpads," returned the dissatisfied +cornet. "At any rate one would have a little fighting then--a chance +of a broken head or t'other epaulet; and that is better than carrying +a sabre one never has to draw. Why, the very mules cannot keep their +footing amongst these mountains. Ask our quartermaster, whom I saw +yesterday craning over the edge of a precipice, and watching two of +his beasts of burden which were going down hill a deal quicker than +they had come up--their legs in the air, and the sacks of corn upon +their backs hastening their descent to some ravine or other, where the +crows no doubt at the present moment are picking their bones. You +should have heard old Skinflint swear. I thought he would have thrown +the muleteer after the mules. And they call this a country for +cavalry!" + +"I certainly fear," said Herrera, who had been listening to the +colloquy, "that as long as the war is confined to these provinces, +cavalry will not be very often wanted." + +"And if they were not here, they would be wanted immediately," said a +field-officer, who was observing the skirmish through a telescope. +"Besides, you young gentlemen have less cause for discontent than any +body else. There may be no opportunity for brilliant charges, but +there is always work for a subaltern's party, in the way of cutting +off detachments, or some such _coup-de-main_. I see a group of fellows +yonder who will get themselves into trouble if they do not take care." + +All eyes and glasses turned towards the direction in which the major +was looking. It was the hottest moment of the fight; by their +impetuosity and courage the Carlists were keeping at bay the superior +numbers of their antagonists; and on their extreme left, a small party +of horsemen, consisting of four or five officers and a dozen lancers, +had ventured to advance a short distance into the plain. They had +halted at the edge of a _manzanal_, or cider orchard; and although +some way in advance of their own line, they were at a considerable +distance from any Christino troops; whilst a tolerably good path, +which led up the least precipitous part of the mountains in their +rear, seemed to ensure them an easy retreat whenever it might become +necessary. So confident were they of their safety, that the officers +had dismounted, and were observing the Christino reserves, and the +various bodies of infantry which were advancing from the more distant +cantonments. At this moment the officer commanding the cavalry rode up +to the spot where Herrera and his comrades were assembled. + +"Major Gonzalez," said he, "send half a troop to cut off those +gentlemen who are reconnoitring. Let the party file off to the rear, +or their intention will be perceived." + +The subalterns belonging to the squadron under command of Gonzalez, +pressed round him, eager to be chosen for the duty that was to vary +the monotony and inaction of which they had so recently been +complaining. + +"Herrera," said the major, "you have most practice in this sort of +thing. Take thirty men and march them back into the village, out on +the other side, and round that rising ground upon our right. There is +plenty of cover, and if you make the most of it, the game cannot +escape. And, a hint to you--your fellows generally grind their sabres +pretty sharp, I know, and you are not fond of encumbering yourself +with prisoners; but yonder party, judging from their appearance, may +be men of note amongst the rebels, worth more alive than dead. Bring +them in with whole skins if you can. As to the fellows with the red +and white lance-flags, I leave them entirely at your discretion." + +"I shall observe your orders, major," replied Herrera, whose eyes +sparkled at the prospect of a brush with the enemy. "Sergeant +Velasquez, tell off thirty men from the left of the troop." + +The non-commissioned officer, who was introduced to the reader at the +commencement of this narrative, and who now found himself, in +consequence of a change of regiment, in the same squadron as Herrera, +obeyed the order he had received, and the party marched leisurely into +the village. No sooner, however, had they entered the narrow street, +and were concealed from the view of those whom they intended to +surprise, than their pace was altered to a brisk trot, which became a +hand-gallop when they got into the fields beyond the rising ground +referred to by the major. They then struck into a hollow road, +sheltered by bush-crowned banks, and finally reached the long narrow +strip of apple-orchard, at the further angle of which the group of +Carlists was posted. Skirting the plantation on the reverse side to +the enemy, they arrived at its extremity, and wheeling to the left, +cantered on in line, their sabre scabbards hooked up to their belts to +diminish the clatter, the noise of their horses' feet inaudible upon +the grass and fern over which they rode. "Charge!" shouted Herrera, as +they reached the second angle of the orchard; and with a loud hurra +and brandished sabres, the dragoons dashed down upon the little party +of Carlists, now within a hundred paces of them. The dismounted +officers hurried to their horses, and the lancers hastily faced about +to resist the charge; but before they could complete the movement, +they were sabred and ridden over. Herrera, mindful of the orders he +had received, hurried to protect the officers from a similar fate. One +of the latter, who had his back turned to Herrera, and who, although +he wore a sword by his side, was dressed in plain clothes, was in the +very act of getting into the saddle, when a dragoon aimed a furious +cut at his head. Herrera was in time to parry the blow, and as he did +so, the person whose life he had saved, turned round and disclosed the +well-known features of the Conde de Villabuena. + +"Señor Conde!" exclaimed the astonished Luis, "I am grieved"---- + +"It is unnecessary, sir," said the count, coldly. "You are obeying +orders, I presume, and doing what you consider your duty. Am I to be +shot here, or taken to your chief?" + +"It is much against my will," answered Herrera, "that I constrain you +in any way. I am compelled to conduct you to General Rodil." + +The count made no reply, but, turning his horse's head in the +direction of the Christino camp, rode moodily onwards, followed, +rather then accompanied, by his captor. A Carlist officer and three +members of the rebel junta were the other prisoners. The lancers had +all been cut to pieces. + +The position in which Herrera now found himself was in the highest +degree embarrassing and painful. Old affection and friendship were +revived by the sight of the count; and, had he obeyed his first +impulse, he would frankly have expressed his sorrow at the chance +which had thrown Villabuena into the hands of his foes, and have said +what he could to console him under his misfortune. But the count's +manner was so haughty and repulsive, and he so studiously avoided +recognising in Luis any thing more than an opponent and a captor, that +the words of kindness froze upon the young man's tongue, and during +the few minutes that were required to rejoin the regiment, the silence +remained unbroken. On reaching the spot where the cavalry was still +halted, the detachment was received with loud congratulations on the +successful issue of the expedition. + +"Cleverly managed, Señor Herrera!" said the colonel; "and the +prisoners are of importance. Take them yourself to the general." + +In obedience to this order, Herrera moved off to the part of the field +in which Rodil, surrounded by a numerous and brilliant staff, had +taken his post. + +"Ha!" said the general, when the young officer had made his report, +his quick eye glancing at the prisoners, some of whom were known to +him by sight. "Ha! you have done well, sir, and your conduct shall be +favourably reported at Madrid. The Marquis of Torralva and Count +Villabuena--an important capture this. Your name, sir--and yours, and +yours?" said he sharply to the other prisoners. + +The answers visibly increased his satisfaction. They were all men well +known as zealous and influential partizans of the Pretender. Rodil +paused an instant, and then turned to one of his aides-de-camp. + +"A priest and a firing party," said he. "You have half an hour to +prepare for death," he added, addressing the prisoners. "Rebels taken +with arms in their hands can expect no greater favour." + +Herrera felt a cold chill come over him as he heard this order given +for the instant execution of a man whom he had so long regarded as his +friend and benefactor. Forgetting, in the agitation of the moment, his +own subordinate position, and the impropriety of his interference, he +was about to address the general, and petition for the life of +Villabuena, when he was saved from the commission of a breach of +discipline by the interposition of a third party. A young man in the +uniform of a general officer, of sallow complexion and handsome +countenance, who was stationed upon Rodil's right hand, moved his +horse nearer to that of the general, and spoke a few words to him in a +low tone of voice. Rodil seemed to listen with attention, and to +reflect a moment before replying. + +"You are right, Cordova," said he; "they may be worth keeping as +hostages; and I will delay their death till I can communicate with her +Majesty's government. Let them be strictly guarded, and sent to-morrow +to Pampeluna under good escort. Your name, sir?" said he, turning to +Herrera. + +Herrera told his name and regiment. + +"Luis Herrera," repeated Rodil; "I have heard it before, as that of a +brave and promising officer. Well, sir, since you have taken these +prisoners, you shall keep them. Yourself and a detachment of your +squadron will form part of their escort to Pampeluna." + +The flattering words of his general went but a short way towards +reconciling Luis to the unpleasant task of escorting his former friend +to a captivity which would in all probability find its termination in +a violent death. With a heavy heart he saw Villabuena and the other +prisoners led off to the house that was to serve as their place of +confinement for the night; and still more painful were his feelings, +when he thought of Rita's grief on receiving intelligence of her +father's peril, perhaps of his execution. In order to alleviate to the +utmost of his power the present position of the count, he recommended +him to the care of the officer placed on guard over him, who promised +to allow his prisoner every indulgence consistent with his safe +keeping. And although the escort duty assigned to him was in some +respects so unpleasant to fulfil, Herrera became almost reconciled to +it by the reflection, that he might be able to spare Villabuena much +of the hardship and rough treatment to which his captivity exposed +him. + +The first grey light of morning had scarcely appeared in the Lower +Amezcoa, stealing over the mountain-tops, and indistinctly shadowing +forth the objects in the plain, when the stillness that had reigned in +the valley since the conclusion of the preceding day's skirmish, was +broken by the loud and joyous clang of the reveillé. At various points +of the Christino cantonments, the brazen instruments of the cavalry, +and the more numerous, but perhaps less martially sounding, bands of +the infantry regiments, were rousing the drowsy soldiers from their +slumbers, and awakening the surrounding echoes by the wild melody of +Riego's hymn. Gradually the sky grew brighter, the last lingering +stars disappeared, the summits of the western mountains were +illuminated with a golden flush, and the banks and billows of white +mist that rested on the meadows, and hung upon the hillsides, began to +melt away and disappear at the approach of the sun's rays. In the +fields and on the roads near the different villages, the troops were +seen assembling, the men silent and heavy-eyed, but refreshed and +invigorated by the night's repose, the horses champing their bits, and +neighing with impatience. Trains of mules, laden with sacks of corn +and rations, that from their weight might be deemed sufficient load +for as many dromedaries, issued from barn and stable, expending their +superfluous strength and spirit by kicking and biting viciously at +each other, and were ranged in rear of the troops, where also carts +and litters, containing wounded men, awaited the order for departure. +The sergeant-majors called the roll of their troops and companies; +whilst the men, leaning upon their muskets, or sitting at ease in +their saddles, munched fragments of the brown ration bread, smoked the +cigarette, or received from the hands of the tawny-visaged sutlers and +_cantinieras_, who walked up and down the ranks, an antidote to the +effects of the cool morning air, in the shape of a glass of +_aguardiente_. When all preparations were completed, and the time +necessary for the forming up of so numerous a body of men had elapsed, +the order to march was given, and the troops moved off in a southerly +direction. + +Whilst this general movement took place, a detachment, consisting of +four companies of infantry, and fifty dragoons, separated itself from +the main body, and took the road to Pampeluna, whither it was to +escort Count Villabuena and his fellow captives. The country to the +north-east of the Amezcoa, through which they would have to pass, was +known to be free from Carlists, with the exception of unimportant +parties of armed peasants; Rodil himself had gone in pursuit of +Zumalacarregui, who had retired in the same direction whence he had +approached the valley; and therefore this escort, although so few in +number, was deemed amply sufficient to convey the prisoners in all +safety to their destination, to which one long day's march would bring +them. The detachment was commanded by a major of infantry--a young man +who had acquired what military experience he possessed in the ease and +sloth of a garrison life, during which, however, thanks to certain +influential recommendations, he had found promotion come so quickly +that he had not the same reason with many of his comrades to be +satisfied with the more active and dangerous service to which he had +recently been called. Inwardly congratulating himself on the change +which his present duty ensured him from the hardships of bivouacs and +bad quarters to at least a day or two's enjoyment of the fleshpots of +Pampeluna, he rode gaily along at the head of the escort, chatting and +laughing with his second in command. Behind him came Herrera and his +dragoons, and in rear of them the prisoners, on either side of whom +marched foot-soldiers with fixed bayonets. The body of infantry +brought up the rear. Strict orders had been given against conversing +with the captives; and Herrera was compelled, therefore, to abandon +the intention he had formed of endeavouring to break down the barrier +of cold reserve within which Count Villabuena had fenced himself, and +of offering such assistance and comfort as it was in his power to +give. He was forced to be contented with keeping near the prisoners, +in order to protect them from any abuse or ill-treatment on the part +of the soldiery. + +For some hours the march continued without incident or novelty to vary +its monotony. There was no high-road in the direction the escort was +taking; the way, which was shown them by a peasant, led through +country lanes, over hills, and across fields, as nearly in a straight +line as the rugged and mountainous nature of the country would allow. +Towards noon, the heat, endurable enough during the first hours of the +morning, became excessive. The musket barrels and sabre scabbards +almost burned the fingers that touched them; the coats of the horses +were caked with sweat and dust; and the men went panting along, +looking out eagerly, but in vain, for some roadside fountain or +streamlet, at which to quench the thirst that parched their mouths. +They had reached a beaten road, which, although rough and neglected, +yet afforded a better footing than they had hitherto had, when such +means of refreshment at last presented themselves. It was near the +entrance of a sort of defile formed by two irregular lines of low +hills, closing in the road, which was fringed with patches of trees +and brushwood, and with huge masses of rock that seemed to have been +placed there by the hands of the Titans, or to have rolled thither +during some mighty convulsion of nature from the distant ranges of +mountains. At a short distance from this pass, there bubbled forth +from under a moss-grown block of granite a clear and sparkling +rivulet, which, overflowing the margin of the basin it had formed for +itself, rippled across the road, and entered the opposite fields. Here +a five minutes' halt was called, the men were allowed to quit their +ranks, and in an instant they were kneeling by scores along the side +of the little stream, collecting the water in canteens and +foraging-caps, and washing their hands and faces in the pure element. +The much-needed refreshment taken, the march was resumed. + +Notwithstanding that the pass through which the prisoners and their +escort were now advancing was nearly a mile in length, and in many +places admirably adapted for a surprise, the officer in command, +either through ignorance or over-confidence, neglected the usual +precaution of sending scouts along the hills that on either side +commanded the road. This negligence struck Herrera, who knew by +experience, that, with such active and wily foes as the Carlists, no +precaution could be dispensed with, however superfluous it might seem. +Scarcely had the troops entered the defile when he suggested to the +major the propriety of sending out skirmishers to beat the thickets +and guard against an ambuscade. + +"Quite unnecessary, sir," was the reply. "There is no rebel force in +this part of the country that would venture to come within a league of +us." + +"So we are told," said Herrera; "but I have had occasion to see that +one must not always rely on such assurances." + +"I shall do so, nevertheless, in this instance," said the major. "We +have a long march before us, and if I fag the men by sending them +clambering over hills and rocks, I shall lose half of them by +straggling, and perhaps not reach Pampeluna to-night." + +"If you will allow me," said Herrera, "I will send a few of my +dragoons to do the duty. They will hardly be so effective as infantry +for such a service, but it will be better than leaving our flanks +entirely unguarded." + +"I have already told you, sir," replied the major testily, "that I +consider such precaution overstrained and unnecessary. I believe, +Lieutenant Herrera, that it is I who command this detachment." + +Thus rebuked, Herrera desisted from his remonstrances, and fell back +into his place. The march continued in all security through the wild +and dangerous defile; the men, refreshed by their momentary halt, +tramping briskly along, chattering, smoking, and singing snatches of +soldier's songs. It appeared as if the negligence of the major was +likely to be justified, as far as it could be, by the result; for they +were now within two hundred yards of the extremity of the pass, and in +view of the open country. The defile was each moment widening, and +the space between the road and the hills was filled up with a wood of +young beech and oak. Herrera himself, who had each moment been +expecting to receive a volley from some ambushed foe, was beginning to +think the danger over, when a man dressed in red uniform, with a +scarlet cap upon his head, and mounted on a white horse, suddenly +appeared at the end of the pass, and tossing his lance, which he +carried at the trail, into his bridle hand, put a trumpet that was +slung round his neck, to his mouth, and blew a loud and startling +blast. The signal, for such it was, did not long remain unanswered. A +hoarse wild shout issued from the wood on either side of the road, and +a volley of musketry resounded through the pass. In an instant the +hills were alive with Carlist soldiers, some reloading the muskets +they had just fired, others taking aim at the Christinos, or fixing +their bayonets in preparation for a closer encounter. Another minute +had scarcely elapsed, when a strong squadron of cavalry, which the +trumpeter had preceded, dashed out of the fields at the extremity of +the pass, formed column upon the road, and levelling their long light +lances, advanced, led on by Zumalacarregui himself, to charge the +astonished Christinos. + +Extreme was the confusion into which the escort was thrown by this +attack, so totally unexpected by every body but Herrera. All was +bewilderment and terror; the men stood staring at each other, or at +their dead and wounded comrades, without even thinking of defending +themselves. This state of stupefaction lasted, however, but a second; +and then the soldiers, without waiting for orders, turned back to +back, and facing the points where the Carlists had stationed +themselves, returned their fire with all the vigour and promptness +which desperation could give. The major--a really brave man, but quite +unequal to an emergency of this nature--knew not what orders to give, +or how to extricate himself and his men from the scrape into which his +own headstrong imprudence had brought them. Foreseeing no possibility +of escape from an enemy who, in numbers and advantage of position, so +far overmatched him, his next thought regarded the prisoners, and he +galloped hastily back to where they stood. The Carlists had probably +received orders concerning them; for neither they nor their immediate +escort had suffered injury from the volley that had played such havoc +with the main body of the detachment. + +"Fire on the prisoners!" shouted the major. + +The guard round Villabuena and his fellow-captives stared at their +officer without obeying. Some of them were reloading, and the others +apparently did not comprehend the strange order. + +"Fire, I say!" repeated the commandant. "By the holy cross! if we are +to leave our bones here, theirs shall whiten beside them." + +More than one musket was already turned in the direction of the doomed +captives, when Herrera, who, at the moment that he was about to lead +his dragoons to the encounter of the Carlist cavalry, just then +appearing on the road, had overheard the furious exclamation of his +superior, came galloping back to the rescue. + +"Stop!" shouted he, striking up the muzzles of the muskets. "You have +no warrant for such cruelty." + +"Traitor!" screamed the major, almost breathless with rage, and +raising his sword to make a cut at Herrera. Before, however, he could +give force to the blow, his eyes rolled frightfully, his feet left the +stirrups, and, dropping his weapon, he fell headlong into the dust. A +Carlist bullet had pierced his heart. + +"Fire at your foes, and not at defenceless prisoners," said Herrera +sternly to the dismayed soldiers. "Remember that your lives shall +answer for those of these men." + +And again placing himself at the head of the cavalry, he led them to +meet Zumalacarregui and his lancers, who were already charging down +upon them. + +But the few seconds that had been occupied in saving Villabuena and +his companions from the slaughter, had made all the difference in the +chances of success. Could Herrera have charged, as he had been about +to do, before the Carlists formed up and advanced, he might, in all +probability, owing to the greater skill of his men in the use of +their weapons, and to the superiority of their horses, have broken and +sabred his opponents, and opened the road for the Christino infantry. +Once in the plain, where the dragoons could act with advantage, the +Carlists might have been kept at bay, and a retreat effected. Now, +however, the state of affairs was very different. The lancers, with +Zumalacarregui and several of his staff charging at their head like +mere subalterns, came thundering along the road, and before Herrera +could get his dragoons into full career, the shock took place. In an +instant the way was blocked up with a confused mass of men and horses. +The rear files of the contending cavalry, unable immediately to check +their speed, pushed forward those in front, or forced them off the +road upon the strip of broken ground and brushwood on either side; +friends and foes were mingled together, cutting, thrusting, swearing, +and shouting. But the dragoons, besides encountering the lances of the +hostile cavalry, suffered terribly from the fire of the foot-soldiers, +who came down to the side of the road, blazing at them from within a +few paces, and even thrusting them off their horses with the bayonet. +In so confused a struggle, and against such odds, the superior +discipline and skill of the Christinos was of small avail. Herrera, +who, at the first moment of the encounter, had crossed swords with +Zumalacarregui himself, but who the next instant had been separated +from him by the mêlée, fought like a lion, till his right arm was +disabled by a lance-thrust. The soldier who had wounded him was about +to repeat the blow, when a Carlist officer interfered to save him. He +was made prisoner, and his men, discouraged by his loss, and reduced +already to little more than a third of their original numbers, threw +down their arms and asked for quarter. Their example was immediately +followed by those of the infantry who had escaped alive from the +murderous volleys of their opponents. + +Of all those who took part in this bloody conflict, not one bore +himself more gallantly, or did more execution amongst the enemy, than +our old acquaintance, Sergeant Velasquez. When the charge had taken +place, and the desperate fight above described commenced, he backed +his horse off the narrow road upon which the combatants were cooped +up, into a sort of nook formed by a bank and some trees. In this +advantageous position, his rear and flanks protected, he kept off all +who attacked him, replying with laugh and jeer to the furious oaths +and imprecations of his baffled antagonists. His fierce and determined +aspect, and still more the long and powerful sweep of his broad sabre, +struck terror into his assailants, who found their best aimed blows +and most furious assaults repelled, and returned with fatal effect by +the practised arm of the dragoon. At the moment that Herrera was +wounded, and the fight brought to a close, the mass of combatants had +pressed further forward into the defile, and only three or four of the +rearmost of the Carlists occupied the portion of the pass between +Velasquez and the open country. Just then a shout in his rear, and a +bullet that pierced his shako, warned the sergeant that the infantry +were upon him; and at the same moment he saw his comrades desist from +their defence. Setting spurs to his charger, he made the animal bound +forward upon the road, clove the shoulder of the nearest lancer, rode +over another, and passing unhurt through the rain of bullets that +whistled around him, galloped out of the defile. + +But, although unwounded, Velasquez was not unpursued. A dozen lancers +spurred their horses after him; and although more than half of these, +seeing that they had no chance of overtaking the well-mounted +fugitive, soon pulled up and retraced their steps, three or four still +persevered in the chase. Fortunate was it for the sergeant that the +good horse which he had lost at the venta near Tudela, had been +replaced by one of equal speed and mettle. With unabated swiftness he +scoured along the road through the whirlwind of dust raised by his +charger's feet, until the Carlists, seeing the distance between them +and the object of their pursuit rapidly increasing, gradually +abandoned the race. One man alone continued stanch, and seemed not +unlikely to overtake the dragoon. This was no other than the +sergeant's former opponent in the ball-court, Paco the muleteer, now +converted into a Carlist lancer, and who, his sharp-rowelled spurs +goring his horse's sides, his lance in his hand, his body bent forward +as though he would fain have outstripped in his eagerness the speed of +the animal he bestrode, dashed onward with headlong and reckless +violence. His lean and raw-boned but swift and vigorous horse, +scarcely felt the light weight of its rider; whilst Velasquez' +charger, in addition to the solid bulk of the dragoon, was encumbered +with a well-filled valise and heavy trappings. The distance between +pursued and pursuer was rapidly diminishing; and the sergeant, hearing +the clatter of hoofs each moment drawing nearer, looked over his +shoulder to see by how many of his enemies he was so obstinately +followed. Paco immediately recognised him, and with a shout of +exultation again drove the rowels into his horse's belly. + +"_Halto! traidor! infame!_" yelled the ex-muleteer. "Stop, coward, and +meet your death like a man!" + +His invitation was not long disregarded. Velasquez, having ascertained +that he had but a single pursuer, and that pursuer a man to whom he +owed a grudge and was by no means sorry to give a lesson, pulled up +his horse and confronted Paco, who, nothing daunted, came tearing +along, waving his lance above his head like a mad Cossack, and +shouting imprecations and defiance. As he came up, Velasquez, who had +steadily awaited his charge, parried the furious thrust that was aimed +at him, and at the same time, by a movement of leg and rein which he +had often practised in the _manège_, caused his horse to bound aside. +Unable immediately to check his steed, Paco passed onwards; but as he +did so, Velasquez dealt him a back-handed blow of his sabre, and the +unlucky Carlist fell bleeding and senseless from the saddle. His +horse, terrified at its rider's fall, galloped wildly across the +country. + +"That makes the half-dozen," said the sergeant coolly, as he looked +down on his prostrate foe; "if every one of us had done as much, the +day's work would have been better." + +And sheathing his sabre, he resumed, but at a more moderate pace, the +flight which had for a moment been interrupted. + + + + +WHITE'S THREE YEARS IN CONSTANTINOPLE. + + +The title of "_Domestic_ Manners of the Turks,"[28] given to the +volumes before us, can scarcely be considered as a correct +designation; since it is not in the privacy of their own families, in +their harems and among their children, (scenes in which it would +indeed be rash to challenge comparison with the eloquent author of the +_Spirit of the East_,) that Mr White has depicted the Turks of the +present day: but rather in the places "where men most do +congregate"--in the _bezestans_ and _tcharshys_ or markets, commonly +called bazars:[29] in the exercise of the various trades and callings, +and the intercourse of professional and commercial relations. The work +is rather a treatise on the corporate bodies and municipal +institutions of Constantinople--a subject hitherto almost untouched by +European writers, and in the investigation of which Mr White has +diligently availed himself of the opportunities afforded him by the +liberal spirit which the events of late years have fostered among the +Turks. The results of these researches are now laid before us, in a +form which, though perhaps not the most popular which might have been +adopted, is not ill calculated to embrace the vast variety of subjects +included in the range of the author's observations. Taking the +bezestans and markets--the focus of business and commerce to which the +various classes of the Stamboul population converge--as the +ground-work of his lucubrations, Mr White proceeds to enumerate in +detail the various trades and handicrafts carried on within the +precincts of these great national marts, the articles therein sold, +and the guilds or incorporated companies, to many of which extensive +privileges have been granted by the sultans for their services to the +state. These topics are diversified by numerous digressions on +politics, religion, criminal law, the imperial harem, the language of +flowers--in short, _de omnibus rebus et quibusdam aliis_--in the +course of which Mr White gives his readers the benefit of all the +miscellaneous information which has fallen in his way during his three +years' residence among the Osmanlis. Of a work so diffuse in its +nature, it is impossible to give more than an outline; and +accordingly, omitting all mention of those subjects which have been +rendered tolerably familiar to European readers by the narratives of +former travellers, we shall select from these "orient pearls," strung +most literally "at random," such topics as possess most novelty, or on +which Mr White has imparted some novel information. + +The space of ground occupied by the two great bezestans--the jewel or +arms' bezestan, and the silk bezestan--with the surrounding +_tcharshys_, and other buildings appropriated to trade, forms an +irregular quadrangle of about three hundred and fifty square yards, to +the north of the Mosque of Sultan Bajazet, and west of that of +Noor-Osmanya. "The bezestans originally consisted of isolated +buildings, each with four gates opening nearly to the cardinal points, +which were, and still are, designated after the trades carried on in +booths around or beneath their respective porches. By degrees new +shops, alleys, and enclosures clustered around the original depots, +until the whole were enclosed within walls, arched, roofed, and +provided with lock-up gates and posterns, of which there are twelve +large and about twenty small. They were then subjected to the same +syndical laws that regulate the police and administration of the +parent buildings." They are opened soon after dawn, and closed at +afternoon prayer; and the same regulations are observed at the _Missr +Tcharshy_, or Egyptian drug-market, hereafter to be noticed. The +jewel bezestan alone shuts at mid-day--the former occupants having +been principally janissaries, who held it beneath their dignity to +keep their shops open all day; on Fridays they are closed; and, during +Ramazan, are open only from mid-day to afternoon prayer. The silk +bezestan, being tenanted only by Armenians, is closed on Sundays, and +the saints' days of their calendar, amounting to nearly a fourth of +the year. "With the exception of the two bezestans, the bazars are not +surmounted by domes, the distinctive ornament of almost all public +edifices; ... so that the whole surface, when seen from the Serasker's +Tower, presents a vast area of tiles, without any architectural +relief, and exhibits a monotonous vacuum in the midst of the +surrounding noble mosques and lofty khans." + +The Jewel or Arms' Bezestan (Djevahir or Silah-Bezestany) is the +oldest of these establishments, dating from the time of the conquest +by Mahommed II.; but, having been repeatedly destroyed by fire, the +present edifice of stone was constructed in 1708. It is a lofty oblong +quadrangular building, with fifteen cupolas and four arched gates--the +booksellers', the goldsmiths', the mercers', and the beltmakers'. The +interior consists of a broad alley, intersected by four transverse +alleys with double rows of shops, where the dealers, who are all +Moslems, sit on platforms raised about three feet and a half from the +pavement. They constitute a guild among themselves, presided over by a +sheikh, with a deputy and six elders; and are so highly esteemed for +their probity, that valuable deposits are frequently left in their +charge by persons going on pilgrimage or to distant countries; but +this privilege has lately been interfered with by government, which +has claimed, in failure of heirs, the reversions which formerly fell +to the guild. "It would be an endless task to describe the articles +exposed to sale in Djevahir-Bezestany, which, from jewels being rarely +sold there at present, might be more appropriately called the bezestan +of antiquities." The principal objects of attraction, especially to +foreigners, are the arms, to which Mr White accordingly confines his +remarks: but the once famed Damascus sabres (called _Sham_ or Syrian) +are now held as inferior to those of Khorassan and Persia, (_Taban_ or +polished,) unless anterior to the destruction of the old manufactory +by Timour in 1400; and those of this ancient fabric are now of extreme +rarity and value. "A full-sized Khorassan, or ancient Damascus sabre, +should measure about thirty-five inches from guard to point; the back +should be free from flaws, the watering even and distinct throughout +the whole length: the colour a bluish grey. A perfect sabre should +possess what the Turks call the Kirk Merdevend, (forty gradations:) +that is, the blade should consist of forty compartments of watered +circles, diminishing in diameter as they reach the point. A tolerable +_taban_ of this kind, with plain scabbard and horn handle, is not +easily purchased for less than 2000 piastres; some fetch as much as +5000, and when recognised as extraordinary, there is no limit to the +price. Damascus sabres made prior to 1600 are seldom seen, but modern +blades of less pure temper and lighter colour are common. Their form +is nearly similar to the Khorassan; but the latter, when of +extraordinary temper, will cut through the former like a knife through +a bean-stalk." The shorter swords of bright steel called _pala_, +watered not in circles, but in waving lines, are mostly from the +manufactory established at Stamboul by Mahommed II. soon after the +conquest, and which maintained its celebrity up to the time of Mourad +IV., the last sultan who headed his armies in person:--"After his +death, the fashion of wearing Khorassan and old Syrian blades was +revived: and the Stamboul manufactory was gradually neglected." + +It is needless to follow Mr White through his dissertations on +handjars, yataghans, and other Oriental varieties of cold steel; but +passing through the booksellers' (Sahhaf) gate of the bezestan, we +find ourselves in the Paternoster Row of Stamboul--a short space +exclusively inhabited by the trade from which the gate derives its +name. The booksellers' guild consists of about forty members, presided +over by a sheikh and a council of elders; and is conducted on +principles as rigidly exclusive as those of some corporations nearer +home, it being almost impossible for any one to purchase the good-will +of a shop, unless connected by blood with some of the fraternity: but +Mr White's account of "the trade," and of the bearded Murrays and +Colburns by whom it is carried on, is far from favourable. Competition +being excluded by this monopoly, the prices demanded are so +exorbitant, "that it is common to say of a close-fisted dealer, 'he is +worse than a sahhaf.' The booksellers' stalls are the meanest in +appearance in all the bazars; and the effendy, who lord it over the +literary treasures, are the least prepossessing, and by no means the +most obliging, of the crafts within this vast emporium." There are +some exceptions, however, to this sweeping censure. Suleiman Effendi, +father of the imperial historiographer, Sheikh-Zadeh Assad Effendi, is +celebrated as a philologist; and Hadji-Effendi, though blind, "appears +as expert in discovering the merits of a MS. or printed work as the +most eagle-eyed of his contemporaries, and is moreover full of +literary and scientific information." Catalogues are unknown, and the +price even of printed books, after they have passed out of the hands +of the editor, is perfectly arbitrary; but the commonest printed books +are double the relative rate in Europe. The value of MSS. of course +depends on their rarity and beauty of transcription; a finely +illuminated Koran cannot be procured for less than 5000 or 6000 +piastres, and those written by celebrated caligraphers fetch from +25,000 to even 50,000. Mr White estimates the average number of +volumes on a stall at about 700, or less than 30,000 in the whole +bazar; but among these are frequently found works of great rarity in +the "three languages," (Arabic, Persian, and Turkish.) Of those most +in request, a catalogue is given, comprising the usual range of +Oriental literature. + +There are about forty public libraries in Constantinople, but many of +these are within the principal mosques, and therefore not easily +accessible to Europeans. They are all endowed with ample funds for +their maintenance and the salaries of their librarians, who frequently +add considerably to their emoluments by transcribing MSS:--"but it +does not appear that these funds are employed in adding to these +collections; so that in point of numbers they remain nearly as when +first founded." Each library has not only a simple nomenclature, but a +_catalogue raisonnée_ containing a summary of each work; and the +books, most of which are transcribed on vellum or highly glazed paper, +are bound in the manner of a tuck pocket-book, in dark morocco or +calf, with the titles written on the outside of the margin, and are +laid on their sides on the shelves. The floors are covered with mats, +and on one or more sides are low divans for the use of the students, +who leave their slippers at the door; a narrow desk in front of the +divans supports the volumes in use. Neither fire, candle, nor smoking, +is permitted; and the libraries in general are open daily, except on +Friday, and during Ramazan and the two Beirams, from about 9 A.M. to +afternoon prayer; those present at the time of mid-day prayer, quit +their studies and perform their devotions in common. + +Many of the most valuable and costly of the illuminated MSS. are in +the two libraries of the seraglio, the larger of which, containing at +present 4400 volumes, is the most extensive collection of books in +Constantinople: but they can scarcely be reckoned among the public +libraries, as admission to them is obtained with difficulty, and only +by special permission, even by Moslems. Besides the MSS. in the great +seraglio library, among the most valuable of which is a magnificent +copy of the Arabic poem of Antar, and another of the Gulistan, the +great moral poem of Saadi, there is a canvass genealogical tree, +containing portraits of all the sovereigns of the house of Osman, from +originals preserved in the sultan's private library. Next in +importance is the library of the mosque of Aya Sofia (St Sophia,) +founded by Mohammed the Conqueror, which is rich in valuable MSS. and +contains a Koran said to have been written by the hand of the Khalif +Ali, the son-in-law of the Prophet: another attributed to the same +source, as well as one ascribed to the Khalif Omar, are in the library +of Osman III., attached to the beautiful mosque of Noor-Osmanya. But +the most interesting of the public libraries, though the number of its +volumes does not exceed sixteen hundred, is that of the grand-vizir +Raghib Pasha, a celebrated patron of learning in the middle of the +last century. It stands in an enclosed court, which also contains a +free school, fountains, and the monuments of the founder and his +family. The library itself is a lofty square chamber, with a central +dome and four semi-domes, supported by marble columns, and round the +apartment "runs a complete and most correct version of the celebrated +Boorda of the poet Keab," (a poem composed in honour of Mohammed by an +Arab contemporary,) "in gold letters, fourteen inches long, on a green +ground, forming an original and brilliant embellishment." Its contents +include some of the richest and rarest specimens of Persian and Arabic +caligraphy; and the founder's note-book, with a copy of his divan, +(poetical works,) is also exhibited: "the former proves that he was +not unaccomplished as a draughtsman and architect.... There is a +lightness and elegance in this building which renders it superior to +all others: but he survived its foundation only three years. His +remains are deposited in the north-east angle of the court, on an +elevated terrace, beneath open marble canopy, protected by a wirework +trellis. This, with the roses and myrtles, and the figs, vines, +pomegranates, and cypresses, that cast their shade around, gives it +the appearance of a noble aviary, more than that of a repository for +the dead: and the doves that nestle in the overhanging branches, and +fill the air with their querulous notes, add to the delusion." + +The total number of volumes in all the public libraries is believed +not to exceed 75,000, of which at least a fourth are duplicates; "it +must be remembered, however, that, with a few modern exceptions, the +whole are MSS. admirably transcribed, elaborately embellished: and +thus, taking one volume with another, the sums paid for each work far +exceed the average price of rare printed editions in Europe." Besides +these stores of Oriental lore, the library of the medical academy +established by Mahmood II. in the palace of Galata Serai, contains +several hundred volumes of the best French medical works, which the +professors are allowed to carry to their own apartments--a privilege +not allowed in any other library. The art of printing was first +introduced in 1726, by a Hungarian renegade named Ibrahim, (known as +_Basmadji_, or the printer,) who was patronised by the Sultan Achmet +III;--but the establishment languished after his death; and though +revived in 1784 by Sultan Abdoul Hamid, it was only after the +destruction of the janissaries, the enemies of every innovation, that +the press began to exhibit any thing like activity. At present there +are four imperial printing establishments; and the types, which were +formerly cast in Venice, being now manufactured in Stamboul, a marked +improvement has taken place in the character. Though the Koran, and +all religious and doctrinal works, are still transcribed exclusively +by hand, the art of printing is regarded with great jealousy by the +booksellers, who hold that "presses are made from the calcined wood of +Al-Zacum, the dread tree of the lowest pit; while transcribers have +their seats near the gate of the seventh heaven." The newspaper press +of Stamboul is still in its infancy--for though the _Takwim_, or +_Moniteur Ottoman_, established in 1831 by Mahmood II. as an official +gazette, was conducted with considerable ability by the original +editor, M. Blaque, and his successor M. Francesschi, the sudden death +of both these gentlemen, within a short period of each other, awakened +strong suspicions of foul play; and the French translation, published +for European circulation, has since sunk into a mere transcript of the +Turkish original, which consists of little but official announcements. +Several attempts made, by Mr Churchill and others, to establish a +non-official paper for the advocacy of Turkish interests, have been +smothered after a brief existence, by the jealousy of Russia and +France: "the result is, that the _Moniteur_ is a dull court-circular, +and the Smyrna journals, abandoned to chance communications, are +neither prompt nor exact in circulating or detailing events."[30] + +The spread of literary cultivation among the Turks of the present day, +and the European education which many of the rising generation have +received, has naturally led to a taste for European literature; and +many possess libraries stored not only with the lore of the East, but +with the choicest treasures of the French and English classics. Ali +Effendi, late ambassador from the Porte to the court of St James's, is +well known to have collected a most extensive and valuable library +during his residence in the regions of the West; and Mr White +enumerates several young Osmanlis distinguished for their +accomplishments in the literature and science of the Franks. Emin +Pasha, the director of the Imperial Military Academy, and Bekir Pasha, +late superintendent of the small-arm manufactory at Dolma-Baktchi, +were both educated in England, the latter at Woolwich and the former +at Cambridge, where he gained a prize for his mathematical +attainments. Fouad Effendi, son of the celebrated poet Izzet-Mollah, +and himself a poet of no small note, "possesses a choice library of +some 2000 volumes, in French, English, and Italian;" and Derwish +Effendi, professor of natural history in the academy of Galata Serai, +"has studied in France and England, and is not less esteemed for his +knowledge than for his modesty." But foremost among this _Tugenbund_, +the future hopes of Turkey, stands one whose name has already appeared +in the pages of _Maga_, (Sept. 1841, p. 304,) Achmet Wekif Effendi, +now third dragoman to the Porte, and son of Rouh-ed-deen Effendi, late +Secretary of Legation at Vienna, whom Mr White pronounces, with +justice, "one of the most rising and enlightened young men of the +Turkish empire. His knowledge of the French language is perfect, and +he adds to this an intimate acquaintance with the literature of that +country and of England." While men like these (and we could add other +names to those enumerated by Mr White, from our personal knowledge) +are in training for the future administration of the empire, there is +yet hope of the regeneration of the Osmanli nation. + +In no country is primary instruction more general than in Turkey. Each +of the smaller mosques has attached to it an elementary school, +superintended by the imam, where the children of the lower classes are +taught to read and write, and to repeat the Koran by heart; while +those intended for the liberal professions undergo a long and +laborious course of study at the medressehs or colleges of the great +mosques, some of which are intended to train youth in general +literature, or qualify them for government employments, while others +are devoted to the study of theology and jurisprudence. Mr White +states the number of students in Stamboul, in 1843, at not less than +5000, all of whom were lodged, instructed, and furnished with one meal +a-day, at the expense of the _wakoof_ or foundation, (a term which we +shall hereafter more fully explain,) all their other expenses being at +their own charge; but "the sallow complexions and exhausted appearance +of these young men indicate intense labour, or most limited commons." + +After thus successfully vindicating the Turks from the charge so often +brought against them by travellers who have only spent a few weeks at +Pera, of ignorance and indifference to knowledge, Mr White thus sums +up the general question of education. "For ten men that _can_ read +among Perotes and Fanariotes, there are an equal number that _do_ read +at Constantinople; and, taking the mass of the better classes +indiscriminately, it will be found also that there are more libraries +of useful books in Turkish houses than in those of Greeks and +Armenians." And though "the number of Turkish ladies that can read is +much less than those of Pera and the Fanar, those who can read among +the former never open a bad book; while among the latter there is +scarcely one that ever reads a good work, unless it be the catechism +or breviary on certain forced occasions. And while neither Greek nor +Armenian women occupy themselves with literature, Constantinople can +boast of more than one female author. Among the most celebrated of +these is Laila Khanum, niece to the above-mentioned Izzet-Mollah. Her +poems are principally satirical, and she is held in great dread by her +sex, who tremble at her cutting pen. Her _divan_ (collection of poems) +has been printed, and amounts to three volumes. Laila Khanum is also +famed for her songs, which are set to music, and highly popular. +Hassena Khanum, wife of the Hakim Bashy, (chief physician,) is +likewise renowned for the purity and elegance of her style as a +letter-writer, which entitles her to the appellation of the Turkish +Sevigné." + +But we must again diverge, in following Mr White's desultory steps, +from the Turkish fair ones--whom he has so satisfactorily cleared from +Lord Byron's imputation, that + + "They cannot read, and so don't lisp in criticism; + Nor write, and so they don't affect the muse--" + +to his dissertation on the _wakoofs_ above referred to;--a word +implying a deposit or mortgage, and used to designate a species of +tenure under which the greater part of the landed property throughout +the empire is held, and the nature of which is but imperfectly +understood in Europe. These institutions have existed from the +earliest period of Islam; but nowhere to so great an extent as in the +Ottoman empire; where they were divided by Soliman the Magnificent +into three classes, all alike held sacred, and exempt from +confiscation either by the sovereign or courts of law. The first class +comprises the lands or funds absolutely bequeathed to the mosques +either by founders or subsequent benefactors, the revenues of which +are employed in the payment of the imams, khatibs, and other ministers +of religion attached to their service, and to the gratuitous +maintenance of the colleges and hospitals dependent on them; and which +are in all cases amply sufficient for these purposes. "No demands in +the shape of tithes, collections, or entrance-money, are ever made: +the doors of all temples are open to the public without distinction:" +and although the imam usually receives a fee for marriages, +name-givings, circumcisions, and funerals, no demand can be legally +made. The author proceeds to enumerate the endowments in 1842, as +nearly as they could be ascertained, of the seventeen mosques in the +capital entitled to rank as imperial foundations--the richest being +that of Aya-Sofia, amounting to 1,500,000 piastres annually, while the +others vary from 710,000 to 100,000 piastres. The ecclesiastical staff +of an imperial mosque comprehends in general from thirty to forty +persons--the sheikh, who preaches after mid-day prayer on Friday, and +who is a member of the superior ecclesiastical synod, with rank and +privileges nearly similar to those of our bishops:--two or more +khatibs, who recite the khotbah, or prayer for the Prophet and +sultan:--four imams, who alternately read prayers:--twelve to twenty +muezzins, who call to prayers from the minarets:--with fifteen to +twenty subordinate functionaries. The finances of each of the mosques +are regulated by a _nazir_ (inspector) and _mutawelly_, (accountant,) +who are bound by law to render half-yearly statements; and these +offices, lucrative from the opportunities they afford for +malversation, are usually held for life by the holders for the time +being of high official stations, or sometimes by the heirs of the +founders, who thus secure their lands from forfeiture or confiscation; +or by persons to whom they have been bequeathed, with power to +nominate their successors. The annual revenues of the imperial mosques +being triple their expenditure, the wakoof fund has been often +encroached upon by the Sultan, nominally as a loan under the warrant +of the minister of finance, who checks the accounts of the imperial +nazir; and by these not unfrequent inroads, as well as by the +peculations of the superintendents, the accumulations, though great, +are not so enormous as they would otherwise become. + +The second class comprises the funds devoted to the maintenance of +public baths, libraries, fountains, alms-houses, and of useful and +charitable institutions in general. They are frequently charged with +annuities to the representatives of the founder; and in all +foundations for gratuitous education, or distribution of alms or food, +founders' kin have the preference. They are all registered in the +treasury; but the foundation is invalidated if the property assigned +for its support be encumbered by mortgages or other obligations:--nor +can any one labouring under an incurable disease convert freehold +property into wakoof except as a testator, in which case the +inalienable rights of the heirs to two-thirds of the property are +secured:--a third part only, according to law, being otherwise +disposable by will. The third class of wakoofs (called _ady_ or +customary, the others being termed _shary_ or legal, as sanctioned by +religious law) are considered as secular foundations, consisting of +lands purchased by the religious wakoofs from their accumulations, on +reversion at the death of the assigner, or failure of his direct +heirs, for an inconsiderable portion of their value, leaving to the +vendors in the interim the full enjoyment of the property, which is +frequently continued to their nephews and brothers on the same terms. +"At first this plan was not considered lucrative for the wakoofs: but +when the system was widely extended, the multitude of assignments, +which fell in every year from death and default of issue, soon crowned +the speculation with success, in a country where the tenure of life is +eminently uncertain, not only from the caprices of sultans, but from +the constant ravages of plague.... The advantages to sellers were +equally great. They secured themselves from confiscation, and their +heirs from spoliation at their demise. They were enabled to raise +money to the value of a sixth or eighth of their capital, on payment +of a trifling interest, and yet retained the full enjoyment of the +whole for themselves and immediate issue. By founding these wakoofs, +sellers are also enabled to check the extravagance of their children, +who can neither mortgage nor alienate the property--a practice nearly +as common in Turkey as in other countries." + +Not less than three-fourths of the buildings and cultivated lands +throughout the empire, according to the author, and even the imperial +domains, are held under one or other of these wakoof tenures, which +thus represent the great landed interests of the country. Formerly, +the domains belonging to the mosques in each pashalik were let on +annual leases (as the public revenues are still farmed) to _multezim_ +or contractors, generally the pashas of the provinces: but the system +of subletting and dilapidation to which this course of short leases +gave rise, was so ruinous to the agricultural population and the +property of the wakoofs, that a thorough reform was introduced in the +reign of Abdoul-Hamid, the father of Mahmood II. The lands were now +let on life tenancies, (_malikania_,) on the same system of beneficial +leases and large fines on renewals which prevails with respect to the +property of collegiate and other corporate bodies in England; which +has greatly improved their condition, as it is no longer the interest +of the lessee to rack the peasantry, or damage the property, for the +sake of present advantage. "More than one monarch has entertained +projects of dispossessing the mosques of these privileges, and of +placing the wakoofya under the exclusive superintendence of +government. Sultan Mahmood II. seriously contemplated carrying this +plan into effect, and probably would have done so, had his life been +spared. The government in this case would have paid the salaries of +all sheikhs, priests, and persons attached to the sacred edifices, +together with all repairs and expenses of their dependent +institutions, and would have converted the surplus to state purposes. +Various plans were suggested to Mahmood's predecessors; but during the +existence of the janissaries, no one dared to interfere with +institutions whence the Oolema, (men of law and religion,) intimately +connected with the janissaries, derived invariable profit." + +Returning at length from this long digression to the jewel bezestan, +and passing from the south-eastern, or mercers' gate, "through lines +of shops stored with a variety of ready-made articles required by +ladies," we reach the Silk Bezestan, (Sandal Bezestany,) which, like +the other, has four arched gates named after different trades, and is +surmounted by twenty domes, four in a line. Though occupied solely by +Armenians, and regulated by a committee of six Armenian elders, it is +directed by a Turkish kehaya or president, with his deputy, whose duty +it is to superintend the police and collect the government dues. The +scene presented by the interior presents a striking contrast to the +other, and (we regret to say) not at all to the advantage of the +Christians. "The building is gloomy and badly lighted, and appears not +to have been white-washed or cleansed since the first construction; +and while a stranger may repeatedly enter the jewel bezestan, and its +tenants, though they see him gazing with covetous eyes on some +antiquated object, will scarcely condescend to say 'Né istersiniz?' +(what want you?) ... the clamours of the Armenians to attract +purchasers are only to be surpassed by their want of honesty. +Strangers may often pay too much to Turkish shopkeepers, but they will +receive fair weight to a hair: whereas they will be subject not only +to overcharge, but to short quantity, at the hands of the Armeninians +and their more profligate imitators, the Greek dealers." The original +silk manufactories were established before the conquest of +Constantinople at the old capital of Broussa, whence most of the raw +material is still derived, the abundance of mulberry trees in its +neighbourhood being favourable to the nurture of the silkworm; little +Broussa silk is, however, now sold in the sandal bezestany, the +manufacture being principally carried on along the shores of the +Bosphorus. "But within the last ten years, and especially since the +conclusion of commercial treaties with the Porte, the silk trade in +home-made articles has decreased 50 per cent. A large supply of common +imitation goods is now received from England, France, and Italy, and +the richer articles, principally manufactured at Lyons, have +completely superseded those formerly received from Broussa, or +fabricated at Scutari and Constantinople." + +The trade in furs, as well as that in silk, is entirely in the hands +of the Armenians, but has greatly fallen off since the European dress, +now worn by the court and the official personages, replaced the old +Turkish costume. In former times, the quality of the fur worn by +different ranks, and at different seasons of the year, was a matter of +strict etiquette, regulated by the example of the sultan, who, on a +day previously fixed by the imperial astrologer, repaired in state to +the mosque arrayed in furs, varying from the squirrel or red fox, +assumed at the beginning of autumn, to the samoor or sable worn during +the depth of winter; while all ranks of persons in office changed +their furs, on the same day with the monarch, for those appropriated +to their respective grades. The most costly were those of the black +fox and sable, the former of which was restricted, unless by special +permission, to the use of royalty: while sable was reserved for vizirs +and pashas of the highest rank. The price of these furs, indeed, +placed them beyond the reach of ordinary purchasers, 15,000 or 20,000 +piastres being no unusual price for a sable lined pelisse, while black +fox cost twice as much. In the present day the _kurk_ or pelisse is +never worn by civil or military functionaries, except in private: but +it still continues in general use among the sheikhs and men of the +law, "who may be seen mounted on fat ambling galloways, with richly +embroidered saddle-cloths and embossed bridles, attired in kurks faced +with sables, in all the pomp of ancient times." The kurk is, moreover, +in harem etiquette, the recognised symbol of matronly rank:--and its +assumption by a Circassian is a significant intimation to the other +inmates of the position she has assumed as the favourite of their +master. The same rule extends to the imperial palace, where the +elevation of a fair slave to the rank of _kadinn_ (the title given to +the partners of the sultan) is announced to her, by her receiving a +pelisse lined with sables from the _ket-khoda_ or mistress of the +palace, the principal of the seven great female officers to whom is +entrusted the management of all matters connected with the harem. The +imperial favourites are limited by law to seven, but this number is +seldom complete; the present sultan has hitherto raised only five to +this rank, one of whom died of consumption in 1842. These ladies are +now always Circassian slaves, and though never manumitted, have each +their separate establishments, suites of apartments, and female slaves +acting as ladies of honour, &c. Their slipper, or (as we should call +it) pin money, is about 25,000 piastres (£240) monthly--their other +expenses being defrayed by the sultan's treasurer. Mr White enters +into considerable detail on the interior arrangements of the seraglio, +the private life of the sultan, &c.; but as it does not appear from +what sources his information is derived, we shall maintain an Oriental +reserve on these subjects. + +The slave-markets and condition of slaves in the East is treated at +considerable length: but as the erroneous notions formerly entertained +have been in a great measure dispelled by more correct views obtained +by modern travellers, it is sufficient to observe, that "the laws and +customs relative to the treatment of slaves in Turkey divest their +condition of its worst features, and place the slave nearly on a level +with the free servitor: nay, in many instances the condition of the +slave, especially of white slaves, is superior to the other; as the +path of honour and fortune is more accessible to the dependent and +protected slave than to the independent man of lower degree." It is +well known that many of those holding the highest dignities of the +state--Halil Pasha, brother-in-law of the Sultan--Khosref, who for +many years virtually ruled the empire, with numberless others, were +originally slaves: and in all cases the liberation of male slaves, +after seven or nine years' servitude, is ordained by _adet_ or custom, +which, in Turkey, is stronger than law. This rule is rarely +infringed:--and excepting the slaves of men in the middle ranks of +life, who frequently adopt their master's trade, and are employed by +him as workmen, they in most cases become domestic servants, or enter +the army, as holding out the greatest prospect of honour and +promotion. The condition of white female slaves is even more +favourable. In point of dress and equipment, they are on a par with +their mistresses, the menial offices in all great harems being +performed by negresses;--and frequent instances occur, where parents +prefer slaves educated in their own families to free women as wives +for their sons:--the only distinction being in the title of _kadinn_, +which may be considered equivalent to _madame_, and which is always +borne by these emancipated slaves, instead of _khanum_, (or _lady_,) +used by women of free birth. Female slaves are rarely sold or parted +with, except for extreme misconduct; and though it is customary for +their masters, in the event of their becoming mothers, to enfranchise +and marry them, "the facility of divorce is such, that women, if +mothers, prefer remaining slaves to being legally married: as they are +aware that custom prevents their being sold when in the former +condition: whereas their having a family is no bar to divorce when +married." + +The guilds, or corporations of the different trades and professions, +to which allusion has more than once been made, and which constitute +what may be called the municipality of Constantinople, were formerly +mustered and paraded through the city, on every occasion when the +Sandjak-Shereef (or holy banner of Mahommed) was taken from the +seraglio to accompany the army. This gathering, the object of which +was to ascertain the number of men who could be levied in case of +extremity for the defence of the capital, was first ordained by Mourad +IV.,[31] before his march against Bagdad in 1638; when, according to +Evliya Effendi, 200,000 men fit to bear arms passed in review--and the +last muster was in the reign of Mustapha III., at the commencement of +the disastrous war with Russia in 1769. Its subsequent discontinuance +is said to have been owing to an insult then offered by the guild of +_emirs_ (or descendants of the Prophet) to the Austrian Internuncio, +who was detected in witnessing incognito the procession of the +Sandjak-Shereef, deemed too sacred for the eyes of an infidel--and a +tumult ensued, in which many Christians were maltreated and murdered, +and which had nearly led to a rupture with the court of Vienna. On +this occasion the number of guilds was forty-six, subdivided into 554 +minor sections; and, excepting the disappearance of those more +immediately connected with the janissaries, it is probable that little +or no change has since taken place. These guilds included not only the +handicraft and other trades, but the physicians and other learned +professions, and even the _Oolemah_ and imams, and others connected +with the mosques. Each marched with its own badges and ensigns, headed +by its own officers, of whom there were seven of the first grade, with +their deputies and subordinates, all elected by the crafts, and +entrusted with the control of its affairs, subject to the approbation +of a council of delegates: while the property of these corporations is +invariably secured by being made _wakoof_, the nature of which has +been already explained. The shoemakers', saddlers', and tanners' +guilds are among the strongest in point of numbers, and from them were +drawn the _élite_ of the janissaries stationed in the capital, after +the cruel system of seizing Christian children for recruits had been +discontinued; the tailors are also a numerous and resolute craft, +generally well affected to government, to which they rendered +important services in the overthrow of the janissaries in 1826, when +the Sandjak-Shereef[32] was displayed in pursuance of the _Fethwa_ of +the mufti excommunicating the sons of Hadji-Bektash, and the guilds +mustered in arms by thousands for the support of the Sheikh al Islam +and the Commander of the Faithful. + +Among these fraternities, one of the most numerous is that of the +_kayikjees_ or boatmen, of whom there are not fewer than 19,000, +mostly Turks, in the city and its suburbs; while 5000 more, nearly all +of whom are Greeks, are found in the villages of the Bosphorus. They +are all registered in the books of the _kayikjee-bashi_, or chief of +the boatmen, paying each eight piastres monthly (or twice as much if +unmarried) for their _teskera_ or license: and cannot remove from the +stations assigned them without giving notice. The skill and activity +of these men, in the management of their light and apparently fragile +skiffs, has been celebrated by almost every tourist who has floated on +the waters of the Golden Horn and the Bosphorus: and not less precise +is the accuracy with which is adjusted the number of oars to be +employed by the members of the European _corps diplomatique_, and the +great officers of the Porte, according to their relative ranks; the +smallest infringement of which would be regarded as an unpardonable +breach of etiquette. The oars and mouldings are painted of the +national colours, with the hulls white or black; the latter colour is +usually affected by the Turkish grandees, with the exception of the +capitan-pasha, who is alone privileged to use a green boat. +Ambassadors-extraordinary are entitled to ten oars; and the same +number is assigned to the grand-vizir, the mufti, and ministers +holding the rank of _mushir_, or marshal, the highest degree in the +new scale of Ottoman precedence. Pashas of the second rank, the +_cazi-askers_ or grand judges of Anatolia and Roumelia, with other +functionaries of equivalent grade, are allowed eight oars, the number +employed by the Austrian Internuncio, and by ministers-plenipotentiary; +while three or five pair of sculls are allotted to _chargés +d'affaires_, and the heads of different departments at the Porte. The +procession of the sultan, when he proceeds to the mosque by water, +consists of six kayiks, the largest of which is seventy-eight feet in +length, and pulled by twenty-four rowers--under the old _régime_ the +crew was taken from the bostandjis, whose chief, the bostandji-bashi, +held the helm; but since the abolition of that corps, they have been +chosen, without distinction of creed, from the common boatmen. The +imperial barge is distinguished, independent of its superior size, by +the gold-embroidered canopy of crimson silk, surmounted by crescents +at the stern; it is painted white within and without, with rich gilt +mouldings, under which runs a broad external green border, ornamented +with gilded arabesques. The oars are painted white, with gold scrolls; +the stern is adorned with massive gilt carvings; and the long +projecting prow with a richly-gilded ornament, representing a +palm-branch curling upwards. Behind this flutters a gilded falcon, the +emblem of the house of Osman. The carvings and ornaments of these +boats are elaborately finished, and exquisitely light and graceful. +These embellishments, combined with the loose white dresses, +blue-tasselled red caps, and muscular forms of the boatmen, as they +rise from their seats, vigorously plunge their oars into the dark blue +waters, and propel the kayiks with racehorse speed, give to these +splendid vessels an air of majesty and brilliancy, not less +characteristic than original and imposing. + +Many instances have occurred, in which men have risen from the class +of boatmen to stations of high honour and dignity; the most recent +instance of which was in the case of the arch-traitor Achmet Fevzy +Pasha, who, in 1839, betrayed the Ottoman fleet under his command into +the hands of Mohammed Ali--a deed of unparalleled perfidy, for which +he righteously received a traitor's reward, perishing in January 1843 +(as was generally believed) by poison administered by the orders of +the Egyptian Viceroy. The kayikjees, as a class, are generally +considered, in point of personal advantages, the finest body of men in +the empire; and share with the _sakkas_, or water-carriers--another +numerous and powerful guild, equally remarkable with the kayikjees for +their symmetry and athletic proportions--the dangerous reputation of +being distinguished favourites of the fair sex--doubly dangerous in a +country where, in such cases, "the cord or scimitar is the doom of the +stronger sex--the deep sea-bed that of the weaker. Money will +counterbalance all crimes in Turkey save female frailty. For this +neither religious law nor social customs admit atonement. Tears, +beauty, youth, gold--untold gold--are of no avail. The fish of the +Bosphorus and Propontis could disclose fearful secrets, even in our +days:"--and as a natural transition, apparently, from cause to effect, +Mr White proceeds, in the next chapter, to give an account of the +Balyk-Bazary, the Billingsgate of Stamboul. But we shall not follow +him through his enumeration of such a carte as throws the glories of a +Blackwall dinner into dim eclipse, and which no other waters of Europe +could probably rival:--since, in Mr White's usual course of digression +upon digression, the mention of the Fishmarket Gate, the usual place +of executions, leads him off again at a tangent to the consideration +of the criminal law, and its present administration in the Ottoman +Empire. + +There is no change among those wrought since the introduction of the +new system, more calculated forcibly to impress those who had known +Constantinople in former years, than the almost total cessation of +those public executions, the sanguinary frequency of which formed so +obtrusive and revolting a feature under the old _régime_. Since the +fate of the unfortunate Pertef Pasha in 1837, no one has suffered +death for political offences:--and the abolition by Sultan Mahmoud, +immediately after the destruction of the janissaries, of the +_Moukhallafat Kalemy_, or Court of Confiscations, put an end to the +atrocious system which had for centuries made wealth a sufficient +pretext for the murder of its possessors. In all cases of banishment +or condemnation to death, however arbitrary, confiscation of property +inevitably followed: but the wealthy Armenians and Greeks were usually +selected as the victims of these ruthless deeds of despotism and +rapacity; numerous records of which may be seen in the Christian +burying-grounds, where the rudely-carved figure of a headless trunk, +or a hanging man, indicates the fate of the sufferer. But the humane +and politic act of Mahmoud, which rendered riches no longer a crime, +has produced its natural effects in the impulse which has been given +to commercial activity and public confidence by the security thus +afforded to life and property. "The government finds the Armenians +willing to advance money in case of need; and there is scarcely a +pasha of rank who has not recourse to their assistance, which is the +more readily afforded, as the Armenians are aware that their debtors' +lives and property, as well as their own, are secure, and that they +shall not endure extreme persecution in the event of suing those on +whom they have claims." + +In criminal cases, the administration of justice by the Moslem law +appears at all times to have been tempered by lenity; and the extreme +repugnance of the present sultan to sign death-warrants, even in cases +which in this country would be considered as amounting to wilful +murder, has rendered capital punishments extremely rare: while the +horrible death by impalement, and the amputation of the hand for +theft, have fallen into complete disuse. Offences are tried, in the +first instance, in the court of the Cazi-asker or grand judge of +Roumelia or Anatolia, according as the crime has been committed in +Europe or Asia: from this tribunal an appeal lies to the Supreme +Council of justice, the decisions of which require to be further +ratified by the Mufti. The _procès-verbal_ of two of the cases above +referred to, is given at length; in one of which the murderer escaped +condign punishment only because the extreme youth of the only +eye-witness, a slave, nine years old, prevented his testimony from +being received otherwise than as _circumstantial_ evidence:--in the +other, "it being essential to make a lasting and impressive public +example, it was resolved that the criminals should not be put to +death, but condemned to such ignominious public chastisement as might +serve during many years as a warning to others." The sentence in the +former case was ten, and in the latter, seven years' public labour in +heavy irons--a punishment of extreme severity, frequently terminating +in the death of the convict. Nafiz Bey, the principal offender in the +second of the above cases, did not survive his sentence more than +twenty months. "On examining a multitude of condemnations for crimes +of magnitude, the maximum average, when death was not awarded, was +seven years' hard labour in chains, and fine, for which the convict is +subsequently imprisoned as a simple debtor till the sum is paid. The +average punishment for theft, robbery, assault, and slightly wounding, +is three years' hard labour, with costs and damages. These sentences +(of which several examples are given) were referred, according to +established forms, from the local tribunals to the supreme council: +and before being carried into effect, were legalized by a _fethwa_ +(decree) of the Sheikh-Islam, (Mufti,) and after that by the sultan's +warrant; a process affording a triple advantage to the accused, each +reference serving as an appeal." + +The exclusive jurisdiction over the subjects of their own nation, +exercised by the legations of the different European powers in virtue +of capitulations with the Porte, was doubtless at one time necessary +for the protection of foreigners from the arbitrary proceedings of +Turkish despotism; it has, however, given rise to great abuses, and at +the present day its practical effect is only to secure impunity to +crime, by impeding the course of justice. The system in all the +legations is extremely defective; "but in none is it more flagrantly +vicious and ineffective than in that of Great Britain." This is a +grave charge; but only too fully borne out by the facts adduced. Not +fewer than three thousand British subjects are now domiciled in and +about the Turkish capital, chiefly vagabonds and desperadoes, driven +by the rigour of English law from Malta and the Ionian Isles:--and +half the outrages in Stamboul "are committed by or charged to the +Queen's adopted subjects, who, well knowing that eventual impunity is +their privilege, are not restrained by fear of retribution." All the +zeal and energy of our consul-general, Mr Cartwright, (in whom are +vested the judicial functions exercised by chancellors of other +legations,) are paralysed by the necessity of adhering to the forms of +British law, the execution of which is practically impossible. "In a +case of murder or felony, for instance,--a case which often occurs--a +_pro formâ_ verdict of guilty is returned; but what follows? The +ambassador has no power to order the law to be carried into effect: +nothing remains, therefore, but to send the accused, with the +depositions, to Malta or England. But the Maltese courts declare +themselves incompetent, and either liberate or send back the prisoner; +and English tribunals do not adjudicate on documentary evidence. The +consequence is, that unless witnesses proceed to England, criminals +must be liberated at Pera, or sent to be liberated at home, for want +of legal testimony. They have then their action at law against the +consul-general for illegal arrest." It appears scarcely credible that +a state of things, so calculated to degrade the British national +character in the eyes of the representatives of the other European +powers, should ever have been suffered to exist, and still more that +it should have remained so long unheeded. A bill was indeed carried +through Parliament in 1835, in consequence of the urgent reclamations +of Lord Ponsonby and Mr Cartwright, for empowering the Crown to remedy +the evil; but though the subject was again pressed by Sir Stratford +Canning in 1842, it still remains a dead letter. Mr White has done +good service in placing this plain and undeniable statement of facts +before the public eye; and we trust that the next session of +Parliament will not pass over without our seeing the point brought +forward by Mr D'Israeli, Mr Monckton Milnes, or some other of those +members of the legislature whose personal knowledge of the East +qualifies them to undertake it. "One plan ought to be adopted +forthwith, that of investing the consul-general with such full powers +as are granted to London police magistrates, or, if possible, to any +magistrates at quarter-sessions. He would then be able to dispose of a +multitude of minor correctional cases, which now pass unpunished, to +the constant scandal of all other nations. The delegated power might +be arbitrary, and inconsistent with our constitutional habits, but the +evil requires extrajudicial measures." + +In pursuing Mr White's devious course through the various marts of +Constantinople, we have not yet brought our readers to the Missr +Tcharshy, or Egyptian market, probably the most diversified and purely +Oriental scene to be seen in Constantinople, and a representation of +which forms the frontispiece to one of the volumes. The building, the +entrance to which is between the Fishmarket Gate and the beautiful +mosque of the Valida, (built by the mother of Mohammed IV.,) consists +of an arcade lighted from the roof, like those of our own capital, 140 +yards long, and 20 wide, filled on each side with shops, not separated +from each other by partitions, so as to impede the view; the tenants +of which are all Osmanlis, and dealers exclusively in perfumes, +spices, &c., imported chiefly through Egypt from India, Arabia, &c. +Here may be found "the Persian atar-gul's perfume," sandalwood, and +odoriferous woods of all kinds from the lands of the East; opium for +the _Teryakis_, a race whose numbers are happily now daily decreasing; +ambergris for pastilles; "cinnamon and ginger, nutmegs and cloves;" +the pink henna powder brought from Mekka by the pilgrims for tinging +ladies' fingers, though these "rosy-fingered Auroras" (as Mr W. kindly +warns the poetasters of Franguestan) are now only to be found among +slaves and the lower orders, the custom being now utterly exploded +among dames of high degree: "add to the above, spices, roots, +dyewoods, and minerals, and colours of every denomination, and an +idea may be formed of the contents of this neatly-arranged and +picturesque bazar. Its magnitude, its abundance and variety of goods, +the order that reigns on every side, and the respectability of the +dealers, render it one of the most original and interesting sights of +the city; it serves to refresh the senses and to dispel the +unfavourable impressions caused on first landing." + +In the foregoing remarks and extracts, it has been our aim rather to +give a condensed view of the information to be derived from the +volumes before us, on topics of interest, than to attempt any thing +like a general abstract of a work so multifarious in its nature, and +so broken into detail, as to render the ordinary rules of criticism as +inapplicable to it as they would be to an encylopædia. In point of +arrangement, indeed, the latter would have the advantage; for a total +absence of _lucidus ordo_ pervades Mr White's pages, to a degree +scarcely to be excused even by the very miscellaneous nature of the +subject. Thus, while constant reference is made, from the first, to +the bezestans, the names of their different gates, &c., no description +of these edifices occurs till the middle of the second volume, where +it is introduced apropos to nothing, between the public libraries and +the fur-market. The chapter headed "Capital Punishments," (iv. vol. +1.) is principally devoted to political disquisitions, with an episode +on lunatic asylums and the medical academy of Galata Serai, while only +a few pages are occupied by the subject implied in the title; which is +treated at greater length, and illustrated by the _procès-verbaux_ of +several criminal trials, at the end of the second volume, where it is +brought in as a digression from the slavery laws, on the point of the +admissibility of a slave's evidence! But without following Mr White +further through the slipper-market, the poultry-market, the +coffee-shops, and tobacco-shops, the fruit and flower market, the +Ozoon Tcharshy or long market, devoted to the sale of articles of +dress and household furniture, _cum multis aliis_; it will suffice to +say that there is no article whatever, either of luxury or use, sold +in Constantinople, from diamonds to old clothes, of which some +account, with the locality in which it is procurable, is not to be +found in some part or other of his volumes. We have, besides, +disquisitions on statistics and military matters; aqueducts and baths, +marriages and funerals, farriery and cookery, &c. &c.--in fact on +every imaginable subject, except the price of railway shares, which +are as yet to the Turks a pleasure to come. It would be unpardonable +to omit mentioning, however, for the benefit of gourmands, that for +the savoury viands called kabobs, and other Stamboul delicacies, the +shop of the worthy Hadji Mustapha, on the south side of the street +called Divan-Yolly, stands unequaled; while horticulturists and +poetasters should be informed, that in spite of Lord Byron's fragrant +descriptions of "the gardens of Gul in their bloom," the finer +European roses do not sympathize with the climate. Lady Ponsonby's +attempts to introduce the moss-rose at Therapia failed; and the only +place where they have succeeded is the garden of Count Stürmer, the +Austrian Internuncio, whose palace is, in more respects than one, +according to Mr White, the Gulistan of Stamboul society. + +But we cannot take leave of this part of the subject without +remarking, that while all praise is due to Mr White's accuracy in +describing the scenes and subjects on which he speaks from personal +knowledge, his acquaintance with past Turkish history appears to be by +no means on a par with the insight he has succeeded in acquiring into +the usages and manners of the Turks of the present day. The +innumerable anecdotes interspersed through his pages, and which often +mar rather than aid the effect of the more solid matter, are +frequently both improbable and pointless; and the lapses which here +and there occur in matters of historical fact, are almost +incomprehensible. Thus we are told (i. 179,) that the favour enjoyed +(until recently) by Riza Pasha, was owing to his having rescued the +present sultan, when a child, from a reservoir in the Imperial Gardens +of Beglerbey, into which he had been hurled by his father in a fit of +brutal fury--an act wholly alien to the character of Mahmoud, but +which (as Mr W. observes,) "will not appear improbable to those +acquainted with Oriental history"--since it is found related, in all +its circumstances, in Rycaut's history of the reign of Ibrahim, whose +infant son, afterwards Mohammed IV., nearly perished in this manner by +his hands, and retained through life the scar of a wound on the face, +received in the fall. This palpable anachronism is balanced in the +next page by a version of the latter incident, in which Mohammed's +wound is said to have been inflicted by the dagger of his intoxicated +father, irritated by a rebuke from the prince (who, be it remarked, +was only seven years old at Ibrahim's death, some years later) on his +unseemly exhibition of himself as a dancer. As a further instance of +paternal barbarity in the Osmanli sultans, it is related how Selim I. +was bastinadoed by command of his father, Bajazet II., for misconduct +in the government of Bagdad! with the marvellous addition, (worthy of +Ovid's _Metamorphoses_,) that from the sticks used for his punishment, +and planted by his sorrowing tutor, sprung the grove of Tchibookly, +opposite Yenikouy! History will show that Selim and Bajazet never met +after the accession of the latter, except when the rebellious son met +the father in arms at Tchourlou; and it is well known that Bagdad did +not become part of the Ottoman empire till the reign of Soliman the +Magnificent the son of Selim. The mention of the City of the Khalifs, +indeed, seems destined to lead Mr White into error; for in another +story, the circumstances of which differ in every point from the same +incident as related by Oriental historians, we find the Ommiyade +Khalif, Yezid III., who died A.D. 723, (twenty-seven years before the +accession of the Abbasides, and forty before the foundation of +Bagdad,) spoken of as an Abbaside khalif of Bagdad! Again, we find in +the list of geographical writers, (ii. 172,) "Ebul Feredj, Prince of +Hama, 1331"--thus confounding the monk Gregory Abulpharagius with the +Arabic Livy, Abulfeda, a prince of the line of Saladin! This last +error, indeed, can scarcely be more than a slip of the pen. But +instances of this kind might be multiplied; and it would be well if +such passages, with numerous idle legends (such as the patronage of +black bears by the Abbasides, and brown bears by the Ommiyades,) be +omitted in any future edition. + +We have reserved for the conclusion of our notice, the consideration +of Mr White's observations on the late _constitution_ (as it has been +called) of Gul-khana, a visionary scheme concocted by Reshid Pasha, +under French influence, by which it was proposed to secure equal +rights to all the component parts of the heterogeneous mass which +constitutes the population of the Ottoman empire. The author's remarks +on this well-meant, but crude and impracticable _coup-d'état_, evince +a clear perception of the domestic interests and relative political +position of Turkey, which lead us to hope that he will erelong turn +his attention on a more extended scale, to the important subject of +Ottoman politics. For the present, we must content ourselves with +laying before our readers, in an abridged form, the clear and +comprehensive views here laid down, on a question involving the future +interests of Europe, and of no European power more than of Great Britain. + +"The population of the Turkish empire consists of several distinct +races, utterly opposed to each other in religion, habits, descent, +objects, and in every moral and even physical characteristic. The +Turkomans, Kurds, Arabs, Egyptians, Druses, Maronites, Albanians, +Bosnians, Bulgarians, Greeks, Jews, and Armenians, are so many +distinct nations, inhabiting the same or contiguous soils, without +having intermixed in the slightest degree from their earliest +conquest, and without having a single object in common. Over these +dissentient populations stands the pure Ottoman race, the paramount +nation, charged with maintaining the equilibrium between all, and with +neutralizing the ascendancy of one faction by the aid of others. Were +this control not to exist--were the Turks, who represent their +ancestors, the conquerors of the land, to be reduced to a level with +those now beneath them, or were the preponderating influence of the +former to be destroyed by the elevation and equalization of the +latter, perpetual revolts and civil wars could not fail to ensue. The +dependent populations, now constituting so large a portion of the +empire, would continue the struggle until one of them obtained the +supremacy at present exercised by the Turkish race, or until the +territory were divided among themselves, or parcelled out by foreign +powers. In this last hypothesis will be found the whole secret of the +ardent sympathy evinced by most foreigners, especially by the press of +France, for the subjugated races. + +"Many benevolent men argue, that the surest means of tranquillizing +the tributaries of the Porte, and attaching them to the government, is +by raising them in the social scale, and by granting to all the same +rights and immunities as are enjoyed by their rulers. But it has been +repeatedly proved, that concessions do but lead to fresh demands, and +that partial enfranchisement conducts to total emancipation. 'And why +should they not?' is often asked. To this may be replied, that the +possession of the Bosphorus and Dardanelles by any other power, or +fraction of power, than the Porte, would be a source of interminable +discord to Europe, and irreparable detriment to England. It would not +only affect our commerce, and undermine our political influence +throughout the East, but would add enormously to our naval +expenditure, by requiring an augmentation of our maritime force +equivalent to that now remaining neuter in the Golden Horn. Treaties, +it is said, might be concluded, exacting maritime restrictions. But +what are treaties in the face of events? Whoever possesses the +Bosphorus, Propontis, and Archipelago, _must_ become a maritime nation +in spite of treaties. Whoever possesses Constantinople _must_ become a +great manufacturing and exporting nation, in defiance of competition. +In less than half a century, the romantic villas and tapering +cypresses that now fringe the blue Bosphorus, would be replaced by +factories and steam-chimneys--every one of which would be a deadly +rival to a similar establishment in Great Britain. I argue as an +Englishman, whose duty it is to consider the material interests of his +country, now and hereafter, and not to occupy himself with the +theories of political philanthropists. + +"According to the levelling system, recommended as the basis of +reforms, all classes would eventually be assimilated--the desert Arabs +to the laborious Maronites, the intractable Arnoots to the industrious +Bulgarians, the thrifty Armenians to the restless and ambitious +Greeks, and the humble and parsimonious Jews to the haughty and lavish +Osmanlis. Thus, contiguous populations, which now keep each other in +check, because their interests are divergent and their jealousies +inveterate, would find their interests assimilated; and in the event +of opposition to government, the Porte, in lieu of being able to +overcome one sect through the rivalry of another, would find them all +united against the dominant power. The Ottoman government should +therefore avoid establishing any community of rights or interests +among the races subjected to its rule. Each of these races ought to be +governed according to its own usages and individual creed; there +should be uniformity in the principles of administration, but +diversity in the application. The Ottoman tenure cannot be maintained +but by decided and peremptory superiority. Adhesion on the part of the +subjugated is impossible; connexion is all that can be expected; and +to preserve this connexion, the supremacy of conquest must not be +relaxed. The Porte cannot expect attachment; it must consequently +enforce submission. When this absolutism ceases to exist, the power +will pass into other hands; and where is the politician that can +calculate the results of the transfer? One issue may be safely +predicted--England must lose, but cannot gain by the change. With the +increasing embarrassments to commerce and industry, which continental +states are raising against Britain, it is essential that we should not +allow a false cry of philanthropy to throw us off our guard in the +Levant. France in Africa, and Russia on the Danube, are intent on the +same object. Their battle-cries are civilization and religion; their +pretext the improvement of the Christian populations. But who is there +that has studied the recent policy of the one, and the undeviating +system of the other, since the days of Catherine, that can question +for a moment the purport of both? _And yet England and Austria have +acted recently as if France were sincere, and Russia disinterested._" + +[Footnote 28: _Three Years in Constantinople; or, Domestic Manners of +the Turks in 1844._ By CHARLES WHITE, ESQ.] + +[Footnote 29: The root of bezestan and bazar is _bez_, cloth;--of +tcharshy, _tchar_, four, meaning a square.] + +[Footnote 30: A catalogue of works printed from the establishment of +the press in 1726 to 1820, is given in the notes to Book 65 of Von +Hammer Purgstall's Ottoman History.] + +[Footnote 31: Mr White erroneously calls him Mourad III., and places +the expedition against Bagdad in 1834.] + +[Footnote 32: Mr White here introduces a digression on the other +relics of the Prophet, the Moslem festivals, &c., his account of which +presents little novelty; but he falls into the general error of +describing the Mahmil, borne by the holy camel in the pilgrim caravan, +as containing the brocade covering of the Kaaba, when it is in fact +merely an emblem of the presence of the monarch, like an empty +carriage sent in a procession.--(See _Lane's Modern Egyptians_, ii. p. +204, 8vo. ed.) It is indeed sufficiently obvious, that a box six feet +high and two in diameter, could not contain a piece of brocade +sufficient to surround a building described by Burckhardt as eighteen +paces long, fourteen broad, and from thirty-five to forty feet high.] + + + + +THE MOUNTAIN AND THE CLOUD. + +(A REMINISCENCE OF SWITZERLAND) + + +The cloud is to the mountain what motion is to the sea; it gives to it +an infinite variety of expression--gives it a life--gives it joy and +sufferance, alternate calm, and terror, and anger. Without the cloud, +the mountain would still be sublime, but monotonous; it would have but +a picture-like existence. + +How thoroughly they understand and sympathize with each other--these +glorious playmates, these immortal brethren! Sometimes the cloud lies +supported in the hollow of the hill, as if out of love it feigned +weariness, and needed to be upheld. At other times the whole hill +stands enveloped in the cloud that has expanded to embrace and to +conceal it. No jealousy here. Each lives its own grand life under the +equal eye of heaven. + +As you approach the mountains, it seems that the clouds begin already +to arrange themselves in bolder and more fantastic shapes. They have a +fellowship here. They built their mountains upon mountains--their +mountains which are as light as air--huge structures built at the +giddy suggestion of the passing breeze. Theirs is the wild liberty of +endless change, by which they compensate themselves for their thin and +fleeting existence, and seem to mock the stationary forms of their +stable brethren fast rooted to the earth. And how genially does the +sun pour his beam upon these twin grandeurs! For a moment they are +assimilated; his ray has permeated, has etherealized the solid +mountain, has fixed and defined the floating vapour. What now is the +one but a stationary cloud? what is the other but a risen +hill?--poised not in the air but in the flood of light. + +I am never weary of watching the play of these giant children of the +earth. Sometimes a soft white cloud, so pure, so bright, sleeps, +amidst open sunshine, nestled like an infant in the bosom of a green +mountain. Sometimes the rising upcurling vapour will linger Just above +the summit, and seem for a while an incense exhaling from this vast +censer. Sometimes it will descend, and _drape_ the whole side of the +hill as with a transparent veil. I have seen it sweep between me and +the mountain like a sheeted ghost, tall as the mountain, till the +strong daylight dissolved its thin substance, and it rose again in +flakes to decorate the blue heavens. But oh, glorious above all! when +on some brightest of days, the whole mass of whitest clouds gathers +midway upon the snow-topped mountain. How magnificent then is that +bright eminence seen above the cloud! How it seems rising upwards--how +it seems borne aloft by those innumerable wings--by those enormous +pinions which I see stretching from the cloudy mass! What an ascension +have we here!--what a transfiguration! O Raphael! I will not disparage +thy name nor thy art, but thy angels bearing on their wings the +brightening saint to Heaven--what are they to the picture here? + +Look! there--fairly in the sky--where we should see but the pure +ether--above the clouds which themselves are sailing high in serenest +air--yes, there, in the blue and giddy expanse, stands the solid +mountain, glittering like a diamond. O God! the bewildered reason pent +up in cities, toils much to prove and penetrate thy being and thy +nature--toils much in vain. Here, I reason not--I see. The Great King +lives--lo there is his throne. + + * * * * * + +To him who quits the plain for the mountain, how the character of the +cloud alters. That which seemed to belong exclusively to the sky, has +been drawn down and belongs as plainly to the earth. Mount some noble +eminence and look down--you will see the clouds lying _on_ and _about_ +the landscape, as if they had fallen on it. You are on the steadfast +earth, and they are underneath you. You look down perhaps on the lake, +and there is a solitary cloud lying settled on it; when the rest of +the fleecy drove had risen from their couch, this idle sleeper had +been left dreaming there. + +Or stay below, and see the sun rise in the valley. When all is warm +and clear upon the heights, and the tops of the hills are fervid with +the beams of heaven, there still lies a cold white mass of cloud about +your feet. It is not yet morning in the valley. There the cloud has +been slumbering all night--there it found its home. It also will by +and by receive the beam, and then it will arise, enveloping the hill +as it ascends; the hill will have a second dawn; the cloud will assume +its proud station in the sky; but it will return again to the valley +at night. + +I am sailing on the lake of Brienz on a day golden with sunbeams. The +high ridge of its rocky castellated hills is distinct as light can +make it. Yet half-way up, amidst the pine forests, there lies upon the +rich verdure a huge motionless cloud. What does it there? Its place +was surely in the sky. But no; it belongs, like ourselves, to the +earth. + +Is nature gaily mocking us, when upon her impregnable hills she builds +these _castles in the air_? But, good heavens! what a military aspect +all on a sudden does this mountain-side put on. Mark that innumerable +host of pine-trees. What regiments of them are marching up the hill in +the hot sun, as if to storm those rocky forts above! What serried +ranks! and yet there are some stragglers--some that have hastened on +in front, some that have lingered in the rear. Look at that tall +gigantic pine breasting the hill alone, like an old grenadier. How +upright against the steep declivity! while his lengthened shadow is +thrown headlong back behind him down the precipice. I should be giddy +to see such a shadow of my own. I should doubt if it would consent to +be drawn up by the heels to the summit of the mountain--whether it +would not rather drag me down with it into the abyss. + + * * * * * + +I have seen hills on which lay the clear unclouded sky, making them +blue as itself. I have gazed on those beautiful far-receding +valleys--as the valley of the Rhone--when they have appeared to +collect and retain the azure ether. They were full of Heaven. Angels +might breathe that air. And yet I better love the interchange, the +wild combination of cloud and mountain. Not cloud that intercepts the +sun, but that reflects its brilliancy, and brightens round the hills. +It is but a gorgeous drapery that the sky lets fall on the broad +Herculean shoulders of the mountain. No, it should not intercept the +beams of the great luminary; for the mountain loves the light. I have +observed that the twilight, so grateful to the plain, is mortal to the +mountain. It craves light--it lifts up its great chalice for +light--this great flower is the first to close, to fade, at the +withdrawal of the sun. It stretches up to heaven seeking light; it +cannot have too much--under the strongest beam it never droops--its +brow is never dazzled. + +But then these clouds, you will tell me, that hover about the +mountain, all wing, all plumage, with just so much of substance for +light to live in them--these very clouds can descend, and thicken, and +blacken, and cover all things with an inexpressible gloom. True, and +the mountain, or what is seen of it, becomes now the very image of a +great and unfathomable sorrow. And only the great can express a great +sadness. This aspect of nature shall never by me be forgotten; nor +will I ever shrink from encountering it. If you would know the gloom +of heart which nature can betray, as well as the glory it can +manifest, you must visit the mountains. For days together, clouds, +huge, dense, unwieldy, lie heavily upon the hills--which stand, how +mute, how mournful!--as if they, too, knew of death. And look at the +little lake at their feet. What now is its tranquillity when not a +single sunbeam plays upon it? Better the earth opened and received it, +and hid for ever its leaden despondency. And now there comes the +paroxysm of terror and despair; deep thunders are heard, and a madness +flashes forth in the vivid lightning. There is desperation amongst the +elements. But the elements, like the heart of man, must rage in +vain--must learn the universal lesson of submission. With them, as +with humanity, despair brings back tranquillity. And now the driving +cloud reveals again the glittering summits of the mountains, and light +falls in laughter on the beaming lake. + +How like to a ruined Heaven is this earth! Nay, is it not more +beautiful for being a ruin? + + * * * * * + +Who can speak of lakes and not think of thee, beautiful Leman? How +calm! how exquisitely blue! Let me call it a liquid sky that is spread +here beneath us. And note how, where the boat presses, or the oar +strikes, it yields ever a still more exquisite hue--akin to the +violet, which gives to the rude pressure a redoubled fragrance--akin +to the gentlest of womankind, whose love plays sweetest round the +strokes of calamity. + +Oh, there is a woman's heart in thy waters, beautiful Leman! + +I have seen thee in all thy moods, in all thy humours. I have watched +thee in profoundest calm; and suddenly, with little note of +preparation, seen thee lash thy blue waves into a tempest. How +beautiful in their anger were those azure waves crested with their +white foam! And at other times, when all has been a sad unjoyous calm, +I have seen, without being able to trace whence the light had broken, +a soft expanse of brightness steal tremulous over the marble waters. A +smile that seemed to speak of sweet caprice--that seemed to say that +half its anger had been feint. + +Yes, verily there is a woman's heart in thy waters, beautiful Leman! + +I lie rocking in a boat midway between Vevay and Lausanne. On the +opposite coast are the low purple hills _couching_ beside the lake. +But there, to the left, what an ethereal structure of cloud and snowy +mountain is revealed to me! What a creation of that spirit of beauty +which works its marvels in the unconscious earth! The Alps here, while +they retain all the aërial effect gathered from distance, yet seem to +arise from the very margin of the lake. The whole scene is so +ethereal, you fear to look aside, lest when you look again it may have +vanished like a vision of the clouds. + +And why should these little boats, with their tall triangular sails, +which glide so gracefully over the water, be forgotten? The sail, +though an artifice of man, is almost always in harmony with nature. +Nature has adopted it--has lent it some of her own wild +privileges--her own bold and varied contrasts of light and shade. The +surface of the water is perhaps dark and overclouded; the little +upright sail is the only thing that has caught the light, and it +glitters there like a moving star. Or the water is all one dazzling +sheet of silver, tremulous with the vivid sunbeam, and now the little +sail is black as night, and steals with bewitching contrast over that +sparkling surface. + + * * * * * + +But we fly again to the mountain. Tourists are too apt to speak of the +waterfall as something independent, something to be visited as a +separate curiosity. There may be some such. But in general, the +waterfall should be understood as part of the mountain--as the great +fountain which adorns the architecture of its rocks, and the gardens +of its pine forests. It belongs to the mountain. Pass through the +valley, and look up; you see here and there thin stripes of glittering +white, noiseless, motionless. They are waterfalls, which, if you +approach them, will din you with their roar, and which are dashing +headlong down, covered with tossing spray. Or ascend the face of the +mountain, and again look around and above you. From all sides the +waterfalls are rushing. They bear you down. You are giddy with their +reckless speed. How they make the rock live! What a stormy vitality +have they diffused around them! You might as well separate a river +from its banks as a waterfall from its mountain. + +And yet there is one which I could look at for hours together, merely +watching its own graceful movements. Let me sit again in imagination +in the valley of Lauterbrunnen, under the fall of the Staubbach. Most +graceful and ladylike of descents! It does not fall; but over the +rock, and along the face of the precipice, developes some lovely form +that nature had at heart;--diffuses itself in down-pointing pinnacles +of liquid vapour, fretted with the finest spray. The laws of gravity +have nothing to do with its movements. It is not hurled down; it does +not leap, plunging madly into the abyss; it thinks only of beauty as +it sinks. No noise, no shock, no rude concussion. Where it should dash +against the projecting rock, lo! its series of out-shooting pinnacles +is complete, and the vanishing point just kisses the granite. It +disappoints the harsh obstruction by its exquisite grace and most +beautiful levity, and springs a second time from the rock without +trace of ever having encountered it. + +The whole side of the mountain is here barren granite. It glides like +a spirit down the adverse and severe declivity. It is like Christ in +this world. The famous fall of the Griesbach, near the lake of Brienz, +thunders through the most luxuriant foliage; the Staubbach meets the +bare rock with touches of love, and a movement all grace, and a voice +full of reconcilement. + + * * * * * + +Mont Blanc! Mont Blanc! I have not scaled thy heights so boldly or so +far as others have, but I will yield to none in worship of thee and +thy neighbour mountains. Some complain that the valley of Chamouni is +barren; they are barren souls that so complain. True, it has not the +rich pastures that lie bordering on the snow in the Oberland. But +neither does it need them. Look _down_ the valley from the pass of the +Col de Balme, and see summit beyond summit; or ascend the lateral +heights of La Flegère, and see the Alps stretched out in a line before +you, and say if any thing be wanting. Here is the sculpture of +landscape. Stretched yourself upon the bare open rock, you see the +great hills built up before you, from their green base to their snowy +summits, with rock, and glacier, and pine forests. You see how the +Great Architect has wrought. + +And for softer beauty, has not the eye been feasted even to +excess--till you cried "hold--enough!" till you craved repose from +excitement--along the whole route, from Lausanne to this spot? What +perfect combinations of beauty and sublimity--of grandeur of outline +with richness of colouring--have you not been travelling through! + +It seems a fanciful illustration, and yet it has more than once +occurred to me, when comparing the scenery of the Oberland with that +of the valley of Chamouni and its neighbourhood; the one resembles the +first work--be it picture or poem--of a great genius; the other, the +second. On his first performance, the artist lavishes beauties of +every description; he crowds it with charms; all the stores of his +imagination are at once unfolded, and he must find a place for all. In +the second, which is more calm and mature, the style is broader, the +disposition of materials more skilful: the artist, master of his +inspiration, no longer suffers one beauty to crowd upon another, finds +for all not only place, but place sufficient; and, above all, no +longer fears being simple or even austere. I dare not say that the +Oberland has a fault in its composition--so charming, so magnificent +have I found it; but let me mark the broad masterly style of this +Alpine region. As you journey from Villeneuve, with what a gentle, +bland magnificence does the valley expand before you! The hills and +rocks, as they increase in altitude, still fall back, and reveal in +the centre the towering _Dent du Midi_, glittering with its eternal +snows. The whole way to Martigny you see sublimity without admixture +of terror; it is beauty elevated into grandeur, without losing its +amenity. And then, if you cross by the Col de Balme, leaving the +valley of the Rhone as you ascend, and descending upon the valley of +Chamouni, where the Alps curve before you in most perfect +grouping--tell me if it is possible for the heart of man to desire +more. Nay, is not the heart utterly exhausted by this series of scenic +raptures? + +For ever be remembered that magnificent pass of the Col de Balme! If I +have a white day in my calendar, it is the day I spent in thy defiles. +Deliberately I assert that life has nothing comparable to the delight +of traversing alone, borne leisurely on the back of one's mule, a +mountain-pass such as this. Those who have stouter limbs may prefer to +use them; give me for my instrument of progression the legs of the +patient and sure-footed mule. They are better legs, at all events, +than mine. I am seated on his back, the bridle lies knotted upon his +neck--the cares of the way are all his--the toil and the anxiety of +it; the scene is all mine, and I am all in it. I am seated there, all +eye, all thought, gazing, musing; yet not without just sufficient +occupation to keep it still a luxury--this leisure to contemplate. The +mule takes care of himself, and, in so doing, of you too; yet not so +entirely but that you must look a little after yourself. That he by no +means has your safety for his primary object is evident from this, +that, in turning sharp corners or traversing narrow paths, he never +calculates whether there is sufficient room for any other legs than +his own--takes no thought of yours. To keep your knees, in such +places, from collision with huge boulders, or shattered stumps of +trees, must be your own care; to say nothing of the occasional +application of whip or stick, and a _very_ strong pull at his mouth to +raise his head from the grass which he has leisurely begun to crop. +Seated thus upon your mule, given up to the scene, with something +still of active life going on about you, with full liberty to pause +and gaze, and dismount when you will, and at no time proceeding at a +railroad speed, I do say--unless you are seated by your own +incomparable Juliet, who has for the first time breathed that she +loves you--I do say that you are in the most enviable position that +the wide world affords. As for me, I have spent some days, some weeks, +in this fashion amongst the mountains; they are the only days of my +life I would wish to live over again. But mind, if you would really +enjoy all this, go alone--a silent guide before or behind you. No +friends, no companion, no gossip. You will find gossip enough in your +inn, if you want it. If your guide thinks it is his duty to talk, to +explain, to tell you the foolish names of things that need no +name--make belief that you understand him not--that his language, be +it French or German, is to you utterly incomprehensible. + +I would not paint it all _couleur de rose_. The sun is not always +shining. + +There is tempest and foul weather, fatigue and cold, and abundant +moisture to be occasionally encountered. There is something to endure. +But if you prayed to Heaven for perpetual fair weather, and your +prayer were granted, it would be the most unfortunate petition you +could put up. Why, there are some of the sublimest aspects, the +noblest moods and tempers of the great scene, which you would utterly +forfeit by this miserable immunity. He who loves the mountain, will +love it in the tempest as well as in the sunshine. To be enveloped in +driving mist or cloud that obscures every thing from view--to be made +aware of the neighbouring precipice only by the sound of the torrent +that rushes unseen beneath you--how low down you can only guess--this, +too, has its excitement. Besides, while you are in this total blank, +the wind will suddenly drive the whole mass of cloud and thick vapour +from the scene around you, and leave the most glorious spectacle for +some moments exposed to view. Nothing can exceed these moments of +sudden and partial revelation. The glittering summits of the mountains +appear as by enchantment where there had long been nothing but dense +dark vapour. And how beautiful the wild disorder of the clouds, whose +array has been broken up, and who are seen flying, huddled together in +tumultuous retreat! But the veering wind rallies them again, and again +they sweep back over the vast expanse, and hill and valley, earth and +sky, are obliterated in a second. + + * * * * * + +He who would ponder what _man_ is, should journey amongst the +mountains. What _men_ are, is best learnt in the city. + +How, to a museful spirit, the heart and soul of man is reflected in +the shows of nature! I cannot see this torrent battling for ever along +its rocky path, and not animate it with human passions, and torture it +with a human fate. Can it have so much turmoil and restlessness, and +not be allied to humanity? + +But all are not images of violence or lessons of despondency. Mark the +Yungfrau, how she lifts her slight and virgin snows fearlessly to the +blazing sun! She is so high, she feels no _reflected heat_. + + * * * * * + +How well the simple architecture of the low-roofed buildings of +Switzerland accords with its magnificent scenery! What were lofty +steeples beside Mont Blanc, or turreted castles beside her pinnacles +of granite? Elsewhere, in the level plain, I love the cathedral. I had +lately stood enraptured in the choir of that of Cologne, gazing up at +those tall windows which spring where other loftiest buildings +terminate--windows so high that God only can look in upon the +worshipper. + +But here--what need of the stately edifice, when there is a church +whose buttresses are mountains, whose roof and towers are above the +clouds, verily in the heavens? What need of artificial reminiscences +of the Great King, here where he has built for himself? The plain, it +is _man's_ nature--given to man's wants; there stands his corn, there +flow his milk and honey. But the mountain, it is God's nature--his +stationary tabernacle--reserved for the eye only of man and the +communing of his spirit. If meant to subserve the wants of his earthly +nature, meant still more expressly to kindle other wants. Do they not +indeed lead to Heaven, these mountains? At least I know they lead +beyond this earth. + +There is a little church stands in the valley of Chamouni. It was +open, as is customary in Catholic countries, to receive the visits and +the prayers of the faithful; but there was no service, no priest, nor +indeed a single person in the building. It was evening--and a solitary +lamp hung suspended from the ceiling, just before the altar. Allured +by the mysterious appearance of this lamp burning in solitude, I +entered, and remained in it some time, making out, in the dim light, +the wondrous figures of virgins and saints generally found in such +edifices. When I emerged from the church, there stood Mont Blanc +before me, reflecting the last tints of the setting sun. I am +habitually tolerant of Catholic devices and ceremonies; but at this +moment how inexpressibly strange, how very little, how poor, +contemptible, and like an infant's toy, seemed all the implements of +worship I had just left! + +And yet the tall, simple, wooden cross that stands in the open air on +the platform before the church, this was well. This was a symbol that +might well stand, even in the presence of Mont Blanc. Symbol of +suffering and of love, where is it out of place? On no spot on earth, +on no spot where a human heart is beating. + +Mont Blanc and this wooden cross, are they not the two greatest +symbols that the world can show? They are wisely placed opposite each +other. + +I have alluded to the sunset seen in this valley. All travellers love +to talk a little of their own experience, their good or their ill +fortune. The first evening I entered Chamouni, the clouds had gathered +on the summits of the mountains, and a view of Mont Blanc was thought +hopeless. Nevertheless I sallied forth, and planted myself in the +valley, with a singular confidence in the goodness of nature towards +one who was the humblest but one of the sincerest of her votaries. My +confidence was rewarded. The clouds dispersed, and the roseate sunset +on the mountain was seen to perfection. I had not yet learned to +distinguish that summit which, in an especial manner, bears the name +of Mont Blanc. There is a modesty in its greatness. It makes no +ostentatious claim to be the highest in the range, and is content if +for a time you give the glory of pre-eminence to others. But it +reserves a convincing proof of its own superiority. I had been looking +elsewhere, and in a wrong direction, for Mont Blanc, when I found that +all the summits had sunk, like the clouds when day deserts them, into +a cold dead white--all but one point, that still glowed with the +radiance of the sun when all beside had lost it. There was the royal +mountain. + +What a cold, corpse-like hue it is which the snow-mountain assumes +just after the sun has quitted it. There is a short interval then, +when it seems the very image of death. But the moon rises, or the +stars take up their place, and the mountain resumes its beauty and its +life. Beauty is always life. Under the star-light how ethereal does it +look! + + * * * * * + +In the landscapes of other countries, the house--the habitation of +man--be it farm-house or cottage--gathers, so to speak, some of the +country about itself--makes itself the centre of some circle, however +small. Not so in Switzerland. The hooded chalet, which even in summer +speaks so plainly of winter, and stands ever prepared with its low +drooping roof to shelter its eyes and ears from the snow and the +wind--these dot the landscape most charmingly, but yet are lost in it; +they form no group, no central point in the scene. I am thinking more +particularly of the chalets in the Oberland. There is no path +apparently between one and the other; the beautiful green verdure lies +untrodden around them. One would say, the inhabitants found their way +to them like birds to their nests. And like enough to nests they are, +both in the elevation at which they are sometimes perched, and in the +manner of their distribution over the scene. + +However they got there, people at all events are living in them, and +the farm and the dairy are carried up into I know not what altitudes. +Those beautiful little tame cattle, with their short horns, and long +ears, and mouse-coloured skin, with all the agility of a goat, and all +the gentleness of domesticity--you meet them feeding in places where +your mule looks thoughtfully to his footing. And then follows perhaps +a peasant girl in her picturesque cloak made of the undressed fur of +the goat and her round hat of thickly plaited straw, calling after +them in that high sing-song note, which forms the basis of what is +called Swiss music. This cry heard in the mountains is delightful, the +voice is sustained and yet varied--being varied, it can be sustained +the longer--and the high note pierces far into the distance. As a real +cry of the peasant it is delightful to hear; it is appropriate to the +purpose and the place. But defend my ears against that imitation of it +introduced by young ladies into the Swiss songs. Swiss music in an +English drawing-room--may I escape the infliction! but the Swiss +peasant chanting across the mountain defiles--may I often again halt +to listen to it! + + * * * * * + +But from the mountain and the cloud we must now depart. We must wend +towards the plain. One very simple and consolatory thought strikes +me--though we must leave the glory of the mountain, we at least take +the sun with us. And the cloud too, you will add. Alas! something too +much of that. + +But no murmurs. We islanders, who can see the sun set on the broad +ocean--had we nothing else to boast of--can never feel deserted of +nature. We have our portion of her excellent gifts. I know not yet how +an Italian sky, so famed for its deep and constant azure, may affect +me, but I know that we have our gorgeous melancholy sunsets, to which +our island tempers become singularly attuned. The cathedral +splendours--the dim religious light of our vesper skies--I doubt if I +would exchange them for the unmitigated glories of a southern clime. + + + + +THE SECOND PANDORA. + + + Methought Prometheus, from his rock unbound, + Had with the Gods again acceptance found. + Once more he seem'd his wond'rous task to ply, + While all Olympus stood admiring by. + To high designs his heart and hands aspire, + To quicken earthly dust with heavenly fire, + Won by no fraud, but lent by liberal love, + To raise weak mortals to the realms above; + For the bright flame remembers, even on earth, + And pants to reach, the region of its birth. + A female form was now the artist's care; + Faultless in shape, and exquisitely fair. + Of more than Parian purity, the clay + Had all been leaven'd with the ethereal ray. + Deep in the heart the kindling spark began, + And far diffused through every fibre ran; + The eyes reveal'd it, and the blooming skin + Glow'd with the lovely light that shone within. + The applauding Gods confess'd the matchless sight; + The first Pandora was not half so bright; + That beauteous mischief, formed at Jove's command, + A curse to men, by Mulciber's own hand; + Whose eager haste the fatal jar to know, + Fill'd the wide world with all but hopeless woe. + But dawn of better days arose, when He, + The patient Hero, set Prometheus free, + Alcides, to whose toils the joy was given + To conquer Hell and climb the heights of Heaven. + In the fair work that now the master wrought, + The first-fruits of his liberty were brought; + The Gods receive her as a pledge of peace, + And heap their gifts and happiest auspices. + Minerva to the virgin first imparts + Her skill in woman's works and household arts; + The needle's use, the robe's embroider'd bloom, + And all the varied labours of the loom. + Calm fortitude she gave, and courage strong, + To cope with ill and triumph over wrong; + Ingenuous prudence, with prophetic sight, + And clear instinctive wisdom, ever right. + Diana brought the maid her modest mien, + Her love of fountains and the sylvan scene; + The Hours and Seasons lent each varying ray + That gilds the rolling year or changing day. + The cunning skill of Hermes nicely hung, + With subtle blandishments, her sliding tongue, + And train'd her eyes to stolen glances sweet, + And all the wiles of innocent deceit. + Phoebus attuned her ear to love the lyre, + And warm'd her fancy with poetic fire. + Nor this alone; but shared his healing art, + And robb'd his son of all the gentler part; + Taught her with soothing touch and silent tread + To hover lightly round the sick one's bed, + And promised oft to show, when medicines fail, + A woman's watchful tenderness prevail. + Next Venus and the Graces largely shed + A shower of fascinations on her head. + Each line, each look, was brighten'd and refined, + Each outward act, each movement of the mind, + Till all her charms confess the soft control, + And blend at once in one harmonious whole. + But still the Eternal Sire apart remain'd, + And Juno's bounty was not yet obtained. + The voice of Heaven's High Queen then fill'd the ear, + "A wife and mother, let the Nymph appear." + The mystic change like quick enchantment shows-- + The slender lily blooms a blushing rose. + Three gentle children now, by just degrees, + Are ranged in budding beauty round her knees: + Still to her lips their looks attentive turn, + And drink instruction from its purest urn, + While o'er their eyes soft memories seem to play, + That paint a friend or father far away. + A richer charm her ripen'd form displays, + A halo round her shines with holier rays; + And if at times, a shade of pensive grace + Pass like a cloud across her earnest face, + Yet faithful tokens the glad truth impart, + That deeper happiness pervades her heart. + Jove latest spoke: "One boon remains," he said, + And bent serenely his ambrosial head; + "The last, best boon, which I alone bestow;" + Then bade the waters of Affliction flow. + The golden dream was dimm'd; a darken'd room + Scarce show'd where dire disease had shed its gloom. + A little child in death extended lay, + Still round her linger'd the departing ray. + Another pallid face appear'd, where Life + With its fell foe maintain'd a doubtful strife. + Long was the contest; changeful hopes and fears + Now sunk the Mother's soul, now dried her tears. + At last a steady line of dawning light + Show'd that her son was saved, and banish'd night. + Though sad her heart, of one fair pledge bereft, + She sees and owns the bounties Heaven hath left. + In natural drops her anguish finds relief, + And leaves the Matron beautified by grief; + While consolation, beaming from above, + Fills her with new-felt gratitude and love. + O happy He! before whose waking eyes, + So bright a vision may resplendent rise-- + The New PANDORA, by the Gods designed, + Not now the bane, but blessing of Mankind! + + + + +THE REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD.[33] + + +It is scarcely theoretical to say, that every century has a character +of its own. The human mind is essentially progressive in Europe. The +accumulations of past knowledge, experience, and impulse, are +perpetually preparing changes on the face of society; and we may +fairly regard every hundred years as the period maturing those changes +into visible form. Thus, the fifteenth century was the age of +discovery in the arts, in the powers of nature, and in the great +provinces of the globe: the sixteenth exhibited the general mind under +the impressions of religion--the Reformation, the German wars for +liberty and faith, and the struggles of Protestantism in France. The +seventeenth was the brilliant period of scientific advance, of +continental literature, and of courtly pomp and power. The eighteenth +was the period of politics; every court of Europe was engaged in the +game of political rivalry; the European balance became the test, the +labour, and the triumph of statesmanship. The negotiator was then the +great instrument of public action. Diplomacy assumed a shape, and +Europe was governed by despatches. The genius of Frederick the Second +restored war to its early rank among the elements of national life; +but brilliant as his wars were, they were subservient to the leading +feature of the age. They were fought, not, like the battles of the old +conquerors, for fame, but for influence--not to leave the king without +an enemy, but to leave his ambassadors without an opponent--less to +gain triumphs, than to ensure treaties: they all began and ended in +diplomacy! + +It is remarkable, that this process was exhibited in Europe alone. In +the East, comprehending two-thirds of human kind, no change was made +since the conquests of Mahomet. That vast convulsion, in which the +nervousness of frenzy had given the effeminate spirit of the Oriental +the strength of the soldier and the ambition of universal conqueror, +had no sooner wrought its purpose than it passed away, leaving the +general mind still more exhausted than before. The Saracen warrior +sank into the peasant, and the Arab was again lost in his sands; the +Turk alone survived, exhibiting splendour without wealth, and pride +without power--a decaying image of Despotism, which nothing but the +jealousy of the European saved from falling under the first assault. +Such is the repressive strength of evil government; progress, the most +salient principle of our nature, dies before it. And man, of all +beings the most eager for acquirement, and the most restless under all +monotony of time, place, and position, becomes like the dog or the +mule, and generation after generation lives and dies with no more +consciousness of the capacities of his existence, than the root which +the animal devours, or the tree under which it was born. + +In England, the eighteenth century was wholly political. It was a +continual struggle through all the difficulties belonging to a free +constitution, exposed to the full discussion of an intellectual +people. Without adopting the offensive prejudice, which places the +individual ability of the Englishmen in the first rank; or without +doubting that nature has distributed nearly an equal share of personal +ability among all European nations; we may, not unjustly, place the +national mind of England in the very highest rank of general +capacity--if that is the most intellectual nation, by which the public +intellect is most constantly employed, in which all the great +questions of society are most habitually referred to the decision of +the intellect, and in which that decision is the most irresistible in +its effects, no nation of Europe can stand upon equal ground with the +English. For, in what other nation is the public intellect in such +unwearied exercise, in such continual demand, and in such unanswerable +power? + +In what other nation of the world (excepting, within those few years, +France; and that most imperfectly) has public opinion ever been +appealed to? But, in England, to what else is there any appeal? Or, +does not the foreign mind bear some resemblance to the foreign +landscape--exhibiting barren though noble elevations, spots of +singular though obscure beauty among its recesses, and even in its +wildest scenes a capacity of culture?--while, in the mind of England, +like its landscape, that culture has already laid its hand upon the +soil; has crowned the hill with verdure, and clothed the vale with +fertility; has run its ploughshare along the mountain side, and led +the stream from its brow; has sought out every finer secret of the +scene, and given the last richness of cultivation to the whole. + +From the beginning of the reign of Anne, all was a contest of leading +statesmen at the head of parties. Those contests exhibit great mental +power, singular system, and extraordinary knowledge of the art of +making vast bodies of men minister to the personal objects of avarice +and ambition. But they do no honour to the moral dignity of England. +All revolutions are hazardous to principle. A succession of +revolutions have always extinguished even the pretence to principle. +The French Revolution is not the only one which made a race of +_girouettes_. The political life of England, from the death of Anne to +the reign of George the Third, was a perpetual turning of the +weathercock. Whig and Tory were the names of distinction. But their +subordinates were of as many varieties of feature as the cargo of a +slave-ship; the hue might be the same, but the jargon was that of +Babel. It was perhaps fortunate for the imperial power of England, +that while she was thus humiliating the national morality, which is +the life-blood of nations; her reckless and perpetual enemy beyond the +Channel had lost all means of being her antagonist. The French sceptre +had fallen into the hands of a prince, who had come to the throne a +debauchee; and to whom the throne seemed only a scene for the larger +display of his vices. The profligacy of Louis-Quatorze had been +palliated by his passion for splendour, among a dissolute people who +loved splendour much, and hated profligacy little. But the vices of +Louis the Fifteenth were marked by a grossness which degraded them in +the eye even of popular indulgence, and prepared the nation for the +overthrow of the monarchy. In this period, religion, the great +purifier of national council, maintained but a struggling existence. +The Puritanism of the preceding century had crushed the Church of +England; and the restoration of the monarchy had given the people a +saturnalia. Religion had been confounded with hypocrisy, until the +people had equally confounded freedom with infidelity. The heads of +the church, chosen by freethinking administrations, were chosen more +for the suppleness than for the strength of their principles; and +while the people were thus taught to regard churchmen as tools, and +the ministers to use them as dependents, the cause of truth sank +between both. The Scriptures are the life of religion. It can no more +subsist in health without them, than the human frame can subsist +without food; it may have the dreams of the enthusiast, or the frenzy +of the monk; but, for all the substantial and safe purposes of the +human heart, its life is gone for ever. It has been justly remarked, +that the theological works of that day, including the sermons, might, +in general, have been written if Christianity had never existed. The +sermons were chiefly essays, of the dreariest kind on the most +commonplace topics of morals. The habit of reading these discourses +from the pulpit, a habit so fatal to all impression, speedily rendered +the preachers as indifferent as their auditory; and if we were to name +the period when religion had most fallen into decay in the public +mind, we should pronounce it the half century which preceded the reign +of George the Third. + +On the subject of pulpit eloquence there are some remarks in one of +the reviews of the late Sydney Smith, expressed with all the +shrewdness, divested of the levity of that writer, who had keenly +observed the popular sources of failure. + +"The great object of modern sermons is, to hazard nothing. Their +characteristic is decent debility; which alike guards their authors +from ludicrous errors, and precludes them from striking beauties. Yet +it is curious to consider, how a body of men so well educated as the +English clergy, can distinguish themselves so little in a species of +composition, to which it is their peculiar duty, as well as their +ordinary habit, to attend. To solve this difficulty, it should be +remembered that the eloquence of the bar and of the senate force +themselves into notice, power, and wealth." He then slightly guards +against the conception, that eloquence should be the sole source of +preferment; or even "a common cause of preferment." But he strongly, +and with great appearance of truth, attributes the want of public +effect to the want of those means by which that effect is secured in +every other instance. + +"Pulpit discourses have insensibly dwindled from speaking into +reading; a practice of itself sufficient to stifle every germ of +eloquence. It is only by the fresh feelings of the heart that mankind +can be very powerfully affected. What can be more unfortunate, than an +orator delivering stale indignation, and fervour of a week old; +turning over whole pages of violent passions, written out in German +text; reading the tropes and metaphors into which he is hurried by the +ardour of his mind; and so affected, at a preconcerted line and page, +that he is unable to proceed any further?" + +This criticism was perfectly true of sermons forty years ago, when it +was written. Times are changed since, and changed for the better. The +pulpit is no longer ashamed of the doctrines of Christianity, as too +harsh for the ears of a classic audience, or too familiar for the ears +of the people. Still there are no rewards in the Church, for that +great faculty, or rather that great combination of faculties, which +commands all the honours of the senate and the bar. A clerical +Demosthenes might find his triumph in the shillings of a charity +sermon, but he must never hope for a Stall. + +We now revert to the curious, inquisitive, and gossiping historian of +the time. Walpole, fond of French manners, delighting in the easy +sarcasm, and almost saucy levity, of French "Memoirs," and adopting, +in all its extent, the confession, (then so fashionable on the +Continent,) that the perfection of writing was to be formed in their +lively _persiflage_, evidently modelled his "History" on the style of +the Sevignés and St Simons. But he was altogether their superior. If +he had been a chamberlain in the court of Louis XV., he might have +been as frivolously witty, and as laughingly sarcastic, as any +Frenchman who ever sat at the feet of a court mistress, or whoever +looked for fame among the sallies of a _petit souper_. But England was +an atmosphere which compelled him to a manlier course. The storms of +party were not to be stemmed by a wing of gossamer. The writer had +bold facts, strong principles, and the struggles of powerful minds to +deal with, and their study gave him a strength not his own. + +Walpole was fond of having a hero. In private life, George Selwyn was +his Admirable Crichton; in public, Charles Townshend. Charles was +unquestionably a man of wit. Yet his wit rather consisted in dexterity +of language than in brilliancy of conception. He was also eloquent in +Parliament; though his charm evidently consisted more in happiness of +phrase, than in richness, variety, or vigour, of thought. On the +whole, he seems to have been made to amuse rather than to impress, and +to give a high conception of his general faculties than to produce +either conviction by his argument, or respect by the solid qualities +of his genius. Still, he must have been an extraordinary man. Walpole +describes his conduct and powers, as exhibited on one of those days of +sharp debate which preceded the tremendous discussions of the American +war. The subject was a bill for regulating the dividends of the East +India Company--the topic was extremely trite, and apparently trifling. +But any perch will answer for the flight of such bird. "It was on +that day," says Walpole, "and on that occasion, that Charles Townshend +displayed, in a latitude beyond belief, the amazing powers of his +capacity, and the no less amazing incongruities of his character." +Early in the day he had opened the business, by taking on himself the +examination of the Company's conduct, had made a calm speech on the +subject, and even went so far as to say, "that he hoped he had atoned +for the inconsiderateness of his past life, by the care which he had +taken of that business." He then went home to dinner. In his absence a +motion was made, which Conway, the secretary of state, not choosing to +support alone, it being virtually Townshend's own measure besides, +sent to hurry him back to the House. "He returned about eight in the +evening, half drunk with champagne," as Walpole says, (which, however, +was subsequently denied,) and more intoxicated with spirits. He then +instantly rose to speak, without giving himself time to learn any +thing, except that the motion had given alarm. He began by vowing that +he had not been consulted on the motion--a declaration which +astonished every body, there being twelve persons round him at the +moment, who had been in consultation with him that very morning, and +with his assistance had drawn up the motion on his own table, and who +were petrified at his unparalleled effrontery. But before he sat down, +he had poured forth, as Walpole says, "a torrent of wit, humour, +knowledge, absurdity, vanity, and fiction, heightened by all the +graces of comedy, the happiness of quotation, and the buffoonery of +farce. To the purpose of the question he said not a syllable. It was a +descant on the times, a picture of parties, of their leaders, their +hopes, and effects. It was an encomium and a satire on himself; and +when he painted the pretensions of birth, riches, connexions, favours, +titles, while he effected to praise Lord Rockingham and that faction, +he yet insinuated that nothing but parts like his own were qualified +to preside. And while he less covertly arraigned the wild incapacity +of Lord Chatham, he excited such murmurs of wonder, admiration, +applause, laughter, pity, and scorn, that nothing was so true as the +sentence with which he concluded--when, speaking of government, he +said, that it had become what he himself had often been called--the +weathercock." + +Walpole exceeds even his usual measure of admiration, in speaking of +this masterly piece of extravagance. "Such was the wit, abundance, and +impropriety of this speech," says he, "that for some days men could +talk or enquire of nothing else. 'Did you hear Charles Townshend's +champagne speech,' was the universal question. The bacchanalian +enthusiasm of Pindar flowed in torrents less rapid and less eloquent, +and inspired less delight, than Townshend's imagery, which conveyed +meaning in every sentence. It was Garrick acting extempore scenes of +Congreve." He went to supper with Walpole at Conway's afterwards, +where, the flood of his gaiety not being exhausted, he kept the table +in a roar till two in the morning. A part of this entertainment, +however, must have found his auditory in a condition as unfit for +criticism as himself. Claret till "two in the morning," might easily +disqualify a convivial circle from the exercise of too delicate a +perception. And a part of Townshend's facetiousness on that occasion +consisted in mimicking his own wife, and a woman of rank with whom he +fancied himself in love. He at last gave up from mere bodily +lassitude. Walpole happily enough illustrates those talents and their +abuse by an allusion to those eastern tales, in which a benevolent +genius endows a being with supernatural excellence on some points, +while a malignant genius counteracts the gift by some qualification +which perpetually baffles and perverts it. The story, however, of +Charles Townshend's tipsiness is thus contradicted by a graver +authority, Sir George Colebrook, in his Memoirs. + +"Mr Townshend loved good living, but had not a strong stomach. He +committed therefore frequent excesses, considering his constitution; +which would not have been intemperance in another. He was supposed, +for instance, to have made a speech in the heat of wine, when that was +really not the case. It was a speech in which he treated with great +levity, but with wonderful art, the characters of the Duke of Grafton +and Lord Shelburne, whom, though his colleagues in office, he +entertained a sovereign contempt for, and heartily wished to get rid +of. He had a black riband over one of his eyes that day, having +tumbled out of bed, probably in a fit of epilepsy; and this added to +the impression made on his auditors that he was tipsy. Whereas, it was +a speech he had meditated a great while upon, and it was only by +accident that it found utterance that day. I write with certainty, +because Sir George Yonge and I were the only persons who dined with +him, and we had but one bottle of champagne after dinner; General +Conway having repeatedly sent messengers to press his return to the +House." + +This brings the miracle down to the human standard, yet that standard +was high, and the man who could excite this admiration, in a House +which contained so great a number of eminent speakers, and which could +charm the caustic spirit of Walpole into the acknowledgment that his +speech "was the most singular pleasure of the kind he had ever +tasted," must have been an extraordinary performance, even if his +instrument was not of the highest tone of oratory. A note from the +Duke of Grafton's manuscript memoirs also contradicts, on Townshend's +own authority, his opinion of the "wild incapacity of Lord Chatham." +The note says:-- + + "On the night preceding Lord Chatham's first journey to Bath, Mr + Charles Townshend was for the first time summoned to the Cabinet. + The business was on a general view and statement of the actual + situation and interests of the various powers in Europe. Lord + Chatham had taken the lead in this consideration in so masterly a + manner, as to raise the admiration and desire of us all to + co-operate with him in forwarding his views. Mr Townshend was + particularly astonished, and owned to me, as I was carrying him in + my carriage home, that Lord Chatham had just shown to us what + inferior animals we were, and that as much as he had seen of him + before, he did not conceive till that night his superiority to be + so transcendant." + +Walpole writes with habitual bitterness of the great Lord Chatham. The +recollection of his early opposition to Sir Robert Walpole, seems to +have made him an unfaithful historian, wherever this extraordinary +man's name comes within his page; but at the period of those +discussions, it seems not improbable that the vigour of Chatham's +understanding had in some degree given way to the tortures of his +disease. He had suffered from gout at an early period of life; and as +this is a disease remarkably affected by the mind, the perpetual +disturbances of a public life seem to have given it a mastery over the +whole frame of the great minister. Walpole talks in unjustifiable +language of his "haughty sterility of talents." But there seems to be +more truth in his account of the caprices of this powerful +understanding in his retirement. Walpole calls it the "reality of Lord +Chatham's madness." Still, we cannot see much in those instances, +beyond the temper naturally resulting from an agonizing disease. When +the Pynsent estate fell to him, he removed to it, and sold his house +and grounds at Hayes--"a place on which he had wasted prodigious sums, +and which yet retained small traces of expense, great part having been +consumed in purchasing contiguous tenements, to free himself from all +neighbourhood. Much had gone in doing and undoing, and not a little in +planting by torchlight, as his peremptory and impatient habits could +brook no delay. Nor were those the sole circumstances which marked his +caprice. His children he could not bear under the same roof, nor +communications from room to room, nor whatever he thought promoted +noise. A winding passage between his house and children was built with +the same view. When, at the beginning of his second administration, he +fixed at North End by Hampstead, he took four or five houses +successively, as fast as Mr Dingley his landlord went into them, +still, as he said, to ward off the houses of the neighbourhood." + +Walpole relates another anecdote equally inconclusive. At Pynsent, a +bleak hill bounded his view. He ordered his gardener to have it +planted with evergreens. The man asked "with what sorts." He replied, +"With cedars and cypresses." "Bless me, my lord," replied the +gardener, "all the nurseries in this county would not furnish a +hundredth part." "No matter, send for them from London: and they were +brought by land carriage." Certainly, there was not much in this +beyond the natural desire of every improver to shut out a disagreeable +object, by putting an agreeable one in its place. His general object +was the natural one of preventing all noise--a point of importance +with every sufferer under a wakeful and miserable disease. His +appetite was delicate and fanciful, and a succession of chickens were +kept boiling and roasting at every hour, to be ready whenever he +should call. He at length grew weary of his residence and, after +selling Hayes, took a longing to return there. After considerable +negotiation with Mr Thomas Walpole the purchaser, he obtained it +again, and we hear no more of his madness. + +The session was one of continual intrigues, constant exhibitions of +subtlety amongst the leaders of the party, which at this distance of +time are only ridiculous, and intricate discussions, which are now +among the lumber of debate. Townshend, if he gained nothing else, +gained the freedom of the city for his conduct on the East India and +Dividend bills, for which, as Walpole says, "he deserved nothing but +censure." A contemptuous epigram appeared on the occasion by "somebody +a little more sagacious"--that "somebody" probably being Walpole +himself: + + "The joke of Townshend's box is little known, + Great judgment in the thing the cits have shown; + The compliment was an expedient clever, + To rid them of the like expense for ever. + Of so burlesque a choice the example sure + For city boxes must all longing cure, + The honor'd Ostracism at Athens fell, + Soon as Hyperbolus had got the shell." + +It is scarcely possible to think that an epigram of this heavy order +could have been praised by Walpole, if his criticism had not been +tempered by the tenderness of paternity. + +We then have a character of a man embalmed in the contempt poured upon +him by Junius--the Duke of Grafton. Though less bitter, it is equally +scornful. "Hitherto," says Walpole, "he had passed for a man of much +obstinacy and firmness, of strict honour, devoid of ambition, and, +though reserved, more diffident than designing. He retained so much of +this character, as to justify those who had mistaken the rest. If he +precipitated himself into the most sudden and inextricable +contradictions, at least he pursued the object of the moment with +inflexible ardour. If he abandoned himself to total negligence of +business, in pursuit of his sports and pleasures, the love of power +never quitted him; and, when his will was disputed, no man was more +imperiously arbitrary. If his designs were not deeply laid, at least +they were conducted in profound silence. He rarely pardoned those who +did not guess his inclination. It was necessary to guess, so rare was +any instance of his unbosoming himself to either friends or +confidants. Why his honour had been so highly rated I can less +account, except that he had advertised it, and that obstinate young +men are apt to have high notions, before they have practised the +world, and essayed their own virtue." + +At length, after a vast variety of intrigues, which threw the public +life of those days into the most contemptible point of view, the King +being made virtually a cipher, while the families of the Hertfords, +Buckinghams, and Rockinghams trafficked the high offices of state as +children would barter toys; an administration was tardily formed. +Walpole, who seemed to take a sort of _dilettante_ pleasure in +constructing those intrigues, and making himself wretched at their +failure, while nobody suffered him to take advantage of their success; +now gave himself a holiday, and went to relax in Paris for six +weeks--his relaxation consisting of gossip amongst the literary ladies +of the capital. During his absence an event happened which, though it +did not break up the ministry, yet must have had considerable effect +in its influence on the House of Commons. This was the death of the +celebrated Charles Townshend, on the 4th of September 1767, in the +forty-second year of his age. The cause of his death was a neglected +fever; if even this did not arise from his carelessness of health, and +those habits which, if not amounting to intemperance, were certainly +trespasses on his constitution. Walpole speaks of him with continual +admiration of his genius, and continual contempt of his principles. He +also thinks, that he had arrived at his highest fame, or, in his +peculiar phrase, "that his genius could have received no accession of +brightness, while his faults only promised multiplication." Walpole, +with no pretence to rival, probably envied this singular personage; +for, whenever he begins by panegyric, he uniformly ends with a sting. +One of the Notes gives an extract on Sir George Colebrook's Memoirs, +which perhaps places his faculties in a more favourable point of view +than the high-coloured eulogium of Burke, or the polished insinuations +of Walpole. Sir George tells us, that Townshend's object was to be +prime minister, and that he would doubtless have attained that object +had he lived to see the Duke of Grafton's resignation. Lord North +succeeded him as chancellor of the exchequer, and Townshend would +evidently have preceded _him_ as prime minister. "As a private man, +his friends were used to say, that they should not see his like again. +Though they were often the butts of his wit, they always returned to +his company with fresh delight, which they would not have done had +there been either malice or rancour in what he said. He loved society, +and in his choice of friends preferred those over whom he had a +decided superiority of talent. He was satisfied when he had put the +table in a roar, and he did not like to see it done by another. When +Garrick and Foote were present, he took the lead, and hardly allowed +them an opportunity of showing their talents for mimicry, because he +could excel them in their own art. He shone particularly in taking off +the principal members of the House of Commons. Among the few whom he +feared was Mr Selwyn, and at a dinner at Lord Gower's they had a trial +of skill, in which Mr Selwyn prevailed. When the company broke up, Mr +Townshend, to show that he had no animosity, carried him in his +carriage to White's; and, as they parted, Selwyn could not help +saying--'Remember, this is the first set-down you have given me +to-day.'" + +As Townshend lived at a considerable expense, and had little paternal +fortune, he speculated occasionally in both the French and English +funds. One of the incidents related by Sir George, and without a +syllable of censure too, throws on him an imputation of trickery +which, in our later day, would utterly destroy any public man. "When +he was chancellor of the exchequer, he came in his nightgown to a +dinner given by the Duke of Grafton to several of the principal men of +the city to settle the loan. After dinner, when the terms were +settled, and every body present wished to introduce some friend on the +list of subscribers, he pretended to cast up the sums already +admitted, said the loan was full, huddled up his papers, got into a +chair, and returned home, reserving to himself by this manoeuvre a +large share of the loan." An act of this kind exhibits the honesty of +the last age in a very equivocal point of view. If proud of nothing +else, we may be proud of the public sense of responsibility; in our +day, it may be presumed that such an act would be impossible, for it +would inevitably involve the ruin of the perpetrator, followed by the +ruin of any ministry which would dare to defend him. + +At this period died a brother of the king, Edward Duke of York, a man +devoted to pleasure, headstrong in his temper, and ignorant in his +conceptions. "Immoderate travelling, followed by immoderate balls and +entertainments," had long kept his blood in a peculiar state of +accessibility to disease. He died of a putrid fever. Walpole makes a +panegyric on the Duke of Gloucester, his brother; of which a part may +be supposed due to the Duke's marriage with Lady Waldegrave, a +marriage which provoked the indignation of the King, and which once +threatened political evils of a formidable nature. Henry, the Duke of +Cumberland, was also an unfortunate specimen of the blood royal. He is +described as having the babbling loquacity of the Duke of York, +without his talents; as at once arrogant and low; presuming on his +rank as a prince, and degrading himself by an association with low +company. Still, we are to remember Walpole's propensity to sarcasm, +the enjoyment which he seems to have felt in shooting his brilliant +missiles at all ranks superior to his own; and his especial hostility +to George the Third, one of the honestest monarchs that ever sat upon +a throne. + +In those days the composition of ministries depended altogether upon +the high families.--The peerage settled every thing amongst +themselves. A few of their dependents were occasionally taken into +office; but all the great places were distributed among a little +clique, who thus constituted themselves the real masters of the +empire. Walpole's work has its value, in letting us into the secrets +of a conclave, which at once shows us the singular emptiness of its +constituent parts, and the equally singular authority with which they +seem to have disposed of both the king and the people. We give a scene +from the _Historian_, which would make an admirable fragment of the +_Rehearsal_, and which wanted only the genius of Sheridan to be an +admirable pendant to Mr Puff's play in the _Critic_. "On the 20th a +meeting was held at the Duke of Newcastle's, of Lord Rockingham, the +Duke of Richmond, and of Dowdeswell, with Newcastle himself on one +part, and of the Duke of Bedford, Lord Weymouth, and Rigby on the +other. The Duke of Bedford had powers from Grenville to act for him; +but did not seem to like Lord Buckingham's taking on himself to name +to places. On the latter's asking what friends they wished to prefer, +Rigby said, with his cavalier bluntness--Take the _Court Calendar_ and +give them one, two, three thousand pounds a-year! Bedford +observed--They had said nothing on measures. Mr Grenville would insist +on the sovereignty of this country over America being asserted. Lord +Rockingham replied--He would never allow it to be a question whether +he had given up this country--he never had. The Duke insisted on a +declaration. The Duke of Richmond said--We may as well demand one from +you, that you will never disturb that country again. Neither would +yield. However, though they could not agree on measures; as the +distribution of place was more the object of their thoughts and of +their meeting, they reverted to that topic. Lord Rockingham named Mr +Conway. Bedford started; said he had no notion of Conway; had thought +he was to return to the military line. The Duke of Richmond said it +was true, Mr Conway did not desire a civil place; did not know whether +he would be persuaded to accept one; but they were so bound to him for +his resignation, and thought him so able, they must insist. The Duke +of Bedford said--Conway was an officer _sans tache_, but not a +minister _sans tache_. Rigby said--Not one of the present cabinet +should be saved. Dowdeswell asked--'What! not one?' 'No.' 'What! not +Charles Townshend.' 'Oh!' said Rigby, 'that is different. Besides, he +has been in opposition.' 'So has Conway,' said Dowdeswell. 'He has +voted twice against the court, Townshend but once.' 'But,' said Rigby, +'Conway is Bute's man.' 'Pray,' said Dowdeswell, 'is not Charles +Townshend Bute's?' 'Ah! but Conway is governed by his brother +Hertford, who is Bute's.' 'But Lady Ailesbury is a Scotchwoman.' 'So +is Lady Dalkeith.' Those ladies had been widows and were now married, +(the former to Conway, the latter to Townshend.) From this dialogue +the assembly fell to wrangling, and broke up quarrelling. So high did +the heats go, that the Conways ran about the town publishing the issue +of the conference, and taxing the Bedfords with treachery." + +Notwithstanding this collision, at once so significant, and so +trifling--at once a burlesque on the gravity of public affairs, and a +satire on the selfishness of public men--on the same evening, the Duke +of Bedford sent to desire another interview, to which Lord Rockingham +yielded, but the Duke of Bedford refused to be present. So much, +however, were the minds on both sides ulcerated by former and recent +disputes, and so incompatible were their views, that the second +meeting broke up in a final quarrel, and Lord Rockingham released the +other party from all their engagements. The Duke of Bedford desired +they might still continue friends, or at least to agree to oppose +together. Lord Rockingham said no, "they were broken for ever." + +It was at this meeting that the Duke of Newcastle appeared for the +last time in a political light. Age and feebleness had at length worn +out that busy passion for intrigue, which power had not been able to +satiate, nor disgrace correct. He languished above a year longer, but +was heard of no more on the scene of affairs. (He died in November 1768.) + +A remarkable circumstance in all those arrangements is, that we hear +nothing of either the king or the people. The king is of course +applied to to sign and seal, but simply as a head clerk. The people +are occasionally mentioned at the end of every seven years; but in the +interim all was settled in the parlours of the peerage! The scene +which we have just given was absolutely puerile, if it were not +scandalous; and, without laying ourselves open to the charge of +superstition on such subjects, we might almost regard the preservation +of the empire as directly miraculous, while power was in the hands of +such men as the Butes and Newcastles, the Bedfords and Rockinghams, of +the last century. It is not even difficult to trace to this +intolerable system, alike the foreign calamities and the internal +convulsions during this period. Whether America could, by any +possibility of arrangement, have continued a British colony up to the +present time, may be rationally doubted. A vast country, rapidly +increasing in wealth and population, would have been an incumbrance, +rather than an addition, to the power of England. If the patronage of +her offices continued in the hands of ministers, it must have supplied +them with the means of buying up every man who was to be bought in +England. It would have been the largest fund of corruption ever known +in the world. Or, if the connexion continued, with the population of +America doubling in every five-and-twenty years, the question must in +time have arisen, whether England or America ought to be the true seat +of government. The probable consequence, however, would have been +separation; and as this could scarcely be effected by amicable means, +the result might have been a war of a much more extensive, wasteful, +and formidable nature, than that which divided the two countries +sixty-five years ago. + +But all the blunders of the American war, nay the war itself, may be +still almost directly traceable to the arrogance of the oligarchy. Too +much accustomed to regard government as a natural appendage to their +birth, they utterly forgot the true element of national power--the +force of public opinion. Inflated with a sense of their personal +superiority, they looked with easy indifference or studied contempt on +every thing that was said or done by men whose genealogy was not +registered in the red book. Of America--a nation of Englishmen--and of +its proceedings, they talked, as a Russian lord might talk of his +serfs. Some of them thought, that a Stamp act would frighten the +sturdy free-holders of the Western World into submission! others +talked of reducing them to obedience by laying a tax on their tea! +others prescribed a regimen of writs and constables! evidently +regarding the American farmers as they regarded the poachers and +paupers on their own demesnes. All this arose from stupendous +ignorance; but it was ignorance engendered by pride, by exclusiveness +of rank, and by the arrogance of _caste_. So excessive was this +exclusiveness, that Burke, though the most extraordinary man of his +time, and one of the most memorable of any time, could never obtain a +seat in the cabinet; where such triflers as Newcastle, such figures of +patrician pedantry as Buckingham, such shallow intriguers as the +Bedfords, and such notorious characters as the Sandwiches, played with +power, like children with the cups and balls of their nursery. Lord +North, with all his wit, his industry, and his eloquence, owed his +admission into the cabinet, to his being the son of the Earl of +Guilford. Charles Fox, though marked by nature, from his first +entrance into public life, for the highest eminence of the senate, +would never have been received into the government _class_, but for +his casual connexion with the House of Richmond. Thus, they knew +nothing of the real powers of that infinite multitude, which, however +below the peerage, forms the country. They thought that a few frowns +from Downing Street could extinguish the resistance of millions, three +thousand miles off, with muskets in their hands, inflamed by a sense +of wrong, whether fancied or true, and insensible to the gatherings of +a brow however coroneted and antique. + +This haughty exclusiveness equally accounts for the contests with +Wilkes. They felt themselves affronted, much more than resisted; they +were much more stung by the defiance of a private individual to +themselves, than they were urged to the collision by any conceivable +sense of hazard to the Monarchy. No man, out of bedlam, could +conceive, that Wilkes had either the power or the intention to subvert +the state. But Mr Wilkes, an obscure man, whose name was not known to +the calendar of the government fabricators, had actually dared to call +their privilege of power into question; had defied them in the courts +of law; had rebuked them in the senate; had shaken their influence in +the elections; and had, in fact, compelled them to know, what they +were so reluctant to learn, that they were but human beings after all! +The acquisition of this knowledge cost them half a dozen years of +convulsions, the most ruinous to themselves, and the most hazardous to +the constitution. Wilkes' profligacy alone, perhaps, saved the +constitution from a shock, which might have changed the whole system +of the empire. If he had not been sunk by his personal character, at +the first moment when the populace grew cool, he might have availed +himself of the temper of the times to commit mischiefs the most +irreparable. If his personal character had been as free from public +offence as his spirit was daring, he might have led the people much +further than the government ever had the foresight to contemplate. The +conduct of the successive cabinets had covered the King with +unpopularity, not the less fierce, that it was wholly undeserved. +Junius, the ablest political writer that England has ever seen, or +probably ever will see, in the art of assailing a ministry, had +pilloried every leading man of his time except Chatham, in the +imperishable virulence of his page. The popular mind was furious with +indignation at the conduct of all cabinets; in despair of all +improvement in the system; irritated by the rash severity which +alternated with the equally rash pusillanimity of ministers; and +beginning to regard government less as a protection, than as an +encroachment on the natural privileges of a nation of freemen. + +They soon had a growing temptation before them in the successful +revolt of America. + +We do not now enter into that question; it is too long past. But we +shall never allude to it without paying that homage to truth, which +pronounces, that the American revolt was a rebellion, wholly +unjustifiable by the provocation; utterly rejecting all explanation, +or atonement for casual injuries; and made in the spirit of a +determination to throw off the allegiance to the mother country. But, +if Wilkes could have sustained his opposition but a few years longer, +and with any character but one so shattered as his own, he might have +carried it on through life, and even bequeathed it as a legacy to his +party; until the French Revolution had joined flame to flame across +the Channel, and England had rivalled even the frenzy of France in the +rapidity and ruin of her Reform. + +Fortunately, the empire was rescued from this most fatal of all +catastrophes. A great English minister appeared, on whom were to +devolve the defence of England and the restoration of Europe. The +sagacity of Pitt saw where the evil lay; his intrepidity instantly +struck at its source, and his unrivalled ability completed the saving +operation. He broke down the cabinet monopoly. No man less humiliated +himself to the populace, but no man better understood the people. No +man paid more practical respect to the peerage, but no man more +thoroughly extinguished their exclusive possession of power. He formed +his cabinet from men of all ranks, in the peerage and out of the +peerage. The great peers chiefly went over to the opposition. He +resisted them there, with as much daring, and with as successful a +result, as he had expelled them from the stronghold of government. He +made new peers. He left his haughty antagonists to graze on the barren +field of opposition for successive years; and finally saw almost the +whole herd come over for shelter to the ministerial fold. + +At this period a remarkable man was brought into public life--the +celebrated Dunning, appointed solicitor-general. Walpole calls this +"an extraordinary promotion," as Dunning was connected with Lord +Shelburne. It was like every thing else, obviously an intrigue; and +Dunning would have lost the appointment, but for his remarkable +reputation in the courts; Wedderburne being the man of the Bedfords. +Walpole's opinion of Dunning in the House, shows, how much even the +highest abilities may be influenced by circumstances. He says, "that +Dunning immediately and utterly lost character as a speaker, although +he had acquired the very highest distinctions as a pleader;" so +different, says he, is the oratory of the bar and of parliament. +Mansfield and Camden retained an equal rank in both. Wedderburne was +most successful in the House. Norton had at first disappointed the +expectations that were conceived of him when he came into parliament; +yet his strong sense, that glowed through all the coarseness of his +language and brutality of his manner, recovered his weight, and he was +much distinguished. While Sir Dudley Ryder, attorney-general in the +preceding reign, the soundest lawyer, and Charles Yorke, one of the +most distinguished pleaders, soon talked themselves out of all +consideration in parliament; the former by laying too great a stress +on every part of his diffusive knowledge, and the latter by the +sterility of his intelligence. + +An intelligent Note, however, vindicates the reputation of Dunning. It +is observed, that Dunning's having been counsel for Wilkes, and the +intimate of Lord Shelburne, it could not be expected that he should +take a prominent part in any of the debates which were so largely +occupied with Wilkes' misdemeanours. Lord North, too, was hostile to +Dunning. Under such conditions it was impossible that any man should +exhibit his powers to advantage; but at a later period, when he had +got rid of those trammels, his singular abilities vindicated +themselves. He became one of the leaders of the opposition, even when +that honour was to be shared with Burke. We have heard, that such was +the pungency of Dunning's expressions, and the happy dexterity of his +conceptions, that when he spoke, (his voice being feeble, and unable +to make itself heard at any great distance,) the members used to +throng around the bench on which he spoke. Wraxall panegyrizes him, +and yet with a tautology of terms, which must have been the very +reverse of Dunning's style. Thus, he tells us that when Dunning spoke, +"every murmur was hushed, and every ear attentive," two sentences +which amount to the same thing. Hannah More is also introduced as one +of the panegyrists; for poor Hannah seems to have been one of the most +bustling persons possible; to have run every where, and to have given +_her_ opinion of every body, however much above her comprehension. She +was one of the spectators on the Duchess of Kingston's trial, (a most +extraordinary scene for the choice of such a purist;) but Hannah was +not at that time quite so sublime as she became afterwards. Hannah +describes Dunning's manner as "insufferably bad, coughing and spitting +at every word; but his sense and expression pointed to the last +degree." But the character which the annotator gives as a model of +panegyric, pleases us least of all. It is by Sir William Jones, and +consists of one long antithesis. It is a studied toil of language, +expressing ideas, a commonplace succession, substituting words for +thoughts, and at once leaving the ear palled, and the understanding +dissatisfied. What, for instance, could be made of such a passage as +this? Sir William is speaking of Dunning's wit. "This," says he, +"relieved the weary, calmed the resentful, and animated the drowsy. +This drew smiles even from such as were _the object of it, and +scattered flowers over a desert_, and, like _sunbeams sparkling on a +lake_, gave spirit and vivacity to the dullest and least interesting +cause." And this mangling of metaphor is to teach us the qualities of +a profound and practical mind. What follows, is the perfection of +see-saw. "He was endued with an intellect sedate yet penetrating, +clear yet profound, subtle yet strong. His knowledge, too, was equal +to his imagination, and his memory to his knowledge." He might have +equally added, that the capacity of his boots was equal to the size of +his legs, and the length of his purse to the extent of his generosity. +This reminds us of one of Sydney Smith's burlesques on the balancing +of epithets by that most pedantic of pedants, the late Dr +Parr--"profundity without obscurity, perspicuity without prolixity, +ornament without glare, terseness without barrenness, penetration +without subtlety, comprehensiveness without digression, and a great +number of other things without a great number of other things." + +Little tricks, or rather large ones, now and then diversify the +narrative. On the same day that Conway resigned the seals, Lord +Weymouth was declared secretary of state. At the same time, Lord +Hilsborough kissed hands for the American department, but nominally +retaining the post-office, the salary of which he paid to Lord +Sandwich, _till the elections should be over_; there being so strict a +disqualifying clause in the bill for prohibiting the postmasters for +interfering in elections, which Sandwich _was determined to do_ to the +utmost, that he did not dare to accept the office in his own name, +_till he had incurred the guilt_. Another trick of a very +dishonourable nature, though ultimately defeated, may supply a moral +for our share-trafficking days in high quarters. Lord Bottetort, one +of the bedchamber, and a kind of second-hand favourite, had engaged in +an adventure with a company of copper-workers at Warmley. They broke, +and his lordship, in order to cover his estate from the creditors, +begged a privy seal to incorporate the company, by which means private +estates would not be answerable. The king ignorantly granted the +request; but Lord Chatham, aware of the deception, refused to affix +the seal to the patent, pleading that he was not able. Lord Bottetort, +outrageous at the disappointment, threatened to petition the lords to +remove Lord Chatham, on the ground of inability. The annotator justly +observes, that the proposal was absolutely monstrous, being nothing +but a gross fraud on his lordship's creditors. It, however, does not +seem to have attracted the attention of the attorney-general, or the +home-office; but, for some cause or other, the patent did not pass, +the result being, that Lord Bottetort, unable to retrieve his losses, +obtained the government of Virginia in the following summer, where he +subsequently died. + +A curious instance of parliamentary corruption next attracted the +notice of the public. It came out, that the city of Oxford had offered +their representation to two gentlemen, if they would pay £7500 towards +the debts of the corporation. They refused the bargain, and Oxford +sold itself to the Duke of Marlborough and Lord Abingdon. The matter +was brought before the House, and the mayor of Oxford and ten of the +corporation appeared at the bar, confessing their crime, and asking +pardon. It ended with committing them to prison for five days. A note +describes the whole affair as being treated with great ridicule, +(there being probably not a few who looked upon things of this nature +as a matter of course;) and the story being, that the aldermen +completed their bargain with the Duke of Marlborough, during their +imprisonment in Newgate. + +On the 11th of March 1768, the parliament was dissolved. Walpole says, +"that its only characteristic was servility to the government; while +our ancestors, we presume, from the shamelessness of its servility, +might have called it the Impudent Parliament." + +After wearying himself in the dusty field of politics, Walpole +retired, like Homer's gods from Troy, to rest in the more flowery +region of literature. His habits led him to the enjoyment of bitter +political poetry, which, in fact, is not poetry at all; while they +evidently disqualified him from feeling the power and beauty of the +imaginative, the only poetry that deserves the name. Thus, he +describes Goldsmith as the "correct author of _The Traveller_," one of +the most beautiful poems in the language; while he panegyrizes, with a +whole catalogue of plaudits, Anstey's _Bath Guide_--a very scandalous, +though undoubtedly a lively and ingenious, caricature of the habits of +the time. An ultra-heavy poem by Bentley, the son of the critic, +enjoys a similar panegyric. We give, as an evidence of its dulness, a +fragment of its praise of Lord Bute:-- + + "Oh, if we seize with skill the coming hour, + And reinvest us with the robe of power; + Rule while we live, let future days transmute + To every merit all we've charged on Bute. + Let late posterity receive his name, + And swell its sails with every breath of fame-- + Downwards as far as Time shall roll his tide, + With ev'ry pendant flying, let it glide." + +The rest is equally intolerable. + +But Bentley was lucky in his patrons, if not in his poetry; as, in +addition to a Commissionership of Lotteries, he received a pension for +the lives of himself and his wife of £500 a-year! Though thus +undeservedly successful in attracting the notice of the government, +his more honest efforts failed with the public. He wrote two plays, +both of which failed. Walpole next describes Robertson the historian +in these high-coloured terms, "as sagacious and penetrating as +Tacitus, with a perspicuity of Livy:" qualities which every one else +knows to be directly the reverse of those which characterize +Robertson. That very impudent woman, Catharine Macaulay, seems also to +have been one of the objects of his literary admiration. He describes +her, as being as partial in the cause of liberty as bigots to the +church and royalists to tyranny, and as exerting manly strength with +the gravity of a philosopher. + +But Walpole is aways amusing when he gives anecdotes of passing +things. The famous Brentford election finds in him its most graphic +historian. The most singular carelessness was exhibited by the +government on this most perilous occasion--a carelessness obviously +arising from that contempt which the higher ranks of the nobility in +those days were weak enough to feel for the opinion of those below +them. On the very verge of an election, within five miles of London, +and which must bring to a point all the exasperation of years; Camden, +the chancellor, went down to Bath, and the Duke of Grafton, the prime +minister, who was a great horse-racer, drove off to Newmarket. +Mansfield, whom Walpole seems to have hated, and whom he represents as +at "once resentful, timorous, and subtle," the three worst qualities +of the heart, the nerves, and the understanding, pretended that it was +the office of the chancellor to bring the outlaw (Wilkes) to justice, +and did nothing. The consequence was, that the multitude were left +masters of the field. + +On the morning of the election; while the irresolution of the court, +and the negligence of the prime minister, caused a neglect of all +precautions; the populace took possession of all the turnpikes and +avenues leading to the hustings by break of day, and would suffer no +man to pass who did not wear in his hat a blue cockade, with "Wilkes +and Number 45," on a written paper. Riots took place in the streets, +and the carriage of Sir William Proctor, the opposing candidate, was +demolished. The first day's poll for Wilkes was 1200, for Proctor 700, +for Cooke 300. It must be remembered, that in these times the +elections were capable of being prolonged from week to week, and that +the first day was regarded as scarcely more than a formality. At night +the West-end was in an uproar. It was not safe to pass through +Piccadilly. Every house was compelled to illuminate; the windows of +all which did not exhibit lights were broken; the coach-glasses of +such as did not huzza for "Wilkes and liberty" were broken; and the +panels of the carriages were scratched with 45! Lord Weymouth, the +secretary of state, wrote to Justice Fielding for constables. Fielding +answered, that they were all gone to Brentford. On this, the guards +were drawn out. The mob then attacked Lord Bute's house and Lord +Egmont's, but without being able to force an entrance. They compelled +the Duke of Northumberland to give them liquor to drink Wilkes's +health. Ladies of rank were taken out of their sedan-chairs, and +ordered to join the popular cry. The lord-mayor was an anti-Wilkite--the +mob attacked the Mansion-house, and broke the windows. He ordered out +the trained bands; they had no effect. Six thousand weavers had risen +under the Wilkite banner, and defied all resistance. Even some of the +regimental drummers beat their drums for Wilkes! His force at the +election was evidently to be resisted no longer. The ministerial +candidate was beaten, Wilkes threw in his remaining votes for Cooke, +and they came in together. The election was thus over on the second +day, but the mob paraded the metropolis at night, insisting on a +general illumination. The handsome Duchess of Hamilton, one of the +Gunnings, who had now become quite a Butite, was determined not to +illuminate. The result was, that the mob grew outrageous, broke down +the outward gates with iron-crows, tore up the pavement of the street, +and battered the doors and shutters for three hours; fortunately +without being able to get in. The Count de Sollein, the Austrian +ambassador, the most stately and ceremonious of men, was taken out of +his coach by the mob, who chalked 45 on the sole of his shoe! He +complained in form of the insult. Walpole says, fairly enough, "it was +as difficult for the ministers to help laughing as to give him +redress." + +Walpole frequently alludes to the two Gunnings as the two handsomest +sisters of their time. They were Irish-women, fresh-coloured, lively, +and well formed, but obviously more indebted to nature than to +education. Lady Coventry died young, and had the misfortune, even in +her grave, of being made the subject of an epitaph by Mason, one of +the most listless and languid poems of an unpoetic time. The Duchess +of Hamilton survived to a considerable age, and was loaded with +matrimonial honours. She first married the Duke of Hamilton. On his +death, she married the Marquis of Lorn, eldest son of the Duke of +Argyll, whom he succeeded in the title--thus becoming mother of the +heirs of the two great rival houses of Hamilton and Argyll. While in +her widowhood, she had been proposed for by the Duke of Bridgewater. +Lady Coventry seems to have realized Pope's verses of a dying belle-- + + "And, Betty, give this cheek a little red, + One would not, sure, look ugly when one's dead." + +"Till within a few days of her death, she lay on a couch with a +looking-glass in her hand. When she found her beauty, which she +idolized, was quite gone, she took to her bed, and would be seen by +nobody, not even by her nurse, suffering only the light of a lamp in +her room." + +Walpole's description of the ministry adds strikingly to the +contemptuous feeling, naturally generated by their singular ill +success. We must also observe, as much to the discredit of the past +age as to the honour of the present; that the leading men of the day +exhibited or affected a depravity of morals, which would be the ruin +of any public character at the present time. Many of the scenes in +high life would have been fitter for the court of Charles II., and +many of the actors in those scenes ought to have been cashiered from +public employment. Personal profligacy seems actually to have been +regarded as a species of ornamental appendage to public character; +and, except where its exposure sharpened the sting of an epigram, or +gave an additional flourish to the periods of a political writer, no +one seems to have conceived that the grossest offences against +morality were of the nature of crime. Another scandal seems to have +been frequent--intemperance in wine. Hard drinking was common in +England at that period, and was even regarded as the sign of a +generous spirit; but nearly all the leading politicians who died +early, are described as owing their deaths to excess. Those are +fortunate distinctions for the days which have followed; and the +country may justly congratulate itself on the abandonment of habits, +which, deeply tending to corrupt private character, render political +baseness the almost inevitable result among public men. + +Walpole promptly declares, that half the success of Wilkes was owing +to the supineness of the ministers. He might have gone further, and +fixed his charge on higher grounds. He ought to have said, that the +whole was owing to the mingled treachery and profligacy which made the +nation loathe the characters of public parties and public men. Walpole +says, in support of his assertion--"that Lord Chatham would take no +part in business; that the Duke of Grafton neglected every thing, and +whenever pressed to be active threatened to resign; that the +Chancellor Camden, placed between two such intractable friends, with +whom he was equally discontented, avoided dipping himself further; +that Conway, no longer in the Duke's confidence, and more hurt with +neglect than pleased with power, stood in the same predicament; that +Lord Gower thought of nothing but ingratiating himself at St James's; +and though what little business was done was executed by Lord +Weymouth, it required all Wood's, the secretary's, animosity to +Wilkes, to stir him up to any activity. Wood even said, "that if the +King should pardon Wilkes, Lord Weymouth would not sign the pardon." +The chief magistrate of the city, consulting the chancellor on what he +should do if Wilkes should stand for the city, and being answered that +he "must consult the recorder," Harley sharply replied, "I consulted +your lordship as a minister, I don't want to be told my duty." + +Some of the most interesting portions of these volumes are the notes, +giving brief biographical sketches of the leading men. The politics +have comparatively passed away, but the characters remain; and no +slight instruction is still to be derived from the progressive steps +by which the individuals rose from private life to public distinction. +The editor, Sir Denis la Marchant, deserves no slight credit for his +efforts to give authenticity to those notices. He seems to have +collected his authorities from every available source; and what he has +compiled with the diligence of an editor, he has expressed with the +good taste of a gentleman. + +The commencement of a parliament is always looked to with curiosity, +as the debut of new members. All the expectations which have been +formed by favouritism, family, or faction, are then brought to the +test. Parliament is an unerring tribunal, and no charlatanry can cheat +its searching eye. College reputations are extinguished in a moment, +the common-places of the hustings can avail no more, and the +pamperings of party only hurry its favourites to more rapid decay. + +Mr Phipps, the son of Lord Mulgrave, now commenced his career. By an +extraordinary taste, though bred a seaman, he was so fond of quoting +law, that he got the sobriquet of the "marine lawyer." His knowledge +of the science (as the annotator observes) could not have been very +deep, for he was then but twenty-two. But he was an evidence of the +effect of indefatigable exertion. Though a dull debater, he took a +share in every debate, and he appears to have taken the pains of +revising his speeches for the press. Yet even under his nursing, they +exhibit no traces of eloquence. His manner was inanimate, and his +large and heavy figure gained him the luckless appellation of Ursa +Major, (to distinguish him from his brother, who was also a member.) +As if to complete the amount of his deficiencies, his voice was +particularly inharmonious, or rather it was two distinct voices, the +one strong and hoarse, the other weak and querulous; both of which he +frequently used. On this was constructed the waggish story--that one +night, having fallen into a ditch, and calling out in his shrill +voice, a countryman was coming up to assist him; when Phipps calling +out again in his hoarse tone, the man exclaimed--"If there are two of +you in the ditch, you may help each other out!" + +One of his qualities seems to have been a total insensibility to his +own defects; which therefore suffered him to encounter any man, and +every man, whatever might be their superiority. Thus, in his early +day, his dulness constantly encountered Lord North, the most dexterous +wit of his time. Thus, too, in his maturer age, he constantly thrust +himself forward to meet the indignant eloquence of Fox; and seems to +have been equally unconscious that he was ridiculed by the sarcastic +pleasantry of the one, or blasted by the lofty contempt of the other. +Yet, such is the value of perseverance, that this man was gradually +regarded as important in the debates, that he wrought out for himself +an influence in the House, and obtained finally the office of joint +paymaster, one of the most lucrative under government, and a British +peerage. And all this toil was undertaken by a man who had no +children. + +At his death, he was succeeded in his Irish title by his brother +Henry, who became first lord of the admiralty, and also obtained an +English peerage. The present Marquis of Normandy is his eldest son. + +Parliamentary history sometimes gives valuable lessons, in exhibiting +the infinite folly of parliamentary prediction. It will scarcely be +believed in a day like ours, which has seen and survived the French +Revolution, that the chief theme of the period, and especial terror of +the opposition, was the conquest of Corsica by the French! Ministers +seem to have been deterred from a war with the French monarchy, solely +by the dislocated state of the cabinet; while the opposition declared, +that the possession of Corsica by the French, would be "the death-blow +to our influence in the Mediterranean." With Corsica in French hands, +it was boldly pronounced that "France would receive an accession of +power which nothing could shake; and they scarcely hesitated to say, +that upon the independence of Corsica rested not merely the supremacy +but the safety of England." Yet the French conquered Corsica (at a +waste of money ten times worth its value to their nation, and at a +criminal waste of life, both French and Corsican) without producing +the slightest addition to the power of the monarchy, and with no +slight disgrace to the honour of its arms. For, the Corsicans, the +most savage race of the Italian blood, and accustomed to the use of +weapons from their childhood, fought with the boldness of all men +fighting for their property, and routed the troops of France in many a +successive and desperate encounter. Still, the combat was too unequal; +the whole force of a great monarchy was obviously too strong for the +hope of successful resistance, and Corsica, after many a severe +struggle, became a French territory. But, beyond this barren honour +the war produced no fruit, except a deeper consciousness of the +unsparing ambition of the monarchy, and of the recklessness with which +it sacrificed all considerations of humanity and justice, to the +tinsel of a military name. One fatal gift, however, Corsica made, in +return to France. From it came, within a few years, the man who sealed +the banishment of the Bourbons! and, tempting France by the ambition +of military success, inflicted upon her the heaviest mortality, and +the deepest shame known in any kingdom, since the fall of the Roman +empire. Whether this were that direct retribution for innocent blood, +which Providence has so often inflicted upon guilty nations; or +whether it were merely one of those extraordinary casualties which +circumstances make so impressive; there can be no question, that the +man came from Corsica who inflicted on France the heaviest calamities +that she had ever known; who, after leading her armies over Europe, to +conquests which only aroused the hatred of all nations, and after +wasting the blood of hundreds of thousands of her people in victories +totally unproductive but of havoc; saw France twice invaded, and +brought the nation under the ban of the civilized world! + +France is at this moment pursuing the same course in Algiers, which +was the pride of her politicians in Corsica. She is pouring out her +gigantic force, to overwhelm the resistance of peasants who have no +defence but their naked bravery. She will probably subdue the +resistance; for what can be done by a peasantry against the +disciplined force and vast resources of a great European power, +applied to this single object of success? But, barbarian as the Moor +and the Arab are, and comparatively helpless in the struggle, the +avenger may yet come, to teach the throne of France, that there is a +power higher than all thrones; a tribunal to which the blood cries out +of the ground. + +The death of Secker, Archbishop of Canterbury, excites a few touches +of Walpole's sarcastic pen. He says, "that his early life had shown +his versatility, his latter his ambition. But hypocrisy not being +parts, he rose in the church without ever making a figure in the +state." So much for antithesis. There is no reason why a clergyman +should make a figure in the state under any circumstances; and the +less figure he made in the state, as it was then constituted, the more +likely he was to be fitted for the church. But the true censure on +Secker would have been, that he rose, without making a figure in any +thing; that he had never produced any work worthy of notice as a +divine; that he had neither eloquence in the pulpit, nor vigour with +the pen; that he seems to have been at all times a man of extreme +mediocrity; that his qualifications with the ministry were, his being +a neutral on all the great questions of the day; and his merits with +posterity were, that he possessed power without giving offence. A +hundred such men might have held the highest positions of the church, +without producing the slightest effect on the public mind; or might +have been left in the lowest, without being entitled to accuse the +injustice of fortune. His successor was Cornwallis, Bishop of +Lichfield, raised to the primacy by the Duke of Grafton, who, as +Walpole says, "had a friendship for the bishop's nephew, Earl +Cornwallis." This seems not altogether the most sufficient reason for +placing a man at the head of the Church of England, but we must take +the reason such as we find it. Walpole adds, that the nomination had, +however, the merit of disappointing a more unsuitable candidate, +Ternet of London, whom he describes as "the most time-serving of the +clergy, and sorely chagrined at missing the archiepiscopal mitre." + +It was rather unlucky for the public estimate of royalty, that, at +this moment of popular irritation, the young King of Denmark should +have arrived in England. He had married the King's youngest sister, +and making a sort of tour of Europe, he determined to visit the family +of his wife. His proposal was waived by the King, who excused himself +by the national confusions. But the young Dane, scarcely more than a +giddy boy, and singularly self-willed, was not to be repelled; and he +came. Nothing could be colder than his reception; not a royal +carriage, not an officer of the court, was sent to meet him. He +arrived at St James's even in a hired carriage. Neither King nor Queen +was there. The only mark of attention paid to him was giving him an +apartment, and supplying him and his suite with a table. Walpole +observes, that this sullen treatment was as impolitic as it was +inhospitable; that the Dane was then actually a pensioner of France, +and, of course, it would have been wise to win him out of its hands. +But the Danish king seems to have been little better than a fool; and +between his frolics and his follies, he finally produced a species of +revolution in his own country. All power fell into the hands of his +queen, who, though of a bolder nature, seems to have been scarcely +less frantic than himself. On the visit of her mother, the Princess of +Wales, to Denmark, the Queen met her, at the head of a regiment, +dressed in full uniform, and wearing buckskin breeches. She must have +been an extraordinary figure altogether, for she had grown immensely +corpulent. Court favouritism was the fashion in Denmark, and the King +and Queen were equally ruled by favourites. But, in a short period, a +young physician of the household managed both, obtaining peculiarly +the confidence of the Queen. Scandal was not idle on this occasion, +and Germany and England rang with stories of the court of Denmark. The +physician was soon created a noble, and figured for a while as the +prime minister, or rather sovereign of the kingdom, by the well-known +title of Count Struensee. A party was formed against him by the +Queen-mother, at the head of some of the nobility. The Queen was made +prisoner, and died in prison. Struensee was tried as traitor, and +beheaded. The King was finally incapacitated from reigning, and his +son was raised to the regency. This melancholy transaction formed one +of the tragedies of Europe; but it had the additional misfortune of +occurring at a time when royalty had begun to sink under the incessant +attacks of the revolutionists, and France, the leader of public +opinion on the Continent, was filled with opinions contemptuous of all +thrones. + +The year 1768 exhibited France in her most humiliating position before +Europe. The Duc de Choiseul was the minister--a man of wit, elegance, +and accomplishment; but too frivolous to follow, if he had not been +too ignorant to discover, the true sources of national greatness. His +foreign policy was intrigue, and his domestic policy the favouritism +of the court by administering to its vices. He raised a war between +the Russians and Turks, and had the mortification of seeing his +_protégé_ the Turk trampled by the armies of his rival the Czarina. +Even the Corsicans had degraded the military name of France. But he +had a new peril at home. Old Marshal Richelieu--who, as Walpole +sarcastically observes, "had retained none of his faculties, but that +last talent of a decayed Frenchman, a spirit of back-stairs +intrigue"--had provided old Louis XV. with a new mistress. Of all the +persons of this character who had made French royal life scandalous in +the eyes of Europe, this connexion was the most scandalous. It +scandalized even France. This mistress was the famous Countess du +Barri--a wretched creature, originally of the very lowest condition; +whose vices would have stained the very highest; and who, in the +convulsions of the reign that followed, was butchered by the +guillotine. + +In November of this year died the Duke of Newcastle, at the age of +seventy-five. He had been struck with palsy some months before, and +then for the first time withdrew from public life. Walpole observes, +that his life had been a proof that, "even in a free country, great +abilities are not necessary to govern it." Industry, perseverance, and +intrigue, gave him that duration of power "which shining talents, and +the favour of the crown, could not secure to Lord Granville, nor the +first rank in eloquence, or the most brilliant services, to Lord +Chatham. Rashness overset Lord Granville's parts, and presumptuous +impracticability Lord Chatham; while adventitious cunning repaired +Newcastle's folly." Such is the explanation of one of the most curious +phenomena of the time, by one of its most ingenious lookers-on. But +the explanation is not sufficient. It is impossible to conceive, how +mere cunning could have sustained any man for a quarter of a century +in the highest ministerial rank; while that rank was contested from +day to day by men of every order of ability. Since the days of +Bolingbroke, there have been no examples of ministerial talent, equal +to those exhibited, in both Houses, in the day of the Duke of +Newcastle. Chatham was as ambitious as any man that ever lived, and +full of the faculties that make ambition successful. The Butes, the +Bedfords, the Hollands, the Shelburnes, exhibited every shape and +shade of cabinet dexterity, of court cabal, of popular influence, and +of political knowledge and reckless intrigue. Yet the Duke of +Newcastle, with remarkable personal disadvantages--a ridiculous +manner, an ungainly address, speech without the slightest pretension +to eloquence, and the character of extreme ignorance on general +subjects--preserved his power almost to the extreme verge of life; and +to the last was regarded as playing a most important part in the +counsels of the country. Unless we believe in magic, we must believe +that this man, with all his oddity of manner, possessed some +remarkable faculty, by which he saw his way clearly through +difficulties impervious to more showy minds. He must have deeply +discovered the means of attaching the monarch, of acting upon the +legislature, and of controlling the captiousness of the people. He +must have had practical qualities of a remarkable kind; and his is not +the first instance, in which such qualities, in the struggles of +government, bear away the prize. Thus, in later times, we have seen +Lord Liverpool minister for eleven years, and holding power with a +firm, yet quiet grasp to the last; with the whole strength of Lord +Grey and the Whigs struggling for it in front, and George Canning, a +still more dangerous enemy, watching for it in the rear. + +In one of the Notes referring to the appointment of Earl Cornwallis to +the vice-treasuryship of Ireland, the editor makes a remark which +ought not to pass without strong reprehension. Earl Cornwallis, +towards the close of the Irish rebellion in 1798, had been made chief +governor of Ireland, at the head of a large army, for the purpose of +extinguishing the remnants of the rebellion, and restoring the country +to the habits of peace. The task was no longer difficult, but he +performed his part with dignity and moderation. He had been sent +expressly for the purpose of pacifying the country, an object which +would have been altogether inconsistent with measures of violence; but +the editor, in telling us that his conduct exhibited sagacity and +benevolence, hazards the extraordinary assertion, that "he was one of +the few statesmen who inculcated the necessity of forbearance and +concession in the misgoverned country!" Nothing can be more erroneous +than this statement in point of principle, or more ignorant in point +of fact. For the last hundred years and upwards, dating from the +cessation of the war with James II., Ireland had been the object of +perpetual concessions, and, if misgoverned at all, it has been such by +the excess of those concessions. It is to be remembered, that in the +reign of William I. the Roman Catholics were in actual alliance with +France, and in actual arms against England. They were next beaten in +the field, and it was the business of the conquerors to prevent their +taking arms again. From this arose the penal laws. To those laws we +are not friendly; because we are not friendly to any attempt at the +suppression even of religious error by the force of the state. It was +a political blunder, and an offence to Christian principle, at the +same time; but the Papist is the last man in the world who has a right +to object to penal laws; for he is the very man who would have enacted +them himself against the Protestant--who always enacts them where he +has the power--and, from the spirit of whose laws, the British +legislature were in fact only borrowing at the moment. Yet from the +time when James II. and his family began to sink into insignificance, +the legislature began to relax the penal laws. Within the course of +half a century, they had wholly disappeared; and thus the editor's +flippant assertion, that Earl Cornwallis was one of the few statesmen +who inculcated the necessity of forbearance and concession, exhibits +nothing but his Whiggish ignorance on the subject. The misgovernment +of Ireland, if such existed, was to be laid to the charge of neither +the English minister nor the English people. The editor probably +forgets, that during that whole period she was governed by her own +parliament; while her progress during the second half of the 18th +century was memorably rapid, and prosperous in the highest degree, +through the bounties, privileges, and encouragements of every kind, +which were constantly held out to her by the _British_ government. And +that so early as the year 1780, she was rich enough to raise, equip, +and support a volunteer army of nearly a hundred thousand men--a +measure unexampled in Europe, and which would probably task the +strength of some of the most powerful kingdoms even at this day. And +all this was previous to the existence of what is called the "patriot +constitution." + +Walpole has the art of painting historic characters to the life; but +he sadly extinguishes the romance with which our fancy so often +enrobes them. We have been in the habit of hearing Pascal Paoli, the +chief of the Corsicans, described as the model of a republican hero; +and there can be no question, that the early resistance of the +Corsicans cost the French a serious expenditure of men and money. But +Walpole charges Paoli with want of military skill, and even with want +of that personal intrepidity so essential to a national leader. At +length, Corsican resistance being overpowered by the constant +accumulation of French force, Paoli gave way, and, as Walpole +classically observes, "not having fallen like Leonidas, did not +despair like Cato." Paoli had been so panegyrized by Boswell's work, +that he was received with almost romantic applause. The Opposition +adopted him for the sake of popularity, but ministers took him out of +their hands by a pension of £1000 a-year. "I saw him," says Walpole, +"soon after his arrival, dangling at court. He was a man of decent +deportment, and so void of any thing remarkable in his aspect, that, +being asked if I knew who he was, I judged him a Scotch officer--for +he was sandy complexioned and in regimentals--who was cautiously +awaiting the moment of promotion." All this is in Walpole's style of +fashionable impertinence; but there can be no doubt that Paoli was a +brave man, and an able commander. He gave the French several severe +defeats, but the contest was soon too unequal, and Paoli withdrew to +this country; which was so soon after to be a shelter to the +aristocracy of the country which had stained his mountains with blood. + +By a singular fate, on his return to France in an early period of the +Revolution, he was received with a sort of national triumph, and +actually appointed lieutenant-general of Corsica by the nation which +had driven him into exile. In the war which followed, Paoli, disgusted +by the tyranny of French republicanism, and alarmed by the violence of +the native factions, proposed to put his country under the protection +of the English government. A naval and military force was sent to +Corsica, and the island was annexed to the British crown. But the +possession was not maintained with rational vigour. The feeble +armament was found unequal to resist the popular passion for +republicanism. And, from this expenditure of troops, and probably +still more from the discovery that the island would be wholly useless, +the force was altogether withdrawn. Paoli returned to England, where +he died, having attained the advanced age of eighty. His red hair and +sandy complexion are probably fatal to his character as an Italian +chieftain. But if his locks were not black, his heart was bold; and if +his lip wanted mustaches, his mind wanted neither sagacity nor +determination. + +Walpole was born for a cynic philosopher. He treats men of all ranks +with equal scorn. From Wilkes to George III., he brands them all. +Ministers meet no mercy at his hands. He ranges them, as the Sultan +used to range heads on the spikes of the seraglio, for marks for his +arrows. His history is a species of moveable panorama; the scene +constantly shifting, and every scene a burlesque of the one that went +before; or perhaps the more faithful similitude would be found in a +volume of HB.'s ingenious caricatures, where all the likenesses are +preserved, though perverted, and all the dexterity of an accomplished +pencil is employed only in making its subjects ridiculous. He thus +tells us:--"The Duke of Grafton was the fourth prime minister in seven +years, who fell by his own fault. Lord Bute was seized with a panic, +and ran away from his own victory. Grenville was undone by his +insolence, by joining in the insult on the princess, and by his +persecution of Lord Bute and Mackenzie. Lord Rockingham's incapacity +overturned _him_; and now the Duke of Grafton destroyed a power which +it had depended on himself to make as permanent as he could desire." +But rash and rapid as those changes were, what were the grave +intrigues of the English cabinet to the _boudoir_ ministries of +France? Walpole is never so much in his element, as when he is +sporting in the fussy frivolities of the Faubourg St Germain. He was +much more a Frenchman than an Englishman; his love of gossip, his +passion for haunting the society of talkative old women, and his +delight at finding himself revelling in a region of _petite soupers_, +court gallantries, and the faded indiscretions of court beauties in +the wane, would have made him a rival to the courtiers of Louis XIV. + +Perhaps, the world never saw, since the days of Sardanapalus, a court +so corrupt, wealth so profligate, and a state of society so utterly +contemptuous of even the decent affectation of virtue, as the closing +years of the reign of Louis XV. A succession of profligate women ruled +the king, a similar succession ruled the cabinet; lower life was a +sink of corruption; the whole a romance of the most scandalous order. +Madame de Pompadour, a woman whose vice had long survived her beauty, +and who ruled the decrepit heart of a debauched king, had made +Choiseul minister. Choiseul was the beau-ideal of a French noble of +the old _régime_. His ambition was boundless, his insolence +ungoverned, his caprice unrestrained, and his love of pleasure +predominant even over his love of power. "He was an open enemy, but a +generous one; and had more pleasure in attaching an enemy, than in +punishing him. Whether from gaiety or presumption, he was never +dismayed; his vanity made him always depend on the success of his +plans, and his spirits made him soon forget the miscarriage of them." + +At length appeared on the tapis the memorable Madame du Barri! For +three months, all the faculties of the court were absorbed in the +question of her public presentation. Indulgent as the courtiers were +to the habits of royal life, the notoriety of Madame du Barri's early +career, startled even their flexible sense of etiquette. The ladies of +the court, most of whom would have been proud to have taken her place, +determined "that they would not appear at court if she should be +received there." The King's daughters (who had borne the ascendant of +Madame du Pompadour in their mother's life) grew outrageous at the new +favourite; and the relatives of Choiseul insisted upon it, that he +should resign rather than consent to the presentation. Choiseul +resisted, yielded, was insulted for his resistance, and was scoffed at +for his submission. He finally retired, and was ridiculed for his +retirement. Du Barri triumphed. Epigrams and _calembours_ blazed +through Paris. Every one was a wit for the time, and every wit was a +rebel. The infidel faction looked on at the general dissolution of +morals with delight, as the omen of general overthrow. The Jesuits +rejoiced in the hope of getting the old King into their hands, and +terrifying him, if not into a proselyte, at least into a tool. Even Du +Barri herself was probably not beyond their hopes; for the established +career of a King's mistress was, to turn _dévote_ on the decay of her +personal attractions. + +Among Choiseul's intentions was that of making war on England. There +was not the slightest ground for a war. But it is a part of the +etiquette of a Frenchman's life, that he must be a warrior, or must +promote a war, or must dream of a war. M. Guizot is the solitary +exception in our age, as M. Fleury was the solitary exception in the +last; but Fleury was an ecclesiastic, and was eighty years old +besides--two strong disqualifications for a conqueror. But the King +was then growing old, too; his belligerent propensities were absorbed +in quarrels with his provincial parliaments; his administrative +faculties found sufficient employment in managing the morals of his +mistresses; his private hours were occupied in pelting Du Barri with +sugar-plums; and thus his days wore away without that supreme glory of +the old _régime_--a general war in Europe. + +The calamities of the French noblesse at the period of the Revolution, +excited universal regret; and the sight of so many persons, of +graceful manners and high birth, flung into the very depths of +destitution in foreign lands, or destroyed by the guillotine at home, +justified the sympathy of mankind. But, the secret history of that +noblesse was a fearful stigma, not only on France, but on human +nature. Vice may have existed to a high degree of criminality in other +lands; but in no other country of Europe, or the earth, ever was vice +so public, so ostentatiously forced upon the eyes of man, so +completely formed into an established and essential portion of +fashionable and courtly life. It was even the _etiquette_, that the +King of France should have a _mistress_. She was as much a part of the +royal establishment as a prime minister was of the royal councils; +and, as if for the purpose of offering a still more contemptuous +defiance to the common decencies of life, the etiquette was, that this +mistress should be a _married woman_! Yet in that country the whole +ritual of Popery was performed with scrupulous exactness. A vast and +powerful clergy filled France; and the ceremonials of the national +religion were performed continually before the court, with the most +rigid formality. The King had his confessor, and, so far as we can +discover, the mistress had her confessor too; the nobles attended the +royal chapel, and also had their confessors. The confessional was +never without royal and noble solicitors of monthly, or, at the +furthest, quarterly absolution. Still, from the whole body of +ecclesiastics, France heard no remonstrance against those public +abominations. Their sermons, few and feeble, sometimes declaimed on +the vices of the beggars of Paris, or the riots among the peasantry; +but no sense of scriptural responsibility, and no natural feeling of +duty, ever ventured to deprecate the vices of the nobles and the +scandals of the throne. + +We must give but a fragment, from Walpole's _catalogue raisonné_, of +this Court of Paphos. It had been the King's object to make some women +of rank introduce Madame du Barri at court; and he had found +considerable difficulty in this matter, not from her being a woman of +no character, but on her being a woman of no birth, and whose earlier +life had been spent in the lowest condition of vice. The King at last +succeeded--and these are the _chaperons_. "There was Madame de +l'Hôpital, an ancient mistress of the Prince de Soubize! The Comtesse +Valentinois, of the highest birth, very rich, but very foolish; and as +far from a Lucretia as Madame du Barri herself! Madame de Flavacourt +was another, a suitable companion to both in virtue and understanding. +She was sister to _three_ of _the King's earliest mistresses_, and had +aimed at succeeding them! The Maréchale Duchesse de Mirpoix was the +last, and a very important acquisition." Of her, Walpole simply +mentions that all her talents were "drowned in such an overwhelming +passion for play, that though she had long and singular credit with +the King, she reduced her favour to an endless solicitation for money +to pay her debts." He adds, in his keen and amusing style--"That, to +obtain the post of _dame d'honneur_ to the Queen, she had left off +_red_ (wearing rouge,) and acted _dévotion_; and the very next day was +seen riding with Madame de Pompadour (the King's mistress) in the +latter's coach!" The editor settles the question of _her_ morality, +too.--"She was a woman of extraordinary wit and cleverness, but +totally _without character_." She had her morals by inheritance; for +she was the daughter of the _mistress_ of the Duke of Lorraine, who +married her to Monsieur de Beauvan, a poor noble, and whom the duke +got made a prince of the empire, by the title of De Craon. Now, all +those were females of the highest rank in France, ladies of fashion, +the stars of court life, and the models of national manners. Can we +wonder at the retribution which cast them out into the highways of +Europe? Can we wonder at the ruin of the corrupted nobility? Can we +wonder at the massacre of the worldly church, which stood looking on +at those vilenesses, and yet never uttered a syllable against them, if +it did not even share in their excesses? The true cause for +astonishment is, not in the depth of their fall, but in its delay; not +in the severity of the national judgment, but in that long-suffering +which held back the thunderbolt for a hundred years, and even then did +not extinguish the generation at a blow! + +[Footnote 33: _Memoirs of the Reign of King George the Third, by +Horace Walpole. From the MSS. Edited, with Notes, by_ SIR D. LA +MARCHANT, BART. London: Bentley.] + + + + +A FEW PASSAGES CONCERNING OMENS, DREAMS, APPEARANCES, &c. + +IN A LETTER TO EUSEBIUS. + +No. II. + + +It is somewhat late, my dear, Eusebius, to refer me to my letter of +August 1840, and to enquire, in your bantering way, if I have shaken +hands with a ghost recently, or dreamed a dream worth telling. You +have evidently been thinking upon this subject ever since I wrote to +you; and I suspect you are more of a convert than you will admit. You +only wish to provoke me to further evidence; but I see--through the +flimsy veil of your seeming denials, and through your put-on +audacity--the nervous workings of your countenance, when your +imagination is kindled by the mysterious subject. Your wit and your +banter are but the whistle of the clown in the dark, to keep down his +rising fears. However good your story[34] may be, there have been +dreams even of the numbers of lottery-tickets that have been verified. +We call things coincidences and chances, because we have no name to +give them, whereas they are phenomena that want a better settlement. +You speak, too, of the "doctrine of chances." If chance have a +doctrine, it is subject to a rule, is under calculation, arithmetic, +and loses all trace at once of our idea of absolute chance. If there +be chance, there is also a power over chance. The very hairs of our +head, which seem to be but a chance-confusion, are yet, we are +assured, all numbered--and is it less credible that their every +movement is noted also? One age is the type of another; and every age, +from the beginning of the world, hath had its own symbols; and not +poetically only, but literally true is it, that "coming events cast +their shadows before." If the "vox populi" be the "vox Dei," it has +pronounced continually, in a space of above five thousand years, that +there is communication between the material and immaterial worlds. So +rare are the exceptions, that, speaking of mankind, we may assert that +there is a universal belief amongst them of that connexion by signs, +omens, dreams, visions, or ghostly presences. Many professed sceptics, +who have been sceptics only in the pride of understanding, have in +secret bowed down to one form or other of the superstition. Take not +the word in a bad sense. It is at least the germ, the natural germ, +of religion in the human mind. It is the consciousness of a +superiority not his own, of some power so immeasurably above man, that +his mind cannot take it in, but accepts, as inconsiderable glimpses of +it, the phenomena of nature, and the fears and misgivings of his own +mind, spreading out from himself into the infinite and invisible. I am +not certain, Eusebius, if it be not the spiritual part of conscience, +and is to it what life is to organized matter--the mystery which gives +it all its motion and beauty. + +It is not my intention to repeat the substance of my former letter--I +therefore pass on. You ask me if the mesmeric phenomena--which you +ridicule, yet of which I believe you covet a closer investigation--are +not part and parcel of the same incomprehensible farrago? I cannot +answer you. It would be easy to do so were I a disciple. If the +mesmerists _can_ establish _clairvoyance_, it will certainly be upon a +par with the ancient oracles. But what the philosopher La Place says, +in his _Essay on Probabilities_, may be worth your consideration--that +"any case, however apparently incredible, if it is a recurrent case, +is as much entitled to a fair valuation under the laws of induction, +as if it had been more probable beforehand." If the mesmerized can +project, and that apparently without effort, their minds into the +minds of others--read their thoughts; if they can see and tell what is +going on hundreds of miles off, on the sea and on distant lands alike; +if they can at remote distances _influence_ others with a sense of +their presence--they possess a power so very similar to that ascribed, +in some extraordinary cases, to persons who, in a dying state, have +declared that they have been absent and conversed with individuals +dear to them in distant countries, and whose presence has been +recognised at those very times by the persons so said to be visited, +that I do not see how they can be referable to different original +phenomena. Yet with this fact before them, supposing the facts of +mesmerism, of the mind's separation from, and independence of its +organic frame, is it not extraordinary that so many of this new school +are, or profess themselves by their writings, materialists? I would, +however, use the argument of mesmerism thus:--Mesmerism, if true, +confirms the ghost and vision power, though I cannot admit that +dreams, ghosts, and visions are any confirmation of mesmerism; for if +mesmerism be a delusion and cheat, it may have arisen from speculating +upon the other known power--as true miracles have been known to give +rise to false. In cases of mesmerism, however, this shock is felt--the +facts, as facts in the ordinary sense, are incredible; but then I see +persons who have examined the matter very nicely, whom I have known, +some intimately, for many years, of whose good sense, judgement, and +_veracity_ I will not allow myself to doubt--indeed to doubt whose +veracity would be more incredible to me than the mesmeric facts +themselves. Here is a conflict--a shock. Two contradictory +impossibilities come together. I do not weigh in the scale at all the +discovery of some cheats and pretenders; this was from the first to +have been expected. In truth, the discoveries of trick and collusion +are, after all, few. Not only has mesmerism been examined into by +persons I respect, but practised likewise; and by one, a physician, +whom I have known intimately many years, who, to his own detriment, +has pursued it, and whom I have ever considered one of the most +truthful persons living, and incapable of collusion, or knowingly in +any way deceiving. Now, Eusebius, we cannot go into society, and +pronounce persons whom we have ever respected all at once to be cheats +and liars. Yet there may be some among them who will tell you that +they themselves were entirely sceptical until they tried mesmerism, +and found they had the power in themselves. We must then, in fairness, +either acknowledge mesmerism as a power, or believe that these persons +whom we respect and esteem are practised upon and deluded by others. +And such would, I confess, be the solution of the difficulty, were it +not that there are cases where this is next to an impossibility. + +But I do not mean now, Eusebius, to discuss mesmerism,[35] further +than as it does seem "a part and parcel" of that mysterious power +which has been manifested in omens, dreams, and appearances. I say +_seem_--for if it be proved altogether false, the other mystery stands +untouched by the failure--for in fact it was, thousands of years +before either the discovery or practice--at least as far as we know; +for some will not quite admit this, but, in their mesmeric dreaming, +attribute to it the ancient oracles, and other wonders. And there are +who somewhat inconsistently do this, having ridiculed and contemned as +utterly false those phenomena, until they have found them hitch on to, +and give a credit to, their new Mesmeric science. + +But to return to the immediate subject. It has been objected against +dreams, omens, and visions, that they often occur without an object; +that there is either no consequence, or a very trifling one; the knot +is not "dignus vindice." Now, I am not at all staggered by this; on +the contrary, it rather tends to show that there is some _natural_ +link by which the material and immaterial within and without ourselves +may be connected; and very probably many more intimations of that +connexion are given than noted. Those of thought, mental suggestions, +may most commonly escape us. It is thus what we would not do of +ourselves we may do in spite of ourselves. Nor do we always observe +closely objects and ends. We might, were we to scrutinize, often find +the completion of a dream or omen which we had considered a failure, +because we looked too immediately for its fulfilment. But even where +there is evidently no purpose attained, there is the less reason to +suspect fabrication, which would surely commence with an object. Some +very curious cases are well attested, where the persons under the +impression act upon the impulse blindly, not knowing why; and +suddenly, in conclusion, the whole purpose bursts upon their +understandings. But I think the objection as to purpose is answered by +one undoubted fact, the dream of Pilate's wife--"Have thou nothing to +do with that just man; for I have suffered many things this day in a +dream because of him." There is here no apparent purpose--the warning +was unheeded. Yet the dream, recorded as it is and where it is, was +unquestionably a dream upon the event to happen; and is not to be +considered as a mere coincidence, which would have been unworthy the +sacred historian, who wrote the account of it under inspiration. And +this is a strong--the strongest confirmation of the inspiration of +dreams, or rather, perhaps, of their significance, natural or +otherwise, and with or without a purpose. So the dream of Cæsar's wife +did not save Cæsar's life. And what are we to think of the whole +narrative, beginning with the warning of the Ides of March? Now, +Joseph's dream and Pharaoh's dream were dreams of purpose; they were +prophetic, and disclosed to the understanding of Joseph. So that, with +this authority of Scripture, I do not see how dreams can be set aside +as of no significance. And we have the like authority for omens, and +symbols, and visions--so that we must conclude the things themselves +to be possible; and this many do, yet say that, with other miracles, +they have long ceased to be. + +Then, again, in things that by their agreement, falling in with other +facts and events, move our wonder, we escape from the difficulty, as +we imagine, by calling them coincidences; as if we knew what +coincidences are. I do not believe they are without a purpose, any +more than that seeming fatality by which little circumstances produce +great events, and in ordinary life occur frequently to an apparent +detriment, yet turn out to be the very hinge upon which the fortune +and happiness of life depend and are established. I remember a +remarkable instance of this--though it may not strictly belong to +omens or coincidences; but it shows the purpose of an accident. Many +years ago, a lady sent her servant--a young man about twenty years of +age, and a native of that part of the country where his mistress +resided--to the neighbouring town with a ring which required some +alteration, to be delivered into the hands of a jeweller. The young +man went the shortest way, across the fields; and coming to a little +wooden bridge that crossed a small stream, he leaned against the rail, +and took the ring out of its case to look at it. While doing so, it +slipped out of his hand, and fell into the water. In vain he searched +for it, even till it grew dark. He thought it fell into the hollow of +a stump of a tree under water; but he could not find it. The time +taken in the search was so long, that he feared to return and tell his +story--thinking it incredible, and that he should even be suspected of +having gone into evil company, and gamed it away or sold it. In this +fear, he determined never to return--left wages and clothes, and +fairly ran away. This seemingly great misfortune was the making of +him. His intermediate history I know not; but this--that after many +years' absence, either in the East or West Indies, he returned with a +very considerable fortune. He now wished to clear himself with his old +mistress; ascertained that she was living, purchased a diamond ring of +considerable value, which he determined to present in person, and +clear his character, by telling his tale, which the credit of his +present condition might testify. He took the coach to the town of ----, +and from thence set out to walk the distance of a few miles. He found, +I should tell you, on alighting, a gentleman who resided in the +neighbourhood, who was bound for the adjacent village. They walked +together; and, in conversation, this former servant, now a gentleman, +with graceful manners and agreeable address, communicated the +circumstance that made him leave the country abruptly, many years +before. As he was telling this, they came to the very wooden bridge. +"There," said he--"it was just here that I dropped the ring; and there +is the very bit of old tree, into a hole of which it fell--just +there." At the same time, he put down the point of his umbrella into +the hole of a knot in the tree--and, drawing it up, to the +astonishment of both, found _the_ very ring on the ferrule of the +umbrella. I need not tell the rest. But make this reflection--why was +it that he did not as easily find it immediately after it had fallen +in? It was an incident like one of those in Parnell's "Hermit," which, +though a seeming chance, was of purpose, and most important. + +Now, here is an extraordinary coincidence between a fact and a dream, +or a vision, whatever it may be, which yet was of no result--I know it +to be true. And you know, Eusebius, my excellent, truth-telling, +worthy Mrs H----, who formerly kept a large school at ----. One morning +early, the whole house was awakened by the screams of one of the +pupils. She was in hysterics; and, from time to time, fainting away in +an agony of distress. She said she had seen her grandfather--that he +was dead, and they would bury him alive. In due time, the post brought +a letter--the grandfather _was dead_. Letters were written to the +friends to announce the dream or vision, and the burial was delayed in +consequence. Nothing could be more natural than the fear of burying +him alive in the mind of the young girl, unacquainted with death, and +averse to persuade herself that the person she had seen could be +really dead. Now, my dear Eusebius, you know Mrs H----, and cannot +doubt the fact. + +Cases of this kind are so many, and well authenticated, that one knows +not where to choose. + + ----"Tam multa loquacem + Delassare valent Fabium." + +I think you knew the worthy and amiable Mr ----, who had the charge of +the valuable museum at ----. I well remember hearing this narrated of +him, long _before_ his death. He stated, that one day opening a case, +he heard a voice issue from it, which said--"In three days you shall +die." He became ill, and sent for Dr P----, the very celebrated +physician. It was in vain to reason with him. The third day arrived. +The kind physician sat with him till the hour was past. He did not +then die! Did he, however, mistake or miscalculate the meaning of the +voice? He died _that very day three years_!! Nothing can be more +authentic than this. + +When I was in town in the summer, Eusebius, I spent an agreeable day +with my friends, the C----s. Now, I do not know a human being more +incapable of letting an idea, a falsehood of imagination, run away +with his sober judgment. He has a habit, I should say, more than most +men, of tying himself down to matters of fact. I copy for you an +extract from a diary; it was taken down that night. "Mr C---- has just +told me the following very curious circumstance:--Some years ago, Mrs +C---- being not in good health, they determined to spend some weeks in +the country. His father was then in his house. They separated--the +father, to his own home in the neighbourhood of London, and Mr and Mrs +C---- to visit the brother of Mrs C----, a clergyman, and resident +upon his living, in Suffolk. Soon after their arrival, there was a +large assembly of friends, in consequence of some church business. +There was church service--in the midst of which Mr C---- suddenly +felt an irresistible desire to return to his house in town. He knew +not why. It was in vain he reasoned with himself--go he must, forced +by an impulse for which he could in no way account. It would distress +his friends--particularly on such an occasion. He could not help it. +He communicated his intention to Mrs C----; begged her to tell no one, +lest he should give trouble by having the carriage;--his resolution +was instantly taken, to quit the church at once, to walk about six +miles to meet the coach if possible; if not, determining to walk all +night, a distance of thirty-two miles. He did quit the church, walked +the six miles, was in time to take the coach, reached London, and his +own home. The intelligence he found there was, that his father was +dangerously ill. He went to him--found him dying--and learned that he +had told those about him that he knew he should see his son. That wish +was gratified, which could not have been but for this sudden impulse +and resolution. His father expired in his arms." + +It is curious that his father had told him a dream which he had had +some years before--that he was in the midst of some convulsion of +nature, where death was inevitable, and that then the only one of his +children who came to him was my friend Mr C----, which was thus in +manner accomplished on the day of his death. + +I know not if some persons are naturally more under these and suchlike +mysterious influences. There was another occurrence which much +affected Mr C----. He went into Gloucestershire to visit a brother. I +do not think the brother was ill. All the way that he went in the +coach, he had, to use his own words, a death-smell which very much +annoyed him. Leaving the coach, he walked towards his brother's house +greatly depressed; so much so, that, for a considerable time, he sat +on a stone by the way, deeply agitated, and could not account for the +feeling. He arrived in time only to see his brother expire. I do not +know, Eusebius, how you can wish for better evidence of facts so +extraordinary. Mr C----'s character is sufficient voucher. + +Here is another of these extraordinary coincidences which I have been +told by my friend Mrs S----, niece to the Rev. W. Carr, whom she has +very frequently heard narrate the following:--A farmer's wife at +Bolton Abbey, came to him, the Rev. W. Carr, in great agitation, and +told him she had passed a dreadful night, having dreamed that she saw +Mr Richard, (brother to Rev. W. Carr;) that she saw him in great +distress, struggling in the water, with his portmanteau on his +shoulders, escaping from a burning ship; and she begged the family to +write to know if Mr Richard was safe. It was exactly according to the +dream; he had, at the very time, so escaped from the burning of (I +believe) the Boyne. How like is this to some of the mesmeric visions! +I am assured of the truth of the following, by one who knew the +circumstance. One morning, as Mrs F---- was sitting in her room, a +person came in and told her he had had a very singular dream; that he +had been sitting with her sister, Mrs B----k, when some one came into +the room with distressing intelligence about her husband. Though it +could not have been there known at the time, Mr B----k had been +thrown from his horse and killed. + +A party of gentlemen had met at Newcastle; the nature of the meeting +is stated to have been of a profane character. One of them suddenly +started, and cried, "What's that?"--and saw a coffin. The others saw +it; and one said--"It is mine: I see myself in it!" In twenty-four +hours he was a corpse. + +I think I mentioned to you, Eusebius, that when I dined with Miss +A----, in town, she told me a curious story about a black boy. I have +been since favoured with the particulars, and copy part of the letter; +weigh it well, and tell me what you think of such coincidences--if you +are satisfied that there is nothing but chance in the matter. + +"Now for the little black boy. In the year 1813, I was at the house of +Sir J. W. S----th of D---- House, near Bl----d, who then resided in +Portman Square, and a Mr L----r of Norfolk, a great friend of Sir +John's, was of the party. On coming into the room, he said--'I have +just been calling on our old Cambridge friend, H----n, who returned +the other day from India; and he has been telling me a very curious +thing which happened in his family. He had to go up the country to a +very remote part, on some law business, and he left Mrs H----n at +home, under the protection of her sister and that lady's husband. The +night after Mr H----n went away, the brother-in-law was awakened by +the screams of his own wife in her sleep; she had dreamed that a +little black boy, Mr H----n's servant, who had attended him, was +murdering him. He woke her, and while he was endeavouring to quiet +her, and convince her that her fears were the effects of a bad dream, +produced probably by indigestion, he was roused by the alarming +shrieks of Mrs H----n, who slept in an adjoining room. On going to +her, he found her, too, just awakening after a horrid dream--the +little Indian boy was murdering her husband. He used the same +arguments with her that he had already found answer in quieting his +own wife; but, in his own mind, he felt very anxious for tidings from +Mr H----n. To their great surprise, that gentleman made his +appearance the next evening, though he had expected to be absent above +a week. He looked ill and dejected. They anxiously asked him what was +the matter. Nothing, but that he was angry with himself for acting in +a weak, foolish manner. He had dreamed that his attendant, the little +black boy, intended to murder him; and the dream made such an +impression on his nerves that he could not bear the sight of the boy, +but dismissed him at once without any explanation. Finding he could +not go on without an attendant, he had returned home to procure one; +but as he had no reason whatever to suspect the boy of any ill +intention, he felt very angry with himself for minding a dream. Dear +Mrs H----n was much struck with this story; but she used to +say--unless it were proved that the boy really had the intention of +murdering his master, the dreams were for nothing.'" + +In this instance a murder may have been prevented by these dreams; for +if merely coincidences, and without an object, the wonder of +coincidences is great indeed; for it is not one dream, but three, and +of three persons. + +Things apparently of little consequence are yet curious for +observation. Our friend K----n, and two or three other friends, some +months ago went on an excursion together. Their first point was Bath, +where they meant to remain some time. K----n dreamed on Friday they +were to start on Saturday; that there was a great confusion at the +railway station; and that there would be no reaching Bath for them. +They went, however, on Saturday morning, and he told his dream when in +the carriage. One of the party immediately repeated the old saying-- + + "A Friday's dream on Saturday told + Will be sure to come true ere the day is old." + +There was no accident to the train; but, instead of finding themselves +at Bath, they found themselves at Bristol--having, in their +conversation, neglected to notice that they had passed Bath. They were +put to great inconvenience, and confusion, and difficulty in getting +their luggage. I know you too well, Eusebius, not to hear, by +anticipation, your laughter at this trifling affair, and the wit with +which for a few moments you will throw off your ridicule. You may ask, +if the shooting of your corns are not as sure and as serious +prognostications? Be it so; and why not, Eusebius? You can tell by +them what weather to expect; and, after all, you know little more of +the material world, less of the immaterial, and nothing of their +mystical union. Nothing now, past, present, and future, may be but +terms for we know not what, and cannot comprehend how they can be lost +in an eternity. There they become submerged. So take the thing +represented, not the paltry, perhaps ridiculous, one through which it +is represented. It is the picture, the attitude, the position, the +undignified familiarity of yourself with the defects of your own +person, that make the ridiculous; but there is grave philosophy, +nevertheless, to be drawn from every atom of your own person, if you +view it aright. I have heard you eloquent against the "hypocrite +Cicero," as you called him, for his saying, that one Augur meeting +another could scarcely help laughing. If mankind chose augury as a +sign, it might have been permitted them to find a sign in it. But this +is plunging into deeper matter, and one which you will think a +quagmire, wherein wiser thoughts may flounder and be lost. When the +officers of Hannibal's army were heard to laugh by the soldiery on the +morning of the battle of Cannæ, they took it as a good omen. It was +generally received, and the day was fatal to the Romans. "Possunt quia +posse videntur," you will say; but whence comes the "videntur?" There, +Eusebius, you beg the whole question. The wonders and omens, gravely +related by Livy, at least portray a general feeling--an impression +before events. In the absence of a better religion, I would not have +quarrelled with the superstition, and very much join you in your +condemnation of the passage in Cicero. + +The fatal necessity of event upon event, of omen, dream, and vision, +is the great characteristic of the wondrous Greek drama. So awfully +portrayed is the _OEdipus_--and with more grand and prophetic +mystery pervading the _Agamemnon_. Had it not been congenial with +popular belief, it could never have been so received; nor, indeed, +could somewhat similar (though degraded from their high authority, as +standing less alone by their amalgamation with a purer creed) +characteristics in some of the plays of our own Shakspeare have +touched the mind to wonderment, had there been no innate feeling to +which they might, and without effort, unite. The progress, however, of +the omen and vision, clearer and clearer, pointing to the very deed, +and even while its enactment has commenced, and that fatality by which +(prophetic, too) the plainest prophecy is unheeded, contemned, and the +Prophetess herself doomed, and knowing herself doomed, may be +considered as an epitome of the Grecian creeds upon the subject. It +was no vulgar punning spirit that designated the very _name_ of Helen +as a cursing omen. + + [Greek: + "Tis pot' hônomazen hôd + Es to pan etêtumôs-- + Mê tis ontôn ouch orô-- + Men pronoaisi tou peprômeuou + Glôssan en tucha nemôn."] + +Helen, the destroyer--yes, that was her significant name. The present +King of the French was not allowed to assume the title of Valois, +which was, strictly speaking, his, and instead assumed that of Duc de +Chartres, on account of an evil omen attached to the former name; and +that evil omen originating in a curious fact, the seeing of a spectre +by that German princess who succeeded the poisoned sister of our +second Charles. But there is nothing in modern history more analogous +to the fatalities of the Grecian drama than those singular passages +relating to the death of Henry the Fourth of France. We have the +gravest authority of the gravest historians, that prophecies, +warnings, and omens so prepared Henry for his death, that he waited +for it with a calm resignation, as to an irresistible fatality. "In +fact," (says an eloquent writer in Maga of April 1840,) "it is to this +attitude of listening expectation in the king, and breathless waiting +for the blow, that Schiller alludes in that fine speech of Wallenstein +to his sister, where he notices the funeral knells that sounded +continually in Henry's ears; and, above all, his prophetic instinct, +that caught the sound from a far distance of his murderer's motions, +that could distinguish, amidst all the tumult of a mighty Capital, +those stealthy steps." + +And does it seem so strange to you, Eusebius, if the ear and the eye, +those outposts, as it were, of the ever watchful, spiritual, and +intellectual sentinels within man, convey the secret intelligences +that most concern him? What is there, Eusebius, so marvellous to your +conception, if there be sympathy more than electric between those two +worlds, outer Nature and Man himself? If earth, that with him and for +him partook of one curse, with all its accompanying chain and +interchange of elements, be still one with him, in utterance and +signification, whether of his weal or woe. The sunshine and the gloom +enter into him, and are his; they reflect his feelings, or rather they +are his feelings, almost become his flesh--they are his bodily +sensations. The winds and the waters, in their gentler breathings and +their sullen roar, are but the music of his mind, echo his joys, his +passions, or funereally rehearse the dirge of his fate. + +Reject not, my Eusebius, any fact, because it seems little and +trifling; a mite is a wonder in creation, from which deep, hidden +truths present themselves. It was a heathen thought, an imperfect +conception of the wide sympathy of all nature, and of that meaning +which every particle of it can convey, and more significantly as we +calculate our knowledge;--it was a heathen thought, that the poet +should lament the unlikeliness of the flowers of the field to man in +their fall and reappearance. It was not the blessing given to his +times to see the perfectness of the truth--the "non omnis moriar" +indicated even in his own lament.[36] + +I had written thus far, when our friend H---l---r looked in upon me, +and enquired what I was about; I told him I was writing to you, and +the subject of my letter. He is this moment gone, and has left with me +these two incidents. They came within his own experience. He +remembers, that when he was a boy, he was in a room with several of +his brothers, some of whom were unwell, yet not seriously ill. On a +sudden, there was a great noise, so great, that it could be compared +to nothing but the firing of a pistol--a pane in the window was +broken; not, he said, to _pieces_, but literally to a _powder_ of +glass. All in the house heard it, with the exception of one of his +brothers, which struck them as very strange. The servants from below, +and their mother from above, rushed into the room, fearing one of them +might have been shot. The mother, when she saw how it was, told +H---l---r that his brother, who did not hear the noise, she knew it well, +would die. At that same hour next day that brother did die. + +The other story is more singular. His family were very intimate with +another, consisting of father, mother, and an only daughter--a child. +Of her the father was so fond, that he was never happy but when she +was with him. It happened that he lost his health, and during his long +illness, continually prayed that, when he was gone, his child too +should be shortly taken from this world, and that he might be with her +in a better. He died--when, a short time after his death, the child, +who was in perfect health, came rushing into the presence of her +mother, from a little room which looked out upon a court, but from +which there was no entrance to the room--she came rushing to her +mother, calling out--"Oh, papa, papa! I have seen papa in the court, +and he called me to him. I must go--open the door for me--do, mamma! I +must go, for he called me." Within twenty-four hours that child was +dead. Now, said H--l--r, I knew this to be a fact, as well as I ever +knew any act, for our families were like one family. Sweet image of +infant and of parental love!--let us excuse the prayer, by that of the +ancient mother, who, when her sons dragged her chariot to the temple, +prayed that they might receive from the gods what was best for +them--and they were found dead in the temple. How beautiful is the +smile of the sleeping infant! "Holds it not converse with angels?" the +thought is natural--ministering spirits may be unseen around us, and +in all space, and love the whispering speech in the ear of sleeping +innocence; there is visible joy in the face, yet how little can it +know of pleasurable sensations, communicable through this world's +objects? How know we but the sense must be deteriorated, to make it +serviceable for the lower purposes for which in part the child is +born?--as the air we breathe must have something of poison, or it +would be too pure for mortal beings. Look down some lengthening valley +from a height, Eusebius, at the hour of twilight, when all lands, +their marks and boundaries, grow dim, and only here and there the +scant light indicates lowly dwellings, shelters of humanity in earth's +sombre bosom, and mark the vast space of vapour that fills all +between, and touches all, broods over all--can you think this little +world of life that you know by having walked its path, and now see so +indistinguishable, to be the all of existence before you? Lone indeed +would be the world were there nothing better than ourselves in it. No +beings to watch for us, to warn us, to defend us from "the Power of +the Air:" ministering spirits--and why not of the departed?--may be +there. If there be those that in darkness persuade to evil--and in +winter nights, the winds that shake the casement seem to denote to the +guilty conscience the presence of avenging fiends--take we not peace +and wholesome suggestion from milder influences of air and sunshine? +Brighter may be, perhaps, the child's vision than ours; as it grows +for the toil and work for which it is destined, there comes another +picture of a stern and new reality, and that which brought the smile +of joy upon the face, is but as a dissolving view; and then he becomes +fully fitted for humanity, of which he was before but the embryo. And +even in his progress, if he keep charge of his mind, in purity and in +love, seem there not ministering spirits, that spread before him, in +the mirage of the mind, scenes that look like a new creation? and +pedants, in their kind, call this the poet's fancy, his imagination. + +Lately I have spent a month by the sea: the silent rocks seemed +significant in their overhanging look, and silence, as listening to +the incessant sea. It would be painful to think every thing insensible +about us, but ourselves. I wonder not that the rocks, the woods, and +wilds, were peopled by ancient Mythologists; and with beings, too, +with whom humanity could sympathize. I would not think that the +greater part of the earth's islands and continents were given up to +hearts insensate; that there were nothing better than wildernesses of +chattering apes--no sounds more rational than + + "The wolf's wild howl on Ulalaski's shore." + +I would rather think that there are myriads of beings of higher nature +than ourselves, whose passage is [Greek: hôste noêma], and whose home +is ubiquity; and such as these may have their missions to us, and may +sometimes take the dying breath of father or of brother in far-off +seas, and instinct with, and maintaining in themselves, made visible, +that poor remnant of life, stand at a moment at the bedside of beloved +relatives, even in most distant lands, and give to each a blessed +interchange and intelligence. In every sense, indeed, we "see but in +part." In the dulness of the day, we see not a tenth part of the +living things that people the ground; a gleam of sunshine instantly +discovers to us in leaf and flower a little world; and could we but +remove this outward fog, this impure atmosphere of our mortal senses, +that which may be occasionally granted at dying hour, we might behold +all space peopled with the glory of created beings. There is a +beautiful truth of best feeling hidden in the superstition, that at +one particular moment on Christmas Eve, all the beasts of the field go +down on their knees amidst the darkness, seen alone by their Creator's +eye, and by that angelic host that sing again the first divine hymn of +Palestine. + +I do not wonder that sailors are, what we choose to call, more +superstitious than landsmen; with but a plank between them and +death--unfathomable seas around them, whose depths are continual +wonder, from whose unseen treasure-house, the + + ----"billows roll ashore + The beryl and the golden ore." + +Seas and skies with the great attribute of life, motion--their very +ship a personification, as it were a living creature--cut off, +separated as they are for the most part, from cities, and the +mind-lowering ways of cities, which they see recede from them and melt +into utter insignificance, leaving for companionship but the winds and +the waters. Can it be a matter of wonder, if, with warm wishes and +affections in their breasts, their imaginations shape the clouds and +mists into being, messengers between them and the world they have all +but lost? The stars, those "watches of the night," to them are not the +same, changing yet ever significant. Even the waters about them, which +by day are apparently without a living thing beyond the life of their +own motion, in the darkness glittering with animated fire; can we +wonder, then, if their thoughts rise from these myriad, invisible, +lucent worms of the sea, to a faith in the more magnificent beings who +"clothe themselves with light;" and if they believe that such are +present, unseen, commissioned to guard and guide them in ways perilous +and obscure? Seamen, accustomed to observe signs in their great +solitude, unattracted by the innumerable sights and businesses of +other life, are ever open and ready to receive signs and +significations even of omen and vision; whereas he that is engaged in +crowded street and market, heeds no sign, though it were offered, but +that which his little and engrossing interests make for him; he, +indeed, may receive "angels' visits unaware." Omens, dreams, and +visions are to seamen more real, more frequent, as more congenial with +their wants; and some extraordinary cases have even been registered in +ships' logs, not resting on the credibility of one but of a crew, and +such logs, if I mistake not, have been admitted evidence in courts of +judicature. Am I led away by the subject, Eusebius? You will say I am; +yet I could go on--the wonder increases--the common earth is not their +sure grave-- + + "Nothing of them that doth fade, + But doth suffer a sea-change + Into something rich and strange." + +But I must not pursue this, lest, in your wit, you find reason to +compare me to that great philosopher, who gravely asserted that he had +discovered how to make a mermaid, but abstained from using the +receipt; and I am quite sure you are not likely to resemble the +learned Dr Farmer, who folded down the page for future experiment.[37] + +It is not very long ago that I was discussing subjects of this kind +with our acute friend S---- V----. I send you a letter received from +him, written, I presume, more for you than myself; for I told him I +was on the point of answering yours, which he read. His attempt to +account for any of his stories by common coincidences, is rather +indicative of his naturally inquisitive mind than of his real belief; +and I suspect he has been led into that train of argument by his +hostility to mesmerism, which he pronounces to be a cheat from +beginning to end; and he cannot but see that, granting mesmerism, the +step in belief beyond is easy. He would, therefore, have no such +stepping stone; and lest confidence in dreams, omens, &c., should make +mesmerism more credible, he has been a little disposed to trim his own +opinions on the subject. You will judge for yourself--here is his +letter:-- + + "My dear --------,--You desire me to give you a written account + of the dreams which I related to you when we lately met, and + amused ourselves with speculations on these mysterious phenomena. + + "_Dream I._--Mrs X----, when a child, was attached to Captain + T----, R.N. She had been brought up from infancy by her uncle and + aunt, with whom she resided, and with whom Captain T---- had long + been on terms of the most intimate friendship and regard. At the + time to which I now refer, Captain T---- commanded a frigate in + the West Indies, where he had been stationed for some months; + letters had been occasionally received from him; his health had + not suffered from the climate, nor had any of his friends in + England the least reason to apprehend that a man of his age, good + constitution, and temperate habits, by whom also the service in + which he was engaged had been eagerly desired, would be likely to + suffer from the diseases of these latitudes. One morning Mrs + X----, (then Miss X----,) appeared at the breakfast table with an + expression of grief on her countenance, that at once induced her + uncle and aunt to ask the cause. She said, that she had dreamed + that Captain T---- had died of fever in the West Indies, and that + the intelligence had been sent in a large letter to her uncle. The + young lady's uncle and aunt both represented to her the weakness + of yielding to the impression of a dream, and she appeared to + acquiesce in the good sense of their remonstrances--when, shortly + after, the servant brought in the letter-case from the + Post-office, and when her uncle had unlocked it, and was taking + out the letters, (there were several,) Miss X---- instantly + exclaimed, pointing to one of them--'That's the letter! I saw it + in my dream!' It was the letter--a large letter, of an official + size, addressed to her uncle, and conveying precisely the event + which Miss X---- had announced. + + "_Dream II._--General D----, R.M., was one morning conversing with + me on the subject of dreams, and gave me the following + relation:--'I had the command of the marines on board a frigate, + and in company with another frigate, (giving names and date,) was + proceeding to America, when, on joining the breakfast table, I + told my brother officers that I had had a very vivid and singular + dream. That I had dreamed that the day was calm, as it now was, + and bright, but with some haziness in the distance; and that + whilst we were at breakfast, as we now are, the master-at-arms + came in and announced two sail in the distance. I thought we all + immediately ran on deck--saw the two ships--made them out to be + French frigates, and immediately gave chase to them. The wind + being light, it was long before we could approach the enemy near + enough to engage them; and when, in the evening, a distant fire + was commenced, a shot from the frigate which we attacked, carried + away our foretopmast, and, consequently, we were unable to + continue the chase. Our companion, also, had kept up a distant + fire with the other French frigate, but in consequence of our + damage, shortened sail to keep company with us during the night. + On the following morning the French frigates had made their + escape--no person had been killed or wounded on board our own + ship; but in the morning we were hailed by our companion, and told + that she had lost two men. Shortly after, whilst my brother + officers were making comments on my dream--and before the + breakfast table was cleared, the master-at-arms made his + appearance, announcing, to the great surprise of all present, two + sail in the distance; (and General D---- assured me that on + reaching the deck they appeared to him precisely the same in place + and distance as in his dream)--'the chase--the distant action--the + loss of the topmast--the escape of the enemy during the night--and + the announcement from the companion frigate that she had lost two + men--all took place precisely as represented in my dream.' The + General had but just concluded his narration, when a coincidence + took place, little less extraordinary than that of the dream and + its attendant circumstances.--The door opened, and a gentleman + rushed into the room with all that eagerness which characterizes + the unexpected meeting of warm friends after a long absence--and + immediately after the first cordial greetings, General D---- + said--'My dear F----, it is most singular, that although we have + not met during the last fifteen years, and I had not the most + distant expectation of seeing or hearing from you, yet you were in + my thoughts not five minutes ago--I was relating to my friend my + extraordinary dream when on board the ----; you were present, and + cannot have forgotten it.' Major F---- replied, that he remembered + it most accurately, and, at his friend's request, related it to + me, in every particular correspondent with the General's account. + + "What I now relate to you cannot be called a dream, but it bears a + close affinity to 'those shadowy tribes of mind' which constitute + our sleeping phantasmagoria. Calling one morning on my friend, Mrs + D----m, who had for some time resided in my neighbourhood, I + found her greatly distressed at the contents of a letter which she + had just received. The letter was from her sister, Mrs B----, who + was on her return to England, on board the ----, East Indiaman, + accompanied by her two youngest children, and their nurse; Mr + B----, her husband, remaining in India. One morning, shortly after + breakfast, Mrs B---- was sitting in the cabin, with many other + passengers present, but not herself at that moment engaged in + conversation with them; when she suddenly turned her head, and + exclaimed aloud, and with extreme surprise, 'Good God! B----, is + that you?' At the same moment the children, who were with their + nurse at a distant part of the ship, too far off, it is stated, to + have heard their mother's exclamation, both cried out, 'Papa! + papa!' Mrs B---- declared, that the moment she spoke, she saw her + husband most distinctly, but the vision instantly vanished. All + the persons present noted the precise time of this singular + occurrence, lat. and long., &c., and Mrs B----'s letter to her + sister was written immediately after it; it was forwarded to + England by a vessel that was expected to reach home before the + East Indiaman, and which did precede her by some weeks. No + reasonings that I could offer were sufficient to relieve my + friend's mind from the conviction that her sister had lost her + husband, and that his decease had been thus mysteriously announced + to her, until letters arrived from Mr B----, attesting his perfect + health, which he enjoyed for some years after--and I believe he is + still living. + + "To arrive at any reasonable conclusion respecting the phenomena + of dreams, we require data most difficult to be obtained; we + should compare authentic dreams, faithfully related, with their + equally well-attested attendant and _precedent_ circumstances. But + who can feel certain that he correctly relates even his own dream? + I have many times made the attempt, but cannot be perfectly sure + that in the act of recording a dream, I have not given more of + order to the succession of the events than the dream itself + presented. In the case of the first dream, the mere delivery of a + letter, there is no succession of events, and therefore no ground + to suppose that any invention could have been added to give it + form and consistency. The young lady knew that her friend was in + the West Indies; she knew, too, the danger of that climate, and + had often seen the Admiral, her uncle, receive official letters. + Some transient thoughts on these subjects, although too transient + to be remembered, unquestionably formed her dream. That the letter + really arrived and confirmed the event predicted, can only be + referable to those coincidences which are not of very uncommon + occurrence in daily life. To similar causes I attribute the second + dream; and even its external fulfilment in so many particulars can + hardly be deemed more extraordinary than the coincidence of the + sudden and wholly unexpected arrival of Major F----, just at the + very moment after General D---- had related to me his dream. The + third narrative admits of an easy solution. Mrs B---- was not in + good health. Thinking of her husband, in a state of reverie, a + morbid spectrum might be the result--distinct enough to cause her + sudden alarm and exclamation which, if the children heard, (and + children distinguish their mother's voice at a considerable + distance--the cabin door, too, might have been open, and the + children much nearer than they were supposed to have been,) would + account at once for their calling out 'Papa! papa!' During our + waking hours, we are never conscious of any complete suspension of + thought, even for a moment; if fatigued by any long and laborious + mental exertion, such as the solution of a complicated + mathematical problem, how is the weariness relieved? Not by + listless rest like the tired body, but by a change of subject--a + change of action--a new train of thoughts and expressions. Are we, + then, always dreaming when asleep? We certainly are not conscious + that we are; but it may be that in our sleep we do not remember + our dreams, and that it is only in imperfect sleep, or in the act + of waking, that the memory records them. That dreams occupy an + exceedingly short period of time, I know from my own experience; + for I once had, when a boy, a very long dream about a bird, which + was placed in an insecure place in my bedroom, being attacked by a + cat. The fall of the cage on the floor awoke me, and I sprang out + of bed in time to save the bird. The dream must, I think, have + been suggested by the fall of the cage; and, if so, my seemingly + long dream could only have occupied a mere point of time. I have + also experienced other instances nearly similar. It seems + reasonable, too, to suppose that this is generally the case; for + our dreams present themselves to us as pictures, with the subjects + of which we are intimately acquainted. I now glance my eye at the + fine landscape hanging in my room. You may say of it, as Falstaff + said of Prince Henry, 'By the Lord, I know you as well as he that + made you.' Well, it is full of subject, full of varied beauty and + grand conception--a 'paulo majora' eclogue. When I first saw it, I + could barely read it through in an hour. For pictures that are + what pictures ought to be, Poems to the eye, demand and repay this + investigating attention--those that do not demand and suggest + thoughts are not worth a thought; but this picture, now its every + part, tint, and sentiment, have long been intimately known to me. + I see, at a glance, its entire subject--ay, at a glance, too, see + the effect which a casual gleam of light has just thrown over it. + Is it not probable, then, that our dreams may be equally + suggestive, in as short a space of time? Dreams that have not some + connexion, something of a continuity of events, however wild, are + not retained by the memory. Most persons would find it much more + difficult to learn to repeat the words in a dictionary, than a + page of poetry of equal length; and many dreams are probably + framed of very unconnected materials. In falling asleep, I have + often been conscious of the dissevering of my thoughts--like a + regiment dismissed from parade, they seemed to straggle away "in + most admired disorder;" but these scattered bands muster together + again in our sleep; and, as these have all been levied from the + impressions, cogitations, hopes, fears, and affections, of our + waking hours, however strangely they may re-combine, if they do + combine with sufficient continuity to be remembered, the form + presented, however wild, will always be found, on a fair analysis, + to be characteristic of the dreamer. They are his own thoughts + oddly joined, like freshwater Polyps, which may be divided, and + then stuck again together, so as to form chains, or any other + strange forms, across the globe of water in which they may be + exhibited. In Devonshire, the peasantry have a good term to + express that wandering of thought, and imperfect dreaming, which + is common in some states of disease.--"Oh, sir, he has been lying + pretty still; but he has been _roading_ all night." By this, they + mean, that the patient, in imperfect sleep, has been muttering + half-connected sentences; and the word, _roading_, is taken from + the mode in which they catch woodcocks. At the last gleam of + evening, the woodcocks rise from their shelter in the woods, and + wind their way to the open vistas, which lead to the adjacent + meadows, where they go to feed during the night; and they return + to their covert, through the same vistas, with the first beam of + morning. At the end of these vistas, which they call 'cock-roads,' + the woodcock catchers suspend nets to intercept the birds in their + evening and morning flights, and great numbers are taken in this + manner; the time when they suspend the nets, is called + roading-time; and thus, by applying the term, roading, to + disturbed and muttered sleep, they compare the dim, loose thoughts + of the half-dreaming patient, to the flight of the woodcocks, + wheeling their way through the gloomy and darkling woods. It has + been asserted that we never feel _surprise_ in our dreams; and + that we do not _reason_ on the subjects which they present to us. + This, from my own experience, I know to be a mistake. I once + dreamed, whilst residing with a friend in London, that on entering + his breakfast-room, the morning was uncommonly dark; but not very + much more so than sometimes occurs in a November fog, when, as + some one has said, the thick yellow air makes you think you are + walking through pease-soup, and the sun, when seen at all, looks + like the yolk of a poached egg floating on it. My friend was + seated alone by the table, resting his head thoughtfully on his + hand, when, looking towards me, with a very serious countenance, + he said--'Can you account for this darkness? There is no eclipse + stated in the almanack. Some change is taking place in our system. + Go to N----, (a philosophical neighbour, who lived within three + doors of our house,) and ask if he can explain it.' I certainly + felt much surprised at my friend's observations. I went to N---- + 's house--or, rather, I found myself in his room. He was walking + up and down the room in evident perplexity; and, turning to me, + said, 'This is very extraordinary! A change is taking place in our + system!--look at the barometer.'--I looked at the barometer, which + appeared to be hanging in its usual place in the room, and saw, + with great surprise, that the tube was without quicksilver; it had + fallen almost entirely down to the bulb. Certainly in this dream I + felt great _surprise_, and that the faculty of reason was not + suspended is apparent, nay, perhaps, it was quickened in this + instance, for I doubt, if I had really seen the præternatural + darkness, whether I should so readily have thought of consulting + an almanack, or referring to a barometer; I should certainly have + gone to my friend N----, for I was in the frequent habit of + appealing to him on any subject of natural philosophy on which I + might be desirous to be fully instructed. It is clear that the + fabricator of the Ephesian Diana could not pay real adoration to + his own work; and as we must be the artificers of our own dreams, + and furnish all the materials, it seems difficult to discover by + what process the mind can present subjects of surprise to itself; + but surprise is that state of mind which occurs when an object or + idea is presented to it, which our previous train of thought would + not lead us to expect or account for. In dreams the catenation of + our ideas is very imperfect and perplexed; and the mind, by + forgetting its own faint and confused links of association, may + generate subjects of surprise to itself. There are some dreams + which we dream over again many times in our lives, but these + dreams are generally mere scenes, with little or no action or + dialogue. I formerly often dreamed that I was standing on a broad + road by the side of a piece of water, (in which geese were + swimming,) surrounding the base of a green hill, on the summit of + which were the ruins of a castle: the sun shining brightly, and + the blue sky throwing out the yellow stone-work of the ruin in + strong relief. This dream always gave me an indefinite sense of + pleasure. I fancied I had formed it from some picture that I might + at some time have casually seen and forgotten; but a few years ago + I visited the village in which I was born, and from which I had + been removed when about three and a half years old. I found that I + well remembered many things which might have engaged the attention + of a child. The house in which my parents resided was little + changed; and I remembered every room, and the pictures on the + Dutch tiles surrounding the fireplace of that which had been our + nursery. I pointed out the house where sugar-candy had formerly + been sold, and went to the very spot in the churchyard where I had + been led, when a child, to call out my name and hear the echo from + the tower. I then went by a pathway, through some fields, which + led to a neighbouring town. In these fields I recognised a + remarkable stone stile, and a bank on which I had gathered + daisies; then, extending my route, that I might return to the + village by a different course, suddenly the prototype of my often + dreamed dream stood before me. The day was bright. There was the + blue sky--the green hill--the geese in the surrounding water. 'In + every form of the thing _my dream_ made true and good.' The + distance of this spot from the house of my birth was rather a long + walk for a child so young; and, therefore, I suppose I might only + once or twice have seen it, and then only in the summer, or in + bright weather. I have said that that dream, whenever it recurred, + always impressed me with an indefinite sense of pleasure; was not + this feeling an echo, a redolence, of the happy, lively sensations + with which, as a child, I had first witnessed the scene? It is + singular that, remembering so many objects much less likely to + have fixed themselves on the memory, I should have so utterly + forgotten, in my waking hours, the real existence of that of which + my dream had so faithfully Daguerreotyped; and it is not less + remarkable that I have never had the dream since I recognised its + original. I think I can account for this, but will not now attempt + it, as the length of my epistle may probably have put you in a + fair way of having dreams of your own.--Ever faithfully yours. + + "C. S." + +This last dream of our friend exhibits one of the phenomena of memory, +which may not be unconnected with another, curious, and I suppose +common. Did you never feel a sense of a reduplication of any passing +occurrence, act, or scene--something which you were saying or doing, +or in which you were actor or spectator? Did you never, while the +occurrence was taking place, suddenly feel a consciousness of its +pre-existence and pre-acting; that the whole had passed before, just +as it was then passing, even to the details of place, persons, words, +and circumstances, and this not in events of importance, but mostly in +those of no importance whatever; as if life and all its phenomena were +a duplicate in itself, and that that which is acting here, were at the +same time acting also elsewhere, and the fact were suddenly revealed +to you? I call this one of the phenomena of memory, because it may +possibly be accounted for by the repercussion of a nerve, an organ, +which, like the string of an instrument unequally struck, will double +the sound. Vibrations of memory--vibrations of imagination are curious +things upon which to speculate; but not now, Eusebius--you must work +this out yourself. + +What a curious story is that of Pan.[38] "Pan is dead,"--great Pan is +dead--as told by Plutarch. Was not one commissioned by dream or vision +to go to a particular place to proclaim it there; and is it not added +that the cry "great Pan is dead," was re-echoed from shore to shore, +and that this happened at the time of the ceasing of oracles? + +It little matters whether you look to public events or private +histories--you will see signs and omens, and wondrous visitations, +prefiguring and accomplishing their purposes; and if occasionally, +when too they are indisputable, they seem to accomplish no end, it may +be only a seeming non-accomplishment--but suppose it real, it would +then the more follow, that they arise necessarily from the nature of +things, though a nature with which we are not acquainted. There is an +unaccountable sympathy and connexion between all animated +nature--perhaps the invisible, as well as the visible. Did you never +remark, that in a crowded room, if you fix your eyes upon any one +person, he will be sure soon to look at you? Whence is this more than +electric power! Wonderful is that of yawning, that it is +communicable;--it is so common, that the why escapes our observation. +This attractive power, the fascination of the eye, is still more +wonderful. Hence, perhaps, the superstition of the "Evil Eye," and the +vulgarly believed mischief of "being overlooked." + +Of private histories--I should like to see the result of a commission +to collect and enquire into the authenticity of anecdotes bearing upon +this subject. I will tell you one, which is traditionary in our +family--of whom one was of the _dramatis personæ_. You know the old +popular ballad of "Margaret's Ghost"-- + + "In glided Margaret's grimly ghost, + And stood at William's feet." + +You do not know, perhaps that it is founded on truth. William was Lord +S----, who had jilted Margaret; she died; and after death appeared to +him--and, it is said, gave him the choice of two things--to die within +a week, or to vow constancy, never to marry. He gave the solemn +promise to the ghost. We must transfer the scene to the living world +of pleasure. Lord S---- is at Bath. He is in the rooms; suddenly he +starts--is so overcome as to attract general attention--his eyes are +riveted upon one person, the beautiful Mary T----, whose father +resided in great style and fashion at Bathford. It was her resemblance +to Margaret, her astonishing resemblance, that overcame him. He +thought the ghost had again appeared. He was introduced--and, our +family tradition says, was for a length of time a daily visitor at +Bathford, where his habit was, to say little, but to sit opposite to, +and fix his eyes upon the lovely face of Mary T----. The family not +liking this, for there was no declaration on his part, removed Mary +T---- to the house of some relative in London. There Lord S---- +followed her, and pursued his daily habit of profound admiration. At +length the lady spoke, and asked him his intentions with regard to her +guest. Lord S---- was in the greatest agitation, rose, burst into +tears, and left the house. Time passed; and here nothing more is said +of Mary T----; Lord S---- saw her no more. But of him, it is added, +that, being persuaded by his family and friends, he consented to +marry--that the bride and her relatives were at the appointed hour at +the church--that no bridegroom was there--that messengers sent to +enquire for him brought back the frightful intelligence, that he was +no more. He had suddenly expired. + +My dear Eusebius, with this story I terminate my long letter. Ruminate +upon the contents. Revolved in your mind, they will yield a rich +harvest of thought. I hope to be at the reaping. Ever yours, &c. + +[Footnote 34: The story given by Eusebius is very probably of his own +manufacture. It is this. Some years ago, when all the world were mad +upon lotteries, the cook of a middle-aged gentleman drew from his +hands the savings of some years. Her master, curious to know the +cause, learned that she had repeatedly dreamed that a certain number +was a great prize, and she had bought it. He called her a fool for her +pains, and never omitted an occasion to tease her upon the subject. +One day, however, the master saw in the newspaper, or at his +bookseller's in the country town, that _the_ number was actually the +L.20,000 prize. Cook is called up, a palaver ensues--had known each +other many years, loth to part, &c.--in short, he proposes and is +accepted, but insists on marriage being celebrated next morning. +Married they were; and, as the carriage took them from the church they +enjoy the following dialogue. "Well, Molly--two happy events in one +day. You have married, I trust, a good husband. You have something +else--but first let me ask you where you have locked up your +lottery-ticket." Molly, who thought her master was only bantering her +again on the old point, cried--"Don't ye say no more about it. I +thought how it would be, and that I never should hear the end on't, so +I sold it to the baker of our village for a guinea profit. So you need +never be angry with me again about that."] + +[Footnote 35: Supposing mesmerism true in its facts, one knows not to +what power to ascribe it--a good or an evil. It is difficult to +imagine it possible that a good power would allow one human being such +immense influence over others. All are passive in the hands of the +mesmeriser. Let us take the case related by Miss Martineau. She +willed, and the water drunk by the young girl _was_ wine, at another +time it _was_ porter. These were the effects. Now, supposing Miss M. +had willed it to be a poison, if her statement is strictly true, the +girl would have been poisoned. We need no hemlock, if this be so--and +the agent must be quite beyond the reach of justice. A coroner's +inquest here would be of little avail. + +It is said that most mischievous consequences have resulted from the +doings of some practitioners--and it must be so, if the means be +granted; and it is admitted not to be a very rare gift. The last +mesmeric exhibition I witnessed, was at Dr Elliotson's. It appeared to +be of so public a nature, that I presume there is no breach of +confidence in describing what took place. There were three persons +mesmerised, all from the lower rank of life. The first was put into +the sleep by, I think, but two passes of the hand, (Lord Morpeth the +performer.) She was in an easy-chair: all her limbs were rendered +rigid--and, as I was quite close to her, I can testify that she +remained above two hours in one position, without moving hand or foot, +and breathing deeply, as in a profound sleep. Her eyes were closed, +and she was finally wakened by Dr Elliotson waving his hand at some +distance from her. As he motioned his hand, I saw her eyelids quiver, +and at last she awoke, but could not move until the rigidity of her +limbs was removed by having the hand slightly passed over them. She +then arose, and walked away, as if unconscious of the state she had +been in. The two others were as easily transferred to a mesmeric +state. They conversed, answered questions, showed the usual +phrenological phenomena, singing, imitating, &c. + +But there was one very curious phrenological experiment which deserves +particular notice. They sat close together. Dr W. E---- touched the +organ of Acquisitiveness of the one, (we will call her A.) She +immediately put out her hand, as if to grasp something, and at length +caught hold of the finger of Dr W. E----; she took off his ring and +put it in her pocket. Dr W. E---- then touched the organ of Justice of +the second girl, (B,) and told her that A had stolen his ring. B, or +Justice, began to lecture upon the wickedness of stealing. A denied +she had done any such thing, upon which Dr W. E---- remarked, that +thieving and lying always went together. Then, still keeping his hand +on Acquisitiveness, he touched also that of Pride; then, as Justice +continued her lecture, the thief haughtily justified the act, that she +should steal if she pleased. The mesmeriser then touched also the +organ of Combativeness, so that three organs were in play. Justice +still continued her lecture; upon which A, the thief, told her to hold +her tongue, and not lecture her, and gave her several pretty hard +slaps with her hand. Dr W. E---- then removed his hands, and +transferred the operation, making Justice the thief, and the thief +Justice; when a similar scene took place. + +Another curious experiment was, differently affecting the opposite +organs--so that endearment was shown on one side, and aversion on the +other, of the same person. One scene was beautiful, for the very +graceful motion exhibited. One of these young women was attracted to +Dr Elliotson by his beckoning her to him, while by word he told her +not to come. Her movements were slow, very graceful, as if moved by +irresistible power.] + +[Footnote 36: You remember the melancholy music of the lines of +Moschus:-- + + [Greek: "Ai Ai tai malachai men epan kata katon olôntai + Ê tachlôra selina, to t' euthales oulon anêdon, + Ysteron hauzôonti, kai eis etos allo phyonti. + Ammes d' hoi megaloi kai karteroi hê sophoi andres, + Oppote prôta thanômes, anakosi en chthoni koila + Eudames eu mala makron atermona nêgreton hypnon."] + +Accept of this attempt:-- + + Alas! alas! the mallows, though they wither where they lie, + And all the fresh and pleasant herbs within the garden die, + Another year they shall appear, and still fresh bloom supply. + + But we, Great men, the strong, the wise, the noble, and the brave, + When once we fall into the earth, our nourriture that gave, + Long silence keep of endless sleep, within the hollow grave.] + +[Footnote 37: _Vide_ an amusing little _jeu-d'esprit--A Descant upon +Weather-Wisdom--both Witty and Wise._--ANON. Longmans. 1845.] + +[Footnote 38: There is an exquisite little poem, taken from this +passage of Plutarch, at once imaginative and true, for hidden truths +are embodied in the tangible workings of the poet's imagination, by +Miss Barrett.] + + + + +A MOTHER TO HER FORSAKEN CHILD. + + + My child--my first-born! Oh, I weep + To think of thee--thy bitter lot! + The fair fond babe that strives to creep + Unto the breast where _thou art not_, + Awakes a piercing pang within, + And calls to mind thy heavy wrong. + Alas! I weep not for my sin-- + To thy dark lot these tears belong. + + Thy little arms stretch forth in vain + To meet a mother's fond embrace; + Alas! in weariness or pain, + Thou gazest on a hireling's face. + I left thee in thy rosy sleep-- + I dared not then kneel down to bless; + Now--now, albeit thou may'st weep, + Thou canst not to my bosom press. + + My child! though beauty tint thy cheek, + A deeper dye its bloom will claim, + When lips all pitiless shall speak + Thy mournful legacy of shame. + Perchance, when love shall gently steal + To thy young breast all pure as snow, + This cruel thought shall wreck thy weal, + _The mother's guilt doth lurk below_. + + J. D. + + + + +SUMMER NOONTIDE. + + + Unruffled the pure ether shines, + O'er the blue flood no vapour sails, + Bloom-laden are the clinging vines, + All odour-fraught the vales. + + There's not a ripple on the main, + There's not a breath to stir the leaves, + The sunlight falls upon the plain + Beside the silent sheaves. + + The drowsy herd forget to crop, + The bee is cradled in the balm: + If but one little leaf should drop, + 'Twould break the sacred calm. + + From the wide sea leaps up no voice, + Mute is the forest, mute the rill; + Whilst the glad earth sang forth _Rejoice_, + God's whisper said--_Be still_. + + Her pulses in a lull of rest, + In hush submissive Nature lies, + With folded palms upon her breast, + Dreaming of yon fair skies. + + J. D. + + + + +TO CLARA. + + + I would not we should meet again-- + We twain who loved so fond, + Although through years and years afar, + I wish'd for nought beyond. + + Yet do I love thee none the less; + And aye to me it seems, + There's not on earth so fair a thing + As thou art in my dreams. + + All, all hath darkly changed beside, + Grown old, or stern, or chill-- + All, save one hoarded spring-tide gleam, + _Thy smile that haunts me still_! + + My brow is but the register + Of youth's and joy's decline; + I would not trace such record too + Deep graven upon thine. + + I would not _see_ how rudely Time + Hath dealt with all thy store + Of bloom and promise--'tis enough + To know the harvest's o'er. + + I would not that one glance to-day, + One glance through clouds and tears, + Should mar the image in my soul + That love hath shrined for years. + + J. D. + + + + +SECLUSION. + + + The heart in sacred peace may dwell, + Apart from convent gloom-- + To matins and to vespers rise, + 'Mid nature's song and bloom: + + Or in the busy haunts of life, + In gay or restless scene, + In sanctuary calm abide, + As vestal saint serene. + + It is the pure and holy thought, + The spotless veil within, + That screens pollution from the breast, + And hides a world of sin. + + J. D. + + + + +THE LAST HOURS OF A REIGN. + +A TALE IN TWO PARTS.--PART I. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + "Let's see the devil's writ. + What have we here?" + + * * * * * + + "First of the King. What shall of him become?" + SHAKSPEARE. + + "A pretty plot, well chosen to build upon." + IDEM. + + +It was in the month of May 1574, and in the city of Paris, that, at an +hour of the night which in these days might be considered somewhat +early, but which at that period was already late, two personages were +seated in a gloomy room, belonging to a small and ancient hotel, at no +great distance from the old palace of the Louvre, with which it was +supposed to communicate by courts and passages little known and seldom +used. + +One of these personages was a woman of middle age, whose form, +although full, was peculiarly well made, and whose delicate but well +fleshed hands were of striking beauty. The fair face was full and fat, +but very pale; the eyes were fine and dark, and the whole expression +of her physiognomy was in general calm, almost to mildness. But yet +there lurked a haughty air on that pale brow; and at times a look of +searching inquisitiveness, amounting almost to cunning, shot from +those dark eyes. Her ample dress was entirely black, and unrelieved by +any of the embroidery or ornament so much lavished upon the dress of +the higher classes at that time; a pair of long white ruffles turned +back upon the sleeve, and a large standing collar of spotless purity, +alone gave light to the dark picture of her form. Upon her head she +wore a sort of skull-cap of black velvet, descending with a sharp peak +upon her forehead--the cowl-like air of which might almost have given +her the appearance of the superior of some monastic community, had not +the cold imperious physiognomy of the abbess been modified by a +frequent bland smile, which showed her power of assuming the arts of +seduction at will, and her practice of courts. She leaned her arms +upon the table, whilst she studied with evident curiosity every +movement of her companion, who was engaged in poring, by the light of +a lamp, over a variety of strange manuscripts, all covered with the +figures, cyphers, and hieroglyphics used in cabalistic calculations. + +This other personage was a man, whose appearance of age seemed to be +more studied than real. His grey hair, contrary to the custom of the +times, fell in thick locks upon his shoulders; and a white beard swept +his dark velvet robe, which was fashioned to bestow upon him an air of +priestly dignity; but his face was florid, and full of vigour, and the +few wrinkles were furrowed only upon his brow. + +Around the room, the dark old panels of which, unrelieved by pictures +and hangings, rendered it gloomy and severe, were scattered books and +instruments, such as were used by the astronomers, or rather +astrologers, of the day, and a variety of other objects of a bizarre +and mysterious form, which, as the light of the lamp flickered feebly +upon them, might have been taken, in their dark nooks, for the +crouching forms of familiar imps, attendant upon a sorcerer. After +some study of his manuscripts, the old man shook his head, and, +rising, walked to the window, which stood open upon a heavy stone +balcony. The night was bright and calm; not a cloud, not a vapour +dimmed the glitter of the countless myriads of stars in the firmament; +and the moon poured down a flood of light upon the roofs of the +surrounding houses, and on the dark towers of the not far distant +Louvre, which seemed quietly sleeping in the mild night-air, whilst +within were fermenting passions, many and dark, like the troubled +dreams of the apparently tranquil sleeper. As the old man stepped upon +the balcony, he turned up his head with an assumed air of inspiration +to the sky, and considered the stars long and in silence. The female +had also risen and followed him to the window; but she remained +cautiously in the shadow of the interior of the room, whence she +watched with increasing interest the face of the astrologer. Again, +after this study of the stars, the old man returned to his table, and +began to trace new figures in various corners of the patterned +horoscopes, and make new calculations. The female stood before him, +resting her hands upon the table, awaiting with patience the result of +these mysteries of the cabala. + +"Each new experience verifies the former," said the astrologer, +raising up his head at last. "The truth cannot be concealed from your +majesty. His hours are numbered--he cannot live long." + +"And it is of a surety _he_, of whom the stars thus speak?" enquired +the female thus addressed, without emotion. + +"The horoscopes all clash and cross each other in many lines," +answered the astrologer: "but they are not confounded with his. The +horoscope of near and inevitable death is that of your son Charles, +the King." + +"I know that he must die," said the Queen-mother coldly, sitting down. + +The astrologer raised for an instant his deep-set, but piercing grey +eyes, to the pale, passionless face of the Queen, as if he could have +read the thoughts passing within. There was almost a sneer upon his +lip, as though he would have said, that perhaps none knew it better; +but that expression flickered only, like a passing flash of faint +summer lightning, and he quickly resumed-- + +"But about this point of death are centred many confused and jarring +lines in an inextricable web; and bright as they look to vulgar eyes, +yon stars in the heavens shine with a lurid light to those who know to +look upon them with the eyes of science; and upon their path is a dim +trail of blood--troubled and harassed shall be _the last hours of this +reign_." + +"But what shall be the issue, Ruggieri?" said the Queen eagerly. +"Since Charles must die, I must resign myself to the will of destiny," +she added, with an air of pious humility; and then, as if throwing +aside a mask which she thought needless before the astrologer, she +continued with a bitterness which amounted almost to passion in one +externally so cold--"Since Charles must die, he can be spared. He has +thrown off my maternal authority; and with the obstinacy of suspicion, +he has thwarted all my efforts to resume that power which he has +wrested from me, and which his weak hands wield so ill. He has been +taught to look upon me with mistrust; in vain I have combated this +influence, and if it grow upon him, mistrust will ripen into hate. He +regrets that great master-stroke of policy, which, by destroying all +those cursed Huguenots, delivered us at one blow from our most deadly +enemies. He has spoken of it with horror. He has dared to blame me. He +has taken Henry of Navarre, the recusant Huguenot, the false wavering +Catholic, to his counsels lately. He is my son no longer, since he no +longer acknowledges his mother's will: and he can be spared! But when +he is gone, what shall be the issue, Ruggieri? how stand the other +horoscopes?" + +"The stars of the two Henrys rise together in the heavens" replied the +Queen's astrologer and confidant. "Before them stands a house of +double glory, which promises a double crown; but the order of the +heavens is not such that I can read as yet, which of the two shall +first enter it, or enter it alone." + +"A double crown!" said the Queen musingly. "Henry of Anjou, my son, is +king of Poland, and on his brother's death is rightful king of France. +Yes, and he _shall_ be king of France, and wear its crown. Henry never +thwarted his mother's will, he was ever pliant as a reed to do her +bidding; and when he is king, Catherine of Medicis may again resume +the reins of power. You had predicted that he would soon return to +France; and I promised him he should return, when unwillingly he +accepted that barbarian crown, which Charles' selfish policy forced +upon him, in order to rid himself of a brother whom he hated as a +rival--hated because I loved him. Yes, he shall return to resume his +rightful crown--a double crown! But Henry of Navarre also wears a +crown, although it be a barren one--although the kingdom of Navarre +bestow upon him a mere empty title. Shall it be his--the double crown? +Oh! no! no! The stars cannot surely say it. Should all my sons die +childless, it is his by right. But they shall not die to leave _him_ +their heir. No! sooner shall the last means be applied, and the +detested son perish, as did his hated mother, by one of those +incomprehensible diseases for which medicine has no cure. A double +crown! Shall his be the crown of France also? Never! Ah! little did I +think, Ruggieri, when I bestowed upon him my daughter Margaret's hand, +and thus lured him and his abhorred party to the court to finish them +with one blow, that Margaret of Valois would become a traitress to her +own mother, and protect a husband whom she accepted so unwillingly! +But Margaret is ambitious for her husband, although she loves him not, +although she loves another: the two would wish to thwart her brothers +of their birthright, that she might wear their crown on her own brow. +Through her intervention, Henry of Navarre has escaped me. He has +outlived the massacre of that night of triumph, when all his party +perished; and now Charles loves him, and calls him 'upright, honest +Henry,' and if I contend not with all the last remnants of my broken +power, my foolish son, upon his death-bed, may place the regency in +his hands, and deprive his scorned and ill-used mother of her rights. +The regency! Ah! lies there the double crown? Ah! Ruggieri, Ruggieri, +why can you only tell me thus far and no further?" + +"Madam," replied the wary astrologer, "the stars run in their slow +unerring course. We cannot compel their path; we can only read their +dictates." + +Catherine de Medicis rose and approached the window, through which she +contemplated the face of the bright heavens. + +"Mysterious orbs of light," she said, stretching forth her arms--"ye +who rule our destinies, roll on, roll on, and tarry not. Accomplish +your great task of fate; but be it quickly, that I may know what +awaits me in that secret scroll spread out above on which ye write the +future. Let me learn the good, that I may be prepared to greet it--the +ill, that I may know how to parry it." + +Strange was the compound of that credulous mind, which, whilst it +sought in the stars the announcement of an inevitable fate, hoped to +find in its own resources the means of avoiding it--which, whilst it +listened to their supposed dictates as a slave, strove to command them +as a mistress. + +"And the fourth horoscope that I have bid you draw?" said the Queen, +returning to the astrologer. "How stands it?" + +"The star of your youngest son, the Duke of Alençon, is towering also +to its culminating point," replied the old man, looking over the +papers before him. "But it is nebulous and dim, and shines only by a +borrowed light--that of another star which rises with it to the +zenith. They both pursue the same path; and if the star of Alençon +reach that house of glory to which it tends, that other star will +shine with such a lustre as shall dim all other lights, however bright +and glorious they now may be." + +"Ha! is it so?" said Catherine thoughtfully. "Alençon conspires also +to catch the tottering crown which falls from the dying head of +Charles. But he is too weak and wavering to pursue a steady purpose. +He is led, Ruggieri--he is led. He is taught to believe that since his +elder brother has chosen the crown of Poland, it is his to claim the +throne which death will soon leave vacant. But he wants firmness of +will--it is another that guides his feeble hand. That star which +aspires to follow in the track of Alençon--I know it well, Ruggieri. +It is that of the ambitious favourite of my youngest son, of Philip de +la Mole. It is he who pushes him on. It is he who would see his master +on the throne, in order to throne it in his place. He has that +influence over Alençon which the mother possesses no longer; and were +Alençon king, it would be Philip de la Mole who would rule the +destinies of France, not Catherine de Medicis. Beneath that exterior +of thoughtless levity, lie a bold spirit and an ardent ambition. He is +an enemy not to be despised; and he shall be provided for. Alençon +protects him--my foolish Margaret loves him--but there are still means +to be employed which may curdle love to hate, and poison the secret +cup of sympathy. They shall be employed. Ha! Alençon would be king, +and Philip de la Mole would lord it over the spirits of the house of +Medicis. But they must be bold indeed who would contend with +Catherine. Pursue, Ruggieri, pursue. This star, which way does it +tend?" + +"It aspires to the zenith, madam," replied the astrologer. "But, as I +have said, upon the track there is a trail of blood." + +Catherine smiled. + +"My youngest son has already been here to consult you; I think you +told me?" she said, with an enquiring look to the astrologer. + +"Among others, who have come disguised and masked, to seek to read +their destinies in the skies, I have thought to recognise Monseigneur +the Duke of Alençon," replied Ruggieri. "He was accompanied by a tall +young man, of gay exterior and proud bearing." + +"It is the very man!" exclaimed the Queen. "And do they come again?" + +"I left their horoscope undetermined," replied the astrologer, "and +they must come to seek an answer to my researches in the stars." + +"Let the stars lie, Ruggieri--do you hear?" pursued Catherine. +"Whatever the stars may say, you must promise them every success in +whatever enterprise they may undertake. You must excite their highest +hopes. Push them on in their mad career, that their plans may be +developed. Catherine will know how to crush them." + +"It shall be as your majesty desires," said the astrologer. + +As the Queen and the astrologer still conferred, a loud knocking at +the outer gate caused them to pause. Steps were heard ascending the +hollow-sounding staircase. + +"I will dismiss these importunate visitors," said Ruggieri. + +"No," said Catherine, "admit them; and if it be really they you +expect, leave them alone after a time, and come, by the outer passage, +to the secret cabinet: there will I be. I may have directions to give; +and, at all events, the cabinet may prove useful, as it has already +done." + +Impatient knockings now resounded upon the panels of the door, and the +Queen-mother, hastily snatching up a black velvet mask and a thick +black veil, which hung upon the back of her high carved chair, flung +the latter over her head, so as to conceal her features almost as +entirely as if she had worn the mask. Ruggieri, in the meantime, had +pushed back a part of the panel of the oak walls, and when Catherine +had passed through it into a little room beyond, again closed this +species of secret door, so effectually that it would have been +impossible to discover any trace of the aperture. The astrologer then +went to open the outer door. The persons who entered, were two men +whose faces were concealed with black velvet masks, commonly worn at +the period both by men and women, as well for the purpose of disguise, +as for that of preserving the complexion; their bearing, as well as +their style of dress, proclaimed them to be young and of courtly +habits. + +The first who entered was of small stature, and utterly wanting in +dignity of movement; and, although precedence into the room seemed to +have been given him by a sort of deference, he turned back again to +look at his companion, with an evident hesitation of purpose, before +he advanced fully into the apartment. The young man who followed him +was of tall stature, and of manly but graceful bearing. His step was +firm, and his head was carried high; whilst the small velvet cap +placed jauntily on one side upon his head, the light brown curling +hair of which was boldly pushed back from the broad forehead and +temples, according to the fashion of the times, seemed disposed as if +purposely to give evidence of a certain gaiety, almost recklessness, +of character. The astrologer, after giving them admittance, returned +to his table, and sitting down, demanded what might be their bidding +at that hour of the night! At his words the smaller, but apparently +the more important of the two personages, made a sign to his companion +to speak; and the latter, advancing boldly to the table, demanded of +the old man whether he did not know him. + +"Whether I know you or know you not, matters but little," replied the +astrologer; "although few things can be concealed before the eye of +science." + +At these words the smaller young man shuffled uneasily with his feet, +and plucked at the cloak of his companion. Ruggieri continued--"But I +will not seek to pierce the mystery of a disguise which can have no +control over the ways of destiny. Whether I know you or not, I +recognise you well. Already have you been here to enquire into the +dark secrets of the future. I told you then, that we must wait to +judge the movements of the stars. Would you know further now?" + +"That is the purpose of our coming," said the latter of the two young +men, to whom the office of spokesman had been given. "We have come, +although at this late hour of the night, because the matter presses on +which we would know our fate." + +"Yes, the matter presses," replied the astrologer; "for I have read +the stars, and I have calculated the chances of your destinies." + +The smaller personage pressed forward at these words, as if full of +eager curiosity. The other maintained the same easy bearing that +seemed his usual habit. + +The astrologer turned over a variety of mysterious papers, as if +searching among them for the ciphers that he needed; then, consulting +the pages of a book, he again traced several figures upon a parchment; +and at length, after the seeming calculation of some minutes, he +raised his head, and addressing himself to the smaller man, said-- + +"You have an enterprise in hand, young man, upon which not only your +own destinies and those of your companion, but of many thousands of +your fellow creatures depend! Your enterprise is grand, your destiny +is noble." + +The young men turned to look at each other; and he, who had as yet not +broken silence, said, with an eager palpitating curiosity, although +the tones of his voice were ill assured-- + +"And what say the stars? Will it succeed?" + +"Go on, and prosper!" replied the astrologer. "A noble course lies +before you. Go on, and success the most brilliant and the most prompt +attends you." + +"Ha! there is, after all, some truth in your astrology, I am inclined +to think!" said the first speaker gaily. + +"Why have you doubted, young man?" pursued the astrologer severely. +"The stars err not--cannot err." + +"Pardon me, father," said the young man with his usual careless air. +"I will doubt no further. And we shall succeed?" + +"Beyond your utmost hopes. Upon your brow, young man," continued the +astrologer, addressing again the smaller person, "descends a circlet +of glory, the brilliancy of which shall dazzle every eye. But stay, +all is not yet done. The stars thus declare the will of destiny; but +yet, in these inscrutable mysteries of fate, it is man's own will that +must direct the course of events--it is his own hand must strike the +blow. Fatality and human will are bound together as incomprehensibly +as soul and body. You must still lend your hand to secure the +accomplishment of your own destiny. But our mighty science shall +procure for you so powerful a charm, that no earthly power can resist +its influence. Stay, I will return shortly." So saying, Ruggieri rose +and left the room by the door through which the young men had entered. + +"What does he mean?" said the shorter of the young men. + +"What matter, Monseigneur!" replied the other. "Does he not promise us +unbounded success? I little thought myself, when I accompanied you +hither, that my belief in this astrology would grow up so rapidly. +Long live the dark science, and the black old gentleman who professes +it, when they lighten our path so brilliantly!" + +"Let us breathe a little at our ease, until he returns," said he who +appeared the more important personage of the two; and throwing himself +into a chair, and removing his mask, he discovered the pale face of a +young man, who might have been said to possess some beauty, in spite +of the irregularity of his features, had not the expression of that +face been marred by a pinched and peevish look of weakness and +indecision. + +His companion followed his example in removing his mask, and the face +thus revealed formed a striking contrast to that of the other young +man. His complexion was of a clear pale brown, relieved by a flush of +animated colour; his brow was fair and noble; his features were finely +but not too strongly chiselled. A small dark mustache curled boldly +upwards above a beautifully traced and smiling mouth, the character of +which was at once resolute and gay, and strangely at variance with the +expression of the dark grey eyes, which was more that of tenderness +and melancholy. He remained standing before the other personage, with +one hand on his hip, in an attitude at once full of ease and +deference. + +"Did I not right, then, to counsel you as I have done in this matter, +my lord duke," he said to the other young man, "since the astrologer, +in whom you have all confidence, promises us so unbounded a success: +and you give full credence to the announcement of the stars?" + +"Yes--yes, Philip," answered the Duke, reclining back in his chair, +and rubbing his hands with a sort of internal satisfaction. + +"Then let us act at once," continued the young man called Philip. "The +King cannot live many days--perhaps not many hours. There is no time +to be lost. Henry of Anjou, your elder brother, is far away; the crown +of Poland weighs upon his brow. You are present. The troops have been +taught to love you. The Huguenot party have confidence in you. The +pretensions of Henry of Navarre to the regency must give way before +yours. All parties will combine to look upon you as the heir of +Charles; and now the very heavens, the very stars above, seem to +conspire to make you that which I would you should be. Your fortune, +then, is in your own hands." + +"Yes. So it is!" replied the Duke. + +"Assemble, then, all those attached to your service or your person!" + +"I will." + +"Let your intention be known among the guards." + +"It shall." + +"As soon as the King shall have ceased to breathe, seize upon all the +gates of the Louvre." + +"Yes," continued the Duke, although his voice, so eager the moment +before, seemed to tremble at the thought of so much decision of +action. + +"Declare yourself the Master of the kingdom in full parliament." + +"Yes," again replied the young Duke, more weakly. "But"---- + +"But what--Monseigneur!" exclaimed his companion. + +"But," continued the Duke again, with hesitation, "if Henry, my +brother, should return--if he should come to claim his crown. You may +be sure that our mother, who cares for him alone, will have already +sent off messengers to advertise him of Charles's danger, and bid him +come!" + +"I know she has," replied Philip coolly. "But I have already taken +upon myself, without Monseigneur's instructions, for which I could not +wait, to send off a sure agent to intercept her courier, to detain him +at any price, to destroy his despatches." + +"Philip! what have you done?" exclaimed the young Duke, in evident +alarm. "Intercept my mother's courier! Dare to disobey my mother! My +Mother! You do not know her then." + +"Not know her?" answered his companion. "Who in this troubled land of +France does not know Catherine of Medicis, her artful wiles, her +deadly traits of vengeance? Shake not your head, Monseigneur! You know +her too. But, Charles no more, you will have the crown upon your +brow--it will be yours to give orders: those who will dare to disobey +you will be your rebel subjects. Act, then, as king. If she resist, +give orders for her arrest!" + +"Arrest my Mother! Who would dare to do it?" said the Duke with agitation. + +"I." + +"Oh, no--no--La Mole! Never would I take upon myself"---- + +"Take upon yourself to be a King, if you would be one," said the +Duke's confidant, with energy. + +"We will speak more of this," hastily interposed the wavering Duke. +"Hush! some one comes. It is this Ruggieri!" + +In truth the astrologer re-entered the room. In his hand he bore a +small object wrapped in a white cloth, which he laid down upon the +table; and then, turning to the young men, who had hastily reassumed +their masks before he appeared, and who now stood before him, he +said-- + +"The sole great charm that can complete the will of destiny, and +assure the success of your great enterprise, lies there before you. +Have you no enemy whose death you most earnestly desire, to forward +that intent?" + +The young men looked at each other; but they both answered, after the +hesitation of a moment-- + +"None!" + +"None, upon whose death depends that turn in the wheel of fate that +should place you on its summit?" + +Both the young men were silent. + +"At all events," continued the cunning astrologer, "your destiny +depends upon the action of your own hands. This action we must symbol +forth in mystery, in order that your destiny be accomplished. +Here--take this instrument," he pursued, producing a long gold pin of +curious workmanship, which at need might have done the task of a +dagger, "and pierce the white cloth that lies before you on the +table." + +The Duke drew back, and refused the instrument thus offered to him. + +"Do I not tell you that the accomplishment of your brilliant destiny +depends upon this act?" resumed Ruggieri. + +"I know not what this incantation may be," said the timid Duke. "Take +it, Philip." + +But La Mole, little as he was inclined to the superstitious credulity +of the times, seemed not more disposed than his master to lend his +hand to an act which had the appearance of being connected with the +rites of sorcery, and he also refused. On the reiterated assurances of +the astrologer, however, that upon that harmless blow hung the +accomplishment of their enterprise, and at the command of the Duke, he +took the instrument into his hand, and approached it over the cloth. +Again, however, he would have hesitated, and would have withdrawn; but +the astrologer seized his hand before he was aware, and, giving it a +sharp direction downwards, caused him to plunge the instrument into +the object beneath the cloth. La Mole shuddered as he felt it +penetrate into a soft substance, that, small as it was, gave him the +idea of a human body; and that shudder ran through his whole frame as +a presentiment of evil. + +"It is done," said the astrologer. "Go! and let the work of fate be +accomplished." + +The pale foreheads of both the young men, visible above their masks, +showed that they felt they had been led further in the work of +witchcraft than was their intention; but they did not expostulate. It +was the Duke who now first rallied, and throwing down a heavy purse of +coin on the table before the astrologer, he called to his companion to +follow him. + +Scarcely had the young men left the apartment, when the pannel by +which Catherine of Medicis had disappeared, again opened, and she +entered the room. Her face was pale, cold, and calm as usual. + +"You heard them, Ruggieri!" she said, with her customary bland smile. +"Alençon would be king, and that ambitious fool drives him to snatch +his brother's crown. The Queen-mother is to be arrested, and +imprisoned as a rebel to her usurping son. A notable scheme, forsooth! +Her courier to recall Henry of Anjou from Poland has been intercepted +also! But that mischance must be remedied immediately. Ay! and +avenged. Biragne shall have instant orders. With this proof in my +possession, the life of that La Mole is mine," continued she, tearing +in twain the white linen cloth, and displaying beneath it a small wax +figure, bearing the semblance of a king, with a crown upon its head, +in which the gold pin was still left sticking, by the manner in which +this operation was performed. "Little treasure of vengeance, thou art +mine! Ruggieri, man, that plot was acted to the life. Verily, verily, +you were right. Charles dies; and troubled and harassed will be the +_last hours of his reign_." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + "There is so hot a summer in my bosom, + That all my bowels crumble up to dust; + I am a scribbled form, drawn with a pen + Upon a parchment; and against this fire + Do I shrink up." + SHAKSPEARE. + + "Ambition is a great man's madness, + That is not kept in chains and close-pent rooms + But in fair lightsome lodgings, and is girt + With the wild noise of prattling visitants, + Which makes it lunatic beyond all cure." + WEBSTER. + + +In a room belonging to the lower apartments of the old palace of the +Louvre, reclined, in one of the large but incommodious chairs of the +time, a young man, whose pale, haggard face, and prematurely furrowed +brow, betrayed deep suffering both from moral and physical causes. The +thick lids of his heavy dark eyes closed over them with languor, as if +he no longer possessed the force to open them; whilst his pale thin +lips were distorted as if with pain. His whole air bore the stamp of +exhaustion of mind and body. + +The dress of this personage was dark and of an extreme plainness and +simplicity, in times when the fashion of attire demanded so much +display--it bore somewhat the appearance of a hunting costume. The +room, on the contrary, betrayed a strange mixture of great richness +and luxury with much confusion and disorder. The hangings of the doors +were of the finest stuffs, and embroidered with gold and jewellery; +tapestry of price covered the walls. A raised curtain of heavy and +costly tissue discovered a small oratory, in which were visible a +crucifix and other religious ornaments of great value. But in the +midst of this display of wealth and greatness, were to be seen the +most incongruous objects. Beneath a bench in a corner of the room was +littered straw, on which lay several young puppies; in other choice +nooks slept two or three great hounds. Hunting horns were hung against +the tapestry, or lay scattered on the floor; an arquebuss rested +against the oratory door-stall--the instrument of death beside the +retreat of religious aspiration. Upon a standing desk, in the middle +of the room, lay a book, the coloured designs of which showed that it +treated of the "noble science of venerye," whilst around its pages +hung the beads of a chaplet. Against the wall of the room opposite the +reclining young man, stood one of the heavy chests used at that period +for seats, as much as depositories of clothes and other objects; but +the occupant of this seat was a strange one. It was a large ape, the +light brown colour of whose hair bordered so much upon the green as to +give the animal, in certain lights, a perfectly verdant aspect. It sat +"moping and mowing" in sulky loneliness, as if its grimaces were +intended to caricature the expression of pain which crossed the young +man's face--a strange distorted mirror of that suffering form. + +After a time the young man moved uneasily, as if he had in vain sought +in sleep some repose from the torment of mind and body, and snapped +his fingers. His hounds came obedient to his call; but, after patting +them for a moment on the head, he again drove them from him with all +the pettish ill-temper of ennui, and rose, feebly and with difficulty, +from his chair. He moved languidly to the open book, looked at it for +a moment, then shook his head and turned away. Again he took up one of +the hunting horns and applied it to his lips; but the breath which he +could fetch from his chest produced no sound but a sort of low +melancholy whine from the instrument; and he flung it down. Then +dealing a blow at the head of the grinning ape, who first dived to +avoid it, and then snapped at its master's fingers, he returned +wearily to his chair, and sunk into it with a deep groan, which told +of many things--regret--bitter ennui--physical pain and mental +anguish. The tears rose for a moment to his heavy languid eyes, but he +checked their influence with a sneer of his thin upper-lip; then +calling "Congo," to his ape, he made the animal approach and took it +on his knees; and the two--the man and the beast--grinned at each +other in bitter mockery. + +In this occupation of the most grotesque despair, the young man was +disturbed by another personage, who, raising the tapestry over a +concealed door, entered silently and unannounced. + +"My Mother!" murmured the sufferer, in a tone of impatience, as he +became aware of the presence of this person; and turning away his +head, he began to occupy himself in caressing his ape. + +"How goes it with you, Charles? Do you feel stronger now?" said the +mother, in a soft voice of the fondest cajolery, as she advanced with +noiseless, gliding steps. + +The son gave no reply, and continued to play with the animal upon his +knee, whilst a dark frown knitted his brow. + +"What say the doctors to your state to-day, my son?" resumed the +female soothingly. As she approached still nearer, the ape, with a +movement of that instinctive hate often observable in animals towards +persons who do not like them, sprang at her with a savage grin, that +displayed its sharp teeth, and would have bitten her hand had she not +started back in haste. Her cold physiognomy expressed, however, +neither anger nor alarm, as she quietly remarked to her son-- + +"Remove that horrid animal, Charles: see how savage he is?" + +"And why should I remove Congo, mother?" rejoined Charles, with a +sneer upon his lip; "he is the only friend you have left me." + +"Sickness makes you forgetful and unjust, my son," replied the Mother. + +"Yes, the only friend you have left me," pursued the son bitterly, +"except my poor dogs. Have you not so acted in my name, that you have +left me not one kindred soul to love me; that in the whole wide +kingdom of France, there remains not a voice, much less a heart, to +bless its miserable king?" + +"If you say that you have no friends," responded the Queen-mother, +"you may speak more truly than you would. For they are but false +friends; and real enemies, who have instilled into your mind the evil +thoughts of a mother, who has worked only for your glory and your +good." + +"No, not one," continued the young King, unheeding her, but dismissing +at the same time the ape from his knee with a blow that sent him +screaming and mouthing to his accustomed seat upon the chest. "Not +one! Where is Perotte, my poor old nurse? She loved me--she was a real +mother to me. She! And where is she now? Did not that deed of horror, +to which you counselled me, to which you urged me almost by +force--that order, which, on the fatal night of St Bartholomew, gave +signal for the massacre of all her co-religionists, drive her from my +side? Did she not curse me--me, who at your instigation caused the +blood of her friends and kindred to be shed--and leave me, her +nursling, her boy, her Charlot, whom she loved till then, with that +curse upon her lips? And do they not say that her horror of him who +has sucked her milk, and lain upon her bosom, and of his damning deed, +has frenzied her brain, and rendered her witless? Poor woman!" And the +miserable King buried his haggard face between his hands. + +"She was a wretched Huguenot, and no fitting companion and confidant +for a Catholic and a king," said the Queen, in a tone of mildness, +which contrasted strangely with the harshness of her words. "You +should return thanks to all the blessed Saints, that she has willingly +renounced that influence about your person, which could tend only to +endanger the salvation of your soul." + +"My soul! Ay! who has destroyed it?" muttered Charles in a hollow +tone. + +The Queen-mother remained silent, but an unusual fire, in which +trouble was mixed with scorn and anger, shot from her eyes. + +"And have you not contrived to keep Henry of Navarre, my honest Henry, +from my presence?" pursued the young King, after a pause, lifting up +his heavy head from between his hands. "He was the only being you had +left me still to love me; for my brothers hate me, both Anjou and +Alençon--both wish me dead, and would wear my crown. And who was it, +and for her own purposes, curdled the blood of the Valois in their +veins until it rankled into a poison that might have befitted the +Atrides of the tragedies of old? Henry of Navarre was the only +creature that loved me still, and your policy and intrigues, madam, +keep him from me, and so watch and harass his very steps in my own +palace of the Louvre, where he is my guest, that never can I see him +alone, or speak to him in confidence. He, too, deserts and neglects me +now; and I am alone--alone, madam, with courtiers and creatures, who +hate me too, it may be--alone, as a wretched orphan beggar by the +way-side." + +"My policy, as well as what you choose to call my intrigues, my son," +rejoined the Queen, "have ever been directed to your interests and +welfare. You are aware that Henry of Navarre has conspired against the +peace of our realm, against your crown, may-be against your life. +Would you condemn that care which would prevent the renewal of such +misdeeds, when your own sister--when his wife--leagues herself in +secret with your enemies!" + +"Ay! Margaret too!" muttered Charles with bitterness. "Was the list of +the Atrides not yet complete?" + +"The dictates of my love and affection, of my solicitude for my son, +and for his weal--such have been the main-springs of my intrigues," +pursued the mother in a cajoling tone. + +"The intrigues of the house of Medicis!" murmured the King, with a +mocking laugh. + +"What would you have me to do more, my son?" continued the +Queen-mother. + +"Nothing," replied Charles, "nothing but leave me--leave me, as others +have done, to die alone!" + +"My son, I will leave you shortly, and if it so please our Blessed +Virgin, to a little repose, and a better frame of mind," said +Catherine of Medicis. "But I came to speak to you of matters of +weight, and of such deep importance that they brook no delay." + +"I am unfitted for all matters of state--my head is weary, my limbs +ache, my heart burns with a torturing fire--I cannot listen to you +now, madam," pursued the King languidly; and then, seeing that his +mother still stood motionless by his side, he added with more +energy--"Am I then no more a king, madam, that, at my own command, I +cannot even be left to _die_ in peace?" + +"It is of your health, your safety, your life, that I would speak," +continued Catherine of Medicis, unmoved. "The physicians have sought +in vain to discover the real sources of the cruel malady that devours +you; but there is no reason to doubt of your recovery, when the cause +shall be known and removed." + +"And you, madam, should know, it would appear, better than my +physicians the hidden origin of my sufferings!" said Charles, in a +tone in which might be remarked traces of the bitterest irony. "Is it +not so?" and he looked upon his mother with a deadly look of suspicion +and mistrust. + +The Queen-mother started slightly at these words; but, after a moment, +she answered in her usual bland tone of voice-- + +"It is my solicitude upon this subject that now brings me hither." + +"I thank you for your solicitude," replied the King, with the same +marked manner; "and so, doubtless, does my brother Anjou: you love him +well, madam, and he is the successor of his childish brother." + +In spite of the command over herself habitually exercised by Catherine +of Medicis, her pale brow grew paler still, and she slightly +compressed her lips, to prevent their quivering, upon hearing the +horrible insinuation conveyed in these words. The suspicions +prevalent at the time, that the Queen-mother had employed the aid of a +slow poison to rid herself of a son who resisted her authority, in +order to make room upon the throne for another whom she loved, had +reached her ears, and, guilty or guiltless, she could not but perceive +that her own son himself was not devoid of these suspicions. After the +struggle of a moment with herself, however, during which the drops of +perspiration stood upon her pale temples, she resumed---- + +"I love my children all; and I would save your life, Charles. My +ever-watchful affection for you, my son, has discovered the existence +of a hellish plot against your life." + +"More plots, more blood!--what next, madam?" interrupted, with a +groan, the unhappy King. + +"What the art of the physician could not discover," pursued his +mother, "I have discovered. The strange nature of this unknown +malady--these pains, this sleeplessness, this agony of mind and body, +without a cause, excited my suspicions; and now I have the proofs in +my own hands. My son, my poor son! you have been the victim of the +foulest witchcraft and sorcery of your enemies." + +"Enemies abroad! enemies at home!" cried Charles, turning himself +uneasily in his chair. "Did I not say so, madam?" + +"But the vile sorcerer has been discovered by the blessed intervention +of the saints," continued Catherine; "and let him be once seized, +tried, and executed for his abominable crime, your torments, my son, +will cease for ever. You will live to be well, strong, happy." + +"Happy!" echoed the young King with bitterness; "happy! no, there the +sorcery has gone too far for remedy." He then added after a pause, +"And what is this plot? who is this sorcerer of whom you speak?" + +"Trouble not yourself with these details, my son; they are but of +minor import," replied Catherine. "You are weak and exhausted. The +horrid tale would too much move your mind. Leave every thing in my +hands, and I will rid you of your enemies." + +"No, no. There has been enough of ill," resumed her son. "That he +should be left in peace is all the miserable King now needs." + +"But your life, my son. The safety of the realm depends upon the +extermination of the works of the powers of darkness. Would you, a +Catholic Prince, allow the evil-doer of the works of Satan to roam +about at will, and injure others as he would have destroyed his king?" +pursued the Queen-mother. + +"Well, we will speak more of this at another opportunity. Leave me +now, madam, for I am very weak both in mind and body; and I thank you +for your zeal and care." + +"My son, I cannot leave you," persisted Catherine, "until you shall +have signed this paper." She produced from the species of reticule +suspended at her side a parchment already covered with writing. "It +confers upon me full power to treat in this affair, and bring the +offender to condign punishment. You shall have no trouble in this +matter; and through your mother's care, your enemies shall be purged +from the earth, and you yourself once more free, and strong and able +shortly to resume the helm of state, to mount your horse, to cheer on +your hounds. Come, my son, sign this paper." + +"Leave me--leave me in peace," again answered Charles. "I am sick at +heart, and I would do no ill even to my bitterest enemy, be he only an +obscure sorcerer, who has combined with the prince of darkness himself +to work my death." + +"My son--it cannot be," said Catherine, perseveringly--for she was +aware that by persisting alone could she weary her son to do at last +her will. "Sign this order for prosecuting immediately the trial of +the sorcerer. It is a duty you owe to your country, for which you +should live, as much as to yourself. Come!" and, taking him by the +arm, she attempted to raise him from his chair. + +"Must I ever be thus tormented, even in my hours of suffering?" said +the King with impatience. "Well, be it so, madam. Work your will, and +leave me to my repose." + +He rose wearily from his chair, and going to a table on which were +placed materials for writing, hastily signed the paper laid before him +by his mother; and then, fetching a deep respiration of relief, like +a school-boy after the performance of some painful task, he flung +himself on to the chest beside the ape, and, turning his back to his +mother, began to make his peace with the sulky animal. + +Catherine of Medicis permitted a cold smile of satisfaction to wander +over her face; and after greeting again her son, who paid her no more +heed than might be expressed by an impatient shrug of the shoulders, +indicative of his desire to be left in peace, again lifted the +hangings, and passed through the concealed door. The suffering King, +whose days of life were already numbered, and fast approaching their +utmost span, although his years were still so few, remained again +alone with his agony and his ennui. + +Behind the door by which the Queen-mother had left her son's apartment +was a narrow stone corridor, communicating with a small winding +staircase, by which she mounted to her own suite of rooms upon the +first floor; but, when she had gained the summit, avoiding the secret +entrance opening into her own chamber, she proceeded along one of the +many hidden passages by which she was accustomed to gain not only +those wings of the palace inhabited by her different children, but +almost every other part of the building, unseen and unannounced. +Stopping at last before a narrow door, forming a part of the +stone-work of the corridor, she pulled it towards her, and again +lifting up a tapestry hanging, entered, silently and stealthily, a +small room, which appeared a sort of inner cabinet to a larger +apartment. She was about to pass through it, when some papers +scattered upon a table caught her eye, and moving towards them with +her usual cat-like step, she began turning them over with the +noiseless adroitness of one accustomed to such an employment. +Presently, however, she threw them down, as if she had not found in +them, at once, what she sought, or was fearful of betraying her +presence to the persons whose voices might be heard murmuring in the +adjoining room; and, advancing with inaudible tread, she paused to +listen for a minute. The persons, however, spoke low; and finding that +her _espionage_ profited nothing to her, the royal spy passed on and +entered the apartment. + +In a chair, turning his back to her, sat a young man at a table, upon +which papers and maps were mixed with jewellery, articles of dress, +feathers and laces. A pair of newly-fashioned large gilt spurs lay +upon a manuscript which appeared to contain a list of names; a naked +rapier, the hilt of which was of curious device and workmanship, was +carelessly thrust through a paper covered with notes of music. The +whole formed a strange mixture, indicative at once of pre-occupation +and listless _insouciance_, of grave employment and utter frivolity. +Before this seated personage stood another, who appeared to be +speaking to him earnestly and in low tones. At the sight of Catherine, +as she advanced, however, the latter person exclaimed quickly, + +"My lord duke, her majesty the Queen-mother!" + +The other person rose hastily, and in some alarm, from his chair; +whilst his companion took this opportunity to increase the confusion +upon the table, by pushing one or two other papers beneath some of the +articles of amusement or dress. + +Without any appearance of remarking the embarrassment that was +pictured upon the young man's face, Catherine advanced to accept his +troubled greeting with a mild smile of tenderness, and said-- + +"Alençon, my son, I have a few matters of private business, upon which +I would confer with you--and alone." + +The increasing embarrassment upon the face of the young Duke must have +been visible to any eye but that which did not choose to see it. After +a moment's hesitation, however, in which the habit of obeying +implicitly his mother's authority seemed to subdue his desire to avoid +a conference with her, he turned and said unwillingly to his +companion, + +"Leave us, La Mole." + +The Duke's favourite cast a glance of encouragement and caution upon +his master; and bowing to the Queen-mother, who returned his homage +with her kindest and most re-assuring smile of courtesy and +benevolence, and an affable wave of the hand, he left the apartment. + +Catherine took the seat from which her son had risen; and leaving him +standing before her in an attitude which ill-repressed trouble +combined with natural awkwardness of manner to render peculiarly +ungainly, she seemed to study for a time, and with satisfaction, his +confusion and constraint. But then, begging him to be seated near her, +she commenced speaking to him of various matters, of his own pleasures +and amusements, of the newest dress, of the fêtes interrupted by the +King's illness, of the effect which this illness, and the supposed +danger of Charles, had produced upon the jarring parties in the state; +of the audacity of the Huguenots, who now first began, since the +massacre of St Bartholomew's day, again to raise their heads, and +cause fresh disquietude to the government. And thus proceeding step by +step to the point at which she desired to arrive, the wily +Queen-mother resembled the cat, which creeps slowly onwards, until it +springs at last with one bound upon its victim. + +"Alas!" she said, with an air of profound sorrow, "so quickly do +treachery and ingratitude grow up around us, that we no longer can +discern who are our friends and who our enemies. We bestow favours; +but it is as if we gave food to the dog, who bites our fingers as he +takes it. We cherish a friend; and it is an adder we nurse in our +bosoms. That young man who left us but just now, the Count La Mole--he +cannot hear us surely;"--the Duke of Alençon assured her, with +ill-concealed agitation, that his favourite was out of ear-shot--"that +young man--La Mole!--you love him well, I know, my son; and you know +not that it is a traitor you have taken to your heart." + +"La Mole--a traitor! how? impossible!" stammered the young Duke. + +"Your generous and candid heart comprehends not treachery in those it +loves," pursued his mother; "but I have, unhappily, the proofs in my +own power. Philip de la Mole conspires against your brother's crown." + +The Duke of Alençon grew deadly pale; and he seemed to support himself +with difficulty; but he stammered with faltering tongue, + +"Conspires? how? for whom? Surely, madam, you are most grossly +misinformed?" + +"Unhappily, my son," pursued Catherine--"and my heart bleeds to say +it--I have it no longer in my power to doubt." + +"Madam, it is false," stammered again the young Duke, rising hastily +from his chair, with an air of assurance which he did not feel. "This +is some calumny." + +"Sit down, my son, and listen to me for a while," said the +Queen-mother with a bland, quiet smile. "I speak not unadvisedly. Be +not so moved." + +Alençon again sat down unwillingly, subdued by the calm superiority of +his mother's manner. + +"You think this Philip de la Mole," she continued, "attached solely to +your interests, for you have showered upon him many and great favours; +and your unsuspecting nature has been deceived. Listen to me, I pray +you. Should our poor Henry never return from Poland, it would be yours +to mount the throne of France upon the death of Charles. Nay, look not +so uneasy. Such a thought, if it had crossed your mind, is an honest +and a just one. How should I blame it? And now, how acts this Philip +de la Mole--this man whom you have advanced, protected, loved almost +as a brother? Regardless of all truth or honour, regardless of his +master's fortunes, he conspires with friends and enemies, with +Catholic and Huguenot, to place Henry of Navarre upon the throne!" + +"La Mole conspires for Henry of Navarre! Impossible!" cried the Duke. + +"Alas! my son, it is too truly as I say," pursued the Queen-mother; +"the discoveries that have been made reveal most clearly the whole +base scheme. Know you not that this upstart courtier has dared to love +your sister Margaret, and that the foolish woman returns his +presumptuous passion? It is she who has connived with her ambitious +lover to see a real crown encircle her own brow. She has encouraged +Philip de la Mole to conspire with her husband of Navarre, to grasp +the throne of France upon the death of Charles. You are ignorant of +this, my son; your honourable mind can entertain no such baseness. I +am well aware that, had you been capable of harbouring a thought of +treachery towards your elder brother--and I well know that you are +not--believe me, the wily Philip de la Mole had rendered you his dupe, +and blinded you to the true end of his artful and black designs." + +"Philip a traitor!" exclaimed the young Duke aghast. + +"A traitor to his king, his country, and to you, my son--to you, who +have loved him but too well," repeated the Queen-mother. + +"And it was for this purpose that he"--commenced the weak Duke of +Alençon. But then, checking the words he was about to utter, he added, +clenching his hands together--"Oh! double, double traitor!" + +"I knew that you would receive the revelation of this truth with +horror," pursued Catherine. "It is the attribute of your generous +nature so to do; and I would have spared you the bitter pang of +knowing that you have lavished so much affection upon a villain. But +as orders will be immediately given for his arrest, it was necessary +you should know his crime, and make no opposition to the seizure of +one dependent so closely upon your person." + +More, much more, did the artful Queen-mother say to turn her weak and +credulous son to her will, and when she had convinced him of the +certain treachery of his favourite, she rose to leave him, with the +words-- + +"The guards will be here anon. Avoid him until then. Leave your +apartment; speak to him not; or, if he cross your path, smile on him +kindly, thus--and let him never read upon your face the thought that +lurks within, 'Thou art a traitor.'" + +Alençon promised obedience to his mother's injunctions. + +"I have cut off thy right hand, my foolish son," muttered Catherine to +herself as she departed by the secret door. "Thou art too powerless to +act alone, and I fear thee now no longer. Margaret must still be dealt +with; and thou, Henry of Navarre, if thou aspirest to the regency, the +struggle is between thee and Catherine. Then will be seen whose star +shines with the brightest lustre!" + +When Philip de la Mole returned to his master's presence, he found the +Duke pacing up and down the chamber in evident agitation; and the only +reply given to his words was a smile of so false and constrained a +nature, that it almost resembled a grin of mockery. + +The Duke of Alençon was as incapable of continued dissimulation, as he +was incapable of firmness of purpose; and when La Mole again +approached him, he frowned sulkily, and, turning his back upon his +favourite, was about to quit the room. + +"Shall I accompany my lord duke?" said La Mole, with his usual +careless demeanour, although he saw the storm gathering, and guessed +immediately from what quarter the wind had blown, but not the awful +violence of the hurricane. + +"No--I want no traitors to dog my footsteps," replied Alençon, unable +any longer to restrain himself, in spite of his mother's instructions. + +"There are no traitors here," replied his favourite proudly. "I could +have judged, my lord, that the Queen-mother had been with you, had I +not seen her enter your apartment. Yes--there has been treachery on +foot, it seems, but not where you would say. Speak boldly, my lord, +and truly. Of what does she accuse me?" + +"Traitor! double traitor!" exclaimed the Duke, bursting into a fit of +childish wrath, "who hast led me on with false pretences of a +Crown--who hast made _me_--thy master and thy prince--the dupe of thy +base stratagems; who hast blinded me, and gulled me, whilst thy real +design was the interest of another!" + +"Proceed, my lord duke," said La Mole calmly. "Of what other does my +lord duke speak?" + +"Of Henry of Navarre, for whom you have conspired at Margaret's +instigation," replied Alençon, walking uneasily up and down the room, +and not venturing to look upon his accused favourite, as if he +himself had been the criminal, and not the accuser. + +"Ah! thither flies the bolt, does it?" said La Mole, with score. "But +it strikes not, my lord. If I may claim your lordship's attention to +these papers for a short space of time, I should need no other answer +to this strange accusation, so strangely thrown out against me." And +he produced from his person several documents concealed about it, and +laid them before the Duke, who had now again thrown himself into his +chair. "This letter from Condé--this from La Brèche--these from others +of the Protestant party. Cast your eyes over them? Of whom do they +speak? Is it of Henry of Navarre? Or is it of the Duke of Alençon? +Whom do they look to as their chief and future King?" + +"Philip, forgive me--I have wronged you," said the vacillating Duke, +as he turned over these documents from members of the conspiracy that +had been formed in his own favour. "But, gracious Virgin!--I now +remember my mother knows all--she is fearfully incensed against you. +She spoke of your arrest." + +"Already!" exclaimed La Mole. "Then it is time to act! I would not +that it had been so soon. But Charles is suffering--he can no longer +wield the sceptre. Call out the guard at once. Summon your fiends. +Seize on the Louvre." + +"No--no--it is too late," replied the Duke; "my mother knows all, I +tell you. No matter whether for me or for another, but you have dared +to attack the rights of my brother of Anjou--and that is a crime she +never will forgive." + +"Then act at once," continued his favourite, with energy. "We have +bold hearts and ready arms. Before to-night the Regency shall be +yours; at Charles's death the Crown." + +"No, no--La Mole--impossible--I cannot--will not," said Alençon in +despair. + +"Monseigneur!" cried La Mole, with a scorn he could not suppress. + +"You must fly, Philip--you must fly!" resumed his master. + +"No--since you will not act, I will remain and meet my fate!" + +"Fly, fly, I tell you! You would compromise me, were you to remain," +repeated the Duke. "Every moment endangers our safety." + +"If such be your command," replied La Mole coldly, "rather than +sacrifice a little of your honour, I will fly." + +"They will be here shortly," continued Alençon hurriedly. "Here, take +this cloak--this jewelled hat. They are well known to be mine. Wrap +the cloak about you. Disguise your height--your gait. They will take +you for me. The corridors are obscure--you may cross the outer court +undiscovered--and once in safety, you will join our friends. +Away--away!" + +La Mole obeyed his master's bidding, but without the least appearance +of haste or fear. + +"And I would have made that man a king!" he murmured to himself, as, +dressed in the Duke's cloak and hat, he plunged into the tortuous and +gloomy corridors of the Louvre. "That man a king! Ambition made me +mad. Ay! worse than mad--a fool!" + +The Duke of Alençon watched anxiously from his window, which dominated +the outer court of the Louvre, for the appearance of that form, +enveloped in his cloak; and when he saw La Mole pass unchallenged the +gate leading without, he turned away from the window with an +exclamation of satisfaction. + +A minute afterwards the agents of the Queen-mother entered his +apartment. + + + + +THE SCOTTISH HARVEST. + + +The approach of winter is always a serious time. When the fields are +cleared, and the produce of our harvest has been gathered into the +yard and the barn, we begin to hold a general count and reckoning with +the earth, and to calculate what amount of augmented riches we have +drawn from the bosom of the soil. When the investigation proves +satisfactory, the result is but slightly recorded. Our ancestors, with +just piety and gratitude, were accustomed to set apart whole days for +thanksgiving to the Almighty Being who had blessed the labours of the +year; we--to our shame be it said--have departed from the reverent +usage. We take a good season as if it were no more than our appointed +due--a bad one comes upon us with all the terrors of a panic. + +But there are seasons frequently occurring which vary between the one +and the other extreme; and these are they which give rise to the most +discussion. It is unfortunately the tactics, if not the interest, of +one great party in the nation, to magnify every season of scarcity +into a famine for the purpose of promoting their own cherished +theories. A bad August and an indifferent September are subjects of +intense interest to your thorough-paced corn-law repealer; not that we +believe the man has an absolute abstract joy in the prospect of coming +scarcity--we acquit him of that--but he sees, or thinks he sees, a +combination of events which, erelong, must realize his darling theory, +and his sagacity, as a speculative politician, is at stake. Therefore, +he is always ready, upon the slightest apprehension of failure, to +demand, with most turbulent threat, the immediate opening of the +ports, in the hope that, once opened, they may never be closed again. + +Our original intention was not to discuss the corn-law question in the +present article. We took up the pen for the simple purpose of showing +that, so far as Scotland is concerned, a most unnecessary alarm has +been raised with regard to the produce of the harvest; and we have not +the slightest doubt that the same exaggeration has been extended to +the sister country. Of course, if we can prove this, it will follow as +a matter of deduction, that no especial necessity exists for opening +the ports at present; and we shall further strengthen our position by +reference to the prices of bonded grain. We shall not, however, +conclude, without a word or two regarding the mischievous theories +which, if put into execution, would place this country at the mercy of +a foreign power; and we entreat the attention of our readers the more, +because already our prospective position has become the subject of +intense interest on the Continent. + +It is a question of such immense importance, that we have thought it +our duty to consult with one of the best-informed persons on the +subject of practical agriculture in Scotland, or, indeed, in the +United Kingdom. Our authority for the following facts, as to the +results of the harvest in the North, is Mr Stephens, the author of +_The Book of the Farm_. His opinions, and the results of his +observation, have kindly been communicated to us in letters, written +during the first fortnight in November; and we do not think that we +can confer upon the public a greater service than by laying extracts +from these before them. They may tend, if duly weighed and considered, +to relieve the apprehensions of those who have taken alarm at the very +commencement of the cry. Our conviction is, that the alarm is not only +premature but unreasonable, and that the grain-produce of this year is +rather above than below the ordinary average. We shall consider the +potato question separately: in the meantime let us hear Mr Stephens +on the subject of the quantity of the harvest. + + +QUANTITY OF GRAIN-CROP. + +"I am quite satisfied in my own mind, from observation and +information, that a greater quantity of grain convertible into bread +has been derived from this harvest than from the last. Both oats and +barley are a heavy crop; indeed oats are the bulkiest crop I ever +remember to have seen in the higher districts of this country. The +straw is not only long, but is strong in the reed, and thick in the +ground; and notwithstanding all the rain, both barley and oats were +much less laid than might have been expected. In regard to wheat, all +the good soils have yielded well--the inferior but indifferently. +There is a much greater diversity in the wheat than in barley and +oats. The straw of wheat is long, and it is also strong; but still it +was more laid than either oats or barley, and wherever it was laid the +crop will be very deficient. As to the colour of all sorts of grain, +it is much brighter than the farmers had anticipated, and there is no +sprouted grain this year. + +Let me relate a few instances of be yield of the crop. I must premise +that the results I am about to give are derived from the best +cultivated districts, and that no returns of yield have yet been had +from the upper and later districts. At the same time I have no reason +to suppose that these, when received, will prove in any way +contradictory. In East Lothian two fields of wheat have been tried, in +not the best soil; and the one has yielded 4-1/2, and the other very +nearly 5 quarters, per Scotch acre. Before being cut, the first one +was estimated at 2-1/2, and the second at 4-1/2 quarters. The grain in +both cases is good. + +In Mid-Lothian, one farmer assures himself, from trials, that he will +reap 8 quarters of wheat per Scotch acre of good quality. And another +says, that, altogether, he never had so great a crop since he was a +farmer. + +In West Lothian, two farmers have thrashed some wheat, and the yield +is 8 quarters per Scotch acre, of good quality. + +In the best district of Roxburghshire the wheat will yield well; while +a large field of wheat, in Berwickshire, that was early laid on +account of the weakness of the straw, which was too much forced by the +high condition of the soil, will scarcely pay the cost of reaping. +This, however, is but a single isolated instance, for a farmer in the +same county has put in 73 ordinary-sized stacks, whereas his usual +number is about 60. + +In the east of Forfarshire, the harvest is represented to me as being +glorious; while in the west, there has not been a better crop of every +thing for many years. The accounts from Northumberland, from two or +three of my friends who farm there extensively, confirm the preceding +statements, in regard to the bulk and general yield of the corn crop. + +I may also mention, that the samples of wheat, and oats, and barley, +presented at the Highland and Agricultural Society's Show at Dumfries, +along with the grain in the straw, were really admirable. + +With all these attestations from so many parts of the country, that +are known to be good corn districts, I cannot doubt that the crop is a +good one on good soils." + + * * * * * + +So much for the quantity, which, after all, is the main consideration. +The above account certainly gives no indications of famine, or even +scarcity. It contains the general character of the weight of the +harvest in the principal corn-growing districts of Scotland, and we +have no reason whatever to suppose that worse fortune has attended the +results of the husbandry in England. The next consideration is the + + +QUALITY OF THE CROP + +"Not the entire crop, but most of it, is inferior in quality to that +of last year. The barley and oats are both plump and heavy, but there +is a slight roughness about them; and yet the weights in some cases of +both are extraordinary. Potato oats were shown at Dumfries 48lb per +bushel--3lb above the ordinary weight. Barley has been presented in +the Edinburgh market every week as heavy as 56lb per quarter--about +3lb more than the ordinary weight. All the samples of wheat I have +seen in Leith in the hands of an eminent corn-merchant, weighed from +60lb to 63lb per bushel, and it has been as high as 66lb in the +Edinburgh market. I also saw samples of Essex wheat above 60lb, as +well as good wheat from Lincolnshire. + +Now such weights could not be indicated by grain at the end of a wet +harvest, unless it were of good quality. + +The quality is much diversified, especially in wheat; some of it not +weighing above 48lb per bushel. The winnowings from all the grains +will be proportionally large; although, in the case of barley and +oats, had every pickle attained maturity, the crop would probably have +exceeded the extraordinary one of 1815. But though heavy winnowings +entail decided loss to the farmer, yet human beings will not be the +greatest sufferers by them; the loss will chiefly fall on the poor +work-horses, as they will be made to eat the light instead of the good +corn, which latter will be reserved for human food. The light oats +will no doubt be given to horses in larger quantities than good corn, +and the light barley will be boiled for them in mashes probably every +night. + +The beans are a heavy crop in _straw_ every where; and bean-straw, +when well won, is as good for horses in winter as hay; while in +certain districts, such as on the Border, the beans will also be good. + +With all these facts before me, I cannot make myself believe that we +are to experience any thing approaching to the privation of famine, so +far as the grain crop is concerned." + + * * * * * + +Our practical experience in these matters is so limited, that we feel +diffident in adding any thing to these remarks of Mr Stephens. We may, +however, be permitted to express a doubt whether the average quality +of the crop has yet been satisfactorily ascertained. It is well known +that the farmer rarely brings his best wheat into the earliest market, +because it is his interest to thrash out that part of the crop which +may have sustained a partial damage, as soon as possible; and in these +circumstances it usually follows, that the worst wheat is first +exposed for sale. In like manner he wishes to dispose of his inferior +barley first. In regard to oats, the inferior portions find +consumption at home by the horses. In ordinary seasons, any wheat or +barley that may have shown symptoms of heating in the stacks are first +presented at market; but in this season, when there is no heated +grain--thanks to the low temperature and the precautions used in +stacking--the high prices have tempted the farmers to thrash both +wheat and barley earlier than usual, in order to meet the demands for +rent and wages at Martinmas--a term which, owing to the lateness of +the season, followed close on the termination of the harvest. This +peculiarity of the season may, perhaps, account for the large supplies +of wheat presented for some weeks past at Mark Lane--to the extent, we +understand, of from 30,000 to 40,000 quarters more than last year at +the same period. It is more than probable that the largest proportion +of the land in fallow has been sown with old wheat, as it was early +ascertained that the harvest would be unusually late. There is always +more bare fallow in England than in Scotland, and the old wheat having +been thus disposed of, the earlier portion of the new grain was +brought to market, and not appropriated for its usual purpose. We +must, however, conclude, that the crop--at all events the wheat--is +inferior to that of former years. This has generally been attributed +to the wetness of the season, in which view our correspondent does not +altogether concur; and we are glad to observe that on one important +matter--namely, the fitness of this year's grain for seed--his +opinions are decidedly favourable. + + +CAUSE OF INFERIOR QUALITY OF WHEAT. + +"I am of opinion, that the inferiority of the wheat in poor lands, +both as regards quantity and quality, has not arisen from the wetness +of the season, but from the _very low degree of temperature_ which +prevailed at the blooming season in the end of June, and which +prevented the pollen coming to maturity, and therefore interfered with +the proper fecundation of the plant. I observed that, during all that +time, the rain did not fall in so large quantities as afterwards, but +the thermometer averaged so low as from 48° to 52°, even during the +day, and there was a sad want of sunshine. And it is an ascertained +fact, that wheat will _not fecundate at all_ in a temperature which +does not exceed 45°, accompanied with a gloomy atmosphere. This theory +of the influence of a low temperature also accounts for the quantity +of _light_ wheat this year; for the side of the ear that was exposed +to the cold breeze which blew constantly from the north-east during +the period of blooming, would experience a more chilly atmosphere than +the other side, which was comparatively sheltered, and therefore its +fecundation would be most interfered with. + +I may mention a peculiar characteristic of this year, if we take into +consideration the wetness of the season; which is, that scarcely a +sprouted ear of corn is to be found any where, notwithstanding that +the crop was laid in many instances. This immunity from an evil which +never fails to render grain, so affected, useless for human food, has +no doubt been secured by the _low temperature of the season_. It was +an observed fact, that immediately after the falls of rain, whether +great or moderate, a firm, drying, cool breeze always sprang up, which +quickly dried the standing and won the cut corn at the same time; and +the consequence has been, that the entire crop has been secured in the +stack-yard in a safe state. All the kinds of grain, therefore, may be +regarded as being in a _sound_ state; and, on that account, even the +lighter grains will be quite fit for seed next year." + + * * * * * + +The point on which the nation at large is principally interested, is, +of course, the price of bread. It is quite evident that the cost of +manufactured flour ought, in all cases, to remain in just proportion +with the value of the raw material. Unfortunately that proportion is +not always maintained. The baker is a middleman between the farmer and +the public, between the producing and the consuming classes. Amongst +those who follow that very necessary trade, there exists a combination +which is not regulated by law; and the consequence is, that, whenever +a scarcity is threatened, the bakers raise the price of the loaf at +pleasure, and on no fixed principle corresponding with the price of +corn. Few persons are aware at what rate the quartern loaf _ought to +be sold_ when wheat is respectively at 50s., 60s., or 70s. per +quarter: they are, however, painfully sensitive when they are +subjected to an arbitrary rise of bread and their natural conclusion +is, that they are taxed on account of the dearness of the grain. The +number of those who buy grain or who study its fluctuations, is very +small; but every one uses bread, and the monthly account of the baker +is a sure memento of its price. Let us see how the middle functionary +has behaved. + + +WHY IS BREAD SO DEAR? + +"The price of bread is very high already, and is not likely to fall; +and the reason a baker would assign for this is the high price of +wheat--a very plausible reason, and to which most people would too +good-naturedly assent; but examine the particulars of the case, and +the reason adduced will be found based on a fallacy. During all the +last year, the aggregate average price of wheat never exceeded 56s. a +quarter, and in that time the price of the 4lb loaf was 5-1/2d.; at +least I paid no more for it with ready money. The highest mark that +wheat has yet attained in this market, is 88s. per quarter, and it is +notorious that this market has, for the present year, been the dearest +throughout the kingdom. As 10s. a quarter makes a difference of 1d. in +the 4lb loaf, the loaf, according to this scale--which, be it +remarked, is of the bakers' own selection--should be at 8-1/2d. when +the wheat is at 88s. Can you, nevertheless, believe that, _whilst the +present price of bread_ is 8-1/2d. _the loaf_ is made wholly of wheat +which cost the bakers 88s. the quarter? The bakers tell you they +always buy the best wheat, and yet, though they are the largest buyers +in the wheat market, the aggregate average of the kingdom did not +exceed 58s. 6d. on the 8th November. The truth is, the bakers are +trying to make the most they can; and they are not to blame, provided +their gains were not imputed to the farmers. But we all know, that +when bread gets inordinately high in price, clamour is raised against +_dear wheat_--that is, against the farmer--and this again is made the +pretext for _a free trade in corn_; whilst the _high price secured to +the baker by the privilege of his trade_ is left unblamed and +unscathed." + + * * * * * + +Had the Court of Session thought proper to retain in observance the +powers to which it succeeded after the abolition of the Privy Council, +and which for some time it executed, we certainly should have applied +to their Lordships for an Act of Sederunt to regulate the proceedings +of Master Bakers. But, as centralisation has not even spared us an +humble Secretary, we must leave our complaint for consideration in a +higher quarter. Our correspondent, however, is rather too charitable +in assuming that the bakers are not to blame. We cannot, for the life +of us, understand why they are permitted to augment the price of +bread, the great commodity of life, at this enormous ratio, in +consequence of the rise of corn. Surely some enactment should be +framed, by which the price of the loaf should be kept in strict +correspondence with the average price of grain, and some salutary +check put upon a monopoly, which, we are convinced, has often afforded +a false argument against the agricultural interests of the country. + +Such we believe to be the true state of the grain crop throughout the +kingdom generally. How, from such a state of things, any valid +argument can be raised for opening the ports at this time, we are +totally at a loss to conceive. The only serious feature connected with +the present harvest, is the partial failure of the potato crop, to +which we shall presently refer. But, so far as regards corn, we +maintain that there is no real ground for alarm; and further, there is +this important consideration connected with the late harvest, which +should not be ungratefully disregarded, that two months of the grain +season have already passed, and the new crop remains comparatively +untouched, so that it will have to supply only ten months' consumption +instead of twelve: and should the next harvest be an early one, which +we have reason to expect after this late one, the time bearing on the +present crop will be still more shortened. Nor should the fact be +overlooked, that two months' consumption is equal to 2,000,000 +quarters of wheat--an amount which would form a very considerable item +in a crop which had proved to be actually deficient. + +But as there has been a movement already in some parts of Scotland, +though solely from professed repealers, towards memorialising +government for open ports on the ground of special necessity, we shall +consider that question for a little; and, in doing so, shall blend the +observations of our able correspondent with our own. + +Such a step, we think, at the present moment, would be attended with +mischief in more ways than one. There can be no pretext of a famine at +present, immediately after harvest; and the natural course of events +in operation is this, that the dear prices are inducing a stream of +corn from every producing quarter towards Britain. In such +circumstances, if you raise a cry of famine, and suspend the +corn-laws, that stream of supply will at once be stopped. The +importers will naturally suspend their trade, because they will then +speculate, not on the rate of the import duty, which will be +absolutely abolished by the suspension, but on the rise of price in +the market of this country. They will therefore, as a matter of +course--gain being their only object--withhold their supplies, until +the prices shall have, through panic, attained a famine price here; +and then they will realize their profit when they conceive they can +gain no more. In the course of things at present, the price of fine +wheat is so high, that a handsome surplus would remain to foreigners, +though they paid the import duty. Remove that duty, and the foreigner +will immediately add its amount to the price of his own wheat. The +price of wheat would then be as high to the consumer as when the duty +remained to be paid; while the amount of duty would go into the +pockets of the foreigner, instead of into our own exchequer. At +present, the finest foreign wheat is 62s. in bond--remove the present +duty of 14s., and that wheat will freely give _in the market_ 80s. the +quarter. + +It is, therefore, clear that such an expedient as that of suspending +the corn-laws merely to include the bonded wheat to be entered for +home consumption, would, in no degree, benefit the consumer. The +quantity of wheat at present in bond does not exceed half-a-million of +quarters--the greatest part of which did not cost the importer 30s. +per quarter. At least we can vouch for this, that early last summer, +when the crop looked luxuriant, 5000 quarters of wheat in bond were +actually offered in the Edinburgh market for 26s., and were sold for +that sum, and allowed to remain in bond. It still remains in bond, and +could now realise 62s. Here, then, is a realisable profit of 36s. per +quarter, and yet the holder will not take it, in the expectation of a +higher. + +We cannot think that Sir Robert Peel would sanction a measure so +clearly and palpably unwise, for the sake of liberating only half a +million quarters of wheat, which is the calculated consumption of a +fortnight. But the late frequent meetings of the Privy Council have +afforded an admirable opportunity for the alarmists to declaim upon +coming famine. Matters, they say, must be looking serious indeed, when +both Cabinet and Council are repeatedly called together; and they jump +at the conclusion, that suspension of the corn-law is the active +subject of debate. We pretend to no special knowledge of what is +passing behind the political curtain; but a far more rational +conjecture as to the nature of those deliberations may be found in the +state of the potato crop, and the question, whether any succedaneum +can be found for it. Perhaps it would be advisable to allow Indian +corn, or maize, to come in duty-free; if not as food for people, it +would feed horses, pigs, or poultry, and would make a diversion in +favour of the consumption of corn to a certain extent; and such a +relaxation could be made without interfering with the _corn_-laws, for +maize is not regarded as corn, but stands in the same position as rice +and millet. We might try this experiment with the maize, as the Dutch +have already forestalled the rice market. + +If the state of the harvest is such as we conscientiously believe it +to be, there can be no special reason--but rather, as we have shown, +the reverse--for suspending the action of the corn-laws at this +particular juncture. If the enactment of that measure was founded on +the principle of affording protection to the farmer, why interfere +with these laws at a time when any apprehension of a famine is +entirely visionary? And since there is a large quantity of food in the +country, the present prices are certainly not attributable to a +deficiency in the crop, and are, after all, little more than +remunerative to the farmers who are raisers of corn alone. The present +rents could not possibly be paid from the profits of the growth of +corn. It is the high price of live stock which keeps up the value of +the land. The aggregate average price of wheat throughout the kingdom +is only 58s. 6d., upon which no rational argument can be founded for +the suspension of the laws of the country. Besides the working of the +corn-laws will in its natural course effect all that is desirable; at +any rate it does not prevent the introduction of foreign grain into +the market. The present state of the grain-market presents an apparent +anomaly--that is, it affords a high and a low price for the same +commodity, namely wheat; but this difference is no more than might +have been anticipated from the peculiar condition of the wheat crop, +which yields good and inferior samples at the same time. It can be no +matter of surprise that fine wheat should realise good prices, or that +inferior wheat should only draw low prices. The high price will +remunerate those who have the good fortune to reap a crop of wheat of +good quality, and the low prices of the inferior wheat will have the +effect of keeping the aggregate average price at a medium figure, and, +by maintaining a high duty, will prevent the influx of inferior grain +to compete with our own inferior grain in the home market. The law +thus really affords protection to those who are in need of it--namely, +to such farmers as have reaped an inferior crop of wheat; while those +foreigners who have fine wheat in bond, or a surplus which they may +send to this country, can afford to pay a high duty on receiving a +high price for their superior article. Taking such a state of things +into consideration, we cannot conceive a measure more wise in its +operation, inasmuch as it accommodates itself to the peculiar +circumstances of the times, than the present form of the corn-law. + +Were that law allowed to operate as the legislature intended, it would +bring grain into this country whenever a supply was actually +necessary; but we cannot shut our eyes to the mischievous effects +which unfounded rumours of its suspension have already produced in the +foreign market. Owing to these reports, propagated by the newspapers, +the holders of wheat abroad have raised the price to 56s. a quarter, +free on board; and as the same rumours have advanced the freight to +6s. a quarter, wheat cannot _now_ be landed here in bond under 66s. +The suspension of the corn-law would tend to confirm the panic abroad, +and would therefore increase the difficulties of our corn-merchants, +in making purchases of wheat for this market. It seems to us very +strange that sensible men of business should be so credulous as to +believe every idle rumour that is broached in the newspapers, so +evidently for party purposes; for the current report of the immediate +suspension of the corn-law originated in the papers avowedly inimical +to the Ministry. The character of the League is well known. That body +has never permitted truth to be an obstacle in the way of its +attempts. + +So much for corn and the corn-laws. But there is a more serious +question beyond this, and that is the state of the potatoes. If we are +to believe the journals, more especially those which are attached to +the cause of the League, the affection has spread, and is spreading to +a most disastrous extent. Supposing these accounts to be true, we say, +advisedly, that it will be impossible to find a substitute for the +potato among the vegetable productions of the world; for neither wheat +nor maize can be used, like it, with the simplest culinary +preparation. There can be no doubt that in some places this affection +is very prevalent, and that a considerable part of the crop in certain +soils has been rendered unfit for ordinary domestic use. It is +understood that the Lord-Advocate of Scotland has issued a circular to +the parish clergymen throughout the kingdom, requesting answers to +certain queries on this important subject. The information thus +obtained will no doubt be classified, so that the government will +immediately arrive at a true estimate of the extent of damage +incurred. + +In the mean time we have caused enquiry to be made for ourselves, and +the result, in so far as regards Scotland, is much more favourable +than we had expected, considering the extent of the first alarm. We +have seen accounts _from every quarter of the kingdom_, and the +following report may therefore be relied on as strictly consistent +with fact. + +It appears, on investigation, that no traces whatever of the complaint +have yet been found in the northern half of Scotland. The crop in the +upper parts of Forfarshire and Perthshire is quite untainted, and so +across the island. When we consider what a vast stretch of country +extends to the north of Montrose, the point beyond which, as our +informants say, this singular affection has not penetrated, we shall +have great reason to be thankful for such a providential immunity. Our +chief anxiety, when we first heard of the probable failure, was for +the Highlands, where potato plant furnishes so common and so necessary +an article of food. We know by former experience what bitter privation +is felt during a bad season in the far glens and lonely western +islands; and most rejoiced are we to find, that for this winter there +is little likelihood of a repetition of the same calamity. +Argyleshire, however, except in its northern parishes has not escaped +so well. We have reason to believe that the potatoes in that district +have suffered very materially, but to what extent is not yet +accurately ascertained. + +In the Lowlands the accounts are more conflicting; but it is +remarkable that almost every farmer confesses now, that his first +apprehensions were greatly worse than the reality. On examination, it +turns out that many fields which were considered so tainted as to be +useless, are very slightly affected: it is thus apparent that undue +precipitation has been used in pronouncing upon the general character +of the crop from a few isolated samples. Some districts appear to have +escaped altogether; and from a considerable number we have seen +reports of a decided abatement in the disease. + +In short, keeping in view all the information we have been able to +collect, the following seems to be the true state of the case:--The +crop throughout Scotland has been a very large one, but one-half of it +is affected to a greater or less degree. About a fourth or a fifth of +this half crop is so slightly damaged, that the unusual amount of +produce will more than compensate the injury. The remainder is +certainly worse. Of this, however, a considerable proportion has been +converted into starch--an expedient which was early recommended in +many quarters, wisely adopted by the prudent, and may yet be +extensively increased. An affected potato, unless its juices were +thoroughly fermented, and decomposition commenced, will yield quite as +good starch as the healthy root, and all this may be considered as +saved. Potato starch or farina, when mixed with flour, makes a +wholesome and palatable bread. In some districts the doubtful potatoes +are given to the cattle in quantities, and are considered excellent +feeding. This also is a material saving. + +The spread of the complaint, or rather the appearance of its worst +symptoms, seems to depend very much on the mode of management adopted +after the potatoes are raised. A friend of ours in Mid-Lothian, who +has paid much attention to agriculture, has saved nearly the whole of +his crop, by careful attention to the dryness of the roots when +heaped, by keeping these heaps small and frequently turned, and, above +all, by judicious ventilation _through them_. A neighbouring farmer, +who had an immense crop, but who did not avail him of any of these +precautions, has suffered most severely. + +One letter which we have received is of great importance, as it +details the means by which an affected crop has been preserved. We +think it our duty to make the following extract, premising that the +writer is an eminent practical farmer in the south of Scotland:--"I +had this year a large crop of potatoes, but my fields, like those of +my neighbours, did not escape the epidemic. On its first appearance, I +directed my serious attention to the means of preserving the crop. +Though inclined to impute the complaint to a deeper cause than the +wetness of the season, I conceived that damp would, as a matter of +course, increase any tendency to decay, and I took my measures +accordingly. Having raised my potatoes, I caused all the sound ones, +which seemed free from spot and blemish, to be carefully picked by the +hand; and, having selected a dry situation in an adjoining field, I +desired them to be heaped there in quantities, none of which exceeded +a couple of bolls. The method of pitting them was this:--On a dry +foundation we placed a layer of potatoes, which we covered with sandy +mould, though I don't doubt straw would do as well; above that, +another layer, also covered; and so on, keeping the potatoes as +separate from each other as possible. We then thatched and covered +them over as usual with straw, leaving ventilators on the top. I have +had them opened since, and there is no trace whatever of any decay, +which I attribute to the above precautions, as others in the +neighbourhood, whose potatoes grew in exactly similar soil, have lost +great part of their crop by heaping them in huge masses. Ventilation, +you may depend upon it, is a great preservative. I have, I think, +arrested the complaint even in affected potatoes, by laying them out +(not heaping them) on a dry floor, in a covered place where there is a +strong current of air. They are not spoiling _now_; and when the +unsound parts are cut out, we find them quite wholesome and fit for +use. I am of opinion, therefore, that by using due caution, the +progress of the complaint, so far as it has gone, may in most cases be +effectually checked." + +We are, therefore, almost certain, that when the damaged portion is +deducted from the whole amount of the crop, there still remains an +ample store of good potatoes for the consumption of the whole +population--that is, if the potatoes were distributed equally through +the markets. This, however, cannot be done, and, therefore, there are +some places where this vegetable will be dear and scarce. The farmer +who has a large crop of sound potatoes, and who does not reside in an +exporting part of the country, will naturally enough use his +superfluity for his cattle; and this cannot be prevented. We hope, +however, that the habitual thrift of our countrymen will cause them to +abstain, as much as possible, from wasting their extra stock in this +manner, more especially as there is abundance of other kinds of +fodder. They will command a high price as an esculent, and perhaps a +higher, if they are preserved for the purposes of seed. Exportation +also should be carried on cautiously; but we repeat, that the general +tenor of our information is so far satisfactory, that it exhibits +nothing more than a partial affection of the crop in the southern +districts, and the majority of those are compensated by a good +provision of corn. + +In addition to these statistics, obtained from many and various +sources, we have been favoured with the opinion of Mr Stephens, which +we now subjoin:-- + + +THE POTATO ROT. + +"This affection I do not regard as a disease--but simply as a +rottenness in the tuber, superinduced by the combination of a low +temperature with excessive moisture, during the growing season of that +sort of root, when it is most liable to be affected on account of its +succulent texture.[39] A friend informs me that he remembers the same +kind of rottenness seizing the potato crop of the country in the late +and wet season of 1799; and, as a consequence, the seed potato for the +following crop fetched as high a price as 26s. the boll of 5 cwt.[40] +I am inclined to believe, however, that the effects of this rot are +much exaggerated. It is, in the first place, said to be poisonous; and +yet pigs, to my certain knowledge, have been fed on spoiled potatoes +alone, on purpose, with impunity. There is little outcry made against +rot in the dry soils of Perthshire and Forfarshire, and these are the +two most extensive districts from which potatoes are shipped for +London. There are farmers in various parts of the country who warrant +the soundness of the potatoes they supply their customers. The +accounts of the potato crop from the Highland districts are most +favourable. I believe the fact will turn out to be this, that, like +corn, the potatoes will not only be a good, but a great crop, in all +the _true potato soils_--that is, in deep dry soils on a dry subsoil, +whether naturally so, or made so by draining--and that in all the +heavy soils, whether rich or poor, they are rotting. + +A short time will put an end to all conjecture on the state of the +potato crop, and afford us facts upon which we shall be able to reason +and judge aright." + + * * * * * + +As the question of seed is always a most important one, whenever a new +disease or partial affection of so staple a product is discovered, it +may not be useless to note down Mr Stephens' ideas, in regard to the +supposed destruction of the vegetative principle in part of the +affected crop-- + + +SEED POTATOES. + +"I would feel no apprehension in employing such affected potatoes for +seed, next spring, as shall be preserved till that time; because I +believe it to be the case that the low temperature enfeebled the +vegetative powers of the plant so much as to disable it from throwing +off the large quantity of moisture that was presented to it; and I +therefore conclude that any rot superinduced by such causes cannot +possess a character which is hereditary. There seems no reason, +therefore, why the complaint should be propagated in future, in +circumstances favourable to vegetation; and this opinion is the more +likely to be true, that it is not inconsistent with the idea of the +disease of former years having arisen from a degenerate state of the +potato plant, since low temperature and excessive moisture were more +likely to affect a plant in a state of degeneracy than when its +vitality remains unimpaired. + +There is no doubt that this affection of the potato is general, and it +is quite possible that it may yet spread. This, however, is a question +which cannot yet be solved, and certainly, so far as we know, the +Highlands, and the Orkney and Shetland Isles, have hitherto escaped. +The portion of the crop as yet actually rendered unfit for human food, +does not perhaps exceed one-fourth in parts of the country whence +potatoes are exported; and could the affection be stopped from +spreading further than this, there would still be a sufficiency of +potatoes for the consumption of _human beings_, as the crop is +acknowledged to be a large one in the best districts. Much, however, +depends upon our ability to arrest the affection, or its cessation +from other causes. + +It is known that rotten potatoes, like rotten turnips, when left in +heaps in contact with sound ones, will cause the latter to rot. Aware +of this fact, farmers have, this last year, caused the potatoes in the +heaps, as soon as the lifting of the crop was over, to be individually +examined, and placed the sound ones in narrow, low pits, mixed with +some desiccating substance, and covered with straw and earth. When the +pits were opened for examination, the rot was found to have spread +very much, in consequence of the dampness and heat which was so +diffused throughout the pits. This is an effect that might have been +anticipated. Had the precaution been used of taking up the crop in +small quantities at a time, or of spreading the potatoes on the ground +when the weather was fair, or in sheds when wet--and of allowing them +to be exposed to the air until they had became tolerably firm and dry; +and had the sound potatoes been then selected by hand, piled together, +and afterwards put into smaller pits, it is probable that a much less +proportion of any crop that was taken up would have been lost. Such a +plan, no doubt, would have caused a protracted potato harvest, but the +loss of time at that period, in performing the necessary work of +selection, is a small consideration compared with an extensive injury +to the crop. It is no doubt desirable to have the potato land ploughed +for wheat as soon as possible after the potatoes have been removed; +but there is no more urgency in ploughing potato than in ploughing +turnip land for wheat; and, at any rate, it is better to delay the +ploughing of the potato land for a few days, than run the risk of +losing a whole crop of so excellent an esculent. + +I may here mention an experiment in regard to the potato, which shows +that a larger crop has been received by planting the sets in autumn +than in spring. Those who have tried this system on a large scale say, +that the increase is in the ratio of 111 to 80 bolls per acre. If this +is near the truth, it would indicate, that the sets may safely be +entrusted to lie in the ground all winter upon the dung; and could we +be assured of their safety there in all cases, the potatoes of this +year, selected in the manner above described, might be used as seed +this winter and preserved as such, in the ground, in a safer state +than even in the small pits. Such an experiment may be tried this +winter, in dry weather, without much risk of losing the future crop; +for if, on examination in spring, it should be found that all the sets +have rotted in the drills, there would be plenty of time to replant +the crop, in its proper season, with the sets that had survived till +that time, by the means of preservation used. + +I have heard of farmers in this neighbourhood who are planting their +potato crop in this favourable weather; and it does seem very probable +that, as each set is placed at a considerable distance from the other, +and in circumstances to resist frost--namely, amongst plenty of dung +and earth--the entire number may escape putrefaction." + + * * * * * + +No doubt, if the potato crop shall prove to be very generally +affected, the price of corn will rise yet farther, and may be for a +long time maintained. But this is a very different thing from a +scarcity of that article, which we believe is merely visionary. We +must be fed with corn if we cannot get the potato in its usual plenty; +and it is the certainty, or rather the expectation, of this, which has +raised the price of the former. In the course of last month (October) +we met with an admirable article on this subject, in the columns of +_Bell's Weekly Messenger_, which we do not hesitate to adopt, as clear +in its views, hopeful in its tone, and strictly rational in its +argument. + + +THE RISING PRICE OF WHEAT AND FLOUR. + +"What we predicted in one of our recent papers is daily becoming +realised to an extent which is now exciting general attention, and, +with some classes of the people, has already produced great alarm and +anxiety for the future. We stated at that time, that though the return +of fine weather, about the middle of last month, had saved the +harvest, and given us a crop much more than had been anticipated, +still there were causes in operation which would keep up the prices of +wheat and flour; and that, at least for many weeks to come wheat would +not fall in the British Market. + +"It should be borne in mind that the getting in of the harvest is very +closely followed by the wheat seed-time, and that two causes are then +always operative to maintain and raise the price of wheat. There is, +first, a large call on the stock in hand for seed wheat; and, +secondly, the farmers are too busy to carry their corn into market, +and accordingly the market is ill supplied. A third cause is also in +operation to produce the same effect--that of an unreasonable alarm +always resulting from an ill-supplied market. + +"It would seem astonishing and even incredible to men who argue only +theoretically, that though year after year the same uniform causes +operate, and produce exactly the same effects, yet that this aspect of +the market should continue to delude and mislead the public mind, but +so it is in the corn-market, and with the British public in general; +for though they see through a long succession of years that wheat and +flour invariably rise in the market immediately after harvest and +during seed-time, and though they ought to understand that this rise +is produced by the quantity required for seed, and by the busy +occupation of the farmers, they still perversely attribute it to +another cause, existing only in their own apprehensions, namely, that +the recent harvest has been deficient, and that the market is ill +supplied because there is an insufficient stock with which to supply +it. + +"As it is the inflexible rule of our paper to apply itself on the +instant to correct all popular errors and to dissipate all +unreasonable panics, we feel ourselves called upon to say, that the +present rise in the price of corn results only from the very serious +failure of the potato crop in many of our own counties, and still more +materially in Belgium and other foreign kingdoms. From the mere +circumstance of their numbers only, to say nothing of their habits and +necessities, an immense quantity of this food is required for the +sustenance of many millions of the community; and when the crop fails +to such an extensive degree as it has done in the present case, this +vast numerical proportion of every state must necessarily be chiefly +maintained from the stock of corn. If the potato crop fail at home, +the poor are directly thrown upon the corn-market, and the price of +corn must necessarily rise in proportion to the increased demand. +Where the potato crop has failed abroad, the supply of foreign corn +must necessarily be directed to that quarter, and therefore less corn +will be imported into the British market. + +"Now, it is the expectation of this result, which, together with the +wheat seed-time and the full occupation of the farmers, is producing +the present rise in the British corn-market, and these causes will +probably continue to operate for some time longer. + +"In some parts of the country, such as our northern and eastern +counties, we understand the current judgment to be, that though the +harvest has produced more bushels than in an average year, the weight +per bushel is less than last year, and that the deficiency of the +quality brings the produce down in such districts to less than an +average crop. But if we set against this the happier result of the +wheat harvest in our southern and western counties, we must still +retain our former opinion, that there is at least no present ground +for any thing like a panic, either amongst the public in general or +amongst the farmers themselves. The public as yet have no cause to +dread any thing like that very serious scarcity which some of our +papers have announced, and the farmers themselves have no cause to +apprehend such a sudden and extraordinary state of the market, as +would involve them in the general suffering of the community." + +We shall now close our remarks on the subject of the Scottish Harvest. +In thus limiting our remarks to the harvest in Scotland, we have been +actuated by no narrow spirit of nationality, but have judged it right, +in treating a subject of such importance, to confine ourselves to that +portion of the United Kingdom in which we possessed means of obtaining +information which positively could be relied upon. Indeed, were it not +for the paramount importance of the question, which will soon be +founded on as a topic for political discussion, we should hardly have +addressed ourselves to the task. But we have noticed, with great +disgust, the efforts of the League to influence, at this particular +crisis, the public mind, by gross misrepresentations of our position +and prospects; and, being convinced that a more dangerous and +designing faction never yet thrust themselves into public notice, we +have thought it right, in the first instance, to collect and to +classify our facts. This done, we have yet a word or two in store for +the members of the mountebank coalition. + +No evil is unmixed with good. The murmurs of the alarmists at home, +unfounded as we believe them to be, have brought out, more clearly +than we could have hoped for, the state of foreign feeling with regard +to British enterprise, and the prospects of future supply upon which +this country must depend, should the sliding-scale be abrogated and +all import duties abolished. The most infatuated Leaguer will hardly +deny, that if the corn-law had ceased to exist three years ago, and a +great part of our poorer soils had in consequence been removed from +tillage, our present position with regard to food must have been +infinitely worse. In fact, we should then have presented the unhappy +spectacle of a great industrial community incapable of rearing food +for its population at home, and solely dependent for a supply on +foreign states; and that, too, in a year when the harvests throughout +Europe, and even in America, have suffered. And here, by the way, +before going further, let us remark, that the advocates of the League +never seem to have contemplated, at all events they have never +grappled with, the notorious fact, that the effects of most +unpropitious seasons are felt far beyond the confines of the British +isles. This year, indeed, we were the last to suffer; and the memory +of the youngest of us, who has attained the age of reason, will +furnish him with examples of far severer seasons than that which has +just gone by. What, then, is to be done, should the proportion of the +land in tillage be reduced below the mark which, in an average year, +could supply our population with food--if, at the same time, a famine +were to occur abroad, and deprive the continental agriculturists of +their surplus store of corn? The answer is a short one--_Our people +must necessarily_ STARVE. The manufacturers would be the first to feel +the appalling misery of their situation, and the men whom they would +have to thank for the severest and most lingering death, are the +chosen apostles of the League! + +Is this an overdrawn picture? Let us see. France at this moment is +convinced that we are on the verge of a state of famine. Almost all +the French journalists, believing what they probably wish for, and +misled by the repealing howl, and faint-hearted predictions of the +coward, assume that our home stock of provision is not sufficient to +last us for the ensuing winter. That is just the situation to which we +should be reduced _every_ year, if Messrs Cobden, Bright, and Company +had their will. What, then, says our neighbour, and now most +magnanimous ally? Is he willing--for they allege they have a +superfluity--to supply us in this time of hypothetical distress--to +act the part of the good Samaritan, and pour, not wine and oil, but +corn into our wounds? Is he about to take the noblest revenge upon a +former adversary, by showing himself, in the moment of need, a +benefactor instead of a foe? Oh, my Lord Ashley! you and others, whose +spirit is more timid than becomes your blood, had better look, ere you +give up the mainstay of your country's prosperity--ere you surrender +the cause of the agriculturist--to the _animus_ that is now manifested +abroad. We have reason to bless Heaven that it has been thus early +shown, before, by mean and miserable concession to the clamours of a +selfish interest, we have placed Britain for the first time absolutely +at the mercy of a foreign power. Scarce a journal in France that does +not tell you--loudly--boldly--exultingly--what treatment we may expect +from their hands. "At last," they say, "we have got this perfidious +Albion in our power. Nature has done for us, in her cycle, what for +centuries the force of our arms and concentrated rancour could not +achieve. The English newspapers in every column teem with the tidings +of failure. The crop of corn is bad beyond any former experience. It +cannot suffice to feed one half of the population. The potato crop +also, which is the sole subsistence of Ireland, is thoroughly ruined. +Scarce a minute fraction of it can be used for the purposes of human +food. The British Cabinet are earnestly deliberating on the propriety +of opening the ports. The public, almost to a man, are demanding the +adoption of that measure--and doubtless erelong they will be opened. + +"What, then, are we to do? Are we to be guilty of the egregious folly +of supplying our huge and overgrown rival, at the moment when we have +the opportunity to strike a blow at the very centre of her system, and +that without having recourse to the slightest belligerent measures? +Are we, at the commencement of her impending misery, to reciprocate +with England--that England which arrested us in the midst of our +career of conquest, swept our navies from the seas, baffled our +bravest armies, and led away our Emperor captive? The man who can +entertain such an idea--be he who he may--is a traitor to the honour +of his country. Let England open her ports if she will, and as she +must, but let us at the self-same moment be prepared to CLOSE our own. +Let not one grain of corn, if possible, be exported from France. We +have plenty, and to spare. Our hardy peasantry can pass the winter in +comfort; whilst, on the opposite side of the Channel, we shall have +the satisfaction of beholding our haughty enemy convulsed, and +wallowing like a stranded Leviathan on the shore! We pity the brave +Irish, but we shall not help them. To do so would be, in fact, to +exonerate Britain of her greatest and primary burden." + +This is the language which the French journalists are using at the +present moment. Let no Englishman delude himself into the belief that +it does not express the true sentiments of the nation. We know +something of the men whose vocation it is to compound these patriotic +articles. They are fostered under the pernicious system which converts +the penny-a-liner into that anomalous hybrid, a Peer of France--which +make it almost a necessary qualification to become a statesman, that +the aspirant has been a successful scribbler in the public journals. +And this, forsooth, they call the genuine aristocracy of talent! Their +whole aim is to be popular, even at the expense of truth. They are +pandars to the weakness of a nation for their own individual +advancement. They have no stake in the country save the grey +goose-quill they dishonour; and yet they affect to lead the opinions +of the people, and--to the discredit of the French intellect be it +recorded--they do in a great measure lead them. In short, it is a +ruffian press, and we know well by what means France has been +ruffianized. The war party--as it calls itself--is strong, and has +been reared up by the unremitting exertions of these felons of +society, who, for the sake of a cheer to tickle their own despicable +vanity, would not hesitate for a moment, if they had the power, to +wrap Europe again in the flames of universal war. Such will, +doubtless, one day be the result of this unbridled license. The demon +is not yet exorcised from France, and the horrors of the Revolution +may be acted over again, with such additional refinements of brutality +as foregone experience shall suggest. Meantime, we say to our own +domestic shrinkers--Is this a season, when such a spirit is abroad, to +make ourselves dependent for subsistence--which is life--upon the +chance of a foreign supply? + +Yes, gentlemen journalists of France--whether you be peers or not--you +have spoken out a little too early. The blindest of us now can see you +in your genuine character and colours. But rest satisfied; the day of +retribution, as you impiously dare to term it, has not yet arrived. +Britain does not want your corn, and not for it will she abandon an +iota of her system. + +There can be no doubt, that the news of a famine here would be +received in France with more joy than the tidings of a second Marengo. +The mere expectation of it has already intoxicated the press; and, +accordingly, they have begun to speculate upon the probable conduct of +other foreign powers, in the event of our ports being opened. Belgium, +they are delighted to find, is in so bad a situation, in so far as +regards its crop, that the august King Leopold has thought proper to +issue a public declaration, that his own royal mouth shall for the +next year remain innocent of the flavour of a single potato. This +looks well. Belgium, it is hoped, is not overabundant in wheat; but, +even if she were, Belgium owes much to France, and--a meaning asterisk +covers and conveys the remaining part of the inuendo. Swampy Holland, +they say, can do Britain no good--nay, have not the cautious Dutch +been beforehand with Britain, and forestalled, by previous purchase, +the calculated supply of rice? Well done, Batavian merchant! In this +instance, at least, you are playing the game for France. + +Then they have high hopes from the ZOLLVEREIN. That combination has +evidently to dread the rivalry of British manufacture, and its +managers are too shrewd to lose this glorious opportunity of +barricado. There are, therefore, hopes that Germany, utterly +forgetting the days of subsidies, will shut her ports for export, and +also prevent the descent of Polish corn. If not, winter is near at +hand, and the mouths of the rivers may be frozen before a supply can +be sent to the starving British. Another delightful prospect for young +and regenerated France! + +Also, mysterious rumours are afloat with regard to the policy of the +Autocrat. It is said, he too is going to shut up--whether from hatred +to Britain, or paternal anxiety for the welfare of his subjects, does +not appear. Yet there is not a Parisian scribe of them all but derives +his information direct from the secret cabinet of Nicholas. Then there +is America--have we not rumours of war there? How much depends upon +the result of the speech which President Polk shall deliver! _He_ +knows well by this time that England is threatened with famine--and +will he be fool enough to submit to a compromise, when by simple +embargo he might enforce his country's claims? So that altogether, in +the opinion of the French, we are like to have the worst of it, and +may be sheerly starved into any kind of submission. + +No thanks to Cobden and Co. that this is not our case at present. The +abolition of the corn-duty would be immediately followed by the +abandonment of a large part of the soil now under tillage. Every year +we should learn to depend more and more upon foreign supply, and give +up a further portion of our own agricultural toil. Place us in that +position, and let a bad season, which shall affect not only us, but +the Continent, come round, and the dreams of France will be realized. +Gentlemen of England--you that are wavering from your former +faith--will you refuse the lesson afforded you, by this premature +exultation on the part of our dangerous neighbour? Do you not see what +weight France evidently attaches to the repeal of our protection +duties--how anxiously she is watching--how earnestly she is praying +for it? If you will not believe your friends, will you not take +warning from an enemy? Would you hold it chivalry, if you saw an +antagonist before you armed at all points, and confident of further +assistance, to throw away your defensive armour, and leave yourselves +exposed to his attacks? And yet, is not this precisely what will be +done if you abandon the principles of protection? + +Are you afraid of that word, PROTECTION? Shame upon you, if you are! +No doubt it has been most scandalously misrepresented by the +cotton-mongering orators, but it is a great word, and a wise word, if +truly and thoroughly understood. It does not mean that corn shall be +grown in this country for _your_ benefit or that of any exclusive +class--were it so, protection would be a wrong--but it means, that at +all times there shall be maintained in the country an amount of food, +reared within itself, sufficient for the sustenance of the nation, in +case that war, or some other external cause, should shut up all other +sources. And this, which is in fact protection for the nation--a just +and wise security against famine, in which the poor and the rich are +equally interested--is perverted by the chimney-stalk proprietors into +a positive national grievance. Why, the question lies in a nutshell. +Corn will not be grown in this country unless you give it an adequate +market. Admit foreign corn, and you not only put a stop to +agricultural improvement in reclaiming waste land, by means of which +production may be carried to an indefinite degree, but you also throw +a vast quantity of the land at present productive out of bearing. +Suppose, then, that next year, all protection being abolished, the +quantity of grain raised in the country is but equal to half the +demand of the population; foreign corn, of course, must come in to +supply the deficiency. We shall not enlarge upon the first argument +which must occur to every thinking person--the argument being, that in +such a state of things, the foreigner, whoever he may be, with whom we +are dealing, has it in his power to demand and exact any price he +pleases for his corn. What say the Cobdenites in answer to this? "Oh, +then, we shall charge the foreigner a corresponding price for our +cottons and our calicoes!" No, gentlemen--that will not do. We have no +doubt this idea _has_ entered into your calculations, and that you +hope, through a scarcity of home-grown corn, to realize an augmented +profit on your produce--in short, to be the only gainers in a time of +general distress. But there is a flaw in your reasoning, too palpable +to be overlooked. The foreigner _can do without calico_, but the +British nation CANNOT _do without bread_. The wants of the stomach are +paramount--nothing can enter into competition with them. The German, +Pole, or Frenchman, may, for a season, wear a ragged coat, or an +inferior shirt, or even dispense with the latter garment, if it so +pleases him; and yet suffer comparatively nothing. But what are our +population to do, if bread is not procurable except at the enormous +prices which, when you abolish protection, you entitle the foreigner +to charge? Have you the heart to respond, in the only imaginable +answer--it is a mere monosyllable--STARVE? + +But suppose that, for the first two years or so, we went on +swimmingly--that there were good and plentiful seasons abroad, and +that corn flowed into our market abundantly from all quarters of the +world. Suppose that bread became cheaper than we ever knew it before, +that our manufactures were readily and greedily taken, and that we had +realised the manufacturing Eden, which the disciples of Devil's-dust +have predicted, as the immediate consequence of our abandoning all +manner of restrictions. How will this state of unbounded prosperity +affect the land? For every five shillings of fall in the price of the +quarter of wheat, fresh districts will be abandoned by the plough. The +farmer will be unable to work them at a profit, and so he will cease +to grow grain. He may put steers upon them; or they may be covered +with little fancy villas, or Owenite parallelograms, to suit the taste +of the modern philosopher, and accomodate the additional population +who are to assist in the prospective crops of calico. The cheaper corn +then is, the smaller will become our home-producing surface. The +chaw-bacon will be driven to the railroads, where there is already a +tolerable demand for him. The flail will be silent in the barn, and +the song of the reaper in the fields. + +Let us suppose this to last for a few years, during which Lord John +Russell--the Whigs having, in the meantime, got rid of all graduating +scruples and come back to power--has taken an opportunity of enriching +the peerage by elevating the redoubted Cobden to its ranks. But a +change suddenly passes across the spirit of our dream. At once, and +like a thunderbolt--without warning or presage--comes a famine or a +war. We care not which of them is taken as an illustration. Both are +calamities, unfortunately, well known in this country; and we hardly +can expect that many years shall pass over our heads without the +occurrence of one or other of them. Let us take the evil of man's +creating--war. The Channel is filled with French shipping, and all +along the coast, from Cape Ushant to Elsinore, the ports are rigidly +shut. Mean time American cruisers are scouring the Atlantic, chasing +our merchantmen, and embarassing communication with the colonies. +Also, there is war in the Mediterranean. We have fifty, nay, a hundred +points to watch with our vessels--a hundred isolated interests to +maintain, and these demand an immense and yet a divided force. Convoys +cannot be spared without loss of territory, and then--what becomes of +us at home? + +Most miserable is the prospect; and yet it does appear, if we are mad +enough to abandon protection, perfectly inevitable. With but a portion +of our land in tillage--an augmented population--no stored corn--no +means of recalling for two years at the soonest, even if we could +spare seed, and that is questionable, the dormant energies of the +earth!--Can you fancy, my Lord Ashley, or you, converted Mr Escott, +what Britain would be then? We will tell you. Not perhaps a prey--for +we will not even imagine such degradation--but a bargainer and +compounder with an inferior power or powers, whom she might have +bearded for centuries with impunity, had not some selfish traitors +been wicked enough to demand, and some infatuated statesmen foolish +enough to grant, the abrogation of that protection which is her +sole security for pre-eminence. What are all the cotton bales of +Manchester in comparison with such considerations as these? O +Devil's-dust--Devil's-dust! Have we really declined so far, that _you_ +are to be the Sinon to bring us to this sorry pass? Is the poisoned +breath of the casuist to destroy the prosperity of those-- + + "Quos neque Tydides, nec Larissæus Achilles, + Non anni domuere decem, non mille carinæ!" + +It may be so--for a small shard-beetle can upset a massive +candle-stick; and it will be so assuredly, if the protective principle +is abandoned. The first duty of a nation is to rear food for its +inhabitants from the bosom of its own soil, and woe must follow if it +relies for daily sustenance upon another. We can now form a fair +estimate of the probable continuance of the supply, from the premature +exultation exhibited in the foreign journals, and we shall be worse +than fools if we do not avail ourselves of the lesson. + +[Footnote 39: "Not that I think there was more rain in the _earlier +part of summer_ than the potato crop could absorb, for it is known to +require a large supply of moisture in its growing state, in order to +acquire a full development of all its parts. It was observable, +however, that the rain increased as the season advanced, and after the +potato plant had reached its full development. It is, therefore, +probable that the increased moisture, which was not then wanted by the +plant, would become excessive; and this moisture, along with the low +temperature, may have produced such chemical change in the sap as to +facilitate the putrefaction of the entire plant. As to the theories +with respect to the presence of a fungus, or of insects, in the plant, +I consider these as a mere exponent of the tendency to a state of +putrefaction; such being the usual accompaniments of all vegetable and +animal decay."] + +[Footnote 40: "I remember the wet seasons of 1816 and 1817. There was +then no rot in the potato; but, during the whole of those rainy +seasons, we had not the _continued cold_ weather which we have this +year experienced."] + + + + +INDEX TO VOL. LVIII. + + + Account of a Visit to the Volcano of Kirauea, in the Island of + Owhyhee, 591. + + Agriculture round Lucca, 619. + + Alas, for her! from the Russian of Púshkin, 141. + + Alpine scenery, sketches of, 704. + + American war, causes which fostered the, 721. + + Andes, description of the, 555. + + André Chenier, from the Russian of Púshkin, 154. + + Anti-corn-law League, strictures on the, 780. + + Apparitions, &c., letter to Eusebius on, 735. + + Armfelt, Count, 59. + + Arndt, notices of, 332, 333. + + Art, causes of the absence of taste for, 414. + + Avernus, lake, 489. + + + Bacon, political essays of, 389. + + Baiæ, 488. + + Barclay de Tolly, from the Russian of Púshkin, 40. + + Baron von Stein, 328. + + Barri, Madame du, 730, 733. + + Bazars of Constantinople, the, 688. + + Beaumont, Sir George, 258, 262. + + Bell's Messenger, extract from, on the prices of grain, 779. + + Betterton's version of Chaucer, remarks on, 114. + + Bettina, sketch of the life, &c., of, 357. + + Biographical sketch of Frank Abney Hastings, 496. + + Black Shawl, the, from Púshkin, 37. + + Blanc, Mont, on the scenery of, 707. + + Blenheim, battle of, 18. + + Boas, Edward, sketches of Sweden, &c. by, 56. + + Bossuet's Universal History, characteristics of, 390. + + Bottetort, Lord, anecdote of, 724. + + Bowles, W. L., on the Dunciad, 251. + + Boyhood, a reminiscence of, by Delta, 408. + + Brabant, conquest of, by Marlborough, 665. + + Bread, causes of the present dearness of, 772. + + Bremer, Miss, the Swedish novelist, 62. + + Brentford election, the, 725. + + Brienz, scenery of the lake of, 705. + + British critics, North's specimens of the, + --No. VI.--Supplement to Dryden on Chaucer, 114. + --No. VI.--MacFlecnoe and the Dunciad, 229. + --No. VIII.--Supplement to the same, 366. + + Bulwer's Last of the Barons, remarks on, 350, 353. + + Burtin on Pictures, review of, 413. + + + Capital punishment, on, 131. + + Carlist war, sketches of the, 210. + + Caserta, palace of, 491. + --silk manufactory, 492. + + Caucasus, the, from the Russian of Púshkin, 34. + + Celibacy of the clergy, effects of the, in France, 187. + + Chamouni, valley of, 707. + + Chatham, Lord, 717. + + Chaucer, Dryden on, 114. + + Chimborazo, ascent of, by Humboldt, 547. + + Choiseul, the Duc de, 730, 732. + + Churchill, critique on, 372. + + Churchill, see Marlborough. + + Clairvoyance, remarks on, 736. + + Clarke, Dr, extracts from, 555. + + Clarke's Life of James II., notice of, 4. + + Cloud, the, and the Mountain, a reminiscence of Switzerland, 704. + + Clytha house, &c., 477. + + Col de Balme, pass of the, 707. + + Colebrook, Sir George, extracts from the memoirs of, 716, 719. + + Colour in painting, remarks on, 419. + + Confessions of an English opium-eater, sequel to the, Part II., 43. + + Constable the painter, sketch of the life, &c., of, 257. + + Constantinople, Three Years in, 688. + + Convicts at Norfolk Island, management, &c. of, 138. + + Cooper, characteristics of, as a novelist, 355. + + Copenhagen, description of, 68. + + Corali, by J. D., 495. + + Corn-laws, proposed suspension of the, 773. + --effects of the abolition of, 780. + + Cornwallis, Earl, administration of Ireland by, 731. + + Corporations of Constantinople, the, 696. + + Corsica, conquest of, by the French, 728. + + Coventry, Lady, 726. + + Coxe's Life of Marlborough, notice of, 3. + + + Dalarna or Dalecarlia, sketches of, 64. + + D'Alembert, character of Montesquieu by, 395. + + Dalin, Olof von, 62. + + Danes, national character of the, 69. + + David the Telynwr; or, the Daughter's trial--a tale of Wales, + by Joseph Downs, 96. + + Days of the Fronde, the, 596. + + Dearness of bread, causes of the present, 772. + + De Burtin on pictures, 413. + + Delta, a reminiscence of boyhood by, 408. + + Dendermonde, capture of, by Marlborough, 668. + + Despatches of the Duke of Marlborough, review of, + --No. I. 1. + --No. II. 649. + + Domestic manners of the Turks, the, 688. + + Downes, Joseph--David the Telynwr, a tale of Wales, by, 96. + + Drama, state of the, 178. + + Dreams, &c., letter to Eusebius on, 735. + + Drinking, prevalence of, in the 19th century, 726. + + Dryden on Chaucer, 114. + --his MacFlecnoe, 232, 366. + + Dumas' Margaret of Valois, extracts from, 312. + --extracts from his Days of the Fronde, 596. + + Dunciad, the, critique on, 234, 366. + + Dunning the solicitor-general, character of, 722. + + Dutch school of painting, the, 426. + + Dutem's life of Marlborough, notice of, 3. + + + Echo, from the Russian of Púshkin, 145. + + Education, state of, in Turkey, 692. + --remarks on the system of, at the English Universities, 542. + + Edward, Duke of York, character of, 719. + + Egyptian market at Constantinople, the, 700. + + English landscape painting, on, 257. + + English Opium-eater, a sequel to the confessions of the, Part II. 43. + + Epitaphs in Wales, 484. + + Esprit des Lois of Montesquieu, the, 392. + --its characteristics, 397. + + Eugene, Prince, 14, 669. + + Eusebius, letter to, on omens, dreams, appearances, &c., 735. + + + Failure of the potato crop, extent, &c. of the, 775. + + Feast of Peter the First, the, from Púshkin, 142. + + Fersen, Count, murder of, 61. + + Few passages concerning omens, dreams, appearances, &c., in a letter + to Eusebius, 735. + + Few words for Bettina, a, 357. + + Fisher, Archdeacon, 260. + + Flemish school of painting, the, 426. + + Flour, on the rising price of, 779. + + Flygare, Emily, the Swedish novelist, 62. + + France under Louis XIV., 12. + --prevalent feeling in, towards England, 781. + + French school of painting, the, 427. + --Noblesse, character of the, 733. + + + Garden of the Villa Reale, the, 486. + + General, the, from the Russian of Púshkin, 41. + + German school of painting, the, 427. + + Gleig's life of Marlborough, notice of, 4. + + Glenmutchkin railway, the + --How we got it up, and how we got out of it, 453. + + Gloucester the Duke of, character of, 719. + + Goethe and Bettina, the correspondence of, 358. + + Goethe's Torquato Tasso, translations from, 87. + + Gotha canal, the, 68. + + Grafton, the Duke of, Walpole's character of, 718. + + Grain crop, quantity, &c., of the, in Scotland, 769. + --and its quality, 770. + + Grandeur et décadence des Romains, Montesquieu's, characteristics, + &c. of, 391, 401. + + Grand general junction and indefinite extension railway rhapsody, 614. + + Greek Revolution, sketches of the, 496. + + Griesbach, fall of the, 707. + + Guamos of South America, the, 554. + + Guilds of Constantinople, the, 696. + + Gunning, the Misses, 726. + + Gustavus Vasa, notices of, 66. + + + Hahn-Hahn, the Countess, 71. + + Hakem the slave, a tale extracted from the history of Poland. + --Chapter I., 560. + --Chap. II., 561. + --Chap. III., 563. + --Chap. IV., 565. + --Chap. V., 567. + + Hamilton, the Duchess of, 726. + + Handel, character of the music of, 573. + + Harvest, the Scottish, 769. + --quantity of the grain crop, ib. + --and its quality, 770. + --cause of the inferiority of the wheat, 771. + --and of the dearness of bread, 772. + --state of the potato crop, 775. + --potatoes for seed, 778. + --rising price of wheat and flour, 780. + --affords no argument for abolition of the corn-laws, 781. + + Hastings, Frank Abney, biographical sketch of, 496. + + Haydn, character of, 573. + + Heber, Bishop, description of the Himalayas by, 557. + + Hemp, culture of, in Italy, 620. + + Hints for doctors, 630. + + Historical romance, the, 341. + + Hogarth, Churchill's epistle to, criticised, 377. + + Holme's Life of Mozart, review of, 572. + + Horace Leicester, a sketch, 197. + + Hornes' Chaucer Modernized, remarks on, 115. + + House-hunting in Wales, 74. + --a sequel to, 474. + + How we got up the Glenmutchkin railway, and how we got out of it, 453. + + Humboldt, 541. + --character of his mind, 545. + --his early life, 546. + --sketch of his travels, 547. + --list of his works, 548. + --extracts from these, 549. + + + I have outlived the hopes that charmed me, from Púshkin, 149. + + Ida, Countess Hahn-Hahn, 71. + + Imprisonment as a punishment, 131. + + Improvisatore, the, 626. + + Inferior quality of wheat, cause of the, 771. + + Insects common at Lucca, 623. + + Italian school of painting, the, 425. + + Italy, sketches of Lucca, 617. + --agriculture round Lucca, 619. + --sagena, 620. + --lupins, ib. + --hemp, ib. + --trees, 622. + --oaks, ib. + --insects, 623. + --ants, 624. + --shooting fish, 625. + --owls, 626. + --the improvisatore, ib. + --tables-d'hôtes, Mr Snapley, 628. + --hints for doctors, 630. + --private music-party, 631. + + + J. D., a meditation by, 494. + --on the old year, 495. + --Corali, ib. + --a mother to her deserted child, 752. + --summer noontide, ib. + --to Clara, 753. + --seclusion, ib. + + James II., notices of, 7. + + James's Philip Augustus, remarks on, 353. + + Jesuitism in France, 185. + --sources of its power, 186. + + Jones, Sir William, character of Dunning, by, 723. + + Johnson on the Dunciad, 236. + + + Kames, Lord, on the Dunciad, 253. + + Kavanagh's Science of Languages, review of, 467. + + Kirauca, account of a visit to the volcano of, 591. + + Knorring, the Baroness, 62. + + + Land, tenure of, in Turkey, 693. + + Landscape painting in England, 257. + + Languages, Kavanagh's Science of, reviewed, 467. + + Last hours of a reign, a tale in two parts. + --Part I., Chapter 1, 754. + --Chapter 2, 761. + + Law, administration of, in Turkey, 699. + + Law studies, Warren's Introduction to, reviewed, 300. + + Lay of Starkàther, the, 571. + + Lay of the wise Olég, the, from the Russian of Púshkin, 146. + + Ledyard's Life of Marlborough, notice of, 3. + + Leman, lake, scenery of, 706. + + Leslie's Life of John Constable, review of, 257. + + Letter from London, by a railway witness, 173. + + Letter to Eusebius, on omens, dreams, appearances, &c., 735. + + Lettres Persanes of Montesquieu, the, 391. + + Libraries at Constantinople, the, 690. + + Lipscomb's version of Chaucer, remarks on, 114. + + Llanos of South America, the, 551. + + Llansaintfraed lodge and church, 476. + + Llantony abbey, 485. + + Llanvair Kilgiden church, &c., 483. + + London, letter from, by a railway witness, 173. + + Louis XIV., notices of, 6, 12. + + Louis XV., character, &c., of, 714, 730, 733. + + Lowell, J. Russell, remarks on his strictures on Pope, 368. + + Lucca, sketches of; 617. + --agriculture round, 619. + + Lucrine lake, the, 489. + + Lupins, culture of, in Italy, 620. + + + MacFlecnoe and the Dunciad, 229. + --a supplement to, 366. + + Machiavel as a historian, 389. + + Maconochie, Captain, on the management of transported criminals, + review of, 129. + + Madonna, the, from Púshkin, 152. + + Maeler, lake, 58. + + Mahmood the Ghaznavide, by B. Simmons, 266. + + Mahon's England, remarks on, 2. + + Manner and Matter, a tale, Chapter I., 431. + --Chapter II., 435. + + Manzoni's Promessi Sposi, remarks on, 356. + + Margaret of Valois, from the French of Dumas, 312. + + Marlborough, No. I, 1. + --Various lives of him, 3. + --His parentage and early career, 5. + --Is created Lord Churchill, 7. + --His conduct at the Revolution, 8. + --Further honours conferred on him, 9. + --His disgrace in 1691, and mystery attending it, ib. + --Is restored to favour, 10. + --Appointed commander in the Netherlands, 11. + --His first successes, 14. + --Defeats the French at Blenheim, 19. + --His subsequent campaign, and causes which thwarted his success, 27. + No. II., 649. + --Plans for the campaign of 1705, 650. + --Marches into Flanders, 652. + --Defeats Villeroi, 653. + --Thwarted by the inactivity of the Dutch, 654. + --Victory of Ramilies, 661. + --Subsequent operations, 664. + + Marston; or, Memoirs of a Statesman.--Part XVIII., 157. + --Part XIX., 272. + --Part XX. and last, 439. + + Meditation, a, by J. D., 494. + + Memoirs of a Statesman. _See_ Marston. + + Menin, siege and capture of, by Marlborough, 667. + + Mesmerism, remarks on, 736. + + Metternich, Stein's opinion of, 337. + + Michelet's Priests, Women, and Families, review of, 185. + + Mob, the, from the Russian of Púshkin, 36. + + Modern novels, characteristics of, 342. + + Monmouthshire, scrambles in, 474. + + Mont Blanc, scenery of, 707. + + Montesquieu, 389. + --Compared with Tacitus, Machiavel, and Bacon, ib. + --Sketch of his early life, 390. + --Publication and character of his Lettres Persanes, 391. + --Of the Grandeur et Decadence des Romains, ib. + --And of the Esprit des Loix, and the defence of it, 392, 393. + --His private life and character, and anecdotes of him, 394. + --His death, 395. + --Unpublished papers left by him, 396. + --Characteristics of his works, and extracts from them, 397. + --Causes which led to their comparative neglect, 398. + + More, Hannah, anecdotes of, 723. + + Mother, a, to her deserted child, by J. D., 752. + + Motion, from the Russian of Púshkin, 149. + + Mountain and the Cloud, the; a Reminiscence of Switzerland, 704. + + Mozart, 573. + --Sketches of his life, 575. + --Extracts from his letters, &c., 578. + --Characteristics of his music, 590. + + Murillo as a painter, 420. + + Murray, Sir George, the Marlborough Despatches edited by, reviewed + --No. I., 1. + --No. II., 649. + + My college friends, No. II.--Horace Leicester, 197. + + + Nantiglo ironworks, 485. + + Naples, see Neapolitan. + + Napoleon, from the Russian of Púshkin, 39. + + National gallery, want of a, in Great Britain, 413. + + Natural history, Waterton's essays on, second series, reviewed, 289. + + Neapolitan sketches.--garden of the Villa Reale, 486. + --Servi de Pena, ib. + --San Carlo, 487. + --Pozzuoli, 488. + --Baiæ, ib. + --Lucrine and Avernus lakes, 489. + --Procida, 490. + --palace of Caserta, 491. + --silk manufactory, 492. + --The snake-tamer, 490. + + Newcastle, Duke of, character of, 730. + + Norfolk Island, management of convicts at, 138. + + North's specimens of the British critics. + --No. VI. Supplement to Dryden on Chaucer, 114. + --No. VII. MacFlecnoe and the Dunciad, 229. + --No. VIII. Supplement to the same, 366. + + Northern lights, 56. + + Nyberg, Fru, a Swedish poetess, 57. + + + Oaks in Italy, 622. + + Oberland, scenery of the, 707, 710. + + Olég, lay of, from Púshkin, 146. + + Omens, &c., letter to Eusebius on, 735. + + On the Old Year, by J. D., 495. + + Opening the ports, on the, 773. + + Opium-eater, sequel to the Confessions of an, part II., 43. + + Orinoco, description of the rapids of the, 550. + + Oscar, crown-prince of Sweden, 59. + + Ostend, capture of by Marlborough, 666. + + Overkirk, General, notices of, 653, 654, 656, 662, 664. + + Owls in Italy, 626. + + + Painting and pictures, remarks on, 413. + --characteristics of the various schools of, 424. + + Palace of Caserta, the, 491. + + Pampas of South America, the, 550. + + Paoli, the Corsican patriot, 731. + + Phipps, Mr, character, &c., of, 727. + + Pictures, De Burtin on, 413. + --choice of subjects for, 417. + --colouring, &c., ib. + + Poetry + --Specimens of the lyrics of Púshkin, translated by T. B. Shaw. + --No. I., 28. + --No. II., 140. + --Mahmood the Ghaznavide, by B. Simmons, 266. + --A reminiscence of boyhood, by Delta, 408. + --A meditation, by J. D., 494. + --On the old year, by the same, 495. + --Corali, by the same, ib. + --The lay of Starkàther, 571. + --The Grand General Junction and Indefinite Extension + Railway rhapsody, 614. + --The second Pandora, 711. + --A mother to her deserted child, by J. D., 752. + --Summer noontide, ib. + --to Clara, 753. + --seclusion, ib. + + Pompadour, Madame de, 732. + + Pope's version of Chaucer, remarks on, 119. + --Dunciad, remarks on, 234. + --Strictures on Lowell's criticism of him, 368. + + Potato crop, state of the, throughout Scotland, 776. + --saving of them for seed, 780. + + Pozzuoli, 488. + + Presentiment, from the Russian of Púshkin, 152. + + Priests, Women, and Families, review of Michelet's work on, 185. + + Printing establishments in Constantinople, 691. + + Private music-party, a, 631. + + Prophecy of Famine, Churchill's, remarks on, 380. + + Procida, 490. + + Punishment, remarks on, 129. + --its objects, ib. + --various modes of, 131. + --on capital, and a proposed substitute for it, ib. + + Púshkin, the Russian poet. No. II. Specimen of his lyrics, translated + by T. B. Shaw. Introductory remarks, 28. + --October 19th, 1825, 31. + --The Caucasus, 34. + --To * * *, 35. + --The mob, 36. + --The black shawl, 37. + --The rose, 38. + --Napoleon, 39. + --The storm, 40. + --The general, 41. + --No. III. Introduction, 140. + --Alas, for her! 141. + --The feast of Peter the First, 142. + --Town of starving, town of splendour, 143. + --To the sea, 144. + --Echo, 145. + --The lay of the wise Olég, 146. + --Remembrance, 149. + --I have outlived the hopes that charmed me, ib. + --Motion, ib. + --To the slanderers of Russia, 150. + --Presentiment, 152. + --The Madonna, ib. + --André Chenier, 154. + + + Quietists, effects of the doctrines of the, in France, 190. + + + Raffaele's Transfiguration, remarks on, 418. + --his St Cecilia, 422. + + Ragland Castle, description of, 476. + + Railway rhapsody, the grand general junction and indefinite + extension, 614. + + Railway witness in London, letter from a, 173. + + Railways and railway speculation, on, 633. + + Ramilies, battle of, 661. + + Reformation by punishment, on, 129. + + Reign of George III., Walpole's memoirs of the, 713. + + Religion, state of, during the eighteenth century, 714. + + Remembrance, from the Russian of Púshkin, 149. + + Reminiscence of boyhood, a, by Delta, 409. + + Reminiscence of Switzerland, a, 704. + + Reviews. + --Despatches of the Duke of Marlborough. No. I., 1. + --No. II., 649. + --Maconochie and Zschokke on punishment and reformation of + criminals, 129. + --Michelet's priests, women, and families, 185. + --Leslie's life of Constable, the painter, 257. + --Waterton's essays on natural history, second series, 289. + --Warren's introduction to law studies, 300. + --Kavanagh's science of languages, 467. + --Holmes' life of Mozart, 572. + --White's three years in Constantinople, 688. + --Walpole's memoirs of the reign of George III., 713. + + Richelieu, Marshal, 730. + + Ritterhaus at Stockholm, the, 59. + + Romance, the historical, 341. + + Rose, the, from the Russian of Púshkin, 38. + + Russia, to the slanderers of, from Púshkin, 150. + + + Sagena, culture of, at Lucca, 620. + + Saltza, Count, 68. + + San Carlo, 487. + + Sandwich, Lord, anecdote of, 724. + + Schools of painting, characteristics of the, 424. + + Science of languages, Kavanagh's, review of, 467. + + Scott's historical romances, remarks on, 345. + + Scottish harvest, the, 769. + --quantity and quality of the grain crop, ib., 770. + --cause of the inferior quality of the wheat, 771. + --and of the high price of bread, 772. + --state of the potato crop, 775. + + Scrambles in Monmouthshire, a sequel to house-hunting in Wales, 474. + + Sea, to the, from Púshkin, 144. + + Secker, Archbishop, character of, 728. + + Seclusion, by J. D., 752. + + Second Pandora, the, 711. + + Seed potatoes, saving of, 778. + + Servi de Pena, 486. + + Shaw, T. B., specimens of the lyrics of Púshkin, by, 28, 140. + + Shooting fish in Italy, 625. + + Silk manufactory of Caserta, the, 492. + + Simmons, B., Mahmood the Ghaznavide, by, 266. + + Sketches of Italy. Lucca, 617. + --agriculture round Lucca, 619. + --sagena, 620. + --lupines, ib. + --hemp, ib. + --trees and oaks, 622. + --insects, 623. + --ants, 624. + --shooting fish, 625. + --owls, 626. + --the improvisatore, ib. + --tables-d'hôtes--Mr Snapley, 628. + --hints for doctors, 630. + --private music-party, 631. + + Smith, Sydney, on modern sermons, 714. + + Smollet's England, remarks on, 2. + + Snake-tamer, the, 493. + + Snapley, Mr, 628. + + Solitary imprisonment, effects of, 139. + + Stampe, the Countess, 69. + + Starkàther, the lay of, 571. + + Staubbach, fall of the, 706. + + Stein, the Baron von, career of, 328. + + Stephens, Mr, letters from, on the results of the harvest, 769. + + Stockholm, description of, 59. + + Storm, the, from Púshkin, 40. + + Stralsund, sketch of, 56. + + Struensee, Count, 729. + + Student of Salamanca, the. Part I., 521. + Part II., 673. + + Summer noontide, by J. D., 752. + + Suspiria de profundis; being a sequel to the confessions of an English + opium-eater. Part II., 43. + + Swedes, character of the, 69. + + Swift's apology for Queen Anne, &c., notice of, 4. + + Switzerland, a reminiscence of, 704. + + + Tables-d'hôtes in Italy, 628. + + Tacitus, as a historian, 389. + + Tenure of land, &c. in Turkey, 693. + + Thorwaldsen the sculptor, 69. + + Three years in Constantinople; review of, 688. + + Titian, remarks on the style, &c. of, 420. + + To * * *, from the Russian of Púshkin, 35. + + To Clara, by J. D., 753. + + To the sea, from Púshkin, 144. + + To the slanderers of Russia, from Púshkin, 150. + + Torquato Tasso, Goethe's translations from, 87. + + Townsend, Charles, character of, 715. + --his death, 719. + + Transfiguration of Raffaele, remarks on the, 418. + + Trees in Italy, 622. + + Turks, domestic manners of the, 688. + + + Usk river, scenery of the, 475. + + + Varnhagen von Ense, sketch of Stein by, 331. + + Villa Reale, garden of the, 486. + + Villars, Marshal, 650, 651. + + Villeroi, Marshal, 651, 652. + --his defeat at Ramilies, 661. + + Volcano of Kirauea, account of a visit to the, 591. + + Voltaire's Age of Louis XIV., remarks on, 3. + + Von Stein, sketch of the career and character of, 328. + + + Wales, sketches of, 74. + + Walpole's memoirs of the reign of George III., review of, 713. + + Warburton on the Dunciad, 253. + + Warren's introduction to law-studies, review of, 300. + + Warton, Dr, on the Dunciad, 251. + + Waterton's second series of essays in natural history, review of, 289. + + Waxholm, fortress of, 58. + + Weymouth, Lord, 727. + + Wheat crop, quantity and quality of the, throughout Scotland, 769, 770. + --cause of its inferior quality, 771. + --the supply abundant, 773. + --on the rising price of, 779. + + Wild animals of South America, the, 553. + + Wilkes, John, notice of, 722, 725. + + William III., notices of, 9. + --his death, 11. + + White's three years in Constantinople, review of, 688. + + Wordsworth's modernization of Chaucer, remarks on, 125. + + Wye, scenery of the, 481. + + + Zschokke's Aehrenlese, review of, 129. + + Zumalacarregui, career of, 210. + + + + +_Edinburgh: Printed by Ballantyne & Hughes, Paul's Work._ + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume +58, No. 362, December 1845, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH *** + +***** This file should be named 33938-8.txt or 33938-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/9/3/33938/ + +Produced by Brendan OConnor, Erica Hills, Jonathan Ingram +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Library of Early +Journals.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 58, No. 362, December 1845 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: October 10, 2010 [EBook #33938] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH *** + + + + +Produced by Brendan OConnor, Erica Hills, Jonathan Ingram +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Library of Early +Journals.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="transnote"> + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: A few obvious misprints have been corrected, + but in general the originally erratic spelling, punctuation and + typesetting conventions have been retained. Accents in + foreign-language poetry and phrases, particularly the Greek, are + inconsistent in the original, and have not been standardised. + <br />The index is for the whole volume, but only December's articles are linked up. +</div> + +<p><!-- Page 649 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_648" id="Page_648">[Pg 648]</a></span></p> +<h1>BLACKWOOD'S<br /> + +EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.</h1> + +<h3> +<span class="rspace">No. CCCLXII.</span> +<span class="btbb">DECEMBER, 1845.</span> +<span class="lspace">VOL. LVIII.</span> +</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS.</h2> +<div class="center"> +<table summary="Table of contents"> + +<tr><td class="toc">Marlborough No. II.</td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#MARLBOROUGH_No_II1">649</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="toc">The Student of Salamanca Part II.</td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#THE_STUDENT_OF_SALAMANCA">673</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="toc">White's Three Years in Constantinople.</td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#WHITES_YEARS">688</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="toc">The Mountain and the Cloud.</td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#THE_MOUNTAIN_AND_THE_CLOUD">704</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="toc">The Second Pandora.</td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#THE_SECOND_PANDORA">711</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="toc">The Reign of George the Third.</td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#REIGN_OF_GEORGE_THE_THIRD33">713</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="toc">A Few Passages concerning Omens, Dreams, Appearances, &c.</td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#A_FEW_PASSAGES_CONCERNING_OMENS_DREAMS_APPEARANCES">735</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="toc">A Mother to Her Forsaken Child.</td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#A_MOTHER_TO_HER_FORSAKEN_CHILD">752</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="toc">Summer Noontide.</td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#SUMMER_NOONTIDE">752</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="toc">To Clara.</td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#CLARA">753</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="toc">Seclusion.</td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#SECLUSION">753</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="toc">The Last Hours of a Reign. Part I.</td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#LAST_HOURS_OF_A_REIGN">754</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="toc">The Scottish Harvest.</td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#THE_SCOTTISH_HARVEST">769</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="toc">Index to Vol. LVIII</td><td class="tocpage"><a href="#INDEX_TO_VOL_LVIII">785</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>EDINBURGH:</h2> + +<h3>WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, 45, GEORGE STREET; <br /> +AND 37, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON.</h3> + +<h5><i>To whom all Communications (post paid) must be addressed.</i></h5> + +<h4>SOLD BY ALL THE BOOKSELLERS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.</h4> + +<h4>PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE AND HUGHES, EDINBURGH.</h4> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="biggap"><!-- Page 649 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_649" id="Page_649">[Pg 649]</a></span></div> +<h2><a name="MARLBOROUGH_No_II1" id="MARLBOROUGH_No_II1"></a>MARLBOROUGH. No. II.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></h2> + +<p>It might have been expected, that after the march into Bavaria had +demonstrated the military genius of the Duke of Marlborough, and the +battle of Blenheim had in so decisive a manner broken the enemy's +power, the principal direction of military affairs would have been +entrusted to that consummate commander; and that the Allied cabinets, +without presuming to interfere in the management of the campaigns, +would have turned all their efforts to place at his disposal forces +adequate to carry into execution the mighty designs which he +meditated, and had shown himself so well qualified to carry into +execution. It was quite the reverse. The Allied cabinets did nothing. +They did worse than nothing—they interfered only to do mischief. +Their principal object after this appeared to be to cramp the efforts +of this great general, to overrule his bold designs, to tie down his +aspiring genius. Each looked only to his own separate objects, and +nothing could make them see that they were to be gained only by +promoting the general objects of the alliance. Relieved from the +danger of instant subjugation by the victory of Blenheim, and the +retreat of the French army across the Rhine, the German powers +relapsed into their usual state of supineness, lukewarmness, and +indifference. No efforts of Marlborough could induce the Dutch either +to enlarge their contingent, or even render that already in the field +fit for active service. The English force was not half of what the +national strength was capable of sending forth. Parliament would not +hear of any thing like an adequate expenditure. Thus the golden +opportunity, never likely to be regained, of profiting by the +consternation of the enemy after the battle of Blenheim, and their +weakness after forty thousand of their best troops had been lost to +their armies, was allowed to pass away; and the war was permitted to +dwindle into one of posts and sieges, when, by a vigorous effort, it +might have been concluded in the next campaign.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p> + +<p>It was not thus with the French.<!-- Page 650 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_650" id="Page_650">[Pg 650]</a></span> The same cause which had loosened +the efforts of the confederates, had inspired unwonted vigour into +their councils. The Rhine was crossed by the Allies; the French armies +had been hurled with disgrace out of Germany; the territory of the +Grand Monarque was threatened both from the side of Alsace and +Flanders; and a formidable insurrection in the Cevennes both +distracted the force and threatened the peace of the kingdom. But +against all these evils Louis made head. Never had the superior vigour +and perseverance of a monarchy over that of a confederacy been more +clearly evinced. Marshal Villars had been employed in the close of the +preceding year to appease the insurrection in the Cevennes, and his +measures were at once so vigorous and conciliatory, that before the +end of the following winter the disturbances were entirely appeased. +In consequence of this, the forces employed in that quarter became +disposable; and by this means, and the immense efforts made by the +government over the whole kingdom, the armies on the frontier were so +considerably augmented, that Villeroi and the Elector of Bavaria took +the field in the Low Countries at the head of seventy-five thousand +men, while Marshal Marsin on the Upper Rhine, covered Alsace with +thirty thousand. Those armies were much larger than any which the +Allies could bring against them; for although it had been calculated +that Marlborough was to be at the head of ninety thousand men on the +Moselle on the 1st May, yet such had been the dilatory conduct of the +States-general and the German princes, that in the beginning of June +there were scarcely thirty thousand men collected round his standards; +and in Flanders and on the Upper Rhine the enemy's relative +superiority was still greater.</p> + +<p>The plan of the campaign of 1705, based on the supposition that these +great forces were to be at his disposal, concerted between him and +Prince Eugene, was in the highest degree bold and decisive. It was +fixed that, early in spring, ninety thousand men should be assembled +in the country between the Moselle and the Saar, and, after +establishing their magazines and base of operations at Treves and +Traerbach, they should penetrate, in two columns into Lorraine; that +the column under Marlborough in person should advance along the course +of Moselle, and the other, under the Margrave of Baden, by the valley +of the Saar, and that Saar-Louis should be invested before the French +army had time to take the field. In this way the whole fortresses of +Flanders would be avoided, and the war, carried into the enemy's +territory, would assail France on the side where her iron barrier was +most easily pierced through. But the slowness of the Dutch, and +backwardness of the Germans, rendered this well-conceived plan +abortive, and doomed the English general, for the whole of a campaign +which promised such important advantages, to little else but +difficulty, delay, and vexation. Marlborough's enthusiasm, great as it +was, nearly sank under the repeated disappointments which he +experienced at this juncture; and, guarded as he was, it exhaled in +several bitter complaints in his confidential correspondence.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> But, +like<!-- Page 651 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_651" id="Page_651">[Pg 651]</a></span> a true patriot and man of perseverance, he did not give way to +despair when he found nearly all that had been promised him awanting; +but perceiving the greater designs impracticable, from the want of all +the means by which they could be carried into execution, prepared to +make the most of the diminutive force which alone was at his disposal.</p> + +<p>At length, some of the German reinforcements having arrived, +Marlborough, in the beginning of June, though still greatly inferior +to the enemy, commenced operations. Such was the terror inspired by +his name, and the tried valour of the English troops, that Villars +remained on the defensive, and soon retreated. Without firing a shot, +he evacuated a strong woody country which he occupied, and retired to +a strong defensive position, extending from Haute Sirk on the right, +to the Nivelles on the left, and communicating in the rear with +Luxembourg, Thionville, and Saar-Louis. This position was so strong, +that it was hopeless to attempt to force it without heavy cannon; and +Marlborough's had not yet arrived, from the failure of the German +princes to furnish the draught-horses they had promised. For nine +weary days he remained in front of the French position, counting the +hours till the guns and reinforcements came up; but such was the +tardiness of the German powers, and the universal inefficiency of the +inferior princes and potentates, that they never made their +appearance. The English general was still anxiously awaiting the +promised supplies, when intelligence arrived from the right of so +alarming a character as at once changed the theatre of operations, and +fixed him for the remainder of the campaign in the plains of Flanders.</p> + +<p>It was the rapid progress which Marshal Villeroi and the Elector of +Bavaria, at the head of seventy-five thousand men, were making in the +heart of Flanders, which rendered this change necessary. General +Overkirk was there entrusted with the army intended to cover Holland; +but it was greatly inferior to the enemy in point of numerical amount, +and still more so in the quality and composition of the troops of +which it was composed. Aware of his superiority, and of the timid +character of the government which was principally interested in that +army, Villeroi pushed his advantages to the utmost. He advanced boldly +upon the Meuse, carried by assault the fortress of Huys, and, marching +upon Liege, occupied the town without much resistance, and laid siege +to the citadel. Overkirk, in his lines before Maestricht, was unable +even to keep the field. The utmost alarm seized upon the United +Provinces. They already in imagination saw Louis XIV. a second time at +the gates of Amsterdam. Courier after courier was dispatched to +Marlborough, soliciting relief in the most urgent terms; and it was +hinted, that if effectual protection were not immediately given, +Holland would be under the necessity of negotiating for a separate +peace. There was not a moment to be lost: the Dutch were now as hard +pressed as the Austrians had been in the preceding year, and in +greater alarm than the Emperor was before the battle of Blenheim. A +cross march like that into Bavaria could alone reinstate affairs. +Without a moment's hesitation, Marlborough took his determination.</p> + +<p>On the 17th June, without communicating his designs to any one, or +even without saying a word of the alarming intelligence he had +received, he ordered the whole army to be under arms at midnight, and +setting out shortly after, he marched, without intermission, eighteen +miles to the rear. Having thus gained a march upon the enemy, so as to +avoid the risk of being pursued or harassed in his retreat, he left +General D'Aubach<!-- Page 652 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_652" id="Page_652">[Pg 652]</a></span> with eleven battalions and twelve squadrons to cover +the important magazines at Treves and Saarbruck; and himself, with the +remainder of the army, about thirty thousand strong, marched rapidly +in the direction of Maestricht. He was in hopes of being able, like +the Consul Nero, in the memorable cross march from Apulia to the +Metaurus in Roman story, to attack the enemy with his own army united +to that of Overkirk, before he was aware of his approach; but in this +he was disappointed. Villeroi got notice of his movement, and +instantly raising the siege of the citadel of Liege, withdrew, though +still superior in number to the united forces of the enemy, within the +shelter of the lines he had prepared and fortified with great care on +the Meuse. Marlborough instantly attacked and carried Huys on the 11th +July. But the satisfaction derived from having thus arrested the +progress of the enemy in Flanders, and wrested from him the only +conquest of the campaign, soon received a bitter alloy. Like Napoleon +in his later years, the successes he gained in person were almost +always overbalanced by the disasters sustained through the blunders or +treachery of his lieutenants. Hardly had Huys opened its gates, when +advices were received that D'Aubach, instead of obeying his orders, +and defending the magazines at Treves and Saarbruck to the last +extremity, had fled on the first appearance of a weak French +detachment, and burned the whole stores which it had cost so much time +and money to collect. This was a severe blow to Marlborough, for it at +once rendered impracticable the offensive movement into Lorraine, on +which his heart was so set, and from which he had anticipated such +important results. It was no longer possible to carry the war into the +enemy's territory, or turn, by an irruption into Lorraine, the whole +fortresses of the enemy in Flanders. The tardiness of the German +powers in the first instance, the terrors of the Dutch, and misconduct +of D'Aubach in the last, had caused that ably conceived design +entirely to miscarry. Great was the mortification of the English +general at this signal disappointment of his most warmly cherished +hopes; it even went so far that he had thoughts of resigning his +command.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> But instead of abandoning himself to despair, he set +about, like the King of Prussia in after times, the preparation of a +stroke which should reinstate his affairs by the terror with which it +inspired the enemy, and the demonstration of inexhaustible resources +it afforded in himself.</p> + +<p>The position occupied by the Elector of Bavaria and Marshal Villeroi +was so strong that it was regarded as impregnable, and in truth it was +so to a front attack. With its right resting on Marche aux Dames on +the Meuse, it stretched through Leau to the strong and important +fortress of Antwerp. This line was long, and of course liable to be +broken through at points; but such was the skill with which every +vulnerable point had been strengthened and fortified by the French +engineers, that it was no easy matter to say where an impression could +be made. Wherever a marsh or a stream intervened, the most skilful use +had been made of it; while forts and redoubts, plentifully mounted +with heavy cannon, both commanded all the approaches to the lines, and +formed so many <i>points<!-- Page 653 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_653" id="Page_653">[Pg 653]</a></span> d'appui</i> to its defenders in case of disaster. +Such a position, defended by seventy thousand men, directed by able +generals, might well be deemed impregnable. But Marlborough, with an +inferior force, resolved to attempt it. In doing so, however, he had +difficulties more formidable to overcome than even the resistance of +the enemy in front; the timidity of the authorities at the Hague, the +nervousness and responsibility of the Dutch generals, were more to be +dreaded than Villeroi's redoubts. It required all the consummate +address of the English general, aided by the able co-operation of +General Overkirk, to get liberty from the Dutch authorities to engage +in any offensive undertaking. At length, however, after infinite +difficulty, a council of war, at headquarters, agreed to support any +undertaking which might be deemed advisable; and Marlborough instantly +set about putting his design in execution.</p> + +<p>The better to conceal the real point of attack, he gave out that a +march to the Moselle was to be immediately undertaken; and to give a +colour to the report, the corps which had been employed in the siege +of Huys was not brought forward to the front. At the same time +Overkirk was detached to the Allied left towards Bourdine, and +Marlborough followed with a considerable force, ostensibly to support +him. So completely was Villeroi imposed upon, that he drew large +reinforcements from the centre to his extreme right; and soon forty +thousand men were grouped round the sources of the Little Gheet on his +extreme right. By this means the centre was seriously weakened; and +Marlborough instantly assembled, with every imaginable precaution to +avoid discovery, all his disposable forces to attack the weakened part +of the lines. The corps hitherto stationed on the Meuse was silently +brought up to the front; Marlborough put himself at the head of his +own English and German troops, whom he had carried with him from the +Moselle; and at eight at night, on the 17th July, the whole began to +march, all profoundly ignorant of the service on which they were to be +engaged. Each trooper was ordered to carry a truss of hay at his +saddle-bow, as if a long march was in contemplation. At the same +instant on which the columns under Marlborough's orders commenced +their march, Overkirk repassed the Mehaigne on the left, and, hid by +darkness, fell into the general line of the advance of the Allied +troops.</p> + +<p>No fascines or gabions had been brought along to pass the ditch, for +fear of exciting alarm in the lines. The trusses of hay alone were +trusted to for that purpose, which would be equally effectual, and +less likely to awaken suspicion. At four in the morning, the heads of +the columns, wholly unperceived, were in front of the French works, +and, covered by a thick fog, traversed the morass, passed the Gheet +despite its steep banks, carried the castle of Wange, and, rushing +forward with a swift pace, crossed the ditch on the trusses of hay, +and, in three weighty columns, scaled the rampart, and broke into the +enemy's works. Hitherto entire success had attended this admirably +planned attack; but the alarm was now given; a fresh corps of fifteen +thousand men, under M. D'Allegré, hastily assembled, and a heavy fire +was opened upon the Allies, now distinctly visible in the morning +light, from a commanding battery. Upon this, Marlborough put himself +at the head of Lumley's English horse, and, charging vigorously, +succeeded, though not till he had sustained one repulse, in breaking +through the line thus hastily formed. In this charge the Duke narrowly +escaped with his life, in a personal conflict with a Bavarian officer. +The Allies now crowded in, in great numbers, and the French, +panic-struck, fled on all sides, abandoning the whole centre of their +intrenchments to the bold assailants. Villeroi, who had become aware, +from the retreat of Overkirk in his front, that some attack was in +contemplation, but ignorant where the tempest was to fall, remained +all night under arms. At length, attracted by the heavy fire, he +approached the scene of action in the centre, only in time to see that +the position was broken through, and the lines no longer tenable. He +drew off his whole troops accordingly, and took up a new position, +nearly at right angles to the former, stretching from Elixheim towards +Tirlemont. It was part of the<!-- Page 654 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_654" id="Page_654">[Pg 654]</a></span> design of the Duke to have intercepted +the line of retreat of the French, and prevented them from reaching +the Dyle, to which they were tending; but such was the obstinacy and +slowness of the Dutch generals, that nothing could persuade them to +make any further exertion, and, in defiance of the orders and +remonstrances alike of Marlborough and Overkirk, they pitched their +tents, and refused to take any part in the pursuit. The consequence +was, that Villeroi collected his scattered forces, crossed the Dyle in +haste, and took up new ground, about eighteen miles in the rear, with +his left sheltered by the cannon of Louvain. But, though the +disobedience and obstinacy of the Dutch thus intercepted Marlborough +in the career of victory, and rendered his success much less complete +than it otherwise would have been, yet had a mighty blow been struck, +reflecting the highest credit on the skill and resolution of the +English general. The famous lines, on which the French had been +labouring for months, had been broken through and carried, during a +nocturnal conflict of a few hours; they had lost all their redoubts +and ten pieces of cannon, with which they were armed; M. D'Allegré, +with twelve hundred prisoners, had been taken; and the army which +lately besieged Liege and threatened Maestricht, was now driven back, +defeated and discouraged, to seek refuge under the cannon of Louvain.</p> + +<p>Overkirk, who had so ably co-operated with Marlborough in this +glorious victory, had the magnanimity as well as candour, in his +despatch to the States-general, to ascribe the success which had been +gained entirely to the skill and courage of the English general.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> +But the Dutch generals, who had interrupted his career of success, had +the malignity to charge the consequences of their misconduct on his +head, and even carried their effrontery so far as to accuse him of +supineness in not following up his success, and cutting off the +enemy's retreat to the Dyle, when it was themselves who had refused to +obey his orders to do so. Rains of extraordinary severity fell from +the 19th to the 23d July, which rendered all offensive operations +impracticable, and gave Villeroi time, of which he ably availed +himself, to strengthen his position behind the Dyle to such a degree, +as to render it no longer assailable with any prospect of success. The +precious moment, when the enemy might have been driven from it in the +first tumult of success, had been lost.</p> + +<p>The subsequent success in the Flemish campaign by no means +corresponded to its brilliant commencement. The jealousy of the Dutch +ruined every thing. This gave rise to recriminations and jealousies, +which rendered it impracticable even for the great abilities and +consummate address of Marlborough to effect any thing of importance +with the heterogeneous array, with the nominal command of which he was +invested. The English general dispatched his adjutant-general, Baron +Hompesch, to represent to the States-general the impossibility of +going on longer with such a divided responsibility; but, though they +listened to his representations, nothing could induce them to put +their troops under the direct orders of the commander-in-chief. They +still had "field deputies," as they were called who were invested with +the entire direction of the Dutch troops; and as they were civilians, +wholly unacquainted with military affairs, they had recourse on every +occasion to the very fractious generals who already had done so much +mischief to the common cause. In vain Marlborough repeatedly +endeavoured, as he himself said, "to cheat them into victory," by +getting their consent to measures, of which they did not see the +bearing, calculated to achieve that object; their timid, jealous +spirit interposed on every occasion to mar important operations, and +the corps they commanded was too considerable to admit of their being +undertaken without their co-operation. After nine days' watching<!-- Page 655 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_655" id="Page_655">[Pg 655]</a></span> the +enemy across the Dyle, Marlborough proposed to cross the river near +Louvain, and attack the enemy; the Dutch Deputies interposed their +negative, to Marlborough's infinite mortification, as, in his own +words, "it spoiled the whole campaign."<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p> + +<p>Worn out with these long delays, Marlborough at length resolved at all +hazards to pass the river, trusting that the Dutch, when they saw the +conflict once seriously engaged, would not desert him. But in this he +was mistaken. The Dutch not only failed to execute the part assigned +them in the combined enterprise, but sent information of his designs +to the enemy. The consequence was, Villeroi was on his guard. All the +Duke's demonstrations could not draw his attention from his left, +where the real attack was intended; but nevertheless the Duke pushed +on the English and Germans under his orders, who forced the passage in +the most gallant style. But when the Duke ordered the Dutch generals +to support the attack of the Duke of Wirtemberg, who had crossed the +river, and established himself in force on the opposite bank, they +refused to move their men. The consequence was that this attack, as +well planned and likely to succeed as the famous forcing of the lines +a fortnight before, proved abortive; and Marlborough, burning with +indignation, was obliged to recall his troops when on the high-road to +victory, and when the river had been crossed, before they had +sustained a loss of a hundred men. So general was the indignation at +this shameful return on the part of the Dutch generals to Marlborough +for all the services he had rendered to their country, that it drew +forth the strongest expressions from one of his ablest, but most +determined opponents, Lord Bolingbroke, who wrote to him at this +juncture:—"It was very melancholy to find the malice of Slangenberg, +the fears of Dopf, and the ignorance of the deputies, to mention no +more, prevail so to disappoint your Grace, to their prejudice as well +as ours. We hope the Dutch have agreed to what your Grace desires of +them, without which the war becomes a jest to our enemies, <i>and can +end in nothing but an ill peace, which is certain ruin to us.</i>"<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> + +<p>Still the English general was not discouraged. His public spirit and +patriotism prevailed over his just private resentment. Finding it +impossible to prevail on the Dutch deputies, who, in every sense, were +so many viceroys over him, to agree to any attempt to force the +passage of the Dyle, he resolved to turn it. For this purpose the army +was put in motion on the 14th August; and, defiling to his left, he +directed it in three columns towards the sources of the Dyle. The +march was rapid, as the Duke had information that strong +reinforcements, detached from the army at Alsace, would join Villeroi +on the 18th. They soon came to ground subsequently immortalized in +English story. On the 16th they reached Genappe, where, on 17th June +1815, the Life-guards under Lord Anglesea defeated the French lancers; +on the day following, the enemy retired into the forest of Soignies, +still covering Brussels, and the Allied headquarters were moved to +Braine la Leude. On the 17th August, a skirmish took place on the +plain in front of <span class="smcap">Waterloo</span>; and the alarm being given, the Duke +hastened to the spot, and rode over the field where Wellington and +Napoleon<!-- Page 656 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_656" id="Page_656">[Pg 656]</a></span> contended a hundred and ten years afterwards. The French +upon this retired into the forest of Soignies, and rested at Waterloo +for the night.</p> + +<p>The slightest glance at the map must be sufficient to show, that by +this cross march to Genappe and Waterloo, Marlborough had gained an +immense advantage over the enemy. <i>He had interposed between them and +France.</i> He had relinquished for the time, it is true, his own base of +operations, and was out of communication with his magazines; but he +had provided for this by taking six days' provisions for the army with +him; and he could now force the French to fight or abandon Brussels, +and retire towards Antwerp—the Allies being between them and France. +Still clinging to their fortified lines on the Dyle, and desirous of +covering Brussels, they had only occupied the wood of Soignies with +their right wing; while the Allies occupied all the open country from +Genappe to Frischermont and Braine la Leude, with their advanced posts +up to La Haye Sainte and Mount St John. The Allies now occupied the +ground, afterwards covered by Napoleon's army: the forest of Soignies +and approaches to Brussels were guarded by the French. Incalculable +were the results of a victory gained in such a position: it was by +success gained over an army of half the size, that Napoleon +established his power in so surprising a manner at Marengo. Impressed +with such ideas, Marlborough, on the 18th August, anxiously +reconnoitred the ground; and finding the front practicable for the +passage of troops, moved up his men in three columns to the attack. +The artillery was sent to Wavre; the Allied columns traversed at right +angles the line of march by which Blucher advanced to the support of +Wellington on the 18th June 1815.</p> + +<p>Had Marlborough's orders been executed, it is probable he would have +gained a victory, which, from the relative position of the two armies, +could not have been but decisive; and possibly the 18th August 1705, +might have become as celebrated in history as the 18th June 1815. +Overkirk, to whom he showed the ground at Over-Ische which he had +destined for an attack, perfectly concurred in the expedience of it, +and orders were given to bring the artillery forward to commence a +cannonade. By the malice or negligence of Slangenberg, who had again +violated his express instructions, and permitted the baggage to +intermingle with the artillery-train, the guns had not arrived, and +some hours were lost before they could be pushed up. At length, at +noon, the guns were brought forward, and the troops being in line, +Marlborough rode along the front to give his last orders. The English +and Germans were in the highest spirits, anticipating certain victory +from the relative position of the armies; the French fighting with +their faces to Paris, the Allies with theirs to Brussels. But again +the Dutch deputies and generals interposed, alleging that the enemy +was too strongly posted to be attacked with any prospect of success. +"Gentlemen," said Marlborough to the circle of generals which +surrounded him, "I have reconnoitred the ground, and made dispositions +for an attack. I am convinced that conscientiously, and as men of +honour, we cannot now retire without an action. Should we neglect this +opportunity, we must be responsible before God and man. You see the +confusion which pervades the ranks of the enemy, and their +embarrassment at our manœuvres. I leave you to judge whether we +should attack to-day, or wait till to-morrow. It is indeed late; but +you must consider, that by throwing up intrenchments during the night, +the enemy will render their position far more difficult to force." +"Murder and massacre," replied Slangenberg. Marlborough, upon this, +offered him two English for every Dutch battalion; but this too the +Dutchman refused, on the plea that he did not understand English. Upon +this the Duke offered to give him German regiments; but this too was +declined, upon the pretence that the attack would be too hazardous. +Marlborough, upon this, turned to the deputies and said—"I disdain to +send troops to dangers which I will not myself encounter. I will lead +them where the peril is most imminent. I adjure you, gentlemen! for +the love of God and your country, do not let us neglect so favourable +an opportunity." But it was all in vain; and<!-- Page 657 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_657" id="Page_657">[Pg 657]</a></span> instead of acting, the +Dutch deputies and generals spent three hours in debating, until night +came on and it was too late to attempt any thing. Such was +Marlborough's chagrin at this disappointment, that he said, on +retiring from the field, "I am at this moment <i>ten years</i> older than I +was four days ago."</p> + +<p>Next day, as Marlborough had foreseen, the enemy had strengthened +their position with field-works; so that it was utterly hopeless to +get the Dutch to agree to an attack which <i>then</i> would indeed have +been hazardous, though it was not so the evening before. The case was +now irremediable. The six days' bread he had taken with him was on the +point of being exhausted, and a protracted campaign without +communication with his magazines was impracticable. With a heavy +heart, therefore, Marlborough remeasured his steps to the ground he +had left in front of the Dyle, and gave orders for destroying the +lines of Leau, which he had carried with so much ability. His vexation +was increased afterwards, by finding that the consternation of the +French had been such on the 18th August, when he was so urgent to +attack them, that they intended only to have made a show of +resistance, in order to gain time for their baggage and heavy guns to +retire to Brussels. To all appearance Marlborough, if he had not been +so shamefully thwarted, would have illustrated the forest of Soignies +by a victory as decisive as that of Blenheim, and realized the +triumphant entrance to Brussels which Napoleon anticipated from his +attack on Wellington on the same ground a hundred years afterwards.</p> + +<p>Nothing further, of any moment, was done in this campaign, except the +capture of Leau and levelling of the enemy's lines on the Gheet. +Marlborough wrote a formal letter to the States, in which he regretted +the opportunity which had been lost, which M. Overkirk had coincided +with him in thinking promised a great and glorious victory; and he +added, "my heart is so full that I cannot forbear representing to your +High Mightinesses on this occasion, that I find my authority here to +be much less than when I had the honour to command your troops in +Germany."<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> The Dutch generals sent in their counter-memorial to +their government, which contains a curious picture of their idea of +the subordination and direction of an army, and furnishes a key to the +jealousy which had proved so fatal to the common cause. They +complained that the Duke of Marlborough, "without holding a council of +war, made two or three marches <i>for the execution of some design +formed by his Grace</i>; and we cannot conceal from your High +Mightinesses that all the generals of our army think it very strange +<i>that they should not have the least notice of the said marches</i>."<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> +It has been already mentioned that Marlborough, like every other good +general, kept his designs to himself, from the impossibility of +otherwise keeping them from the enemy; and that he had the additional +motive, in the case of the Dutch deputies and generals, of being +desirous "to cheat them into victory."</p> + +<p>Chagrined by disappointment, and fully convinced, as Wellington was +after his campaign with Cuesta and the Spaniards at Talavera, that it +was in vain to attempt any thing further with such impediments, on the +part of the Allies, thrown in his way, Marlborough retired, in the +beginning of September, to Tirlemont, the mineral waters of which had +been recommended to him; and, in the end of October, the troops on +both sides went into winter quarters. His vexation with the Dutch at +this period strongly appeared in his private letters to his intimate +friends;<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> but,<!-- Page 658 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_658" id="Page_658">[Pg 658]</a></span> though he exerted himself to the utmost during the +suspension of operations in the field, both by memorials to his own +government, and representations to the Dutch rulers, to get the +direction of the army put upon a better footing, yet he had +magnanimity and patriotism enough to sacrifice his private feelings to +the public good. Instead of striving, therefore, to inflame the +resentment of the English cabinet at the conduct of the Dutch +generals, he strove only to moderate it; and prevailed on them to +suspend the sending of a formal remonstrance, which they had prepared, +to the States-general, till the effect of his own private +representation in that quarter was first ascertained. The result +proved that he had judged wisely; his disinterested conduct met with +the deserved reward. The Patriotic party, both in England and at the +Hague, was strongly roused in his favour; the factious accusations of +the English Tories, like those of the Whigs a century after against +Wellington, were silenced; the States-general were compelled by the +public indignation to withdraw from their commands the generals who +had thwarted his measures; and, without risking the union of the two +powers, the factious, selfish men who had endangered the object of +their alliance, were for ever deprived of the means of doing mischief.</p> + +<p>But while the danger was thus abated in one quarter, it only became +more serious in another. The Dutch had been protected, and hindered +from breaking off from the alliance, only by endangering the fidelity +of the Austrians; and it had now become indispensable, at all hazards, +to do something to appease their jealousies. The Imperial cabinet, in +addition to the war in Italy, on the Upper Rhine, and in the Low +Countries, was now involved in serious hostilities in Hungary; and +felt the difficulty, or rather impossibility, of maintaining the +contest at once in so many different quarters. The cross march of +Marlborough from the Moselle to Flanders, however loudly called for by +the danger and necessities of the States, had been viewed with a +jealous eye by the Emperor, as tending to lead the war away from the +side of Lorraine, with which the German interests were wound up; and +the instances were loud and frequent, that, now that the interests of +the Dutch were sufficiently provided for, he should return with the +English contingent to that, the proper theatre of offensive +operations. But Marlborough's experience had taught him, that as +little reliance was to be placed on the co-operation of the Margrave +of Baden, and the lesser German powers, as on that of the Dutch; and +he felt that it was altogether in vain to attempt another campaign +either in Germany or Flanders, unless some more effectual measures +were taken to appease the jealousies, and secure the co-operation of +this discordant alliance, than had hitherto been done. With this view, +after having arranged matters to his satisfaction at the Hague, when +Slangenberg was removed from the command, he repaired to Vienna in +November, and thence soon after to Berlin.</p> + +<p>Marlborough's extraordinary address<!-- Page 659 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_659" id="Page_659">[Pg 659]</a></span> and powers of persuasion did not +desert him on this critical occasion. Never was more strongly +exemplified the truth of Chesterfield's remark, that manner had as +much weight as matter in procuring him success; and that he was +elevated to greatness as much on the wings of the Graces as by the +strength of Minerva. Great as were the difficulties which attended the +holding together the grand alliance, they all yielded to the magic of +his name and the fascination of his manner. At Bernsberg he succeeded +in obtaining from the Elector a promise for the increase of his +contingent, and leave for it to be sent into Italy, where its +co-operation was required; at Frankfort he overcame, by persuasion and +address, the difficulties of the Margrave of Baden; and at Vienna he +was magnificently received, and soon obtained unbounded credit with +the Emperor. He was raised to the rank of prince of the empire, with +the most flattering assurances of esteem; and fêted by the nobles, who +vied with each other in demonstrations of respect to the illustrious +conqueror of Blenheim. During his short sojourn of a fortnight there, +he succeeded in allaying the suspicions and quieting the apprehensions +of the Emperor, which no other man could have done; and, having +arranged the plan of the next campaign, and raised, on his own credit, +a loan of 100,000 crowns for the imperial court from the bankers, as +well as promised one of L.250,000 more, which he afterwards obtained +in London, he set out for Berlin, where his presence was not less +necessary to stimulate the exertions and appease the complaints of the +King of Prussia. He arrived there on the 30th November, and on the +same evening had an audience of the King, to whose strange and +capricious temper he so completely accommodated himself, that he +allayed all his discontents, and brought him over completely to his +views. He prevailed on him to renew the treaty for the furnishing of +eight thousand men to aid the common cause, and to repair the chasms +occasioned by the campaign in their ranks, as well as revoke the +orders which had been issued for their return from Italy, where their +removal would have proved of essential detriment. This concession, in +the words of the prime minister who announced it, was granted "as a +mark of respect to the Queen, and of particular friendship to the +Duke." From Berlin he went, loaded with honours and presents, to +Hanover, where jealousies of a different kind, but not less dangerous, +had arisen in consequence of the apprehensions there entertained, that +the Whigs were endeavouring to thwart the eventual succession of the +House of Hanover to the throne of England. Marlborough's address, +however, here also succeeded in overcoming all difficulties; and, +after a sojourn of only a few days, he departed in the highest favour +both with the Elector and his mother. From thence he hastened to the +Hague, where he remained a fortnight, and succeeded in a great degree +in removing those difficulties, and smoothing down those jealousies, +which had proved so injurious to the common cause in the preceding +campaign. He prevailed on the Dutch to reject separate offers of +accommodation, which had been made to them by the French government. +Having thus put all things on as favourable a footing as could be +hoped for on the Continent, he embarked for England in the beginning +of January 1705—having overcome greater difficulties, and obtained +greater advantages, in the course of this winter campaign, with his +divided allies, than he ever did during a summer campaign with the +enemy.</p> + +<p>Every one, how cursorily soever he may be acquainted with Wellington's +campaigns, must be struck with the great similarity between the +difficulties which thus beset the Duke of Marlborough, in the earlier +periods of his career, and those which at a subsequent period so long +hampered the genius and thwarted the efforts of England's greatest +general. Slangenberg's jealousy as an exact counterpart of that of +Cuesta at Talavera; the timidity of the Dutch authorities was +precisely similar to that of the Portuguese regency; the difficulty of +appeasing the jealousy of Austria and Prussia, identical with that +which so often compelled Wellington to hurry from the field to Lisbon +and Cadiz. Such is the selfishness of human nature that it seems +impossible to get<!-- Page 660 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_660" id="Page_660">[Pg 660]</a></span> men, actuated by different interests, to concur in +any measures for the general good but under the pressure of immediate +danger, so threatening as to be obvious to every understanding, or by +the influence of ability and address of the very highest order. It is +this which in every age has caused the weakness of the best-cemented +confederacies, and so often enabled single powers, not possessing a +fourth part of their material resources, to triumph over them. And it +is in the power of overcoming these difficulties, and allaying those +jealousies, that one of the most important qualities of the general of +an alliance is to be found.</p> + +<p>Marlborough sailed for the Continent, to take the command of the +armies in the Low Countries, on the 20th April 1706. His design was to +have transferred the seat of war into Italy, as affairs had become so +unpromising in that quarter as to be well-nigh desperate. The +Imperialists had been surprised by the French general, Vendôme, in +their quarters near Como, and driven into the mountains behind that +town with the loss of three thousand men; so that all hold of the +plain of Lombardy was lost. The Duke of Savoy was even threatened with +a siege in his capital of Turin. The Margrave of Baden was displaying +his usual fractious and impracticable disposition on the Upper Rhine: +it seemed, in Marlborough's words, "as if he had no other object in +view but to cover his own capital and residence." In Flanders, the +habitual procrastination and tardiness of the Dutch had so thrown back +the preparations, that it was impossible to begin the campaign so +early as he had intended; and the jealousies of the cabinets of Berlin +and Copenhagen had again revived to such a degree, that no aid was to +be expected either from the Prussian or Danish contingents. It was +chiefly to get beyond the reach of such troublesome and inconstant +neighbours, that Marlborough was so desirous of transferring the seat +of war to Italy, where he would have been beyond their reach. But all +his efforts failed in inducing the States-general to allow any part of +their troops to be employed to the south of the Alps; nor, indeed, +could it reasonably have been expected that they would consent to +hazard their forces, in an expedition not immediately connected with +their interests, to so distant a quarter. The umbrage of the Elector +of Hanover at the conduct of Queen Anne, had become so excessive, that +he positively refused to let his contingent march. The Danes and +Hessians excused themselves on various pretences from moving their +troops to the south; and the Emperor, instead of contributing any +thing to the war in Flanders, was urgent that succour should be sent, +and that the English general should, in person, take the command on +the Moselle. Marlborough was thus reduced to the English troops, and +those in the pay of Holland; but they amounted to nearly sixty +thousand men; and, on the 19th May, he set out from the Hague to take +the command of this force, which lay in front of the old French +frontier on the river Dyle. Marshal Villeroi had there collected +sixty-two thousand men; so that the two armies, in point of numerical +strength, were very nearly equal.</p> + +<p>The English general had established a secret correspondence with one +Pasquini, an inhabitant of Namur, through whose agency, and that of +some other citizens of the town who were inclined to the Imperial +interest, he hoped to be able to make himself master of that important +fortress. To facilitate that attempt, and have troops at hand ready to +take advantage of any opening that might be afforded them in that +quarter, he moved towards Tirlemont, directing his march by the +sources of the Little Gheet. Determined to cover Namur, and knowing +that the Hanoverians and Hessians were absent, Villeroi marched out of +his lines, in order to stop the advance of the Allies, and give battle +in the open field. On the 20th May, the English and Dutch forces +effected their junction at Bitsia; and on the day following the Danish +contingent arrived, Marlborough having by great exertions persuaded +them to come up from the Rhine, upon receiving a guarantee for their +pay from the Dutch government. This raised his force to seventy-three +battalions and one hundred and twenty-four squadrons. The French had +seventy-four battalions and one hundred<!-- Page 661 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_661" id="Page_661">[Pg 661]</a></span> and twenty-eight squadrons; +but they had a much greater advantage in the homogeneous quality of +their troops, who were all of one country; while the forces of the +confederates were drawn from three different nations, speaking +different languages, and many of whom had never acted in the field +together. Cadogan, with six hundred horse, formed the vanguard of +Marlborough's army; and at daybreak on the 22d, he beheld the enemy's +army grouped in dense masses in the strong camp of Mont St André. As +their position stretched directly across the allied line of march, a +battle was unavoidable; and Marlborough no sooner was informed of it, +than with a joyous heart he prepared for the conflict.</p> + +<p>The ground occupied by the enemy, and which has become so famous by +the battle of <span class="smcap">Ramilies</span> which followed, was on the summit of an +elevated plateau forming the highest ground in Brabant, immediately +above the two sources of the Little Gheet. The plateau above them is +varied by gentle undulations, interspersed with garden grounds, and +dotted with coppice woods. From it the two Gheets, the Mehaigne and +the Dyle, take their source, and flow in different directions, so that +it is the most elevated ground in the whole country. The descents from +the summit of the plateau to the Great Gheet are steep and abrupt; but +the other rivers rise in marshes and mosses, which are very wet, and +in some places impassable. Marlborough was well aware of the strength +of the position on the summit of this eminence, and he had used all +the dispatch in his power to reach it before the enemy; but Villeroi +had less ground to go over, and had his troops in battle array on the +summit before the English appeared in sight. The position which they +occupied ran along the front of a curve facing inwards, and +overhanging the sources of the Little Gheet. Their troops extended +along the crest of the ridge above the marshes, having the village of +Autre Eglise in its front on the extreme left, the villages of Offuz +and Ramilies in its front, and its extreme right on the high grounds +which overhung the course of the Mehaigne, and the old <i>chaussée</i> of +Brunehand which ran near and parallel to its banks. Their right +stretched to the Mehaigne, on which it rested, and the village of +Tavieres on its banks was strongly occupied by foot-soldiers. The +French foot were drawn up in two lines, with the villages in their +front strongly occupied by infantry. In Ramilies alone twenty +battalions were posted. The great bulk of their horse was arranged +also in two lines on the right, across the chaussée of Brunehand, by +which part of the Allied column was to advance. On the highest point +of the ridge occupied by the French, and in the rear of their extreme +right, commanding the whole field of battle, behind the mass of +cavalry, was the tomb or barrow of Ottomond, a German hero of renown +in ancient days, which it was evident would become the subject of a +desperate strife between the contending parties in the conflict which +was approaching.</p> + +<p>Marlborough no sooner came in sight of the enemy's position than he +formed his own plan of attack. His troops were divided into ten +columns; the cavalry being into two lines on each wing, the infantry +in six columns in the centre. He at once saw that the French right, +surmounted by the lofty plateau on which the tomb of Ottomond was +placed, was the key of the position, and against that he resolved to +direct the weight of his onset; but the better to conceal his real +design, he determined to make a vehement false attack on the village +of Autre Eglise and the French left. The nature of the ground occupied +by the allies and enemy respectively, favoured this design; for the +French were posted round the circumference of a segment, while the +allies occupied the centre and chord, so that they could move with +greater rapidity than their opponents from one part of the field to +another. Marlborough's stratagem was entirely successful. He formed, +in the first instance, with some ostentation, a weighty column of +attack opposite to the French left, menacing the village of Autre +Eglise. No sooner did Villeroi perceive this than he drew a +considerable body of infantry from his centre behind Offuz, and +marched them with the utmost expedition to reinforce the threatened<!-- Page 662 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_662" id="Page_662">[Pg 662]</a></span> +point on his left. When Marlborough saw this cross-movement fairly +commenced, skilfully availing himself of a rising ground on which the +front of his column of attack on his right was placed, he directed the +second line and columns in support when the front had reached the edge +of the plateau, where they obstructed the view of those behind them, +to halt in a hollow where they could not be seen, and immediately +after, still concealed from the enemy's sight, to defile rapidly to +the left till they came into the rear of the left centre. The Danish +horse, twenty squadrons strong, under the Duke of Wirtemberg, were at +the same time placed in a third line behind the cavalry of the left +wing, so as to bring the weight of his horse as well as foot into that +quarter.</p> + +<p>At half past twelve the cannonade began on both sides, and that of the +French played heavily on the columns of the confederates advancing to +the attack. The Allied right wing directed against Autre Eglise, +steadily advanced up the slopes from the banks of the Little Gheet to +the edge of the plateau; but there they halted, deployed into line, +and opened their fire in such a position as to conceal entirely the +transfer of the infantry and cavalry in their rear to the Allied left. +No sooner had they reached it, than the attack began in real earnest, +and with a preponderating force in that direction. Colonel +Wertonville, with four Dutch battalions, advanced against Tavieres, +while twelve battalions in columns of companies, supported by a strong +reserve, began the attack on Ramilies in the left centre. The +vehemence of this assault soon convinced Villeroi that the real attack +of the Allies was in that quarter; but he had no reserve of foot to +support the troops in the villages, every disposable man having been +sent off to the left in the direction of Autre Eglise. In this +dilemma, he hastily ordered fourteen squadrons of horse to dismount, +and, supported by two Swiss battalions, moved them up to the support +of the troops in Tavieres. Before they could arrive, however, the +Dutch battalions had with great gallantry carried that village; and +Marlborough, directing the Danish horse, under the brave Duke of +Wirtemberg, against the flank of the dismounted dragoons, as they were +in column and marching up, speedily cut them in pieces, and hurled +back the Swiss in confusion on the French horse, who were advancing to +their support.</p> + +<p>Following up his success, Overkirk next charged the first line of +advancing French cavalry with the first line of the Allied horse, and +such was the vigour of his onset, that the enemy were broken and +thrown back. But the second line of French and Bavarian horse soon +came up, and assailing Overkirk's men when they were disordered by +success, and little expecting another struggle, overthrew them without +difficulty, drove them back in great confusion, and almost entirely +restored the battle in that quarter. The danger was imminent that the +victorious French horse, having cleared the open ground of their +opponents, would wheel about and attack in rear the twelve battalions +who were warmly engaged with the attack on Ramilies. Marlborough +instantly saw the danger, and putting himself at the head of seventeen +squadrons at hand, himself led them on to stop the progress of the +victorious horse; while, at the same time, he sent orders for every +disposable sabre to come up from his right with the utmost expedition. +The moment was critical, and nothing but the admirable intrepidity and +presence of mind of the English general retrieved the Allied affairs. +Leading on the reserve of the Allied horse with his wonted gallantry, +under a dreadful fire from the French batteries on the heights behind +Ramilies, he was recognised by some French troopers, with whom he had +formerly served in the time of Charles II., who made a sudden rush at +him. They had well-nigh made him prisoner, for they succeeded in +surrounding the Duke before his men could come up to the rescue, and +he only extricated himself from the throng of assailants by fighting +his way out, like the knights of old, sword in hand. He next tried to +leap a ditch, but his horse fell in the attempt; and when mounting +another horse, given him by his aide-de-camp Captain Molesworth, +Colonel Bingfield, his equery, who held the stirrup, had his head +carried off by a cannon<!-- Page 663 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_663" id="Page_663">[Pg 663]</a></span> ball. The imminent danger of their beloved +general, however, revived the spirit of his troops, whom the dreadful +severity of the cannonade had, during the scuffle, thrown into +disorder; and, re-forming with great celerity, they again returned +with desperate resolution to the charge.</p> + +<p>At this critical moment, when nothing was as yet decided, the twenty +fresh squadrons whom Marlborough had so opportunely called up from the +Allied right, were seen galloping at full speed, but still in regular +order, on the plain behind this desperate conflict. Halting directly +in rear of the spot where the horse on both sides were so vehemently +engaged, they wheeled into line, and advanced, in close order and +admirable array, to the support of the Duke. Encouraged by this +powerful reinforcement, the whole Allied cavalry re-formed, and +crowded forward in three lines, with loud shouts, to the attack of the +now intimidated and disheartened French. They no longer withstood the +onset, but, turning their horses' heads, fled with precipitation. The +low grounds between Ramilies and the old chaussée were quickly passed, +and the victorious horse, pressing up the slope on the opposite side, +erelong reached the summit of the plateau. The tomb of Ottomond, its +highest point, and visible from the whole field of battle, was soon +seen resplendent with sabres and cuirasses, amidst a throng of horse; +and deafening shouts, heard over the whole extent of both armies, +announced that the crowning point and key of the whole position was +carried.</p> + +<p>But Villeroi was an able and determined general, and his soldiers +fought with the inherent bravery of the French nation. The contest, +thus virtually decided, was not yet over. A fierce fight was raging +around Ramilies, where the garrison of twenty French battalions +opposed a stout resistance to Schultz's grenadiers. By degrees, +however, the latter gained ground; two Swiss battalions, which had +long and resolutely held their ground, were at length forced back into +the village, and some of the nearest houses fell into the hands of the +Allies. Upon this the whole rushed forward, and drove the enemy in a +mass out of it towards the high grounds in their rear. The Marquis +Maffei, however, rallied two regiments of Cologne guards, in a hollow +way leading up from the village to the plateau, and opposed so +vigorous a resistance that he not only checked the pursuit but +regained part of the village. But Marlborough, whose eye was every +where, no sooner saw this than he ordered up twenty battalions in +reserve behind the centre, and they speedily cleared the village; and +Maffei, with his gallant troops, being charged in flank by the +victorious horse at the very time that he was driven out of the +village by the infantry, was made prisoner, and almost all his men +taken or destroyed.</p> + +<p>The victory was now decided on the British left and centre, where +alone the real attack had been made. But so vehement had been the +onset, so desperate the passage of arms which had taken place, that +though the battle had lasted little more than three hours, the victors +were nearly in as great disorder as the vanquished. Horse, foot, and +artillery, were blended together in wild confusion; especially between +Ramilies and the Mehaigne, and thence up to the tomb of Ottomond, in +consequence of the various charges of all arms which had so rapidly +succeeded each other on the same narrow space. Marlborough, seeing +this, halted his troops, before hazarding any thing further, on the +ground where they stood, which, in the left and centre, was where the +enemy had been at the commencement of the action. Villeroi skilfully +availed himself of this breathing-time to endeavour to re-form his +broken troops, and take up a new line from Geest-a-Gerompont, on his +right, through Offuz to Autre Eglise, still held by its original +garrison, on his left. But in making the retrograde movement so as to +get his men into this oblique position, he was even more impeded and +thrown into disorder by the baggage waggons and dismounted guns on the +heights, than the Allies had been in the plain below. Marlborough +seeing this, resolved to give the enemy no time to rally, but again +sounding the charge, ordered infantry and cavalry to advance. A strong +column passed<!-- Page 664 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_664" id="Page_664">[Pg 664]</a></span> the morass in which the Little Gheet takes its rise, +directing their steps towards Offuz; but the enemy, panic-struck as at +Waterloo, by the general advance of the victors, gave way on all +sides. Offuz was abandoned without firing a shot; the cavalry pursued +with headlong fury, and soon the plateau of Mont St André was covered +with a mass of fugitives. The troops in observation on the right, +seeing the victory gained on the left and centre, of their own accord +joined in the pursuit, and soon made themselves masters of Autre +Eglise and the heights behind it. The Spanish and Bavarian +horse-guards made a gallant attempt to stem the flood of disaster, but +without attaining their object; it only led to their own destruction. +Charged by General Wood and Colonel Wyndham at the head of the English +horse-guards, they were cut to pieces. The rout now became universal, +and all resistance ceased. In frightful confusion, a disorganized mass +of horse and foot, abandoning their guns, streamed over the plateau, +poured headlong down the banks of the Great Gheet, on the other side, +and fled towards Louvain, which they reached in the most dreadful +disorder at two o'clock in the morning. The British horse, under Lord +Orkney, did not draw bridle from the pursuit till they reached the +neighbourhood of that fortress; having, besides fighting the battle, +marched full five-and-twenty miles that day. Marlborough halted for +the night, and established headquarters at Mildert, thirteen miles +from the field of battle, and five from Louvain.</p> + +<p>The trophies of the battle of Ramilies were immense; but they were +even exceeded by its results. The loss of the French in killed and +wounded was 7000 men, and, in addition to that, 6000 prisoners were +taken. With the desertion in the days after the battle, they were +weakened by full 15,000 men. They lost fifty-two guns, their whole +baggage and pontoon train, all their caissons, and eighty standards +wrested from them in fair fight. Among the prisoners were the Princes +de Soubise and Rohan, and a son of Marshal Tallard. The victors lost +1066 killed, and 2567 wounded, in all, 3633. The great and unusual +proportion of killed to the wounded, shows how desperate and hand to +hand, as in ancient battles, the fighting had been. Overkirk nobly +supported the Duke in this action, and not only repeatedly charged at +the head of his horse, but continued on horseback in the pursuit till +one in the morning, when he narrowly escaped death from a Bavarian +officer whom he had made prisoner, and given back his sword, saying, +"You are a gentleman, and may keep it." The base wretch no sooner got +it into his hand than he made a lounge at the Dutch general, but +fortunately missed his blow, and was immediately cut down for his +treachery by Overkirk's orderly.</p> + +<p>The immediate result of this splendid victory, was the acquisition of +nearly all Austrian Flanders—Brussels, Louvain, Mechlin, Alort, +Luise, and nearly all the great towns of Brabant, opened their gates +immediately after. Ghent and Bruges speedily followed the example; and +Daun and Oudenarde also soon declared for the Austrian cause. Of all +the towns in Flanders, Antwerp, Ostend, Nieuport, and Dunkirk alone +held out for the French; and to their reduction the Duke immediately +turned his attention. The public transports in Holland knew no bounds; +they much exceeded what had been felt for the victory of Blenheim, for +that only saved Germany, but this delivered themselves. The wretched +jealousy which had so long thwarted the Duke, as it does every other +really great man, was fairly overpowered in "the electric shock of a +nation's gratitude." In England, the rejoicings were equally +enthusiastic, and a solemn thanksgiving, at which the Queen attended +in person at St Paul's, gave a willing vent to the general +thankfulness. "Faction and the French," as Bolingbroke expressed +it, <a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> were all that Marlborough had to fear, and he had fairly +conquered<!-- Page 665 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_665" id="Page_665">[Pg 665]</a></span> both. But the snake was scotched, not killed, and he +replenished his venom, and prepared future stings even during the roar +of triumphant cannon, and the festive blaze of rejoicing cities.<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p> + +<p>The French army, after this terrible defeat, retired in the deepest +dejection towards French Flanders, leaving garrisons in the principal +fortresses which still held out for them. Marlborough made his +triumphant entry into Brussels in great pomp on the 28th May, amidst +the acclamations of the inhabitants. The Three Estates of Brabant +assembled there, acknowledged Charles III. for their sovereign, and +received, in return, a guarantee from the English government and the +States-general, that the <i>joyeuse entrée</i>, the Magna Charta of +Flanders, should be faithfully observed. "Every where, says +Marlborough, the joy was great at being delivered from the insolence +and exactions of the French." The victory of Ramilies produced no less +effect on the northern courts, where jealousies and lukewarmness had +hitherto proved so pernicious to the common cause. The King of +Prussia, who had hitherto kept aloof, and suspended the march of his +troops, now on the mediation of Marlborough became reconciled to the +Emperor and the States-general; and the Elector of Hanover, forgetting +his apprehensions about the English succession, was among the foremost +to offer his congratulations, and make a tender of his forces to the +now triumphant cause. It is seldom that the prosperous want friends.</p> + +<p>The Dutch were clear, after the submission of Brabant, to levy +contributions in it as a conquered country, to relieve themselves of +part of the expenses of the war; and Godolphin, actuated by the same +short-sighted views, was eager to replenish the English exchequer from +the same source. But Marlborough, like Wellington in after days, had +magnanimity and wisdom enough to see the folly, as well as injustice, +of thus alienating infant allies at the moment of their conversion, +and he combated the project so successfully, that it was +abandoned.<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> At the same time, he preserved the strictest discipline +on the part of his troops, and took every imaginable precaution to +secure the affections and allay the apprehensions of the inhabitants +of the ceded provinces. The good effects of this wise and conciliatory +policy were soon apparent. Without firing a shot, the Allies gained +greater advantages during the remainder of the campaign, than they +could have done by a series of bloody sieges, and the sacrifice of +thirty thousand men. Nor was it less advantageous to the English +general than to the common cause; for it delivered him, for that +season at least, from the thraldom of a council of war, the invariable +resource of a weak, and bane of a lofty mind.<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p> + +<p>The Estates of Brabant, assembled at Brussels, sent injunctions to +the<!-- Page 666 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_666" id="Page_666">[Pg 666]</a></span> governor of Antwerp, Ghent, and all the other fortresses within +their territories, to declare for Charles III., and admit these +troops. The effects of this, coupled with the discipline preserved by +the Allied troops, and the protection from contributions, was +incredible. No sooner were the orders from the States at Brussels +received at Antwerp, than a schism broke out between the French +regiments in the garrison and the Walloon guards, the latter declaring +for Charles III. The approach of Marlborough's army, and the +intelligence of the submission of the other cities of Brabant, brought +matters to a crisis; and after some altercation, it was agreed that +the French troops should march out with the honours of war, and be +escorted to Bouchain, within the frontier of their own country. On the +6th June this magnificent fortress, which it had cost the Prince of +Parma so vast an expenditure of blood and treasure to reduce, and +which Napoleon said was itself worth a kingdom, was gained without +firing a shot. Oudenarde, which had been in vain besieged in the last +war by William III. at the head of sixty thousand men, at the same +time followed the example; and Ghent and Bruges opened their gates. +Flanders, bristling with fortresses, and the possession of which in +the early part of the war had been of such signal service to the +French, was, with the exception of Ostend, Dunkirk, and two or three +smaller places, entirely gained by the consternation produced by a +single battle. Well might Marlborough say, "the consequences of our +victory are almost incredible. A whole country, with so many strong +places, delivered up without the least resistance, shows, not only the +great loss they must have sustained, but likewise the terror and +consternation they are in."<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></p> + +<p>At this period, Marlborough hoped the war would be speedily brought to +a close, and that a glorious peace would reward his own and his +country's efforts. His thoughts reverted constantly, as his private +correspondence shows, to home, quiet, and domestic happiness. To the +Duchess he wrote at this period—"You are very kind in desiring I +would not expose myself. Be assured, I love you so well, and am so +desirous of ending my days quietly with you, that I shall not venture +myself but when it is absolutely necessary; and I am sure you are so +kind to me, and wish so well to the common cause, that you had rather +see me dead than not do my duty. I am persuaded that this campaign +will bring in a good peace; and I beg of you to do all that you can, +that the house of Woodstock may be carried up as much as possible, +that I may have the prospect of living in it."<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a>—But these +anticipations were not destined to be realized; and before he retired +into the vale of years, the hero was destined to drain to the dregs +the cup of envy, jealousy, and ingratitude.</p> + +<p>His first step of importance, after consolidating the important +conquests he had made, and averting the cupidity of the Dutch, which, +by levying contributions on their inhabitants, threatened to endanger +them before they were well secured, was to undertake the siege of +Ostend, the most considerable place in Flanders, which still held out +for the French interest. This place, celebrated for its great +strength, and the long siege of three years which it had withstood +against the Spanish under Spinola, was expected to make a very +protracted resistance; but such was the terror now inspired by +Marlborough's name, that it was reduced much sooner than had been +anticipated. Every preparation had been made for a protracted +resistance. A fleet of nine ships of the line lay off the harbour, and +a formidable besieging train was brought up from Antwerp and Brussels. +Trenches were opened on the 28th June; the counterscarp was blown in +on the 6th July; and the day following, the besieged, after a +fruitless sally, capitulated, and the Flemish part of the garrison +entered the service of the Allies. The garrison was still five +thousand strong, when it<!-- Page 667 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_667" id="Page_667">[Pg 667]</a></span> surrendered; two ships of the line were +taken in the harbour; and the total loss of the besiegers was only +five hundred men.</p> + +<p>Menin was next besieged, but it made a more protracted resistance. Its +great strength was derived from the means which the governor of the +fortress possessed of flooding at will the immense low plains in which +it is situated. Its fortifications had always been considered as one +of the masterpieces of Vauban; the garrison was ample; and the +governor a man of resolution, who was encouraged to make a vigorous +resistance, by the assurances of succour which he had received from +the French government. In effect, Louis XIV. had made the greatest +efforts to repair the consequences of the disaster at Ramilies. +Marshal Marsin had been detached from the Rhine with eighteen +battalions and fourteen squadrons; and, in addition to that, thirty +battalions and forty squadrons were marching from Alsace. These great +reinforcements, with the addition of nine battalions which were in the +lines on the Dyle when the battle of Ramilies was fought, would, when +all assembled, have raised the French army to one hundred and ten +battalions, and one hundred and forty squadrons—or above one hundred +thousand men; whereas Marlborough, after employing thirty-two +battalions in the siege, could only spare for the covering army about +seventy-two battalions and eighty squadrons. The numerical +superiority, therefore, was very great on the side of the enemy, +especially when the Allies were divided by the necessity of carrying +on the siege; and Villeroi, who had lost the confidence of his men, +had been replaced by the Duke de Vendôme, one of the best generals in +the French service, illustrated by his recent victory over the +Imperialists in Italy. He loudly gave out that he would raise the +siege, and approached the covering army closely, as if with that +design. But Marlborough persevered in his design; for, to use his own +words, "The Elector of Bavaria says, he is promised a hundred and ten +battalions, and they are certainly stronger in horse than we. But even +if they had greater numbers, I neither think it is their interest nor +their inclination to venture a battle; for our men are in heart, and +theirs are cowed."<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p> + +<p>Considerable difficulties were experienced in the first instance in +getting up the siege equipage, in consequence of the inundations which +were let loose; but a drought having set in, when the blockade began, +in the beginning of August, these obstacles were erelong overcome, and +on the 9th August the besiegers' fire began, while Marlborough took +post at Helchin to cover the siege. On the 18th, the fire of the +breaching batteries had been so effectual, that it was deemed +practicable to make an assault on the covered way. As a determined +resistance was anticipated, the Duke repaired to the spot to +superintend the attack. At seven in the evening, the signal was given +by the explosion of two mines, and the troops, the English in front, +rushed to the assault. They soon cut down the palisades, and, throwing +their grenades before them, erelong got into the covered way; but +there they were exposed to a dreadful fire from two ravelins which +enfiladed it. For two hours they bore it without flinching, labouring +hard to erect barricades, so as to get under cover; which was at +length done, but not before fourteen hundred of the brave assailants +had been struck down. This success, though thus dearly purchased, was +however decisive. The establishment of the besiegers in this important +lodgement, in the heart as it were of their works, so distressed the +enemy, that on the 22d they hoisted the white flag, and capitulated, +still 4300 strong, on the following day. The reduction of this strong +and celebrated fortress gave the most unbounded satisfaction to the +Allies, as it not only materially strengthened the barrier against +France; but having taken place in presence of the Duke de Vendôme and +his powerful army, drawn together with such diligence to raise the +siege, it afforded the strongest proof of the superiority they had now +acquired over their enemy in the field.<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p> + +<p>Upon the fall of Menin, Vendôme<!-- Page 668 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_668" id="Page_668">[Pg 668]</a></span> collected his troops, and occupied a +position behind the Lys and the Dyle, in order to cover Lille, against +which he supposed the intentions of Marlborough were directed. But he +had another object in view, and immediately sat down before +Dendermonde, still keeping post with his covering army at Helchin, +which barred the access to that fortress. Being situated on the banks +of the Scheldt, it was so completely within the power of the governor +to hinder the approaches of the besiegers, by letting out the waters, +that the King of France said, on hearing they had commenced its +siege—"They must have an army of ducks to take it." An extraordinary +drought at this period, however, which lasted seven weeks, had so +lowered the Scheldt and canals, that the approaches were pushed with +great celerity, and on the 5th September the garrison surrendered at +discretion. Marlborough wrote to Godolphin on this occasion—"The +taking of Dendermonde, making the garrison prisoners of war, was more +than could have been expected; but I saw they were in a consternation. +That place could never have been taken but by the hand of God, which +gave us seven weeks without rain. The rain began the day after we had +taken possession, and continued without intermission for the three +next days."<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></p> + +<p>Ath was the next object of attack. This small but strong fortress is +of great importance, as lying on the direct road from Mons to Brussels +by Halle; and, in consequence of that circumstance, it was rendered a +fortress of the first order, when the barrier of strongholds, insanely +demolished by Joseph II. before the war of the Revolution, was +restored by the Allies, under the direction of Wellington, after its +termination. Marlborough entrusted the direction of the attack to +Overkirk, while he himself occupied, with the covering army, the +position of Leuze. Vendôme's army was so much discouraged that he did +not venture to disturb the operations; but retiring behind the +Scheldt, between Condé and Montagne, contented himself with throwing +strong garrisons into Mons and Charleroi, which he apprehended would +be the next object of attack. The operations of the besiegers against +Ath were pushed with great vigour; and on the 4th October the +garrison, eight hundred strong, all that remained out of two thousand +who manned the works when the siege began, surrendered prisoners of +war. Marlborough was very urgent after this success to undertake the +siege of Mons, which would have completed the conquest of Brabant and +Flanders; but he could not persuade the Dutch authorities to furnish +him with the requisite stores to undertake it.<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> After a parade of +his army in the open field near Cambron, in the hope of drawing +Vendôme, who boasted of having one hundred and forty battalions and +one hundred and eighty squadrons at his command, to a battle, in which +he was disappointed, he resigned the command to Overkirk, put the army +into winter quarters, and hastened to Brussels, to commence his +arduous duties of stilling the jealousies and holding together the +discordant powers of the alliance.<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p> + +<p>Marlborough was received in the most splendid manner, and with +unbounded demonstrations of joy, at Brussels, not only by the +inconstant populace, but by the deputies of the Three Estates<!-- Page 669 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_669" id="Page_669">[Pg 669]</a></span> of +Brabant, which were there assembled in regular and permanent +sovereignty. Well might they lavish their demonstrations of respect +and gratitude on the English general; for never in modern times had +more important or glorious events signalized a successful campaign. In +five months the power of France had been so completely broken, and the +towering temper of its inhabitants so lowered, that their best +general, at the head of above a hundred thousand men, did not venture +to measure swords with the Allies, not more than two-thirds of their +numerical strength in the field. By the effects of a single victory, +the whole of Brabant and Flanders, studded with the strongest +fortresses in Europe, each of which, in former wars, had required +months—some, years—for their reduction, had been gained to the +Allied arms. Between those taken on the field of Ramilies, and +subsequently in the besieged fortresses, above twenty thousand men had +been made prisoners, and twice that number lost to the enemy by the +sword, sickness, and desertion; and France now made head against the +Allies in Flanders only by drawing together their forces from all +other quarters, and starving the war in Italy and on the Rhine, as +well as straining every nerve in the interior. This state of almost +frenzied exertion could not last. Already the effects of Marlborough's +triumph at the commencement of the campaign had appeared, in the total +defeat of the French in their lines before Turin, by Prince Eugene, on +the 18th September, and their expulsion from Italy. It was the +reinforcements procured for him, and withheld from his opponents, by +Marlborough, which obtained for him this glorious victory, at which +the English general, with the generosity of true greatness, rejoiced +even more sincerely than he had done in any triumphs of his own;<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> +while Eugene, with equal greatness of mind, was the first to ascribe +his success mainly to the succours sent him by the Duke of +Marlborough.<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a></p> + +<p>But all men are not Marlboroughs or Eugenes: the really great alone +can witness success without envy, or achieve it without selfishness. +In the base herd of ignoble men who profited by the efforts of these +great leaders, the malignant passions were rapidly gaining strength by +the very magnitude of their triumphs. The removal of danger was +producing its usual effect, among the Allies, of reviving jealousy. +Conquest was spreading its invariable discord in the cupidity to share +its fruits. These divisions had early appeared after the battle of +Ramilies, when the Emperor Joseph, as a natural mark of gratitude to +the general who had delivered his people from their oppressors, as +well as from a regard to his own interests, appointed Marlborough to +the general command as viceroy of the Netherlands. The English general +was highly gratified by this mark of confidence and gratitude; and the +appointment was cordially approved of by Queen Anne and the English +cabinet, who without hesitation authorized Marlborough to accept the +proffered dignity. But the Dutch, who had already begun to conceive +projects of ambition by an accession of territory to themselves on the +side of Flanders, evinced such umbrage at this appointment, as tending +to throw the administration of the Netherlands entirely into the hands +of the English and Austrians, that Marlborough had the magnanimity<!-- Page 670 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_670" id="Page_670">[Pg 670]</a></span> to +solicit permission to decline an honour which threatened to breed +disunion in the alliance.<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> This conduct was as disinterested as it +was patriotic; for the appointments of the government, thus declined +from a desire for the public good, were no less than sixty thousand +pounds a-year.</p> + +<p>Although, however, Marlborough thus renounced this splendid +appointment, yet the court of Vienna were not equally tractable, and +evinced the utmost jealousy at the no longer disguised desire of the +Dutch to gain an accession of territory, and the barrier of which they +were so passionately desirous, at the expense of the Austrian +Netherlands. The project also got wind, and the inhabitants of +Brabant, whom difference of religion and old-established national +rivalry had long alienated from the Dutch, were so much alarmed at the +prospect of being transferred to their hated neighbours, that it at +once cooled their ardour in the cause of the alliance, and went far to +sow the seeds of irrepressible dissension among them. The Emperor, +therefore, again pressed the appointment on Marlborough; but from the +same lofty motives he continued to decline, professing a willingness, +at the same time, to give the Emperor every aid privately in the new +government which was in his power; so that the Emperor was obliged to +give a reluctant consent. Notwithstanding this refusal, the jealousy +of the Dutch was such, that on the revival of a report that the +government had been again confirmed to the Duke of Marlborough, they +were thrown into such a ferment, that in the public congress the +Pensionary could not avoid exclaiming in the presence of the English +ambassador, "Mon Dieu! est-il possible qu'on voudrait faire ce pas +sans notre participation?"<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></p> + +<p>The French government were soon informed of this jealousy, and of the +open desire of the Dutch for an accession of territory on the side of +Flanders, at the expense of Austria; and they took advantage of it, +early in the summer of 1706, to open a secret negotiation with the +States-general for the conclusion of a separate peace with that +republic. The basis of this accommodation was to be a renunciation by +the Duke of Anjou of his claim to the crown of Spain, upon receiving +an equivalent in Italy: he offered to recognize Anne as Queen of +England, and professed the utmost readiness to secure for the Dutch, +<i>at the expense of Austria</i>, that barrier in the Netherlands, to which +he conceived them to be so well entitled. These proposals elated the +Dutch government to such a degree, that they began to take a high +hand, and assume a dictatorial tone at the Hague: and it was the +secret belief that they would, if matters came to extremities, be +supported by France in this exorbitant demand for a slice of Austria, +that made them resist so strenuously the government of the Low +Countries being placed in such firm and vigorous hands as those of +Marlborough. Matters had come to such a pass in October and November +1706, that Godolphin regarded affairs as desperate, and thought the +alliance was on the point of being dissolved.<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a><!-- Page 671 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_671" id="Page_671">[Pg 671]</a></span> Thus was +Marlborough's usual winter campaign with the confederates rendered +more difficult on this than it had been on any preceding occasion; for +he had now to contend with the consequences of his own success, and +allay the jealousies and stifle the cupidity which had sprung up, out +of the prospect of the magnificent spoil which he himself had laid at +the feet of the Allies.</p> + +<p>But in this dangerous crisis, Marlborough's great diplomatic ability, +consummate address, and thorough devotion to the common good, stood +him in as good stead as his military talents had done him in the +preceding campaign with Villeroi and Vendôme. In the beginning of +November, he repaired to the Hague, and though he found the Dutch in +the first instance so extravagant in their ideas of the barrier they +were to obtain, that he despaired of effecting any settlement of the +differences between them and the Emperor;<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> yet he at length +succeeded, though with very great difficulty, in appeasing, for the +time, the jealousies between them and the cabinet of Vienna, and +obtaining a public renewal of the alliance for the prosecution of the +war. The publication of this treaty diffused the utmost satisfaction +among the ministers of the Allied powers assembled at the Hague; and +this was further increased by the breaking off, at the same time, of a +negotiation which had pended for some months between Marlborough and +the Elector of Bavaria, for a separate treaty with that prince, who +had become disgusted with the French alliance. But all Marlborough's +efforts failed to make any adjustment of the disputed matter of the +barrier, on which the Dutch were so obstinately set; and finding them +equally unreasonable and intractable on that subject, he deemed +himself fortunate when he obtained the adjourning of the question, by +the consent of all concerned, till the conclusion of a general peace.</p> + +<p>After the adjustment of this delicate and perilous negotiation, +Marlborough returned to England, where he was received with transports +of exultation by all classes of the people. He was conducted in one of +the royal carriages, amidst a splendid procession of all the nobility +of the kingdom, to Temple Bar, where he was received by the city +authorities, by whom he was feasted in the most magnificent manner at +Vintners' Hall. Thanks were voted to him by both Houses of Parliament; +and when he took his seat in the House of Peers, the Lord Keeper +addressed him in these just and appropriate terms—"What your Grace +has performed in this last campaign has far exceeded all hopes, even +of such as were most affectionate and partial to their country's +interest and glory. The advantages you have gained against the enemy +are of such a nature, so conspicuous in themselves, so undoubtedly +owing to your courage and conduct, so sensibly and universally +beneficial to the whole confederacy, that to attempt to adorn them +with the colouring of words would be vain and inexcusable. Therefore I +decline it, the rather because I should certainly offend that great +modesty which alone can and does add lustre to your actions, and which +in your Grace's example has successfully withstood as great trials, as +that virtue has met with in any instance whatsoever." The House of +Commons passed a similar resolution;<!-- Page 672 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_672" id="Page_672">[Pg 672]</a></span> and the better to testify the +national gratitude, an annuity of £5000 a-year, charged upon the +Post-Office, was settled upon the Duke and Duchess, and their +descendants male or female; and the dukedom, which stood limited to +heirs-male, was extended also to heirs-female, "in order," as it was +finely expressed, "that England might never be without a title which +might recall the remembrance of so much glory."</p> + +<p>So much glory, however, produced its usual effect in engendering +jealousy in little minds. The Whigs had grown spiteful against that +illustrious pillar of their party; they were tired of hearing him +called the just. Both Godolphin and Marlborough became the objects of +excessive jealousy to their own party; and this, combined with the +rancour of the Tories, who could never forgive his desertion of his +early patron the Duke of York, had well-nigh proved fatal to him when +at the very zenith of his usefulness and popularity. Intrigue was rife +at St James's. Parties were strangely intermixed and disjointed. Some +of the moderate Tories were in power; many covetous Whigs were out of +it. Neither party stood on great public principle, a sure sign of +instability in the national councils, and ultimate neglect of the +national interests. Harley's intrigues had become serious; the prime +minister, Godolphin, had threatened to resign. In this alarming +juncture of domestic affairs, the presence of Marlborough produced its +usual pacifying and benign influence. In a long interview which he had +with the Queen on his first private audience, he settled all +differences; Godolphin was persuaded to withdraw his resignation; the +cabinet was re-constructed on a new and harmonious basis, Harley and +Bolingbroke being the only Tories of any note who remained in power; +and this new peril to the prosecution of the war, and the cause of +European independence, was removed.</p> + +<p>Marlborough's services to England and the cause of European +independence in this campaign, recall one mournful feeling to the +British annalist. All that he had won for his country—all that +Wellington, with still greater difficulty, and amidst yet brighter +glories, regained for it, has been lost. It has been lost, too, not by +the enemies of the nation, but by itself; not by an opposite faction, +but by the very party over whom his own great exploits had shed such +imperishable lustre. Antwerp, the first-fruits of Ramilies—Antwerp, +the last reward of Waterloo—Antwerp, to hold which against England +Napoleon lost his crown, has been abandoned to France! An English +fleet has combined with a French army to wrest from Holland the +barrier of Dutch independence, and the key to the Low Countries. The +barrier so passionately sought by the Dutch has been wrested from +them, and wrested from them by British hands; a revolutionary power +has been placed on the throne of Belgium; Flanders, instead of the +outwork of Europe against France, has become the outwork of France +against Europe. The tricolor flag waves in sight of Bergen-op-Zoom; +within a month after the first European war, the whole coast from +Bayonne to the Texel will be arrayed against Britain! The Whigs of +1832 have undone all that the Whigs of 1706 had done—all that the +glories of 1815 had secured. Such is the way in which nations are +ruined by the blindness of faction.</p> +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES.</h3> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Continued from No. I., in July 1845, Vol. lviii. p. 1.</p></div> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> "C'est le retard de toutes les troupes Allemandes qui +dérange nos affaires. Je ne saurais vous expliquer la situation où +nous sommes qu'en vous envoyant les deux lettres ci jointes,—l'une +que je viens de recevoir du Prince de Bade, et l'autre la réponse que +je lui fais. En vérité notre état est plus à plaindre que vous ne +croyez; mais je vous prie que cela n'aille pas outre. <i>Nous perdons la +plus belle occasion du monde—manque des troupes qui devaient être ici +il y a deja longtemps</i>. Pour le reste de l'artillerie Hollandaise, et +les provisions qui peuvent arriver de Mayence, vous les arrêterez, +s'il vous plait, pour quelques jours, jusqu'à ce que je vous en +écrive."—<i>Marlborough à M. Pesters; Trêves, 31 Mai 1705. Despatches</i>, +II. 60-1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Even so late as the 8th June, Marlborough wrote.—"J'ai +d'abord pris poste dans ce camp, où je me trouve à portée +d'entreprendre la siège de Saar-Louis, si les troupes qui devaient +avoir été ici il y a quelques jours m'avaient joint. Cependant je n'ai +pas jusqu'ici un seul homme qui ne soit à la solde d'Angleterre ou de +la Hollande. Les troupes de Bade ne peuvent arriver avant le 21 au +plutôt; quelques-uns des Prussiens sont encore plus en arrière; et +pour les trois mille chevaux que les princes voisins devaient nous +fournir pour méner l'artillerie et les munitions, et sans quoi il nous +sera impossible d'agir, je n'en ai aucune nouvelle, nonobstant toutes +mes instances. J'ai grand peur même qu'il n'y ait, à l'heure même que +je vous écris celle-ci, des regulations en chemin de la Haye qui +détruiront entièrement tous nos projets de ce côté. Cette situation me +donne tant d'inquiétude que je ne saurais me dispenser de vous prier +d'en vouloir part à sa Majesté Impériale."—<i>Marlborough au Comte de +Wroteslau; Elft, 8 Juin 1705. Despatches</i>, II. 85.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> "Par ces contretemps tous nos projets de ce côté-ci sont +évanouis, au moins pour le present; et j'espère que V.A. me fera la +justice de croire que j'ai fait tout ce qui a dependu de moi pour les +faire réussir. Si je pouvais avoir l'honneur d'entretenir V.A. pour +une seule heure, je lui dirai bien des choses, par où elle verrait +combien je suis à plaindre. J'avais 94 escadrons et 72 bataillons, +tous à la solde de l'Angleterre et de la Hollande; de sorte que, si +l'on m'avait secondé nous aurions une des plus glorieuses campagnes +qu'on pouvait souhaiter. Après un tel traitment, V.A., je suis sûr, ne +m'aurait pas blâmé si j'avais pris la résolution <i>de ne jamais plus +servir</i>, comme je ne ferai pas aussi, je vous assure, après cette +campagne, à moins que de pouvoir prendre des mésures avec l'empereur +sur lesquelles je pourrais entièrement me fier."—<i>Marlborough à +Eugène, 21 Juin 1705. Despatches</i>, II. 124.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> "It is a justice I owe to the Duke of Marlborough to +state, that the whole honour of the enterprise, executed with so much +skill and courage, is entirely due to him."—<i>Overkirk to +States-general, 19th July 1705. Coxe</i>, II. 151.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> "On Wednesday, it was unanimously resolved we should pass +the Dyle, but that afternoon there fell so much rain as rendered it +impracticable; but the fair weather this morning made me determine to +attempt it. Upon this the deputies held a council with all the +generals of Overkirk's army, who have unanimously retracted their +opinions, and declared the passage of the river too dangerous, which +resolution, in my opinion, <i>will ruin the whole campaign</i>. They have, +at the same time, proposed to me to attack the French on their left; +but I know they will let that fall also, as soon as they see the +ground. It is very mortifying to meet more obstruction from friends +than from enemies; but that is now the case with me; yet I dare not +show my resentment for fear of alarming the Dutch."—<i>Marlborough to +Godolphin, 29th July 1705. Coxe</i>, II. 158.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Bolingbroke to Marlborough, August 18, 1705. <i>Coxe</i>, II. +160.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Marlborough to the States, Wavre, 19th August 1705. +<i>Desp</i>. II. 224.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Dutch Generals' Mem. <i>Coxe</i>, II. 174.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> "Several prisoners whom we have taken, as well as the +deserters, assure us, that they should have made no other defence but +such as might have given them time to draw off their army to Brussels, +where their baggage was already gone. By this you may imagine how I am +vexed, seeing very plainly I am joined with people who will never do +any thing."—<i>Marlborough to Godolphin, August 24 1705</i>. +</p><p> +"M. Overkirk et moi avons d'abord été reconnaitre les postes que nous +voulions attaquer, et l'armée étant rangée en bataille sur le midi, +nous avions tout d'esperer, avec la benediction du ciel, vu notre +supériorité, et la bonté des troupes, une heuruse journée; mais MM. +les deputés de l'état ayant voulu consulter leurs généraux, et les +trouvant de differentes sentiments d'avec M. Overkirk et moi, ils +n'ont pas voulu passer outre. De sorte que tout notre dessein, après +l'avoir méné jusque là, a échoué, et nous avons rebroussé chemin pour +aller commencer la démolition des Lignes, et prendre Leau. Vous pouvez +bien croire, Monsieur, que je suis au désespoir d'être obligé +d'essuyer encore ce contretemps; mais je vois bien qu'il ne faut pas +plus songer à agir offensivement avec ces messieurs, puisqu' ils ne +veulent rien risquer quand même ils ont tout l'advantage de leur +côté."—<i>Marlborough au Comte de Wartenberg, Wavre, 20 Août 1705. +Despatches</i>, II. 226.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> "This vast addition of renown which your Grace has +acquired, and the wonderful preservation of your life, are subjects +upon which I can never express a thousandth part of what I feel. +<i>France and faction are the only enemies England has to fear</i>, and +your Grace will conquer both; at least, while you beat the French, you +give a strength to the Government which the other dares not contend +with."—<i>Bolingbroke to Marlborough, May 28, 1706. Coxe</i>, II. 358.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> "I shall attend the Queen at the thanksgiving on +Thursday next: I assure you I shall do it, from every vein within me, +having scarce any thing else to support either my head or heart. The +<i>animosity and inveteracy one has to struggle against is +unimaginable</i>, not to mention the difficulty of obtaining things to be +done that are reasonable, or of satisfying people with reason when +they are done."—<i>Godolphin to Marlborough, May 24, 1706.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Duke of Marlborough to Mr Secretary Harley, June 14, +1706.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> "The consequences of this battle are likely to be +greater than that of Blenheim; for we have now the whole summer before +us, and, with the blessing of God, I will make the best use of it. +<i>For as I have had no council of war before this battle, so I hope to +have none during the whole campaign;</i> and I think we may make such +work of it as may give the Queen the glory of making a safe and +honourable peace, for the blessing of God is certainly with +us."—<i>Marlborough to Lord Godolphin, May 27, 1706. Coxe, II. 365.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Marlborough to Mr Secretary Harley, 3d June 1706. <i>Desp. +II.</i> 554.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Marlborough to Duchess of Marlborough, May 31, 1706.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> Marlborough to Secretary Harley, Helchin, 9th August +1706. <i>Desp</i>. III. 69.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Marlborough to Duke of Savoy, Helchin, 25th August 1706. +<i>Desp</i>. III. 101.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> Marlborough to Godolphin, September 4, 1706. <i>Coxe</i>, +III. 10.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> "If the Dutch can furnish ammunition for the siege of +Mons, we shall undertake it; for if the weather continues fair, we +shall have it much cheaper this year than the next, when they have had +time to recruit their army. The taking of that town would be a very +great advantage to us for the opening of next campaign, which we must +make if we would bring France to such a peace as will give us quiet +hereafter."—<i>Marlborough to Godolphin, October 14, 1706. Coxe</i>, III. +14.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> "M. de Vendôme tells his officers he has one hundred and +forty battalions and one hundred and eighty squadrons, and that, if my +Lord Marlborough gives him an opportunity, he will pay him a visit +before this campaign ends. I believe he has neither will nor power to +do it, which we shall see quickly, for we are now camped in so open a +country that if he marches to us we cannot refuse +fighting."—<i>Marlborough to Lord Godolphin, October 14, 1706</i>. +<i>Ibid.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> "I have now received confirmation of the success in +Italy, from the Duke of Savoy and Prince Eugene, and it is impossible +for me to express the joy it has given me; <i>for I not only esteem, but +really love, that Prince</i>. This glorious action must bring France so +low, that if our friends can be persuaded to carry on the war one year +longer with vigour, we could not fail, with God's blessing, to have +such a peace as would give us quiet in our days. But the Dutch are at +this time unaccountable."—<i>Marlborough to the Duchess, Sept. 26, +1706. Coxe</i>, III. 20, 21.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> "Your highness, I am sure, will rejoice at the signal +advantage which the arms of his Imperial Majesty and the Allies have +gained. <i>You have had so great a hand in it, by the succours you have +procured</i>, that you must permit me to thank you again."—<i>Eugene to +Marlborough, 20th Sept. 1706. Coxe</i>, III. 20.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> "This appointment by the Emperor has given some +uneasiness in Holland, by thinking that the Emperor has a mind to put +the power in this country into the Queen's hands, in order that they +may have nothing to do with it. If I should find the same thing by the +Pensionary, and that nothing can cure this jealousy but my desiring to +be excused from accepting this commission, I hope the Queen will allow +of it; for the advantage and honour I have by this commission is <i>very +insignificant in comparison of the fatal consequences that might be if +it should cause a jealousy between the two nations</i>. And though the +appointments of this government are sixty thousand pounds a-year, I +shall with pleasure excuse myself, since I am convinced it is for her +service, if the States should not make it their request, which they +are very far from doing."—<i>Marlborough to Godolphin, July 1 and 8, +1706. Coxe</i>, III. 391, 393.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> Mr Stepney to Duke of Marlborough, <i>Hague, Jan. 4, 1707. +Coxe</i>, II. 407.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> "Lord Somers has shown me a long letter which he has had +from the Pensionary, very intent <i>upon settling the barrier</i>. The +inclinations of the Dutch are so violent and plain, that I am of +opinion nothing will be able to prevent their taking effect but our +being as plain with them upon the same subject, and threatening to +publish to the whole world the terms for which they solicit."—<i>Lord +Godolphin to Marlborough</i>, Oct. 24, 1706. Coxe, III. 74.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> "My inclinations will lead me to stay as little as +possible at the Hague, though the Pensionary tells me I must stay to +finish the succession treaty and their barrier, which, should I stay +the whole winter, I am very confident would not be brought to +perfection. For they are of so many minds, and are all so very +extravagant about their barrier, that I despair of doing any thing +good till they are more reasonable, which they will not be till they +see that they have it not in their power to dispose of the whole Low +Countries at their will and pleasure, in which the French flatter +them."-<i>Marlborough to Godolphin, Oct. 29, 1706. Coxe</i>, III. 79.</p></div> +</div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="biggap"><!-- Page 673 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_673" id="Page_673">[Pg 673]</a></span></div> +<h2><a name="THE_STUDENT_OF_SALAMANCA" id="THE_STUDENT_OF_SALAMANCA"></a>THE STUDENT OF SALAMANCA.</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Part II</span>.</h3> + +<div class="poem center"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"Por estas montañas,</span><br /> +<span class="i4">Facciosos siguiendo,</span><br /> +<span class="i4">Vamos defendiendo</span><br /> +<span class="i4">La Constitucion."</span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="i6"><i>Himno de Navarra</i>.</span><br /> +</div></div> + +<p>Rarely had the alameda of the picturesque old town of Logroño +presented a gayer or more brilliant appearance than on a certain July +evening of the year 1834. The day had been sultry in the extreme, and +the sun was touching the horizon before the fair Riojanas ventured to +quit their artificially darkened rooms, and the cool shelter of their +well-screened <i>miradores</i>, for the customary promenade. It was +pleasant, certainly, in those sombre apartments, and beneath those +thick awnings, which excluded each ray of sun, although they did not +prevent what little breeze there was from circulating freely between +the heavy stone balustrades or quaintly moulded iron-work of the +spacious balconies, rustling the leaves and blossoms of the +orange-trees, and wafting their fragrance to the languid beauties who +sat dozing, chatting, or love-making within. But if the <i>farniente</i> +and languor induced by the almost tropical heat, were so agreeable as +to tempt to their longer indulgence, on the other hand the <i>paseo</i>, +that indispensable termination to a Spaniard's day, had, upon the +evening in question, peculiar attractions for the inhabitants of +Logroño, and especially for their fairer portion. Within the preceding +three days, a body of troops, in number nearly twenty thousand men, a +large portion of them the pick and flower of the Spanish army, had +been concentrated at Logroño, whence, under the command of Rodil—a +general of high reputation—they were to advance into Navarre, and +exterminate the daring rebels, who, for some months past, had +disturbed the peace of Spain. All had been noise and movement in the +town during those three days; every stable full of horses, every house +crowded with soldiers; artillery and baggage-waggons encumbering the +squares and suburbs; the streets resounding with the harsh clang of +trumpets and monotonous beat of drums; muleteers loading and unloading +their beasts; commissaries bustling about for rations; beplumed and +embroidered staff-officers galloping to and fro with orders; the clash +of arms and tramp of horses in the barrack-yards; the clatter of +wine-cups, joyous song, and merry tinkle of the guitar, from the +various wine-houses in which the light-hearted soldiery were snatching +a moment of enjoyment in the intervals of duty;—such were a few of +the sights and sounds which for the time animated and gave importance +to the usually quiet town of Logroño. Towards evening, the throng and +bustle within the town diminished, and were transferred to the +pleasant walks around it, and especially to the shady and +flower-bordered avenues of the alameda. Thither repaired the proud and +graceful beauties of Castile and Navarre, their raven locks but +partially veiled by the fascinating mantilla, their dark and lustrous +eyes flashing coquettish glances upon the gay officers who accompanied +or hovered around them. Every variety of uniform was there to be seen; +all was blaze, and glitter, and brilliancy; the smart trappings of +these fresh troops had not yet been tattered and tarnished amidst the +hardships of mountain warfare. The showy hussar, the elegant lancer, +the helmeted dragoon, aides-de-camp with their cocked-hats and blue +sashes, crossed and mingled in the crowd that filled the alameda, at +either end of which a band of music was playing the beautiful and +spirit-stirring national airs of Spain. On the one hand arose the +dingy masses of the houses of Logroño, speckled with the lights that +issued from their open casements, their outline distinctly defined +against<!-- Page 674 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_674" id="Page_674">[Pg 674]</a></span> the rapidly darkening sky; on the other side was a wide +extent of corn-field, intersected and varied by rows and clusters of +trees, amongst the branches of which, and over the waving surface of +the corn, innumerable fire-flies darted and sparkled. Here, a group of +soldiers and country girls danced a bolero to the music of a guitar +and tambourine; there, another party was collected round an Andalusian +ballad-singer, of whose patriotic ditties "<i>la Libertad</i>" and "<i>la +inocente Isabel</i>" were the usual themes. In a third place, a few +inveterate gamblers—as what Spanish soldiers are not?—had stretched +themselves upon the grass in a circle, and by the flickering light of +a broken lantern, or of a candle stuck in the earth, were playing a +game at cards for their day's pay, or for any thing else they might +chance to possess. On all sides, ragged, bare-footed boys ran about, +carrying pieces of lighted rope in their hands, the end of which they +occasionally dashed against the ground, causing a shower of sparks to +fly out, whilst they recommended themselves to the custom of the +cigar-smokers by loud cries of "<i>Fuego! Buen fuego! Quien quiere +fuego?</i>"</p> + +<p>At few of the young officers, who, on the evening referred to, paraded +the alameda of Logroño, was the artillery of eyes and fan more +frequently levelled by the love-breathing beauties there assembled, +than at Luis Herrera, who, in the uniform of the cavalry regiment to +which he now belonged, was present upon the paseo. But for him fans +waved and bright eyes sparkled in vain. He was deeply engaged in +conversation with Mariano Torres, who, having recently obtained a +commission in the same corps with his friend, had arrived that evening +to join it. The two young men had parted soon after the death of Don +Manuel Herrera, and had not met since. One of Mariano's first +questions concerned the Villabuenas.</p> + +<p>"The count went to France some months ago, I believe," replied Luis, +dryly.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Torres, "so I heard, and took his daughter with him. But I +thought it probable that he might have returned in the train of his +self-styled sovereign. He is capable of any folly, I should imagine, +since he was mad enough to sacrifice his fine fortune and position in +the country by joining in this absurd rebellion. You of course know +that he has been declared a traitor, and that his estates have been +confiscated?"</p> + +<p>Luis nodded assent.</p> + +<p>"Well, in some respects the count's losses may prove a gain to you," +continued Torres, pursuing the train of his own thoughts, and not +observing that the subject he had started was a painful one to his +friend. "When we have put an end to the war, in a month or two at +furthest, you can go to France, and obtain his consent to your +marriage with his daughter. In the present state of his fortunes he +will hardly refuse it; and you may then return to Spain, and make +interest for your father-in-law's pardon."</p> + +<p>"I am by no means certain," said Herrera, "that the war will be over +so soon as you imagine. But you will oblige me, Mariano, by not +speaking of this again. My engagement with Rita is long at an end, and +not likely ever to be renewed. It was a dream, a vision of happiness +not destined to be realized, and I endeavour to forget it. I myself +put an end to it; and not under present circumstances, perhaps under +none, should I think myself justified in seeking its renewal. Let us +talk of something else—of the future if you will, but not of the +past."</p> + +<p>The hours passed by Luis beside Don Manuel's death-bed, had witnessed +a violent revolution in his feelings and character. Devotedly attached +to his father, who had been the sole friend, almost the only +companion, of his boyhood, the fiercer passions of Herrera's nature +were awakened into sudden and violent action by his untimely fate. A +burning desire of revenge on the unscrupulous faction to which the +persecution, exile, and cruel death of Don Manuel were to be +attributed, took possession of him; and in order to gratify this +desire, and at the same time to fulfil the solemn pledge he had given +to his dying parent, he felt himself at the moment capable of +sacrificing even his love for Rita. No sooner was the mournful +ceremony of the interment over, than he wrote to Villabuena, informing +him, in a few stern words, how those who professed<!-- Page 675 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_675" id="Page_675">[Pg 675]</a></span> like him to be the +defenders of religion and legitimacy, had enacted the part of +assassins and incendiaries, and shed his father's blood upon his own +threshold. This communication he considered to be, without further +comment, a sufficient reply to the proposition made to him by the +count a few days previously. At the same time—and this was by far the +most difficult part of his self-imposed task—he addressed a letter to +Rita, releasing her from her engagement. He felt, he told her, that, +by so doing, he renounced all his fondest hopes; but were he to act +otherwise, and at once violate his oath, and forego his revenge, he +should despise himself, and deserve her contempt. He implored her to +forget their ill-fated attachment, for his own misery would be +endurable only when he knew that he had not compromised her happiness.</p> + +<p>Scarcely had he dispatched these letters, written under a state of +excitement almost amounting to frenzy, when Herrera, in pursuance of a +previously formed plan, and as if to stifle the regrets which a forced +and painful determination occasioned him, hastened to join as a +volunteer the nearest Christino column. It was one commanded by +General Lorenzo, then operating against Santos Ladron and the +Navarrese Carlists. In several skirmishes Herrera signalized himself +by the intrepidity and fury with which he fought. Ladron was taken and +shot, and Lorenzo marched to form the advanced guard of a strong +division which, under the command of Sarsfield, was rapidly nearing +the scene of the insurrection. On the mere approach of the Christino +army, the battalions of Castilian Realistas, which formed, numerically +speaking, an important part of the forces then under arms for Don +Carlos, disbanded themselves and fled to their homes. Sarsfield +continued his movement northwards, took possession, after trifling +resistance, of Logroño, Vittoria, Bilboa, and other towns occupied by +the Carlists; and, after a few insignificant skirmishes, succeeded in +dispersing and disarming the whole of the insurgents in the three +Basque provinces. A handful of badly armed and undisciplined Navarrese +peasants were all that now kept the field for Charles V., and of the +rapid capture or destruction of these, the sanguine Christinos +entertained no doubt. The principal strength of the Carlists was +broken; their arms were taken away; the majority of the officers who +had joined, and of the men of note and influence in the country who +had declared for them, had been compelled to cross the Pyrenees. But +the tenacious courage and hardihood of the Navarrese insurgents, and +the military skill of the man who commanded them, baffled the +unceasing pursuit kept up by the Queen's generals. During the whole of +the winter the Carlists lived like wolves in the mountains, surrounded +by ice and snow, cheerfully supporting the most incredible hardships +and privations. Nay, even under such disadvantageous circumstances, +their numbers increased, and their discipline improved; and when the +spring came they presented the appearance, not of a band of robbers, +as their opponents had hitherto designated them, but of a body of +regular troops, hardy and well organized, devoted to their general, +and enthusiastic for the cause they defended. Their rapid movements, +their bravery and success in several well-contested skirmishes, some +of which almost deserved the name of regular actions, the surprise of +various Christino posts and convoys, the consistency, in short, which +the war was taking, began seriously to alarm the Queen's government; +and the formidable preparations made by the latter for a campaign +against the Carlists, were a tacit acknowledgment that Spain was in a +state of civil war.</p> + +<p>In the wild and beautiful valley of the Lower Amezcoa, in the +<i>merindad</i> or district of Estella, a large body of Christino troops +was assembled on the fifteenth day after Rodil's entrance into +Navarre. The numerous forces which that general found under his +command, after uniting the troops he had brought with him with those +already in the province, had enabled him to adopt a system of +occupation, the most effectual, it was believed, for putting an end to +the war. In pursuance of this plan, he established military lines of +communication between the different towns of Navarre and Alava, +garrisoned<!-- Page 676 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_676" id="Page_676">[Pg 676]</a></span> and fortified the principal villages, and having in this +manner disseminated a considerable portion of his army through the +insurgent districts, he commenced, with a column of ten thousand men +that remained at his disposal, a movement through the mountainous +regions, to which, upon his approach, the Carlists had retired. His +object was the double one of attacking and destroying their army, and, +if possible, of seizing the person of Don Carlos, who but a few days +previously had arrived in Spain. The heat of the weather was +remarkable, even for that usually sultry season; the troops had had a +long and fatiguing march over the rugged sierra of Urbasa; and Rodil, +either with a view of giving them rest, or with some intention of +garrisoning the villages scattered about the valley, which had +hitherto been one of the chief haunts of the Carlists, had come to a +halt in the Lower Amezcoa.</p> + +<p>It was two in the afternoon, and, notwithstanding the presence of so +large a body of men, all was stillness and repose in the valley. The +troops had arrived that morning, and after taking up their cantonments +in the various villages and hamlets, had sought refuge from the +overpowering heat. In the houses, the shutters of which were carefully +closed to exclude the importunate sunbeams, in the barns and stables, +under the shadow cast by balconies or projecting eaves, and along the +banks of the stream which traverses the valley, and is noted in the +surrounding country for the crystal clearness and extreme coldness of +its waters, the soldiers were lying, their uniforms unbuttoned, the +stiff leathern stock thrown aside, enjoying the mid-day slumber, which +the temperature and their recent fatigue rendered doubly acceptable. +Here and there, at a short distance from the villages, and further +off, near the different roads and passes that give access to the +valley through or over the gigantic mountain-wall by which it is +encircled, the sun flashed upon the polished bayonets and +musket-barrels of the pickets. The men were lying beside their piled +arms, or had crept under some neighbouring bush to indulge in the +universal <i>siesta</i>; and even the sentries seemed almost to sleep as +they paced lazily up and down, or stood leaning upon their muskets, +keeping but a drowsy watch and careless look-out for an enemy whose +proximity was neither to be anticipated nor dreaded by a force so +superior to any which he could get together.</p> + +<p>Such was the scene that presented itself to one who, having approached +the valley from the south, and ascended the mountains that bound it on +that side, now contemplated from their summit the inactivity of its +occupants. He was a man of the middle height, but appearing rather +shorter, from a slight stoop in the shoulders; his age was between +forty and fifty years, his aspect grave and thoughtful. His features +were regular, his eyes clear and penetrating, a strong dark mustache +covered his upper lip and joined his whisker, which was allowed to +extend but little below the ear. His dress consisted of a plain blue +frock, girt at the waist by a belt of black leather, to which a sabre +was suspended, and his head was covered with a <i>boina</i>, or flat cap, +of the description commonly worn in the neighbourhood of the Pyrenees, +woven in one piece of fine scarlet wool, and decorated with a <i>borla</i>, +or tassel of gold cord, spreading like a star over the crown of the +head. In his hand he held a telescope, which he rested on the top of a +fragment of rock, and through which he attentively noted what passed +in the valley below. The case of the field-glass was slung across his +body by a strap, and, upon inspection, a name would have been found +stamped upon its leathern surface. It was that of Tomas +Zumalacarregui.</p> + +<p>A short distance in rear of the Carlist leader, and so posted as not +to be visible from the valley, stood a little group of officers, and +persons in civilian garb, and a few orderlies, one of whom held the +general's horse. Behind, a battalion of infantry was drawn up—fine, +muscular, active fellows, inured to every hardship, and as indifferent +to the scorching heat to which they were now exposed, as they had been +to the bitter cold in the mountains amongst which they had passed the +preceding winter. Their appearance was not very uniform in its +details; short jackets,<!-- Page 677 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_677" id="Page_677">[Pg 677]</a></span> loose trousers, and sandals, composed the +dress of most of them—one well adapted to long marches and active +movements—and they all wore caps similar to those of the officers, +but of a blue colour, and coarser material. A second battalion of +these hardy guerillas was advancing with light and elastic step up the +rugged and difficult path; and this was followed by two others, which, +as fast as they arrived, were formed up by their officers in the best +manner that the uneven nature of the ground would admit. Half a dozen +mules, laden with ammunition, brought up the rear. When the four +battalions, consisting together of nearly three thousand men, were +assembled on the summit of the mountain, the arms were piled, and the +soldiers allowed to sit down or repose themselves as they chose from +the fatigues of their long and wearisome ascent, and of a march that +had lasted from early dawn.</p> + +<p>The mountain upon which these troops were now stationed was less +precipitous upon its inner side than most of those that surrounded the +valley. It shelved gradually downwards, broken here and there by +ravines, its partially wooded slopes forming a succession of terraces, +which extended right and left for a distance of more than a mile. At +the foot of these slopes, and immediately below the spot occupied by +the Carlists, a low hill ran off at right angles from the higher +range, projecting into the valley as a promontory does into the sea. +With the exception of the side furthest from the mountains, which +consisted of pasture land, the base and skirts of this hill were +covered with oak and chestnut, and upon the clearing on its summit +stood a shepherd's hut, whence was commanded a view of a considerable +extent of the face of the sierra, as well as of the entrance of a +neighbouring pass that led out of the valley in the direction of +Estella. At this hut a Christino picket was stationed, to which, when +the Carlist chief had completed his general survey of the valley, his +attention became more particularly directed. The outpost consisted of +about thirty men, little, brown-complexioned, monkey-faced creatures +from the southern provinces, who, sunk in fancied security and in the +indolence natural to them, were neglecting their duty to an extent +which might seriously have compromised the safety of the Christino +army, had it depended upon their vigilance. The majority of them were +lying asleep in and around the picket-house, which was situated on one +side of the platform, within fifty yards of the trees. Of the three +sentinels, one had seated himself on a stone, with his musket between +his knees, and, having unbuttoned the loose grey coat that hung like a +sack about his wizened carcass, was busily engaged in seeking, between +his shirt and his skin, for certain companions whom he had perhaps +picked up in his quarters of the previous night, and by whose presence +about his person he seemed to be but moderately gratified. One of the +other two sentries had wandered away from the post assigned to him, +and approached his remaining comrade, with the charitable view of +dividing with him a small quantity of tobacco, which the two were now +deliberately manufacturing into paper cigars, beguiling the time as +they did so by sundry guardroom jokes and witticisms.</p> + +<p>An almost imperceptible smile of contempt curled the lip of +Zumalacarregui as he observed the unmilitary negligence apparent in +the advanced post of the Christinos. It was exchanged for a proud and +well-pleased glance when he turned round and saw his gallant Navarrese +awaiting in eager suspense a signal to advance upon the enemy, whom +they knew to be close at hand. Zumalacarregui walked towards the +nearest battalion, and on his approach the men darted from their +various sitting and reclining postures, and stood ready to seize their +muskets, and fall into their places. Their chief nodded his +approbation of their alacrity, but intimated to them, by a motion of +his hand, that the time for action was not yet come.</p> + +<p>"<i>Paciencia, muchachos!</i>" said he. "Patience, you will not have long +to wait. Refresh yourselves, men, whilst the time is given you. +Captain Landa!" cried he, raising his voice.</p> + +<p>The officer commanding the light<!-- Page 678 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_678" id="Page_678">[Pg 678]</a></span> company of the battalion stepped +forward, and, halting at a short distance from his general, stood +motionless, with his hand to his cap, awaiting orders.</p> + +<p>"Come with me, Landa," said Zumalacarregui; and, taking the officer's +arm, he led him to the spot whence he had been observing the valley, +and pointed to the Christino picket.</p> + +<p>"Take your company," said he, "and fetch me those sleepy fellows here; +without firing a shot if it be possible."</p> + +<p>The officer returned to his men, and, forming them up with all speed, +marched them off at a rapid pace. When they had disappeared amongst +the rocks, Zumalacarregui turned to the chief of his staff.</p> + +<p>"Colonel Gomez," said he, "take the third and fourth battalions, and +move them half a mile to our left, keeping them well out of sight. We +are not strong enough to attack in the plain, but we shall perhaps get +our friends to meet us in the mountain."</p> + +<p>Gomez—a tall, portly man, of inexpressive countenance, and whose +accent, when he spoke, betrayed the Andalusian—proceeded to execute +the orders he had received, and Zumalacarregui once more resumed his +post of observation.</p> + +<p>The carelessness of the Christino picket, and the practice which the +Carlists had already had in a warfare of stratagem and surprise, +enabled the company of light infantry to execute, with great facility, +the instructions they had received. The young ensign who commanded the +outpost was walking listlessly along the edge of the wood, cursing the +wearisome duty entrusted to him, and referring to his watch to see how +far still the hour of relief was off, when he was suddenly struck to +the ground by a blow from a musket-butt, and before he could attempt +to rise, the point of a bayonet was at his throat. At the same instant +three score long-legged Navarrese dashed from under cover of the wood, +bayoneted the sentinels, surrounded the picket-house, and made +prisoners of the picket. The surprise was complete; not a shot had +been fired, and all had passed with so little noise that it appeared +probable the <i>coup-de-main</i> would only become known to the Christinos +when the time arrived for relieving the outposts.</p> + +<p>A trifling oversight, however, on the part of the Carlists, caused +things to pass differently. A soldier belonging to the picket, and who +was sleeping amongst the long grass, just within the wood, had escaped +all notice. The noise of the scuffle awoke him; but on perceiving how +matters stood, he prudently remained in his hiding-place till the +Carlists, having collected the arms and ammunition of their prisoners, +began to reascend the mountain. At a distance of three hundred yards +he fired at them, and then scampered off in the contrary direction. +His bullet took no effect, and the retreating guerillas, seeing how +great a start he had, allowed him to escape unpursued. But the report +of his musket spread the alarm. The pickets right and left of the one +that had been surprised, saw the Carlists winding their way up the +mountain; the vedettes fired, and the drums beat to arms. The alarm +spread rapidly from one end of the valley to the other, and every part +of it was in an instant swarming with men. Dragoons saddled and +artillery harnessed; infantry formed up by battalions and brigades; +generals and aides-de-camp dashed about hurrying the movements of the +troops, and asking the whereabouts of the enemy. This information they +soon obtained. No sooner was the alarm given, than Zumalacarregui, +relying upon the tried courage of his soldiers, and on the advantage +of his position, which must render the enemy's cavalry useless, and +greatly diminish the effect of the artillery, put himself at the head +of his two battalions, and rapidly descended the mountain, dispatching +an officer after Gomez with orders for a similar movement on his part. +Before the Carlists reached the plain, the Christinos quartered in the +nearest village advanced to meet them, and a smart skirmish began.</p> + +<p>Distributed along the clifts and terraces of the mountain, kneeling +amongst the bushes and sheltered behind the trees that grew at its +base, the Carlists kept up a steady fire,<!-- Page 679 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_679" id="Page_679">[Pg 679]</a></span> which was warmly replied to +by their antagonists. In the most exposed situations, the Carlist +officers of all ranks, from the ensign to the general, showed +themselves, encouraging their men, urging them to take good aim, and +not to fire till they could distinguish the faces of their enemies, +themselves sometimes taking up a dead man's musket and sending a few +well-directed shots amongst the Christinos. Here a man was seen +binding the sash, which forms part of the dress of every Navarrese +peasant, over a wound that was not of sufficient importance to send +him to the rear; in another place a guerilla replenished his scanty +stock of ammunition from the cartridge-belt of a fallen comrade, and +sprang forward, to meet perhaps, the next moment, a similar fate. On +the side of the Christinos there was less appearance of enthusiasm and +ardour for the fight; but their numbers were far superior, and each +moment increased, and some light guns and howitzers that had been +brought up began to scatter shot and shell amongst the Carlists, +although the manner in which the latter were sheltered amongst wood +and rock, prevented those missiles from doing them very material +injury. The fight was hottest around the hill on which the picket had +been stationed, now the most advanced point of the Carlist line. It +was held by a battalion, which, dispersed amongst the trees that +fringed its sides, opposed a fierce resistance to the assaults of the +Christinos. At last the latter, weary of the protracted skirmishing, +by which they lost many men, but were unable to obtain any material +advantage, sent forward two battalions of the royal guards to take the +hill at the point of the bayonet. With their bugles playing a lively +march, these troops, the finest infantry in the Spanish army, advanced +in admirable order, and without firing a shot, to perform the duty +assigned to them. On their approach the Carlists retreated from the +sides of the hill, and assembled in the wood on its summit, at the +foot of the higher mountains. One battalion of the guards ascended the +hill in line, and advanced along the open ground, whilst the other +marched round the skirt of the eminence to take the Carlists in flank. +The Navarrese reserved their fire till they saw the former battalion +within fifty yards of them, and then poured in a deadly volley. The +ranks of the Christinos were thinned, but they closed them again, and, +with levelled bayonets and quickened step, advanced to clear the wood, +little expecting that the newly-raised troops opposed to them would +venture to meet them at close quarters. The event, however, proved +that they had undervalued their antagonists. Emerging from their +shelter, the Carlists brought their bayonets to the charge, and, with +a ringing shout of "<i>Viva Carlos Quinto!</i>" rushed upon their foe. A +griding clash of steel and a shrill cry of agony bore witness to the +fury of the encounter. The loss on both sides was severe, but the +advantage remained with the Carlists. The guards, unprepared for so +obstinate a resistance, were borne back several paces, and thrown into +some confusion. But the victors had no time to follow up their +advantage, for the other Christino battalion had entered the wood, and +was advancing rapidly upon their flank. Hastily collecting their +wounded, the Carlists retired, still fighting, to the higher ground in +their rear. At the same moment Zumalacarregui, observing a body of +fresh troops making a movement upon his right, as if with the +intention of outflanking him, ordered the retreat to be sounded, and +the Carlist line retired slowly up the mountains. Some of Rodil's +battalions followed, and the skirmishing was kept up with more or less +spirit till an end was put to it by the arrival of night.</p> + +<p>From the commencement of the fight, several squadrons of the Queen's +cavalry had remained drawn up near a village in which they had their +quarters, at about a mile from the left of the Carlists. A short +distance in front of the line, a number of officers had collected +together, and were observing the progress of the combat, in which the +impracticability of the ground for horsemen prevented them from taking +a share. There was considerable grumbling, especially amongst the +juniors, at the inactivity to which they found themselves condemned.<!-- Page 680 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_680" id="Page_680">[Pg 680]</a></span></p> + +<p>"If this is the kind of fighting we are always to have," said a young +cornet sulkily, "they might as well have left us in our garrisons. We +were a deuced deal more comfortable, and quite as useful, in our snug +quarters at Valladolid. The faction, it is well known, have no +cavalry, and you will not catch their infernal guerillas coming down +into the plain to be sabred at leisure."</p> + +<p>"No," said another subaltern, "but they are forming cavalry, it is +said. Besides, we may catch their infantry napping some day, as they +did our picket just now."</p> + +<p>"Pshaw!" replied the first speaker. "Before that time comes every +horse in the brigade will be lame or sore-backed, and we ourselves +shall be converted into infantry men. All respect for lance and +sabre—but curse me if I would not rather turn foot-soldier at once, +than have to crawl over these mountains as we have done for the last +fortnight, dragging our horses after us by the bridle. For six hours +yesterday did I flounder over ground that was never meant to be trod +by any but bears or izards, breaking my spurs and shins, whilst my +poor nag here was rubbing the skin off his legs against rocks and +tree-stumps. When I entered the cavalry I expected my horse would +carry me; but if this goes on, it is much more likely I shall have to +carry him."</p> + +<p>"A nice set of fellows you are," said an old grey-mustached captain, +"to be grumbling before you have been a month in the field. Wait a +bit, my boys, till your own flesh and your horses' have been taken +down by hard marching and short commons, and until, if you mount a +hill, you are obliged to hold on by the mane, lest the saddle should +slip back over the lean ribs of your charger. The marches you have as +yet seen are but child's play to what you <i>will</i> see before the +campaign is over."</p> + +<p>"Then hang me if I don't join the footpads," returned the dissatisfied +cornet. "At any rate one would have a little fighting then—a chance +of a broken head or t'other epaulet; and that is better than carrying +a sabre one never has to draw. Why, the very mules cannot keep their +footing amongst these mountains. Ask our quartermaster, whom I saw +yesterday craning over the edge of a precipice, and watching two of +his beasts of burden which were going down hill a deal quicker than +they had come up—their legs in the air, and the sacks of corn upon +their backs hastening their descent to some ravine or other, where the +crows no doubt at the present moment are picking their bones. You +should have heard old Skinflint swear. I thought he would have thrown +the muleteer after the mules. And they call this a country for +cavalry!"</p> + +<p>"I certainly fear," said Herrera, who had been listening to the +colloquy, "that as long as the war is confined to these provinces, +cavalry will not be very often wanted."</p> + +<p>"And if they were not here, they would be wanted immediately," said a +field-officer, who was observing the skirmish through a telescope. +"Besides, you young gentlemen have less cause for discontent than any +body else. There may be no opportunity for brilliant charges, but +there is always work for a subaltern's party, in the way of cutting +off detachments, or some such <i>coup-de-main</i>. I see a group of fellows +yonder who will get themselves into trouble if they do not take care."</p> + +<p>All eyes and glasses turned towards the direction in which the major +was looking. It was the hottest moment of the fight; by their +impetuosity and courage the Carlists were keeping at bay the superior +numbers of their antagonists; and on their extreme left, a small party +of horsemen, consisting of four or five officers and a dozen lancers, +had ventured to advance a short distance into the plain. They had +halted at the edge of a <i>manzanal</i>, or cider orchard; and although +some way in advance of their own line, they were at a considerable +distance from any Christino troops; whilst a tolerably good path, +which led up the least precipitous part of the mountains in their +rear, seemed to ensure them an easy retreat whenever it might become +necessary. So confident were they of their safety, that the officers +had dismounted, and were observing the Christino reserves, and the +various bodies of infantry which were advancing<!-- Page 681 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_681" id="Page_681">[Pg 681]</a></span> from the more distant +cantonments. At this moment the officer commanding the cavalry rode up +to the spot where Herrera and his comrades were assembled.</p> + +<p>"Major Gonzalez," said he, "send half a troop to cut off those +gentlemen who are reconnoitring. Let the party file off to the rear, +or their intention will be perceived."</p> + +<p>The subalterns belonging to the squadron under command of Gonzalez, +pressed round him, eager to be chosen for the duty that was to vary +the monotony and inaction of which they had so recently been +complaining.</p> + +<p>"Herrera," said the major, "you have most practice in this sort of +thing. Take thirty men and march them back into the village, out on +the other side, and round that rising ground upon our right. There is +plenty of cover, and if you make the most of it, the game cannot +escape. And, a hint to you—your fellows generally grind their sabres +pretty sharp, I know, and you are not fond of encumbering yourself +with prisoners; but yonder party, judging from their appearance, may +be men of note amongst the rebels, worth more alive than dead. Bring +them in with whole skins if you can. As to the fellows with the red +and white lance-flags, I leave them entirely at your discretion."</p> + +<p>"I shall observe your orders, major," replied Herrera, whose eyes +sparkled at the prospect of a brush with the enemy. "Sergeant +Velasquez, tell off thirty men from the left of the troop."</p> + +<p>The non-commissioned officer, who was introduced to the reader at the +commencement of this narrative, and who now found himself, in +consequence of a change of regiment, in the same squadron as Herrera, +obeyed the order he had received, and the party marched leisurely into +the village. No sooner, however, had they entered the narrow street, +and were concealed from the view of those whom they intended to +surprise, than their pace was altered to a brisk trot, which became a +hand-gallop when they got into the fields beyond the rising ground +referred to by the major. They then struck into a hollow road, +sheltered by bush-crowned banks, and finally reached the long narrow +strip of apple-orchard, at the further angle of which the group of +Carlists was posted. Skirting the plantation on the reverse side to +the enemy, they arrived at its extremity, and wheeling to the left, +cantered on in line, their sabre scabbards hooked up to their belts to +diminish the clatter, the noise of their horses' feet inaudible upon +the grass and fern over which they rode. "Charge!" shouted Herrera, as +they reached the second angle of the orchard; and with a loud hurra +and brandished sabres, the dragoons dashed down upon the little party +of Carlists, now within a hundred paces of them. The dismounted +officers hurried to their horses, and the lancers hastily faced about +to resist the charge; but before they could complete the movement, +they were sabred and ridden over. Herrera, mindful of the orders he +had received, hurried to protect the officers from a similar fate. One +of the latter, who had his back turned to Herrera, and who, although +he wore a sword by his side, was dressed in plain clothes, was in the +very act of getting into the saddle, when a dragoon aimed a furious +cut at his head. Herrera was in time to parry the blow, and as he did +so, the person whose life he had saved, turned round and disclosed the +well-known features of the Conde de Villabuena.</p> + +<p>"Señor Conde!" exclaimed the astonished Luis, "I am grieved"——</p> + +<p>"It is unnecessary, sir," said the count, coldly. "You are obeying +orders, I presume, and doing what you consider your duty. Am I to be +shot here, or taken to your chief?"</p> + +<p>"It is much against my will," answered Herrera, "that I constrain you +in any way. I am compelled to conduct you to General Rodil."</p> + +<p>The count made no reply, but, turning his horse's head in the +direction of the Christino camp, rode moodily onwards, followed, +rather then accompanied, by his captor. A Carlist officer and three +members of the rebel junta were the other prisoners. The lancers had +all been cut to pieces.</p> + +<p>The position in which Herrera now found himself was in the highest +degree embarrassing and painful. Old affection and friendship were +revived<!-- Page 682 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_682" id="Page_682">[Pg 682]</a></span> by the sight of the count; and, had he obeyed his first +impulse, he would frankly have expressed his sorrow at the chance +which had thrown Villabuena into the hands of his foes, and have said +what he could to console him under his misfortune. But the count's +manner was so haughty and repulsive, and he so studiously avoided +recognising in Luis any thing more than an opponent and a captor, that +the words of kindness froze upon the young man's tongue, and during +the few minutes that were required to rejoin the regiment, the silence +remained unbroken. On reaching the spot where the cavalry was still +halted, the detachment was received with loud congratulations on the +successful issue of the expedition.</p> + +<p>"Cleverly managed, Señor Herrera!" said the colonel; "and the +prisoners are of importance. Take them yourself to the general."</p> + +<p>In obedience to this order, Herrera moved off to the part of the field +in which Rodil, surrounded by a numerous and brilliant staff, had +taken his post.</p> + +<p>"Ha!" said the general, when the young officer had made his report, +his quick eye glancing at the prisoners, some of whom were known to +him by sight. "Ha! you have done well, sir, and your conduct shall be +favourably reported at Madrid. The Marquis of Torralva and Count +Villabuena—an important capture this. Your name, sir—and yours, and +yours?" said he sharply to the other prisoners.</p> + +<p>The answers visibly increased his satisfaction. They were all men well +known as zealous and influential partizans of the Pretender. Rodil +paused an instant, and then turned to one of his aides-de-camp.</p> + +<p>"A priest and a firing party," said he. "You have half an hour to +prepare for death," he added, addressing the prisoners. "Rebels taken +with arms in their hands can expect no greater favour."</p> + +<p>Herrera felt a cold chill come over him as he heard this order given +for the instant execution of a man whom he had so long regarded as his +friend and benefactor. Forgetting, in the agitation of the moment, his +own subordinate position, and the impropriety of his interference, he +was about to address the general, and petition for the life of +Villabuena, when he was saved from the commission of a breach of +discipline by the interposition of a third party. A young man in the +uniform of a general officer, of sallow complexion and handsome +countenance, who was stationed upon Rodil's right hand, moved his +horse nearer to that of the general, and spoke a few words to him in a +low tone of voice. Rodil seemed to listen with attention, and to +reflect a moment before replying.</p> + +<p>"You are right, Cordova," said he; "they may be worth keeping as +hostages; and I will delay their death till I can communicate with her +Majesty's government. Let them be strictly guarded, and sent to-morrow +to Pampeluna under good escort. Your name, sir?" said he, turning to +Herrera.</p> + +<p>Herrera told his name and regiment.</p> + +<p>"Luis Herrera," repeated Rodil; "I have heard it before, as that of a +brave and promising officer. Well, sir, since you have taken these +prisoners, you shall keep them. Yourself and a detachment of your +squadron will form part of their escort to Pampeluna."</p> + +<p>The flattering words of his general went but a short way towards +reconciling Luis to the unpleasant task of escorting his former friend +to a captivity which would in all probability find its termination in +a violent death. With a heavy heart he saw Villabuena and the other +prisoners led off to the house that was to serve as their place of +confinement for the night; and still more painful were his feelings, +when he thought of Rita's grief on receiving intelligence of her +father's peril, perhaps of his execution. In order to alleviate to the +utmost of his power the present position of the count, he recommended +him to the care of the officer placed on guard over him, who promised +to allow his prisoner every indulgence consistent with his safe +keeping. And although the escort duty assigned to him was in some +respects so unpleasant to fulfil, Herrera became almost reconciled to +it by the reflection, that he might be able to spare Villabuena much +of the<!-- Page 683 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_683" id="Page_683">[Pg 683]</a></span> hardship and rough treatment to which his captivity exposed +him.</p> + +<p>The first grey light of morning had scarcely appeared in the Lower +Amezcoa, stealing over the mountain-tops, and indistinctly shadowing +forth the objects in the plain, when the stillness that had reigned in +the valley since the conclusion of the preceding day's skirmish, was +broken by the loud and joyous clang of the reveillé. At various points +of the Christino cantonments, the brazen instruments of the cavalry, +and the more numerous, but perhaps less martially sounding, bands of +the infantry regiments, were rousing the drowsy soldiers from their +slumbers, and awakening the surrounding echoes by the wild melody of +Riego's hymn. Gradually the sky grew brighter, the last lingering +stars disappeared, the summits of the western mountains were +illuminated with a golden flush, and the banks and billows of white +mist that rested on the meadows, and hung upon the hillsides, began to +melt away and disappear at the approach of the sun's rays. In the +fields and on the roads near the different villages, the troops were +seen assembling, the men silent and heavy-eyed, but refreshed and +invigorated by the night's repose, the horses champing their bits, and +neighing with impatience. Trains of mules, laden with sacks of corn +and rations, that from their weight might be deemed sufficient load +for as many dromedaries, issued from barn and stable, expending their +superfluous strength and spirit by kicking and biting viciously at +each other, and were ranged in rear of the troops, where also carts +and litters, containing wounded men, awaited the order for departure. +The sergeant-majors called the roll of their troops and companies; +whilst the men, leaning upon their muskets, or sitting at ease in +their saddles, munched fragments of the brown ration bread, smoked the +cigarette, or received from the hands of the tawny-visaged sutlers and +<i>cantinieras</i>, who walked up and down the ranks, an antidote to the +effects of the cool morning air, in the shape of a glass of +<i>aguardiente</i>. When all preparations were completed, and the time +necessary for the forming up of so numerous a body of men had elapsed, +the order to march was given, and the troops moved off in a southerly +direction.</p> + +<p>Whilst this general movement took place, a detachment, consisting of +four companies of infantry, and fifty dragoons, separated itself from +the main body, and took the road to Pampeluna, whither it was to +escort Count Villabuena and his fellow captives. The country to the +north-east of the Amezcoa, through which they would have to pass, was +known to be free from Carlists, with the exception of unimportant +parties of armed peasants; Rodil himself had gone in pursuit of +Zumalacarregui, who had retired in the same direction whence he had +approached the valley; and therefore this escort, although so few in +number, was deemed amply sufficient to convey the prisoners in all +safety to their destination, to which one long day's march would bring +them. The detachment was commanded by a major of infantry—a young man +who had acquired what military experience he possessed in the ease and +sloth of a garrison life, during which, however, thanks to certain +influential recommendations, he had found promotion come so quickly +that he had not the same reason with many of his comrades to be +satisfied with the more active and dangerous service to which he had +recently been called. Inwardly congratulating himself on the change +which his present duty ensured him from the hardships of bivouacs and +bad quarters to at least a day or two's enjoyment of the fleshpots of +Pampeluna, he rode gaily along at the head of the escort, chatting and +laughing with his second in command. Behind him came Herrera and his +dragoons, and in rear of them the prisoners, on either side of whom +marched foot-soldiers with fixed bayonets. The body of infantry +brought up the rear. Strict orders had been given against conversing +with the captives; and Herrera was compelled, therefore, to abandon +the intention he had formed of endeavouring to break down the barrier +of cold reserve within which Count Villabuena had fenced himself, and +of offering such assistance and comfort as it was in his power to +give. He was forced<!-- Page 684 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_684" id="Page_684">[Pg 684]</a></span> to be contented with keeping near the prisoners, +in order to protect them from any abuse or ill-treatment on the part +of the soldiery.</p> + +<p>For some hours the march continued without incident or novelty to vary +its monotony. There was no high-road in the direction the escort was +taking; the way, which was shown them by a peasant, led through +country lanes, over hills, and across fields, as nearly in a straight +line as the rugged and mountainous nature of the country would allow. +Towards noon, the heat, endurable enough during the first hours of the +morning, became excessive. The musket barrels and sabre scabbards +almost burned the fingers that touched them; the coats of the horses +were caked with sweat and dust; and the men went panting along, +looking out eagerly, but in vain, for some roadside fountain or +streamlet, at which to quench the thirst that parched their mouths. +They had reached a beaten road, which, although rough and neglected, +yet afforded a better footing than they had hitherto had, when such +means of refreshment at last presented themselves. It was near the +entrance of a sort of defile formed by two irregular lines of low +hills, closing in the road, which was fringed with patches of trees +and brushwood, and with huge masses of rock that seemed to have been +placed there by the hands of the Titans, or to have rolled thither +during some mighty convulsion of nature from the distant ranges of +mountains. At a short distance from this pass, there bubbled forth +from under a moss-grown block of granite a clear and sparkling +rivulet, which, overflowing the margin of the basin it had formed for +itself, rippled across the road, and entered the opposite fields. Here +a five minutes' halt was called, the men were allowed to quit their +ranks, and in an instant they were kneeling by scores along the side +of the little stream, collecting the water in canteens and +foraging-caps, and washing their hands and faces in the pure element. +The much-needed refreshment taken, the march was resumed.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding that the pass through which the prisoners and their +escort were now advancing was nearly a mile in length, and in many +places admirably adapted for a surprise, the officer in command, +either through ignorance or over-confidence, neglected the usual +precaution of sending scouts along the hills that on either side +commanded the road. This negligence struck Herrera, who knew by +experience, that, with such active and wily foes as the Carlists, no +precaution could be dispensed with, however superfluous it might seem. +Scarcely had the troops entered the defile when he suggested to the +major the propriety of sending out skirmishers to beat the thickets +and guard against an ambuscade.</p> + +<p>"Quite unnecessary, sir," was the reply. "There is no rebel force in +this part of the country that would venture to come within a league of +us."</p> + +<p>"So we are told," said Herrera; "but I have had occasion to see that +one must not always rely on such assurances."</p> + +<p>"I shall do so, nevertheless, in this instance," said the major. "We +have a long march before us, and if I fag the men by sending them +clambering over hills and rocks, I shall lose half of them by +straggling, and perhaps not reach Pampeluna to-night."</p> + +<p>"If you will allow me," said Herrera, "I will send a few of my +dragoons to do the duty. They will hardly be so effective as infantry +for such a service, but it will be better than leaving our flanks +entirely unguarded."</p> + +<p>"I have already told you, sir," replied the major testily, "that I +consider such precaution overstrained and unnecessary. I believe, +Lieutenant Herrera, that it is I who command this detachment."</p> + +<p>Thus rebuked, Herrera desisted from his remonstrances, and fell back +into his place. The march continued in all security through the wild +and dangerous defile; the men, refreshed by their momentary halt, +tramping briskly along, chattering, smoking, and singing snatches of +soldier's songs. It appeared as if the negligence of the major was +likely to be justified, as far as it could be, by the result; for they +were now within two hundred yards of the extremity of the pass, and in +view of the open country. The defile<!-- Page 685 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_685" id="Page_685">[Pg 685]</a></span> was each moment widening, and +the space between the road and the hills was filled up with a wood of +young beech and oak. Herrera himself, who had each moment been +expecting to receive a volley from some ambushed foe, was beginning to +think the danger over, when a man dressed in red uniform, with a +scarlet cap upon his head, and mounted on a white horse, suddenly +appeared at the end of the pass, and tossing his lance, which he +carried at the trail, into his bridle hand, put a trumpet that was +slung round his neck, to his mouth, and blew a loud and startling +blast. The signal, for such it was, did not long remain unanswered. A +hoarse wild shout issued from the wood on either side of the road, and +a volley of musketry resounded through the pass. In an instant the +hills were alive with Carlist soldiers, some reloading the muskets +they had just fired, others taking aim at the Christinos, or fixing +their bayonets in preparation for a closer encounter. Another minute +had scarcely elapsed, when a strong squadron of cavalry, which the +trumpeter had preceded, dashed out of the fields at the extremity of +the pass, formed column upon the road, and levelling their long light +lances, advanced, led on by Zumalacarregui himself, to charge the +astonished Christinos.</p> + +<p>Extreme was the confusion into which the escort was thrown by this +attack, so totally unexpected by every body but Herrera. All was +bewilderment and terror; the men stood staring at each other, or at +their dead and wounded comrades, without even thinking of defending +themselves. This state of stupefaction lasted, however, but a second; +and then the soldiers, without waiting for orders, turned back to +back, and facing the points where the Carlists had stationed +themselves, returned their fire with all the vigour and promptness +which desperation could give. The major—a really brave man, but quite +unequal to an emergency of this nature—knew not what orders to give, +or how to extricate himself and his men from the scrape into which his +own headstrong imprudence had brought them. Foreseeing no possibility +of escape from an enemy who, in numbers and advantage of position, so +far overmatched him, his next thought regarded the prisoners, and he +galloped hastily back to where they stood. The Carlists had probably +received orders concerning them; for neither they nor their immediate +escort had suffered injury from the volley that had played such havoc +with the main body of the detachment.</p> + +<p>"Fire on the prisoners!" shouted the major.</p> + +<p>The guard round Villabuena and his fellow-captives stared at their +officer without obeying. Some of them were reloading, and the others +apparently did not comprehend the strange order.</p> + +<p>"Fire, I say!" repeated the commandant. "By the holy cross! if we are +to leave our bones here, theirs shall whiten beside them."</p> + +<p>More than one musket was already turned in the direction of the doomed +captives, when Herrera, who, at the moment that he was about to lead +his dragoons to the encounter of the Carlist cavalry, just then +appearing on the road, had overheard the furious exclamation of his +superior, came galloping back to the rescue.</p> + +<p>"Stop!" shouted he, striking up the muzzles of the muskets. "You have +no warrant for such cruelty."</p> + +<p>"Traitor!" screamed the major, almost breathless with rage, and +raising his sword to make a cut at Herrera. Before, however, he could +give force to the blow, his eyes rolled frightfully, his feet left the +stirrups, and, dropping his weapon, he fell headlong into the dust. A +Carlist bullet had pierced his heart.</p> + +<p>"Fire at your foes, and not at defenceless prisoners," said Herrera +sternly to the dismayed soldiers. "Remember that your lives shall +answer for those of these men."</p> + +<p>And again placing himself at the head of the cavalry, he led them to +meet Zumalacarregui and his lancers, who were already charging down +upon them.</p> + +<p>But the few seconds that had been occupied in saving Villabuena and +his companions from the slaughter, had made all the difference in the +chances of success. Could Herrera have charged, as he had been about +to do, before the Carlists formed up and advanced, he might, in all +probability,<!-- Page 686 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_686" id="Page_686">[Pg 686]</a></span> owing to the greater skill of his men in the use of +their weapons, and to the superiority of their horses, have broken and +sabred his opponents, and opened the road for the Christino infantry. +Once in the plain, where the dragoons could act with advantage, the +Carlists might have been kept at bay, and a retreat effected. Now, +however, the state of affairs was very different. The lancers, with +Zumalacarregui and several of his staff charging at their head like +mere subalterns, came thundering along the road, and before Herrera +could get his dragoons into full career, the shock took place. In an +instant the way was blocked up with a confused mass of men and horses. +The rear files of the contending cavalry, unable immediately to check +their speed, pushed forward those in front, or forced them off the +road upon the strip of broken ground and brushwood on either side; +friends and foes were mingled together, cutting, thrusting, swearing, +and shouting. But the dragoons, besides encountering the lances of the +hostile cavalry, suffered terribly from the fire of the foot-soldiers, +who came down to the side of the road, blazing at them from within a +few paces, and even thrusting them off their horses with the bayonet. +In so confused a struggle, and against such odds, the superior +discipline and skill of the Christinos was of small avail. Herrera, +who, at the first moment of the encounter, had crossed swords with +Zumalacarregui himself, but who the next instant had been separated +from him by the mêlée, fought like a lion, till his right arm was +disabled by a lance-thrust. The soldier who had wounded him was about +to repeat the blow, when a Carlist officer interfered to save him. He +was made prisoner, and his men, discouraged by his loss, and reduced +already to little more than a third of their original numbers, threw +down their arms and asked for quarter. Their example was immediately +followed by those of the infantry who had escaped alive from the +murderous volleys of their opponents.</p> + +<p>Of all those who took part in this bloody conflict, not one bore +himself more gallantly, or did more execution amongst the enemy, than +our old acquaintance, Sergeant Velasquez. When the charge had taken +place, and the desperate fight above described commenced, he backed +his horse off the narrow road upon which the combatants were cooped +up, into a sort of nook formed by a bank and some trees. In this +advantageous position, his rear and flanks protected, he kept off all +who attacked him, replying with laugh and jeer to the furious oaths +and imprecations of his baffled antagonists. His fierce and determined +aspect, and still more the long and powerful sweep of his broad sabre, +struck terror into his assailants, who found their best aimed blows +and most furious assaults repelled, and returned with fatal effect by +the practised arm of the dragoon. At the moment that Herrera was +wounded, and the fight brought to a close, the mass of combatants had +pressed further forward into the defile, and only three or four of the +rearmost of the Carlists occupied the portion of the pass between +Velasquez and the open country. Just then a shout in his rear, and a +bullet that pierced his shako, warned the sergeant that the infantry +were upon him; and at the same moment he saw his comrades desist from +their defence. Setting spurs to his charger, he made the animal bound +forward upon the road, clove the shoulder of the nearest lancer, rode +over another, and passing unhurt through the rain of bullets that +whistled around him, galloped out of the defile.</p> + +<p>But, although unwounded, Velasquez was not unpursued. A dozen lancers +spurred their horses after him; and although more than half of these, +seeing that they had no chance of overtaking the well-mounted +fugitive, soon pulled up and retraced their steps, three or four still +persevered in the chase. Fortunate was it for the sergeant that the +good horse which he had lost at the venta near Tudela, had been +replaced by one of equal speed and mettle. With unabated swiftness he +scoured along the road through the whirlwind of dust raised by his +charger's feet, until the Carlists, seeing the distance between them +and the object of their pursuit rapidly increasing, gradually +abandoned the race. One man alone continued<!-- Page 687 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_687" id="Page_687">[Pg 687]</a></span> stanch, and seemed not +unlikely to overtake the dragoon. This was no other than the +sergeant's former opponent in the ball-court, Paco the muleteer, now +converted into a Carlist lancer, and who, his sharp-rowelled spurs +goring his horse's sides, his lance in his hand, his body bent forward +as though he would fain have outstripped in his eagerness the speed of +the animal he bestrode, dashed onward with headlong and reckless +violence. His lean and raw-boned but swift and vigorous horse, +scarcely felt the light weight of its rider; whilst Velasquez' +charger, in addition to the solid bulk of the dragoon, was encumbered +with a well-filled valise and heavy trappings. The distance between +pursued and pursuer was rapidly diminishing; and the sergeant, hearing +the clatter of hoofs each moment drawing nearer, looked over his +shoulder to see by how many of his enemies he was so obstinately +followed. Paco immediately recognised him, and with a shout of +exultation again drove the rowels into his horse's belly.</p> + +<p>"<i>Halto! traidor! infame!</i>" yelled the ex-muleteer. "Stop, coward, and +meet your death like a man!"</p> + +<p>His invitation was not long disregarded. Velasquez, having ascertained +that he had but a single pursuer, and that pursuer a man to whom he +owed a grudge and was by no means sorry to give a lesson, pulled up +his horse and confronted Paco, who, nothing daunted, came tearing +along, waving his lance above his head like a mad Cossack, and +shouting imprecations and defiance. As he came up, Velasquez, who had +steadily awaited his charge, parried the furious thrust that was aimed +at him, and at the same time, by a movement of leg and rein which he +had often practised in the <i>manège</i>, caused his horse to bound aside. +Unable immediately to check his steed, Paco passed onwards; but as he +did so, Velasquez dealt him a back-handed blow of his sabre, and the +unlucky Carlist fell bleeding and senseless from the saddle. His +horse, terrified at its rider's fall, galloped wildly across the +country.</p> + +<p>"That makes the half-dozen," said the sergeant coolly, as he looked +down on his prostrate foe; "if every one of us had done as much, the +day's work would have been better."</p> + +<p>And sheathing his sabre, he resumed, but at a more moderate pace, the +flight which had for a moment been interrupted.</p> +<hr style="width: 65%" /> + +<div class="biggap"><!-- Page 688 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_688" id="Page_688">[Pg 688]</a></span></div> +<h2><a name="WHITES_YEARS" id="WHITES_YEARS"></a>WHITE'S THREE YEARS IN CONSTANTINOPLE.</h2> +<div class="gap"/> +<p>The title of "<i>Domestic</i> Manners of the Turks,"<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> given to the +volumes before us, can scarcely be considered as a correct +designation; since it is not in the privacy of their own families, in +their harems and among their children, (scenes in which it would +indeed be rash to challenge comparison with the eloquent author of the +<i>Spirit of the East</i>,) that Mr White has depicted the Turks of the +present day: but rather in the places "where men most do +congregate"—in the <i>bezestans</i> and <i>tcharshys</i> or markets, commonly +called bazars:<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> in the exercise of the various trades and callings, +and the intercourse of professional and commercial relations. The work +is rather a treatise on the corporate bodies and municipal +institutions of Constantinople—a subject hitherto almost untouched by +European writers, and in the investigation of which Mr White has +diligently availed himself of the opportunities afforded him by the +liberal spirit which the events of late years have fostered among the +Turks. The results of these researches are now laid before us, in a +form which, though perhaps not the most popular which might have been +adopted, is not ill calculated to embrace the vast variety of subjects +included in the range of the author's observations. Taking the +bezestans and markets—the focus of business and commerce to which the +various classes of the Stamboul population converge—as the +ground-work of his lucubrations, Mr White proceeds to enumerate in +detail the various trades and handicrafts carried on within the +precincts of these great national marts, the articles therein sold, +and the guilds or incorporated companies, to many of which extensive +privileges have been granted by the sultans for their services to the +state. These topics are diversified by numerous digressions on +politics, religion, criminal law, the imperial harem, the language of +flowers—in short, <i>de omnibus rebus et quibusdam aliis</i>—in the +course of which Mr White gives his readers the benefit of all the +miscellaneous information which has fallen in his way during his three +years' residence among the Osmanlis. Of a work so diffuse in its +nature, it is impossible to give more than an outline; and +accordingly, omitting all mention of those subjects which have been +rendered tolerably familiar to European readers by the narratives of +former travellers, we shall select from these "orient pearls," strung +most literally "at random," such topics as possess most novelty, or on +which Mr White has imparted some novel information.</p> + +<p>The space of ground occupied by the two great bezestans—the jewel or +arms' bezestan, and the silk bezestan—with the surrounding +<i>tcharshys</i>, and other buildings appropriated to trade, forms an +irregular quadrangle of about three hundred and fifty square yards, to +the north of the Mosque of Sultan Bajazet, and west of that of +Noor-Osmanya. "The bezestans originally consisted of isolated +buildings, each with four gates opening nearly to the cardinal points, +which were, and still are, designated after the trades carried on in +booths around or beneath their respective porches. By degrees new +shops, alleys, and enclosures clustered around the original depots, +until the whole were enclosed within walls, arched, roofed, and +provided with lock-up gates and posterns, of which there are twelve +large and about twenty small. They were then subjected to the same +syndical laws that regulate the police and administration of the +parent buildings." They are opened soon after dawn, and closed at +afternoon prayer; and the same regulations are observed at the <i>Missr +Tcharshy</i>, or Egyptian drug-market,<!-- Page 689 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_689" id="Page_689">[Pg 689]</a></span> hereafter to be noticed. The +jewel bezestan alone shuts at mid-day—the former occupants having +been principally janissaries, who held it beneath their dignity to +keep their shops open all day; on Fridays they are closed; and, during +Ramazan, are open only from mid-day to afternoon prayer. The silk +bezestan, being tenanted only by Armenians, is closed on Sundays, and +the saints' days of their calendar, amounting to nearly a fourth of +the year. "With the exception of the two bezestans, the bazars are not +surmounted by domes, the distinctive ornament of almost all public +edifices; ... so that the whole surface, when seen from the Serasker's +Tower, presents a vast area of tiles, without any architectural +relief, and exhibits a monotonous vacuum in the midst of the +surrounding noble mosques and lofty khans."</p> + +<p>The Jewel or Arms' Bezestan (Djevahir or Silah-Bezestany) is the +oldest of these establishments, dating from the time of the conquest +by Mahommed II.; but, having been repeatedly destroyed by fire, the +present edifice of stone was constructed in 1708. It is a lofty oblong +quadrangular building, with fifteen cupolas and four arched gates—the +booksellers', the goldsmiths', the mercers', and the beltmakers'. The +interior consists of a broad alley, intersected by four transverse +alleys with double rows of shops, where the dealers, who are all +Moslems, sit on platforms raised about three feet and a half from the +pavement. They constitute a guild among themselves, presided over by a +sheikh, with a deputy and six elders; and are so highly esteemed for +their probity, that valuable deposits are frequently left in their +charge by persons going on pilgrimage or to distant countries; but +this privilege has lately been interfered with by government, which +has claimed, in failure of heirs, the reversions which formerly fell +to the guild. "It would be an endless task to describe the articles +exposed to sale in Djevahir-Bezestany, which, from jewels being rarely +sold there at present, might be more appropriately called the bezestan +of antiquities." The principal objects of attraction, especially to +foreigners, are the arms, to which Mr White accordingly confines his +remarks: but the once famed Damascus sabres (called <i>Sham</i> or Syrian) +are now held as inferior to those of Khorassan and Persia, (<i>Taban</i> or +polished,) unless anterior to the destruction of the old manufactory +by Timour in 1400; and those of this ancient fabric are now of extreme +rarity and value. "A full-sized Khorassan, or ancient Damascus sabre, +should measure about thirty-five inches from guard to point; the back +should be free from flaws, the watering even and distinct throughout +the whole length: the colour a bluish grey. A perfect sabre should +possess what the Turks call the Kirk Merdevend, (forty gradations:) +that is, the blade should consist of forty compartments of watered +circles, diminishing in diameter as they reach the point. A tolerable +<i>taban</i> of this kind, with plain scabbard and horn handle, is not +easily purchased for less than 2000 piastres; some fetch as much as +5000, and when recognised as extraordinary, there is no limit to the +price. Damascus sabres made prior to 1600 are seldom seen, but modern +blades of less pure temper and lighter colour are common. Their form +is nearly similar to the Khorassan; but the latter, when of +extraordinary temper, will cut through the former like a knife through +a bean-stalk." The shorter swords of bright steel called <i>pala</i>, +watered not in circles, but in waving lines, are mostly from the +manufactory established at Stamboul by Mahommed II. soon after the +conquest, and which maintained its celebrity up to the time of Mourad +IV., the last sultan who headed his armies in person:—"After his +death, the fashion of wearing Khorassan and old Syrian blades was +revived: and the Stamboul manufactory was gradually neglected."</p> + +<p>It is needless to follow Mr White through his dissertations on +handjars, yataghans, and other Oriental varieties of cold steel; but +passing through the booksellers' (Sahhaf) gate of the bezestan, we +find ourselves in the Paternoster Row of Stamboul—a short space +exclusively inhabited by the trade from which the gate derives its +name. The booksellers' guild consists of about forty members, presided +over<!-- Page 690 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_690" id="Page_690">[Pg 690]</a></span> by a sheikh and a council of elders; and is conducted on +principles as rigidly exclusive as those of some corporations nearer +home, it being almost impossible for any one to purchase the good-will +of a shop, unless connected by blood with some of the fraternity: but +Mr White's account of "the trade," and of the bearded Murrays and +Colburns by whom it is carried on, is far from favourable. Competition +being excluded by this monopoly, the prices demanded are so +exorbitant, "that it is common to say of a close-fisted dealer, 'he is +worse than a sahhaf.' The booksellers' stalls are the meanest in +appearance in all the bazars; and the effendy, who lord it over the +literary treasures, are the least prepossessing, and by no means the +most obliging, of the crafts within this vast emporium." There are +some exceptions, however, to this sweeping censure. Suleiman Effendi, +father of the imperial historiographer, Sheikh-Zadeh Assad Effendi, is +celebrated as a philologist; and Hadji-Effendi, though blind, "appears +as expert in discovering the merits of a MS. or printed work as the +most eagle-eyed of his contemporaries, and is moreover full of +literary and scientific information." Catalogues are unknown, and the +price even of printed books, after they have passed out of the hands +of the editor, is perfectly arbitrary; but the commonest printed books +are double the relative rate in Europe. The value of MSS. of course +depends on their rarity and beauty of transcription; a finely +illuminated Koran cannot be procured for less than 5000 or 6000 +piastres, and those written by celebrated caligraphers fetch from +25,000 to even 50,000. Mr White estimates the average number of +volumes on a stall at about 700, or less than 30,000 in the whole +bazar; but among these are frequently found works of great rarity in +the "three languages," (Arabic, Persian, and Turkish.) Of those most +in request, a catalogue is given, comprising the usual range of +Oriental literature.</p> + +<p>There are about forty public libraries in Constantinople, but many of +these are within the principal mosques, and therefore not easily +accessible to Europeans. They are all endowed with ample funds for +their maintenance and the salaries of their librarians, who frequently +add considerably to their emoluments by transcribing MSS:—"but it +does not appear that these funds are employed in adding to these +collections; so that in point of numbers they remain nearly as when +first founded." Each library has not only a simple nomenclature, but a +<i>catalogue raisonnée</i> containing a summary of each work; and the +books, most of which are transcribed on vellum or highly glazed paper, +are bound in the manner of a tuck pocket-book, in dark morocco or +calf, with the titles written on the outside of the margin, and are +laid on their sides on the shelves. The floors are covered with mats, +and on one or more sides are low divans for the use of the students, +who leave their slippers at the door; a narrow desk in front of the +divans supports the volumes in use. Neither fire, candle, nor smoking, +is permitted; and the libraries in general are open daily, except on +Friday, and during Ramazan and the two Beirams, from about 9 <span class="smcap">a.m.</span> to +afternoon prayer; those present at the time of mid-day prayer, quit +their studies and perform their devotions in common.</p> + +<p>Many of the most valuable and costly of the illuminated MSS. are in +the two libraries of the seraglio, the larger of which, containing at +present 4400 volumes, is the most extensive collection of books in +Constantinople: but they can scarcely be reckoned among the public +libraries, as admission to them is obtained with difficulty, and only +by special permission, even by Moslems. Besides the MSS. in the great +seraglio library, among the most valuable of which is a magnificent +copy of the Arabic poem of Antar, and another of the Gulistan, the +great moral poem of Saadi, there is a canvass genealogical tree, +containing portraits of all the sovereigns of the house of Osman, from +originals preserved in the sultan's private library. Next in +importance is the library of the mosque of Aya Sofia (St Sophia,) +founded by Mohammed the Conqueror, which is rich in valuable MSS. and +contains a Koran said to have been written by the hand of the Khalif +Ali, the son-in-law of the Prophet:<!-- Page 691 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_691" id="Page_691">[Pg 691]</a></span> another attributed to the same +source, as well as one ascribed to the Khalif Omar, are in the library +of Osman III., attached to the beautiful mosque of Noor-Osmanya. But +the most interesting of the public libraries, though the number of its +volumes does not exceed sixteen hundred, is that of the grand-vizir +Raghib Pasha, a celebrated patron of learning in the middle of the +last century. It stands in an enclosed court, which also contains a +free school, fountains, and the monuments of the founder and his +family. The library itself is a lofty square chamber, with a central +dome and four semi-domes, supported by marble columns, and round the +apartment "runs a complete and most correct version of the celebrated +Boorda of the poet Keab," (a poem composed in honour of Mohammed by an +Arab contemporary,) "in gold letters, fourteen inches long, on a green +ground, forming an original and brilliant embellishment." Its contents +include some of the richest and rarest specimens of Persian and Arabic +caligraphy; and the founder's note-book, with a copy of his divan, +(poetical works,) is also exhibited: "the former proves that he was +not unaccomplished as a draughtsman and architect.... There is a +lightness and elegance in this building which renders it superior to +all others: but he survived its foundation only three years. His +remains are deposited in the north-east angle of the court, on an +elevated terrace, beneath open marble canopy, protected by a wirework +trellis. This, with the roses and myrtles, and the figs, vines, +pomegranates, and cypresses, that cast their shade around, gives it +the appearance of a noble aviary, more than that of a repository for +the dead: and the doves that nestle in the overhanging branches, and +fill the air with their querulous notes, add to the delusion."</p> + +<p>The total number of volumes in all the public libraries is believed +not to exceed 75,000, of which at least a fourth are duplicates; "it +must be remembered, however, that, with a few modern exceptions, the +whole are MSS. admirably transcribed, elaborately embellished: and +thus, taking one volume with another, the sums paid for each work far +exceed the average price of rare printed editions in Europe." Besides +these stores of Oriental lore, the library of the medical academy +established by Mahmood II. in the palace of Galata Serai, contains +several hundred volumes of the best French medical works, which the +professors are allowed to carry to their own apartments—a privilege +not allowed in any other library. The art of printing was first +introduced in 1726, by a Hungarian renegade named Ibrahim, (known as +<i>Basmadji</i>, or the printer,) who was patronised by the Sultan Achmet +III;—but the establishment languished after his death; and though +revived in 1784 by Sultan Abdoul Hamid, it was only after the +destruction of the janissaries, the enemies of every innovation, that +the press began to exhibit any thing like activity. At present there +are four imperial printing establishments; and the types, which were +formerly cast in Venice, being now manufactured in Stamboul, a marked +improvement has taken place in the character. Though the Koran, and +all religious and doctrinal works, are still transcribed exclusively +by hand, the art of printing is regarded with great jealousy by the +booksellers, who hold that "presses are made from the calcined wood of +Al-Zacum, the dread tree of the lowest pit; while transcribers have +their seats near the gate of the seventh heaven." The newspaper press +of Stamboul is still in its infancy—for though the <i>Takwim</i>, or +<i>Moniteur Ottoman</i>, established in 1831 by Mahmood II. as an official +gazette, was conducted with considerable ability by the original +editor, M. Blaque, and his successor M. Francesschi, the sudden death +of both these gentlemen, within a short period of each other, awakened +strong suspicions of foul play; and the French translation, published +for European circulation, has since sunk into a mere transcript of the +Turkish original, which consists of little but official announcements. +Several attempts made, by Mr Churchill and others, to establish a +non-official paper for the advocacy of Turkish interests, have been +smothered after a brief existence, by the jealousy of Russia and +France: "the result is, that the <i>Moniteur</i><!-- Page 692 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_692" id="Page_692">[Pg 692]</a></span> is a dull court-circular, +and the Smyrna journals, abandoned to chance communications, are +neither prompt nor exact in circulating or detailing events."<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></p> + +<p>The spread of literary cultivation among the Turks of the present day, +and the European education which many of the rising generation have +received, has naturally led to a taste for European literature; and +many possess libraries stored not only with the lore of the East, but +with the choicest treasures of the French and English classics. Ali +Effendi, late ambassador from the Porte to the court of St James's, is +well known to have collected a most extensive and valuable library +during his residence in the regions of the West; and Mr White +enumerates several young Osmanlis distinguished for their +accomplishments in the literature and science of the Franks. Emin +Pasha, the director of the Imperial Military Academy, and Bekir Pasha, +late superintendent of the small-arm manufactory at Dolma-Baktchi, +were both educated in England, the latter at Woolwich and the former +at Cambridge, where he gained a prize for his mathematical +attainments. Fouad Effendi, son of the celebrated poet Izzet-Mollah, +and himself a poet of no small note, "possesses a choice library of +some 2000 volumes, in French, English, and Italian;" and Derwish +Effendi, professor of natural history in the academy of Galata Serai, +"has studied in France and England, and is not less esteemed for his +knowledge than for his modesty." But foremost among this <i>Tugenbund</i>, +the future hopes of Turkey, stands one whose name has already appeared +in the pages of <i>Maga</i>, (Sept. 1841, p. 304,) Achmet Wekif Effendi, +now third dragoman to the Porte, and son of Rouh-ed-deen Effendi, late +Secretary of Legation at Vienna, whom Mr White pronounces, with +justice, "one of the most rising and enlightened young men of the +Turkish empire. His knowledge of the French language is perfect, and +he adds to this an intimate acquaintance with the literature of that +country and of England." While men like these (and we could add other +names to those enumerated by Mr White, from our personal knowledge) +are in training for the future administration of the empire, there is +yet hope of the regeneration of the Osmanli nation.</p> + +<p>In no country is primary instruction more general than in Turkey. Each +of the smaller mosques has attached to it an elementary school, +superintended by the imam, where the children of the lower classes are +taught to read and write, and to repeat the Koran by heart; while +those intended for the liberal professions undergo a long and +laborious course of study at the medressehs or colleges of the great +mosques, some of which are intended to train youth in general +literature, or qualify them for government employments, while others +are devoted to the study of theology and jurisprudence. Mr White +states the number of students in Stamboul, in 1843, at not less than +5000, all of whom were lodged, instructed, and furnished with one meal +a-day, at the expense of the <i>wakoof</i> or foundation, (a term which we +shall hereafter more fully explain,) all their other expenses being at +their own charge; but "the sallow complexions and exhausted appearance +of these young men indicate intense labour, or most limited commons."</p> + +<p>After thus successfully vindicating the Turks from the charge so often +brought against them by travellers who have only spent a few weeks at +Pera, of ignorance and indifference to knowledge, Mr White thus sums +up the general question of education. "For ten men that <i>can</i> read +among Perotes and Fanariotes, there are an equal number that <i>do</i> read +at Constantinople; and, taking the mass of the better classes +indiscriminately, it will be found also that there are more libraries +of useful books in Turkish houses than in those of Greeks and +Armenians." And though "the number of Turkish ladies that can read is +much<!-- Page 693 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_693" id="Page_693">[Pg 693]</a></span> less than those of Pera and the Fanar, those who can read among +the former never open a bad book; while among the latter there is +scarcely one that ever reads a good work, unless it be the catechism +or breviary on certain forced occasions. And while neither Greek nor +Armenian women occupy themselves with literature, Constantinople can +boast of more than one female author. Among the most celebrated of +these is Laila Khanum, niece to the above-mentioned Izzet-Mollah. Her +poems are principally satirical, and she is held in great dread by her +sex, who tremble at her cutting pen. Her <i>divan</i> (collection of poems) +has been printed, and amounts to three volumes. Laila Khanum is also +famed for her songs, which are set to music, and highly popular. +Hassena Khanum, wife of the Hakim Bashy, (chief physician,) is +likewise renowned for the purity and elegance of her style as a +letter-writer, which entitles her to the appellation of the Turkish +Sevigné."</p> + +<p>But we must again diverge, in following Mr White's desultory steps, +from the Turkish fair ones—whom he has so satisfactorily cleared from +Lord Byron's imputation, that</p> + +<div class="poem center"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"They cannot read, and so don't lisp in criticism;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Nor write, and so they don't affect the muse—"</span><br /> +</div></div> + +<p>to his dissertation on the <i>wakoofs</i> above referred to;—a word +implying a deposit or mortgage, and used to designate a species of +tenure under which the greater part of the landed property throughout +the empire is held, and the nature of which is but imperfectly +understood in Europe. These institutions have existed from the +earliest period of Islam; but nowhere to so great an extent as in the +Ottoman empire; where they were divided by Soliman the Magnificent +into three classes, all alike held sacred, and exempt from +confiscation either by the sovereign or courts of law. The first class +comprises the lands or funds absolutely bequeathed to the mosques +either by founders or subsequent benefactors, the revenues of which +are employed in the payment of the imams, khatibs, and other ministers +of religion attached to their service, and to the gratuitous +maintenance of the colleges and hospitals dependent on them; and which +are in all cases amply sufficient for these purposes. "No demands in +the shape of tithes, collections, or entrance-money, are ever made: +the doors of all temples are open to the public without distinction:" +and although the imam usually receives a fee for marriages, +name-givings, circumcisions, and funerals, no demand can be legally +made. The author proceeds to enumerate the endowments in 1842, as +nearly as they could be ascertained, of the seventeen mosques in the +capital entitled to rank as imperial foundations—the richest being +that of Aya-Sofia, amounting to 1,500,000 piastres annually, while the +others vary from 710,000 to 100,000 piastres. The ecclesiastical staff +of an imperial mosque comprehends in general from thirty to forty +persons—the sheikh, who preaches after mid-day prayer on Friday, and +who is a member of the superior ecclesiastical synod, with rank and +privileges nearly similar to those of our bishops:—two or more +khatibs, who recite the khotbah, or prayer for the Prophet and +sultan:—four imams, who alternately read prayers:—twelve to twenty +muezzins, who call to prayers from the minarets:—with fifteen to +twenty subordinate functionaries. The finances of each of the mosques +are regulated by a <i>nazir</i> (inspector) and <i>mutawelly</i>, (accountant,) +who are bound by law to render half-yearly statements; and these +offices, lucrative from the opportunities they afford for +malversation, are usually held for life by the holders for the time +being of high official stations, or sometimes by the heirs of the +founders, who thus secure their lands from forfeiture or confiscation; +or by persons to whom they have been bequeathed, with power to +nominate their successors. The annual revenues of the imperial mosques +being triple their expenditure, the wakoof fund has been often +encroached upon by the Sultan, nominally as a loan under the warrant +of the minister of finance, who checks the accounts of the imperial +nazir; and by these not unfrequent inroads, as well as by the +peculations of the superintendents, the accumulations,<!-- Page 694 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_694" id="Page_694">[Pg 694]</a></span> though great, +are not so enormous as they would otherwise become.</p> + +<p>The second class comprises the funds devoted to the maintenance of +public baths, libraries, fountains, alms-houses, and of useful and +charitable institutions in general. They are frequently charged with +annuities to the representatives of the founder; and in all +foundations for gratuitous education, or distribution of alms or food, +founders' kin have the preference. They are all registered in the +treasury; but the foundation is invalidated if the property assigned +for its support be encumbered by mortgages or other obligations:—nor +can any one labouring under an incurable disease convert freehold +property into wakoof except as a testator, in which case the +inalienable rights of the heirs to two-thirds of the property are +secured:—a third part only, according to law, being otherwise +disposable by will. The third class of wakoofs (called <i>ady</i> or +customary, the others being termed <i>shary</i> or legal, as sanctioned by +religious law) are considered as secular foundations, consisting of +lands purchased by the religious wakoofs from their accumulations, on +reversion at the death of the assigner, or failure of his direct +heirs, for an inconsiderable portion of their value, leaving to the +vendors in the interim the full enjoyment of the property, which is +frequently continued to their nephews and brothers on the same terms. +"At first this plan was not considered lucrative for the wakoofs: but +when the system was widely extended, the multitude of assignments, +which fell in every year from death and default of issue, soon crowned +the speculation with success, in a country where the tenure of life is +eminently uncertain, not only from the caprices of sultans, but from +the constant ravages of plague.... The advantages to sellers were +equally great. They secured themselves from confiscation, and their +heirs from spoliation at their demise. They were enabled to raise +money to the value of a sixth or eighth of their capital, on payment +of a trifling interest, and yet retained the full enjoyment of the +whole for themselves and immediate issue. By founding these wakoofs, +sellers are also enabled to check the extravagance of their children, +who can neither mortgage nor alienate the property—a practice nearly +as common in Turkey as in other countries."</p> + +<p>Not less than three-fourths of the buildings and cultivated lands +throughout the empire, according to the author, and even the imperial +domains, are held under one or other of these wakoof tenures, which +thus represent the great landed interests of the country. Formerly, +the domains belonging to the mosques in each pashalik were let on +annual leases (as the public revenues are still farmed) to <i>multezim</i> +or contractors, generally the pashas of the provinces: but the system +of subletting and dilapidation to which this course of short leases +gave rise, was so ruinous to the agricultural population and the +property of the wakoofs, that a thorough reform was introduced in the +reign of Abdoul-Hamid, the father of Mahmood II. The lands were now +let on life tenancies, (<i>malikania</i>,) on the same system of beneficial +leases and large fines on renewals which prevails with respect to the +property of collegiate and other corporate bodies in England; which +has greatly improved their condition, as it is no longer the interest +of the lessee to rack the peasantry, or damage the property, for the +sake of present advantage. "More than one monarch has entertained +projects of dispossessing the mosques of these privileges, and of +placing the wakoofya under the exclusive superintendence of +government. Sultan Mahmood II. seriously contemplated carrying this +plan into effect, and probably would have done so, had his life been +spared. The government in this case would have paid the salaries of +all sheikhs, priests, and persons attached to the sacred edifices, +together with all repairs and expenses of their dependent +institutions, and would have converted the surplus to state purposes. +Various plans were suggested to Mahmood's predecessors; but during the +existence of the janissaries, no one dared to interfere with +institutions whence the Oolema, (men of law and religion,) intimately +connected with the janissaries, derived invariable profit."</p> + +<p>Returning at length from this long digression to the jewel bezestan, +and<!-- Page 695 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_695" id="Page_695">[Pg 695]</a></span> passing from the south-eastern, or mercers' gate, "through lines +of shops stored with a variety of ready-made articles required by +ladies," we reach the Silk Bezestan, (Sandal Bezestany,) which, like +the other, has four arched gates named after different trades, and is +surmounted by twenty domes, four in a line. Though occupied solely by +Armenians, and regulated by a committee of six Armenian elders, it is +directed by a Turkish kehaya or president, with his deputy, whose duty +it is to superintend the police and collect the government dues. The +scene presented by the interior presents a striking contrast to the +other, and (we regret to say) not at all to the advantage of the +Christians. "The building is gloomy and badly lighted, and appears not +to have been white-washed or cleansed since the first construction; +and while a stranger may repeatedly enter the jewel bezestan, and its +tenants, though they see him gazing with covetous eyes on some +antiquated object, will scarcely condescend to say 'Né istersiniz?' +(what want you?) ... the clamours of the Armenians to attract +purchasers are only to be surpassed by their want of honesty. +Strangers may often pay too much to Turkish shopkeepers, but they will +receive fair weight to a hair: whereas they will be subject not only +to overcharge, but to short quantity, at the hands of the Armeninians +and their more profligate imitators, the Greek dealers." The original +silk manufactories were established before the conquest of +Constantinople at the old capital of Broussa, whence most of the raw +material is still derived, the abundance of mulberry trees in its +neighbourhood being favourable to the nurture of the silkworm; little +Broussa silk is, however, now sold in the sandal bezestany, the +manufacture being principally carried on along the shores of the +Bosphorus. "But within the last ten years, and especially since the +conclusion of commercial treaties with the Porte, the silk trade in +home-made articles has decreased 50 per cent. A large supply of common +imitation goods is now received from England, France, and Italy, and +the richer articles, principally manufactured at Lyons, have +completely superseded those formerly received from Broussa, or +fabricated at Scutari and Constantinople."</p> + +<p>The trade in furs, as well as that in silk, is entirely in the hands +of the Armenians, but has greatly fallen off since the European dress, +now worn by the court and the official personages, replaced the old +Turkish costume. In former times, the quality of the fur worn by +different ranks, and at different seasons of the year, was a matter of +strict etiquette, regulated by the example of the sultan, who, on a +day previously fixed by the imperial astrologer, repaired in state to +the mosque arrayed in furs, varying from the squirrel or red fox, +assumed at the beginning of autumn, to the samoor or sable worn during +the depth of winter; while all ranks of persons in office changed +their furs, on the same day with the monarch, for those appropriated +to their respective grades. The most costly were those of the black +fox and sable, the former of which was restricted, unless by special +permission, to the use of royalty: while sable was reserved for vizirs +and pashas of the highest rank. The price of these furs, indeed, +placed them beyond the reach of ordinary purchasers, 15,000 or 20,000 +piastres being no unusual price for a sable lined pelisse, while black +fox cost twice as much. In the present day the <i>kurk</i> or pelisse is +never worn by civil or military functionaries, except in private: but +it still continues in general use among the sheikhs and men of the +law, "who may be seen mounted on fat ambling galloways, with richly +embroidered saddle-cloths and embossed bridles, attired in kurks faced +with sables, in all the pomp of ancient times." The kurk is, moreover, +in harem etiquette, the recognised symbol of matronly rank:—and its +assumption by a Circassian is a significant intimation to the other +inmates of the position she has assumed as the favourite of their +master. The same rule extends to the imperial palace, where the +elevation of a fair slave to the rank of <i>kadinn</i> (the title given to +the partners of the sultan) is announced to her, by her receiving a +pelisse lined with sables from the <i>ket-khoda</i> or mistress of the +palace, the principal of the seven great female<!-- Page 696 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_696" id="Page_696">[Pg 696]</a></span> officers to whom is +entrusted the management of all matters connected with the harem. The +imperial favourites are limited by law to seven, but this number is +seldom complete; the present sultan has hitherto raised only five to +this rank, one of whom died of consumption in 1842. These ladies are +now always Circassian slaves, and though never manumitted, have each +their separate establishments, suites of apartments, and female slaves +acting as ladies of honour, &c. Their slipper, or (as we should call +it) pin money, is about 25,000 piastres (£240) monthly—their other +expenses being defrayed by the sultan's treasurer. Mr White enters +into considerable detail on the interior arrangements of the seraglio, +the private life of the sultan, &c.; but as it does not appear from +what sources his information is derived, we shall maintain an Oriental +reserve on these subjects.</p> + +<p>The slave-markets and condition of slaves in the East is treated at +considerable length: but as the erroneous notions formerly entertained +have been in a great measure dispelled by more correct views obtained +by modern travellers, it is sufficient to observe, that "the laws and +customs relative to the treatment of slaves in Turkey divest their +condition of its worst features, and place the slave nearly on a level +with the free servitor: nay, in many instances the condition of the +slave, especially of white slaves, is superior to the other; as the +path of honour and fortune is more accessible to the dependent and +protected slave than to the independent man of lower degree." It is +well known that many of those holding the highest dignities of the +state—Halil Pasha, brother-in-law of the Sultan—Khosref, who for +many years virtually ruled the empire, with numberless others, were +originally slaves: and in all cases the liberation of male slaves, +after seven or nine years' servitude, is ordained by <i>adet</i> or custom, +which, in Turkey, is stronger than law. This rule is rarely +infringed:—and excepting the slaves of men in the middle ranks of +life, who frequently adopt their master's trade, and are employed by +him as workmen, they in most cases become domestic servants, or enter +the army, as holding out the greatest prospect of honour and +promotion. The condition of white female slaves is even more +favourable. In point of dress and equipment, they are on a par with +their mistresses, the menial offices in all great harems being +performed by negresses;—and frequent instances occur, where parents +prefer slaves educated in their own families to free women as wives +for their sons:—the only distinction being in the title of <i>kadinn</i>, +which may be considered equivalent to <i>madame</i>, and which is always +borne by these emancipated slaves, instead of <i>khanum</i>, (or <i>lady</i>,) +used by women of free birth. Female slaves are rarely sold or parted +with, except for extreme misconduct; and though it is customary for +their masters, in the event of their becoming mothers, to enfranchise +and marry them, "the facility of divorce is such, that women, if +mothers, prefer remaining slaves to being legally married: as they are +aware that custom prevents their being sold when in the former +condition: whereas their having a family is no bar to divorce when +married."</p> + +<p>The guilds, or corporations of the different trades and professions, +to which allusion has more than once been made, and which constitute +what may be called the municipality of Constantinople, were formerly +mustered and paraded through the city, on every occasion when the +Sandjak-Shereef (or holy banner of Mahommed) was taken from the +seraglio to accompany the army. This gathering, the object of which +was to ascertain the number of men who could be levied in case of +extremity for the defence of the capital, was first ordained by Mourad +IV., <a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> before his march against Bagdad in 1638; when, according to +Evliya Effendi, 200,000 men fit to bear arms passed in review—and the +last muster was in the reign of Mustapha III., at the commencement of +the disastrous war with<!-- Page 697 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_697" id="Page_697">[Pg 697]</a></span> Russia in 1769. Its subsequent discontinuance +is said to have been owing to an insult then offered by the guild of +<i>emirs</i> (or descendants of the Prophet) to the Austrian Internuncio, +who was detected in witnessing incognito the procession of the +Sandjak-Shereef, deemed too sacred for the eyes of an infidel—and a +tumult ensued, in which many Christians were maltreated and murdered, +and which had nearly led to a rupture with the court of Vienna. On +this occasion the number of guilds was forty-six, subdivided into 554 +minor sections; and, excepting the disappearance of those more +immediately connected with the janissaries, it is probable that little +or no change has since taken place. These guilds included not only the +handicraft and other trades, but the physicians and other learned +professions, and even the <i>Oolemah</i> and imams, and others connected +with the mosques. Each marched with its own badges and ensigns, headed +by its own officers, of whom there were seven of the first grade, with +their deputies and subordinates, all elected by the crafts, and +entrusted with the control of its affairs, subject to the approbation +of a council of delegates: while the property of these corporations is +invariably secured by being made <i>wakoof</i>, the nature of which has +been already explained. The shoemakers', saddlers', and tanners' +guilds are among the strongest in point of numbers, and from them were +drawn the <i>élite</i> of the janissaries stationed in the capital, after +the cruel system of seizing Christian children for recruits had been +discontinued; the tailors are also a numerous and resolute craft, +generally well affected to government, to which they rendered +important services in the overthrow of the janissaries in 1826, when +the Sandjak-Shereef<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> was displayed in pursuance of the <i>Fethwa</i> of +the mufti excommunicating the sons of Hadji-Bektash, and the guilds +mustered in arms by thousands for the support of the Sheikh al Islam +and the Commander of the Faithful.</p> + +<p>Among these fraternities, one of the most numerous is that of the +<i>kayikjees</i> or boatmen, of whom there are not fewer than 19,000, +mostly Turks, in the city and its suburbs; while 5000 more, nearly all +of whom are Greeks, are found in the villages of the Bosphorus. They +are all registered in the books of the <i>kayikjee-bashi</i>, or chief of +the boatmen, paying each eight piastres monthly (or twice as much if +unmarried) for their <i>teskera</i> or license: and cannot remove from the +stations assigned them without giving notice. The skill and activity +of these men, in the management of their light and apparently fragile +skiffs, has been celebrated by almost every tourist who has floated on +the waters of the Golden Horn and the Bosphorus: and not less precise +is the accuracy with which is adjusted the number of oars to be +employed by the members of the European <i>corps diplomatique</i>, and the +great officers of the Porte, according to their relative ranks; the +smallest infringement of which would be regarded as an unpardonable +breach of etiquette. The oars and mouldings are painted of the +national colours, with the hulls white or black; the latter colour is +usually affected by the Turkish grandees, with the exception of the +capitan-pasha, who is alone privileged to use a green boat. +Ambassadors-extraordinary are entitled to ten oars; and the same +number is assigned to the grand-vizir, the mufti, and ministers +holding the rank of <i>mushir</i>, or marshal, the highest degree in the +new scale of<!-- Page 698 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_698" id="Page_698">[Pg 698]</a></span> Ottoman precedence. Pashas of the second rank, the +<i>cazi-askers</i> or grand judges of Anatolia and Roumelia, with other +functionaries of equivalent grade, are allowed eight oars, the number +employed by the Austrian Internuncio, and by +ministers-plenipotentiary; while three or five pair of sculls are +allotted to <i>chargés d'affaires</i>, and the heads of different +departments at the Porte. The procession of the sultan, when he +proceeds to the mosque by water, consists of six kayiks, the largest +of which is seventy-eight feet in length, and pulled by twenty-four +rowers—under the old <i>régime</i> the crew was taken from the bostandjis, +whose chief, the bostandji-bashi, held the helm; but since the +abolition of that corps, they have been chosen, without distinction of +creed, from the common boatmen. The imperial barge is distinguished, +independent of its superior size, by the gold-embroidered canopy of +crimson silk, surmounted by crescents at the stern; it is painted +white within and without, with rich gilt mouldings, under which runs a +broad external green border, ornamented with gilded arabesques. The +oars are painted white, with gold scrolls; the stern is adorned with +massive gilt carvings; and the long projecting prow with a +richly-gilded ornament, representing a palm-branch curling upwards. +Behind this flutters a gilded falcon, the emblem of the house of +Osman. The carvings and ornaments of these boats are elaborately +finished, and exquisitely light and graceful. These embellishments, +combined with the loose white dresses, blue-tasselled red caps, and +muscular forms of the boatmen, as they rise from their seats, +vigorously plunge their oars into the dark blue waters, and propel the +kayiks with racehorse speed, give to these splendid vessels an air of +majesty and brilliancy, not less characteristic than original and +imposing.</p> + +<p>Many instances have occurred, in which men have risen from the class +of boatmen to stations of high honour and dignity; the most recent +instance of which was in the case of the arch-traitor Achmet Fevzy +Pasha, who, in 1839, betrayed the Ottoman fleet under his command into +the hands of Mohammed Ali—a deed of unparalleled perfidy, for which +he righteously received a traitor's reward, perishing in January 1843 +(as was generally believed) by poison administered by the orders of +the Egyptian Viceroy. The kayikjees, as a class, are generally +considered, in point of personal advantages, the finest body of men in +the empire; and share with the <i>sakkas</i>, or water-carriers—another +numerous and powerful guild, equally remarkable with the kayikjees for +their symmetry and athletic proportions—the dangerous reputation of +being distinguished favourites of the fair sex—doubly dangerous in a +country where, in such cases, "the cord or scimitar is the doom of the +stronger sex—the deep sea-bed that of the weaker. Money will +counterbalance all crimes in Turkey save female frailty. For this +neither religious law nor social customs admit atonement. Tears, +beauty, youth, gold—untold gold—are of no avail. The fish of the +Bosphorus and Propontis could disclose fearful secrets, even in our +days:"—and as a natural transition, apparently, from cause to effect, +Mr White proceeds, in the next chapter, to give an account of the +Balyk-Bazary, the Billingsgate of Stamboul. But we shall not follow +him through his enumeration of such a carte as throws the glories of a +Blackwall dinner into dim eclipse, and which no other waters of Europe +could probably rival:—since, in Mr White's usual course of digression +upon digression, the mention of the Fishmarket Gate, the usual place +of executions, leads him off again at a tangent to the consideration +of the criminal law, and its present administration in the Ottoman +Empire.</p> + +<p>There is no change among those wrought since the introduction of the +new system, more calculated forcibly to impress those who had known +Constantinople in former years, than the almost total cessation of +those public executions, the sanguinary frequency of which formed so +obtrusive and revolting a feature under the old <i>régime</i>. Since the +fate of the unfortunate Pertef Pasha in 1837, no one has suffered +death for political offences:—and the abolition by Sultan Mahmoud, +immediately after the destruction of the janissaries, of the +<i>Moukhallafat Kalemy</i>, or Court of Confiscations, put an end to the +atrocious<!-- Page 699 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_699" id="Page_699">[Pg 699]</a></span> system which had for centuries made wealth a sufficient +pretext for the murder of its possessors. In all cases of banishment +or condemnation to death, however arbitrary, confiscation of property +inevitably followed: but the wealthy Armenians and Greeks were usually +selected as the victims of these ruthless deeds of despotism and +rapacity; numerous records of which may be seen in the Christian +burying-grounds, where the rudely-carved figure of a headless trunk, +or a hanging man, indicates the fate of the sufferer. But the humane +and politic act of Mahmoud, which rendered riches no longer a crime, +has produced its natural effects in the impulse which has been given +to commercial activity and public confidence by the security thus +afforded to life and property. "The government finds the Armenians +willing to advance money in case of need; and there is scarcely a +pasha of rank who has not recourse to their assistance, which is the +more readily afforded, as the Armenians are aware that their debtors' +lives and property, as well as their own, are secure, and that they +shall not endure extreme persecution in the event of suing those on +whom they have claims."</p> + +<p>In criminal cases, the administration of justice by the Moslem law +appears at all times to have been tempered by lenity; and the extreme +repugnance of the present sultan to sign death-warrants, even in cases +which in this country would be considered as amounting to wilful +murder, has rendered capital punishments extremely rare: while the +horrible death by impalement, and the amputation of the hand for +theft, have fallen into complete disuse. Offences are tried, in the +first instance, in the court of the Cazi-asker or grand judge of +Roumelia or Anatolia, according as the crime has been committed in +Europe or Asia: from this tribunal an appeal lies to the Supreme +Council of justice, the decisions of which require to be further +ratified by the Mufti. The <i>procès-verbal</i> of two of the cases above +referred to, is given at length; in one of which the murderer escaped +condign punishment only because the extreme youth of the only +eye-witness, a slave, nine years old, prevented his testimony from +being received otherwise than as <i>circumstantial</i> evidence:—in the +other, "it being essential to make a lasting and impressive public +example, it was resolved that the criminals should not be put to +death, but condemned to such ignominious public chastisement as might +serve during many years as a warning to others." The sentence in the +former case was ten, and in the latter, seven years' public labour in +heavy irons—a punishment of extreme severity, frequently terminating +in the death of the convict. Nafiz Bey, the principal offender in the +second of the above cases, did not survive his sentence more than +twenty months. "On examining a multitude of condemnations for crimes +of magnitude, the maximum average, when death was not awarded, was +seven years' hard labour in chains, and fine, for which the convict is +subsequently imprisoned as a simple debtor till the sum is paid. The +average punishment for theft, robbery, assault, and slightly wounding, +is three years' hard labour, with costs and damages. These sentences +(of which several examples are given) were referred, according to +established forms, from the local tribunals to the supreme council: +and before being carried into effect, were legalized by a <i>fethwa</i> +(decree) of the Sheikh-Islam, (Mufti,) and after that by the sultan's +warrant; a process affording a triple advantage to the accused, each +reference serving as an appeal."</p> + +<p>The exclusive jurisdiction over the subjects of their own nation, +exercised by the legations of the different European powers in virtue +of capitulations with the Porte, was doubtless at one time necessary +for the protection of foreigners from the arbitrary proceedings of +Turkish despotism; it has, however, given rise to great abuses, and at +the present day its practical effect is only to secure impunity to +crime, by impeding the course of justice. The system in all the +legations is extremely defective; "but in none is it more flagrantly +vicious and ineffective than in that of Great Britain." This is a +grave charge; but only too fully borne out by the facts adduced. Not +fewer than three thousand British subjects are now<!-- Page 700 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_700" id="Page_700">[Pg 700]</a></span> domiciled in and +about the Turkish capital, chiefly vagabonds and desperadoes, driven +by the rigour of English law from Malta and the Ionian Isles:—and +half the outrages in Stamboul "are committed by or charged to the +Queen's adopted subjects, who, well knowing that eventual impunity is +their privilege, are not restrained by fear of retribution." All the +zeal and energy of our consul-general, Mr Cartwright, (in whom are +vested the judicial functions exercised by chancellors of other +legations,) are paralysed by the necessity of adhering to the forms of +British law, the execution of which is practically impossible. "In a +case of murder or felony, for instance,—a case which often occurs—a +<i>pro formâ</i> verdict of guilty is returned; but what follows? The +ambassador has no power to order the law to be carried into effect: +nothing remains, therefore, but to send the accused, with the +depositions, to Malta or England. But the Maltese courts declare +themselves incompetent, and either liberate or send back the prisoner; +and English tribunals do not adjudicate on documentary evidence. The +consequence is, that unless witnesses proceed to England, criminals +must be liberated at Pera, or sent to be liberated at home, for want +of legal testimony. They have then their action at law against the +consul-general for illegal arrest." It appears scarcely credible that +a state of things, so calculated to degrade the British national +character in the eyes of the representatives of the other European +powers, should ever have been suffered to exist, and still more that +it should have remained so long unheeded. A bill was indeed carried +through Parliament in 1835, in consequence of the urgent reclamations +of Lord Ponsonby and Mr Cartwright, for empowering the Crown to remedy +the evil; but though the subject was again pressed by Sir Stratford +Canning in 1842, it still remains a dead letter. Mr White has done +good service in placing this plain and undeniable statement of facts +before the public eye; and we trust that the next session of +Parliament will not pass over without our seeing the point brought +forward by Mr D'Israeli, Mr Monckton Milnes, or some other of those +members of the legislature whose personal knowledge of the East +qualifies them to undertake it. "One plan ought to be adopted +forthwith, that of investing the consul-general with such full powers +as are granted to London police magistrates, or, if possible, to any +magistrates at quarter-sessions. He would then be able to dispose of a +multitude of minor correctional cases, which now pass unpunished, to +the constant scandal of all other nations. The delegated power might +be arbitrary, and inconsistent with our constitutional habits, but the +evil requires extrajudicial measures."</p> + +<p>In pursuing Mr White's devious course through the various marts of +Constantinople, we have not yet brought our readers to the Missr +Tcharshy, or Egyptian market, probably the most diversified and purely +Oriental scene to be seen in Constantinople, and a representation of +which forms the frontispiece to one of the volumes. The building, the +entrance to which is between the Fishmarket Gate and the beautiful +mosque of the Valida, (built by the mother of Mohammed IV.,) consists +of an arcade lighted from the roof, like those of our own capital, 140 +yards long, and 20 wide, filled on each side with shops, not separated +from each other by partitions, so as to impede the view; the tenants +of which are all Osmanlis, and dealers exclusively in perfumes, +spices, &c., imported chiefly through Egypt from India, Arabia, &c. +Here may be found "the Persian atar-gul's perfume," sandalwood, and +odoriferous woods of all kinds from the lands of the East; opium for +the <i>Teryakis</i>, a race whose numbers are happily now daily decreasing; +ambergris for pastilles; "cinnamon and ginger, nutmegs and cloves;" +the pink henna powder brought from Mekka by the pilgrims for tinging +ladies' fingers, though these "rosy-fingered Auroras" (as Mr W. kindly +warns the poetasters of Franguestan) are now only to be found among +slaves and the lower orders, the custom being now utterly exploded +among dames of high degree: "add to the above, spices, roots, +dyewoods, and minerals, and<!-- Page 701 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_701" id="Page_701">[Pg 701]</a></span> colours of every denomination, and an +idea may be formed of the contents of this neatly-arranged and +picturesque bazar. Its magnitude, its abundance and variety of goods, +the order that reigns on every side, and the respectability of the +dealers, render it one of the most original and interesting sights of +the city; it serves to refresh the senses and to dispel the +unfavourable impressions caused on first landing."</p> + +<p>In the foregoing remarks and extracts, it has been our aim rather to +give a condensed view of the information to be derived from the +volumes before us, on topics of interest, than to attempt any thing +like a general abstract of a work so multifarious in its nature, and +so broken into detail, as to render the ordinary rules of criticism as +inapplicable to it as they would be to an encylopædia. In point of +arrangement, indeed, the latter would have the advantage; for a total +absence of <i>lucidus ordo</i> pervades Mr White's pages, to a degree +scarcely to be excused even by the very miscellaneous nature of the +subject. Thus, while constant reference is made, from the first, to +the bezestans, the names of their different gates, &c., no description +of these edifices occurs till the middle of the second volume, where +it is introduced apropos to nothing, between the public libraries and +the fur-market. The chapter headed "Capital Punishments," (iv. vol. +1.) is principally devoted to political disquisitions, with an episode +on lunatic asylums and the medical academy of Galata Serai, while only +a few pages are occupied by the subject implied in the title; which is +treated at greater length, and illustrated by the <i>procès-verbaux</i> of +several criminal trials, at the end of the second volume, where it is +brought in as a digression from the slavery laws, on the point of the +admissibility of a slave's evidence! But without following Mr White +further through the slipper-market, the poultry-market, the +coffee-shops, and tobacco-shops, the fruit and flower market, the +Ozoon Tcharshy or long market, devoted to the sale of articles of +dress and household furniture, <i>cum multis aliis</i>; it will suffice to +say that there is no article whatever, either of luxury or use, sold +in Constantinople, from diamonds to old clothes, of which some +account, with the locality in which it is procurable, is not to be +found in some part or other of his volumes. We have, besides, +disquisitions on statistics and military matters; aqueducts and baths, +marriages and funerals, farriery and cookery, &c. &c.—in fact on +every imaginable subject, except the price of railway shares, which +are as yet to the Turks a pleasure to come. It would be unpardonable +to omit mentioning, however, for the benefit of gourmands, that for +the savoury viands called kabobs, and other Stamboul delicacies, the +shop of the worthy Hadji Mustapha, on the south side of the street +called Divan-Yolly, stands unequaled; while horticulturists and +poetasters should be informed, that in spite of Lord Byron's fragrant +descriptions of "the gardens of Gul in their bloom," the finer +European roses do not sympathize with the climate. Lady Ponsonby's +attempts to introduce the moss-rose at Therapia failed; and the only +place where they have succeeded is the garden of Count Stürmer, the +Austrian Internuncio, whose palace is, in more respects than one, +according to Mr White, the Gulistan of Stamboul society.</p> + +<p>But we cannot take leave of this part of the subject without +remarking, that while all praise is due to Mr White's accuracy in +describing the scenes and subjects on which he speaks from personal +knowledge, his acquaintance with past Turkish history appears to be by +no means on a par with the insight he has succeeded in acquiring into +the usages and manners of the Turks of the present day. The +innumerable anecdotes interspersed through his pages, and which often +mar rather than aid the effect of the more solid matter, are +frequently both improbable and pointless; and the lapses which here +and there occur in matters of historical fact, are almost +incomprehensible. Thus we are told (i. 179,) that the favour enjoyed +(until recently) by Riza Pasha, was owing to his having rescued the +present sultan, when a child, from a reservoir in the Imperial Gardens +of Beglerbey, into which he had been hurled by his father in a fit of +brutal fury—an act wholly alien to the character of Mahmoud, but +which (as Mr<!-- Page 702 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_702" id="Page_702">[Pg 702]</a></span> W. observes,) "will not appear improbable to those +acquainted with Oriental history"—since it is found related, in all +its circumstances, in Rycaut's history of the reign of Ibrahim, whose +infant son, afterwards Mohammed IV., nearly perished in this manner by +his hands, and retained through life the scar of a wound on the face, +received in the fall. This palpable anachronism is balanced in the +next page by a version of the latter incident, in which Mohammed's +wound is said to have been inflicted by the dagger of his intoxicated +father, irritated by a rebuke from the prince (who, be it remarked, +was only seven years old at Ibrahim's death, some years later) on his +unseemly exhibition of himself as a dancer. As a further instance of +paternal barbarity in the Osmanli sultans, it is related how Selim I. +was bastinadoed by command of his father, Bajazet II., for misconduct +in the government of Bagdad! with the marvellous addition, (worthy of +Ovid's <i>Metamorphoses</i>,) that from the sticks used for his punishment, +and planted by his sorrowing tutor, sprung the grove of Tchibookly, +opposite Yenikouy! History will show that Selim and Bajazet never met +after the accession of the latter, except when the rebellious son met +the father in arms at Tchourlou; and it is well known that Bagdad did +not become part of the Ottoman empire till the reign of Soliman the +Magnificent the son of Selim. The mention of the City of the Khalifs, +indeed, seems destined to lead Mr White into error; for in another +story, the circumstances of which differ in every point from the same +incident as related by Oriental historians, we find the Ommiyade +Khalif, Yezid III., who died <span class="smcap">A.D.</span> 723, (twenty-seven years before the +accession of the Abbasides, and forty before the foundation of +Bagdad,) spoken of as an Abbaside khalif of Bagdad! Again, we find in +the list of geographical writers, (ii. 172,) "Ebul Feredj, Prince of +Hama, 1331"—thus confounding the monk Gregory Abulpharagius with the +Arabic Livy, Abulfeda, a prince of the line of Saladin! This last +error, indeed, can scarcely be more than a slip of the pen. But +instances of this kind might be multiplied; and it would be well if +such passages, with numerous idle legends (such as the patronage of +black bears by the Abbasides, and brown bears by the Ommiyades,) be +omitted in any future edition.</p> + +<p>We have reserved for the conclusion of our notice, the consideration +of Mr White's observations on the late <i>constitution</i> (as it has been +called) of Gul-khana, a visionary scheme concocted by Reshid Pasha, +under French influence, by which it was proposed to secure equal +rights to all the component parts of the heterogeneous mass which +constitutes the population of the Ottoman empire. The author's remarks +on this well-meant, but crude and impracticable <i>coup-d'état</i>, evince +a clear perception of the domestic interests and relative political +position of Turkey, which lead us to hope that he will erelong turn +his attention on a more extended scale, to the important subject of +Ottoman politics. For the present, we must content ourselves with +laying before our readers, in an abridged form, the clear and +comprehensive views here laid down, on a question involving the future +interests of Europe, and of no European power more than of Great +Britain.</p> + +<p>"The population of the Turkish empire consists of several distinct +races, utterly opposed to each other in religion, habits, descent, +objects, and in every moral and even physical characteristic. The +Turkomans, Kurds, Arabs, Egyptians, Druses, Maronites, Albanians, +Bosnians, Bulgarians, Greeks, Jews, and Armenians, are so many +distinct nations, inhabiting the same or contiguous soils, without +having intermixed in the slightest degree from their earliest +conquest, and without having a single object in common. Over these +dissentient populations stands the pure Ottoman race, the paramount +nation, charged with maintaining the equilibrium between all, and with +neutralizing the ascendancy of one faction by the aid of others. Were +this control not to exist—were the Turks, who represent their +ancestors, the conquerors of the land, to be reduced to a level with +those now beneath them, or were the preponderating influence of the +former to be destroyed by the elevation and equalization of the +latter, perpetual revolts and civil wars could not fail to ensue. The +dependent<!-- Page 703 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_703" id="Page_703">[Pg 703]</a></span> populations, now constituting so large a portion of the +empire, would continue the struggle until one of them obtained the +supremacy at present exercised by the Turkish race, or until the +territory were divided among themselves, or parcelled out by foreign +powers. In this last hypothesis will be found the whole secret of the +ardent sympathy evinced by most foreigners, especially by the press of +France, for the subjugated races.</p> + +<p>"Many benevolent men argue, that the surest means of tranquillizing +the tributaries of the Porte, and attaching them to the government, is +by raising them in the social scale, and by granting to all the same +rights and immunities as are enjoyed by their rulers. But it has been +repeatedly proved, that concessions do but lead to fresh demands, and +that partial enfranchisement conducts to total emancipation. 'And why +should they not?' is often asked. To this may be replied, that the +possession of the Bosphorus and Dardanelles by any other power, or +fraction of power, than the Porte, would be a source of interminable +discord to Europe, and irreparable detriment to England. It would not +only affect our commerce, and undermine our political influence +throughout the East, but would add enormously to our naval +expenditure, by requiring an augmentation of our maritime force +equivalent to that now remaining neuter in the Golden Horn. Treaties, +it is said, might be concluded, exacting maritime restrictions. But +what are treaties in the face of events? Whoever possesses the +Bosphorus, Propontis, and Archipelago, <i>must</i> become a maritime nation +in spite of treaties. Whoever possesses Constantinople <i>must</i> become a +great manufacturing and exporting nation, in defiance of competition. +In less than half a century, the romantic villas and tapering +cypresses that now fringe the blue Bosphorus, would be replaced by +factories and steam-chimneys—every one of which would be a deadly +rival to a similar establishment in Great Britain. I argue as an +Englishman, whose duty it is to consider the material interests of his +country, now and hereafter, and not to occupy himself with the +theories of political philanthropists.</p> + +<p>"According to the levelling system, recommended as the basis of +reforms, all classes would eventually be assimilated—the desert Arabs +to the laborious Maronites, the intractable Arnoots to the industrious +Bulgarians, the thrifty Armenians to the restless and ambitious +Greeks, and the humble and parsimonious Jews to the haughty and lavish +Osmanlis. Thus, contiguous populations, which now keep each other in +check, because their interests are divergent and their jealousies +inveterate, would find their interests assimilated; and in the event +of opposition to government, the Porte, in lieu of being able to +overcome one sect through the rivalry of another, would find them all +united against the dominant power. The Ottoman government should +therefore avoid establishing any community of rights or interests +among the races subjected to its rule. Each of these races ought to be +governed according to its own usages and individual creed; there +should be uniformity in the principles of administration, but +diversity in the application. The Ottoman tenure cannot be maintained +but by decided and peremptory superiority. Adhesion on the part of the +subjugated is impossible; connexion is all that can be expected; and +to preserve this connexion, the supremacy of conquest must not be +relaxed. The Porte cannot expect attachment; it must consequently +enforce submission. When this absolutism ceases to exist, the power +will pass into other hands; and where is the politician that can +calculate the results of the transfer? One issue may be safely +predicted—England must lose, but cannot gain by the change. With the +increasing embarrassments to commerce and industry, which continental +states are raising against Britain, it is essential that we should not +allow a false cry of philanthropy to throw us off our guard in the +Levant. France in Africa, and Russia on the Danube, are intent on the +same object. Their battle-cries are civilization and religion; their +pretext the improvement of the Christian populations. But who is there +that has studied the recent policy of the one, and the undeviating +system of the other, since the days of Catherine, that can question +for a moment the purport of both? <i>And yet England and Austria have +acted recently as if France were sincere, and Russia disinterested.</i>"</p> +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES.</h3> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> <i>Three Years in Constantinople; or, Domestic Manners of +the Turks in 1844.</i> By <span class="smcap">Charles White, Esq.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> The root of bezestan and bazar is <i>bez</i>, cloth;—of +tcharshy, <i>tchar</i>, four, meaning a square.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> A catalogue of works printed from the establishment of +the press in 1726 to 1820, is given in the notes to Book 65 of Von +Hammer Purgstall's Ottoman History.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> Mr White erroneously calls him Mourad III., and places +the expedition against Bagdad in 1834.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> Mr White here introduces a digression on the other +relics of the Prophet, the Moslem festivals, &c., his account of which +presents little novelty; but he falls into the general error of +describing the Mahmil, borne by the holy camel in the pilgrim caravan, +as containing the brocade covering of the Kaaba, when it is in fact +merely an emblem of the presence of the monarch, like an empty +carriage sent in a procession.—(See <i>Lane's Modern Egyptians</i>, ii. p. +204, 8vo. ed.) It is indeed sufficiently obvious, that a box six feet +high and two in diameter, could not contain a piece of brocade +sufficient to surround a building described by Burckhardt as eighteen +paces long, fourteen broad, and from thirty-five to forty feet high.</p> +</div></div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="biggap"><!-- Page 704 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_704" id="Page_704">[Pg 704]</a></span></div> + +<h2><a name="THE_MOUNTAIN_AND_THE_CLOUD" id="THE_MOUNTAIN_AND_THE_CLOUD"></a>THE MOUNTAIN AND THE CLOUD.</h2> + +<h3>(<span class="smcap">A Reminiscence of Switzerland.</span>)</h3> + +<div class="gap"/> +<p>The cloud is to the mountain what motion is to the sea; it gives to it +an infinite variety of expression—gives it a life—gives it joy and +sufferance, alternate calm, and terror, and anger. Without the cloud, +the mountain would still be sublime, but monotonous; it would have but +a picture-like existence.</p> + +<p>How thoroughly they understand and sympathize with each other—these +glorious playmates, these immortal brethren! Sometimes the cloud lies +supported in the hollow of the hill, as if out of love it feigned +weariness, and needed to be upheld. At other times the whole hill +stands enveloped in the cloud that has expanded to embrace and to +conceal it. No jealousy here. Each lives its own grand life under the +equal eye of heaven.</p> + +<p>As you approach the mountains, it seems that the clouds begin already +to arrange themselves in bolder and more fantastic shapes. They have a +fellowship here. They built their mountains upon mountains—their +mountains which are as light as air—huge structures built at the +giddy suggestion of the passing breeze. Theirs is the wild liberty of +endless change, by which they compensate themselves for their thin and +fleeting existence, and seem to mock the stationary forms of their +stable brethren fast rooted to the earth. And how genially does the +sun pour his beam upon these twin grandeurs! For a moment they are +assimilated; his ray has permeated, has etherealized the solid +mountain, has fixed and defined the floating vapour. What now is the +one but a stationary cloud? what is the other but a risen +hill?—poised not in the air but in the flood of light.</p> + +<p>I am never weary of watching the play of these giant children of the +earth. Sometimes a soft white cloud, so pure, so bright, sleeps, +amidst open sunshine, nestled like an infant in the bosom of a green +mountain. Sometimes the rising upcurling vapour will linger Just above +the summit, and seem for a while an incense exhaling from this vast +censer. Sometimes it will descend, and <i>drape</i> the whole side of the +hill as with a transparent veil. I have seen it sweep between me and +the mountain like a sheeted ghost, tall as the mountain, till the +strong daylight dissolved its thin substance, and it rose again in +flakes to decorate the blue heavens. But oh, glorious above all! when +on some brightest of days, the whole mass of whitest clouds gathers +midway upon the snow-topped mountain. How magnificent then is that +bright eminence seen above the cloud! How it seems rising upwards—how +it seems borne aloft by those innumerable wings—by those enormous +pinions which I see stretching from the cloudy mass! What an ascension +have we here!—what a transfiguration! O Raphael! I will not disparage +thy name nor thy art, but thy angels bearing on their wings the +brightening saint to Heaven—what are they to the picture here?</p> + +<p>Look! there—fairly in the sky—where we should see but the pure +ether—above the clouds which themselves are sailing high in serenest +air—yes, there, in the blue and giddy expanse, stands the solid +mountain, glittering like a diamond. O God! the bewildered reason pent +up in cities, toils much to prove and penetrate thy being and thy +nature—toils much in vain. Here, I reason not—I see. The Great King +lives—lo there is his throne.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>To him who quits the plain for the mountain, how the character of the +cloud alters. That which seemed to belong exclusively to the sky, has +been drawn down and belongs as plainly to the earth. Mount some noble +eminence and look down—you will see the clouds lying <i>on</i> and <i>about</i> +the landscape, as if they had fallen on it. You are on the steadfast +earth, and they are underneath you. You look down perhaps on the lake, +and there is a solitary cloud lying settled on it; when the rest of +the fleecy<!-- Page 705 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_705" id="Page_705">[Pg 705]</a></span> drove had risen from their couch, this idle sleeper had +been left dreaming there.</p> + +<p>Or stay below, and see the sun rise in the valley. When all is warm +and clear upon the heights, and the tops of the hills are fervid with +the beams of heaven, there still lies a cold white mass of cloud about +your feet. It is not yet morning in the valley. There the cloud has +been slumbering all night—there it found its home. It also will by +and by receive the beam, and then it will arise, enveloping the hill +as it ascends; the hill will have a second dawn; the cloud will assume +its proud station in the sky; but it will return again to the valley +at night.</p> + +<p>I am sailing on the lake of Brienz on a day golden with sunbeams. The +high ridge of its rocky castellated hills is distinct as light can +make it. Yet half-way up, amidst the pine forests, there lies upon the +rich verdure a huge motionless cloud. What does it there? Its place +was surely in the sky. But no; it belongs, like ourselves, to the +earth.</p> + +<p>Is nature gaily mocking us, when upon her impregnable hills she builds +these <i>castles in the air</i>? But, good heavens! what a military aspect +all on a sudden does this mountain-side put on. Mark that innumerable +host of pine-trees. What regiments of them are marching up the hill in +the hot sun, as if to storm those rocky forts above! What serried +ranks! and yet there are some stragglers—some that have hastened on +in front, some that have lingered in the rear. Look at that tall +gigantic pine breasting the hill alone, like an old grenadier. How +upright against the steep declivity! while his lengthened shadow is +thrown headlong back behind him down the precipice. I should be giddy +to see such a shadow of my own. I should doubt if it would consent to +be drawn up by the heels to the summit of the mountain—whether it +would not rather drag me down with it into the abyss.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>I have seen hills on which lay the clear unclouded sky, making them +blue as itself. I have gazed on those beautiful far-receding +valleys—as the valley of the Rhone—when they have appeared to +collect and retain the azure ether. They were full of Heaven. Angels +might breathe that air. And yet I better love the interchange, the +wild combination of cloud and mountain. Not cloud that intercepts the +sun, but that reflects its brilliancy, and brightens round the hills. +It is but a gorgeous drapery that the sky lets fall on the broad +Herculean shoulders of the mountain. No, it should not intercept the +beams of the great luminary; for the mountain loves the light. I have +observed that the twilight, so grateful to the plain, is mortal to the +mountain. It craves light—it lifts up its great chalice for +light—this great flower is the first to close, to fade, at the +withdrawal of the sun. It stretches up to heaven seeking light; it +cannot have too much—under the strongest beam it never droops—its +brow is never dazzled.</p> + +<p>But then these clouds, you will tell me, that hover about the +mountain, all wing, all plumage, with just so much of substance for +light to live in them—these very clouds can descend, and thicken, and +blacken, and cover all things with an inexpressible gloom. True, and +the mountain, or what is seen of it, becomes now the very image of a +great and unfathomable sorrow. And only the great can express a great +sadness. This aspect of nature shall never by me be forgotten; nor +will I ever shrink from encountering it. If you would know the gloom +of heart which nature can betray, as well as the glory it can +manifest, you must visit the mountains. For days together, clouds, +huge, dense, unwieldy, lie heavily upon the hills—which stand, how +mute, how mournful!—as if they, too, knew of death. And look at the +little lake at their feet. What now is its tranquillity when not a +single sunbeam plays upon it? Better the earth opened and received it, +and hid for ever its leaden despondency. And now there comes the +paroxysm of terror and despair; deep thunders are heard, and a madness +flashes forth in the vivid lightning. There is desperation amongst the +elements. But the elements, like the heart of man, must rage in +vain—must learn the universal lesson of submission. With them, as +with humanity, despair<!-- Page 706 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_706" id="Page_706">[Pg 706]</a></span> brings back tranquillity. And now the driving +cloud reveals again the glittering summits of the mountains, and light +falls in laughter on the beaming lake.</p> + +<p>How like to a ruined Heaven is this earth! Nay, is it not more +beautiful for being a ruin?</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Who can speak of lakes and not think of thee, beautiful Leman? How +calm! how exquisitely blue! Let me call it a liquid sky that is spread +here beneath us. And note how, where the boat presses, or the oar +strikes, it yields ever a still more exquisite hue—akin to the +violet, which gives to the rude pressure a redoubled fragrance—akin +to the gentlest of womankind, whose love plays sweetest round the +strokes of calamity.</p> + +<p>Oh, there is a woman's heart in thy waters, beautiful Leman!</p> + +<p>I have seen thee in all thy moods, in all thy humours. I have watched +thee in profoundest calm; and suddenly, with little note of +preparation, seen thee lash thy blue waves into a tempest. How +beautiful in their anger were those azure waves crested with their +white foam! And at other times, when all has been a sad unjoyous calm, +I have seen, without being able to trace whence the light had broken, +a soft expanse of brightness steal tremulous over the marble waters. A +smile that seemed to speak of sweet caprice—that seemed to say that +half its anger had been feint.</p> + +<p>Yes, verily there is a woman's heart in thy waters, beautiful Leman!</p> + +<p>I lie rocking in a boat midway between Vevay and Lausanne. On the +opposite coast are the low purple hills <i>couching</i> beside the lake. +But there, to the left, what an ethereal structure of cloud and snowy +mountain is revealed to me! What a creation of that spirit of beauty +which works its marvels in the unconscious earth! The Alps here, while +they retain all the aërial effect gathered from distance, yet seem to +arise from the very margin of the lake. The whole scene is so +ethereal, you fear to look aside, lest when you look again it may have +vanished like a vision of the clouds.</p> + +<p>And why should these little boats, with their tall triangular sails, +which glide so gracefully over the water, be forgotten? The sail, +though an artifice of man, is almost always in harmony with nature. +Nature has adopted it—has lent it some of her own wild +privileges—her own bold and varied contrasts of light and shade. The +surface of the water is perhaps dark and overclouded; the little +upright sail is the only thing that has caught the light, and it +glitters there like a moving star. Or the water is all one dazzling +sheet of silver, tremulous with the vivid sunbeam, and now the little +sail is black as night, and steals with bewitching contrast over that +sparkling surface.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>But we fly again to the mountain. Tourists are too apt to speak of the +waterfall as something independent, something to be visited as a +separate curiosity. There may be some such. But in general, the +waterfall should be understood as part of the mountain—as the great +fountain which adorns the architecture of its rocks, and the gardens +of its pine forests. It belongs to the mountain. Pass through the +valley, and look up; you see here and there thin stripes of glittering +white, noiseless, motionless. They are waterfalls, which, if you +approach them, will din you with their roar, and which are dashing +headlong down, covered with tossing spray. Or ascend the face of the +mountain, and again look around and above you. From all sides the +waterfalls are rushing. They bear you down. You are giddy with their +reckless speed. How they make the rock live! What a stormy vitality +have they diffused around them! You might as well separate a river +from its banks as a waterfall from its mountain.</p> + +<p>And yet there is one which I could look at for hours together, merely +watching its own graceful movements. Let me sit again in imagination +in the valley of Lauterbrunnen, under the fall of the Staubbach. Most +graceful and ladylike of descents! It does not fall; but over the +rock, and along the face of the precipice, developes some lovely form +that nature had at heart;—diffuses itself in down-pointing pinnacles +of liquid vapour, fretted with the finest spray. The<!-- Page 707 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_707" id="Page_707">[Pg 707]</a></span> laws of gravity +have nothing to do with its movements. It is not hurled down; it does +not leap, plunging madly into the abyss; it thinks only of beauty as +it sinks. No noise, no shock, no rude concussion. Where it should dash +against the projecting rock, lo! its series of out-shooting pinnacles +is complete, and the vanishing point just kisses the granite. It +disappoints the harsh obstruction by its exquisite grace and most +beautiful levity, and springs a second time from the rock without +trace of ever having encountered it.</p> + +<p>The whole side of the mountain is here barren granite. It glides like +a spirit down the adverse and severe declivity. It is like Christ in +this world. The famous fall of the Griesbach, near the lake of Brienz, +thunders through the most luxuriant foliage; the Staubbach meets the +bare rock with touches of love, and a movement all grace, and a voice +full of reconcilement.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Mont Blanc! Mont Blanc! I have not scaled thy heights so boldly or so +far as others have, but I will yield to none in worship of thee and +thy neighbour mountains. Some complain that the valley of Chamouni is +barren; they are barren souls that so complain. True, it has not the +rich pastures that lie bordering on the snow in the Oberland. But +neither does it need them. Look <i>down</i> the valley from the pass of the +Col de Balme, and see summit beyond summit; or ascend the lateral +heights of La Flegère, and see the Alps stretched out in a line before +you, and say if any thing be wanting. Here is the sculpture of +landscape. Stretched yourself upon the bare open rock, you see the +great hills built up before you, from their green base to their snowy +summits, with rock, and glacier, and pine forests. You see how the +Great Architect has wrought.</p> + +<p>And for softer beauty, has not the eye been feasted even to +excess—till you cried "hold—enough!" till you craved repose from +excitement—along the whole route, from Lausanne to this spot? What +perfect combinations of beauty and sublimity—of grandeur of outline +with richness of colouring—have you not been travelling through!</p> + +<p>It seems a fanciful illustration, and yet it has more than once +occurred to me, when comparing the scenery of the Oberland with that +of the valley of Chamouni and its neighbourhood; the one resembles the +first work—be it picture or poem—of a great genius; the other, the +second. On his first performance, the artist lavishes beauties of +every description; he crowds it with charms; all the stores of his +imagination are at once unfolded, and he must find a place for all. In +the second, which is more calm and mature, the style is broader, the +disposition of materials more skilful: the artist, master of his +inspiration, no longer suffers one beauty to crowd upon another, finds +for all not only place, but place sufficient; and, above all, no +longer fears being simple or even austere. I dare not say that the +Oberland has a fault in its composition—so charming, so magnificent +have I found it; but let me mark the broad masterly style of this +Alpine region. As you journey from Villeneuve, with what a gentle, +bland magnificence does the valley expand before you! The hills and +rocks, as they increase in altitude, still fall back, and reveal in +the centre the towering <i>Dent du Midi</i>, glittering with its eternal +snows. The whole way to Martigny you see sublimity without admixture +of terror; it is beauty elevated into grandeur, without losing its +amenity. And then, if you cross by the Col de Balme, leaving the +valley of the Rhone as you ascend, and descending upon the valley of +Chamouni, where the Alps curve before you in most perfect +grouping—tell me if it is possible for the heart of man to desire +more. Nay, is not the heart utterly exhausted by this series of scenic +raptures?</p> + +<p>For ever be remembered that magnificent pass of the Col de Balme! If I +have a white day in my calendar, it is the day I spent in thy defiles. +Deliberately I assert that life has nothing comparable to the delight +of traversing alone, borne leisurely on the back of one's mule, a +mountain-pass such as this. Those who have stouter limbs may prefer to +use them; give me for my instrument of progression the legs<!-- Page 708 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_708" id="Page_708">[Pg 708]</a></span> of the +patient and sure-footed mule. They are better legs, at all events, +than mine. I am seated on his back, the bridle lies knotted upon his +neck—the cares of the way are all his—the toil and the anxiety of +it; the scene is all mine, and I am all in it. I am seated there, all +eye, all thought, gazing, musing; yet not without just sufficient +occupation to keep it still a luxury—this leisure to contemplate. The +mule takes care of himself, and, in so doing, of you too; yet not so +entirely but that you must look a little after yourself. That he by no +means has your safety for his primary object is evident from this, +that, in turning sharp corners or traversing narrow paths, he never +calculates whether there is sufficient room for any other legs than +his own—takes no thought of yours. To keep your knees, in such +places, from collision with huge boulders, or shattered stumps of +trees, must be your own care; to say nothing of the occasional +application of whip or stick, and a <i>very</i> strong pull at his mouth to +raise his head from the grass which he has leisurely begun to crop. +Seated thus upon your mule, given up to the scene, with something +still of active life going on about you, with full liberty to pause +and gaze, and dismount when you will, and at no time proceeding at a +railroad speed, I do say—unless you are seated by your own +incomparable Juliet, who has for the first time breathed that she +loves you—I do say that you are in the most enviable position that +the wide world affords. As for me, I have spent some days, some weeks, +in this fashion amongst the mountains; they are the only days of my +life I would wish to live over again. But mind, if you would really +enjoy all this, go alone—a silent guide before or behind you. No +friends, no companion, no gossip. You will find gossip enough in your +inn, if you want it. If your guide thinks it is his duty to talk, to +explain, to tell you the foolish names of things that need no +name—make belief that you understand him not—that his language, be +it French or German, is to you utterly incomprehensible.</p> + +<p>I would not paint it all <i>couleur de rose</i>. The sun is not always +shining.</p> + +<p>There is tempest and foul weather, fatigue and cold, and abundant +moisture to be occasionally encountered. There is something to endure. +But if you prayed to Heaven for perpetual fair weather, and your +prayer were granted, it would be the most unfortunate petition you +could put up. Why, there are some of the sublimest aspects, the +noblest moods and tempers of the great scene, which you would utterly +forfeit by this miserable immunity. He who loves the mountain, will +love it in the tempest as well as in the sunshine. To be enveloped in +driving mist or cloud that obscures every thing from view—to be made +aware of the neighbouring precipice only by the sound of the torrent +that rushes unseen beneath you—how low down you can only guess—this, +too, has its excitement. Besides, while you are in this total blank, +the wind will suddenly drive the whole mass of cloud and thick vapour +from the scene around you, and leave the most glorious spectacle for +some moments exposed to view. Nothing can exceed these moments of +sudden and partial revelation. The glittering summits of the mountains +appear as by enchantment where there had long been nothing but dense +dark vapour. And how beautiful the wild disorder of the clouds, whose +array has been broken up, and who are seen flying, huddled together in +tumultuous retreat! But the veering wind rallies them again, and again +they sweep back over the vast expanse, and hill and valley, earth and +sky, are obliterated in a second.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>He who would ponder what <i>man</i> is, should journey amongst the +mountains. What <i>men</i> are, is best learnt in the city.</p> + +<p>How, to a museful spirit, the heart and soul of man is reflected in +the shows of nature! I cannot see this torrent battling for ever along +its rocky path, and not animate it with human passions, and torture it +with a human fate. Can it have so much turmoil and restlessness, and +not be allied to humanity?</p> + +<p>But all are not images of violence or lessons of despondency. Mark the +Yungfrau, how she lifts her slight and virgin snows fearlessly to the +<!-- Page 709 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_709" id="Page_709">[Pg 709]</a></span> +blazing sun! She is so high, she feels no <i>reflected heat</i>. </p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>How well the simple architecture of the low-roofed buildings of +Switzerland accords with its magnificent scenery! What were lofty +steeples beside Mont Blanc, or turreted castles beside her pinnacles +of granite? Elsewhere, in the level plain, I love the cathedral. I had +lately stood enraptured in the choir of that of Cologne, gazing up at +those tall windows which spring where other loftiest buildings +terminate—windows so high that God only can look in upon the +worshipper.</p> + +<p>But here—what need of the stately edifice, when there is a church +whose buttresses are mountains, whose roof and towers are above the +clouds, verily in the heavens? What need of artificial reminiscences +of the Great King, here where he has built for himself? The plain, it +is <i>man's</i> nature—given to man's wants; there stands his corn, there +flow his milk and honey. But the mountain, it is God's nature—his +stationary tabernacle—reserved for the eye only of man and the +communing of his spirit. If meant to subserve the wants of his earthly +nature, meant still more expressly to kindle other wants. Do they not +indeed lead to Heaven, these mountains? At least I know they lead +beyond this earth.</p> + +<p>There is a little church stands in the valley of Chamouni. It was +open, as is customary in Catholic countries, to receive the visits and +the prayers of the faithful; but there was no service, no priest, nor +indeed a single person in the building. It was evening—and a solitary +lamp hung suspended from the ceiling, just before the altar. Allured +by the mysterious appearance of this lamp burning in solitude, I +entered, and remained in it some time, making out, in the dim light, +the wondrous figures of virgins and saints generally found in such +edifices. When I emerged from the church, there stood Mont Blanc +before me, reflecting the last tints of the setting sun. I am +habitually tolerant of Catholic devices and ceremonies; but at this +moment how inexpressibly strange, how very little, how poor, +contemptible, and like an infant's toy, seemed all the implements of +worship I had just left!</p> + +<p>And yet the tall, simple, wooden cross that stands in the open air on +the platform before the church, this was well. This was a symbol that +might well stand, even in the presence of Mont Blanc. Symbol of +suffering and of love, where is it out of place? On no spot on earth, +on no spot where a human heart is beating.</p> + +<p>Mont Blanc and this wooden cross, are they not the two greatest +symbols that the world can show? They are wisely placed opposite each +other.</p> + +<p>I have alluded to the sunset seen in this valley. All travellers love +to talk a little of their own experience, their good or their ill +fortune. The first evening I entered Chamouni, the clouds had gathered +on the summits of the mountains, and a view of Mont Blanc was thought +hopeless. Nevertheless I sallied forth, and planted myself in the +valley, with a singular confidence in the goodness of nature towards +one who was the humblest but one of the sincerest of her votaries. My +confidence was rewarded. The clouds dispersed, and the roseate sunset +on the mountain was seen to perfection. I had not yet learned to +distinguish that summit which, in an especial manner, bears the name +of Mont Blanc. There is a modesty in its greatness. It makes no +ostentatious claim to be the highest in the range, and is content if +for a time you give the glory of pre-eminence to others. But it +reserves a convincing proof of its own superiority. I had been looking +elsewhere, and in a wrong direction, for Mont Blanc, when I found that +all the summits had sunk, like the clouds when day deserts them, into +a cold dead white—all but one point, that still glowed with the +radiance of the sun when all beside had lost it. There was the royal +mountain.</p> + +<p>What a cold, corpse-like hue it is which the snow-mountain assumes +just after the sun has quitted it. There is a short interval then, +when it seems the very image of death. But the moon rises, or the +stars take up their place, and the mountain resumes its beauty and its +life. Beauty is always life. Under the star-light how ethereal does it +look!</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>In the landscapes of other countries, the house—the habitation of +man—be<!-- Page 710 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_710" id="Page_710">[Pg 710]</a></span> it farm-house or cottage—gathers, so to speak, some of the +country about itself—makes itself the centre of some circle, however +small. Not so in Switzerland. The hooded chalet, which even in summer +speaks so plainly of winter, and stands ever prepared with its low +drooping roof to shelter its eyes and ears from the snow and the +wind—these dot the landscape most charmingly, but yet are lost in it; +they form no group, no central point in the scene. I am thinking more +particularly of the chalets in the Oberland. There is no path +apparently between one and the other; the beautiful green verdure lies +untrodden around them. One would say, the inhabitants found their way +to them like birds to their nests. And like enough to nests they are, +both in the elevation at which they are sometimes perched, and in the +manner of their distribution over the scene.</p> + +<p>However they got there, people at all events are living in them, and +the farm and the dairy are carried up into I know not what altitudes. +Those beautiful little tame cattle, with their short horns, and long +ears, and mouse-coloured skin, with all the agility of a goat, and all +the gentleness of domesticity—you meet them feeding in places where +your mule looks thoughtfully to his footing. And then follows perhaps +a peasant girl in her picturesque cloak made of the undressed fur of +the goat and her round hat of thickly plaited straw, calling after +them in that high sing-song note, which forms the basis of what is +called Swiss music. This cry heard in the mountains is delightful, the +voice is sustained and yet varied—being varied, it can be sustained +the longer—and the high note pierces far into the distance. As a real +cry of the peasant it is delightful to hear; it is appropriate to the +purpose and the place. But defend my ears against that imitation of it +introduced by young ladies into the Swiss songs. Swiss music in an +English drawing-room—may I escape the infliction! but the Swiss +peasant chanting across the mountain defiles—may I often again halt +to listen to it!</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>But from the mountain and the cloud we must now depart. We must wend +towards the plain. One very simple and consolatory thought strikes +me—though we must leave the glory of the mountain, we at least take +the sun with us. And the cloud too, you will add. Alas! something too +much of that.</p> + +<p>But no murmurs. We islanders, who can see the sun set on the broad +ocean—had we nothing else to boast of—can never feel deserted of +nature. We have our portion of her excellent gifts. I know not yet how +an Italian sky, so famed for its deep and constant azure, may affect +me, but I know that we have our gorgeous melancholy sunsets, to which +our island tempers become singularly attuned. The cathedral +splendours—the dim religious light of our vesper skies—I doubt if I +would exchange them for the unmitigated glories of a southern clime.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="biggap"><!-- Page 711 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_711" id="Page_711">[Pg 711]</a></span></div> +<h2><a name="THE_SECOND_PANDORA" id="THE_SECOND_PANDORA"></a>THE SECOND PANDORA.</h2> +<div class="gap"/> +<div class="poem center"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Methought Prometheus, from his rock unbound,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Had with the Gods again acceptance found.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Once more he seem'd his wond'rous task to ply,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">While all Olympus stood admiring by.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To high designs his heart and hands aspire,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To quicken earthly dust with heavenly fire,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Won by no fraud, but lent by liberal love,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To raise weak mortals to the realms above;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">For the bright flame remembers, even on earth,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And pants to reach, the region of its birth.</span><br /> +<span class="i2">A female form was now the artist's care;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Faultless in shape, and exquisitely fair.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Of more than Parian purity, the clay</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Had all been leaven'd with the ethereal ray.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Deep in the heart the kindling spark began,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And far diffused through every fibre ran;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The eyes reveal'd it, and the blooming skin</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Glow'd with the lovely light that shone within.</span><br /> +<span class="i2">The applauding Gods confess'd the matchless sight;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The first Pandora was not half so bright;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">That beauteous mischief, formed at Jove's command,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A curse to men, by Mulciber's own hand;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Whose eager haste the fatal jar to know,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Fill'd the wide world with all but hopeless woe.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">But dawn of better days arose, when He,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The patient Hero, set Prometheus free,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Alcides, to whose toils the joy was given</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To conquer Hell and climb the heights of Heaven.</span><br /> +<span class="i2">In the fair work that now the master wrought,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The first-fruits of his liberty were brought;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The Gods receive her as a pledge of peace,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And heap their gifts and happiest auspices.</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Minerva to the virgin first imparts</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Her skill in woman's works and household arts;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The needle's use, the robe's embroider'd bloom,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And all the varied labours of the loom.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Calm fortitude she gave, and courage strong,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To cope with ill and triumph over wrong;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Ingenuous prudence, with prophetic sight,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And clear instinctive wisdom, ever right.</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Diana brought the maid her modest mien,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Her love of fountains and the sylvan scene;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The Hours and Seasons lent each varying ray</span><br /> +<span class="i0">That gilds the rolling year or changing day.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The cunning skill of Hermes nicely hung,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">With subtle blandishments, her sliding tongue,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And train'd her eyes to stolen glances sweet,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And all the wiles of innocent deceit.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Phœbus attuned her ear to love the lyre,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And warm'd her fancy with poetic fire.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Nor this alone; but shared his healing art,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And robb'd his son of all the gentler part;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Taught her with soothing touch and silent tread</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To hover lightly round the sick one's bed,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And promised oft to show, when medicines fail,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A woman's watchful tenderness prevail.</span><br /> +<!-- Page 712 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_712" id="Page_712">[Pg 712]</a></span> + +<span class="i2">Next Venus and the Graces largely shed</span> +<span class="i0">A shower of fascinations on her head.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Each line, each look, was brighten'd and refined,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Each outward act, each movement of the mind,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Till all her charms confess the soft control,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And blend at once in one harmonious whole.</span><br /> +<span class="i2">But still the Eternal Sire apart remain'd,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And Juno's bounty was not yet obtained.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The voice of Heaven's High Queen then fill'd the ear,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">"A wife and mother, let the Nymph appear."</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The mystic change like quick enchantment shows—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The slender lily blooms a blushing rose.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Three gentle children now, by just degrees,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Are ranged in budding beauty round her knees:</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Still to her lips their looks attentive turn,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And drink instruction from its purest urn,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">While o'er their eyes soft memories seem to play,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">That paint a friend or father far away.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A richer charm her ripen'd form displays,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A halo round her shines with holier rays;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And if at times, a shade of pensive grace</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Pass like a cloud across her earnest face,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Yet faithful tokens the glad truth impart,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">That deeper happiness pervades her heart.</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Jove latest spoke: "One boon remains," he said,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And bent serenely his ambrosial head;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">"The last, best boon, which I alone bestow;"</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Then bade the waters of Affliction flow.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The golden dream was dimm'd; a darken'd room</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Scarce show'd where dire disease had shed its gloom.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A little child in death extended lay,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Still round her linger'd the departing ray.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Another pallid face appear'd, where Life</span><br /> +<span class="i0">With its fell foe maintain'd a doubtful strife.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Long was the contest; changeful hopes and fears</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Now sunk the Mother's soul, now dried her tears.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">At last a steady line of dawning light</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Show'd that her son was saved, and banish'd night.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Though sad her heart, of one fair pledge bereft,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">She sees and owns the bounties Heaven hath left.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">In natural drops her anguish finds relief,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And leaves the Matron beautified by grief;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">While consolation, beaming from above,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Fills her with new-felt gratitude and love.</span><br /> +<span class="i2">O happy He! before whose waking eyes,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">So bright a vision may resplendent rise—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The New <span class="smcap">Pandora</span>, by the Gods designed,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Not now the bane, but blessing of Mankind!</span><br /> +</div></div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="biggap"><span class='pagenum'><!-- Page 713 --><a name="Page_713" id="Page_713">[Pg 713]</a></span></div> +<h2><a name="REIGN_OF_GEORGE_THE_THIRD33" id="REIGN_OF_GEORGE_THE_THIRD33"></a>REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD.<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a></h2> +<div class="gap"/> +<p>It is scarcely theoretical to say, that every century has a character +of its own. The human mind is essentially progressive in Europe. The +accumulations of past knowledge, experience, and impulse, are +perpetually preparing changes on the face of society; and we may +fairly regard every hundred years as the period maturing those changes +into visible form. Thus, the fifteenth century was the age of +discovery in the arts, in the powers of nature, and in the great +provinces of the globe: the sixteenth exhibited the general mind under +the impressions of religion—the Reformation, the German wars for +liberty and faith, and the struggles of Protestantism in France. The +seventeenth was the brilliant period of scientific advance, of +continental literature, and of courtly pomp and power. The eighteenth +was the period of politics; every court of Europe was engaged in the +game of political rivalry; the European balance became the test, the +labour, and the triumph of statesmanship. The negotiator was then the +great instrument of public action. Diplomacy assumed a shape, and +Europe was governed by despatches. The genius of Frederick the Second +restored war to its early rank among the elements of national life; +but brilliant as his wars were, they were subservient to the leading +feature of the age. They were fought, not, like the battles of the old +conquerors, for fame, but for influence—not to leave the king without +an enemy, but to leave his ambassadors without an opponent—less to +gain triumphs, than to ensure treaties: they all began and ended in +diplomacy!</p> + +<p>It is remarkable, that this process was exhibited in Europe alone. In +the East, comprehending two-thirds of human kind, no change was made +since the conquests of Mahomet. That vast convulsion, in which the +nervousness of frenzy had given the effeminate spirit of the Oriental +the strength of the soldier and the ambition of universal conqueror, +had no sooner wrought its purpose than it passed away, leaving the +general mind still more exhausted than before. The Saracen warrior +sank into the peasant, and the Arab was again lost in his sands; the +Turk alone survived, exhibiting splendour without wealth, and pride +without power—a decaying image of Despotism, which nothing but the +jealousy of the European saved from falling under the first assault. +Such is the repressive strength of evil government; progress, the most +salient principle of our nature, dies before it. And man, of all +beings the most eager for acquirement, and the most restless under all +monotony of time, place, and position, becomes like the dog or the +mule, and generation after generation lives and dies with no more +consciousness of the capacities of his existence, than the root which +the animal devours, or the tree under which it was born.</p> + +<p>In England, the eighteenth century was wholly political. It was a +continual struggle through all the difficulties belonging to a free +constitution, exposed to the full discussion of an intellectual +people. Without adopting the offensive prejudice, which places the +individual ability of the Englishmen in the first rank; or without +doubting that nature has distributed nearly an equal share of personal +ability among all European nations; we may, not unjustly, place the +national mind of England in the very highest rank of general +capacity—if that is the most intellectual nation, by which the public +intellect is most constantly employed, in which all the great +questions of society are most habitually referred to the decision of +the intellect, and in which that decision is the most irresistible in +its effects, no nation of Europe can stand upon equal ground with the +English.<!-- Page 714 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_714" id="Page_714">[Pg 714]</a></span> For, in what other nation is the public intellect in such +unwearied exercise, in such continual demand, and in such unanswerable +power?</p> + +<p>In what other nation of the world (excepting, within those few years, +France; and that most imperfectly) has public opinion ever been +appealed to? But, in England, to what else is there any appeal? Or, +does not the foreign mind bear some resemblance to the foreign +landscape—exhibiting barren though noble elevations, spots of +singular though obscure beauty among its recesses, and even in its +wildest scenes a capacity of culture?—while, in the mind of England, +like its landscape, that culture has already laid its hand upon the +soil; has crowned the hill with verdure, and clothed the vale with +fertility; has run its ploughshare along the mountain side, and led +the stream from its brow; has sought out every finer secret of the +scene, and given the last richness of cultivation to the whole.</p> + +<p>From the beginning of the reign of Anne, all was a contest of leading +statesmen at the head of parties. Those contests exhibit great mental +power, singular system, and extraordinary knowledge of the art of +making vast bodies of men minister to the personal objects of avarice +and ambition. But they do no honour to the moral dignity of England. +All revolutions are hazardous to principle. A succession of +revolutions have always extinguished even the pretence to principle. +The French Revolution is not the only one which made a race of +<i>girouettes</i>. The political life of England, from the death of Anne to +the reign of George the Third, was a perpetual turning of the +weathercock. Whig and Tory were the names of distinction. But their +subordinates were of as many varieties of feature as the cargo of a +slave-ship; the hue might be the same, but the jargon was that of +Babel. It was perhaps fortunate for the imperial power of England, +that while she was thus humiliating the national morality, which is +the life-blood of nations; her reckless and perpetual enemy beyond the +Channel had lost all means of being her antagonist. The French sceptre +had fallen into the hands of a prince, who had come to the throne a +debauchee; and to whom the throne seemed only a scene for the larger +display of his vices. The profligacy of Louis-Quatorze had been +palliated by his passion for splendour, among a dissolute people who +loved splendour much, and hated profligacy little. But the vices of +Louis the Fifteenth were marked by a grossness which degraded them in +the eye even of popular indulgence, and prepared the nation for the +overthrow of the monarchy. In this period, religion, the great +purifier of national council, maintained but a struggling existence. +The Puritanism of the preceding century had crushed the Church of +England; and the restoration of the monarchy had given the people a +saturnalia. Religion had been confounded with hypocrisy, until the +people had equally confounded freedom with infidelity. The heads of +the church, chosen by freethinking administrations, were chosen more +for the suppleness than for the strength of their principles; and +while the people were thus taught to regard churchmen as tools, and +the ministers to use them as dependents, the cause of truth sank +between both. The Scriptures are the life of religion. It can no more +subsist in health without them, than the human frame can subsist +without food; it may have the dreams of the enthusiast, or the frenzy +of the monk; but, for all the substantial and safe purposes of the +human heart, its life is gone for ever. It has been justly remarked, +that the theological works of that day, including the sermons, might, +in general, have been written if Christianity had never existed. The +sermons were chiefly essays, of the dreariest kind on the most +commonplace topics of morals. The habit of reading these discourses +from the pulpit, a habit so fatal to all impression, speedily rendered +the preachers as indifferent as their auditory; and if we were to name +the period when religion had most fallen into decay in the public +mind, we should pronounce it the half century which preceded the reign +of George the Third.</p> + +<p>On the subject of pulpit eloquence there are some remarks in one of +the reviews of the late Sydney Smith, expressed<!-- Page 715 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_715" id="Page_715">[Pg 715]</a></span> with all the +shrewdness, divested of the levity of that writer, who had keenly +observed the popular sources of failure.</p> + +<p>"The great object of modern sermons is, to hazard nothing. Their +characteristic is decent debility; which alike guards their authors +from ludicrous errors, and precludes them from striking beauties. Yet +it is curious to consider, how a body of men so well educated as the +English clergy, can distinguish themselves so little in a species of +composition, to which it is their peculiar duty, as well as their +ordinary habit, to attend. To solve this difficulty, it should be +remembered that the eloquence of the bar and of the senate force +themselves into notice, power, and wealth." He then slightly guards +against the conception, that eloquence should be the sole source of +preferment; or even "a common cause of preferment." But he strongly, +and with great appearance of truth, attributes the want of public +effect to the want of those means by which that effect is secured in +every other instance.</p> + +<p>"Pulpit discourses have insensibly dwindled from speaking into +reading; a practice of itself sufficient to stifle every germ of +eloquence. It is only by the fresh feelings of the heart that mankind +can be very powerfully affected. What can be more unfortunate, than an +orator delivering stale indignation, and fervour of a week old; +turning over whole pages of violent passions, written out in German +text; reading the tropes and metaphors into which he is hurried by the +ardour of his mind; and so affected, at a preconcerted line and page, +that he is unable to proceed any further?"</p> + +<p>This criticism was perfectly true of sermons forty years ago, when it +was written. Times are changed since, and changed for the better. The +pulpit is no longer ashamed of the doctrines of Christianity, as too +harsh for the ears of a classic audience, or too familiar for the ears +of the people. Still there are no rewards in the Church, for that +great faculty, or rather that great combination of faculties, which +commands all the honours of the senate and the bar. A clerical +Demosthenes might find his triumph in the shillings of a charity +sermon, but he must never hope for a Stall.</p> + +<p>We now revert to the curious, inquisitive, and gossiping historian of +the time. Walpole, fond of French manners, delighting in the easy +sarcasm, and almost saucy levity, of French "Memoirs," and adopting, +in all its extent, the confession, (then so fashionable on the +Continent,) that the perfection of writing was to be formed in their +lively <i>persiflage</i>, evidently modelled his "History" on the style of +the Sevignés and St Simons. But he was altogether their superior. If +he had been a chamberlain in the court of Louis XV., he might have +been as frivolously witty, and as laughingly sarcastic, as any +Frenchman who ever sat at the feet of a court mistress, or whoever +looked for fame among the sallies of a <i>petit souper</i>. But England was +an atmosphere which compelled him to a manlier course. The storms of +party were not to be stemmed by a wing of gossamer. The writer had +bold facts, strong principles, and the struggles of powerful minds to +deal with, and their study gave him a strength not his own.</p> + +<p>Walpole was fond of having a hero. In private life, George Selwyn was +his Admirable Crichton; in public, Charles Townshend. Charles was +unquestionably a man of wit. Yet his wit rather consisted in dexterity +of language than in brilliancy of conception. He was also eloquent in +Parliament; though his charm evidently consisted more in happiness of +phrase, than in richness, variety, or vigour, of thought. On the +whole, he seems to have been made to amuse rather than to impress, and +to give a high conception of his general faculties than to produce +either conviction by his argument, or respect by the solid qualities +of his genius. Still, he must have been an extraordinary man. Walpole +describes his conduct and powers, as exhibited on one of those days of +sharp debate which preceded the tremendous discussions of the American +war. The subject was a bill for regulating the dividends of the East +India Company—the topic was extremely trite, and apparently trifling. +But any perch will answer for the flight of such bird. "It was<!-- Page 716 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_716" id="Page_716">[Pg 716]</a></span> on +that day," says Walpole, "and on that occasion, that Charles Townshend +displayed, in a latitude beyond belief, the amazing powers of his +capacity, and the no less amazing incongruities of his character." +Early in the day he had opened the business, by taking on himself the +examination of the Company's conduct, had made a calm speech on the +subject, and even went so far as to say, "that he hoped he had atoned +for the inconsiderateness of his past life, by the care which he had +taken of that business." He then went home to dinner. In his absence a +motion was made, which Conway, the secretary of state, not choosing to +support alone, it being virtually Townshend's own measure besides, +sent to hurry him back to the House. "He returned about eight in the +evening, half drunk with champagne," as Walpole says, (which, however, +was subsequently denied,) and more intoxicated with spirits. He then +instantly rose to speak, without giving himself time to learn any +thing, except that the motion had given alarm. He began by vowing that +he had not been consulted on the motion—a declaration which +astonished every body, there being twelve persons round him at the +moment, who had been in consultation with him that very morning, and +with his assistance had drawn up the motion on his own table, and who +were petrified at his unparalleled effrontery. But before he sat down, +he had poured forth, as Walpole says, "a torrent of wit, humour, +knowledge, absurdity, vanity, and fiction, heightened by all the +graces of comedy, the happiness of quotation, and the buffoonery of +farce. To the purpose of the question he said not a syllable. It was a +descant on the times, a picture of parties, of their leaders, their +hopes, and effects. It was an encomium and a satire on himself; and +when he painted the pretensions of birth, riches, connexions, favours, +titles, while he effected to praise Lord Rockingham and that faction, +he yet insinuated that nothing but parts like his own were qualified +to preside. And while he less covertly arraigned the wild incapacity +of Lord Chatham, he excited such murmurs of wonder, admiration, +applause, laughter, pity, and scorn, that nothing was so true as the +sentence with which he concluded—when, speaking of government, he +said, that it had become what he himself had often been called—the +weathercock."</p> + +<p>Walpole exceeds even his usual measure of admiration, in speaking of +this masterly piece of extravagance. "Such was the wit, abundance, and +impropriety of this speech," says he, "that for some days men could +talk or enquire of nothing else. 'Did you hear Charles Townshend's +champagne speech,' was the universal question. The bacchanalian +enthusiasm of Pindar flowed in torrents less rapid and less eloquent, +and inspired less delight, than Townshend's imagery, which conveyed +meaning in every sentence. It was Garrick acting extempore scenes of +Congreve." He went to supper with Walpole at Conway's afterwards, +where, the flood of his gaiety not being exhausted, he kept the table +in a roar till two in the morning. A part of this entertainment, +however, must have found his auditory in a condition as unfit for +criticism as himself. Claret till "two in the morning," might easily +disqualify a convivial circle from the exercise of too delicate a +perception. And a part of Townshend's facetiousness on that occasion +consisted in mimicking his own wife, and a woman of rank with whom he +fancied himself in love. He at last gave up from mere bodily +lassitude. Walpole happily enough illustrates those talents and their +abuse by an allusion to those eastern tales, in which a benevolent +genius endows a being with supernatural excellence on some points, +while a malignant genius counteracts the gift by some qualification +which perpetually baffles and perverts it. The story, however, of +Charles Townshend's tipsiness is thus contradicted by a graver +authority, Sir George Colebrook, in his Memoirs.</p> + +<p>"Mr Townshend loved good living, but had not a strong stomach. He +committed therefore frequent excesses, considering his constitution; +which would not have been intemperance in another. He was supposed, +for instance, to have made a speech in the heat of wine, when that was +really not the case. It was a speech in which he treated with great +levity,<!-- Page 717 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_717" id="Page_717">[Pg 717]</a></span> but with wonderful art, the characters of the Duke of Grafton +and Lord Shelburne, whom, though his colleagues in office, he +entertained a sovereign contempt for, and heartily wished to get rid +of. He had a black riband over one of his eyes that day, having +tumbled out of bed, probably in a fit of epilepsy; and this added to +the impression made on his auditors that he was tipsy. Whereas, it was +a speech he had meditated a great while upon, and it was only by +accident that it found utterance that day. I write with certainty, +because Sir George Yonge and I were the only persons who dined with +him, and we had but one bottle of champagne after dinner; General +Conway having repeatedly sent messengers to press his return to the +House."</p> + +<p>This brings the miracle down to the human standard, yet that standard +was high, and the man who could excite this admiration, in a House +which contained so great a number of eminent speakers, and which could +charm the caustic spirit of Walpole into the acknowledgment that his +speech "was the most singular pleasure of the kind he had ever +tasted," must have been an extraordinary performance, even if his +instrument was not of the highest tone of oratory. A note from the +Duke of Grafton's manuscript memoirs also contradicts, on Townshend's +own authority, his opinion of the "wild incapacity of Lord Chatham." +The note says:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"On the night preceding Lord Chatham's first journey to Bath, Mr +Charles Townshend was for the first time summoned to the Cabinet. +The business was on a general view and statement of the actual +situation and interests of the various powers in Europe. Lord +Chatham had taken the lead in this consideration in so masterly a +manner, as to raise the admiration and desire of us all to +co-operate with him in forwarding his views. Mr Townshend was +particularly astonished, and owned to me, as I was carrying him in +my carriage home, that Lord Chatham had just shown to us what +inferior animals we were, and that as much as he had seen of him +before, he did not conceive till that night his superiority to be +so transcendant."</p></div> + +<p>Walpole writes with habitual bitterness of the great Lord Chatham. The +recollection of his early opposition to Sir Robert Walpole, seems to +have made him an unfaithful historian, wherever this extraordinary +man's name comes within his page; but at the period of those +discussions, it seems not improbable that the vigour of Chatham's +understanding had in some degree given way to the tortures of his +disease. He had suffered from gout at an early period of life; and as +this is a disease remarkably affected by the mind, the perpetual +disturbances of a public life seem to have given it a mastery over the +whole frame of the great minister. Walpole talks in unjustifiable +language of his "haughty sterility of talents." But there seems to be +more truth in his account of the caprices of this powerful +understanding in his retirement. Walpole calls it the "reality of Lord +Chatham's madness." Still, we cannot see much in those instances, +beyond the temper naturally resulting from an agonizing disease. When +the Pynsent estate fell to him, he removed to it, and sold his house +and grounds at Hayes—"a place on which he had wasted prodigious sums, +and which yet retained small traces of expense, great part having been +consumed in purchasing contiguous tenements, to free himself from all +neighbourhood. Much had gone in doing and undoing, and not a little in +planting by torchlight, as his peremptory and impatient habits could +brook no delay. Nor were those the sole circumstances which marked his +caprice. His children he could not bear under the same roof, nor +communications from room to room, nor whatever he thought promoted +noise. A winding passage between his house and children was built with +the same view. When, at the beginning of his second administration, he +fixed at North End by Hampstead, he took four or five houses +successively, as fast as Mr Dingley his landlord went into them, +still, as he said, to ward off the houses of the neighbourhood."</p> + +<p>Walpole relates another anecdote equally inconclusive. At Pynsent, a +bleak hill bounded his view. He ordered his gardener to have it +planted with evergreens. The man asked "with<!-- Page 718 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_718" id="Page_718">[Pg 718]</a></span> what sorts." He replied, +"With cedars and cypresses." "Bless me, my lord," replied the +gardener, "all the nurseries in this county would not furnish a +hundredth part." "No matter, send for them from London: and they were +brought by land carriage." Certainly, there was not much in this +beyond the natural desire of every improver to shut out a disagreeable +object, by putting an agreeable one in its place. His general object +was the natural one of preventing all noise—a point of importance +with every sufferer under a wakeful and miserable disease. His +appetite was delicate and fanciful, and a succession of chickens were +kept boiling and roasting at every hour, to be ready whenever he +should call. He at length grew weary of his residence and, after +selling Hayes, took a longing to return there. After considerable +negotiation with Mr Thomas Walpole the purchaser, he obtained it +again, and we hear no more of his madness.</p> + +<p>The session was one of continual intrigues, constant exhibitions of +subtlety amongst the leaders of the party, which at this distance of +time are only ridiculous, and intricate discussions, which are now +among the lumber of debate. Townshend, if he gained nothing else, +gained the freedom of the city for his conduct on the East India and +Dividend bills, for which, as Walpole says, "he deserved nothing but +censure." A contemptuous epigram appeared on the occasion by "somebody +a little more sagacious"—that "somebody" probably being Walpole +himself:</p> + +<div class="poem center"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"The joke of Townshend's box is little known,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Great judgment in the thing the cits have shown;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The compliment was an expedient clever,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To rid them of the like expense for ever.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Of so burlesque a choice the example sure</span><br /> +<span class="i0">For city boxes must all longing cure,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The honor'd Ostracism at Athens fell,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Soon as Hyperbolus had got the shell."</span><br /> +</div></div> + +<p>It is scarcely possible to think that an epigram of this heavy order +could have been praised by Walpole, if his criticism had not been +tempered by the tenderness of paternity.</p> + +<p>We then have a character of a man embalmed in the contempt poured upon +him by Junius—the Duke of Grafton. Though less bitter, it is equally +scornful. "Hitherto," says Walpole, "he had passed for a man of much +obstinacy and firmness, of strict honour, devoid of ambition, and, +though reserved, more diffident than designing. He retained so much of +this character, as to justify those who had mistaken the rest. If he +precipitated himself into the most sudden and inextricable +contradictions, at least he pursued the object of the moment with +inflexible ardour. If he abandoned himself to total negligence of +business, in pursuit of his sports and pleasures, the love of power +never quitted him; and, when his will was disputed, no man was more +imperiously arbitrary. If his designs were not deeply laid, at least +they were conducted in profound silence. He rarely pardoned those who +did not guess his inclination. It was necessary to guess, so rare was +any instance of his unbosoming himself to either friends or +confidants. Why his honour had been so highly rated I can less +account, except that he had advertised it, and that obstinate young +men are apt to have high notions, before they have practised the +world, and essayed their own virtue."</p> + +<p>At length, after a vast variety of intrigues, which threw the public +life of those days into the most contemptible point of view, the King +being made virtually a cipher, while the families of the Hertfords, +Buckinghams, and Rockinghams trafficked the high offices of state as +children would barter toys; an administration was tardily formed. +Walpole, who seemed to take a sort of <i>dilettante</i> pleasure in +constructing those intrigues, and making himself wretched at their +failure, while nobody suffered him to take advantage of their success; +now gave himself a holiday, and went to relax in Paris for six +weeks—his relaxation consisting of gossip amongst the literary ladies +of the capital. During his absence an event happened which, though it +did not break up the ministry, yet must have had considerable<!-- Page 719 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_719" id="Page_719">[Pg 719]</a></span> effect +in its influence on the House of Commons. This was the death of the +celebrated Charles Townshend, on the 4th of September 1767, in the +forty-second year of his age. The cause of his death was a neglected +fever; if even this did not arise from his carelessness of health, and +those habits which, if not amounting to intemperance, were certainly +trespasses on his constitution. Walpole speaks of him with continual +admiration of his genius, and continual contempt of his principles. He +also thinks, that he had arrived at his highest fame, or, in his +peculiar phrase, "that his genius could have received no accession of +brightness, while his faults only promised multiplication." Walpole, +with no pretence to rival, probably envied this singular personage; +for, whenever he begins by panegyric, he uniformly ends with a sting. +One of the Notes gives an extract on Sir George Colebrook's Memoirs, +which perhaps places his faculties in a more favourable point of view +than the high-coloured eulogium of Burke, or the polished insinuations +of Walpole. Sir George tells us, that Townshend's object was to be +prime minister, and that he would doubtless have attained that object +had he lived to see the Duke of Grafton's resignation. Lord North +succeeded him as chancellor of the exchequer, and Townshend would +evidently have preceded <i>him</i> as prime minister. "As a private man, +his friends were used to say, that they should not see his like again. +Though they were often the butts of his wit, they always returned to +his company with fresh delight, which they would not have done had +there been either malice or rancour in what he said. He loved society, +and in his choice of friends preferred those over whom he had a +decided superiority of talent. He was satisfied when he had put the +table in a roar, and he did not like to see it done by another. When +Garrick and Foote were present, he took the lead, and hardly allowed +them an opportunity of showing their talents for mimicry, because he +could excel them in their own art. He shone particularly in taking off +the principal members of the House of Commons. Among the few whom he +feared was Mr Selwyn, and at a dinner at Lord Gower's they had a trial +of skill, in which Mr Selwyn prevailed. When the company broke up, Mr +Townshend, to show that he had no animosity, carried him in his +carriage to White's; and, as they parted, Selwyn could not help +saying—'Remember, this is the first set-down you have given me +to-day.'"</p> + +<p>As Townshend lived at a considerable expense, and had little paternal +fortune, he speculated occasionally in both the French and English +funds. One of the incidents related by Sir George, and without a +syllable of censure too, throws on him an imputation of trickery +which, in our later day, would utterly destroy any public man. "When +he was chancellor of the exchequer, he came in his nightgown to a +dinner given by the Duke of Grafton to several of the principal men of +the city to settle the loan. After dinner, when the terms were +settled, and every body present wished to introduce some friend on the +list of subscribers, he pretended to cast up the sums already +admitted, said the loan was full, huddled up his papers, got into a +chair, and returned home, reserving to himself by this manœuvre a +large share of the loan." An act of this kind exhibits the honesty of +the last age in a very equivocal point of view. If proud of nothing +else, we may be proud of the public sense of responsibility; in our +day, it may be presumed that such an act would be impossible, for it +would inevitably involve the ruin of the perpetrator, followed by the +ruin of any ministry which would dare to defend him.</p> + +<p>At this period died a brother of the king, Edward Duke of York, a man +devoted to pleasure, headstrong in his temper, and ignorant in his +conceptions. "Immoderate travelling, followed by immoderate balls and +entertainments," had long kept his blood in a peculiar state of +accessibility to disease. He died of a putrid fever. Walpole makes a +panegyric on the Duke of Gloucester, his brother; of which a part may +be supposed due to the Duke's marriage with Lady Waldegrave, a +marriage which provoked the indignation of the King, and which<!-- Page 720 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_720" id="Page_720">[Pg 720]</a></span> once +threatened political evils of a formidable nature. Henry, the Duke of +Cumberland, was also an unfortunate specimen of the blood royal. He is +described as having the babbling loquacity of the Duke of York, +without his talents; as at once arrogant and low; presuming on his +rank as a prince, and degrading himself by an association with low +company. Still, we are to remember Walpole's propensity to sarcasm, +the enjoyment which he seems to have felt in shooting his brilliant +missiles at all ranks superior to his own; and his especial hostility +to George the Third, one of the honestest monarchs that ever sat upon +a throne.</p> + +<p>In those days the composition of ministries depended altogether upon +the high families.—The peerage settled every thing amongst +themselves. A few of their dependents were occasionally taken into +office; but all the great places were distributed among a little +clique, who thus constituted themselves the real masters of the +empire. Walpole's work has its value, in letting us into the secrets +of a conclave, which at once shows us the singular emptiness of its +constituent parts, and the equally singular authority with which they +seem to have disposed of both the king and the people. We give a scene +from the <i>Historian</i>, which would make an admirable fragment of the +<i>Rehearsal</i>, and which wanted only the genius of Sheridan to be an +admirable pendant to Mr Puff's play in the <i>Critic</i>. "On the 20th a +meeting was held at the Duke of Newcastle's, of Lord Rockingham, the +Duke of Richmond, and of Dowdeswell, with Newcastle himself on one +part, and of the Duke of Bedford, Lord Weymouth, and Rigby on the +other. The Duke of Bedford had powers from Grenville to act for him; +but did not seem to like Lord Buckingham's taking on himself to name +to places. On the latter's asking what friends they wished to prefer, +Rigby said, with his cavalier bluntness—Take the <i>Court Calendar</i> and +give them one, two, three thousand pounds a-year! Bedford +observed—They had said nothing on measures. Mr Grenville would insist +on the sovereignty of this country over America being asserted. Lord +Rockingham replied—He would never allow it to be a question whether +he had given up this country—he never had. The Duke insisted on a +declaration. The Duke of Richmond said—We may as well demand one from +you, that you will never disturb that country again. Neither would +yield. However, though they could not agree on measures; as the +distribution of place was more the object of their thoughts and of +their meeting, they reverted to that topic. Lord Rockingham named Mr +Conway. Bedford started; said he had no notion of Conway; had thought +he was to return to the military line. The Duke of Richmond said it +was true, Mr Conway did not desire a civil place; did not know whether +he would be persuaded to accept one; but they were so bound to him for +his resignation, and thought him so able, they must insist. The Duke +of Bedford said—Conway was an officer <i>sans tache</i>, but not a +minister <i>sans tache</i>. Rigby said—Not one of the present cabinet +should be saved. Dowdeswell asked—'What! not one?' 'No.' 'What! not +Charles Townshend.' 'Oh!' said Rigby, 'that is different. Besides, he +has been in opposition.' 'So has Conway,' said Dowdeswell. 'He has +voted twice against the court, Townshend but once.' 'But,' said Rigby, +'Conway is Bute's man.' 'Pray,' said Dowdeswell, 'is not Charles +Townshend Bute's?' 'Ah! but Conway is governed by his brother +Hertford, who is Bute's.' 'But Lady Ailesbury is a Scotchwoman.' 'So +is Lady Dalkeith.' Those ladies had been widows and were now married, +(the former to Conway, the latter to Townshend.) From this dialogue +the assembly fell to wrangling, and broke up quarrelling. So high did +the heats go, that the Conways ran about the town publishing the issue +of the conference, and taxing the Bedfords with treachery."</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding this collision, at once so significant, and so +trifling—at once a burlesque on the gravity of public affairs, and a +satire on the selfishness of public men—on the same evening, the Duke +of Bedford sent to desire another interview, to which Lord Rockingham +yielded, but the<!-- Page 721 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_721" id="Page_721">[Pg 721]</a></span> Duke of Bedford refused to be present. So much, +however, were the minds on both sides ulcerated by former and recent +disputes, and so incompatible were their views, that the second +meeting broke up in a final quarrel, and Lord Rockingham released the +other party from all their engagements. The Duke of Bedford desired +they might still continue friends, or at least to agree to oppose +together. Lord Rockingham said no, "they were broken for ever."</p> + +<p>It was at this meeting that the Duke of Newcastle appeared for the +last time in a political light. Age and feebleness had at length worn +out that busy passion for intrigue, which power had not been able to +satiate, nor disgrace correct. He languished above a year longer, but +was heard of no more on the scene of affairs. (He died in November +1768.)</p> + +<p>A remarkable circumstance in all those arrangements is, that we hear +nothing of either the king or the people. The king is of course +applied to to sign and seal, but simply as a head clerk. The people +are occasionally mentioned at the end of every seven years; but in the +interim all was settled in the parlours of the peerage! The scene +which we have just given was absolutely puerile, if it were not +scandalous; and, without laying ourselves open to the charge of +superstition on such subjects, we might almost regard the preservation +of the empire as directly miraculous, while power was in the hands of +such men as the Butes and Newcastles, the Bedfords and Rockinghams, of +the last century. It is not even difficult to trace to this +intolerable system, alike the foreign calamities and the internal +convulsions during this period. Whether America could, by any +possibility of arrangement, have continued a British colony up to the +present time, may be rationally doubted. A vast country, rapidly +increasing in wealth and population, would have been an incumbrance, +rather than an addition, to the power of England. If the patronage of +her offices continued in the hands of ministers, it must have supplied +them with the means of buying up every man who was to be bought in +England. It would have been the largest fund of corruption ever known +in the world. Or, if the connexion continued, with the population of +America doubling in every five-and-twenty years, the question must in +time have arisen, whether England or America ought to be the true seat +of government. The probable consequence, however, would have been +separation; and as this could scarcely be effected by amicable means, +the result might have been a war of a much more extensive, wasteful, +and formidable nature, than that which divided the two countries +sixty-five years ago.</p> + +<p>But all the blunders of the American war, nay the war itself, may be +still almost directly traceable to the arrogance of the oligarchy. Too +much accustomed to regard government as a natural appendage to their +birth, they utterly forgot the true element of national power—the +force of public opinion. Inflated with a sense of their personal +superiority, they looked with easy indifference or studied contempt on +every thing that was said or done by men whose genealogy was not +registered in the red book. Of America—a nation of Englishmen—and of +its proceedings, they talked, as a Russian lord might talk of his +serfs. Some of them thought, that a Stamp act would frighten the +sturdy free-holders of the Western World into submission! others +talked of reducing them to obedience by laying a tax on their tea! +others prescribed a regimen of writs and constables! evidently +regarding the American farmers as they regarded the poachers and +paupers on their own demesnes. All this arose from stupendous +ignorance; but it was ignorance engendered by pride, by exclusiveness +of rank, and by the arrogance of <i>caste</i>. So excessive was this +exclusiveness, that Burke, though the most extraordinary man of his +time, and one of the most memorable of any time, could never obtain a +seat in the cabinet; where such triflers as Newcastle, such figures of +patrician pedantry as Buckingham, such shallow intriguers as the +Bedfords, and such notorious characters as the Sandwiches, played with +power, like children with the cups and balls of their nursery. Lord +North, with all his<!-- Page 722 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_722" id="Page_722">[Pg 722]</a></span> wit, his industry, and his eloquence, owed his +admission into the cabinet, to his being the son of the Earl of +Guilford. Charles Fox, though marked by nature, from his first +entrance into public life, for the highest eminence of the senate, +would never have been received into the government <i>class</i>, but for +his casual connexion with the House of Richmond. Thus, they knew +nothing of the real powers of that infinite multitude, which, however +below the peerage, forms the country. They thought that a few frowns +from Downing Street could extinguish the resistance of millions, three +thousand miles off, with muskets in their hands, inflamed by a sense +of wrong, whether fancied or true, and insensible to the gatherings of +a brow however coroneted and antique.</p> + +<p>This haughty exclusiveness equally accounts for the contests with +Wilkes. They felt themselves affronted, much more than resisted; they +were much more stung by the defiance of a private individual to +themselves, than they were urged to the collision by any conceivable +sense of hazard to the Monarchy. No man, out of bedlam, could +conceive, that Wilkes had either the power or the intention to subvert +the state. But Mr Wilkes, an obscure man, whose name was not known to +the calendar of the government fabricators, had actually dared to call +their privilege of power into question; had defied them in the courts +of law; had rebuked them in the senate; had shaken their influence in +the elections; and had, in fact, compelled them to know, what they +were so reluctant to learn, that they were but human beings after all! +The acquisition of this knowledge cost them half a dozen years of +convulsions, the most ruinous to themselves, and the most hazardous to +the constitution. Wilkes' profligacy alone, perhaps, saved the +constitution from a shock, which might have changed the whole system +of the empire. If he had not been sunk by his personal character, at +the first moment when the populace grew cool, he might have availed +himself of the temper of the times to commit mischiefs the most +irreparable. If his personal character had been as free from public +offence as his spirit was daring, he might have led the people much +further than the government ever had the foresight to contemplate. The +conduct of the successive cabinets had covered the King with +unpopularity, not the less fierce, that it was wholly undeserved. +Junius, the ablest political writer that England has ever seen, or +probably ever will see, in the art of assailing a ministry, had +pilloried every leading man of his time except Chatham, in the +imperishable virulence of his page. The popular mind was furious with +indignation at the conduct of all cabinets; in despair of all +improvement in the system; irritated by the rash severity which +alternated with the equally rash pusillanimity of ministers; and +beginning to regard government less as a protection, than as an +encroachment on the natural privileges of a nation of freemen.</p> + +<p>They soon had a growing temptation before them in the successful +revolt of America.</p> + +<p>We do not now enter into that question; it is too long past. But we +shall never allude to it without paying that homage to truth, which +pronounces, that the American revolt was a rebellion, wholly +unjustifiable by the provocation; utterly rejecting all explanation, +or atonement for casual injuries; and made in the spirit of a +determination to throw off the allegiance to the mother country. But, +if Wilkes could have sustained his opposition but a few years longer, +and with any character but one so shattered as his own, he might have +carried it on through life, and even bequeathed it as a legacy to his +party; until the French Revolution had joined flame to flame across +the Channel, and England had rivalled even the frenzy of France in the +rapidity and ruin of her Reform.</p> + +<p>Fortunately, the empire was rescued from this most fatal of all +catastrophes. A great English minister appeared, on whom were to +devolve the defence of England and the restoration of Europe. The +sagacity of Pitt saw where the evil lay; his intrepidity instantly +struck at its source, and his unrivalled ability completed the saving +operation. He broke down the cabinet monopoly.<!-- Page 723 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_723" id="Page_723">[Pg 723]</a></span> No man less humiliated +himself to the populace, but no man better understood the people. No +man paid more practical respect to the peerage, but no man more +thoroughly extinguished their exclusive possession of power. He formed +his cabinet from men of all ranks, in the peerage and out of the +peerage. The great peers chiefly went over to the opposition. He +resisted them there, with as much daring, and with as successful a +result, as he had expelled them from the stronghold of government. He +made new peers. He left his haughty antagonists to graze on the barren +field of opposition for successive years; and finally saw almost the +whole herd come over for shelter to the ministerial fold.</p> + +<p>At this period a remarkable man was brought into public life—the +celebrated Dunning, appointed solicitor-general. Walpole calls this +"an extraordinary promotion," as Dunning was connected with Lord +Shelburne. It was like every thing else, obviously an intrigue; and +Dunning would have lost the appointment, but for his remarkable +reputation in the courts; Wedderburne being the man of the Bedfords. +Walpole's opinion of Dunning in the House, shows, how much even the +highest abilities may be influenced by circumstances. He says, "that +Dunning immediately and utterly lost character as a speaker, although +he had acquired the very highest distinctions as a pleader;" so +different, says he, is the oratory of the bar and of parliament. +Mansfield and Camden retained an equal rank in both. Wedderburne was +most successful in the House. Norton had at first disappointed the +expectations that were conceived of him when he came into parliament; +yet his strong sense, that glowed through all the coarseness of his +language and brutality of his manner, recovered his weight, and he was +much distinguished. While Sir Dudley Ryder, attorney-general in the +preceding reign, the soundest lawyer, and Charles Yorke, one of the +most distinguished pleaders, soon talked themselves out of all +consideration in parliament; the former by laying too great a stress +on every part of his diffusive knowledge, and the latter by the +sterility of his intelligence.</p> + +<p>An intelligent Note, however, vindicates the reputation of Dunning. It +is observed, that Dunning's having been counsel for Wilkes, and the +intimate of Lord Shelburne, it could not be expected that he should +take a prominent part in any of the debates which were so largely +occupied with Wilkes' misdemeanours. Lord North, too, was hostile to +Dunning. Under such conditions it was impossible that any man should +exhibit his powers to advantage; but at a later period, when he had +got rid of those trammels, his singular abilities vindicated +themselves. He became one of the leaders of the opposition, even when +that honour was to be shared with Burke. We have heard, that such was +the pungency of Dunning's expressions, and the happy dexterity of his +conceptions, that when he spoke, (his voice being feeble, and unable +to make itself heard at any great distance,) the members used to +throng around the bench on which he spoke. Wraxall panegyrizes him, +and yet with a tautology of terms, which must have been the very +reverse of Dunning's style. Thus, he tells us that when Dunning spoke, +"every murmur was hushed, and every ear attentive," two sentences +which amount to the same thing. Hannah More is also introduced as one +of the panegyrists; for poor Hannah seems to have been one of the most +bustling persons possible; to have run every where, and to have given +<i>her</i> opinion of every body, however much above her comprehension. She +was one of the spectators on the Duchess of Kingston's trial, (a most +extraordinary scene for the choice of such a purist;) but Hannah was +not at that time quite so sublime as she became afterwards. Hannah +describes Dunning's manner as "insufferably bad, coughing and spitting +at every word; but his sense and expression pointed to the last +degree." But the character which the annotator gives as a model of +panegyric, pleases us least of all. It is by Sir William Jones, and +consists of one long antithesis. It is a studied toil of language, +expressing ideas, a commonplace succession, substituting words for +thoughts, and at once leaving the ear palled, and the understanding +dissatisfied. What, for instance, could be made of such a passage as<!-- Page 724 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_724" id="Page_724">[Pg 724]</a></span> +this? Sir William is speaking of Dunning's wit. "This," says he, +"relieved the weary, calmed the resentful, and animated the drowsy. +This drew smiles even from such as were <i>the object of it, and +scattered flowers over a desert</i>, and, like <i>sunbeams sparkling on a +lake</i>, gave spirit and vivacity to the dullest and least interesting +cause." And this mangling of metaphor is to teach us the qualities of +a profound and practical mind. What follows, is the perfection of +see-saw. "He was endued with an intellect sedate yet penetrating, +clear yet profound, subtle yet strong. His knowledge, too, was equal +to his imagination, and his memory to his knowledge." He might have +equally added, that the capacity of his boots was equal to the size of +his legs, and the length of his purse to the extent of his generosity. +This reminds us of one of Sydney Smith's burlesques on the balancing +of epithets by that most pedantic of pedants, the late Dr +Parr—"profundity without obscurity, perspicuity without prolixity, +ornament without glare, terseness without barrenness, penetration +without subtlety, comprehensiveness without digression, and a great +number of other things without a great number of other things."</p> + +<p>Little tricks, or rather large ones, now and then diversify the +narrative. On the same day that Conway resigned the seals, Lord +Weymouth was declared secretary of state. At the same time, Lord +Hilsborough kissed hands for the American department, but nominally +retaining the post-office, the salary of which he paid to Lord +Sandwich, <i>till the elections should be over</i>; there being so strict a +disqualifying clause in the bill for prohibiting the postmasters for +interfering in elections, which Sandwich <i>was determined to do</i> to the +utmost, that he did not dare to accept the office in his own name, +<i>till he had incurred the guilt</i>. Another trick of a very +dishonourable nature, though ultimately defeated, may supply a moral +for our share-trafficking days in high quarters. Lord Bottetort, one +of the bedchamber, and a kind of second-hand favourite, had engaged in +an adventure with a company of copper-workers at Warmley. They broke, +and his lordship, in order to cover his estate from the creditors, +begged a privy seal to incorporate the company, by which means private +estates would not be answerable. The king ignorantly granted the +request; but Lord Chatham, aware of the deception, refused to affix +the seal to the patent, pleading that he was not able. Lord Bottetort, +outrageous at the disappointment, threatened to petition the lords to +remove Lord Chatham, on the ground of inability. The annotator justly +observes, that the proposal was absolutely monstrous, being nothing +but a gross fraud on his lordship's creditors. It, however, does not +seem to have attracted the attention of the attorney-general, or the +home-office; but, for some cause or other, the patent did not pass, +the result being, that Lord Bottetort, unable to retrieve his losses, +obtained the government of Virginia in the following summer, where he +subsequently died.</p> + +<p>A curious instance of parliamentary corruption next attracted the +notice of the public. It came out, that the city of Oxford had offered +their representation to two gentlemen, if they would pay £7500 towards +the debts of the corporation. They refused the bargain, and Oxford +sold itself to the Duke of Marlborough and Lord Abingdon. The matter +was brought before the House, and the mayor of Oxford and ten of the +corporation appeared at the bar, confessing their crime, and asking +pardon. It ended with committing them to prison for five days. A note +describes the whole affair as being treated with great ridicule, +(there being probably not a few who looked upon things of this nature +as a matter of course;) and the story being, that the aldermen +completed their bargain with the Duke of Marlborough, during their +imprisonment in Newgate.</p> + +<p>On the 11th of March 1768, the parliament was dissolved. Walpole says, +"that its only characteristic was servility to the government; while +our ancestors, we presume, from the shamelessness of its servility, +might have called it the Impudent Parliament."</p> + +<p>After wearying himself in the dusty field of politics, Walpole +retired, like Homer's gods from Troy, to rest in the more flowery +region of literature. His habits led him to the enjoyment<!-- Page 725 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_725" id="Page_725">[Pg 725]</a></span> of bitter +political poetry, which, in fact, is not poetry at all; while they +evidently disqualified him from feeling the power and beauty of the +imaginative, the only poetry that deserves the name. Thus, he +describes Goldsmith as the "correct author of <i>The Traveller</i>," one of +the most beautiful poems in the language; while he panegyrizes, with a +whole catalogue of plaudits, Anstey's <i>Bath Guide</i>—a very scandalous, +though undoubtedly a lively and ingenious, caricature of the habits of +the time. An ultra-heavy poem by Bentley, the son of the critic, +enjoys a similar panegyric. We give, as an evidence of its dulness, a +fragment of its praise of Lord Bute:—</p> + +<div class="poem center"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Oh, if we seize with skill the coming hour,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And reinvest us with the robe of power;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Rule while we live, let future days transmute</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To every merit all we've charged on Bute.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Let late posterity receive his name,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And swell its sails with every breath of fame—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Downwards as far as Time shall roll his tide,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">With ev'ry pendant flying, let it glide."</span><br /> +</div></div> + +<p>The rest is equally intolerable.</p> + +<p>But Bentley was lucky in his patrons, if not in his poetry; as, in +addition to a Commissionership of Lotteries, he received a pension for +the lives of himself and his wife of £500 a-year! Though thus +undeservedly successful in attracting the notice of the government, +his more honest efforts failed with the public. He wrote two plays, +both of which failed. Walpole next describes Robertson the historian +in these high-coloured terms, "as sagacious and penetrating as +Tacitus, with a perspicuity of Livy:" qualities which every one else +knows to be directly the reverse of those which characterize +Robertson. That very impudent woman, Catharine Macaulay, seems also to +have been one of the objects of his literary admiration. He describes +her, as being as partial in the cause of liberty as bigots to the +church and royalists to tyranny, and as exerting manly strength with +the gravity of a philosopher.</p> + +<p>But Walpole is aways amusing when he gives anecdotes of passing +things. The famous Brentford election finds in him its most graphic +historian. The most singular carelessness was exhibited by the +government on this most perilous occasion—a carelessness obviously +arising from that contempt which the higher ranks of the nobility in +those days were weak enough to feel for the opinion of those below +them. On the very verge of an election, within five miles of London, +and which must bring to a point all the exasperation of years; Camden, +the chancellor, went down to Bath, and the Duke of Grafton, the prime +minister, who was a great horse-racer, drove off to Newmarket. +Mansfield, whom Walpole seems to have hated, and whom he represents as +at "once resentful, timorous, and subtle," the three worst qualities +of the heart, the nerves, and the understanding, pretended that it was +the office of the chancellor to bring the outlaw (Wilkes) to justice, +and did nothing. The consequence was, that the multitude were left +masters of the field.</p> + +<p>On the morning of the election; while the irresolution of the court, +and the negligence of the prime minister, caused a neglect of all +precautions; the populace took possession of all the turnpikes and +avenues leading to the hustings by break of day, and would suffer no +man to pass who did not wear in his hat a blue cockade, with "Wilkes +and Number 45," on a written paper. Riots took place in the streets, +and the carriage of Sir William Proctor, the opposing candidate, was +demolished. The first day's poll for Wilkes was 1200, for Proctor 700, +for Cooke 300. It must be remembered, that in these times the +elections were capable of being prolonged from week to week, and that +the first day was regarded as scarcely more than a formality. At night +the West-end was in an uproar. It was not safe to pass through +Piccadilly. Every house was compelled to illuminate; the windows of +all which did not exhibit lights were broken; the coach-glasses of +such as did not huzza for "Wilkes and liberty" were broken; and the +panels of the carriages were scratched with 45! Lord Weymouth, the +secretary of state, wrote to Justice Fielding for constables. Fielding +answered, that they were all gone to Brentford. On this,<!-- Page 726 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_726" id="Page_726">[Pg 726]</a></span> the guards +were drawn out. The mob then attacked Lord Bute's house and Lord +Egmont's, but without being able to force an entrance. They compelled +the Duke of Northumberland to give them liquor to drink Wilkes's +health. Ladies of rank were taken out of their sedan-chairs, and +ordered to join the popular cry. The lord-mayor was an +anti-Wilkite—the mob attacked the Mansion-house, and broke the +windows. He ordered out the trained bands; they had no effect. Six +thousand weavers had risen under the Wilkite banner, and defied all +resistance. Even some of the regimental drummers beat their drums for +Wilkes! His force at the election was evidently to be resisted no +longer. The ministerial candidate was beaten, Wilkes threw in his +remaining votes for Cooke, and they came in together. The election was +thus over on the second day, but the mob paraded the metropolis at +night, insisting on a general illumination. The handsome Duchess of +Hamilton, one of the Gunnings, who had now become quite a Butite, was +determined not to illuminate. The result was, that the mob grew +outrageous, broke down the outward gates with iron-crows, tore up the +pavement of the street, and battered the doors and shutters for three +hours; fortunately without being able to get in. The Count de Sollein, +the Austrian ambassador, the most stately and ceremonious of men, was +taken out of his coach by the mob, who chalked 45 on the sole of his +shoe! He complained in form of the insult. Walpole says, fairly +enough, "it was as difficult for the ministers to help laughing as to +give him redress."</p> + +<p>Walpole frequently alludes to the two Gunnings as the two handsomest +sisters of their time. They were Irish-women, fresh-coloured, lively, +and well formed, but obviously more indebted to nature than to +education. Lady Coventry died young, and had the misfortune, even in +her grave, of being made the subject of an epitaph by Mason, one of +the most listless and languid poems of an unpoetic time. The Duchess +of Hamilton survived to a considerable age, and was loaded with +matrimonial honours. She first married the Duke of Hamilton. On his +death, she married the Marquis of Lorn, eldest son of the Duke of +Argyll, whom he succeeded in the title—thus becoming mother of the +heirs of the two great rival houses of Hamilton and Argyll. While in +her widowhood, she had been proposed for by the Duke of Bridgewater. +Lady Coventry seems to have realized Pope's verses of a dying belle—</p> + +<div class="poem center"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"And, Betty, give this cheek a little red,</span> +<span class="i0">One would not, sure, look ugly when one's dead."</span> +</div></div> + +<p>"Till within a few days of her death, she lay on a couch with a +looking-glass in her hand. When she found her beauty, which she +idolized, was quite gone, she took to her bed, and would be seen by +nobody, not even by her nurse, suffering only the light of a lamp in +her room."</p> + +<p>Walpole's description of the ministry adds strikingly to the +contemptuous feeling, naturally generated by their singular ill +success. We must also observe, as much to the discredit of the past +age as to the honour of the present; that the leading men of the day +exhibited or affected a depravity of morals, which would be the ruin +of any public character at the present time. Many of the scenes in +high life would have been fitter for the court of Charles II., and +many of the actors in those scenes ought to have been cashiered from +public employment. Personal profligacy seems actually to have been +regarded as a species of ornamental appendage to public character; +and, except where its exposure sharpened the sting of an epigram, or +gave an additional flourish to the periods of a political writer, no +one seems to have conceived that the grossest offences against +morality were of the nature of crime. Another scandal seems to have +been frequent—intemperance in wine. Hard drinking was common in +England at that period, and was even regarded as the sign of a +generous spirit; but nearly all the leading politicians who died +early, are described as owing their deaths to excess. Those are +fortunate distinctions for the days which have followed; and the +country may justly congratulate itself on the abandonment of habits, +which, deeply tending to corrupt private character, render<!-- Page 727 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_727" id="Page_727">[Pg 727]</a></span> political +baseness the almost inevitable result among public men.</p> + +<p>Walpole promptly declares, that half the success of Wilkes was owing +to the supineness of the ministers. He might have gone further, and +fixed his charge on higher grounds. He ought to have said, that the +whole was owing to the mingled treachery and profligacy which made the +nation loathe the characters of public parties and public men. Walpole +says, in support of his assertion—"that Lord Chatham would take no +part in business; that the Duke of Grafton neglected every thing, and +whenever pressed to be active threatened to resign; that the +Chancellor Camden, placed between two such intractable friends, with +whom he was equally discontented, avoided dipping himself further; +that Conway, no longer in the Duke's confidence, and more hurt with +neglect than pleased with power, stood in the same predicament; that +Lord Gower thought of nothing but ingratiating himself at St James's; +and though what little business was done was executed by Lord +Weymouth, it required all Wood's, the secretary's, animosity to +Wilkes, to stir him up to any activity. Wood even said, "that if the +King should pardon Wilkes, Lord Weymouth would not sign the pardon." +The chief magistrate of the city, consulting the chancellor on what he +should do if Wilkes should stand for the city, and being answered that +he "must consult the recorder," Harley sharply replied, "I consulted +your lordship as a minister, I don't want to be told my duty."</p> + +<p>Some of the most interesting portions of these volumes are the notes, +giving brief biographical sketches of the leading men. The politics +have comparatively passed away, but the characters remain; and no +slight instruction is still to be derived from the progressive steps +by which the individuals rose from private life to public distinction. +The editor, Sir Denis la Marchant, deserves no slight credit for his +efforts to give authenticity to those notices. He seems to have +collected his authorities from every available source; and what he has +compiled with the diligence of an editor, he has expressed with the +good taste of a gentleman.</p> + +<p>The commencement of a parliament is always looked to with curiosity, +as the debut of new members. All the expectations which have been +formed by favouritism, family, or faction, are then brought to the +test. Parliament is an unerring tribunal, and no charlatanry can cheat +its searching eye. College reputations are extinguished in a moment, +the common-places of the hustings can avail no more, and the +pamperings of party only hurry its favourites to more rapid decay.</p> + +<p>Mr Phipps, the son of Lord Mulgrave, now commenced his career. By an +extraordinary taste, though bred a seaman, he was so fond of quoting +law, that he got the sobriquet of the "marine lawyer." His knowledge +of the science (as the annotator observes) could not have been very +deep, for he was then but twenty-two. But he was an evidence of the +effect of indefatigable exertion. Though a dull debater, he took a +share in every debate, and he appears to have taken the pains of +revising his speeches for the press. Yet even under his nursing, they +exhibit no traces of eloquence. His manner was inanimate, and his +large and heavy figure gained him the luckless appellation of Ursa +Major, (to distinguish him from his brother, who was also a member.) +As if to complete the amount of his deficiencies, his voice was +particularly inharmonious, or rather it was two distinct voices, the +one strong and hoarse, the other weak and querulous; both of which he +frequently used. On this was constructed the waggish story—that one +night, having fallen into a ditch, and calling out in his shrill +voice, a countryman was coming up to assist him; when Phipps calling +out again in his hoarse tone, the man exclaimed—"If there are two of +you in the ditch, you may help each other out!"</p> + +<p>One of his qualities seems to have been a total insensibility to his +own defects; which therefore suffered him to encounter any man, and +every man, whatever might be their superiority. Thus, in his early +day, his dulness constantly encountered Lord North, the most dexterous +wit of his time. Thus, too, in his maturer age, he constantly thrust +himself forward to meet the indignant eloquence of Fox; and seems to +have been equally unconscious<!-- Page 728 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_728" id="Page_728">[Pg 728]</a></span> that he was ridiculed by the sarcastic +pleasantry of the one, or blasted by the lofty contempt of the other. +Yet, such is the value of perseverance, that this man was gradually +regarded as important in the debates, that he wrought out for himself +an influence in the House, and obtained finally the office of joint +paymaster, one of the most lucrative under government, and a British +peerage. And all this toil was undertaken by a man who had no +children.</p> + +<p>At his death, he was succeeded in his Irish title by his brother +Henry, who became first lord of the admiralty, and also obtained an +English peerage. The present Marquis of Normandy is his eldest son.</p> + +<p>Parliamentary history sometimes gives valuable lessons, in exhibiting +the infinite folly of parliamentary prediction. It will scarcely be +believed in a day like ours, which has seen and survived the French +Revolution, that the chief theme of the period, and especial terror of +the opposition, was the conquest of Corsica by the French! Ministers +seem to have been deterred from a war with the French monarchy, solely +by the dislocated state of the cabinet; while the opposition declared, +that the possession of Corsica by the French, would be "the death-blow +to our influence in the Mediterranean." With Corsica in French hands, +it was boldly pronounced that "France would receive an accession of +power which nothing could shake; and they scarcely hesitated to say, +that upon the independence of Corsica rested not merely the supremacy +but the safety of England." Yet the French conquered Corsica (at a +waste of money ten times worth its value to their nation, and at a +criminal waste of life, both French and Corsican) without producing +the slightest addition to the power of the monarchy, and with no +slight disgrace to the honour of its arms. For, the Corsicans, the +most savage race of the Italian blood, and accustomed to the use of +weapons from their childhood, fought with the boldness of all men +fighting for their property, and routed the troops of France in many a +successive and desperate encounter. Still, the combat was too unequal; +the whole force of a great monarchy was obviously too strong for the +hope of successful resistance, and Corsica, after many a severe +struggle, became a French territory. But, beyond this barren honour +the war produced no fruit, except a deeper consciousness of the +unsparing ambition of the monarchy, and of the recklessness with which +it sacrificed all considerations of humanity and justice, to the +tinsel of a military name. One fatal gift, however, Corsica made, in +return to France. From it came, within a few years, the man who sealed +the banishment of the Bourbons! and, tempting France by the ambition +of military success, inflicted upon her the heaviest mortality, and +the deepest shame known in any kingdom, since the fall of the Roman +empire. Whether this were that direct retribution for innocent blood, +which Providence has so often inflicted upon guilty nations; or +whether it were merely one of those extraordinary casualties which +circumstances make so impressive; there can be no question, that the +man came from Corsica who inflicted on France the heaviest calamities +that she had ever known; who, after leading her armies over Europe, to +conquests which only aroused the hatred of all nations, and after +wasting the blood of hundreds of thousands of her people in victories +totally unproductive but of havoc; saw France twice invaded, and +brought the nation under the ban of the civilized world!</p> + +<p>France is at this moment pursuing the same course in Algiers, which +was the pride of her politicians in Corsica. She is pouring out her +gigantic force, to overwhelm the resistance of peasants who have no +defence but their naked bravery. She will probably subdue the +resistance; for what can be done by a peasantry against the +disciplined force and vast resources of a great European power, +applied to this single object of success? But, barbarian as the Moor +and the Arab are, and comparatively helpless in the struggle, the +avenger may yet come, to teach the throne of France, that there is a +power higher than all thrones; a tribunal to which the blood cries out +of the ground.</p> + +<p>The death of Secker, Archbishop of Canterbury, excites a few touches +of<!-- Page 729 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_729" id="Page_729">[Pg 729]</a></span> Walpole's sarcastic pen. He says, "that his early life had shown +his versatility, his latter his ambition. But hypocrisy not being +parts, he rose in the church without ever making a figure in the +state." So much for antithesis. There is no reason why a clergyman +should make a figure in the state under any circumstances; and the +less figure he made in the state, as it was then constituted, the more +likely he was to be fitted for the church. But the true censure on +Secker would have been, that he rose, without making a figure in any +thing; that he had never produced any work worthy of notice as a +divine; that he had neither eloquence in the pulpit, nor vigour with +the pen; that he seems to have been at all times a man of extreme +mediocrity; that his qualifications with the ministry were, his being +a neutral on all the great questions of the day; and his merits with +posterity were, that he possessed power without giving offence. A +hundred such men might have held the highest positions of the church, +without producing the slightest effect on the public mind; or might +have been left in the lowest, without being entitled to accuse the +injustice of fortune. His successor was Cornwallis, Bishop of +Lichfield, raised to the primacy by the Duke of Grafton, who, as +Walpole says, "had a friendship for the bishop's nephew, Earl +Cornwallis." This seems not altogether the most sufficient reason for +placing a man at the head of the Church of England, but we must take +the reason such as we find it. Walpole adds, that the nomination had, +however, the merit of disappointing a more unsuitable candidate, +Ternet of London, whom he describes as "the most time-serving of the +clergy, and sorely chagrined at missing the archiepiscopal mitre."</p> + +<p>It was rather unlucky for the public estimate of royalty, that, at +this moment of popular irritation, the young King of Denmark should +have arrived in England. He had married the King's youngest sister, +and making a sort of tour of Europe, he determined to visit the family +of his wife. His proposal was waived by the King, who excused himself +by the national confusions. But the young Dane, scarcely more than a +giddy boy, and singularly self-willed, was not to be repelled; and he +came. Nothing could be colder than his reception; not a royal +carriage, not an officer of the court, was sent to meet him. He +arrived at St James's even in a hired carriage. Neither King nor Queen +was there. The only mark of attention paid to him was giving him an +apartment, and supplying him and his suite with a table. Walpole +observes, that this sullen treatment was as impolitic as it was +inhospitable; that the Dane was then actually a pensioner of France, +and, of course, it would have been wise to win him out of its hands. +But the Danish king seems to have been little better than a fool; and +between his frolics and his follies, he finally produced a species of +revolution in his own country. All power fell into the hands of his +queen, who, though of a bolder nature, seems to have been scarcely +less frantic than himself. On the visit of her mother, the Princess of +Wales, to Denmark, the Queen met her, at the head of a regiment, +dressed in full uniform, and wearing buckskin breeches. She must have +been an extraordinary figure altogether, for she had grown immensely +corpulent. Court favouritism was the fashion in Denmark, and the King +and Queen were equally ruled by favourites. But, in a short period, a +young physician of the household managed both, obtaining peculiarly +the confidence of the Queen. Scandal was not idle on this occasion, +and Germany and England rang with stories of the court of Denmark. The +physician was soon created a noble, and figured for a while as the +prime minister, or rather sovereign of the kingdom, by the well-known +title of Count Struensee. A party was formed against him by the +Queen-mother, at the head of some of the nobility. The Queen was made +prisoner, and died in prison. Struensee was tried as traitor, and +beheaded. The King was finally incapacitated from reigning, and his +son was raised to the regency. This melancholy transaction formed one +of the tragedies of Europe; but it had the additional misfortune of +occurring at a time when royalty had begun to sink under the incessant +attacks of the revolutionists, and France,<!-- Page 730 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_730" id="Page_730">[Pg 730]</a></span> the leader of public +opinion on the Continent, was filled with opinions contemptuous of all +thrones.</p> + +<p>The year 1768 exhibited France in her most humiliating position before +Europe. The Duc de Choiseul was the minister—a man of wit, elegance, +and accomplishment; but too frivolous to follow, if he had not been +too ignorant to discover, the true sources of national greatness. His +foreign policy was intrigue, and his domestic policy the favouritism +of the court by administering to its vices. He raised a war between +the Russians and Turks, and had the mortification of seeing his +<i>protégé</i> the Turk trampled by the armies of his rival the Czarina. +Even the Corsicans had degraded the military name of France. But he +had a new peril at home. Old Marshal Richelieu—who, as Walpole +sarcastically observes, "had retained none of his faculties, but that +last talent of a decayed Frenchman, a spirit of back-stairs +intrigue"—had provided old Louis XV. with a new mistress. Of all the +persons of this character who had made French royal life scandalous in +the eyes of Europe, this connexion was the most scandalous. It +scandalized even France. This mistress was the famous Countess du +Barri—a wretched creature, originally of the very lowest condition; +whose vices would have stained the very highest; and who, in the +convulsions of the reign that followed, was butchered by the +guillotine.</p> + +<p>In November of this year died the Duke of Newcastle, at the age of +seventy-five. He had been struck with palsy some months before, and +then for the first time withdrew from public life. Walpole observes, +that his life had been a proof that, "even in a free country, great +abilities are not necessary to govern it." Industry, perseverance, and +intrigue, gave him that duration of power "which shining talents, and +the favour of the crown, could not secure to Lord Granville, nor the +first rank in eloquence, or the most brilliant services, to Lord +Chatham. Rashness overset Lord Granville's parts, and presumptuous +impracticability Lord Chatham; while adventitious cunning repaired +Newcastle's folly." Such is the explanation of one of the most curious +phenomena of the time, by one of its most ingenious lookers-on. But +the explanation is not sufficient. It is impossible to conceive, how +mere cunning could have sustained any man for a quarter of a century +in the highest ministerial rank; while that rank was contested from +day to day by men of every order of ability. Since the days of +Bolingbroke, there have been no examples of ministerial talent, equal +to those exhibited, in both Houses, in the day of the Duke of +Newcastle. Chatham was as ambitious as any man that ever lived, and +full of the faculties that make ambition successful. The Butes, the +Bedfords, the Hollands, the Shelburnes, exhibited every shape and +shade of cabinet dexterity, of court cabal, of popular influence, and +of political knowledge and reckless intrigue. Yet the Duke of +Newcastle, with remarkable personal disadvantages—a ridiculous +manner, an ungainly address, speech without the slightest pretension +to eloquence, and the character of extreme ignorance on general +subjects—preserved his power almost to the extreme verge of life; and +to the last was regarded as playing a most important part in the +counsels of the country. Unless we believe in magic, we must believe +that this man, with all his oddity of manner, possessed some +remarkable faculty, by which he saw his way clearly through +difficulties impervious to more showy minds. He must have deeply +discovered the means of attaching the monarch, of acting upon the +legislature, and of controlling the captiousness of the people. He +must have had practical qualities of a remarkable kind; and his is not +the first instance, in which such qualities, in the struggles of +government, bear away the prize. Thus, in later times, we have seen +Lord Liverpool minister for eleven years, and holding power with a +firm, yet quiet grasp to the last; with the whole strength of Lord +Grey and the Whigs struggling for it in front, and George Canning, a +still more dangerous enemy, watching for it in the rear.</p> + +<p>In one of the Notes referring to the appointment of Earl Cornwallis to +the vice-treasuryship of Ireland, the<!-- Page 731 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_731" id="Page_731">[Pg 731]</a></span> editor makes a remark which +ought not to pass without strong reprehension. Earl Cornwallis, +towards the close of the Irish rebellion in 1798, had been made chief +governor of Ireland, at the head of a large army, for the purpose of +extinguishing the remnants of the rebellion, and restoring the country +to the habits of peace. The task was no longer difficult, but he +performed his part with dignity and moderation. He had been sent +expressly for the purpose of pacifying the country, an object which +would have been altogether inconsistent with measures of violence; but +the editor, in telling us that his conduct exhibited sagacity and +benevolence, hazards the extraordinary assertion, that "he was one of +the few statesmen who inculcated the necessity of forbearance and +concession in the misgoverned country!" Nothing can be more erroneous +than this statement in point of principle, or more ignorant in point +of fact. For the last hundred years and upwards, dating from the +cessation of the war with James II., Ireland had been the object of +perpetual concessions, and, if misgoverned at all, it has been such by +the excess of those concessions. It is to be remembered, that in the +reign of William I. the Roman Catholics were in actual alliance with +France, and in actual arms against England. They were next beaten in +the field, and it was the business of the conquerors to prevent their +taking arms again. From this arose the penal laws. To those laws we +are not friendly; because we are not friendly to any attempt at the +suppression even of religious error by the force of the state. It was +a political blunder, and an offence to Christian principle, at the +same time; but the Papist is the last man in the world who has a right +to object to penal laws; for he is the very man who would have enacted +them himself against the Protestant—who always enacts them where he +has the power—and, from the spirit of whose laws, the British +legislature were in fact only borrowing at the moment. Yet from the +time when James II. and his family began to sink into insignificance, +the legislature began to relax the penal laws. Within the course of +half a century, they had wholly disappeared; and thus the editor's +flippant assertion, that Earl Cornwallis was one of the few statesmen +who inculcated the necessity of forbearance and concession, exhibits +nothing but his Whiggish ignorance on the subject. The misgovernment +of Ireland, if such existed, was to be laid to the charge of neither +the English minister nor the English people. The editor probably +forgets, that during that whole period she was governed by her own +parliament; while her progress during the second half of the 18th +century was memorably rapid, and prosperous in the highest degree, +through the bounties, privileges, and encouragements of every kind, +which were constantly held out to her by the <i>British</i> government. And +that so early as the year 1780, she was rich enough to raise, equip, +and support a volunteer army of nearly a hundred thousand men—a +measure unexampled in Europe, and which would probably task the +strength of some of the most powerful kingdoms even at this day. And +all this was previous to the existence of what is called the "patriot +constitution."</p> + +<p>Walpole has the art of painting historic characters to the life; but +he sadly extinguishes the romance with which our fancy so often +enrobes them. We have been in the habit of hearing Pascal Paoli, the +chief of the Corsicans, described as the model of a republican hero; +and there can be no question, that the early resistance of the +Corsicans cost the French a serious expenditure of men and money. But +Walpole charges Paoli with want of military skill, and even with want +of that personal intrepidity so essential to a national leader. At +length, Corsican resistance being overpowered by the constant +accumulation of French force, Paoli gave way, and, as Walpole +classically observes, "not having fallen like Leonidas, did not +despair like Cato." Paoli had been so panegyrized by Boswell's work, +that he was received with almost romantic applause. The Opposition +adopted him for the sake of popularity, but ministers took him out of +their hands by a pension of £1000 a-year. "I saw him," says Walpole, +"soon after his arrival, dangling at court. He was a man of decent +deportment, and<!-- Page 732 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_732" id="Page_732">[Pg 732]</a></span> so void of any thing remarkable in his aspect, that, +being asked if I knew who he was, I judged him a Scotch officer—for +he was sandy complexioned and in regimentals—who was cautiously +awaiting the moment of promotion." All this is in Walpole's style of +fashionable impertinence; but there can be no doubt that Paoli was a +brave man, and an able commander. He gave the French several severe +defeats, but the contest was soon too unequal, and Paoli withdrew to +this country; which was so soon after to be a shelter to the +aristocracy of the country which had stained his mountains with blood.</p> + +<p>By a singular fate, on his return to France in an early period of the +Revolution, he was received with a sort of national triumph, and +actually appointed lieutenant-general of Corsica by the nation which +had driven him into exile. In the war which followed, Paoli, disgusted +by the tyranny of French republicanism, and alarmed by the violence of +the native factions, proposed to put his country under the protection +of the English government. A naval and military force was sent to +Corsica, and the island was annexed to the British crown. But the +possession was not maintained with rational vigour. The feeble +armament was found unequal to resist the popular passion for +republicanism. And, from this expenditure of troops, and probably +still more from the discovery that the island would be wholly useless, +the force was altogether withdrawn. Paoli returned to England, where +he died, having attained the advanced age of eighty. His red hair and +sandy complexion are probably fatal to his character as an Italian +chieftain. But if his locks were not black, his heart was bold; and if +his lip wanted mustaches, his mind wanted neither sagacity nor +determination.</p> + +<p>Walpole was born for a cynic philosopher. He treats men of all ranks +with equal scorn. From Wilkes to George III., he brands them all. +Ministers meet no mercy at his hands. He ranges them, as the Sultan +used to range heads on the spikes of the seraglio, for marks for his +arrows. His history is a species of moveable panorama; the scene +constantly shifting, and every scene a burlesque of the one that went +before; or perhaps the more faithful similitude would be found in a +volume of HB.'s ingenious caricatures, where all the likenesses are +preserved, though perverted, and all the dexterity of an accomplished +pencil is employed only in making its subjects ridiculous. He thus +tells us:—"The Duke of Grafton was the fourth prime minister in seven +years, who fell by his own fault. Lord Bute was seized with a panic, +and ran away from his own victory. Grenville was undone by his +insolence, by joining in the insult on the princess, and by his +persecution of Lord Bute and Mackenzie. Lord Rockingham's incapacity +overturned <i>him</i>; and now the Duke of Grafton destroyed a power which +it had depended on himself to make as permanent as he could desire." +But rash and rapid as those changes were, what were the grave +intrigues of the English cabinet to the <i>boudoir</i> ministries of +France? Walpole is never so much in his element, as when he is +sporting in the fussy frivolities of the Faubourg St Germain. He was +much more a Frenchman than an Englishman; his love of gossip, his +passion for haunting the society of talkative old women, and his +delight at finding himself revelling in a region of <i>petite soupers</i>, +court gallantries, and the faded indiscretions of court beauties in +the wane, would have made him a rival to the courtiers of Louis XIV.</p> + +<p>Perhaps, the world never saw, since the days of Sardanapalus, a court +so corrupt, wealth so profligate, and a state of society so utterly +contemptuous of even the decent affectation of virtue, as the closing +years of the reign of Louis XV. A succession of profligate women ruled +the king, a similar succession ruled the cabinet; lower life was a +sink of corruption; the whole a romance of the most scandalous order. +Madame de Pompadour, a woman whose vice had long survived her beauty, +and who ruled the decrepit heart of a debauched king, had made +Choiseul minister. Choiseul was the beau-ideal of a French noble of +the old <i>régime</i>. His ambition was boundless, his insolence +ungoverned, his caprice unrestrained, and his love of pleasure<!-- Page 733 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_733" id="Page_733">[Pg 733]</a></span> +predominant even over his love of power. "He was an open enemy, but a +generous one; and had more pleasure in attaching an enemy, than in +punishing him. Whether from gaiety or presumption, he was never +dismayed; his vanity made him always depend on the success of his +plans, and his spirits made him soon forget the miscarriage of them."</p> + +<p>At length appeared on the tapis the memorable Madame du Barri! For +three months, all the faculties of the court were absorbed in the +question of her public presentation. Indulgent as the courtiers were +to the habits of royal life, the notoriety of Madame du Barri's early +career, startled even their flexible sense of etiquette. The ladies of +the court, most of whom would have been proud to have taken her place, +determined "that they would not appear at court if she should be +received there." The King's daughters (who had borne the ascendant of +Madame du Pompadour in their mother's life) grew outrageous at the new +favourite; and the relatives of Choiseul insisted upon it, that he +should resign rather than consent to the presentation. Choiseul +resisted, yielded, was insulted for his resistance, and was scoffed at +for his submission. He finally retired, and was ridiculed for his +retirement. Du Barri triumphed. Epigrams and <i>calembours</i> blazed +through Paris. Every one was a wit for the time, and every wit was a +rebel. The infidel faction looked on at the general dissolution of +morals with delight, as the omen of general overthrow. The Jesuits +rejoiced in the hope of getting the old King into their hands, and +terrifying him, if not into a proselyte, at least into a tool. Even Du +Barri herself was probably not beyond their hopes; for the established +career of a King's mistress was, to turn <i>dévote</i> on the decay of her +personal attractions.</p> + +<p>Among Choiseul's intentions was that of making war on England. There +was not the slightest ground for a war. But it is a part of the +etiquette of a Frenchman's life, that he must be a warrior, or must +promote a war, or must dream of a war. M. Guizot is the solitary +exception in our age, as M. Fleury was the solitary exception in the +last; but Fleury was an ecclesiastic, and was eighty years old +besides—two strong disqualifications for a conqueror. But the King +was then growing old, too; his belligerent propensities were absorbed +in quarrels with his provincial parliaments; his administrative +faculties found sufficient employment in managing the morals of his +mistresses; his private hours were occupied in pelting Du Barri with +sugar-plums; and thus his days wore away without that supreme glory of +the old <i>régime</i>—a general war in Europe.</p> + +<p>The calamities of the French noblesse at the period of the Revolution, +excited universal regret; and the sight of so many persons, of +graceful manners and high birth, flung into the very depths of +destitution in foreign lands, or destroyed by the guillotine at home, +justified the sympathy of mankind. But, the secret history of that +noblesse was a fearful stigma, not only on France, but on human +nature. Vice may have existed to a high degree of criminality in other +lands; but in no other country of Europe, or the earth, ever was vice +so public, so ostentatiously forced upon the eyes of man, so +completely formed into an established and essential portion of +fashionable and courtly life. It was even the <i>etiquette</i>, that the +King of France should have a <i>mistress</i>. She was as much a part of the +royal establishment as a prime minister was of the royal councils; +and, as if for the purpose of offering a still more contemptuous +defiance to the common decencies of life, the etiquette was, that this +mistress should be a <i>married woman</i>! Yet in that country the whole +ritual of Popery was performed with scrupulous exactness. A vast and +powerful clergy filled France; and the ceremonials of the national +religion were performed continually before the court, with the most +rigid formality. The King had his confessor, and, so far as we can +discover, the mistress had her confessor too; the nobles attended the +royal chapel, and also had their confessors. The confessional was +never without royal and noble solicitors of monthly, or, at the +furthest, quarterly absolution. Still, from the whole body of +ecclesiastics, France heard no remonstrance against those public +abominations. Their sermons,<!-- Page 734 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_734" id="Page_734">[Pg 734]</a></span> few and feeble, sometimes declaimed on +the vices of the beggars of Paris, or the riots among the peasantry; +but no sense of scriptural responsibility, and no natural feeling of +duty, ever ventured to deprecate the vices of the nobles and the +scandals of the throne.</p> + +<p>We must give but a fragment, from Walpole's <i>catalogue raisonné</i>, of +this Court of Paphos. It had been the King's object to make some women +of rank introduce Madame du Barri at court; and he had found +considerable difficulty in this matter, not from her being a woman of +no character, but on her being a woman of no birth, and whose earlier +life had been spent in the lowest condition of vice. The King at last +succeeded—and these are the <i>chaperons</i>. "There was Madame de +l'Hôpital, an ancient mistress of the Prince de Soubize! The Comtesse +Valentinois, of the highest birth, very rich, but very foolish; and as +far from a Lucretia as Madame du Barri herself! Madame de Flavacourt +was another, a suitable companion to both in virtue and understanding. +She was sister to <i>three</i> of <i>the King's earliest mistresses</i>, and had +aimed at succeeding them! The Maréchale Duchesse de Mirpoix was the +last, and a very important acquisition." Of her, Walpole simply +mentions that all her talents were "drowned in such an overwhelming +passion for play, that though she had long and singular credit with +the King, she reduced her favour to an endless solicitation for money +to pay her debts." He adds, in his keen and amusing style—"That, to +obtain the post of <i>dame d'honneur</i> to the Queen, she had left off +<i>red</i> (wearing rouge,) and acted <i>dévotion</i>; and the very next day was +seen riding with Madame de Pompadour (the King's mistress) in the +latter's coach!" The editor settles the question of <i>her</i> morality, +too.—"She was a woman of extraordinary wit and cleverness, but +totally <i>without character</i>." She had her morals by inheritance; for +she was the daughter of the <i>mistress</i> of the Duke of Lorraine, who +married her to Monsieur de Beauvan, a poor noble, and whom the duke +got made a prince of the empire, by the title of De Craon. Now, all +those were females of the highest rank in France, ladies of fashion, +the stars of court life, and the models of national manners. Can we +wonder at the retribution which cast them out into the highways of +Europe? Can we wonder at the ruin of the corrupted nobility? Can we +wonder at the massacre of the worldly church, which stood looking on +at those vilenesses, and yet never uttered a syllable against them, if +it did not even share in their excesses? The true cause for +astonishment is, not in the depth of their fall, but in its delay; not +in the severity of the national judgment, but in that long-suffering +which held back the thunderbolt for a hundred years, and even then did +not extinguish the generation at a blow!</p> +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE.</h3> +<p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> <i>Memoirs of the Reign of King George the Third, by +Horace Walpole. From the MSS. Edited, with Notes, by</i> <span class="smcap">Sir D. La +Marchant, Bart.</span> London: Bentley.</p></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="biggap"><!-- Page 735 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_735" id="Page_735">[Pg 735]</a></span></div> +<h2><a name="A_FEW_PASSAGES_CONCERNING_OMENS_DREAMS_APPEARANCES" id="A_FEW_PASSAGES_CONCERNING_OMENS_DREAMS_APPEARANCES"></a>A FEW PASSAGES CONCERNING OMENS, DREAMS, APPEARANCES, &c.</h2> +<h3><span class="smcap">In a Letter to Eusebius.</span><br /> +No. II.</h3> +<div class="gap"/> +<p>It is somewhat late, my dear, Eusebius, to refer me to my letter of +August 1840, and to enquire, in your bantering way, if I have shaken +hands with a ghost recently, or dreamed a dream worth telling. You +have evidently been thinking upon this subject ever since I wrote to +you; and I suspect you are more of a convert than you will admit. You +only wish to provoke me to further evidence; but I see—through the +flimsy veil of your seeming denials, and through your put-on +audacity—the nervous workings of your countenance, when your +imagination is kindled by the mysterious subject. Your wit and your +banter are but the whistle of the clown in the dark, to keep down his +rising fears. However good your story<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> may be, there have been +dreams even of the numbers of lottery-tickets that have been verified. +We call things coincidences and chances, because we have no name to +give them, whereas they are phenomena that want a better settlement. +You speak, too, of the "doctrine of chances." If chance have a +doctrine, it is subject to a rule, is under calculation, arithmetic, +and loses all trace at once of our idea of absolute chance. If there +be chance, there is also a power over chance. The very hairs of our +head, which seem to be but a chance-confusion, are yet, we are +assured, all numbered—and is it less credible that their every +movement is noted also? One age is the type of another; and every age, +from the beginning of the world, hath had its own symbols; and not +poetically only, but literally true is it, that "coming events cast +their shadows before." If the "vox populi" be the "vox Dei," it has +pronounced continually, in a space of above five thousand years, that +there is communication between the material and immaterial worlds. So +rare are the exceptions, that, speaking of mankind, we may assert that +there is a universal belief amongst them of that connexion by signs, +omens, dreams, visions, or ghostly presences. Many professed sceptics, +who have been sceptics only in the pride of understanding, have in +secret bowed down to one form or other of the superstition. Take not +the word in a bad sense. It is at least the germ, the<!-- Page 736 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_736" id="Page_736">[Pg 736]</a></span> natural germ, +of religion in the human mind. It is the consciousness of a +superiority not his own, of some power so immeasurably above man, that +his mind cannot take it in, but accepts, as inconsiderable glimpses of +it, the phenomena of nature, and the fears and misgivings of his own +mind, spreading out from himself into the infinite and invisible. I am +not certain, Eusebius, if it be not the spiritual part of conscience, +and is to it what life is to organized matter—the mystery which gives +it all its motion and beauty.</p> + +<p>It is not my intention to repeat the substance of my former letter—I +therefore pass on. You ask me if the mesmeric phenomena—which you +ridicule, yet of which I believe you covet a closer investigation—are +not part and parcel of the same incomprehensible farrago? I cannot +answer you. It would be easy to do so were I a disciple. If the +mesmerists <i>can</i> establish <i>clairvoyance</i>, it will certainly be upon a +par with the ancient oracles. But what the philosopher La Place says, +in his <i>Essay on Probabilities</i>, may be worth your consideration—that +"any case, however apparently incredible, if it is a recurrent case, +is as much entitled to a fair valuation under the laws of induction, +as if it had been more probable beforehand." If the mesmerized can +project, and that apparently without effort, their minds into the +minds of others—read their thoughts; if they can see and tell what is +going on hundreds of miles off, on the sea and on distant lands alike; +if they can at remote distances <i>influence</i> others with a sense of +their presence—they possess a power so very similar to that ascribed, +in some extraordinary cases, to persons who, in a dying state, have +declared that they have been absent and conversed with individuals +dear to them in distant countries, and whose presence has been +recognised at those very times by the persons so said to be visited, +that I do not see how they can be referable to different original +phenomena. Yet with this fact before them, supposing the facts of +mesmerism, of the mind's separation from, and independence of its +organic frame, is it not extraordinary that so many of this new school +are, or profess themselves by their writings, materialists? I would, +however, use the argument of mesmerism thus:—Mesmerism, if true, +confirms the ghost and vision power, though I cannot admit that +dreams, ghosts, and visions are any confirmation of mesmerism; for if +mesmerism be a delusion and cheat, it may have arisen from speculating +upon the other known power—as true miracles have been known to give +rise to false. In cases of mesmerism, however, this shock is felt—the +facts, as facts in the ordinary sense, are incredible; but then I see +persons who have examined the matter very nicely, whom I have known, +some intimately, for many years, of whose good sense, judgement, and +<i>veracity</i> I will not allow myself to doubt—indeed to doubt whose +veracity would be more incredible to me than the mesmeric facts +themselves. Here is a conflict—a shock. Two contradictory +impossibilities come together. I do not weigh in the scale at all the +discovery of some cheats and pretenders; this was from the first to +have been expected. In truth, the discoveries of trick and collusion +are, after all, few. Not only has mesmerism been examined into by +persons I respect, but practised likewise; and by one, a physician, +whom I have known intimately many years, who, to his own detriment, +has pursued it, and whom I have ever considered one of the most +truthful persons living, and incapable of collusion, or knowingly in +any way deceiving. Now, Eusebius, we cannot go into society, and +pronounce persons whom we have ever respected all at once to be cheats +and liars. Yet there may be some among them who will tell you that +they themselves were entirely sceptical until they tried mesmerism, +and found they had the power in themselves. We must then, in fairness, +either acknowledge mesmerism as a power, or believe that these persons +whom we respect and esteem are practised upon and deluded by others. +And such would, I confess, be the solution of the difficulty, were it +not that there are cases where this is next to an impossibility.</p> + +<p>But I do not mean now, Eusebius,<!-- Page 737 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_737" id="Page_737">[Pg 737]</a></span> to discuss mesmerism, <a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> further +than as it does seem "a part and parcel" of that mysterious power +which has been manifested in omens, dreams, and appearances. I say +<i>seem</i>—for if it be proved altogether false, the other mystery stands +untouched by the failure—for in fact it was, thousands of years +before either the discovery or practice—at least as far as we know; +for some will not quite admit this, but, in their mesmeric dreaming, +attribute to it the ancient oracles, and other wonders. And there are +who somewhat inconsistently do this, having ridiculed and contemned as +utterly false those phenomena, until they have found them hitch on to, +and give a credit to, their new Mesmeric science.</p> + +<p>But to return to the immediate subject. It has been objected against<!-- Page 738 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_738" id="Page_738">[Pg 738]</a></span> +dreams, omens, and visions, that they often occur without an object; +that there is either no consequence, or a very trifling one; the knot +is not "dignus vindice." Now, I am not at all staggered by this; on +the contrary, it rather tends to show that there is some <i>natural</i> +link by which the material and immaterial within and without ourselves +may be connected; and very probably many more intimations of that +connexion are given than noted. Those of thought, mental suggestions, +may most commonly escape us. It is thus what we would not do of +ourselves we may do in spite of ourselves. Nor do we always observe +closely objects and ends. We might, were we to scrutinize, often find +the completion of a dream or omen which we had considered a failure, +because we looked too immediately for its fulfilment. But even where +there is evidently no purpose attained, there is the less reason to +suspect fabrication, which would surely commence with an object. Some +very curious cases are well attested, where the persons under the +impression act upon the impulse blindly, not knowing why; and +suddenly, in conclusion, the whole purpose bursts upon their +understandings. But I think the objection as to purpose is answered by +one undoubted fact, the dream of Pilate's wife—"Have thou nothing to +do with that just man; for I have suffered many things this day in a +dream because of him." There is here no apparent purpose—the warning +was unheeded. Yet the dream, recorded as it is and where it is, was +unquestionably a dream upon the event to happen; and is not to be +considered as a mere coincidence, which would have been unworthy the +sacred historian, who wrote the account of it under inspiration. And +this is a strong—the strongest confirmation of the inspiration of +dreams, or rather, perhaps, of their significance, natural or +otherwise, and with or without a purpose. So the dream of Cæsar's wife +did not save Cæsar's life. And what are we to think of the whole +narrative, beginning with the warning of the Ides of March? Now, +Joseph's dream and Pharaoh's dream were dreams of purpose; they were +prophetic, and disclosed to the understanding of Joseph. So that, with +this authority of Scripture, I do not see how dreams can be set aside +as of no significance. And we have the like authority for omens, and +symbols, and visions—so that we must conclude the things themselves +to be possible; and this many do, yet say that, with other miracles, +they have long ceased to be.</p> + +<p>Then, again, in things that by their agreement, falling in with other +facts and events, move our wonder, we escape from the difficulty, as +we imagine, by calling them coincidences; as if we knew what +coincidences are. I do not believe they are without a purpose, any +more than that seeming fatality by which little circumstances produce +great events, and in ordinary life occur frequently to an apparent +detriment, yet turn out to be the very hinge upon which the fortune +and happiness of life depend and are established. I remember a +remarkable instance of this—though it may not strictly belong to +omens or coincidences; but it shows the purpose of an accident. Many +years ago, a lady sent her servant—a young man about twenty years of +age, and a native of that part of the country where his mistress +resided—to the neighbouring town with a ring which required some +alteration, to be delivered into the hands of a jeweller. The young +man went the shortest way, across the fields; and coming to a little +wooden bridge that crossed a small stream, he leaned against the rail, +and took the ring out of its case to look at it. While doing so, it +slipped out of his hand, and fell into the water. In vain he searched +for it, even till it grew dark. He thought it fell into the hollow of +a stump of a tree under water; but he could not find it. The time +taken in the search was so long, that he feared to return and tell his +story—thinking it incredible, and that he should even be suspected of +having gone into evil company, and gamed it away or sold it. In this +fear, he determined never to return—left wages and clothes, and +fairly ran away. This seemingly great misfortune was the making of +him. His intermediate history I know not; but this—that after many +years' absence, either in the East or<!-- Page 739 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_739" id="Page_739">[Pg 739]</a></span> West Indies, he returned with a +very considerable fortune. He now wished to clear himself with his old +mistress; ascertained that she was living, purchased a diamond ring of +considerable value, which he determined to present in person, and +clear his character, by telling his tale, which the credit of his +present condition might testify. He took the coach to the town of ——, +and from thence set out to walk the distance of a few miles. He found, +I should tell you, on alighting, a gentleman who resided in the +neighbourhood, who was bound for the adjacent village. They walked +together; and, in conversation, this former servant, now a gentleman, +with graceful manners and agreeable address, communicated the +circumstance that made him leave the country abruptly, many years +before. As he was telling this, they came to the very wooden bridge. +"There," said he—"it was just here that I dropped the ring; and there +is the very bit of old tree, into a hole of which it fell—just +there." At the same time, he put down the point of his umbrella into +the hole of a knot in the tree—and, drawing it up, to the +astonishment of both, found <i>the</i> very ring on the ferrule of the +umbrella. I need not tell the rest. But make this reflection—why was +it that he did not as easily find it immediately after it had fallen +in? It was an incident like one of those in Parnell's "Hermit," which, +though a seeming chance, was of purpose, and most important.</p> + +<p>Now, here is an extraordinary coincidence between a fact and a dream, +or a vision, whatever it may be, which yet was of no result—I know it +to be true. And you know, Eusebius, my excellent, truth-telling, +worthy Mrs H——, who formerly kept a large school at ——. One morning +early, the whole house was awakened by the screams of one of the +pupils. She was in hysterics; and, from time to time, fainting away in +an agony of distress. She said she had seen her grandfather—that he +was dead, and they would bury him alive. In due time, the post brought +a letter—the grandfather <i>was dead</i>. Letters were written to the +friends to announce the dream or vision, and the burial was delayed in +consequence. Nothing could be more natural than the fear of burying +him alive in the mind of the young girl, unacquainted with death, and +averse to persuade herself that the person she had seen could be +really dead. Now, my dear Eusebius, you know Mrs H——, and cannot +doubt the fact.</p> + +<p>Cases of this kind are so many, and well authenticated, that one knows +not where to choose.</p> + +<div class="poem center"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">——"Tam multa loquacem</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Delassare valent Fabium."</span><br /> +</div></div> + +<p>I think you knew the worthy and amiable Mr ——, who had the charge of +the valuable museum at ——. I well remember hearing this narrated of +him, long <i>before</i> his death. He stated, that one day opening a case, +he heard a voice issue from it, which said—"In three days you shall +die." He became ill, and sent for Dr P——, the very celebrated +physician. It was in vain to reason with him. The third day arrived. +The kind physician sat with him till the hour was past. He did not +then die! Did he, however, mistake or miscalculate the meaning of the +voice? He died <i>that very day three years!!</i> Nothing can be more +authentic than this.</p> + +<p>When I was in town in the summer, Eusebius, I spent an agreeable day +with my friends, the C——s. Now, I do not know a human being more +incapable of letting an idea, a falsehood of imagination, run away +with his sober judgment. He has a habit, I should say, more than most +men, of tying himself down to matters of fact. I copy for you an +extract from a diary; it was taken down that night. "Mr C—— has just +told me the following very curious circumstance:—Some years ago, Mrs +C—— being not in good health, they determined to spend some weeks in +the country. His father was then in his house. They separated—the +father, to his own home in the neighbourhood of London, and Mr and Mrs +C—— to visit the brother of Mrs C——, a clergyman, and resident +upon his living, in Suffolk. Soon after their arrival, there was a +large assembly of friends, in consequence of some church business. +There was<!-- Page 740 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_740" id="Page_740">[Pg 740]</a></span> church service—in the midst of which Mr C—— suddenly +felt an irresistible desire to return to his house in town. He knew +not why. It was in vain he reasoned with himself—go he must, forced +by an impulse for which he could in no way account. It would distress +his friends—particularly on such an occasion. He could not help it. +He communicated his intention to Mrs C——; begged her to tell no one, +lest he should give trouble by having the carriage;—his resolution +was instantly taken, to quit the church at once, to walk about six +miles to meet the coach if possible; if not, determining to walk all +night, a distance of thirty-two miles. He did quit the church, walked +the six miles, was in time to take the coach, reached London, and his +own home. The intelligence he found there was, that his father was +dangerously ill. He went to him—found him dying—and learned that he +had told those about him that he knew he should see his son. That wish +was gratified, which could not have been but for this sudden impulse +and resolution. His father expired in his arms."</p> + +<p>It is curious that his father had told him a dream which he had had +some years before—that he was in the midst of some convulsion of +nature, where death was inevitable, and that then the only one of his +children who came to him was my friend Mr C——, which was thus in +manner accomplished on the day of his death.</p> + +<p>I know not if some persons are naturally more under these and suchlike +mysterious influences. There was another occurrence which much +affected Mr C——. He went into Gloucestershire to visit a brother. I +do not think the brother was ill. All the way that he went in the +coach, he had, to use his own words, a death-smell which very much +annoyed him. Leaving the coach, he walked towards his brother's house +greatly depressed; so much so, that, for a considerable time, he sat +on a stone by the way, deeply agitated, and could not account for the +feeling. He arrived in time only to see his brother expire. I do not +know, Eusebius, how you can wish for better evidence of facts so +extraordinary. Mr C——'s character is sufficient voucher.</p> + +<p>Here is another of these extraordinary coincidences which I have been +told by my friend Mrs S——, niece to the Rev. W. Carr, whom she has +very frequently heard narrate the following:—A farmer's wife at +Bolton Abbey, came to him, the Rev. W. Carr, in great agitation, and +told him she had passed a dreadful night, having dreamed that she saw +Mr Richard, (brother to Rev. W. Carr;) that she saw him in great +distress, struggling in the water, with his portmanteau on his +shoulders, escaping from a burning ship; and she begged the family to +write to know if Mr Richard was safe. It was exactly according to the +dream; he had, at the very time, so escaped from the burning of (I +believe) the Boyne. How like is this to some of the mesmeric visions! +I am assured of the truth of the following, by one who knew the +circumstance. One morning, as Mrs F—— was sitting in her room, a +person came in and told her he had had a very singular dream; that he +had been sitting with her sister, Mrs B——k, when some one came into +the room with distressing intelligence about her husband. Though it +could not have been there known at the time, Mr B——k had been +thrown from his horse and killed.</p> + +<p>A party of gentlemen had met at Newcastle; the nature of the meeting +is stated to have been of a profane character. One of them suddenly +started, and cried, "What's that?"—and saw a coffin. The others saw +it; and one said—"It is mine: I see myself in it!" In twenty-four +hours he was a corpse.</p> + +<p>I think I mentioned to you, Eusebius, that when I dined with Miss +A——, in town, she told me a curious story about a black boy. I have +been since favoured with the particulars, and copy part of the letter; +weigh it well, and tell me what you think of such coincidences—if you +are satisfied that there is nothing but chance in the matter.</p> + +<p>"Now for the little black boy. In the year 1813, I was at the house of +Sir J. W. S——th of D—— House, near Bl——d, who then resided in +Portman Square, and a Mr L——r of Norfolk, a great friend of Sir +John's, was of the party. On coming into<!-- Page 741 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_741" id="Page_741">[Pg 741]</a></span> the room, he said—'I have +just been calling on our old Cambridge friend, H——n, who returned +the other day from India; and he has been telling me a very curious +thing which happened in his family. He had to go up the country to a +very remote part, on some law business, and he left Mrs H——n at +home, under the protection of her sister and that lady's husband. The +night after Mr H——n went away, the brother-in-law was awakened by +the screams of his own wife in her sleep; she had dreamed that a +little black boy, Mr H——n's servant, who had attended him, was +murdering him. He woke her, and while he was endeavouring to quiet +her, and convince her that her fears were the effects of a bad dream, +produced probably by indigestion, he was roused by the alarming +shrieks of Mrs H——n, who slept in an adjoining room. On going to +her, he found her, too, just awakening after a horrid dream—the +little Indian boy was murdering her husband. He used the same +arguments with her that he had already found answer in quieting his +own wife; but, in his own mind, he felt very anxious for tidings from +Mr H——n. To their great surprise, that gentleman made his +appearance the next evening, though he had expected to be absent above +a week. He looked ill and dejected. They anxiously asked him what was +the matter. Nothing, but that he was angry with himself for acting in +a weak, foolish manner. He had dreamed that his attendant, the little +black boy, intended to murder him; and the dream made such an +impression on his nerves that he could not bear the sight of the boy, +but dismissed him at once without any explanation. Finding he could +not go on without an attendant, he had returned home to procure one; +but as he had no reason whatever to suspect the boy of any ill +intention, he felt very angry with himself for minding a dream. Dear +Mrs H——n was much struck with this story; but she used to +say—unless it were proved that the boy really had the intention of +murdering his master, the dreams were for nothing.'"</p> + +<p>In this instance a murder may have been prevented by these dreams; for +if merely coincidences, and without an object, the wonder of +coincidences is great indeed; for it is not one dream, but three, and +of three persons.</p> + +<p>Things apparently of little consequence are yet curious for +observation. Our friend K——n, and two or three other friends, some +months ago went on an excursion together. Their first point was Bath, +where they meant to remain some time. K——n dreamed on Friday they +were to start on Saturday; that there was a great confusion at the +railway station; and that there would be no reaching Bath for them. +They went, however, on Saturday morning, and he told his dream when in +the carriage. One of the party immediately repeated the old saying—</p> + +<div class="poem center"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"A Friday's dream on Saturday told</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Will be sure to come true ere the day is old."</span><br /> +</div></div> + +<p>There was no accident to the train; but, instead of finding themselves +at Bath, they found themselves at Bristol—having, in their +conversation, neglected to notice that they had passed Bath. They were +put to great inconvenience, and confusion, and difficulty in getting +their luggage. I know you too well, Eusebius, not to hear, by +anticipation, your laughter at this trifling affair, and the wit with +which for a few moments you will throw off your ridicule. You may ask, +if the shooting of your corns are not as sure and as serious +prognostications? Be it so; and why not, Eusebius? You can tell by +them what weather to expect; and, after all, you know little more of +the material world, less of the immaterial, and nothing of their +mystical union. Nothing now, past, present, and future, may be but +terms for we know not what, and cannot comprehend how they can be lost +in an eternity. There they become submerged. So take the thing +represented, not the paltry, perhaps ridiculous, one through which it +is represented. It is the picture, the attitude, the position, the +undignified familiarity of yourself with the defects of your own +person, that make the ridiculous; but there is grave philosophy, +nevertheless, to be drawn from every atom of your own person, if you +view it aright. I have heard you eloquent against the "hypocrite<!-- Page 742 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_742" id="Page_742">[Pg 742]</a></span> +Cicero," as you called him, for his saying, that one Augur meeting +another could scarcely help laughing. If mankind chose augury as a +sign, it might have been permitted them to find a sign in it. But this +is plunging into deeper matter, and one which you will think a +quagmire, wherein wiser thoughts may flounder and be lost. When the +officers of Hannibal's army were heard to laugh by the soldiery on the +morning of the battle of Cannæ, they took it as a good omen. It was +generally received, and the day was fatal to the Romans. "Possunt quia +posse videntur," you will say; but whence comes the "videntur?" There, +Eusebius, you beg the whole question. The wonders and omens, gravely +related by Livy, at least portray a general feeling—an impression +before events. In the absence of a better religion, I would not have +quarrelled with the superstition, and very much join you in your +condemnation of the passage in Cicero.</p> + +<p>The fatal necessity of event upon event, of omen, dream, and vision, +is the great characteristic of the wondrous Greek drama. So awfully +portrayed is the <i>Œdipus</i>—and with more grand and prophetic +mystery pervading the <i>Agamemnon</i>. Had it not been congenial with +popular belief, it could never have been so received; nor, indeed, +could somewhat similar (though degraded from their high authority, as +standing less alone by their amalgamation with a purer creed) +characteristics in some of the plays of our own Shakspeare have +touched the mind to wonderment, had there been no innate feeling to +which they might, and without effort, unite. The progress, however, of +the omen and vision, clearer and clearer, pointing to the very deed, +and even while its enactment has commenced, and that fatality by which +(prophetic, too) the plainest prophecy is unheeded, contemned, and the +Prophetess herself doomed, and knowing herself doomed, may be +considered as an epitome of the Grecian creeds upon the subject. It +was no vulgar punning spirit that designated the very <i>name</i> of Helen +as a cursing omen.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Τις ποτʹ ὠνὀμαζεν ᾥδʹ</span> +<span class="i0">"Ες το πᾶν ετητυμς——</span> +<span class="i0">"Μή τις όντων οὐχ ορω——</span> +<span class="i0">"Μεν προνόαισι τοῦ πεπρωμευόυ</span> +<span class="i0">"Γλῶσσαν ὲν τύχσ νέμων."</span> +</div></div> + +<p>Helen, the destroyer—yes, that was her significant name. The present +King of the French was not allowed to assume the title of Valois, +which was, strictly speaking, his, and instead assumed that of Duc de +Chartres, on account of an evil omen attached to the former name; and +that evil omen originating in a curious fact, the seeing of a spectre +by that German princess who succeeded the poisoned sister of our +second Charles. But there is nothing in modern history more analogous +to the fatalities of the Grecian drama than those singular passages +relating to the death of Henry the Fourth of France. We have the +gravest authority of the gravest historians, that prophecies, +warnings, and omens so prepared Henry for his death, that he waited +for it with a calm resignation, as to an irresistible fatality. "In +fact," (says an eloquent writer in Maga of April 1840,) "it is to this +attitude of listening expectation in the king, and breathless waiting +for the blow, that Schiller alludes in that fine speech of Wallenstein +to his sister, where he notices the funeral knells that sounded +continually in Henry's ears; and, above all, his prophetic instinct, +that caught the sound from a far distance of his murderer's motions, +that could distinguish, amidst all the tumult of a mighty Capital, +those stealthy steps."</p> + +<p>And does it seem so strange to you, Eusebius, if the ear and the eye, +those outposts, as it were, of the ever watchful, spiritual, and +intellectual sentinels within man, convey the secret intelligences +that most concern him? What is there, Eusebius, so marvellous to your +conception, if there be sympathy more than electric between those two +worlds, outer Nature and Man himself? If earth, that<!-- Page 743 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_743" id="Page_743">[Pg 743]</a></span> with him and for +him partook of one curse, with all its accompanying chain and +interchange of elements, be still one with him, in utterance and +signification, whether of his weal or woe. The sunshine and the gloom +enter into him, and are his; they reflect his feelings, or rather they +are his feelings, almost become his flesh—they are his bodily +sensations. The winds and the waters, in their gentler breathings and +their sullen roar, are but the music of his mind, echo his joys, his +passions, or funereally rehearse the dirge of his fate.</p> + +<p>Reject not, my Eusebius, any fact, because it seems little and +trifling; a mite is a wonder in creation, from which deep, hidden +truths present themselves. It was a heathen thought, an imperfect +conception of the wide sympathy of all nature, and of that meaning +which every particle of it can convey, and more significantly as we +calculate our knowledge;—it was a heathen thought, that the poet +should lament the unlikeliness of the flowers of the field to man in +their fall and reappearance. It was not the blessing given to his +times to see the perfectness of the truth—the "non omnis moriar" +indicated even in his own lament.<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a></p> + +<p>I had written thus far, when our friend H—- l—- r looked in upon me, +and enquired what I was about; I told him I was writing to you, and +the subject of my letter. He is this moment gone, and has left with me +these two incidents. They came within his own experience. He +remembers, that when he was a boy, he was in a room with several of +his brothers, some of whom were unwell, yet not seriously ill. On a +sudden, there was a great noise, so great, that it could be compared +to nothing but the firing of a pistol—a pane in the window was +broken; not, he said, to <i>pieces</i>, but literally to a <i>powder</i> of +glass. All in the house heard it, with the exception of one of his +brothers, which struck them as very strange. The servants from below, +and their mother from above, rushed into the room, fearing one of them +might have been shot. The mother, when she saw how it was, told H—- +l—- r that his brother, who did not hear the noise, she knew it well, +would die. At that same hour next day that brother did die.</p> + +<p>The other story is more singular. His family were very intimate with +another, consisting of father, mother, and an only daughter—a child. +Of her the father was so fond, that he was never happy but when she +was with him. It happened that he lost his health, and during his long +illness, continually prayed that, when he was gone, his child too +should be shortly taken from this world, and that he might be with her +in a better. He died—when, a short time after his death, the child, +who was in perfect health, came rushing into the presence<!-- Page 744 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_744" id="Page_744">[Pg 744]</a></span> of her +mother, from a little room which looked out upon a court, but from +which there was no entrance to the room—she came rushing to her +mother, calling out—"Oh, papa, papa! I have seen papa in the court, +and he called me to him. I must go—open the door for me—do, mamma! I +must go, for he called me." Within twenty-four hours that child was +dead. Now, said H—l—r, I knew this to be a fact, as well as I ever +knew any act, for our families were like one family. Sweet image of +infant and of parental love!—let us excuse the prayer, by that of the +ancient mother, who, when her sons dragged her chariot to the temple, +prayed that they might receive from the gods what was best for +them—and they were found dead in the temple. How beautiful is the +smile of the sleeping infant! "Holds it not converse with angels?" the +thought is natural—ministering spirits may be unseen around us, and +in all space, and love the whispering speech in the ear of sleeping +innocence; there is visible joy in the face, yet how little can it +know of pleasurable sensations, communicable through this world's +objects? How know we but the sense must be deteriorated, to make it +serviceable for the lower purposes for which in part the child is +born?—as the air we breathe must have something of poison, or it +would be too pure for mortal beings. Look down some lengthening valley +from a height, Eusebius, at the hour of twilight, when all lands, +their marks and boundaries, grow dim, and only here and there the +scant light indicates lowly dwellings, shelters of humanity in earth's +sombre bosom, and mark the vast space of vapour that fills all +between, and touches all, broods over all—can you think this little +world of life that you know by having walked its path, and now see so +indistinguishable, to be the all of existence before you? Lone indeed +would be the world were there nothing better than ourselves in it. No +beings to watch for us, to warn us, to defend us from "the Power of +the Air:" ministering spirits—and why not of the departed?—may be +there. If there be those that in darkness persuade to evil—and in +winter nights, the winds that shake the casement seem to denote to the +guilty conscience the presence of avenging fiends—take we not peace +and wholesome suggestion from milder influences of air and sunshine? +Brighter may be, perhaps, the child's vision than ours; as it grows +for the toil and work for which it is destined, there comes another +picture of a stern and new reality, and that which brought the smile +of joy upon the face, is but as a dissolving view; and then he becomes +fully fitted for humanity, of which he was before but the embryo. And +even in his progress, if he keep charge of his mind, in purity and in +love, seem there not ministering spirits, that spread before him, in +the mirage of the mind, scenes that look like a new creation? and +pedants, in their kind, call this the poet's fancy, his imagination.</p> + +<p>Lately I have spent a month by the sea: the silent rocks seemed +significant in their overhanging look, and silence, as listening to +the incessant sea. It would be painful to think every thing insensible +about us, but ourselves. I wonder not that the rocks, the woods, and +wilds, were peopled by ancient Mythologists; and with beings, too, +with whom humanity could sympathize. I would not think that the +greater part of the earth's islands and continents were given up to +hearts insensate; that there were nothing better than wildernesses of +chattering apes—no sounds more rational than</p> + +<div class="poem center"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"The wolf's wild howl on Ulalaski's shore."</span><br /> +</div></div> + +<p>I would rather think that there are myriads of beings of higher nature +than ourselves, whose passage is ὡστϛ νοημα, and whose home +is ubiquity; and such as these may have their missions to us, and may +sometimes take the dying breath of father or of brother in far-off +seas, and instinct with, and maintaining in themselves, made visible, +that poor remnant of life, stand at a moment at the bedside of beloved +relatives, even in most distant lands, and give to each a blessed +interchange and intelligence. In every sense, indeed, we "see but in +part." In the dulness of the day, we see not a tenth part of the +living things that people the ground; a gleam of<!-- Page 745 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_745" id="Page_745">[Pg 745]</a></span> sunshine instantly +discovers to us in leaf and flower a little world; and could we but +remove this outward fog, this impure atmosphere of our mortal senses, +that which may be occasionally granted at dying hour, we might behold +all space peopled with the glory of created beings. There is a +beautiful truth of best feeling hidden in the superstition, that at +one particular moment on Christmas Eve, all the beasts of the field go +down on their knees amidst the darkness, seen alone by their Creator's +eye, and by that angelic host that sing again the first divine hymn of +Palestine.</p> + +<p>I do not wonder that sailors are, what we choose to call, more +superstitious than landsmen; with but a plank between them and +death—unfathomable seas around them, whose depths are continual +wonder, from whose unseen treasure-house, the</p> + +<div class="poem center"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">——"billows roll ashore</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The beryl and the golden ore."</span><br /> +</div></div> + +<p>Seas and skies with the great attribute of life, motion—their very +ship a personification, as it were a living creature—cut off, +separated as they are for the most part, from cities, and the +mind-lowering ways of cities, which they see recede from them and melt +into utter insignificance, leaving for companionship but the winds and +the waters. Can it be a matter of wonder, if, with warm wishes and +affections in their breasts, their imaginations shape the clouds and +mists into being, messengers between them and the world they have all +but lost? The stars, those "watches of the night," to them are not the +same, changing yet ever significant. Even the waters about them, which +by day are apparently without a living thing beyond the life of their +own motion, in the darkness glittering with animated fire; can we +wonder, then, if their thoughts rise from these myriad, invisible, +lucent worms of the sea, to a faith in the more magnificent beings who +"clothe themselves with light;" and if they believe that such are +present, unseen, commissioned to guard and guide them in ways perilous +and obscure? Seamen, accustomed to observe signs in their great +solitude, unattracted by the innumerable sights and businesses of +other life, are ever open and ready to receive signs and +significations even of omen and vision; whereas he that is engaged in +crowded street and market, heeds no sign, though it were offered, but +that which his little and engrossing interests make for him; he, +indeed, may receive "angels' visits unaware." Omens, dreams, and +visions are to seamen more real, more frequent, as more congenial with +their wants; and some extraordinary cases have even been registered in +ships' logs, not resting on the credibility of one but of a crew, and +such logs, if I mistake not, have been admitted evidence in courts of +judicature. Am I led away by the subject, Eusebius? You will say I am; +yet I could go on—the wonder increases—the common earth is not their +sure grave—</p> + +<div class="poem center"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Nothing of them that doth fade,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">But doth suffer a sea-change</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Into something rich and strange."</span><br /> +</div></div> + +<p>But I must not pursue this, lest, in your wit, you find reason to +compare me to that great philosopher, who gravely asserted that he had +discovered how to make a mermaid, but abstained from using the +receipt; and I am quite sure you are not likely to resemble the +learned Dr Farmer, who folded down the page for future experiment.<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a></p> + +<p>It is not very long ago that I was discussing subjects of this kind +with our acute friend S—— V——. I send you a letter received from +him, written, I presume, more for you than myself; for I told him I +was on the point of answering yours, which he read. His attempt to +account for any of his stories by common coincidences, is rather +indicative of his naturally inquisitive mind than of his real belief; +and I suspect he has been led into that train of argument by his +hostility to mesmerism, which he pronounces to be a cheat from +beginning to end; and he cannot but see that, granting mesmerism, the +step in belief beyond is easy. He would, therefore,<!-- Page 746 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_746" id="Page_746">[Pg 746]</a></span> have no such +stepping stone; and lest confidence in dreams, omens, &c., should make +mesmerism more credible, he has been a little disposed to trim his own +opinions on the subject. You will judge for yourself—here is his +letter:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"My dear ————,——You desire me to give you a written account +of the dreams which I related to you when we lately met, and +amused ourselves with speculations on these mysterious phenomena.</p> + +<p>"<i>Dream I.</i>—Mrs X——, when a child, was attached to Captain +T——, R.N. She had been brought up from infancy by her uncle and +aunt, with whom she resided, and with whom Captain T—— had long +been on terms of the most intimate friendship and regard. At the +time to which I now refer, Captain T—— commanded a frigate in +the West Indies, where he had been stationed for some months; +letters had been occasionally received from him; his health had +not suffered from the climate, nor had any of his friends in +England the least reason to apprehend that a man of his age, good +constitution, and temperate habits, by whom also the service in +which he was engaged had been eagerly desired, would be likely to +suffer from the diseases of these latitudes. One morning Mrs +X——, (then Miss X——,) appeared at the breakfast table with an +expression of grief on her countenance, that at once induced her +uncle and aunt to ask the cause. She said, that she had dreamed +that Captain T—— had died of fever in the West Indies, and that +the intelligence had been sent in a large letter to her uncle. The +young lady's uncle and aunt both represented to her the weakness +of yielding to the impression of a dream, and she appeared to +acquiesce in the good sense of their remonstrances—when, shortly +after, the servant brought in the letter-case from the +Post-office, and when her uncle had unlocked it, and was taking +out the letters, (there were several,) Miss X—— instantly +exclaimed, pointing to one of them—'That's the letter! I saw it +in my dream!' It was the letter—a large letter, of an official +size, addressed to her uncle, and conveying precisely the event +which Miss X—— had announced.</p> + +<p>"<i>Dream II.</i>—General D——, R.M., was one morning conversing with +me on the subject of dreams, and gave me the following +relation:—'I had the command of the marines on board a frigate, +and in company with another frigate, (giving names and date,) was +proceeding to America, when, on joining the breakfast table, I +told my brother officers that I had had a very vivid and singular +dream. That I had dreamed that the day was calm, as it now was, +and bright, but with some haziness in the distance; and that +whilst we were at breakfast, as we now are, the master-at-arms +came in and announced two sail in the distance. I thought we all +immediately ran on deck—saw the two ships—made them out to be +French frigates, and immediately gave chase to them. The wind +being light, it was long before we could approach the enemy near +enough to engage them; and when, in the evening, a distant fire +was commenced, a shot from the frigate which we attacked, carried +away our foretopmast, and, consequently, we were unable to +continue the chase. Our companion, also, had kept up a distant +fire with the other French frigate, but in consequence of our +damage, shortened sail to keep company with us during the night. +On the following morning the French frigates had made their +escape—no person had been killed or wounded on board our own +ship; but in the morning we were hailed by our companion, and told +that she had lost two men. Shortly after, whilst my brother +officers were making comments on my dream—and before the +breakfast table was cleared, the master-at-arms made his +appearance, announcing, to the great surprise of all present, two +sail in the distance; (and General D—— assured me that on +reaching the deck they appeared to him precisely the same in place +and distance as in his dream)—'the chase—the distant action—the +loss of the topmast—the escape of the enemy during the night—and +the announcement from the companion frigate that she had lost two +men—all took place precisely as represented in my dream.' The +General had but just concluded his narration, when a coincidence +took place, little less extraordinary than<!-- Page 747 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_747" id="Page_747">[Pg 747]</a></span> that of the dream and +its attendant circumstances.—The door opened, and a gentleman +rushed into the room with all that eagerness which characterizes +the unexpected meeting of warm friends after a long absence—and +immediately after the first cordial greetings, General D—— +said—'My dear F——, it is most singular, that although we have +not met during the last fifteen years, and I had not the most +distant expectation of seeing or hearing from you, yet you were in +my thoughts not five minutes ago—I was relating to my friend my +extraordinary dream when on board the ——; you were present, and +cannot have forgotten it.' Major F—— replied, that he remembered +it most accurately, and, at his friend's request, related it to +me, in every particular correspondent with the General's account.</p> + +<p>"What I now relate to you cannot be called a dream, but it bears a +close affinity to 'those shadowy tribes of mind' which constitute +our sleeping phantasmagoria. Calling one morning on my friend, Mrs +D——m, who had for some time resided in my neighbourhood, I +found her greatly distressed at the contents of a letter which she +had just received. The letter was from her sister, Mrs B——, who +was on her return to England, on board the ——, East Indiaman, +accompanied by her two youngest children, and their nurse; Mr +B——, her husband, remaining in India. One morning, shortly after +breakfast, Mrs B—— was sitting in the cabin, with many other +passengers present, but not herself at that moment engaged in +conversation with them; when she suddenly turned her head, and +exclaimed aloud, and with extreme surprise, 'Good God! B——, is +that you?' At the same moment the children, who were with their +nurse at a distant part of the ship, too far off, it is stated, to +have heard their mother's exclamation, both cried out, 'Papa! +papa!' Mrs B—— declared, that the moment she spoke, she saw her +husband most distinctly, but the vision instantly vanished. All +the persons present noted the precise time of this singular +occurrence, lat. and long., &c., and Mrs B——'s letter to her +sister was written immediately after it; it was forwarded to +England by a vessel that was expected to reach home before the +East Indiaman, and which did precede her by some weeks. No +reasonings that I could offer were sufficient to relieve my +friend's mind from the conviction that her sister had lost her +husband, and that his decease had been thus mysteriously announced +to her, until letters arrived from Mr B——, attesting his perfect +health, which he enjoyed for some years after—and I believe he is +still living.</p> + +<p>"To arrive at any reasonable conclusion respecting the phenomena +of dreams, we require data most difficult to be obtained; we +should compare authentic dreams, faithfully related, with their +equally well-attested attendant and <i>precedent</i> circumstances. But +who can feel certain that he correctly relates even his own dream? +I have many times made the attempt, but cannot be perfectly sure +that in the act of recording a dream, I have not given more of +order to the succession of the events than the dream itself +presented. In the case of the first dream, the mere delivery of a +letter, there is no succession of events, and therefore no ground +to suppose that any invention could have been added to give it +form and consistency. The young lady knew that her friend was in +the West Indies; she knew, too, the danger of that climate, and +had often seen the Admiral, her uncle, receive official letters. +Some transient thoughts on these subjects, although too transient +to be remembered, unquestionably formed her dream. That the letter +really arrived and confirmed the event predicted, can only be +referable to those coincidences which are not of very uncommon +occurrence in daily life. To similar causes I attribute the second +dream; and even its external fulfilment in so many particulars can +hardly be deemed more extraordinary than the coincidence of the +sudden and wholly unexpected arrival of Major F——, just at the +very moment after General D—— had related to me his dream. The +third narrative admits of an easy solution. Mrs B—— was not in +good health. Thinking of her husband, in a state of reverie, a +morbid spectrum might be the result—distinct enough<!-- Page 748 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_748" id="Page_748">[Pg 748]</a></span> to cause her +sudden alarm and exclamation which, if the children heard, (and +children distinguish their mother's voice at a considerable +distance—the cabin door, too, might have been open, and the +children much nearer than they were supposed to have been,) would +account at once for their calling out 'Papa! papa!' During our +waking hours, we are never conscious of any complete suspension of +thought, even for a moment; if fatigued by any long and laborious +mental exertion, such as the solution of a complicated +mathematical problem, how is the weariness relieved? Not by +listless rest like the tired body, but by a change of subject—a +change of action—a new train of thoughts and expressions. Are we, +then, always dreaming when asleep? We certainly are not conscious +that we are; but it may be that in our sleep we do not remember +our dreams, and that it is only in imperfect sleep, or in the act +of waking, that the memory records them. That dreams occupy an +exceedingly short period of time, I know from my own experience; +for I once had, when a boy, a very long dream about a bird, which +was placed in an insecure place in my bedroom, being attacked by a +cat. The fall of the cage on the floor awoke me, and I sprang out +of bed in time to save the bird. The dream must, I think, have +been suggested by the fall of the cage; and, if so, my seemingly +long dream could only have occupied a mere point of time. I have +also experienced other instances nearly similar. It seems +reasonable, too, to suppose that this is generally the case; for +our dreams present themselves to us as pictures, with the subjects +of which we are intimately acquainted. I now glance my eye at the +fine landscape hanging in my room. You may say of it, as Falstaff +said of Prince Henry, 'By the Lord, I know you as well as he that +made you.' Well, it is full of subject, full of varied beauty and +grand conception—a 'paulo majora' eclogue. When I first saw it, I +could barely read it through in an hour. For pictures that are +what pictures ought to be, Poems to the eye, demand and repay this +investigating attention—those that do not demand and suggest +thoughts are not worth a thought; but this picture, now its every +part, tint, and sentiment, have long been intimately known to me. +I see, at a glance, its entire subject—ay, at a glance, too, see +the effect which a casual gleam of light has just thrown over it. +Is it not probable, then, that our dreams may be equally +suggestive, in as short a space of time? Dreams that have not some +connexion, something of a continuity of events, however wild, are +not retained by the memory. Most persons would find it much more +difficult to learn to repeat the words in a dictionary, than a +page of poetry of equal length; and many dreams are probably +framed of very unconnected materials. In falling asleep, I have +often been conscious of the dissevering of my thoughts—like a +regiment dismissed from parade, they seemed to straggle away "in +most admired disorder;" but these scattered bands muster together +again in our sleep; and, as these have all been levied from the +impressions, cogitations, hopes, fears, and affections, of our +waking hours, however strangely they may re-combine, if they do +combine with sufficient continuity to be remembered, the form +presented, however wild, will always be found, on a fair analysis, +to be characteristic of the dreamer. They are his own thoughts +oddly joined, like freshwater Polyps, which may be divided, and +then stuck again together, so as to form chains, or any other +strange forms, across the globe of water in which they may be +exhibited. In Devonshire, the peasantry have a good term to +express that wandering of thought, and imperfect dreaming, which +is common in some states of disease.—"Oh, sir, he has been lying +pretty still; but he has been <i>roading</i> all night." By this, they +mean, that the patient, in imperfect sleep, has been muttering +half-connected sentences; and the word, <i>roading</i>, is taken from +the mode in which they catch woodcocks. At the last gleam of +evening, the woodcocks rise from their shelter in the woods, and +wind their way to the open vistas, which lead to the adjacent +meadows, where they go to feed during the night; and they return +to their covert, through the same vistas, with the first beam<!-- Page 749 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_749" id="Page_749">[Pg 749]</a></span> of +morning. At the end of these vistas, which they call 'cock-roads,' +the woodcock catchers suspend nets to intercept the birds in their +evening and morning flights, and great numbers are taken in this +manner; the time when they suspend the nets, is called +roading-time; and thus, by applying the term, roading, to +disturbed and muttered sleep, they compare the dim, loose thoughts +of the half-dreaming patient, to the flight of the woodcocks, +wheeling their way through the gloomy and darkling woods. It has +been asserted that we never feel <i>surprise</i> in our dreams; and +that we do not <i>reason</i> on the subjects which they present to us. +This, from my own experience, I know to be a mistake. I once +dreamed, whilst residing with a friend in London, that on entering +his breakfast-room, the morning was uncommonly dark; but not very +much more so than sometimes occurs in a November fog, when, as +some one has said, the thick yellow air makes you think you are +walking through pease-soup, and the sun, when seen at all, looks +like the yolk of a poached egg floating on it. My friend was +seated alone by the table, resting his head thoughtfully on his +hand, when, looking towards me, with a very serious countenance, +he said—'Can you account for this darkness? There is no eclipse +stated in the almanack. Some change is taking place in our system. +Go to N——, (a philosophical neighbour, who lived within three +doors of our house,) and ask if he can explain it.' I certainly +felt much surprised at my friend's observations. I went to N—— +'s house—or, rather, I found myself in his room. He was walking +up and down the room in evident perplexity; and, turning to me, +said, 'This is very extraordinary! A change is taking place in our +system!—look at the barometer.'—I looked at the barometer, which +appeared to be hanging in its usual place in the room, and saw, +with great surprise, that the tube was without quicksilver; it had +fallen almost entirely down to the bulb. Certainly in this dream I +felt great <i>surprise</i>, and that the faculty of reason was not +suspended is apparent, nay, perhaps, it was quickened in this +instance, for I doubt, if I had really seen the præternatural +darkness, whether I should so readily have thought of consulting +an almanack, or referring to a barometer; I should certainly have +gone to my friend N——, for I was in the frequent habit of +appealing to him on any subject of natural philosophy on which I +might be desirous to be fully instructed. It is clear that the +fabricator of the Ephesian Diana could not pay real adoration to +his own work; and as we must be the artificers of our own dreams, +and furnish all the materials, it seems difficult to discover by +what process the mind can present subjects of surprise to itself; +but surprise is that state of mind which occurs when an object or +idea is presented to it, which our previous train of thought would +not lead us to expect or account for. In dreams the catenation of +our ideas is very imperfect and perplexed; and the mind, by +forgetting its own faint and confused links of association, may +generate subjects of surprise to itself. There are some dreams +which we dream over again many times in our lives, but these +dreams are generally mere scenes, with little or no action or +dialogue. I formerly often dreamed that I was standing on a broad +road by the side of a piece of water, (in which geese were +swimming,) surrounding the base of a green hill, on the summit of +which were the ruins of a castle: the sun shining brightly, and +the blue sky throwing out the yellow stone-work of the ruin in +strong relief. This dream always gave me an indefinite sense of +pleasure. I fancied I had formed it from some picture that I might +at some time have casually seen and forgotten; but a few years ago +I visited the village in which I was born, and from which I had +been removed when about three and a half years old. I found that I +well remembered many things which might have engaged the attention +of a child. The house in which my parents resided was little +changed; and I remembered every room, and the pictures on the +Dutch tiles surrounding the fireplace of that which had been<!-- Page 750 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_750" id="Page_750">[Pg 750]</a></span> our +nursery. I pointed out the house where sugar-candy had formerly +been sold, and went to the very spot in the churchyard where I had +been led, when a child, to call out my name and hear the echo from +the tower. I then went by a pathway, through some fields, which +led to a neighbouring town. In these fields I recognised a +remarkable stone stile, and a bank on which I had gathered +daisies; then, extending my route, that I might return to the +village by a different course, suddenly the prototype of my often +dreamed dream stood before me. The day was bright. There was the +blue sky—the green hill—the geese in the surrounding water. 'In +every form of the thing <i>my dream</i> made true and good.' The +distance of this spot from the house of my birth was rather a long +walk for a child so young; and, therefore, I suppose I might only +once or twice have seen it, and then only in the summer, or in +bright weather. I have said that that dream, whenever it recurred, +always impressed me with an indefinite sense of pleasure; was not +this feeling an echo, a redolence, of the happy, lively sensations +with which, as a child, I had first witnessed the scene? It is +singular that, remembering so many objects much less likely to +have fixed themselves on the memory, I should have so utterly +forgotten, in my waking hours, the real existence of that of which +my dream had so faithfully Daguerreotyped; and it is not less +remarkable that I have never had the dream since I recognised its +original. I think I can account for this, but will not now attempt +it, as the length of my epistle may probably have put you in a +fair way of having dreams of your own.—Ever faithfully yours.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span style="margin-left: 25em;"> "C. S." </span> +</div></div> + + + + +<p>This last dream of our friend exhibits one of the phenomena of memory, +which may not be unconnected with another, curious, and I suppose +common. Did you never feel a sense of a reduplication of any passing +occurrence, act, or scene—something which you were saying or doing, +or in which you were actor or spectator? Did you never, while the +occurrence was taking place, suddenly feel a consciousness of its +pre-existence and pre-acting; that the whole had passed before, just +as it was then passing, even to the details of place, persons, words, +and circumstances, and this not in events of importance, but mostly in +those of no importance whatever; as if life and all its phenomena were +a duplicate in itself, and that that which is acting here, were at the +same time acting also elsewhere, and the fact were suddenly revealed +to you? I call this one of the phenomena of memory, because it may +possibly be accounted for by the repercussion of a nerve, an organ, +which, like the string of an instrument unequally struck, will double +the sound. Vibrations of memory—vibrations of imagination are curious +things upon which to speculate; but not now, Eusebius—you must work +this out yourself.</p> + +<p>What a curious story is that of Pan.<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> "Pan is dead,"—great Pan is +dead—as told by Plutarch. Was not one commissioned by dream or vision +to go to a particular place to proclaim it there; and is it not added +that the cry "great Pan is dead," was re-echoed from shore to shore, +and that this happened at the time of the ceasing of oracles?</p> + +<p>It little matters whether you look to public events or private +histories—you will see signs and omens, and wondrous visitations, +prefiguring and accomplishing their purposes; and if occasionally, +when too they are indisputable, they seem to accomplish no end, it may +be only a seeming non-accomplishment—but suppose it real, it would +then the more follow, that they arise necessarily from the nature of +things, though a nature with which we are not acquainted. There is an +unaccountable sympathy and<!-- Page 751 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_751" id="Page_751">[Pg 751]</a></span> connexion between all animated +nature—perhaps the invisible, as well as the visible. Did you never +remark, that in a crowded room, if you fix your eyes upon any one +person, he will be sure soon to look at you? Whence is this more than +electric power! Wonderful is that of yawning, that it is +communicable;—it is so common, that the why escapes our observation. +This attractive power, the fascination of the eye, is still more +wonderful. Hence, perhaps, the superstition of the "Evil Eye," and the +vulgarly believed mischief of "being overlooked."</p> + +<p>Of private histories—I should like to see the result of a commission +to collect and enquire into the authenticity of anecdotes bearing upon +this subject. I will tell you one, which is traditionary in our +family—of whom one was of the <i>dramatis personæ</i>. You know the old +popular ballad of "Margaret's Ghost"—</p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"In glided Margaret's grimly ghost,</span><br /> +<span class="i1">And stood at William's feet."</span><br /> +</div></div> + +<p>You do not know, perhaps that it is founded on truth. William was Lord +S——, who had jilted Margaret; she died; and after death appeared to +him—and, it is said, gave him the choice of two things—to die within +a week, or to vow constancy, never to marry. He gave the solemn +promise to the ghost. We must transfer the scene to the living world +of pleasure. Lord S—— is at Bath. He is in the rooms; suddenly he +starts—is so overcome as to attract general attention—his eyes are +riveted upon one person, the beautiful Mary T——, whose father +resided in great style and fashion at Bathford. It was her resemblance +to Margaret, her astonishing resemblance, that overcame him. He +thought the ghost had again appeared. He was introduced—and, our +family tradition says, was for a length of time a daily visitor at +Bathford, where his habit was, to say little, but to sit opposite to, +and fix his eyes upon the lovely face of Mary T——. The family not +liking this, for there was no declaration on his part, removed Mary +T—— to the house of some relative in London. There Lord S—— +followed her, and pursued his daily habit of profound admiration. At +length the lady spoke, and asked him his intentions with regard to her +guest. Lord S—— was in the greatest agitation, rose, burst into +tears, and left the house. Time passed; and here nothing more is said +of Mary T——; Lord S—— saw her no more. But of him, it is added, +that, being persuaded by his family and friends, he consented to +marry—that the bride and her relatives were at the appointed hour at +the church—that no bridegroom was there—that messengers sent to +enquire for him brought back the frightful intelligence, that he was +no more. He had suddenly expired.</p> + +<p>My dear Eusebius, with this story I terminate my long letter. Ruminate +upon the contents. Revolved in your mind, they will yield a rich +harvest of thought. I hope to be at the reaping. Ever yours, &c.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES.</h3> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> The story given by Eusebius is very probably of his own +manufacture. It is this. Some years ago, when all the world were mad +upon lotteries, the cook of a middle-aged gentleman drew from his +hands the savings of some years. Her master, curious to know the +cause, learned that she had repeatedly dreamed that a certain number +was a great prize, and she had bought it. He called her a fool for her +pains, and never omitted an occasion to tease her upon the subject. +One day, however, the master saw in the newspaper, or at his +bookseller's in the country town, that <i>the</i> number was actually the +L.20,000 prize. Cook is called up, a palaver ensues—had known each +other many years, loth to part, &c.—in short, he proposes and is +accepted, but insists on marriage being celebrated next morning. +Married they were; and, as the carriage took them from the church they +enjoy the following dialogue. "Well, Molly—two happy events in one +day. You have married, I trust, a good husband. You have something +else—but first let me ask you where you have locked up your +lottery-ticket." Molly, who thought her master was only bantering her +again on the old point, cried—"Don't ye say no more about it. I +thought how it would be, and that I never should hear the end on't, so +I sold it to the baker of our village for a guinea profit. So you need +never be angry with me again about that."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> Supposing mesmerism true in its facts, one knows not to +what power to ascribe it—a good or an evil. It is difficult to +imagine it possible that a good power would allow one human being such +immense influence over others. All are passive in the hands of the +mesmeriser. Let us take the case related by Miss Martineau. She +willed, and the water drunk by the young girl <i>was</i> wine, at another +time it <i>was</i> porter. These were the effects. Now, supposing Miss M. +had willed it to be a poison, if her statement is strictly true, the +girl would have been poisoned. We need no hemlock, if this be so—and +the agent must be quite beyond the reach of justice. A coroner's +inquest here would be of little avail. +</p><p> +It is said that most mischievous consequences have resulted from the +doings of some practitioners—and it must be so, if the means be +granted; and it is admitted not to be a very rare gift. The last +mesmeric exhibition I witnessed, was at Dr Elliotson's. It appeared to +be of so public a nature, that I presume there is no breach of +confidence in describing what took place. There were three persons +mesmerised, all from the lower rank of life. The first was put into +the sleep by, I think, but two passes of the hand, (Lord Morpeth the +performer.) She was in an easy-chair: all her limbs were rendered +rigid—and, as I was quite close to her, I can testify that she +remained above two hours in one position, without moving hand or foot, +and breathing deeply, as in a profound sleep. Her eyes were closed, +and she was finally wakened by Dr Elliotson waving his hand at some +distance from her. As he motioned his hand, I saw her eyelids quiver, +and at last she awoke, but could not move until the rigidity of her +limbs was removed by having the hand slightly passed over them. She +then arose, and walked away, as if unconscious of the state she had +been in. The two others were as easily transferred to a mesmeric +state. They conversed, answered questions, showed the usual +phrenological phenomena, singing, imitating, &c. +</p><p> +But there was one very curious phrenological experiment which deserves +particular notice. They sat close together. Dr W. E—— touched the +organ of Acquisitiveness of the one, (we will call her A.) She +immediately put out her hand, as if to grasp something, and at length +caught hold of the finger of Dr W. E——; she took off his ring and +put it in her pocket. Dr W. E—— then touched the organ of Justice of +the second girl, (B,) and told her that A had stolen his ring. B, or +Justice, began to lecture upon the wickedness of stealing. A denied +she had done any such thing, upon which Dr W. E—— remarked, that +thieving and lying always went together. Then, still keeping his hand +on Acquisitiveness, he touched also that of Pride; then, as Justice +continued her lecture, the thief haughtily justified the act, that she +should steal if she pleased. The mesmeriser then touched also the +organ of Combativeness, so that three organs were in play. Justice +still continued her lecture; upon which A, the thief, told her to hold +her tongue, and not lecture her, and gave her several pretty hard +slaps with her hand. Dr W. E—— then removed his hands, and +transferred the operation, making Justice the thief, and the thief +Justice; when a similar scene took place. +</p><p> +Another curious experiment was, differently affecting the opposite +organs—so that endearment was shown on one side, and aversion on the +other, of the same person. One scene was beautiful, for the very +graceful motion exhibited. One of these young women was attracted to +Dr Elliotson by his beckoning her to him, while by word he told her +not to come. Her movements were slow, very graceful, as if moved by +irresistible power.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> +You remember the melancholy music of the lines of +Moschus:—</p> +<div class="poem center"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Ἂι Ἂι ταἱ μαλαχαι μεν επαν κατα κἃπον ὄλωνται </span><br /> +<span class="i0">"Ἢ ταχλωρα σελινα, τδ τ᾽ έυθαλές οὖλον ᾄνηδον,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">"Υςτερον αὗζωὀντι, και εἄς ἔτος ἄλλ φύοντι.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">"Ἂμμεςδʹ όι μεγἀλοι και καρτεροι ἡ σοφοι ἄνδρες,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">"Οππότε π ρῶτα θἀνωμες, ἀνἀκοσι ἑν χθονἱ κοἰλα</span><br /> +<span class="i0">"Εὒδαμες ευ μάλα μακρὁν ἁτερμονα νηγρετον ύπνον."</span><br /> +</div></div></div> + + Accept of this attempt:— + +<div class="poem center"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Alas! alas! the mallows, though they wither where they lie,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And all the fresh and pleasant herbs within the garden die,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Another year they shall appear, and still fresh bloom supply.</span><br /></div> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">But we, Great men, the strong, the wise, the noble, and the brave,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">When once we fall into the earth, our nourriture that gave,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Long silence keep of endless sleep, within the hollow grave.</span><br /> +</div></div> +<div class="gap"/> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> <i>Vide</i> an amusing little <i>jeu-d'esprit—A Descant upon +Weather-Wisdom—both Witty and Wise.</i>—<span class="smcap">Anon.</span> Longmans. 1845.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> +There is an exquisite little poem, taken from this +passage of Plutarch, at once imaginative and true, for hidden truths +are embodied in the tangible workings of the poet's imagination, by +Miss Barrett.</p></div> +</div></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;"/> +<div><!-- Page 752 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_752" id="Page_752">[Pg 752]</a></span></div> +<h2><a name="A_MOTHER_TO_HER_FORSAKEN_CHILD" id="A_MOTHER_TO_HER_FORSAKEN_CHILD"></a>A MOTHER TO HER FORSAKEN CHILD.</h2> + +<div class="poem center"><div class="stanza"> + +<span class="i0">My child—my first-born! Oh, I weep</span><br /> +<span class="i2">To think of thee—thy bitter lot!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The fair fond babe that strives to creep</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Unto the breast where <i>thou art not</i>,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Awakes a piercing pang within,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">And calls to mind thy heavy wrong.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Alas! I weep not for my sin—</span><br /> +<span class="i2">To thy dark lot these tears belong.</span><br /> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Thy little arms stretch forth in vain</span><br /> +<span class="i2">To meet a mother's fond embrace;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Alas! in weariness or pain,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Thou gazest on a hireling's face.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I left thee in thy rosy sleep—</span><br /> +<span class="i2">I dared not then kneel down to bless;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Now—now, albeit thou may'st weep,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Thou canst not to my bosom press.</span><br /> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">My child! though beauty tint thy cheek,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">A deeper dye its bloom will claim,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">When lips all pitiless shall speak</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Thy mournful legacy of shame.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Perchance, when love shall gently steal</span><br /> +<span class="i2">To thy young breast all pure as snow,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">This cruel thought shall wreck thy weal,</span><br /> +<span class="i2"><i>The mother's guilt doth lurk below</i>.</span> +<span style="margin-left: 10em;">J. D.</span> +</div></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="SUMMER_NOONTIDE" id="SUMMER_NOONTIDE"></a>SUMMER NOONTIDE.</h2> + +<div class="poem center"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Unruffled the pure ether shines,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">O'er the blue flood no vapour sails,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Bloom-laden are the clinging vines,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">All odour-fraught the vales.</span><br /> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">There's not a ripple on the main,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">There's not a breath to stir the leaves,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The sunlight falls upon the plain</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Beside the silent sheaves.</span><br /> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The drowsy herd forget to crop,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">The bee is cradled in the balm:</span><br /> +<span class="i0">If but one little leaf should drop,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">'Twould break the sacred calm.</span><br /> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">From the wide sea leaps up no voice,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Mute is the forest, mute the rill;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Whilst the glad earth sang forth <i>Rejoice</i>,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">God's whisper said—<i>Be still</i>.</span><br /> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Her pulses in a lull of rest,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">In hush submissive Nature lies,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">With folded palms upon her breast,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Dreaming of yon fair skies.</span><br /> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span style="margin-left: 10em;">J. D.</span> +</div></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div><!-- Page 753 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_753" id="Page_753">[Pg 753]</a></span></div> +<h2><a name="CLARA" id="CLARA"></a>CLARA.</h2> + +<div class="poem center"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I would not we should meet again—</span><br /> +<span class="i2">We twain who loved so fond,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Although through years and years afar,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">I wish'd for nought beyond.</span><br /> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Yet do I love thee none the less;</span><br /> +<span class="i2">And aye to me it seems,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">There's not on earth so fair a thing</span><br /> +<span class="i2">As thou art in my dreams.</span><br /> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">All, all hath darkly changed beside,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Grown old, or stern, or chill—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">All, save one hoarded spring-tide gleam,</span><br /> +<span class="i2"><i>Thy smile that haunts me still</i>!</span><br /> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">My brow is but the register</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Of youth's and joy's decline;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I would not trace such record too</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Deep graven upon thine.</span><br /> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I would not <i>see</i> how rudely Time</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Hath dealt with all thy store</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Of bloom and promise—'tis enough</span><br /> +<span class="i2">To know the harvest's o'er.</span><br /> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I would not that one glance to-day,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">One glance through clouds and tears,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Should mar the image in my soul</span><br /> +<span class="i2">That love hath shrined for years.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 10em;">J. D.</span> +</div></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="SECLUSION" id="SECLUSION"></a>SECLUSION.</h2> + +<div class="poem center"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The heart in sacred peace may dwell,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Apart from convent gloom—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To matins and to vespers rise,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">'Mid nature's song and bloom:</span><br /> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Or in the busy haunts of life,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">In gay or restless scene,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">In sanctuary calm abide,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">As vestal saint serene.</span><br /> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">It is the pure and holy thought,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">The spotless veil within,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">That screens pollution from the breast,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">And hides a world of sin.</span><br /> + +<span style="margin-left: 10em;">J. D.</span> +</div></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="biggap"><!-- Page 754 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_754" id="Page_754">[Pg 754]</a></span></div> +<h2><a name="LAST_HOURS_OF_A_REIGN" id="LAST_HOURS_OF_A_REIGN"></a>LAST HOURS OF A REIGN.</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">A Tale in Two Parts.—Part I.</span></h3> +<h3><a name="Chapter_I" id="Chapter_I"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter I.</span></h3> + +<div class="poem center"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">"Let's see the devil's writ.</span> +<span class="i2">What have we here?"</span></div> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i5"> * * * * *</span> +</div></div> + +<div class="poem center"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">"First of the King. What shall of him become?"</span> +<span style="margin-left: 10em;"><span class="smcap">Shakspeare.</span></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">"A pretty plot, well chosen to build upon."</span> +<span style="margin-left: 10em;"><span class="smcap">Idem.</span></span> +</div></div> +<div class="gap"/> +<p>It was in the month of May 1574, and in the city of Paris, that, at an +hour of the night which in these days might be considered somewhat +early, but which at that period was already late, two personages were +seated in a gloomy room, belonging to a small and ancient hotel, at no +great distance from the old palace of the Louvre, with which it was +supposed to communicate by courts and passages little known and seldom +used.</p> + +<p>One of these personages was a woman of middle age, whose form, +although full, was peculiarly well made, and whose delicate but well +fleshed hands were of striking beauty. The fair face was full and fat, +but very pale; the eyes were fine and dark, and the whole expression +of her physiognomy was in general calm, almost to mildness. But yet +there lurked a haughty air on that pale brow; and at times a look of +searching inquisitiveness, amounting almost to cunning, shot from +those dark eyes. Her ample dress was entirely black, and unrelieved by +any of the embroidery or ornament so much lavished upon the dress of +the higher classes at that time; a pair of long white ruffles turned +back upon the sleeve, and a large standing collar of spotless purity, +alone gave light to the dark picture of her form. Upon her head she +wore a sort of skull-cap of black velvet, descending with a sharp peak +upon her forehead—the cowl-like air of which might almost have given +her the appearance of the superior of some monastic community, had not +the cold imperious physiognomy of the abbess been modified by a +frequent bland smile, which showed her power of assuming the arts of +seduction at will, and her practice of courts. She leaned her arms +upon the table, whilst she studied with evident curiosity every +movement of her companion, who was engaged in poring, by the light of +a lamp, over a variety of strange manuscripts, all covered with the +figures, cyphers, and hieroglyphics used in cabalistic calculations.</p> + +<p>This other personage was a man, whose appearance of age seemed to be +more studied than real. His grey hair, contrary to the custom of the +times, fell in thick locks upon his shoulders; and a white beard swept +his dark velvet robe, which was fashioned to bestow upon him an air of +priestly dignity; but his face was florid, and full of vigour, and the +few wrinkles were furrowed only upon his brow.</p> + +<p>Around the room, the dark old panels of which, unrelieved by pictures +and hangings, rendered it gloomy and severe, were scattered books and +instruments, such as were used by the astronomers, or rather +astrologers, of the day, and a variety of other objects of a bizarre +and mysterious form, which, as the light of the lamp flickered feebly +upon them, might have been taken, in their dark nooks, for the +crouching forms of familiar imps, attendant upon a sorcerer. After +some study of his manuscripts, the old man shook his head, and, +rising, walked to the window, which stood open upon a heavy stone +balcony. The night was bright and calm; not a cloud, not a vapour +dimmed the glitter of the countless myriads of stars in the firmament; +and the moon poured down a flood of light upon the roofs of the +surrounding houses, and on the dark towers of the not far distant +Louvre, which seemed quietly sleeping in the mild night-air, whilst +within were fermenting passions,<!-- Page 755 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_755" id="Page_755">[Pg 755]</a></span> many and dark, like the troubled +dreams of the apparently tranquil sleeper. As the old man stepped upon +the balcony, he turned up his head with an assumed air of inspiration +to the sky, and considered the stars long and in silence. The female +had also risen and followed him to the window; but she remained +cautiously in the shadow of the interior of the room, whence she +watched with increasing interest the face of the astrologer. Again, +after this study of the stars, the old man returned to his table, and +began to trace new figures in various corners of the patterned +horoscopes, and make new calculations. The female stood before him, +resting her hands upon the table, awaiting with patience the result of +these mysteries of the cabala.</p> + +<p>"Each new experience verifies the former," said the astrologer, +raising up his head at last. "The truth cannot be concealed from your +majesty. His hours are numbered—he cannot live long."</p> + +<p>"And it is of a surety <i>he</i>, of whom the stars thus speak?" enquired +the female thus addressed, without emotion.</p> + +<p>"The horoscopes all clash and cross each other in many lines," +answered the astrologer: "but they are not confounded with his. The +horoscope of near and inevitable death is that of your son Charles, +the King."</p> + +<p>"I know that he must die," said the Queen-mother coldly, sitting down.</p> + +<p>The astrologer raised for an instant his deep-set, but piercing grey +eyes, to the pale, passionless face of the Queen, as if he could have +read the thoughts passing within. There was almost a sneer upon his +lip, as though he would have said, that perhaps none knew it better; +but that expression flickered only, like a passing flash of faint +summer lightning, and he quickly resumed—</p> + +<p>"But about this point of death are centred many confused and jarring +lines in an inextricable web; and bright as they look to vulgar eyes, +yon stars in the heavens shine with a lurid light to those who know to +look upon them with the eyes of science; and upon their path is a dim +trail of blood—troubled and harassed shall be <i>the last hours of this +reign</i>."</p> + +<p>"But what shall be the issue, Ruggieri?" said the Queen eagerly. +"Since Charles must die, I must resign myself to the will of destiny," +she added, with an air of pious humility; and then, as if throwing +aside a mask which she thought needless before the astrologer, she +continued with a bitterness which amounted almost to passion in one +externally so cold—"Since Charles must die, he can be spared. He has +thrown off my maternal authority; and with the obstinacy of suspicion, +he has thwarted all my efforts to resume that power which he has +wrested from me, and which his weak hands wield so ill. He has been +taught to look upon me with mistrust; in vain I have combated this +influence, and if it grow upon him, mistrust will ripen into hate. He +regrets that great master-stroke of policy, which, by destroying all +those cursed Huguenots, delivered us at one blow from our most deadly +enemies. He has spoken of it with horror. He has dared to blame me. He +has taken Henry of Navarre, the recusant Huguenot, the false wavering +Catholic, to his counsels lately. He is my son no longer, since he no +longer acknowledges his mother's will: and he can be spared! But when +he is gone, what shall be the issue, Ruggieri? how stand the other +horoscopes?"</p> + +<p>"The stars of the two Henrys rise together in the heavens" replied the +Queen's astrologer and confidant. "Before them stands a house of +double glory, which promises a double crown; but the order of the +heavens is not such that I can read as yet, which of the two shall +first enter it, or enter it alone."</p> + +<p>"A double crown!" said the Queen musingly. "Henry of Anjou, my son, is +king of Poland, and on his brother's death is rightful king of France. +Yes, and he <i>shall</i> be king of France, and wear its crown. Henry never +thwarted his mother's will, he was ever pliant as a reed to do her +bidding; and when he is king, Catherine of Medicis may again resume +the reins of power. You had predicted that he would soon return to +France; and I promised him he should return, when unwillingly he +accepted that barbarian crown, which Charles' selfish<!-- Page 756 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_756" id="Page_756">[Pg 756]</a></span> policy forced +upon him, in order to rid himself of a brother whom he hated as a +rival—hated because I loved him. Yes, he shall return to resume his +rightful crown—a double crown! But Henry of Navarre also wears a +crown, although it be a barren one—although the kingdom of Navarre +bestow upon him a mere empty title. Shall it be his—the double crown? +Oh! no! no! The stars cannot surely say it. Should all my sons die +childless, it is his by right. But they shall not die to leave <i>him</i> +their heir. No! sooner shall the last means be applied, and the +detested son perish, as did his hated mother, by one of those +incomprehensible diseases for which medicine has no cure. A double +crown! Shall his be the crown of France also? Never! Ah! little did I +think, Ruggieri, when I bestowed upon him my daughter Margaret's hand, +and thus lured him and his abhorred party to the court to finish them +with one blow, that Margaret of Valois would become a traitress to her +own mother, and protect a husband whom she accepted so unwillingly! +But Margaret is ambitious for her husband, although she loves him not, +although she loves another: the two would wish to thwart her brothers +of their birthright, that she might wear their crown on her own brow. +Through her intervention, Henry of Navarre has escaped me. He has +outlived the massacre of that night of triumph, when all his party +perished; and now Charles loves him, and calls him 'upright, honest +Henry,' and if I contend not with all the last remnants of my broken +power, my foolish son, upon his death-bed, may place the regency in +his hands, and deprive his scorned and ill-used mother of her rights. +The regency! Ah! lies there the double crown? Ah! Ruggieri, Ruggieri, +why can you only tell me thus far and no further?"</p> + +<p>"Madam," replied the wary astrologer, "the stars run in their slow +unerring course. We cannot compel their path; we can only read their +dictates."</p> + +<p>Catherine de Medicis rose and approached the window, through which she +contemplated the face of the bright heavens.</p> + +<p>"Mysterious orbs of light," she said, stretching forth her arms—"ye +who rule our destinies, roll on, roll on, and tarry not. Accomplish +your great task of fate; but be it quickly, that I may know what +awaits me in that secret scroll spread out above on which ye write the +future. Let me learn the good, that I may be prepared to greet it—the +ill, that I may know how to parry it."</p> + +<p>Strange was the compound of that credulous mind, which, whilst it +sought in the stars the announcement of an inevitable fate, hoped to +find in its own resources the means of avoiding it—which, whilst it +listened to their supposed dictates as a slave, strove to command them +as a mistress.</p> + +<p>"And the fourth horoscope that I have bid you draw?" said the Queen, +returning to the astrologer. "How stands it?"</p> + +<p>"The star of your youngest son, the Duke of Alençon, is towering also +to its culminating point," replied the old man, looking over the +papers before him. "But it is nebulous and dim, and shines only by a +borrowed light—that of another star which rises with it to the +zenith. They both pursue the same path; and if the star of Alençon +reach that house of glory to which it tends, that other star will +shine with such a lustre as shall dim all other lights, however bright +and glorious they now may be."</p> + +<p>"Ha! is it so?" said Catherine thoughtfully. "Alençon conspires also +to catch the tottering crown which falls from the dying head of +Charles. But he is too weak and wavering to pursue a steady purpose. +He is led, Ruggieri—he is led. He is taught to believe that since his +elder brother has chosen the crown of Poland, it is his to claim the +throne which death will soon leave vacant. But he wants firmness of +will—it is another that guides his feeble hand. That star which +aspires to follow in the track of Alençon—I know it well, Ruggieri. +It is that of the ambitious favourite of my youngest son, of Philip de +la Mole. It is he who pushes him on. It is he who would see his master +on the throne, in order to throne it in his place. He has that +influence over Alençon which the mother possesses no longer; and were<!-- Page 757 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_757" id="Page_757">[Pg 757]</a></span> +Alençon king, it would be Philip de la Mole who would rule the +destinies of France, not Catherine de Medicis. Beneath that exterior +of thoughtless levity, lie a bold spirit and an ardent ambition. He is +an enemy not to be despised; and he shall be provided for. Alençon +protects him—my foolish Margaret loves him—but there are still means +to be employed which may curdle love to hate, and poison the secret +cup of sympathy. They shall be employed. Ha! Alençon would be king, +and Philip de la Mole would lord it over the spirits of the house of +Medicis. But they must be bold indeed who would contend with +Catherine. Pursue, Ruggieri, pursue. This star, which way does it +tend?"</p> + +<p>"It aspires to the zenith, madam," replied the astrologer. "But, as I +have said, upon the track there is a trail of blood."</p> + +<p>Catherine smiled.</p> + +<p>"My youngest son has already been here to consult you; I think you +told me?" she said, with an enquiring look to the astrologer.</p> + +<p>"Among others, who have come disguised and masked, to seek to read +their destinies in the skies, I have thought to recognise Monseigneur +the Duke of Alençon," replied Ruggieri. "He was accompanied by a tall +young man, of gay exterior and proud bearing."</p> + +<p>"It is the very man!" exclaimed the Queen. "And do they come again?"</p> + +<p>"I left their horoscope undetermined," replied the astrologer, "and +they must come to seek an answer to my researches in the stars."</p> + +<p>"Let the stars lie, Ruggieri—do you hear?" pursued Catherine. +"Whatever the stars may say, you must promise them every success in +whatever enterprise they may undertake. You must excite their highest +hopes. Push them on in their mad career, that their plans may be +developed. Catherine will know how to crush them."</p> + +<p>"It shall be as your majesty desires," said the astrologer.</p> + +<p>As the Queen and the astrologer still conferred, a loud knocking at +the outer gate caused them to pause. Steps were heard ascending the +hollow-sounding staircase.</p> + +<p>"I will dismiss these importunate visitors," said Ruggieri.</p> + +<p>"No," said Catherine, "admit them; and if it be really they you +expect, leave them alone after a time, and come, by the outer passage, +to the secret cabinet: there will I be. I may have directions to give; +and, at all events, the cabinet may prove useful, as it has already +done."</p> + +<p>Impatient knockings now resounded upon the panels of the door, and the +Queen-mother, hastily snatching up a black velvet mask and a thick +black veil, which hung upon the back of her high carved chair, flung +the latter over her head, so as to conceal her features almost as +entirely as if she had worn the mask. Ruggieri, in the meantime, had +pushed back a part of the panel of the oak walls, and when Catherine +had passed through it into a little room beyond, again closed this +species of secret door, so effectually that it would have been +impossible to discover any trace of the aperture. The astrologer then +went to open the outer door. The persons who entered, were two men +whose faces were concealed with black velvet masks, commonly worn at +the period both by men and women, as well for the purpose of disguise, +as for that of preserving the complexion; their bearing, as well as +their style of dress, proclaimed them to be young and of courtly +habits.</p> + +<p>The first who entered was of small stature, and utterly wanting in +dignity of movement; and, although precedence into the room seemed to +have been given him by a sort of deference, he turned back again to +look at his companion, with an evident hesitation of purpose, before +he advanced fully into the apartment. The young man who followed him +was of tall stature, and of manly but graceful bearing. His step was +firm, and his head was carried high; whilst the small velvet cap +placed jauntily on one side upon his head, the light brown curling +hair of which was boldly pushed back from the broad forehead and +temples, according to the fashion of the times, seemed disposed as if +purposely to give evidence of a certain gaiety, almost recklessness, +of character. The astrologer, after giving them admittance, returned +to his table, and<!-- Page 758 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_758" id="Page_758">[Pg 758]</a></span> sitting down, demanded what might be their bidding +at that hour of the night! At his words the smaller, but apparently +the more important of the two personages, made a sign to his companion +to speak; and the latter, advancing boldly to the table, demanded of +the old man whether he did not know him.</p> + +<p>"Whether I know you or know you not, matters but little," replied the +astrologer; "although few things can be concealed before the eye of +science."</p> + +<p>At these words the smaller young man shuffled uneasily with his feet, +and plucked at the cloak of his companion. Ruggieri continued—"But I +will not seek to pierce the mystery of a disguise which can have no +control over the ways of destiny. Whether I know you or not, I +recognise you well. Already have you been here to enquire into the +dark secrets of the future. I told you then, that we must wait to +judge the movements of the stars. Would you know further now?"</p> + +<p>"That is the purpose of our coming," said the latter of the two young +men, to whom the office of spokesman had been given. "We have come, +although at this late hour of the night, because the matter presses on +which we would know our fate."</p> + +<p>"Yes, the matter presses," replied the astrologer; "for I have read +the stars, and I have calculated the chances of your destinies."</p> + +<p>The smaller personage pressed forward at these words, as if full of +eager curiosity. The other maintained the same easy bearing that +seemed his usual habit.</p> + +<p>The astrologer turned over a variety of mysterious papers, as if +searching among them for the ciphers that he needed; then, consulting +the pages of a book, he again traced several figures upon a parchment; +and at length, after the seeming calculation of some minutes, he +raised his head, and addressing himself to the smaller man, said—</p> + +<p>"You have an enterprise in hand, young man, upon which not only your +own destinies and those of your companion, but of many thousands of +your fellow creatures depend! Your enterprise is grand, your destiny +is noble."</p> + +<p>The young men turned to look at each other; and he, who had as yet not +broken silence, said, with an eager palpitating curiosity, although +the tones of his voice were ill assured—</p> + +<p>"And what say the stars? Will it succeed?"</p> + +<p>"Go on, and prosper!" replied the astrologer. "A noble course lies +before you. Go on, and success the most brilliant and the most prompt +attends you."</p> + +<p>"Ha! there is, after all, some truth in your astrology, I am inclined +to think!" said the first speaker gaily.</p> + +<p>"Why have you doubted, young man?" pursued the astrologer severely. +"The stars err not—cannot err."</p> + +<p>"Pardon me, father," said the young man with his usual careless air. +"I will doubt no further. And we shall succeed?"</p> + +<p>"Beyond your utmost hopes. Upon your brow, young man," continued the +astrologer, addressing again the smaller person, "descends a circlet +of glory, the brilliancy of which shall dazzle every eye. But stay, +all is not yet done. The stars thus declare the will of destiny; but +yet, in these inscrutable mysteries of fate, it is man's own will that +must direct the course of events—it is his own hand must strike the +blow. Fatality and human will are bound together as incomprehensibly +as soul and body. You must still lend your hand to secure the +accomplishment of your own destiny. But our mighty science shall +procure for you so powerful a charm, that no earthly power can resist +its influence. Stay, I will return shortly." So saying, Ruggieri rose +and left the room by the door through which the young men had entered.</p> + +<p>"What does he mean?" said the shorter of the young men.</p> + +<p>"What matter, Monseigneur!" replied the other. "Does he not promise us +unbounded success? I little thought myself, when I accompanied you +hither, that my belief in this astrology would grow up so rapidly. +Long live the dark science, and the black old gentleman who professes<!-- Page 759 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_759" id="Page_759">[Pg 759]</a></span> +it, when they lighten our path so brilliantly!"</p> + +<p>"Let us breathe a little at our ease, until he returns," said he who +appeared the more important personage of the two; and throwing himself +into a chair, and removing his mask, he discovered the pale face of a +young man, who might have been said to possess some beauty, in spite +of the irregularity of his features, had not the expression of that +face been marred by a pinched and peevish look of weakness and +indecision.</p> + +<p>His companion followed his example in removing his mask, and the face +thus revealed formed a striking contrast to that of the other young +man. His complexion was of a clear pale brown, relieved by a flush of +animated colour; his brow was fair and noble; his features were finely +but not too strongly chiselled. A small dark mustache curled boldly +upwards above a beautifully traced and smiling mouth, the character of +which was at once resolute and gay, and strangely at variance with the +expression of the dark grey eyes, which was more that of tenderness +and melancholy. He remained standing before the other personage, with +one hand on his hip, in an attitude at once full of ease and +deference.</p> + +<p>"Did I not right, then, to counsel you as I have done in this matter, +my lord duke," he said to the other young man, "since the astrologer, +in whom you have all confidence, promises us so unbounded a success: +and you give full credence to the announcement of the stars?"</p> + +<p>"Yes—yes, Philip," answered the Duke, reclining back in his chair, +and rubbing his hands with a sort of internal satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"Then let us act at once," continued the young man called Philip. "The +King cannot live many days—perhaps not many hours. There is no time +to be lost. Henry of Anjou, your elder brother, is far away; the crown +of Poland weighs upon his brow. You are present. The troops have been +taught to love you. The Huguenot party have confidence in you. The +pretensions of Henry of Navarre to the regency must give way before +yours. All parties will combine to look upon you as the heir of +Charles; and now the very heavens, the very stars above, seem to +conspire to make you that which I would you should be. Your fortune, +then, is in your own hands."</p> + +<p>"Yes. So it is!" replied the Duke.</p> + +<p>"Assemble, then, all those attached to your service or your person!"</p> + +<p>"I will."</p> + +<p>"Let your intention be known among the guards."</p> + +<p>"It shall."</p> + +<p>"As soon as the King shall have ceased to breathe, seize upon all the +gates of the Louvre."</p> + +<p>"Yes," continued the Duke, although his voice, so eager the moment +before, seemed to tremble at the thought of so much decision of +action.</p> + +<p>"Declare yourself the Master of the kingdom in full parliament."</p> + +<p>"Yes," again replied the young Duke, more weakly. "But"——</p> + +<p>"But what—Monseigneur!" exclaimed his companion.</p> + +<p>"But," continued the Duke again, with hesitation, "if Henry, my +brother, should return—if he should come to claim his crown. You may +be sure that our mother, who cares for him alone, will have already +sent off messengers to advertise him of Charles's danger, and bid him +come!"</p> + +<p>"I know she has," replied Philip coolly. "But I have already taken +upon myself, without Monseigneur's instructions, for which I could not +wait, to send off a sure agent to intercept her courier, to detain him +at any price, to destroy his despatches."</p> + +<p>"Philip! what have you done?" exclaimed the young Duke, in evident +alarm. "Intercept my mother's courier! Dare to disobey my mother! My +Mother! You do not know her then."</p> + +<p>"Not know her?" answered his companion. "Who in this troubled land of +France does not know Catherine of Medicis, her artful wiles, her +deadly traits of vengeance? Shake not your head, Monseigneur! You know +her too. But, Charles no more, you will have the crown upon your +brow—it will be yours to give orders: those who will dare to disobey +you will be your rebel subjects. Act, then, as king. If she resist, +give orders for her arrest!"<!-- Page 760 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_760" id="Page_760">[Pg 760]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Arrest my Mother! Who would dare to do it?" said the Duke with agitation.</p> + +<p>"I."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no—no—La Mole! Never would I take upon myself"——</p> + +<p>"Take upon yourself to be a King, if you would be one," said the +Duke's confidant, with energy.</p> + +<p>"We will speak more of this," hastily interposed the wavering Duke. +"Hush! some one comes. It is this Ruggieri!"</p> + +<p>In truth the astrologer re-entered the room. In his hand he bore a +small object wrapped in a white cloth, which he laid down upon the +table; and then, turning to the young men, who had hastily reassumed +their masks before he appeared, and who now stood before him, he +said—</p> + +<p>"The sole great charm that can complete the will of destiny, and +assure the success of your great enterprise, lies there before you. +Have you no enemy whose death you most earnestly desire, to forward +that intent?"</p> + +<p>The young men looked at each other; but they both answered, after the +hesitation of a moment—</p> + +<p>"None!"</p> + +<p>"None, upon whose death depends that turn in the wheel of fate that +should place you on its summit?"</p> + +<p>Both the young men were silent.</p> + +<p>"At all events," continued the cunning astrologer, "your destiny +depends upon the action of your own hands. This action we must symbol +forth in mystery, in order that your destiny be accomplished. +Here—take this instrument," he pursued, producing a long gold pin of +curious workmanship, which at need might have done the task of a +dagger, "and pierce the white cloth that lies before you on the +table."</p> + +<p>The Duke drew back, and refused the instrument thus offered to him.</p> + +<p>"Do I not tell you that the accomplishment of your brilliant destiny +depends upon this act?" resumed Ruggieri.</p> + +<p>"I know not what this incantation may be," said the timid Duke. "Take +it, Philip."</p> + +<p>But La Mole, little as he was inclined to the superstitious credulity +of the times, seemed not more disposed than his master to lend his +hand to an act which had the appearance of being connected with the +rites of sorcery, and he also refused. On the reiterated assurances of +the astrologer, however, that upon that harmless blow hung the +accomplishment of their enterprise, and at the command of the Duke, he +took the instrument into his hand, and approached it over the cloth. +Again, however, he would have hesitated, and would have withdrawn; but +the astrologer seized his hand before he was aware, and, giving it a +sharp direction downwards, caused him to plunge the instrument into +the object beneath the cloth. La Mole shuddered as he felt it +penetrate into a soft substance, that, small as it was, gave him the +idea of a human body; and that shudder ran through his whole frame as +a presentiment of evil.</p> + +<p>"It is done," said the astrologer. "Go! and let the work of fate be +accomplished."</p> + +<p>The pale foreheads of both the young men, visible above their masks, +showed that they felt they had been led further in the work of +witchcraft than was their intention; but they did not expostulate. It +was the Duke who now first rallied, and throwing down a heavy purse of +coin on the table before the astrologer, he called to his companion to +follow him.</p> + +<p>Scarcely had the young men left the apartment, when the pannel by +which Catherine of Medicis had disappeared, again opened, and she +entered the room. Her face was pale, cold, and calm as usual.</p> + +<p>"You heard them, Ruggieri!" she said, with her customary bland smile. +"Alençon would be king, and that ambitious fool drives him to snatch +his brother's crown. The Queen-mother is to be arrested, and +imprisoned as a rebel to her usurping son. A notable scheme, forsooth! +Her courier to recall Henry of Anjou from Poland has been intercepted +also! But that mischance must be remedied immediately. Ay! and +avenged. Biragne shall have instant orders. With this proof in my +possession, the life of that La Mole is mine," continued she, tearing +in twain the white linen cloth, and displaying beneath it a small wax +figure, bearing the semblance of a king, with a crown upon<!-- Page 761 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_761" id="Page_761">[Pg 761]</a></span> its head, +in which the gold pin was still left sticking, by the manner in which +this operation was performed. "Little treasure of vengeance, thou art +mine! Ruggieri, man, that plot was acted to the life. Verily, verily, +you were right. Charles dies; and troubled and harassed will be the +<i>last hours of his reign</i>."</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"There is so hot a summer in my bosom,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">That all my bowels crumble up to dust;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I am a scribbled form, drawn with a pen</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Upon a parchment; and against this fire</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Do I shrink up."</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 50em;"><span class="smcap">Shakspeare.</span></span><br /> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Ambition is a great man's madness,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">That is not kept in chains and close-pent rooms</span><br /> +<span class="i0">But in fair lightsome lodgings, and is girt</span><br /> +<span class="i0">With the wild noise of prattling visitants,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Which makes it lunatic beyond all cure."</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 50em;"><span class="smcap">Webster.</span></span><br /> +</div></div> + + +<p>In a room belonging to the lower apartments of the old palace of the +Louvre, reclined, in one of the large but incommodious chairs of the +time, a young man, whose pale, haggard face, and prematurely furrowed +brow, betrayed deep suffering both from moral and physical causes. The +thick lids of his heavy dark eyes closed over them with languor, as if +he no longer possessed the force to open them; whilst his pale thin +lips were distorted as if with pain. His whole air bore the stamp of +exhaustion of mind and body.</p> + +<p>The dress of this personage was dark and of an extreme plainness and +simplicity, in times when the fashion of attire demanded so much +display—it bore somewhat the appearance of a hunting costume. The +room, on the contrary, betrayed a strange mixture of great richness +and luxury with much confusion and disorder. The hangings of the doors +were of the finest stuffs, and embroidered with gold and jewellery; +tapestry of price covered the walls. A raised curtain of heavy and +costly tissue discovered a small oratory, in which were visible a +crucifix and other religious ornaments of great value. But in the +midst of this display of wealth and greatness, were to be seen the +most incongruous objects. Beneath a bench in a corner of the room was +littered straw, on which lay several young puppies; in other choice +nooks slept two or three great hounds. Hunting horns were hung against +the tapestry, or lay scattered on the floor; an arquebuss rested +against the oratory door-stall—the instrument of death beside the +retreat of religious aspiration. Upon a standing desk, in the middle +of the room, lay a book, the coloured designs of which showed that it +treated of the "noble science of venerye," whilst around its pages +hung the beads of a chaplet. Against the wall of the room opposite the +reclining young man, stood one of the heavy chests used at that period +for seats, as much as depositories of clothes and other objects; but +the occupant of this seat was a strange one. It was a large ape, the +light brown colour of whose hair bordered so much upon the green as to +give the animal, in certain lights, a perfectly verdant aspect. It sat +"moping and mowing" in sulky loneliness, as if its grimaces were +intended to caricature the expression of pain which crossed the young +man's face—a strange distorted mirror of that suffering form.</p> + +<p>After a time the young man moved uneasily, as if he had in vain sought +in sleep some repose from the torment of mind and body, and snapped +his fingers. His hounds came obedient to his call; but, after patting +them for a moment on the head, he again drove them from him with all +the pettish ill-temper of ennui, and rose, feebly and with difficulty, +from his chair. He moved languidly to the open book, looked at it for +a moment, then shook his head and turned away. Again he took up one of +the hunting horns and applied it to his lips; but the breath which he +could fetch from his chest produced no sound but a<!-- Page 762 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_762" id="Page_762">[Pg 762]</a></span> sort of low +melancholy whine from the instrument; and he flung it down. Then +dealing a blow at the head of the grinning ape, who first dived to +avoid it, and then snapped at its master's fingers, he returned +wearily to his chair, and sunk into it with a deep groan, which told +of many things—regret—bitter ennui—physical pain and mental +anguish. The tears rose for a moment to his heavy languid eyes, but he +checked their influence with a sneer of his thin upper-lip; then +calling "Congo," to his ape, he made the animal approach and took it +on his knees; and the two—the man and the beast—grinned at each +other in bitter mockery.</p> + +<p>In this occupation of the most grotesque despair, the young man was +disturbed by another personage, who, raising the tapestry over a +concealed door, entered silently and unannounced.</p> + +<p>"My Mother!" murmured the sufferer, in a tone of impatience, as he +became aware of the presence of this person; and turning away his +head, he began to occupy himself in caressing his ape.</p> + +<p>"How goes it with you, Charles? Do you feel stronger now?" said the +mother, in a soft voice of the fondest cajolery, as she advanced with +noiseless, gliding steps.</p> + +<p>The son gave no reply, and continued to play with the animal upon his +knee, whilst a dark frown knitted his brow.</p> + +<p>"What say the doctors to your state to-day, my son?" resumed the +female soothingly. As she approached still nearer, the ape, with a +movement of that instinctive hate often observable in animals towards +persons who do not like them, sprang at her with a savage grin, that +displayed its sharp teeth, and would have bitten her hand had she not +started back in haste. Her cold physiognomy expressed, however, +neither anger nor alarm, as she quietly remarked to her son—</p> + +<p>"Remove that horrid animal, Charles: see how savage he is?"</p> + +<p>"And why should I remove Congo, mother?" rejoined Charles, with a +sneer upon his lip; "he is the only friend you have left me."</p> + +<p>"Sickness makes you forgetful and unjust, my son," replied the Mother.</p> + +<p>"Yes, the only friend you have left me," pursued the son bitterly, +"except my poor dogs. Have you not so acted in my name, that you have +left me not one kindred soul to love me; that in the whole wide +kingdom of France, there remains not a voice, much less a heart, to +bless its miserable king?"</p> + +<p>"If you say that you have no friends," responded the Queen-mother, +"you may speak more truly than you would. For they are but false +friends; and real enemies, who have instilled into your mind the evil +thoughts of a mother, who has worked only for your glory and your +good."</p> + +<p>"No, not one," continued the young King, unheeding her, but dismissing +at the same time the ape from his knee with a blow that sent him +screaming and mouthing to his accustomed seat upon the chest. "Not +one! Where is Perotte, my poor old nurse? She loved me—she was a real +mother to me. She! And where is she now? Did not that deed of horror, +to which you counselled me, to which you urged me almost by +force—that order, which, on the fatal night of St Bartholomew, gave +signal for the massacre of all her co-religionists, drive her from my +side? Did she not curse me—me, who at your instigation caused the +blood of her friends and kindred to be shed—and leave me, her +nursling, her boy, her Charlot, whom she loved till then, with that +curse upon her lips? And do they not say that her horror of him who +has sucked her milk, and lain upon her bosom, and of his damning deed, +has frenzied her brain, and rendered her witless? Poor woman!" And the +miserable King buried his haggard face between his hands.</p> + +<p>"She was a wretched Huguenot, and no fitting companion and confidant +for a Catholic and a king," said the Queen, in a tone of mildness, +which contrasted strangely with the harshness of her words. "You +should return thanks to all the blessed Saints, that she has willingly +renounced that influence about your person, which could tend only to +endanger the salvation of your soul."</p> + +<p>"My soul! Ay! who has destroyed<!-- Page 763 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_763" id="Page_763">[Pg 763]</a></span> it?" muttered Charles in a hollow +tone.</p> + +<p>The Queen-mother remained silent, but an unusual fire, in which +trouble was mixed with scorn and anger, shot from her eyes.</p> + +<p>"And have you not contrived to keep Henry of Navarre, my honest Henry, +from my presence?" pursued the young King, after a pause, lifting up +his heavy head from between his hands. "He was the only being you had +left me still to love me; for my brothers hate me, both Anjou and +Alençon—both wish me dead, and would wear my crown. And who was it, +and for her own purposes, curdled the blood of the Valois in their +veins until it rankled into a poison that might have befitted the +Atrides of the tragedies of old? Henry of Navarre was the only +creature that loved me still, and your policy and intrigues, madam, +keep him from me, and so watch and harass his very steps in my own +palace of the Louvre, where he is my guest, that never can I see him +alone, or speak to him in confidence. He, too, deserts and neglects me +now; and I am alone—alone, madam, with courtiers and creatures, who +hate me too, it may be—alone, as a wretched orphan beggar by the +way-side."</p> + +<p>"My policy, as well as what you choose to call my intrigues, my son," +rejoined the Queen, "have ever been directed to your interests and +welfare. You are aware that Henry of Navarre has conspired against the +peace of our realm, against your crown, may-be against your life. +Would you condemn that care which would prevent the renewal of such +misdeeds, when your own sister—when his wife—leagues herself in +secret with your enemies!"</p> + +<p>"Ay! Margaret too!" muttered Charles with bitterness. "Was the list of +the Atrides not yet complete?"</p> + +<p>"The dictates of my love and affection, of my solicitude for my son, +and for his weal—such have been the main-springs of my intrigues," +pursued the mother in a cajoling tone.</p> + +<p>"The intrigues of the house of Medicis!" murmured the King, with a +mocking laugh.</p> + +<p>"What would you have me to do more, my son?" continued the +Queen-mother.</p> + +<p>"Nothing," replied Charles, "nothing but leave me—leave me, as others +have done, to die alone!"</p> + +<p>"My son, I will leave you shortly, and if it so please our Blessed +Virgin, to a little repose, and a better frame of mind," said +Catherine of Medicis. "But I came to speak to you of matters of +weight, and of such deep importance that they brook no delay."</p> + +<p>"I am unfitted for all matters of state—my head is weary, my limbs +ache, my heart burns with a torturing fire—I cannot listen to you +now, madam," pursued the King languidly; and then, seeing that his +mother still stood motionless by his side, he added with more +energy—"Am I then no more a king, madam, that, at my own command, I +cannot even be left to <i>die</i> in peace?"</p> + +<p>"It is of your health, your safety, your life, that I would speak," +continued Catherine of Medicis, unmoved. "The physicians have sought +in vain to discover the real sources of the cruel malady that devours +you; but there is no reason to doubt of your recovery, when the cause +shall be known and removed."</p> + +<p>"And you, madam, should know, it would appear, better than my +physicians the hidden origin of my sufferings!" said Charles, in a +tone in which might be remarked traces of the bitterest irony. "Is it +not so?" and he looked upon his mother with a deadly look of suspicion +and mistrust.</p> + +<p>The Queen-mother started slightly at these words; but, after a moment, +she answered in her usual bland tone of voice—</p> + +<p>"It is my solicitude upon this subject that now brings me hither."</p> + +<p>"I thank you for your solicitude," replied the King, with the same +marked manner; "and so, doubtless, does my brother Anjou: you love him +well, madam, and he is the successor of his childish brother."</p> + +<p>In spite of the command over herself habitually exercised by Catherine +of Medicis, her pale brow grew paler still, and she slightly +compressed her lips, to prevent their quivering, upon hearing the +horrible insinuation conveyed<!-- Page 764 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_764" id="Page_764">[Pg 764]</a></span> in these words. The suspicions +prevalent at the time, that the Queen-mother had employed the aid of a +slow poison to rid herself of a son who resisted her authority, in +order to make room upon the throne for another whom she loved, had +reached her ears, and, guilty or guiltless, she could not but perceive +that her own son himself was not devoid of these suspicions. After the +struggle of a moment with herself, however, during which the drops of +perspiration stood upon her pale temples, she resumed——</p> + +<p>"I love my children all; and I would save your life, Charles. My +ever-watchful affection for you, my son, has discovered the existence +of a hellish plot against your life."</p> + +<p>"More plots, more blood!—what next, madam?" interrupted, with a +groan, the unhappy King.</p> + +<p>"What the art of the physician could not discover," pursued his +mother, "I have discovered. The strange nature of this unknown +malady—these pains, this sleeplessness, this agony of mind and body, +without a cause, excited my suspicions; and now I have the proofs in +my own hands. My son, my poor son! you have been the victim of the +foulest witchcraft and sorcery of your enemies."</p> + +<p>"Enemies abroad! enemies at home!" cried Charles, turning himself +uneasily in his chair. "Did I not say so, madam?"</p> + +<p>"But the vile sorcerer has been discovered by the blessed intervention +of the saints," continued Catherine; "and let him be once seized, +tried, and executed for his abominable crime, your torments, my son, +will cease for ever. You will live to be well, strong, happy."</p> + +<p>"Happy!" echoed the young King with bitterness; "happy! no, there the +sorcery has gone too far for remedy." He then added after a pause, +"And what is this plot? who is this sorcerer of whom you speak?"</p> + +<p>"Trouble not yourself with these details, my son; they are but of +minor import," replied Catherine. "You are weak and exhausted. The +horrid tale would too much move your mind. Leave every thing in my +hands, and I will rid you of your enemies."</p> + +<p>"No, no. There has been enough of ill," resumed her son. "That he +should be left in peace is all the miserable King now needs."</p> + +<p>"But your life, my son. The safety of the realm depends upon the +extermination of the works of the powers of darkness. Would you, a +Catholic Prince, allow the evil-doer of the works of Satan to roam +about at will, and injure others as he would have destroyed his king?" +pursued the Queen-mother.</p> + +<p>"Well, we will speak more of this at another opportunity. Leave me +now, madam, for I am very weak both in mind and body; and I thank you +for your zeal and care."</p> + +<p>"My son, I cannot leave you," persisted Catherine, "until you shall +have signed this paper." She produced from the species of reticule +suspended at her side a parchment already covered with writing. "It +confers upon me full power to treat in this affair, and bring the +offender to condign punishment. You shall have no trouble in this +matter; and through your mother's care, your enemies shall be purged +from the earth, and you yourself once more free, and strong and able +shortly to resume the helm of state, to mount your horse, to cheer on +your hounds. Come, my son, sign this paper."</p> + +<p>"Leave me—leave me in peace," again answered Charles. "I am sick at +heart, and I would do no ill even to my bitterest enemy, be he only an +obscure sorcerer, who has combined with the prince of darkness himself +to work my death."</p> + +<p>"My son—it cannot be," said Catherine, perseveringly—for she was +aware that by persisting alone could she weary her son to do at last +her will. "Sign this order for prosecuting immediately the trial of +the sorcerer. It is a duty you owe to your country, for which you +should live, as much as to yourself. Come!" and, taking him by the +arm, she attempted to raise him from his chair.</p> + +<p>"Must I ever be thus tormented, even in my hours of suffering?" said +the King with impatience. "Well, be it so, madam. Work your will, and +leave me to my repose."</p> + +<p>He rose wearily from his chair, and going to a table on which were +placed materials for writing, hastily signed the paper laid before him +by his<!-- Page 765 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_765" id="Page_765">[Pg 765]</a></span> mother; and then, fetching a deep respiration of relief, like +a school-boy after the performance of some painful task, he flung +himself on to the chest beside the ape, and, turning his back to his +mother, began to make his peace with the sulky animal.</p> + +<p>Catherine of Medicis permitted a cold smile of satisfaction to wander +over her face; and after greeting again her son, who paid her no more +heed than might be expressed by an impatient shrug of the shoulders, +indicative of his desire to be left in peace, again lifted the +hangings, and passed through the concealed door. The suffering King, +whose days of life were already numbered, and fast approaching their +utmost span, although his years were still so few, remained again +alone with his agony and his ennui.</p> + +<p>Behind the door by which the Queen-mother had left her son's apartment +was a narrow stone corridor, communicating with a small winding +staircase, by which she mounted to her own suite of rooms upon the +first floor; but, when she had gained the summit, avoiding the secret +entrance opening into her own chamber, she proceeded along one of the +many hidden passages by which she was accustomed to gain not only +those wings of the palace inhabited by her different children, but +almost every other part of the building, unseen and unannounced. +Stopping at last before a narrow door, forming a part of the +stone-work of the corridor, she pulled it towards her, and again +lifting up a tapestry hanging, entered, silently and stealthily, a +small room, which appeared a sort of inner cabinet to a larger +apartment. She was about to pass through it, when some papers +scattered upon a table caught her eye, and moving towards them with +her usual cat-like step, she began turning them over with the +noiseless adroitness of one accustomed to such an employment. +Presently, however, she threw them down, as if she had not found in +them, at once, what she sought, or was fearful of betraying her +presence to the persons whose voices might be heard murmuring in the +adjoining room; and, advancing with inaudible tread, she paused to +listen for a minute. The persons, however, spoke low; and finding that +her <i>espionage</i> profited nothing to her, the royal spy passed on and +entered the apartment.</p> + +<p>In a chair, turning his back to her, sat a young man at a table, upon +which papers and maps were mixed with jewellery, articles of dress, +feathers and laces. A pair of newly-fashioned large gilt spurs lay +upon a manuscript which appeared to contain a list of names; a naked +rapier, the hilt of which was of curious device and workmanship, was +carelessly thrust through a paper covered with notes of music. The +whole formed a strange mixture, indicative at once of pre-occupation +and listless <i>insouciance</i>, of grave employment and utter frivolity. +Before this seated personage stood another, who appeared to be +speaking to him earnestly and in low tones. At the sight of Catherine, +as she advanced, however, the latter person exclaimed quickly,</p> + +<p>"My lord duke, her majesty the Queen-mother!"</p> + +<p>The other person rose hastily, and in some alarm, from his chair; +whilst his companion took this opportunity to increase the confusion +upon the table, by pushing one or two other papers beneath some of the +articles of amusement or dress.</p> + +<p>Without any appearance of remarking the embarrassment that was +pictured upon the young man's face, Catherine advanced to accept his +troubled greeting with a mild smile of tenderness, and said—</p> + +<p>"Alençon, my son, I have a few matters of private business, upon which +I would confer with you—and alone."</p> + +<p>The increasing embarrassment upon the face of the young Duke must have +been visible to any eye but that which did not choose to see it. After +a moment's hesitation, however, in which the habit of obeying +implicitly his mother's authority seemed to subdue his desire to avoid +a conference with her, he turned and said unwillingly to his +companion,</p> + +<p>"Leave us, La Mole."</p> + +<p>The Duke's favourite cast a glance of encouragement and caution upon +his master; and bowing to the Queen-mother, who returned his homage +with her kindest and most re-assuring<!-- Page 766 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_766" id="Page_766">[Pg 766]</a></span> smile of courtesy and +benevolence, and an affable wave of the hand, he left the apartment.</p> + +<p>Catherine took the seat from which her son had risen; and leaving him +standing before her in an attitude which ill-repressed trouble +combined with natural awkwardness of manner to render peculiarly +ungainly, she seemed to study for a time, and with satisfaction, his +confusion and constraint. But then, begging him to be seated near her, +she commenced speaking to him of various matters, of his own pleasures +and amusements, of the newest dress, of the fêtes interrupted by the +King's illness, of the effect which this illness, and the supposed +danger of Charles, had produced upon the jarring parties in the state; +of the audacity of the Huguenots, who now first began, since the +massacre of St Bartholomew's day, again to raise their heads, and +cause fresh disquietude to the government. And thus proceeding step by +step to the point at which she desired to arrive, the wily +Queen-mother resembled the cat, which creeps slowly onwards, until it +springs at last with one bound upon its victim.</p> + +<p>"Alas!" she said, with an air of profound sorrow, "so quickly do +treachery and ingratitude grow up around us, that we no longer can +discern who are our friends and who our enemies. We bestow favours; +but it is as if we gave food to the dog, who bites our fingers as he +takes it. We cherish a friend; and it is an adder we nurse in our +bosoms. That young man who left us but just now, the Count La Mole—he +cannot hear us surely;"—the Duke of Alençon assured her, with +ill-concealed agitation, that his favourite was out of ear-shot—"that +young man—La Mole!—you love him well, I know, my son; and you know +not that it is a traitor you have taken to your heart."</p> + +<p>"La Mole—a traitor! how? impossible!" stammered the young Duke.</p> + +<p>"Your generous and candid heart comprehends not treachery in those it +loves," pursued his mother; "but I have, unhappily, the proofs in my +own power. Philip de la Mole conspires against your brother's crown."</p> + +<p>The Duke of Alençon grew deadly pale; and he seemed to support himself +with difficulty; but he stammered with faltering tongue,</p> + +<p>"Conspires? how? for whom? Surely, madam, you are most grossly +misinformed?"</p> + +<p>"Unhappily, my son," pursued Catherine—"and my heart bleeds to say +it—I have it no longer in my power to doubt."</p> + +<p>"Madam, it is false," stammered again the young Duke, rising hastily +from his chair, with an air of assurance which he did not feel. "This +is some calumny."</p> + +<p>"Sit down, my son, and listen to me for a while," said the +Queen-mother with a bland, quiet smile. "I speak not unadvisedly. Be +not so moved."</p> + +<p>Alençon again sat down unwillingly, subdued by the calm superiority of +his mother's manner.</p> + +<p>"You think this Philip de la Mole," she continued, "attached solely to +your interests, for you have showered upon him many and great favours; +and your unsuspecting nature has been deceived. Listen to me, I pray +you. Should our poor Henry never return from Poland, it would be yours +to mount the throne of France upon the death of Charles. Nay, look not +so uneasy. Such a thought, if it had crossed your mind, is an honest +and a just one. How should I blame it? And now, how acts this Philip +de la Mole—this man whom you have advanced, protected, loved almost +as a brother? Regardless of all truth or honour, regardless of his +master's fortunes, he conspires with friends and enemies, with +Catholic and Huguenot, to place Henry of Navarre upon the throne!"</p> + +<p>"La Mole conspires for Henry of Navarre! Impossible!" cried the Duke.</p> + +<p>"Alas! my son, it is too truly as I say," pursued the Queen-mother; +"the discoveries that have been made reveal most clearly the whole +base scheme. Know you not that this upstart courtier has dared to love +your sister Margaret, and that the foolish woman returns his +presumptuous passion? It is she who has connived with her ambitious +lover to see a real crown encircle her own brow. She has<!-- Page 767 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_767" id="Page_767">[Pg 767]</a></span> encouraged +Philip de la Mole to conspire with her husband of Navarre, to grasp +the throne of France upon the death of Charles. You are ignorant of +this, my son; your honourable mind can entertain no such baseness. I +am well aware that, had you been capable of harbouring a thought of +treachery towards your elder brother—and I well know that you are +not—believe me, the wily Philip de la Mole had rendered you his dupe, +and blinded you to the true end of his artful and black designs."</p> + +<p>"Philip a traitor!" exclaimed the young Duke aghast.</p> + +<p>"A traitor to his king, his country, and to you, my son—to you, who +have loved him but too well," repeated the Queen-mother.</p> + +<p>"And it was for this purpose that he"—commenced the weak Duke of +Alençon. But then, checking the words he was about to utter, he added, +clenching his hands together—"Oh! double, double traitor!"</p> + +<p>"I knew that you would receive the revelation of this truth with +horror," pursued Catherine. "It is the attribute of your generous +nature so to do; and I would have spared you the bitter pang of +knowing that you have lavished so much affection upon a villain. But +as orders will be immediately given for his arrest, it was necessary +you should know his crime, and make no opposition to the seizure of +one dependent so closely upon your person."</p> + +<p>More, much more, did the artful Queen-mother say to turn her weak and +credulous son to her will, and when she had convinced him of the +certain treachery of his favourite, she rose to leave him, with the +words—</p> + +<p>"The guards will be here anon. Avoid him until then. Leave your +apartment; speak to him not; or, if he cross your path, smile on him +kindly, thus—and let him never read upon your face the thought that +lurks within, 'Thou art a traitor.'"</p> + +<p>Alençon promised obedience to his mother's injunctions.</p> + +<p>"I have cut off thy right hand, my foolish son," muttered Catherine to +herself as she departed by the secret door. "Thou art too powerless to +act alone, and I fear thee now no longer. Margaret must still be dealt +with; and thou, Henry of Navarre, if thou aspirest to the regency, the +struggle is between thee and Catherine. Then will be seen whose star +shines with the brightest lustre!"</p> + +<p>When Philip de la Mole returned to his master's presence, he found the +Duke pacing up and down the chamber in evident agitation; and the only +reply given to his words was a smile of so false and constrained a +nature, that it almost resembled a grin of mockery.</p> + +<p>The Duke of Alençon was as incapable of continued dissimulation, as he +was incapable of firmness of purpose; and when La Mole again +approached him, he frowned sulkily, and, turning his back upon his +favourite, was about to quit the room.</p> + +<p>"Shall I accompany my lord duke?" said La Mole, with his usual +careless demeanour, although he saw the storm gathering, and guessed +immediately from what quarter the wind had blown, but not the awful +violence of the hurricane.</p> + +<p>"No—I want no traitors to dog my footsteps," replied Alençon, unable +any longer to restrain himself, in spite of his mother's instructions.</p> + +<p>"There are no traitors here," replied his favourite proudly. "I could +have judged, my lord, that the Queen-mother had been with you, had I +not seen her enter your apartment. Yes—there has been treachery on +foot, it seems, but not where you would say. Speak boldly, my lord, +and truly. Of what does she accuse me?"</p> + +<p>"Traitor! double traitor!" exclaimed the Duke, bursting into a fit of +childish wrath, "who hast led me on with false pretences of a +Crown—who hast made <i>me</i>—thy master and thy prince—the dupe of thy +base stratagems; who hast blinded me, and gulled me, whilst thy real +design was the interest of another!"</p> + +<p>"Proceed, my lord duke," said La Mole calmly. "Of what other does my +lord duke speak?"</p> + +<p>"Of Henry of Navarre, for whom you have conspired at Margaret's +instigation," replied Alençon, walking uneasily up and down the room, +and not venturing to look upon his accused<!-- Page 768 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_768" id="Page_768">[Pg 768]</a></span> favourite, as if he +himself had been the criminal, and not the accuser.</p> + +<p>"Ah! thither flies the bolt, does it?" said La Mole, with score. "But +it strikes not, my lord. If I may claim your lordship's attention to +these papers for a short space of time, I should need no other answer +to this strange accusation, so strangely thrown out against me." And +he produced from his person several documents concealed about it, and +laid them before the Duke, who had now again thrown himself into his +chair. "This letter from Condé—this from La Brèche—these from others +of the Protestant party. Cast your eyes over them? Of whom do they +speak? Is it of Henry of Navarre? Or is it of the Duke of Alençon? +Whom do they look to as their chief and future King?"</p> + +<p>"Philip, forgive me—I have wronged you," said the vacillating Duke, +as he turned over these documents from members of the conspiracy that +had been formed in his own favour. "But, gracious Virgin!—I now +remember my mother knows all—she is fearfully incensed against you. +She spoke of your arrest."</p> + +<p>"Already!" exclaimed La Mole. "Then it is time to act! I would not +that it had been so soon. But Charles is suffering—he can no longer +wield the sceptre. Call out the guard at once. Summon your fiends. +Seize on the Louvre."</p> + +<p>"No—no—it is too late," replied the Duke; "my mother knows all, I +tell you. No matter whether for me or for another, but you have dared +to attack the rights of my brother of Anjou—and that is a crime she +never will forgive."</p> + +<p>"Then act at once," continued his favourite, with energy. "We have +bold hearts and ready arms. Before to-night the Regency shall be +yours; at Charles's death the Crown."</p> + +<p>"No, no—La Mole—impossible—I cannot—will not," said Alençon in +despair.</p> + +<p>"Monseigneur!" cried La Mole, with a scorn he could not suppress.</p> + +<p>"You must fly, Philip—you must fly!" resumed his master.</p> + +<p>"No—since you will not act, I will remain and meet my fate!"</p> + +<p>"Fly, fly, I tell you! You would compromise me, were you to remain," +repeated the Duke. "Every moment endangers our safety."</p> + +<p>"If such be your command," replied La Mole coldly, "rather than +sacrifice a little of your honour, I will fly."</p> + +<p>"They will be here shortly," continued Alençon hurriedly. "Here, take +this cloak—this jewelled hat. They are well known to be mine. Wrap +the cloak about you. Disguise your height—your gait. They will take +you for me. The corridors are obscure—you may cross the outer court +undiscovered—and once in safety, you will join our friends. +Away—away!"</p> + +<p>La Mole obeyed his master's bidding, but without the least appearance +of haste or fear.</p> + +<p>"And I would have made that man a king!" he murmured to himself, as, +dressed in the Duke's cloak and hat, he plunged into the tortuous and +gloomy corridors of the Louvre. "That man a king! Ambition made me +mad. Ay! worse than mad—a fool!"</p> + +<p>The Duke of Alençon watched anxiously from his window, which dominated +the outer court of the Louvre, for the appearance of that form, +enveloped in his cloak; and when he saw La Mole pass unchallenged the +gate leading without, he turned away from the window with an +exclamation of satisfaction.</p> + +<p>A minute afterwards the agents of the Queen-mother entered his +apartment.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="biggap"><!-- Page 769 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_769" id="Page_769">[Pg 769]</a></span></div> +<h2><a name="THE_SCOTTISH_HARVEST" id="THE_SCOTTISH_HARVEST"></a>THE SCOTTISH HARVEST.</h2> + +<p>The approach of winter is always a serious time. When the fields are +cleared, and the produce of our harvest has been gathered into the +yard and the barn, we begin to hold a general count and reckoning with +the earth, and to calculate what amount of augmented riches we have +drawn from the bosom of the soil. When the investigation proves +satisfactory, the result is but slightly recorded. Our ancestors, with +just piety and gratitude, were accustomed to set apart whole days for +thanksgiving to the Almighty Being who had blessed the labours of the +year; we—to our shame be it said—have departed from the reverent +usage. We take a good season as if it were no more than our appointed +due—a bad one comes upon us with all the terrors of a panic.</p> + +<p>But there are seasons frequently occurring which vary between the one +and the other extreme; and these are they which give rise to the most +discussion. It is unfortunately the tactics, if not the interest, of +one great party in the nation, to magnify every season of scarcity +into a famine for the purpose of promoting their own cherished +theories. A bad August and an indifferent September are subjects of +intense interest to your thorough-paced corn-law repealer; not that we +believe the man has an absolute abstract joy in the prospect of coming +scarcity—we acquit him of that—but he sees, or thinks he sees, a +combination of events which, erelong, must realize his darling theory, +and his sagacity, as a speculative politician, is at stake. Therefore, +he is always ready, upon the slightest apprehension of failure, to +demand, with most turbulent threat, the immediate opening of the +ports, in the hope that, once opened, they may never be closed again.</p> + +<p>Our original intention was not to discuss the corn-law question in the +present article. We took up the pen for the simple purpose of showing +that, so far as Scotland is concerned, a most unnecessary alarm has +been raised with regard to the produce of the harvest; and we have not +the slightest doubt that the same exaggeration has been extended to +the sister country. Of course, if we can prove this, it will follow as +a matter of deduction, that no especial necessity exists for opening +the ports at present; and we shall further strengthen our position by +reference to the prices of bonded grain. We shall not, however, +conclude, without a word or two regarding the mischievous theories +which, if put into execution, would place this country at the mercy of +a foreign power; and we entreat the attention of our readers the more, +because already our prospective position has become the subject of +intense interest on the Continent.</p> + +<p>It is a question of such immense importance, that we have thought it +our duty to consult with one of the best-informed persons on the +subject of practical agriculture in Scotland, or, indeed, in the +United Kingdom. Our authority for the following facts, as to the +results of the harvest in the North, is Mr Stephens, the author of +<i>The Book of the Farm</i>. His opinions, and the results of his +observation, have kindly been communicated to us in letters, written +during the first fortnight in November; and we do not think that we +can confer upon the public a greater service than by laying extracts +from these before them. They may tend, if duly weighed and considered, +to relieve the apprehensions of those who have taken alarm at the very +commencement of the cry. Our conviction is, that the alarm is not only +premature but unreasonable, and that the grain-produce of this year is +rather above than below the ordinary average. We shall consider the +potato question separately: in the meantime let us hear Mr Stephens +on the subject of the quantity of the harvest.</p> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Quantity of Grain-Crop.</span></h3> + +<p>"I am quite satisfied in my own mind, from observation and +information, that a greater quantity of grain convertible into bread +has<!-- Page 770 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_770" id="Page_770">[Pg 770]</a></span> been derived from this harvest than from the last. Both oats and +barley are a heavy crop; indeed oats are the bulkiest crop I ever +remember to have seen in the higher districts of this country. The +straw is not only long, but is strong in the reed, and thick in the +ground; and notwithstanding all the rain, both barley and oats were +much less laid than might have been expected. In regard to wheat, all +the good soils have yielded well—the inferior but indifferently. +There is a much greater diversity in the wheat than in barley and +oats. The straw of wheat is long, and it is also strong; but still it +was more laid than either oats or barley, and wherever it was laid the +crop will be very deficient. As to the colour of all sorts of grain, +it is much brighter than the farmers had anticipated, and there is no +sprouted grain this year.</p> + +<p>Let me relate a few instances of be yield of the crop. I must premise +that the results I am about to give are derived from the best +cultivated districts, and that no returns of yield have yet been had +from the upper and later districts. At the same time I have no reason +to suppose that these, when received, will prove in any way +contradictory. In East Lothian two fields of wheat have been tried, in +not the best soil; and the one has yielded 4½, and the other very +nearly 5 quarters, per Scotch acre. Before being cut, the first one +was estimated at 2½, and the second at 4½ quarters. The grain in +both cases is good.</p> + +<p>In Mid-Lothian, one farmer assures himself, from trials, that he will +reap 8 quarters of wheat per Scotch acre of good quality. And another +says, that, altogether, he never had so great a crop since he was a +farmer.</p> + +<p>In West Lothian, two farmers have thrashed some wheat, and the yield +is 8 quarters per Scotch acre, of good quality.</p> + +<p>In the best district of Roxburghshire the wheat will yield well; while +a large field of wheat, in Berwickshire, that was early laid on +account of the weakness of the straw, which was too much forced by the +high condition of the soil, will scarcely pay the cost of reaping. +This, however, is but a single isolated instance, for a farmer in the +same county has put in 73 ordinary-sized stacks, whereas his usual +number is about 60.</p> + +<p>In the east of Forfarshire, the harvest is represented to me as being +glorious; while in the west, there has not been a better crop of every +thing for many years. The accounts from Northumberland, from two or +three of my friends who farm there extensively, confirm the preceding +statements, in regard to the bulk and general yield of the corn crop.</p> + +<p>I may also mention, that the samples of wheat, and oats, and barley, +presented at the Highland and Agricultural Society's Show at Dumfries, +along with the grain in the straw, were really admirable.</p> + +<p>With all these attestations from so many parts of the country, that +are known to be good corn districts, I cannot doubt that the crop is a +good one on good soils."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>So much for the quantity, which, after all, is the main consideration. +The above account certainly gives no indications of famine, or even +scarcity. It contains the general character of the weight of the +harvest in the principal corn-growing districts of Scotland, and we +have no reason whatever to suppose that worse fortune has attended the +results of the husbandry in England. The next consideration is the</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Quality of the Crop.</span></p> + +<p>"Not the entire crop, but most of it, is inferior in quality to that +of last year. The barley and oats are both plump and heavy, but there +is a slight roughness about them; and yet the weights in some cases of +both are extraordinary. Potato oats were shown at Dumfries 48lb per +bushel—3lb above the ordinary weight. Barley has been presented in +the Edinburgh market every week as heavy as 56lb per quarter—about +3lb more than the ordinary weight. All the samples of wheat I have +seen<!-- Page 771 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_771" id="Page_771">[Pg 771]</a></span> in Leith in the hands of an eminent corn-merchant, weighed from +60lb to 63lb per bushel, and it has been as high as 66lb in the +Edinburgh market. I also saw samples of Essex wheat above 60lb, as +well as good wheat from Lincolnshire.</p> + +<p>Now such weights could not be indicated by grain at the end of a wet +harvest, unless it were of good quality.</p> + +<p>The quality is much diversified, especially in wheat; some of it not +weighing above 48lb per bushel. The winnowings from all the grains +will be proportionally large; although, in the case of barley and +oats, had every pickle attained maturity, the crop would probably have +exceeded the extraordinary one of 1815. But though heavy winnowings +entail decided loss to the farmer, yet human beings will not be the +greatest sufferers by them; the loss will chiefly fall on the poor +work-horses, as they will be made to eat the light instead of the good +corn, which latter will be reserved for human food. The light oats +will no doubt be given to horses in larger quantities than good corn, +and the light barley will be boiled for them in mashes probably every +night.</p> + +<p>The beans are a heavy crop in <i>straw</i> every where; and bean-straw, +when well won, is as good for horses in winter as hay; while in +certain districts, such as on the Border, the beans will also be good.</p> + +<p>With all these facts before me, I cannot make myself believe that we +are to experience any thing approaching to the privation of famine, so +far as the grain crop is concerned."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Our practical experience in these matters is so limited, that we feel +diffident in adding any thing to these remarks of Mr Stephens. We may, +however, be permitted to express a doubt whether the average quality +of the crop has yet been satisfactorily ascertained. It is well known +that the farmer rarely brings his best wheat into the earliest market, +because it is his interest to thrash out that part of the crop which +may have sustained a partial damage, as soon as possible; and in these +circumstances it usually follows, that the worst wheat is first +exposed for sale. In like manner he wishes to dispose of his inferior +barley first. In regard to oats, the inferior portions find +consumption at home by the horses. In ordinary seasons, any wheat or +barley that may have shown symptoms of heating in the stacks are first +presented at market; but in this season, when there is no heated +grain—thanks to the low temperature and the precautions used in +stacking—the high prices have tempted the farmers to thrash both +wheat and barley earlier than usual, in order to meet the demands for +rent and wages at Martinmas—a term which, owing to the lateness of +the season, followed close on the termination of the harvest. This +peculiarity of the season may, perhaps, account for the large supplies +of wheat presented for some weeks past at Mark Lane—to the extent, we +understand, of from 30,000 to 40,000 quarters more than last year at +the same period. It is more than probable that the largest proportion +of the land in fallow has been sown with old wheat, as it was early +ascertained that the harvest would be unusually late. There is always +more bare fallow in England than in Scotland, and the old wheat having +been thus disposed of, the earlier portion of the new grain was +brought to market, and not appropriated for its usual purpose. We +must, however, conclude, that the crop—at all events the wheat—is +inferior to that of former years. This has generally been attributed +to the wetness of the season, in which view our correspondent does not +altogether concur; and we are glad to observe that on one important +matter—namely, the fitness of this year's grain for seed—his +opinions are decidedly favourable.</p> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Cause of Inferior Quality of Wheat.</span></h3> + +<p>"I am of opinion, that the inferiority of the wheat in poor lands, +both as regards quantity and quality, has not arisen from the wetness +of the season,<!-- Page 772 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_772" id="Page_772">[Pg 772]</a></span> but from the <i>very low degree of temperature</i> which +prevailed at the blooming season in the end of June, and which +prevented the pollen coming to maturity, and therefore interfered with +the proper fecundation of the plant. I observed that, during all that +time, the rain did not fall in so large quantities as afterwards, but +the thermometer averaged so low as from 48° to 52°, even during the +day, and there was a sad want of sunshine. And it is an ascertained +fact, that wheat will <i>not fecundate at all</i> in a temperature which +does not exceed 45°, accompanied with a gloomy atmosphere. This theory +of the influence of a low temperature also accounts for the quantity +of <i>light</i> wheat this year; for the side of the ear that was exposed +to the cold breeze which blew constantly from the north-east during +the period of blooming, would experience a more chilly atmosphere than +the other side, which was comparatively sheltered, and therefore its +fecundation would be most interfered with.</p> + +<p>I may mention a peculiar characteristic of this year, if we take into +consideration the wetness of the season; which is, that scarcely a +sprouted ear of corn is to be found any where, notwithstanding that +the crop was laid in many instances. This immunity from an evil which +never fails to render grain, so affected, useless for human food, has +no doubt been secured by the <i>low temperature of the season</i>. It was +an observed fact, that immediately after the falls of rain, whether +great or moderate, a firm, drying, cool breeze always sprang up, which +quickly dried the standing and won the cut corn at the same time; and +the consequence has been, that the entire crop has been secured in the +stack-yard in a safe state. All the kinds of grain, therefore, may be +regarded as being in a <i>sound</i> state; and, on that account, even the +lighter grains will be quite fit for seed next year."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The point on which the nation at large is principally interested, is, +of course, the price of bread. It is quite evident that the cost of +manufactured flour ought, in all cases, to remain in just proportion +with the value of the raw material. Unfortunately that proportion is +not always maintained. The baker is a middleman between the farmer and +the public, between the producing and the consuming classes. Amongst +those who follow that very necessary trade, there exists a combination +which is not regulated by law; and the consequence is, that, whenever +a scarcity is threatened, the bakers raise the price of the loaf at +pleasure, and on no fixed principle corresponding with the price of +corn. Few persons are aware at what rate the quartern loaf <i>ought to +be sold</i> when wheat is respectively at 50s., 60s., or 70s. per +quarter: they are, however, painfully sensitive when they are +subjected to an arbitrary rise of bread and their natural conclusion +is, that they are taxed on account of the dearness of the grain. The +number of those who buy grain or who study its fluctuations, is very +small; but every one uses bread, and the monthly account of the baker +is a sure memento of its price. Let us see how the middle functionary +has behaved.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Why is Bread so dear?</span></p> + +<p>"The price of bread is very high already, and is not likely to fall; +and the reason a baker would assign for this is the high price of +wheat—a very plausible reason, and to which most people would too +good-naturedly assent; but examine the particulars of the case, and +the reason adduced will be found based on a fallacy. During all the +last year, the aggregate average price of wheat never exceeded 56s. a +quarter, and in that time the price of the 4lb loaf was 5½d.; at +least I paid no more for it with ready money. The highest mark that +wheat has yet attained in this market, is 88s. per quarter, and it is +notorious that this market has, for the present year, been the dearest +throughout the kingdom. As 10s. a quarter makes a difference of 1d. in +the 4lb loaf, the loaf, according to this scale—which, be it +remarked,<!-- Page 773 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_773" id="Page_773">[Pg 773]</a></span> is of the bakers' own selection—should be at 8½d. when +the wheat is at 88s. Can you, nevertheless, believe that, <i>whilst the +present price of bread</i> is 8½d. <i>the loaf</i> is made wholly of wheat +which cost the bakers 88s. the quarter? The bakers tell you they +always buy the best wheat, and yet, though they are the largest buyers +in the wheat market, the aggregate average of the kingdom did not +exceed 58s. 6d. on the 8th November. The truth is, the bakers are +trying to make the most they can; and they are not to blame, provided +their gains were not imputed to the farmers. But we all know, that +when bread gets inordinately high in price, clamour is raised against +<i>dear wheat</i>—that is, against the farmer—and this again is made the +pretext for <i>a free trade in corn</i>; whilst the <i>high price secured to +the baker by the privilege of his trade</i> is left unblamed and +unscathed."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Had the Court of Session thought proper to retain in observance the +powers to which it succeeded after the abolition of the Privy Council, +and which for some time it executed, we certainly should have applied +to their Lordships for an Act of Sederunt to regulate the proceedings +of Master Bakers. But, as centralisation has not even spared us an +humble Secretary, we must leave our complaint for consideration in a +higher quarter. Our correspondent, however, is rather too charitable +in assuming that the bakers are not to blame. We cannot, for the life +of us, understand why they are permitted to augment the price of +bread, the great commodity of life, at this enormous ratio, in +consequence of the rise of corn. Surely some enactment should be +framed, by which the price of the loaf should be kept in strict +correspondence with the average price of grain, and some salutary +check put upon a monopoly, which, we are convinced, has often afforded +a false argument against the agricultural interests of the country.</p> + +<p>Such we believe to be the true state of the grain crop throughout the +kingdom generally. How, from such a state of things, any valid +argument can be raised for opening the ports at this time, we are +totally at a loss to conceive. The only serious feature connected with +the present harvest, is the partial failure of the potato crop, to +which we shall presently refer. But, so far as regards corn, we +maintain that there is no real ground for alarm; and further, there is +this important consideration connected with the late harvest, which +should not be ungratefully disregarded, that two months of the grain +season have already passed, and the new crop remains comparatively +untouched, so that it will have to supply only ten months' consumption +instead of twelve: and should the next harvest be an early one, which +we have reason to expect after this late one, the time bearing on the +present crop will be still more shortened. Nor should the fact be +overlooked, that two months' consumption is equal to 2,000,000 +quarters of wheat—an amount which would form a very considerable item +in a crop which had proved to be actually deficient.</p> + +<p>But as there has been a movement already in some parts of Scotland, +though solely from professed repealers, towards memorialising +government for open ports on the ground of special necessity, we shall +consider that question for a little; and, in doing so, shall blend the +observations of our able correspondent with our own.</p> + +<p>Such a step, we think, at the present moment, would be attended with +mischief in more ways than one. There can be no pretext of a famine at +present, immediately after harvest; and the natural course of events +in operation is this, that the dear prices are inducing a stream of +corn from every producing quarter towards Britain. In such +circumstances, if you raise a cry of famine, and suspend the +corn-laws, that stream of supply will at once be stopped. The +importers will naturally suspend their trade, because they will then +speculate, not on the rate of the import duty, which will be +absolutely abolished by the suspension, but on the rise of price in +the market of this country. They will therefore, as a matter of +course—gain being their only object—withhold their supplies, until +the prices shall have, through panic, attained a famine price here; +and then they will realize their profit when they conceive they can +gain no more. In the course of things at present, the price of fine +wheat is so<!-- Page 774 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_774" id="Page_774">[Pg 774]</a></span> high, that a handsome surplus would remain to foreigners, +though they paid the import duty. Remove that duty, and the foreigner +will immediately add its amount to the price of his own wheat. The +price of wheat would then be as high to the consumer as when the duty +remained to be paid; while the amount of duty would go into the +pockets of the foreigner, instead of into our own exchequer. At +present, the finest foreign wheat is 62s. in bond—remove the present +duty of 14s., and that wheat will freely give <i>in the market</i> 80s. the +quarter.</p> + +<p>It is, therefore, clear that such an expedient as that of suspending +the corn-laws merely to include the bonded wheat to be entered for +home consumption, would, in no degree, benefit the consumer. The +quantity of wheat at present in bond does not exceed half-a-million of +quarters—the greatest part of which did not cost the importer 30s. +per quarter. At least we can vouch for this, that early last summer, +when the crop looked luxuriant, 5000 quarters of wheat in bond were +actually offered in the Edinburgh market for 26s., and were sold for +that sum, and allowed to remain in bond. It still remains in bond, and +could now realise 62s. Here, then, is a realisable profit of 36s. per +quarter, and yet the holder will not take it, in the expectation of a +higher.</p> + +<p>We cannot think that Sir Robert Peel would sanction a measure so +clearly and palpably unwise, for the sake of liberating only half a +million quarters of wheat, which is the calculated consumption of a +fortnight. But the late frequent meetings of the Privy Council have +afforded an admirable opportunity for the alarmists to declaim upon +coming famine. Matters, they say, must be looking serious indeed, when +both Cabinet and Council are repeatedly called together; and they jump +at the conclusion, that suspension of the corn-law is the active +subject of debate. We pretend to no special knowledge of what is +passing behind the political curtain; but a far more rational +conjecture as to the nature of those deliberations may be found in the +state of the potato crop, and the question, whether any succedaneum +can be found for it. Perhaps it would be advisable to allow Indian +corn, or maize, to come in duty-free; if not as food for people, it +would feed horses, pigs, or poultry, and would make a diversion in +favour of the consumption of corn to a certain extent; and such a +relaxation could be made without interfering with the <i>corn</i>-laws, for +maize is not regarded as corn, but stands in the same position as rice +and millet. We might try this experiment with the maize, as the Dutch +have already forestalled the rice market.</p> + +<p>If the state of the harvest is such as we conscientiously believe it +to be, there can be no special reason—but rather, as we have shown, +the reverse—for suspending the action of the corn-laws at this +particular juncture. If the enactment of that measure was founded on +the principle of affording protection to the farmer, why interfere +with these laws at a time when any apprehension of a famine is +entirely visionary? And since there is a large quantity of food in the +country, the present prices are certainly not attributable to a +deficiency in the crop, and are, after all, little more than +remunerative to the farmers who are raisers of corn alone. The present +rents could not possibly be paid from the profits of the growth of +corn. It is the high price of live stock which keeps up the value of +the land. The aggregate average price of wheat throughout the kingdom +is only 58s. 6d., upon which no rational argument can be founded for +the suspension of the laws of the country. Besides the working of the +corn-laws will in its natural course effect all that is desirable; at +any rate it does not prevent the introduction of foreign grain into +the market. The present state of the grain-market presents an apparent +anomaly—that is, it affords a high and a low price for the same +commodity, namely wheat; but this difference is no more than might +have been anticipated from the peculiar condition of the wheat crop, +which yields good and inferior samples at the same time. It can be no +matter of surprise that fine wheat should realise good prices, or that +inferior wheat should only draw low prices. The high price will +remunerate those who have the good fortune to reap a crop of wheat of +good quality, and the low prices of<!-- Page 775 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_775" id="Page_775">[Pg 775]</a></span> the inferior wheat will have the +effect of keeping the aggregate average price at a medium figure, and, +by maintaining a high duty, will prevent the influx of inferior grain +to compete with our own inferior grain in the home market. The law +thus really affords protection to those who are in need of it—namely, +to such farmers as have reaped an inferior crop of wheat; while those +foreigners who have fine wheat in bond, or a surplus which they may +send to this country, can afford to pay a high duty on receiving a +high price for their superior article. Taking such a state of things +into consideration, we cannot conceive a measure more wise in its +operation, inasmuch as it accommodates itself to the peculiar +circumstances of the times, than the present form of the corn-law.</p> + +<p>Were that law allowed to operate as the legislature intended, it would +bring grain into this country whenever a supply was actually +necessary; but we cannot shut our eyes to the mischievous effects +which unfounded rumours of its suspension have already produced in the +foreign market. Owing to these reports, propagated by the newspapers, +the holders of wheat abroad have raised the price to 56s. a quarter, +free on board; and as the same rumours have advanced the freight to +6s. a quarter, wheat cannot <i>now</i> be landed here in bond under 66s. +The suspension of the corn-law would tend to confirm the panic abroad, +and would therefore increase the difficulties of our corn-merchants, +in making purchases of wheat for this market. It seems to us very +strange that sensible men of business should be so credulous as to +believe every idle rumour that is broached in the newspapers, so +evidently for party purposes; for the current report of the immediate +suspension of the corn-law originated in the papers avowedly inimical +to the Ministry. The character of the League is well known. That body +has never permitted truth to be an obstacle in the way of its +attempts.</p> + +<p>So much for corn and the corn-laws. But there is a more serious +question beyond this, and that is the state of the potatoes. If we are +to believe the journals, more especially those which are attached to +the cause of the League, the affection has spread, and is spreading to +a most disastrous extent. Supposing these accounts to be true, we say, +advisedly, that it will be impossible to find a substitute for the +potato among the vegetable productions of the world; for neither wheat +nor maize can be used, like it, with the simplest culinary +preparation. There can be no doubt that in some places this affection +is very prevalent, and that a considerable part of the crop in certain +soils has been rendered unfit for ordinary domestic use. It is +understood that the Lord-Advocate of Scotland has issued a circular to +the parish clergymen throughout the kingdom, requesting answers to +certain queries on this important subject. The information thus +obtained will no doubt be classified, so that the government will +immediately arrive at a true estimate of the extent of damage +incurred.</p> + +<p>In the mean time we have caused enquiry to be made for ourselves, and +the result, in so far as regards Scotland, is much more favourable +than we had expected, considering the extent of the first alarm. We +have seen accounts <i>from every quarter of the kingdom</i>, and the +following report may therefore be relied on as strictly consistent +with fact.</p> + +<p>It appears, on investigation, that no traces whatever of the complaint +have yet been found in the northern half of Scotland. The crop in the +upper parts of Forfarshire and Perthshire is quite untainted, and so +across the island. When we consider what a vast stretch of country +extends to the north of Montrose, the point beyond which, as our +informants say, this singular affection has not penetrated, we shall +have great reason to be thankful for such a providential immunity. Our +chief anxiety, when we first heard of the probable failure, was for +the Highlands, where potato plant furnishes so common and so necessary +an article of food. We know by former experience what bitter privation +is felt during a bad season in the far glens and lonely western +islands; and most rejoiced are we to find, that for this winter there +is little likelihood of a repetition of the same calamity. +Argyleshire, however, except<!-- Page 776 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_776" id="Page_776">[Pg 776]</a></span> in its northern parishes has not escaped +so well. We have reason to believe that the potatoes in that district +have suffered very materially, but to what extent is not yet +accurately ascertained.</p> + +<p>In the Lowlands the accounts are more conflicting; but it is +remarkable that almost every farmer confesses now, that his first +apprehensions were greatly worse than the reality. On examination, it +turns out that many fields which were considered so tainted as to be +useless, are very slightly affected: it is thus apparent that undue +precipitation has been used in pronouncing upon the general character +of the crop from a few isolated samples. Some districts appear to have +escaped altogether; and from a considerable number we have seen +reports of a decided abatement in the disease.</p> + +<p>In short, keeping in view all the information we have been able to +collect, the following seems to be the true state of the case:—The +crop throughout Scotland has been a very large one, but one-half of it +is affected to a greater or less degree. About a fourth or a fifth of +this half crop is so slightly damaged, that the unusual amount of +produce will more than compensate the injury. The remainder is +certainly worse. Of this, however, a considerable proportion has been +converted into starch—an expedient which was early recommended in +many quarters, wisely adopted by the prudent, and may yet be +extensively increased. An affected potato, unless its juices were +thoroughly fermented, and decomposition commenced, will yield quite as +good starch as the healthy root, and all this may be considered as +saved. Potato starch or farina, when mixed with flour, makes a +wholesome and palatable bread. In some districts the doubtful potatoes +are given to the cattle in quantities, and are considered excellent +feeding. This also is a material saving.</p> + +<p>The spread of the complaint, or rather the appearance of its worst +symptoms, seems to depend very much on the mode of management adopted +after the potatoes are raised. A friend of ours in Mid-Lothian, who +has paid much attention to agriculture, has saved nearly the whole of +his crop, by careful attention to the dryness of the roots when +heaped, by keeping these heaps small and frequently turned, and, above +all, by judicious ventilation <i>through them</i>. A neighbouring farmer, +who had an immense crop, but who did not avail him of any of these +precautions, has suffered most severely.</p> + +<p>One letter which we have received is of great importance, as it +details the means by which an affected crop has been preserved. We +think it our duty to make the following extract, premising that the +writer is an eminent practical farmer in the south of Scotland:—"I +had this year a large crop of potatoes, but my fields, like those of +my neighbours, did not escape the epidemic. On its first appearance, I +directed my serious attention to the means of preserving the crop. +Though inclined to impute the complaint to a deeper cause than the +wetness of the season, I conceived that damp would, as a matter of +course, increase any tendency to decay, and I took my measures +accordingly. Having raised my potatoes, I caused all the sound ones, +which seemed free from spot and blemish, to be carefully picked by the +hand; and, having selected a dry situation in an adjoining field, I +desired them to be heaped there in quantities, none of which exceeded +a couple of bolls. The method of pitting them was this:—On a dry +foundation we placed a layer of potatoes, which we covered with sandy +mould, though I don't doubt straw would do as well; above that, +another layer, also covered; and so on, keeping the potatoes as +separate from each other as possible. We then thatched and covered +them over as usual with straw, leaving ventilators on the top. I have +had them opened since, and there is no trace whatever of any decay, +which I attribute to the above precautions, as others in the +neighbourhood, whose potatoes grew in exactly similar soil, have lost +great part of their crop by heaping them in huge masses. Ventilation, +you may depend upon it, is a great preservative. I have, I think, +arrested the complaint even in affected potatoes, by laying them out +(not heaping them) on a dry floor, in a covered place where there is a +strong current of air.<!-- Page 777 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_777" id="Page_777">[Pg 777]</a></span> They are not spoiling <i>now</i>; and when the +unsound parts are cut out, we find them quite wholesome and fit for +use. I am of opinion, therefore, that by using due caution, the +progress of the complaint, so far as it has gone, may in most cases be +effectually checked."</p> + +<p>We are, therefore, almost certain, that when the damaged portion is +deducted from the whole amount of the crop, there still remains an +ample store of good potatoes for the consumption of the whole +population—that is, if the potatoes were distributed equally through +the markets. This, however, cannot be done, and, therefore, there are +some places where this vegetable will be dear and scarce. The farmer +who has a large crop of sound potatoes, and who does not reside in an +exporting part of the country, will naturally enough use his +superfluity for his cattle; and this cannot be prevented. We hope, +however, that the habitual thrift of our countrymen will cause them to +abstain, as much as possible, from wasting their extra stock in this +manner, more especially as there is abundance of other kinds of +fodder. They will command a high price as an esculent, and perhaps a +higher, if they are preserved for the purposes of seed. Exportation +also should be carried on cautiously; but we repeat, that the general +tenor of our information is so far satisfactory, that it exhibits +nothing more than a partial affection of the crop in the southern +districts, and the majority of those are compensated by a good +provision of corn.</p> + +<p>In addition to these statistics, obtained from many and various +sources, we have been favoured with the opinion of Mr Stephens, which +we now subjoin:—</p> + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Potato Rot.</span></h3> + +<p>"This affection I do not regard as a disease—but simply as a +rottenness in the tuber, superinduced by the combination of a low +temperature with excessive moisture, during the growing season of that +sort of root, when it is most liable to be affected on account of its +succulent texture.<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> A friend informs me that he remembers the same +kind of rottenness seizing the potato crop of the country in the late +and wet season of 1799; and, as a consequence, the seed potato for the +following crop fetched as high a price as 26s. the boll of 5 cwt.<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> +I am inclined to believe, however, that the effects of this rot are +much exaggerated. It is, in the first place, said to be poisonous; and +yet pigs, to my certain knowledge, have been fed on spoiled potatoes +alone, on purpose, with impunity. There is little outcry made against +rot in the dry soils of Perthshire and Forfarshire, and these are the +two most extensive districts from which potatoes are shipped for +London. There are farmers in various parts of the country who warrant +the soundness of the potatoes they supply their customers. The +accounts<!-- Page 778 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_778" id="Page_778">[Pg 778]</a></span> of the potato crop from the Highland districts are most +favourable. I believe the fact will turn out to be this, that, like +corn, the potatoes will not only be a good, but a great crop, in all +the <i>true potato soils</i>—that is, in deep dry soils on a dry subsoil, +whether naturally so, or made so by draining—and that in all the +heavy soils, whether rich or poor, they are rotting.</p> + +<p>A short time will put an end to all conjecture on the state of the +potato crop, and afford us facts upon which we shall be able to reason +and judge aright."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>As the question of seed is always a most important one, whenever a new +disease or partial affection of so staple a product is discovered, it +may not be useless to note down Mr Stephens' ideas, in regard to the +supposed destruction of the vegetative principle in part of the +affected crop—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Seed Potatoes.</span></p> + +<p>"I would feel no apprehension in employing such affected potatoes for +seed, next spring, as shall be preserved till that time; because I +believe it to be the case that the low temperature enfeebled the +vegetative powers of the plant so much as to disable it from throwing +off the large quantity of moisture that was presented to it; and I +therefore conclude that any rot superinduced by such causes cannot +possess a character which is hereditary. There seems no reason, +therefore, why the complaint should be propagated in future, in +circumstances favourable to vegetation; and this opinion is the more +likely to be true, that it is not inconsistent with the idea of the +disease of former years having arisen from a degenerate state of the +potato plant, since low temperature and excessive moisture were more +likely to affect a plant in a state of degeneracy than when its +vitality remains unimpaired.</p> + +<p>There is no doubt that this affection of the potato is general, and it +is quite possible that it may yet spread. This, however, is a question +which cannot yet be solved, and certainly, so far as we know, the +Highlands, and the Orkney and Shetland Isles, have hitherto escaped. +The portion of the crop as yet actually rendered unfit for human food, +does not perhaps exceed one-fourth in parts of the country whence +potatoes are exported; and could the affection be stopped from +spreading further than this, there would still be a sufficiency of +potatoes for the consumption of <i>human beings</i>, as the crop is +acknowledged to be a large one in the best districts. Much, however, +depends upon our ability to arrest the affection, or its cessation +from other causes.</p> + +<p>It is known that rotten potatoes, like rotten turnips, when left in +heaps in contact with sound ones, will cause the latter to rot. Aware +of this fact, farmers have, this last year, caused the potatoes in the +heaps, as soon as the lifting of the crop was over, to be individually +examined, and placed the sound ones in narrow, low pits, mixed with +some desiccating substance, and covered with straw and earth. When the +pits were opened for examination, the rot was found to have spread +very much, in consequence of the dampness and heat which was so +diffused throughout the pits. This is an effect that might have been +anticipated. Had the precaution been used of taking up the crop in +small quantities at a time, or of spreading the potatoes on the ground +when the weather was fair, or in sheds when wet—and of allowing them +to be exposed to the air until they had became tolerably firm and dry; +and had the sound potatoes been then selected by hand, piled together, +and afterwards put into smaller pits, it is probable that a much less +proportion of any crop that was taken up would have been lost. Such a +plan, no doubt, would have caused a protracted potato harvest, but the +loss of time at that period, in performing the necessary work of +selection, is a small consideration compared with an extensive injury +to the crop. It is no doubt desirable to have the potato land ploughed +for wheat as soon as possible after the potatoes have been removed; +but<!-- Page 779 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_779" id="Page_779">[Pg 779]</a></span> there is no more urgency in ploughing potato than in ploughing +turnip land for wheat; and, at any rate, it is better to delay the +ploughing of the potato land for a few days, than run the risk of +losing a whole crop of so excellent an esculent.</p> + +<p>I may here mention an experiment in regard to the potato, which shows +that a larger crop has been received by planting the sets in autumn +than in spring. Those who have tried this system on a large scale say, +that the increase is in the ratio of 111 to 80 bolls per acre. If this +is near the truth, it would indicate, that the sets may safely be +entrusted to lie in the ground all winter upon the dung; and could we +be assured of their safety there in all cases, the potatoes of this +year, selected in the manner above described, might be used as seed +this winter and preserved as such, in the ground, in a safer state +than even in the small pits. Such an experiment may be tried this +winter, in dry weather, without much risk of losing the future crop; +for if, on examination in spring, it should be found that all the sets +have rotted in the drills, there would be plenty of time to replant +the crop, in its proper season, with the sets that had survived till +that time, by the means of preservation used.</p> + +<p>I have heard of farmers in this neighbourhood who are planting their +potato crop in this favourable weather; and it does seem very probable +that, as each set is placed at a considerable distance from the other, +and in circumstances to resist frost—namely, amongst plenty of dung +and earth—the entire number may escape putrefaction."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>No doubt, if the potato crop shall prove to be very generally +affected, the price of corn will rise yet farther, and may be for a +long time maintained. But this is a very different thing from a +scarcity of that article, which we believe is merely visionary. We +must be fed with corn if we cannot get the potato in its usual plenty; +and it is the certainty, or rather the expectation, of this, which has +raised the price of the former. In the course of last month (October) +we met with an admirable article on this subject, in the columns of +<i>Bell's Weekly Messenger</i>, which we do not hesitate to adopt, as clear +in its views, hopeful in its tone, and strictly rational in its +argument.</p> + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Rising Price of Wheat and Flour.</span></h3> + +<p>"What we predicted in one of our recent papers is daily becoming +realised to an extent which is now exciting general attention, and, +with some classes of the people, has already produced great alarm and +anxiety for the future. We stated at that time, that though the return +of fine weather, about the middle of last month, had saved the +harvest, and given us a crop much more than had been anticipated, +still there were causes in operation which would keep up the prices of +wheat and flour; and that, at least for many weeks to come wheat would +not fall in the British Market.</p> + +<p>"It should be borne in mind that the getting in of the harvest is very +closely followed by the wheat seed-time, and that two causes are then +always operative to maintain and raise the price of wheat. There is, +first, a large call on the stock in hand for seed wheat; and, +secondly, the farmers are too busy to carry their corn into market, +and accordingly the market is ill supplied. A third cause is also in +operation to produce the same effect—that of an unreasonable alarm +always resulting from an ill-supplied market.</p> + +<p>"It would seem astonishing and even incredible to men who argue only +theoretically, that though year after year the same uniform causes +operate, and produce exactly the same effects, yet that this aspect of +the market should continue to delude and mislead the public mind, but +so it is in the corn-market, and with the British public in general; +for though they see through a long succession of years that wheat and +flour invariably rise in the market immediately after harvest and +during seed-time, and though they ought to understand that this rise +is produced by the quantity required for seed, and by the busy +occupation of the farmers, they still perversely attribute it to +another cause, existing only in their own apprehensions, namely, that +the recent harvest has been deficient, and that the market is ill +supplied because there is<!-- Page 780 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_780" id="Page_780">[Pg 780]</a></span> an insufficient stock with which to supply +it.</p> + +<p>"As it is the inflexible rule of our paper to apply itself on the +instant to correct all popular errors and to dissipate all +unreasonable panics, we feel ourselves called upon to say, that the +present rise in the price of corn results only from the very serious +failure of the potato crop in many of our own counties, and still more +materially in Belgium and other foreign kingdoms. From the mere +circumstance of their numbers only, to say nothing of their habits and +necessities, an immense quantity of this food is required for the +sustenance of many millions of the community; and when the crop fails +to such an extensive degree as it has done in the present case, this +vast numerical proportion of every state must necessarily be chiefly +maintained from the stock of corn. If the potato crop fail at home, +the poor are directly thrown upon the corn-market, and the price of +corn must necessarily rise in proportion to the increased demand. +Where the potato crop has failed abroad, the supply of foreign corn +must necessarily be directed to that quarter, and therefore less corn +will be imported into the British market.</p> + +<p>"Now, it is the expectation of this result, which, together with the +wheat seed-time and the full occupation of the farmers, is producing +the present rise in the British corn-market, and these causes will +probably continue to operate for some time longer.</p> + +<p>"In some parts of the country, such as our northern and eastern +counties, we understand the current judgment to be, that though the +harvest has produced more bushels than in an average year, the weight +per bushel is less than last year, and that the deficiency of the +quality brings the produce down in such districts to less than an +average crop. But if we set against this the happier result of the +wheat harvest in our southern and western counties, we must still +retain our former opinion, that there is at least no present ground +for any thing like a panic, either amongst the public in general or +amongst the farmers themselves. The public as yet have no cause to +dread any thing like that very serious scarcity which some of our +papers have announced, and the farmers themselves have no cause to +apprehend such a sudden and extraordinary state of the market, as +would involve them in the general suffering of the community."</p> + +<p>We shall now close our remarks on the subject of the Scottish Harvest. +In thus limiting our remarks to the harvest in Scotland, we have been +actuated by no narrow spirit of nationality, but have judged it right, +in treating a subject of such importance, to confine ourselves to that +portion of the United Kingdom in which we possessed means of obtaining +information which positively could be relied upon. Indeed, were it not +for the paramount importance of the question, which will soon be +founded on as a topic for political discussion, we should hardly have +addressed ourselves to the task. But we have noticed, with great +disgust, the efforts of the League to influence, at this particular +crisis, the public mind, by gross misrepresentations of our position +and prospects; and, being convinced that a more dangerous and +designing faction never yet thrust themselves into public notice, we +have thought it right, in the first instance, to collect and to +classify our facts. This done, we have yet a word or two in store for +the members of the mountebank coalition.</p> + +<p>No evil is unmixed with good. The murmurs of the alarmists at home, +unfounded as we believe them to be, have brought out, more clearly +than we could have hoped for, the state of foreign feeling with regard +to British enterprise, and the prospects of future supply upon which +this country must depend, should the sliding-scale be abrogated and +all import duties abolished. The most infatuated Leaguer will hardly +deny, that if the corn-law had ceased to exist three years ago, and a +great part of our poorer soils had in consequence been removed from +tillage, our present position with regard to food must have been +infinitely worse. In fact, we should then have presented the unhappy +spectacle of a great industrial community incapable of rearing food +for its population at home, and solely dependent for a supply on +foreign states; and that, too, in a year when the harvests throughout +Europe, and even in America, have suffered. And here, by the way, +before going further, let us remark, that the advocates of the League +never seem to have contemplated, at all events they have never +grappled with, the notorious fact, that<!-- Page 781 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_781" id="Page_781">[Pg 781]</a></span> the effects of most +unpropitious seasons are felt far beyond the confines of the British +isles. This year, indeed, we were the last to suffer; and the memory +of the youngest of us, who has attained the age of reason, will +furnish him with examples of far severer seasons than that which has +just gone by. What, then, is to be done, should the proportion of the +land in tillage be reduced below the mark which, in an average year, +could supply our population with food—if, at the same time, a famine +were to occur abroad, and deprive the continental agriculturists of +their surplus store of corn? The answer is a short one—<i>Our people +must necessarily</i> <span class="smcap">STARVE</span>. The manufacturers would be the first to feel +the appalling misery of their situation, and the men whom they would +have to thank for the severest and most lingering death, are the +chosen apostles of the League!</p> + +<p>Is this an overdrawn picture? Let us see. France at this moment is +convinced that we are on the verge of a state of famine. Almost all +the French journalists, believing what they probably wish for, and +misled by the repealing howl, and faint-hearted predictions of the +coward, assume that our home stock of provision is not sufficient to +last us for the ensuing winter. That is just the situation to which we +should be reduced <i>every</i> year, if Messrs Cobden, Bright, and Company +had their will. What, then, says our neighbour, and now most +magnanimous ally? Is he willing—for they allege they have a +superfluity—to supply us in this time of hypothetical distress—to +act the part of the good Samaritan, and pour, not wine and oil, but +corn into our wounds? Is he about to take the noblest revenge upon a +former adversary, by showing himself, in the moment of need, a +benefactor instead of a foe? Oh, my Lord Ashley! you and others, whose +spirit is more timid than becomes your blood, had better look, ere you +give up the mainstay of your country's prosperity—ere you surrender +the cause of the agriculturist—to the <i>animus</i> that is now manifested +abroad. We have reason to bless Heaven that it has been thus early +shown, before, by mean and miserable concession to the clamours of a +selfish interest, we have placed Britain for the first time absolutely +at the mercy of a foreign power. Scarce a journal in France that does +not tell you—loudly—boldly—exultingly—what treatment we may expect +from their hands. "At last," they say, "we have got this perfidious +Albion in our power. Nature has done for us, in her cycle, what for +centuries the force of our arms and concentrated rancour could not +achieve. The English newspapers in every column teem with the tidings +of failure. The crop of corn is bad beyond any former experience. It +cannot suffice to feed one half of the population. The potato crop +also, which is the sole subsistence of Ireland, is thoroughly ruined. +Scarce a minute fraction of it can be used for the purposes of human +food. The British Cabinet are earnestly deliberating on the propriety +of opening the ports. The public, almost to a man, are demanding the +adoption of that measure—and doubtless erelong they will be opened.</p> + +<p>"What, then, are we to do? Are we to be guilty of the egregious folly +of supplying our huge and overgrown rival, at the moment when we have +the opportunity to strike a blow at the very centre of her system, and +that without having recourse to the slightest belligerent measures? +Are we, at the commencement of her impending misery, to reciprocate +with England—that England which arrested us in the midst of our +career of conquest, swept our navies from the seas, baffled our +bravest armies, and led away our Emperor captive? The man who can +entertain such an idea—be he who he may—is a traitor to the honour +of his country. Let England open her ports if she will, and as she +must, but let us at the self-same moment be prepared to <span class="smcap">CLOSE</span> our own. +Let not one grain of corn, if possible, be exported from France. We +have plenty, and to spare. Our hardy peasantry can pass the winter in +comfort; whilst, on the opposite side of the Channel, we shall have +the satisfaction of beholding our haughty enemy convulsed, and +wallowing like a stranded Leviathan on the shore! We pity the brave +Irish, but we shall not help them. To do so would be, in fact, to +exonerate Britain of her greatest and primary burden."</p> + +<p>This is the language which the<!-- Page 782 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_782" id="Page_782">[Pg 782]</a></span> French journalists are using at the +present moment. Let no Englishman delude himself into the belief that +it does not express the true sentiments of the nation. We know +something of the men whose vocation it is to compound these patriotic +articles. They are fostered under the pernicious system which converts +the penny-a-liner into that anomalous hybrid, a Peer of France—which +make it almost a necessary qualification to become a statesman, that +the aspirant has been a successful scribbler in the public journals. +And this, forsooth, they call the genuine aristocracy of talent! Their +whole aim is to be popular, even at the expense of truth. They are +pandars to the weakness of a nation for their own individual +advancement. They have no stake in the country save the grey +goose-quill they dishonour; and yet they affect to lead the opinions +of the people, and—to the discredit of the French intellect be it +recorded—they do in a great measure lead them. In short, it is a +ruffian press, and we know well by what means France has been +ruffianized. The war party—as it calls itself—is strong, and has +been reared up by the unremitting exertions of these felons of +society, who, for the sake of a cheer to tickle their own despicable +vanity, would not hesitate for a moment, if they had the power, to +wrap Europe again in the flames of universal war. Such will, +doubtless, one day be the result of this unbridled license. The demon +is not yet exorcised from France, and the horrors of the Revolution +may be acted over again, with such additional refinements of brutality +as foregone experience shall suggest. Meantime, we say to our own +domestic shrinkers—Is this a season, when such a spirit is abroad, to +make ourselves dependent for subsistence—which is life—upon the +chance of a foreign supply?</p> + +<p>Yes, gentlemen journalists of France—whether you be peers or not—you +have spoken out a little too early. The blindest of us now can see you +in your genuine character and colours. But rest satisfied; the day of +retribution, as you impiously dare to term it, has not yet arrived. +Britain does not want your corn, and not for it will she abandon an +iota of her system.</p> + +<p>There can be no doubt, that the news of a famine here would be +received in France with more joy than the tidings of a second Marengo. +The mere expectation of it has already intoxicated the press; and, +accordingly, they have begun to speculate upon the probable conduct of +other foreign powers, in the event of our ports being opened. Belgium, +they are delighted to find, is in so bad a situation, in so far as +regards its crop, that the august King Leopold has thought proper to +issue a public declaration, that his own royal mouth shall for the +next year remain innocent of the flavour of a single potato. This +looks well. Belgium, it is hoped, is not overabundant in wheat; but, +even if she were, Belgium owes much to France, and—a meaning asterisk +covers and conveys the remaining part of the inuendo. Swampy Holland, +they say, can do Britain no good—nay, have not the cautious Dutch +been beforehand with Britain, and forestalled, by previous purchase, +the calculated supply of rice? Well done, Batavian merchant! In this +instance, at least, you are playing the game for France.</p> + +<p>Then they have high hopes from the <span class="smcap">Zollverein</span>. That combination has +evidently to dread the rivalry of British manufacture, and its +managers are too shrewd to lose this glorious opportunity of +barricado. There are, therefore, hopes that Germany, utterly +forgetting the days of subsidies, will shut her ports for export, and +also prevent the descent of Polish corn. If not, winter is near at +hand, and the mouths of the rivers may be frozen before a supply can +be sent to the starving British. Another delightful prospect for young +and regenerated France!</p> + +<p>Also, mysterious rumours are afloat with regard to the policy of the +Autocrat. It is said, he too is going to shut up—whether from hatred +to Britain, or paternal anxiety for the welfare of his subjects, does +not appear. Yet there is not a Parisian scribe of them all but derives +his information direct from the secret cabinet of Nicholas. Then there +is America—have we not rumours of war there? How much depends upon +the result of the speech which President Polk shall deliver! <i>He</i> +knows well by this time<!-- Page 783 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_783" id="Page_783">[Pg 783]</a></span> that England is threatened with famine—and +will he be fool enough to submit to a compromise, when by simple +embargo he might enforce his country's claims? So that altogether, in +the opinion of the French, we are like to have the worst of it, and +may be sheerly starved into any kind of submission.</p> + +<p>No thanks to Cobden and Co. that this is not our case at present. The +abolition of the corn-duty would be immediately followed by the +abandonment of a large part of the soil now under tillage. Every year +we should learn to depend more and more upon foreign supply, and give +up a further portion of our own agricultural toil. Place us in that +position, and let a bad season, which shall affect not only us, but +the Continent, come round, and the dreams of France will be realized. +Gentlemen of England—you that are wavering from your former +faith—will you refuse the lesson afforded you, by this premature +exultation on the part of our dangerous neighbour? Do you not see what +weight France evidently attaches to the repeal of our protection +duties—how anxiously she is watching—how earnestly she is praying +for it? If you will not believe your friends, will you not take +warning from an enemy? Would you hold it chivalry, if you saw an +antagonist before you armed at all points, and confident of further +assistance, to throw away your defensive armour, and leave yourselves +exposed to his attacks? And yet, is not this precisely what will be +done if you abandon the principles of protection?</p> + +<p>Are you afraid of that word, <span class="smcap">Protection</span>? Shame upon you, if you are! +No doubt it has been most scandalously misrepresented by the +cotton-mongering orators, but it is a great word, and a wise word, if +truly and thoroughly understood. It does not mean that corn shall be +grown in this country for <i>your</i> benefit or that of any exclusive +class—were it so, protection would be a wrong—but it means, that at +all times there shall be maintained in the country an amount of food, +reared within itself, sufficient for the sustenance of the nation, in +case that war, or some other external cause, should shut up all other +sources. And this, which is in fact protection for the nation—a just +and wise security against famine, in which the poor and the rich are +equally interested—is perverted by the chimney-stalk proprietors into +a positive national grievance. Why, the question lies in a nutshell. +Corn will not be grown in this country unless you give it an adequate +market. Admit foreign corn, and you not only put a stop to +agricultural improvement in reclaiming waste land, by means of which +production may be carried to an indefinite degree, but you also throw +a vast quantity of the land at present productive out of bearing. +Suppose, then, that next year, all protection being abolished, the +quantity of grain raised in the country is but equal to half the +demand of the population; foreign corn, of course, must come in to +supply the deficiency. We shall not enlarge upon the first argument +which must occur to every thinking person—the argument being, that in +such a state of things, the foreigner, whoever he may be, with whom we +are dealing, has it in his power to demand and exact any price he +pleases for his corn. What say the Cobdenites in answer to this? "Oh, +then, we shall charge the foreigner a corresponding price for our +cottons and our calicoes!" No, gentlemen—that will not do. We have no +doubt this idea <i>has</i> entered into your calculations, and that you +hope, through a scarcity of home-grown corn, to realize an augmented +profit on your produce—in short, to be the only gainers in a time of +general distress. But there is a flaw in your reasoning, too palpable +to be overlooked. The foreigner <i>can do without calico</i>, but the +British nation <span class="smcap">CANNOT</span> <i>do without bread</i>. The wants of the stomach are +paramount—nothing can enter into competition with them. The German, +Pole, or Frenchman, may, for a season, wear a ragged coat, or an +inferior shirt, or even dispense with the latter garment, if it so +pleases him; and yet suffer comparatively nothing. But what are our +population to do, if bread is not procurable except at the enormous +prices which, when you abolish protection, you entitle the foreigner +to charge? Have you the heart to respond, in the only imaginable +answer—it is a mere monosyllable—<span class="smcap">Starve</span>?</p> + +<p>But suppose that, for the first two years or so, we went on +swimmingly—that<!-- Page 784 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_784" id="Page_784">[Pg 784]</a></span> there were good and plentiful seasons abroad, and +that corn flowed into our market abundantly from all quarters of the +world. Suppose that bread became cheaper than we ever knew it before, +that our manufactures were readily and greedily taken, and that we had +realised the manufacturing Eden, which the disciples of Devil's-dust +have predicted, as the immediate consequence of our abandoning all +manner of restrictions. How will this state of unbounded prosperity +affect the land? For every five shillings of fall in the price of the +quarter of wheat, fresh districts will be abandoned by the plough. The +farmer will be unable to work them at a profit, and so he will cease +to grow grain. He may put steers upon them; or they may be covered +with little fancy villas, or Owenite parallelograms, to suit the taste +of the modern philosopher, and accomodate the additional population +who are to assist in the prospective crops of calico. The cheaper corn +then is, the smaller will become our home-producing surface. The +chaw-bacon will be driven to the railroads, where there is already a +tolerable demand for him. The flail will be silent in the barn, and +the song of the reaper in the fields.</p> + +<p>Let us suppose this to last for a few years, during which Lord John +Russell—the Whigs having, in the meantime, got rid of all graduating +scruples and come back to power—has taken an opportunity of enriching +the peerage by elevating the redoubted Cobden to its ranks. But a +change suddenly passes across the spirit of our dream. At once, and +like a thunderbolt—without warning or presage—comes a famine or a +war. We care not which of them is taken as an illustration. Both are +calamities, unfortunately, well known in this country; and we hardly +can expect that many years shall pass over our heads without the +occurrence of one or other of them. Let us take the evil of man's +creating—war. The Channel is filled with French shipping, and all +along the coast, from Cape Ushant to Elsinore, the ports are rigidly +shut. Mean time American cruisers are scouring the Atlantic, chasing +our merchantmen, and embarassing communication with the colonies. +Also, there is war in the Mediterranean. We have fifty, nay, a hundred +points to watch with our vessels—a hundred isolated interests to +maintain, and these demand an immense and yet a divided force. Convoys +cannot be spared without loss of territory, and then—what becomes of +us at home?</p> + +<p>Most miserable is the prospect; and yet it does appear, if we are mad +enough to abandon protection, perfectly inevitable. With but a portion +of our land in tillage—an augmented population—no stored corn—no +means of recalling for two years at the soonest, even if we could +spare seed, and that is questionable, the dormant energies of the +earth!—Can you fancy, my Lord Ashley, or you, converted Mr Escott, +what Britain would be then? We will tell you. Not perhaps a prey—for +we will not even imagine such degradation—but a bargainer and +compounder with an inferior power or powers, whom she might have +bearded for centuries with impunity, had not some selfish traitors +been wicked enough to demand, and some infatuated statesmen foolish +enough to grant, the abrogation of that protection which is her sole +security for pre-eminence. What are all the cotton bales of Manchester +in comparison with such considerations as these? O +Devil's-dust—Devil's-dust! Have we really declined so far, that <i>you</i> +are to be the Sinon to bring us to this sorry pass? Is the poisoned +breath of the casuist to destroy the prosperity of those—</p> + +<p> +<span class="i0">"Quos neque Tydides, nec Larissæus Achilles,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Non anni domuere decem, non mille carinæ!"</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>It may be so—for a small shard-beetle can upset a massive +candle-stick; and it will be so assuredly, if the protective principle +is abandoned. The first duty of a nation is to rear food for its +inhabitants from the bosom of its own soil, and woe must follow if it +relies for daily sustenance upon another. We can now form a fair +estimate of the probable continuance of the supply, from the premature +exultation exhibited in the foreign journals, and we shall be worse +than fools if we do not avail ourselves of the lesson.</p> +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES.</h3> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> "Not that I think there was more rain in the <i>earlier +part of summer</i> than the potato crop could absorb, for it is known to +require a large supply of moisture in its growing state, in order to +acquire a full development of all its parts. It was observable, +however, that the rain increased as the season advanced, and after the +potato plant had reached its full development. It is, therefore, +probable that the increased moisture, which was not then wanted by the +plant, would become excessive; and this moisture, along with the low +temperature, may have produced such chemical change in the sap as to +facilitate the putrefaction of the entire plant. As to the theories +with respect to the presence of a fungus, or of insects, in the plant, +I consider these as a mere exponent of the tendency to a state of +putrefaction; such being the usual accompaniments of all vegetable and +animal decay."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> "I remember the wet seasons of 1816 and 1817. There was +then no rot in the potato; but, during the whole of those rainy +seasons, we had not the <i>continued cold</i> weather which we have this +year experienced."</p></div></div> + +<hr style="width: 85%;" /> +<div class="biggap"><!-- Page 785 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_785" id="Page_785">[Pg 785]</a></span></div> + +<h2><a name="INDEX_TO_VOL_LVIII" id="INDEX_TO_VOL_LVIII"></a>INDEX TO VOL. LVIII.</h2> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Account of a Visit to the Volcano of Kirauea, in the Island of Owhyhee, 591.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Agriculture round Lucca, 619.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Alas, for her! from the Russian of Púshkin, 141.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Alpine scenery, sketches of, <a href="#Page_704">704</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">American war, causes which fostered the, <a href='#Page_721'><b>721</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Andes, description of the, 555.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">André Chenier, from the Russian of Púshkin, 154.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Anti-corn-law League, strictures on the, <a href='#Page_780'><b>780</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Apparitions, &c., letter to Eusebius on, <a href='#Page_735'><b>735</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Armfelt, Count, 59.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Arndt, notices of, 332, 333.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Art, causes of the absence of taste for, 414.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Avernus, lake, 489.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bacon, political essays of, 389.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Baiæ, 488.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Barclay de Tolly, from the Russian of Púshkin, 40.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Baron von Stein, 328.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Barri, Madame du, <a href='#Page_730'><b>730</b></a>, <a href='#Page_733'><b>733</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bazars of Constantinople, the, <a href='#Page_688'><b>688</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Beaumont, Sir George, 258, 262.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bell's Messenger, extract from, on the prices of grain, <a href='#Page_779'><b>779</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Betterton's version of Chaucer, remarks on, 114.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bettina, sketch of the life, &c., of, 357.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Biographical sketch of Frank Abney Hastings, 496.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Black Shawl, the, from Púshkin, 37.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Blanc, Mont, on the scenery of, <a href='#Page_707'><b>707</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Blenheim, battle of, 18.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Boas, Edward, sketches of Sweden, &c. by, 56.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bossuet's Universal History, characteristics of, 390.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bottetort, Lord, anecdote of, <a href='#Page_724'><b>724</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bowles, W. L., on the Dunciad, 251.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Boyhood, a reminiscence of, by Delta, 408.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brabant, conquest of, by Marlborough, <a href='#Page_665'><b>665</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bread, causes of the present dearness of, <a href='#Page_772'><b>772</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bremer, Miss, the Swedish novelist, 62.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brentford election, the, <a href='#Page_725'><b>725</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brienz, scenery of the lake of, <a href='#Page_705'><b>705</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">British critics, North's specimens of the,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—No. VI.—Supplement to Dryden on Chaucer, 114.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—No. VI.—MacFlecnoe and the Dunciad, 229.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—No. VIII.—Supplement to the same, 366.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bulwer's Last of the Barons, remarks on, 350, 353.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Burtin on Pictures, review of, 413.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Capital punishment, on, 131.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Carlist war, sketches of the, 210.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Caserta, palace of, 491—silk manufactory, 492.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Caucasus, the, from the Russian of Púshkin, 34.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Celibacy of the clergy, effects of the, in France, 187.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Chamouni, valley of, <a href='#Page_707'><b>707</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Chatham, Lord, <a href='#Page_717'><b>717</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Chaucer, Dryden on, 114.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Chimborazo, ascent of, by Humboldt, 547.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Choiseul, the Duc de, <a href='#Page_730'><b>730</b></a>, <a href='#Page_732'><b>732</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Churchill, critique on, 372.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Churchill, see Marlborough.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Clairvoyance, remarks on, <a href='#Page_736'><b>736</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Clarke, Dr, extracts from, 555.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Clarke's Life of James II., notice of, 4.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cloud, the, and the Mountain, a reminiscence of Switzerland, <a href='#Page_704'><b>704</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Clytha house, &c., 477.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Col de Balme, pass of the, <a href='#Page_707'><b>707</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Colebrook, Sir George, extracts from the memoirs of, <a href='#Page_716'><b>716</b></a>, <a href='#Page_719'><b>719</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Colour in painting, remarks on, 419.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Confessions of an English opium-eater, sequel to the, Part II., 43.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Constable the painter, sketch of the life, &c., of, 257.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Constantinople, Three Years in, <a href='#Page_688'><b>688</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Convicts at Norfolk Island, management, &c. of, 138.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cooper, characteristics of, as a novelist, 355.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Copenhagen, description of, 68.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Corali, by J. D., 495.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Corn-laws, proposed suspension of the, <a href='#Page_773'><b>773</b></a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—effects of the abolition of, 780.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cornwallis, Earl, administration of Ireland by, <a href='#Page_731'><b>731</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Corporations of Constantinople, the, <a href='#Page_696'><b>696</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Corsica, conquest of, by the French, <a href='#Page_728'><b>728</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Coventry, Lady, <a href='#Page_726'><b>726</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<!-- Page 786 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_786" id="Page_786">[Pg 786]</a></span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Coxe's Life of Marlborough, notice of, 3.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dalarna or Dalecarlia, sketches of, 64.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">D'Alembert, character of Montesquieu by, 395.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dalin, Olof von, 62.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Danes, national character of the, 69.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">David the Telynwr; or, the Daughter's trial—a tale of Wales, by Joseph Downs, 96.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Days of the Fronde, the, 596.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dearness of bread, causes of the present, <a href='#Page_772'><b>772</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">De Burtin on pictures, 413.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Delta, a reminiscence of boyhood by, 408.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dendermonde, capture of, by Marlborough, <a href='#Page_668'><b>668</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Despatches of the Duke of Marlborough, review of, No. I. 1.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—No. II. <a href='#Page_649'><b>649</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Domestic manners of the Turks, the, <a href='#Page_688'><b>688</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Downes, Joseph—David the Telynwr, a tale of Wales, by, 96.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Drama, state of the, 178.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dreams, &c., letter to Eusebius on, <a href='#Page_735'><b>735</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Drinking, prevalence of, in the 19th century, <a href='#Page_726'><b>726</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dryden on Chaucer, 114.<br /></span> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—his MacFlecnoe, 232, 366.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dumas' Margaret of Valois, extracts from, 312.<br /></span> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—extracts from his Days of the Fronde, 596.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dunciad, the, critique on, 234, 366.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dunning the solicitor-general, character of, <a href='#Page_722'><b>722</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dutch school of painting, the, 426.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dutem's life of Marlborough, notice of, 3.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Echo, from the Russian of Púshkin, 145.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Education, state of, in Turkey, <a href='#Page_692'><b>692</b></a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—remarks on the system of, at the English Universities, 542.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Edward, Duke of York, character of, <a href='#Page_719'><b>719</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Egyptian market at Constantinople, the, <a href='#Page_700'><b>700</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">English landscape painting, on, 257.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">English Opium-eater, a sequel to the confessions of the, Part II. 43.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Epitaphs in Wales, 484.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Esprit des Lois of Montesquieu, the, 392.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—its characteristics, 397.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Eugene, Prince, 14, <a href='#Page_669'><b>669</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Eusebius, letter to, on omens, dreams, appearances, &c., <a href='#Page_735'><b>735</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Failure of the potato crop, extent, &c. of the, <a href='#Page_775'><b>775</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Feast of Peter the First, the, from Púshkin, 142.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fersen, Count, murder of, 61.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Few passages concerning omens, dreams, appearances, &c., in a letter to Eusebius, <a href='#Page_735'><b>735</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Few words for Bettina, a, 357.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fisher, Archdeacon, 260.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Flemish school of painting, the, 426.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Flour, on the rising price of, <a href='#Page_779'><b>779</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Flygare, Emily, the Swedish novelist, 62.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">France under Louis XIV., 12—prevalent feeling in, towards England, <a href='#Page_781'><b>781</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">French school of painting, the, 427.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Noblesse, character of the, <a href='#Page_733'><b>733</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Garden of the Villa Reale, the, 486.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">General, the, from the Russian of Púshkin, 41.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">German school of painting, the, 427.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Gleig's life of Marlborough, notice of, 4.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Glenmutchkin railway, the—How we got it up, and how we got out of it, 453.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Gloucester the Duke of, character of, <a href='#Page_719'><b>719</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Goethe and Bettina, the correspondence of, 358.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Goethe's Torquato Tasso, translations from, 87.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Gotha canal, the, 68.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Grafton, the Duke of, Walpole's character of, <a href='#Page_718'><b>718</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Grain crop, quantity, &c., of the, in Scotland, <a href='#Page_769'><b>769</b></a> .</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—and its quality, <a href='#Page_770'><b>770</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Grandeur et décadence des Romains, Montesquieu's, characteristics, &c. of, 391, 401.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Grand general junction and indefinite extension railway rhapsody, 614.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Greek Revolution, sketches of the, 496.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Griesbach, fall of the, <a href='#Page_707'><b>707</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Guamos of South America, the, 554.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Guilds of Constantinople, the, <a href='#Page_696'><b>696</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Gunning, the Misses, <a href='#Page_726'><b>726</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Gustavus Vasa, notices of, 66.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hahn-Hahn, the Countess, 71.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hakem the slave, a tale extracted from the history of Poland.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Chapter I., 560.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Chap. II., 561.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Chap. III., 563.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Chap. IV., 565.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Chap. V., 567.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hamilton, the Duchess of, <a href='#Page_726'><b>726</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Handel, character of the music of, 573.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Harvest, the Scottish, <a href='#Page_769'><b>769</b></a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—quantity of the grain crop, ib.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—and its quality, <a href='#Page_770'><b>770</b></a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—cause of the inferiority of the wheat, <a href='#Page_771'><b>771</b></a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—and of the dearness of bread, <a href='#Page_772'><b>772</b></a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—state of the potato crop, <a href='#Page_775'><b>775</b></a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—potatoes for seed, <a href='#Page_778'><b>778</b></a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—rising price of wheat and flour, <a href='#Page_780'><b>780</b></a>.</span><br /> +<!-- Page 787 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_787" id="Page_787">[Pg 787</a></span> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—affords no argument for abolition of the corn-laws, <a href='#Page_781'><b>781</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hastings, Frank Abney, biographical sketch of, 496.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Haydn, character of, 573.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Heber, Bishop, description of the Himalayas by, 557.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hemp, culture of, in Italy, 620.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hints for doctors, 630.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Historical romance, the, 341.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hogarth, Churchill's epistle to, criticised, 377.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Holme's Life of Mozart, review of, 572.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Horace Leicester, a sketch, 197.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hornes' Chaucer Modernized, remarks on, 115.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">House-hunting in Wales, 74.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—a sequel to, 474.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">How we got up the Glenmutchkin railway, and how we got out of it, 453.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Humboldt, 541.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—character of his mind, 545.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—his early life, 546.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—sketch of his travels, 547.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—list of his works, 548.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—extracts from these, 549.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I have outlived the hopes that charmed me, from Púshkin, 149.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ida, Countess Hahn-Hahn, 71.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Imprisonment as a punishment, 131.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Improvisatore, the, 626.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Inferior quality of wheat, cause of the, <a href='#Page_771'><b>771</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Insects common at Lucca, 623.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Italian school of painting, the, 425.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Italy, sketches of</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Lucca, 617.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—agriculture round Lucca, 619.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—sagena, 620.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—lupins, ib.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—hemp, ib.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—trees, 622.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—oaks, ib.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—insects, 623.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—ants,624.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—shooting fish, 625.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—owls, 626.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—the improvisatore, ib.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—tables-d'hôtes, Mr Snapley, 628.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—hints for doctors, 630.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—private music-party, 631.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">J. D., a meditation by, 494.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—on the old year, 495.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Corali, ib.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—a mother to her deserted child, <a href='#Page_752'><b>752</b></a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—summer noontide, ib.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—to Clara, <a href='#Page_753'><b>753</b></a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—seclusion, ib.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">James II., notices of, 7.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">James's Philip Augustus, remarks on, 353.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jesuitism in France, 185.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—sources of its power, 186.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jones, Sir William, character of Dunning, by, <a href='#Page_723'><b>723</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Johnson on the Dunciad, 236.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kames, Lord, on the Dunciad, 253.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kavanagh's Science of Languages, review of, 467.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kirauca, account of a visit to the volcano of, 591.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Knorring, the Baroness, 62.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Land, tenure of, in Turkey, <a href='#Page_693'><b>693</b></a> .</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Landscape painting in England, 257.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Languages, Kavanagh's Science of, reviewed, 467.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Last hours of a reign, a tale in two parts.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Part I., Chapter 1, <a href='#Page_754'><b>754</b></a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Chapter 2, <a href='#Page_761'><b>761</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Law, administration of, in Turkey, <a href='#Page_699'><b>699</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Law studies, Warren's Introduction to, reviewed, 300.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lay of Starkàther, the, 571.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lay of the wise Olég, the, from the Russian of Púshkin, 146.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ledyard's Life of Marlborough, notice of, 3.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Leman, lake, scenery of, <a href='#Page_706'><b>706</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Leslie's Life of John Constable, review of, 257.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Letter from London, by a railway witness, 173.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Letter to Eusebius, on omens, dreams, appearances, &c., <a href='#Page_735'><b>735</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lettres Persanes of Montesquieu, the, 391.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Libraries at Constantinople, the, <a href='#Page_690'><b>690</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lipscomb's version of Chaucer, remarks on, 114.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Llanos of South America, the, 551.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Llansaintfraed lodge and church, 476.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Llantony abbey, 485.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Llanvair Kilgiden church, &c., 483.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">London, letter from, by a railway witness, 173.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Louis XIV., notices of, 6, 12.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Louis XV., character, &c., of, <a href='#Page_714'><b>714</b></a>, <a href='#Page_730'><b>730</b></a>, <a href='#Page_733'><b>733</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lowell, J. Russell, remarks on his strictures on Pope, 368.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lucca, sketches of; 617.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—agriculture round, 619.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lucrine lake, the, 489.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lupins, culture of, in Italy, 620.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">MacFlecnoe and the Dunciad, 229.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—a supplement to, 366.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Machiavel as a historian, 389.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Maconochie, Captain, on the management of transported criminals, review of, 129.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Madonna, the, from Púshkin, 152.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Maeler, lake, 58.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mahmood the Ghaznavide, by B. Simmons, 266.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mahon's England, remarks on, 2.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Manner and Matter, a tale, Chapter I., 431.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Chapter II., 435.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Manzoni's Promessi Sposi, remarks on, 356.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Margaret of Valois, from the French of Dumas, 312.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Marlborough, No. I, 1.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Various lives of him, 3.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—His parentage and early career, 5.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Is created Lord Churchill, 7.</span><br /> +<!-- Page 788 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_788" id="Page_788">[Pg 788]></a></span><span style="margin-left: 2em;">—His conduct at the Revolution, 8.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Further honours conferred on him, 9.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—His disgrace in 1691, and mystery attending it, ib.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Is restored to favour, 10.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Appointed commander in the Netherlands, 11.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—His first successes, 14.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Defeats the French at Blenheim, 19.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—His subsequent campaign, and causes which thwarted his success, 27. No. II., <a href='#Page_649'><b>649</b></a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Plans for the campaign of 1705, <a href='#Page_650'><b>650</b></a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Marches into Flanders, <a href='#Page_652'><b>652</b></a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Defeats Villeroi, <a href='#Page_653'><b>653</b></a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Thwarted by the inactivity of the Dutch, <a href='#Page_654'><b>654</b></a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Victory of Ramilies, <a href='#Page_661'><b>661</b></a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Subsequent operations, <a href='#Page_664'><b>664</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Marston; or, Memoirs of a Statesman.—Part XVIII., 157.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Part XIX., 272.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Part XX. and last, 439.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Meditation, a, by J. D., 494.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Memoirs of a Statesman. <i>See</i> Marston.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Menin, siege and capture of, by Marlborough, <a href='#Page_667'><b>667</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mesmerism, remarks on, <a href='#Page_736'><b>736</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Metternich, Stein's opinion of, 337.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Michelet's Priests, Women, and Families, review of, 185.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mob, the, from the Russian of Púshkin, 36.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Modern novels, characteristics of, 342.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Monmouthshire, scrambles in, 474.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mont Blanc, scenery of, <a href='#Page_707'><b>707</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Montesquieu, 389.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Compared with Tacitus, Machiavel, and Bacon, ib.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Sketch of his early life, 390.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Publication and character of his Lettres Persanes, 391.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Of the Grandeur et Decadence des Romains, ib.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—And of the Esprit des Loix, and the defence of it, 392, 393.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—His private life and character, and anecdotes of him, 394.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—His death, 395.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Unpublished papers left by him, 396.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Characteristics of his works, and extracts from them, 397.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Causes which led to their comparative neglect, 398.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">More, Hannah, anecdotes of, <a href='#Page_723'><b>723</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mother, a, to her deserted child, by J. D., <a href='#Page_752'><b>752</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Motion, from the Russian of Púshkin, 149.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mountain and the Cloud, the; a Reminiscence of Switzerland, <a href='#Page_704'><b>704</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mozart, 573.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Sketches of his life, 575.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Extracts from his letters, &c., 578.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Characteristics of his music, 590.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Murillo as a painter, 420.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Murray, Sir George, the Marlborough Despatches edited by, reviewed</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—No. I., 1.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—No. II., <a href='#Page_649'><b>649</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">My college friends, No. II.—Horace Leicester, 197.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nantiglo ironworks, 485.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Naples, see Neapolitan.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Napoleon, from the Russian of Púshkin, 39.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">National gallery, want of a, in Great Britain, 413.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Natural history, Waterton's essays on, second series, reviewed, 289.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Neapolitan sketches.—garden of the Villa Reale, 486.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Servi de Pena, ib.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—San Carlo, 487.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Pozzuoli, 488.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Baiæ, ib.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Lucrine and Avernus lakes, 489.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Procida, 490.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—palace of Caserta, 491.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—silk manufactory, 492.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—The snake-tamer, 490.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Newcastle, Duke of, character of, <a href='#Page_730'><b>730</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Norfolk Island, management of convicts at, 138.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">North's specimens of the British critics.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—No. VI. Supplement to Dryden on Chaucer, 114.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—No. VII. MacFlecnoe and the Dunciad, 229.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—No. VIII. Supplement to the same, 366.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Northern lights, 56.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nyberg, Fru, a Swedish poetess, 57.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Oaks in Italy, 622.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Oberland, scenery of the, <a href='#Page_707'><b>707</b></a>, <a href='#Page_710'><b>710</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Olég, lay of, from Púshkin, 146.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Omens, &c., letter to Eusebius on, <a href='#Page_735'><b>735</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On the Old Year, by J. D., 495.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Opening the ports, on the, <a href='#Page_773'><b>773</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Opium-eater, sequel to the Confessions of an, part II., 43.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Orinoco, description of the rapids of the, 550.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Oscar, crown-prince of Sweden, 59.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ostend, capture of by Marlborough, <a href='#Page_666'><b>666</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Overkirk, General, notices of, <a href='#Page_653'><b>653</b></a>, <a href='#Page_654'><b>654</b></a>, <a href='#Page_656'><b>656</b></a>, <a href='#Page_662'><b>662</b></a>, <a href='#Page_664'><b>664</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Owls in Italy, 626.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Painting and pictures, remarks on, 413.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—characteristics of the various schools of, 424.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Palace of Caserta, the, 491.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pampas of South America, the, 550.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Paoli, the Corsican patriot, <a href='#Page_731'><b>731</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Phipps, Mr, character, &c., of, <a href='#Page_727'><b>727</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pictures, De Burtin on, 413.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—choice of subjects for, 417.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—colouring, &c., ib.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Poetry</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Specimens of the lyrics of Púshkin, translated by T. B. Shaw.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—No. I., 28.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—No. II., 140.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Mahmood the Ghaznavide, by B. Simmons, 266.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—A reminiscence of boyhood, by Delta, 408.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—A meditation, by J. D., 494.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—On the old year, by the same, 495.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Corali, by the same, ib.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—The lay of Starkàther, 571.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—The Grand General Junction and Indefinite Extension Railway rhapsody, 614.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—The second Pandora, <a href='#Page_711'><b>711</b></a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—A mother to her deserted child, by J. D., <a href='#Page_752'><b>752</b></a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Summer noontide, ib.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—to Clara, <a href='#Page_753'><b>753</b></a>.</span><br /> +<!-- Page 789 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_789" id="Page_789">[Pg 789]</a></span> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—seclusion, ib.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pompadour, Madame de, <a href='#Page_732'><b>732</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pope's version of Chaucer, remarks on, 119.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Dunciad, remarks on, 234.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Strictures on Lowell's criticism of him, 368.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Potato crop, state of the, throughout Scotland, <a href='#Page_776'><b>776</b></a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—saving of them for seed, <a href='#Page_780'><b>780</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pozzuoli, 488.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Presentiment, from the Russian of Púshkin, 152.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Priests, Women, and Families, review of Michelet's work on, 185.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Printing establishments in Constantinople, <a href='#Page_691'><b>691</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Private music-party, a, 631.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Prophecy of Famine, Churchill's, remarks on, 380.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Procida, 490.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Punishment, remarks on, 129.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—its objects, ib.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—various modes of, 131.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—on capital, and a proposed substitute for it, ib.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Púshkin, the Russian poet. No. II. Specimen of his lyrics, translated by T. B. Shaw. Introductory remarks, 28.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—October 19th, 1825, 31.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—The Caucasus, 34.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—To * * *, 35.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—The mob, 36.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—The black shawl, 37.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—The rose, 38.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Napoleon, 39.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—The storm, 40.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—The general, 41.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—No. III. Introduction, 140.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Alas, for her! 141.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—The feast of Peter the First, 142.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Town of starving, town of splendour, 143.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—To the sea, 144.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Echo, 145.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—The lay of the wise Olég, 146.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Remembrance, 149.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—I have outlived the hopes that charmed me, ib.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Motion, ib.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—To the slanderers of Russia, 150.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Presentiment, 152.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—The Madonna, ib.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—André Chenier, 154.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Quietists, effects of the doctrines of the, in France, 190.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Raffaele's Transfiguration, remarks on, 418.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—his St Cecilia, 422.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ragland Castle, description of, 476.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Railway rhapsody, the grand general junction and indefinite extension, 614.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Railway witness in London, letter from a, 173.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Railways and railway speculation, on, 633.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ramilies, battle of, <a href='#Page_661'><b>661</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Reformation by punishment, on, 129.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Reign of George III., Walpole's memoirs of the, <a href='#Page_713'><b>713</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Religion, state of, during the eighteenth century, <a href='#Page_714'><b>714</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Remembrance, from the Russian of Púshkin, 149.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Reminiscence of boyhood, a, by Delta, 409.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Reminiscence of Switzerland, a, <a href='#Page_704'><b>704</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Reviews.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Despatches of the Duke of Marlborough. No. I., 1.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—No. II., <a href='#Page_649'><b>649</b></a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Maconochie and Zschokke on punishment and reformation of criminals, 129.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Michelet's priests, women, and families, 185.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Leslie's life of Constable, the painter, 257.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Waterton's essays on natural history, second series, 289.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Warren's introduction to law studies, 300.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Kavanagh's science of languages, 467.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Holmes' life of Mozart, 572.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—White's three years in Constantinople, <a href='#Page_688'><b>688</b></a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—Walpole's memoirs of the reign of George III., <a href='#Page_713'><b>713</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Richelieu, Marshal, <a href='#Page_730'><b>730</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ritterhaus at Stockholm, the, 59.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Romance, the historical, 341.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rose, the, from the Russian of Púshkin, 38.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Russia, to the slanderers of, from Púshkin, 150.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sagena, culture of, at Lucca, 620.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Saltza, Count, 68.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">San Carlo, 487.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sandwich, Lord, anecdote of, <a href='#Page_724'><b>724</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Schools of painting, characteristics of the, 424.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Science of languages, Kavanagh's, review of, 467.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Scott's historical romances, remarks on, 345.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Scottish harvest, the, <a href='#Page_769'><b>769</b></a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—quantity and quality of the grain crop, ib., <a href='#Page_770'><b>770</b></a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—cause of the inferior quality of the wheat, <a href='#Page_771'><b>771</b></a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—and of the high price of bread, <a href='#Page_772'><b>772</b></a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—state of the potato crop, <a href='#Page_775'><b>775</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Scrambles in Monmouthshire, a sequel to house-hunting in Wales, 474.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sea, to the, from Púshkin, 144.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Secker, Archbishop, character of, <a href='#Page_728'><b>728</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seclusion, by J. D., <a href='#Page_752'><b>752</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Second Pandora, the, <a href='#Page_711'><b>711</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seed potatoes, saving of, <a href='#Page_778'><b>778</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Servi de Pena, 486.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Shaw, T. B., specimens of the lyrics of Púshkin, by, 28, 140.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Shooting fish in Italy, 625.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Silk manufactory of Caserta, the, 492.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Simmons, B., Mahmood the Ghaznavide, by, 266.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sketches of Italy. Lucca, 617.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—agriculture round Lucca, 619.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—sagena, 620.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—lupines, ib.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—hemp, ib.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—trees and oaks, 622.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—insects, 623.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—ants, 624.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—shooting fish, 625.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—owls, 626.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—the improvisatore, ib.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—tables-d'hôtes—Mr Snapley, 628.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—hints for doctors, 630.</span><br /> +<!-- Page 790 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_790" id="Page_790">[Pg 790]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 2em;">—private music-party, 631.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Smith, Sydney, on modern sermons, <a href='#Page_714'><b>714</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Smollet's England, remarks on, 2.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Snake-tamer, the, 493.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Snapley, Mr, 628.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Solitary imprisonment, effects of, 139.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Stampe, the Countess, 69.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Starkàther, the lay of, 571.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Staubbach, fall of the, <a href='#Page_706'><b>706</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Stein, the Baron von, career of, 328.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Stephens, Mr, letters from, on the results of the harvest, <a href='#Page_769'><b>769</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Stockholm, description of, 59.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Storm, the, from Púshkin, 40.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Stralsund, sketch of, 56.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Struensee, Count, <a href='#Page_729'><b>729</b></a> .</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Student of Salamanca, the. Part I., 521.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Part II., <a href='#Page_673'><b>673</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Summer noontide, by J. D., <a href='#Page_752'><b>752</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Suspiria de profundis; being a sequel to the confessions of an English opium-eater. Part II., 43.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Swedes, character of the, 69.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Swift's apology for Queen Anne, &c., notice of, 4.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Switzerland, a reminiscence of, <a href='#Page_704'><b>704</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tables-d'hôtes in Italy, 628.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tacitus, as a historian, 389.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tenure of land, &c. in Turkey, <a href='#Page_693'><b>693</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thorwaldsen the sculptor, 69.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Three years in Constantinople; review of, <a href='#Page_688'><b>688</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Titian, remarks on the style, &c. of, 420.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To * * *, from the Russian of Púshkin, 35.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To Clara, by J. D., <a href='#Page_753'><b>753</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To the sea, from Púshkin, 144.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To the slanderers of Russia, from Púshkin, 150.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Torquato Tasso, Goethe's translations from, 87.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Townsend, Charles, character of, <a href='#Page_715'><b>715</b></a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—his death, <a href='#Page_719'><b>719</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Transfiguration of Raffaele, remarks on the, 418.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Trees in Italy, 622.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Turks, domestic manners of the, <a href='#Page_688'><b>688</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Usk river, scenery of the, 475.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Varnhagen von Ense, sketch of Stein by, 331.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Villa Reale, garden of the, 486.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Villars, Marshal, <a href='#Page_650'><b>650</b></a>, <a href='#Page_651'><b>651</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Villeroi, Marshal, <a href='#Page_651'><b>651</b></a>, <a href='#Page_652'><b>652</b></a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—his defeat at Ramilies, <a href='#Page_661'><b>661</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Volcano of Kirauea, account of a visit to the, 591.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Voltaire's Age of Louis XIV., remarks on, 3.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Von Stein, sketch of the career and character of, 328.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wales, sketches of, 74.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Walpole's memoirs of the reign of George III., review of, <a href='#Page_713'><b>713</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Warburton on the Dunciad, 253.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Warren's introduction to law-studies, review of, 300.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Warton, Dr, on the Dunciad, 251.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Waterton's second series of essays in natural history, review of, 289.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Waxholm, fortress of, 58.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Weymouth, Lord, <a href='#Page_727'><b>727</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wheat crop, quantity and quality of the, throughout Scotland, <a href='#Page_769'><b>769</b></a>, <a href='#Page_770'><b>770</b>.</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—cause of its inferior quality, <a href='#Page_771'><b>771</b></a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—the supply abundant, <a href='#Page_773'><b>773</b></a>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—on the rising price of, <a href='#Page_779'><b>779</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wild animals of South America, the, 553.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wilkes, John, notice of, <a href='#Page_722'><b>722</b></a>, <a href='#Page_725'><b>725</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">William III., notices of, 9.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">—his death, 11.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">White's three years in Constantinople, review of, <a href='#Page_688'><b>688</b></a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wordsworth's modernization of Chaucer, remarks on, 125.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wye, scenery of the, 481.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Zschokke's Aehrenlese, review of, 129.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Zumalacarregui, career of, 210.</span><br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><i>Edinburgh: Printed by Ballantyne & Hughes, Paul's Work.</i></h2> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume +58, No. 362, December 1845, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH *** + +***** This file should be named 33938-h.htm or 33938-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/9/3/33938/ + +Produced by Brendan OConnor, Erica Hills, Jonathan Ingram +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Library of Early +Journals.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 58, No. 362, December 1845 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: October 10, 2010 [EBook #33938] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH *** + + + + +Produced by Brendan OConnor, Erica Hills, Jonathan Ingram +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Library of Early +Journals.) + + + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: A few obvious misprints have been corrected, but +in general the originally erratic spelling, punctuation and typesetting +conventions have been retained. Accents in foreign-language poetry and +phrases, particularly the Greek, are inconsistent in the original, and +have not been standardised. + + +BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE. + +No. CCCLXII. DECEMBER, 1845. VOL. LVIII. + + +CONTENTS. + + + MARLBOROUGH No. II., 649 + + THE STUDENT OF SALAMANCA Part II., 673 + + WHITE'S THREE YEARS IN CONSTANTINOPLE, 688 + + THE MOUNTAIN AND THE CLOUD, 704 + + THE SECOND PANDORA, 711 + + THE REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD, 713 + + A FEW PASSAGES CONCERNING OMENS, DREAMS, APPEARANCES, &C., 735 + + A MOTHER TO HER FORSAKEN CHILD, 752 + + SUMMER NOONTIDE, _ib._ + + TO CLARA, 753 + + SECLUSION, _ib._ + + THE LAST HOURS OF A REIGN. Part I., 754 + + THE SCOTTISH HARVEST, 769 + + + + +EDINBURGH: + +WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, 45, GEORGE STREET; + +AND 37, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON. + +_To whom all Communications (post paid) must be addressed._ + +SOLD BY ALL THE BOOKSELLERS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. + + +PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE AND HUGHES, EDINBURGH. + + + + +MARLBOROUGH. No. II.[1] + + +It might have been expected, that after the march into Bavaria had +demonstrated the military genius of the Duke of Marlborough, and the +battle of Blenheim had in so decisive a manner broken the enemy's +power, the principal direction of military affairs would have been +entrusted to that consummate commander; and that the Allied cabinets, +without presuming to interfere in the management of the campaigns, +would have turned all their efforts to place at his disposal forces +adequate to carry into execution the mighty designs which he +meditated, and had shown himself so well qualified to carry into +execution. It was quite the reverse. The Allied cabinets did nothing. +They did worse than nothing--they interfered only to do mischief. +Their principal object after this appeared to be to cramp the efforts +of this great general, to overrule his bold designs, to tie down his +aspiring genius. Each looked only to his own separate objects, and +nothing could make them see that they were to be gained only by +promoting the general objects of the alliance. Relieved from the +danger of instant subjugation by the victory of Blenheim, and the +retreat of the French army across the Rhine, the German powers +relapsed into their usual state of supineness, lukewarmness, and +indifference. No efforts of Marlborough could induce the Dutch either +to enlarge their contingent, or even render that already in the field +fit for active service. The English force was not half of what the +national strength was capable of sending forth. Parliament would not +hear of any thing like an adequate expenditure. Thus the golden +opportunity, never likely to be regained, of profiting by the +consternation of the enemy after the battle of Blenheim, and their +weakness after forty thousand of their best troops had been lost to +their armies, was allowed to pass away; and the war was permitted to +dwindle into one of posts and sieges, when, by a vigorous effort, it +might have been concluded in the next campaign.[2] + +It was not thus with the French. The same cause which had loosened +the efforts of the confederates, had inspired unwonted vigour into +their councils. The Rhine was crossed by the Allies; the French armies +had been hurled with disgrace out of Germany; the territory of the +Grand Monarque was threatened both from the side of Alsace and +Flanders; and a formidable insurrection in the Cevennes both +distracted the force and threatened the peace of the kingdom. But +against all these evils Louis made head. Never had the superior vigour +and perseverance of a monarchy over that of a confederacy been more +clearly evinced. Marshal Villars had been employed in the close of the +preceding year to appease the insurrection in the Cevennes, and his +measures were at once so vigorous and conciliatory, that before the +end of the following winter the disturbances were entirely appeased. +In consequence of this, the forces employed in that quarter became +disposable; and by this means, and the immense efforts made by the +government over the whole kingdom, the armies on the frontier were so +considerably augmented, that Villeroi and the Elector of Bavaria took +the field in the Low Countries at the head of seventy-five thousand +men, while Marshal Marsin on the Upper Rhine, covered Alsace with +thirty thousand. Those armies were much larger than any which the +Allies could bring against them; for although it had been calculated +that Marlborough was to be at the head of ninety thousand men on the +Moselle on the 1st May, yet such had been the dilatory conduct of the +States-general and the German princes, that in the beginning of June +there were scarcely thirty thousand men collected round his standards; +and in Flanders and on the Upper Rhine the enemy's relative +superiority was still greater. + +The plan of the campaign of 1705, based on the supposition that these +great forces were to be at his disposal, concerted between him and +Prince Eugene, was in the highest degree bold and decisive. It was +fixed that, early in spring, ninety thousand men should be assembled +in the country between the Moselle and the Saar, and, after +establishing their magazines and base of operations at Treves and +Traerbach, they should penetrate, in two columns into Lorraine; that +the column under Marlborough in person should advance along the course +of Moselle, and the other, under the Margrave of Baden, by the valley +of the Saar, and that Saar-Louis should be invested before the French +army had time to take the field. In this way the whole fortresses of +Flanders would be avoided, and the war, carried into the enemy's +territory, would assail France on the side where her iron barrier was +most easily pierced through. But the slowness of the Dutch, and +backwardness of the Germans, rendered this well-conceived plan +abortive, and doomed the English general, for the whole of a campaign +which promised such important advantages, to little else but +difficulty, delay, and vexation. Marlborough's enthusiasm, great as it +was, nearly sank under the repeated disappointments which he +experienced at this juncture; and, guarded as he was, it exhaled in +several bitter complaints in his confidential correspondence.[3] But, +like a true patriot and man of perseverance, he did not give way to +despair when he found nearly all that had been promised him awanting; +but perceiving the greater designs impracticable, from the want of all +the means by which they could be carried into execution, prepared to +make the most of the diminutive force which alone was at his disposal. + +At length, some of the German reinforcements having arrived, +Marlborough, in the beginning of June, though still greatly inferior +to the enemy, commenced operations. Such was the terror inspired by +his name, and the tried valour of the English troops, that Villars +remained on the defensive, and soon retreated. Without firing a shot, +he evacuated a strong woody country which he occupied, and retired to +a strong defensive position, extending from Haute Sirk on the right, +to the Nivelles on the left, and communicating in the rear with +Luxembourg, Thionville, and Saar-Louis. This position was so strong, +that it was hopeless to attempt to force it without heavy cannon; and +Marlborough's had not yet arrived, from the failure of the German +princes to furnish the draught-horses they had promised. For nine +weary days he remained in front of the French position, counting the +hours till the guns and reinforcements came up; but such was the +tardiness of the German powers, and the universal inefficiency of the +inferior princes and potentates, that they never made their +appearance. The English general was still anxiously awaiting the +promised supplies, when intelligence arrived from the right of so +alarming a character as at once changed the theatre of operations, and +fixed him for the remainder of the campaign in the plains of Flanders. + +It was the rapid progress which Marshal Villeroi and the Elector of +Bavaria, at the head of seventy-five thousand men, were making in the +heart of Flanders, which rendered this change necessary. General +Overkirk was there entrusted with the army intended to cover Holland; +but it was greatly inferior to the enemy in point of numerical amount, +and still more so in the quality and composition of the troops of +which it was composed. Aware of his superiority, and of the timid +character of the government which was principally interested in that +army, Villeroi pushed his advantages to the utmost. He advanced boldly +upon the Meuse, carried by assault the fortress of Huys, and, marching +upon Liege, occupied the town without much resistance, and laid siege +to the citadel. Overkirk, in his lines before Maestricht, was unable +even to keep the field. The utmost alarm seized upon the United +Provinces. They already in imagination saw Louis XIV. a second time at +the gates of Amsterdam. Courier after courier was dispatched to +Marlborough, soliciting relief in the most urgent terms; and it was +hinted, that if effectual protection were not immediately given, +Holland would be under the necessity of negotiating for a separate +peace. There was not a moment to be lost: the Dutch were now as hard +pressed as the Austrians had been in the preceding year, and in +greater alarm than the Emperor was before the battle of Blenheim. A +cross march like that into Bavaria could alone reinstate affairs. +Without a moment's hesitation, Marlborough took his determination. + +On the 17th June, without communicating his designs to any one, or +even without saying a word of the alarming intelligence he had +received, he ordered the whole army to be under arms at midnight, and +setting out shortly after, he marched, without intermission, eighteen +miles to the rear. Having thus gained a march upon the enemy, so as to +avoid the risk of being pursued or harassed in his retreat, he left +General D'Aubach with eleven battalions and twelve squadrons to cover +the important magazines at Treves and Saarbruck; and himself, with the +remainder of the army, about thirty thousand strong, marched rapidly +in the direction of Maestricht. He was in hopes of being able, like +the Consul Nero, in the memorable cross march from Apulia to the +Metaurus in Roman story, to attack the enemy with his own army united +to that of Overkirk, before he was aware of his approach; but in this +he was disappointed. Villeroi got notice of his movement, and +instantly raising the siege of the citadel of Liege, withdrew, though +still superior in number to the united forces of the enemy, within the +shelter of the lines he had prepared and fortified with great care on +the Meuse. Marlborough instantly attacked and carried Huys on the 11th +July. But the satisfaction derived from having thus arrested the +progress of the enemy in Flanders, and wrested from him the only +conquest of the campaign, soon received a bitter alloy. Like Napoleon +in his later years, the successes he gained in person were almost +always overbalanced by the disasters sustained through the blunders or +treachery of his lieutenants. Hardly had Huys opened its gates, when +advices were received that D'Aubach, instead of obeying his orders, +and defending the magazines at Treves and Saarbruck to the last +extremity, had fled on the first appearance of a weak French +detachment, and burned the whole stores which it had cost so much time +and money to collect. This was a severe blow to Marlborough, for it at +once rendered impracticable the offensive movement into Lorraine, on +which his heart was so set, and from which he had anticipated such +important results. It was no longer possible to carry the war into the +enemy's territory, or turn, by an irruption into Lorraine, the whole +fortresses of the enemy in Flanders. The tardiness of the German +powers in the first instance, the terrors of the Dutch, and misconduct +of D'Aubach in the last, had caused that ably conceived design +entirely to miscarry. Great was the mortification of the English +general at this signal disappointment of his most warmly cherished +hopes; it even went so far that he had thoughts of resigning his +command.[4] But instead of abandoning himself to despair, he set +about, like the King of Prussia in after times, the preparation of a +stroke which should reinstate his affairs by the terror with which it +inspired the enemy, and the demonstration of inexhaustible resources +it afforded in himself. + +The position occupied by the Elector of Bavaria and Marshal Villeroi +was so strong that it was regarded as impregnable, and in truth it was +so to a front attack. With its right resting on Marche aux Dames on +the Meuse, it stretched through Leau to the strong and important +fortress of Antwerp. This line was long, and of course liable to be +broken through at points; but such was the skill with which every +vulnerable point had been strengthened and fortified by the French +engineers, that it was no easy matter to say where an impression could +be made. Wherever a marsh or a stream intervened, the most skilful use +had been made of it; while forts and redoubts, plentifully mounted +with heavy cannon, both commanded all the approaches to the lines, and +formed so many _points d'appui_ to its defenders in case of disaster. +Such a position, defended by seventy thousand men, directed by able +generals, might well be deemed impregnable. But Marlborough, with an +inferior force, resolved to attempt it. In doing so, however, he had +difficulties more formidable to overcome than even the resistance of +the enemy in front; the timidity of the authorities at the Hague, the +nervousness and responsibility of the Dutch generals, were more to be +dreaded than Villeroi's redoubts. It required all the consummate +address of the English general, aided by the able co-operation of +General Overkirk, to get liberty from the Dutch authorities to engage +in any offensive undertaking. At length, however, after infinite +difficulty, a council of war, at headquarters, agreed to support any +undertaking which might be deemed advisable; and Marlborough instantly +set about putting his design in execution. + +The better to conceal the real point of attack, he gave out that a +march to the Moselle was to be immediately undertaken; and to give a +colour to the report, the corps which had been employed in the siege +of Huys was not brought forward to the front. At the same time +Overkirk was detached to the Allied left towards Bourdine, and +Marlborough followed with a considerable force, ostensibly to support +him. So completely was Villeroi imposed upon, that he drew large +reinforcements from the centre to his extreme right; and soon forty +thousand men were grouped round the sources of the Little Gheet on his +extreme right. By this means the centre was seriously weakened; and +Marlborough instantly assembled, with every imaginable precaution to +avoid discovery, all his disposable forces to attack the weakened part +of the lines. The corps hitherto stationed on the Meuse was silently +brought up to the front; Marlborough put himself at the head of his +own English and German troops, whom he had carried with him from the +Moselle; and at eight at night, on the 17th July, the whole began to +march, all profoundly ignorant of the service on which they were to be +engaged. Each trooper was ordered to carry a truss of hay at his +saddle-bow, as if a long march was in contemplation. At the same +instant on which the columns under Marlborough's orders commenced +their march, Overkirk repassed the Mehaigne on the left, and, hid by +darkness, fell into the general line of the advance of the Allied +troops. + +No fascines or gabions had been brought along to pass the ditch, for +fear of exciting alarm in the lines. The trusses of hay alone were +trusted to for that purpose, which would be equally effectual, and +less likely to awaken suspicion. At four in the morning, the heads of +the columns, wholly unperceived, were in front of the French works, +and, covered by a thick fog, traversed the morass, passed the Gheet +despite its steep banks, carried the castle of Wange, and, rushing +forward with a swift pace, crossed the ditch on the trusses of hay, +and, in three weighty columns, scaled the rampart, and broke into the +enemy's works. Hitherto entire success had attended this admirably +planned attack; but the alarm was now given; a fresh corps of fifteen +thousand men, under M. D'Allegre, hastily assembled, and a heavy fire +was opened upon the Allies, now distinctly visible in the morning +light, from a commanding battery. Upon this, Marlborough put himself +at the head of Lumley's English horse, and, charging vigorously, +succeeded, though not till he had sustained one repulse, in breaking +through the line thus hastily formed. In this charge the Duke narrowly +escaped with his life, in a personal conflict with a Bavarian officer. +The Allies now crowded in, in great numbers, and the French, +panic-struck, fled on all sides, abandoning the whole centre of their +intrenchments to the bold assailants. Villeroi, who had become aware, +from the retreat of Overkirk in his front, that some attack was in +contemplation, but ignorant where the tempest was to fall, remained +all night under arms. At length, attracted by the heavy fire, he +approached the scene of action in the centre, only in time to see that +the position was broken through, and the lines no longer tenable. He +drew off his whole troops accordingly, and took up a new position, +nearly at right angles to the former, stretching from Elixheim towards +Tirlemont. It was part of the design of the Duke to have intercepted +the line of retreat of the French, and prevented them from reaching +the Dyle, to which they were tending; but such was the obstinacy and +slowness of the Dutch generals, that nothing could persuade them to +make any further exertion, and, in defiance of the orders and +remonstrances alike of Marlborough and Overkirk, they pitched their +tents, and refused to take any part in the pursuit. The consequence +was, that Villeroi collected his scattered forces, crossed the Dyle in +haste, and took up new ground, about eighteen miles in the rear, with +his left sheltered by the cannon of Louvain. But, though the +disobedience and obstinacy of the Dutch thus intercepted Marlborough +in the career of victory, and rendered his success much less complete +than it otherwise would have been, yet had a mighty blow been struck, +reflecting the highest credit on the skill and resolution of the +English general. The famous lines, on which the French had been +labouring for months, had been broken through and carried, during a +nocturnal conflict of a few hours; they had lost all their redoubts +and ten pieces of cannon, with which they were armed; M. D'Allegre, +with twelve hundred prisoners, had been taken; and the army which +lately besieged Liege and threatened Maestricht, was now driven back, +defeated and discouraged, to seek refuge under the cannon of Louvain. + +Overkirk, who had so ably co-operated with Marlborough in this +glorious victory, had the magnanimity as well as candour, in his +despatch to the States-general, to ascribe the success which had been +gained entirely to the skill and courage of the English general.[5] +But the Dutch generals, who had interrupted his career of success, had +the malignity to charge the consequences of their misconduct on his +head, and even carried their effrontery so far as to accuse him of +supineness in not following up his success, and cutting off the +enemy's retreat to the Dyle, when it was themselves who had refused to +obey his orders to do so. Rains of extraordinary severity fell from +the 19th to the 23d July, which rendered all offensive operations +impracticable, and gave Villeroi time, of which he ably availed +himself, to strengthen his position behind the Dyle to such a degree, +as to render it no longer assailable with any prospect of success. The +precious moment, when the enemy might have been driven from it in the +first tumult of success, had been lost. + +The subsequent success in the Flemish campaign by no means +corresponded to its brilliant commencement. The jealousy of the Dutch +ruined every thing. This gave rise to recriminations and jealousies, +which rendered it impracticable even for the great abilities and +consummate address of Marlborough to effect any thing of importance +with the heterogeneous array, with the nominal command of which he was +invested. The English general dispatched his adjutant-general, Baron +Hompesch, to represent to the States-general the impossibility of +going on longer with such a divided responsibility; but, though they +listened to his representations, nothing could induce them to put +their troops under the direct orders of the commander-in-chief. They +still had "field deputies," as they were called who were invested with +the entire direction of the Dutch troops; and as they were civilians, +wholly unacquainted with military affairs, they had recourse on every +occasion to the very fractious generals who already had done so much +mischief to the common cause. In vain Marlborough repeatedly +endeavoured, as he himself said, "to cheat them into victory," by +getting their consent to measures, of which they did not see the +bearing, calculated to achieve that object; their timid, jealous +spirit interposed on every occasion to mar important operations, and +the corps they commanded was too considerable to admit of their being +undertaken without their co-operation. After nine days' watching the +enemy across the Dyle, Marlborough proposed to cross the river near +Louvain, and attack the enemy; the Dutch Deputies interposed their +negative, to Marlborough's infinite mortification, as, in his own +words, "it spoiled the whole campaign."[6] + +Worn out with these long delays, Marlborough at length resolved at all +hazards to pass the river, trusting that the Dutch, when they saw the +conflict once seriously engaged, would not desert him. But in this he +was mistaken. The Dutch not only failed to execute the part assigned +them in the combined enterprise, but sent information of his designs +to the enemy. The consequence was, Villeroi was on his guard. All the +Duke's demonstrations could not draw his attention from his left, +where the real attack was intended; but nevertheless the Duke pushed +on the English and Germans under his orders, who forced the passage in +the most gallant style. But when the Duke ordered the Dutch generals +to support the attack of the Duke of Wirtemberg, who had crossed the +river, and established himself in force on the opposite bank, they +refused to move their men. The consequence was that this attack, as +well planned and likely to succeed as the famous forcing of the lines +a fortnight before, proved abortive; and Marlborough, burning with +indignation, was obliged to recall his troops when on the high-road to +victory, and when the river had been crossed, before they had +sustained a loss of a hundred men. So general was the indignation at +this shameful return on the part of the Dutch generals to Marlborough +for all the services he had rendered to their country, that it drew +forth the strongest expressions from one of his ablest, but most +determined opponents, Lord Bolingbroke, who wrote to him at this +juncture:--"It was very melancholy to find the malice of Slangenberg, +the fears of Dopf, and the ignorance of the deputies, to mention no +more, prevail so to disappoint your Grace, to their prejudice as well +as ours. We hope the Dutch have agreed to what your Grace desires of +them, without which the war becomes a jest to our enemies, _and can +end in nothing but an ill peace, which is certain ruin to us_."[7] + +Still the English general was not discouraged. His public spirit and +patriotism prevailed over his just private resentment. Finding it +impossible to prevail on the Dutch deputies, who, in every sense, were +so many viceroys over him, to agree to any attempt to force the +passage of the Dyle, he resolved to turn it. For this purpose the army +was put in motion on the 14th August; and, defiling to his left, he +directed it in three columns towards the sources of the Dyle. The +march was rapid, as the Duke had information that strong +reinforcements, detached from the army at Alsace, would join Villeroi +on the 18th. They soon came to ground subsequently immortalized in +English story. On the 16th they reached Genappe, where, on 17th June +1815, the Life-guards under Lord Anglesea defeated the French lancers; +on the day following, the enemy retired into the forest of Soignies, +still covering Brussels, and the Allied headquarters were moved to +Braine la Leude. On the 17th August, a skirmish took place on the +plain in front of WATERLOO; and the alarm being given, the Duke +hastened to the spot, and rode over the field where Wellington and +Napoleon contended a hundred and ten years afterwards. The French +upon this retired into the forest of Soignies, and rested at Waterloo +for the night. + +The slightest glance at the map must be sufficient to show, that by +this cross march to Genappe and Waterloo, Marlborough had gained an +immense advantage over the enemy. _He had interposed between them and +France._ He had relinquished for the time, it is true, his own base of +operations, and was out of communication with his magazines; but he +had provided for this by taking six days' provisions for the army with +him; and he could now force the French to fight or abandon Brussels, +and retire towards Antwerp--the Allies being between them and France. +Still clinging to their fortified lines on the Dyle, and desirous of +covering Brussels, they had only occupied the wood of Soignies with +their right wing; while the Allies occupied all the open country from +Genappe to Frischermont and Braine la Leude, with their advanced posts +up to La Haye Sainte and Mount St John. The Allies now occupied the +ground, afterwards covered by Napoleon's army: the forest of Soignies +and approaches to Brussels were guarded by the French. Incalculable +were the results of a victory gained in such a position: it was by +success gained over an army of half the size, that Napoleon +established his power in so surprising a manner at Marengo. Impressed +with such ideas, Marlborough, on the 18th August, anxiously +reconnoitred the ground; and finding the front practicable for the +passage of troops, moved up his men in three columns to the attack. +The artillery was sent to Wavre; the Allied columns traversed at right +angles the line of march by which Blucher advanced to the support of +Wellington on the 18th June 1815. + +Had Marlborough's orders been executed, it is probable he would have +gained a victory, which, from the relative position of the two armies, +could not have been but decisive; and possibly the 18th August 1705, +might have become as celebrated in history as the 18th June 1815. +Overkirk, to whom he showed the ground at Over-Ische which he had +destined for an attack, perfectly concurred in the expedience of it, +and orders were given to bring the artillery forward to commence a +cannonade. By the malice or negligence of Slangenberg, who had again +violated his express instructions, and permitted the baggage to +intermingle with the artillery-train, the guns had not arrived, and +some hours were lost before they could be pushed up. At length, at +noon, the guns were brought forward, and the troops being in line, +Marlborough rode along the front to give his last orders. The English +and Germans were in the highest spirits, anticipating certain victory +from the relative position of the armies; the French fighting with +their faces to Paris, the Allies with theirs to Brussels. But again +the Dutch deputies and generals interposed, alleging that the enemy +was too strongly posted to be attacked with any prospect of success. +"Gentlemen," said Marlborough to the circle of generals which +surrounded him, "I have reconnoitred the ground, and made dispositions +for an attack. I am convinced that conscientiously, and as men of +honour, we cannot now retire without an action. Should we neglect this +opportunity, we must be responsible before God and man. You see the +confusion which pervades the ranks of the enemy, and their +embarrassment at our manoeuvres. I leave you to judge whether we +should attack to-day, or wait till to-morrow. It is indeed late; but +you must consider, that by throwing up intrenchments during the night, +the enemy will render their position far more difficult to force." +"Murder and massacre," replied Slangenberg. Marlborough, upon this, +offered him two English for every Dutch battalion; but this too the +Dutchman refused, on the plea that he did not understand English. Upon +this the Duke offered to give him German regiments; but this too was +declined, upon the pretence that the attack would be too hazardous. +Marlborough, upon this, turned to the deputies and said--"I disdain to +send troops to dangers which I will not myself encounter. I will lead +them where the peril is most imminent. I adjure you, gentlemen! for +the love of God and your country, do not let us neglect so favourable +an opportunity." But it was all in vain; and instead of acting, the +Dutch deputies and generals spent three hours in debating, until night +came on and it was too late to attempt any thing. Such was +Marlborough's chagrin at this disappointment, that he said, on +retiring from the field, "I am at this moment _ten years_ older than I +was four days ago." + +Next day, as Marlborough had foreseen, the enemy had strengthened +their position with field-works; so that it was utterly hopeless to +get the Dutch to agree to an attack which _then_ would indeed have +been hazardous, though it was not so the evening before. The case was +now irremediable. The six days' bread he had taken with him was on the +point of being exhausted, and a protracted campaign without +communication with his magazines was impracticable. With a heavy +heart, therefore, Marlborough remeasured his steps to the ground he +had left in front of the Dyle, and gave orders for destroying the +lines of Leau, which he had carried with so much ability. His vexation +was increased afterwards, by finding that the consternation of the +French had been such on the 18th August, when he was so urgent to +attack them, that they intended only to have made a show of +resistance, in order to gain time for their baggage and heavy guns to +retire to Brussels. To all appearance Marlborough, if he had not been +so shamefully thwarted, would have illustrated the forest of Soignies +by a victory as decisive as that of Blenheim, and realized the +triumphant entrance to Brussels which Napoleon anticipated from his +attack on Wellington on the same ground a hundred years afterwards. + +Nothing further, of any moment, was done in this campaign, except the +capture of Leau and levelling of the enemy's lines on the Gheet. +Marlborough wrote a formal letter to the States, in which he regretted +the opportunity which had been lost, which M. Overkirk had coincided +with him in thinking promised a great and glorious victory; and he +added, "my heart is so full that I cannot forbear representing to your +High Mightinesses on this occasion, that I find my authority here to +be much less than when I had the honour to command your troops in +Germany."[8] The Dutch generals sent in their counter-memorial to +their government, which contains a curious picture of their idea of +the subordination and direction of an army, and furnishes a key to the +jealousy which had proved so fatal to the common cause. They +complained that the Duke of Marlborough, "without holding a council of +war, made two or three marches _for the execution of some design +formed by his Grace_; and we cannot conceal from your High +Mightinesses that all the generals of our army think it very strange +_that they should not have the least notice of the said marches_."[9] +It has been already mentioned that Marlborough, like every other good +general, kept his designs to himself, from the impossibility of +otherwise keeping them from the enemy; and that he had the additional +motive, in the case of the Dutch deputies and generals, of being +desirous "to cheat them into victory." + +Chagrined by disappointment, and fully convinced, as Wellington was +after his campaign with Cuesta and the Spaniards at Talavera, that it +was in vain to attempt any thing further with such impediments, on the +part of the Allies, thrown in his way, Marlborough retired, in the +beginning of September, to Tirlemont, the mineral waters of which had +been recommended to him; and, in the end of October, the troops on +both sides went into winter quarters. His vexation with the Dutch at +this period strongly appeared in his private letters to his intimate +friends;[10] but, though he exerted himself to the utmost during the +suspension of operations in the field, both by memorials to his own +government, and representations to the Dutch rulers, to get the +direction of the army put upon a better footing, yet he had +magnanimity and patriotism enough to sacrifice his private feelings to +the public good. Instead of striving, therefore, to inflame the +resentment of the English cabinet at the conduct of the Dutch +generals, he strove only to moderate it; and prevailed on them to +suspend the sending of a formal remonstrance, which they had prepared, +to the States-general, till the effect of his own private +representation in that quarter was first ascertained. The result +proved that he had judged wisely; his disinterested conduct met with +the deserved reward. The Patriotic party, both in England and at the +Hague, was strongly roused in his favour; the factious accusations of +the English Tories, like those of the Whigs a century after against +Wellington, were silenced; the States-general were compelled by the +public indignation to withdraw from their commands the generals who +had thwarted his measures; and, without risking the union of the two +powers, the factious, selfish men who had endangered the object of +their alliance, were for ever deprived of the means of doing mischief. + +But while the danger was thus abated in one quarter, it only became +more serious in another. The Dutch had been protected, and hindered +from breaking off from the alliance, only by endangering the fidelity +of the Austrians; and it had now become indispensable, at all hazards, +to do something to appease their jealousies. The Imperial cabinet, in +addition to the war in Italy, on the Upper Rhine, and in the Low +Countries, was now involved in serious hostilities in Hungary; and +felt the difficulty, or rather impossibility, of maintaining the +contest at once in so many different quarters. The cross march of +Marlborough from the Moselle to Flanders, however loudly called for by +the danger and necessities of the States, had been viewed with a +jealous eye by the Emperor, as tending to lead the war away from the +side of Lorraine, with which the German interests were wound up; and +the instances were loud and frequent, that, now that the interests of +the Dutch were sufficiently provided for, he should return with the +English contingent to that, the proper theatre of offensive +operations. But Marlborough's experience had taught him, that as +little reliance was to be placed on the co-operation of the Margrave +of Baden, and the lesser German powers, as on that of the Dutch; and +he felt that it was altogether in vain to attempt another campaign +either in Germany or Flanders, unless some more effectual measures +were taken to appease the jealousies, and secure the co-operation of +this discordant alliance, than had hitherto been done. With this view, +after having arranged matters to his satisfaction at the Hague, when +Slangenberg was removed from the command, he repaired to Vienna in +November, and thence soon after to Berlin. + +Marlborough's extraordinary address and powers of persuasion did not +desert him on this critical occasion. Never was more strongly +exemplified the truth of Chesterfield's remark, that manner had as +much weight as matter in procuring him success; and that he was +elevated to greatness as much on the wings of the Graces as by the +strength of Minerva. Great as were the difficulties which attended the +holding together the grand alliance, they all yielded to the magic of +his name and the fascination of his manner. At Bernsberg he succeeded +in obtaining from the Elector a promise for the increase of his +contingent, and leave for it to be sent into Italy, where its +co-operation was required; at Frankfort he overcame, by persuasion and +address, the difficulties of the Margrave of Baden; and at Vienna he +was magnificently received, and soon obtained unbounded credit with +the Emperor. He was raised to the rank of prince of the empire, with +the most flattering assurances of esteem; and feted by the nobles, who +vied with each other in demonstrations of respect to the illustrious +conqueror of Blenheim. During his short sojourn of a fortnight there, +he succeeded in allaying the suspicions and quieting the apprehensions +of the Emperor, which no other man could have done; and, having +arranged the plan of the next campaign, and raised, on his own credit, +a loan of 100,000 crowns for the imperial court from the bankers, as +well as promised one of L.250,000 more, which he afterwards obtained +in London, he set out for Berlin, where his presence was not less +necessary to stimulate the exertions and appease the complaints of the +King of Prussia. He arrived there on the 30th November, and on the +same evening had an audience of the King, to whose strange and +capricious temper he so completely accommodated himself, that he +allayed all his discontents, and brought him over completely to his +views. He prevailed on him to renew the treaty for the furnishing of +eight thousand men to aid the common cause, and to repair the chasms +occasioned by the campaign in their ranks, as well as revoke the +orders which had been issued for their return from Italy, where their +removal would have proved of essential detriment. This concession, in +the words of the prime minister who announced it, was granted "as a +mark of respect to the Queen, and of particular friendship to the +Duke." From Berlin he went, loaded with honours and presents, to +Hanover, where jealousies of a different kind, but not less dangerous, +had arisen in consequence of the apprehensions there entertained, that +the Whigs were endeavouring to thwart the eventual succession of the +House of Hanover to the throne of England. Marlborough's address, +however, here also succeeded in overcoming all difficulties; and, +after a sojourn of only a few days, he departed in the highest favour +both with the Elector and his mother. From thence he hastened to the +Hague, where he remained a fortnight, and succeeded in a great degree +in removing those difficulties, and smoothing down those jealousies, +which had proved so injurious to the common cause in the preceding +campaign. He prevailed on the Dutch to reject separate offers of +accommodation, which had been made to them by the French government. +Having thus put all things on as favourable a footing as could be +hoped for on the Continent, he embarked for England in the beginning +of January 1705--having overcome greater difficulties, and obtained +greater advantages, in the course of this winter campaign, with his +divided allies, than he ever did during a summer campaign with the +enemy. + +Every one, how cursorily soever he may be acquainted with Wellington's +campaigns, must be struck with the great similarity between the +difficulties which thus beset the Duke of Marlborough, in the earlier +periods of his career, and those which at a subsequent period so long +hampered the genius and thwarted the efforts of England's greatest +general. Slangenberg's jealousy as an exact counterpart of that of +Cuesta at Talavera; the timidity of the Dutch authorities was +precisely similar to that of the Portuguese regency; the difficulty of +appeasing the jealousy of Austria and Prussia, identical with that +which so often compelled Wellington to hurry from the field to Lisbon +and Cadiz. Such is the selfishness of human nature that it seems +impossible to get men, actuated by different interests, to concur in +any measures for the general good but under the pressure of immediate +danger, so threatening as to be obvious to every understanding, or by +the influence of ability and address of the very highest order. It is +this which in every age has caused the weakness of the best-cemented +confederacies, and so often enabled single powers, not possessing a +fourth part of their material resources, to triumph over them. And it +is in the power of overcoming these difficulties, and allaying those +jealousies, that one of the most important qualities of the general of +an alliance is to be found. + +Marlborough sailed for the Continent, to take the command of the +armies in the Low Countries, on the 20th April 1706. His design was to +have transferred the seat of war into Italy, as affairs had become so +unpromising in that quarter as to be well-nigh desperate. The +Imperialists had been surprised by the French general, Vendome, in +their quarters near Como, and driven into the mountains behind that +town with the loss of three thousand men; so that all hold of the +plain of Lombardy was lost. The Duke of Savoy was even threatened with +a siege in his capital of Turin. The Margrave of Baden was displaying +his usual fractious and impracticable disposition on the Upper Rhine: +it seemed, in Marlborough's words, "as if he had no other object in +view but to cover his own capital and residence." In Flanders, the +habitual procrastination and tardiness of the Dutch had so thrown back +the preparations, that it was impossible to begin the campaign so +early as he had intended; and the jealousies of the cabinets of Berlin +and Copenhagen had again revived to such a degree, that no aid was to +be expected either from the Prussian or Danish contingents. It was +chiefly to get beyond the reach of such troublesome and inconstant +neighbours, that Marlborough was so desirous of transferring the seat +of war to Italy, where he would have been beyond their reach. But all +his efforts failed in inducing the States-general to allow any part of +their troops to be employed to the south of the Alps; nor, indeed, +could it reasonably have been expected that they would consent to +hazard their forces, in an expedition not immediately connected with +their interests, to so distant a quarter. The umbrage of the Elector +of Hanover at the conduct of Queen Anne, had become so excessive, that +he positively refused to let his contingent march. The Danes and +Hessians excused themselves on various pretences from moving their +troops to the south; and the Emperor, instead of contributing any +thing to the war in Flanders, was urgent that succour should be sent, +and that the English general should, in person, take the command on +the Moselle. Marlborough was thus reduced to the English troops, and +those in the pay of Holland; but they amounted to nearly sixty +thousand men; and, on the 19th May, he set out from the Hague to take +the command of this force, which lay in front of the old French +frontier on the river Dyle. Marshal Villeroi had there collected +sixty-two thousand men; so that the two armies, in point of numerical +strength, were very nearly equal. + +The English general had established a secret correspondence with one +Pasquini, an inhabitant of Namur, through whose agency, and that of +some other citizens of the town who were inclined to the Imperial +interest, he hoped to be able to make himself master of that important +fortress. To facilitate that attempt, and have troops at hand ready to +take advantage of any opening that might be afforded them in that +quarter, he moved towards Tirlemont, directing his march by the +sources of the Little Gheet. Determined to cover Namur, and knowing +that the Hanoverians and Hessians were absent, Villeroi marched out of +his lines, in order to stop the advance of the Allies, and give battle +in the open field. On the 20th May, the English and Dutch forces +effected their junction at Bitsia; and on the day following the Danish +contingent arrived, Marlborough having by great exertions persuaded +them to come up from the Rhine, upon receiving a guarantee for their +pay from the Dutch government. This raised his force to seventy-three +battalions and one hundred and twenty-four squadrons. The French had +seventy-four battalions and one hundred and twenty-eight squadrons; +but they had a much greater advantage in the homogeneous quality of +their troops, who were all of one country; while the forces of the +confederates were drawn from three different nations, speaking +different languages, and many of whom had never acted in the field +together. Cadogan, with six hundred horse, formed the vanguard of +Marlborough's army; and at daybreak on the 22d, he beheld the enemy's +army grouped in dense masses in the strong camp of Mont St Andre. As +their position stretched directly across the allied line of march, a +battle was unavoidable; and Marlborough no sooner was informed of it, +than with a joyous heart he prepared for the conflict. + +The ground occupied by the enemy, and which has become so famous by +the battle of RAMILIES which followed, was on the summit of an +elevated plateau forming the highest ground in Brabant, immediately +above the two sources of the Little Gheet. The plateau above them is +varied by gentle undulations, interspersed with garden grounds, and +dotted with coppice woods. From it the two Gheets, the Mehaigne and +the Dyle, take their source, and flow in different directions, so that +it is the most elevated ground in the whole country. The descents from +the summit of the plateau to the Great Gheet are steep and abrupt; but +the other rivers rise in marshes and mosses, which are very wet, and +in some places impassable. Marlborough was well aware of the strength +of the position on the summit of this eminence, and he had used all +the dispatch in his power to reach it before the enemy; but Villeroi +had less ground to go over, and had his troops in battle array on the +summit before the English appeared in sight. The position which they +occupied ran along the front of a curve facing inwards, and +overhanging the sources of the Little Gheet. Their troops extended +along the crest of the ridge above the marshes, having the village of +Autre Eglise in its front on the extreme left, the villages of Offuz +and Ramilies in its front, and its extreme right on the high grounds +which overhung the course of the Mehaigne, and the old _chaussee_ of +Brunehand which ran near and parallel to its banks. Their right +stretched to the Mehaigne, on which it rested, and the village of +Tavieres on its banks was strongly occupied by foot-soldiers. The +French foot were drawn up in two lines, with the villages in their +front strongly occupied by infantry. In Ramilies alone twenty +battalions were posted. The great bulk of their horse was arranged +also in two lines on the right, across the chaussee of Brunehand, by +which part of the Allied column was to advance. On the highest point +of the ridge occupied by the French, and in the rear of their extreme +right, commanding the whole field of battle, behind the mass of +cavalry, was the tomb or barrow of Ottomond, a German hero of renown +in ancient days, which it was evident would become the subject of a +desperate strife between the contending parties in the conflict which +was approaching. + +Marlborough no sooner came in sight of the enemy's position than he +formed his own plan of attack. His troops were divided into ten +columns; the cavalry being into two lines on each wing, the infantry +in six columns in the centre. He at once saw that the French right, +surmounted by the lofty plateau on which the tomb of Ottomond was +placed, was the key of the position, and against that he resolved to +direct the weight of his onset; but the better to conceal his real +design, he determined to make a vehement false attack on the village +of Autre Eglise and the French left. The nature of the ground occupied +by the allies and enemy respectively, favoured this design; for the +French were posted round the circumference of a segment, while the +allies occupied the centre and chord, so that they could move with +greater rapidity than their opponents from one part of the field to +another. Marlborough's stratagem was entirely successful. He formed, +in the first instance, with some ostentation, a weighty column of +attack opposite to the French left, menacing the village of Autre +Eglise. No sooner did Villeroi perceive this than he drew a +considerable body of infantry from his centre behind Offuz, and +marched them with the utmost expedition to reinforce the threatened +point on his left. When Marlborough saw this cross-movement fairly +commenced, skilfully availing himself of a rising ground on which the +front of his column of attack on his right was placed, he directed the +second line and columns in support when the front had reached the edge +of the plateau, where they obstructed the view of those behind them, +to halt in a hollow where they could not be seen, and immediately +after, still concealed from the enemy's sight, to defile rapidly to +the left till they came into the rear of the left centre. The Danish +horse, twenty squadrons strong, under the Duke of Wirtemberg, were at +the same time placed in a third line behind the cavalry of the left +wing, so as to bring the weight of his horse as well as foot into that +quarter. + +At half past twelve the cannonade began on both sides, and that of the +French played heavily on the columns of the confederates advancing to +the attack. The Allied right wing directed against Autre Eglise, +steadily advanced up the slopes from the banks of the Little Gheet to +the edge of the plateau; but there they halted, deployed into line, +and opened their fire in such a position as to conceal entirely the +transfer of the infantry and cavalry in their rear to the Allied left. +No sooner had they reached it, than the attack began in real earnest, +and with a preponderating force in that direction. Colonel +Wertonville, with four Dutch battalions, advanced against Tavieres, +while twelve battalions in columns of companies, supported by a strong +reserve, began the attack on Ramilies in the left centre. The +vehemence of this assault soon convinced Villeroi that the real attack +of the Allies was in that quarter; but he had no reserve of foot to +support the troops in the villages, every disposable man having been +sent off to the left in the direction of Autre Eglise. In this +dilemma, he hastily ordered fourteen squadrons of horse to dismount, +and, supported by two Swiss battalions, moved them up to the support +of the troops in Tavieres. Before they could arrive, however, the +Dutch battalions had with great gallantry carried that village; and +Marlborough, directing the Danish horse, under the brave Duke of +Wirtemberg, against the flank of the dismounted dragoons, as they were +in column and marching up, speedily cut them in pieces, and hurled +back the Swiss in confusion on the French horse, who were advancing to +their support. + +Following up his success, Overkirk next charged the first line of +advancing French cavalry with the first line of the Allied horse, and +such was the vigour of his onset, that the enemy were broken and +thrown back. But the second line of French and Bavarian horse soon +came up, and assailing Overkirk's men when they were disordered by +success, and little expecting another struggle, overthrew them without +difficulty, drove them back in great confusion, and almost entirely +restored the battle in that quarter. The danger was imminent that the +victorious French horse, having cleared the open ground of their +opponents, would wheel about and attack in rear the twelve battalions +who were warmly engaged with the attack on Ramilies. Marlborough +instantly saw the danger, and putting himself at the head of seventeen +squadrons at hand, himself led them on to stop the progress of the +victorious horse; while, at the same time, he sent orders for every +disposable sabre to come up from his right with the utmost expedition. +The moment was critical, and nothing but the admirable intrepidity and +presence of mind of the English general retrieved the Allied affairs. +Leading on the reserve of the Allied horse with his wonted gallantry, +under a dreadful fire from the French batteries on the heights behind +Ramilies, he was recognised by some French troopers, with whom he had +formerly served in the time of Charles II., who made a sudden rush at +him. They had well-nigh made him prisoner, for they succeeded in +surrounding the Duke before his men could come up to the rescue, and +he only extricated himself from the throng of assailants by fighting +his way out, like the knights of old, sword in hand. He next tried to +leap a ditch, but his horse fell in the attempt; and when mounting +another horse, given him by his aide-de-camp Captain Molesworth, +Colonel Bingfield, his equery, who held the stirrup, had his head +carried off by a cannon ball. The imminent danger of their beloved +general, however, revived the spirit of his troops, whom the dreadful +severity of the cannonade had, during the scuffle, thrown into +disorder; and, re-forming with great celerity, they again returned +with desperate resolution to the charge. + +At this critical moment, when nothing was as yet decided, the twenty +fresh squadrons whom Marlborough had so opportunely called up from the +Allied right, were seen galloping at full speed, but still in regular +order, on the plain behind this desperate conflict. Halting directly +in rear of the spot where the horse on both sides were so vehemently +engaged, they wheeled into line, and advanced, in close order and +admirable array, to the support of the Duke. Encouraged by this +powerful reinforcement, the whole Allied cavalry re-formed, and +crowded forward in three lines, with loud shouts, to the attack of the +now intimidated and disheartened French. They no longer withstood the +onset, but, turning their horses' heads, fled with precipitation. The +low grounds between Ramilies and the old chaussee were quickly passed, +and the victorious horse, pressing up the slope on the opposite side, +erelong reached the summit of the plateau. The tomb of Ottomond, its +highest point, and visible from the whole field of battle, was soon +seen resplendent with sabres and cuirasses, amidst a throng of horse; +and deafening shouts, heard over the whole extent of both armies, +announced that the crowning point and key of the whole position was +carried. + +But Villeroi was an able and determined general, and his soldiers +fought with the inherent bravery of the French nation. The contest, +thus virtually decided, was not yet over. A fierce fight was raging +around Ramilies, where the garrison of twenty French battalions +opposed a stout resistance to Schultz's grenadiers. By degrees, +however, the latter gained ground; two Swiss battalions, which had +long and resolutely held their ground, were at length forced back into +the village, and some of the nearest houses fell into the hands of the +Allies. Upon this the whole rushed forward, and drove the enemy in a +mass out of it towards the high grounds in their rear. The Marquis +Maffei, however, rallied two regiments of Cologne guards, in a hollow +way leading up from the village to the plateau, and opposed so +vigorous a resistance that he not only checked the pursuit but +regained part of the village. But Marlborough, whose eye was every +where, no sooner saw this than he ordered up twenty battalions in +reserve behind the centre, and they speedily cleared the village; and +Maffei, with his gallant troops, being charged in flank by the +victorious horse at the very time that he was driven out of the +village by the infantry, was made prisoner, and almost all his men +taken or destroyed. + +The victory was now decided on the British left and centre, where +alone the real attack had been made. But so vehement had been the +onset, so desperate the passage of arms which had taken place, that +though the battle had lasted little more than three hours, the victors +were nearly in as great disorder as the vanquished. Horse, foot, and +artillery, were blended together in wild confusion; especially between +Ramilies and the Mehaigne, and thence up to the tomb of Ottomond, in +consequence of the various charges of all arms which had so rapidly +succeeded each other on the same narrow space. Marlborough, seeing +this, halted his troops, before hazarding any thing further, on the +ground where they stood, which, in the left and centre, was where the +enemy had been at the commencement of the action. Villeroi skilfully +availed himself of this breathing-time to endeavour to re-form his +broken troops, and take up a new line from Geest-a-Gerompont, on his +right, through Offuz to Autre Eglise, still held by its original +garrison, on his left. But in making the retrograde movement so as to +get his men into this oblique position, he was even more impeded and +thrown into disorder by the baggage waggons and dismounted guns on the +heights, than the Allies had been in the plain below. Marlborough +seeing this, resolved to give the enemy no time to rally, but again +sounding the charge, ordered infantry and cavalry to advance. A strong +column passed the morass in which the Little Gheet takes its rise, +directing their steps towards Offuz; but the enemy, panic-struck as at +Waterloo, by the general advance of the victors, gave way on all +sides. Offuz was abandoned without firing a shot; the cavalry pursued +with headlong fury, and soon the plateau of Mont St Andre was covered +with a mass of fugitives. The troops in observation on the right, +seeing the victory gained on the left and centre, of their own accord +joined in the pursuit, and soon made themselves masters of Autre +Eglise and the heights behind it. The Spanish and Bavarian +horse-guards made a gallant attempt to stem the flood of disaster, but +without attaining their object; it only led to their own destruction. +Charged by General Wood and Colonel Wyndham at the head of the English +horse-guards, they were cut to pieces. The rout now became universal, +and all resistance ceased. In frightful confusion, a disorganized mass +of horse and foot, abandoning their guns, streamed over the plateau, +poured headlong down the banks of the Great Gheet, on the other side, +and fled towards Louvain, which they reached in the most dreadful +disorder at two o'clock in the morning. The British horse, under Lord +Orkney, did not draw bridle from the pursuit till they reached the +neighbourhood of that fortress; having, besides fighting the battle, +marched full five-and-twenty miles that day. Marlborough halted for +the night, and established headquarters at Mildert, thirteen miles +from the field of battle, and five from Louvain. + +The trophies of the battle of Ramilies were immense; but they were +even exceeded by its results. The loss of the French in killed and +wounded was 7000 men, and, in addition to that, 6000 prisoners were +taken. With the desertion in the days after the battle, they were +weakened by full 15,000 men. They lost fifty-two guns, their whole +baggage and pontoon train, all their caissons, and eighty standards +wrested from them in fair fight. Among the prisoners were the Princes +de Soubise and Rohan, and a son of Marshal Tallard. The victors lost +1066 killed, and 2567 wounded, in all, 3633. The great and unusual +proportion of killed to the wounded, shows how desperate and hand to +hand, as in ancient battles, the fighting had been. Overkirk nobly +supported the Duke in this action, and not only repeatedly charged at +the head of his horse, but continued on horseback in the pursuit till +one in the morning, when he narrowly escaped death from a Bavarian +officer whom he had made prisoner, and given back his sword, saying, +"You are a gentleman, and may keep it." The base wretch no sooner got +it into his hand than he made a lounge at the Dutch general, but +fortunately missed his blow, and was immediately cut down for his +treachery by Overkirk's orderly. + +The immediate result of this splendid victory, was the acquisition of +nearly all Austrian Flanders--Brussels, Louvain, Mechlin, Alort, +Luise, and nearly all the great towns of Brabant, opened their gates +immediately after. Ghent and Bruges speedily followed the example; and +Daun and Oudenarde also soon declared for the Austrian cause. Of all +the towns in Flanders, Antwerp, Ostend, Nieuport, and Dunkirk alone +held out for the French; and to their reduction the Duke immediately +turned his attention. The public transports in Holland knew no bounds; +they much exceeded what had been felt for the victory of Blenheim, for +that only saved Germany, but this delivered themselves. The wretched +jealousy which had so long thwarted the Duke, as it does every other +really great man, was fairly overpowered in "the electric shock of a +nation's gratitude." In England, the rejoicings were equally +enthusiastic, and a solemn thanksgiving, at which the Queen attended +in person at St Paul's, gave a willing vent to the general +thankfulness. "Faction and the French," as Bolingbroke expressed +it,[11] were all that Marlborough had to fear, and he had fairly +conquered both. But the snake was scotched, not killed, and he +replenished his venom, and prepared future stings even during the roar +of triumphant cannon, and the festive blaze of rejoicing cities.[12] + +The French army, after this terrible defeat, retired in the deepest +dejection towards French Flanders, leaving garrisons in the principal +fortresses which still held out for them. Marlborough made his +triumphant entry into Brussels in great pomp on the 28th May, amidst +the acclamations of the inhabitants. The Three Estates of Brabant +assembled there, acknowledged Charles III. for their sovereign, and +received, in return, a guarantee from the English government and the +States-general, that the _joyeuse entree_, the Magna Charta of +Flanders, should be faithfully observed. "Every where, says +Marlborough, the joy was great at being delivered from the insolence +and exactions of the French." The victory of Ramilies produced no less +effect on the northern courts, where jealousies and lukewarmness had +hitherto proved so pernicious to the common cause. The King of +Prussia, who had hitherto kept aloof, and suspended the march of his +troops, now on the mediation of Marlborough became reconciled to the +Emperor and the States-general; and the Elector of Hanover, forgetting +his apprehensions about the English succession, was among the foremost +to offer his congratulations, and make a tender of his forces to the +now triumphant cause. It is seldom that the prosperous want friends. + +The Dutch were clear, after the submission of Brabant, to levy +contributions in it as a conquered country, to relieve themselves of +part of the expenses of the war; and Godolphin, actuated by the same +short-sighted views, was eager to replenish the English exchequer from +the same source. But Marlborough, like Wellington in after days, had +magnanimity and wisdom enough to see the folly, as well as injustice, +of thus alienating infant allies at the moment of their conversion, +and he combated the project so successfully, that it was +abandoned.[13] At the same time, he preserved the strictest discipline +on the part of his troops, and took every imaginable precaution to +secure the affections and allay the apprehensions of the inhabitants +of the ceded provinces. The good effects of this wise and conciliatory +policy were soon apparent. Without firing a shot, the Allies gained +greater advantages during the remainder of the campaign, than they +could have done by a series of bloody sieges, and the sacrifice of +thirty thousand men. Nor was it less advantageous to the English +general than to the common cause; for it delivered him, for that +season at least, from the thraldom of a council of war, the invariable +resource of a weak, and bane of a lofty mind.[14] + +The Estates of Brabant, assembled at Brussels, sent injunctions to +the governor of Antwerp, Ghent, and all the other fortresses within +their territories, to declare for Charles III., and admit these +troops. The effects of this, coupled with the discipline preserved by +the Allied troops, and the protection from contributions, was +incredible. No sooner were the orders from the States at Brussels +received at Antwerp, than a schism broke out between the French +regiments in the garrison and the Walloon guards, the latter declaring +for Charles III. The approach of Marlborough's army, and the +intelligence of the submission of the other cities of Brabant, brought +matters to a crisis; and after some altercation, it was agreed that +the French troops should march out with the honours of war, and be +escorted to Bouchain, within the frontier of their own country. On the +6th June this magnificent fortress, which it had cost the Prince of +Parma so vast an expenditure of blood and treasure to reduce, and +which Napoleon said was itself worth a kingdom, was gained without +firing a shot. Oudenarde, which had been in vain besieged in the last +war by William III. at the head of sixty thousand men, at the same +time followed the example; and Ghent and Bruges opened their gates. +Flanders, bristling with fortresses, and the possession of which in +the early part of the war had been of such signal service to the +French, was, with the exception of Ostend, Dunkirk, and two or three +smaller places, entirely gained by the consternation produced by a +single battle. Well might Marlborough say, "the consequences of our +victory are almost incredible. A whole country, with so many strong +places, delivered up without the least resistance, shows, not only the +great loss they must have sustained, but likewise the terror and +consternation they are in."[15] + +At this period, Marlborough hoped the war would be speedily brought to +a close, and that a glorious peace would reward his own and his +country's efforts. His thoughts reverted constantly, as his private +correspondence shows, to home, quiet, and domestic happiness. To the +Duchess he wrote at this period--"You are very kind in desiring I +would not expose myself. Be assured, I love you so well, and am so +desirous of ending my days quietly with you, that I shall not venture +myself but when it is absolutely necessary; and I am sure you are so +kind to me, and wish so well to the common cause, that you had rather +see me dead than not do my duty. I am persuaded that this campaign +will bring in a good peace; and I beg of you to do all that you can, +that the house of Woodstock may be carried up as much as possible, +that I may have the prospect of living in it."[16]--But these +anticipations were not destined to be realized; and before he retired +into the vale of years, the hero was destined to drain to the dregs +the cup of envy, jealousy, and ingratitude. + +His first step of importance, after consolidating the important +conquests he had made, and averting the cupidity of the Dutch, which, +by levying contributions on their inhabitants, threatened to endanger +them before they were well secured, was to undertake the siege of +Ostend, the most considerable place in Flanders, which still held out +for the French interest. This place, celebrated for its great +strength, and the long siege of three years which it had withstood +against the Spanish under Spinola, was expected to make a very +protracted resistance; but such was the terror now inspired by +Marlborough's name, that it was reduced much sooner than had been +anticipated. Every preparation had been made for a protracted +resistance. A fleet of nine ships of the line lay off the harbour, and +a formidable besieging train was brought up from Antwerp and Brussels. +Trenches were opened on the 28th June; the counterscarp was blown in +on the 6th July; and the day following, the besieged, after a +fruitless sally, capitulated, and the Flemish part of the garrison +entered the service of the Allies. The garrison was still five +thousand strong, when it surrendered; two ships of the line were +taken in the harbour; and the total loss of the besiegers was only +five hundred men. + +Menin was next besieged, but it made a more protracted resistance. Its +great strength was derived from the means which the governor of the +fortress possessed of flooding at will the immense low plains in which +it is situated. Its fortifications had always been considered as one +of the masterpieces of Vauban; the garrison was ample; and the +governor a man of resolution, who was encouraged to make a vigorous +resistance, by the assurances of succour which he had received from +the French government. In effect, Louis XIV. had made the greatest +efforts to repair the consequences of the disaster at Ramilies. +Marshal Marsin had been detached from the Rhine with eighteen +battalions and fourteen squadrons; and, in addition to that, thirty +battalions and forty squadrons were marching from Alsace. These great +reinforcements, with the addition of nine battalions which were in the +lines on the Dyle when the battle of Ramilies was fought, would, when +all assembled, have raised the French army to one hundred and ten +battalions, and one hundred and forty squadrons--or above one hundred +thousand men; whereas Marlborough, after employing thirty-two +battalions in the siege, could only spare for the covering army about +seventy-two battalions and eighty squadrons. The numerical +superiority, therefore, was very great on the side of the enemy, +especially when the Allies were divided by the necessity of carrying +on the siege; and Villeroi, who had lost the confidence of his men, +had been replaced by the Duke de Vendome, one of the best generals in +the French service, illustrated by his recent victory over the +Imperialists in Italy. He loudly gave out that he would raise the +siege, and approached the covering army closely, as if with that +design. But Marlborough persevered in his design; for, to use his own +words, "The Elector of Bavaria says, he is promised a hundred and ten +battalions, and they are certainly stronger in horse than we. But even +if they had greater numbers, I neither think it is their interest nor +their inclination to venture a battle; for our men are in heart, and +theirs are cowed."[17] + +Considerable difficulties were experienced in the first instance in +getting up the siege equipage, in consequence of the inundations which +were let loose; but a drought having set in, when the blockade began, +in the beginning of August, these obstacles were erelong overcome, and +on the 9th August the besiegers' fire began, while Marlborough took +post at Helchin to cover the siege. On the 18th, the fire of the +breaching batteries had been so effectual, that it was deemed +practicable to make an assault on the covered way. As a determined +resistance was anticipated, the Duke repaired to the spot to +superintend the attack. At seven in the evening, the signal was given +by the explosion of two mines, and the troops, the English in front, +rushed to the assault. They soon cut down the palisades, and, throwing +their grenades before them, erelong got into the covered way; but +there they were exposed to a dreadful fire from two ravelins which +enfiladed it. For two hours they bore it without flinching, labouring +hard to erect barricades, so as to get under cover; which was at +length done, but not before fourteen hundred of the brave assailants +had been struck down. This success, though thus dearly purchased, was +however decisive. The establishment of the besiegers in this important +lodgement, in the heart as it were of their works, so distressed the +enemy, that on the 22d they hoisted the white flag, and capitulated, +still 4300 strong, on the following day. The reduction of this strong +and celebrated fortress gave the most unbounded satisfaction to the +Allies, as it not only materially strengthened the barrier against +France; but having taken place in presence of the Duke de Vendome and +his powerful army, drawn together with such diligence to raise the +siege, it afforded the strongest proof of the superiority they had now +acquired over their enemy in the field.[18] + +Upon the fall of Menin, Vendome collected his troops, and occupied a +position behind the Lys and the Dyle, in order to cover Lille, against +which he supposed the intentions of Marlborough were directed. But he +had another object in view, and immediately sat down before +Dendermonde, still keeping post with his covering army at Helchin, +which barred the access to that fortress. Being situated on the banks +of the Scheldt, it was so completely within the power of the governor +to hinder the approaches of the besiegers, by letting out the waters, +that the King of France said, on hearing they had commenced its +siege--"They must have an army of ducks to take it." An extraordinary +drought at this period, however, which lasted seven weeks, had so +lowered the Scheldt and canals, that the approaches were pushed with +great celerity, and on the 5th September the garrison surrendered at +discretion. Marlborough wrote to Godolphin on this occasion--"The +taking of Dendermonde, making the garrison prisoners of war, was more +than could have been expected; but I saw they were in a consternation. +That place could never have been taken but by the hand of God, which +gave us seven weeks without rain. The rain began the day after we had +taken possession, and continued without intermission for the three +next days."[19] + +Ath was the next object of attack. This small but strong fortress is +of great importance, as lying on the direct road from Mons to Brussels +by Halle; and, in consequence of that circumstance, it was rendered a +fortress of the first order, when the barrier of strongholds, insanely +demolished by Joseph II. before the war of the Revolution, was +restored by the Allies, under the direction of Wellington, after its +termination. Marlborough entrusted the direction of the attack to +Overkirk, while he himself occupied, with the covering army, the +position of Leuze. Vendome's army was so much discouraged that he did +not venture to disturb the operations; but retiring behind the +Scheldt, between Conde and Montagne, contented himself with throwing +strong garrisons into Mons and Charleroi, which he apprehended would +be the next object of attack. The operations of the besiegers against +Ath were pushed with great vigour; and on the 4th October the +garrison, eight hundred strong, all that remained out of two thousand +who manned the works when the siege began, surrendered prisoners of +war. Marlborough was very urgent after this success to undertake the +siege of Mons, which would have completed the conquest of Brabant and +Flanders; but he could not persuade the Dutch authorities to furnish +him with the requisite stores to undertake it.[20] After a parade of +his army in the open field near Cambron, in the hope of drawing +Vendome, who boasted of having one hundred and forty battalions and +one hundred and eighty squadrons at his command, to a battle, in which +he was disappointed, he resigned the command to Overkirk, put the army +into winter quarters, and hastened to Brussels, to commence his +arduous duties of stilling the jealousies and holding together the +discordant powers of the alliance.[21] + +Marlborough was received in the most splendid manner, and with +unbounded demonstrations of joy, at Brussels, not only by the +inconstant populace, but by the deputies of the Three Estates of +Brabant, which were there assembled in regular and permanent +sovereignty. Well might they lavish their demonstrations of respect +and gratitude on the English general; for never in modern times had +more important or glorious events signalized a successful campaign. In +five months the power of France had been so completely broken, and the +towering temper of its inhabitants so lowered, that their best +general, at the head of above a hundred thousand men, did not venture +to measure swords with the Allies, not more than two-thirds of their +numerical strength in the field. By the effects of a single victory, +the whole of Brabant and Flanders, studded with the strongest +fortresses in Europe, each of which, in former wars, had required +months--some, years--for their reduction, had been gained to the +Allied arms. Between those taken on the field of Ramilies, and +subsequently in the besieged fortresses, above twenty thousand men had +been made prisoners, and twice that number lost to the enemy by the +sword, sickness, and desertion; and France now made head against the +Allies in Flanders only by drawing together their forces from all +other quarters, and starving the war in Italy and on the Rhine, as +well as straining every nerve in the interior. This state of almost +frenzied exertion could not last. Already the effects of Marlborough's +triumph at the commencement of the campaign had appeared, in the total +defeat of the French in their lines before Turin, by Prince Eugene, on +the 18th September, and their expulsion from Italy. It was the +reinforcements procured for him, and withheld from his opponents, by +Marlborough, which obtained for him this glorious victory, at which +the English general, with the generosity of true greatness, rejoiced +even more sincerely than he had done in any triumphs of his own;[22] +while Eugene, with equal greatness of mind, was the first to ascribe +his success mainly to the succours sent him by the Duke of +Marlborough.[23] + +But all men are not Marlboroughs or Eugenes: the really great alone +can witness success without envy, or achieve it without selfishness. +In the base herd of ignoble men who profited by the efforts of these +great leaders, the malignant passions were rapidly gaining strength by +the very magnitude of their triumphs. The removal of danger was +producing its usual effect, among the Allies, of reviving jealousy. +Conquest was spreading its invariable discord in the cupidity to share +its fruits. These divisions had early appeared after the battle of +Ramilies, when the Emperor Joseph, as a natural mark of gratitude to +the general who had delivered his people from their oppressors, as +well as from a regard to his own interests, appointed Marlborough to +the general command as viceroy of the Netherlands. The English general +was highly gratified by this mark of confidence and gratitude; and the +appointment was cordially approved of by Queen Anne and the English +cabinet, who without hesitation authorized Marlborough to accept the +proffered dignity. But the Dutch, who had already begun to conceive +projects of ambition by an accession of territory to themselves on the +side of Flanders, evinced such umbrage at this appointment, as tending +to throw the administration of the Netherlands entirely into the hands +of the English and Austrians, that Marlborough had the magnanimity to +solicit permission to decline an honour which threatened to breed +disunion in the alliance.[24] This conduct was as disinterested as it +was patriotic; for the appointments of the government, thus declined +from a desire for the public good, were no less than sixty thousand +pounds a-year. + +Although, however, Marlborough thus renounced this splendid +appointment, yet the court of Vienna were not equally tractable, and +evinced the utmost jealousy at the no longer disguised desire of the +Dutch to gain an accession of territory, and the barrier of which they +were so passionately desirous, at the expense of the Austrian +Netherlands. The project also got wind, and the inhabitants of +Brabant, whom difference of religion and old-established national +rivalry had long alienated from the Dutch, were so much alarmed at the +prospect of being transferred to their hated neighbours, that it at +once cooled their ardour in the cause of the alliance, and went far to +sow the seeds of irrepressible dissension among them. The Emperor, +therefore, again pressed the appointment on Marlborough; but from the +same lofty motives he continued to decline, professing a willingness, +at the same time, to give the Emperor every aid privately in the new +government which was in his power; so that the Emperor was obliged to +give a reluctant consent. Notwithstanding this refusal, the jealousy +of the Dutch was such, that on the revival of a report that the +government had been again confirmed to the Duke of Marlborough, they +were thrown into such a ferment, that in the public congress the +Pensionary could not avoid exclaiming in the presence of the English +ambassador, "Mon Dieu! est-il possible qu'on voudrait faire ce pas +sans notre participation?"[25] + +The French government were soon informed of this jealousy, and of the +open desire of the Dutch for an accession of territory on the side of +Flanders, at the expense of Austria; and they took advantage of it, +early in the summer of 1706, to open a secret negotiation with the +States-general for the conclusion of a separate peace with that +republic. The basis of this accommodation was to be a renunciation by +the Duke of Anjou of his claim to the crown of Spain, upon receiving +an equivalent in Italy: he offered to recognize Anne as Queen of +England, and professed the utmost readiness to secure for the Dutch, +_at the expense of Austria_, that barrier in the Netherlands, to which +he conceived them to be so well entitled. These proposals elated the +Dutch government to such a degree, that they began to take a high +hand, and assume a dictatorial tone at the Hague: and it was the +secret belief that they would, if matters came to extremities, be +supported by France in this exorbitant demand for a slice of Austria, +that made them resist so strenuously the government of the Low +Countries being placed in such firm and vigorous hands as those of +Marlborough. Matters had come to such a pass in October and November +1706, that Godolphin regarded affairs as desperate, and thought the +alliance was on the point of being dissolved.[26] Thus was +Marlborough's usual winter campaign with the confederates rendered +more difficult on this than it had been on any preceding occasion; for +he had now to contend with the consequences of his own success, and +allay the jealousies and stifle the cupidity which had sprung up, out +of the prospect of the magnificent spoil which he himself had laid at +the feet of the Allies. + +But in this dangerous crisis, Marlborough's great diplomatic ability, +consummate address, and thorough devotion to the common good, stood +him in as good stead as his military talents had done him in the +preceding campaign with Villeroi and Vendome. In the beginning of +November, he repaired to the Hague, and though he found the Dutch in +the first instance so extravagant in their ideas of the barrier they +were to obtain, that he despaired of effecting any settlement of the +differences between them and the Emperor;[27] yet he at length +succeeded, though with very great difficulty, in appeasing, for the +time, the jealousies between them and the cabinet of Vienna, and +obtaining a public renewal of the alliance for the prosecution of the +war. The publication of this treaty diffused the utmost satisfaction +among the ministers of the Allied powers assembled at the Hague; and +this was further increased by the breaking off, at the same time, of a +negotiation which had pended for some months between Marlborough and +the Elector of Bavaria, for a separate treaty with that prince, who +had become disgusted with the French alliance. But all Marlborough's +efforts failed to make any adjustment of the disputed matter of the +barrier, on which the Dutch were so obstinately set; and finding them +equally unreasonable and intractable on that subject, he deemed +himself fortunate when he obtained the adjourning of the question, by +the consent of all concerned, till the conclusion of a general peace. + +After the adjustment of this delicate and perilous negotiation, +Marlborough returned to England, where he was received with transports +of exultation by all classes of the people. He was conducted in one of +the royal carriages, amidst a splendid procession of all the nobility +of the kingdom, to Temple Bar, where he was received by the city +authorities, by whom he was feasted in the most magnificent manner at +Vintners' Hall. Thanks were voted to him by both Houses of Parliament; +and when he took his seat in the House of Peers, the Lord Keeper +addressed him in these just and appropriate terms--"What your Grace +has performed in this last campaign has far exceeded all hopes, even +of such as were most affectionate and partial to their country's +interest and glory. The advantages you have gained against the enemy +are of such a nature, so conspicuous in themselves, so undoubtedly +owing to your courage and conduct, so sensibly and universally +beneficial to the whole confederacy, that to attempt to adorn them +with the colouring of words would be vain and inexcusable. Therefore I +decline it, the rather because I should certainly offend that great +modesty which alone can and does add lustre to your actions, and which +in your Grace's example has successfully withstood as great trials, as +that virtue has met with in any instance whatsoever." The House of +Commons passed a similar resolution; and the better to testify the +national gratitude, an annuity of L5000 a-year, charged upon the +Post-Office, was settled upon the Duke and Duchess, and their +descendants male or female; and the dukedom, which stood limited to +heirs-male, was extended also to heirs-female, "in order," as it was +finely expressed, "that England might never be without a title which +might recall the remembrance of so much glory." + +So much glory, however, produced its usual effect in engendering +jealousy in little minds. The Whigs had grown spiteful against that +illustrious pillar of their party; they were tired of hearing him +called the just. Both Godolphin and Marlborough became the objects of +excessive jealousy to their own party; and this, combined with the +rancour of the Tories, who could never forgive his desertion of his +early patron the Duke of York, had well-nigh proved fatal to him when +at the very zenith of his usefulness and popularity. Intrigue was rife +at St James's. Parties were strangely intermixed and disjointed. Some +of the moderate Tories were in power; many covetous Whigs were out of +it. Neither party stood on great public principle, a sure sign of +instability in the national councils, and ultimate neglect of the +national interests. Harley's intrigues had become serious; the prime +minister, Godolphin, had threatened to resign. In this alarming +juncture of domestic affairs, the presence of Marlborough produced its +usual pacifying and benign influence. In a long interview which he had +with the Queen on his first private audience, he settled all +differences; Godolphin was persuaded to withdraw his resignation; the +cabinet was re-constructed on a new and harmonious basis, Harley and +Bolingbroke being the only Tories of any note who remained in power; +and this new peril to the prosecution of the war, and the cause of +European independence, was removed. + +Marlborough's services to England and the cause of European +independence in this campaign, recall one mournful feeling to the +British annalist. All that he had won for his country--all that +Wellington, with still greater difficulty, and amidst yet brighter +glories, regained for it, has been lost. It has been lost, too, not by +the enemies of the nation, but by itself; not by an opposite faction, +but by the very party over whom his own great exploits had shed such +imperishable lustre. Antwerp, the first-fruits of Ramilies--Antwerp, +the last reward of Waterloo--Antwerp, to hold which against England +Napoleon lost his crown, has been abandoned to France! An English +fleet has combined with a French army to wrest from Holland the +barrier of Dutch independence, and the key to the Low Countries. The +barrier so passionately sought by the Dutch has been wrested from +them, and wrested from them by British hands; a revolutionary power +has been placed on the throne of Belgium; Flanders, instead of the +outwork of Europe against France, has become the outwork of France +against Europe. The tricolor flag waves in sight of Bergen-op-Zoom; +within a month after the first European war, the whole coast from +Bayonne to the Texel will be arrayed against Britain! The Whigs of +1832 have undone all that the Whigs of 1706 had done--all that the +glories of 1815 had secured. Such is the way in which nations are +ruined by the blindness of faction. + +[Footnote 1: Continued from No. I., in July 1845, Vol. lviii. p. 1.] + +[Footnote 2: "C'est le retard de toutes les troupes Allemandes qui +derange nos affaires. Je ne saurais vous expliquer la situation ou +nous sommes qu'en vous envoyant les deux lettres ci jointes,--l'une +que je viens de recevoir du Prince de Bade, et l'autre la reponse que +je lui fais. En verite notre etat est plus a plaindre que vous ne +croyez; mais je vous prie que cela n'aille pas outre. _Nous perdons la +plus belle occasion du monde--manque des troupes qui devaient etre ici +il y a deja longtemps._ Pour le reste de l'artillerie Hollandaise, et +les provisions qui peuvent arriver de Mayence, vous les arreterez, +s'il vous plait, pour quelques jours, jusqu'a ce que je vous en +ecrive."--_Marlborough a M. Pesters; Treves, 31 Mai 1705. Despatches_, +II. 60-1.] + +[Footnote 3: Even so late as the 8th June, Marlborough wrote.--"J'ai +d'abord pris poste dans ce camp, ou je me trouve a portee +d'entreprendre la siege de Saar-Louis, si les troupes qui devaient +avoir ete ici il y a quelques jours m'avaient joint. Cependant je n'ai +pas jusqu'ici un seul homme qui ne soit a la solde d'Angleterre ou de +la Hollande. Les troupes de Bade ne peuvent arriver avant le 21 au +plutot; quelques-uns des Prussiens sont encore plus en arriere; et +pour les trois mille chevaux que les princes voisins devaient nous +fournir pour mener l'artillerie et les munitions, et sans quoi il nous +sera impossible d'agir, je n'en ai aucune nouvelle, nonobstant toutes +mes instances. J'ai grand peur meme qu'il n'y ait, a l'heure meme que +je vous ecris celle-ci, des regulations en chemin de la Haye qui +detruiront entierement tous nos projets de ce cote. Cette situation me +donne tant d'inquietude que je ne saurais me dispenser de vous prier +d'en vouloir part a sa Majeste Imperiale."--_Marlborough au Comte de +Wroteslau; Elft, 8 Juin 1705. Despatches_, II. 85.] + +[Footnote 4: "Par ces contretemps tous nos projets de ce cote-ci sont +evanouis, au moins pour le present; et j'espere que V.A. me fera la +justice de croire que j'ai fait tout ce qui a dependu de moi pour les +faire reussir. Si je pouvais avoir l'honneur d'entretenir V.A. pour +une seule heure, je lui dirai bien des choses, par ou elle verrait +combien je suis a plaindre. J'avais 94 escadrons et 72 bataillons, +tous a la solde de l'Angleterre et de la Hollande; de sorte que, si +l'on m'avait seconde nous aurions une des plus glorieuses campagnes +qu'on pouvait souhaiter. Apres un tel traitment, V.A., je suis sur, ne +m'aurait pas blame si j'avais pris la resolution _de ne jamais plus +servir_, comme je ne ferai pas aussi, je vous assure, apres cette +campagne, a moins que de pouvoir prendre des mesures avec l'empereur +sur lesquelles je pourrais entierement me fier."--_Marlborough a +Eugene, 21 Juin 1705. Despatches_, II. 124.] + +[Footnote 5: "It is a justice I owe to the Duke of Marlborough to +state, that the whole honour of the enterprise, executed with so much +skill and courage, is entirely due to him."--_Overkirk to +States-general, 19th July 1705. Coxe_, II. 151.] + +[Footnote 6: "On Wednesday, it was unanimously resolved we should pass +the Dyle, but that afternoon there fell so much rain as rendered it +impracticable; but the fair weather this morning made me determine to +attempt it. Upon this the deputies held a council with all the +generals of Overkirk's army, who have unanimously retracted their +opinions, and declared the passage of the river too dangerous, which +resolution, in my opinion, _will ruin the whole campaign_. They have, +at the same time, proposed to me to attack the French on their left; +but I know they will let that fall also, as soon as they see the +ground. It is very mortifying to meet more obstruction from friends +than from enemies; but that is now the case with me; yet I dare not +show my resentment for fear of alarming the Dutch."--_Marlborough to +Godolphin, 29th July 1705. Coxe_, II. 158.] + +[Footnote 7: Bolingbroke to Marlborough, August 18, 1705. _Coxe_, II. +160.] + +[Footnote 8: Marlborough to the States, Wavre, 19th August 1705. +_Desp._ II. 224.] + +[Footnote 9: Dutch Generals' Mem. _Coxe_, II. 174.] + +[Footnote 10: "Several prisoners whom we have taken, as well as the +deserters, assure us, that they should have made no other defence but +such as might have given them time to draw off their army to Brussels, +where their baggage was already gone. By this you may imagine how I am +vexed, seeing very plainly I am joined with people who will never do +any thing."--_Marlborough to Godolphin, August 24 1705._ + +"M. Overkirk et moi avons d'abord ete reconnaitre les postes que nous +voulions attaquer, et l'armee etant rangee en bataille sur le midi, +nous avions tout d'esperer, avec la benediction du ciel, vu notre +superiorite, et la bonte des troupes, une heuruse journee; mais MM. +les deputes de l'etat ayant voulu consulter leurs generaux, et les +trouvant de differentes sentiments d'avec M. Overkirk et moi, ils +n'ont pas voulu passer outre. De sorte que tout notre dessein, apres +l'avoir mene jusque la, a echoue, et nous avons rebrousse chemin pour +aller commencer la demolition des Lignes, et prendre Leau. Vous pouvez +bien croire, Monsieur, que je suis au desespoir d'etre oblige +d'essuyer encore ce contretemps; mais je vois bien qu'il ne faut pas +plus songer a agir offensivement avec ces messieurs, puisqu' ils ne +veulent rien risquer quand meme ils ont tout l'advantage de leur +cote."--_Marlborough au Comte de Wartenberg, Wavre, 20 Aout 1705. +Despatches_, II. 226.] + +[Footnote 11: "This vast addition of renown which your Grace has +acquired, and the wonderful preservation of your life, are subjects +upon which I can never express a thousandth part of what I feel. +_France and faction are the only enemies England has to fear_, and +your Grace will conquer both; at least, while you beat the French, you +give a strength to the Government which the other dares not contend +with."--_Bolingbroke to Marlborough, May 28, 1706. Coxe_, II. 358.] + +[Footnote 12: "I shall attend the Queen at the thanksgiving on +Thursday next: I assure you I shall do it, from every vein within me, +having scarce any thing else to support either my head or heart. The +_animosity and inveteracy one has to struggle against is +unimaginable_, not to mention the difficulty of obtaining things to be +done that are reasonable, or of satisfying people with reason when +they are done."--_Godolphin to Marlborough, May 24, 1706._] + +[Footnote 13: Duke of Marlborough to Mr Secretary Harley, June 14, +1706.] + +[Footnote 14: "The consequences of this battle are likely to be +greater than that of Blenheim; for we have now the whole summer before +us, and, with the blessing of God, I will make the best use of it. +_For as I have had no council of war before this battle, so I hope to +have none during the whole campaign_; and I think we may make such +work of it as may give the Queen the glory of making a safe and +honourable peace, for the blessing of God is certainly with +us."--_Marlborough to Lord Godolphin, May 27, 1706. Coxe, II. 365._] + +[Footnote 15: Marlborough to Mr Secretary Harley, 3d June 1706. _Desp. +II._ 554.] + +[Footnote 16: Marlborough to Duchess of Marlborough, May 31, 1706.] + +[Footnote 17: Marlborough to Secretary Harley, Helchin, 9th August +1706. _Desp._ III. 69.] + +[Footnote 18: Marlborough to Duke of Savoy, Helchin, 25th August 1706. +_Desp._ III. 101.] + +[Footnote 19: Marlborough to Godolphin, September 4, 1706. _Coxe_, +III. 10.] + +[Footnote 20: "If the Dutch can furnish ammunition for the siege of +Mons, we shall undertake it; for if the weather continues fair, we +shall have it much cheaper this year than the next, when they have had +time to recruit their army. The taking of that town would be a very +great advantage to us for the opening of next campaign, which we must +make if we would bring France to such a peace as will give us quiet +hereafter."--_Marlborough to Godolphin, October 14, 1706. Coxe_, III. +14.] + +[Footnote 21: "M. de Vendome tells his officers he has one hundred and +forty battalions and one hundred and eighty squadrons, and that, if my +Lord Marlborough gives him an opportunity, he will pay him a visit +before this campaign ends. I believe he has neither will nor power to +do it, which we shall see quickly, for we are now camped in so open a +country that if he marches to us we cannot refuse fighting."--_Marlborough +to Lord Godolphin, October 14, 1706. Ibid._] + +[Footnote 22: "I have now received confirmation of the success in +Italy, from the Duke of Savoy and Prince Eugene, and it is impossible +for me to express the joy it has given me; _for I not only esteem, but +really love, that Prince_. This glorious action must bring France so +low, that if our friends can be persuaded to carry on the war one year +longer with vigour, we could not fail, with God's blessing, to have +such a peace as would give us quiet in our days. But the Dutch are at +this time unaccountable."--_Marlborough to the Duchess, Sept. 26, +1706. Coxe_, III. 20, 21.] + +[Footnote 23: "Your highness, I am sure, will rejoice at the signal +advantage which the arms of his Imperial Majesty and the Allies have +gained. _You have had so great a hand in it, by the succours you have +procured_, that you must permit me to thank you again."--_Eugene to +Marlborough, 20th Sept. 1706. Coxe_, III. 20.] + +[Footnote 24: "This appointment by the Emperor has given some +uneasiness in Holland, by thinking that the Emperor has a mind to put +the power in this country into the Queen's hands, in order that they +may have nothing to do with it. If I should find the same thing by the +Pensionary, and that nothing can cure this jealousy but my desiring to +be excused from accepting this commission, I hope the Queen will allow +of it; for the advantage and honour I have by this commission is _very +insignificant in comparison of the fatal consequences that might be if +it should cause a jealousy between the two nations_. And though the +appointments of this government are sixty thousand pounds a-year, I +shall with pleasure excuse myself, since I am convinced it is for her +service, if the States should not make it their request, which they +are very far from doing."--_Marlborough to Godolphin, July 1 and 8, +1706. Coxe_, III. 391, 393.] + +[Footnote 25: Mr Stepney to Duke of Marlborough, _Hague, Jan. 4, 1707. +Coxe_, II. 407.] + +[Footnote 26: "Lord Somers has shown me a long letter which he has had +from the Pensionary, very intent _upon settling the barrier_. The +inclinations of the Dutch are so violent and plain, that I am of +opinion nothing will be able to prevent their taking effect but our +being as plain with them upon the same subject, and threatening to +publish to the whole world the terms for which they solicit."--_Lord +Godolphin to Marlborough_, Oct. 24, 1706. Coxe, III. 74.] + +[Footnote 27: "My inclinations will lead me to stay as little as +possible at the Hague, though the Pensionary tells me I must stay to +finish the succession treaty and their barrier, which, should I stay +the whole winter, I am very confident would not be brought to +perfection. For they are of so many minds, and are all so very +extravagant about their barrier, that I despair of doing any thing +good till they are more reasonable, which they will not be till they +see that they have it not in their power to dispose of the whole Low +Countries at their will and pleasure, in which the French flatter +them."--_Marlborough to Godolphin, Oct. 29, 1706. Coxe_, III. 79.] + + + + +THE STUDENT OF SALAMANCA. + +PART II. + + "Por estas montanas, + Facciosos siguiendo, + Vamos defendiendo + La Constitucion." + + _Himno de Navarra._ + + +Rarely had the alameda of the picturesque old town of Logrono +presented a gayer or more brilliant appearance than on a certain July +evening of the year 1834. The day had been sultry in the extreme, and +the sun was touching the horizon before the fair Riojanas ventured to +quit their artificially darkened rooms, and the cool shelter of their +well-screened _miradores_, for the customary promenade. It was +pleasant, certainly, in those sombre apartments, and beneath those +thick awnings, which excluded each ray of sun, although they did not +prevent what little breeze there was from circulating freely between +the heavy stone balustrades or quaintly moulded iron-work of the +spacious balconies, rustling the leaves and blossoms of the +orange-trees, and wafting their fragrance to the languid beauties who +sat dozing, chatting, or love-making within. But if the _farniente_ +and languor induced by the almost tropical heat, were so agreeable as +to tempt to their longer indulgence, on the other hand the _paseo_, +that indispensable termination to a Spaniard's day, had, upon the +evening in question, peculiar attractions for the inhabitants of +Logrono, and especially for their fairer portion. Within the preceding +three days, a body of troops, in number nearly twenty thousand men, a +large portion of them the pick and flower of the Spanish army, had +been concentrated at Logrono, whence, under the command of Rodil--a +general of high reputation--they were to advance into Navarre, and +exterminate the daring rebels, who, for some months past, had +disturbed the peace of Spain. All had been noise and movement in the +town during those three days; every stable full of horses, every house +crowded with soldiers; artillery and baggage-waggons encumbering the +squares and suburbs; the streets resounding with the harsh clang of +trumpets and monotonous beat of drums; muleteers loading and unloading +their beasts; commissaries bustling about for rations; beplumed and +embroidered staff-officers galloping to and fro with orders; the clash +of arms and tramp of horses in the barrack-yards; the clatter of +wine-cups, joyous song, and merry tinkle of the guitar, from the +various wine-houses in which the light-hearted soldiery were snatching +a moment of enjoyment in the intervals of duty;--such were a few of +the sights and sounds which for the time animated and gave importance +to the usually quiet town of Logrono. Towards evening, the throng and +bustle within the town diminished, and were transferred to the +pleasant walks around it, and especially to the shady and +flower-bordered avenues of the alameda. Thither repaired the proud and +graceful beauties of Castile and Navarre, their raven locks but +partially veiled by the fascinating mantilla, their dark and lustrous +eyes flashing coquettish glances upon the gay officers who accompanied +or hovered around them. Every variety of uniform was there to be seen; +all was blaze, and glitter, and brilliancy; the smart trappings of +these fresh troops had not yet been tattered and tarnished amidst the +hardships of mountain warfare. The showy hussar, the elegant lancer, +the helmeted dragoon, aides-de-camp with their cocked-hats and blue +sashes, crossed and mingled in the crowd that filled the alameda, at +either end of which a band of music was playing the beautiful and +spirit-stirring national airs of Spain. On the one hand arose the +dingy masses of the houses of Logrono, speckled with the lights that +issued from their open casements, their outline distinctly defined +against the rapidly darkening sky; on the other side was a wide +extent of corn-field, intersected and varied by rows and clusters of +trees, amongst the branches of which, and over the waving surface of +the corn, innumerable fire-flies darted and sparkled. Here, a group of +soldiers and country girls danced a bolero to the music of a guitar +and tambourine; there, another party was collected round an Andalusian +ballad-singer, of whose patriotic ditties "_la Libertad_" and "_la +inocente Isabel_" were the usual themes. In a third place, a few +inveterate gamblers--as what Spanish soldiers are not?--had stretched +themselves upon the grass in a circle, and by the flickering light of +a broken lantern, or of a candle stuck in the earth, were playing a +game at cards for their day's pay, or for any thing else they might +chance to possess. On all sides, ragged, bare-footed boys ran about, +carrying pieces of lighted rope in their hands, the end of which they +occasionally dashed against the ground, causing a shower of sparks to +fly out, whilst they recommended themselves to the custom of the +cigar-smokers by loud cries of "_Fuego! Buen fuego! Quien quiere +fuego?_" + +At few of the young officers, who, on the evening referred to, paraded +the alameda of Logrono, was the artillery of eyes and fan more +frequently levelled by the love-breathing beauties there assembled, +than at Luis Herrera, who, in the uniform of the cavalry regiment to +which he now belonged, was present upon the paseo. But for him fans +waved and bright eyes sparkled in vain. He was deeply engaged in +conversation with Mariano Torres, who, having recently obtained a +commission in the same corps with his friend, had arrived that evening +to join it. The two young men had parted soon after the death of Don +Manuel Herrera, and had not met since. One of Mariano's first +questions concerned the Villabuenas. + +"The count went to France some months ago, I believe," replied Luis, +dryly. + +"Yes," said Torres, "so I heard, and took his daughter with him. But I +thought it probable that he might have returned in the train of his +self-styled sovereign. He is capable of any folly, I should imagine, +since he was mad enough to sacrifice his fine fortune and position in +the country by joining in this absurd rebellion. You of course know +that he has been declared a traitor, and that his estates have been +confiscated?" + +Luis nodded assent. + +"Well, in some respects the count's losses may prove a gain to you," +continued Torres, pursuing the train of his own thoughts, and not +observing that the subject he had started was a painful one to his +friend. "When we have put an end to the war, in a month or two at +furthest, you can go to France, and obtain his consent to your +marriage with his daughter. In the present state of his fortunes he +will hardly refuse it; and you may then return to Spain, and make +interest for your father-in-law's pardon." + +"I am by no means certain," said Herrera, "that the war will be over +so soon as you imagine. But you will oblige me, Mariano, by not +speaking of this again. My engagement with Rita is long at an end, and +not likely ever to be renewed. It was a dream, a vision of happiness +not destined to be realized, and I endeavour to forget it. I myself +put an end to it; and not under present circumstances, perhaps under +none, should I think myself justified in seeking its renewal. Let us +talk of something else--of the future if you will, but not of the +past." + +The hours passed by Luis beside Don Manuel's death-bed, had witnessed +a violent revolution in his feelings and character. Devotedly attached +to his father, who had been the sole friend, almost the only +companion, of his boyhood, the fiercer passions of Herrera's nature +were awakened into sudden and violent action by his untimely fate. A +burning desire of revenge on the unscrupulous faction to which the +persecution, exile, and cruel death of Don Manuel were to be +attributed, took possession of him; and in order to gratify this +desire, and at the same time to fulfil the solemn pledge he had given +to his dying parent, he felt himself at the moment capable of +sacrificing even his love for Rita. No sooner was the mournful +ceremony of the interment over, than he wrote to Villabuena, informing +him, in a few stern words, how those who professed like him to be the +defenders of religion and legitimacy, had enacted the part of +assassins and incendiaries, and shed his father's blood upon his own +threshold. This communication he considered to be, without further +comment, a sufficient reply to the proposition made to him by the +count a few days previously. At the same time--and this was by far the +most difficult part of his self-imposed task--he addressed a letter to +Rita, releasing her from her engagement. He felt, he told her, that, +by so doing, he renounced all his fondest hopes; but were he to act +otherwise, and at once violate his oath, and forego his revenge, he +should despise himself, and deserve her contempt. He implored her to +forget their ill-fated attachment, for his own misery would be +endurable only when he knew that he had not compromised her happiness. + +Scarcely had he dispatched these letters, written under a state of +excitement almost amounting to frenzy, when Herrera, in pursuance of a +previously formed plan, and as if to stifle the regrets which a forced +and painful determination occasioned him, hastened to join as a +volunteer the nearest Christino column. It was one commanded by +General Lorenzo, then operating against Santos Ladron and the +Navarrese Carlists. In several skirmishes Herrera signalized himself +by the intrepidity and fury with which he fought. Ladron was taken and +shot, and Lorenzo marched to form the advanced guard of a strong +division which, under the command of Sarsfield, was rapidly nearing +the scene of the insurrection. On the mere approach of the Christino +army, the battalions of Castilian Realistas, which formed, numerically +speaking, an important part of the forces then under arms for Don +Carlos, disbanded themselves and fled to their homes. Sarsfield +continued his movement northwards, took possession, after trifling +resistance, of Logrono, Vittoria, Bilboa, and other towns occupied by +the Carlists; and, after a few insignificant skirmishes, succeeded in +dispersing and disarming the whole of the insurgents in the three +Basque provinces. A handful of badly armed and undisciplined Navarrese +peasants were all that now kept the field for Charles V., and of the +rapid capture or destruction of these, the sanguine Christinos +entertained no doubt. The principal strength of the Carlists was +broken; their arms were taken away; the majority of the officers who +had joined, and of the men of note and influence in the country who +had declared for them, had been compelled to cross the Pyrenees. But +the tenacious courage and hardihood of the Navarrese insurgents, and +the military skill of the man who commanded them, baffled the +unceasing pursuit kept up by the Queen's generals. During the whole of +the winter the Carlists lived like wolves in the mountains, surrounded +by ice and snow, cheerfully supporting the most incredible hardships +and privations. Nay, even under such disadvantageous circumstances, +their numbers increased, and their discipline improved; and when the +spring came they presented the appearance, not of a band of robbers, +as their opponents had hitherto designated them, but of a body of +regular troops, hardy and well organized, devoted to their general, +and enthusiastic for the cause they defended. Their rapid movements, +their bravery and success in several well-contested skirmishes, some +of which almost deserved the name of regular actions, the surprise of +various Christino posts and convoys, the consistency, in short, which +the war was taking, began seriously to alarm the Queen's government; +and the formidable preparations made by the latter for a campaign +against the Carlists, were a tacit acknowledgment that Spain was in a +state of civil war. + +In the wild and beautiful valley of the Lower Amezcoa, in the +_merindad_ or district of Estella, a large body of Christino troops +was assembled on the fifteenth day after Rodil's entrance into +Navarre. The numerous forces which that general found under his +command, after uniting the troops he had brought with him with those +already in the province, had enabled him to adopt a system of +occupation, the most effectual, it was believed, for putting an end to +the war. In pursuance of this plan, he established military lines of +communication between the different towns of Navarre and Alava, +garrisoned and fortified the principal villages, and having in this +manner disseminated a considerable portion of his army through the +insurgent districts, he commenced, with a column of ten thousand men +that remained at his disposal, a movement through the mountainous +regions, to which, upon his approach, the Carlists had retired. His +object was the double one of attacking and destroying their army, and, +if possible, of seizing the person of Don Carlos, who but a few days +previously had arrived in Spain. The heat of the weather was +remarkable, even for that usually sultry season; the troops had had a +long and fatiguing march over the rugged sierra of Urbasa; and Rodil, +either with a view of giving them rest, or with some intention of +garrisoning the villages scattered about the valley, which had +hitherto been one of the chief haunts of the Carlists, had come to a +halt in the Lower Amezcoa. + +It was two in the afternoon, and, notwithstanding the presence of so +large a body of men, all was stillness and repose in the valley. The +troops had arrived that morning, and after taking up their cantonments +in the various villages and hamlets, had sought refuge from the +overpowering heat. In the houses, the shutters of which were carefully +closed to exclude the importunate sunbeams, in the barns and stables, +under the shadow cast by balconies or projecting eaves, and along the +banks of the stream which traverses the valley, and is noted in the +surrounding country for the crystal clearness and extreme coldness of +its waters, the soldiers were lying, their uniforms unbuttoned, the +stiff leathern stock thrown aside, enjoying the mid-day slumber, which +the temperature and their recent fatigue rendered doubly acceptable. +Here and there, at a short distance from the villages, and further +off, near the different roads and passes that give access to the +valley through or over the gigantic mountain-wall by which it is +encircled, the sun flashed upon the polished bayonets and +musket-barrels of the pickets. The men were lying beside their piled +arms, or had crept under some neighbouring bush to indulge in the +universal _siesta_; and even the sentries seemed almost to sleep as +they paced lazily up and down, or stood leaning upon their muskets, +keeping but a drowsy watch and careless look-out for an enemy whose +proximity was neither to be anticipated nor dreaded by a force so +superior to any which he could get together. + +Such was the scene that presented itself to one who, having approached +the valley from the south, and ascended the mountains that bound it on +that side, now contemplated from their summit the inactivity of its +occupants. He was a man of the middle height, but appearing rather +shorter, from a slight stoop in the shoulders; his age was between +forty and fifty years, his aspect grave and thoughtful. His features +were regular, his eyes clear and penetrating, a strong dark mustache +covered his upper lip and joined his whisker, which was allowed to +extend but little below the ear. His dress consisted of a plain blue +frock, girt at the waist by a belt of black leather, to which a sabre +was suspended, and his head was covered with a _boina_, or flat cap, +of the description commonly worn in the neighbourhood of the Pyrenees, +woven in one piece of fine scarlet wool, and decorated with a _borla_, +or tassel of gold cord, spreading like a star over the crown of the +head. In his hand he held a telescope, which he rested on the top of a +fragment of rock, and through which he attentively noted what passed +in the valley below. The case of the field-glass was slung across his +body by a strap, and, upon inspection, a name would have been found +stamped upon its leathern surface. It was that of Tomas +Zumalacarregui. + +A short distance in rear of the Carlist leader, and so posted as not +to be visible from the valley, stood a little group of officers, and +persons in civilian garb, and a few orderlies, one of whom held the +general's horse. Behind, a battalion of infantry was drawn up--fine, +muscular, active fellows, inured to every hardship, and as indifferent +to the scorching heat to which they were now exposed, as they had been +to the bitter cold in the mountains amongst which they had passed the +preceding winter. Their appearance was not very uniform in its +details; short jackets, loose trousers, and sandals, composed the +dress of most of them--one well adapted to long marches and active +movements--and they all wore caps similar to those of the officers, +but of a blue colour, and coarser material. A second battalion of +these hardy guerillas was advancing with light and elastic step up the +rugged and difficult path; and this was followed by two others, which, +as fast as they arrived, were formed up by their officers in the best +manner that the uneven nature of the ground would admit. Half a dozen +mules, laden with ammunition, brought up the rear. When the four +battalions, consisting together of nearly three thousand men, were +assembled on the summit of the mountain, the arms were piled, and the +soldiers allowed to sit down or repose themselves as they chose from +the fatigues of their long and wearisome ascent, and of a march that +had lasted from early dawn. + +The mountain upon which these troops were now stationed was less +precipitous upon its inner side than most of those that surrounded the +valley. It shelved gradually downwards, broken here and there by +ravines, its partially wooded slopes forming a succession of terraces, +which extended right and left for a distance of more than a mile. At +the foot of these slopes, and immediately below the spot occupied by +the Carlists, a low hill ran off at right angles from the higher +range, projecting into the valley as a promontory does into the sea. +With the exception of the side furthest from the mountains, which +consisted of pasture land, the base and skirts of this hill were +covered with oak and chestnut, and upon the clearing on its summit +stood a shepherd's hut, whence was commanded a view of a considerable +extent of the face of the sierra, as well as of the entrance of a +neighbouring pass that led out of the valley in the direction of +Estella. At this hut a Christino picket was stationed, to which, when +the Carlist chief had completed his general survey of the valley, his +attention became more particularly directed. The outpost consisted of +about thirty men, little, brown-complexioned, monkey-faced creatures +from the southern provinces, who, sunk in fancied security and in the +indolence natural to them, were neglecting their duty to an extent +which might seriously have compromised the safety of the Christino +army, had it depended upon their vigilance. The majority of them were +lying asleep in and around the picket-house, which was situated on one +side of the platform, within fifty yards of the trees. Of the three +sentinels, one had seated himself on a stone, with his musket between +his knees, and, having unbuttoned the loose grey coat that hung like a +sack about his wizened carcass, was busily engaged in seeking, between +his shirt and his skin, for certain companions whom he had perhaps +picked up in his quarters of the previous night, and by whose presence +about his person he seemed to be but moderately gratified. One of the +other two sentries had wandered away from the post assigned to him, +and approached his remaining comrade, with the charitable view of +dividing with him a small quantity of tobacco, which the two were now +deliberately manufacturing into paper cigars, beguiling the time as +they did so by sundry guardroom jokes and witticisms. + +An almost imperceptible smile of contempt curled the lip of +Zumalacarregui as he observed the unmilitary negligence apparent in +the advanced post of the Christinos. It was exchanged for a proud and +well-pleased glance when he turned round and saw his gallant Navarrese +awaiting in eager suspense a signal to advance upon the enemy, whom +they knew to be close at hand. Zumalacarregui walked towards the +nearest battalion, and on his approach the men darted from their +various sitting and reclining postures, and stood ready to seize their +muskets, and fall into their places. Their chief nodded his +approbation of their alacrity, but intimated to them, by a motion of +his hand, that the time for action was not yet come. + +"_Paciencia, muchachos!_" said he. "Patience, you will not have long +to wait. Refresh yourselves, men, whilst the time is given you. +Captain Landa!" cried he, raising his voice. + +The officer commanding the light company of the battalion stepped +forward, and, halting at a short distance from his general, stood +motionless, with his hand to his cap, awaiting orders. + +"Come with me, Landa," said Zumalacarregui; and, taking the officer's +arm, he led him to the spot whence he had been observing the valley, +and pointed to the Christino picket. + +"Take your company," said he, "and fetch me those sleepy fellows here; +without firing a shot if it be possible." + +The officer returned to his men, and, forming them up with all speed, +marched them off at a rapid pace. When they had disappeared amongst +the rocks, Zumalacarregui turned to the chief of his staff. + +"Colonel Gomez," said he, "take the third and fourth battalions, and +move them half a mile to our left, keeping them well out of sight. We +are not strong enough to attack in the plain, but we shall perhaps get +our friends to meet us in the mountain." + +Gomez--a tall, portly man, of inexpressive countenance, and whose +accent, when he spoke, betrayed the Andalusian--proceeded to execute +the orders he had received, and Zumalacarregui once more resumed his +post of observation. + +The carelessness of the Christino picket, and the practice which the +Carlists had already had in a warfare of stratagem and surprise, +enabled the company of light infantry to execute, with great facility, +the instructions they had received. The young ensign who commanded the +outpost was walking listlessly along the edge of the wood, cursing the +wearisome duty entrusted to him, and referring to his watch to see how +far still the hour of relief was off, when he was suddenly struck to +the ground by a blow from a musket-butt, and before he could attempt +to rise, the point of a bayonet was at his throat. At the same instant +three score long-legged Navarrese dashed from under cover of the wood, +bayoneted the sentinels, surrounded the picket-house, and made +prisoners of the picket. The surprise was complete; not a shot had +been fired, and all had passed with so little noise that it appeared +probable the _coup-de-main_ would only become known to the Christinos +when the time arrived for relieving the outposts. + +A trifling oversight, however, on the part of the Carlists, caused +things to pass differently. A soldier belonging to the picket, and who +was sleeping amongst the long grass, just within the wood, had escaped +all notice. The noise of the scuffle awoke him; but on perceiving how +matters stood, he prudently remained in his hiding-place till the +Carlists, having collected the arms and ammunition of their prisoners, +began to reascend the mountain. At a distance of three hundred yards +he fired at them, and then scampered off in the contrary direction. +His bullet took no effect, and the retreating guerillas, seeing how +great a start he had, allowed him to escape unpursued. But the report +of his musket spread the alarm. The pickets right and left of the one +that had been surprised, saw the Carlists winding their way up the +mountain; the vedettes fired, and the drums beat to arms. The alarm +spread rapidly from one end of the valley to the other, and every part +of it was in an instant swarming with men. Dragoons saddled and +artillery harnessed; infantry formed up by battalions and brigades; +generals and aides-de-camp dashed about hurrying the movements of the +troops, and asking the whereabouts of the enemy. This information they +soon obtained. No sooner was the alarm given, than Zumalacarregui, +relying upon the tried courage of his soldiers, and on the advantage +of his position, which must render the enemy's cavalry useless, and +greatly diminish the effect of the artillery, put himself at the head +of his two battalions, and rapidly descended the mountain, dispatching +an officer after Gomez with orders for a similar movement on his part. +Before the Carlists reached the plain, the Christinos quartered in the +nearest village advanced to meet them, and a smart skirmish began. + +Distributed along the clifts and terraces of the mountain, kneeling +amongst the bushes and sheltered behind the trees that grew at its +base, the Carlists kept up a steady fire, which was warmly replied to +by their antagonists. In the most exposed situations, the Carlist +officers of all ranks, from the ensign to the general, showed +themselves, encouraging their men, urging them to take good aim, and +not to fire till they could distinguish the faces of their enemies, +themselves sometimes taking up a dead man's musket and sending a few +well-directed shots amongst the Christinos. Here a man was seen +binding the sash, which forms part of the dress of every Navarrese +peasant, over a wound that was not of sufficient importance to send +him to the rear; in another place a guerilla replenished his scanty +stock of ammunition from the cartridge-belt of a fallen comrade, and +sprang forward, to meet perhaps, the next moment, a similar fate. On +the side of the Christinos there was less appearance of enthusiasm and +ardour for the fight; but their numbers were far superior, and each +moment increased, and some light guns and howitzers that had been +brought up began to scatter shot and shell amongst the Carlists, +although the manner in which the latter were sheltered amongst wood +and rock, prevented those missiles from doing them very material +injury. The fight was hottest around the hill on which the picket had +been stationed, now the most advanced point of the Carlist line. It +was held by a battalion, which, dispersed amongst the trees that +fringed its sides, opposed a fierce resistance to the assaults of the +Christinos. At last the latter, weary of the protracted skirmishing, +by which they lost many men, but were unable to obtain any material +advantage, sent forward two battalions of the royal guards to take the +hill at the point of the bayonet. With their bugles playing a lively +march, these troops, the finest infantry in the Spanish army, advanced +in admirable order, and without firing a shot, to perform the duty +assigned to them. On their approach the Carlists retreated from the +sides of the hill, and assembled in the wood on its summit, at the +foot of the higher mountains. One battalion of the guards ascended the +hill in line, and advanced along the open ground, whilst the other +marched round the skirt of the eminence to take the Carlists in flank. +The Navarrese reserved their fire till they saw the former battalion +within fifty yards of them, and then poured in a deadly volley. The +ranks of the Christinos were thinned, but they closed them again, and, +with levelled bayonets and quickened step, advanced to clear the wood, +little expecting that the newly-raised troops opposed to them would +venture to meet them at close quarters. The event, however, proved +that they had undervalued their antagonists. Emerging from their +shelter, the Carlists brought their bayonets to the charge, and, with +a ringing shout of "_Viva Carlos Quinto!_" rushed upon their foe. A +griding clash of steel and a shrill cry of agony bore witness to the +fury of the encounter. The loss on both sides was severe, but the +advantage remained with the Carlists. The guards, unprepared for so +obstinate a resistance, were borne back several paces, and thrown into +some confusion. But the victors had no time to follow up their +advantage, for the other Christino battalion had entered the wood, and +was advancing rapidly upon their flank. Hastily collecting their +wounded, the Carlists retired, still fighting, to the higher ground in +their rear. At the same moment Zumalacarregui, observing a body of +fresh troops making a movement upon his right, as if with the +intention of outflanking him, ordered the retreat to be sounded, and +the Carlist line retired slowly up the mountains. Some of Rodil's +battalions followed, and the skirmishing was kept up with more or less +spirit till an end was put to it by the arrival of night. + +From the commencement of the fight, several squadrons of the Queen's +cavalry had remained drawn up near a village in which they had their +quarters, at about a mile from the left of the Carlists. A short +distance in front of the line, a number of officers had collected +together, and were observing the progress of the combat, in which the +impracticability of the ground for horsemen prevented them from taking +a share. There was considerable grumbling, especially amongst the +juniors, at the inactivity to which they found themselves condemned. + +"If this is the kind of fighting we are always to have," said a young +cornet sulkily, "they might as well have left us in our garrisons. We +were a deuced deal more comfortable, and quite as useful, in our snug +quarters at Valladolid. The faction, it is well known, have no +cavalry, and you will not catch their infernal guerillas coming down +into the plain to be sabred at leisure." + +"No," said another subaltern, "but they are forming cavalry, it is +said. Besides, we may catch their infantry napping some day, as they +did our picket just now." + +"Pshaw!" replied the first speaker. "Before that time comes every +horse in the brigade will be lame or sore-backed, and we ourselves +shall be converted into infantry men. All respect for lance and +sabre--but curse me if I would not rather turn foot-soldier at once, +than have to crawl over these mountains as we have done for the last +fortnight, dragging our horses after us by the bridle. For six hours +yesterday did I flounder over ground that was never meant to be trod +by any but bears or izards, breaking my spurs and shins, whilst my +poor nag here was rubbing the skin off his legs against rocks and +tree-stumps. When I entered the cavalry I expected my horse would +carry me; but if this goes on, it is much more likely I shall have to +carry him." + +"A nice set of fellows you are," said an old grey-mustached captain, +"to be grumbling before you have been a month in the field. Wait a +bit, my boys, till your own flesh and your horses' have been taken +down by hard marching and short commons, and until, if you mount a +hill, you are obliged to hold on by the mane, lest the saddle should +slip back over the lean ribs of your charger. The marches you have as +yet seen are but child's play to what you _will_ see before the +campaign is over." + +"Then hang me if I don't join the footpads," returned the dissatisfied +cornet. "At any rate one would have a little fighting then--a chance +of a broken head or t'other epaulet; and that is better than carrying +a sabre one never has to draw. Why, the very mules cannot keep their +footing amongst these mountains. Ask our quartermaster, whom I saw +yesterday craning over the edge of a precipice, and watching two of +his beasts of burden which were going down hill a deal quicker than +they had come up--their legs in the air, and the sacks of corn upon +their backs hastening their descent to some ravine or other, where the +crows no doubt at the present moment are picking their bones. You +should have heard old Skinflint swear. I thought he would have thrown +the muleteer after the mules. And they call this a country for +cavalry!" + +"I certainly fear," said Herrera, who had been listening to the +colloquy, "that as long as the war is confined to these provinces, +cavalry will not be very often wanted." + +"And if they were not here, they would be wanted immediately," said a +field-officer, who was observing the skirmish through a telescope. +"Besides, you young gentlemen have less cause for discontent than any +body else. There may be no opportunity for brilliant charges, but +there is always work for a subaltern's party, in the way of cutting +off detachments, or some such _coup-de-main_. I see a group of fellows +yonder who will get themselves into trouble if they do not take care." + +All eyes and glasses turned towards the direction in which the major +was looking. It was the hottest moment of the fight; by their +impetuosity and courage the Carlists were keeping at bay the superior +numbers of their antagonists; and on their extreme left, a small party +of horsemen, consisting of four or five officers and a dozen lancers, +had ventured to advance a short distance into the plain. They had +halted at the edge of a _manzanal_, or cider orchard; and although +some way in advance of their own line, they were at a considerable +distance from any Christino troops; whilst a tolerably good path, +which led up the least precipitous part of the mountains in their +rear, seemed to ensure them an easy retreat whenever it might become +necessary. So confident were they of their safety, that the officers +had dismounted, and were observing the Christino reserves, and the +various bodies of infantry which were advancing from the more distant +cantonments. At this moment the officer commanding the cavalry rode up +to the spot where Herrera and his comrades were assembled. + +"Major Gonzalez," said he, "send half a troop to cut off those +gentlemen who are reconnoitring. Let the party file off to the rear, +or their intention will be perceived." + +The subalterns belonging to the squadron under command of Gonzalez, +pressed round him, eager to be chosen for the duty that was to vary +the monotony and inaction of which they had so recently been +complaining. + +"Herrera," said the major, "you have most practice in this sort of +thing. Take thirty men and march them back into the village, out on +the other side, and round that rising ground upon our right. There is +plenty of cover, and if you make the most of it, the game cannot +escape. And, a hint to you--your fellows generally grind their sabres +pretty sharp, I know, and you are not fond of encumbering yourself +with prisoners; but yonder party, judging from their appearance, may +be men of note amongst the rebels, worth more alive than dead. Bring +them in with whole skins if you can. As to the fellows with the red +and white lance-flags, I leave them entirely at your discretion." + +"I shall observe your orders, major," replied Herrera, whose eyes +sparkled at the prospect of a brush with the enemy. "Sergeant +Velasquez, tell off thirty men from the left of the troop." + +The non-commissioned officer, who was introduced to the reader at the +commencement of this narrative, and who now found himself, in +consequence of a change of regiment, in the same squadron as Herrera, +obeyed the order he had received, and the party marched leisurely into +the village. No sooner, however, had they entered the narrow street, +and were concealed from the view of those whom they intended to +surprise, than their pace was altered to a brisk trot, which became a +hand-gallop when they got into the fields beyond the rising ground +referred to by the major. They then struck into a hollow road, +sheltered by bush-crowned banks, and finally reached the long narrow +strip of apple-orchard, at the further angle of which the group of +Carlists was posted. Skirting the plantation on the reverse side to +the enemy, they arrived at its extremity, and wheeling to the left, +cantered on in line, their sabre scabbards hooked up to their belts to +diminish the clatter, the noise of their horses' feet inaudible upon +the grass and fern over which they rode. "Charge!" shouted Herrera, as +they reached the second angle of the orchard; and with a loud hurra +and brandished sabres, the dragoons dashed down upon the little party +of Carlists, now within a hundred paces of them. The dismounted +officers hurried to their horses, and the lancers hastily faced about +to resist the charge; but before they could complete the movement, +they were sabred and ridden over. Herrera, mindful of the orders he +had received, hurried to protect the officers from a similar fate. One +of the latter, who had his back turned to Herrera, and who, although +he wore a sword by his side, was dressed in plain clothes, was in the +very act of getting into the saddle, when a dragoon aimed a furious +cut at his head. Herrera was in time to parry the blow, and as he did +so, the person whose life he had saved, turned round and disclosed the +well-known features of the Conde de Villabuena. + +"Senor Conde!" exclaimed the astonished Luis, "I am grieved"---- + +"It is unnecessary, sir," said the count, coldly. "You are obeying +orders, I presume, and doing what you consider your duty. Am I to be +shot here, or taken to your chief?" + +"It is much against my will," answered Herrera, "that I constrain you +in any way. I am compelled to conduct you to General Rodil." + +The count made no reply, but, turning his horse's head in the +direction of the Christino camp, rode moodily onwards, followed, +rather then accompanied, by his captor. A Carlist officer and three +members of the rebel junta were the other prisoners. The lancers had +all been cut to pieces. + +The position in which Herrera now found himself was in the highest +degree embarrassing and painful. Old affection and friendship were +revived by the sight of the count; and, had he obeyed his first +impulse, he would frankly have expressed his sorrow at the chance +which had thrown Villabuena into the hands of his foes, and have said +what he could to console him under his misfortune. But the count's +manner was so haughty and repulsive, and he so studiously avoided +recognising in Luis any thing more than an opponent and a captor, that +the words of kindness froze upon the young man's tongue, and during +the few minutes that were required to rejoin the regiment, the silence +remained unbroken. On reaching the spot where the cavalry was still +halted, the detachment was received with loud congratulations on the +successful issue of the expedition. + +"Cleverly managed, Senor Herrera!" said the colonel; "and the +prisoners are of importance. Take them yourself to the general." + +In obedience to this order, Herrera moved off to the part of the field +in which Rodil, surrounded by a numerous and brilliant staff, had +taken his post. + +"Ha!" said the general, when the young officer had made his report, +his quick eye glancing at the prisoners, some of whom were known to +him by sight. "Ha! you have done well, sir, and your conduct shall be +favourably reported at Madrid. The Marquis of Torralva and Count +Villabuena--an important capture this. Your name, sir--and yours, and +yours?" said he sharply to the other prisoners. + +The answers visibly increased his satisfaction. They were all men well +known as zealous and influential partizans of the Pretender. Rodil +paused an instant, and then turned to one of his aides-de-camp. + +"A priest and a firing party," said he. "You have half an hour to +prepare for death," he added, addressing the prisoners. "Rebels taken +with arms in their hands can expect no greater favour." + +Herrera felt a cold chill come over him as he heard this order given +for the instant execution of a man whom he had so long regarded as his +friend and benefactor. Forgetting, in the agitation of the moment, his +own subordinate position, and the impropriety of his interference, he +was about to address the general, and petition for the life of +Villabuena, when he was saved from the commission of a breach of +discipline by the interposition of a third party. A young man in the +uniform of a general officer, of sallow complexion and handsome +countenance, who was stationed upon Rodil's right hand, moved his +horse nearer to that of the general, and spoke a few words to him in a +low tone of voice. Rodil seemed to listen with attention, and to +reflect a moment before replying. + +"You are right, Cordova," said he; "they may be worth keeping as +hostages; and I will delay their death till I can communicate with her +Majesty's government. Let them be strictly guarded, and sent to-morrow +to Pampeluna under good escort. Your name, sir?" said he, turning to +Herrera. + +Herrera told his name and regiment. + +"Luis Herrera," repeated Rodil; "I have heard it before, as that of a +brave and promising officer. Well, sir, since you have taken these +prisoners, you shall keep them. Yourself and a detachment of your +squadron will form part of their escort to Pampeluna." + +The flattering words of his general went but a short way towards +reconciling Luis to the unpleasant task of escorting his former friend +to a captivity which would in all probability find its termination in +a violent death. With a heavy heart he saw Villabuena and the other +prisoners led off to the house that was to serve as their place of +confinement for the night; and still more painful were his feelings, +when he thought of Rita's grief on receiving intelligence of her +father's peril, perhaps of his execution. In order to alleviate to the +utmost of his power the present position of the count, he recommended +him to the care of the officer placed on guard over him, who promised +to allow his prisoner every indulgence consistent with his safe +keeping. And although the escort duty assigned to him was in some +respects so unpleasant to fulfil, Herrera became almost reconciled to +it by the reflection, that he might be able to spare Villabuena much +of the hardship and rough treatment to which his captivity exposed +him. + +The first grey light of morning had scarcely appeared in the Lower +Amezcoa, stealing over the mountain-tops, and indistinctly shadowing +forth the objects in the plain, when the stillness that had reigned in +the valley since the conclusion of the preceding day's skirmish, was +broken by the loud and joyous clang of the reveille. At various points +of the Christino cantonments, the brazen instruments of the cavalry, +and the more numerous, but perhaps less martially sounding, bands of +the infantry regiments, were rousing the drowsy soldiers from their +slumbers, and awakening the surrounding echoes by the wild melody of +Riego's hymn. Gradually the sky grew brighter, the last lingering +stars disappeared, the summits of the western mountains were +illuminated with a golden flush, and the banks and billows of white +mist that rested on the meadows, and hung upon the hillsides, began to +melt away and disappear at the approach of the sun's rays. In the +fields and on the roads near the different villages, the troops were +seen assembling, the men silent and heavy-eyed, but refreshed and +invigorated by the night's repose, the horses champing their bits, and +neighing with impatience. Trains of mules, laden with sacks of corn +and rations, that from their weight might be deemed sufficient load +for as many dromedaries, issued from barn and stable, expending their +superfluous strength and spirit by kicking and biting viciously at +each other, and were ranged in rear of the troops, where also carts +and litters, containing wounded men, awaited the order for departure. +The sergeant-majors called the roll of their troops and companies; +whilst the men, leaning upon their muskets, or sitting at ease in +their saddles, munched fragments of the brown ration bread, smoked the +cigarette, or received from the hands of the tawny-visaged sutlers and +_cantinieras_, who walked up and down the ranks, an antidote to the +effects of the cool morning air, in the shape of a glass of +_aguardiente_. When all preparations were completed, and the time +necessary for the forming up of so numerous a body of men had elapsed, +the order to march was given, and the troops moved off in a southerly +direction. + +Whilst this general movement took place, a detachment, consisting of +four companies of infantry, and fifty dragoons, separated itself from +the main body, and took the road to Pampeluna, whither it was to +escort Count Villabuena and his fellow captives. The country to the +north-east of the Amezcoa, through which they would have to pass, was +known to be free from Carlists, with the exception of unimportant +parties of armed peasants; Rodil himself had gone in pursuit of +Zumalacarregui, who had retired in the same direction whence he had +approached the valley; and therefore this escort, although so few in +number, was deemed amply sufficient to convey the prisoners in all +safety to their destination, to which one long day's march would bring +them. The detachment was commanded by a major of infantry--a young man +who had acquired what military experience he possessed in the ease and +sloth of a garrison life, during which, however, thanks to certain +influential recommendations, he had found promotion come so quickly +that he had not the same reason with many of his comrades to be +satisfied with the more active and dangerous service to which he had +recently been called. Inwardly congratulating himself on the change +which his present duty ensured him from the hardships of bivouacs and +bad quarters to at least a day or two's enjoyment of the fleshpots of +Pampeluna, he rode gaily along at the head of the escort, chatting and +laughing with his second in command. Behind him came Herrera and his +dragoons, and in rear of them the prisoners, on either side of whom +marched foot-soldiers with fixed bayonets. The body of infantry +brought up the rear. Strict orders had been given against conversing +with the captives; and Herrera was compelled, therefore, to abandon +the intention he had formed of endeavouring to break down the barrier +of cold reserve within which Count Villabuena had fenced himself, and +of offering such assistance and comfort as it was in his power to +give. He was forced to be contented with keeping near the prisoners, +in order to protect them from any abuse or ill-treatment on the part +of the soldiery. + +For some hours the march continued without incident or novelty to vary +its monotony. There was no high-road in the direction the escort was +taking; the way, which was shown them by a peasant, led through +country lanes, over hills, and across fields, as nearly in a straight +line as the rugged and mountainous nature of the country would allow. +Towards noon, the heat, endurable enough during the first hours of the +morning, became excessive. The musket barrels and sabre scabbards +almost burned the fingers that touched them; the coats of the horses +were caked with sweat and dust; and the men went panting along, +looking out eagerly, but in vain, for some roadside fountain or +streamlet, at which to quench the thirst that parched their mouths. +They had reached a beaten road, which, although rough and neglected, +yet afforded a better footing than they had hitherto had, when such +means of refreshment at last presented themselves. It was near the +entrance of a sort of defile formed by two irregular lines of low +hills, closing in the road, which was fringed with patches of trees +and brushwood, and with huge masses of rock that seemed to have been +placed there by the hands of the Titans, or to have rolled thither +during some mighty convulsion of nature from the distant ranges of +mountains. At a short distance from this pass, there bubbled forth +from under a moss-grown block of granite a clear and sparkling +rivulet, which, overflowing the margin of the basin it had formed for +itself, rippled across the road, and entered the opposite fields. Here +a five minutes' halt was called, the men were allowed to quit their +ranks, and in an instant they were kneeling by scores along the side +of the little stream, collecting the water in canteens and +foraging-caps, and washing their hands and faces in the pure element. +The much-needed refreshment taken, the march was resumed. + +Notwithstanding that the pass through which the prisoners and their +escort were now advancing was nearly a mile in length, and in many +places admirably adapted for a surprise, the officer in command, +either through ignorance or over-confidence, neglected the usual +precaution of sending scouts along the hills that on either side +commanded the road. This negligence struck Herrera, who knew by +experience, that, with such active and wily foes as the Carlists, no +precaution could be dispensed with, however superfluous it might seem. +Scarcely had the troops entered the defile when he suggested to the +major the propriety of sending out skirmishers to beat the thickets +and guard against an ambuscade. + +"Quite unnecessary, sir," was the reply. "There is no rebel force in +this part of the country that would venture to come within a league of +us." + +"So we are told," said Herrera; "but I have had occasion to see that +one must not always rely on such assurances." + +"I shall do so, nevertheless, in this instance," said the major. "We +have a long march before us, and if I fag the men by sending them +clambering over hills and rocks, I shall lose half of them by +straggling, and perhaps not reach Pampeluna to-night." + +"If you will allow me," said Herrera, "I will send a few of my +dragoons to do the duty. They will hardly be so effective as infantry +for such a service, but it will be better than leaving our flanks +entirely unguarded." + +"I have already told you, sir," replied the major testily, "that I +consider such precaution overstrained and unnecessary. I believe, +Lieutenant Herrera, that it is I who command this detachment." + +Thus rebuked, Herrera desisted from his remonstrances, and fell back +into his place. The march continued in all security through the wild +and dangerous defile; the men, refreshed by their momentary halt, +tramping briskly along, chattering, smoking, and singing snatches of +soldier's songs. It appeared as if the negligence of the major was +likely to be justified, as far as it could be, by the result; for they +were now within two hundred yards of the extremity of the pass, and in +view of the open country. The defile was each moment widening, and +the space between the road and the hills was filled up with a wood of +young beech and oak. Herrera himself, who had each moment been +expecting to receive a volley from some ambushed foe, was beginning to +think the danger over, when a man dressed in red uniform, with a +scarlet cap upon his head, and mounted on a white horse, suddenly +appeared at the end of the pass, and tossing his lance, which he +carried at the trail, into his bridle hand, put a trumpet that was +slung round his neck, to his mouth, and blew a loud and startling +blast. The signal, for such it was, did not long remain unanswered. A +hoarse wild shout issued from the wood on either side of the road, and +a volley of musketry resounded through the pass. In an instant the +hills were alive with Carlist soldiers, some reloading the muskets +they had just fired, others taking aim at the Christinos, or fixing +their bayonets in preparation for a closer encounter. Another minute +had scarcely elapsed, when a strong squadron of cavalry, which the +trumpeter had preceded, dashed out of the fields at the extremity of +the pass, formed column upon the road, and levelling their long light +lances, advanced, led on by Zumalacarregui himself, to charge the +astonished Christinos. + +Extreme was the confusion into which the escort was thrown by this +attack, so totally unexpected by every body but Herrera. All was +bewilderment and terror; the men stood staring at each other, or at +their dead and wounded comrades, without even thinking of defending +themselves. This state of stupefaction lasted, however, but a second; +and then the soldiers, without waiting for orders, turned back to +back, and facing the points where the Carlists had stationed +themselves, returned their fire with all the vigour and promptness +which desperation could give. The major--a really brave man, but quite +unequal to an emergency of this nature--knew not what orders to give, +or how to extricate himself and his men from the scrape into which his +own headstrong imprudence had brought them. Foreseeing no possibility +of escape from an enemy who, in numbers and advantage of position, so +far overmatched him, his next thought regarded the prisoners, and he +galloped hastily back to where they stood. The Carlists had probably +received orders concerning them; for neither they nor their immediate +escort had suffered injury from the volley that had played such havoc +with the main body of the detachment. + +"Fire on the prisoners!" shouted the major. + +The guard round Villabuena and his fellow-captives stared at their +officer without obeying. Some of them were reloading, and the others +apparently did not comprehend the strange order. + +"Fire, I say!" repeated the commandant. "By the holy cross! if we are +to leave our bones here, theirs shall whiten beside them." + +More than one musket was already turned in the direction of the doomed +captives, when Herrera, who, at the moment that he was about to lead +his dragoons to the encounter of the Carlist cavalry, just then +appearing on the road, had overheard the furious exclamation of his +superior, came galloping back to the rescue. + +"Stop!" shouted he, striking up the muzzles of the muskets. "You have +no warrant for such cruelty." + +"Traitor!" screamed the major, almost breathless with rage, and +raising his sword to make a cut at Herrera. Before, however, he could +give force to the blow, his eyes rolled frightfully, his feet left the +stirrups, and, dropping his weapon, he fell headlong into the dust. A +Carlist bullet had pierced his heart. + +"Fire at your foes, and not at defenceless prisoners," said Herrera +sternly to the dismayed soldiers. "Remember that your lives shall +answer for those of these men." + +And again placing himself at the head of the cavalry, he led them to +meet Zumalacarregui and his lancers, who were already charging down +upon them. + +But the few seconds that had been occupied in saving Villabuena and +his companions from the slaughter, had made all the difference in the +chances of success. Could Herrera have charged, as he had been about +to do, before the Carlists formed up and advanced, he might, in all +probability, owing to the greater skill of his men in the use of +their weapons, and to the superiority of their horses, have broken and +sabred his opponents, and opened the road for the Christino infantry. +Once in the plain, where the dragoons could act with advantage, the +Carlists might have been kept at bay, and a retreat effected. Now, +however, the state of affairs was very different. The lancers, with +Zumalacarregui and several of his staff charging at their head like +mere subalterns, came thundering along the road, and before Herrera +could get his dragoons into full career, the shock took place. In an +instant the way was blocked up with a confused mass of men and horses. +The rear files of the contending cavalry, unable immediately to check +their speed, pushed forward those in front, or forced them off the +road upon the strip of broken ground and brushwood on either side; +friends and foes were mingled together, cutting, thrusting, swearing, +and shouting. But the dragoons, besides encountering the lances of the +hostile cavalry, suffered terribly from the fire of the foot-soldiers, +who came down to the side of the road, blazing at them from within a +few paces, and even thrusting them off their horses with the bayonet. +In so confused a struggle, and against such odds, the superior +discipline and skill of the Christinos was of small avail. Herrera, +who, at the first moment of the encounter, had crossed swords with +Zumalacarregui himself, but who the next instant had been separated +from him by the melee, fought like a lion, till his right arm was +disabled by a lance-thrust. The soldier who had wounded him was about +to repeat the blow, when a Carlist officer interfered to save him. He +was made prisoner, and his men, discouraged by his loss, and reduced +already to little more than a third of their original numbers, threw +down their arms and asked for quarter. Their example was immediately +followed by those of the infantry who had escaped alive from the +murderous volleys of their opponents. + +Of all those who took part in this bloody conflict, not one bore +himself more gallantly, or did more execution amongst the enemy, than +our old acquaintance, Sergeant Velasquez. When the charge had taken +place, and the desperate fight above described commenced, he backed +his horse off the narrow road upon which the combatants were cooped +up, into a sort of nook formed by a bank and some trees. In this +advantageous position, his rear and flanks protected, he kept off all +who attacked him, replying with laugh and jeer to the furious oaths +and imprecations of his baffled antagonists. His fierce and determined +aspect, and still more the long and powerful sweep of his broad sabre, +struck terror into his assailants, who found their best aimed blows +and most furious assaults repelled, and returned with fatal effect by +the practised arm of the dragoon. At the moment that Herrera was +wounded, and the fight brought to a close, the mass of combatants had +pressed further forward into the defile, and only three or four of the +rearmost of the Carlists occupied the portion of the pass between +Velasquez and the open country. Just then a shout in his rear, and a +bullet that pierced his shako, warned the sergeant that the infantry +were upon him; and at the same moment he saw his comrades desist from +their defence. Setting spurs to his charger, he made the animal bound +forward upon the road, clove the shoulder of the nearest lancer, rode +over another, and passing unhurt through the rain of bullets that +whistled around him, galloped out of the defile. + +But, although unwounded, Velasquez was not unpursued. A dozen lancers +spurred their horses after him; and although more than half of these, +seeing that they had no chance of overtaking the well-mounted +fugitive, soon pulled up and retraced their steps, three or four still +persevered in the chase. Fortunate was it for the sergeant that the +good horse which he had lost at the venta near Tudela, had been +replaced by one of equal speed and mettle. With unabated swiftness he +scoured along the road through the whirlwind of dust raised by his +charger's feet, until the Carlists, seeing the distance between them +and the object of their pursuit rapidly increasing, gradually +abandoned the race. One man alone continued stanch, and seemed not +unlikely to overtake the dragoon. This was no other than the +sergeant's former opponent in the ball-court, Paco the muleteer, now +converted into a Carlist lancer, and who, his sharp-rowelled spurs +goring his horse's sides, his lance in his hand, his body bent forward +as though he would fain have outstripped in his eagerness the speed of +the animal he bestrode, dashed onward with headlong and reckless +violence. His lean and raw-boned but swift and vigorous horse, +scarcely felt the light weight of its rider; whilst Velasquez' +charger, in addition to the solid bulk of the dragoon, was encumbered +with a well-filled valise and heavy trappings. The distance between +pursued and pursuer was rapidly diminishing; and the sergeant, hearing +the clatter of hoofs each moment drawing nearer, looked over his +shoulder to see by how many of his enemies he was so obstinately +followed. Paco immediately recognised him, and with a shout of +exultation again drove the rowels into his horse's belly. + +"_Halto! traidor! infame!_" yelled the ex-muleteer. "Stop, coward, and +meet your death like a man!" + +His invitation was not long disregarded. Velasquez, having ascertained +that he had but a single pursuer, and that pursuer a man to whom he +owed a grudge and was by no means sorry to give a lesson, pulled up +his horse and confronted Paco, who, nothing daunted, came tearing +along, waving his lance above his head like a mad Cossack, and +shouting imprecations and defiance. As he came up, Velasquez, who had +steadily awaited his charge, parried the furious thrust that was aimed +at him, and at the same time, by a movement of leg and rein which he +had often practised in the _manege_, caused his horse to bound aside. +Unable immediately to check his steed, Paco passed onwards; but as he +did so, Velasquez dealt him a back-handed blow of his sabre, and the +unlucky Carlist fell bleeding and senseless from the saddle. His +horse, terrified at its rider's fall, galloped wildly across the +country. + +"That makes the half-dozen," said the sergeant coolly, as he looked +down on his prostrate foe; "if every one of us had done as much, the +day's work would have been better." + +And sheathing his sabre, he resumed, but at a more moderate pace, the +flight which had for a moment been interrupted. + + + + +WHITE'S THREE YEARS IN CONSTANTINOPLE. + + +The title of "_Domestic_ Manners of the Turks,"[28] given to the +volumes before us, can scarcely be considered as a correct +designation; since it is not in the privacy of their own families, in +their harems and among their children, (scenes in which it would +indeed be rash to challenge comparison with the eloquent author of the +_Spirit of the East_,) that Mr White has depicted the Turks of the +present day: but rather in the places "where men most do +congregate"--in the _bezestans_ and _tcharshys_ or markets, commonly +called bazars:[29] in the exercise of the various trades and callings, +and the intercourse of professional and commercial relations. The work +is rather a treatise on the corporate bodies and municipal +institutions of Constantinople--a subject hitherto almost untouched by +European writers, and in the investigation of which Mr White has +diligently availed himself of the opportunities afforded him by the +liberal spirit which the events of late years have fostered among the +Turks. The results of these researches are now laid before us, in a +form which, though perhaps not the most popular which might have been +adopted, is not ill calculated to embrace the vast variety of subjects +included in the range of the author's observations. Taking the +bezestans and markets--the focus of business and commerce to which the +various classes of the Stamboul population converge--as the +ground-work of his lucubrations, Mr White proceeds to enumerate in +detail the various trades and handicrafts carried on within the +precincts of these great national marts, the articles therein sold, +and the guilds or incorporated companies, to many of which extensive +privileges have been granted by the sultans for their services to the +state. These topics are diversified by numerous digressions on +politics, religion, criminal law, the imperial harem, the language of +flowers--in short, _de omnibus rebus et quibusdam aliis_--in the +course of which Mr White gives his readers the benefit of all the +miscellaneous information which has fallen in his way during his three +years' residence among the Osmanlis. Of a work so diffuse in its +nature, it is impossible to give more than an outline; and +accordingly, omitting all mention of those subjects which have been +rendered tolerably familiar to European readers by the narratives of +former travellers, we shall select from these "orient pearls," strung +most literally "at random," such topics as possess most novelty, or on +which Mr White has imparted some novel information. + +The space of ground occupied by the two great bezestans--the jewel or +arms' bezestan, and the silk bezestan--with the surrounding +_tcharshys_, and other buildings appropriated to trade, forms an +irregular quadrangle of about three hundred and fifty square yards, to +the north of the Mosque of Sultan Bajazet, and west of that of +Noor-Osmanya. "The bezestans originally consisted of isolated +buildings, each with four gates opening nearly to the cardinal points, +which were, and still are, designated after the trades carried on in +booths around or beneath their respective porches. By degrees new +shops, alleys, and enclosures clustered around the original depots, +until the whole were enclosed within walls, arched, roofed, and +provided with lock-up gates and posterns, of which there are twelve +large and about twenty small. They were then subjected to the same +syndical laws that regulate the police and administration of the +parent buildings." They are opened soon after dawn, and closed at +afternoon prayer; and the same regulations are observed at the _Missr +Tcharshy_, or Egyptian drug-market, hereafter to be noticed. The +jewel bezestan alone shuts at mid-day--the former occupants having +been principally janissaries, who held it beneath their dignity to +keep their shops open all day; on Fridays they are closed; and, during +Ramazan, are open only from mid-day to afternoon prayer. The silk +bezestan, being tenanted only by Armenians, is closed on Sundays, and +the saints' days of their calendar, amounting to nearly a fourth of +the year. "With the exception of the two bezestans, the bazars are not +surmounted by domes, the distinctive ornament of almost all public +edifices; ... so that the whole surface, when seen from the Serasker's +Tower, presents a vast area of tiles, without any architectural +relief, and exhibits a monotonous vacuum in the midst of the +surrounding noble mosques and lofty khans." + +The Jewel or Arms' Bezestan (Djevahir or Silah-Bezestany) is the +oldest of these establishments, dating from the time of the conquest +by Mahommed II.; but, having been repeatedly destroyed by fire, the +present edifice of stone was constructed in 1708. It is a lofty oblong +quadrangular building, with fifteen cupolas and four arched gates--the +booksellers', the goldsmiths', the mercers', and the beltmakers'. The +interior consists of a broad alley, intersected by four transverse +alleys with double rows of shops, where the dealers, who are all +Moslems, sit on platforms raised about three feet and a half from the +pavement. They constitute a guild among themselves, presided over by a +sheikh, with a deputy and six elders; and are so highly esteemed for +their probity, that valuable deposits are frequently left in their +charge by persons going on pilgrimage or to distant countries; but +this privilege has lately been interfered with by government, which +has claimed, in failure of heirs, the reversions which formerly fell +to the guild. "It would be an endless task to describe the articles +exposed to sale in Djevahir-Bezestany, which, from jewels being rarely +sold there at present, might be more appropriately called the bezestan +of antiquities." The principal objects of attraction, especially to +foreigners, are the arms, to which Mr White accordingly confines his +remarks: but the once famed Damascus sabres (called _Sham_ or Syrian) +are now held as inferior to those of Khorassan and Persia, (_Taban_ or +polished,) unless anterior to the destruction of the old manufactory +by Timour in 1400; and those of this ancient fabric are now of extreme +rarity and value. "A full-sized Khorassan, or ancient Damascus sabre, +should measure about thirty-five inches from guard to point; the back +should be free from flaws, the watering even and distinct throughout +the whole length: the colour a bluish grey. A perfect sabre should +possess what the Turks call the Kirk Merdevend, (forty gradations:) +that is, the blade should consist of forty compartments of watered +circles, diminishing in diameter as they reach the point. A tolerable +_taban_ of this kind, with plain scabbard and horn handle, is not +easily purchased for less than 2000 piastres; some fetch as much as +5000, and when recognised as extraordinary, there is no limit to the +price. Damascus sabres made prior to 1600 are seldom seen, but modern +blades of less pure temper and lighter colour are common. Their form +is nearly similar to the Khorassan; but the latter, when of +extraordinary temper, will cut through the former like a knife through +a bean-stalk." The shorter swords of bright steel called _pala_, +watered not in circles, but in waving lines, are mostly from the +manufactory established at Stamboul by Mahommed II. soon after the +conquest, and which maintained its celebrity up to the time of Mourad +IV., the last sultan who headed his armies in person:--"After his +death, the fashion of wearing Khorassan and old Syrian blades was +revived: and the Stamboul manufactory was gradually neglected." + +It is needless to follow Mr White through his dissertations on +handjars, yataghans, and other Oriental varieties of cold steel; but +passing through the booksellers' (Sahhaf) gate of the bezestan, we +find ourselves in the Paternoster Row of Stamboul--a short space +exclusively inhabited by the trade from which the gate derives its +name. The booksellers' guild consists of about forty members, presided +over by a sheikh and a council of elders; and is conducted on +principles as rigidly exclusive as those of some corporations nearer +home, it being almost impossible for any one to purchase the good-will +of a shop, unless connected by blood with some of the fraternity: but +Mr White's account of "the trade," and of the bearded Murrays and +Colburns by whom it is carried on, is far from favourable. Competition +being excluded by this monopoly, the prices demanded are so +exorbitant, "that it is common to say of a close-fisted dealer, 'he is +worse than a sahhaf.' The booksellers' stalls are the meanest in +appearance in all the bazars; and the effendy, who lord it over the +literary treasures, are the least prepossessing, and by no means the +most obliging, of the crafts within this vast emporium." There are +some exceptions, however, to this sweeping censure. Suleiman Effendi, +father of the imperial historiographer, Sheikh-Zadeh Assad Effendi, is +celebrated as a philologist; and Hadji-Effendi, though blind, "appears +as expert in discovering the merits of a MS. or printed work as the +most eagle-eyed of his contemporaries, and is moreover full of +literary and scientific information." Catalogues are unknown, and the +price even of printed books, after they have passed out of the hands +of the editor, is perfectly arbitrary; but the commonest printed books +are double the relative rate in Europe. The value of MSS. of course +depends on their rarity and beauty of transcription; a finely +illuminated Koran cannot be procured for less than 5000 or 6000 +piastres, and those written by celebrated caligraphers fetch from +25,000 to even 50,000. Mr White estimates the average number of +volumes on a stall at about 700, or less than 30,000 in the whole +bazar; but among these are frequently found works of great rarity in +the "three languages," (Arabic, Persian, and Turkish.) Of those most +in request, a catalogue is given, comprising the usual range of +Oriental literature. + +There are about forty public libraries in Constantinople, but many of +these are within the principal mosques, and therefore not easily +accessible to Europeans. They are all endowed with ample funds for +their maintenance and the salaries of their librarians, who frequently +add considerably to their emoluments by transcribing MSS:--"but it +does not appear that these funds are employed in adding to these +collections; so that in point of numbers they remain nearly as when +first founded." Each library has not only a simple nomenclature, but a +_catalogue raisonnee_ containing a summary of each work; and the +books, most of which are transcribed on vellum or highly glazed paper, +are bound in the manner of a tuck pocket-book, in dark morocco or +calf, with the titles written on the outside of the margin, and are +laid on their sides on the shelves. The floors are covered with mats, +and on one or more sides are low divans for the use of the students, +who leave their slippers at the door; a narrow desk in front of the +divans supports the volumes in use. Neither fire, candle, nor smoking, +is permitted; and the libraries in general are open daily, except on +Friday, and during Ramazan and the two Beirams, from about 9 A.M. to +afternoon prayer; those present at the time of mid-day prayer, quit +their studies and perform their devotions in common. + +Many of the most valuable and costly of the illuminated MSS. are in +the two libraries of the seraglio, the larger of which, containing at +present 4400 volumes, is the most extensive collection of books in +Constantinople: but they can scarcely be reckoned among the public +libraries, as admission to them is obtained with difficulty, and only +by special permission, even by Moslems. Besides the MSS. in the great +seraglio library, among the most valuable of which is a magnificent +copy of the Arabic poem of Antar, and another of the Gulistan, the +great moral poem of Saadi, there is a canvass genealogical tree, +containing portraits of all the sovereigns of the house of Osman, from +originals preserved in the sultan's private library. Next in +importance is the library of the mosque of Aya Sofia (St Sophia,) +founded by Mohammed the Conqueror, which is rich in valuable MSS. and +contains a Koran said to have been written by the hand of the Khalif +Ali, the son-in-law of the Prophet: another attributed to the same +source, as well as one ascribed to the Khalif Omar, are in the library +of Osman III., attached to the beautiful mosque of Noor-Osmanya. But +the most interesting of the public libraries, though the number of its +volumes does not exceed sixteen hundred, is that of the grand-vizir +Raghib Pasha, a celebrated patron of learning in the middle of the +last century. It stands in an enclosed court, which also contains a +free school, fountains, and the monuments of the founder and his +family. The library itself is a lofty square chamber, with a central +dome and four semi-domes, supported by marble columns, and round the +apartment "runs a complete and most correct version of the celebrated +Boorda of the poet Keab," (a poem composed in honour of Mohammed by an +Arab contemporary,) "in gold letters, fourteen inches long, on a green +ground, forming an original and brilliant embellishment." Its contents +include some of the richest and rarest specimens of Persian and Arabic +caligraphy; and the founder's note-book, with a copy of his divan, +(poetical works,) is also exhibited: "the former proves that he was +not unaccomplished as a draughtsman and architect.... There is a +lightness and elegance in this building which renders it superior to +all others: but he survived its foundation only three years. His +remains are deposited in the north-east angle of the court, on an +elevated terrace, beneath open marble canopy, protected by a wirework +trellis. This, with the roses and myrtles, and the figs, vines, +pomegranates, and cypresses, that cast their shade around, gives it +the appearance of a noble aviary, more than that of a repository for +the dead: and the doves that nestle in the overhanging branches, and +fill the air with their querulous notes, add to the delusion." + +The total number of volumes in all the public libraries is believed +not to exceed 75,000, of which at least a fourth are duplicates; "it +must be remembered, however, that, with a few modern exceptions, the +whole are MSS. admirably transcribed, elaborately embellished: and +thus, taking one volume with another, the sums paid for each work far +exceed the average price of rare printed editions in Europe." Besides +these stores of Oriental lore, the library of the medical academy +established by Mahmood II. in the palace of Galata Serai, contains +several hundred volumes of the best French medical works, which the +professors are allowed to carry to their own apartments--a privilege +not allowed in any other library. The art of printing was first +introduced in 1726, by a Hungarian renegade named Ibrahim, (known as +_Basmadji_, or the printer,) who was patronised by the Sultan Achmet +III;--but the establishment languished after his death; and though +revived in 1784 by Sultan Abdoul Hamid, it was only after the +destruction of the janissaries, the enemies of every innovation, that +the press began to exhibit any thing like activity. At present there +are four imperial printing establishments; and the types, which were +formerly cast in Venice, being now manufactured in Stamboul, a marked +improvement has taken place in the character. Though the Koran, and +all religious and doctrinal works, are still transcribed exclusively +by hand, the art of printing is regarded with great jealousy by the +booksellers, who hold that "presses are made from the calcined wood of +Al-Zacum, the dread tree of the lowest pit; while transcribers have +their seats near the gate of the seventh heaven." The newspaper press +of Stamboul is still in its infancy--for though the _Takwim_, or +_Moniteur Ottoman_, established in 1831 by Mahmood II. as an official +gazette, was conducted with considerable ability by the original +editor, M. Blaque, and his successor M. Francesschi, the sudden death +of both these gentlemen, within a short period of each other, awakened +strong suspicions of foul play; and the French translation, published +for European circulation, has since sunk into a mere transcript of the +Turkish original, which consists of little but official announcements. +Several attempts made, by Mr Churchill and others, to establish a +non-official paper for the advocacy of Turkish interests, have been +smothered after a brief existence, by the jealousy of Russia and +France: "the result is, that the _Moniteur_ is a dull court-circular, +and the Smyrna journals, abandoned to chance communications, are +neither prompt nor exact in circulating or detailing events."[30] + +The spread of literary cultivation among the Turks of the present day, +and the European education which many of the rising generation have +received, has naturally led to a taste for European literature; and +many possess libraries stored not only with the lore of the East, but +with the choicest treasures of the French and English classics. Ali +Effendi, late ambassador from the Porte to the court of St James's, is +well known to have collected a most extensive and valuable library +during his residence in the regions of the West; and Mr White +enumerates several young Osmanlis distinguished for their +accomplishments in the literature and science of the Franks. Emin +Pasha, the director of the Imperial Military Academy, and Bekir Pasha, +late superintendent of the small-arm manufactory at Dolma-Baktchi, +were both educated in England, the latter at Woolwich and the former +at Cambridge, where he gained a prize for his mathematical +attainments. Fouad Effendi, son of the celebrated poet Izzet-Mollah, +and himself a poet of no small note, "possesses a choice library of +some 2000 volumes, in French, English, and Italian;" and Derwish +Effendi, professor of natural history in the academy of Galata Serai, +"has studied in France and England, and is not less esteemed for his +knowledge than for his modesty." But foremost among this _Tugenbund_, +the future hopes of Turkey, stands one whose name has already appeared +in the pages of _Maga_, (Sept. 1841, p. 304,) Achmet Wekif Effendi, +now third dragoman to the Porte, and son of Rouh-ed-deen Effendi, late +Secretary of Legation at Vienna, whom Mr White pronounces, with +justice, "one of the most rising and enlightened young men of the +Turkish empire. His knowledge of the French language is perfect, and +he adds to this an intimate acquaintance with the literature of that +country and of England." While men like these (and we could add other +names to those enumerated by Mr White, from our personal knowledge) +are in training for the future administration of the empire, there is +yet hope of the regeneration of the Osmanli nation. + +In no country is primary instruction more general than in Turkey. Each +of the smaller mosques has attached to it an elementary school, +superintended by the imam, where the children of the lower classes are +taught to read and write, and to repeat the Koran by heart; while +those intended for the liberal professions undergo a long and +laborious course of study at the medressehs or colleges of the great +mosques, some of which are intended to train youth in general +literature, or qualify them for government employments, while others +are devoted to the study of theology and jurisprudence. Mr White +states the number of students in Stamboul, in 1843, at not less than +5000, all of whom were lodged, instructed, and furnished with one meal +a-day, at the expense of the _wakoof_ or foundation, (a term which we +shall hereafter more fully explain,) all their other expenses being at +their own charge; but "the sallow complexions and exhausted appearance +of these young men indicate intense labour, or most limited commons." + +After thus successfully vindicating the Turks from the charge so often +brought against them by travellers who have only spent a few weeks at +Pera, of ignorance and indifference to knowledge, Mr White thus sums +up the general question of education. "For ten men that _can_ read +among Perotes and Fanariotes, there are an equal number that _do_ read +at Constantinople; and, taking the mass of the better classes +indiscriminately, it will be found also that there are more libraries +of useful books in Turkish houses than in those of Greeks and +Armenians." And though "the number of Turkish ladies that can read is +much less than those of Pera and the Fanar, those who can read among +the former never open a bad book; while among the latter there is +scarcely one that ever reads a good work, unless it be the catechism +or breviary on certain forced occasions. And while neither Greek nor +Armenian women occupy themselves with literature, Constantinople can +boast of more than one female author. Among the most celebrated of +these is Laila Khanum, niece to the above-mentioned Izzet-Mollah. Her +poems are principally satirical, and she is held in great dread by her +sex, who tremble at her cutting pen. Her _divan_ (collection of poems) +has been printed, and amounts to three volumes. Laila Khanum is also +famed for her songs, which are set to music, and highly popular. +Hassena Khanum, wife of the Hakim Bashy, (chief physician,) is +likewise renowned for the purity and elegance of her style as a +letter-writer, which entitles her to the appellation of the Turkish +Sevigne." + +But we must again diverge, in following Mr White's desultory steps, +from the Turkish fair ones--whom he has so satisfactorily cleared from +Lord Byron's imputation, that + + "They cannot read, and so don't lisp in criticism; + Nor write, and so they don't affect the muse--" + +to his dissertation on the _wakoofs_ above referred to;--a word +implying a deposit or mortgage, and used to designate a species of +tenure under which the greater part of the landed property throughout +the empire is held, and the nature of which is but imperfectly +understood in Europe. These institutions have existed from the +earliest period of Islam; but nowhere to so great an extent as in the +Ottoman empire; where they were divided by Soliman the Magnificent +into three classes, all alike held sacred, and exempt from +confiscation either by the sovereign or courts of law. The first class +comprises the lands or funds absolutely bequeathed to the mosques +either by founders or subsequent benefactors, the revenues of which +are employed in the payment of the imams, khatibs, and other ministers +of religion attached to their service, and to the gratuitous +maintenance of the colleges and hospitals dependent on them; and which +are in all cases amply sufficient for these purposes. "No demands in +the shape of tithes, collections, or entrance-money, are ever made: +the doors of all temples are open to the public without distinction:" +and although the imam usually receives a fee for marriages, +name-givings, circumcisions, and funerals, no demand can be legally +made. The author proceeds to enumerate the endowments in 1842, as +nearly as they could be ascertained, of the seventeen mosques in the +capital entitled to rank as imperial foundations--the richest being +that of Aya-Sofia, amounting to 1,500,000 piastres annually, while the +others vary from 710,000 to 100,000 piastres. The ecclesiastical staff +of an imperial mosque comprehends in general from thirty to forty +persons--the sheikh, who preaches after mid-day prayer on Friday, and +who is a member of the superior ecclesiastical synod, with rank and +privileges nearly similar to those of our bishops:--two or more +khatibs, who recite the khotbah, or prayer for the Prophet and +sultan:--four imams, who alternately read prayers:--twelve to twenty +muezzins, who call to prayers from the minarets:--with fifteen to +twenty subordinate functionaries. The finances of each of the mosques +are regulated by a _nazir_ (inspector) and _mutawelly_, (accountant,) +who are bound by law to render half-yearly statements; and these +offices, lucrative from the opportunities they afford for +malversation, are usually held for life by the holders for the time +being of high official stations, or sometimes by the heirs of the +founders, who thus secure their lands from forfeiture or confiscation; +or by persons to whom they have been bequeathed, with power to +nominate their successors. The annual revenues of the imperial mosques +being triple their expenditure, the wakoof fund has been often +encroached upon by the Sultan, nominally as a loan under the warrant +of the minister of finance, who checks the accounts of the imperial +nazir; and by these not unfrequent inroads, as well as by the +peculations of the superintendents, the accumulations, though great, +are not so enormous as they would otherwise become. + +The second class comprises the funds devoted to the maintenance of +public baths, libraries, fountains, alms-houses, and of useful and +charitable institutions in general. They are frequently charged with +annuities to the representatives of the founder; and in all +foundations for gratuitous education, or distribution of alms or food, +founders' kin have the preference. They are all registered in the +treasury; but the foundation is invalidated if the property assigned +for its support be encumbered by mortgages or other obligations:--nor +can any one labouring under an incurable disease convert freehold +property into wakoof except as a testator, in which case the +inalienable rights of the heirs to two-thirds of the property are +secured:--a third part only, according to law, being otherwise +disposable by will. The third class of wakoofs (called _ady_ or +customary, the others being termed _shary_ or legal, as sanctioned by +religious law) are considered as secular foundations, consisting of +lands purchased by the religious wakoofs from their accumulations, on +reversion at the death of the assigner, or failure of his direct +heirs, for an inconsiderable portion of their value, leaving to the +vendors in the interim the full enjoyment of the property, which is +frequently continued to their nephews and brothers on the same terms. +"At first this plan was not considered lucrative for the wakoofs: but +when the system was widely extended, the multitude of assignments, +which fell in every year from death and default of issue, soon crowned +the speculation with success, in a country where the tenure of life is +eminently uncertain, not only from the caprices of sultans, but from +the constant ravages of plague.... The advantages to sellers were +equally great. They secured themselves from confiscation, and their +heirs from spoliation at their demise. They were enabled to raise +money to the value of a sixth or eighth of their capital, on payment +of a trifling interest, and yet retained the full enjoyment of the +whole for themselves and immediate issue. By founding these wakoofs, +sellers are also enabled to check the extravagance of their children, +who can neither mortgage nor alienate the property--a practice nearly +as common in Turkey as in other countries." + +Not less than three-fourths of the buildings and cultivated lands +throughout the empire, according to the author, and even the imperial +domains, are held under one or other of these wakoof tenures, which +thus represent the great landed interests of the country. Formerly, +the domains belonging to the mosques in each pashalik were let on +annual leases (as the public revenues are still farmed) to _multezim_ +or contractors, generally the pashas of the provinces: but the system +of subletting and dilapidation to which this course of short leases +gave rise, was so ruinous to the agricultural population and the +property of the wakoofs, that a thorough reform was introduced in the +reign of Abdoul-Hamid, the father of Mahmood II. The lands were now +let on life tenancies, (_malikania_,) on the same system of beneficial +leases and large fines on renewals which prevails with respect to the +property of collegiate and other corporate bodies in England; which +has greatly improved their condition, as it is no longer the interest +of the lessee to rack the peasantry, or damage the property, for the +sake of present advantage. "More than one monarch has entertained +projects of dispossessing the mosques of these privileges, and of +placing the wakoofya under the exclusive superintendence of +government. Sultan Mahmood II. seriously contemplated carrying this +plan into effect, and probably would have done so, had his life been +spared. The government in this case would have paid the salaries of +all sheikhs, priests, and persons attached to the sacred edifices, +together with all repairs and expenses of their dependent +institutions, and would have converted the surplus to state purposes. +Various plans were suggested to Mahmood's predecessors; but during the +existence of the janissaries, no one dared to interfere with +institutions whence the Oolema, (men of law and religion,) intimately +connected with the janissaries, derived invariable profit." + +Returning at length from this long digression to the jewel bezestan, +and passing from the south-eastern, or mercers' gate, "through lines +of shops stored with a variety of ready-made articles required by +ladies," we reach the Silk Bezestan, (Sandal Bezestany,) which, like +the other, has four arched gates named after different trades, and is +surmounted by twenty domes, four in a line. Though occupied solely by +Armenians, and regulated by a committee of six Armenian elders, it is +directed by a Turkish kehaya or president, with his deputy, whose duty +it is to superintend the police and collect the government dues. The +scene presented by the interior presents a striking contrast to the +other, and (we regret to say) not at all to the advantage of the +Christians. "The building is gloomy and badly lighted, and appears not +to have been white-washed or cleansed since the first construction; +and while a stranger may repeatedly enter the jewel bezestan, and its +tenants, though they see him gazing with covetous eyes on some +antiquated object, will scarcely condescend to say 'Ne istersiniz?' +(what want you?) ... the clamours of the Armenians to attract +purchasers are only to be surpassed by their want of honesty. +Strangers may often pay too much to Turkish shopkeepers, but they will +receive fair weight to a hair: whereas they will be subject not only +to overcharge, but to short quantity, at the hands of the Armeninians +and their more profligate imitators, the Greek dealers." The original +silk manufactories were established before the conquest of +Constantinople at the old capital of Broussa, whence most of the raw +material is still derived, the abundance of mulberry trees in its +neighbourhood being favourable to the nurture of the silkworm; little +Broussa silk is, however, now sold in the sandal bezestany, the +manufacture being principally carried on along the shores of the +Bosphorus. "But within the last ten years, and especially since the +conclusion of commercial treaties with the Porte, the silk trade in +home-made articles has decreased 50 per cent. A large supply of common +imitation goods is now received from England, France, and Italy, and +the richer articles, principally manufactured at Lyons, have +completely superseded those formerly received from Broussa, or +fabricated at Scutari and Constantinople." + +The trade in furs, as well as that in silk, is entirely in the hands +of the Armenians, but has greatly fallen off since the European dress, +now worn by the court and the official personages, replaced the old +Turkish costume. In former times, the quality of the fur worn by +different ranks, and at different seasons of the year, was a matter of +strict etiquette, regulated by the example of the sultan, who, on a +day previously fixed by the imperial astrologer, repaired in state to +the mosque arrayed in furs, varying from the squirrel or red fox, +assumed at the beginning of autumn, to the samoor or sable worn during +the depth of winter; while all ranks of persons in office changed +their furs, on the same day with the monarch, for those appropriated +to their respective grades. The most costly were those of the black +fox and sable, the former of which was restricted, unless by special +permission, to the use of royalty: while sable was reserved for vizirs +and pashas of the highest rank. The price of these furs, indeed, +placed them beyond the reach of ordinary purchasers, 15,000 or 20,000 +piastres being no unusual price for a sable lined pelisse, while black +fox cost twice as much. In the present day the _kurk_ or pelisse is +never worn by civil or military functionaries, except in private: but +it still continues in general use among the sheikhs and men of the +law, "who may be seen mounted on fat ambling galloways, with richly +embroidered saddle-cloths and embossed bridles, attired in kurks faced +with sables, in all the pomp of ancient times." The kurk is, moreover, +in harem etiquette, the recognised symbol of matronly rank:--and its +assumption by a Circassian is a significant intimation to the other +inmates of the position she has assumed as the favourite of their +master. The same rule extends to the imperial palace, where the +elevation of a fair slave to the rank of _kadinn_ (the title given to +the partners of the sultan) is announced to her, by her receiving a +pelisse lined with sables from the _ket-khoda_ or mistress of the +palace, the principal of the seven great female officers to whom is +entrusted the management of all matters connected with the harem. The +imperial favourites are limited by law to seven, but this number is +seldom complete; the present sultan has hitherto raised only five to +this rank, one of whom died of consumption in 1842. These ladies are +now always Circassian slaves, and though never manumitted, have each +their separate establishments, suites of apartments, and female slaves +acting as ladies of honour, &c. Their slipper, or (as we should call +it) pin money, is about 25,000 piastres (L240) monthly--their other +expenses being defrayed by the sultan's treasurer. Mr White enters +into considerable detail on the interior arrangements of the seraglio, +the private life of the sultan, &c.; but as it does not appear from +what sources his information is derived, we shall maintain an Oriental +reserve on these subjects. + +The slave-markets and condition of slaves in the East is treated at +considerable length: but as the erroneous notions formerly entertained +have been in a great measure dispelled by more correct views obtained +by modern travellers, it is sufficient to observe, that "the laws and +customs relative to the treatment of slaves in Turkey divest their +condition of its worst features, and place the slave nearly on a level +with the free servitor: nay, in many instances the condition of the +slave, especially of white slaves, is superior to the other; as the +path of honour and fortune is more accessible to the dependent and +protected slave than to the independent man of lower degree." It is +well known that many of those holding the highest dignities of the +state--Halil Pasha, brother-in-law of the Sultan--Khosref, who for +many years virtually ruled the empire, with numberless others, were +originally slaves: and in all cases the liberation of male slaves, +after seven or nine years' servitude, is ordained by _adet_ or custom, +which, in Turkey, is stronger than law. This rule is rarely +infringed:--and excepting the slaves of men in the middle ranks of +life, who frequently adopt their master's trade, and are employed by +him as workmen, they in most cases become domestic servants, or enter +the army, as holding out the greatest prospect of honour and +promotion. The condition of white female slaves is even more +favourable. In point of dress and equipment, they are on a par with +their mistresses, the menial offices in all great harems being +performed by negresses;--and frequent instances occur, where parents +prefer slaves educated in their own families to free women as wives +for their sons:--the only distinction being in the title of _kadinn_, +which may be considered equivalent to _madame_, and which is always +borne by these emancipated slaves, instead of _khanum_, (or _lady_,) +used by women of free birth. Female slaves are rarely sold or parted +with, except for extreme misconduct; and though it is customary for +their masters, in the event of their becoming mothers, to enfranchise +and marry them, "the facility of divorce is such, that women, if +mothers, prefer remaining slaves to being legally married: as they are +aware that custom prevents their being sold when in the former +condition: whereas their having a family is no bar to divorce when +married." + +The guilds, or corporations of the different trades and professions, +to which allusion has more than once been made, and which constitute +what may be called the municipality of Constantinople, were formerly +mustered and paraded through the city, on every occasion when the +Sandjak-Shereef (or holy banner of Mahommed) was taken from the +seraglio to accompany the army. This gathering, the object of which +was to ascertain the number of men who could be levied in case of +extremity for the defence of the capital, was first ordained by Mourad +IV.,[31] before his march against Bagdad in 1638; when, according to +Evliya Effendi, 200,000 men fit to bear arms passed in review--and the +last muster was in the reign of Mustapha III., at the commencement of +the disastrous war with Russia in 1769. Its subsequent discontinuance +is said to have been owing to an insult then offered by the guild of +_emirs_ (or descendants of the Prophet) to the Austrian Internuncio, +who was detected in witnessing incognito the procession of the +Sandjak-Shereef, deemed too sacred for the eyes of an infidel--and a +tumult ensued, in which many Christians were maltreated and murdered, +and which had nearly led to a rupture with the court of Vienna. On +this occasion the number of guilds was forty-six, subdivided into 554 +minor sections; and, excepting the disappearance of those more +immediately connected with the janissaries, it is probable that little +or no change has since taken place. These guilds included not only the +handicraft and other trades, but the physicians and other learned +professions, and even the _Oolemah_ and imams, and others connected +with the mosques. Each marched with its own badges and ensigns, headed +by its own officers, of whom there were seven of the first grade, with +their deputies and subordinates, all elected by the crafts, and +entrusted with the control of its affairs, subject to the approbation +of a council of delegates: while the property of these corporations is +invariably secured by being made _wakoof_, the nature of which has +been already explained. The shoemakers', saddlers', and tanners' +guilds are among the strongest in point of numbers, and from them were +drawn the _elite_ of the janissaries stationed in the capital, after +the cruel system of seizing Christian children for recruits had been +discontinued; the tailors are also a numerous and resolute craft, +generally well affected to government, to which they rendered +important services in the overthrow of the janissaries in 1826, when +the Sandjak-Shereef[32] was displayed in pursuance of the _Fethwa_ of +the mufti excommunicating the sons of Hadji-Bektash, and the guilds +mustered in arms by thousands for the support of the Sheikh al Islam +and the Commander of the Faithful. + +Among these fraternities, one of the most numerous is that of the +_kayikjees_ or boatmen, of whom there are not fewer than 19,000, +mostly Turks, in the city and its suburbs; while 5000 more, nearly all +of whom are Greeks, are found in the villages of the Bosphorus. They +are all registered in the books of the _kayikjee-bashi_, or chief of +the boatmen, paying each eight piastres monthly (or twice as much if +unmarried) for their _teskera_ or license: and cannot remove from the +stations assigned them without giving notice. The skill and activity +of these men, in the management of their light and apparently fragile +skiffs, has been celebrated by almost every tourist who has floated on +the waters of the Golden Horn and the Bosphorus: and not less precise +is the accuracy with which is adjusted the number of oars to be +employed by the members of the European _corps diplomatique_, and the +great officers of the Porte, according to their relative ranks; the +smallest infringement of which would be regarded as an unpardonable +breach of etiquette. The oars and mouldings are painted of the +national colours, with the hulls white or black; the latter colour is +usually affected by the Turkish grandees, with the exception of the +capitan-pasha, who is alone privileged to use a green boat. +Ambassadors-extraordinary are entitled to ten oars; and the same +number is assigned to the grand-vizir, the mufti, and ministers +holding the rank of _mushir_, or marshal, the highest degree in the +new scale of Ottoman precedence. Pashas of the second rank, the +_cazi-askers_ or grand judges of Anatolia and Roumelia, with other +functionaries of equivalent grade, are allowed eight oars, the number +employed by the Austrian Internuncio, and by ministers-plenipotentiary; +while three or five pair of sculls are allotted to _charges +d'affaires_, and the heads of different departments at the Porte. The +procession of the sultan, when he proceeds to the mosque by water, +consists of six kayiks, the largest of which is seventy-eight feet in +length, and pulled by twenty-four rowers--under the old _regime_ the +crew was taken from the bostandjis, whose chief, the bostandji-bashi, +held the helm; but since the abolition of that corps, they have been +chosen, without distinction of creed, from the common boatmen. The +imperial barge is distinguished, independent of its superior size, by +the gold-embroidered canopy of crimson silk, surmounted by crescents +at the stern; it is painted white within and without, with rich gilt +mouldings, under which runs a broad external green border, ornamented +with gilded arabesques. The oars are painted white, with gold scrolls; +the stern is adorned with massive gilt carvings; and the long +projecting prow with a richly-gilded ornament, representing a +palm-branch curling upwards. Behind this flutters a gilded falcon, the +emblem of the house of Osman. The carvings and ornaments of these +boats are elaborately finished, and exquisitely light and graceful. +These embellishments, combined with the loose white dresses, +blue-tasselled red caps, and muscular forms of the boatmen, as they +rise from their seats, vigorously plunge their oars into the dark blue +waters, and propel the kayiks with racehorse speed, give to these +splendid vessels an air of majesty and brilliancy, not less +characteristic than original and imposing. + +Many instances have occurred, in which men have risen from the class +of boatmen to stations of high honour and dignity; the most recent +instance of which was in the case of the arch-traitor Achmet Fevzy +Pasha, who, in 1839, betrayed the Ottoman fleet under his command into +the hands of Mohammed Ali--a deed of unparalleled perfidy, for which +he righteously received a traitor's reward, perishing in January 1843 +(as was generally believed) by poison administered by the orders of +the Egyptian Viceroy. The kayikjees, as a class, are generally +considered, in point of personal advantages, the finest body of men in +the empire; and share with the _sakkas_, or water-carriers--another +numerous and powerful guild, equally remarkable with the kayikjees for +their symmetry and athletic proportions--the dangerous reputation of +being distinguished favourites of the fair sex--doubly dangerous in a +country where, in such cases, "the cord or scimitar is the doom of the +stronger sex--the deep sea-bed that of the weaker. Money will +counterbalance all crimes in Turkey save female frailty. For this +neither religious law nor social customs admit atonement. Tears, +beauty, youth, gold--untold gold--are of no avail. The fish of the +Bosphorus and Propontis could disclose fearful secrets, even in our +days:"--and as a natural transition, apparently, from cause to effect, +Mr White proceeds, in the next chapter, to give an account of the +Balyk-Bazary, the Billingsgate of Stamboul. But we shall not follow +him through his enumeration of such a carte as throws the glories of a +Blackwall dinner into dim eclipse, and which no other waters of Europe +could probably rival:--since, in Mr White's usual course of digression +upon digression, the mention of the Fishmarket Gate, the usual place +of executions, leads him off again at a tangent to the consideration +of the criminal law, and its present administration in the Ottoman +Empire. + +There is no change among those wrought since the introduction of the +new system, more calculated forcibly to impress those who had known +Constantinople in former years, than the almost total cessation of +those public executions, the sanguinary frequency of which formed so +obtrusive and revolting a feature under the old _regime_. Since the +fate of the unfortunate Pertef Pasha in 1837, no one has suffered +death for political offences:--and the abolition by Sultan Mahmoud, +immediately after the destruction of the janissaries, of the +_Moukhallafat Kalemy_, or Court of Confiscations, put an end to the +atrocious system which had for centuries made wealth a sufficient +pretext for the murder of its possessors. In all cases of banishment +or condemnation to death, however arbitrary, confiscation of property +inevitably followed: but the wealthy Armenians and Greeks were usually +selected as the victims of these ruthless deeds of despotism and +rapacity; numerous records of which may be seen in the Christian +burying-grounds, where the rudely-carved figure of a headless trunk, +or a hanging man, indicates the fate of the sufferer. But the humane +and politic act of Mahmoud, which rendered riches no longer a crime, +has produced its natural effects in the impulse which has been given +to commercial activity and public confidence by the security thus +afforded to life and property. "The government finds the Armenians +willing to advance money in case of need; and there is scarcely a +pasha of rank who has not recourse to their assistance, which is the +more readily afforded, as the Armenians are aware that their debtors' +lives and property, as well as their own, are secure, and that they +shall not endure extreme persecution in the event of suing those on +whom they have claims." + +In criminal cases, the administration of justice by the Moslem law +appears at all times to have been tempered by lenity; and the extreme +repugnance of the present sultan to sign death-warrants, even in cases +which in this country would be considered as amounting to wilful +murder, has rendered capital punishments extremely rare: while the +horrible death by impalement, and the amputation of the hand for +theft, have fallen into complete disuse. Offences are tried, in the +first instance, in the court of the Cazi-asker or grand judge of +Roumelia or Anatolia, according as the crime has been committed in +Europe or Asia: from this tribunal an appeal lies to the Supreme +Council of justice, the decisions of which require to be further +ratified by the Mufti. The _proces-verbal_ of two of the cases above +referred to, is given at length; in one of which the murderer escaped +condign punishment only because the extreme youth of the only +eye-witness, a slave, nine years old, prevented his testimony from +being received otherwise than as _circumstantial_ evidence:--in the +other, "it being essential to make a lasting and impressive public +example, it was resolved that the criminals should not be put to +death, but condemned to such ignominious public chastisement as might +serve during many years as a warning to others." The sentence in the +former case was ten, and in the latter, seven years' public labour in +heavy irons--a punishment of extreme severity, frequently terminating +in the death of the convict. Nafiz Bey, the principal offender in the +second of the above cases, did not survive his sentence more than +twenty months. "On examining a multitude of condemnations for crimes +of magnitude, the maximum average, when death was not awarded, was +seven years' hard labour in chains, and fine, for which the convict is +subsequently imprisoned as a simple debtor till the sum is paid. The +average punishment for theft, robbery, assault, and slightly wounding, +is three years' hard labour, with costs and damages. These sentences +(of which several examples are given) were referred, according to +established forms, from the local tribunals to the supreme council: +and before being carried into effect, were legalized by a _fethwa_ +(decree) of the Sheikh-Islam, (Mufti,) and after that by the sultan's +warrant; a process affording a triple advantage to the accused, each +reference serving as an appeal." + +The exclusive jurisdiction over the subjects of their own nation, +exercised by the legations of the different European powers in virtue +of capitulations with the Porte, was doubtless at one time necessary +for the protection of foreigners from the arbitrary proceedings of +Turkish despotism; it has, however, given rise to great abuses, and at +the present day its practical effect is only to secure impunity to +crime, by impeding the course of justice. The system in all the +legations is extremely defective; "but in none is it more flagrantly +vicious and ineffective than in that of Great Britain." This is a +grave charge; but only too fully borne out by the facts adduced. Not +fewer than three thousand British subjects are now domiciled in and +about the Turkish capital, chiefly vagabonds and desperadoes, driven +by the rigour of English law from Malta and the Ionian Isles:--and +half the outrages in Stamboul "are committed by or charged to the +Queen's adopted subjects, who, well knowing that eventual impunity is +their privilege, are not restrained by fear of retribution." All the +zeal and energy of our consul-general, Mr Cartwright, (in whom are +vested the judicial functions exercised by chancellors of other +legations,) are paralysed by the necessity of adhering to the forms of +British law, the execution of which is practically impossible. "In a +case of murder or felony, for instance,--a case which often occurs--a +_pro forma_ verdict of guilty is returned; but what follows? The +ambassador has no power to order the law to be carried into effect: +nothing remains, therefore, but to send the accused, with the +depositions, to Malta or England. But the Maltese courts declare +themselves incompetent, and either liberate or send back the prisoner; +and English tribunals do not adjudicate on documentary evidence. The +consequence is, that unless witnesses proceed to England, criminals +must be liberated at Pera, or sent to be liberated at home, for want +of legal testimony. They have then their action at law against the +consul-general for illegal arrest." It appears scarcely credible that +a state of things, so calculated to degrade the British national +character in the eyes of the representatives of the other European +powers, should ever have been suffered to exist, and still more that +it should have remained so long unheeded. A bill was indeed carried +through Parliament in 1835, in consequence of the urgent reclamations +of Lord Ponsonby and Mr Cartwright, for empowering the Crown to remedy +the evil; but though the subject was again pressed by Sir Stratford +Canning in 1842, it still remains a dead letter. Mr White has done +good service in placing this plain and undeniable statement of facts +before the public eye; and we trust that the next session of +Parliament will not pass over without our seeing the point brought +forward by Mr D'Israeli, Mr Monckton Milnes, or some other of those +members of the legislature whose personal knowledge of the East +qualifies them to undertake it. "One plan ought to be adopted +forthwith, that of investing the consul-general with such full powers +as are granted to London police magistrates, or, if possible, to any +magistrates at quarter-sessions. He would then be able to dispose of a +multitude of minor correctional cases, which now pass unpunished, to +the constant scandal of all other nations. The delegated power might +be arbitrary, and inconsistent with our constitutional habits, but the +evil requires extrajudicial measures." + +In pursuing Mr White's devious course through the various marts of +Constantinople, we have not yet brought our readers to the Missr +Tcharshy, or Egyptian market, probably the most diversified and purely +Oriental scene to be seen in Constantinople, and a representation of +which forms the frontispiece to one of the volumes. The building, the +entrance to which is between the Fishmarket Gate and the beautiful +mosque of the Valida, (built by the mother of Mohammed IV.,) consists +of an arcade lighted from the roof, like those of our own capital, 140 +yards long, and 20 wide, filled on each side with shops, not separated +from each other by partitions, so as to impede the view; the tenants +of which are all Osmanlis, and dealers exclusively in perfumes, +spices, &c., imported chiefly through Egypt from India, Arabia, &c. +Here may be found "the Persian atar-gul's perfume," sandalwood, and +odoriferous woods of all kinds from the lands of the East; opium for +the _Teryakis_, a race whose numbers are happily now daily decreasing; +ambergris for pastilles; "cinnamon and ginger, nutmegs and cloves;" +the pink henna powder brought from Mekka by the pilgrims for tinging +ladies' fingers, though these "rosy-fingered Auroras" (as Mr W. kindly +warns the poetasters of Franguestan) are now only to be found among +slaves and the lower orders, the custom being now utterly exploded +among dames of high degree: "add to the above, spices, roots, +dyewoods, and minerals, and colours of every denomination, and an +idea may be formed of the contents of this neatly-arranged and +picturesque bazar. Its magnitude, its abundance and variety of goods, +the order that reigns on every side, and the respectability of the +dealers, render it one of the most original and interesting sights of +the city; it serves to refresh the senses and to dispel the +unfavourable impressions caused on first landing." + +In the foregoing remarks and extracts, it has been our aim rather to +give a condensed view of the information to be derived from the +volumes before us, on topics of interest, than to attempt any thing +like a general abstract of a work so multifarious in its nature, and +so broken into detail, as to render the ordinary rules of criticism as +inapplicable to it as they would be to an encylopaedia. In point of +arrangement, indeed, the latter would have the advantage; for a total +absence of _lucidus ordo_ pervades Mr White's pages, to a degree +scarcely to be excused even by the very miscellaneous nature of the +subject. Thus, while constant reference is made, from the first, to +the bezestans, the names of their different gates, &c., no description +of these edifices occurs till the middle of the second volume, where +it is introduced apropos to nothing, between the public libraries and +the fur-market. The chapter headed "Capital Punishments," (iv. vol. +1.) is principally devoted to political disquisitions, with an episode +on lunatic asylums and the medical academy of Galata Serai, while only +a few pages are occupied by the subject implied in the title; which is +treated at greater length, and illustrated by the _proces-verbaux_ of +several criminal trials, at the end of the second volume, where it is +brought in as a digression from the slavery laws, on the point of the +admissibility of a slave's evidence! But without following Mr White +further through the slipper-market, the poultry-market, the +coffee-shops, and tobacco-shops, the fruit and flower market, the +Ozoon Tcharshy or long market, devoted to the sale of articles of +dress and household furniture, _cum multis aliis_; it will suffice to +say that there is no article whatever, either of luxury or use, sold +in Constantinople, from diamonds to old clothes, of which some +account, with the locality in which it is procurable, is not to be +found in some part or other of his volumes. We have, besides, +disquisitions on statistics and military matters; aqueducts and baths, +marriages and funerals, farriery and cookery, &c. &c.--in fact on +every imaginable subject, except the price of railway shares, which +are as yet to the Turks a pleasure to come. It would be unpardonable +to omit mentioning, however, for the benefit of gourmands, that for +the savoury viands called kabobs, and other Stamboul delicacies, the +shop of the worthy Hadji Mustapha, on the south side of the street +called Divan-Yolly, stands unequaled; while horticulturists and +poetasters should be informed, that in spite of Lord Byron's fragrant +descriptions of "the gardens of Gul in their bloom," the finer +European roses do not sympathize with the climate. Lady Ponsonby's +attempts to introduce the moss-rose at Therapia failed; and the only +place where they have succeeded is the garden of Count Stuermer, the +Austrian Internuncio, whose palace is, in more respects than one, +according to Mr White, the Gulistan of Stamboul society. + +But we cannot take leave of this part of the subject without +remarking, that while all praise is due to Mr White's accuracy in +describing the scenes and subjects on which he speaks from personal +knowledge, his acquaintance with past Turkish history appears to be by +no means on a par with the insight he has succeeded in acquiring into +the usages and manners of the Turks of the present day. The +innumerable anecdotes interspersed through his pages, and which often +mar rather than aid the effect of the more solid matter, are +frequently both improbable and pointless; and the lapses which here +and there occur in matters of historical fact, are almost +incomprehensible. Thus we are told (i. 179,) that the favour enjoyed +(until recently) by Riza Pasha, was owing to his having rescued the +present sultan, when a child, from a reservoir in the Imperial Gardens +of Beglerbey, into which he had been hurled by his father in a fit of +brutal fury--an act wholly alien to the character of Mahmoud, but +which (as Mr W. observes,) "will not appear improbable to those +acquainted with Oriental history"--since it is found related, in all +its circumstances, in Rycaut's history of the reign of Ibrahim, whose +infant son, afterwards Mohammed IV., nearly perished in this manner by +his hands, and retained through life the scar of a wound on the face, +received in the fall. This palpable anachronism is balanced in the +next page by a version of the latter incident, in which Mohammed's +wound is said to have been inflicted by the dagger of his intoxicated +father, irritated by a rebuke from the prince (who, be it remarked, +was only seven years old at Ibrahim's death, some years later) on his +unseemly exhibition of himself as a dancer. As a further instance of +paternal barbarity in the Osmanli sultans, it is related how Selim I. +was bastinadoed by command of his father, Bajazet II., for misconduct +in the government of Bagdad! with the marvellous addition, (worthy of +Ovid's _Metamorphoses_,) that from the sticks used for his punishment, +and planted by his sorrowing tutor, sprung the grove of Tchibookly, +opposite Yenikouy! History will show that Selim and Bajazet never met +after the accession of the latter, except when the rebellious son met +the father in arms at Tchourlou; and it is well known that Bagdad did +not become part of the Ottoman empire till the reign of Soliman the +Magnificent the son of Selim. The mention of the City of the Khalifs, +indeed, seems destined to lead Mr White into error; for in another +story, the circumstances of which differ in every point from the same +incident as related by Oriental historians, we find the Ommiyade +Khalif, Yezid III., who died A.D. 723, (twenty-seven years before the +accession of the Abbasides, and forty before the foundation of +Bagdad,) spoken of as an Abbaside khalif of Bagdad! Again, we find in +the list of geographical writers, (ii. 172,) "Ebul Feredj, Prince of +Hama, 1331"--thus confounding the monk Gregory Abulpharagius with the +Arabic Livy, Abulfeda, a prince of the line of Saladin! This last +error, indeed, can scarcely be more than a slip of the pen. But +instances of this kind might be multiplied; and it would be well if +such passages, with numerous idle legends (such as the patronage of +black bears by the Abbasides, and brown bears by the Ommiyades,) be +omitted in any future edition. + +We have reserved for the conclusion of our notice, the consideration +of Mr White's observations on the late _constitution_ (as it has been +called) of Gul-khana, a visionary scheme concocted by Reshid Pasha, +under French influence, by which it was proposed to secure equal +rights to all the component parts of the heterogeneous mass which +constitutes the population of the Ottoman empire. The author's remarks +on this well-meant, but crude and impracticable _coup-d'etat_, evince +a clear perception of the domestic interests and relative political +position of Turkey, which lead us to hope that he will erelong turn +his attention on a more extended scale, to the important subject of +Ottoman politics. For the present, we must content ourselves with +laying before our readers, in an abridged form, the clear and +comprehensive views here laid down, on a question involving the future +interests of Europe, and of no European power more than of Great Britain. + +"The population of the Turkish empire consists of several distinct +races, utterly opposed to each other in religion, habits, descent, +objects, and in every moral and even physical characteristic. The +Turkomans, Kurds, Arabs, Egyptians, Druses, Maronites, Albanians, +Bosnians, Bulgarians, Greeks, Jews, and Armenians, are so many +distinct nations, inhabiting the same or contiguous soils, without +having intermixed in the slightest degree from their earliest +conquest, and without having a single object in common. Over these +dissentient populations stands the pure Ottoman race, the paramount +nation, charged with maintaining the equilibrium between all, and with +neutralizing the ascendancy of one faction by the aid of others. Were +this control not to exist--were the Turks, who represent their +ancestors, the conquerors of the land, to be reduced to a level with +those now beneath them, or were the preponderating influence of the +former to be destroyed by the elevation and equalization of the +latter, perpetual revolts and civil wars could not fail to ensue. The +dependent populations, now constituting so large a portion of the +empire, would continue the struggle until one of them obtained the +supremacy at present exercised by the Turkish race, or until the +territory were divided among themselves, or parcelled out by foreign +powers. In this last hypothesis will be found the whole secret of the +ardent sympathy evinced by most foreigners, especially by the press of +France, for the subjugated races. + +"Many benevolent men argue, that the surest means of tranquillizing +the tributaries of the Porte, and attaching them to the government, is +by raising them in the social scale, and by granting to all the same +rights and immunities as are enjoyed by their rulers. But it has been +repeatedly proved, that concessions do but lead to fresh demands, and +that partial enfranchisement conducts to total emancipation. 'And why +should they not?' is often asked. To this may be replied, that the +possession of the Bosphorus and Dardanelles by any other power, or +fraction of power, than the Porte, would be a source of interminable +discord to Europe, and irreparable detriment to England. It would not +only affect our commerce, and undermine our political influence +throughout the East, but would add enormously to our naval +expenditure, by requiring an augmentation of our maritime force +equivalent to that now remaining neuter in the Golden Horn. Treaties, +it is said, might be concluded, exacting maritime restrictions. But +what are treaties in the face of events? Whoever possesses the +Bosphorus, Propontis, and Archipelago, _must_ become a maritime nation +in spite of treaties. Whoever possesses Constantinople _must_ become a +great manufacturing and exporting nation, in defiance of competition. +In less than half a century, the romantic villas and tapering +cypresses that now fringe the blue Bosphorus, would be replaced by +factories and steam-chimneys--every one of which would be a deadly +rival to a similar establishment in Great Britain. I argue as an +Englishman, whose duty it is to consider the material interests of his +country, now and hereafter, and not to occupy himself with the +theories of political philanthropists. + +"According to the levelling system, recommended as the basis of +reforms, all classes would eventually be assimilated--the desert Arabs +to the laborious Maronites, the intractable Arnoots to the industrious +Bulgarians, the thrifty Armenians to the restless and ambitious +Greeks, and the humble and parsimonious Jews to the haughty and lavish +Osmanlis. Thus, contiguous populations, which now keep each other in +check, because their interests are divergent and their jealousies +inveterate, would find their interests assimilated; and in the event +of opposition to government, the Porte, in lieu of being able to +overcome one sect through the rivalry of another, would find them all +united against the dominant power. The Ottoman government should +therefore avoid establishing any community of rights or interests +among the races subjected to its rule. Each of these races ought to be +governed according to its own usages and individual creed; there +should be uniformity in the principles of administration, but +diversity in the application. The Ottoman tenure cannot be maintained +but by decided and peremptory superiority. Adhesion on the part of the +subjugated is impossible; connexion is all that can be expected; and +to preserve this connexion, the supremacy of conquest must not be +relaxed. The Porte cannot expect attachment; it must consequently +enforce submission. When this absolutism ceases to exist, the power +will pass into other hands; and where is the politician that can +calculate the results of the transfer? One issue may be safely +predicted--England must lose, but cannot gain by the change. With the +increasing embarrassments to commerce and industry, which continental +states are raising against Britain, it is essential that we should not +allow a false cry of philanthropy to throw us off our guard in the +Levant. France in Africa, and Russia on the Danube, are intent on the +same object. Their battle-cries are civilization and religion; their +pretext the improvement of the Christian populations. But who is there +that has studied the recent policy of the one, and the undeviating +system of the other, since the days of Catherine, that can question +for a moment the purport of both? _And yet England and Austria have +acted recently as if France were sincere, and Russia disinterested._" + +[Footnote 28: _Three Years in Constantinople; or, Domestic Manners of +the Turks in 1844._ By CHARLES WHITE, ESQ.] + +[Footnote 29: The root of bezestan and bazar is _bez_, cloth;--of +tcharshy, _tchar_, four, meaning a square.] + +[Footnote 30: A catalogue of works printed from the establishment of +the press in 1726 to 1820, is given in the notes to Book 65 of Von +Hammer Purgstall's Ottoman History.] + +[Footnote 31: Mr White erroneously calls him Mourad III., and places +the expedition against Bagdad in 1834.] + +[Footnote 32: Mr White here introduces a digression on the other +relics of the Prophet, the Moslem festivals, &c., his account of which +presents little novelty; but he falls into the general error of +describing the Mahmil, borne by the holy camel in the pilgrim caravan, +as containing the brocade covering of the Kaaba, when it is in fact +merely an emblem of the presence of the monarch, like an empty +carriage sent in a procession.--(See _Lane's Modern Egyptians_, ii. p. +204, 8vo. ed.) It is indeed sufficiently obvious, that a box six feet +high and two in diameter, could not contain a piece of brocade +sufficient to surround a building described by Burckhardt as eighteen +paces long, fourteen broad, and from thirty-five to forty feet high.] + + + + +THE MOUNTAIN AND THE CLOUD. + +(A REMINISCENCE OF SWITZERLAND) + + +The cloud is to the mountain what motion is to the sea; it gives to it +an infinite variety of expression--gives it a life--gives it joy and +sufferance, alternate calm, and terror, and anger. Without the cloud, +the mountain would still be sublime, but monotonous; it would have but +a picture-like existence. + +How thoroughly they understand and sympathize with each other--these +glorious playmates, these immortal brethren! Sometimes the cloud lies +supported in the hollow of the hill, as if out of love it feigned +weariness, and needed to be upheld. At other times the whole hill +stands enveloped in the cloud that has expanded to embrace and to +conceal it. No jealousy here. Each lives its own grand life under the +equal eye of heaven. + +As you approach the mountains, it seems that the clouds begin already +to arrange themselves in bolder and more fantastic shapes. They have a +fellowship here. They built their mountains upon mountains--their +mountains which are as light as air--huge structures built at the +giddy suggestion of the passing breeze. Theirs is the wild liberty of +endless change, by which they compensate themselves for their thin and +fleeting existence, and seem to mock the stationary forms of their +stable brethren fast rooted to the earth. And how genially does the +sun pour his beam upon these twin grandeurs! For a moment they are +assimilated; his ray has permeated, has etherealized the solid +mountain, has fixed and defined the floating vapour. What now is the +one but a stationary cloud? what is the other but a risen +hill?--poised not in the air but in the flood of light. + +I am never weary of watching the play of these giant children of the +earth. Sometimes a soft white cloud, so pure, so bright, sleeps, +amidst open sunshine, nestled like an infant in the bosom of a green +mountain. Sometimes the rising upcurling vapour will linger Just above +the summit, and seem for a while an incense exhaling from this vast +censer. Sometimes it will descend, and _drape_ the whole side of the +hill as with a transparent veil. I have seen it sweep between me and +the mountain like a sheeted ghost, tall as the mountain, till the +strong daylight dissolved its thin substance, and it rose again in +flakes to decorate the blue heavens. But oh, glorious above all! when +on some brightest of days, the whole mass of whitest clouds gathers +midway upon the snow-topped mountain. How magnificent then is that +bright eminence seen above the cloud! How it seems rising upwards--how +it seems borne aloft by those innumerable wings--by those enormous +pinions which I see stretching from the cloudy mass! What an ascension +have we here!--what a transfiguration! O Raphael! I will not disparage +thy name nor thy art, but thy angels bearing on their wings the +brightening saint to Heaven--what are they to the picture here? + +Look! there--fairly in the sky--where we should see but the pure +ether--above the clouds which themselves are sailing high in serenest +air--yes, there, in the blue and giddy expanse, stands the solid +mountain, glittering like a diamond. O God! the bewildered reason pent +up in cities, toils much to prove and penetrate thy being and thy +nature--toils much in vain. Here, I reason not--I see. The Great King +lives--lo there is his throne. + + * * * * * + +To him who quits the plain for the mountain, how the character of the +cloud alters. That which seemed to belong exclusively to the sky, has +been drawn down and belongs as plainly to the earth. Mount some noble +eminence and look down--you will see the clouds lying _on_ and _about_ +the landscape, as if they had fallen on it. You are on the steadfast +earth, and they are underneath you. You look down perhaps on the lake, +and there is a solitary cloud lying settled on it; when the rest of +the fleecy drove had risen from their couch, this idle sleeper had +been left dreaming there. + +Or stay below, and see the sun rise in the valley. When all is warm +and clear upon the heights, and the tops of the hills are fervid with +the beams of heaven, there still lies a cold white mass of cloud about +your feet. It is not yet morning in the valley. There the cloud has +been slumbering all night--there it found its home. It also will by +and by receive the beam, and then it will arise, enveloping the hill +as it ascends; the hill will have a second dawn; the cloud will assume +its proud station in the sky; but it will return again to the valley +at night. + +I am sailing on the lake of Brienz on a day golden with sunbeams. The +high ridge of its rocky castellated hills is distinct as light can +make it. Yet half-way up, amidst the pine forests, there lies upon the +rich verdure a huge motionless cloud. What does it there? Its place +was surely in the sky. But no; it belongs, like ourselves, to the +earth. + +Is nature gaily mocking us, when upon her impregnable hills she builds +these _castles in the air_? But, good heavens! what a military aspect +all on a sudden does this mountain-side put on. Mark that innumerable +host of pine-trees. What regiments of them are marching up the hill in +the hot sun, as if to storm those rocky forts above! What serried +ranks! and yet there are some stragglers--some that have hastened on +in front, some that have lingered in the rear. Look at that tall +gigantic pine breasting the hill alone, like an old grenadier. How +upright against the steep declivity! while his lengthened shadow is +thrown headlong back behind him down the precipice. I should be giddy +to see such a shadow of my own. I should doubt if it would consent to +be drawn up by the heels to the summit of the mountain--whether it +would not rather drag me down with it into the abyss. + + * * * * * + +I have seen hills on which lay the clear unclouded sky, making them +blue as itself. I have gazed on those beautiful far-receding +valleys--as the valley of the Rhone--when they have appeared to +collect and retain the azure ether. They were full of Heaven. Angels +might breathe that air. And yet I better love the interchange, the +wild combination of cloud and mountain. Not cloud that intercepts the +sun, but that reflects its brilliancy, and brightens round the hills. +It is but a gorgeous drapery that the sky lets fall on the broad +Herculean shoulders of the mountain. No, it should not intercept the +beams of the great luminary; for the mountain loves the light. I have +observed that the twilight, so grateful to the plain, is mortal to the +mountain. It craves light--it lifts up its great chalice for +light--this great flower is the first to close, to fade, at the +withdrawal of the sun. It stretches up to heaven seeking light; it +cannot have too much--under the strongest beam it never droops--its +brow is never dazzled. + +But then these clouds, you will tell me, that hover about the +mountain, all wing, all plumage, with just so much of substance for +light to live in them--these very clouds can descend, and thicken, and +blacken, and cover all things with an inexpressible gloom. True, and +the mountain, or what is seen of it, becomes now the very image of a +great and unfathomable sorrow. And only the great can express a great +sadness. This aspect of nature shall never by me be forgotten; nor +will I ever shrink from encountering it. If you would know the gloom +of heart which nature can betray, as well as the glory it can +manifest, you must visit the mountains. For days together, clouds, +huge, dense, unwieldy, lie heavily upon the hills--which stand, how +mute, how mournful!--as if they, too, knew of death. And look at the +little lake at their feet. What now is its tranquillity when not a +single sunbeam plays upon it? Better the earth opened and received it, +and hid for ever its leaden despondency. And now there comes the +paroxysm of terror and despair; deep thunders are heard, and a madness +flashes forth in the vivid lightning. There is desperation amongst the +elements. But the elements, like the heart of man, must rage in +vain--must learn the universal lesson of submission. With them, as +with humanity, despair brings back tranquillity. And now the driving +cloud reveals again the glittering summits of the mountains, and light +falls in laughter on the beaming lake. + +How like to a ruined Heaven is this earth! Nay, is it not more +beautiful for being a ruin? + + * * * * * + +Who can speak of lakes and not think of thee, beautiful Leman? How +calm! how exquisitely blue! Let me call it a liquid sky that is spread +here beneath us. And note how, where the boat presses, or the oar +strikes, it yields ever a still more exquisite hue--akin to the +violet, which gives to the rude pressure a redoubled fragrance--akin +to the gentlest of womankind, whose love plays sweetest round the +strokes of calamity. + +Oh, there is a woman's heart in thy waters, beautiful Leman! + +I have seen thee in all thy moods, in all thy humours. I have watched +thee in profoundest calm; and suddenly, with little note of +preparation, seen thee lash thy blue waves into a tempest. How +beautiful in their anger were those azure waves crested with their +white foam! And at other times, when all has been a sad unjoyous calm, +I have seen, without being able to trace whence the light had broken, +a soft expanse of brightness steal tremulous over the marble waters. A +smile that seemed to speak of sweet caprice--that seemed to say that +half its anger had been feint. + +Yes, verily there is a woman's heart in thy waters, beautiful Leman! + +I lie rocking in a boat midway between Vevay and Lausanne. On the +opposite coast are the low purple hills _couching_ beside the lake. +But there, to the left, what an ethereal structure of cloud and snowy +mountain is revealed to me! What a creation of that spirit of beauty +which works its marvels in the unconscious earth! The Alps here, while +they retain all the aerial effect gathered from distance, yet seem to +arise from the very margin of the lake. The whole scene is so +ethereal, you fear to look aside, lest when you look again it may have +vanished like a vision of the clouds. + +And why should these little boats, with their tall triangular sails, +which glide so gracefully over the water, be forgotten? The sail, +though an artifice of man, is almost always in harmony with nature. +Nature has adopted it--has lent it some of her own wild +privileges--her own bold and varied contrasts of light and shade. The +surface of the water is perhaps dark and overclouded; the little +upright sail is the only thing that has caught the light, and it +glitters there like a moving star. Or the water is all one dazzling +sheet of silver, tremulous with the vivid sunbeam, and now the little +sail is black as night, and steals with bewitching contrast over that +sparkling surface. + + * * * * * + +But we fly again to the mountain. Tourists are too apt to speak of the +waterfall as something independent, something to be visited as a +separate curiosity. There may be some such. But in general, the +waterfall should be understood as part of the mountain--as the great +fountain which adorns the architecture of its rocks, and the gardens +of its pine forests. It belongs to the mountain. Pass through the +valley, and look up; you see here and there thin stripes of glittering +white, noiseless, motionless. They are waterfalls, which, if you +approach them, will din you with their roar, and which are dashing +headlong down, covered with tossing spray. Or ascend the face of the +mountain, and again look around and above you. From all sides the +waterfalls are rushing. They bear you down. You are giddy with their +reckless speed. How they make the rock live! What a stormy vitality +have they diffused around them! You might as well separate a river +from its banks as a waterfall from its mountain. + +And yet there is one which I could look at for hours together, merely +watching its own graceful movements. Let me sit again in imagination +in the valley of Lauterbrunnen, under the fall of the Staubbach. Most +graceful and ladylike of descents! It does not fall; but over the +rock, and along the face of the precipice, developes some lovely form +that nature had at heart;--diffuses itself in down-pointing pinnacles +of liquid vapour, fretted with the finest spray. The laws of gravity +have nothing to do with its movements. It is not hurled down; it does +not leap, plunging madly into the abyss; it thinks only of beauty as +it sinks. No noise, no shock, no rude concussion. Where it should dash +against the projecting rock, lo! its series of out-shooting pinnacles +is complete, and the vanishing point just kisses the granite. It +disappoints the harsh obstruction by its exquisite grace and most +beautiful levity, and springs a second time from the rock without +trace of ever having encountered it. + +The whole side of the mountain is here barren granite. It glides like +a spirit down the adverse and severe declivity. It is like Christ in +this world. The famous fall of the Griesbach, near the lake of Brienz, +thunders through the most luxuriant foliage; the Staubbach meets the +bare rock with touches of love, and a movement all grace, and a voice +full of reconcilement. + + * * * * * + +Mont Blanc! Mont Blanc! I have not scaled thy heights so boldly or so +far as others have, but I will yield to none in worship of thee and +thy neighbour mountains. Some complain that the valley of Chamouni is +barren; they are barren souls that so complain. True, it has not the +rich pastures that lie bordering on the snow in the Oberland. But +neither does it need them. Look _down_ the valley from the pass of the +Col de Balme, and see summit beyond summit; or ascend the lateral +heights of La Flegere, and see the Alps stretched out in a line before +you, and say if any thing be wanting. Here is the sculpture of +landscape. Stretched yourself upon the bare open rock, you see the +great hills built up before you, from their green base to their snowy +summits, with rock, and glacier, and pine forests. You see how the +Great Architect has wrought. + +And for softer beauty, has not the eye been feasted even to +excess--till you cried "hold--enough!" till you craved repose from +excitement--along the whole route, from Lausanne to this spot? What +perfect combinations of beauty and sublimity--of grandeur of outline +with richness of colouring--have you not been travelling through! + +It seems a fanciful illustration, and yet it has more than once +occurred to me, when comparing the scenery of the Oberland with that +of the valley of Chamouni and its neighbourhood; the one resembles the +first work--be it picture or poem--of a great genius; the other, the +second. On his first performance, the artist lavishes beauties of +every description; he crowds it with charms; all the stores of his +imagination are at once unfolded, and he must find a place for all. In +the second, which is more calm and mature, the style is broader, the +disposition of materials more skilful: the artist, master of his +inspiration, no longer suffers one beauty to crowd upon another, finds +for all not only place, but place sufficient; and, above all, no +longer fears being simple or even austere. I dare not say that the +Oberland has a fault in its composition--so charming, so magnificent +have I found it; but let me mark the broad masterly style of this +Alpine region. As you journey from Villeneuve, with what a gentle, +bland magnificence does the valley expand before you! The hills and +rocks, as they increase in altitude, still fall back, and reveal in +the centre the towering _Dent du Midi_, glittering with its eternal +snows. The whole way to Martigny you see sublimity without admixture +of terror; it is beauty elevated into grandeur, without losing its +amenity. And then, if you cross by the Col de Balme, leaving the +valley of the Rhone as you ascend, and descending upon the valley of +Chamouni, where the Alps curve before you in most perfect +grouping--tell me if it is possible for the heart of man to desire +more. Nay, is not the heart utterly exhausted by this series of scenic +raptures? + +For ever be remembered that magnificent pass of the Col de Balme! If I +have a white day in my calendar, it is the day I spent in thy defiles. +Deliberately I assert that life has nothing comparable to the delight +of traversing alone, borne leisurely on the back of one's mule, a +mountain-pass such as this. Those who have stouter limbs may prefer to +use them; give me for my instrument of progression the legs of the +patient and sure-footed mule. They are better legs, at all events, +than mine. I am seated on his back, the bridle lies knotted upon his +neck--the cares of the way are all his--the toil and the anxiety of +it; the scene is all mine, and I am all in it. I am seated there, all +eye, all thought, gazing, musing; yet not without just sufficient +occupation to keep it still a luxury--this leisure to contemplate. The +mule takes care of himself, and, in so doing, of you too; yet not so +entirely but that you must look a little after yourself. That he by no +means has your safety for his primary object is evident from this, +that, in turning sharp corners or traversing narrow paths, he never +calculates whether there is sufficient room for any other legs than +his own--takes no thought of yours. To keep your knees, in such +places, from collision with huge boulders, or shattered stumps of +trees, must be your own care; to say nothing of the occasional +application of whip or stick, and a _very_ strong pull at his mouth to +raise his head from the grass which he has leisurely begun to crop. +Seated thus upon your mule, given up to the scene, with something +still of active life going on about you, with full liberty to pause +and gaze, and dismount when you will, and at no time proceeding at a +railroad speed, I do say--unless you are seated by your own +incomparable Juliet, who has for the first time breathed that she +loves you--I do say that you are in the most enviable position that +the wide world affords. As for me, I have spent some days, some weeks, +in this fashion amongst the mountains; they are the only days of my +life I would wish to live over again. But mind, if you would really +enjoy all this, go alone--a silent guide before or behind you. No +friends, no companion, no gossip. You will find gossip enough in your +inn, if you want it. If your guide thinks it is his duty to talk, to +explain, to tell you the foolish names of things that need no +name--make belief that you understand him not--that his language, be +it French or German, is to you utterly incomprehensible. + +I would not paint it all _couleur de rose_. The sun is not always +shining. + +There is tempest and foul weather, fatigue and cold, and abundant +moisture to be occasionally encountered. There is something to endure. +But if you prayed to Heaven for perpetual fair weather, and your +prayer were granted, it would be the most unfortunate petition you +could put up. Why, there are some of the sublimest aspects, the +noblest moods and tempers of the great scene, which you would utterly +forfeit by this miserable immunity. He who loves the mountain, will +love it in the tempest as well as in the sunshine. To be enveloped in +driving mist or cloud that obscures every thing from view--to be made +aware of the neighbouring precipice only by the sound of the torrent +that rushes unseen beneath you--how low down you can only guess--this, +too, has its excitement. Besides, while you are in this total blank, +the wind will suddenly drive the whole mass of cloud and thick vapour +from the scene around you, and leave the most glorious spectacle for +some moments exposed to view. Nothing can exceed these moments of +sudden and partial revelation. The glittering summits of the mountains +appear as by enchantment where there had long been nothing but dense +dark vapour. And how beautiful the wild disorder of the clouds, whose +array has been broken up, and who are seen flying, huddled together in +tumultuous retreat! But the veering wind rallies them again, and again +they sweep back over the vast expanse, and hill and valley, earth and +sky, are obliterated in a second. + + * * * * * + +He who would ponder what _man_ is, should journey amongst the +mountains. What _men_ are, is best learnt in the city. + +How, to a museful spirit, the heart and soul of man is reflected in +the shows of nature! I cannot see this torrent battling for ever along +its rocky path, and not animate it with human passions, and torture it +with a human fate. Can it have so much turmoil and restlessness, and +not be allied to humanity? + +But all are not images of violence or lessons of despondency. Mark the +Yungfrau, how she lifts her slight and virgin snows fearlessly to the +blazing sun! She is so high, she feels no _reflected heat_. + + * * * * * + +How well the simple architecture of the low-roofed buildings of +Switzerland accords with its magnificent scenery! What were lofty +steeples beside Mont Blanc, or turreted castles beside her pinnacles +of granite? Elsewhere, in the level plain, I love the cathedral. I had +lately stood enraptured in the choir of that of Cologne, gazing up at +those tall windows which spring where other loftiest buildings +terminate--windows so high that God only can look in upon the +worshipper. + +But here--what need of the stately edifice, when there is a church +whose buttresses are mountains, whose roof and towers are above the +clouds, verily in the heavens? What need of artificial reminiscences +of the Great King, here where he has built for himself? The plain, it +is _man's_ nature--given to man's wants; there stands his corn, there +flow his milk and honey. But the mountain, it is God's nature--his +stationary tabernacle--reserved for the eye only of man and the +communing of his spirit. If meant to subserve the wants of his earthly +nature, meant still more expressly to kindle other wants. Do they not +indeed lead to Heaven, these mountains? At least I know they lead +beyond this earth. + +There is a little church stands in the valley of Chamouni. It was +open, as is customary in Catholic countries, to receive the visits and +the prayers of the faithful; but there was no service, no priest, nor +indeed a single person in the building. It was evening--and a solitary +lamp hung suspended from the ceiling, just before the altar. Allured +by the mysterious appearance of this lamp burning in solitude, I +entered, and remained in it some time, making out, in the dim light, +the wondrous figures of virgins and saints generally found in such +edifices. When I emerged from the church, there stood Mont Blanc +before me, reflecting the last tints of the setting sun. I am +habitually tolerant of Catholic devices and ceremonies; but at this +moment how inexpressibly strange, how very little, how poor, +contemptible, and like an infant's toy, seemed all the implements of +worship I had just left! + +And yet the tall, simple, wooden cross that stands in the open air on +the platform before the church, this was well. This was a symbol that +might well stand, even in the presence of Mont Blanc. Symbol of +suffering and of love, where is it out of place? On no spot on earth, +on no spot where a human heart is beating. + +Mont Blanc and this wooden cross, are they not the two greatest +symbols that the world can show? They are wisely placed opposite each +other. + +I have alluded to the sunset seen in this valley. All travellers love +to talk a little of their own experience, their good or their ill +fortune. The first evening I entered Chamouni, the clouds had gathered +on the summits of the mountains, and a view of Mont Blanc was thought +hopeless. Nevertheless I sallied forth, and planted myself in the +valley, with a singular confidence in the goodness of nature towards +one who was the humblest but one of the sincerest of her votaries. My +confidence was rewarded. The clouds dispersed, and the roseate sunset +on the mountain was seen to perfection. I had not yet learned to +distinguish that summit which, in an especial manner, bears the name +of Mont Blanc. There is a modesty in its greatness. It makes no +ostentatious claim to be the highest in the range, and is content if +for a time you give the glory of pre-eminence to others. But it +reserves a convincing proof of its own superiority. I had been looking +elsewhere, and in a wrong direction, for Mont Blanc, when I found that +all the summits had sunk, like the clouds when day deserts them, into +a cold dead white--all but one point, that still glowed with the +radiance of the sun when all beside had lost it. There was the royal +mountain. + +What a cold, corpse-like hue it is which the snow-mountain assumes +just after the sun has quitted it. There is a short interval then, +when it seems the very image of death. But the moon rises, or the +stars take up their place, and the mountain resumes its beauty and its +life. Beauty is always life. Under the star-light how ethereal does it +look! + + * * * * * + +In the landscapes of other countries, the house--the habitation of +man--be it farm-house or cottage--gathers, so to speak, some of the +country about itself--makes itself the centre of some circle, however +small. Not so in Switzerland. The hooded chalet, which even in summer +speaks so plainly of winter, and stands ever prepared with its low +drooping roof to shelter its eyes and ears from the snow and the +wind--these dot the landscape most charmingly, but yet are lost in it; +they form no group, no central point in the scene. I am thinking more +particularly of the chalets in the Oberland. There is no path +apparently between one and the other; the beautiful green verdure lies +untrodden around them. One would say, the inhabitants found their way +to them like birds to their nests. And like enough to nests they are, +both in the elevation at which they are sometimes perched, and in the +manner of their distribution over the scene. + +However they got there, people at all events are living in them, and +the farm and the dairy are carried up into I know not what altitudes. +Those beautiful little tame cattle, with their short horns, and long +ears, and mouse-coloured skin, with all the agility of a goat, and all +the gentleness of domesticity--you meet them feeding in places where +your mule looks thoughtfully to his footing. And then follows perhaps +a peasant girl in her picturesque cloak made of the undressed fur of +the goat and her round hat of thickly plaited straw, calling after +them in that high sing-song note, which forms the basis of what is +called Swiss music. This cry heard in the mountains is delightful, the +voice is sustained and yet varied--being varied, it can be sustained +the longer--and the high note pierces far into the distance. As a real +cry of the peasant it is delightful to hear; it is appropriate to the +purpose and the place. But defend my ears against that imitation of it +introduced by young ladies into the Swiss songs. Swiss music in an +English drawing-room--may I escape the infliction! but the Swiss +peasant chanting across the mountain defiles--may I often again halt +to listen to it! + + * * * * * + +But from the mountain and the cloud we must now depart. We must wend +towards the plain. One very simple and consolatory thought strikes +me--though we must leave the glory of the mountain, we at least take +the sun with us. And the cloud too, you will add. Alas! something too +much of that. + +But no murmurs. We islanders, who can see the sun set on the broad +ocean--had we nothing else to boast of--can never feel deserted of +nature. We have our portion of her excellent gifts. I know not yet how +an Italian sky, so famed for its deep and constant azure, may affect +me, but I know that we have our gorgeous melancholy sunsets, to which +our island tempers become singularly attuned. The cathedral +splendours--the dim religious light of our vesper skies--I doubt if I +would exchange them for the unmitigated glories of a southern clime. + + + + +THE SECOND PANDORA. + + + Methought Prometheus, from his rock unbound, + Had with the Gods again acceptance found. + Once more he seem'd his wond'rous task to ply, + While all Olympus stood admiring by. + To high designs his heart and hands aspire, + To quicken earthly dust with heavenly fire, + Won by no fraud, but lent by liberal love, + To raise weak mortals to the realms above; + For the bright flame remembers, even on earth, + And pants to reach, the region of its birth. + A female form was now the artist's care; + Faultless in shape, and exquisitely fair. + Of more than Parian purity, the clay + Had all been leaven'd with the ethereal ray. + Deep in the heart the kindling spark began, + And far diffused through every fibre ran; + The eyes reveal'd it, and the blooming skin + Glow'd with the lovely light that shone within. + The applauding Gods confess'd the matchless sight; + The first Pandora was not half so bright; + That beauteous mischief, formed at Jove's command, + A curse to men, by Mulciber's own hand; + Whose eager haste the fatal jar to know, + Fill'd the wide world with all but hopeless woe. + But dawn of better days arose, when He, + The patient Hero, set Prometheus free, + Alcides, to whose toils the joy was given + To conquer Hell and climb the heights of Heaven. + In the fair work that now the master wrought, + The first-fruits of his liberty were brought; + The Gods receive her as a pledge of peace, + And heap their gifts and happiest auspices. + Minerva to the virgin first imparts + Her skill in woman's works and household arts; + The needle's use, the robe's embroider'd bloom, + And all the varied labours of the loom. + Calm fortitude she gave, and courage strong, + To cope with ill and triumph over wrong; + Ingenuous prudence, with prophetic sight, + And clear instinctive wisdom, ever right. + Diana brought the maid her modest mien, + Her love of fountains and the sylvan scene; + The Hours and Seasons lent each varying ray + That gilds the rolling year or changing day. + The cunning skill of Hermes nicely hung, + With subtle blandishments, her sliding tongue, + And train'd her eyes to stolen glances sweet, + And all the wiles of innocent deceit. + Phoebus attuned her ear to love the lyre, + And warm'd her fancy with poetic fire. + Nor this alone; but shared his healing art, + And robb'd his son of all the gentler part; + Taught her with soothing touch and silent tread + To hover lightly round the sick one's bed, + And promised oft to show, when medicines fail, + A woman's watchful tenderness prevail. + Next Venus and the Graces largely shed + A shower of fascinations on her head. + Each line, each look, was brighten'd and refined, + Each outward act, each movement of the mind, + Till all her charms confess the soft control, + And blend at once in one harmonious whole. + But still the Eternal Sire apart remain'd, + And Juno's bounty was not yet obtained. + The voice of Heaven's High Queen then fill'd the ear, + "A wife and mother, let the Nymph appear." + The mystic change like quick enchantment shows-- + The slender lily blooms a blushing rose. + Three gentle children now, by just degrees, + Are ranged in budding beauty round her knees: + Still to her lips their looks attentive turn, + And drink instruction from its purest urn, + While o'er their eyes soft memories seem to play, + That paint a friend or father far away. + A richer charm her ripen'd form displays, + A halo round her shines with holier rays; + And if at times, a shade of pensive grace + Pass like a cloud across her earnest face, + Yet faithful tokens the glad truth impart, + That deeper happiness pervades her heart. + Jove latest spoke: "One boon remains," he said, + And bent serenely his ambrosial head; + "The last, best boon, which I alone bestow;" + Then bade the waters of Affliction flow. + The golden dream was dimm'd; a darken'd room + Scarce show'd where dire disease had shed its gloom. + A little child in death extended lay, + Still round her linger'd the departing ray. + Another pallid face appear'd, where Life + With its fell foe maintain'd a doubtful strife. + Long was the contest; changeful hopes and fears + Now sunk the Mother's soul, now dried her tears. + At last a steady line of dawning light + Show'd that her son was saved, and banish'd night. + Though sad her heart, of one fair pledge bereft, + She sees and owns the bounties Heaven hath left. + In natural drops her anguish finds relief, + And leaves the Matron beautified by grief; + While consolation, beaming from above, + Fills her with new-felt gratitude and love. + O happy He! before whose waking eyes, + So bright a vision may resplendent rise-- + The New PANDORA, by the Gods designed, + Not now the bane, but blessing of Mankind! + + + + +THE REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD.[33] + + +It is scarcely theoretical to say, that every century has a character +of its own. The human mind is essentially progressive in Europe. The +accumulations of past knowledge, experience, and impulse, are +perpetually preparing changes on the face of society; and we may +fairly regard every hundred years as the period maturing those changes +into visible form. Thus, the fifteenth century was the age of +discovery in the arts, in the powers of nature, and in the great +provinces of the globe: the sixteenth exhibited the general mind under +the impressions of religion--the Reformation, the German wars for +liberty and faith, and the struggles of Protestantism in France. The +seventeenth was the brilliant period of scientific advance, of +continental literature, and of courtly pomp and power. The eighteenth +was the period of politics; every court of Europe was engaged in the +game of political rivalry; the European balance became the test, the +labour, and the triumph of statesmanship. The negotiator was then the +great instrument of public action. Diplomacy assumed a shape, and +Europe was governed by despatches. The genius of Frederick the Second +restored war to its early rank among the elements of national life; +but brilliant as his wars were, they were subservient to the leading +feature of the age. They were fought, not, like the battles of the old +conquerors, for fame, but for influence--not to leave the king without +an enemy, but to leave his ambassadors without an opponent--less to +gain triumphs, than to ensure treaties: they all began and ended in +diplomacy! + +It is remarkable, that this process was exhibited in Europe alone. In +the East, comprehending two-thirds of human kind, no change was made +since the conquests of Mahomet. That vast convulsion, in which the +nervousness of frenzy had given the effeminate spirit of the Oriental +the strength of the soldier and the ambition of universal conqueror, +had no sooner wrought its purpose than it passed away, leaving the +general mind still more exhausted than before. The Saracen warrior +sank into the peasant, and the Arab was again lost in his sands; the +Turk alone survived, exhibiting splendour without wealth, and pride +without power--a decaying image of Despotism, which nothing but the +jealousy of the European saved from falling under the first assault. +Such is the repressive strength of evil government; progress, the most +salient principle of our nature, dies before it. And man, of all +beings the most eager for acquirement, and the most restless under all +monotony of time, place, and position, becomes like the dog or the +mule, and generation after generation lives and dies with no more +consciousness of the capacities of his existence, than the root which +the animal devours, or the tree under which it was born. + +In England, the eighteenth century was wholly political. It was a +continual struggle through all the difficulties belonging to a free +constitution, exposed to the full discussion of an intellectual +people. Without adopting the offensive prejudice, which places the +individual ability of the Englishmen in the first rank; or without +doubting that nature has distributed nearly an equal share of personal +ability among all European nations; we may, not unjustly, place the +national mind of England in the very highest rank of general +capacity--if that is the most intellectual nation, by which the public +intellect is most constantly employed, in which all the great +questions of society are most habitually referred to the decision of +the intellect, and in which that decision is the most irresistible in +its effects, no nation of Europe can stand upon equal ground with the +English. For, in what other nation is the public intellect in such +unwearied exercise, in such continual demand, and in such unanswerable +power? + +In what other nation of the world (excepting, within those few years, +France; and that most imperfectly) has public opinion ever been +appealed to? But, in England, to what else is there any appeal? Or, +does not the foreign mind bear some resemblance to the foreign +landscape--exhibiting barren though noble elevations, spots of +singular though obscure beauty among its recesses, and even in its +wildest scenes a capacity of culture?--while, in the mind of England, +like its landscape, that culture has already laid its hand upon the +soil; has crowned the hill with verdure, and clothed the vale with +fertility; has run its ploughshare along the mountain side, and led +the stream from its brow; has sought out every finer secret of the +scene, and given the last richness of cultivation to the whole. + +From the beginning of the reign of Anne, all was a contest of leading +statesmen at the head of parties. Those contests exhibit great mental +power, singular system, and extraordinary knowledge of the art of +making vast bodies of men minister to the personal objects of avarice +and ambition. But they do no honour to the moral dignity of England. +All revolutions are hazardous to principle. A succession of +revolutions have always extinguished even the pretence to principle. +The French Revolution is not the only one which made a race of +_girouettes_. The political life of England, from the death of Anne to +the reign of George the Third, was a perpetual turning of the +weathercock. Whig and Tory were the names of distinction. But their +subordinates were of as many varieties of feature as the cargo of a +slave-ship; the hue might be the same, but the jargon was that of +Babel. It was perhaps fortunate for the imperial power of England, +that while she was thus humiliating the national morality, which is +the life-blood of nations; her reckless and perpetual enemy beyond the +Channel had lost all means of being her antagonist. The French sceptre +had fallen into the hands of a prince, who had come to the throne a +debauchee; and to whom the throne seemed only a scene for the larger +display of his vices. The profligacy of Louis-Quatorze had been +palliated by his passion for splendour, among a dissolute people who +loved splendour much, and hated profligacy little. But the vices of +Louis the Fifteenth were marked by a grossness which degraded them in +the eye even of popular indulgence, and prepared the nation for the +overthrow of the monarchy. In this period, religion, the great +purifier of national council, maintained but a struggling existence. +The Puritanism of the preceding century had crushed the Church of +England; and the restoration of the monarchy had given the people a +saturnalia. Religion had been confounded with hypocrisy, until the +people had equally confounded freedom with infidelity. The heads of +the church, chosen by freethinking administrations, were chosen more +for the suppleness than for the strength of their principles; and +while the people were thus taught to regard churchmen as tools, and +the ministers to use them as dependents, the cause of truth sank +between both. The Scriptures are the life of religion. It can no more +subsist in health without them, than the human frame can subsist +without food; it may have the dreams of the enthusiast, or the frenzy +of the monk; but, for all the substantial and safe purposes of the +human heart, its life is gone for ever. It has been justly remarked, +that the theological works of that day, including the sermons, might, +in general, have been written if Christianity had never existed. The +sermons were chiefly essays, of the dreariest kind on the most +commonplace topics of morals. The habit of reading these discourses +from the pulpit, a habit so fatal to all impression, speedily rendered +the preachers as indifferent as their auditory; and if we were to name +the period when religion had most fallen into decay in the public +mind, we should pronounce it the half century which preceded the reign +of George the Third. + +On the subject of pulpit eloquence there are some remarks in one of +the reviews of the late Sydney Smith, expressed with all the +shrewdness, divested of the levity of that writer, who had keenly +observed the popular sources of failure. + +"The great object of modern sermons is, to hazard nothing. Their +characteristic is decent debility; which alike guards their authors +from ludicrous errors, and precludes them from striking beauties. Yet +it is curious to consider, how a body of men so well educated as the +English clergy, can distinguish themselves so little in a species of +composition, to which it is their peculiar duty, as well as their +ordinary habit, to attend. To solve this difficulty, it should be +remembered that the eloquence of the bar and of the senate force +themselves into notice, power, and wealth." He then slightly guards +against the conception, that eloquence should be the sole source of +preferment; or even "a common cause of preferment." But he strongly, +and with great appearance of truth, attributes the want of public +effect to the want of those means by which that effect is secured in +every other instance. + +"Pulpit discourses have insensibly dwindled from speaking into +reading; a practice of itself sufficient to stifle every germ of +eloquence. It is only by the fresh feelings of the heart that mankind +can be very powerfully affected. What can be more unfortunate, than an +orator delivering stale indignation, and fervour of a week old; +turning over whole pages of violent passions, written out in German +text; reading the tropes and metaphors into which he is hurried by the +ardour of his mind; and so affected, at a preconcerted line and page, +that he is unable to proceed any further?" + +This criticism was perfectly true of sermons forty years ago, when it +was written. Times are changed since, and changed for the better. The +pulpit is no longer ashamed of the doctrines of Christianity, as too +harsh for the ears of a classic audience, or too familiar for the ears +of the people. Still there are no rewards in the Church, for that +great faculty, or rather that great combination of faculties, which +commands all the honours of the senate and the bar. A clerical +Demosthenes might find his triumph in the shillings of a charity +sermon, but he must never hope for a Stall. + +We now revert to the curious, inquisitive, and gossiping historian of +the time. Walpole, fond of French manners, delighting in the easy +sarcasm, and almost saucy levity, of French "Memoirs," and adopting, +in all its extent, the confession, (then so fashionable on the +Continent,) that the perfection of writing was to be formed in their +lively _persiflage_, evidently modelled his "History" on the style of +the Sevignes and St Simons. But he was altogether their superior. If +he had been a chamberlain in the court of Louis XV., he might have +been as frivolously witty, and as laughingly sarcastic, as any +Frenchman who ever sat at the feet of a court mistress, or whoever +looked for fame among the sallies of a _petit souper_. But England was +an atmosphere which compelled him to a manlier course. The storms of +party were not to be stemmed by a wing of gossamer. The writer had +bold facts, strong principles, and the struggles of powerful minds to +deal with, and their study gave him a strength not his own. + +Walpole was fond of having a hero. In private life, George Selwyn was +his Admirable Crichton; in public, Charles Townshend. Charles was +unquestionably a man of wit. Yet his wit rather consisted in dexterity +of language than in brilliancy of conception. He was also eloquent in +Parliament; though his charm evidently consisted more in happiness of +phrase, than in richness, variety, or vigour, of thought. On the +whole, he seems to have been made to amuse rather than to impress, and +to give a high conception of his general faculties than to produce +either conviction by his argument, or respect by the solid qualities +of his genius. Still, he must have been an extraordinary man. Walpole +describes his conduct and powers, as exhibited on one of those days of +sharp debate which preceded the tremendous discussions of the American +war. The subject was a bill for regulating the dividends of the East +India Company--the topic was extremely trite, and apparently trifling. +But any perch will answer for the flight of such bird. "It was on +that day," says Walpole, "and on that occasion, that Charles Townshend +displayed, in a latitude beyond belief, the amazing powers of his +capacity, and the no less amazing incongruities of his character." +Early in the day he had opened the business, by taking on himself the +examination of the Company's conduct, had made a calm speech on the +subject, and even went so far as to say, "that he hoped he had atoned +for the inconsiderateness of his past life, by the care which he had +taken of that business." He then went home to dinner. In his absence a +motion was made, which Conway, the secretary of state, not choosing to +support alone, it being virtually Townshend's own measure besides, +sent to hurry him back to the House. "He returned about eight in the +evening, half drunk with champagne," as Walpole says, (which, however, +was subsequently denied,) and more intoxicated with spirits. He then +instantly rose to speak, without giving himself time to learn any +thing, except that the motion had given alarm. He began by vowing that +he had not been consulted on the motion--a declaration which +astonished every body, there being twelve persons round him at the +moment, who had been in consultation with him that very morning, and +with his assistance had drawn up the motion on his own table, and who +were petrified at his unparalleled effrontery. But before he sat down, +he had poured forth, as Walpole says, "a torrent of wit, humour, +knowledge, absurdity, vanity, and fiction, heightened by all the +graces of comedy, the happiness of quotation, and the buffoonery of +farce. To the purpose of the question he said not a syllable. It was a +descant on the times, a picture of parties, of their leaders, their +hopes, and effects. It was an encomium and a satire on himself; and +when he painted the pretensions of birth, riches, connexions, favours, +titles, while he effected to praise Lord Rockingham and that faction, +he yet insinuated that nothing but parts like his own were qualified +to preside. And while he less covertly arraigned the wild incapacity +of Lord Chatham, he excited such murmurs of wonder, admiration, +applause, laughter, pity, and scorn, that nothing was so true as the +sentence with which he concluded--when, speaking of government, he +said, that it had become what he himself had often been called--the +weathercock." + +Walpole exceeds even his usual measure of admiration, in speaking of +this masterly piece of extravagance. "Such was the wit, abundance, and +impropriety of this speech," says he, "that for some days men could +talk or enquire of nothing else. 'Did you hear Charles Townshend's +champagne speech,' was the universal question. The bacchanalian +enthusiasm of Pindar flowed in torrents less rapid and less eloquent, +and inspired less delight, than Townshend's imagery, which conveyed +meaning in every sentence. It was Garrick acting extempore scenes of +Congreve." He went to supper with Walpole at Conway's afterwards, +where, the flood of his gaiety not being exhausted, he kept the table +in a roar till two in the morning. A part of this entertainment, +however, must have found his auditory in a condition as unfit for +criticism as himself. Claret till "two in the morning," might easily +disqualify a convivial circle from the exercise of too delicate a +perception. And a part of Townshend's facetiousness on that occasion +consisted in mimicking his own wife, and a woman of rank with whom he +fancied himself in love. He at last gave up from mere bodily +lassitude. Walpole happily enough illustrates those talents and their +abuse by an allusion to those eastern tales, in which a benevolent +genius endows a being with supernatural excellence on some points, +while a malignant genius counteracts the gift by some qualification +which perpetually baffles and perverts it. The story, however, of +Charles Townshend's tipsiness is thus contradicted by a graver +authority, Sir George Colebrook, in his Memoirs. + +"Mr Townshend loved good living, but had not a strong stomach. He +committed therefore frequent excesses, considering his constitution; +which would not have been intemperance in another. He was supposed, +for instance, to have made a speech in the heat of wine, when that was +really not the case. It was a speech in which he treated with great +levity, but with wonderful art, the characters of the Duke of Grafton +and Lord Shelburne, whom, though his colleagues in office, he +entertained a sovereign contempt for, and heartily wished to get rid +of. He had a black riband over one of his eyes that day, having +tumbled out of bed, probably in a fit of epilepsy; and this added to +the impression made on his auditors that he was tipsy. Whereas, it was +a speech he had meditated a great while upon, and it was only by +accident that it found utterance that day. I write with certainty, +because Sir George Yonge and I were the only persons who dined with +him, and we had but one bottle of champagne after dinner; General +Conway having repeatedly sent messengers to press his return to the +House." + +This brings the miracle down to the human standard, yet that standard +was high, and the man who could excite this admiration, in a House +which contained so great a number of eminent speakers, and which could +charm the caustic spirit of Walpole into the acknowledgment that his +speech "was the most singular pleasure of the kind he had ever +tasted," must have been an extraordinary performance, even if his +instrument was not of the highest tone of oratory. A note from the +Duke of Grafton's manuscript memoirs also contradicts, on Townshend's +own authority, his opinion of the "wild incapacity of Lord Chatham." +The note says:-- + + "On the night preceding Lord Chatham's first journey to Bath, Mr + Charles Townshend was for the first time summoned to the Cabinet. + The business was on a general view and statement of the actual + situation and interests of the various powers in Europe. Lord + Chatham had taken the lead in this consideration in so masterly a + manner, as to raise the admiration and desire of us all to + co-operate with him in forwarding his views. Mr Townshend was + particularly astonished, and owned to me, as I was carrying him in + my carriage home, that Lord Chatham had just shown to us what + inferior animals we were, and that as much as he had seen of him + before, he did not conceive till that night his superiority to be + so transcendant." + +Walpole writes with habitual bitterness of the great Lord Chatham. The +recollection of his early opposition to Sir Robert Walpole, seems to +have made him an unfaithful historian, wherever this extraordinary +man's name comes within his page; but at the period of those +discussions, it seems not improbable that the vigour of Chatham's +understanding had in some degree given way to the tortures of his +disease. He had suffered from gout at an early period of life; and as +this is a disease remarkably affected by the mind, the perpetual +disturbances of a public life seem to have given it a mastery over the +whole frame of the great minister. Walpole talks in unjustifiable +language of his "haughty sterility of talents." But there seems to be +more truth in his account of the caprices of this powerful +understanding in his retirement. Walpole calls it the "reality of Lord +Chatham's madness." Still, we cannot see much in those instances, +beyond the temper naturally resulting from an agonizing disease. When +the Pynsent estate fell to him, he removed to it, and sold his house +and grounds at Hayes--"a place on which he had wasted prodigious sums, +and which yet retained small traces of expense, great part having been +consumed in purchasing contiguous tenements, to free himself from all +neighbourhood. Much had gone in doing and undoing, and not a little in +planting by torchlight, as his peremptory and impatient habits could +brook no delay. Nor were those the sole circumstances which marked his +caprice. His children he could not bear under the same roof, nor +communications from room to room, nor whatever he thought promoted +noise. A winding passage between his house and children was built with +the same view. When, at the beginning of his second administration, he +fixed at North End by Hampstead, he took four or five houses +successively, as fast as Mr Dingley his landlord went into them, +still, as he said, to ward off the houses of the neighbourhood." + +Walpole relates another anecdote equally inconclusive. At Pynsent, a +bleak hill bounded his view. He ordered his gardener to have it +planted with evergreens. The man asked "with what sorts." He replied, +"With cedars and cypresses." "Bless me, my lord," replied the +gardener, "all the nurseries in this county would not furnish a +hundredth part." "No matter, send for them from London: and they were +brought by land carriage." Certainly, there was not much in this +beyond the natural desire of every improver to shut out a disagreeable +object, by putting an agreeable one in its place. His general object +was the natural one of preventing all noise--a point of importance +with every sufferer under a wakeful and miserable disease. His +appetite was delicate and fanciful, and a succession of chickens were +kept boiling and roasting at every hour, to be ready whenever he +should call. He at length grew weary of his residence and, after +selling Hayes, took a longing to return there. After considerable +negotiation with Mr Thomas Walpole the purchaser, he obtained it +again, and we hear no more of his madness. + +The session was one of continual intrigues, constant exhibitions of +subtlety amongst the leaders of the party, which at this distance of +time are only ridiculous, and intricate discussions, which are now +among the lumber of debate. Townshend, if he gained nothing else, +gained the freedom of the city for his conduct on the East India and +Dividend bills, for which, as Walpole says, "he deserved nothing but +censure." A contemptuous epigram appeared on the occasion by "somebody +a little more sagacious"--that "somebody" probably being Walpole +himself: + + "The joke of Townshend's box is little known, + Great judgment in the thing the cits have shown; + The compliment was an expedient clever, + To rid them of the like expense for ever. + Of so burlesque a choice the example sure + For city boxes must all longing cure, + The honor'd Ostracism at Athens fell, + Soon as Hyperbolus had got the shell." + +It is scarcely possible to think that an epigram of this heavy order +could have been praised by Walpole, if his criticism had not been +tempered by the tenderness of paternity. + +We then have a character of a man embalmed in the contempt poured upon +him by Junius--the Duke of Grafton. Though less bitter, it is equally +scornful. "Hitherto," says Walpole, "he had passed for a man of much +obstinacy and firmness, of strict honour, devoid of ambition, and, +though reserved, more diffident than designing. He retained so much of +this character, as to justify those who had mistaken the rest. If he +precipitated himself into the most sudden and inextricable +contradictions, at least he pursued the object of the moment with +inflexible ardour. If he abandoned himself to total negligence of +business, in pursuit of his sports and pleasures, the love of power +never quitted him; and, when his will was disputed, no man was more +imperiously arbitrary. If his designs were not deeply laid, at least +they were conducted in profound silence. He rarely pardoned those who +did not guess his inclination. It was necessary to guess, so rare was +any instance of his unbosoming himself to either friends or +confidants. Why his honour had been so highly rated I can less +account, except that he had advertised it, and that obstinate young +men are apt to have high notions, before they have practised the +world, and essayed their own virtue." + +At length, after a vast variety of intrigues, which threw the public +life of those days into the most contemptible point of view, the King +being made virtually a cipher, while the families of the Hertfords, +Buckinghams, and Rockinghams trafficked the high offices of state as +children would barter toys; an administration was tardily formed. +Walpole, who seemed to take a sort of _dilettante_ pleasure in +constructing those intrigues, and making himself wretched at their +failure, while nobody suffered him to take advantage of their success; +now gave himself a holiday, and went to relax in Paris for six +weeks--his relaxation consisting of gossip amongst the literary ladies +of the capital. During his absence an event happened which, though it +did not break up the ministry, yet must have had considerable effect +in its influence on the House of Commons. This was the death of the +celebrated Charles Townshend, on the 4th of September 1767, in the +forty-second year of his age. The cause of his death was a neglected +fever; if even this did not arise from his carelessness of health, and +those habits which, if not amounting to intemperance, were certainly +trespasses on his constitution. Walpole speaks of him with continual +admiration of his genius, and continual contempt of his principles. He +also thinks, that he had arrived at his highest fame, or, in his +peculiar phrase, "that his genius could have received no accession of +brightness, while his faults only promised multiplication." Walpole, +with no pretence to rival, probably envied this singular personage; +for, whenever he begins by panegyric, he uniformly ends with a sting. +One of the Notes gives an extract on Sir George Colebrook's Memoirs, +which perhaps places his faculties in a more favourable point of view +than the high-coloured eulogium of Burke, or the polished insinuations +of Walpole. Sir George tells us, that Townshend's object was to be +prime minister, and that he would doubtless have attained that object +had he lived to see the Duke of Grafton's resignation. Lord North +succeeded him as chancellor of the exchequer, and Townshend would +evidently have preceded _him_ as prime minister. "As a private man, +his friends were used to say, that they should not see his like again. +Though they were often the butts of his wit, they always returned to +his company with fresh delight, which they would not have done had +there been either malice or rancour in what he said. He loved society, +and in his choice of friends preferred those over whom he had a +decided superiority of talent. He was satisfied when he had put the +table in a roar, and he did not like to see it done by another. When +Garrick and Foote were present, he took the lead, and hardly allowed +them an opportunity of showing their talents for mimicry, because he +could excel them in their own art. He shone particularly in taking off +the principal members of the House of Commons. Among the few whom he +feared was Mr Selwyn, and at a dinner at Lord Gower's they had a trial +of skill, in which Mr Selwyn prevailed. When the company broke up, Mr +Townshend, to show that he had no animosity, carried him in his +carriage to White's; and, as they parted, Selwyn could not help +saying--'Remember, this is the first set-down you have given me +to-day.'" + +As Townshend lived at a considerable expense, and had little paternal +fortune, he speculated occasionally in both the French and English +funds. One of the incidents related by Sir George, and without a +syllable of censure too, throws on him an imputation of trickery +which, in our later day, would utterly destroy any public man. "When +he was chancellor of the exchequer, he came in his nightgown to a +dinner given by the Duke of Grafton to several of the principal men of +the city to settle the loan. After dinner, when the terms were +settled, and every body present wished to introduce some friend on the +list of subscribers, he pretended to cast up the sums already +admitted, said the loan was full, huddled up his papers, got into a +chair, and returned home, reserving to himself by this manoeuvre a +large share of the loan." An act of this kind exhibits the honesty of +the last age in a very equivocal point of view. If proud of nothing +else, we may be proud of the public sense of responsibility; in our +day, it may be presumed that such an act would be impossible, for it +would inevitably involve the ruin of the perpetrator, followed by the +ruin of any ministry which would dare to defend him. + +At this period died a brother of the king, Edward Duke of York, a man +devoted to pleasure, headstrong in his temper, and ignorant in his +conceptions. "Immoderate travelling, followed by immoderate balls and +entertainments," had long kept his blood in a peculiar state of +accessibility to disease. He died of a putrid fever. Walpole makes a +panegyric on the Duke of Gloucester, his brother; of which a part may +be supposed due to the Duke's marriage with Lady Waldegrave, a +marriage which provoked the indignation of the King, and which once +threatened political evils of a formidable nature. Henry, the Duke of +Cumberland, was also an unfortunate specimen of the blood royal. He is +described as having the babbling loquacity of the Duke of York, +without his talents; as at once arrogant and low; presuming on his +rank as a prince, and degrading himself by an association with low +company. Still, we are to remember Walpole's propensity to sarcasm, +the enjoyment which he seems to have felt in shooting his brilliant +missiles at all ranks superior to his own; and his especial hostility +to George the Third, one of the honestest monarchs that ever sat upon +a throne. + +In those days the composition of ministries depended altogether upon +the high families.--The peerage settled every thing amongst +themselves. A few of their dependents were occasionally taken into +office; but all the great places were distributed among a little +clique, who thus constituted themselves the real masters of the +empire. Walpole's work has its value, in letting us into the secrets +of a conclave, which at once shows us the singular emptiness of its +constituent parts, and the equally singular authority with which they +seem to have disposed of both the king and the people. We give a scene +from the _Historian_, which would make an admirable fragment of the +_Rehearsal_, and which wanted only the genius of Sheridan to be an +admirable pendant to Mr Puff's play in the _Critic_. "On the 20th a +meeting was held at the Duke of Newcastle's, of Lord Rockingham, the +Duke of Richmond, and of Dowdeswell, with Newcastle himself on one +part, and of the Duke of Bedford, Lord Weymouth, and Rigby on the +other. The Duke of Bedford had powers from Grenville to act for him; +but did not seem to like Lord Buckingham's taking on himself to name +to places. On the latter's asking what friends they wished to prefer, +Rigby said, with his cavalier bluntness--Take the _Court Calendar_ and +give them one, two, three thousand pounds a-year! Bedford +observed--They had said nothing on measures. Mr Grenville would insist +on the sovereignty of this country over America being asserted. Lord +Rockingham replied--He would never allow it to be a question whether +he had given up this country--he never had. The Duke insisted on a +declaration. The Duke of Richmond said--We may as well demand one from +you, that you will never disturb that country again. Neither would +yield. However, though they could not agree on measures; as the +distribution of place was more the object of their thoughts and of +their meeting, they reverted to that topic. Lord Rockingham named Mr +Conway. Bedford started; said he had no notion of Conway; had thought +he was to return to the military line. The Duke of Richmond said it +was true, Mr Conway did not desire a civil place; did not know whether +he would be persuaded to accept one; but they were so bound to him for +his resignation, and thought him so able, they must insist. The Duke +of Bedford said--Conway was an officer _sans tache_, but not a +minister _sans tache_. Rigby said--Not one of the present cabinet +should be saved. Dowdeswell asked--'What! not one?' 'No.' 'What! not +Charles Townshend.' 'Oh!' said Rigby, 'that is different. Besides, he +has been in opposition.' 'So has Conway,' said Dowdeswell. 'He has +voted twice against the court, Townshend but once.' 'But,' said Rigby, +'Conway is Bute's man.' 'Pray,' said Dowdeswell, 'is not Charles +Townshend Bute's?' 'Ah! but Conway is governed by his brother +Hertford, who is Bute's.' 'But Lady Ailesbury is a Scotchwoman.' 'So +is Lady Dalkeith.' Those ladies had been widows and were now married, +(the former to Conway, the latter to Townshend.) From this dialogue +the assembly fell to wrangling, and broke up quarrelling. So high did +the heats go, that the Conways ran about the town publishing the issue +of the conference, and taxing the Bedfords with treachery." + +Notwithstanding this collision, at once so significant, and so +trifling--at once a burlesque on the gravity of public affairs, and a +satire on the selfishness of public men--on the same evening, the Duke +of Bedford sent to desire another interview, to which Lord Rockingham +yielded, but the Duke of Bedford refused to be present. So much, +however, were the minds on both sides ulcerated by former and recent +disputes, and so incompatible were their views, that the second +meeting broke up in a final quarrel, and Lord Rockingham released the +other party from all their engagements. The Duke of Bedford desired +they might still continue friends, or at least to agree to oppose +together. Lord Rockingham said no, "they were broken for ever." + +It was at this meeting that the Duke of Newcastle appeared for the +last time in a political light. Age and feebleness had at length worn +out that busy passion for intrigue, which power had not been able to +satiate, nor disgrace correct. He languished above a year longer, but +was heard of no more on the scene of affairs. (He died in November 1768.) + +A remarkable circumstance in all those arrangements is, that we hear +nothing of either the king or the people. The king is of course +applied to to sign and seal, but simply as a head clerk. The people +are occasionally mentioned at the end of every seven years; but in the +interim all was settled in the parlours of the peerage! The scene +which we have just given was absolutely puerile, if it were not +scandalous; and, without laying ourselves open to the charge of +superstition on such subjects, we might almost regard the preservation +of the empire as directly miraculous, while power was in the hands of +such men as the Butes and Newcastles, the Bedfords and Rockinghams, of +the last century. It is not even difficult to trace to this +intolerable system, alike the foreign calamities and the internal +convulsions during this period. Whether America could, by any +possibility of arrangement, have continued a British colony up to the +present time, may be rationally doubted. A vast country, rapidly +increasing in wealth and population, would have been an incumbrance, +rather than an addition, to the power of England. If the patronage of +her offices continued in the hands of ministers, it must have supplied +them with the means of buying up every man who was to be bought in +England. It would have been the largest fund of corruption ever known +in the world. Or, if the connexion continued, with the population of +America doubling in every five-and-twenty years, the question must in +time have arisen, whether England or America ought to be the true seat +of government. The probable consequence, however, would have been +separation; and as this could scarcely be effected by amicable means, +the result might have been a war of a much more extensive, wasteful, +and formidable nature, than that which divided the two countries +sixty-five years ago. + +But all the blunders of the American war, nay the war itself, may be +still almost directly traceable to the arrogance of the oligarchy. Too +much accustomed to regard government as a natural appendage to their +birth, they utterly forgot the true element of national power--the +force of public opinion. Inflated with a sense of their personal +superiority, they looked with easy indifference or studied contempt on +every thing that was said or done by men whose genealogy was not +registered in the red book. Of America--a nation of Englishmen--and of +its proceedings, they talked, as a Russian lord might talk of his +serfs. Some of them thought, that a Stamp act would frighten the +sturdy free-holders of the Western World into submission! others +talked of reducing them to obedience by laying a tax on their tea! +others prescribed a regimen of writs and constables! evidently +regarding the American farmers as they regarded the poachers and +paupers on their own demesnes. All this arose from stupendous +ignorance; but it was ignorance engendered by pride, by exclusiveness +of rank, and by the arrogance of _caste_. So excessive was this +exclusiveness, that Burke, though the most extraordinary man of his +time, and one of the most memorable of any time, could never obtain a +seat in the cabinet; where such triflers as Newcastle, such figures of +patrician pedantry as Buckingham, such shallow intriguers as the +Bedfords, and such notorious characters as the Sandwiches, played with +power, like children with the cups and balls of their nursery. Lord +North, with all his wit, his industry, and his eloquence, owed his +admission into the cabinet, to his being the son of the Earl of +Guilford. Charles Fox, though marked by nature, from his first +entrance into public life, for the highest eminence of the senate, +would never have been received into the government _class_, but for +his casual connexion with the House of Richmond. Thus, they knew +nothing of the real powers of that infinite multitude, which, however +below the peerage, forms the country. They thought that a few frowns +from Downing Street could extinguish the resistance of millions, three +thousand miles off, with muskets in their hands, inflamed by a sense +of wrong, whether fancied or true, and insensible to the gatherings of +a brow however coroneted and antique. + +This haughty exclusiveness equally accounts for the contests with +Wilkes. They felt themselves affronted, much more than resisted; they +were much more stung by the defiance of a private individual to +themselves, than they were urged to the collision by any conceivable +sense of hazard to the Monarchy. No man, out of bedlam, could +conceive, that Wilkes had either the power or the intention to subvert +the state. But Mr Wilkes, an obscure man, whose name was not known to +the calendar of the government fabricators, had actually dared to call +their privilege of power into question; had defied them in the courts +of law; had rebuked them in the senate; had shaken their influence in +the elections; and had, in fact, compelled them to know, what they +were so reluctant to learn, that they were but human beings after all! +The acquisition of this knowledge cost them half a dozen years of +convulsions, the most ruinous to themselves, and the most hazardous to +the constitution. Wilkes' profligacy alone, perhaps, saved the +constitution from a shock, which might have changed the whole system +of the empire. If he had not been sunk by his personal character, at +the first moment when the populace grew cool, he might have availed +himself of the temper of the times to commit mischiefs the most +irreparable. If his personal character had been as free from public +offence as his spirit was daring, he might have led the people much +further than the government ever had the foresight to contemplate. The +conduct of the successive cabinets had covered the King with +unpopularity, not the less fierce, that it was wholly undeserved. +Junius, the ablest political writer that England has ever seen, or +probably ever will see, in the art of assailing a ministry, had +pilloried every leading man of his time except Chatham, in the +imperishable virulence of his page. The popular mind was furious with +indignation at the conduct of all cabinets; in despair of all +improvement in the system; irritated by the rash severity which +alternated with the equally rash pusillanimity of ministers; and +beginning to regard government less as a protection, than as an +encroachment on the natural privileges of a nation of freemen. + +They soon had a growing temptation before them in the successful +revolt of America. + +We do not now enter into that question; it is too long past. But we +shall never allude to it without paying that homage to truth, which +pronounces, that the American revolt was a rebellion, wholly +unjustifiable by the provocation; utterly rejecting all explanation, +or atonement for casual injuries; and made in the spirit of a +determination to throw off the allegiance to the mother country. But, +if Wilkes could have sustained his opposition but a few years longer, +and with any character but one so shattered as his own, he might have +carried it on through life, and even bequeathed it as a legacy to his +party; until the French Revolution had joined flame to flame across +the Channel, and England had rivalled even the frenzy of France in the +rapidity and ruin of her Reform. + +Fortunately, the empire was rescued from this most fatal of all +catastrophes. A great English minister appeared, on whom were to +devolve the defence of England and the restoration of Europe. The +sagacity of Pitt saw where the evil lay; his intrepidity instantly +struck at its source, and his unrivalled ability completed the saving +operation. He broke down the cabinet monopoly. No man less humiliated +himself to the populace, but no man better understood the people. No +man paid more practical respect to the peerage, but no man more +thoroughly extinguished their exclusive possession of power. He formed +his cabinet from men of all ranks, in the peerage and out of the +peerage. The great peers chiefly went over to the opposition. He +resisted them there, with as much daring, and with as successful a +result, as he had expelled them from the stronghold of government. He +made new peers. He left his haughty antagonists to graze on the barren +field of opposition for successive years; and finally saw almost the +whole herd come over for shelter to the ministerial fold. + +At this period a remarkable man was brought into public life--the +celebrated Dunning, appointed solicitor-general. Walpole calls this +"an extraordinary promotion," as Dunning was connected with Lord +Shelburne. It was like every thing else, obviously an intrigue; and +Dunning would have lost the appointment, but for his remarkable +reputation in the courts; Wedderburne being the man of the Bedfords. +Walpole's opinion of Dunning in the House, shows, how much even the +highest abilities may be influenced by circumstances. He says, "that +Dunning immediately and utterly lost character as a speaker, although +he had acquired the very highest distinctions as a pleader;" so +different, says he, is the oratory of the bar and of parliament. +Mansfield and Camden retained an equal rank in both. Wedderburne was +most successful in the House. Norton had at first disappointed the +expectations that were conceived of him when he came into parliament; +yet his strong sense, that glowed through all the coarseness of his +language and brutality of his manner, recovered his weight, and he was +much distinguished. While Sir Dudley Ryder, attorney-general in the +preceding reign, the soundest lawyer, and Charles Yorke, one of the +most distinguished pleaders, soon talked themselves out of all +consideration in parliament; the former by laying too great a stress +on every part of his diffusive knowledge, and the latter by the +sterility of his intelligence. + +An intelligent Note, however, vindicates the reputation of Dunning. It +is observed, that Dunning's having been counsel for Wilkes, and the +intimate of Lord Shelburne, it could not be expected that he should +take a prominent part in any of the debates which were so largely +occupied with Wilkes' misdemeanours. Lord North, too, was hostile to +Dunning. Under such conditions it was impossible that any man should +exhibit his powers to advantage; but at a later period, when he had +got rid of those trammels, his singular abilities vindicated +themselves. He became one of the leaders of the opposition, even when +that honour was to be shared with Burke. We have heard, that such was +the pungency of Dunning's expressions, and the happy dexterity of his +conceptions, that when he spoke, (his voice being feeble, and unable +to make itself heard at any great distance,) the members used to +throng around the bench on which he spoke. Wraxall panegyrizes him, +and yet with a tautology of terms, which must have been the very +reverse of Dunning's style. Thus, he tells us that when Dunning spoke, +"every murmur was hushed, and every ear attentive," two sentences +which amount to the same thing. Hannah More is also introduced as one +of the panegyrists; for poor Hannah seems to have been one of the most +bustling persons possible; to have run every where, and to have given +_her_ opinion of every body, however much above her comprehension. She +was one of the spectators on the Duchess of Kingston's trial, (a most +extraordinary scene for the choice of such a purist;) but Hannah was +not at that time quite so sublime as she became afterwards. Hannah +describes Dunning's manner as "insufferably bad, coughing and spitting +at every word; but his sense and expression pointed to the last +degree." But the character which the annotator gives as a model of +panegyric, pleases us least of all. It is by Sir William Jones, and +consists of one long antithesis. It is a studied toil of language, +expressing ideas, a commonplace succession, substituting words for +thoughts, and at once leaving the ear palled, and the understanding +dissatisfied. What, for instance, could be made of such a passage as +this? Sir William is speaking of Dunning's wit. "This," says he, +"relieved the weary, calmed the resentful, and animated the drowsy. +This drew smiles even from such as were _the object of it, and +scattered flowers over a desert_, and, like _sunbeams sparkling on a +lake_, gave spirit and vivacity to the dullest and least interesting +cause." And this mangling of metaphor is to teach us the qualities of +a profound and practical mind. What follows, is the perfection of +see-saw. "He was endued with an intellect sedate yet penetrating, +clear yet profound, subtle yet strong. His knowledge, too, was equal +to his imagination, and his memory to his knowledge." He might have +equally added, that the capacity of his boots was equal to the size of +his legs, and the length of his purse to the extent of his generosity. +This reminds us of one of Sydney Smith's burlesques on the balancing +of epithets by that most pedantic of pedants, the late Dr +Parr--"profundity without obscurity, perspicuity without prolixity, +ornament without glare, terseness without barrenness, penetration +without subtlety, comprehensiveness without digression, and a great +number of other things without a great number of other things." + +Little tricks, or rather large ones, now and then diversify the +narrative. On the same day that Conway resigned the seals, Lord +Weymouth was declared secretary of state. At the same time, Lord +Hilsborough kissed hands for the American department, but nominally +retaining the post-office, the salary of which he paid to Lord +Sandwich, _till the elections should be over_; there being so strict a +disqualifying clause in the bill for prohibiting the postmasters for +interfering in elections, which Sandwich _was determined to do_ to the +utmost, that he did not dare to accept the office in his own name, +_till he had incurred the guilt_. Another trick of a very +dishonourable nature, though ultimately defeated, may supply a moral +for our share-trafficking days in high quarters. Lord Bottetort, one +of the bedchamber, and a kind of second-hand favourite, had engaged in +an adventure with a company of copper-workers at Warmley. They broke, +and his lordship, in order to cover his estate from the creditors, +begged a privy seal to incorporate the company, by which means private +estates would not be answerable. The king ignorantly granted the +request; but Lord Chatham, aware of the deception, refused to affix +the seal to the patent, pleading that he was not able. Lord Bottetort, +outrageous at the disappointment, threatened to petition the lords to +remove Lord Chatham, on the ground of inability. The annotator justly +observes, that the proposal was absolutely monstrous, being nothing +but a gross fraud on his lordship's creditors. It, however, does not +seem to have attracted the attention of the attorney-general, or the +home-office; but, for some cause or other, the patent did not pass, +the result being, that Lord Bottetort, unable to retrieve his losses, +obtained the government of Virginia in the following summer, where he +subsequently died. + +A curious instance of parliamentary corruption next attracted the +notice of the public. It came out, that the city of Oxford had offered +their representation to two gentlemen, if they would pay L7500 towards +the debts of the corporation. They refused the bargain, and Oxford +sold itself to the Duke of Marlborough and Lord Abingdon. The matter +was brought before the House, and the mayor of Oxford and ten of the +corporation appeared at the bar, confessing their crime, and asking +pardon. It ended with committing them to prison for five days. A note +describes the whole affair as being treated with great ridicule, +(there being probably not a few who looked upon things of this nature +as a matter of course;) and the story being, that the aldermen +completed their bargain with the Duke of Marlborough, during their +imprisonment in Newgate. + +On the 11th of March 1768, the parliament was dissolved. Walpole says, +"that its only characteristic was servility to the government; while +our ancestors, we presume, from the shamelessness of its servility, +might have called it the Impudent Parliament." + +After wearying himself in the dusty field of politics, Walpole +retired, like Homer's gods from Troy, to rest in the more flowery +region of literature. His habits led him to the enjoyment of bitter +political poetry, which, in fact, is not poetry at all; while they +evidently disqualified him from feeling the power and beauty of the +imaginative, the only poetry that deserves the name. Thus, he +describes Goldsmith as the "correct author of _The Traveller_," one of +the most beautiful poems in the language; while he panegyrizes, with a +whole catalogue of plaudits, Anstey's _Bath Guide_--a very scandalous, +though undoubtedly a lively and ingenious, caricature of the habits of +the time. An ultra-heavy poem by Bentley, the son of the critic, +enjoys a similar panegyric. We give, as an evidence of its dulness, a +fragment of its praise of Lord Bute:-- + + "Oh, if we seize with skill the coming hour, + And reinvest us with the robe of power; + Rule while we live, let future days transmute + To every merit all we've charged on Bute. + Let late posterity receive his name, + And swell its sails with every breath of fame-- + Downwards as far as Time shall roll his tide, + With ev'ry pendant flying, let it glide." + +The rest is equally intolerable. + +But Bentley was lucky in his patrons, if not in his poetry; as, in +addition to a Commissionership of Lotteries, he received a pension for +the lives of himself and his wife of L500 a-year! Though thus +undeservedly successful in attracting the notice of the government, +his more honest efforts failed with the public. He wrote two plays, +both of which failed. Walpole next describes Robertson the historian +in these high-coloured terms, "as sagacious and penetrating as +Tacitus, with a perspicuity of Livy:" qualities which every one else +knows to be directly the reverse of those which characterize +Robertson. That very impudent woman, Catharine Macaulay, seems also to +have been one of the objects of his literary admiration. He describes +her, as being as partial in the cause of liberty as bigots to the +church and royalists to tyranny, and as exerting manly strength with +the gravity of a philosopher. + +But Walpole is aways amusing when he gives anecdotes of passing +things. The famous Brentford election finds in him its most graphic +historian. The most singular carelessness was exhibited by the +government on this most perilous occasion--a carelessness obviously +arising from that contempt which the higher ranks of the nobility in +those days were weak enough to feel for the opinion of those below +them. On the very verge of an election, within five miles of London, +and which must bring to a point all the exasperation of years; Camden, +the chancellor, went down to Bath, and the Duke of Grafton, the prime +minister, who was a great horse-racer, drove off to Newmarket. +Mansfield, whom Walpole seems to have hated, and whom he represents as +at "once resentful, timorous, and subtle," the three worst qualities +of the heart, the nerves, and the understanding, pretended that it was +the office of the chancellor to bring the outlaw (Wilkes) to justice, +and did nothing. The consequence was, that the multitude were left +masters of the field. + +On the morning of the election; while the irresolution of the court, +and the negligence of the prime minister, caused a neglect of all +precautions; the populace took possession of all the turnpikes and +avenues leading to the hustings by break of day, and would suffer no +man to pass who did not wear in his hat a blue cockade, with "Wilkes +and Number 45," on a written paper. Riots took place in the streets, +and the carriage of Sir William Proctor, the opposing candidate, was +demolished. The first day's poll for Wilkes was 1200, for Proctor 700, +for Cooke 300. It must be remembered, that in these times the +elections were capable of being prolonged from week to week, and that +the first day was regarded as scarcely more than a formality. At night +the West-end was in an uproar. It was not safe to pass through +Piccadilly. Every house was compelled to illuminate; the windows of +all which did not exhibit lights were broken; the coach-glasses of +such as did not huzza for "Wilkes and liberty" were broken; and the +panels of the carriages were scratched with 45! Lord Weymouth, the +secretary of state, wrote to Justice Fielding for constables. Fielding +answered, that they were all gone to Brentford. On this, the guards +were drawn out. The mob then attacked Lord Bute's house and Lord +Egmont's, but without being able to force an entrance. They compelled +the Duke of Northumberland to give them liquor to drink Wilkes's +health. Ladies of rank were taken out of their sedan-chairs, and +ordered to join the popular cry. The lord-mayor was an anti-Wilkite--the +mob attacked the Mansion-house, and broke the windows. He ordered out +the trained bands; they had no effect. Six thousand weavers had risen +under the Wilkite banner, and defied all resistance. Even some of the +regimental drummers beat their drums for Wilkes! His force at the +election was evidently to be resisted no longer. The ministerial +candidate was beaten, Wilkes threw in his remaining votes for Cooke, +and they came in together. The election was thus over on the second +day, but the mob paraded the metropolis at night, insisting on a +general illumination. The handsome Duchess of Hamilton, one of the +Gunnings, who had now become quite a Butite, was determined not to +illuminate. The result was, that the mob grew outrageous, broke down +the outward gates with iron-crows, tore up the pavement of the street, +and battered the doors and shutters for three hours; fortunately +without being able to get in. The Count de Sollein, the Austrian +ambassador, the most stately and ceremonious of men, was taken out of +his coach by the mob, who chalked 45 on the sole of his shoe! He +complained in form of the insult. Walpole says, fairly enough, "it was +as difficult for the ministers to help laughing as to give him +redress." + +Walpole frequently alludes to the two Gunnings as the two handsomest +sisters of their time. They were Irish-women, fresh-coloured, lively, +and well formed, but obviously more indebted to nature than to +education. Lady Coventry died young, and had the misfortune, even in +her grave, of being made the subject of an epitaph by Mason, one of +the most listless and languid poems of an unpoetic time. The Duchess +of Hamilton survived to a considerable age, and was loaded with +matrimonial honours. She first married the Duke of Hamilton. On his +death, she married the Marquis of Lorn, eldest son of the Duke of +Argyll, whom he succeeded in the title--thus becoming mother of the +heirs of the two great rival houses of Hamilton and Argyll. While in +her widowhood, she had been proposed for by the Duke of Bridgewater. +Lady Coventry seems to have realized Pope's verses of a dying belle-- + + "And, Betty, give this cheek a little red, + One would not, sure, look ugly when one's dead." + +"Till within a few days of her death, she lay on a couch with a +looking-glass in her hand. When she found her beauty, which she +idolized, was quite gone, she took to her bed, and would be seen by +nobody, not even by her nurse, suffering only the light of a lamp in +her room." + +Walpole's description of the ministry adds strikingly to the +contemptuous feeling, naturally generated by their singular ill +success. We must also observe, as much to the discredit of the past +age as to the honour of the present; that the leading men of the day +exhibited or affected a depravity of morals, which would be the ruin +of any public character at the present time. Many of the scenes in +high life would have been fitter for the court of Charles II., and +many of the actors in those scenes ought to have been cashiered from +public employment. Personal profligacy seems actually to have been +regarded as a species of ornamental appendage to public character; +and, except where its exposure sharpened the sting of an epigram, or +gave an additional flourish to the periods of a political writer, no +one seems to have conceived that the grossest offences against +morality were of the nature of crime. Another scandal seems to have +been frequent--intemperance in wine. Hard drinking was common in +England at that period, and was even regarded as the sign of a +generous spirit; but nearly all the leading politicians who died +early, are described as owing their deaths to excess. Those are +fortunate distinctions for the days which have followed; and the +country may justly congratulate itself on the abandonment of habits, +which, deeply tending to corrupt private character, render political +baseness the almost inevitable result among public men. + +Walpole promptly declares, that half the success of Wilkes was owing +to the supineness of the ministers. He might have gone further, and +fixed his charge on higher grounds. He ought to have said, that the +whole was owing to the mingled treachery and profligacy which made the +nation loathe the characters of public parties and public men. Walpole +says, in support of his assertion--"that Lord Chatham would take no +part in business; that the Duke of Grafton neglected every thing, and +whenever pressed to be active threatened to resign; that the +Chancellor Camden, placed between two such intractable friends, with +whom he was equally discontented, avoided dipping himself further; +that Conway, no longer in the Duke's confidence, and more hurt with +neglect than pleased with power, stood in the same predicament; that +Lord Gower thought of nothing but ingratiating himself at St James's; +and though what little business was done was executed by Lord +Weymouth, it required all Wood's, the secretary's, animosity to +Wilkes, to stir him up to any activity. Wood even said, "that if the +King should pardon Wilkes, Lord Weymouth would not sign the pardon." +The chief magistrate of the city, consulting the chancellor on what he +should do if Wilkes should stand for the city, and being answered that +he "must consult the recorder," Harley sharply replied, "I consulted +your lordship as a minister, I don't want to be told my duty." + +Some of the most interesting portions of these volumes are the notes, +giving brief biographical sketches of the leading men. The politics +have comparatively passed away, but the characters remain; and no +slight instruction is still to be derived from the progressive steps +by which the individuals rose from private life to public distinction. +The editor, Sir Denis la Marchant, deserves no slight credit for his +efforts to give authenticity to those notices. He seems to have +collected his authorities from every available source; and what he has +compiled with the diligence of an editor, he has expressed with the +good taste of a gentleman. + +The commencement of a parliament is always looked to with curiosity, +as the debut of new members. All the expectations which have been +formed by favouritism, family, or faction, are then brought to the +test. Parliament is an unerring tribunal, and no charlatanry can cheat +its searching eye. College reputations are extinguished in a moment, +the common-places of the hustings can avail no more, and the +pamperings of party only hurry its favourites to more rapid decay. + +Mr Phipps, the son of Lord Mulgrave, now commenced his career. By an +extraordinary taste, though bred a seaman, he was so fond of quoting +law, that he got the sobriquet of the "marine lawyer." His knowledge +of the science (as the annotator observes) could not have been very +deep, for he was then but twenty-two. But he was an evidence of the +effect of indefatigable exertion. Though a dull debater, he took a +share in every debate, and he appears to have taken the pains of +revising his speeches for the press. Yet even under his nursing, they +exhibit no traces of eloquence. His manner was inanimate, and his +large and heavy figure gained him the luckless appellation of Ursa +Major, (to distinguish him from his brother, who was also a member.) +As if to complete the amount of his deficiencies, his voice was +particularly inharmonious, or rather it was two distinct voices, the +one strong and hoarse, the other weak and querulous; both of which he +frequently used. On this was constructed the waggish story--that one +night, having fallen into a ditch, and calling out in his shrill +voice, a countryman was coming up to assist him; when Phipps calling +out again in his hoarse tone, the man exclaimed--"If there are two of +you in the ditch, you may help each other out!" + +One of his qualities seems to have been a total insensibility to his +own defects; which therefore suffered him to encounter any man, and +every man, whatever might be their superiority. Thus, in his early +day, his dulness constantly encountered Lord North, the most dexterous +wit of his time. Thus, too, in his maturer age, he constantly thrust +himself forward to meet the indignant eloquence of Fox; and seems to +have been equally unconscious that he was ridiculed by the sarcastic +pleasantry of the one, or blasted by the lofty contempt of the other. +Yet, such is the value of perseverance, that this man was gradually +regarded as important in the debates, that he wrought out for himself +an influence in the House, and obtained finally the office of joint +paymaster, one of the most lucrative under government, and a British +peerage. And all this toil was undertaken by a man who had no +children. + +At his death, he was succeeded in his Irish title by his brother +Henry, who became first lord of the admiralty, and also obtained an +English peerage. The present Marquis of Normandy is his eldest son. + +Parliamentary history sometimes gives valuable lessons, in exhibiting +the infinite folly of parliamentary prediction. It will scarcely be +believed in a day like ours, which has seen and survived the French +Revolution, that the chief theme of the period, and especial terror of +the opposition, was the conquest of Corsica by the French! Ministers +seem to have been deterred from a war with the French monarchy, solely +by the dislocated state of the cabinet; while the opposition declared, +that the possession of Corsica by the French, would be "the death-blow +to our influence in the Mediterranean." With Corsica in French hands, +it was boldly pronounced that "France would receive an accession of +power which nothing could shake; and they scarcely hesitated to say, +that upon the independence of Corsica rested not merely the supremacy +but the safety of England." Yet the French conquered Corsica (at a +waste of money ten times worth its value to their nation, and at a +criminal waste of life, both French and Corsican) without producing +the slightest addition to the power of the monarchy, and with no +slight disgrace to the honour of its arms. For, the Corsicans, the +most savage race of the Italian blood, and accustomed to the use of +weapons from their childhood, fought with the boldness of all men +fighting for their property, and routed the troops of France in many a +successive and desperate encounter. Still, the combat was too unequal; +the whole force of a great monarchy was obviously too strong for the +hope of successful resistance, and Corsica, after many a severe +struggle, became a French territory. But, beyond this barren honour +the war produced no fruit, except a deeper consciousness of the +unsparing ambition of the monarchy, and of the recklessness with which +it sacrificed all considerations of humanity and justice, to the +tinsel of a military name. One fatal gift, however, Corsica made, in +return to France. From it came, within a few years, the man who sealed +the banishment of the Bourbons! and, tempting France by the ambition +of military success, inflicted upon her the heaviest mortality, and +the deepest shame known in any kingdom, since the fall of the Roman +empire. Whether this were that direct retribution for innocent blood, +which Providence has so often inflicted upon guilty nations; or +whether it were merely one of those extraordinary casualties which +circumstances make so impressive; there can be no question, that the +man came from Corsica who inflicted on France the heaviest calamities +that she had ever known; who, after leading her armies over Europe, to +conquests which only aroused the hatred of all nations, and after +wasting the blood of hundreds of thousands of her people in victories +totally unproductive but of havoc; saw France twice invaded, and +brought the nation under the ban of the civilized world! + +France is at this moment pursuing the same course in Algiers, which +was the pride of her politicians in Corsica. She is pouring out her +gigantic force, to overwhelm the resistance of peasants who have no +defence but their naked bravery. She will probably subdue the +resistance; for what can be done by a peasantry against the +disciplined force and vast resources of a great European power, +applied to this single object of success? But, barbarian as the Moor +and the Arab are, and comparatively helpless in the struggle, the +avenger may yet come, to teach the throne of France, that there is a +power higher than all thrones; a tribunal to which the blood cries out +of the ground. + +The death of Secker, Archbishop of Canterbury, excites a few touches +of Walpole's sarcastic pen. He says, "that his early life had shown +his versatility, his latter his ambition. But hypocrisy not being +parts, he rose in the church without ever making a figure in the +state." So much for antithesis. There is no reason why a clergyman +should make a figure in the state under any circumstances; and the +less figure he made in the state, as it was then constituted, the more +likely he was to be fitted for the church. But the true censure on +Secker would have been, that he rose, without making a figure in any +thing; that he had never produced any work worthy of notice as a +divine; that he had neither eloquence in the pulpit, nor vigour with +the pen; that he seems to have been at all times a man of extreme +mediocrity; that his qualifications with the ministry were, his being +a neutral on all the great questions of the day; and his merits with +posterity were, that he possessed power without giving offence. A +hundred such men might have held the highest positions of the church, +without producing the slightest effect on the public mind; or might +have been left in the lowest, without being entitled to accuse the +injustice of fortune. His successor was Cornwallis, Bishop of +Lichfield, raised to the primacy by the Duke of Grafton, who, as +Walpole says, "had a friendship for the bishop's nephew, Earl +Cornwallis." This seems not altogether the most sufficient reason for +placing a man at the head of the Church of England, but we must take +the reason such as we find it. Walpole adds, that the nomination had, +however, the merit of disappointing a more unsuitable candidate, +Ternet of London, whom he describes as "the most time-serving of the +clergy, and sorely chagrined at missing the archiepiscopal mitre." + +It was rather unlucky for the public estimate of royalty, that, at +this moment of popular irritation, the young King of Denmark should +have arrived in England. He had married the King's youngest sister, +and making a sort of tour of Europe, he determined to visit the family +of his wife. His proposal was waived by the King, who excused himself +by the national confusions. But the young Dane, scarcely more than a +giddy boy, and singularly self-willed, was not to be repelled; and he +came. Nothing could be colder than his reception; not a royal +carriage, not an officer of the court, was sent to meet him. He +arrived at St James's even in a hired carriage. Neither King nor Queen +was there. The only mark of attention paid to him was giving him an +apartment, and supplying him and his suite with a table. Walpole +observes, that this sullen treatment was as impolitic as it was +inhospitable; that the Dane was then actually a pensioner of France, +and, of course, it would have been wise to win him out of its hands. +But the Danish king seems to have been little better than a fool; and +between his frolics and his follies, he finally produced a species of +revolution in his own country. All power fell into the hands of his +queen, who, though of a bolder nature, seems to have been scarcely +less frantic than himself. On the visit of her mother, the Princess of +Wales, to Denmark, the Queen met her, at the head of a regiment, +dressed in full uniform, and wearing buckskin breeches. She must have +been an extraordinary figure altogether, for she had grown immensely +corpulent. Court favouritism was the fashion in Denmark, and the King +and Queen were equally ruled by favourites. But, in a short period, a +young physician of the household managed both, obtaining peculiarly +the confidence of the Queen. Scandal was not idle on this occasion, +and Germany and England rang with stories of the court of Denmark. The +physician was soon created a noble, and figured for a while as the +prime minister, or rather sovereign of the kingdom, by the well-known +title of Count Struensee. A party was formed against him by the +Queen-mother, at the head of some of the nobility. The Queen was made +prisoner, and died in prison. Struensee was tried as traitor, and +beheaded. The King was finally incapacitated from reigning, and his +son was raised to the regency. This melancholy transaction formed one +of the tragedies of Europe; but it had the additional misfortune of +occurring at a time when royalty had begun to sink under the incessant +attacks of the revolutionists, and France, the leader of public +opinion on the Continent, was filled with opinions contemptuous of all +thrones. + +The year 1768 exhibited France in her most humiliating position before +Europe. The Duc de Choiseul was the minister--a man of wit, elegance, +and accomplishment; but too frivolous to follow, if he had not been +too ignorant to discover, the true sources of national greatness. His +foreign policy was intrigue, and his domestic policy the favouritism +of the court by administering to its vices. He raised a war between +the Russians and Turks, and had the mortification of seeing his +_protege_ the Turk trampled by the armies of his rival the Czarina. +Even the Corsicans had degraded the military name of France. But he +had a new peril at home. Old Marshal Richelieu--who, as Walpole +sarcastically observes, "had retained none of his faculties, but that +last talent of a decayed Frenchman, a spirit of back-stairs +intrigue"--had provided old Louis XV. with a new mistress. Of all the +persons of this character who had made French royal life scandalous in +the eyes of Europe, this connexion was the most scandalous. It +scandalized even France. This mistress was the famous Countess du +Barri--a wretched creature, originally of the very lowest condition; +whose vices would have stained the very highest; and who, in the +convulsions of the reign that followed, was butchered by the +guillotine. + +In November of this year died the Duke of Newcastle, at the age of +seventy-five. He had been struck with palsy some months before, and +then for the first time withdrew from public life. Walpole observes, +that his life had been a proof that, "even in a free country, great +abilities are not necessary to govern it." Industry, perseverance, and +intrigue, gave him that duration of power "which shining talents, and +the favour of the crown, could not secure to Lord Granville, nor the +first rank in eloquence, or the most brilliant services, to Lord +Chatham. Rashness overset Lord Granville's parts, and presumptuous +impracticability Lord Chatham; while adventitious cunning repaired +Newcastle's folly." Such is the explanation of one of the most curious +phenomena of the time, by one of its most ingenious lookers-on. But +the explanation is not sufficient. It is impossible to conceive, how +mere cunning could have sustained any man for a quarter of a century +in the highest ministerial rank; while that rank was contested from +day to day by men of every order of ability. Since the days of +Bolingbroke, there have been no examples of ministerial talent, equal +to those exhibited, in both Houses, in the day of the Duke of +Newcastle. Chatham was as ambitious as any man that ever lived, and +full of the faculties that make ambition successful. The Butes, the +Bedfords, the Hollands, the Shelburnes, exhibited every shape and +shade of cabinet dexterity, of court cabal, of popular influence, and +of political knowledge and reckless intrigue. Yet the Duke of +Newcastle, with remarkable personal disadvantages--a ridiculous +manner, an ungainly address, speech without the slightest pretension +to eloquence, and the character of extreme ignorance on general +subjects--preserved his power almost to the extreme verge of life; and +to the last was regarded as playing a most important part in the +counsels of the country. Unless we believe in magic, we must believe +that this man, with all his oddity of manner, possessed some +remarkable faculty, by which he saw his way clearly through +difficulties impervious to more showy minds. He must have deeply +discovered the means of attaching the monarch, of acting upon the +legislature, and of controlling the captiousness of the people. He +must have had practical qualities of a remarkable kind; and his is not +the first instance, in which such qualities, in the struggles of +government, bear away the prize. Thus, in later times, we have seen +Lord Liverpool minister for eleven years, and holding power with a +firm, yet quiet grasp to the last; with the whole strength of Lord +Grey and the Whigs struggling for it in front, and George Canning, a +still more dangerous enemy, watching for it in the rear. + +In one of the Notes referring to the appointment of Earl Cornwallis to +the vice-treasuryship of Ireland, the editor makes a remark which +ought not to pass without strong reprehension. Earl Cornwallis, +towards the close of the Irish rebellion in 1798, had been made chief +governor of Ireland, at the head of a large army, for the purpose of +extinguishing the remnants of the rebellion, and restoring the country +to the habits of peace. The task was no longer difficult, but he +performed his part with dignity and moderation. He had been sent +expressly for the purpose of pacifying the country, an object which +would have been altogether inconsistent with measures of violence; but +the editor, in telling us that his conduct exhibited sagacity and +benevolence, hazards the extraordinary assertion, that "he was one of +the few statesmen who inculcated the necessity of forbearance and +concession in the misgoverned country!" Nothing can be more erroneous +than this statement in point of principle, or more ignorant in point +of fact. For the last hundred years and upwards, dating from the +cessation of the war with James II., Ireland had been the object of +perpetual concessions, and, if misgoverned at all, it has been such by +the excess of those concessions. It is to be remembered, that in the +reign of William I. the Roman Catholics were in actual alliance with +France, and in actual arms against England. They were next beaten in +the field, and it was the business of the conquerors to prevent their +taking arms again. From this arose the penal laws. To those laws we +are not friendly; because we are not friendly to any attempt at the +suppression even of religious error by the force of the state. It was +a political blunder, and an offence to Christian principle, at the +same time; but the Papist is the last man in the world who has a right +to object to penal laws; for he is the very man who would have enacted +them himself against the Protestant--who always enacts them where he +has the power--and, from the spirit of whose laws, the British +legislature were in fact only borrowing at the moment. Yet from the +time when James II. and his family began to sink into insignificance, +the legislature began to relax the penal laws. Within the course of +half a century, they had wholly disappeared; and thus the editor's +flippant assertion, that Earl Cornwallis was one of the few statesmen +who inculcated the necessity of forbearance and concession, exhibits +nothing but his Whiggish ignorance on the subject. The misgovernment +of Ireland, if such existed, was to be laid to the charge of neither +the English minister nor the English people. The editor probably +forgets, that during that whole period she was governed by her own +parliament; while her progress during the second half of the 18th +century was memorably rapid, and prosperous in the highest degree, +through the bounties, privileges, and encouragements of every kind, +which were constantly held out to her by the _British_ government. And +that so early as the year 1780, she was rich enough to raise, equip, +and support a volunteer army of nearly a hundred thousand men--a +measure unexampled in Europe, and which would probably task the +strength of some of the most powerful kingdoms even at this day. And +all this was previous to the existence of what is called the "patriot +constitution." + +Walpole has the art of painting historic characters to the life; but +he sadly extinguishes the romance with which our fancy so often +enrobes them. We have been in the habit of hearing Pascal Paoli, the +chief of the Corsicans, described as the model of a republican hero; +and there can be no question, that the early resistance of the +Corsicans cost the French a serious expenditure of men and money. But +Walpole charges Paoli with want of military skill, and even with want +of that personal intrepidity so essential to a national leader. At +length, Corsican resistance being overpowered by the constant +accumulation of French force, Paoli gave way, and, as Walpole +classically observes, "not having fallen like Leonidas, did not +despair like Cato." Paoli had been so panegyrized by Boswell's work, +that he was received with almost romantic applause. The Opposition +adopted him for the sake of popularity, but ministers took him out of +their hands by a pension of L1000 a-year. "I saw him," says Walpole, +"soon after his arrival, dangling at court. He was a man of decent +deportment, and so void of any thing remarkable in his aspect, that, +being asked if I knew who he was, I judged him a Scotch officer--for +he was sandy complexioned and in regimentals--who was cautiously +awaiting the moment of promotion." All this is in Walpole's style of +fashionable impertinence; but there can be no doubt that Paoli was a +brave man, and an able commander. He gave the French several severe +defeats, but the contest was soon too unequal, and Paoli withdrew to +this country; which was so soon after to be a shelter to the +aristocracy of the country which had stained his mountains with blood. + +By a singular fate, on his return to France in an early period of the +Revolution, he was received with a sort of national triumph, and +actually appointed lieutenant-general of Corsica by the nation which +had driven him into exile. In the war which followed, Paoli, disgusted +by the tyranny of French republicanism, and alarmed by the violence of +the native factions, proposed to put his country under the protection +of the English government. A naval and military force was sent to +Corsica, and the island was annexed to the British crown. But the +possession was not maintained with rational vigour. The feeble +armament was found unequal to resist the popular passion for +republicanism. And, from this expenditure of troops, and probably +still more from the discovery that the island would be wholly useless, +the force was altogether withdrawn. Paoli returned to England, where +he died, having attained the advanced age of eighty. His red hair and +sandy complexion are probably fatal to his character as an Italian +chieftain. But if his locks were not black, his heart was bold; and if +his lip wanted mustaches, his mind wanted neither sagacity nor +determination. + +Walpole was born for a cynic philosopher. He treats men of all ranks +with equal scorn. From Wilkes to George III., he brands them all. +Ministers meet no mercy at his hands. He ranges them, as the Sultan +used to range heads on the spikes of the seraglio, for marks for his +arrows. His history is a species of moveable panorama; the scene +constantly shifting, and every scene a burlesque of the one that went +before; or perhaps the more faithful similitude would be found in a +volume of HB.'s ingenious caricatures, where all the likenesses are +preserved, though perverted, and all the dexterity of an accomplished +pencil is employed only in making its subjects ridiculous. He thus +tells us:--"The Duke of Grafton was the fourth prime minister in seven +years, who fell by his own fault. Lord Bute was seized with a panic, +and ran away from his own victory. Grenville was undone by his +insolence, by joining in the insult on the princess, and by his +persecution of Lord Bute and Mackenzie. Lord Rockingham's incapacity +overturned _him_; and now the Duke of Grafton destroyed a power which +it had depended on himself to make as permanent as he could desire." +But rash and rapid as those changes were, what were the grave +intrigues of the English cabinet to the _boudoir_ ministries of +France? Walpole is never so much in his element, as when he is +sporting in the fussy frivolities of the Faubourg St Germain. He was +much more a Frenchman than an Englishman; his love of gossip, his +passion for haunting the society of talkative old women, and his +delight at finding himself revelling in a region of _petite soupers_, +court gallantries, and the faded indiscretions of court beauties in +the wane, would have made him a rival to the courtiers of Louis XIV. + +Perhaps, the world never saw, since the days of Sardanapalus, a court +so corrupt, wealth so profligate, and a state of society so utterly +contemptuous of even the decent affectation of virtue, as the closing +years of the reign of Louis XV. A succession of profligate women ruled +the king, a similar succession ruled the cabinet; lower life was a +sink of corruption; the whole a romance of the most scandalous order. +Madame de Pompadour, a woman whose vice had long survived her beauty, +and who ruled the decrepit heart of a debauched king, had made +Choiseul minister. Choiseul was the beau-ideal of a French noble of +the old _regime_. His ambition was boundless, his insolence +ungoverned, his caprice unrestrained, and his love of pleasure +predominant even over his love of power. "He was an open enemy, but a +generous one; and had more pleasure in attaching an enemy, than in +punishing him. Whether from gaiety or presumption, he was never +dismayed; his vanity made him always depend on the success of his +plans, and his spirits made him soon forget the miscarriage of them." + +At length appeared on the tapis the memorable Madame du Barri! For +three months, all the faculties of the court were absorbed in the +question of her public presentation. Indulgent as the courtiers were +to the habits of royal life, the notoriety of Madame du Barri's early +career, startled even their flexible sense of etiquette. The ladies of +the court, most of whom would have been proud to have taken her place, +determined "that they would not appear at court if she should be +received there." The King's daughters (who had borne the ascendant of +Madame du Pompadour in their mother's life) grew outrageous at the new +favourite; and the relatives of Choiseul insisted upon it, that he +should resign rather than consent to the presentation. Choiseul +resisted, yielded, was insulted for his resistance, and was scoffed at +for his submission. He finally retired, and was ridiculed for his +retirement. Du Barri triumphed. Epigrams and _calembours_ blazed +through Paris. Every one was a wit for the time, and every wit was a +rebel. The infidel faction looked on at the general dissolution of +morals with delight, as the omen of general overthrow. The Jesuits +rejoiced in the hope of getting the old King into their hands, and +terrifying him, if not into a proselyte, at least into a tool. Even Du +Barri herself was probably not beyond their hopes; for the established +career of a King's mistress was, to turn _devote_ on the decay of her +personal attractions. + +Among Choiseul's intentions was that of making war on England. There +was not the slightest ground for a war. But it is a part of the +etiquette of a Frenchman's life, that he must be a warrior, or must +promote a war, or must dream of a war. M. Guizot is the solitary +exception in our age, as M. Fleury was the solitary exception in the +last; but Fleury was an ecclesiastic, and was eighty years old +besides--two strong disqualifications for a conqueror. But the King +was then growing old, too; his belligerent propensities were absorbed +in quarrels with his provincial parliaments; his administrative +faculties found sufficient employment in managing the morals of his +mistresses; his private hours were occupied in pelting Du Barri with +sugar-plums; and thus his days wore away without that supreme glory of +the old _regime_--a general war in Europe. + +The calamities of the French noblesse at the period of the Revolution, +excited universal regret; and the sight of so many persons, of +graceful manners and high birth, flung into the very depths of +destitution in foreign lands, or destroyed by the guillotine at home, +justified the sympathy of mankind. But, the secret history of that +noblesse was a fearful stigma, not only on France, but on human +nature. Vice may have existed to a high degree of criminality in other +lands; but in no other country of Europe, or the earth, ever was vice +so public, so ostentatiously forced upon the eyes of man, so +completely formed into an established and essential portion of +fashionable and courtly life. It was even the _etiquette_, that the +King of France should have a _mistress_. She was as much a part of the +royal establishment as a prime minister was of the royal councils; +and, as if for the purpose of offering a still more contemptuous +defiance to the common decencies of life, the etiquette was, that this +mistress should be a _married woman_! Yet in that country the whole +ritual of Popery was performed with scrupulous exactness. A vast and +powerful clergy filled France; and the ceremonials of the national +religion were performed continually before the court, with the most +rigid formality. The King had his confessor, and, so far as we can +discover, the mistress had her confessor too; the nobles attended the +royal chapel, and also had their confessors. The confessional was +never without royal and noble solicitors of monthly, or, at the +furthest, quarterly absolution. Still, from the whole body of +ecclesiastics, France heard no remonstrance against those public +abominations. Their sermons, few and feeble, sometimes declaimed on +the vices of the beggars of Paris, or the riots among the peasantry; +but no sense of scriptural responsibility, and no natural feeling of +duty, ever ventured to deprecate the vices of the nobles and the +scandals of the throne. + +We must give but a fragment, from Walpole's _catalogue raisonne_, of +this Court of Paphos. It had been the King's object to make some women +of rank introduce Madame du Barri at court; and he had found +considerable difficulty in this matter, not from her being a woman of +no character, but on her being a woman of no birth, and whose earlier +life had been spent in the lowest condition of vice. The King at last +succeeded--and these are the _chaperons_. "There was Madame de +l'Hopital, an ancient mistress of the Prince de Soubize! The Comtesse +Valentinois, of the highest birth, very rich, but very foolish; and as +far from a Lucretia as Madame du Barri herself! Madame de Flavacourt +was another, a suitable companion to both in virtue and understanding. +She was sister to _three_ of _the King's earliest mistresses_, and had +aimed at succeeding them! The Marechale Duchesse de Mirpoix was the +last, and a very important acquisition." Of her, Walpole simply +mentions that all her talents were "drowned in such an overwhelming +passion for play, that though she had long and singular credit with +the King, she reduced her favour to an endless solicitation for money +to pay her debts." He adds, in his keen and amusing style--"That, to +obtain the post of _dame d'honneur_ to the Queen, she had left off +_red_ (wearing rouge,) and acted _devotion_; and the very next day was +seen riding with Madame de Pompadour (the King's mistress) in the +latter's coach!" The editor settles the question of _her_ morality, +too.--"She was a woman of extraordinary wit and cleverness, but +totally _without character_." She had her morals by inheritance; for +she was the daughter of the _mistress_ of the Duke of Lorraine, who +married her to Monsieur de Beauvan, a poor noble, and whom the duke +got made a prince of the empire, by the title of De Craon. Now, all +those were females of the highest rank in France, ladies of fashion, +the stars of court life, and the models of national manners. Can we +wonder at the retribution which cast them out into the highways of +Europe? Can we wonder at the ruin of the corrupted nobility? Can we +wonder at the massacre of the worldly church, which stood looking on +at those vilenesses, and yet never uttered a syllable against them, if +it did not even share in their excesses? The true cause for +astonishment is, not in the depth of their fall, but in its delay; not +in the severity of the national judgment, but in that long-suffering +which held back the thunderbolt for a hundred years, and even then did +not extinguish the generation at a blow! + +[Footnote 33: _Memoirs of the Reign of King George the Third, by +Horace Walpole. From the MSS. Edited, with Notes, by_ SIR D. LA +MARCHANT, BART. London: Bentley.] + + + + +A FEW PASSAGES CONCERNING OMENS, DREAMS, APPEARANCES, &c. + +IN A LETTER TO EUSEBIUS. + +No. II. + + +It is somewhat late, my dear, Eusebius, to refer me to my letter of +August 1840, and to enquire, in your bantering way, if I have shaken +hands with a ghost recently, or dreamed a dream worth telling. You +have evidently been thinking upon this subject ever since I wrote to +you; and I suspect you are more of a convert than you will admit. You +only wish to provoke me to further evidence; but I see--through the +flimsy veil of your seeming denials, and through your put-on +audacity--the nervous workings of your countenance, when your +imagination is kindled by the mysterious subject. Your wit and your +banter are but the whistle of the clown in the dark, to keep down his +rising fears. However good your story[34] may be, there have been +dreams even of the numbers of lottery-tickets that have been verified. +We call things coincidences and chances, because we have no name to +give them, whereas they are phenomena that want a better settlement. +You speak, too, of the "doctrine of chances." If chance have a +doctrine, it is subject to a rule, is under calculation, arithmetic, +and loses all trace at once of our idea of absolute chance. If there +be chance, there is also a power over chance. The very hairs of our +head, which seem to be but a chance-confusion, are yet, we are +assured, all numbered--and is it less credible that their every +movement is noted also? One age is the type of another; and every age, +from the beginning of the world, hath had its own symbols; and not +poetically only, but literally true is it, that "coming events cast +their shadows before." If the "vox populi" be the "vox Dei," it has +pronounced continually, in a space of above five thousand years, that +there is communication between the material and immaterial worlds. So +rare are the exceptions, that, speaking of mankind, we may assert that +there is a universal belief amongst them of that connexion by signs, +omens, dreams, visions, or ghostly presences. Many professed sceptics, +who have been sceptics only in the pride of understanding, have in +secret bowed down to one form or other of the superstition. Take not +the word in a bad sense. It is at least the germ, the natural germ, +of religion in the human mind. It is the consciousness of a +superiority not his own, of some power so immeasurably above man, that +his mind cannot take it in, but accepts, as inconsiderable glimpses of +it, the phenomena of nature, and the fears and misgivings of his own +mind, spreading out from himself into the infinite and invisible. I am +not certain, Eusebius, if it be not the spiritual part of conscience, +and is to it what life is to organized matter--the mystery which gives +it all its motion and beauty. + +It is not my intention to repeat the substance of my former letter--I +therefore pass on. You ask me if the mesmeric phenomena--which you +ridicule, yet of which I believe you covet a closer investigation--are +not part and parcel of the same incomprehensible farrago? I cannot +answer you. It would be easy to do so were I a disciple. If the +mesmerists _can_ establish _clairvoyance_, it will certainly be upon a +par with the ancient oracles. But what the philosopher La Place says, +in his _Essay on Probabilities_, may be worth your consideration--that +"any case, however apparently incredible, if it is a recurrent case, +is as much entitled to a fair valuation under the laws of induction, +as if it had been more probable beforehand." If the mesmerized can +project, and that apparently without effort, their minds into the +minds of others--read their thoughts; if they can see and tell what is +going on hundreds of miles off, on the sea and on distant lands alike; +if they can at remote distances _influence_ others with a sense of +their presence--they possess a power so very similar to that ascribed, +in some extraordinary cases, to persons who, in a dying state, have +declared that they have been absent and conversed with individuals +dear to them in distant countries, and whose presence has been +recognised at those very times by the persons so said to be visited, +that I do not see how they can be referable to different original +phenomena. Yet with this fact before them, supposing the facts of +mesmerism, of the mind's separation from, and independence of its +organic frame, is it not extraordinary that so many of this new school +are, or profess themselves by their writings, materialists? I would, +however, use the argument of mesmerism thus:--Mesmerism, if true, +confirms the ghost and vision power, though I cannot admit that +dreams, ghosts, and visions are any confirmation of mesmerism; for if +mesmerism be a delusion and cheat, it may have arisen from speculating +upon the other known power--as true miracles have been known to give +rise to false. In cases of mesmerism, however, this shock is felt--the +facts, as facts in the ordinary sense, are incredible; but then I see +persons who have examined the matter very nicely, whom I have known, +some intimately, for many years, of whose good sense, judgement, and +_veracity_ I will not allow myself to doubt--indeed to doubt whose +veracity would be more incredible to me than the mesmeric facts +themselves. Here is a conflict--a shock. Two contradictory +impossibilities come together. I do not weigh in the scale at all the +discovery of some cheats and pretenders; this was from the first to +have been expected. In truth, the discoveries of trick and collusion +are, after all, few. Not only has mesmerism been examined into by +persons I respect, but practised likewise; and by one, a physician, +whom I have known intimately many years, who, to his own detriment, +has pursued it, and whom I have ever considered one of the most +truthful persons living, and incapable of collusion, or knowingly in +any way deceiving. Now, Eusebius, we cannot go into society, and +pronounce persons whom we have ever respected all at once to be cheats +and liars. Yet there may be some among them who will tell you that +they themselves were entirely sceptical until they tried mesmerism, +and found they had the power in themselves. We must then, in fairness, +either acknowledge mesmerism as a power, or believe that these persons +whom we respect and esteem are practised upon and deluded by others. +And such would, I confess, be the solution of the difficulty, were it +not that there are cases where this is next to an impossibility. + +But I do not mean now, Eusebius, to discuss mesmerism,[35] further +than as it does seem "a part and parcel" of that mysterious power +which has been manifested in omens, dreams, and appearances. I say +_seem_--for if it be proved altogether false, the other mystery stands +untouched by the failure--for in fact it was, thousands of years +before either the discovery or practice--at least as far as we know; +for some will not quite admit this, but, in their mesmeric dreaming, +attribute to it the ancient oracles, and other wonders. And there are +who somewhat inconsistently do this, having ridiculed and contemned as +utterly false those phenomena, until they have found them hitch on to, +and give a credit to, their new Mesmeric science. + +But to return to the immediate subject. It has been objected against +dreams, omens, and visions, that they often occur without an object; +that there is either no consequence, or a very trifling one; the knot +is not "dignus vindice." Now, I am not at all staggered by this; on +the contrary, it rather tends to show that there is some _natural_ +link by which the material and immaterial within and without ourselves +may be connected; and very probably many more intimations of that +connexion are given than noted. Those of thought, mental suggestions, +may most commonly escape us. It is thus what we would not do of +ourselves we may do in spite of ourselves. Nor do we always observe +closely objects and ends. We might, were we to scrutinize, often find +the completion of a dream or omen which we had considered a failure, +because we looked too immediately for its fulfilment. But even where +there is evidently no purpose attained, there is the less reason to +suspect fabrication, which would surely commence with an object. Some +very curious cases are well attested, where the persons under the +impression act upon the impulse blindly, not knowing why; and +suddenly, in conclusion, the whole purpose bursts upon their +understandings. But I think the objection as to purpose is answered by +one undoubted fact, the dream of Pilate's wife--"Have thou nothing to +do with that just man; for I have suffered many things this day in a +dream because of him." There is here no apparent purpose--the warning +was unheeded. Yet the dream, recorded as it is and where it is, was +unquestionably a dream upon the event to happen; and is not to be +considered as a mere coincidence, which would have been unworthy the +sacred historian, who wrote the account of it under inspiration. And +this is a strong--the strongest confirmation of the inspiration of +dreams, or rather, perhaps, of their significance, natural or +otherwise, and with or without a purpose. So the dream of Caesar's wife +did not save Caesar's life. And what are we to think of the whole +narrative, beginning with the warning of the Ides of March? Now, +Joseph's dream and Pharaoh's dream were dreams of purpose; they were +prophetic, and disclosed to the understanding of Joseph. So that, with +this authority of Scripture, I do not see how dreams can be set aside +as of no significance. And we have the like authority for omens, and +symbols, and visions--so that we must conclude the things themselves +to be possible; and this many do, yet say that, with other miracles, +they have long ceased to be. + +Then, again, in things that by their agreement, falling in with other +facts and events, move our wonder, we escape from the difficulty, as +we imagine, by calling them coincidences; as if we knew what +coincidences are. I do not believe they are without a purpose, any +more than that seeming fatality by which little circumstances produce +great events, and in ordinary life occur frequently to an apparent +detriment, yet turn out to be the very hinge upon which the fortune +and happiness of life depend and are established. I remember a +remarkable instance of this--though it may not strictly belong to +omens or coincidences; but it shows the purpose of an accident. Many +years ago, a lady sent her servant--a young man about twenty years of +age, and a native of that part of the country where his mistress +resided--to the neighbouring town with a ring which required some +alteration, to be delivered into the hands of a jeweller. The young +man went the shortest way, across the fields; and coming to a little +wooden bridge that crossed a small stream, he leaned against the rail, +and took the ring out of its case to look at it. While doing so, it +slipped out of his hand, and fell into the water. In vain he searched +for it, even till it grew dark. He thought it fell into the hollow of +a stump of a tree under water; but he could not find it. The time +taken in the search was so long, that he feared to return and tell his +story--thinking it incredible, and that he should even be suspected of +having gone into evil company, and gamed it away or sold it. In this +fear, he determined never to return--left wages and clothes, and +fairly ran away. This seemingly great misfortune was the making of +him. His intermediate history I know not; but this--that after many +years' absence, either in the East or West Indies, he returned with a +very considerable fortune. He now wished to clear himself with his old +mistress; ascertained that she was living, purchased a diamond ring of +considerable value, which he determined to present in person, and +clear his character, by telling his tale, which the credit of his +present condition might testify. He took the coach to the town of ----, +and from thence set out to walk the distance of a few miles. He found, +I should tell you, on alighting, a gentleman who resided in the +neighbourhood, who was bound for the adjacent village. They walked +together; and, in conversation, this former servant, now a gentleman, +with graceful manners and agreeable address, communicated the +circumstance that made him leave the country abruptly, many years +before. As he was telling this, they came to the very wooden bridge. +"There," said he--"it was just here that I dropped the ring; and there +is the very bit of old tree, into a hole of which it fell--just +there." At the same time, he put down the point of his umbrella into +the hole of a knot in the tree--and, drawing it up, to the +astonishment of both, found _the_ very ring on the ferrule of the +umbrella. I need not tell the rest. But make this reflection--why was +it that he did not as easily find it immediately after it had fallen +in? It was an incident like one of those in Parnell's "Hermit," which, +though a seeming chance, was of purpose, and most important. + +Now, here is an extraordinary coincidence between a fact and a dream, +or a vision, whatever it may be, which yet was of no result--I know it +to be true. And you know, Eusebius, my excellent, truth-telling, +worthy Mrs H----, who formerly kept a large school at ----. One morning +early, the whole house was awakened by the screams of one of the +pupils. She was in hysterics; and, from time to time, fainting away in +an agony of distress. She said she had seen her grandfather--that he +was dead, and they would bury him alive. In due time, the post brought +a letter--the grandfather _was dead_. Letters were written to the +friends to announce the dream or vision, and the burial was delayed in +consequence. Nothing could be more natural than the fear of burying +him alive in the mind of the young girl, unacquainted with death, and +averse to persuade herself that the person she had seen could be +really dead. Now, my dear Eusebius, you know Mrs H----, and cannot +doubt the fact. + +Cases of this kind are so many, and well authenticated, that one knows +not where to choose. + + ----"Tam multa loquacem + Delassare valent Fabium." + +I think you knew the worthy and amiable Mr ----, who had the charge of +the valuable museum at ----. I well remember hearing this narrated of +him, long _before_ his death. He stated, that one day opening a case, +he heard a voice issue from it, which said--"In three days you shall +die." He became ill, and sent for Dr P----, the very celebrated +physician. It was in vain to reason with him. The third day arrived. +The kind physician sat with him till the hour was past. He did not +then die! Did he, however, mistake or miscalculate the meaning of the +voice? He died _that very day three years_!! Nothing can be more +authentic than this. + +When I was in town in the summer, Eusebius, I spent an agreeable day +with my friends, the C----s. Now, I do not know a human being more +incapable of letting an idea, a falsehood of imagination, run away +with his sober judgment. He has a habit, I should say, more than most +men, of tying himself down to matters of fact. I copy for you an +extract from a diary; it was taken down that night. "Mr C---- has just +told me the following very curious circumstance:--Some years ago, Mrs +C---- being not in good health, they determined to spend some weeks in +the country. His father was then in his house. They separated--the +father, to his own home in the neighbourhood of London, and Mr and Mrs +C---- to visit the brother of Mrs C----, a clergyman, and resident +upon his living, in Suffolk. Soon after their arrival, there was a +large assembly of friends, in consequence of some church business. +There was church service--in the midst of which Mr C---- suddenly +felt an irresistible desire to return to his house in town. He knew +not why. It was in vain he reasoned with himself--go he must, forced +by an impulse for which he could in no way account. It would distress +his friends--particularly on such an occasion. He could not help it. +He communicated his intention to Mrs C----; begged her to tell no one, +lest he should give trouble by having the carriage;--his resolution +was instantly taken, to quit the church at once, to walk about six +miles to meet the coach if possible; if not, determining to walk all +night, a distance of thirty-two miles. He did quit the church, walked +the six miles, was in time to take the coach, reached London, and his +own home. The intelligence he found there was, that his father was +dangerously ill. He went to him--found him dying--and learned that he +had told those about him that he knew he should see his son. That wish +was gratified, which could not have been but for this sudden impulse +and resolution. His father expired in his arms." + +It is curious that his father had told him a dream which he had had +some years before--that he was in the midst of some convulsion of +nature, where death was inevitable, and that then the only one of his +children who came to him was my friend Mr C----, which was thus in +manner accomplished on the day of his death. + +I know not if some persons are naturally more under these and suchlike +mysterious influences. There was another occurrence which much +affected Mr C----. He went into Gloucestershire to visit a brother. I +do not think the brother was ill. All the way that he went in the +coach, he had, to use his own words, a death-smell which very much +annoyed him. Leaving the coach, he walked towards his brother's house +greatly depressed; so much so, that, for a considerable time, he sat +on a stone by the way, deeply agitated, and could not account for the +feeling. He arrived in time only to see his brother expire. I do not +know, Eusebius, how you can wish for better evidence of facts so +extraordinary. Mr C----'s character is sufficient voucher. + +Here is another of these extraordinary coincidences which I have been +told by my friend Mrs S----, niece to the Rev. W. Carr, whom she has +very frequently heard narrate the following:--A farmer's wife at +Bolton Abbey, came to him, the Rev. W. Carr, in great agitation, and +told him she had passed a dreadful night, having dreamed that she saw +Mr Richard, (brother to Rev. W. Carr;) that she saw him in great +distress, struggling in the water, with his portmanteau on his +shoulders, escaping from a burning ship; and she begged the family to +write to know if Mr Richard was safe. It was exactly according to the +dream; he had, at the very time, so escaped from the burning of (I +believe) the Boyne. How like is this to some of the mesmeric visions! +I am assured of the truth of the following, by one who knew the +circumstance. One morning, as Mrs F---- was sitting in her room, a +person came in and told her he had had a very singular dream; that he +had been sitting with her sister, Mrs B----k, when some one came into +the room with distressing intelligence about her husband. Though it +could not have been there known at the time, Mr B----k had been +thrown from his horse and killed. + +A party of gentlemen had met at Newcastle; the nature of the meeting +is stated to have been of a profane character. One of them suddenly +started, and cried, "What's that?"--and saw a coffin. The others saw +it; and one said--"It is mine: I see myself in it!" In twenty-four +hours he was a corpse. + +I think I mentioned to you, Eusebius, that when I dined with Miss +A----, in town, she told me a curious story about a black boy. I have +been since favoured with the particulars, and copy part of the letter; +weigh it well, and tell me what you think of such coincidences--if you +are satisfied that there is nothing but chance in the matter. + +"Now for the little black boy. In the year 1813, I was at the house of +Sir J. W. S----th of D---- House, near Bl----d, who then resided in +Portman Square, and a Mr L----r of Norfolk, a great friend of Sir +John's, was of the party. On coming into the room, he said--'I have +just been calling on our old Cambridge friend, H----n, who returned +the other day from India; and he has been telling me a very curious +thing which happened in his family. He had to go up the country to a +very remote part, on some law business, and he left Mrs H----n at +home, under the protection of her sister and that lady's husband. The +night after Mr H----n went away, the brother-in-law was awakened by +the screams of his own wife in her sleep; she had dreamed that a +little black boy, Mr H----n's servant, who had attended him, was +murdering him. He woke her, and while he was endeavouring to quiet +her, and convince her that her fears were the effects of a bad dream, +produced probably by indigestion, he was roused by the alarming +shrieks of Mrs H----n, who slept in an adjoining room. On going to +her, he found her, too, just awakening after a horrid dream--the +little Indian boy was murdering her husband. He used the same +arguments with her that he had already found answer in quieting his +own wife; but, in his own mind, he felt very anxious for tidings from +Mr H----n. To their great surprise, that gentleman made his +appearance the next evening, though he had expected to be absent above +a week. He looked ill and dejected. They anxiously asked him what was +the matter. Nothing, but that he was angry with himself for acting in +a weak, foolish manner. He had dreamed that his attendant, the little +black boy, intended to murder him; and the dream made such an +impression on his nerves that he could not bear the sight of the boy, +but dismissed him at once without any explanation. Finding he could +not go on without an attendant, he had returned home to procure one; +but as he had no reason whatever to suspect the boy of any ill +intention, he felt very angry with himself for minding a dream. Dear +Mrs H----n was much struck with this story; but she used to +say--unless it were proved that the boy really had the intention of +murdering his master, the dreams were for nothing.'" + +In this instance a murder may have been prevented by these dreams; for +if merely coincidences, and without an object, the wonder of +coincidences is great indeed; for it is not one dream, but three, and +of three persons. + +Things apparently of little consequence are yet curious for +observation. Our friend K----n, and two or three other friends, some +months ago went on an excursion together. Their first point was Bath, +where they meant to remain some time. K----n dreamed on Friday they +were to start on Saturday; that there was a great confusion at the +railway station; and that there would be no reaching Bath for them. +They went, however, on Saturday morning, and he told his dream when in +the carriage. One of the party immediately repeated the old saying-- + + "A Friday's dream on Saturday told + Will be sure to come true ere the day is old." + +There was no accident to the train; but, instead of finding themselves +at Bath, they found themselves at Bristol--having, in their +conversation, neglected to notice that they had passed Bath. They were +put to great inconvenience, and confusion, and difficulty in getting +their luggage. I know you too well, Eusebius, not to hear, by +anticipation, your laughter at this trifling affair, and the wit with +which for a few moments you will throw off your ridicule. You may ask, +if the shooting of your corns are not as sure and as serious +prognostications? Be it so; and why not, Eusebius? You can tell by +them what weather to expect; and, after all, you know little more of +the material world, less of the immaterial, and nothing of their +mystical union. Nothing now, past, present, and future, may be but +terms for we know not what, and cannot comprehend how they can be lost +in an eternity. There they become submerged. So take the thing +represented, not the paltry, perhaps ridiculous, one through which it +is represented. It is the picture, the attitude, the position, the +undignified familiarity of yourself with the defects of your own +person, that make the ridiculous; but there is grave philosophy, +nevertheless, to be drawn from every atom of your own person, if you +view it aright. I have heard you eloquent against the "hypocrite +Cicero," as you called him, for his saying, that one Augur meeting +another could scarcely help laughing. If mankind chose augury as a +sign, it might have been permitted them to find a sign in it. But this +is plunging into deeper matter, and one which you will think a +quagmire, wherein wiser thoughts may flounder and be lost. When the +officers of Hannibal's army were heard to laugh by the soldiery on the +morning of the battle of Cannae, they took it as a good omen. It was +generally received, and the day was fatal to the Romans. "Possunt quia +posse videntur," you will say; but whence comes the "videntur?" There, +Eusebius, you beg the whole question. The wonders and omens, gravely +related by Livy, at least portray a general feeling--an impression +before events. In the absence of a better religion, I would not have +quarrelled with the superstition, and very much join you in your +condemnation of the passage in Cicero. + +The fatal necessity of event upon event, of omen, dream, and vision, +is the great characteristic of the wondrous Greek drama. So awfully +portrayed is the _OEdipus_--and with more grand and prophetic +mystery pervading the _Agamemnon_. Had it not been congenial with +popular belief, it could never have been so received; nor, indeed, +could somewhat similar (though degraded from their high authority, as +standing less alone by their amalgamation with a purer creed) +characteristics in some of the plays of our own Shakspeare have +touched the mind to wonderment, had there been no innate feeling to +which they might, and without effort, unite. The progress, however, of +the omen and vision, clearer and clearer, pointing to the very deed, +and even while its enactment has commenced, and that fatality by which +(prophetic, too) the plainest prophecy is unheeded, contemned, and the +Prophetess herself doomed, and knowing herself doomed, may be +considered as an epitome of the Grecian creeds upon the subject. It +was no vulgar punning spirit that designated the very _name_ of Helen +as a cursing omen. + + [Greek: + "Tis pot' honomazen hod + Es to pan etetumos-- + Me tis onton ouch oro-- + Men pronoaisi tou pepromeuou + Glossan en tucha nemon."] + +Helen, the destroyer--yes, that was her significant name. The present +King of the French was not allowed to assume the title of Valois, +which was, strictly speaking, his, and instead assumed that of Duc de +Chartres, on account of an evil omen attached to the former name; and +that evil omen originating in a curious fact, the seeing of a spectre +by that German princess who succeeded the poisoned sister of our +second Charles. But there is nothing in modern history more analogous +to the fatalities of the Grecian drama than those singular passages +relating to the death of Henry the Fourth of France. We have the +gravest authority of the gravest historians, that prophecies, +warnings, and omens so prepared Henry for his death, that he waited +for it with a calm resignation, as to an irresistible fatality. "In +fact," (says an eloquent writer in Maga of April 1840,) "it is to this +attitude of listening expectation in the king, and breathless waiting +for the blow, that Schiller alludes in that fine speech of Wallenstein +to his sister, where he notices the funeral knells that sounded +continually in Henry's ears; and, above all, his prophetic instinct, +that caught the sound from a far distance of his murderer's motions, +that could distinguish, amidst all the tumult of a mighty Capital, +those stealthy steps." + +And does it seem so strange to you, Eusebius, if the ear and the eye, +those outposts, as it were, of the ever watchful, spiritual, and +intellectual sentinels within man, convey the secret intelligences +that most concern him? What is there, Eusebius, so marvellous to your +conception, if there be sympathy more than electric between those two +worlds, outer Nature and Man himself? If earth, that with him and for +him partook of one curse, with all its accompanying chain and +interchange of elements, be still one with him, in utterance and +signification, whether of his weal or woe. The sunshine and the gloom +enter into him, and are his; they reflect his feelings, or rather they +are his feelings, almost become his flesh--they are his bodily +sensations. The winds and the waters, in their gentler breathings and +their sullen roar, are but the music of his mind, echo his joys, his +passions, or funereally rehearse the dirge of his fate. + +Reject not, my Eusebius, any fact, because it seems little and +trifling; a mite is a wonder in creation, from which deep, hidden +truths present themselves. It was a heathen thought, an imperfect +conception of the wide sympathy of all nature, and of that meaning +which every particle of it can convey, and more significantly as we +calculate our knowledge;--it was a heathen thought, that the poet +should lament the unlikeliness of the flowers of the field to man in +their fall and reappearance. It was not the blessing given to his +times to see the perfectness of the truth--the "non omnis moriar" +indicated even in his own lament.[36] + +I had written thus far, when our friend H---l---r looked in upon me, +and enquired what I was about; I told him I was writing to you, and +the subject of my letter. He is this moment gone, and has left with me +these two incidents. They came within his own experience. He +remembers, that when he was a boy, he was in a room with several of +his brothers, some of whom were unwell, yet not seriously ill. On a +sudden, there was a great noise, so great, that it could be compared +to nothing but the firing of a pistol--a pane in the window was +broken; not, he said, to _pieces_, but literally to a _powder_ of +glass. All in the house heard it, with the exception of one of his +brothers, which struck them as very strange. The servants from below, +and their mother from above, rushed into the room, fearing one of them +might have been shot. The mother, when she saw how it was, told +H---l---r that his brother, who did not hear the noise, she knew it well, +would die. At that same hour next day that brother did die. + +The other story is more singular. His family were very intimate with +another, consisting of father, mother, and an only daughter--a child. +Of her the father was so fond, that he was never happy but when she +was with him. It happened that he lost his health, and during his long +illness, continually prayed that, when he was gone, his child too +should be shortly taken from this world, and that he might be with her +in a better. He died--when, a short time after his death, the child, +who was in perfect health, came rushing into the presence of her +mother, from a little room which looked out upon a court, but from +which there was no entrance to the room--she came rushing to her +mother, calling out--"Oh, papa, papa! I have seen papa in the court, +and he called me to him. I must go--open the door for me--do, mamma! I +must go, for he called me." Within twenty-four hours that child was +dead. Now, said H--l--r, I knew this to be a fact, as well as I ever +knew any act, for our families were like one family. Sweet image of +infant and of parental love!--let us excuse the prayer, by that of the +ancient mother, who, when her sons dragged her chariot to the temple, +prayed that they might receive from the gods what was best for +them--and they were found dead in the temple. How beautiful is the +smile of the sleeping infant! "Holds it not converse with angels?" the +thought is natural--ministering spirits may be unseen around us, and +in all space, and love the whispering speech in the ear of sleeping +innocence; there is visible joy in the face, yet how little can it +know of pleasurable sensations, communicable through this world's +objects? How know we but the sense must be deteriorated, to make it +serviceable for the lower purposes for which in part the child is +born?--as the air we breathe must have something of poison, or it +would be too pure for mortal beings. Look down some lengthening valley +from a height, Eusebius, at the hour of twilight, when all lands, +their marks and boundaries, grow dim, and only here and there the +scant light indicates lowly dwellings, shelters of humanity in earth's +sombre bosom, and mark the vast space of vapour that fills all +between, and touches all, broods over all--can you think this little +world of life that you know by having walked its path, and now see so +indistinguishable, to be the all of existence before you? Lone indeed +would be the world were there nothing better than ourselves in it. No +beings to watch for us, to warn us, to defend us from "the Power of +the Air:" ministering spirits--and why not of the departed?--may be +there. If there be those that in darkness persuade to evil--and in +winter nights, the winds that shake the casement seem to denote to the +guilty conscience the presence of avenging fiends--take we not peace +and wholesome suggestion from milder influences of air and sunshine? +Brighter may be, perhaps, the child's vision than ours; as it grows +for the toil and work for which it is destined, there comes another +picture of a stern and new reality, and that which brought the smile +of joy upon the face, is but as a dissolving view; and then he becomes +fully fitted for humanity, of which he was before but the embryo. And +even in his progress, if he keep charge of his mind, in purity and in +love, seem there not ministering spirits, that spread before him, in +the mirage of the mind, scenes that look like a new creation? and +pedants, in their kind, call this the poet's fancy, his imagination. + +Lately I have spent a month by the sea: the silent rocks seemed +significant in their overhanging look, and silence, as listening to +the incessant sea. It would be painful to think every thing insensible +about us, but ourselves. I wonder not that the rocks, the woods, and +wilds, were peopled by ancient Mythologists; and with beings, too, +with whom humanity could sympathize. I would not think that the +greater part of the earth's islands and continents were given up to +hearts insensate; that there were nothing better than wildernesses of +chattering apes--no sounds more rational than + + "The wolf's wild howl on Ulalaski's shore." + +I would rather think that there are myriads of beings of higher nature +than ourselves, whose passage is [Greek: hoste noema], and whose home +is ubiquity; and such as these may have their missions to us, and may +sometimes take the dying breath of father or of brother in far-off +seas, and instinct with, and maintaining in themselves, made visible, +that poor remnant of life, stand at a moment at the bedside of beloved +relatives, even in most distant lands, and give to each a blessed +interchange and intelligence. In every sense, indeed, we "see but in +part." In the dulness of the day, we see not a tenth part of the +living things that people the ground; a gleam of sunshine instantly +discovers to us in leaf and flower a little world; and could we but +remove this outward fog, this impure atmosphere of our mortal senses, +that which may be occasionally granted at dying hour, we might behold +all space peopled with the glory of created beings. There is a +beautiful truth of best feeling hidden in the superstition, that at +one particular moment on Christmas Eve, all the beasts of the field go +down on their knees amidst the darkness, seen alone by their Creator's +eye, and by that angelic host that sing again the first divine hymn of +Palestine. + +I do not wonder that sailors are, what we choose to call, more +superstitious than landsmen; with but a plank between them and +death--unfathomable seas around them, whose depths are continual +wonder, from whose unseen treasure-house, the + + ----"billows roll ashore + The beryl and the golden ore." + +Seas and skies with the great attribute of life, motion--their very +ship a personification, as it were a living creature--cut off, +separated as they are for the most part, from cities, and the +mind-lowering ways of cities, which they see recede from them and melt +into utter insignificance, leaving for companionship but the winds and +the waters. Can it be a matter of wonder, if, with warm wishes and +affections in their breasts, their imaginations shape the clouds and +mists into being, messengers between them and the world they have all +but lost? The stars, those "watches of the night," to them are not the +same, changing yet ever significant. Even the waters about them, which +by day are apparently without a living thing beyond the life of their +own motion, in the darkness glittering with animated fire; can we +wonder, then, if their thoughts rise from these myriad, invisible, +lucent worms of the sea, to a faith in the more magnificent beings who +"clothe themselves with light;" and if they believe that such are +present, unseen, commissioned to guard and guide them in ways perilous +and obscure? Seamen, accustomed to observe signs in their great +solitude, unattracted by the innumerable sights and businesses of +other life, are ever open and ready to receive signs and +significations even of omen and vision; whereas he that is engaged in +crowded street and market, heeds no sign, though it were offered, but +that which his little and engrossing interests make for him; he, +indeed, may receive "angels' visits unaware." Omens, dreams, and +visions are to seamen more real, more frequent, as more congenial with +their wants; and some extraordinary cases have even been registered in +ships' logs, not resting on the credibility of one but of a crew, and +such logs, if I mistake not, have been admitted evidence in courts of +judicature. Am I led away by the subject, Eusebius? You will say I am; +yet I could go on--the wonder increases--the common earth is not their +sure grave-- + + "Nothing of them that doth fade, + But doth suffer a sea-change + Into something rich and strange." + +But I must not pursue this, lest, in your wit, you find reason to +compare me to that great philosopher, who gravely asserted that he had +discovered how to make a mermaid, but abstained from using the +receipt; and I am quite sure you are not likely to resemble the +learned Dr Farmer, who folded down the page for future experiment.[37] + +It is not very long ago that I was discussing subjects of this kind +with our acute friend S---- V----. I send you a letter received from +him, written, I presume, more for you than myself; for I told him I +was on the point of answering yours, which he read. His attempt to +account for any of his stories by common coincidences, is rather +indicative of his naturally inquisitive mind than of his real belief; +and I suspect he has been led into that train of argument by his +hostility to mesmerism, which he pronounces to be a cheat from +beginning to end; and he cannot but see that, granting mesmerism, the +step in belief beyond is easy. He would, therefore, have no such +stepping stone; and lest confidence in dreams, omens, &c., should make +mesmerism more credible, he has been a little disposed to trim his own +opinions on the subject. You will judge for yourself--here is his +letter:-- + + "My dear --------,--You desire me to give you a written account + of the dreams which I related to you when we lately met, and + amused ourselves with speculations on these mysterious phenomena. + + "_Dream I._--Mrs X----, when a child, was attached to Captain + T----, R.N. She had been brought up from infancy by her uncle and + aunt, with whom she resided, and with whom Captain T---- had long + been on terms of the most intimate friendship and regard. At the + time to which I now refer, Captain T---- commanded a frigate in + the West Indies, where he had been stationed for some months; + letters had been occasionally received from him; his health had + not suffered from the climate, nor had any of his friends in + England the least reason to apprehend that a man of his age, good + constitution, and temperate habits, by whom also the service in + which he was engaged had been eagerly desired, would be likely to + suffer from the diseases of these latitudes. One morning Mrs + X----, (then Miss X----,) appeared at the breakfast table with an + expression of grief on her countenance, that at once induced her + uncle and aunt to ask the cause. She said, that she had dreamed + that Captain T---- had died of fever in the West Indies, and that + the intelligence had been sent in a large letter to her uncle. The + young lady's uncle and aunt both represented to her the weakness + of yielding to the impression of a dream, and she appeared to + acquiesce in the good sense of their remonstrances--when, shortly + after, the servant brought in the letter-case from the + Post-office, and when her uncle had unlocked it, and was taking + out the letters, (there were several,) Miss X---- instantly + exclaimed, pointing to one of them--'That's the letter! I saw it + in my dream!' It was the letter--a large letter, of an official + size, addressed to her uncle, and conveying precisely the event + which Miss X---- had announced. + + "_Dream II._--General D----, R.M., was one morning conversing with + me on the subject of dreams, and gave me the following + relation:--'I had the command of the marines on board a frigate, + and in company with another frigate, (giving names and date,) was + proceeding to America, when, on joining the breakfast table, I + told my brother officers that I had had a very vivid and singular + dream. That I had dreamed that the day was calm, as it now was, + and bright, but with some haziness in the distance; and that + whilst we were at breakfast, as we now are, the master-at-arms + came in and announced two sail in the distance. I thought we all + immediately ran on deck--saw the two ships--made them out to be + French frigates, and immediately gave chase to them. The wind + being light, it was long before we could approach the enemy near + enough to engage them; and when, in the evening, a distant fire + was commenced, a shot from the frigate which we attacked, carried + away our foretopmast, and, consequently, we were unable to + continue the chase. Our companion, also, had kept up a distant + fire with the other French frigate, but in consequence of our + damage, shortened sail to keep company with us during the night. + On the following morning the French frigates had made their + escape--no person had been killed or wounded on board our own + ship; but in the morning we were hailed by our companion, and told + that she had lost two men. Shortly after, whilst my brother + officers were making comments on my dream--and before the + breakfast table was cleared, the master-at-arms made his + appearance, announcing, to the great surprise of all present, two + sail in the distance; (and General D---- assured me that on + reaching the deck they appeared to him precisely the same in place + and distance as in his dream)--'the chase--the distant action--the + loss of the topmast--the escape of the enemy during the night--and + the announcement from the companion frigate that she had lost two + men--all took place precisely as represented in my dream.' The + General had but just concluded his narration, when a coincidence + took place, little less extraordinary than that of the dream and + its attendant circumstances.--The door opened, and a gentleman + rushed into the room with all that eagerness which characterizes + the unexpected meeting of warm friends after a long absence--and + immediately after the first cordial greetings, General D---- + said--'My dear F----, it is most singular, that although we have + not met during the last fifteen years, and I had not the most + distant expectation of seeing or hearing from you, yet you were in + my thoughts not five minutes ago--I was relating to my friend my + extraordinary dream when on board the ----; you were present, and + cannot have forgotten it.' Major F---- replied, that he remembered + it most accurately, and, at his friend's request, related it to + me, in every particular correspondent with the General's account. + + "What I now relate to you cannot be called a dream, but it bears a + close affinity to 'those shadowy tribes of mind' which constitute + our sleeping phantasmagoria. Calling one morning on my friend, Mrs + D----m, who had for some time resided in my neighbourhood, I + found her greatly distressed at the contents of a letter which she + had just received. The letter was from her sister, Mrs B----, who + was on her return to England, on board the ----, East Indiaman, + accompanied by her two youngest children, and their nurse; Mr + B----, her husband, remaining in India. One morning, shortly after + breakfast, Mrs B---- was sitting in the cabin, with many other + passengers present, but not herself at that moment engaged in + conversation with them; when she suddenly turned her head, and + exclaimed aloud, and with extreme surprise, 'Good God! B----, is + that you?' At the same moment the children, who were with their + nurse at a distant part of the ship, too far off, it is stated, to + have heard their mother's exclamation, both cried out, 'Papa! + papa!' Mrs B---- declared, that the moment she spoke, she saw her + husband most distinctly, but the vision instantly vanished. All + the persons present noted the precise time of this singular + occurrence, lat. and long., &c., and Mrs B----'s letter to her + sister was written immediately after it; it was forwarded to + England by a vessel that was expected to reach home before the + East Indiaman, and which did precede her by some weeks. No + reasonings that I could offer were sufficient to relieve my + friend's mind from the conviction that her sister had lost her + husband, and that his decease had been thus mysteriously announced + to her, until letters arrived from Mr B----, attesting his perfect + health, which he enjoyed for some years after--and I believe he is + still living. + + "To arrive at any reasonable conclusion respecting the phenomena + of dreams, we require data most difficult to be obtained; we + should compare authentic dreams, faithfully related, with their + equally well-attested attendant and _precedent_ circumstances. But + who can feel certain that he correctly relates even his own dream? + I have many times made the attempt, but cannot be perfectly sure + that in the act of recording a dream, I have not given more of + order to the succession of the events than the dream itself + presented. In the case of the first dream, the mere delivery of a + letter, there is no succession of events, and therefore no ground + to suppose that any invention could have been added to give it + form and consistency. The young lady knew that her friend was in + the West Indies; she knew, too, the danger of that climate, and + had often seen the Admiral, her uncle, receive official letters. + Some transient thoughts on these subjects, although too transient + to be remembered, unquestionably formed her dream. That the letter + really arrived and confirmed the event predicted, can only be + referable to those coincidences which are not of very uncommon + occurrence in daily life. To similar causes I attribute the second + dream; and even its external fulfilment in so many particulars can + hardly be deemed more extraordinary than the coincidence of the + sudden and wholly unexpected arrival of Major F----, just at the + very moment after General D---- had related to me his dream. The + third narrative admits of an easy solution. Mrs B---- was not in + good health. Thinking of her husband, in a state of reverie, a + morbid spectrum might be the result--distinct enough to cause her + sudden alarm and exclamation which, if the children heard, (and + children distinguish their mother's voice at a considerable + distance--the cabin door, too, might have been open, and the + children much nearer than they were supposed to have been,) would + account at once for their calling out 'Papa! papa!' During our + waking hours, we are never conscious of any complete suspension of + thought, even for a moment; if fatigued by any long and laborious + mental exertion, such as the solution of a complicated + mathematical problem, how is the weariness relieved? Not by + listless rest like the tired body, but by a change of subject--a + change of action--a new train of thoughts and expressions. Are we, + then, always dreaming when asleep? We certainly are not conscious + that we are; but it may be that in our sleep we do not remember + our dreams, and that it is only in imperfect sleep, or in the act + of waking, that the memory records them. That dreams occupy an + exceedingly short period of time, I know from my own experience; + for I once had, when a boy, a very long dream about a bird, which + was placed in an insecure place in my bedroom, being attacked by a + cat. The fall of the cage on the floor awoke me, and I sprang out + of bed in time to save the bird. The dream must, I think, have + been suggested by the fall of the cage; and, if so, my seemingly + long dream could only have occupied a mere point of time. I have + also experienced other instances nearly similar. It seems + reasonable, too, to suppose that this is generally the case; for + our dreams present themselves to us as pictures, with the subjects + of which we are intimately acquainted. I now glance my eye at the + fine landscape hanging in my room. You may say of it, as Falstaff + said of Prince Henry, 'By the Lord, I know you as well as he that + made you.' Well, it is full of subject, full of varied beauty and + grand conception--a 'paulo majora' eclogue. When I first saw it, I + could barely read it through in an hour. For pictures that are + what pictures ought to be, Poems to the eye, demand and repay this + investigating attention--those that do not demand and suggest + thoughts are not worth a thought; but this picture, now its every + part, tint, and sentiment, have long been intimately known to me. + I see, at a glance, its entire subject--ay, at a glance, too, see + the effect which a casual gleam of light has just thrown over it. + Is it not probable, then, that our dreams may be equally + suggestive, in as short a space of time? Dreams that have not some + connexion, something of a continuity of events, however wild, are + not retained by the memory. Most persons would find it much more + difficult to learn to repeat the words in a dictionary, than a + page of poetry of equal length; and many dreams are probably + framed of very unconnected materials. In falling asleep, I have + often been conscious of the dissevering of my thoughts--like a + regiment dismissed from parade, they seemed to straggle away "in + most admired disorder;" but these scattered bands muster together + again in our sleep; and, as these have all been levied from the + impressions, cogitations, hopes, fears, and affections, of our + waking hours, however strangely they may re-combine, if they do + combine with sufficient continuity to be remembered, the form + presented, however wild, will always be found, on a fair analysis, + to be characteristic of the dreamer. They are his own thoughts + oddly joined, like freshwater Polyps, which may be divided, and + then stuck again together, so as to form chains, or any other + strange forms, across the globe of water in which they may be + exhibited. In Devonshire, the peasantry have a good term to + express that wandering of thought, and imperfect dreaming, which + is common in some states of disease.--"Oh, sir, he has been lying + pretty still; but he has been _roading_ all night." By this, they + mean, that the patient, in imperfect sleep, has been muttering + half-connected sentences; and the word, _roading_, is taken from + the mode in which they catch woodcocks. At the last gleam of + evening, the woodcocks rise from their shelter in the woods, and + wind their way to the open vistas, which lead to the adjacent + meadows, where they go to feed during the night; and they return + to their covert, through the same vistas, with the first beam of + morning. At the end of these vistas, which they call 'cock-roads,' + the woodcock catchers suspend nets to intercept the birds in their + evening and morning flights, and great numbers are taken in this + manner; the time when they suspend the nets, is called + roading-time; and thus, by applying the term, roading, to + disturbed and muttered sleep, they compare the dim, loose thoughts + of the half-dreaming patient, to the flight of the woodcocks, + wheeling their way through the gloomy and darkling woods. It has + been asserted that we never feel _surprise_ in our dreams; and + that we do not _reason_ on the subjects which they present to us. + This, from my own experience, I know to be a mistake. I once + dreamed, whilst residing with a friend in London, that on entering + his breakfast-room, the morning was uncommonly dark; but not very + much more so than sometimes occurs in a November fog, when, as + some one has said, the thick yellow air makes you think you are + walking through pease-soup, and the sun, when seen at all, looks + like the yolk of a poached egg floating on it. My friend was + seated alone by the table, resting his head thoughtfully on his + hand, when, looking towards me, with a very serious countenance, + he said--'Can you account for this darkness? There is no eclipse + stated in the almanack. Some change is taking place in our system. + Go to N----, (a philosophical neighbour, who lived within three + doors of our house,) and ask if he can explain it.' I certainly + felt much surprised at my friend's observations. I went to N---- + 's house--or, rather, I found myself in his room. He was walking + up and down the room in evident perplexity; and, turning to me, + said, 'This is very extraordinary! A change is taking place in our + system!--look at the barometer.'--I looked at the barometer, which + appeared to be hanging in its usual place in the room, and saw, + with great surprise, that the tube was without quicksilver; it had + fallen almost entirely down to the bulb. Certainly in this dream I + felt great _surprise_, and that the faculty of reason was not + suspended is apparent, nay, perhaps, it was quickened in this + instance, for I doubt, if I had really seen the praeternatural + darkness, whether I should so readily have thought of consulting + an almanack, or referring to a barometer; I should certainly have + gone to my friend N----, for I was in the frequent habit of + appealing to him on any subject of natural philosophy on which I + might be desirous to be fully instructed. It is clear that the + fabricator of the Ephesian Diana could not pay real adoration to + his own work; and as we must be the artificers of our own dreams, + and furnish all the materials, it seems difficult to discover by + what process the mind can present subjects of surprise to itself; + but surprise is that state of mind which occurs when an object or + idea is presented to it, which our previous train of thought would + not lead us to expect or account for. In dreams the catenation of + our ideas is very imperfect and perplexed; and the mind, by + forgetting its own faint and confused links of association, may + generate subjects of surprise to itself. There are some dreams + which we dream over again many times in our lives, but these + dreams are generally mere scenes, with little or no action or + dialogue. I formerly often dreamed that I was standing on a broad + road by the side of a piece of water, (in which geese were + swimming,) surrounding the base of a green hill, on the summit of + which were the ruins of a castle: the sun shining brightly, and + the blue sky throwing out the yellow stone-work of the ruin in + strong relief. This dream always gave me an indefinite sense of + pleasure. I fancied I had formed it from some picture that I might + at some time have casually seen and forgotten; but a few years ago + I visited the village in which I was born, and from which I had + been removed when about three and a half years old. I found that I + well remembered many things which might have engaged the attention + of a child. The house in which my parents resided was little + changed; and I remembered every room, and the pictures on the + Dutch tiles surrounding the fireplace of that which had been our + nursery. I pointed out the house where sugar-candy had formerly + been sold, and went to the very spot in the churchyard where I had + been led, when a child, to call out my name and hear the echo from + the tower. I then went by a pathway, through some fields, which + led to a neighbouring town. In these fields I recognised a + remarkable stone stile, and a bank on which I had gathered + daisies; then, extending my route, that I might return to the + village by a different course, suddenly the prototype of my often + dreamed dream stood before me. The day was bright. There was the + blue sky--the green hill--the geese in the surrounding water. 'In + every form of the thing _my dream_ made true and good.' The + distance of this spot from the house of my birth was rather a long + walk for a child so young; and, therefore, I suppose I might only + once or twice have seen it, and then only in the summer, or in + bright weather. I have said that that dream, whenever it recurred, + always impressed me with an indefinite sense of pleasure; was not + this feeling an echo, a redolence, of the happy, lively sensations + with which, as a child, I had first witnessed the scene? It is + singular that, remembering so many objects much less likely to + have fixed themselves on the memory, I should have so utterly + forgotten, in my waking hours, the real existence of that of which + my dream had so faithfully Daguerreotyped; and it is not less + remarkable that I have never had the dream since I recognised its + original. I think I can account for this, but will not now attempt + it, as the length of my epistle may probably have put you in a + fair way of having dreams of your own.--Ever faithfully yours. + + "C. S." + +This last dream of our friend exhibits one of the phenomena of memory, +which may not be unconnected with another, curious, and I suppose +common. Did you never feel a sense of a reduplication of any passing +occurrence, act, or scene--something which you were saying or doing, +or in which you were actor or spectator? Did you never, while the +occurrence was taking place, suddenly feel a consciousness of its +pre-existence and pre-acting; that the whole had passed before, just +as it was then passing, even to the details of place, persons, words, +and circumstances, and this not in events of importance, but mostly in +those of no importance whatever; as if life and all its phenomena were +a duplicate in itself, and that that which is acting here, were at the +same time acting also elsewhere, and the fact were suddenly revealed +to you? I call this one of the phenomena of memory, because it may +possibly be accounted for by the repercussion of a nerve, an organ, +which, like the string of an instrument unequally struck, will double +the sound. Vibrations of memory--vibrations of imagination are curious +things upon which to speculate; but not now, Eusebius--you must work +this out yourself. + +What a curious story is that of Pan.[38] "Pan is dead,"--great Pan is +dead--as told by Plutarch. Was not one commissioned by dream or vision +to go to a particular place to proclaim it there; and is it not added +that the cry "great Pan is dead," was re-echoed from shore to shore, +and that this happened at the time of the ceasing of oracles? + +It little matters whether you look to public events or private +histories--you will see signs and omens, and wondrous visitations, +prefiguring and accomplishing their purposes; and if occasionally, +when too they are indisputable, they seem to accomplish no end, it may +be only a seeming non-accomplishment--but suppose it real, it would +then the more follow, that they arise necessarily from the nature of +things, though a nature with which we are not acquainted. There is an +unaccountable sympathy and connexion between all animated +nature--perhaps the invisible, as well as the visible. Did you never +remark, that in a crowded room, if you fix your eyes upon any one +person, he will be sure soon to look at you? Whence is this more than +electric power! Wonderful is that of yawning, that it is +communicable;--it is so common, that the why escapes our observation. +This attractive power, the fascination of the eye, is still more +wonderful. Hence, perhaps, the superstition of the "Evil Eye," and the +vulgarly believed mischief of "being overlooked." + +Of private histories--I should like to see the result of a commission +to collect and enquire into the authenticity of anecdotes bearing upon +this subject. I will tell you one, which is traditionary in our +family--of whom one was of the _dramatis personae_. You know the old +popular ballad of "Margaret's Ghost"-- + + "In glided Margaret's grimly ghost, + And stood at William's feet." + +You do not know, perhaps that it is founded on truth. William was Lord +S----, who had jilted Margaret; she died; and after death appeared to +him--and, it is said, gave him the choice of two things--to die within +a week, or to vow constancy, never to marry. He gave the solemn +promise to the ghost. We must transfer the scene to the living world +of pleasure. Lord S---- is at Bath. He is in the rooms; suddenly he +starts--is so overcome as to attract general attention--his eyes are +riveted upon one person, the beautiful Mary T----, whose father +resided in great style and fashion at Bathford. It was her resemblance +to Margaret, her astonishing resemblance, that overcame him. He +thought the ghost had again appeared. He was introduced--and, our +family tradition says, was for a length of time a daily visitor at +Bathford, where his habit was, to say little, but to sit opposite to, +and fix his eyes upon the lovely face of Mary T----. The family not +liking this, for there was no declaration on his part, removed Mary +T---- to the house of some relative in London. There Lord S---- +followed her, and pursued his daily habit of profound admiration. At +length the lady spoke, and asked him his intentions with regard to her +guest. Lord S---- was in the greatest agitation, rose, burst into +tears, and left the house. Time passed; and here nothing more is said +of Mary T----; Lord S---- saw her no more. But of him, it is added, +that, being persuaded by his family and friends, he consented to +marry--that the bride and her relatives were at the appointed hour at +the church--that no bridegroom was there--that messengers sent to +enquire for him brought back the frightful intelligence, that he was +no more. He had suddenly expired. + +My dear Eusebius, with this story I terminate my long letter. Ruminate +upon the contents. Revolved in your mind, they will yield a rich +harvest of thought. I hope to be at the reaping. Ever yours, &c. + +[Footnote 34: The story given by Eusebius is very probably of his own +manufacture. It is this. Some years ago, when all the world were mad +upon lotteries, the cook of a middle-aged gentleman drew from his +hands the savings of some years. Her master, curious to know the +cause, learned that she had repeatedly dreamed that a certain number +was a great prize, and she had bought it. He called her a fool for her +pains, and never omitted an occasion to tease her upon the subject. +One day, however, the master saw in the newspaper, or at his +bookseller's in the country town, that _the_ number was actually the +L.20,000 prize. Cook is called up, a palaver ensues--had known each +other many years, loth to part, &c.--in short, he proposes and is +accepted, but insists on marriage being celebrated next morning. +Married they were; and, as the carriage took them from the church they +enjoy the following dialogue. "Well, Molly--two happy events in one +day. You have married, I trust, a good husband. You have something +else--but first let me ask you where you have locked up your +lottery-ticket." Molly, who thought her master was only bantering her +again on the old point, cried--"Don't ye say no more about it. I +thought how it would be, and that I never should hear the end on't, so +I sold it to the baker of our village for a guinea profit. So you need +never be angry with me again about that."] + +[Footnote 35: Supposing mesmerism true in its facts, one knows not to +what power to ascribe it--a good or an evil. It is difficult to +imagine it possible that a good power would allow one human being such +immense influence over others. All are passive in the hands of the +mesmeriser. Let us take the case related by Miss Martineau. She +willed, and the water drunk by the young girl _was_ wine, at another +time it _was_ porter. These were the effects. Now, supposing Miss M. +had willed it to be a poison, if her statement is strictly true, the +girl would have been poisoned. We need no hemlock, if this be so--and +the agent must be quite beyond the reach of justice. A coroner's +inquest here would be of little avail. + +It is said that most mischievous consequences have resulted from the +doings of some practitioners--and it must be so, if the means be +granted; and it is admitted not to be a very rare gift. The last +mesmeric exhibition I witnessed, was at Dr Elliotson's. It appeared to +be of so public a nature, that I presume there is no breach of +confidence in describing what took place. There were three persons +mesmerised, all from the lower rank of life. The first was put into +the sleep by, I think, but two passes of the hand, (Lord Morpeth the +performer.) She was in an easy-chair: all her limbs were rendered +rigid--and, as I was quite close to her, I can testify that she +remained above two hours in one position, without moving hand or foot, +and breathing deeply, as in a profound sleep. Her eyes were closed, +and she was finally wakened by Dr Elliotson waving his hand at some +distance from her. As he motioned his hand, I saw her eyelids quiver, +and at last she awoke, but could not move until the rigidity of her +limbs was removed by having the hand slightly passed over them. She +then arose, and walked away, as if unconscious of the state she had +been in. The two others were as easily transferred to a mesmeric +state. They conversed, answered questions, showed the usual +phrenological phenomena, singing, imitating, &c. + +But there was one very curious phrenological experiment which deserves +particular notice. They sat close together. Dr W. E---- touched the +organ of Acquisitiveness of the one, (we will call her A.) She +immediately put out her hand, as if to grasp something, and at length +caught hold of the finger of Dr W. E----; she took off his ring and +put it in her pocket. Dr W. E---- then touched the organ of Justice of +the second girl, (B,) and told her that A had stolen his ring. B, or +Justice, began to lecture upon the wickedness of stealing. A denied +she had done any such thing, upon which Dr W. E---- remarked, that +thieving and lying always went together. Then, still keeping his hand +on Acquisitiveness, he touched also that of Pride; then, as Justice +continued her lecture, the thief haughtily justified the act, that she +should steal if she pleased. The mesmeriser then touched also the +organ of Combativeness, so that three organs were in play. Justice +still continued her lecture; upon which A, the thief, told her to hold +her tongue, and not lecture her, and gave her several pretty hard +slaps with her hand. Dr W. E---- then removed his hands, and +transferred the operation, making Justice the thief, and the thief +Justice; when a similar scene took place. + +Another curious experiment was, differently affecting the opposite +organs--so that endearment was shown on one side, and aversion on the +other, of the same person. One scene was beautiful, for the very +graceful motion exhibited. One of these young women was attracted to +Dr Elliotson by his beckoning her to him, while by word he told her +not to come. Her movements were slow, very graceful, as if moved by +irresistible power.] + +[Footnote 36: You remember the melancholy music of the lines of +Moschus:-- + + [Greek: "Ai Ai tai malachai men epan kata katon olontai + E tachlora selina, to t' euthales oulon anedon, + Ysteron hauzoonti, kai eis etos allo phyonti. + Ammes d' hoi megaloi kai karteroi he sophoi andres, + Oppote prota thanomes, anakosi en chthoni koila + Eudames eu mala makron atermona negreton hypnon."] + +Accept of this attempt:-- + + Alas! alas! the mallows, though they wither where they lie, + And all the fresh and pleasant herbs within the garden die, + Another year they shall appear, and still fresh bloom supply. + + But we, Great men, the strong, the wise, the noble, and the brave, + When once we fall into the earth, our nourriture that gave, + Long silence keep of endless sleep, within the hollow grave.] + +[Footnote 37: _Vide_ an amusing little _jeu-d'esprit--A Descant upon +Weather-Wisdom--both Witty and Wise._--ANON. Longmans. 1845.] + +[Footnote 38: There is an exquisite little poem, taken from this +passage of Plutarch, at once imaginative and true, for hidden truths +are embodied in the tangible workings of the poet's imagination, by +Miss Barrett.] + + + + +A MOTHER TO HER FORSAKEN CHILD. + + + My child--my first-born! Oh, I weep + To think of thee--thy bitter lot! + The fair fond babe that strives to creep + Unto the breast where _thou art not_, + Awakes a piercing pang within, + And calls to mind thy heavy wrong. + Alas! I weep not for my sin-- + To thy dark lot these tears belong. + + Thy little arms stretch forth in vain + To meet a mother's fond embrace; + Alas! in weariness or pain, + Thou gazest on a hireling's face. + I left thee in thy rosy sleep-- + I dared not then kneel down to bless; + Now--now, albeit thou may'st weep, + Thou canst not to my bosom press. + + My child! though beauty tint thy cheek, + A deeper dye its bloom will claim, + When lips all pitiless shall speak + Thy mournful legacy of shame. + Perchance, when love shall gently steal + To thy young breast all pure as snow, + This cruel thought shall wreck thy weal, + _The mother's guilt doth lurk below_. + + J. D. + + + + +SUMMER NOONTIDE. + + + Unruffled the pure ether shines, + O'er the blue flood no vapour sails, + Bloom-laden are the clinging vines, + All odour-fraught the vales. + + There's not a ripple on the main, + There's not a breath to stir the leaves, + The sunlight falls upon the plain + Beside the silent sheaves. + + The drowsy herd forget to crop, + The bee is cradled in the balm: + If but one little leaf should drop, + 'Twould break the sacred calm. + + From the wide sea leaps up no voice, + Mute is the forest, mute the rill; + Whilst the glad earth sang forth _Rejoice_, + God's whisper said--_Be still_. + + Her pulses in a lull of rest, + In hush submissive Nature lies, + With folded palms upon her breast, + Dreaming of yon fair skies. + + J. D. + + + + +TO CLARA. + + + I would not we should meet again-- + We twain who loved so fond, + Although through years and years afar, + I wish'd for nought beyond. + + Yet do I love thee none the less; + And aye to me it seems, + There's not on earth so fair a thing + As thou art in my dreams. + + All, all hath darkly changed beside, + Grown old, or stern, or chill-- + All, save one hoarded spring-tide gleam, + _Thy smile that haunts me still_! + + My brow is but the register + Of youth's and joy's decline; + I would not trace such record too + Deep graven upon thine. + + I would not _see_ how rudely Time + Hath dealt with all thy store + Of bloom and promise--'tis enough + To know the harvest's o'er. + + I would not that one glance to-day, + One glance through clouds and tears, + Should mar the image in my soul + That love hath shrined for years. + + J. D. + + + + +SECLUSION. + + + The heart in sacred peace may dwell, + Apart from convent gloom-- + To matins and to vespers rise, + 'Mid nature's song and bloom: + + Or in the busy haunts of life, + In gay or restless scene, + In sanctuary calm abide, + As vestal saint serene. + + It is the pure and holy thought, + The spotless veil within, + That screens pollution from the breast, + And hides a world of sin. + + J. D. + + + + +THE LAST HOURS OF A REIGN. + +A TALE IN TWO PARTS.--PART I. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + "Let's see the devil's writ. + What have we here?" + + * * * * * + + "First of the King. What shall of him become?" + SHAKSPEARE. + + "A pretty plot, well chosen to build upon." + IDEM. + + +It was in the month of May 1574, and in the city of Paris, that, at an +hour of the night which in these days might be considered somewhat +early, but which at that period was already late, two personages were +seated in a gloomy room, belonging to a small and ancient hotel, at no +great distance from the old palace of the Louvre, with which it was +supposed to communicate by courts and passages little known and seldom +used. + +One of these personages was a woman of middle age, whose form, +although full, was peculiarly well made, and whose delicate but well +fleshed hands were of striking beauty. The fair face was full and fat, +but very pale; the eyes were fine and dark, and the whole expression +of her physiognomy was in general calm, almost to mildness. But yet +there lurked a haughty air on that pale brow; and at times a look of +searching inquisitiveness, amounting almost to cunning, shot from +those dark eyes. Her ample dress was entirely black, and unrelieved by +any of the embroidery or ornament so much lavished upon the dress of +the higher classes at that time; a pair of long white ruffles turned +back upon the sleeve, and a large standing collar of spotless purity, +alone gave light to the dark picture of her form. Upon her head she +wore a sort of skull-cap of black velvet, descending with a sharp peak +upon her forehead--the cowl-like air of which might almost have given +her the appearance of the superior of some monastic community, had not +the cold imperious physiognomy of the abbess been modified by a +frequent bland smile, which showed her power of assuming the arts of +seduction at will, and her practice of courts. She leaned her arms +upon the table, whilst she studied with evident curiosity every +movement of her companion, who was engaged in poring, by the light of +a lamp, over a variety of strange manuscripts, all covered with the +figures, cyphers, and hieroglyphics used in cabalistic calculations. + +This other personage was a man, whose appearance of age seemed to be +more studied than real. His grey hair, contrary to the custom of the +times, fell in thick locks upon his shoulders; and a white beard swept +his dark velvet robe, which was fashioned to bestow upon him an air of +priestly dignity; but his face was florid, and full of vigour, and the +few wrinkles were furrowed only upon his brow. + +Around the room, the dark old panels of which, unrelieved by pictures +and hangings, rendered it gloomy and severe, were scattered books and +instruments, such as were used by the astronomers, or rather +astrologers, of the day, and a variety of other objects of a bizarre +and mysterious form, which, as the light of the lamp flickered feebly +upon them, might have been taken, in their dark nooks, for the +crouching forms of familiar imps, attendant upon a sorcerer. After +some study of his manuscripts, the old man shook his head, and, +rising, walked to the window, which stood open upon a heavy stone +balcony. The night was bright and calm; not a cloud, not a vapour +dimmed the glitter of the countless myriads of stars in the firmament; +and the moon poured down a flood of light upon the roofs of the +surrounding houses, and on the dark towers of the not far distant +Louvre, which seemed quietly sleeping in the mild night-air, whilst +within were fermenting passions, many and dark, like the troubled +dreams of the apparently tranquil sleeper. As the old man stepped upon +the balcony, he turned up his head with an assumed air of inspiration +to the sky, and considered the stars long and in silence. The female +had also risen and followed him to the window; but she remained +cautiously in the shadow of the interior of the room, whence she +watched with increasing interest the face of the astrologer. Again, +after this study of the stars, the old man returned to his table, and +began to trace new figures in various corners of the patterned +horoscopes, and make new calculations. The female stood before him, +resting her hands upon the table, awaiting with patience the result of +these mysteries of the cabala. + +"Each new experience verifies the former," said the astrologer, +raising up his head at last. "The truth cannot be concealed from your +majesty. His hours are numbered--he cannot live long." + +"And it is of a surety _he_, of whom the stars thus speak?" enquired +the female thus addressed, without emotion. + +"The horoscopes all clash and cross each other in many lines," +answered the astrologer: "but they are not confounded with his. The +horoscope of near and inevitable death is that of your son Charles, +the King." + +"I know that he must die," said the Queen-mother coldly, sitting down. + +The astrologer raised for an instant his deep-set, but piercing grey +eyes, to the pale, passionless face of the Queen, as if he could have +read the thoughts passing within. There was almost a sneer upon his +lip, as though he would have said, that perhaps none knew it better; +but that expression flickered only, like a passing flash of faint +summer lightning, and he quickly resumed-- + +"But about this point of death are centred many confused and jarring +lines in an inextricable web; and bright as they look to vulgar eyes, +yon stars in the heavens shine with a lurid light to those who know to +look upon them with the eyes of science; and upon their path is a dim +trail of blood--troubled and harassed shall be _the last hours of this +reign_." + +"But what shall be the issue, Ruggieri?" said the Queen eagerly. +"Since Charles must die, I must resign myself to the will of destiny," +she added, with an air of pious humility; and then, as if throwing +aside a mask which she thought needless before the astrologer, she +continued with a bitterness which amounted almost to passion in one +externally so cold--"Since Charles must die, he can be spared. He has +thrown off my maternal authority; and with the obstinacy of suspicion, +he has thwarted all my efforts to resume that power which he has +wrested from me, and which his weak hands wield so ill. He has been +taught to look upon me with mistrust; in vain I have combated this +influence, and if it grow upon him, mistrust will ripen into hate. He +regrets that great master-stroke of policy, which, by destroying all +those cursed Huguenots, delivered us at one blow from our most deadly +enemies. He has spoken of it with horror. He has dared to blame me. He +has taken Henry of Navarre, the recusant Huguenot, the false wavering +Catholic, to his counsels lately. He is my son no longer, since he no +longer acknowledges his mother's will: and he can be spared! But when +he is gone, what shall be the issue, Ruggieri? how stand the other +horoscopes?" + +"The stars of the two Henrys rise together in the heavens" replied the +Queen's astrologer and confidant. "Before them stands a house of +double glory, which promises a double crown; but the order of the +heavens is not such that I can read as yet, which of the two shall +first enter it, or enter it alone." + +"A double crown!" said the Queen musingly. "Henry of Anjou, my son, is +king of Poland, and on his brother's death is rightful king of France. +Yes, and he _shall_ be king of France, and wear its crown. Henry never +thwarted his mother's will, he was ever pliant as a reed to do her +bidding; and when he is king, Catherine of Medicis may again resume +the reins of power. You had predicted that he would soon return to +France; and I promised him he should return, when unwillingly he +accepted that barbarian crown, which Charles' selfish policy forced +upon him, in order to rid himself of a brother whom he hated as a +rival--hated because I loved him. Yes, he shall return to resume his +rightful crown--a double crown! But Henry of Navarre also wears a +crown, although it be a barren one--although the kingdom of Navarre +bestow upon him a mere empty title. Shall it be his--the double crown? +Oh! no! no! The stars cannot surely say it. Should all my sons die +childless, it is his by right. But they shall not die to leave _him_ +their heir. No! sooner shall the last means be applied, and the +detested son perish, as did his hated mother, by one of those +incomprehensible diseases for which medicine has no cure. A double +crown! Shall his be the crown of France also? Never! Ah! little did I +think, Ruggieri, when I bestowed upon him my daughter Margaret's hand, +and thus lured him and his abhorred party to the court to finish them +with one blow, that Margaret of Valois would become a traitress to her +own mother, and protect a husband whom she accepted so unwillingly! +But Margaret is ambitious for her husband, although she loves him not, +although she loves another: the two would wish to thwart her brothers +of their birthright, that she might wear their crown on her own brow. +Through her intervention, Henry of Navarre has escaped me. He has +outlived the massacre of that night of triumph, when all his party +perished; and now Charles loves him, and calls him 'upright, honest +Henry,' and if I contend not with all the last remnants of my broken +power, my foolish son, upon his death-bed, may place the regency in +his hands, and deprive his scorned and ill-used mother of her rights. +The regency! Ah! lies there the double crown? Ah! Ruggieri, Ruggieri, +why can you only tell me thus far and no further?" + +"Madam," replied the wary astrologer, "the stars run in their slow +unerring course. We cannot compel their path; we can only read their +dictates." + +Catherine de Medicis rose and approached the window, through which she +contemplated the face of the bright heavens. + +"Mysterious orbs of light," she said, stretching forth her arms--"ye +who rule our destinies, roll on, roll on, and tarry not. Accomplish +your great task of fate; but be it quickly, that I may know what +awaits me in that secret scroll spread out above on which ye write the +future. Let me learn the good, that I may be prepared to greet it--the +ill, that I may know how to parry it." + +Strange was the compound of that credulous mind, which, whilst it +sought in the stars the announcement of an inevitable fate, hoped to +find in its own resources the means of avoiding it--which, whilst it +listened to their supposed dictates as a slave, strove to command them +as a mistress. + +"And the fourth horoscope that I have bid you draw?" said the Queen, +returning to the astrologer. "How stands it?" + +"The star of your youngest son, the Duke of Alencon, is towering also +to its culminating point," replied the old man, looking over the +papers before him. "But it is nebulous and dim, and shines only by a +borrowed light--that of another star which rises with it to the +zenith. They both pursue the same path; and if the star of Alencon +reach that house of glory to which it tends, that other star will +shine with such a lustre as shall dim all other lights, however bright +and glorious they now may be." + +"Ha! is it so?" said Catherine thoughtfully. "Alencon conspires also +to catch the tottering crown which falls from the dying head of +Charles. But he is too weak and wavering to pursue a steady purpose. +He is led, Ruggieri--he is led. He is taught to believe that since his +elder brother has chosen the crown of Poland, it is his to claim the +throne which death will soon leave vacant. But he wants firmness of +will--it is another that guides his feeble hand. That star which +aspires to follow in the track of Alencon--I know it well, Ruggieri. +It is that of the ambitious favourite of my youngest son, of Philip de +la Mole. It is he who pushes him on. It is he who would see his master +on the throne, in order to throne it in his place. He has that +influence over Alencon which the mother possesses no longer; and were +Alencon king, it would be Philip de la Mole who would rule the +destinies of France, not Catherine de Medicis. Beneath that exterior +of thoughtless levity, lie a bold spirit and an ardent ambition. He is +an enemy not to be despised; and he shall be provided for. Alencon +protects him--my foolish Margaret loves him--but there are still means +to be employed which may curdle love to hate, and poison the secret +cup of sympathy. They shall be employed. Ha! Alencon would be king, +and Philip de la Mole would lord it over the spirits of the house of +Medicis. But they must be bold indeed who would contend with +Catherine. Pursue, Ruggieri, pursue. This star, which way does it +tend?" + +"It aspires to the zenith, madam," replied the astrologer. "But, as I +have said, upon the track there is a trail of blood." + +Catherine smiled. + +"My youngest son has already been here to consult you; I think you +told me?" she said, with an enquiring look to the astrologer. + +"Among others, who have come disguised and masked, to seek to read +their destinies in the skies, I have thought to recognise Monseigneur +the Duke of Alencon," replied Ruggieri. "He was accompanied by a tall +young man, of gay exterior and proud bearing." + +"It is the very man!" exclaimed the Queen. "And do they come again?" + +"I left their horoscope undetermined," replied the astrologer, "and +they must come to seek an answer to my researches in the stars." + +"Let the stars lie, Ruggieri--do you hear?" pursued Catherine. +"Whatever the stars may say, you must promise them every success in +whatever enterprise they may undertake. You must excite their highest +hopes. Push them on in their mad career, that their plans may be +developed. Catherine will know how to crush them." + +"It shall be as your majesty desires," said the astrologer. + +As the Queen and the astrologer still conferred, a loud knocking at +the outer gate caused them to pause. Steps were heard ascending the +hollow-sounding staircase. + +"I will dismiss these importunate visitors," said Ruggieri. + +"No," said Catherine, "admit them; and if it be really they you +expect, leave them alone after a time, and come, by the outer passage, +to the secret cabinet: there will I be. I may have directions to give; +and, at all events, the cabinet may prove useful, as it has already +done." + +Impatient knockings now resounded upon the panels of the door, and the +Queen-mother, hastily snatching up a black velvet mask and a thick +black veil, which hung upon the back of her high carved chair, flung +the latter over her head, so as to conceal her features almost as +entirely as if she had worn the mask. Ruggieri, in the meantime, had +pushed back a part of the panel of the oak walls, and when Catherine +had passed through it into a little room beyond, again closed this +species of secret door, so effectually that it would have been +impossible to discover any trace of the aperture. The astrologer then +went to open the outer door. The persons who entered, were two men +whose faces were concealed with black velvet masks, commonly worn at +the period both by men and women, as well for the purpose of disguise, +as for that of preserving the complexion; their bearing, as well as +their style of dress, proclaimed them to be young and of courtly +habits. + +The first who entered was of small stature, and utterly wanting in +dignity of movement; and, although precedence into the room seemed to +have been given him by a sort of deference, he turned back again to +look at his companion, with an evident hesitation of purpose, before +he advanced fully into the apartment. The young man who followed him +was of tall stature, and of manly but graceful bearing. His step was +firm, and his head was carried high; whilst the small velvet cap +placed jauntily on one side upon his head, the light brown curling +hair of which was boldly pushed back from the broad forehead and +temples, according to the fashion of the times, seemed disposed as if +purposely to give evidence of a certain gaiety, almost recklessness, +of character. The astrologer, after giving them admittance, returned +to his table, and sitting down, demanded what might be their bidding +at that hour of the night! At his words the smaller, but apparently +the more important of the two personages, made a sign to his companion +to speak; and the latter, advancing boldly to the table, demanded of +the old man whether he did not know him. + +"Whether I know you or know you not, matters but little," replied the +astrologer; "although few things can be concealed before the eye of +science." + +At these words the smaller young man shuffled uneasily with his feet, +and plucked at the cloak of his companion. Ruggieri continued--"But I +will not seek to pierce the mystery of a disguise which can have no +control over the ways of destiny. Whether I know you or not, I +recognise you well. Already have you been here to enquire into the +dark secrets of the future. I told you then, that we must wait to +judge the movements of the stars. Would you know further now?" + +"That is the purpose of our coming," said the latter of the two young +men, to whom the office of spokesman had been given. "We have come, +although at this late hour of the night, because the matter presses on +which we would know our fate." + +"Yes, the matter presses," replied the astrologer; "for I have read +the stars, and I have calculated the chances of your destinies." + +The smaller personage pressed forward at these words, as if full of +eager curiosity. The other maintained the same easy bearing that +seemed his usual habit. + +The astrologer turned over a variety of mysterious papers, as if +searching among them for the ciphers that he needed; then, consulting +the pages of a book, he again traced several figures upon a parchment; +and at length, after the seeming calculation of some minutes, he +raised his head, and addressing himself to the smaller man, said-- + +"You have an enterprise in hand, young man, upon which not only your +own destinies and those of your companion, but of many thousands of +your fellow creatures depend! Your enterprise is grand, your destiny +is noble." + +The young men turned to look at each other; and he, who had as yet not +broken silence, said, with an eager palpitating curiosity, although +the tones of his voice were ill assured-- + +"And what say the stars? Will it succeed?" + +"Go on, and prosper!" replied the astrologer. "A noble course lies +before you. Go on, and success the most brilliant and the most prompt +attends you." + +"Ha! there is, after all, some truth in your astrology, I am inclined +to think!" said the first speaker gaily. + +"Why have you doubted, young man?" pursued the astrologer severely. +"The stars err not--cannot err." + +"Pardon me, father," said the young man with his usual careless air. +"I will doubt no further. And we shall succeed?" + +"Beyond your utmost hopes. Upon your brow, young man," continued the +astrologer, addressing again the smaller person, "descends a circlet +of glory, the brilliancy of which shall dazzle every eye. But stay, +all is not yet done. The stars thus declare the will of destiny; but +yet, in these inscrutable mysteries of fate, it is man's own will that +must direct the course of events--it is his own hand must strike the +blow. Fatality and human will are bound together as incomprehensibly +as soul and body. You must still lend your hand to secure the +accomplishment of your own destiny. But our mighty science shall +procure for you so powerful a charm, that no earthly power can resist +its influence. Stay, I will return shortly." So saying, Ruggieri rose +and left the room by the door through which the young men had entered. + +"What does he mean?" said the shorter of the young men. + +"What matter, Monseigneur!" replied the other. "Does he not promise us +unbounded success? I little thought myself, when I accompanied you +hither, that my belief in this astrology would grow up so rapidly. +Long live the dark science, and the black old gentleman who professes +it, when they lighten our path so brilliantly!" + +"Let us breathe a little at our ease, until he returns," said he who +appeared the more important personage of the two; and throwing himself +into a chair, and removing his mask, he discovered the pale face of a +young man, who might have been said to possess some beauty, in spite +of the irregularity of his features, had not the expression of that +face been marred by a pinched and peevish look of weakness and +indecision. + +His companion followed his example in removing his mask, and the face +thus revealed formed a striking contrast to that of the other young +man. His complexion was of a clear pale brown, relieved by a flush of +animated colour; his brow was fair and noble; his features were finely +but not too strongly chiselled. A small dark mustache curled boldly +upwards above a beautifully traced and smiling mouth, the character of +which was at once resolute and gay, and strangely at variance with the +expression of the dark grey eyes, which was more that of tenderness +and melancholy. He remained standing before the other personage, with +one hand on his hip, in an attitude at once full of ease and +deference. + +"Did I not right, then, to counsel you as I have done in this matter, +my lord duke," he said to the other young man, "since the astrologer, +in whom you have all confidence, promises us so unbounded a success: +and you give full credence to the announcement of the stars?" + +"Yes--yes, Philip," answered the Duke, reclining back in his chair, +and rubbing his hands with a sort of internal satisfaction. + +"Then let us act at once," continued the young man called Philip. "The +King cannot live many days--perhaps not many hours. There is no time +to be lost. Henry of Anjou, your elder brother, is far away; the crown +of Poland weighs upon his brow. You are present. The troops have been +taught to love you. The Huguenot party have confidence in you. The +pretensions of Henry of Navarre to the regency must give way before +yours. All parties will combine to look upon you as the heir of +Charles; and now the very heavens, the very stars above, seem to +conspire to make you that which I would you should be. Your fortune, +then, is in your own hands." + +"Yes. So it is!" replied the Duke. + +"Assemble, then, all those attached to your service or your person!" + +"I will." + +"Let your intention be known among the guards." + +"It shall." + +"As soon as the King shall have ceased to breathe, seize upon all the +gates of the Louvre." + +"Yes," continued the Duke, although his voice, so eager the moment +before, seemed to tremble at the thought of so much decision of +action. + +"Declare yourself the Master of the kingdom in full parliament." + +"Yes," again replied the young Duke, more weakly. "But"---- + +"But what--Monseigneur!" exclaimed his companion. + +"But," continued the Duke again, with hesitation, "if Henry, my +brother, should return--if he should come to claim his crown. You may +be sure that our mother, who cares for him alone, will have already +sent off messengers to advertise him of Charles's danger, and bid him +come!" + +"I know she has," replied Philip coolly. "But I have already taken +upon myself, without Monseigneur's instructions, for which I could not +wait, to send off a sure agent to intercept her courier, to detain him +at any price, to destroy his despatches." + +"Philip! what have you done?" exclaimed the young Duke, in evident +alarm. "Intercept my mother's courier! Dare to disobey my mother! My +Mother! You do not know her then." + +"Not know her?" answered his companion. "Who in this troubled land of +France does not know Catherine of Medicis, her artful wiles, her +deadly traits of vengeance? Shake not your head, Monseigneur! You know +her too. But, Charles no more, you will have the crown upon your +brow--it will be yours to give orders: those who will dare to disobey +you will be your rebel subjects. Act, then, as king. If she resist, +give orders for her arrest!" + +"Arrest my Mother! Who would dare to do it?" said the Duke with agitation. + +"I." + +"Oh, no--no--La Mole! Never would I take upon myself"---- + +"Take upon yourself to be a King, if you would be one," said the +Duke's confidant, with energy. + +"We will speak more of this," hastily interposed the wavering Duke. +"Hush! some one comes. It is this Ruggieri!" + +In truth the astrologer re-entered the room. In his hand he bore a +small object wrapped in a white cloth, which he laid down upon the +table; and then, turning to the young men, who had hastily reassumed +their masks before he appeared, and who now stood before him, he +said-- + +"The sole great charm that can complete the will of destiny, and +assure the success of your great enterprise, lies there before you. +Have you no enemy whose death you most earnestly desire, to forward +that intent?" + +The young men looked at each other; but they both answered, after the +hesitation of a moment-- + +"None!" + +"None, upon whose death depends that turn in the wheel of fate that +should place you on its summit?" + +Both the young men were silent. + +"At all events," continued the cunning astrologer, "your destiny +depends upon the action of your own hands. This action we must symbol +forth in mystery, in order that your destiny be accomplished. +Here--take this instrument," he pursued, producing a long gold pin of +curious workmanship, which at need might have done the task of a +dagger, "and pierce the white cloth that lies before you on the +table." + +The Duke drew back, and refused the instrument thus offered to him. + +"Do I not tell you that the accomplishment of your brilliant destiny +depends upon this act?" resumed Ruggieri. + +"I know not what this incantation may be," said the timid Duke. "Take +it, Philip." + +But La Mole, little as he was inclined to the superstitious credulity +of the times, seemed not more disposed than his master to lend his +hand to an act which had the appearance of being connected with the +rites of sorcery, and he also refused. On the reiterated assurances of +the astrologer, however, that upon that harmless blow hung the +accomplishment of their enterprise, and at the command of the Duke, he +took the instrument into his hand, and approached it over the cloth. +Again, however, he would have hesitated, and would have withdrawn; but +the astrologer seized his hand before he was aware, and, giving it a +sharp direction downwards, caused him to plunge the instrument into +the object beneath the cloth. La Mole shuddered as he felt it +penetrate into a soft substance, that, small as it was, gave him the +idea of a human body; and that shudder ran through his whole frame as +a presentiment of evil. + +"It is done," said the astrologer. "Go! and let the work of fate be +accomplished." + +The pale foreheads of both the young men, visible above their masks, +showed that they felt they had been led further in the work of +witchcraft than was their intention; but they did not expostulate. It +was the Duke who now first rallied, and throwing down a heavy purse of +coin on the table before the astrologer, he called to his companion to +follow him. + +Scarcely had the young men left the apartment, when the pannel by +which Catherine of Medicis had disappeared, again opened, and she +entered the room. Her face was pale, cold, and calm as usual. + +"You heard them, Ruggieri!" she said, with her customary bland smile. +"Alencon would be king, and that ambitious fool drives him to snatch +his brother's crown. The Queen-mother is to be arrested, and +imprisoned as a rebel to her usurping son. A notable scheme, forsooth! +Her courier to recall Henry of Anjou from Poland has been intercepted +also! But that mischance must be remedied immediately. Ay! and +avenged. Biragne shall have instant orders. With this proof in my +possession, the life of that La Mole is mine," continued she, tearing +in twain the white linen cloth, and displaying beneath it a small wax +figure, bearing the semblance of a king, with a crown upon its head, +in which the gold pin was still left sticking, by the manner in which +this operation was performed. "Little treasure of vengeance, thou art +mine! Ruggieri, man, that plot was acted to the life. Verily, verily, +you were right. Charles dies; and troubled and harassed will be the +_last hours of his reign_." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + "There is so hot a summer in my bosom, + That all my bowels crumble up to dust; + I am a scribbled form, drawn with a pen + Upon a parchment; and against this fire + Do I shrink up." + SHAKSPEARE. + + "Ambition is a great man's madness, + That is not kept in chains and close-pent rooms + But in fair lightsome lodgings, and is girt + With the wild noise of prattling visitants, + Which makes it lunatic beyond all cure." + WEBSTER. + + +In a room belonging to the lower apartments of the old palace of the +Louvre, reclined, in one of the large but incommodious chairs of the +time, a young man, whose pale, haggard face, and prematurely furrowed +brow, betrayed deep suffering both from moral and physical causes. The +thick lids of his heavy dark eyes closed over them with languor, as if +he no longer possessed the force to open them; whilst his pale thin +lips were distorted as if with pain. His whole air bore the stamp of +exhaustion of mind and body. + +The dress of this personage was dark and of an extreme plainness and +simplicity, in times when the fashion of attire demanded so much +display--it bore somewhat the appearance of a hunting costume. The +room, on the contrary, betrayed a strange mixture of great richness +and luxury with much confusion and disorder. The hangings of the doors +were of the finest stuffs, and embroidered with gold and jewellery; +tapestry of price covered the walls. A raised curtain of heavy and +costly tissue discovered a small oratory, in which were visible a +crucifix and other religious ornaments of great value. But in the +midst of this display of wealth and greatness, were to be seen the +most incongruous objects. Beneath a bench in a corner of the room was +littered straw, on which lay several young puppies; in other choice +nooks slept two or three great hounds. Hunting horns were hung against +the tapestry, or lay scattered on the floor; an arquebuss rested +against the oratory door-stall--the instrument of death beside the +retreat of religious aspiration. Upon a standing desk, in the middle +of the room, lay a book, the coloured designs of which showed that it +treated of the "noble science of venerye," whilst around its pages +hung the beads of a chaplet. Against the wall of the room opposite the +reclining young man, stood one of the heavy chests used at that period +for seats, as much as depositories of clothes and other objects; but +the occupant of this seat was a strange one. It was a large ape, the +light brown colour of whose hair bordered so much upon the green as to +give the animal, in certain lights, a perfectly verdant aspect. It sat +"moping and mowing" in sulky loneliness, as if its grimaces were +intended to caricature the expression of pain which crossed the young +man's face--a strange distorted mirror of that suffering form. + +After a time the young man moved uneasily, as if he had in vain sought +in sleep some repose from the torment of mind and body, and snapped +his fingers. His hounds came obedient to his call; but, after patting +them for a moment on the head, he again drove them from him with all +the pettish ill-temper of ennui, and rose, feebly and with difficulty, +from his chair. He moved languidly to the open book, looked at it for +a moment, then shook his head and turned away. Again he took up one of +the hunting horns and applied it to his lips; but the breath which he +could fetch from his chest produced no sound but a sort of low +melancholy whine from the instrument; and he flung it down. Then +dealing a blow at the head of the grinning ape, who first dived to +avoid it, and then snapped at its master's fingers, he returned +wearily to his chair, and sunk into it with a deep groan, which told +of many things--regret--bitter ennui--physical pain and mental +anguish. The tears rose for a moment to his heavy languid eyes, but he +checked their influence with a sneer of his thin upper-lip; then +calling "Congo," to his ape, he made the animal approach and took it +on his knees; and the two--the man and the beast--grinned at each +other in bitter mockery. + +In this occupation of the most grotesque despair, the young man was +disturbed by another personage, who, raising the tapestry over a +concealed door, entered silently and unannounced. + +"My Mother!" murmured the sufferer, in a tone of impatience, as he +became aware of the presence of this person; and turning away his +head, he began to occupy himself in caressing his ape. + +"How goes it with you, Charles? Do you feel stronger now?" said the +mother, in a soft voice of the fondest cajolery, as she advanced with +noiseless, gliding steps. + +The son gave no reply, and continued to play with the animal upon his +knee, whilst a dark frown knitted his brow. + +"What say the doctors to your state to-day, my son?" resumed the +female soothingly. As she approached still nearer, the ape, with a +movement of that instinctive hate often observable in animals towards +persons who do not like them, sprang at her with a savage grin, that +displayed its sharp teeth, and would have bitten her hand had she not +started back in haste. Her cold physiognomy expressed, however, +neither anger nor alarm, as she quietly remarked to her son-- + +"Remove that horrid animal, Charles: see how savage he is?" + +"And why should I remove Congo, mother?" rejoined Charles, with a +sneer upon his lip; "he is the only friend you have left me." + +"Sickness makes you forgetful and unjust, my son," replied the Mother. + +"Yes, the only friend you have left me," pursued the son bitterly, +"except my poor dogs. Have you not so acted in my name, that you have +left me not one kindred soul to love me; that in the whole wide +kingdom of France, there remains not a voice, much less a heart, to +bless its miserable king?" + +"If you say that you have no friends," responded the Queen-mother, +"you may speak more truly than you would. For they are but false +friends; and real enemies, who have instilled into your mind the evil +thoughts of a mother, who has worked only for your glory and your +good." + +"No, not one," continued the young King, unheeding her, but dismissing +at the same time the ape from his knee with a blow that sent him +screaming and mouthing to his accustomed seat upon the chest. "Not +one! Where is Perotte, my poor old nurse? She loved me--she was a real +mother to me. She! And where is she now? Did not that deed of horror, +to which you counselled me, to which you urged me almost by +force--that order, which, on the fatal night of St Bartholomew, gave +signal for the massacre of all her co-religionists, drive her from my +side? Did she not curse me--me, who at your instigation caused the +blood of her friends and kindred to be shed--and leave me, her +nursling, her boy, her Charlot, whom she loved till then, with that +curse upon her lips? And do they not say that her horror of him who +has sucked her milk, and lain upon her bosom, and of his damning deed, +has frenzied her brain, and rendered her witless? Poor woman!" And the +miserable King buried his haggard face between his hands. + +"She was a wretched Huguenot, and no fitting companion and confidant +for a Catholic and a king," said the Queen, in a tone of mildness, +which contrasted strangely with the harshness of her words. "You +should return thanks to all the blessed Saints, that she has willingly +renounced that influence about your person, which could tend only to +endanger the salvation of your soul." + +"My soul! Ay! who has destroyed it?" muttered Charles in a hollow +tone. + +The Queen-mother remained silent, but an unusual fire, in which +trouble was mixed with scorn and anger, shot from her eyes. + +"And have you not contrived to keep Henry of Navarre, my honest Henry, +from my presence?" pursued the young King, after a pause, lifting up +his heavy head from between his hands. "He was the only being you had +left me still to love me; for my brothers hate me, both Anjou and +Alencon--both wish me dead, and would wear my crown. And who was it, +and for her own purposes, curdled the blood of the Valois in their +veins until it rankled into a poison that might have befitted the +Atrides of the tragedies of old? Henry of Navarre was the only +creature that loved me still, and your policy and intrigues, madam, +keep him from me, and so watch and harass his very steps in my own +palace of the Louvre, where he is my guest, that never can I see him +alone, or speak to him in confidence. He, too, deserts and neglects me +now; and I am alone--alone, madam, with courtiers and creatures, who +hate me too, it may be--alone, as a wretched orphan beggar by the +way-side." + +"My policy, as well as what you choose to call my intrigues, my son," +rejoined the Queen, "have ever been directed to your interests and +welfare. You are aware that Henry of Navarre has conspired against the +peace of our realm, against your crown, may-be against your life. +Would you condemn that care which would prevent the renewal of such +misdeeds, when your own sister--when his wife--leagues herself in +secret with your enemies!" + +"Ay! Margaret too!" muttered Charles with bitterness. "Was the list of +the Atrides not yet complete?" + +"The dictates of my love and affection, of my solicitude for my son, +and for his weal--such have been the main-springs of my intrigues," +pursued the mother in a cajoling tone. + +"The intrigues of the house of Medicis!" murmured the King, with a +mocking laugh. + +"What would you have me to do more, my son?" continued the +Queen-mother. + +"Nothing," replied Charles, "nothing but leave me--leave me, as others +have done, to die alone!" + +"My son, I will leave you shortly, and if it so please our Blessed +Virgin, to a little repose, and a better frame of mind," said +Catherine of Medicis. "But I came to speak to you of matters of +weight, and of such deep importance that they brook no delay." + +"I am unfitted for all matters of state--my head is weary, my limbs +ache, my heart burns with a torturing fire--I cannot listen to you +now, madam," pursued the King languidly; and then, seeing that his +mother still stood motionless by his side, he added with more +energy--"Am I then no more a king, madam, that, at my own command, I +cannot even be left to _die_ in peace?" + +"It is of your health, your safety, your life, that I would speak," +continued Catherine of Medicis, unmoved. "The physicians have sought +in vain to discover the real sources of the cruel malady that devours +you; but there is no reason to doubt of your recovery, when the cause +shall be known and removed." + +"And you, madam, should know, it would appear, better than my +physicians the hidden origin of my sufferings!" said Charles, in a +tone in which might be remarked traces of the bitterest irony. "Is it +not so?" and he looked upon his mother with a deadly look of suspicion +and mistrust. + +The Queen-mother started slightly at these words; but, after a moment, +she answered in her usual bland tone of voice-- + +"It is my solicitude upon this subject that now brings me hither." + +"I thank you for your solicitude," replied the King, with the same +marked manner; "and so, doubtless, does my brother Anjou: you love him +well, madam, and he is the successor of his childish brother." + +In spite of the command over herself habitually exercised by Catherine +of Medicis, her pale brow grew paler still, and she slightly +compressed her lips, to prevent their quivering, upon hearing the +horrible insinuation conveyed in these words. The suspicions +prevalent at the time, that the Queen-mother had employed the aid of a +slow poison to rid herself of a son who resisted her authority, in +order to make room upon the throne for another whom she loved, had +reached her ears, and, guilty or guiltless, she could not but perceive +that her own son himself was not devoid of these suspicions. After the +struggle of a moment with herself, however, during which the drops of +perspiration stood upon her pale temples, she resumed---- + +"I love my children all; and I would save your life, Charles. My +ever-watchful affection for you, my son, has discovered the existence +of a hellish plot against your life." + +"More plots, more blood!--what next, madam?" interrupted, with a +groan, the unhappy King. + +"What the art of the physician could not discover," pursued his +mother, "I have discovered. The strange nature of this unknown +malady--these pains, this sleeplessness, this agony of mind and body, +without a cause, excited my suspicions; and now I have the proofs in +my own hands. My son, my poor son! you have been the victim of the +foulest witchcraft and sorcery of your enemies." + +"Enemies abroad! enemies at home!" cried Charles, turning himself +uneasily in his chair. "Did I not say so, madam?" + +"But the vile sorcerer has been discovered by the blessed intervention +of the saints," continued Catherine; "and let him be once seized, +tried, and executed for his abominable crime, your torments, my son, +will cease for ever. You will live to be well, strong, happy." + +"Happy!" echoed the young King with bitterness; "happy! no, there the +sorcery has gone too far for remedy." He then added after a pause, +"And what is this plot? who is this sorcerer of whom you speak?" + +"Trouble not yourself with these details, my son; they are but of +minor import," replied Catherine. "You are weak and exhausted. The +horrid tale would too much move your mind. Leave every thing in my +hands, and I will rid you of your enemies." + +"No, no. There has been enough of ill," resumed her son. "That he +should be left in peace is all the miserable King now needs." + +"But your life, my son. The safety of the realm depends upon the +extermination of the works of the powers of darkness. Would you, a +Catholic Prince, allow the evil-doer of the works of Satan to roam +about at will, and injure others as he would have destroyed his king?" +pursued the Queen-mother. + +"Well, we will speak more of this at another opportunity. Leave me +now, madam, for I am very weak both in mind and body; and I thank you +for your zeal and care." + +"My son, I cannot leave you," persisted Catherine, "until you shall +have signed this paper." She produced from the species of reticule +suspended at her side a parchment already covered with writing. "It +confers upon me full power to treat in this affair, and bring the +offender to condign punishment. You shall have no trouble in this +matter; and through your mother's care, your enemies shall be purged +from the earth, and you yourself once more free, and strong and able +shortly to resume the helm of state, to mount your horse, to cheer on +your hounds. Come, my son, sign this paper." + +"Leave me--leave me in peace," again answered Charles. "I am sick at +heart, and I would do no ill even to my bitterest enemy, be he only an +obscure sorcerer, who has combined with the prince of darkness himself +to work my death." + +"My son--it cannot be," said Catherine, perseveringly--for she was +aware that by persisting alone could she weary her son to do at last +her will. "Sign this order for prosecuting immediately the trial of +the sorcerer. It is a duty you owe to your country, for which you +should live, as much as to yourself. Come!" and, taking him by the +arm, she attempted to raise him from his chair. + +"Must I ever be thus tormented, even in my hours of suffering?" said +the King with impatience. "Well, be it so, madam. Work your will, and +leave me to my repose." + +He rose wearily from his chair, and going to a table on which were +placed materials for writing, hastily signed the paper laid before him +by his mother; and then, fetching a deep respiration of relief, like +a school-boy after the performance of some painful task, he flung +himself on to the chest beside the ape, and, turning his back to his +mother, began to make his peace with the sulky animal. + +Catherine of Medicis permitted a cold smile of satisfaction to wander +over her face; and after greeting again her son, who paid her no more +heed than might be expressed by an impatient shrug of the shoulders, +indicative of his desire to be left in peace, again lifted the +hangings, and passed through the concealed door. The suffering King, +whose days of life were already numbered, and fast approaching their +utmost span, although his years were still so few, remained again +alone with his agony and his ennui. + +Behind the door by which the Queen-mother had left her son's apartment +was a narrow stone corridor, communicating with a small winding +staircase, by which she mounted to her own suite of rooms upon the +first floor; but, when she had gained the summit, avoiding the secret +entrance opening into her own chamber, she proceeded along one of the +many hidden passages by which she was accustomed to gain not only +those wings of the palace inhabited by her different children, but +almost every other part of the building, unseen and unannounced. +Stopping at last before a narrow door, forming a part of the +stone-work of the corridor, she pulled it towards her, and again +lifting up a tapestry hanging, entered, silently and stealthily, a +small room, which appeared a sort of inner cabinet to a larger +apartment. She was about to pass through it, when some papers +scattered upon a table caught her eye, and moving towards them with +her usual cat-like step, she began turning them over with the +noiseless adroitness of one accustomed to such an employment. +Presently, however, she threw them down, as if she had not found in +them, at once, what she sought, or was fearful of betraying her +presence to the persons whose voices might be heard murmuring in the +adjoining room; and, advancing with inaudible tread, she paused to +listen for a minute. The persons, however, spoke low; and finding that +her _espionage_ profited nothing to her, the royal spy passed on and +entered the apartment. + +In a chair, turning his back to her, sat a young man at a table, upon +which papers and maps were mixed with jewellery, articles of dress, +feathers and laces. A pair of newly-fashioned large gilt spurs lay +upon a manuscript which appeared to contain a list of names; a naked +rapier, the hilt of which was of curious device and workmanship, was +carelessly thrust through a paper covered with notes of music. The +whole formed a strange mixture, indicative at once of pre-occupation +and listless _insouciance_, of grave employment and utter frivolity. +Before this seated personage stood another, who appeared to be +speaking to him earnestly and in low tones. At the sight of Catherine, +as she advanced, however, the latter person exclaimed quickly, + +"My lord duke, her majesty the Queen-mother!" + +The other person rose hastily, and in some alarm, from his chair; +whilst his companion took this opportunity to increase the confusion +upon the table, by pushing one or two other papers beneath some of the +articles of amusement or dress. + +Without any appearance of remarking the embarrassment that was +pictured upon the young man's face, Catherine advanced to accept his +troubled greeting with a mild smile of tenderness, and said-- + +"Alencon, my son, I have a few matters of private business, upon which +I would confer with you--and alone." + +The increasing embarrassment upon the face of the young Duke must have +been visible to any eye but that which did not choose to see it. After +a moment's hesitation, however, in which the habit of obeying +implicitly his mother's authority seemed to subdue his desire to avoid +a conference with her, he turned and said unwillingly to his +companion, + +"Leave us, La Mole." + +The Duke's favourite cast a glance of encouragement and caution upon +his master; and bowing to the Queen-mother, who returned his homage +with her kindest and most re-assuring smile of courtesy and +benevolence, and an affable wave of the hand, he left the apartment. + +Catherine took the seat from which her son had risen; and leaving him +standing before her in an attitude which ill-repressed trouble +combined with natural awkwardness of manner to render peculiarly +ungainly, she seemed to study for a time, and with satisfaction, his +confusion and constraint. But then, begging him to be seated near her, +she commenced speaking to him of various matters, of his own pleasures +and amusements, of the newest dress, of the fetes interrupted by the +King's illness, of the effect which this illness, and the supposed +danger of Charles, had produced upon the jarring parties in the state; +of the audacity of the Huguenots, who now first began, since the +massacre of St Bartholomew's day, again to raise their heads, and +cause fresh disquietude to the government. And thus proceeding step by +step to the point at which she desired to arrive, the wily +Queen-mother resembled the cat, which creeps slowly onwards, until it +springs at last with one bound upon its victim. + +"Alas!" she said, with an air of profound sorrow, "so quickly do +treachery and ingratitude grow up around us, that we no longer can +discern who are our friends and who our enemies. We bestow favours; +but it is as if we gave food to the dog, who bites our fingers as he +takes it. We cherish a friend; and it is an adder we nurse in our +bosoms. That young man who left us but just now, the Count La Mole--he +cannot hear us surely;"--the Duke of Alencon assured her, with +ill-concealed agitation, that his favourite was out of ear-shot--"that +young man--La Mole!--you love him well, I know, my son; and you know +not that it is a traitor you have taken to your heart." + +"La Mole--a traitor! how? impossible!" stammered the young Duke. + +"Your generous and candid heart comprehends not treachery in those it +loves," pursued his mother; "but I have, unhappily, the proofs in my +own power. Philip de la Mole conspires against your brother's crown." + +The Duke of Alencon grew deadly pale; and he seemed to support himself +with difficulty; but he stammered with faltering tongue, + +"Conspires? how? for whom? Surely, madam, you are most grossly +misinformed?" + +"Unhappily, my son," pursued Catherine--"and my heart bleeds to say +it--I have it no longer in my power to doubt." + +"Madam, it is false," stammered again the young Duke, rising hastily +from his chair, with an air of assurance which he did not feel. "This +is some calumny." + +"Sit down, my son, and listen to me for a while," said the +Queen-mother with a bland, quiet smile. "I speak not unadvisedly. Be +not so moved." + +Alencon again sat down unwillingly, subdued by the calm superiority of +his mother's manner. + +"You think this Philip de la Mole," she continued, "attached solely to +your interests, for you have showered upon him many and great favours; +and your unsuspecting nature has been deceived. Listen to me, I pray +you. Should our poor Henry never return from Poland, it would be yours +to mount the throne of France upon the death of Charles. Nay, look not +so uneasy. Such a thought, if it had crossed your mind, is an honest +and a just one. How should I blame it? And now, how acts this Philip +de la Mole--this man whom you have advanced, protected, loved almost +as a brother? Regardless of all truth or honour, regardless of his +master's fortunes, he conspires with friends and enemies, with +Catholic and Huguenot, to place Henry of Navarre upon the throne!" + +"La Mole conspires for Henry of Navarre! Impossible!" cried the Duke. + +"Alas! my son, it is too truly as I say," pursued the Queen-mother; +"the discoveries that have been made reveal most clearly the whole +base scheme. Know you not that this upstart courtier has dared to love +your sister Margaret, and that the foolish woman returns his +presumptuous passion? It is she who has connived with her ambitious +lover to see a real crown encircle her own brow. She has encouraged +Philip de la Mole to conspire with her husband of Navarre, to grasp +the throne of France upon the death of Charles. You are ignorant of +this, my son; your honourable mind can entertain no such baseness. I +am well aware that, had you been capable of harbouring a thought of +treachery towards your elder brother--and I well know that you are +not--believe me, the wily Philip de la Mole had rendered you his dupe, +and blinded you to the true end of his artful and black designs." + +"Philip a traitor!" exclaimed the young Duke aghast. + +"A traitor to his king, his country, and to you, my son--to you, who +have loved him but too well," repeated the Queen-mother. + +"And it was for this purpose that he"--commenced the weak Duke of +Alencon. But then, checking the words he was about to utter, he added, +clenching his hands together--"Oh! double, double traitor!" + +"I knew that you would receive the revelation of this truth with +horror," pursued Catherine. "It is the attribute of your generous +nature so to do; and I would have spared you the bitter pang of +knowing that you have lavished so much affection upon a villain. But +as orders will be immediately given for his arrest, it was necessary +you should know his crime, and make no opposition to the seizure of +one dependent so closely upon your person." + +More, much more, did the artful Queen-mother say to turn her weak and +credulous son to her will, and when she had convinced him of the +certain treachery of his favourite, she rose to leave him, with the +words-- + +"The guards will be here anon. Avoid him until then. Leave your +apartment; speak to him not; or, if he cross your path, smile on him +kindly, thus--and let him never read upon your face the thought that +lurks within, 'Thou art a traitor.'" + +Alencon promised obedience to his mother's injunctions. + +"I have cut off thy right hand, my foolish son," muttered Catherine to +herself as she departed by the secret door. "Thou art too powerless to +act alone, and I fear thee now no longer. Margaret must still be dealt +with; and thou, Henry of Navarre, if thou aspirest to the regency, the +struggle is between thee and Catherine. Then will be seen whose star +shines with the brightest lustre!" + +When Philip de la Mole returned to his master's presence, he found the +Duke pacing up and down the chamber in evident agitation; and the only +reply given to his words was a smile of so false and constrained a +nature, that it almost resembled a grin of mockery. + +The Duke of Alencon was as incapable of continued dissimulation, as he +was incapable of firmness of purpose; and when La Mole again +approached him, he frowned sulkily, and, turning his back upon his +favourite, was about to quit the room. + +"Shall I accompany my lord duke?" said La Mole, with his usual +careless demeanour, although he saw the storm gathering, and guessed +immediately from what quarter the wind had blown, but not the awful +violence of the hurricane. + +"No--I want no traitors to dog my footsteps," replied Alencon, unable +any longer to restrain himself, in spite of his mother's instructions. + +"There are no traitors here," replied his favourite proudly. "I could +have judged, my lord, that the Queen-mother had been with you, had I +not seen her enter your apartment. Yes--there has been treachery on +foot, it seems, but not where you would say. Speak boldly, my lord, +and truly. Of what does she accuse me?" + +"Traitor! double traitor!" exclaimed the Duke, bursting into a fit of +childish wrath, "who hast led me on with false pretences of a +Crown--who hast made _me_--thy master and thy prince--the dupe of thy +base stratagems; who hast blinded me, and gulled me, whilst thy real +design was the interest of another!" + +"Proceed, my lord duke," said La Mole calmly. "Of what other does my +lord duke speak?" + +"Of Henry of Navarre, for whom you have conspired at Margaret's +instigation," replied Alencon, walking uneasily up and down the room, +and not venturing to look upon his accused favourite, as if he +himself had been the criminal, and not the accuser. + +"Ah! thither flies the bolt, does it?" said La Mole, with score. "But +it strikes not, my lord. If I may claim your lordship's attention to +these papers for a short space of time, I should need no other answer +to this strange accusation, so strangely thrown out against me." And +he produced from his person several documents concealed about it, and +laid them before the Duke, who had now again thrown himself into his +chair. "This letter from Conde--this from La Breche--these from others +of the Protestant party. Cast your eyes over them? Of whom do they +speak? Is it of Henry of Navarre? Or is it of the Duke of Alencon? +Whom do they look to as their chief and future King?" + +"Philip, forgive me--I have wronged you," said the vacillating Duke, +as he turned over these documents from members of the conspiracy that +had been formed in his own favour. "But, gracious Virgin!--I now +remember my mother knows all--she is fearfully incensed against you. +She spoke of your arrest." + +"Already!" exclaimed La Mole. "Then it is time to act! I would not +that it had been so soon. But Charles is suffering--he can no longer +wield the sceptre. Call out the guard at once. Summon your fiends. +Seize on the Louvre." + +"No--no--it is too late," replied the Duke; "my mother knows all, I +tell you. No matter whether for me or for another, but you have dared +to attack the rights of my brother of Anjou--and that is a crime she +never will forgive." + +"Then act at once," continued his favourite, with energy. "We have +bold hearts and ready arms. Before to-night the Regency shall be +yours; at Charles's death the Crown." + +"No, no--La Mole--impossible--I cannot--will not," said Alencon in +despair. + +"Monseigneur!" cried La Mole, with a scorn he could not suppress. + +"You must fly, Philip--you must fly!" resumed his master. + +"No--since you will not act, I will remain and meet my fate!" + +"Fly, fly, I tell you! You would compromise me, were you to remain," +repeated the Duke. "Every moment endangers our safety." + +"If such be your command," replied La Mole coldly, "rather than +sacrifice a little of your honour, I will fly." + +"They will be here shortly," continued Alencon hurriedly. "Here, take +this cloak--this jewelled hat. They are well known to be mine. Wrap +the cloak about you. Disguise your height--your gait. They will take +you for me. The corridors are obscure--you may cross the outer court +undiscovered--and once in safety, you will join our friends. +Away--away!" + +La Mole obeyed his master's bidding, but without the least appearance +of haste or fear. + +"And I would have made that man a king!" he murmured to himself, as, +dressed in the Duke's cloak and hat, he plunged into the tortuous and +gloomy corridors of the Louvre. "That man a king! Ambition made me +mad. Ay! worse than mad--a fool!" + +The Duke of Alencon watched anxiously from his window, which dominated +the outer court of the Louvre, for the appearance of that form, +enveloped in his cloak; and when he saw La Mole pass unchallenged the +gate leading without, he turned away from the window with an +exclamation of satisfaction. + +A minute afterwards the agents of the Queen-mother entered his +apartment. + + + + +THE SCOTTISH HARVEST. + + +The approach of winter is always a serious time. When the fields are +cleared, and the produce of our harvest has been gathered into the +yard and the barn, we begin to hold a general count and reckoning with +the earth, and to calculate what amount of augmented riches we have +drawn from the bosom of the soil. When the investigation proves +satisfactory, the result is but slightly recorded. Our ancestors, with +just piety and gratitude, were accustomed to set apart whole days for +thanksgiving to the Almighty Being who had blessed the labours of the +year; we--to our shame be it said--have departed from the reverent +usage. We take a good season as if it were no more than our appointed +due--a bad one comes upon us with all the terrors of a panic. + +But there are seasons frequently occurring which vary between the one +and the other extreme; and these are they which give rise to the most +discussion. It is unfortunately the tactics, if not the interest, of +one great party in the nation, to magnify every season of scarcity +into a famine for the purpose of promoting their own cherished +theories. A bad August and an indifferent September are subjects of +intense interest to your thorough-paced corn-law repealer; not that we +believe the man has an absolute abstract joy in the prospect of coming +scarcity--we acquit him of that--but he sees, or thinks he sees, a +combination of events which, erelong, must realize his darling theory, +and his sagacity, as a speculative politician, is at stake. Therefore, +he is always ready, upon the slightest apprehension of failure, to +demand, with most turbulent threat, the immediate opening of the +ports, in the hope that, once opened, they may never be closed again. + +Our original intention was not to discuss the corn-law question in the +present article. We took up the pen for the simple purpose of showing +that, so far as Scotland is concerned, a most unnecessary alarm has +been raised with regard to the produce of the harvest; and we have not +the slightest doubt that the same exaggeration has been extended to +the sister country. Of course, if we can prove this, it will follow as +a matter of deduction, that no especial necessity exists for opening +the ports at present; and we shall further strengthen our position by +reference to the prices of bonded grain. We shall not, however, +conclude, without a word or two regarding the mischievous theories +which, if put into execution, would place this country at the mercy of +a foreign power; and we entreat the attention of our readers the more, +because already our prospective position has become the subject of +intense interest on the Continent. + +It is a question of such immense importance, that we have thought it +our duty to consult with one of the best-informed persons on the +subject of practical agriculture in Scotland, or, indeed, in the +United Kingdom. Our authority for the following facts, as to the +results of the harvest in the North, is Mr Stephens, the author of +_The Book of the Farm_. His opinions, and the results of his +observation, have kindly been communicated to us in letters, written +during the first fortnight in November; and we do not think that we +can confer upon the public a greater service than by laying extracts +from these before them. They may tend, if duly weighed and considered, +to relieve the apprehensions of those who have taken alarm at the very +commencement of the cry. Our conviction is, that the alarm is not only +premature but unreasonable, and that the grain-produce of this year is +rather above than below the ordinary average. We shall consider the +potato question separately: in the meantime let us hear Mr Stephens +on the subject of the quantity of the harvest. + + +QUANTITY OF GRAIN-CROP. + +"I am quite satisfied in my own mind, from observation and +information, that a greater quantity of grain convertible into bread +has been derived from this harvest than from the last. Both oats and +barley are a heavy crop; indeed oats are the bulkiest crop I ever +remember to have seen in the higher districts of this country. The +straw is not only long, but is strong in the reed, and thick in the +ground; and notwithstanding all the rain, both barley and oats were +much less laid than might have been expected. In regard to wheat, all +the good soils have yielded well--the inferior but indifferently. +There is a much greater diversity in the wheat than in barley and +oats. The straw of wheat is long, and it is also strong; but still it +was more laid than either oats or barley, and wherever it was laid the +crop will be very deficient. As to the colour of all sorts of grain, +it is much brighter than the farmers had anticipated, and there is no +sprouted grain this year. + +Let me relate a few instances of be yield of the crop. I must premise +that the results I am about to give are derived from the best +cultivated districts, and that no returns of yield have yet been had +from the upper and later districts. At the same time I have no reason +to suppose that these, when received, will prove in any way +contradictory. In East Lothian two fields of wheat have been tried, in +not the best soil; and the one has yielded 4-1/2, and the other very +nearly 5 quarters, per Scotch acre. Before being cut, the first one +was estimated at 2-1/2, and the second at 4-1/2 quarters. The grain in +both cases is good. + +In Mid-Lothian, one farmer assures himself, from trials, that he will +reap 8 quarters of wheat per Scotch acre of good quality. And another +says, that, altogether, he never had so great a crop since he was a +farmer. + +In West Lothian, two farmers have thrashed some wheat, and the yield +is 8 quarters per Scotch acre, of good quality. + +In the best district of Roxburghshire the wheat will yield well; while +a large field of wheat, in Berwickshire, that was early laid on +account of the weakness of the straw, which was too much forced by the +high condition of the soil, will scarcely pay the cost of reaping. +This, however, is but a single isolated instance, for a farmer in the +same county has put in 73 ordinary-sized stacks, whereas his usual +number is about 60. + +In the east of Forfarshire, the harvest is represented to me as being +glorious; while in the west, there has not been a better crop of every +thing for many years. The accounts from Northumberland, from two or +three of my friends who farm there extensively, confirm the preceding +statements, in regard to the bulk and general yield of the corn crop. + +I may also mention, that the samples of wheat, and oats, and barley, +presented at the Highland and Agricultural Society's Show at Dumfries, +along with the grain in the straw, were really admirable. + +With all these attestations from so many parts of the country, that +are known to be good corn districts, I cannot doubt that the crop is a +good one on good soils." + + * * * * * + +So much for the quantity, which, after all, is the main consideration. +The above account certainly gives no indications of famine, or even +scarcity. It contains the general character of the weight of the +harvest in the principal corn-growing districts of Scotland, and we +have no reason whatever to suppose that worse fortune has attended the +results of the husbandry in England. The next consideration is the + + +QUALITY OF THE CROP + +"Not the entire crop, but most of it, is inferior in quality to that +of last year. The barley and oats are both plump and heavy, but there +is a slight roughness about them; and yet the weights in some cases of +both are extraordinary. Potato oats were shown at Dumfries 48lb per +bushel--3lb above the ordinary weight. Barley has been presented in +the Edinburgh market every week as heavy as 56lb per quarter--about +3lb more than the ordinary weight. All the samples of wheat I have +seen in Leith in the hands of an eminent corn-merchant, weighed from +60lb to 63lb per bushel, and it has been as high as 66lb in the +Edinburgh market. I also saw samples of Essex wheat above 60lb, as +well as good wheat from Lincolnshire. + +Now such weights could not be indicated by grain at the end of a wet +harvest, unless it were of good quality. + +The quality is much diversified, especially in wheat; some of it not +weighing above 48lb per bushel. The winnowings from all the grains +will be proportionally large; although, in the case of barley and +oats, had every pickle attained maturity, the crop would probably have +exceeded the extraordinary one of 1815. But though heavy winnowings +entail decided loss to the farmer, yet human beings will not be the +greatest sufferers by them; the loss will chiefly fall on the poor +work-horses, as they will be made to eat the light instead of the good +corn, which latter will be reserved for human food. The light oats +will no doubt be given to horses in larger quantities than good corn, +and the light barley will be boiled for them in mashes probably every +night. + +The beans are a heavy crop in _straw_ every where; and bean-straw, +when well won, is as good for horses in winter as hay; while in +certain districts, such as on the Border, the beans will also be good. + +With all these facts before me, I cannot make myself believe that we +are to experience any thing approaching to the privation of famine, so +far as the grain crop is concerned." + + * * * * * + +Our practical experience in these matters is so limited, that we feel +diffident in adding any thing to these remarks of Mr Stephens. We may, +however, be permitted to express a doubt whether the average quality +of the crop has yet been satisfactorily ascertained. It is well known +that the farmer rarely brings his best wheat into the earliest market, +because it is his interest to thrash out that part of the crop which +may have sustained a partial damage, as soon as possible; and in these +circumstances it usually follows, that the worst wheat is first +exposed for sale. In like manner he wishes to dispose of his inferior +barley first. In regard to oats, the inferior portions find +consumption at home by the horses. In ordinary seasons, any wheat or +barley that may have shown symptoms of heating in the stacks are first +presented at market; but in this season, when there is no heated +grain--thanks to the low temperature and the precautions used in +stacking--the high prices have tempted the farmers to thrash both +wheat and barley earlier than usual, in order to meet the demands for +rent and wages at Martinmas--a term which, owing to the lateness of +the season, followed close on the termination of the harvest. This +peculiarity of the season may, perhaps, account for the large supplies +of wheat presented for some weeks past at Mark Lane--to the extent, we +understand, of from 30,000 to 40,000 quarters more than last year at +the same period. It is more than probable that the largest proportion +of the land in fallow has been sown with old wheat, as it was early +ascertained that the harvest would be unusually late. There is always +more bare fallow in England than in Scotland, and the old wheat having +been thus disposed of, the earlier portion of the new grain was +brought to market, and not appropriated for its usual purpose. We +must, however, conclude, that the crop--at all events the wheat--is +inferior to that of former years. This has generally been attributed +to the wetness of the season, in which view our correspondent does not +altogether concur; and we are glad to observe that on one important +matter--namely, the fitness of this year's grain for seed--his +opinions are decidedly favourable. + + +CAUSE OF INFERIOR QUALITY OF WHEAT. + +"I am of opinion, that the inferiority of the wheat in poor lands, +both as regards quantity and quality, has not arisen from the wetness +of the season, but from the _very low degree of temperature_ which +prevailed at the blooming season in the end of June, and which +prevented the pollen coming to maturity, and therefore interfered with +the proper fecundation of the plant. I observed that, during all that +time, the rain did not fall in so large quantities as afterwards, but +the thermometer averaged so low as from 48 deg. to 52 deg., even during the +day, and there was a sad want of sunshine. And it is an ascertained +fact, that wheat will _not fecundate at all_ in a temperature which +does not exceed 45 deg., accompanied with a gloomy atmosphere. This theory +of the influence of a low temperature also accounts for the quantity +of _light_ wheat this year; for the side of the ear that was exposed +to the cold breeze which blew constantly from the north-east during +the period of blooming, would experience a more chilly atmosphere than +the other side, which was comparatively sheltered, and therefore its +fecundation would be most interfered with. + +I may mention a peculiar characteristic of this year, if we take into +consideration the wetness of the season; which is, that scarcely a +sprouted ear of corn is to be found any where, notwithstanding that +the crop was laid in many instances. This immunity from an evil which +never fails to render grain, so affected, useless for human food, has +no doubt been secured by the _low temperature of the season_. It was +an observed fact, that immediately after the falls of rain, whether +great or moderate, a firm, drying, cool breeze always sprang up, which +quickly dried the standing and won the cut corn at the same time; and +the consequence has been, that the entire crop has been secured in the +stack-yard in a safe state. All the kinds of grain, therefore, may be +regarded as being in a _sound_ state; and, on that account, even the +lighter grains will be quite fit for seed next year." + + * * * * * + +The point on which the nation at large is principally interested, is, +of course, the price of bread. It is quite evident that the cost of +manufactured flour ought, in all cases, to remain in just proportion +with the value of the raw material. Unfortunately that proportion is +not always maintained. The baker is a middleman between the farmer and +the public, between the producing and the consuming classes. Amongst +those who follow that very necessary trade, there exists a combination +which is not regulated by law; and the consequence is, that, whenever +a scarcity is threatened, the bakers raise the price of the loaf at +pleasure, and on no fixed principle corresponding with the price of +corn. Few persons are aware at what rate the quartern loaf _ought to +be sold_ when wheat is respectively at 50s., 60s., or 70s. per +quarter: they are, however, painfully sensitive when they are +subjected to an arbitrary rise of bread and their natural conclusion +is, that they are taxed on account of the dearness of the grain. The +number of those who buy grain or who study its fluctuations, is very +small; but every one uses bread, and the monthly account of the baker +is a sure memento of its price. Let us see how the middle functionary +has behaved. + + +WHY IS BREAD SO DEAR? + +"The price of bread is very high already, and is not likely to fall; +and the reason a baker would assign for this is the high price of +wheat--a very plausible reason, and to which most people would too +good-naturedly assent; but examine the particulars of the case, and +the reason adduced will be found based on a fallacy. During all the +last year, the aggregate average price of wheat never exceeded 56s. a +quarter, and in that time the price of the 4lb loaf was 5-1/2d.; at +least I paid no more for it with ready money. The highest mark that +wheat has yet attained in this market, is 88s. per quarter, and it is +notorious that this market has, for the present year, been the dearest +throughout the kingdom. As 10s. a quarter makes a difference of 1d. in +the 4lb loaf, the loaf, according to this scale--which, be it +remarked, is of the bakers' own selection--should be at 8-1/2d. when +the wheat is at 88s. Can you, nevertheless, believe that, _whilst the +present price of bread_ is 8-1/2d. _the loaf_ is made wholly of wheat +which cost the bakers 88s. the quarter? The bakers tell you they +always buy the best wheat, and yet, though they are the largest buyers +in the wheat market, the aggregate average of the kingdom did not +exceed 58s. 6d. on the 8th November. The truth is, the bakers are +trying to make the most they can; and they are not to blame, provided +their gains were not imputed to the farmers. But we all know, that +when bread gets inordinately high in price, clamour is raised against +_dear wheat_--that is, against the farmer--and this again is made the +pretext for _a free trade in corn_; whilst the _high price secured to +the baker by the privilege of his trade_ is left unblamed and +unscathed." + + * * * * * + +Had the Court of Session thought proper to retain in observance the +powers to which it succeeded after the abolition of the Privy Council, +and which for some time it executed, we certainly should have applied +to their Lordships for an Act of Sederunt to regulate the proceedings +of Master Bakers. But, as centralisation has not even spared us an +humble Secretary, we must leave our complaint for consideration in a +higher quarter. Our correspondent, however, is rather too charitable +in assuming that the bakers are not to blame. We cannot, for the life +of us, understand why they are permitted to augment the price of +bread, the great commodity of life, at this enormous ratio, in +consequence of the rise of corn. Surely some enactment should be +framed, by which the price of the loaf should be kept in strict +correspondence with the average price of grain, and some salutary +check put upon a monopoly, which, we are convinced, has often afforded +a false argument against the agricultural interests of the country. + +Such we believe to be the true state of the grain crop throughout the +kingdom generally. How, from such a state of things, any valid +argument can be raised for opening the ports at this time, we are +totally at a loss to conceive. The only serious feature connected with +the present harvest, is the partial failure of the potato crop, to +which we shall presently refer. But, so far as regards corn, we +maintain that there is no real ground for alarm; and further, there is +this important consideration connected with the late harvest, which +should not be ungratefully disregarded, that two months of the grain +season have already passed, and the new crop remains comparatively +untouched, so that it will have to supply only ten months' consumption +instead of twelve: and should the next harvest be an early one, which +we have reason to expect after this late one, the time bearing on the +present crop will be still more shortened. Nor should the fact be +overlooked, that two months' consumption is equal to 2,000,000 +quarters of wheat--an amount which would form a very considerable item +in a crop which had proved to be actually deficient. + +But as there has been a movement already in some parts of Scotland, +though solely from professed repealers, towards memorialising +government for open ports on the ground of special necessity, we shall +consider that question for a little; and, in doing so, shall blend the +observations of our able correspondent with our own. + +Such a step, we think, at the present moment, would be attended with +mischief in more ways than one. There can be no pretext of a famine at +present, immediately after harvest; and the natural course of events +in operation is this, that the dear prices are inducing a stream of +corn from every producing quarter towards Britain. In such +circumstances, if you raise a cry of famine, and suspend the +corn-laws, that stream of supply will at once be stopped. The +importers will naturally suspend their trade, because they will then +speculate, not on the rate of the import duty, which will be +absolutely abolished by the suspension, but on the rise of price in +the market of this country. They will therefore, as a matter of +course--gain being their only object--withhold their supplies, until +the prices shall have, through panic, attained a famine price here; +and then they will realize their profit when they conceive they can +gain no more. In the course of things at present, the price of fine +wheat is so high, that a handsome surplus would remain to foreigners, +though they paid the import duty. Remove that duty, and the foreigner +will immediately add its amount to the price of his own wheat. The +price of wheat would then be as high to the consumer as when the duty +remained to be paid; while the amount of duty would go into the +pockets of the foreigner, instead of into our own exchequer. At +present, the finest foreign wheat is 62s. in bond--remove the present +duty of 14s., and that wheat will freely give _in the market_ 80s. the +quarter. + +It is, therefore, clear that such an expedient as that of suspending +the corn-laws merely to include the bonded wheat to be entered for +home consumption, would, in no degree, benefit the consumer. The +quantity of wheat at present in bond does not exceed half-a-million of +quarters--the greatest part of which did not cost the importer 30s. +per quarter. At least we can vouch for this, that early last summer, +when the crop looked luxuriant, 5000 quarters of wheat in bond were +actually offered in the Edinburgh market for 26s., and were sold for +that sum, and allowed to remain in bond. It still remains in bond, and +could now realise 62s. Here, then, is a realisable profit of 36s. per +quarter, and yet the holder will not take it, in the expectation of a +higher. + +We cannot think that Sir Robert Peel would sanction a measure so +clearly and palpably unwise, for the sake of liberating only half a +million quarters of wheat, which is the calculated consumption of a +fortnight. But the late frequent meetings of the Privy Council have +afforded an admirable opportunity for the alarmists to declaim upon +coming famine. Matters, they say, must be looking serious indeed, when +both Cabinet and Council are repeatedly called together; and they jump +at the conclusion, that suspension of the corn-law is the active +subject of debate. We pretend to no special knowledge of what is +passing behind the political curtain; but a far more rational +conjecture as to the nature of those deliberations may be found in the +state of the potato crop, and the question, whether any succedaneum +can be found for it. Perhaps it would be advisable to allow Indian +corn, or maize, to come in duty-free; if not as food for people, it +would feed horses, pigs, or poultry, and would make a diversion in +favour of the consumption of corn to a certain extent; and such a +relaxation could be made without interfering with the _corn_-laws, for +maize is not regarded as corn, but stands in the same position as rice +and millet. We might try this experiment with the maize, as the Dutch +have already forestalled the rice market. + +If the state of the harvest is such as we conscientiously believe it +to be, there can be no special reason--but rather, as we have shown, +the reverse--for suspending the action of the corn-laws at this +particular juncture. If the enactment of that measure was founded on +the principle of affording protection to the farmer, why interfere +with these laws at a time when any apprehension of a famine is +entirely visionary? And since there is a large quantity of food in the +country, the present prices are certainly not attributable to a +deficiency in the crop, and are, after all, little more than +remunerative to the farmers who are raisers of corn alone. The present +rents could not possibly be paid from the profits of the growth of +corn. It is the high price of live stock which keeps up the value of +the land. The aggregate average price of wheat throughout the kingdom +is only 58s. 6d., upon which no rational argument can be founded for +the suspension of the laws of the country. Besides the working of the +corn-laws will in its natural course effect all that is desirable; at +any rate it does not prevent the introduction of foreign grain into +the market. The present state of the grain-market presents an apparent +anomaly--that is, it affords a high and a low price for the same +commodity, namely wheat; but this difference is no more than might +have been anticipated from the peculiar condition of the wheat crop, +which yields good and inferior samples at the same time. It can be no +matter of surprise that fine wheat should realise good prices, or that +inferior wheat should only draw low prices. The high price will +remunerate those who have the good fortune to reap a crop of wheat of +good quality, and the low prices of the inferior wheat will have the +effect of keeping the aggregate average price at a medium figure, and, +by maintaining a high duty, will prevent the influx of inferior grain +to compete with our own inferior grain in the home market. The law +thus really affords protection to those who are in need of it--namely, +to such farmers as have reaped an inferior crop of wheat; while those +foreigners who have fine wheat in bond, or a surplus which they may +send to this country, can afford to pay a high duty on receiving a +high price for their superior article. Taking such a state of things +into consideration, we cannot conceive a measure more wise in its +operation, inasmuch as it accommodates itself to the peculiar +circumstances of the times, than the present form of the corn-law. + +Were that law allowed to operate as the legislature intended, it would +bring grain into this country whenever a supply was actually +necessary; but we cannot shut our eyes to the mischievous effects +which unfounded rumours of its suspension have already produced in the +foreign market. Owing to these reports, propagated by the newspapers, +the holders of wheat abroad have raised the price to 56s. a quarter, +free on board; and as the same rumours have advanced the freight to +6s. a quarter, wheat cannot _now_ be landed here in bond under 66s. +The suspension of the corn-law would tend to confirm the panic abroad, +and would therefore increase the difficulties of our corn-merchants, +in making purchases of wheat for this market. It seems to us very +strange that sensible men of business should be so credulous as to +believe every idle rumour that is broached in the newspapers, so +evidently for party purposes; for the current report of the immediate +suspension of the corn-law originated in the papers avowedly inimical +to the Ministry. The character of the League is well known. That body +has never permitted truth to be an obstacle in the way of its +attempts. + +So much for corn and the corn-laws. But there is a more serious +question beyond this, and that is the state of the potatoes. If we are +to believe the journals, more especially those which are attached to +the cause of the League, the affection has spread, and is spreading to +a most disastrous extent. Supposing these accounts to be true, we say, +advisedly, that it will be impossible to find a substitute for the +potato among the vegetable productions of the world; for neither wheat +nor maize can be used, like it, with the simplest culinary +preparation. There can be no doubt that in some places this affection +is very prevalent, and that a considerable part of the crop in certain +soils has been rendered unfit for ordinary domestic use. It is +understood that the Lord-Advocate of Scotland has issued a circular to +the parish clergymen throughout the kingdom, requesting answers to +certain queries on this important subject. The information thus +obtained will no doubt be classified, so that the government will +immediately arrive at a true estimate of the extent of damage +incurred. + +In the mean time we have caused enquiry to be made for ourselves, and +the result, in so far as regards Scotland, is much more favourable +than we had expected, considering the extent of the first alarm. We +have seen accounts _from every quarter of the kingdom_, and the +following report may therefore be relied on as strictly consistent +with fact. + +It appears, on investigation, that no traces whatever of the complaint +have yet been found in the northern half of Scotland. The crop in the +upper parts of Forfarshire and Perthshire is quite untainted, and so +across the island. When we consider what a vast stretch of country +extends to the north of Montrose, the point beyond which, as our +informants say, this singular affection has not penetrated, we shall +have great reason to be thankful for such a providential immunity. Our +chief anxiety, when we first heard of the probable failure, was for +the Highlands, where potato plant furnishes so common and so necessary +an article of food. We know by former experience what bitter privation +is felt during a bad season in the far glens and lonely western +islands; and most rejoiced are we to find, that for this winter there +is little likelihood of a repetition of the same calamity. +Argyleshire, however, except in its northern parishes has not escaped +so well. We have reason to believe that the potatoes in that district +have suffered very materially, but to what extent is not yet +accurately ascertained. + +In the Lowlands the accounts are more conflicting; but it is +remarkable that almost every farmer confesses now, that his first +apprehensions were greatly worse than the reality. On examination, it +turns out that many fields which were considered so tainted as to be +useless, are very slightly affected: it is thus apparent that undue +precipitation has been used in pronouncing upon the general character +of the crop from a few isolated samples. Some districts appear to have +escaped altogether; and from a considerable number we have seen +reports of a decided abatement in the disease. + +In short, keeping in view all the information we have been able to +collect, the following seems to be the true state of the case:--The +crop throughout Scotland has been a very large one, but one-half of it +is affected to a greater or less degree. About a fourth or a fifth of +this half crop is so slightly damaged, that the unusual amount of +produce will more than compensate the injury. The remainder is +certainly worse. Of this, however, a considerable proportion has been +converted into starch--an expedient which was early recommended in +many quarters, wisely adopted by the prudent, and may yet be +extensively increased. An affected potato, unless its juices were +thoroughly fermented, and decomposition commenced, will yield quite as +good starch as the healthy root, and all this may be considered as +saved. Potato starch or farina, when mixed with flour, makes a +wholesome and palatable bread. In some districts the doubtful potatoes +are given to the cattle in quantities, and are considered excellent +feeding. This also is a material saving. + +The spread of the complaint, or rather the appearance of its worst +symptoms, seems to depend very much on the mode of management adopted +after the potatoes are raised. A friend of ours in Mid-Lothian, who +has paid much attention to agriculture, has saved nearly the whole of +his crop, by careful attention to the dryness of the roots when +heaped, by keeping these heaps small and frequently turned, and, above +all, by judicious ventilation _through them_. A neighbouring farmer, +who had an immense crop, but who did not avail him of any of these +precautions, has suffered most severely. + +One letter which we have received is of great importance, as it +details the means by which an affected crop has been preserved. We +think it our duty to make the following extract, premising that the +writer is an eminent practical farmer in the south of Scotland:--"I +had this year a large crop of potatoes, but my fields, like those of +my neighbours, did not escape the epidemic. On its first appearance, I +directed my serious attention to the means of preserving the crop. +Though inclined to impute the complaint to a deeper cause than the +wetness of the season, I conceived that damp would, as a matter of +course, increase any tendency to decay, and I took my measures +accordingly. Having raised my potatoes, I caused all the sound ones, +which seemed free from spot and blemish, to be carefully picked by the +hand; and, having selected a dry situation in an adjoining field, I +desired them to be heaped there in quantities, none of which exceeded +a couple of bolls. The method of pitting them was this:--On a dry +foundation we placed a layer of potatoes, which we covered with sandy +mould, though I don't doubt straw would do as well; above that, +another layer, also covered; and so on, keeping the potatoes as +separate from each other as possible. We then thatched and covered +them over as usual with straw, leaving ventilators on the top. I have +had them opened since, and there is no trace whatever of any decay, +which I attribute to the above precautions, as others in the +neighbourhood, whose potatoes grew in exactly similar soil, have lost +great part of their crop by heaping them in huge masses. Ventilation, +you may depend upon it, is a great preservative. I have, I think, +arrested the complaint even in affected potatoes, by laying them out +(not heaping them) on a dry floor, in a covered place where there is a +strong current of air. They are not spoiling _now_; and when the +unsound parts are cut out, we find them quite wholesome and fit for +use. I am of opinion, therefore, that by using due caution, the +progress of the complaint, so far as it has gone, may in most cases be +effectually checked." + +We are, therefore, almost certain, that when the damaged portion is +deducted from the whole amount of the crop, there still remains an +ample store of good potatoes for the consumption of the whole +population--that is, if the potatoes were distributed equally through +the markets. This, however, cannot be done, and, therefore, there are +some places where this vegetable will be dear and scarce. The farmer +who has a large crop of sound potatoes, and who does not reside in an +exporting part of the country, will naturally enough use his +superfluity for his cattle; and this cannot be prevented. We hope, +however, that the habitual thrift of our countrymen will cause them to +abstain, as much as possible, from wasting their extra stock in this +manner, more especially as there is abundance of other kinds of +fodder. They will command a high price as an esculent, and perhaps a +higher, if they are preserved for the purposes of seed. Exportation +also should be carried on cautiously; but we repeat, that the general +tenor of our information is so far satisfactory, that it exhibits +nothing more than a partial affection of the crop in the southern +districts, and the majority of those are compensated by a good +provision of corn. + +In addition to these statistics, obtained from many and various +sources, we have been favoured with the opinion of Mr Stephens, which +we now subjoin:-- + + +THE POTATO ROT. + +"This affection I do not regard as a disease--but simply as a +rottenness in the tuber, superinduced by the combination of a low +temperature with excessive moisture, during the growing season of that +sort of root, when it is most liable to be affected on account of its +succulent texture.[39] A friend informs me that he remembers the same +kind of rottenness seizing the potato crop of the country in the late +and wet season of 1799; and, as a consequence, the seed potato for the +following crop fetched as high a price as 26s. the boll of 5 cwt.[40] +I am inclined to believe, however, that the effects of this rot are +much exaggerated. It is, in the first place, said to be poisonous; and +yet pigs, to my certain knowledge, have been fed on spoiled potatoes +alone, on purpose, with impunity. There is little outcry made against +rot in the dry soils of Perthshire and Forfarshire, and these are the +two most extensive districts from which potatoes are shipped for +London. There are farmers in various parts of the country who warrant +the soundness of the potatoes they supply their customers. The +accounts of the potato crop from the Highland districts are most +favourable. I believe the fact will turn out to be this, that, like +corn, the potatoes will not only be a good, but a great crop, in all +the _true potato soils_--that is, in deep dry soils on a dry subsoil, +whether naturally so, or made so by draining--and that in all the +heavy soils, whether rich or poor, they are rotting. + +A short time will put an end to all conjecture on the state of the +potato crop, and afford us facts upon which we shall be able to reason +and judge aright." + + * * * * * + +As the question of seed is always a most important one, whenever a new +disease or partial affection of so staple a product is discovered, it +may not be useless to note down Mr Stephens' ideas, in regard to the +supposed destruction of the vegetative principle in part of the +affected crop-- + + +SEED POTATOES. + +"I would feel no apprehension in employing such affected potatoes for +seed, next spring, as shall be preserved till that time; because I +believe it to be the case that the low temperature enfeebled the +vegetative powers of the plant so much as to disable it from throwing +off the large quantity of moisture that was presented to it; and I +therefore conclude that any rot superinduced by such causes cannot +possess a character which is hereditary. There seems no reason, +therefore, why the complaint should be propagated in future, in +circumstances favourable to vegetation; and this opinion is the more +likely to be true, that it is not inconsistent with the idea of the +disease of former years having arisen from a degenerate state of the +potato plant, since low temperature and excessive moisture were more +likely to affect a plant in a state of degeneracy than when its +vitality remains unimpaired. + +There is no doubt that this affection of the potato is general, and it +is quite possible that it may yet spread. This, however, is a question +which cannot yet be solved, and certainly, so far as we know, the +Highlands, and the Orkney and Shetland Isles, have hitherto escaped. +The portion of the crop as yet actually rendered unfit for human food, +does not perhaps exceed one-fourth in parts of the country whence +potatoes are exported; and could the affection be stopped from +spreading further than this, there would still be a sufficiency of +potatoes for the consumption of _human beings_, as the crop is +acknowledged to be a large one in the best districts. Much, however, +depends upon our ability to arrest the affection, or its cessation +from other causes. + +It is known that rotten potatoes, like rotten turnips, when left in +heaps in contact with sound ones, will cause the latter to rot. Aware +of this fact, farmers have, this last year, caused the potatoes in the +heaps, as soon as the lifting of the crop was over, to be individually +examined, and placed the sound ones in narrow, low pits, mixed with +some desiccating substance, and covered with straw and earth. When the +pits were opened for examination, the rot was found to have spread +very much, in consequence of the dampness and heat which was so +diffused throughout the pits. This is an effect that might have been +anticipated. Had the precaution been used of taking up the crop in +small quantities at a time, or of spreading the potatoes on the ground +when the weather was fair, or in sheds when wet--and of allowing them +to be exposed to the air until they had became tolerably firm and dry; +and had the sound potatoes been then selected by hand, piled together, +and afterwards put into smaller pits, it is probable that a much less +proportion of any crop that was taken up would have been lost. Such a +plan, no doubt, would have caused a protracted potato harvest, but the +loss of time at that period, in performing the necessary work of +selection, is a small consideration compared with an extensive injury +to the crop. It is no doubt desirable to have the potato land ploughed +for wheat as soon as possible after the potatoes have been removed; +but there is no more urgency in ploughing potato than in ploughing +turnip land for wheat; and, at any rate, it is better to delay the +ploughing of the potato land for a few days, than run the risk of +losing a whole crop of so excellent an esculent. + +I may here mention an experiment in regard to the potato, which shows +that a larger crop has been received by planting the sets in autumn +than in spring. Those who have tried this system on a large scale say, +that the increase is in the ratio of 111 to 80 bolls per acre. If this +is near the truth, it would indicate, that the sets may safely be +entrusted to lie in the ground all winter upon the dung; and could we +be assured of their safety there in all cases, the potatoes of this +year, selected in the manner above described, might be used as seed +this winter and preserved as such, in the ground, in a safer state +than even in the small pits. Such an experiment may be tried this +winter, in dry weather, without much risk of losing the future crop; +for if, on examination in spring, it should be found that all the sets +have rotted in the drills, there would be plenty of time to replant +the crop, in its proper season, with the sets that had survived till +that time, by the means of preservation used. + +I have heard of farmers in this neighbourhood who are planting their +potato crop in this favourable weather; and it does seem very probable +that, as each set is placed at a considerable distance from the other, +and in circumstances to resist frost--namely, amongst plenty of dung +and earth--the entire number may escape putrefaction." + + * * * * * + +No doubt, if the potato crop shall prove to be very generally +affected, the price of corn will rise yet farther, and may be for a +long time maintained. But this is a very different thing from a +scarcity of that article, which we believe is merely visionary. We +must be fed with corn if we cannot get the potato in its usual plenty; +and it is the certainty, or rather the expectation, of this, which has +raised the price of the former. In the course of last month (October) +we met with an admirable article on this subject, in the columns of +_Bell's Weekly Messenger_, which we do not hesitate to adopt, as clear +in its views, hopeful in its tone, and strictly rational in its +argument. + + +THE RISING PRICE OF WHEAT AND FLOUR. + +"What we predicted in one of our recent papers is daily becoming +realised to an extent which is now exciting general attention, and, +with some classes of the people, has already produced great alarm and +anxiety for the future. We stated at that time, that though the return +of fine weather, about the middle of last month, had saved the +harvest, and given us a crop much more than had been anticipated, +still there were causes in operation which would keep up the prices of +wheat and flour; and that, at least for many weeks to come wheat would +not fall in the British Market. + +"It should be borne in mind that the getting in of the harvest is very +closely followed by the wheat seed-time, and that two causes are then +always operative to maintain and raise the price of wheat. There is, +first, a large call on the stock in hand for seed wheat; and, +secondly, the farmers are too busy to carry their corn into market, +and accordingly the market is ill supplied. A third cause is also in +operation to produce the same effect--that of an unreasonable alarm +always resulting from an ill-supplied market. + +"It would seem astonishing and even incredible to men who argue only +theoretically, that though year after year the same uniform causes +operate, and produce exactly the same effects, yet that this aspect of +the market should continue to delude and mislead the public mind, but +so it is in the corn-market, and with the British public in general; +for though they see through a long succession of years that wheat and +flour invariably rise in the market immediately after harvest and +during seed-time, and though they ought to understand that this rise +is produced by the quantity required for seed, and by the busy +occupation of the farmers, they still perversely attribute it to +another cause, existing only in their own apprehensions, namely, that +the recent harvest has been deficient, and that the market is ill +supplied because there is an insufficient stock with which to supply +it. + +"As it is the inflexible rule of our paper to apply itself on the +instant to correct all popular errors and to dissipate all +unreasonable panics, we feel ourselves called upon to say, that the +present rise in the price of corn results only from the very serious +failure of the potato crop in many of our own counties, and still more +materially in Belgium and other foreign kingdoms. From the mere +circumstance of their numbers only, to say nothing of their habits and +necessities, an immense quantity of this food is required for the +sustenance of many millions of the community; and when the crop fails +to such an extensive degree as it has done in the present case, this +vast numerical proportion of every state must necessarily be chiefly +maintained from the stock of corn. If the potato crop fail at home, +the poor are directly thrown upon the corn-market, and the price of +corn must necessarily rise in proportion to the increased demand. +Where the potato crop has failed abroad, the supply of foreign corn +must necessarily be directed to that quarter, and therefore less corn +will be imported into the British market. + +"Now, it is the expectation of this result, which, together with the +wheat seed-time and the full occupation of the farmers, is producing +the present rise in the British corn-market, and these causes will +probably continue to operate for some time longer. + +"In some parts of the country, such as our northern and eastern +counties, we understand the current judgment to be, that though the +harvest has produced more bushels than in an average year, the weight +per bushel is less than last year, and that the deficiency of the +quality brings the produce down in such districts to less than an +average crop. But if we set against this the happier result of the +wheat harvest in our southern and western counties, we must still +retain our former opinion, that there is at least no present ground +for any thing like a panic, either amongst the public in general or +amongst the farmers themselves. The public as yet have no cause to +dread any thing like that very serious scarcity which some of our +papers have announced, and the farmers themselves have no cause to +apprehend such a sudden and extraordinary state of the market, as +would involve them in the general suffering of the community." + +We shall now close our remarks on the subject of the Scottish Harvest. +In thus limiting our remarks to the harvest in Scotland, we have been +actuated by no narrow spirit of nationality, but have judged it right, +in treating a subject of such importance, to confine ourselves to that +portion of the United Kingdom in which we possessed means of obtaining +information which positively could be relied upon. Indeed, were it not +for the paramount importance of the question, which will soon be +founded on as a topic for political discussion, we should hardly have +addressed ourselves to the task. But we have noticed, with great +disgust, the efforts of the League to influence, at this particular +crisis, the public mind, by gross misrepresentations of our position +and prospects; and, being convinced that a more dangerous and +designing faction never yet thrust themselves into public notice, we +have thought it right, in the first instance, to collect and to +classify our facts. This done, we have yet a word or two in store for +the members of the mountebank coalition. + +No evil is unmixed with good. The murmurs of the alarmists at home, +unfounded as we believe them to be, have brought out, more clearly +than we could have hoped for, the state of foreign feeling with regard +to British enterprise, and the prospects of future supply upon which +this country must depend, should the sliding-scale be abrogated and +all import duties abolished. The most infatuated Leaguer will hardly +deny, that if the corn-law had ceased to exist three years ago, and a +great part of our poorer soils had in consequence been removed from +tillage, our present position with regard to food must have been +infinitely worse. In fact, we should then have presented the unhappy +spectacle of a great industrial community incapable of rearing food +for its population at home, and solely dependent for a supply on +foreign states; and that, too, in a year when the harvests throughout +Europe, and even in America, have suffered. And here, by the way, +before going further, let us remark, that the advocates of the League +never seem to have contemplated, at all events they have never +grappled with, the notorious fact, that the effects of most +unpropitious seasons are felt far beyond the confines of the British +isles. This year, indeed, we were the last to suffer; and the memory +of the youngest of us, who has attained the age of reason, will +furnish him with examples of far severer seasons than that which has +just gone by. What, then, is to be done, should the proportion of the +land in tillage be reduced below the mark which, in an average year, +could supply our population with food--if, at the same time, a famine +were to occur abroad, and deprive the continental agriculturists of +their surplus store of corn? The answer is a short one--_Our people +must necessarily_ STARVE. The manufacturers would be the first to feel +the appalling misery of their situation, and the men whom they would +have to thank for the severest and most lingering death, are the +chosen apostles of the League! + +Is this an overdrawn picture? Let us see. France at this moment is +convinced that we are on the verge of a state of famine. Almost all +the French journalists, believing what they probably wish for, and +misled by the repealing howl, and faint-hearted predictions of the +coward, assume that our home stock of provision is not sufficient to +last us for the ensuing winter. That is just the situation to which we +should be reduced _every_ year, if Messrs Cobden, Bright, and Company +had their will. What, then, says our neighbour, and now most +magnanimous ally? Is he willing--for they allege they have a +superfluity--to supply us in this time of hypothetical distress--to +act the part of the good Samaritan, and pour, not wine and oil, but +corn into our wounds? Is he about to take the noblest revenge upon a +former adversary, by showing himself, in the moment of need, a +benefactor instead of a foe? Oh, my Lord Ashley! you and others, whose +spirit is more timid than becomes your blood, had better look, ere you +give up the mainstay of your country's prosperity--ere you surrender +the cause of the agriculturist--to the _animus_ that is now manifested +abroad. We have reason to bless Heaven that it has been thus early +shown, before, by mean and miserable concession to the clamours of a +selfish interest, we have placed Britain for the first time absolutely +at the mercy of a foreign power. Scarce a journal in France that does +not tell you--loudly--boldly--exultingly--what treatment we may expect +from their hands. "At last," they say, "we have got this perfidious +Albion in our power. Nature has done for us, in her cycle, what for +centuries the force of our arms and concentrated rancour could not +achieve. The English newspapers in every column teem with the tidings +of failure. The crop of corn is bad beyond any former experience. It +cannot suffice to feed one half of the population. The potato crop +also, which is the sole subsistence of Ireland, is thoroughly ruined. +Scarce a minute fraction of it can be used for the purposes of human +food. The British Cabinet are earnestly deliberating on the propriety +of opening the ports. The public, almost to a man, are demanding the +adoption of that measure--and doubtless erelong they will be opened. + +"What, then, are we to do? Are we to be guilty of the egregious folly +of supplying our huge and overgrown rival, at the moment when we have +the opportunity to strike a blow at the very centre of her system, and +that without having recourse to the slightest belligerent measures? +Are we, at the commencement of her impending misery, to reciprocate +with England--that England which arrested us in the midst of our +career of conquest, swept our navies from the seas, baffled our +bravest armies, and led away our Emperor captive? The man who can +entertain such an idea--be he who he may--is a traitor to the honour +of his country. Let England open her ports if she will, and as she +must, but let us at the self-same moment be prepared to CLOSE our own. +Let not one grain of corn, if possible, be exported from France. We +have plenty, and to spare. Our hardy peasantry can pass the winter in +comfort; whilst, on the opposite side of the Channel, we shall have +the satisfaction of beholding our haughty enemy convulsed, and +wallowing like a stranded Leviathan on the shore! We pity the brave +Irish, but we shall not help them. To do so would be, in fact, to +exonerate Britain of her greatest and primary burden." + +This is the language which the French journalists are using at the +present moment. Let no Englishman delude himself into the belief that +it does not express the true sentiments of the nation. We know +something of the men whose vocation it is to compound these patriotic +articles. They are fostered under the pernicious system which converts +the penny-a-liner into that anomalous hybrid, a Peer of France--which +make it almost a necessary qualification to become a statesman, that +the aspirant has been a successful scribbler in the public journals. +And this, forsooth, they call the genuine aristocracy of talent! Their +whole aim is to be popular, even at the expense of truth. They are +pandars to the weakness of a nation for their own individual +advancement. They have no stake in the country save the grey +goose-quill they dishonour; and yet they affect to lead the opinions +of the people, and--to the discredit of the French intellect be it +recorded--they do in a great measure lead them. In short, it is a +ruffian press, and we know well by what means France has been +ruffianized. The war party--as it calls itself--is strong, and has +been reared up by the unremitting exertions of these felons of +society, who, for the sake of a cheer to tickle their own despicable +vanity, would not hesitate for a moment, if they had the power, to +wrap Europe again in the flames of universal war. Such will, +doubtless, one day be the result of this unbridled license. The demon +is not yet exorcised from France, and the horrors of the Revolution +may be acted over again, with such additional refinements of brutality +as foregone experience shall suggest. Meantime, we say to our own +domestic shrinkers--Is this a season, when such a spirit is abroad, to +make ourselves dependent for subsistence--which is life--upon the +chance of a foreign supply? + +Yes, gentlemen journalists of France--whether you be peers or not--you +have spoken out a little too early. The blindest of us now can see you +in your genuine character and colours. But rest satisfied; the day of +retribution, as you impiously dare to term it, has not yet arrived. +Britain does not want your corn, and not for it will she abandon an +iota of her system. + +There can be no doubt, that the news of a famine here would be +received in France with more joy than the tidings of a second Marengo. +The mere expectation of it has already intoxicated the press; and, +accordingly, they have begun to speculate upon the probable conduct of +other foreign powers, in the event of our ports being opened. Belgium, +they are delighted to find, is in so bad a situation, in so far as +regards its crop, that the august King Leopold has thought proper to +issue a public declaration, that his own royal mouth shall for the +next year remain innocent of the flavour of a single potato. This +looks well. Belgium, it is hoped, is not overabundant in wheat; but, +even if she were, Belgium owes much to France, and--a meaning asterisk +covers and conveys the remaining part of the inuendo. Swampy Holland, +they say, can do Britain no good--nay, have not the cautious Dutch +been beforehand with Britain, and forestalled, by previous purchase, +the calculated supply of rice? Well done, Batavian merchant! In this +instance, at least, you are playing the game for France. + +Then they have high hopes from the ZOLLVEREIN. That combination has +evidently to dread the rivalry of British manufacture, and its +managers are too shrewd to lose this glorious opportunity of +barricado. There are, therefore, hopes that Germany, utterly +forgetting the days of subsidies, will shut her ports for export, and +also prevent the descent of Polish corn. If not, winter is near at +hand, and the mouths of the rivers may be frozen before a supply can +be sent to the starving British. Another delightful prospect for young +and regenerated France! + +Also, mysterious rumours are afloat with regard to the policy of the +Autocrat. It is said, he too is going to shut up--whether from hatred +to Britain, or paternal anxiety for the welfare of his subjects, does +not appear. Yet there is not a Parisian scribe of them all but derives +his information direct from the secret cabinet of Nicholas. Then there +is America--have we not rumours of war there? How much depends upon +the result of the speech which President Polk shall deliver! _He_ +knows well by this time that England is threatened with famine--and +will he be fool enough to submit to a compromise, when by simple +embargo he might enforce his country's claims? So that altogether, in +the opinion of the French, we are like to have the worst of it, and +may be sheerly starved into any kind of submission. + +No thanks to Cobden and Co. that this is not our case at present. The +abolition of the corn-duty would be immediately followed by the +abandonment of a large part of the soil now under tillage. Every year +we should learn to depend more and more upon foreign supply, and give +up a further portion of our own agricultural toil. Place us in that +position, and let a bad season, which shall affect not only us, but +the Continent, come round, and the dreams of France will be realized. +Gentlemen of England--you that are wavering from your former +faith--will you refuse the lesson afforded you, by this premature +exultation on the part of our dangerous neighbour? Do you not see what +weight France evidently attaches to the repeal of our protection +duties--how anxiously she is watching--how earnestly she is praying +for it? If you will not believe your friends, will you not take +warning from an enemy? Would you hold it chivalry, if you saw an +antagonist before you armed at all points, and confident of further +assistance, to throw away your defensive armour, and leave yourselves +exposed to his attacks? And yet, is not this precisely what will be +done if you abandon the principles of protection? + +Are you afraid of that word, PROTECTION? Shame upon you, if you are! +No doubt it has been most scandalously misrepresented by the +cotton-mongering orators, but it is a great word, and a wise word, if +truly and thoroughly understood. It does not mean that corn shall be +grown in this country for _your_ benefit or that of any exclusive +class--were it so, protection would be a wrong--but it means, that at +all times there shall be maintained in the country an amount of food, +reared within itself, sufficient for the sustenance of the nation, in +case that war, or some other external cause, should shut up all other +sources. And this, which is in fact protection for the nation--a just +and wise security against famine, in which the poor and the rich are +equally interested--is perverted by the chimney-stalk proprietors into +a positive national grievance. Why, the question lies in a nutshell. +Corn will not be grown in this country unless you give it an adequate +market. Admit foreign corn, and you not only put a stop to +agricultural improvement in reclaiming waste land, by means of which +production may be carried to an indefinite degree, but you also throw +a vast quantity of the land at present productive out of bearing. +Suppose, then, that next year, all protection being abolished, the +quantity of grain raised in the country is but equal to half the +demand of the population; foreign corn, of course, must come in to +supply the deficiency. We shall not enlarge upon the first argument +which must occur to every thinking person--the argument being, that in +such a state of things, the foreigner, whoever he may be, with whom we +are dealing, has it in his power to demand and exact any price he +pleases for his corn. What say the Cobdenites in answer to this? "Oh, +then, we shall charge the foreigner a corresponding price for our +cottons and our calicoes!" No, gentlemen--that will not do. We have no +doubt this idea _has_ entered into your calculations, and that you +hope, through a scarcity of home-grown corn, to realize an augmented +profit on your produce--in short, to be the only gainers in a time of +general distress. But there is a flaw in your reasoning, too palpable +to be overlooked. The foreigner _can do without calico_, but the +British nation CANNOT _do without bread_. The wants of the stomach are +paramount--nothing can enter into competition with them. The German, +Pole, or Frenchman, may, for a season, wear a ragged coat, or an +inferior shirt, or even dispense with the latter garment, if it so +pleases him; and yet suffer comparatively nothing. But what are our +population to do, if bread is not procurable except at the enormous +prices which, when you abolish protection, you entitle the foreigner +to charge? Have you the heart to respond, in the only imaginable +answer--it is a mere monosyllable--STARVE? + +But suppose that, for the first two years or so, we went on +swimmingly--that there were good and plentiful seasons abroad, and +that corn flowed into our market abundantly from all quarters of the +world. Suppose that bread became cheaper than we ever knew it before, +that our manufactures were readily and greedily taken, and that we had +realised the manufacturing Eden, which the disciples of Devil's-dust +have predicted, as the immediate consequence of our abandoning all +manner of restrictions. How will this state of unbounded prosperity +affect the land? For every five shillings of fall in the price of the +quarter of wheat, fresh districts will be abandoned by the plough. The +farmer will be unable to work them at a profit, and so he will cease +to grow grain. He may put steers upon them; or they may be covered +with little fancy villas, or Owenite parallelograms, to suit the taste +of the modern philosopher, and accomodate the additional population +who are to assist in the prospective crops of calico. The cheaper corn +then is, the smaller will become our home-producing surface. The +chaw-bacon will be driven to the railroads, where there is already a +tolerable demand for him. The flail will be silent in the barn, and +the song of the reaper in the fields. + +Let us suppose this to last for a few years, during which Lord John +Russell--the Whigs having, in the meantime, got rid of all graduating +scruples and come back to power--has taken an opportunity of enriching +the peerage by elevating the redoubted Cobden to its ranks. But a +change suddenly passes across the spirit of our dream. At once, and +like a thunderbolt--without warning or presage--comes a famine or a +war. We care not which of them is taken as an illustration. Both are +calamities, unfortunately, well known in this country; and we hardly +can expect that many years shall pass over our heads without the +occurrence of one or other of them. Let us take the evil of man's +creating--war. The Channel is filled with French shipping, and all +along the coast, from Cape Ushant to Elsinore, the ports are rigidly +shut. Mean time American cruisers are scouring the Atlantic, chasing +our merchantmen, and embarassing communication with the colonies. +Also, there is war in the Mediterranean. We have fifty, nay, a hundred +points to watch with our vessels--a hundred isolated interests to +maintain, and these demand an immense and yet a divided force. Convoys +cannot be spared without loss of territory, and then--what becomes of +us at home? + +Most miserable is the prospect; and yet it does appear, if we are mad +enough to abandon protection, perfectly inevitable. With but a portion +of our land in tillage--an augmented population--no stored corn--no +means of recalling for two years at the soonest, even if we could +spare seed, and that is questionable, the dormant energies of the +earth!--Can you fancy, my Lord Ashley, or you, converted Mr Escott, +what Britain would be then? We will tell you. Not perhaps a prey--for +we will not even imagine such degradation--but a bargainer and +compounder with an inferior power or powers, whom she might have +bearded for centuries with impunity, had not some selfish traitors +been wicked enough to demand, and some infatuated statesmen foolish +enough to grant, the abrogation of that protection which is her +sole security for pre-eminence. What are all the cotton bales of +Manchester in comparison with such considerations as these? O +Devil's-dust--Devil's-dust! Have we really declined so far, that _you_ +are to be the Sinon to bring us to this sorry pass? Is the poisoned +breath of the casuist to destroy the prosperity of those-- + + "Quos neque Tydides, nec Larissaeus Achilles, + Non anni domuere decem, non mille carinae!" + +It may be so--for a small shard-beetle can upset a massive +candle-stick; and it will be so assuredly, if the protective principle +is abandoned. The first duty of a nation is to rear food for its +inhabitants from the bosom of its own soil, and woe must follow if it +relies for daily sustenance upon another. We can now form a fair +estimate of the probable continuance of the supply, from the premature +exultation exhibited in the foreign journals, and we shall be worse +than fools if we do not avail ourselves of the lesson. + +[Footnote 39: "Not that I think there was more rain in the _earlier +part of summer_ than the potato crop could absorb, for it is known to +require a large supply of moisture in its growing state, in order to +acquire a full development of all its parts. It was observable, +however, that the rain increased as the season advanced, and after the +potato plant had reached its full development. It is, therefore, +probable that the increased moisture, which was not then wanted by the +plant, would become excessive; and this moisture, along with the low +temperature, may have produced such chemical change in the sap as to +facilitate the putrefaction of the entire plant. As to the theories +with respect to the presence of a fungus, or of insects, in the plant, +I consider these as a mere exponent of the tendency to a state of +putrefaction; such being the usual accompaniments of all vegetable and +animal decay."] + +[Footnote 40: "I remember the wet seasons of 1816 and 1817. There was +then no rot in the potato; but, during the whole of those rainy +seasons, we had not the _continued cold_ weather which we have this +year experienced."] + + + + +INDEX TO VOL. LVIII. + + + Account of a Visit to the Volcano of Kirauea, in the Island of + Owhyhee, 591. + + Agriculture round Lucca, 619. + + Alas, for her! from the Russian of Pushkin, 141. + + Alpine scenery, sketches of, 704. + + American war, causes which fostered the, 721. + + Andes, description of the, 555. + + Andre Chenier, from the Russian of Pushkin, 154. + + Anti-corn-law League, strictures on the, 780. + + Apparitions, &c., letter to Eusebius on, 735. + + Armfelt, Count, 59. + + Arndt, notices of, 332, 333. + + Art, causes of the absence of taste for, 414. + + Avernus, lake, 489. + + + Bacon, political essays of, 389. + + Baiae, 488. + + Barclay de Tolly, from the Russian of Pushkin, 40. + + Baron von Stein, 328. + + Barri, Madame du, 730, 733. + + Bazars of Constantinople, the, 688. + + Beaumont, Sir George, 258, 262. + + Bell's Messenger, extract from, on the prices of grain, 779. + + Betterton's version of Chaucer, remarks on, 114. + + Bettina, sketch of the life, &c., of, 357. + + Biographical sketch of Frank Abney Hastings, 496. + + Black Shawl, the, from Pushkin, 37. + + Blanc, Mont, on the scenery of, 707. + + Blenheim, battle of, 18. + + Boas, Edward, sketches of Sweden, &c. by, 56. + + Bossuet's Universal History, characteristics of, 390. + + Bottetort, Lord, anecdote of, 724. + + Bowles, W. L., on the Dunciad, 251. + + Boyhood, a reminiscence of, by Delta, 408. + + Brabant, conquest of, by Marlborough, 665. + + Bread, causes of the present dearness of, 772. + + Bremer, Miss, the Swedish novelist, 62. + + Brentford election, the, 725. + + Brienz, scenery of the lake of, 705. + + British critics, North's specimens of the, + --No. VI.--Supplement to Dryden on Chaucer, 114. + --No. VI.--MacFlecnoe and the Dunciad, 229. + --No. VIII.--Supplement to the same, 366. + + Bulwer's Last of the Barons, remarks on, 350, 353. + + Burtin on Pictures, review of, 413. + + + Capital punishment, on, 131. + + Carlist war, sketches of the, 210. + + Caserta, palace of, 491. + --silk manufactory, 492. + + Caucasus, the, from the Russian of Pushkin, 34. + + Celibacy of the clergy, effects of the, in France, 187. + + Chamouni, valley of, 707. + + Chatham, Lord, 717. + + Chaucer, Dryden on, 114. + + Chimborazo, ascent of, by Humboldt, 547. + + Choiseul, the Duc de, 730, 732. + + Churchill, critique on, 372. + + Churchill, see Marlborough. + + Clairvoyance, remarks on, 736. + + Clarke, Dr, extracts from, 555. + + Clarke's Life of James II., notice of, 4. + + Cloud, the, and the Mountain, a reminiscence of Switzerland, 704. + + Clytha house, &c., 477. + + Col de Balme, pass of the, 707. + + Colebrook, Sir George, extracts from the memoirs of, 716, 719. + + Colour in painting, remarks on, 419. + + Confessions of an English opium-eater, sequel to the, Part II., 43. + + Constable the painter, sketch of the life, &c., of, 257. + + Constantinople, Three Years in, 688. + + Convicts at Norfolk Island, management, &c. of, 138. + + Cooper, characteristics of, as a novelist, 355. + + Copenhagen, description of, 68. + + Corali, by J. D., 495. + + Corn-laws, proposed suspension of the, 773. + --effects of the abolition of, 780. + + Cornwallis, Earl, administration of Ireland by, 731. + + Corporations of Constantinople, the, 696. + + Corsica, conquest of, by the French, 728. + + Coventry, Lady, 726. + + Coxe's Life of Marlborough, notice of, 3. + + + Dalarna or Dalecarlia, sketches of, 64. + + D'Alembert, character of Montesquieu by, 395. + + Dalin, Olof von, 62. + + Danes, national character of the, 69. + + David the Telynwr; or, the Daughter's trial--a tale of Wales, + by Joseph Downs, 96. + + Days of the Fronde, the, 596. + + Dearness of bread, causes of the present, 772. + + De Burtin on pictures, 413. + + Delta, a reminiscence of boyhood by, 408. + + Dendermonde, capture of, by Marlborough, 668. + + Despatches of the Duke of Marlborough, review of, + --No. I. 1. + --No. II. 649. + + Domestic manners of the Turks, the, 688. + + Downes, Joseph--David the Telynwr, a tale of Wales, by, 96. + + Drama, state of the, 178. + + Dreams, &c., letter to Eusebius on, 735. + + Drinking, prevalence of, in the 19th century, 726. + + Dryden on Chaucer, 114. + --his MacFlecnoe, 232, 366. + + Dumas' Margaret of Valois, extracts from, 312. + --extracts from his Days of the Fronde, 596. + + Dunciad, the, critique on, 234, 366. + + Dunning the solicitor-general, character of, 722. + + Dutch school of painting, the, 426. + + Dutem's life of Marlborough, notice of, 3. + + + Echo, from the Russian of Pushkin, 145. + + Education, state of, in Turkey, 692. + --remarks on the system of, at the English Universities, 542. + + Edward, Duke of York, character of, 719. + + Egyptian market at Constantinople, the, 700. + + English landscape painting, on, 257. + + English Opium-eater, a sequel to the confessions of the, Part II. 43. + + Epitaphs in Wales, 484. + + Esprit des Lois of Montesquieu, the, 392. + --its characteristics, 397. + + Eugene, Prince, 14, 669. + + Eusebius, letter to, on omens, dreams, appearances, &c., 735. + + + Failure of the potato crop, extent, &c. of the, 775. + + Feast of Peter the First, the, from Pushkin, 142. + + Fersen, Count, murder of, 61. + + Few passages concerning omens, dreams, appearances, &c., in a letter + to Eusebius, 735. + + Few words for Bettina, a, 357. + + Fisher, Archdeacon, 260. + + Flemish school of painting, the, 426. + + Flour, on the rising price of, 779. + + Flygare, Emily, the Swedish novelist, 62. + + France under Louis XIV., 12. + --prevalent feeling in, towards England, 781. + + French school of painting, the, 427. + --Noblesse, character of the, 733. + + + Garden of the Villa Reale, the, 486. + + General, the, from the Russian of Pushkin, 41. + + German school of painting, the, 427. + + Gleig's life of Marlborough, notice of, 4. + + Glenmutchkin railway, the + --How we got it up, and how we got out of it, 453. + + Gloucester the Duke of, character of, 719. + + Goethe and Bettina, the correspondence of, 358. + + Goethe's Torquato Tasso, translations from, 87. + + Gotha canal, the, 68. + + Grafton, the Duke of, Walpole's character of, 718. + + Grain crop, quantity, &c., of the, in Scotland, 769. + --and its quality, 770. + + Grandeur et decadence des Romains, Montesquieu's, characteristics, + &c. of, 391, 401. + + Grand general junction and indefinite extension railway rhapsody, 614. + + Greek Revolution, sketches of the, 496. + + Griesbach, fall of the, 707. + + Guamos of South America, the, 554. + + Guilds of Constantinople, the, 696. + + Gunning, the Misses, 726. + + Gustavus Vasa, notices of, 66. + + + Hahn-Hahn, the Countess, 71. + + Hakem the slave, a tale extracted from the history of Poland. + --Chapter I., 560. + --Chap. II., 561. + --Chap. III., 563. + --Chap. IV., 565. + --Chap. V., 567. + + Hamilton, the Duchess of, 726. + + Handel, character of the music of, 573. + + Harvest, the Scottish, 769. + --quantity of the grain crop, ib. + --and its quality, 770. + --cause of the inferiority of the wheat, 771. + --and of the dearness of bread, 772. + --state of the potato crop, 775. + --potatoes for seed, 778. + --rising price of wheat and flour, 780. + --affords no argument for abolition of the corn-laws, 781. + + Hastings, Frank Abney, biographical sketch of, 496. + + Haydn, character of, 573. + + Heber, Bishop, description of the Himalayas by, 557. + + Hemp, culture of, in Italy, 620. + + Hints for doctors, 630. + + Historical romance, the, 341. + + Hogarth, Churchill's epistle to, criticised, 377. + + Holme's Life of Mozart, review of, 572. + + Horace Leicester, a sketch, 197. + + Hornes' Chaucer Modernized, remarks on, 115. + + House-hunting in Wales, 74. + --a sequel to, 474. + + How we got up the Glenmutchkin railway, and how we got out of it, 453. + + Humboldt, 541. + --character of his mind, 545. + --his early life, 546. + --sketch of his travels, 547. + --list of his works, 548. + --extracts from these, 549. + + + I have outlived the hopes that charmed me, from Pushkin, 149. + + Ida, Countess Hahn-Hahn, 71. + + Imprisonment as a punishment, 131. + + Improvisatore, the, 626. + + Inferior quality of wheat, cause of the, 771. + + Insects common at Lucca, 623. + + Italian school of painting, the, 425. + + Italy, sketches of Lucca, 617. + --agriculture round Lucca, 619. + --sagena, 620. + --lupins, ib. + --hemp, ib. + --trees, 622. + --oaks, ib. + --insects, 623. + --ants, 624. + --shooting fish, 625. + --owls, 626. + --the improvisatore, ib. + --tables-d'hotes, Mr Snapley, 628. + --hints for doctors, 630. + --private music-party, 631. + + + J. D., a meditation by, 494. + --on the old year, 495. + --Corali, ib. + --a mother to her deserted child, 752. + --summer noontide, ib. + --to Clara, 753. + --seclusion, ib. + + James II., notices of, 7. + + James's Philip Augustus, remarks on, 353. + + Jesuitism in France, 185. + --sources of its power, 186. + + Jones, Sir William, character of Dunning, by, 723. + + Johnson on the Dunciad, 236. + + + Kames, Lord, on the Dunciad, 253. + + Kavanagh's Science of Languages, review of, 467. + + Kirauca, account of a visit to the volcano of, 591. + + Knorring, the Baroness, 62. + + + Land, tenure of, in Turkey, 693. + + Landscape painting in England, 257. + + Languages, Kavanagh's Science of, reviewed, 467. + + Last hours of a reign, a tale in two parts. + --Part I., Chapter 1, 754. + --Chapter 2, 761. + + Law, administration of, in Turkey, 699. + + Law studies, Warren's Introduction to, reviewed, 300. + + Lay of Starkather, the, 571. + + Lay of the wise Oleg, the, from the Russian of Pushkin, 146. + + Ledyard's Life of Marlborough, notice of, 3. + + Leman, lake, scenery of, 706. + + Leslie's Life of John Constable, review of, 257. + + Letter from London, by a railway witness, 173. + + Letter to Eusebius, on omens, dreams, appearances, &c., 735. + + Lettres Persanes of Montesquieu, the, 391. + + Libraries at Constantinople, the, 690. + + Lipscomb's version of Chaucer, remarks on, 114. + + Llanos of South America, the, 551. + + Llansaintfraed lodge and church, 476. + + Llantony abbey, 485. + + Llanvair Kilgiden church, &c., 483. + + London, letter from, by a railway witness, 173. + + Louis XIV., notices of, 6, 12. + + Louis XV., character, &c., of, 714, 730, 733. + + Lowell, J. Russell, remarks on his strictures on Pope, 368. + + Lucca, sketches of; 617. + --agriculture round, 619. + + Lucrine lake, the, 489. + + Lupins, culture of, in Italy, 620. + + + MacFlecnoe and the Dunciad, 229. + --a supplement to, 366. + + Machiavel as a historian, 389. + + Maconochie, Captain, on the management of transported criminals, + review of, 129. + + Madonna, the, from Pushkin, 152. + + Maeler, lake, 58. + + Mahmood the Ghaznavide, by B. Simmons, 266. + + Mahon's England, remarks on, 2. + + Manner and Matter, a tale, Chapter I., 431. + --Chapter II., 435. + + Manzoni's Promessi Sposi, remarks on, 356. + + Margaret of Valois, from the French of Dumas, 312. + + Marlborough, No. I, 1. + --Various lives of him, 3. + --His parentage and early career, 5. + --Is created Lord Churchill, 7. + --His conduct at the Revolution, 8. + --Further honours conferred on him, 9. + --His disgrace in 1691, and mystery attending it, ib. + --Is restored to favour, 10. + --Appointed commander in the Netherlands, 11. + --His first successes, 14. + --Defeats the French at Blenheim, 19. + --His subsequent campaign, and causes which thwarted his success, 27. + No. II., 649. + --Plans for the campaign of 1705, 650. + --Marches into Flanders, 652. + --Defeats Villeroi, 653. + --Thwarted by the inactivity of the Dutch, 654. + --Victory of Ramilies, 661. + --Subsequent operations, 664. + + Marston; or, Memoirs of a Statesman.--Part XVIII., 157. + --Part XIX., 272. + --Part XX. and last, 439. + + Meditation, a, by J. D., 494. + + Memoirs of a Statesman. _See_ Marston. + + Menin, siege and capture of, by Marlborough, 667. + + Mesmerism, remarks on, 736. + + Metternich, Stein's opinion of, 337. + + Michelet's Priests, Women, and Families, review of, 185. + + Mob, the, from the Russian of Pushkin, 36. + + Modern novels, characteristics of, 342. + + Monmouthshire, scrambles in, 474. + + Mont Blanc, scenery of, 707. + + Montesquieu, 389. + --Compared with Tacitus, Machiavel, and Bacon, ib. + --Sketch of his early life, 390. + --Publication and character of his Lettres Persanes, 391. + --Of the Grandeur et Decadence des Romains, ib. + --And of the Esprit des Loix, and the defence of it, 392, 393. + --His private life and character, and anecdotes of him, 394. + --His death, 395. + --Unpublished papers left by him, 396. + --Characteristics of his works, and extracts from them, 397. + --Causes which led to their comparative neglect, 398. + + More, Hannah, anecdotes of, 723. + + Mother, a, to her deserted child, by J. D., 752. + + Motion, from the Russian of Pushkin, 149. + + Mountain and the Cloud, the; a Reminiscence of Switzerland, 704. + + Mozart, 573. + --Sketches of his life, 575. + --Extracts from his letters, &c., 578. + --Characteristics of his music, 590. + + Murillo as a painter, 420. + + Murray, Sir George, the Marlborough Despatches edited by, reviewed + --No. I., 1. + --No. II., 649. + + My college friends, No. II.--Horace Leicester, 197. + + + Nantiglo ironworks, 485. + + Naples, see Neapolitan. + + Napoleon, from the Russian of Pushkin, 39. + + National gallery, want of a, in Great Britain, 413. + + Natural history, Waterton's essays on, second series, reviewed, 289. + + Neapolitan sketches.--garden of the Villa Reale, 486. + --Servi de Pena, ib. + --San Carlo, 487. + --Pozzuoli, 488. + --Baiae, ib. + --Lucrine and Avernus lakes, 489. + --Procida, 490. + --palace of Caserta, 491. + --silk manufactory, 492. + --The snake-tamer, 490. + + Newcastle, Duke of, character of, 730. + + Norfolk Island, management of convicts at, 138. + + North's specimens of the British critics. + --No. VI. Supplement to Dryden on Chaucer, 114. + --No. VII. MacFlecnoe and the Dunciad, 229. + --No. VIII. Supplement to the same, 366. + + Northern lights, 56. + + Nyberg, Fru, a Swedish poetess, 57. + + + Oaks in Italy, 622. + + Oberland, scenery of the, 707, 710. + + Oleg, lay of, from Pushkin, 146. + + Omens, &c., letter to Eusebius on, 735. + + On the Old Year, by J. D., 495. + + Opening the ports, on the, 773. + + Opium-eater, sequel to the Confessions of an, part II., 43. + + Orinoco, description of the rapids of the, 550. + + Oscar, crown-prince of Sweden, 59. + + Ostend, capture of by Marlborough, 666. + + Overkirk, General, notices of, 653, 654, 656, 662, 664. + + Owls in Italy, 626. + + + Painting and pictures, remarks on, 413. + --characteristics of the various schools of, 424. + + Palace of Caserta, the, 491. + + Pampas of South America, the, 550. + + Paoli, the Corsican patriot, 731. + + Phipps, Mr, character, &c., of, 727. + + Pictures, De Burtin on, 413. + --choice of subjects for, 417. + --colouring, &c., ib. + + Poetry + --Specimens of the lyrics of Pushkin, translated by T. B. Shaw. + --No. I., 28. + --No. II., 140. + --Mahmood the Ghaznavide, by B. Simmons, 266. + --A reminiscence of boyhood, by Delta, 408. + --A meditation, by J. D., 494. + --On the old year, by the same, 495. + --Corali, by the same, ib. + --The lay of Starkather, 571. + --The Grand General Junction and Indefinite Extension + Railway rhapsody, 614. + --The second Pandora, 711. + --A mother to her deserted child, by J. D., 752. + --Summer noontide, ib. + --to Clara, 753. + --seclusion, ib. + + Pompadour, Madame de, 732. + + Pope's version of Chaucer, remarks on, 119. + --Dunciad, remarks on, 234. + --Strictures on Lowell's criticism of him, 368. + + Potato crop, state of the, throughout Scotland, 776. + --saving of them for seed, 780. + + Pozzuoli, 488. + + Presentiment, from the Russian of Pushkin, 152. + + Priests, Women, and Families, review of Michelet's work on, 185. + + Printing establishments in Constantinople, 691. + + Private music-party, a, 631. + + Prophecy of Famine, Churchill's, remarks on, 380. + + Procida, 490. + + Punishment, remarks on, 129. + --its objects, ib. + --various modes of, 131. + --on capital, and a proposed substitute for it, ib. + + Pushkin, the Russian poet. No. II. Specimen of his lyrics, translated + by T. B. Shaw. Introductory remarks, 28. + --October 19th, 1825, 31. + --The Caucasus, 34. + --To * * *, 35. + --The mob, 36. + --The black shawl, 37. + --The rose, 38. + --Napoleon, 39. + --The storm, 40. + --The general, 41. + --No. III. Introduction, 140. + --Alas, for her! 141. + --The feast of Peter the First, 142. + --Town of starving, town of splendour, 143. + --To the sea, 144. + --Echo, 145. + --The lay of the wise Oleg, 146. + --Remembrance, 149. + --I have outlived the hopes that charmed me, ib. + --Motion, ib. + --To the slanderers of Russia, 150. + --Presentiment, 152. + --The Madonna, ib. + --Andre Chenier, 154. + + + Quietists, effects of the doctrines of the, in France, 190. + + + Raffaele's Transfiguration, remarks on, 418. + --his St Cecilia, 422. + + Ragland Castle, description of, 476. + + Railway rhapsody, the grand general junction and indefinite + extension, 614. + + Railway witness in London, letter from a, 173. + + Railways and railway speculation, on, 633. + + Ramilies, battle of, 661. + + Reformation by punishment, on, 129. + + Reign of George III., Walpole's memoirs of the, 713. + + Religion, state of, during the eighteenth century, 714. + + Remembrance, from the Russian of Pushkin, 149. + + Reminiscence of boyhood, a, by Delta, 409. + + Reminiscence of Switzerland, a, 704. + + Reviews. + --Despatches of the Duke of Marlborough. No. I., 1. + --No. II., 649. + --Maconochie and Zschokke on punishment and reformation of + criminals, 129. + --Michelet's priests, women, and families, 185. + --Leslie's life of Constable, the painter, 257. + --Waterton's essays on natural history, second series, 289. + --Warren's introduction to law studies, 300. + --Kavanagh's science of languages, 467. + --Holmes' life of Mozart, 572. + --White's three years in Constantinople, 688. + --Walpole's memoirs of the reign of George III., 713. + + Richelieu, Marshal, 730. + + Ritterhaus at Stockholm, the, 59. + + Romance, the historical, 341. + + Rose, the, from the Russian of Pushkin, 38. + + Russia, to the slanderers of, from Pushkin, 150. + + + Sagena, culture of, at Lucca, 620. + + Saltza, Count, 68. + + San Carlo, 487. + + Sandwich, Lord, anecdote of, 724. + + Schools of painting, characteristics of the, 424. + + Science of languages, Kavanagh's, review of, 467. + + Scott's historical romances, remarks on, 345. + + Scottish harvest, the, 769. + --quantity and quality of the grain crop, ib., 770. + --cause of the inferior quality of the wheat, 771. + --and of the high price of bread, 772. + --state of the potato crop, 775. + + Scrambles in Monmouthshire, a sequel to house-hunting in Wales, 474. + + Sea, to the, from Pushkin, 144. + + Secker, Archbishop, character of, 728. + + Seclusion, by J. D., 752. + + Second Pandora, the, 711. + + Seed potatoes, saving of, 778. + + Servi de Pena, 486. + + Shaw, T. B., specimens of the lyrics of Pushkin, by, 28, 140. + + Shooting fish in Italy, 625. + + Silk manufactory of Caserta, the, 492. + + Simmons, B., Mahmood the Ghaznavide, by, 266. + + Sketches of Italy. Lucca, 617. + --agriculture round Lucca, 619. + --sagena, 620. + --lupines, ib. + --hemp, ib. + --trees and oaks, 622. + --insects, 623. + --ants, 624. + --shooting fish, 625. + --owls, 626. + --the improvisatore, ib. + --tables-d'hotes--Mr Snapley, 628. + --hints for doctors, 630. + --private music-party, 631. + + Smith, Sydney, on modern sermons, 714. + + Smollet's England, remarks on, 2. + + Snake-tamer, the, 493. + + Snapley, Mr, 628. + + Solitary imprisonment, effects of, 139. + + Stampe, the Countess, 69. + + Starkather, the lay of, 571. + + Staubbach, fall of the, 706. + + Stein, the Baron von, career of, 328. + + Stephens, Mr, letters from, on the results of the harvest, 769. + + Stockholm, description of, 59. + + Storm, the, from Pushkin, 40. + + Stralsund, sketch of, 56. + + Struensee, Count, 729. + + Student of Salamanca, the. Part I., 521. + Part II., 673. + + Summer noontide, by J. D., 752. + + Suspiria de profundis; being a sequel to the confessions of an English + opium-eater. Part II., 43. + + Swedes, character of the, 69. + + Swift's apology for Queen Anne, &c., notice of, 4. + + Switzerland, a reminiscence of, 704. + + + Tables-d'hotes in Italy, 628. + + Tacitus, as a historian, 389. + + Tenure of land, &c. in Turkey, 693. + + Thorwaldsen the sculptor, 69. + + Three years in Constantinople; review of, 688. + + Titian, remarks on the style, &c. of, 420. + + To * * *, from the Russian of Pushkin, 35. + + To Clara, by J. D., 753. + + To the sea, from Pushkin, 144. + + To the slanderers of Russia, from Pushkin, 150. + + Torquato Tasso, Goethe's translations from, 87. + + Townsend, Charles, character of, 715. + --his death, 719. + + Transfiguration of Raffaele, remarks on the, 418. + + Trees in Italy, 622. + + Turks, domestic manners of the, 688. + + + Usk river, scenery of the, 475. + + + Varnhagen von Ense, sketch of Stein by, 331. + + Villa Reale, garden of the, 486. + + Villars, Marshal, 650, 651. + + Villeroi, Marshal, 651, 652. + --his defeat at Ramilies, 661. + + Volcano of Kirauea, account of a visit to the, 591. + + Voltaire's Age of Louis XIV., remarks on, 3. + + Von Stein, sketch of the career and character of, 328. + + + Wales, sketches of, 74. + + Walpole's memoirs of the reign of George III., review of, 713. + + Warburton on the Dunciad, 253. + + Warren's introduction to law-studies, review of, 300. + + Warton, Dr, on the Dunciad, 251. + + Waterton's second series of essays in natural history, review of, 289. + + Waxholm, fortress of, 58. + + Weymouth, Lord, 727. + + Wheat crop, quantity and quality of the, throughout Scotland, 769, 770. + --cause of its inferior quality, 771. + --the supply abundant, 773. + --on the rising price of, 779. + + Wild animals of South America, the, 553. + + Wilkes, John, notice of, 722, 725. + + William III., notices of, 9. + --his death, 11. + + White's three years in Constantinople, review of, 688. + + Wordsworth's modernization of Chaucer, remarks on, 125. + + Wye, scenery of the, 481. + + + Zschokke's Aehrenlese, review of, 129. + + Zumalacarregui, career of, 210. + + + + +_Edinburgh: Printed by Ballantyne & Hughes, Paul's Work._ + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume +58, No. 362, December 1845, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH *** + +***** This file should be named 33938.txt or 33938.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/9/3/33938/ + +Produced by Brendan OConnor, Erica Hills, Jonathan Ingram +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Library of Early +Journals.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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