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diff --git a/35632.txt b/35632.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ac563ab --- /dev/null +++ b/35632.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8742 @@ +Project Gutenberg's With the World's Great Travellers, Volume 3, 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: With the World's Great Travellers, Volume 3 + +Author: Various + +Editor: Charles Morris + Oliver H. G. Leigh + +Release Date: March 19, 2011 [EBook #35632] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITH WORLD'S GREATEST TRAVELLERS, VOL 3 *** + + + + +Produced by D Alexander and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + _SPECIAL EDITION_ + + WITH THE WORLD'S + GREAT TRAVELLERS + + EDITED BY CHARLES MORRIS + AND OLIVER H. G. LEIGH + + VOL. III + + CHICAGO + UNION BOOK COMPANY + 1901 + + + + + COPYRIGHT 1896 AND 1897 + BY + J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY + + COPYRIGHT 1901 + E. R. DUMONT + + + + +[Illustration: THE CATHEDRAL, CITY OF MEXICO] + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + SUBJECT. AUTHOR. PAGE + + London, Glasgow, Dublin, Manchester, + Liverpool OLIVER H. G. LEIGH 5 + Kenilworth and Warwick Castles ELIHU BURRITT 25 + Windsor Forest and Castle ANONYMOUS 36 + The Aspect of London HIPPOLYTE TAINE 47 + Westminster Abbey NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 56 + The Gardens at Kew JULIAN HAWTHORNE 64 + Chatsworth Castle JOHN LEYLAND 75 + King Arthur's Land J. YOUNG 84 + The English Lake District AMELIA BARR 93 + The Roman Wall of Cumberland ROSE G. KINGSLEY 105 + English Rural Scenery SARAH B. WISTER 112 + The "Old Town" of Edinburgh ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON 120 + In the Land of Rob Roy NATHANIEL P. WILLIS 129 + The Island of Staffa and Fingal's Cave BERIAH BOTFIELD 140 + Ireland and Its Capital MATTHEW WOODS, M. D. 148 + From Cork to Killarney SARA J. LIPPINCOTT 157 + North of Ireland Scenes W. GEORGE BEERS 168 + Paris and Its Attractions HARRIET BEECHER STOWE 178 + Travel in France Fifty Years Ago CHARLES DICKENS 189 + From Normandy to Provence DONALD G. MITCHELL 200 + A French Farmer's Paradise M. BENTHAM-EDWARDS 211 + Cordova and Its Mosque S. P. SCOTT 218 + The Spanish Bull-Fight JOSEPH MOORE 230 + Seville, the Queen of Andalusia S. P. SCOTT 238 + Street Scenes in Genoa AUGUSTA MARRYAT 249 + The Alhambra S. P. SCOTT 257 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +VOLUME III + + THE CATHEDRAL, CITY OF MEXICO _Frontispiece_ + LONDON BRIDGE 14 + BANK OF ENGLAND 50 + WESTMINSTER ABBEY AND VICTORIA TOWER 62 + CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL FROM THE NORTHWEST 114 + PRINCES STREET AND SIR WALTER SCOTT'S MONUMENT, EDINBURGH 122 + THE FORTH BRIDGE FROM THE NORTH 136 + CUSTOM-HOUSE, DUBLIN, IRELAND 150 + QUEENSTOWN HARBOR 164 + GRAND OPERA HOUSE, PARIS 180 + THE LUMINOUS PALACE, PARIS 216 + THE GROTTO OF THE SIBYL, TIVOLI 250 + + + + + WITH THE WORLD'S + GREAT TRAVELLERS. + + + + +THE WORLD'S GREAT CAPITALS OF TO-DAY. + +OLIVER H. G. LEIGH. + + +LONDON. + +To the ordinary eye the moon and stars have at least prettiness, perhaps +grandeur. To the trained astronomer, and the contemplative poet, the +mighty firmament overwhelms the mind with the sense of human inability +to grasp the vast. Knowing and loving the features and characteristics +of London as a lover those of his mistress, it can be imagined how such +a one despairs of doing justice, in a brief space, either to his subject +or his own sane enthusiasm. He would fain impart his knowledge, insight, +and what glimmerings of romantic fancy may add charm to the prosy +exposition, but the showman's harangue is received as art without heart. + +London is a hundred captivating sights and themes for our hundred +capacities and moods. You go to it the first time with the child's +enviable eye-delight in novelty, and are lucky if in a week you are not +eye-sore, dazed, and jaded with the very monotony of new scenes and +blurred impressions. You wisely fly to the lovely country lanes for +restful change, and come back with new eyes and a clean slate. Then +the mysterious quality which lifts visible London into the London of +real romance and realizable antiquity dawns upon the mind. A third +exploration reveals its almost omniscient and omnipotent headship as for +three centuries the world's centre for the intellectual and material +forces that have so largely built up our civilization. Continued +observation brings other and endless aspects of the indescribable city, +which is no city, but a Chinese puzzle of separately whirling worlds +within each other. + +This mystifying prelude may seem rather disheartening to the stranger, +primed with rational curiosity to understand, as well as see, this +unwieldy London. He will find, however, his curiosity whetted, deepened, +elevated, in proportion as he takes with him a moderate grounding +in the historical associations of the old city. This easily acquired +information will prove to be a key that will unlock hidden places +holding bunches of other keys, so that everywhere one may turn, the +streets, buildings, and monuments recite their own fascinating stories. + +We live in the day of big things, and sneer as we may at the +superficiality of estimating quality by size, there is no escape from it +when the purpose is only to kindle interest. Analysis can be undertaken +afterwards. London "whips creation" in the number of its people, though +its greatness is quite independent of this. The circle can be drawn to +include four, six, or seven millions and it will still be true that the +sustainers of its greatness come within a single million, possibly the +half of that. Yet it has a few businesses useful for the novice to know. +People have walked and ridden through the double tunnel under the wider +part of the Thames since 1843. Its underground railway, costing five +million dollars per mile to make, carries one hundred and fifty millions +of people a year, and has been running forty years. The public are +served by fifteen thousand cabs, which earn twenty-five million dollars +a year. There are over one thousand omnibuses, not including tram-cars, +on which there are roof seats, and you pay from two to six cents, +according to distance. Steamboats afford a fine view of the city, at the +same fares. + +It has about five hundred theatres and music-halls, giving variety +programmes. Many of these hold from three to five thousand and they are +always well-filled. The roof of a famous music-hall built in 1870 slides +off for a few minutes at a time, for ventilation on summer nights. The +Crystal Palace entertains a hundred thousand people without being +crowded, in its beautiful glass hall, 1,608 feet long, with two great +aisles and transepts, and a charming pleasure park. In the palace are +reproductions of ancient architecture, primitive peoples, extinct +animals, everything in art and nature that can expand knowledge. The +orchestra seats four thousand, the concert-hall four thousand, and the +theatre four thousand, all under the same roof, yet their performances +are simultaneous. The Palace cost over seven million dollars in 1854, +and admission is twenty-five cents. The Albert Memorial Hall holds ten +thousand. The Agricultural Hall covers three acres and a half, and holds +audiences of twenty-five thousand. + +There is not a day in the year without half-a-dozen or more public +meetings, convened by religious, scientific, or other societies, a +free field for the stranger to see distinguished people, hear average +oratory, study character and customs, and lay in stores of useful +knowledge with varied entertainment. "Doing the sights" is a matter of +course, but they should be selected to suit one's mood at the time, also +the usually unlovely weather, and above all, after some preliminary +guide-book reading. The Tower is already familiar in story and picture, +yet not every cockney is aware that its walls enclose a virtual town of +over three thousand inhabitants. It has a hundred distinct interests +for the leisurely-minded, besides that of being a great old fortress. +The new Tower bridge equals the underground railway and sub-river +tunnels as a triumph of engineering, lifting itself high above the tall +ships' masts when they sail in and out of the port. Near by, the much +maligned East End, the Whitechapel district beloved by horror-vending +reporters, invites and will repay a visit. + +Would you like to realize a dream of some magnificent pageant, in +which the great notabilities of all the earth take a share? Take your +stand where Rotten Row meets the Drive any morning or afternoon between +April and July. Here meet the pink of fashion and the celebrities +distinguished for honors won in art, science, diplomacy, statesmanship, +and war. The outward and visible magnificence belongs to the horses +rather than their riders and drivers, for plainness of attire and +decoration is the rule among the great folks. This double daily parade +is truly a unique spectacle, viewed by throngs of idlers of all nations, +themselves a picturesque feature of the show. + +A panorama with another sort of interest should be viewed ponderingly. +Let the visitor approach Westminster Abbey from Victoria station along +Victoria Street, once a worse than any Whitechapel nest of criminal +slum-dwellers. Grouped into a picture unrivalled elsewhere in the world +for architectural splendor combined with historic glory, he will see the +hoary Abbey, not simply the stone record of a thousand years of human +progress; not simply the petrified survival of druidicial worship in the +forest groves, with its soaring tree-trunk columns breaking into foliage +as their tops meet to screen the sun and echo down again the ascending +incense of prayer and song; not simply the stately temple which for ages +has been the shrine of England's great ones, thirteen kings, fourteen +queens, and the greater than these--the glorious array of its poets, +musicians, statesmen, soldiers, sailors, and explorers, who, like +Livingstone in his line and Chaucer in his, poured all their wealth of +genius and power into the lap of their motherland, to make her happier +and stronger. He will see through the mediaeval stained windows the +deeper meaning of the old church's story, the reddened sun-rays telling +of the bloodshed that watered the growing plant of the nation's +greatness, and the blue beams that figure Britannia's olden mastery of +the seas, and the rainbow hues suggestive of her labors to give hope to +the people that long sat in darkness till she brought the light of +civilization. + +Close to the Abbey's side stands the venerable St. Margaret's parish +church, where Caxton printed the first book and is buried; where +Ambassador James Russell Lowell's epitaph on Raleigh graces the window +that honors the memory of Virginia's founder, whose headless body +reposes in its precincts. Just behind the two churches stands +Westminster Hall, as King William Rufus built it in 1099, though its +great oak-beam roof was heightened by Richard II. Close behind it +rises the majestic file of the Houses of Parliament, the great Victoria +tower at one end, at the other the clock tower, with its minute-hand +twelve feet long and its chimes that float around for miles. From its +foot Westminster Bridge gladly crosses the Thames to the noblest of +hospitals, St. Thomas's, founded in 1213. Its separate blocks corridored +together, fitly match the Parliament building on the opposite bank of +the river. When you stand on the Abbey sidewalk, near the Beaconsfield +statue, you may feel you are standing in the true centre of the earth, +for there will pass you in the course of a week in the season the +picked leaders of most nations, the representatives of every faith and +system of government, the ruling men of Asiatic empires and tribes, +and travellers from the world's end to do homage to the mother of +parliaments and the shrine of the immortal dead. And far in the distant +haze hovers the dome of St. Paul's like a balloon ascending through the +smoke clouds to the clear blue. + +Starting westward from the Abbey, in this sacred bit of the great city, +it is possible to walk seven miles on the grass and paths, through St. +James's park, surrounded by Government buildings, stately old mansions, +the home of the king when Prince of Wales, St. James's Palace, and +Buckingham Palace. Then along Constitution Hill, across Piccadilly into +Hyde Park, along Rotten Row (from _Route du Roi_) to Kensington Gardens +with the house Victoria was born in, and so on, with a few breaks. The +group of palatial museums at South Kensington tempt the stranger, +whatever his tastes or culture, to spend a year there, and each year so +spent will need another to do justice to their marvellous contents. + +Turn back now, along Piccadilly, a unique panorama in itself, pass the +cluster of great restaurants, theatres, music-halls, and other pleasure +places that reach half a mile or so towards the Strand, where the hotels +range round Charing Cross. Along this narrow but brilliant highway lie +more theatres and a famous church or two, and the cold bath in use since +the Romans made it two thousand years ago. Then up Fleet Street, whence +the daily papers flutter morning, noon and night, until St. Paul's +crowns the highest bit of the city. Its interior, and the monuments to +the nation's naval and military heroes, will impress the visitor, though +hardly so much as the exquisite singing at the short services of morning +and afternoon, the strains of vocal and organ music floating and +billowing in the great dome and along the lofty aisles. + +Between St. Paul's and old Bishopsgate lies "the city," that is, the +square mile or so given up to business, with no private houses left +in it. Still going eastward the route passes through the Billingsgate +fishmarket quarter, where its famous language still flourishes. +Here stands "the Monument," a column surmounted with a gilt frame, +commemorating the great fire of 1666, which began at this spot. If we +take our stand far away on Blackfriars Bridge some thirty-five church +steeples may be counted, each with its upper part painted black. The +dome of St. Paul's is one of these. They mark the area of the fire, +as each rebuilt church had to bear this memorial. But for this law St. +Paul's would have had a gilded dome. Soon we come to the Tower, and then +the long line of docks, covering thousands of acres, and stretching +miles down the river. Here the merchant wealth of the country, and of +the world, is realizable as nowhere else. + +London shows both sides of its shield: incalculable wealth, poverty that +defies description. Years of familiarity with its slums, before slumming +was invented as a fashionable fad, only deepened the conviction that +all the noble efforts to eradicate the worst evils in the situation are +utterly hopeless. The breed flourishes faster than the mild measures to +improve it can operate. + +The homes of aristocracy in Mayfair, the heart of the West End, +disappoint those who expect magnificence--long rows of houses in narrow +streets, once red brick, now dingy black and musty-looking, the monotony +broken here and there by a newer and more pretentious stone mansion. The +great Squares are a brighter feature. The same sooty brick houses, large +and small, make the quadrangle, each having a key to the gates that +enclose the park, in which nursemaids exercise the children and pet +dogs, and an occasional game of croquet is ventured by country cousins. +The coating of soot on every branch and leaf is fatal to clean hands +and summer costumes. The newer streets, and the region around the South +Kensington Museums, make a better display of architecture. A little +experience will reconcile the stranger to the general dowdiness of house +exteriors, when he learns that the English climate has caused the +English people to think most of the home within. The contrast on +entering these plain structures is startling and gratifying. While +this home love and home pride with homely ways are the strongest +characteristics of the people, the saying of Charles the Second is still +true, that there is no other country in which one can spend so many +hours the year round in the open air. They spend as much of their +daylight as possible out of doors and their evenings at home have a +hearty, informal, delightful charm, wholly in contrast to the stiff and +stagy receptions known in other cities. + +The innate love of country life is shown by rich and poor alike. On +the four legal bank holidays, the Monday after Christmas, Easter +Monday, Whitsun Monday, and the first Monday in August, all business is +suspended throughout the land, in most cases from the Friday evening +until Tuesday morning. Then the masses come forth in all their might and +finery, they take possession of the street vehicles, the railways and +boats. The "upper" and "upper middle" classes religiously stay at home +on those days, dreading the uproarious throngs of 'Arries and 'Arriets, +who jam themselves ten deep into seats for five and monopolize every +place of amusement. Yet it is a cheery sight to see all these hundreds +of thousands of London toilers hurrying on wheels of all sorts away to +Epping Forest, kept in its virgin state these four hundred years, and +to Hampstead Heath, the Crystal Palace, the great parks, and similar +handy breathing places, not to mention the favorite resorts within a +twenty-mile radius. You will smile at grown folks playing skip the rope +the whole day long, and kiss in the ring, and such like primitive games, +but it is a wholesome sign when a whole population can find hearty +pleasure in romping on the grass, for simple delights gained by healthy +open-air exercise yield a more lasting happiness than is to be got by +paying money to sit still and see hirelings make antics for you. + +These outlying places are the crowning glory of London. Beautiful +Windsor, Richmond Park, Kew Gardens, Epping Forest, and the ideally +delightful Edens that nestle along the bends of the upper Thames, are +all within the twenty-five mile circle, though one can find fifty +fairy-grounds within five miles from any city station, where one can +sprawl on the velvet grass beneath some spreading oak, and drink in the +balmy scent-laden air, out of sight and sound of bricks and mortar. You +may, certainly, be disturbed by the carolling of larks, linnets and +others of the feathered choir, and perhaps by the waftings of some +village church's silvery peal of bells, celebrating a wedding on the +general holiday merrymaking. Even in the very heart of London's busiest +quarters one can instantaneously step from the streets into grassy +enclosures with great old trees, as silent and restful as if we were +in some monastic cloister a century or two back. Until it has been +experienced it is impossible to realize the beauty and mental relief of +being able to turn from the rush and roar of the great city into one of +these lovely retreats, or into the Cathedral, or Abbey, or nearest old +church, where "the dim, religious light" of the stained windows, and the +poetry of design and associations, and perhaps the pealing organ, waft +the jaded senses into lotos land. + +Coming back to details of another kind it is to be remarked that for +noise, we can conscientiously claim our own New York as champion +unrivalled. This item of metropolitan noise in some wise hits off +the characteristics of the nations. New York has its fearsome +rattle-clatter, sharp, pungent, nerve-racking, incessant, typical of +the ceaseless "hurry-up" of its folk, in talk and motion. All is +"rapid-transit" rush, anyhow, anywhere. Paris has its light, flitting, +skipping, pittypat noise, as of a million chattering magpies busy +shifting quarters. London has altogether another noise--a deep, soft +diapason, Niagara-like in its immensity and pitch--a low melodious roar, +the noise of "the roaring loom of time"; noises of the past; great +booming echoes of dead centuries; the wailings of populations crushed by +endless wars, oppressed by dynasties of tyrants, crowned and uncrowned; +smitten to death by plagues; swept out of life by Ignorance, Poverty, +Evil Fate. Great London has gathered the voices of the peoples in a +thousand years of matchless history, and he who listens aright can hear +them all as they go up to heaven in the mighty volume of its sun-dimmed +incense of smoke. + +This London is a miniature world. It is made up of representatives +of every nationality; is the hive of every land's industry; the +market-place for every country's products. It is the mart where +traders from all the ends of the earth transact their business; the +bank to which every nation and tribe intrust their gains; the parlor, +the parleying-place, the parliament of the earth, where rulers and +subjects, races and clans, leaders and followers, explorers, travellers, +scholars, reformers, do their best talking, most of it in the hearing +of all peoples who use the English tongue. + +[Illustration: LONDON BRIDGE] + +London is more than all this. It is the purgatory and the elysium of +generations of Britain's great souls. As the centuries have cast their +hallowed tints of sombre gray over her dumbly eloquent stones, they have +seen a long procession of sad figures threading the old, quaint, crooked +byways and highways, figures of gaunt men and weary women, dropping +out from the ranks here and there from sheer want of the wherewithal +of life. These have been the forerunners, the seed-sowers, the pioneers +of England's greatness--singers and seers, planners and day-dreamers, +toilers with hand and brain, potential Caesars and Alfreds, Shakespeares +and Arkwrights, Wrens, Reynoldses and Wellingtons, without a ray of the +ripening sunshine. Old England had its genius-breeders long before the +luckier later sons were born. Not a stone of St. Paul's that glorifies +the powers of its designers but is also, when you rightly look, a +tombstone to the memory of some unknown toiler whose brain, heart, +muscle or blood was spent to make that cathedral sublime; nor can you +pick up a page of your Chaucers, Shakespeares, Miltons, Goldsmiths, and +Tennysons but, if you scan it closely enough, you will find it stained +with the tears of countless strugglers, who wrought themselves sore +in the cause of man's elevation, only to earn a nameless grave for +themselves. Pioneers, they sank, but their bones so enriched the soil +that the London which was a purgatory to them is an elysium to us +to-day, pacing whose witching shades we may see, if we close our eyes on +inferior sights, the ghosts of the legion of Greathearts who haunt the +old home, whose coldness to them in their own day they have avenged by +making it glow with the glory of their names and works. + +This is the crowning charm of London the unique--that we tread on ground +every inch of which has its thrilling story to tell. There Shakespeare +trod. Here Marlowe fell. Here Otway died, starved. Here Carey fainted, +foodless. Here Goldsmith trailed footsore, hungry, despairing of fame. +Here Johnson and Savage tramped the street all night with three cents +between them for coffee at the street stall in the early morning. Here +gentle De Quincey slept on the doorsteps. Hear him: "So then, Oxford +Street, stony-hearted stepmother, thou that listenest to the sighs of +orphans and drinkest the tears of children, the time was come at last, +that I no more should pace in anguish thy never-ending terraces; no more +should dream, and wake in captivity to the pangs of hunger. Thou, Oxford +Street, hast echoed to the groans of innumerable hearts!" Aye, and still +do thy throbbing streets, O glorious, pitiless London, reverberate with +the wails of unsuspected thousands! To-day, this very day, the artist, +the poet, the scholar, the inventor, the helpless sons of genius may +perish, and most literally do perish, die of the heart-break that is +born of hunger, in the wilderness of merry London. Who cannot readily +recall a score of these tragedies, within any past score of years, where +genius, talent, worth, character, industry, patient effort, failed to +win recognition for the ill-fated ones--until the day _after_ their +lamentable death? + + +GLASGOW, DUBLIN, LIVERPOOL, MANCHESTER. + +London is not the typical English city, though types of almost every +city in the eastern hemisphere can be unearthed in its mazes by those +who know. The traveller who would get an understanding view of the +United Kingdom must visit the great centres of industry in England, the +sources of its modern strength, and take a look at the chief cities of +Scotland and Ireland. But if he would penetrate deeper into the heart of +the nation he will do well to halt by the way and get in touch with the +unpretentious towns and lovely country scenes from whose old-fashioned +folks most of the makers of the great cities have sprung. + +Leaving London for the north a passing thought is due to Birmingham, the +most American of English cities in its marvellous activities, metal work +of every kind especially, from "ancient" idols for pagan temples in +the East to exquisite altar-plate and prayer-book bindings for the +institutional foes of idolatry. The local corruption of the name into +Brummagem has added a descriptive term to the language, and it also +illustrates the interesting fact that these local pronunciations usually +preserve historical fact, as the now important city used to be no more +than a hamlet adjoining Bromwich, hence Brumwich-ham. It showed the way, +in the early seventies, how municipalities of unsalaried and unselfish +citizens can acquire their own lighting and waterworks and otherwise +carry on the town's business at an immense saving over the ordinary +system. A new city has arisen out of the old one and the running +expenses are lower than ever. Sheffield, the centre of the cutlery +industry, is well worth studying for a day, for its activity, the +surrounding scenery, and the effect of foreign competition upon its +staple trade. + +Manchester is familiar as the mother of the cotton trade. Its fortune +was made by its spinning and weaving enterprises, by its quick +utilization of the steam-engine and the inventions of mechanical genius. +The first working railway was that which ran between Manchester and +Liverpool in 1830. It first gave England the honor of being regarded +as the workshop of the world. The wider adaptations of steam power and +the establishment of free trade enriched its capitalists and merchants +beyond the dreams of their fathers. Many a Lancashire millionaire could +not write his name. Within the memory of middle-aged men there have been +great enterprises, princely philanthropies, and striking public speeches +by self-made magnates who could not compose letters nor speak gracefully +without help from others. The city is marked by its pillar of smoke by +day and of furnace fire by night. Its wise people carry their umbrellas +as constantly as their pocket-books, for "the rain it raineth every +day," at least drizzleth. The population of Manchester and its twin +city, Salford, touches three-quarters of a million, sturdy and stern +Britons, proudly dubbing themselves "Manchester men," in distinction +from "Liverpool gentlemen." + +Its murky air, ungainly factories and buildings generally, impress the +stranger with its intensely practical spirit. The poetry of existence +reveals itself in the cosy interiors and the charming outskirt +residences. It has romance in its history and associations. Mancastra +was a Roman camp in the reign of Titus. Under the Saxons and the later +Normans it fashioned itself to the times just as it did to the magic +wand of the nineteenth-century genius. It fought for the Parliament +against the Royalists. For more than three centuries it led in woollen +and, latterly, cotton manufactures. Its district is rich in coal-mines. +The Bridgewater Canal dates from 1761, the principal one in the country. +A greater, though apparently a less wise, because unprofitable, +enterprise, has been the ship-canal. American cotton has always been +unshipped at Liverpool, by which its brokers have greatly profited. To +save tolls, delays and cost of rail transport, Manchester men made an +imitation Suez Canal by deepening and adapting certain waterways, by +which ships can pass into the new port of Manchester without troubling +Liverpool. It may be hard to realize that Manchester can scarcely hope +to become again the world's cotton factory, seeing that she has not only +taught other nations how to do her work, but has long been selling them +her machinery and coal for that purpose. A momentous sign of the times +is the rapid migration of her capital and brain to Japan and India, +where operatives of sufficient skill are content with a mere fraction +of the home-workers' wage, and ocean transport is saved. + +The sight-seer will be charmed by the noble city hall with its tall +tower, its peal of twenty-one bells, and the public recitals on its +great organ. Manchester possesses the oldest free library in the world, +Chetham's, with 40,000 rare old books ranged on the shelves in the old +mansion rooms where some of them have reposed for nearly three hundred +years. It also has the first of modern free libraries on the grand +scale, opened in 1851, a gift from a citizen, greatly enlarged since. +Its famous Free Trade Hall has echoed with the eloquence of the world's +famous men and women, in speech and song. Scarcely an American statesman +or orator of note, being in England since 1856, but has been cheered by +its audiences. The public meetings of all kinds in this hall have been +among the most valuable educational influences of the half century. It +was said by Lord Salisbury, many years before he became Premier, that +"as Manchester thinks to-day, England thinks to-morrow," and it used to +be true. + +The traveller should try to be in Manchester in Whitsun Week, to see +its most striking characteristic. It is the Sunday-school children's +gala time and all business is demoralized in their honor. On the +Monday twenty or thirty thousand Church of England scholars march with +bands to a service in the Cathedral, the whole town and country around +crowding the streets. Tuesday is the only off-day. Every other one is a +half-holiday for those who do not take whole ones. Each church gives its +scholars picnics in parks or on local farms in the afternoons, and a +whole day's country outing on one day. Friday is the grown folks' picnic +day, and on Saturday the Total Abstainers' parade. They are called +Tee-totallers, because one of the founders, a Lancashire man, happened +to stammer in a speech in trying to say _total abstinence_. + +The Cathedral is not a great edifice, but has many remarkable +fifteenth-century carvings and side chapels. It is affectionately known, +in the local vernacular, as "t'owd church," the old church. On Easter +Mondays the villagers and working folk used to crowd in to be married, +as many as two hundred couples being despatched at a blow, the same +service answering for all simultaneously. The city may be proud of its +Victoria University, the development of Owen's College, founded in 1847. +Of its many famous characters, the names of De Quincey and Harrison +Ainsworth are perhaps the best known in literature. + +Liverpool is thirty-six miles from Manchester and three from the sea. +Its first charter was granted in 1229 and it sent two members to +Parliament in 1296, yet its population until the seventeenth century was +only about one thousand. It has the distinction of having made the first +dock, penning up with flood-gates sufficient water to keep ships afloat +between the fall and rise of tides. This was built in 1709. It is +unkind, though true, to record that Liverpool's first fortune was made +in the slave-trade. Its ships went to the west coast of Africa and took +in cargoes of natives whom they then transported to the West Indies +as slaves, being paid for by cargoes of sugar and rum, brought home +to Liverpool. This traffic began about 1720. It was suppressed by +Parliament in 1807, the number of ships then engaged in it being +185, carrying over forty thousand slaves annually. A good deal of +privateering was carried on during the eighteenth-century wars, an +echo of which survived until the American Civil War of 1861-65. + +Liverpool has many unique features of interest. It has not many +manufactures, and only four or five ship-building establishments, for +reasons which will appear in the pages on Glasgow. Its commercial +growth has been extraordinary. In 1800 the population was under 78,000; +in 1900 it was about 750,000. In the first-named year the tonnage of +its ships was 450,000, and is now nearly 10,000,000. Its commerce is +chiefly with America. A magnificent sight is its endless array of +docks, stretching along both shores of the Mersey in a line, measured +continuously, of over thirty miles. Many a stately procession of great +ships glides up the spacious river, laden with precious cargoes not to +be estimated by statistics. Over fifty thousand Americans, it is said, +visit England each summer, entering by this majestic water-gate. Who +shall tell the influence of this mingling of kindred peoples, the moral +and national worth of all they bring and all they take? + +It is a new city, as towns go in the old country, with few visible marks +of its history. The public buildings are not specially imposing, but St. +George's Hall stands on a commanding site and in exterior and interior +holds its own with the best civic temples, in spaciousness and grace. +The great public library near by does honor to the city and to its +donor. The art gallery is remarkable for its construction, as for its +exhibits. It has a circular floor of one hundred feet in diameter +without columns or any intermediate support, and beneath it is an +amphitheatre, used for lectures, with its benches hewn out of the solid +rock. + +To ferry across the river to Birkenhead and Bootle, and down to New +Brighton and other popular resorts, is an excellent way to appreciate +the greatness of this famous port. As a city it has little charm, except +in its surroundings. + +All the excitements of the transatlantic voyage may be had in miniature +(except the _mal de mer_) in crossing the lively channel to Dublin. The +metropolis of Ireland must not be judged by commercial and cosmopolitan +standards. + +A city of many contrasts, stirring associations and poetical interest, +two patriotisms, two grand divisions of its community, are discernible +in the air. On the one hand is the Castle, lacking the castle feature +and charm, with a pervading sense of royalism _minus_ the outward +symbols of state which give it popularity and influence. On the other is +the vibrant nationalism which, in many tones and by a hundred tokens, +expresses its hostility to the emblems of what it regards as alien +dominance. Pathetic in its way is the decay of once fashionable, not to +say aristocratic, districts, that have lapsed into commonplace, and many +fine streets hobnob with veritable slums. This gradual decline of much +residential property impoverished old families and added to the sum of +general discontent. Dublin has never taken kindly to the idea of +becoming a commercial city, such as Liverpool. The intellectual head of +the island, it prides itself on the genius of its professional people. +Irish eloquence shines as brightly as ever in its pulpits, in the law +courts, and, indeed, wherever public speech is heard. The Four Courts +enshrine the fame of many a gifted patriot orator and wit. Trinity +College, founded by Queen Elizabeth, has made its mark not simply in +the island and kingdom but all over the world. The same is true of its +colleges in general. + +The city lions are these buildings, the Castle, Phoenix Park, St. +Patrick's Cathedral and sundry monuments. One world-important industry +has done wonders for the city. The Guiness product rebuilt the Cathedral +out of its decaying remains. A local distillery has contributed nobly to +the city's reputation for progress. Singular it certainly is that the +most appreciated malt liquor of the kind known as stout, should be +produced in three cities, Dublin, London, and Philadelphia, each of +which can boast the filthiest river in its country, the Liffey, the +Thames, and the Schuylkill. + +Dublin earth quickly turns to black bog under the frequent rains. Yet +neither its mud nor its political differences can damp the cheery +spirits of its natives. This is one great delight of a journey to the +island. Usually we see what we set out to see anywhere. No matter +whether our quest is for city shows or the lovely rural scenery, or the +sports on the Curragh, or the woes of the impoverished masses, we cannot +pass a single hour without marvelling at the native good-humor and good +wit of even the most distressful-conditioned people. Where less gifted +sufferers grow melancholy-visaged, the Irish greet misfortune with a +continual smile, in which fact lies a world of hope, and not a little +envy. + +Up in Belfast the austere-faced Ulstermen have made a commercial centre +of the first rank. Ship-building and the flax industry, with others, +flourish, and the city might be a civic paradise if faction warfare +could be cooled down. + +Passing now to Glasgow we find ourselves in a city of comparative +palaces. Its buildings are of sandstone, its streets handsome, its +municipal government so admirable as to have become the model for +American cities. The canny Scot may be trusted to make the citizen's +penny bring a full pennyworth. The city authorities own their plants for +providing the people with light, and for bringing the pure waters of +Loch Katrine into every home. They went a step farther and bought the +public tramways and cars, giving the people cheaper travel than had ever +been known. + +Glasgow stole the greater part of Liverpool's ship-building business and +Belfast a goodly share. Miles and miles of the banks of the Clyde are +decorated with skeletons of new vessels waiting to be clothed in steel +or wood garb. Every variety of craft is to be seen, from the battle-ship +to the racing yacht. But Glasgow turns its hands to everything makable +and salable. Its three-quarters of a million inhabitants work at +innumerable trades. Their success shows in the substantial build of +their city, which has more than a liberal allowance of splendid +structures. Modern and up-to-date, its whirl of daily life recalls New +York in certain aspects. This modernness in architectural effect is the +more striking when we stand in the High Street and reflect that the +grand national hero, William Wallace, fought a battle with the English +on this spot in 1300. The city's patron saint, Kentigern, gave it its +name in the sixth or seventh century, _glasgu_, the dear family, after a +band of his disciples settled there. Its cathedral, old St. Mungo's, +takes its name also from Kentigern's _munghu_, or most loved friend. Its +charter, authorizing the holding of a free market, was granted in 1175. +Commercial development dates from 1707, when the union with England was +settled. Glasgow University traces its beginnings to 1450. In making a +new dock recently the diggers brought to light a boat, formed out of the +trunk of a tree, a relic of primeval seamanship. The scenery of the +Clyde, and for miles beyond its banks, has been the theme of many a +poetical description by American travellers. The reader of Scott needs +no reminder of its richness in historic story. But is not all Scotland a +picture-poem of stirring romance? + +"Auld" Edinburgh is written of elsewhere in this volume by its brilliant +son. American newspapers that lop off the final letter, also objected to +in Pittsburgh, are evidently unaware that it is pronounced Edinborough +(burrow). The unrivalled queen of British cities, the uncommercial +capital of Scotland, its ancient capital and its present glory, is worth +the pilgrimage, even from old Athens and Rome. The towering castle was +begun twelve centuries ago. St. Giles's church dates from 1110. It was +a walled town in 1450. Progressive in the sleepy old days, it set up +its first printing-press, one of the world's first presses, in 1507, and +has been literary ever since. The early rulers brought musicians and +scholars from abroad to delight their courts, and many jealousies they +caused. + + + + +KENILWORTH AND WARWICK CASTLES. + +ELIHU BURRITT. + + [Elihu Burritt, the "Learned Blacksmith," wrote two works of + mingled description and economic observation in the British + island, these being "A Walk from John O'Groat's to Land's End" + and "Walks in the Black Country and its Green Border-Land." It + is from the "green border-land" section of the latter that we + take the following description of two of England's most famous + ancient castles.] + + +Between Coventry and Warwick, in a green, quiet rural district, stands +Kenilworth, and Kenilworth is a castle which absorbs into itself all +of space, population, and history that belongs to the name. Not only +novel-readers, but practical history-readers at a distance, never think +of anything but the castle when the name is mentioned or suggested. + +Still, there is a goodly, tidy, and comfortable village near the ruins +worth visiting, without the lion which attracts so many thousands a year +to pay their homage and their admiration--to the genius of Sir Walter +Scott. All the ordinary trades of a practical business community are +carried on in this village; and a tall, taper chimney of a tannery, as +high as any church steeple, smokes its pipe in the face of all the +romantic antiquities of the place. Still, the people would probably +confess that the principal source of their income is derived from +their vested interest in Sir Walter Scott's "Kenilworth," not in the +real castle walls. Take away that famous novel, and, with all the +authenticated history that remains attached to them, not one in five of +the visitors they now attract would walk around them with admiration. In +fact, they are more a monument to the genius of the great novelist than +to the memory of Elizabeth and the Earl of Leicester. If any community +ever owed a statue to the honor of a benefactor for money value +received, the Kenilworths owe one to the celebrated Scotch writer. One +might reasonably estimate that his book has been worth ten thousand +pounds a year to them for the last quarter of a century or more. + +There are observatories, barometer and anemometer stations around the +coasts of England, where rain-falls and wind-blows, tide-risings and +star-showers are registered. There are other observation-stations where +the self-registering offices of human fames and reputations are kept, +and where these are measured spontaneously. Go to Stratford and look at +the inner walls of Shakespeare's house and the record kept there, and +count the names from the four quarters of the globe written there in +homage of the great bard; go to Abbotsford, and consult the day-book of +that great memory; go to Olney, and see what manner and multitude of +names cover and re-cover the little garden summer-house in which Cowper +wrote, and you will have this self-registration of human genius and its +appreciation. So at Kenilworth, the visitors' day-book at the hotel will +show how many come from both hemispheres and all their continents to see +the scene of Sir Walter Scott's romance. + +I was favored with a bright day on the sunny edge of autumn for my +visit, when the very sky imparts a radiance to the ivied ruins of old +castles and abbeys. Kenilworth shows its successive ages and uses in the +various departments of its structure. From the ground it occupied, one +would hardly conceive it to be a fighting castle. But when you come to +look at the massive Caesar's Tower, you will be impressed with its +impregnability in the bow-and-arrow period of English warfare. Its lofty +walls hold their frontage and perpendicular lines as true and even as if +they were a last-year's structure. It is seemingly composed of several +towers connected by walls sixteen feet thick, perforated by window-holes +which look like so many archways. It is built or faced with hewn red +sandstone, and is a perfect specimen of mason-work. The Insurgent Barons +stood a siege of six months against Henry III. behind these strong +walls, and in the reign of Edward I. Roger Mortimer, Earl of March, +presided over a grand tournament beneath them. + +In a later century the castle passed into the hands of John o' Gaunt, +who added the noble structure called the Lancaster Buildings, or +banqueting-hall. This must have been one of the finest specimens of +architecture of his time in England, and, in ruins, presents the +graceful proportions and embellishments of its structure. Under the +_regime_ of that celebrated nobleman the castle began to put on a +civilian dress over its coat of mail, and to echo with the music and +mirth of dancing and feasting, instead of the clangor of arms. + +But Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, completed the transformation into +a residential palace. He not only added the wing called the Leicester +Buildings, but he renovated and embellished all the old portions of the +huge pile. He erected an ante-castle, or a great gate house, which is a +noble structure in itself. Never did a subject build, and rebuild, and +embellish on such a scale as he did to receive his sovereign. + +Three times Elizabeth was his guest. Her last visit was in July, +1575, and lasted seventeen days. Of the festivities and princely +entertainments he prepared for her on this occasion Sir Walter Scott +has written with all that natural enthusiasm and predilection with +which, perhaps, above all other English novelists, he dilated upon such +a subject. His graphic descriptions of these scenes are so familiar to +the million that I will not venture to go behind his brilliant fictions +in search of actual historical facts of duller interest. The day of such +favorites has gone by, like the beauty and glory of this once gorgeous +fabric. The sun of Christian morality and civilization has risen to a +purer flood of light, and such broad-faced gallantries would now +be looked out of countenance in high places.... + +The facing of the massive and lofty Caesar's Tower must be nearly three +centuries old, and it is wonderfully perfect. The perpendicular lines +from base to battlement are as straight as if the walls were run in a +mould; the eye cannot detect a deflection of a hair's breadth, nor has +time been able to eat into the smooth and even surface. I noticed, +however, that "the brave old ivy green," which braids such bandages for +the wounds made by time and human violence in abbeys and castles, had +wound around the front of this huge tower such a thick spread that it +had deadened the skin of the wall and was eating into the solid body of +it like a caustic blister. There were men at work on tall ladders, +removing this thick green bandage and letting the sun in upon the stone, +which had not seen its light for years. + +The Gate House is in excellent preservation, and is occupied by a +tenant of the Earl of Clarendon. The towers are supported by old +pear-trees that clasp their long arms around the stone-work and hug it +so tightly that you may see their impress in the wall. It is a pleasant +sight, which a poet might make something of, to see them hanging their +clusters of luscious fruit up and down, as if, like the idea expressed +in Solomon's Song, they were staying the venerable building with apples +and cheering delicacies. Indeed, for its historical associations, as +well as for the architectural character disclosed in its picturesque +ruins, Kenilworth, perhaps, stands at the very head of all old English +castles as an object of popular interest. If a self-registering +apparatus could be put in operation at the gate opening to it, which +would number and record the human feet, just as some instruments +register the rain-drops that fall, doubtless no other castle in England +would show such a census of visitors as this. + +Warwick Castle! England and all who speak its language owe the +successive inheritors of this great living pile of buildings more than +they have ever acknowledged; for it is really the only baronial castle +that has survived the destruction or decay of all the other monuments +of the feudal ages of the same order. We should not know what they were +in their day and generation were it not for this. It helps our fancy +to fill up the vast breaks in the walls of Kenilworth, Dudley, and +Chepstow; to reconstruct their banqueting-halls, their drawing-rooms, +galleries, crypts, and kitchens, and to reproduce them entire in their +first and fullest grandeur. By the light of Warwick we can not only +rebuild and roof the broken walls of these old castles, but bring into +the vista of the imagination their interior embellishments, their +carved cornices and wainscoting, their luxurious furniture, tapestry, +paintings, and other works of art. Thus, Warwick represents to us in +its living being and form of to-day the hundreds of castles that were +planted over the island in the first century after the Conquest. Schamyl +in his native costume and dignity could not represent better at St. +Petersburg the leaders of the Circassian race and country than does this +grand home and fortress of the Warwicks the embattled citadels of the +old English knights. + +Warwick Castle, the fortress of one of the stoutest and grimmest of the +old English fighting knights, did not put on the armor of nature to +help out its own. It did not take advantage of perpendicular rocks or +river-sides like Stirling, Edinburgh, or Chepstow. At first thought one +might fancy the founders of it selected the location more for fishing +than fighting. And now, in these quiet sunny days of peace, with its +venerable mane of cedar-trees, it looks like a grand old lion lying down +with its paw tenderly over a tired lamb. Or, it basks its broad side on +the bank of the Avon, which photographs its walls and towers and turrets +every bright day in the centuries. The castle is all intact and entire, +with no part clean gone or going to ruin. Inside and out, from end to +end, it is the harmonious growth of many ages, and registers them +in distinctive illustrations. It shows what can be done by a dozen +generations of wealthy men, inheriting an estate that doubles in income +every half-century. Here each branch of the wide-spreading family tree +has hung in festooned clusters the foliage of its life, genius, and +taste. Each has contributed its contingent to the magnificent whole to +be handed down to a posterity which should cherish and adorn the +heirloom of illustrious ancestors, and send it down the line of the +future with added wealth and beauty. + +With such an anchorage to moor a family name and estate to, there is no +wonder that both should attach their being, life, and treasures to it +with a proud ambition of perpetuity. The name holds on as everlastingly +as the estate. For the poorest man on earth must have some distant +relation, and the richest man's son would take the name of the twentieth +cousin to inherit the title and castle of Warwick. However thin and +attenuated may be the line of blood relationship between these families, +the favored heir to this baronial rank and wealth gathers within his +coronet all the memories and distinctions and even relationships of his +predecessors all the way back to the Conquest. He is the heir of all of +them; Saxon, Dane, and Norman converge into his _status_ and blend in +his being.... + +The great body of the castle itself, viewed detached from its grand +surrounding walls and towers, presents no very salient features. It is +a long range of buildings, with a straight front on the river. It never +had the imposing or varied frontage of Dudley Castle in its day, or the +palace halls that flanked the great tower of Kenilworth. But in its +large straight suite of lofty apartments you have a museum of objects +illustrating the tastes, habits, fashions, luxuries, and arts of all the +ages and generations which those massive walls have seen. Passing from +end to end, you may gauge English history for seven centuries with an +observing glance through these objects. Here the white-winged dove of +Peace has made her nest in the rusty and battered helmet of grim-visaged +war. + +On entering the Great Hall one is deeply impressed with its capacious +faculty of hospitable entertainment. Truly, if tables were ever spread +from end to end, a regiment of guests must have sat down to the banquet. +It is sixty-two feet in length by forty in breadth, and the roofage of +it is lofty and done in elaborate Gothic, rich in carving and other +ornament. Here are the coronets and shields of all the earls back to +Henry de Newburgh, who seem to look down upon the company below through +their cognizances, as if represented in and countenancing all the +generous hospitalities their living heir is disposed to give. The walls +are wainscoted with the brave old English oak, far advanced in its +seeming transformation into ebony. All you ever read in romance or +veritable history about walls hung with armor of crusaders and other +knightly raiders, interspersed with spoils of the chase, is here +realized in full; and you see that even Sir Walter Scott has not +exaggerated the fact in this respect. Conspicuous on the genealogical +tree of these weapons and outfittings for war is the helmet usually +worn, says the loyal guide-book, by the usurper Cromwell. Here, too, is +the doublet in which Lord Brooke was killed at Lichfield, in 1643. + +Three great Gothic windows are set out in deep recesses, as if to +embrace and welcome the first and last light of the day, and to soften +and diffuse it, a tinted smile, over the spacious apartment and its +embellishments. But if the outside world smiles inward through these +great windows so graciously, their outward vision opens upon a scene of +exquisite beauty, which few can be found to equal. Here a vista deploys +before the view full of all the attractions that nature and art can give +to a landscape. What a pier-glass is to the richest drawing-room, the +gentle and classic Avon is to this variegated scenery, as a portion of +it, and as a reflecting medium of all its other features. It meanders +through the landscape as a limpid hem to lawn, field, grove, garden, and +forest, now flashing a silver radiance, now one of gold, upon the robe +it adorns, just as the sun's rays vary in their fall and flood. Right +before the face and eyes of the castle, the river forms a great brooch +of emerald, or a little green island, which may be taken for its coat +of arms, or _cognizance_, much older and nobler than any hung up in +the Great Hall. Then the soft and level river, looking half asleep, or +checking its flow in the presence of these human antiquities, just below +them arises and stands on its feet, showing a stature one hundred feet +high in a cascade that sings a kind of lullaby to the by-gone ages whose +spirits haunt the castle. + +It was in these grounds that, in 1846, I saw for the first time a real +cedar of Lebanon, and I never shall forget the impression it made upon +me. Here they stood, grand and venerable, with their long low arms +extended as if pronouncing "a benediction after prayer" upon the green +lawn that mirrored their august entourage. Here they stood, singing the +same old song they sang to David on Mount Lebanon. It was a mere fancy; +but I listened to the soughing murmur with the thought that they were +reciting to each other some of his best psalms of praise and +thanksgiving. + +From the Great Hall you have a vista of state rooms on one side, and +private or family rooms on the other, extending in a straight line for +three hundred and thirty-three feet. All these apartments, large and +small, are adorned and enriched with specimens of high art and high +labor, collected by all the families that have owned and occupied the +estate. In some respects each room, if not the museum, is the mirror, of +its age. Armor and articles of luxurious or antique furniture divide +with pictures of the same dates the admiration of the visitor. Here is +the celebrated painting of Charles I. by Vandyke, for which Sir Joshua +Reynolds offered to pay five hundred guineas in his time. How much it +would bring under the hammer to-day those who know the existing _furore_ +for the old masters may easily estimate. And all the old masters are +here, represented each in several of the pictures that made their fame. +In fact, a national gallery of paintings, of creditable number and +variety, might be filled from the treasures of art exhibited in these +splendid apartments. Here figure Rubens, Rembrandt, Vandyke, Salvator +Rosa, Guido, Murillo, David, and other great artists of different ages, +schools, and countries. + +Then, as the framework of all these pictures, you see the artistry of +the chisel, or carved work in wood and stone of contemporary schools in +that department. Then the garnered treasures collected by these various +branches of the family, purchased in different centuries and countries, +are arranged in happy taste and harmony with the pictorial adornments. +Wardrobes, cabinets, tables, and all the articles of luxurious furniture +found in palaces, English or Continental, modern or ancient, are here in +all their variety and curious workmanship. + +The "Kenilworth Buffet," a work which attracted so much admiration in +the Great Exhibition of 1851, is a masterpiece of design and execution. +It is Kenilworth and its romantic history, with the principal acts and +actors of its Elizabethan drama, carved in oak from a tree that stood a +green, tall sentinel of nature at the time to witness the festive +scenes. Even Elizabeth's meeting with Amy Robsart, and her interview +with Leicester after the exposure of his faithlessness, are done to the +life by the carver's chisel. + +Two objects connected with Warwick Castle every one, young or old, who +visits it, will remember perhaps most distinctively. They are the +"Guy's porridge-pot" and the great marble Vase. Both are of prodigious +capacity, the very Gog and Magog of all hollow-ware. The Irishman who +called the donkey the father of all rabbits would call this large +porridge-pot the father of all kettles. Its history cannot be got out +of it by the grave and solemn thumpings that the old woman gives its +massive sides. So it is ascribed to the great Guy's time and to his +personal use. As ornithologists deduce the size and habits of some +prehistoric bird by a single foot-track in petrified clay, so the size, +strength, and other capacities of that legendary giant are deduced from +the size of this remarkable pot. The analogy might seem reasonable to +many simple-minded people. Surely no man could be less than eight feet +and a half high who needed such a kettle for cooking for himself and +family, even if his children were nearly as large as himself. And this +is the size accorded to that prehistoric hero. He was one of those +amphibious beings who, like King Arthur, have lived in the misty +border-land of history, half substance and half shadow, but projecting +a full human outline upon the spectrum of by-gone centuries. + +The history of the Great Vase is more ancient and uncertain still. It is +of white marble, executed in the purest Grecian order of conception and +art. It is truly a mighty goblet, with two handles of intertwisted +vine-branches and wreathed and crowned with the tendrils, leaves, and +clusters of the vineyard. It was fished up from the bottom of a lake +near Tivoli by the British ambassador then at Naples, from whom it +passed into the hands of the father of the present earl, who conveyed it +to England and placed it in its present position. + +The high and solid walls that enclose the castle and their great towers +impress you with the realities of the ages they represent. Erected +before gunpowder had been brought into the field of battle, they still +look as if the builders anticipated its introduction and power, and they +would stand a heavy battering now, old as they are, by common cannon. In +a word, Warwick Castle is a structure which must grow more and more +interesting from decade to decade. It is the only feudal palace left +intact in England. It was ranked among the very best of them when they +were all alive and strong over the land. It is associated with a name +that stands among the first in the Norman aristocracy. Its location in +itself is deeply interesting. Shakespeare breathed an inspiration upon +the little Avon that laves its foundations, and gave to its name an +immortality more vital and beautiful than the Tiber's. All these aspects +and associations are becoming more and more widely appreciated; and the +footfall of visitors from distant countries crossing the threshold will +grow more and more frequent as the readers of English history and +romance increase in both hemispheres. + + + + +WINDSOR FOREST AND CASTLE. + +ANONYMOUS. + + [It is to the author of "English Forests and Forest-Trees," who + fails to give his name on the title-page of a work whose + authorship is amply worthy of acknowledgment, that we owe our + present selection. Among the various historic forests of + England, that of Windsor ranks high, and the adjoining castle + was the seat of many interesting episodes of English history. + The selection we give is mainly confined to the scenery and + traditions of the forest.] + + +Windsor forest and castle are dear to all Englishmen. Few palaces have +grouped around them so many associations, both legendary, historical, +and poetical, from the time of Arthur and the knights of his Round Table +to those of the royal house of Hanover. The castle has been the abode of +royalty from the time of the Saxon kings. It was while King John lived +at Windsor that the barons obtained from him the Magna Charta. Cromwell +has held his courts within its walls, and Charles I. lies buried in its +chapel. A Scottish king has been a captive here, and here have been +celebrated some of the most splendid pageants and courtly ceremonies +recorded in history. The forest, though it can scarcely be said now to +exist, has also some "legends of woe and dread," and other associations. + +The forest was once of enormous extent, comprehending a circumference +of one hundred and twenty miles.... In the lapse of time, however, +it dwindled away; for we find that in the reign of James I. its +circumference was estimated by Norden at only seventy-seven miles and a +half, exclusive of the liberties extending into Bucks. At this period +there were fifteen walks within it, each under the charge of a head +keeper, and the whole contained upward of three thousand head of deer. +This extent was somewhat diminished in later years; for in a subsequent +map, by Roque, the circuit is given as fifty-six miles. + +In the year 1813 an act of Parliament was passed for its enclosure. The +portion which had been previously enclosed, known as Windsor Great Park, +was of small extent compared with the whole range of the forest. The +area of the park was less than four thousand acres, of which two +thousand were under cultivation; while the open unenclosed forest +amounted to twenty-four thousand acres. Scarce a vestige of the forest +is now left, except what has been apportioned to the crown, adjoining +the Great Park. + +The view from Windsor Castle is one of the finest in England. A vast +panorama extending as far as the eye can reach. All flat,--the faint +blue horizontal line, scarcely discernible from the clouds, so distant +is it, as straight as the boundary of a calm sea,--and yet how +infinitely varied! What would such an expanse of land be in any other +country? A mere drugget compared to this Field of Cloth of Gold. A +lovely river, to which the hackneyed illustration of molten gold might +well be applied from the silent roll of its glittering waters, as if +impeded by their own rich weight; now flashing like a strip of the sun's +self through broad meadows whose green is scarcely less dazzling, now +lost in shady nooks of wonderful and refreshing coolness. Trees of +every sort and growth, singly, in clumps, in rows, everywhere. Little +bright-looking villages, with their white spires or gray towers, dotted +all over the scene. Everything is in perfect harmony. The gentle murmur +of human life, reaching us from the distance, is no more injurious to +the effect than the rustling of trees or the chirping of the birds.... + +Our first homage is to Nature. The influence of the beautiful is +predominant over all others. We think only of the scene before us, and +must thoroughly enjoy it for its own sake before we can bestow a thought +on a single association connected with it. We forget all about the walls +we are standing on. We do not even reflect that the golden river is our +old friend the Thames. It never strikes us that that expanse of green +out there to the right, so thickly planted with massive elms and +chestnuts, is a very celebrated place called the Home Park of Windsor, +or indeed that it is called anything else--or anything at all. We are +(metaphorically speaking) rolling in that grass with a republican +contempt for its patrician connections, and picking out the best of +those trees with an ungrateful heedlessness of what royal hand may have +planted them there for our gratification. + + [The author proceeds to describe some notable places + surrounding. To the left, across the river, is Eton College; + immediately facing is the town of Slough, where the Herschells + made their residence; to the right is Stoke Poges, the scene of + Gray's "Elegy"; to the extreme right is Runnymede, where King + John signed Magna Charta; and nearer at hand is the village of + Datchet, the scene of Falstaff's ducking, in the "Merry Wives + of Windsor."] + +And now, reader, it is high time we turned our attention to the forest +side of the question. + +By the forest we must be distinctly understood to mean, not merely the +dense collection of wood to which the term is usually applied, but that +aspect of nature generally wherein the wild and unchecked growth of +forest-trees forms the principal feature. The so-called Windsor Forest +has almost entirely disappeared, a few insignificant plantations alone +retaining the title. The Great Park, however,--indeed, the whole country +south of the castle for several miles,--presents every variety of the +class of scenery which it is our business to treat. + +Our way into the Great Park lies along the celebrated avenue known as +the Long Walk. This is no less than three miles in length, extending in +a perfectly straight line from the castle, in a direction almost due +south, to Snow Hill, a natural elevation surmounted by an equestrian +statue of George III. + +We have two good miles before us ere we can meet with an outlet that +will enable us to ramble among the trees to our hearts' content. +The Long Walk, however, is a very fine sight, in spite of its dire +straightness. A splendid road, three miles long, bordered by double +rows of giant elms, is not without interest. The regularity is not +unpleasing, because not overstrained. The trees, once pressed into the +service of order, have been allowed to grow their own way, instead of +being clipped and cropped as they would be under similar circumstances +in some countries,--France, to wit. Here we have Nature with her hair +combed merely; there we should find her with her head shaved. The +monotony of the perspective is nicely broken by the undulations of +the ground. It is pleasant to turn occasionally into the aisle-like +sidewalks, and look up at the cool green roof of trellis-work formed +by the interlacing trees. Besides, the castle, as we look back at it +receding from us, begins to recover something of its original character: +Edward III. and William of Wykeham are resuming the ascendancy. The +gradually deepening stillness, too, is exactly what we could wish. The +rooks, hovering over us eternally, afford very agreeable companionship; +and we consider their quiet, though apparently cynical, observations +very much to the purpose indeed. + +Ere we proceed far on our way, an object of once agreeable, now +melancholy, interest attracts our attention. This is the famous Herne's +Oak, which stands in the enclosure known as the Little Park, to our +left. It is contended by some authorities that the veritable Herne's Oak +was cut down by some orders of George III., delivered in a mistake as to +its identity. Others, with a natural reluctance to believe so sagacious +a monarch capable of such a blunder, maintain that the rumor originated +in the fact of his majesty causing some similar trees in the vicinity to +be cleared away, that the oak itself might occupy a more prominent +position. + +The agreeable interest attached to this famous tree is well known. It is +supposed (though there has been much controversy as to its authenticity) +to be the identical tree immortalized by the mention of Shakespeare as +the scene of Herne the Hunter's unamiable exploits: + + "There is an old tale goes, that Herne the Hunter, + Sometime a keeper here in Windsor forest, + Doth all the winter time, at still midnight, + Walk round about an oak, with great ragged horns; + And then he blasts the tree, and takes the cattle; + And makes milch-kine yield blood, and shakes a chain + In a most hideous and dreadful manner." + +The interest we have alluded to of a melancholy description is of a more +recent date, and is derived from the tantalizing fact that _Herne's Oak +is no longer visible to the public_, the portion of the park in which it +stands having been recently enclosed as an addition to the private +grounds of the Duchess of Kent's residence at Frogmore. + +We tried hard once to tempt an inflexible gate-keeper to let us +in,--just to have a look at it. It was of no use. We assured him we +should do no harm, and (as the most delicate means of suggesting a +recompense) offered to pay the expenses of any trustworthy person he +might choose to send to look after us. He was adamant,--no strangers +were allowed in. We appealed to his feelings,--like Rolla and the +sentinel,--asked him (in terms we considered adapted to his mental +cultivation) how he would like to be a poet wrecked in sight of +inspiration. His expressed opinion was that we were making fun of him. + +He was not, however, a bad fellow; his sternness was a matter of duty, +not constitution. He was touched by our disappointment, and sought to +console us by the assurance that we had lost nothing; "that there was +nothing to be seen in the tree; that it was about the ugliest he ever +see in the whole park; and as for Herne the Hunter, it was nothing but a +pack of old woman's rubbage." + +However, neither our niggardly exclusion from the sight of the old tree, +nor the materialist consolations of our friend the gate-keeper, can +efface the impression on our mind of the grim forest-fiend haunting the +old park like a family spectre. + +There is no satisfactory legend of Herne the Hunter. Vague tradition +states that he was a keeper in the forest in Elizabeth's reign, who, +having committed some crime which occasioned his dismissal, hung himself +on the tree. This is a view of the case we cannot think of taking. The +idea of a discharged flunkey committing suicide on a mere sentimental +consideration of wages and perquisites is a sorry foundation for the +magnificent "demon business" indicated by Shakespeare. Our notion is of +something far more weird and fiendish,--a story of fearful crimes and +unhallowed compacts; something in the nightmare German ballad style.... + +It is a long lane that has no turning; we mean the Long Walk is. Passing +through a handsome pair of lodge-gates, we emerge fairly into the Great +Park. + +Now we are in the Forest. + +When we inform our reader that our first impulse is to run as fast as +our legs can carry us, he will doubtless require an explanation. + +Assuming that it is a fine day we have chosen for our ramble, in the +first place we are surrounded by a bright and rarefied atmosphere, whose +inhalation, to quote a lamented writer, is a process something between +breathing and drinking. The scene has changed, as if by magic. The +barrier we have just passed would seem to be a fairy circle, shutting +out all matters pertaining to human life. Castles and towns are things +we must have dreamt of somewhere long ago. We are in a vast solitude of +grassy mounds and giant trees, in all their native luxuriance, spreading +as far as the eye can reach. The stillness would be appalling but for +the clamor of a million birds. We have heard of a native of Piccadilly, +who, spending a night in the country for the only time in his life, +declared that he had been unable to sleep, the confounded birds made +such a noise. If we had a grudge against that native (and doubtless if +we knew him we should not be long in forming one, as we certainly should +not like him), and had it in our power to punish him in our own way, we +should condemn him to sling a hammock on one of the trees in Windsor +Great Park, and roost there for a week; for the birds in Windsor Great +Park are the noisiest in the world. + +These are the combined causes of an effect similar to that of +laughing-gas, or something to drink, leading to gymnastic results such +as we have indicated.... + +The rabbits of Windsor Park, by the way, are endowed with matchless +impudence. They treat you with a familiarity which borders too close on +contempt to be gratifying. They will scarcely get out of your way. They +sit comfortably before their holes, lazily watching you go past with as +much indifference as a country gentleman seated at his own door would +the passing of a travelling tinker. The same may be said of the game +generally with which the park abounds. The flocks of deer will go on +browsing comfortably till you almost tread on their little black noses. +Then there will be a short listless consultation as to whether you are +a person to be tolerated or not. The leader will probably give a +verdict in the negative, and they turn slowly round, all showing their +powder-puffs of tails at once in the most insulting manner, and strut a +few yards off, when they recommence their endless meal, merely regarding +you as something of a bore and a nuisance, but in no serious light +whatever. + +Once we started a pheasant; he would not even pay us the compliment of +flying. We ran at him violently; he ran a few yards off, and commenced +pecking at something. We threw a stone at him; he ducked his head a +little,--no more. We waved our hands and cried "Shoo!" in the most +approved manner, demonstrations to which he would not condescend to pay +the slightest attention. We ran towards him again; he ran away from us a +short distance, and then before our very eyes roosted on an old rail +with unmistakable intentions of going to sleep. This was insufferable. +We could almost have knocked him down with our walking stick, and were +sufficiently exasperated to think of trying, when the appearance of a +game-keeper on the horizon suddenly made us look in an opposite +direction, and commence a careful search for botanical specimens. + +This tameness, which is shocking to us, is very different from the +trusting innocence of Alexander Selkirk's happy family, who were + + "So unaccustomed to man." + +It is the insolent security of a privileged class. They know you are +not allowed to shoot them, and the airs they give themselves are +intolerable.... + +Descending a cool valley densely wooded with magnificent Scotch firs, +we come to a bridge crossing a placid-looking lake of considerable +dimensions. The stranger generally thinks this is Virginia Water; he is +a little disappointed,--thinks it hardly merits the reputation it has +earned for beauty,--but, on the whole, is not dissatisfied. He thinks it +is probably a little better farther on, on one side or the other; he +wonders which he ought to try; he is, however, loath to explore either +till he has ascertained whether there is really anything to be seen or +not (for your speculative sight-seer is a cautious fellow, and has a +great objection to being taken in). Seeing a lodge-gate a little ahead, +he proceeds there to ask whether there is any more of Virginia Water +than what he has just left; not but what that was very delightful,--he +merely wishes to know. The lodge-keeper laughs sardonically, and, +good-naturedly blessing the stranger's eyes, tells him that is none of +Virginia Water; then, with a look of contemptuous pity, seizes him by +the arm, leads him impatiently to a little gate opening on to a thick +wood, thrusts him in, and, bidding him follow his nose, returns to the +lodge, satisfied at having nothing more to do with a person of _that_ +scale of intelligence. + +Our plan is to follow the lodge-keeper's precept and the stranger's +example. We pass through the little gate, and after a few seconds' walk +through the wood, come unexpectedly on a very novel and delightful +scene, of which we cannot speak in higher terms than to say that it +fully merits the florid eulogium of the original edition of the _Royal +Windsor Guide_, already quoted. + +We are standing on the brink of an immense lake, whose extent alone is +sufficient to do away with all ideas of its artificial origin. This is +completely enclosed by densely wooded acclivities, rising almost from +the water's edge, one above the other, in agreeable perspective, so as +to exclude the slightest glimpse of the world beyond. On one side of the +lake a broad pathway of dark-green grass, yielding like a rich Turkey +carpet to the tread, extends from one end of the lake to the other. +Immediately on the left, the shelving woods begin to rise. There is not +a sound to be heard except a gentle murmur of the trees, that never +ceases. + +The scene is not very romantic; but there is no earthly reason why it +should be; it is very peaceful and very charming, suggesting all sorts +of pleasant quiet-life recreations. The lake would not have suited +Wordsworth, but it would have been the very thing for Izaak Walton. You +could not get much poetry out of the woods, but you could get capital +picnics in them; and there be those who despise poetry, but where is the +ascetic who would turn up his nose at a picnic? + +As we proceed, the view of the lake gets more extensive. The cool breeze +from it, and the soft springy turf scarcely six inches above the level +of the water, make the walk very agreeable. One feature is particularly +worth mentioning; some of the largest and most beautiful specimens of +that most dainty of English trees, the silvery birch, are to be seen +gracefully dipping their light branches into the lake. At length the +pathway takes a turn up into the wood, from which we soon emerge into an +open space, where we come across an object that really startles us,--a +classic temple in ruins! + +These ruins are of course not genuine. At a second glance we recognize +the masquerading tendencies of George IV., as developed by Sir Jeffrey +Wyattville. There is, however, no objection to the exercise of such a +whim in what was never intended to serve any other purpose than that of +a gentleman's pleasure-ground. Moreover, the ruin has some claims to be +considered as a work of art of no mean merit. The design is admirable, +and the semblance of decay is wonderfully imitated. The broken columns +seem to have lain there for ages. Huge trees obtrude themselves between +the shattered fragments as if they had grown there since the building +had fallen to ruin. Some portions are completely hidden by masses of ivy +and lichen, apparently the growth of centuries. Altogether the thing is +admirably "got up," and makes us think what a stage-manager Sir Jeffrey +Wyattville would have made for arranging a Christmas spectacle. + +We should remark that the materials, consisting of columns of red and +gray granite and porphyry, and several marble statues, are of veritable +antiquity. The greater portion were transferred from the outer court of +the British Museum, the remainder being from the Elgin collection. The +reason of the building being called the Temple of Augustus was probably +because Sir Jeffrey thought that name would do for it quite as well as +any other, in which case we quite agree with him.... + +The Great Park is rich in varied woodland scenery. There are not only +fine thriving oaks, throwing out their gigantic arms, but sturdy +pollards without end, which seem to have set time and season and decay +at defiance. They are gnarled and knotted, twisted and distorted, yet +at the same time sound and vigorous at heart. The beeches, too, may be +seen of all ages and sizes, picturesque and beautiful in their decay, +but while in full vigor, and dotted with their sparkling leaves, they +are the richest ornament of the wood.... The size of some of the trees +is enormous; one beech-tree, near Sawyer's Lodge, measuring, at six feet +from the ground, thirty-six feet round. It is now protected from injury, +and nature seems to be doing her best towards repairing the damage which +its exposure to the attacks of man and beast has produced. It must once +have been almost hollow, but the vacuum has been nearly filled up. One +might almost fancy that liquid wood, which had afterwards hardened, +had been poured into the tree. There is no bark on this extraneous +substance; but the surface is smooth, hard, and without any appearance +of decay. + + + + +THE ASPECT OF LONDON. + +HIPPOLYTE TAINE. + + [Taine's "English Literature" has in itself added a new work to + the world's best literature of far more value than many of + those with which it deals. In his "Notes on England" he gives + us thoughtful impressions of the country itself, from which we + select his pen-picture of the great city on the Thames. The + picture is not an inspiring one. He could not avoid comparing + in his mind this fog-haunted capital with the brighter aspect + of his native Paris.] + + +Sunday in London in the rain; the shops are shut, the streets are almost +deserted; the aspect is that of an immense and a well-ordered cemetery. +The few passers-by under their umbrellas in the desert of squares and +streets have the look of uneasy spirits who have risen from their +graves; it is appalling. + +I had no conception of such a spectacle, which is said to be frequent in +London. The rain is small, compact, pitiless; looking at it, one can see +no reason why it should not continue to the end of all things. One's +feet churn water; there is water everywhere,--filthy water impregnated +with an odor of soot. A yellow, dense fog fills the air, sweeps down +to the ground; at thirty paces a house, a steamboat appear as spots +upon blotting-paper. After an hour's walk in the Strand especially, and +in the rest of the city, one has the spleen; one meditates suicide. +The lofty lines of fronts are of sombre brick, the exudations being +incrusted with fog and soot. Monotony and silence; yet inscriptions on +metal or marble speak and tell of the absent master, as in a large +manufactory of bone-black closed on account of a death. + +A frightful thing is the huge palace in the Strand which is called +Somerset House. Massive and heavy piece of architecture, of which the +hollows are inked, the porticoes blackened with soot, where, in the +cavity of the empty court, is a sham fountain without water, pools of +water on the pavement, long rows of closed windows,--what can they +possibly do in these catacombs? + +It seems as if the livid and sooty fog had even befouled the verdure of +the parks. But what most offends the eye are the colonnades, peristyles, +Grecian ornaments, mouldings, and wreaths of the houses all bathed in +soot. Poor antique architecture, what is it doing in such a climate? +The flutings and columns in front of the British Museum are begrimed +as if liquid mud had been poured over them. St. Paul's--a kind of +Pantheon--has two ranges of columns: the lower range is entirely black; +the upper range, recently scraped, is still white, but the white is +offensive: coal-smoke has already plastered it with its leprosy. + +These spots are melancholy, being the decay of the stone. And these nude +statues in memory of Greece! Wellington as a fighting hero, naked under +the dripping trees of the park! That hideous Nelson, stuck on his column +with a coil of rope in the form of a pig-tail, like a rat impaled on the +top of a pole! Every form, every classical idea, is contrary to nature +here. A swamp like this is a place of exile for the ark of antiquity. +When the Romans disembarked here they must have thought themselves in +Homer's hell, in the land of the Cimmerians. The vast space which, in +the south, stretches between the earth and the sky, cannot be discovered +by the eye; there is no air; there is nothing but liquid fog; in this +pale smoke objects are but fading phantoms. Nature has the look of a bad +drawing in charcoal, which some one has rubbed with his sleeve. + +I have just spent half an hour on Waterloo Bridge. The Houses of +Parliament, blurred and indistinct, appear in the distance but a +wretched pile of scaffolding; nothing is discernible, and, more +particularly, nothing is living, except a few steamboats skimming along +the river, black, smoky, unwearied insects. A Greek watching their +passengers embarking and disembarking would have thought of the Styx. He +would have found that to exist here was not to live; in fact, life here +is different from what it is in his country; the ideal has altered with +the climate. The mind quits the without to retire within itself, and +there creates a world. Here one must have a comfortable and well-ordered +home, clubs, societies, plenty of business, many religious and moral +preoccupations; above all, instead of abandoning one's self to the +influence of exterior impressions, it is necessary to extrude all the +sad promptings of unfriendly Nature, and fill up the great void wherein +melancholy and tedium would take up their abode. + + [After this gloomy image of a rainy London, and a description + of the Sunday church services, the writer proceeds in a more + complimentary vein.] + +The population numbers three millions and a quarter; that makes twelve +cities like Marseilles, ten cities like Lyons, two cities like Paris, +put together; but words upon paper are no substitutes for the sensation +of the eyes. It is necessary to take a cab several days in succession, +and proceed straight on towards the south, the north, the east, and the +west, during a whole morning, as far as the uncertain limits where +houses grow scanty and the country begins. + +Enormous, enormous,--this the word which always recurs. Moreover, all is +rich and well ordered; consequently they must think us neglected and +poor. Paris is mediocre compared with these squares, these crescents, +these circles and rows of monumental buildings of massive stone, with +porticoes, with sculptured fronts, these spacious streets. There are +sixty of them as vast as the Rue de la Paix. Assuredly Napoleon III. +demolished and rebuilt Paris only because he had lived in London. In the +Strand, in Piccadilly, in Regent Street, in the neighborhood of London +Bridge, in twenty places, there is a bustling crowd, a surging traffic, +an amount of obstruction which our busiest and most frequented boulevard +cannot parallel. Everything is on a large scale here: the clubs are +palaces; the hotels are monuments; the river is an arm of the sea; the +cabs go twice as fast; the boatmen and the omnibus conductors condense +a sentence into a word; words and gestures are economized; actions and +time are turned to the utmost possible account; the human being produces +and expends twice as much as among us. + +[Illustration: BANK OF ENGLAND] + +From London Bridge to Hampton Court are eight miles,--that is, nearly +three leagues of buildings. After the streets and quarters erected +together, as one piece, by wholesale, like a hive after a model, come +the countless pleasure retreats, cottages surrounded with verdure and +trees in all styles,--Gothic, Grecian, Byzantine, Italian, of the +Middle Age, or the Revival, with every mixture and every shade of +style,--generally in lines, or clusters of five, ten, twenty of the +same sort, apparently the handiwork of the same builder, like so many +specimens of the same vase or the same bronze. They deal in houses as we +deal in Parisian articles. What a multitude of well-to-do, comfortable, +and rich existences! One divines accumulated gains, a wealthy and +spending middle class quite different from ours, so pinched, so +straitened. The most humble, in brown brick, are pretty by dint of +tidiness; the windows sparkle like mirrors; there is nearly always a +green and flowery patch; the front is covered with ivy, honeysuckle, and +nasturtiums. + +The entire circumference of Hyde Park is covered with houses of this +sort, but finer, and those in the midst of London retain a country look. +Each stands detached in its square of turf and shrubs, has two stories +in the most perfect order and condition, a portico, a bell for the +tradespeople, a bell for the visitors, a basement for the kitchen and +the servants, with a flight of steps for the service; very few mouldings +and ornaments; no outside sun-shutters; large, clear windows which let +in plenty of light; flowers on the sills and at the portico; stables in +a mews apart, in order that their odors and sight might be kept at a +distance; all the external surface covered with white, shining, and +varnished stucco; not a speck of mud or dust; the trees, the turf, the +flowers, the servants, prepared as if for an exhibition of prize +products. + +How well one can picture the inhabitant after seeing his shell! In +the first place, it is the Teuton who loves nature, and who needs a +reminder of the country; next, it is the Englishman who wishes to be +by himself on his staircase as in his room, who could not endure the +promiscuous existence of our huge Parisian cages, and who, even in +London, plans his house as a small castle, independent and enclosed. +Besides, he is simple, and does not desire external display; on the +other hand, he is exacting in the matter of condition and comfort, and +separates his life from that of his inferiors. The number of such houses +at the Westend is astonishing. The rent is nearly five hundred pounds; +from five to seven servants are kept; the master expends from twelve to +twenty-four hundred pounds a year. There are ten of these fortunes and +these lives in England to every one in France. + +The impression is the same when visiting the parks; the taste, the area +are quite different from what is the case among us. St. James's Park is +a genuine piece of country, and of English country; huge old trees, real +meadows, a large pond peopled with ducks and water-fowl; cows and sheep, +in an enclosed space, fed on the grass, which is always fresh. There are +even sheep in the narrow green border that surrounds Westminster Abbey; +these people love the country in their hearts. It is sufficient to read +their literature from Chaucer to Shakespeare, from Thomson to Wordsworth +and Shelley, to find proofs of this. What a contrast to the Tuileries, +the Champs-Elysees, the Luxembourg! As a rule, the French garden, that +of Louis XIV., is a room or gallery in the open air, wherein to walk and +converse in company; in the English garden, such as they have invented +and propagated, one is better alone; the eyes and the mind converse with +natural things. We have arranged a park on this model in the Bois de +Boulogne; but we have committed the blunder of placing therein a group +of rocks and waterfalls; the artifice is discovered at a glance, and +offends; English eyes would have felt it. + + [A description of Regent's Park follows, with some words on the + English love of out-door exercise. Piccadilly and Hyde Park are + next mentioned.] + +Hyde Park is the largest of them all, with its small rivulet, its wide +greensward, its sheep, its shady walks, resembling a pleasure park +suddenly transported to the centre of a capital. About two o'clock the +principal alley is a riding-ground; there are ten times more gentlemen +and twenty times more ladies on horseback than in the Bois de Boulogne +on its most frequented days; little girls and boys of eight ride on +ponies by the side of their father; I have seen ample and worthy matrons +trolling along. This is one of the luxuries. Add to it that of having +servants. For instance, a family of three persons which I visited keeps +seven servants and three horses. The mother and daughter gallop in the +park daily; they often pay visits on horseback; they economize in other +things,--in theatre-going, for example; they go but seldom to the +theatre, and when they do it is to a box which has been presented to +them. This vigorous exercise appears indispensable for health; young +girls and ladies come here even when it rains.... + +From five to seven o'clock is the review of ladies' dresses. Beauty +and ornamentation abound, but taste is wanting. The colors are +outrageously crude and the forms ungraceful; crinolines too distended +and badly distended, in geometrical cones or bunched, green flounces, +embroideries, flowered dresses, quantities of floating gauze, packets +of falling or frizzed hair; crowning this display tiny embroidered and +imperceptible bonnets. The bonnets are too much adorned; the hair, too +shiny, presses closely on the temples; the small mantle or casaque +falls formless to the lower part of the back, the petticoat expands +prodigiously, and all the scaffolding badly joined, badly arranged, +variegated and labored, cries and protests with all its gaudy and +overdone colors. In the sunshine, especially, at Hampton Court the day +before yesterday, among the shopkeepers' wives, the absurdity was at +its height; there were many violet dresses, one being of a wild violet +clasped round the waist with a golden band, which would have made a +painter cry out. I said to a lady, "The toilette is more showy among you +than in France." "But my dresses come from Paris!" I carefully refrained +from replying, "But you selected them." + +Excepting only the highest class, they apparel themselves as fancy +dictates. One imagines healthy bodies, well-built, beautiful at times; +but they must be imagined. The physiognomy is often pure, but also often +sheepish. Many are simple babies, new waxen dolls, with glass eyes, +which appear entirely empty of ideas. Other faces have become ruddy, and +turned to raw beefsteak. There is a fund of folly or of brutality in +this inert flesh,--too white, or too red. Some are ugly and grotesque in +the extreme; with heron's feet, stork's necks, always having the large +front of white teeth, the projecting jaws of carnivora. As compensation, +others are beautiful in the extreme. They have angelic faces; their +eyes, of pale periwinkle, are softly deep; their complexion is that of a +flower, or an infant; their smile is divine. One of these days, about +ten o'clock in the morning, near Hyde Park Corner, I was rooted to the +spot motionless with admiration at the sight of two young ladies; the +one was sixteen, the other eighteen years old. They were in rustling +dresses of white tulle amid a cloud of muslin; tall, slender, agile, +their shape as perfect as their face, of incomparable freshness, +resembling those marvellous flowers seen in select exhibitions, the +whiteness of the lily or orchis; in addition to all that, gayety, +innocence, a superabundance of unalloyed sap and infantine expression, +of laughter, and the mien of birds; the earth did not support them. + +Many of the horsewomen are charming, so simple and so serious, without a +trace of coquetry; they come here not to be seen, but to take the air; +their manner is frank without pretension; their shake of the hand quite +loyal, almost masculine; no frippery in their attire; the small black +vest, tightened at the waist, moulds a fine shape and healthy form; to +my mind, the first duty of a young lady is to be in good health. They +manage their horses with complete ease and assurance. + +Sometimes the father or brother stops and talks business or politics +with a friend; the ladies listen and thus habituate themselves to +serious topics. These fathers and brothers, too, are a pleasant sight; +expressive and resolute faces, which bear, or have borne, the burden of +life; less exhausted than among us, less ready to smile and to execute +the tricks of politeness, but calmer and more staid, and who often +excite in the onlooker a vague impression of respect, of esteem at +least, and often of trust. Perhaps this is because I am instructed as to +their condition; yet it seems to me that mistake is difficult; whether +nobles, members of Parliament, landed proprietors, their manners and +their physiognomies are those of men accustomed to authority, and who +have wielded it. + + + + +WESTMINSTER ABBEY. + +NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE. + + [We do not class Hawthorne in usual lists of travellers, yet in + his "Our Old Home: A Series of English Sketches," he gives us + some thoughtful and interesting discussions of English scenes + and institutions which are well worth reproducing. We + accordingly select his description of London's great centre of + pilgrimage to the devout antiquarian.] + + +On a Sunday afternoon, I passed through a side-entrance in the +time-blackened wall of a place of worship, and found myself among a +congregation assembled in one of the transepts and the immediately +contiguous portion of the nave. It was a vast old edifice, spacious +enough, within the extent covered by its pillared roof and overspread by +its stone pavement, to accommodate the whole of church-going London, and +with a far wider and loftier concave than any human power of lungs could +fill with audible prayer. Oaken benches were arranged in the transept, +on one of which I seated myself, and joined, as well as I knew how, in +the sacred business that was going forward. But when it came to the +sermon, the voice of the preacher was puny, and so were his thoughts, +and both seemed impertinent at such a time and place, where he and all +of us were bodily included within a sublime act of religion, which could +be seen above and around us and felt beneath our feet. + +The structure itself was the worship of the devout men of long ago, +miraculously preserved in stone without losing an atom of its fragrance +and fervor; it was a kind of anthem-strain that they had sung and poured +out of the organ in centuries gone by; and being so grand and sweet, +the Divine benevolence had willed it to be prolonged for the behoof +of auditors unborn. I therefore came to the conclusion that, in my +individual case, it would be better and more reverent to let my eyes +wander about the edifice than to fasten them and my thoughts on the +evidently uninspired mortal who was venturing--and felt it no venture +at all--to speak here above his breath. + +The interior of Westminster Abbey (for the reader recognized it, no +doubt, the moment we entered) is built of rich brown stone; and the +whole of it--the lofty roof, the tall, clustered pillars, and the +pointed arches--appears to be in consummate repair. At all points +where decay has laid its finger the structure is clamped with iron, or +otherwise carefully protected; and being thus watched over,--whether +as a place of ancient sanctity, a noble specimen of Gothic art, or an +object of national interest and pride,--it may reasonably be expected to +survive for as many ages as have passed over it already. It was sweet to +feel its venerable quietude, its long-enduring peace, and yet to observe +how kindly and even cheerfully it received the sunshine of to-day, which +fell from the great windows into the fretted aisles and arches that laid +aside somewhat of their aged gloom to welcome it. Sunshine always seems +friendly to old abbeys, churches, and castles, kissing them, as it were, +with a more affectionate, though still reverential, familiarity than it +accords to edifices of later date. A square of golden light lay on the +sombre pavement of the nave, afar off, falling through the grand western +entrance, the folding leaves of which were wide open, and afforded +glimpses of people passing to and fro in the outer world, while we sat +dimly enveloped in the solemnity of antique devotion. + +In the south transept, separated from us by the full breadth of the +minster, there were painted glass windows, of which the uppermost +appeared to be a great orb of many-colored radiance, being, indeed, a +cluster of saints and angels whose glorified bodies formed the rays +of an aureole emanating from a cross in the midst. These windows are +modern, but combine softness with wonderful brilliancy of effect. +Through the pillars and arches I saw that the walls in that distant +region of the edifice were almost wholly incrusted with marble now grown +yellow with time; no blank, unlettered slabs, but memorials of such men +as these respective generations deemed wisest and bravest. Some of them +were commemorated merely by inscriptions on mural tablets; others by +sculptured bas-reliefs; others (once famous, but now forgotten, generals +or admirals, these) by ponderous tombs that aspired towards the roof of +the aisle, or partly curtained the immense arch of a window. + +These mountains of marble were peopled with the sisterhood of Allegory, +winged trumpeters, and classic figures in full-bottomed wigs; but it was +strange to observe how the old Abbey melted all such absurdities into +the breadth of its own grandeur, even magnifying itself by what would +elsewhere have been ridiculous. Methinks it is the test of Gothic +sublimity to overpower the ridiculous without deigning to hide it; and +these grotesque monuments of the last century answer to a similar +purpose with the grinning faces which the old architects scattered among +their most solemn conceptions.... + +It is a characteristic of this grand edifice that it permits you to +smile as freely under the roof of its central nave as if you stood +beneath the yet grander canopy of heaven. Break into laughter, if you +feel inclined, provided the vergers do not hear it echoing among the +arches. In an ordinary church you would keep your countenance for fear +of disturbing the sanctities or proprieties of the place; but you need +leave no honest and decorous portion of your human nature outside of +these benign and hospitable walls. Their mild awfulness will take care +of itself. Thus it does no harm to the general impression, when you +come to be sensible that many of the monuments are ridiculous, and +commemorate a mob of people who are mostly forgotten in their graves, +and few of whom ever deserved any better boon from posterity. You +acknowledge the force of Sir Godfrey Kneller's objection to being buried +in Westminster Abbey, because "they do bury fools there!" + +Nevertheless, these grotesque carvings of marble, that break out in +dingy-white blotches on the old freestone of the interior walls, have +come there by as natural a process as might cause mosses and ivy to +cluster about the external edifice; for they are the historical and +biographical record of each successive age, written with its own hand, +and all the truer for the inevitable mistakes, and none the less solemn +for the occasional absurdity. Though you entered the Abbey expecting to +see the tombs only of the illustrious, you are content at last to read +many names, both in literature and history, that have now lost the +reverence of mankind, if indeed they ever really possessed it. Let these +men rest in peace. Even if you miss a name or two that you hoped to find +there, they may well be spared. It matters little a few more or less, +or whether Westminster Abbey contains or lacks any one man's grave, so +long as the centuries, each with the crowd of personages that it deemed +memorable, have chosen it as their place of honored sepulture, and laid +themselves down under its pavement. The inscriptions and devices on the +walls are rich with evidences of the fluctuating tastes, fashions, +manners, opinions, prejudices, follies, wisdoms of the past; and thus +they combine into a more truthful memorial of their dead times than any +individual epitaph-maker ever meant to write. + +When the services were over, many of the audience seemed inclined to +linger in the nave or wander away among the mysterious aisles; for there +is nothing in this world so fascinating as a Gothic minster, which +always invites deeper and deeper into its heart both by vast revelations +and shadowy concealments. Through the open-work screen that divides +the nave from the chancel and choir we could discern the gleam of a +marvellous window, but were debarred from entrance into that more sacred +precinct of the Abbey by the vergers. These vigilant officials (doing +their duty all the more strenuously because no fees could be exacted +from Sunday visitors) flourished their staves and drove us towards the +grand entrance like a flock of sheep. Lingering through one of the +aisles, I happened to look down, and found my foot upon a stone +inscribed with this familiar exclamation, "O rare Ben Jonson!" and +remembered the story of stout old Ben's burial in that spot, standing +upright,--not, I presume, on account of any unseemly reluctance on his +part to lie down in the dust, like other men, but because standing-room +was all that could reasonably be demanded for a poet among the +slumberous notabilities of his age. It made me weary to think of +it!--such a prodigious length of time to keep one's feet! Apart from +the honor of the thing, it would certainly have been better for Ben +to stretch himself at ease in some country church-yard. To this day, +however, I fancy that there is a contemptuous alloy mixed up with the +admiration which the higher classes of English society profess for +their literary men. + +Another day--in truth, many other days--I sought out Poets' Corner, +and found a sign-board and pointed finger, directing the visitor to it, +on the corner house of a little lane leading towards the rear of the +Abbey. The entrance is at the southeastern end of the south transept, +and it is used, on ordinary occasions, as the only free mode of access +to the building. It is no spacious arch, but a small, lowly door, +passing through which, and pushing aside an inner screen that partly +keeps out an exceedingly chill wind, you find yourself in a dim nook +of the Abbey, with the busts of poets gazing at you from the otherwise +bare stone-work of the walls. Great poets, too; for Ben Jonson is right +behind the door, and Spenser's tablet is next, and Butler's on the same +side of the transept, and Milton's (whose bust you know at once by its +resemblance to one of his portraits, though older, more wrinkled, and +sadder than that) is close by, and a profile-medallion of Gray beneath +it. A window high aloft sheds down a dusky daylight on these and many +other sculptured marbles, now as yellow as old parchment, that cover the +three walls of the nook up to an elevation of about twenty feet above +the pavement. + +It seemed to me that I had always been familiar with the spot. Enjoying +a humble intimacy--and how much of my life had else been a dreary +solitude!--with many of its inhabitants, I could not feel myself a +stranger there. It was delightful to be among them. There was a genial +awe, mingled with a sense of kind and friendly presences about me; and I +was glad, moreover, at finding so many of them there together, in fit +companionship, mutually recognized and duly honored, all reconciled now, +whatever distant generations, whatever personal hostility or other +miserable impediment, had divided them far asunder while they lived. + +I have never felt a similar interest in any other tombstones, nor +have I ever been deeply moved by the imaginary presence of other famous +dead people. A poet's ghost is the only one that survives for his +fellow-mortals after his bones are in the dust,--and he not ghostly, +but cherishing many hearts with his own warmth in the chillest +atmosphere of life. What other fame is worth aspiring for? Or, let me +speak it more boldly, what other long-enduring fame can exist? We +neither remember nor care anything for the past, except as the poet has +made it intelligibly noble and sublime to our comprehension. The shades +of the mighty have no substance; they flit ineffectually about the +darkened stage where they performed their momentary parts, save when the +poet has thrown his own creative soul into them, and imparted a more +vivid life than ever they were able to manifest to mankind while they +dwelt in the body. And therefore--though he cunningly disguises himself +in their armor, their robes of state, or kingly purple--it is not the +statesman, the warrior, or the monarch that survives, but the despised +poet, whom they may have fed with their crumbs, and to whom they owe all +that they now are or have,--a name! + +[Illustration: WESTMINSTER ABBEY AND VICTORIA TOWER] + +In the foregoing paragraph I seem to have been betrayed into a flight +above or beyond the customary level that best agrees with me; but it +represents fairly enough the emotions with which I passed from Poets' +Corner into the chapels, which contain the sepulchres of kings and great +people. They are magnificent even now, and must have been inconceivably +so when the marble slabs and pillars wore their new polish, and the +statues retained the brilliant colors with which they were originally +painted, and the shrines their rich gilding, of which the sunlight still +shows a glimmer or a streak, though the sunbeam itself looks tarnished +with antique dust. Yet this recondite portion of the Abbey presents few +memorials of personages whom we care to remember. The shrine of Edward +the Confessor has a certain interest, because it was so long held in +religious reverence, and because the very dust that settled upon it +was formerly worth gold. The helmet and war-saddle of Henry V., worn at +Agincourt, and now suspended above his tomb, are memorable objects, but +more for Shakespeare's sake than the victor's own. Rank has been the +general passport to admission here. Noble and regal dust is as cheap as +dirt under the pavement. + +I am glad to recollect, indeed (and it is too characteristic of the +right English spirit not to be mentioned), one or two gigantic statues +of great mechanicians, who contributed largely to the material welfare +of England, sitting familiarly in their marble chairs among forgotten +kings and queens. Otherwise the quaintness of the earlier monuments, +and the antique beauty of some of them, are what chiefly gives them +value. Nevertheless, Addison is buried among the men of rank; not on the +plea of his literary fame, however, but because he was connected with +nobility by marriage, and had been a secretary of state. His gravestone +is inscribed with a resounding verse from Tickell's lines to his memory, +the only lines by which Tickell himself is now remembered, and which (as +I discovered a little while ago) he mainly filched from an obscure +versifier of somewhat earlier date. + +Returning to Poets' Corner, I looked again at the walls, and wondered +how the requisite hospitality can be shown to poets of our own and the +succeeding ages. There is hardly a foot of space left, although room +has lately been found for a bust of Southey and a full-length statue +of Campbell. At best, only a little portion of the Abbey is dedicated +to poets, literary men, musical composers, and others of the gentle +artist breed, and even into that small nook of sanctity men of other +pursuits have thought it decent to intrude themselves. Methinks the +tuneful throng, being at home here, should recollect how they were +treated in their lifetime, and turn the cold shoulder, looking askance +at nobles and official personages, however worthy of honorable +interment elsewhere. Yet it shows aptly and truly enough what portion +of the world's regard and honor has heretofore been awarded to +literary eminence in comparison with other modes of greatness,--this +dimly-lighted corner (nor even that quietly to themselves in the vast +minster), the walls of which are sheathed and hidden under marble that +has been wasted upon the illustrious obscure. + + + + +THE GARDENS AT KEW. + +JULIAN HAWTHORNE. + + [Kew Gardens stand pre-eminent among conservatories, and a + description of the treasures of botany there gathered cannot + fail to prove of interest to our readers. Julian Hawthorne, + son of the celebrated novelist, and himself a writer of rich + imaginative power, thus describes these famous gardens _con + amore_.] + + +On the banks of the Thames, about a dozen miles from London in a +southerly direction, lies the ancient town of Twickenham. In the +seventeenth century, Alexander Pope had a villa there; somewhat later, +Horace Walpole built his rococo castle at Strawberry Hill, a mile beyond +the village; and close by, to the north, is Whitton, where Sir John +Suckling lived. Within an easy hour's walk stands Hampton Court, built +by Cardinal Wolsey of haughty and unhappy memory, and approached through +the magnificent avenue of Bushey Park. Nearly as far in the opposite +direction is Richmond, with its venerable bridge and famous hill, the +latter commanding a view of rural English landscape which, as Thackeray +says, looks as if it had its hair curled, like the waiters at the inn on +its summit. A mile down the river from Richmond, and six miles from +London, extend the renowned botanical gardens of Kew. + +It will be seen, therefore, that Twickenham was not a bad place +for a suburban residence: the roads were excellent, the scenery and +associations delightful, and, by taking the train, one could be at +Waterloo railway-station, in the heart of London, in half an hour. I +lived there several years, and know something about it. + +The most agreeable expedition of all, taking one month with another, was +to Kew Gardens. In winter, it was a luxury to sit in the hot-houses; in +summer it was lovely throughout. You could travel thither by train; but +the best way was to go on foot. Passing through Twickenham town, and +through the church-yard, with its gravestones centuries old, you came +out upon the river banks. Here a broad, well-kept path followed the +enchanting windings of the stream, and skirted the lawns of pretty +villas on the left. On the right, soon appeared the green heights of the +Hill, with clumps of mighty oaks, and the gleaming ramparts and windows +of the hostelry over all. At its foot, on the river, were boat-houses +and "hards," with slender rowing-craft drawn up, or lying afloat, or +pushing off into the current with their freight of white-jerseyed +oarsmen. And now came into view the quaint, hog-backed bridge, with its +high stone parapet, and the eddies swirling against its piers; and +Richmond itself, red with brick, white with stucco, green with trees; +irregular and diversified in outline; resting snug against the base of +the Hill, and clambering some distance up its long slope. + +You crossed the bridge, lingering on the way to admire the railroad +bridge a few hundred yards farther down, reflected in the river-mirror. +Between the two bridges are a couple of islets, only a few yards in +diameter, but with trees growing on them; and hereabouts are generally +moored three or four fishing-punts, in which sit patiently, all day +long, stout, middle-aged fishermen, watching their cork floats drift +down the stream, and faithfully hoping that each new cast will bring the +long-expected fish. Often have I watched them, but the fish never came. +Probably, as Hood conjectured, "it was caught yesterday." + +The river-side walk now continues along the Richmond side of the river. +For half a mile it has the town on the right. Then the boundaries of Kew +Gardens begin, and here is the most beautiful part of the walk. Immense +trees stretch their ponderous boughs far across the path, and they droop +so low that the pendent foliage almost sweeps the water. Through the +fretted sun and shadow the path winds; every little way there is a +hospitable bench, resting on which you gaze forth upon the quiet-moving +river, with its passing wherries, its reflections of sky and cloud, and +its battlemented residences far withdrawn beyond green meadows on the +opposite side. The path is never overcrowded, even on holidays; but you +may always see lovers wandering arm in arm along it; and occasionally +there is a brisk exchange of "Thames chaff" between the occupants of the +skimming boats and the loiterers on the shore. Meanwhile, the great +domain of Kew keeps pace with you on the other hand. You are divided +from it by a wide water-ditch, backed by a high stone embankment, in +turn surmounted by an iron railing. But your eyes may stray whither feet +cannot follow; and you note the lovely groves, the beautiful green +glades and gracious vistas, the secluded paths weaving in and out, and +now and then you catch the sparkle of lofty domes of glass rising above +the trees, looking for all the world like gigantic soap-bubbles. It is +a sort of fairy-land beyond there; and long before you arrive at the +entrance your appetite for what lies within is sharp-set. + +The feast in store for you more than fulfils expectation; but at this +point, since we are journeying in imagination only, and miles count for +nothing, we will turn back, and enter the gardens from the other end. By +this route we approach its beauties gradually and in due order, and our +pleasure has opportunity to grow from promising beginnings to complete +content. The gate is small here, and the uniformed guardian simply gives +us a glance, to assure himself that we are not toughs or pickpockets. +Kew Gardens are free to the public in the afternoons, barring only the +rowdy element. The public would like to have them free in the mornings, +too; and, for aught I know, Sir Joseph Hooker may have yielded his +assent by this time. But in the seventies, when I was there, he +resisted, on the ground that it was necessary to close the gardens for +half the day, in order to allow time for study, and for keeping the +houses and plantations in order. The grounds are constantly visited by +gardeners and botanists from all parts of the country, and from the +world at large; and these persons require some measure of seclusion in +order to prosecute their labors and investigations. Practical botany is +not, as a rule, pursued at night; though, with the aid of electric +lights, no doubt it might be. + +However, we have by this time passed through some introductory +shrubbery, and have emerged into a straight, open avenue, a third +of a mile or more in length. Directly before us is an immensely high +tower,--I should think nearly two hundred feet,--painted red, black, +blue, and yellow, and fashioned to resemble a Chinese minaret or pagoda. +The central shaft is circular, and, I believe, of masonry; but it is +surrounded at short intervals by wooden balconies, and the roof is of a +concave conical shape, like a mandarin's hat. I never saw any signs of +life in this tower, and do not know what it is used for; but I have +heard that the son-in-law of Lord Capel (who first laid out Kew Gardens +some two hundred years ago) added to the importance of the place by +making it the head-quarters of English astronomy; and this tower, which +certainly would make an excellent observatory, may have had something to +do with that. + +Beyond the tower extends a broad, straight path, between well-kept +lawns, on which are planted trees of both native and foreign growth. +Towards the river, on the left, the grounds are irregular and +diversified with clumps of trees, ponds, and grassy undulations. On the +right, concealed by a hedge of foliage, is the highway between Richmond +and London. Before us, at the end of the walk, is an iron fence, +dividing the inner enclosure--the Botanical Gardens proper--from this +outer region. We reach it in due time, and, having passed the gate, are +in the immediate neighborhood of the palm-house, whose bulbous domes we +saw just now from the river bank. It is as beautiful a piece of glass +building as ever I saw, handsomely proportioned, and of noble outline. +Its great size is somewhat concealed by its charming symmetry; but when +we are within, the vast dimensions are realized. Beneath its central +dome the tallest palms rise unimpeded. You peep through long vistas of +broad green fronds and slender, bending stems: it broadens and reaches +out on every side; the strange, exotic foliage rejoices the eye, and the +warm embracing atmosphere makes you feel that you are in the tropics. + +To one who, like myself, pretends to no scientific knowledge of +botany, and who, during these temperate summers and fitful winters, +often hankers after the equator, the atmosphere of a thorough-going +conservatory has a profound fascination. At one step I pass from the +latitude of "the roaring forties" to that of Martinique or the Galapagos +Islands. I unbutton my coat, and inhale deep breaths of air laden +with the fragrance of the sun-lands. The heat is not enervating, but +stimulating; for it is redolent with the life-giving emanations of +plants that riot in luxuriance all the year round,--that know neither +spring, autumn, nor winter,--whose multitudinous boughs were made to be +the haunt of paroquets and monkeys, and amidst whose fern-enwrapped +roots lurk lizards and gliding serpents. Here thrive the dark-skinned +races of the torrid zone, innocent of clothes and civilization, seeking +excitement not in the mutations of the stock-exchange or the scandals of +society, but in trapping the alligator and shooting the jaguar and the +antelope with arrows deadly with _curari_. Into the intricate depths of +these jungles the fierce sun scarcely penetrates; the unstinted energy +of his own rays has erected a barrier against himself. Here, when the +rain falls, it falls in rushing torrents; when the wind blows, it blows +a shrieking hurricane; when the lightning flashes, the whole dome of +heaven is ablaze with passionate splendor. Here the stars poise and +smoulder close to the earth, and the moon is brighter than the sun +of hyperborean England. Sitting on a rustic bench hedged round with +tapering palm-stems, and screened by leaves two or three of which would +carpet the floor of an ordinary drawing-room, I love to think of these +things. + +The enjoyment is perhaps enhanced by an occasional peep through the +glass walls of the paradise, revealing the melancholy Britisher, close +at hand in space, but thousands of miles distant in temperature, +stalking rigidly about in overcoat and gloves. Then, too, the hot-house, +while giving the charm and beauty of the tropics, dispenses with the +inconveniences. Here are no coral-snakes to drop from the boughs down +the back of your neck; no scorpions or tarantulas to crawl up your +trousers; no apes to pelt you with cocoa-nuts; no rhinoceroses to toss +you above the tree-tops; no tigers to disembowel you and bite your head +off. On the contrary, everything is scrupulously neat and secure. The +rich loam round the roots of the plants harbors nothing noxious; the +asphalt walks that thread the thicket are clean and trustworthy. Ever +and anon you come upon a native of the place,--not a savage, painted in +red and black stripes and with his bow-string drawn to his ear, but--a +quiet and sober gardener in his shirt-sleeves, pruning a dead leaf or +bough, or raking the mould round the roots of a new importation, or +wielding a watering-pot. The place is quite still; the huge leaves hang +motionless; the noise of a pair of steps being dragged into position +resounds through the building; and, if you listen, you will at all times +hear the pleasant trickling of water in some reservoir or other. If the +terrors of the jungle are still too much for your nerves, you may be +comforted by observing that each plant wears a label, painted on wood or +enamelled on tin, describing its scientific name and habitat. It cost +money to bring them here, and the very leaves of their twigs are +numbered. + +But there are other places to be visited besides the palm-house. As we +emerge from its luxurious warmth into the cool English air, we see in +front of us a large, circular pool, with broad, shallow flights of +stone steps leading down to it, and English willows bending over it. +Water-fowl swim and quack here, and children elude their nurses and get +their feet wet. If we pass round to the other side, and then look back +to the palm-house, we behold it inverted in the smooth mirror of the +water,--a delectable spectacle. It was like a fairy palace already; +but this shadowy duplication of it quite removes it from the material +sphere, and makes it a lovely dream. Kew Gardens are full of such +felicitous devices. + +To our right are acres of yet unexplored hot-houses. We stroll towards +them along eccentric paths, amidst beds of purple rhododendrons, +geraniums, tulips, narcissuses, hyacinths, according to the season; and +everywhere is the matchless English turf, compact and flawless as +velvet, and the leafy, overshadowing English trees. But let us seek the +dwelling-place of the _Victoria Regia_. It grows, I believe, on the +Amazon, which is as near the equator as one can well get; but latitudes +are much mixed up in Kew Gardens, and this titanic water-lily is only a +few rods distant. It basks on the surface of a pool, in an atmosphere of +delicious warmth,--its leaves, each of the diameter of a dining-table, +covering the water. Amidst these great green disks blossoms the flower, +a nosegay of which would fill a farm-wagon. It is said that the native +Brazilian savages and Guianians walk about on the green leaves, and use +them as rafts or stepping-stones to cross the lagoons. As to the +flowers, though it is difficult to imagine anything more beautiful than +our own water-lilies, yet these blossoms fairly surpass them, not only +because they are a foot across, but because of the richness of the +innumerable petals, and the gorgeous cluster of purple stamens that form +the centre. And they fill the air with a fragrance vital and voluptuous. +One longs to verify in his own experience that story about walking on +the leaves,--not to speak of lopping off a flower or two to furnish +one's study withal. But the quiet gardener, in his shirt-sleeves, though +he appears to be absorbed in his work, has his eye on you; and you can +do nothing but stand and stare in admiration. + +The hottest of the hot-houses, if my memory serves me, were the +cactus-house and the fern-house. The cacti were not beautiful, but they +were grotesque and curious. There were none that I should have cared +to handle. Their uncouth shapes and awkward putting together seem +characteristic of an epoch when Nature's handiwork was much less skilful +and comely than it is now. They call up visions of forlorn wastes and +desert solitudes. Their armature of thorns and prickles appears to +indicate that they consider themselves very attractive and take unusual +pains in the way of self-protection. Perhaps the donkeys of their +time were unreasonably voracious. The modern thistle certainly +indicates increased refinement of taste on the donkeys' part. Yet this +ungainliness is occasionally redeemed by exquisite blossoms, of pale, +pure hues, cropping out directly from the substance of the plant, +without any pretence of a stem. One variety of cactus, in addition +to its prickles, had provided itself with long white hair, which, +surmounting its tall and rather meagre figure, gave it the aspect of an +aged man of repulsive character. Among the cacti, though not of them, +was a hideous plant (or it may have been a wax model of one) apparently +of the fungus family. It grew on the bare sand or rock, and both flowers +and leaves had a greasy, flesh-like surface, deeply tinted, and +ornamented with poisonous-looking blotches. It was of immense size, the +flowers being at least a foot in diameter; and if the Vale of Gehenna +has any vegetation, I should expect it to be like this. A more depraved, +diabolical plant it would be impossible to imagine. Its preposterous +attempt to imitate the form and characteristics of ordinary vegetation +made it still more revolting. The label described it as being very +rare,--which is some comfort. + +The fern-house, besides being hot, is dripping with moisture; and, +the glass being tinged with green, the effect is somewhat like being +submerged in a tropic ocean. The greenness of the ferns is vivid enough +at any rate, but this artificial light adds such intensity to it that, +after a few minutes, you are on the point of forgetting that there is +any other color besides green in the world. The ferns are arranged in +glass cases, or vivariums. There is nothing in nature to parallel their +delicate and various beauty. I call it various; but it is chiefly beauty +of form, and that, too, within comparatively narrow limitations. But +the fineness, the subtilty, the changefulness of line, are endlessly +charming; they may have other uses, but if they had been made for pure +beauty it would be use enough. They must have been of great aesthetic +value to artists, especially to architects, decorators, and chasers of +metals. The mediaeval illuminators certainly made capital out of them; +reminiscences of their shapes render lovely the ornament of innumerable +missals. As for the color, green seems to admit of more gradations than +any other hue, as any one who has observed the woods in spring knows; +and of all others it is the most grateful and wholesome to the eye. +With the rough grays and browns of the rocks it makes enchanting +combinations. But, really, this moist fern atmosphere is too languorous +and enervating; we must escape into the outer world, which, for a time, +will appear strangely red, like that which astronomers suppose to be +characteristic of the planet Mars. + +It would take too long, even in imagination, to go through all Kew +Gardens at this leisurely rate. Only, for splendor of color and +voluptuousness of perfume, there is nothing comparable to the +Conservatory, in which roses and all other bright-hued flowers are +grouped and massed in sumptuous magnificence. The rose is England's +flower: she has taken possession of it, as of so many other good things, +without troubling herself to prove any title to it; and there is nothing +in her history or character to make her worthy of it. One can understand +why Persia should claim the rose; and in our own Southern States the +houses are smothered with roses, and the air that flows from them is +sweeter than incense. I have, it is true, gathered English roses in +December; and the houses of York and Lancaster wore roses which, red and +white alike, were steeped in blood. But, if anything could justify +England in her appropriation of the rose, it would be this rose-house at +Kew, where criticism becomes impossible, and one can only gaze, and +inhale, and love. Pink, white, crimson, golden, they cluster and triumph +there: with their exquisite petals Venus and Mars might strew a couch +worthy of an Olympian marriage. If love, romance, and beauty died out of +human nature, this flower would bring them back; and so long as it stays +with us, we may be sure that life will not lose the glory that entitles +it to immortality. + +While meditating these matters, we might take a turn in the +wood-house,--by which I mean the building containing specimens, polished +and in the rough, of all kinds of woods from all parts of the world. +Their gamut of color embraces all the hues of the rainbow, and many +others; and there are specimens of wood-mosaics that are inferior in +beauty only to agate and marble. Or we may wander through the corridors +and halls of the museum, which exhibits every sort of manufacture into +which vegetable substances enter, including numberless fabrics of Indian +or savage origin. One is surprised, after examining these things, that +our little earth should be large enough to contain anything that is not +more or less botanical. + + + + +CHATSWORTH CASTLE. + +JOHN LEYLAND. + + ["The Peak of Derbyshire," concerning which Mr. Leyland has + written a highly interesting book, presents in its vicinity + numerous points of attraction. Here is the location of the + castle of "Peveril of the Peak," the hero of one of Scott's + romances. Here are two much more famous residences of the + nobility, Haddon Hall and Chatsworth, the latter of which we + have chosen as the subject of our present selection.] + + +If some have burst into rhapsody in describing the glories of +Chatsworth, one can scarcely marvel at their extravagance, for there +is in this "Palace of the Peak" and its wooded valley such a rare +conjuncture of the fascinating beauties of nature with the finest +expressions of art, that language can ill describe the things that are +indelibly impressed upon the memory. The placid Derwent, here flowing +gently between the meads on which the fallow deer are wont to herd; +the graceful slopes bestudded with many a noble tree, whose spreading +boughs cast down a wide expanse of shade; the hills on either hand +rising in varied height and contour, crowned with a rich woodland of +oak, chestnut, beech, and lime; a palace wherein every art finds most +fitting expression, and where the fruits of learning are plenteously +upstored,--small wonder, indeed, if here the imagination of many be +stirred. As we approach the house from Baslow, crossing the Barbrook, +which rises in the heights of East Moor, we enter the great park, +and, passing the fruit and vegetable gardens on the right, its varied +beauties are gradually unfolded with entrancing effect until Chatsworth +itself is seen beyond the trees. + +The House may be viewed in its majestic proportions from several points +in the valley and on the slopes. From across the classic bridge of three +arches, which Caius Gabriel Cibber (the father of Colley Cibber) adorned +with statues, the dignity of its many-pillared facade has an imposing +effect. More varied, however, is the view from the slope of the hill to +the northward on the right bank of the river, where the later wing, +added by the sixth Duke of Devonshire, lies prominently before the +spectator, or again farther southward, where the same wing recedes in +the perspective. If one would gain a fine prospect of the whole of this +part of Derwent, and of the palatial edifice itself, there can be no +better way than to climb to the old turreted hunting-tower, which is +such a conspicuous object on the eastern hill. + +There is nothing in the regular, classic lines of Chatsworth to remind +us of that Chetel, the Saxon, who is believed to have given his name to +the place in which he dwelt. His homestead and oxgangs of land fell, as +Domesday records, to the Crown, and were given in custody to William +Peveril, who had also the stronghold at Castleton, as we have seen, +with Haddon by the Wye, and many a castle and manor besides. Nothing +now remains of these times at Chatsworth, save, perhaps, the grove of +venerable oaks, gnarled, shattered, and time-worn, upon the neighboring +hill.... + +Sir William Cavendish and his wife built the first Chatsworth House of +which we have any definite knowledge, for there is scanty record of any +mediaeval structure, and it was she who completed it some time after his +death. The extraordinary lady--something of a vixen, we may believe--who +was married to four husbands, and discomfited at any rate the last of +them, was the builder also of Hardwick Hall, one of the most celebrated +houses in England. The Chatsworth of her time was a quadrangular +building of "surprising height," as Cotton says, with an embattled top, +and massive angle, and lateral turrets strengthening its many-windowed +walls, as may be seen by a painting of it which now hangs at Chatsworth. +The third husband of "Bess of Hardwick" (Sir William St. Lo) being dead, +she married that powerful nobleman, George, Earl of Shrewsbury; and it +was during his lifetime that Chatsworth became the residence of Mary, +Queen of Scots, when she was in captivity under his charge. The unhappy +prisoner is said to have passed many of her lonesome hours in that +moated garden, called Queen Mary's bower, which was laid out on the top +of the low square tower or platform, seen by the visitor amid the trees +as he approaches the house from the bridge; and certain rooms in the +great quadrangle, though they were built long after her day, are still +traditionally said to be hers. If the scandal of the Tudor court be +true, the lovely queen and her imperious hostess did not well agree, and +the story is not hard to believe. At any rate, the bickerings of the +lady with her husband, the Earl, are matters of record, notwithstanding +that Fuller has said she "was happy in her several marriages."... + +Queen Mary was brought to Chatsworth in 1570, and was there long +afterwards. In that year Cecil visited the house to conduct certain +negotiations, and subsequently wrote that Elizabeth was willing her +rival should "take ye ayre about your howss on horsbacke, so that your +L. be in company, and not to pass from your howss above one or twoo myle +except it be on ye moores." Several times during subsequent years she +was permitted to visit Buxton, for its waters, in company with the Earl +and Countess, and it will be remembered that so well did the Earl +treat his charge at one time, that he thereby incurred suspicions of +disloyalty to Elizabeth. During the Civil Wars the house was held by +both parties. Sir John Gell occupied it for the Parliament in 1643, but, +in the December of that year, the Earl of Newcastle captured it, and +garrisoned it for the King, and Colonel Shalcross was besieged there +in 1645 by the Parliamentary forces, but the leaguer was raised after +fourteen days. + +The descendants of Sir William Cavendish, and of his celebrated wife, +were content, during these years, to preserve Chatsworth as it had been +left to them. The present quadrangular building is the work of William, +the fourth Earl and first Duke of Devonshire, who was one of those who +brought about the Revolution of 1688, and placed the Prince of Orange on +the throne. During the reign of James II., the Earl was committed to +prison, as it is quaintly said, because he led Colonel Colepepper out +of the royal presence-chamber by the nose, whereupon, after sundry +difficulties, he betook himself to his estates, and, as a chronicler of +the new order of things puts it, in order to prevent his patriotic mind +from dwelling unduly upon the woes of his country, rebuilt the south +side of Chatsworth.... + +Whatever the age possessed of skill and merit in every branch of art was +employed for the beautification of the new Chatsworth. Caius Gabriel +Cibber, the Laureate's father, with Geeraerslius, Augustine Harris, +Nost, Davis, Lanseroon, Nadauld, and others, carved the friezes, adorned +with rich foliage the door-cases, worked upon many vases and other +objects in and about the mansion, and peopled the gardens with nymphs +and goddesses. Cibber himself has left notes of some of the sums he +received, and it appears that he executed two statues in the pediments, +others, both in the round and in relief, heads of Roman emperors, +figures of dogs, sphinxes, and such-like. "For two statues as big as +life, I had 35_l._ apiece, and all charges borne, and at this rate I +shall endeavor to serve a nobleman in freestone." + + [Many others might be named who helped to give Chatsworth its + wealth of carvings, but we shall omit the catalogue of their + names.] + +So completed, as a noble Palladian quadrangle, divided externally into +sections by fluted Ionic pilasters, crested by a balustrade which is +adorned with decorative vases, and having on its principal front a fine +compartment with a sculptured pediment, Chatsworth remained, even then +one of the noblest mansions of its kind in the kingdom, until the sixth +Duke of Devonshire (ob. 1858) added to it the great northern wing, +containing the magnificent dining-room, the sculpture-gallery, the +orangery, and many other chambers, as well as a whole range of offices +in the basement. Of this wing, which is three hundred and eighty-five +feet in length, Sir Jeffrey Wyattville was the architect, and it will be +observed that he has adopted a more broken style, and a somewhat more +picturesque method, than that of Talmari, but there are many who think +that his addition detracts from the classic character and fitting +symmetry of the whole, to which, nevertheless, it must be admitted it +gives a greater aspect of grandeur and magnificence. + +We shall not here dwell at any very great length upon the many treasures +of which Chatsworth is the storehouse, for they are described after the +manner of a catalogue in several guide-books. Passing from the Porter's +lodge, the visitor, having traversed the whole length of the new wing, +arrives at the quadrangle, which is entered through the sub-hall, where +the ceiling is painted with a copy of Guido's Aurora. + +A corridor leads thence to the Great Hall, on the eastern side of the +court-yard, which is a very impressive apartment, with its floor of +black and white marble, laid down by the son of Watson, the wood-carver, +the fine staircase at its farther end, its walls painted by Verrio and +Laguerre with scenes from the life of Julius Caesar,--among others +the crossing of the Rubicon, the passage of the Adriatic, and the +assassination by Brutus,--and the great scene of Caesar's apotheosis on +the ceiling, where he goes to join the Immortals. One very noteworthy +object in it is the immense slab of Derbyshire encrinitic marble that +forms the top of its table. It also contains a great Turkish canoe which +the sultan gave to the sixth Duke. + +The south corridor, hung with pictures, leads from this hall to the +Chapel, one of the most interesting chambers in Chatsworth. Here +everything that art could do to lend enchantment to the classic interior +has been done. The lower walls are richly panelled with fragrant cedar; +above, Verrio and Laguerre have depicted the miracles of our Lord; and +on the ceiling is the "Ascension;" over the altar Verrio's "Incredulity +of St. Thomas" is regarded as his masterpiece, though the work has been +attributed to Laguerre; the baldacchino at the east end is of the +choicest marbles and spars of Derbyshire, with figures of Faith and Hope +by Gibber; and there are marvellous wood-carvings, probably by Samuel +Watson and Thomas Young, but perhaps from the designs or with the +assistance of Grinling Gibbons. Passing onward, the Gallery of Sketches +is a place where not hours only, but days, might be spent with equal +pleasure and profit, a treasure-chamber in which, as it were, the great +masters of every school may be seen at their very work.... + +Entering the state apartments by the dressing-room, with its painted +ceiling of the "Mission of Mercury to Paris," its carved marble +door-cases, and its _tours de force_ in wood, by Gibbons or Watson, as +the case may be, we notice the great vista through the open doors of the +suite and pass on into the state bedroom. Here Aurora chases Night on +the ceiling; we notice the fine embossed leather on the walls, the +canopy embroidered, it is said, by "Bess of Hardwick," the coronation +chairs of George III. and Queen Charlotte, with their footstools, the +wardrobe of Louis XVI., and much else. Next we come to the state +music-room, which has similar decorations, and a strangely deceptive +painting, attributed to Verrio, of a violin on its door. From this we +enter the state drawing-room, where Phaeton drives the horses of the sun +above us, where the walls are hung with Gobelin tapestry after the +cartoons of Raffaelle, and where, in the malachite table and other +fittings, there is much to attract the attention. In the state +dining-room, which is the last of the suite, Verrio has depicted upon +the ceiling, in his best manner, the "Fates cutting the Thread of Life." +In this luxurious chamber it is hard to think the wood-carving can be by +any other than Gibbons, if we regard his characteristic manner; but +whoever he may have been, the skilful craftsman has surpassed himself in +giving the very touch of nature to these marvellous representations of +flowers, fruit, birds, and shells.... + +Passing into the new wing through the dining-room (rarely shown), which +is a grand chamber, simple in its style, but having a coved ceiling of +white and gold, and adorned with rare marbles and splendid furniture, +including tables of hornblende, porphyritic syenite, and Siberian +jasper, hung with family portraits, and having sculptures by Westmacott, +and others, we enter the sculpture-gallery, which is so well known that +we need in this article only say that it contains works by Canova, +Thorwaldsen, Schadow, Gibson, Wyatt, Westmacott, and several foreign +artists. Attention is here drawn to a magnificent vase of the Blue John +spar, which is said to be the largest in existence. Having then passed +through the orangery, which is filled with sweet-scented blossoms or +rich in ripening fruit, we leave the house and enter the gardens. + +These stand high among the attractions of Chatsworth, and with their +varied character of the natural and the artificial, their terraces and +walks, their gay parterres, their fine trees, their fountains and rocks, +their great conservatory, and their many other houses stored with +choicest exotics, they are certainly among the finest gardens in +England. + +Few things can be more pleasant, having passed through the luxurious +chambers, than to linger in these sweet-scented pathways, which are +bordered by rich clusterings of flowers, to listen to the music of the +waterfalls, and to see the dark-green trees, and the white-limbed +nymphs, reflected in the pellucid basins. We pass down a short flight of +steps, between dancing-girls after Canova, and vases of Elfdalen +porphyry, and then proceeding through the French gardens, where the +pathways are separated from the bright flower-beds by delicate creepers +turning about lofty pedestals supporting busts and vases, we reach the +great cascade, which pours from a stone water-temple, and rolls foaming +down its long flight of formal descents below, to where, amid the rugged +rocks at the bottom, it disappears underground. + +The waterworks, which are by Grillet, and belong chiefly to the old +Chatsworth, include a magnificent jet d'eau, rising from a long sheet of +water between lime-trees, to a height of about two hundred and sixty +feet, and a strange "weeping willow" of copper, which mysteriously pours +copious streams of water from every leaf and twig. This last curiosity +is in a sequestered gorge, where the rocks, placed with great labor and +ingenuity, lie about apparently in wild confusion, and reared in lofty +piles overgrown with moss and creeping plants. + +From hence we issue by a curious gate-way of rock, turning upon a +pivot, and, passing lofty cliffs over which pour deliciously cool +cascades,--being, with much more in the formal gardens, the work of Sir +Joseph Paxton,--reach the great conservatory, one of the wonders of +Chatsworth. This magnificent house is a parallelogram in form, two +hundred and seventy-six feet in length by one hundred and twenty-three +feet in breadth, which rises from its basement, by two segmental curves +on every side, the apex of the first forming the base of the second, to +a height of seventy-six feet. So great is the extent of this wonderful +building that, from its portico, which is of Grecian character, a +carriage road runs from one end to the other, on either side of which, +flourishing, as it were, in the warm air of their native climes, are +lofty pines and palms of various kinds, dragon-trees, bananas, and many +such tropical growths, with papyrus, lotus, and other water plants in +tanks, and gorgeous flowering shrubs, making the air heavy with the rare +perfumes of the East. Before descending to the lower gardens, it is well +to survey from the terraces near the conservatory, or the quaint old +hunting-tower above, the wide prospect of Chatsworth Park, with the +palatial house by the Derwent, the picturesque village of Edensor on the +slope beyond, and the hills rising, covered with umbrageous groves of +trees. Below, in the pleasure gardens, passing many bright parterres, we +reach some very fine forest-trees, and notably a magnificent Spanish +chestnut, and then, beyond the great Emperor Fountain, pass trees +planted by Her Majesty (then Princess Victoria) in 1832, as well as by +her mother, the Duchess of Kent, by Prince Albert in 1843, and by the +Emperor of Russia and the Grand Duke Michael in 1816 and 1818. The +Italian garden, with its trim flower-beds, edged with privet, its +beautiful acacia and other trees, its wall-like hedges, its long still +basin and lofty fountain, surrounded by sculptured vases, is, from its +very characteristic features, among the most attractive and interesting +of the formal portion of the Chatsworth grounds. + +We have given a brief and altogether imperfect account of the celebrated +gardens, but this is scarcely the place in which to dwell upon the rare +varieties of plants that are successfully cultivated there, or upon the +scientific skill which has enabled the finest growths of tropical climes +to flourish in Derwent Dale. Certainly no visitor who has lingered in +these enchanting places will fail to appreciate the graceful compliment +that Marshal Tallard, who was taken prisoner by Marlborough in 1704, +paid to the Duke of Devonshire on leaving the "Palace by the Peak." "My +Lord Duke," he said, "when I compute the days of my captivity in +England, I shall omit those I passed at Chatsworth." + + + + +KING ARTHUR'S LAND. + +J. YOUNG. + + [Cornwall, one of the last strongholds of the ancient Britons + in their island realm, and famous as the scene of many of the + adventures recorded of King Arthur and his Round Table Knights, + has much in itself worthy of description, and we give in the + following selection some appreciative Cornish notes.] + + +Large and merry was the party with which we sallied forth from Helstone +on a beautiful September day to visit the Lizard and Kynance Cove. The +drive itself is not especially interesting, but grand is the expanse of +sea and coast which bursts upon you when you come in sight of the Lizard +Point, which, be it remarked, is not considered to derive its name from +any fancy resemblance between its shape and that of a lizard, or from +the variegated color of the geological formation, but from the Cornish +word _Liazherd_, a headland. + +This is in every way a remarkable piece of coast,--to geologists +especially so,--as it is the _one_ district in all Great Britain in +which the serpentine formation is to be met with, whereas most of the +Cornish coast is either granite or slate. Of the peculiar beauty of the +serpentine marble one has no occasion to speak, almost every one having +seen a specimen of it in one shape or another, either as forming part of +the internal decoration of a church, or as worked up into some trinket, +as a brooch, bracelet, cross, sleeve-link, or other nicknack. It is of +two kinds, the red and the green,--they are, indeed, frequently found +intermixed,--the former somewhat resembling porphyry, and the latter +verd antique. Frequently a vein of steatite, or soapstone, introduces a +lustrous white streak into the serpentine, and occasionally it is +crossed by a beautiful purple or lilac band. + +The beauty of the serpentine district, especially at the Lizard and +Kynance Cove, can scarce be imagined by those who have not visited it, +as the perpetual friction of the waves has worn the rocks to such a +degree of smoothness as makes crag and cavern appear as if they had been +subjected to a high polish. The serpentine formation is said to begin at +the Manacles, a chain of rocks near Falmouth; but the marble of the +Manacles is not true serpentine, being a much duller green, unrelieved +by the bright red and purple tints. Serpentine is extensively employed +in the interior decorations of churches, particularly in the West of +England. It is also used for ornamental work in some of the London +shops; but any one desirous of seeing it without the trouble of a +journey to Cornwall may do so by going to the Geological Museum, Jermyn +Street, which contains beautiful specimens of serpentine both in the +architectural decorations and among the minerals collected for +exhibition. + +Among other objects of interest in the neighborhood of the Lizard is +Llandewednack Church, famed as being the last edifice in which divine +service was ever performed in Cornish. This latter fact is interesting +to the philologist, but the naturalist and the epicure may care more to +know that Asparagus Island, close to Kynance Cove, is the habitat of +that vegetable which we deservedly reckon among the choicest of our +spring delicacies. The Lizard Lighthouse and the curious piece of coast +about Cadgwith are also worth a visit. + +Our head-quarters at the time of making this excursion were at Helstone, +rather an interesting old town. One ancient custom still exists there, +in the observance of "Furry Day," supposed to be the corruption of +"Flora's Day," which festival is annually held on March 9, and is +celebrated by the principal inhabitants dancing and carrying flowers up +and down the High Street. The entertainment concludes with a ball in the +evening at the town hall or one of the inns. Harvest is gathered in with +great rejoicings in this part of the country, as in the whole West of +England. When the last sheaf is gathered in, the farmer or the principal +"hand" cries out, cutting off at the same time a handful of the corn and +holding it by the _neck_,--_i.e._, stalk,-- + +"I hab 'im! I hab 'im! I hab 'im!" + +The answer is,-- + +"What hab ye? What hab ye? What hab ye?" + +And the rejoinder,-- + +"A neck! A neck! A neck!" + +A handful, called collectively "the neck," is preserved, decorated with +flowers and ribbons, in farm-kitchen or hall of manor-house, as it may +be, until the next harvest. There can be little doubt that we see in +these old customs the traces of some long forgotten heathen observances. + +Near Helstone is the Looe Pool, the largest lake of Southwestern +England, and believed by some to be the lake described by Tennyson in +the "Morte d'Arthur," though the Rev. Mr. Hawker, in his "Footprints of +Former Men in Old Cornwall," claims the honor for the Dozmere or Dermary +Pool in North Cornwall. If the mysterious mere into which the magic +sword Excalibur was thrown by Sir Bedivere at the dying king's command, +and caught by the wondrous arm + + "Clothed in white samite, mystic, wonderful," + +was but a creature of the poet's own brain, we fancy Dozmere Pool must +have been the spot intended, the laureate being, we believe, better +acquainted with northern than with western Cornwall. But if Tennyson +founded his descriptions of the passing away of Arthur on old chronicles +or romances partly handed down by tradition, we give our vote in favor +of the Looe, which, like the lake in the idyll, has on its bank the +remains of an ancient chapel, and in which the poet's description of + + "The long wave lapping on the shingly beach," + +is completely realized. + +It is also comparatively near to Land's End; and "the land of +Lyonnesse," so often alluded to in the legends of King Arthur, is said +to be a district now submerged by the sea, but formerly lying between +Land's End and Scilly. All these are but conjectures, however. More +reliable records of the past are to be found in the traces of +charcoal-burning in the woods round the Looe, which bear evidence of the +sacrifice of their trees made by the then owners of the property to the +royal cause during the civil wars. The Cornishmen were mostly Royalists. +Though the Looe is always spoken of as a _lake_, it is, in fact, only +divided from the sea by a narrow neck of land called the Bar, which once +in about every three years is cut through with a great amount of +ceremony, the mayor of Helstone asking permission of the lord of the +manor, and presenting him, as immemorial custom enjoins, with three +half-pence. + +Porthleven, the little port or watering-place of Helstone, may be +interesting to Londoners as the shipping-place of much of the granite +used in building the Thames embankment. + +Between the Lizard and Mount's Bay is a fine rugged piece of scenery, +the grandest headland of which is called Trewarvas Point. From it can be +seen the three noble capes of Mullion, Helzephron, and the Lizard; and +at Trewarvas itself are some romantic fantastic-shaped rocks, one of +which, from some fancied resemblance to an ecclesiastic in his robes, +has obtained the name of the "Bishop." + +From Helstone we went to Falmouth, the enchanting beauty of the scenery +round which place is little known to those who have merely paid a flying +visit to that dirty seaport, and perhaps inspected the harbor. Falmouth +itself, as we suppose most persons know, is not a particularly ancient +town. Sir Walter Raleigh was the first to discover its great advantages +of situation, and it was at his recommendation that Queen Elizabeth had +the town and harbor built. But, comparatively modern as is Falmouth +itself, its neighborhood abounds in the associations of antiquity. A +gentleman's seat on the shore of the beautiful creek known as Helford +River still bears the name of Gyllindune,--_i.e._, "William's grave," +from being a traditional burial-place of Prince William, son of Henry +I., and lost in the wreck of "The White Ship." This tradition goes far +to contradict a statement we met with in a number of a popular magazine, +to the effect that while the French popular mind retains many legends of +the highest antiquity, in England popular tradition does not stretch +back to a period more remote than the civil wars of the seventeenth +century.... + +The scenery in the neighborhood of Falmouth, especially on the banks of +Helford River, is beautiful in the extreme. Rugged wildness contrasted +with fertility, tropical foliage, and an endless succession of romantic +creeks and headlands, combine to form an earthly paradise. After several +delightful weeks in this picturesque region, we proceeded northwards to +the little town of Liskeard, in East Cornwall, in which we had been +recommended to pass a couple of days, on account of its extreme quietude +and seclusion. Our surprise may be easily imagined, therefore, when we +found, on reaching this tranquil spot, that we were in the midst of +Vanity Fair. We had not known, previously to our arrival, that the +second and third of October were the grand saturnalia of the inhabitants +of Liskeard and neighborhood, the annual honey fair, or St. Matthew's +Fair. + +St. Matthew's Day, indeed, takes place a fortnight previously, but +doubtless the fair dates from a period antecedent to the alteration of +the style. The sale of honey, cattle, etc., only occupies the morning of +the first day; the afternoon, and, indeed, the night until a late hour, +and the whole of the second day, being devoted to pleasuring. Sweetmeats +of various kinds, particularly a sticky-looking kind of taffy, called, +we believe, "clidgy," seem the staple commodity of the pleasure fair. +Some of the little baskets and other ornaments made out of these +appetizing comestibles are really very elegant. Another great feature is +the "Cheap Jack," or rather "Cheap Jill," a young lady who, with +untiring lungs, sells by auction the whole day long fancy articles, of +which bead fly-traps seem by far the most numerous. Could not this +branch of female employment be suggested to those interested in +enlarging the sphere of women's occupations, as one especially +appropriate to the fair sex? The two qualifications most necessary for a +"Cheap Jack," volubility and mercantile smartness, are usually +considered, even by her detractors, as especial _fortes_ of woman. + +From the windows of our hotel we saw, as from a stage-box, the humors of +the fair, and especially did we obtain an excellent view of "The +Enchanted Temple of Science and Mystery," and similar enlivening +exhibitions. The wrestling booth was, as might be expected in this +muscularly Christian country, a favorite resort. A peep within this +gladiatorial arena, however, only revealed very mild-looking athletes, +and spectators as grave as judges, looking much more as if they were at +meeting than at a fair. It must be stated, to the credit of the Liskeard +revellers, that everything went on with the utmost decorum and order. It +shows the primitive simplicity of these west country folks that they can +still find so much pleasure in these unsophisticated amusements, but it +must be borne in mind that Liskeard is a town usually so quiet, not to +say sleepy, that it has been declared by a resident that he could fire a +gun down the street without hitting any one!... + +The Cornish folk are, as a rule, earnest in their religious convictions, +though, like other Kelts, occasionally inclined to fanaticism. All +traces of the savagery which distinguished them in the rough days of the +wreckers, have, of course, entirely passed away under the light of +advancing civilization. The Cornishmen are extremely hospitable, and +the county dainties of cider, clotted cream, potato cake, griddle or +girdle cakes (baked upon the hearth), and fish or squab pies, are +luxuries not to be despised any more than the _figgadowdy_ (Anglice, +plum-puddings). Like all the inhabitants of remote districts, the +Cornish folk are extremely clannish, and think much of the ties of +kindred, the proverbial expression "A Cornish Jack" showing how every +individual endeavors to prove himself everybody else's "Cousin John." +They are very superstitious, though whether they yet retain the old +beliefs mentioned by Polwhele, such as that of the ghost of a +ship-wrecked mariner announcing his fate by calling his own name on the +rock, and that when the wind roars boisterously it is the wicked giant +Tregeagle roaring, we cannot, of course, say. + +Many names of places bear witness to the widely scattered traditions +connected with King Arthur. One group of rocks of various sizes goes by +the name of "King Arthur's cups and saucers," a name involving a bold +anachronism, for one hardly imagines saucers to have been much used +before the introduction of tea and coffee, beverages, as every one +knows, not brought into use in this country for more than a thousand +years after the supposed period of King Arthur. + +The belief in fairies has not yet gone out in this remote shire, and we +have been in an old house said to be haunted by the ghost of a cow. + +The fauna and flora of Cornwall are much the same as in other parts of +Western England, except, of course, that some shrubs and other plants +usually found only in warm climates or in greenhouses grow here freely +out of doors. The Cornish chough among birds, and among plants the +Cornish heath, are, as the names show, indigenous here. It is strange +that the little harebell, so universal in Scotland and in most parts of +England, should be here a great rarity. We recollect how, on our +excursion to the Lizard, a lady of the neighborhood of Helstone had been +entreated by a friend unable to accompany her to bring home a harebell, +if she found any, as none grew near her own residence. + +Those travelling in a country new to them are often more struck by some +feature of the landscape different to what they have been accustomed to, +than by the grander outlines of the scenery. Who, for instance, that has +ever travelled in Western Cornwall, can fail to recollect the milestones +in the shapes of obelisks, or the substitutes for stiles formed by +narrow openings in the hedges with stepping-stones placed at equal +distances, like the ploughshares in the ordeal by fire, for foot +passengers to pass across? The little cabbage-plantation or mound of +_debris_ in the centre of a field is another characteristically Cornish +institution. Any account of Cornwall would be incomplete without some +allusion to the pilchard fishery, next to mining, the great industry of +the county. Innumerable quantities of this fish are annually salted and +exported to the Roman Catholic countries of Southern Europe to be eaten +during Lent. The popular Cornish name of the pilchard, "Fair Maid," is +said to be from the Spanish _fumado,--i.e._, "smoked fish." + + + + +THE ENGLISH LAKE DISTRICT. + +AMELIA BARR. + + [The lakes of Cumberland and Westmoreland, England, possess a + double attraction to the tourist, the one being for their + intrinsic beauty and charm, the other for their fame as the + loved haunts of Wordsworth, Coleridge, Southey, and other famed + writers. They have become a place of pilgrimage to the devotees + of poetry, and we give their story in the words of one who saw + in them this double charm.] + + +While dinner was being prepared, we strolled to the bridge which spans +the Leven,--at this point a swift, shallow stream, with an inconceivable +sparkle, scarcely deep enough to float the light skiff in whose shadow a +great trout was posing himself against the crystal water. In half an +hour we had a couple of his fellows in a napkin, deliciously browned. +It is worth while mentioning that Loch Lomond in Scotland and Lake +Windermere in England discharge by rivers of the same length and name; +but the Scotch Leven passes through a bleak, uninteresting country, +while the English Leven ripples and dances through a vale of sylvan +beauty, full of the music of many cascades. + +We hired a row-boat to take us up Windermere to the Ferry Inn; and here, +as an old Laker, I may say, have nothing to do with a _sail_; take a +row-boat, and you are safe; but all these mountain-locked waters are +subject to what is known in the district as a "bottom-wind;" and the +sail-boat caught in that passionate gust will need the most skilful +handling. + +As we neared Storrs Hall, all the bright loveliness of the lake broke +upon us, as it did upon Scott in 1825, on that memorable day when +Southey, Wilson, Wordsworth, and Canning met him here, and Windermere +glittered with all her sails in honor of the great Northern minstrel. +The Bailie had the whole passage from Lockhart's Life of Scott by +heart,--the brilliant cavalcades through the woods, the boatings on the +lake by moonlight, the music and sunshine, the flags and streamers, the +gay dresses and beautiful women, the hum of voices, the cheers of the +multitude, and the splash of innumerable oars: he recalled for us the +whole scene of the flotilla, as it wound among the beautiful isles of +the loveliest lake in the world, half a century ago. + +We had sent our luggage on to the Salutation Inn at Ambleside, for we +had determined to stay one night at the Ferry Inn, nearly opposite +Bowness, and about half-way up the lake. I had wonderful memories of +this charming old hostelry, and many a time, when thousands of miles +away, I had heard the pleasure-skiffs fret their cut-waters against the +pebbly shore, many a time in dreams dripped silver from my oars in the +moonlight, or wandered in the groves of laurel and lilacs and laburnums +behind it. + +Then it was a perfect old English inn, with a kitchen whose Homeric +breadth and bright cheerfulness made it a constant picture. Then there +was on one side of it a curiously carved and twisted oaken dresser, +extending from the floor to the ceiling, black with age and bright with +labor. Mugs and tankards of bright pewter stood out against this dark +background; huge hams and sad-colored herbs descended from the rafters. +A great wood-fire always blazed on the hearth. Lasses in snow-white +jackets and linsey-woolsey petticoats went in and out about their +duties. The handsome, motherly landlady looked after every guest; and +Arnold, the jolliest landlord that ever lived, sat smoking in the ingle, +chatting with some traveller, or listening to the yarn of a lake +fisherman. + +As we approached the little bay, I saw that the Ferry Inn had gone; a +grand modern hotel stood upon its site. I refused to be disenchanted. +Perhaps Arnold was dead also. Nothing could be as it had been, and I +asked to cross over at once to Bowness. But, while I am speaking of +Arnold, I may tell again a story he was very fond of telling about +Wordsworth. + +"Knaw'd Wadswuth?" he would say, with a merry twinkle. "I did, a few. +This wuz the way I comed to knaw him, so as I shan't forget 'n again in +a hurry. When I wuz guard of the Whitehaven mail, as we wuz a-slapping +along, and just coming to a sharpish turn,--the carner near the bridge, +this side Keswick,--what should we see but sumthin' uncommon tall and +grand, tooling along a little pony-shay! + +"'Oh, Lord! here's a smash,' said I, and afore the words wuz out of my +mouth, crash went the shay all to smitherins, and slap went the driver +over a wall into a plantation, arms out and great-coat a-flying. We +thought fur sure 'twas all over with 'n; but presently he picked hisself +up uncommon tall again, and sez he, 'I'll have this matter thoroughly +investigated.' With that he walked off towards the public. + +"'Bill,' said coachee to I, very down like, 'who de think that is?' + +"'Well, who be 't, Jem?' sez I. + +"'Why, who but the powit Wadswuth.'" + +Then he would add, "If you goes to Keswick, just by the bridge you'll +see the place _where we spilt the powit_! Ay, often and often since +that, when I've a-seen the grand fowks draw up to the Mount, I've a-said +sly like to myself, 'Ah, gentlemen, you be going to see the powit, but +you never had him to call upon you, unexpected like, on a flying visit +over a wall.'" + +Windermere at Bowness is like what the Thames is at Richmond. Bowness is +the pleasure-village of the lake country. There yachtsmen flourish and +beauties linger. The band makes music in the grounds of the Royal Hotel, +and the crowds promenade or float gracefully past in the dreamy waltz. +Every window is open, the balconies are full of life and color, lovely +faces peep out from among the clustering clematis, twinkling lights and +soft strains are on the lake until midnight, and flowers, flowers, +flowers touch you everywhere. + +Two men, as dissimilar as possible, I can always see in the streets of +Bowness--the handsome Professor Wilson, poet and athlete, whom the +Westmoreland people so aptly described as "strang as a lion, lish as a +trout, _wi' sich antics as niver_," and the little, plain-faced, serious +Wilberforce,--Wilson joyous and strong, and settling all things "wi' the +waff o' his hand," Wilberforce sauntering along, as he tells us in his +diary, comforting himself by repeating the one hundred and nineteenth +Psalm. Wilson lived at Elleray, now close to Windermere railway-station, +and Wilberforce had a residence among the stately woods of Rayrigg, just +outside Bowness. + +The next morning we started for Ambleside, taking on the way the village +of Troutbeck. Troutbeck is a funny misnomer for the rivulet so named, +for not a trout has ever been found in it. But for a typically exquisite +village, no dream of painter or poet can rival it. The cottages, with +their numerous gables, seem to have been built on some model conceived +by the rarest poetical genius. They are of the stone and slate of the +country; age has given them "a green radiance" and bathed them in the +lustre of lichens. The porches are of meeting tree-stems or reclining +cliffs, and are dripping with roses and matted with virgin bower. +Nowhere else in the world is there "a mile-long congregation of such +rural dwellings, dropped down just where a painter or poet would wish +them, and bound together by old groves of ash, oak, and sycamores, by +flower-gardens and fruit-orchards rich as those of the Hesperides."... + +There are places we visit and forget, but this is never the case with +Ambleside; walk through its streets, and they become forever a part of +the spirit's still domains. John Ruskin, in his "Characteristics of +Nature," has referred to the peculiar influence which is exerted upon +people who live in a neighborhood where granite is abundant; and +Wordsworth tells us that + + "One impulse from a vernal wood + May teach us more of man, + Of moral evil, and of good, + Than all the sages can." + +If this be true, then what influence must be morally exerted over those +who dwell in such a bower of Paradise as Ambleside! + +The vale of Windermere is watered by two little rivers, the Rothay and +Brathay. They unite a few yards above the head of the lake, and enter it +together. In the spawning season a singular sight may be witnessed at +this spot: the trout and char, for which Windermere is famous, separate +where the rivers meet; the char go up Brathay to spawn, the trout all go +up Rothay. + +The most charming way to see the vale of Ambleside is to saunter about +it; to walk to Stock Ghyll Force and look at the old mill made famous +by the painting of Birket Foster; to lean over Rothay Bridge and Pelter +Bridge and dream away the hours on the shores of the wildly-sylvan +Rydalmere; or to go into Rydal Park and lose ourselves among the cooing +of cushats and the shrill cries of blackbirds. Stock Ghyll Force is +worth seeing. The word "force" is one of the few words of the past +still lingering in secluded places: it signifies to "rush thoroughly:" +the waters fall from a height of seventy feet, and make a terrific noise +as they rush in two channels down the rocky gorge. + +The slopes are covered with the rarest ferns, probably most of them +indigenous to the soil, for we were told that few of them lived if +transplanted from it. The path leading to the falls now belongs to the +town of Ambleside, but a year or two ago it was in the possession of a +gentleman who purchased the property at an auction. It had always been +free and open to the public, but this speculative individual bought up +the waterfall and hemmed it in with a fence. He then made a charge for +admission. The townspeople were indignant; a sum of a thousand pounds +was raised, and the man bought out at double the amount. The toll for +the present is charged, but it will be abolished as soon as the other +thousand has been collected,--a consummation fully expected during the +present year. + +The spirits of the great and good walk the lovely lanes and climb the +hills with us, for all around Ambleside is haunted ground. Just outside +is the ivy-covered house so long the home of Harriet Martineau, one of +the bravest and hardest-working women that ever lived. + + "Day by day our memory fades + From out the circle of the hills," + +but the memory of the invalid deaf lady, so loving, so simple, so +neighborly, so old in years, so young in heart, is one that will not +soon be forgotten, even in the land of Wordsworth and Southey and +Arnold. + +A little farther, Fox How nestles at the foot of a craggy height. This +was for many years the home of Dr. Arnold; and not far away is Fox +Ghyll, a beautiful villa belonging to the Right Honorable W. E. +Forster, who, it will be remembered, married a daughter of Dr. Arnold's. +Mr. Forster spends a great deal of his time here, glad to escape the +"madding crowd" and the bickering and fever of political life. + +A lovely drive through "a spot made for nature by herself" brought us to +Rydal Mount, so long the home of Wordsworth. He went there in 1813, and +at that time the lakes were hardly known. The poet Gray was the only +eminent Englishman who visited them before the present century, and he +complained that "the great forests and the total want of communication +was a barrier he could not surmount." Upon Goldsmith they made no +impression; and Tickell, born within a mile of Derwentwater, has not a +line in their praise, though he wrote a long poem on Kensington Gardens. +But in 1813 Englishmen were compelled to travel in their own country, +for Napoleon had closed the continent of Europe to them, or, as a +Westmoreland woman expressed it, "there was sic a deal of uneasiness i' +France." + +And here I may notice, in passing, the peculiar habit of _understating_ +everything, so characteristic of Westmoreland people. Where a Yorkshire +man would say unequivocally, "The fellow is a scoundrel," the +Westmoreland man would remark. "There were a deal o' folks more +particler about doin' reet nor him." A bad man is a bad man all the +world over, except in Westmoreland: there he is "a varra moderate chap." +All over the world, when it rains as hard as it can, people do not +scruple to say, "It rains hard;" but a Westmoreland man only admits, +"It's softish."... + +At Rydal Mount, Wordsworth lived nearly forty years, roaming over +the mountains or sitting down by some lonely tarn to write his +"solemn-thoughted idylls;" for he seldom wrote in-doors. A visitor once +asked to see his study, and a servant showed her a room containing a +number of books. "This is the master's library," she said: "his study is +out o' doors and up on t'hill-tops." The house is a lovely spot now, but +it owes much to Wordsworth. I have a drawing of it, made soon after he +removed there, which represents only a very plain stone house, standing +on a natural terrace of turf. The interior has been often described, for +no visitor with a respectable claim on the poet's attention was ever +turned away. But it is now in the possession of a man who suffers no +one to approach it. In fact, he has taken care to post conspicuously +the following notice: "No person is allowed in these grounds under +any circumstances." In 1850, Wordsworth died at Rydal Mount,--a +sweetly-solemn death, which gave to his mourning heart the glad +assurance that he was "going to Dora," his dearly beloved daughter, +whose death on the threshold of a beautiful and happy womanhood he had +never ceased to mourn. + +On the road which skirts Rydal Water is Nab Cottage, forever associated +with De Quincey and poor Hartley Coleridge. Standing before it, how easy +it was to imagine the small, fragile Opium-Eater, with his wrinkled face +and arched brows loaded with thought, and those haunted eyes peering out +from their dark rings! How vividly we could see him in the small parlor, +with its five thousand books and bright fire and decanter of laudanum, +or imagine him rambling through the summer nights upon the hills, in +solitary possession of the whole sleeping country, when that fine +expression he applied to Coleridge in similar situations might so well +designate himself,--"an insulated son of revery"! + + [The travellers next set out for a tramp to the top of + Helvellyn, the loftiest mountain of the lake district. On their + way thither they came upon an interesting pastoral scene.] + +The farm-yard went straight up the hill, but was surrounded by buildings +of every kind. What a busy, merry, picturesque gathering was in it! The +old men, in clean, white shirt-sleeves, with long clay pipes in their +mouths, were wandering about the yard, watching the shearers, who were +working with a silent rapidity that showed a very keen contest. For +these "shearings" are a kind of rural Olympics; and proud is the young +farmer who has finished his sixscore sheep in a day. + +There were seven shearers present, wonderfully handsome, stalwart +fellows. Each sat upon a bench, their pillar-like throats uncovered, +their arms bare to the shoulder; and, as the sheep were brought to them, +they lifted them on to the bench, turned them with the greatest ease, +and cut off the wool with amazing rapidity, rarely allowing the shears +to injure the animal. If such an accident occurred, it was a blemish on +the shearer's fame. + +At a long impromptu table women were just as rapidly folding the fleeces +ready for market. Some were handsome matrons, some were young lasses, +but all wore the snow-white kirtle and the short, striped linsey +petticoat that showed their slender ankles and trimly-shod feet. Peals +of merry laughter and shafts of harmless satire flew from them to the +shearers, who were far too busy to answer just then, but who doubtless +promised themselves future opportunities. In a small enclosure at the +extreme end there was perhaps the merriest group of all,--about a dozen +school-lads, whose duty it was to bring the sheep to the shearers. How +the heated air quivered above the panting creatures, and how the lads +laughed and shouted and tugged and pulled and pushed and dragged, their +brown faces glowing to crimson, their parted scarlet lips and intense +blue eyes making them perfect pictures of splendidly healthy, happy +boyhood! + +And with what indulgent tolerance the sheep-dogs watched them! I am +sure the good-natured ones laughed quietly to themselves at all the +unnecessary fuss, while others lay with their heads between their paws +and opened their eyes sarcastically at the whole affair. They would have +taken a sheep by the ear and walked it up to the bench without a bark. +It was a perfect idyllic picture, in which every age of manhood and +womanhood blended. + +At sundown over six hundred sheep had been sheared, and a number of +visitors arrived. Then a feast was spread for more than fifty people, +and after it the fiddlers took the place of honor, and dancing began. No +one could resist the mirthful infection, and, after a slight hesitation, +Christina drew on her gloves and allowed herself to be persuaded to open +the ball with "the master." She was just stepping daintily down the +middle, with a smile on her face, when the Bailie looked in at the open +door. He professed to be "vera weary;" but in half an hour he was +taking his part in "Moneymusk" with a lively agility that won him much +admiration. "Such hours dinna come every day," he said. And so we stayed +until the dancing ceased and the company scattered at the fell foot into +parties of twos and threes. + + [From Grasmere they made their way to Keswick, the capital town + of the lake district, and the home of Southey and Coleridge.] + +When Southey came to Greta Hall, in 1803, Coleridge, the "noticeable man +with large gray eyes," was living there, delighting the reading world +with his vast and luminous intellect and his Miltonic conceptions, +reaching "the caverns measureless to man." Here that marvellous boy +Hartley ran about, and so charmed Coleridge's landlord that he could +scarcely be persuaded to take the rent for Greta Hall, considering the +joy of the child's company a full equivalent. For three years Coleridge +and Southey occupied the Hall together; then Coleridge became the slave +of that opium-habit which made his comings and goings more uncertain +than a comet's. He flitted about between Southey and Wordsworth; and +never since Shakespeare's time have three men of equal genius lived on +such terms. Landor called them "three towers of one castle." Very soon +De Quincey made a fourth in this remarkable group. And two of them were +wise, and two of them were stranded on the same poppy-covered coast, the +land of the Lotos-Eaters. + +We wandered about Keswick, but wherever we went the shades of these +great men followed us, and half a mile out of it, on the Penrith road, +we were suddenly met by another wraith of genius, for there stood the +pretty cottage to which Shelley brought his first wife, the lovely woman +of humble birth whom he offended society by marrying. Here they were +visited by the Southeys and De Quincey, and the latter in his "Sketches" +has a very charming picture of the girl-wife playing gravity before her +visitors and running about the garden with Percy when they were tired +of the house. Shelley was then nineteen and Southey thirty-seven; and +Southey says, "Shelley acts upon me as my own ghost might do; he has all +my old dreams and enthusiasms: the only difference is the difference of +age." + +Many bitter things were said of the handsome, gifted Shelley in his day; +but, as Dr. Arnold in his quaint, Luther-like phraseology observes, +"Doubtless it is good for a man to have to do with Mr. Posterity," for +that impartial judge has done Shelley justice. We bought his "Alastor" +as we went back to the hotel, and in the evening twilight read it, +remembering the while that it was written "in the contemplation of +death, which he felt to be certain and near."... + +The next day we went around Derwentwater in a boat,--certainly the best +way to see it, for the bays and islands and points of interest on this +lovely sheet of water can thus be leisurely visited. Soon after leaving +Keswick, Skiddaw appears to rise from within a stone's cast of the +shore, and continues a magnificent object during most of the way. At +the head of the lake the mountains rise, height above height, from the +Lodore crags to the lofty summits of Scawfell Pike and Scawfell, the +latter the highest mountain in England. Southey had told us how "the +water comes down at Lodore," but we wished to see it for ourselves: so +we landed at the long wooden pier belonging to the Lodore Hotel, and, +guided by the tremendous roar, scrambled a short distance among the +crags and boulders, and saw the wild waters + + "Retreating and beating, and meeting and sheeting, + Delaying and straying, and playing and spraying, + Advancing and prancing, and glancing and dancing, + Recoiling, turmoiling, and toiling and boiling, + And gleaming and streaming, and steaming and beaming, + And rushing and flushing, and brushing and gushing, + And curling and whirling, and purling and twirling, + And flapping and rapping, and clapping and slapping, + And dashing and flashing, and splashing and crashing, + And so never ending, but always descending, + Sounds and motions for ever and ever are blending, + All at once and all over, with mighty uproar, + And this way the water comes down at Lodore." + + + + +THE ROMAN WALL OF CUMBERLAND. + +ROSE G. KINGSLEY. + + [On the borders of Cumberland, at the northern boundary of + Roman occupation of England, a wall of defence against the + barbarians of Scotland was built, and manned by sturdy legions. + This wall still exists, and its present condition is described + below.] + + +Half an hour's drive brought us to the farm-house at Birdoswald, and +here the real interest of our expedition began. We were now on the Roman +Wall; and, except Borcovicus or Housteads, near the Northumberland +lakes, Birdoswald is the most perfect station along its line. It is +supposed to be the Roman Ambloganna, which was garrisoned by a strong +force of Dacians from Wallachia and Moldavia. The camp is five and +a half acres in extent. The eastern gate-way is in very perfect +preservation, the large blocks on each side of the double portal being +in their original position and still containing the pivot-holes. The +arch above the gate-way is gone; but some of the stones which formed it +lie strewn about. Close to the gate are the ruins of a guard-house, and +a portion of the boundary-wall, six feet in breadth. The western and +southern gate-ways and walls are all well preserved, the walls having +five or six courses of facing-stones, and being seven to eight feet +thick. + +In the farm-house the buxom farmer's wife showed us an ancient arch in +the wall of the passage, under which lay a collection of curiosities +found from time to time about the camp,--a beautiful stone figure with +flowing drapery, small stone altars, such as the soldiers used in their +private devotions, and so forth. Outside, pinks, lilies, and roses were +filling the air with their perfume, as we made our way through the +little garden to the green field where stood the camp. We wandered about +round the low stone walls, through the gate-way, where we saw the actual +marks of the chariot-wheels on the pavement,--two ruts in the stone. We +looked into the remains of the guard-house, where the sweet thyme and +delicate clover now creep over stones against which Dacian warriors +rested their heavy heads. We tried to trace out the course of streets, +temples, and barracks among the grass-grown heaps in front of the +farm-garden; and then I went out to the brow of the hill to see what was +there. + +What a surprise! The green field fell away abruptly in a great cliff, +and down below the Irthing foamed over its stony bed, twisting and +winding in sinuous curves of silver along the narrow valley, among +wooded slopes and rocky crags. Green ridge and brown fell in endless +succession led the eye away into the far distance, where Skiddaw loomed +up in the south. + +The late Lord Carlisle, in his "Diary in Turkish and Greek Waters," +compares this view to the first sight of Troy after crossing the tame +low plain of the Troad. It was certainly a grand point of vantage which, +with their usual wisdom, the Romans pitched upon. The one thing one does +not see at first is, where they got their water; and this was always one +of the first points they considered in choosing a site. The river is too +far off, and no spring now appears inside the camp. Last year my friends +showed Birdoswald to the learned head-master of one of our most famous +public schools. The absence of water puzzled the wise man not a little, +and he asked one of the farm maidens who was showing the party round if +she knew where the spring had been. She professed entire ignorance; but +another lassie standing by reminded her in broad Cumbrian, "It's where +t' goose laid her eggs last soummer." We soon found it out to our cost, +as, thanks to the rainy season, the ancient Roman well had formed a +little quagmire hidden in long grass, into which we plunged unwittingly +and came out with wet boots. + +The Roman Wall adapts itself to the northern rampart of the camp, or +fort, and runs close to the road for some five hundred yards westward +from the farm-house. This wall--seventy-five miles long--has been the +subject of many antiquarian discussions, with which we need not meddle. +Those, however, who have gone most thoroughly into the subject now agree +that it was erected by the renowned emperor Hadrian, when he came to +Britain, in the year 119. The inscribed slabs and altars found at the +stations and castles on the line of the wall are undoubtedly of his +reign; so are most of the coins that are found with them; and from this +fact it appears that the Roman legions received their pay at the wall in +his reign. + +The conception of this stupendous barrier is singularly simple and +effective. The wall, though varying a little in width, according to the +nature of the ground it traversed, was about eight feet broad and +fourteen feet high. The north side was further crowned by a parapet of +four feet, making the total height eighteen feet. The outside stones +were regularly-shaped and well-dressed freestone, fifteen to twenty +inches long, ten inches broad, and eight inches thick. So well were they +cut that one can detect them in an instant in any cottage-wall, from +their smooth, finely-chiselled face as compared with the coarser +dressing of modern stones. Most of them have a wedge shape, tapering +towards the end which is set into the wall. Dr. Bruce thinks that stones +of this shape would have been conveniently carried on the backs of "the +poor enslaved Britons." The present dwellers along the wall say that +they were all brought in an old woman's apron and the wall built in one +night. Mr. Jenkinson, on the contrary, in his charming and learned +guide-book to Carlisle and the Roman Wall, thinks "both these modes of +conveyance are too romantic for the practical Romans, who were not +unacquainted with horses and carts." + +The inside part of the wall consists of rubble-stone, like that found in +the massive walls of Caesar's Tower at Kenilworth and many other old +castles. The stones, evidently picked up on the spot, while the dressed +stone for the wall was brought in many instances from a great distance, +were cemented together as hard as a rock by pouring fresh lime mixed +with sand and gravel upon them. + +Every four miles along the wall there was a fortified camp or station, +like that at Birdoswald, each capable of containing from six hundred to +one thousand foot- or horse-soldiers, as the case might be. "They were +generally," says Mr. Jenkinson, "close to the wall, on the southern +side, and appear from the remains existing to have formed almost a +square, containing three to six acres, surrounded by high thick walls, +provided with four gate-ways, and laid out in streets, barracks, +temples, baths, etc., some of the buildings having massive and +occasionally beautifully-sculptured stones. Outside these stations are +heaps of grass-grown rubbish, from which it is inferred that there also +existed suburbs, where dwelt natives and camp-followers." + +Between the stations were _castella_, or mile-castles, about a mile +apart. These were sixty feet square, built also on the south side, of +solid masonry, about the same height and thickness as the wall itself. +In each of these were stationed a company of some twenty men, who were +yet further distributed singly in stone turrets, or watch-towers, used +as sentry-boxes, of which there were four between each mile-castle, +about three hundred and fifty yards apart. The sentries, being +within call of each other, could thus keep up a complete system of +communication along the line, and, as soon as danger threatened, troops +could be concentrated at once on any spot from the stations or camps. +Unluckily, none of these turrets remain, though Hodgson says that he +saw one opened so lately as 1833, about three hundred yards west of +Birdoswald. + +Along the northern face of the wall the Romans still further +strengthened it by making a ditch below, thirty-six feet wide and +fifteen feet deep. It was evidently a dry ditch, as it follows the line +of the wall up hill and down dale. In some places the solid rock has +been excavated to make it, and occasionally the earth dug from it has +been thrown up into a bank on its farther side, thus making a third line +of defence. To the south of the stone wall, at a distance perpetually +varying from a few yards to half a mile, runs the vallum, or earthwork, +consisting, where most perfect, of three ramparts and a fosse. The +origin and use of the _vallum_ has also been a moot point among +antiquaries. But now there seems little doubt that the vallum was the +ancient Roman road running inside the wall. Pavements have been found +upon it in various places. At Gilsland, exactly on the spot where the +vallum would have to cross the Poltross Burn, the abutment of a Roman +bridge has been lately discovered; and the highest authorities are now +agreed, from these and many other indications, that this dispute may at +last be laid to rest. + +Climbing once more into our "heaven chariot," we bade farewell to +Birdoswald and its many memories and drove due west along the line of +the wall. For five hundred yards it ran close beside us on the left, +about seven feet high and seven feet broad,--the stones in some places +untouched since the day the Roman legions laid them one on another, +clear cut as when they came out of the quarry. The short turf had +clothed the top of the ancient barrier with a fragrant carpet, and in +crevices where the cement had weathered away, the honeysuckle found +root-hold; a tall purple foxglove reared its proud head as if it were +acting sentry to the Border, and the fresh green lady-fern brushed the +rugged stones lightly with waving plumes. + +After a time the wall grew lower, and finally disappeared. Our road, +which had been running straight as a bee-line, rose and swerved a few +feet to the left, and we found that we were actually driving along the +top of the wall. For nearly five miles we followed it. There it ran as +straight as an arrow over every obstacle, with the great green ditch to +our right and the great earth-bank beyond it, a type of the resistless +determination of the great people who made it. High moorland pastures, +reclaimed from the Waste, lay on either side. In some, the sweet hay +was being cut, and the buzz of an American mowing-machine brought our +wits with a sudden shock out of the by-gone ages where they had been +wandering. In others, herds of polled Galloways, the sleek black cattle +of the Border, were grazing peacefully, without fear of moss-troopers or +cattle-thieves. Here stood a mile-castle,--four rude grass-grown banks +marking its outline,--its stones being used to build a little cottage +crouching in one corner. There an old lime-kiln, like some troll's +dwelling, broke the endless swell of green and brown. The few cottages +at the hamlet of Banks Head looked forlorn and dreary, as if they had +been dropped by mistake on the desolate wild. They are all built of +stone from the wall, which has proved an invaluable quarry to the whole +neighborhood, and, in consequence, has been ruthlessly destroyed. A +hideous fashion prevails about here. Most of the houses are whitewashed, +the stones round the doors and windows are painted black, and, with +their cold gray slate roofs or dilapidated thatch, they but add to +the dreary look of this district. It is a dismal land up there on the +Waste,--a sad, hard country, with its stone walls and boggy uplands, +that must have bred a sad, hard race, one would think. But if one looks +beyond the dreariness close at hand, what a wondrous view stretches away +all round! East, are the greenish swells and conical crests of the +Northumberland Fells; south, lie Tindale, Talkin, and Castle Carrock +Fells across the valley of the Irthing, which is marked by a line of +wood, and beyond them rise the noble group of Lake mountains. Helvellyn +and the two giants Saddleback and Skiddaw, looming up veiled in mystery +and golden haze; northward, the line of the Cheviot Hills shows that we +are looking right into Scotland; westward, across the fertile plain, +where park and pasture, river and forest, are bathed in sunshine, +Criffel rears his head above Melrose Abbey; and there, right under the +western sun, gleams a line of silver in the flat, extremest +distance,--the Solway Firth. + +It was with the feeling of parting from a friend that we bade adieu to +the Roman Wall and turned downward from the bleak moorland into the rich +vegetation of the valley. The glamour of the Roman period had laid hold +upon us. We longed to follow up the course of this great barrier, to +know more of its builders, of their lives, their works, their history, +than we had ever done before. This monument of their almost superhuman +power must awaken some kind of enthusiasm in the dullest mind, and one +can echo Sir Walter Scott's words in "Guy Mannering:" "And this, then, +is the Roman Wall. What a people, whose labors even at this extremity +of their empire comprehended such space, and were executed upon a scale +of such grandeur! In future ages, when the science of war shall have +changed, how few traces will exist of the labors of Vauban and Coehorn, +while this wonderful people's remains will even then continue to +interest and astonish posterity! Their fortifications, their aqueducts, +their theatres, their fountains, all their public works, bear the grave, +solid, and majestic character of their language; while our modern +labors, like our modern tongues, seem but constructed out of their +fragments." + + + + +ENGLISH RURAL SCENERY. + +SARAH B. WISTER. + + [For a country rich in its verdant beauty and perfect in its + grooming, England is unsurpassed. While containing little of + the grand, it has much of the charming, and is abundantly + calculated to rest the eyes of the sight-weary traveller. We + append an enthusiastic description of this garden-land from an + American visitor.] + + +When we got into the country we grudged the time we had spent in London. +The true English landscape has a great and peculiar charm until the +stranger learns its secret and wearies of its sameness. Never shall I +forget the journey from Southampton to London on the day we landed. +Something must be allowed for the delight of eyes that had been looking +over endless ridges of sea-waves to the blank horizon for so long; but +what a blushing, smiling land it was that greeted them! The verdure was +the first thing that struck us,--very different from ours. There is +more blue and less yellow in it, resting and refreshing the eyes with a +cooler, deeper tone; the trees are denser in foliage too, and fuller in +form; the whole scene had a boskiness and boweriness due to innumerable +hedges, orchards, shrubberies, and plantations. Woodland, strictly +speaking, there was none,--only here and there little triangular bits, +not an acre in extent, for game-covers, or lines of tall feathery elms +with bushy heads along the hedgerows, clipped close that they might not +shut out the scanty sunshine from the farmer's field. The hawthorn was +covered with its pink-and-white blossoms, May as they call it; acres of +the gently-rolling country were crimson with Dutch clover; the laburnum, +a small, graceful tree, was full of drooping strings of delicate yellow +flowers; the banks were ablaze with scarlet poppies and golden broom. + +Low-arched stone bridges spanned small brimming streams; quaint old +gate-ways opened into shady avenues; thatched cottages, beautiful +ancient parish churches with gray towers, pretty, quiet hamlets peeped +out from the luxuriant leafiness; comfortable, solid, old-fashioned +farmhouses reigned among their outbuildings and orchards; in the +distance were grand country-places, scarcely visible in the depths of +their stately parks; and, what raised our enthusiasm to the utmost, +we passed a beautiful Gothic ruin half hidden in ivy. Everything +looked trim and orderly; not an inch of ground wasted; all turned to +account for use or beauty; little vegetable-gardens on the slopes +of the railway-embankments and along the edges of the track; little +flower-gardens on both sides the station-houses, and roses and +honeysuckle trained over their porches. + +This is the genuine, characteristic English scenery, and it is found in +perfection in Warwickshire. About Leamington, thanks to the contiguity +of several large estates, parts of the country are heavily wooded, and a +deep rural seclusion pervades the whole neighborhood. We were there in +July: the earlier flowers were gone, but in the green embowered lanes +the banks were rich with purple foxgloves; pale, shadowy bramble-roses +were blossoming in the hedges, over which climbed woodbine and a pure +white convolvulus; the gaudy poppies still held their own, as they do, +though with thinner ranks, to the end of the season; and the splendid +gorse spread over the uncultivated hill-sides like yellow flame. Many +birds make their home here. We came too late for the nightingales, and +it was elsewhere that we heard a cuckoo once or twice in a distant +thicket, for it is silent after June; but larks warbled in mid-air, and +thrushes filled the lanes with their liquid notes, besides a host of +little unknown birds who sang their simple song very sweetly all day. + +One of the finest country-seats in the county was originally a +Cistercian abbey, founded in the reign of Henry II.: a noble gate-way +of that period, half shrouded in ivy, still remains, but nothing more +except fragments of the cloisters embedded in the main building, which +is partly Elizabethan, but chiefly in Queen Anne's style. Uninteresting +and tasteless as the latter is, it produces more effect by its solid +mass and unbroken facade than Tudor gables or castellated towers. Within +are great lofty square rooms, a fine hall and staircase,--all on a scale +which with us would be seen only in a public building,--and a whole +series of family portraits, priests, knights, courtiers, and dames, by +all the famous painters from Henry VIII.'s time to Queen Victoria's. + +[Illustration: CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL FROM THE NORTHWEST] + +The gardens of this place are beautiful, but most artificial-looking, +the shorn grass and geometrical flower-beds producing the effect of a +worsted pattern; stone steps, balustrades, fountains, statues, urns, +vases, and clipped hedges and shrubbery giving them a formal and stately +air in keeping with the house itself: not a blade of grass, not a leaf, +not a pebble, is out of place. From these one passes into the park, +where for miles the undulations of the land form a succession of lovely +knolls and dells shaded by magnificent oaks, imperial trees, and groves +of lindens and chestnuts hardly less grand, while underfoot all is +fern and soft turf. Herds of dappled deer browse beneath these lordly +trees or come down to drink at the Avon, a slow little stream which +winds through the sylvan glades. Since then I have seen a number of +great places, some of them finer than this, but with its legends and +associations it is not a bad type of them all. It was the first I saw, +and will always be first in my recollection. + +Besides the beauty of that region, it is full of interest. There are +the romantic ruins of Kenilworth; there are Warwick Castle (partly +burnt) and Warwick town, with Leicester's Hospital, and St. Mary's +Church, and the Beauchamp Chapel, one of the gems of ecclesiology, +with stained-glass windows five hundred years old, and splendid tombs +with effigies in brass and alabaster. There is Coventry with all its +traditions, from the Lady Godiva to Mary Queen of Scots. The procession +of the Lady Godiva still takes place every few years. Last summer there +was a celebration: the lady engaged to perform the part of "the woman +of a thousand summers old" was not forthcoming in time, and some other +eligible female was caught up, clapped on horseback and sent forth: at +the same moment the first one arrived, and the consequence was a +lawsuit. + +Stratford-on-Avon, too, belongs to this part of the country,--a little +old-world town, where the bust of Shakespeare looks down upon you from +every coign of vantage. Mysterious being! who sprang from impenetrable +obscurity in that quiet village to light the beacon of an immortal fame, +and sink back into the uncertain shades of his native place until he +rests definitely in the beautiful parish church, so still among its +trees, with the Avon laving the wall of the church-yard. + +Anne Hathaway's cottage remains in good preservation, a picturesque +object among the fields; Lucys still live at Charlecote; but too many +people have written of these things,--nobody better than Geoffrey +Crayon, whose sketch I read over as we waited for luncheon at the +Red Horse Inn in the little room called Washington Irving's parlor. +Something ought to be said about that luncheon, which, when good, is the +best of English meals, dinner as a rule being too heavy and monotonous. +On a table-cloth of the traditional whiteness of all napery which is +written about, were set out a lordly cold round of beef, a jug of +home-brewed ale, a substantial loaf of home-made bread, a smaller one +of simple cake, a currant-pie, a rich country cheese, and a pitcher of +thick cream. There were three of us: we ate as much as we liked, and +paid seven shillings, less than two dollars, but I do not give either +the bill of fare or the bill of costs as a sample of ordinary luck. + +We saw nothing in England proper prettier than the shady lanes and green +foot-paths of Warwickshire. The view from Harrow Hill and the country +around Malvern are greatly admired, but they are exceedingly tame, +merely an extent of rather flat land seen from an insignificant height, +without water, too patchy to have breadth, which is the strong point of +flat scenery; there are no stretches of field or forest-land; it is all +broken up like a checkerboard by hedgerows and high-roads. We thought +the Fen country roads more striking: it has been reclaimed, and is now +a fine agricultural district. The eye ranges over wide expanses of +cultivation: great plains of pale green bean-vines and yellow grain, +alternating with the rich brown of the peat soil, whose pungent odor +fills the air, stretch away to the horizon, unbroken save by now and +then a row of Lombardy poplars or a line of low willows; the ditches +by which the land is drained and divided are marked by long lines of +brighter green, and full of graceful waving marsh-grass; and at long +intervals a broad, straight, shining path of water takes its way to the +sea. Here and there a solitary windmill reminds one of Holland, but it +is altogether finer than Holland. With all the teeming fertility there +is something which recalls the original desolation: it is very sparsely +settled; one seldom sees a house, and then it is not clustered about +with outbuildings, but stands up alone against the horizon, and makes +one think of Mariana's moated grange. In the midst of these flats rises +the majestic tower of Ely, seen for many a mile. + +We passed from this into a wild waste in Norfolk, whose sandy hillocks +were clad in purple heath and green fern, with an occasional pine wood, +dark and mysterious-looking, for in England even the pine is not the +scrubby, scraggy tree of our barrens. This country has a picturesque, +original character of its own, and is somewhat thinly settled too, but +among the heaths and pines we saw more beautiful ruined churches than +in any district south of the Tweed. The unfailing ivy is there, but it +does not grow with over-luxuriance, as it does elsewhere in England, +making a lovely covering for an ugly building or an unsightly stump, but +sometimes muffling and hiding the beauties of finer architecture, and +disguising delicate Gothic outlines like a thick hood. + + [Our traveller follows this description of scenery with an + account of what she saw in the great cathedrals of England, + including Westminster, Winchester, Worcester, and Gloucester. + Her description of these is too extended for our space.] + +Besides these, we saw Chester, Peterboro', York Minster, Wells, Ely, +Canterbury: for the first three I cared less than for the others, though +Peterboro' is very fine, especially the west front, which is a miracle +of richness and proportion; and York is grand from its size and the +harmony which reigns throughout, all the additions and restorations +having been made in such perfect accordance with the original design +that it looks as if it were the work of the same century. Besides the +fine monuments, there are superb stained-glass windows, one very old, +and called the "Five Sisters," said to have been the gift of five maiden +ladies, each of whom bestowed a compartment designed from her own +embroidery; for which _vide_ "Nicholas Nickleby." We went down into the +crypt to see the remains of the old Norman church and some fragments of +a Saxon one, most ancient of all: there, among those venerable, those +sacred stones, was a steam-engine, contrived to blow the huge bellows of +the organ; and there were the gas-pipes by which the cathedral is now +lighted: a number of jets were flaring in the vaults; the steam-engine +blew and heaved in a horrible manner; there were heaps of coal lying +between the grand broken Norman pillars; the light and smell of gas +pervaded the whole place. It was like the cellar of a manufactory, and +we went up-stairs with outraged sensibilities. Ely is glorious within +and without; Wells is the loveliest of cathedrals; Canterbury is +Canterbury. + +Besides cathedrals, almost every parish in England has at least one +beautiful church. The most interesting of them to us was the Holy +Sepulchre at Cambridge. It belonged to the Knights Templars, and is +circular, like most of their churches, in imitation of our Saviour's +tomb at Jerusalem. It is very small, very low, very massive, with +short round pillars, round arches, decorated only with the simple, +effective zigzag moulding peculiar to the early Norman style; corbels +running down from the domical vaulted roof (still recalling Moslem +architecture), and ending in strange faces, military yet melancholy in +expression,--probably portraits of the knights by whom it was founded +in the year of our Lord 1101. The Temple Church in London is much larger +and handsomer, but not nearly so curious and striking. + +Almost all the old churches in England suffer exceedingly either from +the defect of the stone of which they are built or the action of the +atmosphere upon it: they look honeycombed, worm-eaten; their tracery +is obliterated, their mullions are wasted as if by wear and tear. +The interiors, protected from the weather, fare best, but even the +cloisters, which are open on one side, are often in a ruinous condition, +and the stone peels and crumbles under the touch like rusty iron. +Chester Cathedral is an extreme instance: its dilapidation amounts to +disfigurement. It is one of the least imposing and interesting, yet for +an American just landed it is a profound revelation; and as Chester is +close to Liverpool, one cannot do better than stop there for a day. + +The old city is full of quaint characteristics, too well known to need +description here. One of the gates is called by the odd title of the +Pepper-gate. In the sixteenth century there was a mayor named Pepper, +who had a young daughter in her middle teens. One evening, as she was +playing ball with her companions near this gate, an impetuous youth +rushed in, snatched her up, and carried her off through it. The mayor +caused the gate to be closed, which gave rise to the saying, "When the +daughter is stolen shut the Pepper-gate." Chester is the only city in +England which has preserved the entire circuit of its walls: the town +has spread far beyond them in every direction, except where they are +washed by the Dee, but they form an unbroken round, and are used as a +public walk, from which one looks into many a queer corner. Following +its course, one comes upon a small turret rising from the battlements, +on which is the inscription, "From this tower, on September 27, 1645, +King Charles saw his army defeated at Rowton Moor." How much of anguish +and doom lies in those few words! No doubt Sir Walter Scott is much to +blame, but he can hardly be held answerable for all the sentiment with +which we trace the footsteps of the Stuarts, dogged by fanatical hatred +and murderous revenge, upheld by adventurous, daring, romantic loyalty +and chivalrous self-devotion. + + + + +THE "OLD TOWN" OF EDINBURGH. + +ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + [From one of the most notable of Scotland's literary sons we + extract the following attractive description of the famous + capital city of that land, the source of our selection being + Stevenson's "Edinburgh: Picturesque Notes." The "Old Town" + section of the city is particularly limned for us in the + selection here given.] + + +The ancient and famous metropolis of the North sits overlooking a windy +estuary from the slope and summit of three hills. No situation could be +more commanding for the head city of a kingdom, none better chosen for +noble prospects. From her tall precipice and terraced gardens she looks +far and wide on the sea and broad champaigns. To the east you may catch +at sunset the spark of the May light-house, where the Firth expands into +the German Ocean; and away to the west, over all the carse of Stirling, +you can see the first snows upon Ben Ledi. + +But Edinburgh pays cruelly for her high seat in one of the vilest +climates under heaven. She is liable to be beaten upon by all the winds +that blow, to be drenched with rain, to be buried in cold sea fogs out +of the east, and powdered with snow as it comes flying southward from +the Highland hills. The weather is raw and boisterous in winter, shifty +and ungenial in summer, and a downright meteorological purgatory in the +spring. The delicate die early, and I, as a survivor, among bleak winds +and plumping rain, have been sometimes tempted to envy them their fate. +For all who love shelter and the blessings of the sun, who hate dark +weather and perpetual tilting against squalls, there could scarcely be +found a more unhomely and harassing place of residence. Many such aspire +angrily after that Somewhere-else of the imagination, where all troubles +are supposed to end. They lean over the great bridge which joins the New +Town with the Old--that windiest spot or high altar in this northern +temple of the winds--and watch the trains smoking out from under them +and vanishing into the tunnel on a voyage to brighter skies. Happy the +passengers who shake off the dust of Edinburgh, and have heard for the +last time the cry of the east wind among her chimney-tops! And yet the +place establishes an interest in people's hearts; go where they will, +they find no city of the same distinction; go where they will, they take +a pride in their old home. + +Venice, it has been said, differs from all other cities in the sentiment +which she inspires. The rest may have admirers; she only, a famous fair +one, counts lovers in her train. And, indeed, even by her kindest +friends, Edinburgh is not considered in a similar sense. These like her +for many reasons, not any one of which is satisfactory in itself. They +like her whimsically, if you will, and somewhat as a virtuoso dotes upon +his cabinet. Her attraction is romantic in the narrowest meaning of the +term. Beautiful as she is, she is not so much beautiful as interesting. +She is pre-eminently Gothic, and all the more so since she has set +herself off with some Greek airs, and erected classic temples on her +crags. + +In a word, and above all, she is a curiosity. The Palace of Holyrood has +been left aside in the growth of Edinburgh, and stands gray and silent +in a workmen's quarter and among breweries and gas-works. It is a house +of many memories. Great people of yore, kings and queens, buffoons and +grave ambassadors, played their stately farce for centuries in Holyrood. +Wars have been plotted, dancing has lasted deep into the night, murder +has been done, in its chambers. There Prince Charlie held his phantom +levees, and in a very gallant manner represented a fallen dynasty for +some hours. Now, all these things of clay are mingled with the dust; the +king's crown itself is shown for sixpence to the vulgar; but the stone +palace has outlived these changes. + +For fifty weeks together it is no more than a show for tourists and a +museum of old furniture; but on the fifty-first, behold the palace +reawakening and mimicking its past. The Lord Commissioner, a kind of +stage sovereign, sits among stage courtiers; a coach and six and +clattering escort come and go before the gate; at night the windows are +lighted up, and its near neighbors, the workmen, may dance in their own +houses to the palace music. And in this the palace is typical. There is +a spark among the embers; from time to time the old volcano smokes. +Edinburgh has but partly abdicated, and still wears, in parody, her +metropolitan trappings. Half a capital and half a country town, the +whole city leads a double existence; it has long trances of the one and +flashes of the other; like the king of the Black Isles, it is half alive +and half a monumental marble. There are armed men and cannon in the +citadel overhead; you may see the troops marshalled on the high parade; +and at night, after the early winter even-fall, and in the morning, +before the laggard winter dawn, the wind carries abroad over Edinburgh +the sound of drums and bugles. Grave judges sit bewigged in what was +once the scene of imperial deliberations. + + [Illustration: PRINCES STREET AND SIR WALTER SCOTT'S MONUMENT, + EDINBURGH] + +Close by in the High Street perhaps the trumpets may sound about the +stroke of noon; and you see a troop of citizens in tawdry masquerade, +tabard above, heather-mixture trouser below, and the men themselves +trudging in the mud among unsympathetic by-standers. The grooms of a +well-appointed circus tread the streets with a better presence, and yet +these are the Heralds and Pursuivants of Scotland, who are about to +proclaim a new law of the United Kingdom before twoscore boys, and +thieves, and hackney-coachmen. Meanwhile, every hour, the bell of the +University rings out over the hum of the streets, and every hour a +double tide of students, coming and going, fills the deep archways. + +And lastly, one night in the spring time--or say one morning rather, at +the peep of day--late folk may hear the voices of many men singing a +psalm in unison from a church on one side of the old High Street, and a +little after or perhaps a little before, the sound of many men singing +a psalm in unison from another church on the opposite side of the way. +There will be something in the words about the dew of Hermon, and how +goodly it is to see brethren dwelling together in unity. And the late +folk will tell themselves that all this singing denotes the conclusion +of two yearly ecclesiastical parliaments,--the parliaments of churches +which are brothers in many admirable virtues, but not specially like +brothers in this particular of a tolerant and peaceful life. + +Again, meditative people will find a charm in a certain consonancy +between the aspect of the city and its odd and stirring history. Few +places, if any, offer a more barbaric display of contrasts to the +eye. In the very midst stands one of the most satisfactory crags in +nature,--a Bass Rock upon dry land, rooted in a garden, shaken by +passing trains, carrying a crown of battlements and turrets, and +describing its warlike shadow over the liveliest and brightest +thoroughfare of the new town. From their smoky beehives, ten stories +high, the unwashed look down upon the open squares and gardens of the +wealthy; and gay people sunning themselves along Prince's Street, with +its mile of commercial palaces all beflagged upon some great occasion, +see, across a gardened valley set with statues, where the washings of +the old town flutter in the breeze at its high windows. + +And then, upon all sides, what a clashing of architecture! In this one +valley, where the life of the town goes most busily forward, there may +be seen, shown one above and behind another by the accidents of the +ground, buildings in almost every style upon the globe. Egyptian and +Greek temples, Venetian palaces and Gothic spires, are huddled one over +another in most admired disorder, while, above all, the brute mass +of the Castle and the summit of Arthur's Seat look down upon these +imitations with a becoming dignity, as the works of Nature may look down +upon the monuments of Art. + +But Nature is a more indiscriminate patroness than we imagine, and in +no way frightened of a strong effect. The birds roost as willingly +among the Corinthian capitals as in the crannies of the crag; the +same atmosphere and daylight clothe the eternal rock and yesterday's +imitation portico; and as the soft northern sunshine throws out +everything into a glorified distinctness,--or easterly mists, coming up +with the blue evening, fuse all these incongruous features into one, and +the lamps begin to glitter along the street, and faint lights to burn in +the high windows across the valley,--the feeling grows upon you that +this also is a piece of nature in the most intimate sense; that this +profusion of eccentricities, this dream in masonry and living rock, is +not a drop-scene in a theatre, but a city in the world of every-day +reality, connected by railway and telegraph-wire with all the capitals +of Europe, and inhabited by citizens of the familiar type, who keep +ledgers, and attend church, and have sold their immortal portion to a +daily paper. By all the canons of romance, the place demands to be half +deserted and leaning towards decay; birds we might admit in profusion, +the play of the sun and winds, and a few gypsies encamped in the chief +thoroughfare; but these citizens, with their cabs and tramways, their +trains and posters, are altogether out of key. Chartered tourists, they +make free with historical localities, and rear their young among the +most picturesque sites with a grand human indifference. To see them +thronging by, in their neat clothes and conscious moral rectitude, and +with a little air of possession that verges on the absurd, is not the +least striking feature of the place. + +And the story of the town is as eccentric as its appearance. For +centuries it was a capital thatched with heather, and more than once, +in the evil days of English invasion, it has gone up in flame to heaven, +a beacon to ships at sea. It was the jousting-ground of jealous nobles, +not only on Greenside or by the king's stables, where set tournaments +were fought to the sound of trumpets and under the authority of the +royal presence, but in every alley where there was room to cross swords, +and in the main street, where popular tumult under the Blue Blanket +alternated with the brawls of outlandish clansmen and retainers. + +Down in the palace John Knox reproved his queen in the accents of modern +democracy. In the town, in one of those little shops plastered like so +many swallows' nests among the buttresses of the old Cathedral, that +familiar autocrat, James VI., would gladly share a bottle of wine with +George Heriot the goldsmith. Up on the Pentland Hills, that so quietly +look down on the Castle with the city lying in waves around it, those +mad and dismal fanatics, the Sweet Singers, haggard from long exposure +on the moors, sat day and night with tearful psalms to see Edinburgh +consumed with fire from heaven, like another Sodom or Gomorrah. There, +in the Grass-market, stiff-necked, covenanting heroes offered up the +often unnecessary, but not less honorable, sacrifice of their lives, and +bade eloquent farewell to sun, moon, and stars, and earthly friendships, +or died silent to the roll of drums. Down by yon outlet rode Grahame of +Claverhouse and his thirty dragoons, with the town beating to arms +behind their horses' tails,--a sorry handful thus riding for their +lives, but with a man at the head who was to return in a different +temper, make a dash that staggered Scotland to the heart, and die +happily in the thick of fight. There Aikenhead was hanged for a piece +of boyish incredulity; there a few years afterwards, David Hume ruined +Philosophy and Faith, an undisturbed and well-reputed citizen; and +thither, in yet a few years more, Burns came from the plough-tail, as +to an academy of gilt unbelief and artificial letters... + +The Old Town occupies a sloping ridge or tail of diluvial matter, +protected, in some subsidence of the waters, by the Castle cliffs which +fortify it to the west. On the one side of it and the other the new +towns of the south and of the north occupy their lower, broader, and +more gentle hilltops. Thus, the quarter of the Castle overtops the whole +city and keeps an open view to sea and land. It dominates for miles on +every side; and people on the decks of ships, or ploughing in quiet +country places over in Fife, can see the banner on the Castle +battlements, and the smoke of the old town blowing abroad over the +subjacent country. A city that is set upon a hill. It was, I suppose, +from this distant aspect that she got her nickname of _Auld Reekie_. +Perhaps it was given her by people who had never crossed her doors: day +after day, from their various rustic Pisgahs, they had seen the pile of +building on the hill-top, and the long plume of smoke over the plain; so +it appeared to them; so it had appeared to their fathers tilling the +same field; and as that was all they knew of the place, it could be all +expressed in these two words. + +Indeed, even on a nearer view, the Old Town is properly smoked; and +though it is well washed with rain all the year round, it has a grim +and sooty aspect among its younger suburbs. It grew, under the law that +regulates the growth of walled cities in precarious situations, not +in extent, but in height and density. Public buildings were forced, +wherever there was room for them, into the midst of thoroughfares; +thoroughfares were diminished into lanes; houses sprang up story after +story, neighbor mounting upon neighbor's shoulder, as in some Black Hole +of Calcutta, until the population slept fourteen or fifteen feet deep in +a vertical direction. + +The tallest of these _lands_, as they are locally termed, have long +since been burnt out; but to this day it is not uncommon to see eight or +ten windows at a flight; and the cliff of building which hangs imminent +over Waverley Bridge would still put many natural precipices to shame. +The cellars are already high above the gazer's head, planted on the +steep hill-side; as for the garret, all the furniture may be in the +pawn-shop, but it commands a famous prospect to the Highland hills. The +poor man may roost up there in the centre of Edinburgh, and yet have a +peep of the green country from his window; he shall see the quarters of +the well-to-do fathoms underneath, with their broad squares and gardens; +he shall have nothing overhead but a few spires, the stone top-gallants +of the city; and perhaps the wind may reach him with a rustic pureness, +and bring a smack of the sea, or of flowering lilacs in the spring.... + +One night I went along the Cowgate after every one was abed but the +policeman, and stopped by hazard before a tall _land_. The moon touched +upon its chimneys, and shone blankly on the upper windows; there was no +light anywhere in the great bulk of the building; but as I stood there +it seemed to me that I could hear quite a body of quiet sounds from the +interior; doubtless there were many clocks ticking, and people snoring +on their backs. And thus, as I fancied, the dense life within made +itself faintly audible in my ears, family after family contributing its +quota to the general hum, and the whole pile beating in tune to its +time-pieces, like a great disordered heart. Perhaps it was little more +than a fancy altogether, but it was strangely impressive at the time, +and gave me an imaginative measure of the disproportion between the +quantity of living flesh and the trifling walls that separated and +contained it. + +There was nothing fanciful, at least, but every circumstance of terror +and reality, in the fall of the _land_ in High Street. The building had +grown rotten to the core; the entry underneath had suddenly closed up, +so that the scavenger's barrow could not pass; cracks and reverberations +sounded through the house at night; the inhabitants of the huge old +human bee-hive discussed their peril when they encountered on the stair; +some had even left their dwellings in a panic of fear, and returned to +them again in a fit of economy or self-respect; when, in the black hours +of a Sunday morning, the whole structure ran together with a hideous +uproar and tumbled story upon story to the ground. The physical shock +was felt far and near, and the moral shock travelled with the morning +milkmaid into all the suburbs. + +The church-bells never sounded more dismally over Edinburgh than that +gray forenoon. Death had made a brave harvest, and, like Samson, by +pulling down one roof destroyed many a home. None who saw it can have +forgotten the aspect of the gable: here it was plastered, there papered, +according to the rooms; here the kettle still stood on the hob, high +overhead; and there a cheap picture of the Queen was pasted over the +chimney. So, by this disaster, you had a glimpse into the life of thirty +families, all suddenly cut off from the revolving years. The _land_ had +fallen; and with the _land_ how much! Far in the country, people saw a +gap in the city ranks, and the sun looked through between the chimneys +in an unwonted place. And all over the world, in London, in Canada, in +New Zealand, fancy what a multitude of people could exclaim with truth, +"The house that I was born in fell last night!" + + + + +IN THE LAND OF ROB ROY. + +NATHANIEL P. WILLIS. + + [From Willis's "Famous Persons and Places" we select an + interesting description of some Scottish scenes which the works + of Scott have rendered famous, including the home of Rob Roy + and the lakes Lomond and Katrine, the latter the scene of the + "Lady of the Lake." Passing many famous places on his way + north, the traveller at length reached the "far-famed and + much-boasted valley of Glencoe," which he describes in the + chapter following.] + + +We passed the head of the valley near Tyndrum, where McDougal of Lorn +defeated the Bruce, and were half-way up the wild pass that makes its +southern outlet, when our Highland driver, with a shout of delight, +pointed out to us a red deer, standing on the very summit of the highest +mountain above us. It was an incredible distance to see any living +thing, but he stood clear against the sky, in a relief as strong as if +he had been suspended in the air, and with his head up, and his chest +towards us, seemed the true monarch of the wild. + +At Invarenden, Donald McPhee begged for the discharge of himself and his +horse and cart from our service. He had come with us eighty miles, and +was afraid to venture farther on his travels, having never before been +twenty miles from the Highland village where he lived. It was amusing to +see the curiosity with which he looked about him, and the caution with +which he suffered the hostler at the inn to take the black mare out of +his sight. The responsibility of the horse and cart weighed heavily on +his mind, and he expressed his hope to "get her back safe," with an +apprehensive resolution that would have become a knight-errant girding +himself for his most perilous encounter. Poor Donald! how little he knew +how wide is the world, and how very like one part of it is to another! + +Our host of Invarenden supplied us with another cart to take us down to +Tarbot, and having dined with a waterfall looking in at each of our two +opposite windows (the inn stands in a valley between two mountains), we +were committed to the care of his eldest boy, and jolted off for the +head of Loch Lomond. + +I have never happened to see a traveller who had seen Loch Lomond in +perfectly good weather. My companion had been there every summer for +several years, and believes it always rained under Ben Lomond. As we +came in sight of the lake, however, the water looked like one sheet of +gold leaf, trembling, as if by the motion of fish below, but unruffled +by wind; and if paradise were made so fair, and had such waters in its +midst, I could better conceive than before the unhappiness of Adam +when driven forth. The sun was just setting, and the road descended +immediately to the shore, and kept along under precipitous rocks, +and slopes of alternate cultivation and heather, to the place of our +destination. And a lovely place it is! Send me to Tarbot when I would +retreat from the world. It is an inn buried in a grove at the foot of +hills, and set in a bend of the lake-shore, like a diamond upon an +"orbed brow;" and the light in its kitchen, as we approached in the +twilight, was as interesting as a ray of the "first water" from the +same. We had now reached the route of the cockney tourists, and while we +perceived it agreeably in the excellence of the hotel, we perceived it +disagreeably in the price of the wines, and the presence of what my +friend called "unmitigated vulgarisms" in the coffee-room. That is the +worst of England. The people are vulgar, but not vulgar enough. One +dances with the lazzaroni at Naples, when he would scarce think of +handing the newspaper to the "person" on a tour at Tarbot. Condescension +is the only agreeable virtue, I have made up my mind. + +Well--it was moonlight. The wind was south and affectionate, and the +road in front of the hotel "fleck'd with silver," and my friend's wife, +and the corresponding object of interest to myself, being on the other +side of Ben Lomond and the Tweed, we had nothing for it after supper +but to walk up and down with one another, and talk of the past. In the +course of our ramble we walked through an open gate, and, ascending a +gravel walk, found a beautiful cottage, built between two mountain +streams, and ornamented with every device of taste and contrivance. The +mild pure torrents were led over falls and brought to the threshold of +bowers, and seats, and bridges, and winding paths were distributed up +the steep channels in a way that might make it a haunt for Titania. It +is the property, we found afterwards, of a Scotch gentleman, and a +great summer retreat of the celebrated Jeffrey, his friend. It was one +more place to which my heart clung in parting. + +Loch Lomond sat still for its picture in the morning, and after an +early breakfast we took a row-boat, with a couple of Highlanders, +for Inversnade, and pulled across the lake with a kind of drowsy +delightfulness in the scene and air which I had never before found out +of Italy. We overshot our destination a little to look into Rob Roy's +cave, a dark den in the face of the rock, which has the look of his +vocation; and then pulling back along the shore, we were landed, in the +spray of a waterfall, at a cottage occupied by the boatman of this +Highland ferry. From this point across to Loch Katrine is some five +miles, and the scene of Scott's novel of Rob Roy. It has been "done" +so often by tourists that I leave all particular description of the +localities and the scenery to the well-hammered remembrance of readers +of magazines, and confine myself to my own private adventures. + +The distance between the lakes is usually performed by ladies on +donkeys, and by gentlemen on foot, but being myself rather tender-toed +with the gout, my companion started off alone, and I lay down on the +grass at Inversnade to wait the return of the long-eared troop, who were +gone across with an earlier party. The waterfall and the cottage just +above the edge of the lake, a sharp hill behind, closely wooded with +beech and fir, and, on a greensward platform in the rear of the house, +two Highland lassies, and a laddie, treading down a stack of new hay, +were not bad circumstances in which to be left alone with the witcheries +of the great enchanter. + +I must narrate here an adventure in which my own part was rather a +discomfiture, but which will show somewhat the manners of the people. +My companion had been gone half an hour, and I was lying at the foot +of a tree, listening to the waterfall and looking off on the lake, and +watching by fits the lad and lassies I have spoken of, who were building +a haystack between them, and chattering away most unceasingly in Gaelic. +The eldest of the girls was a tall, ill-favored damsel, merry as an +Oread, but as ugly as Donald Bean; and after a while I began to suspect, +by the looks of the boy below, that I had furnished her with a new +theme. She addressed some remark to me presently, and a skirmish of +banter ensued, which ended in a challenge to me to climb upon the stack. +It was about ten feet high, and shelving outward from the bottom, and my +Armida had drawn up the ladder. The stack was built, however, under a +high tree, and I was soon up the trunk, and, swinging off from a low +branch, dropped in the middle of the stack. + +In the same instant I was raised in a grasp to which I could offer no +resistance, and, with a fling to which I should have believed the +strength of few men equal, thrown clear of the stack to the ground. I +alighted on my back, with a fall of perhaps twelve feet, and felt +seriously hurt. The next moment, however, my gentle friend had me in her +arms (I am six feet high in my stockings), and I was carried into the +cottage, and laid on a flock bed, before I could well decide whether my +back was broken or no. Whiskey was applied externally and internally, +and the old crone, who was the only inhabitant of the hovel, commenced a +lecture in Gaelic, as I stood once more sound upon my legs, which seemed +to take effect upon the penitent, though her victim was no wiser for it. +I took the opportunity to look at the frame which had proved itself of +such vigorous power, but, except arms of extraordinary length, she was +like any other equally ugly, middle-sized woman. In the remaining +half-hour before the donkeys arrived we became the best of friends, and +she set me off for Loch Katrine with a caution to the ass-driver to +take care of me, which that sandy-haired Highlander took as an excellent +joke, and no wonder! + +The long mountain glen between these two lakes was the home of Rob Roy, +and the Highlanders point out various localities, all commemorated in +Scott's incomparable story. The house where Helen McGregor was born lies +a stone's throw off the road to the left, and Rob Roy's gun is shown by +an old woman who lives near by. He must have been rich in arms by the +same token, for, besides the well-authenticated one at Abbotsford, I +have seen some dozen guns and twice as many daggers and shot-pouches +which lay claim to the same honor. I paid my shilling to the old woman +not the less. She owed it to the pleasure I had received from Sir +Walter's novel. + +The view of Loch Lomond back from the highest point of the pass is +incomparably fine; at least when I saw it, for sunshine and temperature +and the effect of the light vapors on the hills were at their loveliest +and most favorable. It looks more like the haunt of a robber and his +caterans, probably, in its more common garb of Scotch mist, but, to my +eye, it was a scene of the most Arcadian peace and serenity. I dawdled +along the five miles upon my donkey, with something of an ache in my +back, but a very healthful and sunny freedom from pain and impatience at +my heart. And so did _not_ Baillie Nicol Jarvie make the same memorable +journey. + +The cottage inn at the head of Loch Katrine was tenanted by a woman, who +might have been a horse-guardsman in petticoats, and who kept her smiles +for other cattle than the Sassenach. We bought her whiskey and milk, +praised her butter, and were civil to the little Highlandman at her +breast; but neither mother nor child were to be mollified. The rocks +were bare around, we were too tired for a pull in the boat, and three +mortal hours lay between us and the nearest event in our history. I +first penetrated, in the absence of our Hecate, to the inner room of the +sheiling. On the wall hung a broadsword, two guns, a trophy or two of +deer's horns, and a Sunday suit of plaid, philibeg and short red coat, +surmounted by a gallant bonnet and feather. Four cribs, like the berths +in a ship, occupied the farther side of the chamber, each large enough +to contain two persons; a snow-white table stood between the windows; a +sixpenny glass, with an eagle's feather stuck in the frame, hung at such +a height that, "though tall of my hands," I could just see my nose; and +just under the ceiling on the left was a broad and capacious shelf, on +which reposed apparently the old clothes of a century,--a sort of place +where the gude-wife would have hidden Prince Charlie, or might rummage +for her grandmother's baby linen. + +The heavy steps of the dame came over the threshold, and I began +to doubt from the look in her eyes whether I should get a blow +of her hairy arm or a "persuader" from the butt of a gun for +my intrusion. "What are ye wantin' here?" she _speered_ at me, +with a Helen-McGregor-to-Baillie-Nicol-Jarvie sort of an expression. + +"I was looking for a potato to roast, my good woman." + +"Is that a'? Ye'll find it ayont, then!" And pointing to a bag in the +corner, she stood while I subtracted the largest, and then followed +me to the general kitchen and receiving-room, where I buried my +_improvista_ dinner in the remains of a peat-fire, and congratulated +myself on my ready apology. + +What to do while the potato was roasting! My English friend had already +cleaned his gun for amusement, and I had looked on. We had stoned the +pony till he had got beyond us in the morass (small thanks to us if +the dame knew it). We had tried to make a chicken swim ashore from the +boat, we had fired away all my friend's percussion-caps, and there was +nothing for it but to converse _a rigueur_. We lay on our backs till the +dame brought us the hot potato on a shovel, with oatcake and butter, and +with this Highland dinner the last hour came decently to its death. + +An Englishman with his wife and lady's maid came over the hills with +a boat's crew, and a lassie who was not very pretty, but who lived on +the lake, and had found the means to get "Captain Rob" and his men +pretty well under her thumb. We were all embarked, the lassie in the +stern-sheets with the captain, and ourselves, though we "paid the scot," +of no more consideration than our portmanteaus. I was amused, for it was +the first instance I had seen in any country (my own not excepted) of +thorough emancipation from the distinction of superiors. Luckily, the +girl was bent on showing the captain to advantage, and by ingenious +prompting and catechism she induced him to do what probably was his +custom when he could not better amuse himself, point out the localities +as the boat sped on, and quote the Lady of the Lake with an accent which +made it a piece of good fortune to have "crammed" the poem beforehand. + +[Illustration: THE FORTH BRIDGE FROM THE NORTH] + +The shores of the lake are flat and uninteresting at the head, but +towards the scene of Scott's romance they rise into bold precipices, and +gradually become worthy of their celebrity. The Trosachs are a cluster +of small, green mountains, strewn, or rather piled, with shrubs and +mossy verdure, and from a distance you would think only a bird, or +Ranald of the Mist, could penetrate their labyrinthine recesses. Captain +Rob showed us successively the Braes of Balquidder, Rob Roy's birth- and +burial-place, Benledi, and the crag from which hung, by the well-woven +skirts of braid cloth, the worthy bailie of Glasgow; and, beneath a +precipice of remarkable wildness, the half-intoxicated steersman raised +his arm, and began to repeat, in the most unmitigated gutturals,-- + + "High _o'er_ the south hung Ben_venue_, + Down _to_ the lakes _his_ masses threw, + Crags, knowls, and mounds _con_fusedly hurl'd + The frag_ments_ of an earlier _wurruld_." + +I have underlined it according to the captain's judicious emphasis, +and in the last word have endeavored to spell after his remarkable +pronunciation. Probably to a Frenchman, however, it would have seemed +all very fine,--for Captain Rob (I must do him justice, though he broke +the strap of my portmanteau) was as good-looking a ruffian as you would +sketch on a summer's tour. + +Some of the loveliest water I have ever seen in my life (and I am rather +an amateur at that element to look at) lies deep down at the bases of +these divine Trosachs. The usual approaches from lake to mountain (beach +or sloping shore) are here dispensed with; and straight up from the deep +water rise the green precipices and bold and ragged rocks, overshadowing +the glassy mirror below with tints like a cool corner in a landscape of +Ruysdael's. It is something (indeed, on a second thought, exceedingly) +like Lake George; only that the islands in this extremity of Loch +Katrine lie closer together, and permit the sun no entrance except +by a ray almost perpendicular. A painter will easily understand the +effect of this,--the loss of all that _makes a surface_ to the water, +and the consequent far depth to the eye, as if the boat in which you +shot over it brought with it its own water and sent its ripple through +the transparent air. I write _currente calamo_, and have no time to +clear up my meaning, but it will be evident to all lovers of nature. + +Captain Rob put up his helm for a little fairy green island, lying like +a lapful of green moss on the water, and, rounding a point, we ran +suddenly into a cove sheltered by a tree, and in a moment the boat +grated on the pebbles of a natural beach perhaps ten feet in length. A +flight of winding steps, made roughly of roots and stones, ascended from +the water's edge. + +"Gentlemen and ladies!" said the captain, with a hiccup, "this is +Ellen's Isle. This is the gnarled oak" (catching at a branch of a tree +as the boat swung astern), "and--you'll please to go up them steps, an' +I'll tell you the rest in Ellen's bower." + +The Highland lassie sprang on shore, and we followed up the steep +ascent, arriving breathless at last at the door of a fanciful bower, +built by Lord Willoughby d'Eresby, the owner of the island, exactly +after the description in the Lady of the Lake. The chairs were made of +crooked branches of trees and covered with deer-skins, the tables were +laden with armor and every variety of weapon, and the rough beams of +the building were hung with antlers and other spoils of the chase. + +"Here's where she lived!" said the captain, with the gravity of a +cicerone at the Forum, "and _noo_, if ye'll come out, I'll _show_ you +the echo!" + +We followed to the highest point of the island, and the Highlandman gave +a scream that showed considerable practice, but I thought he would have +burst his throat in the effort. The awful echo went round, "as mentioned +in the bill of performance," every separate mountain screaming back the +discord till you would have thought the Trosachs a crew of mocking +giants. It was a wonderful echo, but, like most wonders, I could have +been content to have had less for my money. + +There was a "small silver beach" on the mainland opposite, and above it +a high mass of mountain. + +"There," said the captain, "gentlemen and ladies, is where Fitz-James +_blew'd_ his bugle, and waited for the 'light shallop' of Ellen Douglas; +and here, where you landed and came up _them_ steps, is where she +brought him to the bower, and the very tree's still there,--as you see'd +me tak' hold of it,--and over the hill, yonder, is where the gallant +gray giv' out, and breathed _his_ last, and (will you turn round, if you +please, them that likes?) yonder's where Fitz-James met Red Murdoch that +killed Blanche of Devon, and right across this water _swum_ young Greme +that disdained the regular boat, and I s'pose on that lower step set the +old Harper and Ellen many a time a-watching for Douglas,--and now, if +you'd like to hear the echo once more----" + +"Heaven forbid!" was the universal cry; and, in fear of our ears, we put +the bower between us and Captain Rob's lungs, and followed the Highland +girl back to the boat. + +From Ellen's Isle to the head of the small creek, so beautifully +described in the "Lady of the Lake," the scenery has the same air of +lavish and graceful vegetation, and the same features of mingled +boldness and beauty. It is a spot altogether that one is sure to live +much in with memory. I see it as clearly now as then. + +The whiskey had circulated pretty freely among the crew, and all were +more or less intoxicated. Captain Rob's first feat on his legs was to +drop my friend's gun-case and break it to pieces, for which he instantly +got a cuff between the eyes from the boxing dandy that would have done +the business for a softer head. The Scot was a powerful fellow, and I +anticipated a row; but the tremendous power of the blow and the skill +with which it was planted quite subdued him. He rose from the grass as +white as a sheet, but quietly shouldered the portmanteau with which he +had fallen, and trudged on with sobered steps to the inn. + +We took a post-chaise immediately for Callender, and it was not till we +were five miles from the foot of the lake that I lost my apprehensions +of an apparition of the Highlander from the darkening woods. We arrived +at Callender at nine, and the next morning at sunrise were on our way to +breakfast at Stirling. + + + + +THE ISLAND OF STAFFA AND FINGAL'S CAVE. + +BERIAH BOTFIELD. + + [The islands adjoining the Scottish Highlands have much in them + to interest the traveller, both in the character and habits of + the people and the aspects of nature. As respects natural + phenomena, the scenery of the island of Staffa and Fingal's + Cave is of especial interest, the development of columnar + basalt rocks here being unequalled in extent and perfection. + From Botfield's "Journal of a Tour through the Highlands of + Scotland during the Summer of 1829" we select the following + description of Staffa and the adjacent coast and islands.] + + +The full moon shone in cloudless splendor upon the tranquil waters of +the bay and the dark shore of Morven. Lights were occasionally seen to +gleam from the motionless vessels, and, in the stillness of the night, +the distant waterfalls were heard to pour amidst the woody recesses of +Drumfin, the romantic residence of McLean, the laird of Coll, on the +opposite side of the bay. Beyond the mouth of the harbor, across the +Sound of Mull, appeared the rugged coast and wild hills of Morven, so +celebrated in the heroic strains of Ossian, upon which, whatever may be +the opinion of the spectator as to the authenticity of these celebrated +poems, it is impossible to look, at such a time as this, without the +deepest emotion. Indeed, the celebrated traveller, Dr. Clarke, who +ever regarded them as an ingenious fiction, blended with a very +scanty portion of traditional information, confessed that he could not, +nevertheless, avoid feeling some degree of local enthusiasm as he passed +the shores upon which so vast a superstructure of amazing but visionary +fable had been erected.... + +At daybreak we were summoned on board the steamboat, whence we enjoyed a +pleasing prospect of the woods and waterfalls surrounding the handsome +modern mansion of Drumfin, the residence of McLean, "the chief of the +sandy Coll," situated under a range of woody cliffs, upon the margin +of a lovely lake, at the eastern point of the Bay of Tobermory. Upon +emerging from this harbor, the opening of Loch Sunart, an arm of the sea +which deeply indents the rugged coast of Morven, and separates it from +the still more wild and rugged district of Ardnamurchan, appeared on our +right.... + +Upon the wild mountain-shore of Ardnamurchan, immediately upon the edge +of the sea, the castle of Mingarry appeared, "sternly placed," being +surrounded by a polygonal wall, whose edges coincide with those of the +ledge of rocks on which it stands; and though it can no longer be said +"to overawe the woodland and the waste," yet it is an object of striking +interest both from its situation and ancient history. The cliffs which +bind this rude shore scarcely rise beyond sixty or one hundred feet in +height, but are of a peculiarly savage character, which, combined with +the prevailing swell of the mighty Western Ocean, renders any attempt at +landing both difficult and dangerous. + + [As they proceeded, a long chain of islands was passed, while + on the coast at length appeared Cailleach Head, so called from + the extremely close resemblance of a portion of the rock to the + human head. Thence they gained a magnificent view of the coast + of Canna, and saw, beautiful in the distance, the dark-blue + mountains of the island of Skye, while other islands gemmed the + waters nearer at hand.] + +Upon this beautiful view of these islands we longed for winged feet to +leap from isle to isle; and though the number of the Western Islands +exceeds two hundred, our flight of fancy would not + + "pause till perched on Kilda's steep, + The last fair daughter of the Western deep." + +On emerging from the Sound of Mull, and passing the stormy cape of +Cailleach Head, we observed the bold rocks of the western coast of Mull, +veined with trap, and frequented by flocks of sea-fowl. As we proceeded +down the strait, between the islands of Coll and of Mull, the little +archipelago of the Treshanish Islands came in sight. As we drew near +these singular islands, consisting of Fladda, Linga, Bach, and the two +Cairnburgs, we gradually discerned their columnar structure, which, +though not so decided as that of Staffa, yet appeared sufficiently +evident to warrant the supposition that these are similar rocks of +basalt emerging from the deep, and just sufficiently clothed with +verdure to merit the appellation of islands. Upon the larger of the +Cairnburgs we saw, upon our right, as we approached its shore, a ruined +fortalice, used as a place of refuge by the warlike and turbulent +McLeans of Duart. This was a place of strength in the Norwegian times, +but is now only tenanted by a few wandering sheep, as are also Fladda +and Bach, which last, from its singularly oval shape, has obtained from +mariners the name of the Dutchman's Cap. + +This little chain of islets, with their treble summits and varied forms, +appeared under a thousand different aspects as we advanced between +them and the coast of Mull. Engaged as our attention had been by these +interesting objects, it was effectually diverted when we beheld, for the +first time, the celebrated island of Staffa, so justly esteemed one of +the greatest natural curiosities the world can boast, and well worth all +the perils of the voyage; since no description, however eloquent, no +picture, however vivid, can portray this admirable demonstration of +nature's power as it is seen and felt by the beholder. + +Beyond Staffa we discerned, as yet indistinctly, the tower of the +cathedral upon the Isle of Iona; and, more distantly to the extreme +west, the island of Tiree; while close upon our left appeared the range +of rocky precipices which render the coast of Mull so interesting.... In +the distance rose proudly to heaven the lofty summit of Ben More, and +the lesser mountain of Mamclachaig, in Mull. + +Little islets, some of them bearing vestiges of ancient forts, are +scattered over the face of the deep, between Ulva and Staffa, to which +island, as we approached, our gaze was eagerly directed; and as we +beheld its unrivalled columnar structure more distinctly, we were +enabled to appreciate more justly the far-famed wonders of this precious +gem of the sea. Having stayed our course underneath its most precipitous +and attractive side, fronting the southwest, we instantly got into the +boat, and rowed off for Fingal's Cave, over unusually quiescent water. + +As the tide was ebbing fast, we landed at the entrance of the cave +underneath the most magnificent arch it is possible to conceive; the +mouth of the cave being seventy feet high and about forty-two broad. +We scrambled on without difficulty along its eastern side, over the +flat tops of the broken yet upright pillars, which form an excellent +causeway, into the interior of the cave, and there contemplated, with +infinite awe and admiration, this magnificent temple of the God of +Nature.... + +This celebrated cave is entirely composed of basaltic pillars, having +from five to six sides in general, but varying to seven or eight, the +ends of which are generally about two feet in diameter, accurately +corresponding with each other at the roof and bottom of the cavern, +which has been formed, it may be conjectured, by the action of the sea +undermining the jointed columns, and thus producing the excavation, +which gradually diminishes in breadth to its termination, two hundred +and twenty-seven feet from its entrance. This majestic vault is +poetically termed in Gaelic, Uiamh Binn--the Musical Cave--from the echo +of the waves within its mighty recesses, and somewhat unaccountably has +obtained the name of Fingal, though tradition has not connected it in +any way with the illustrious exploits of that Ossianic hero. + +As the tide never entirely leaves the cave, the only floor it has is the +beautifully translucent green wave of the sea, reflecting from its bosom +those tints which vary and harmonize the darker hues of the rock, and +often throwing on the basaltic columns the flickering lights which its +undulating surface receives from the rays of the sun without. + +The roof of the cave is extremely curious and beautiful, the interstices +between the pillars being filled up by stalactites of varied hue, whose +beautiful tints have the fine effect of greatly enriching this natural +mosaic work. The murmur of the swelling tide, mingling with the +deep-toned echoes of the vault, which grandly reverberated to the +repeated reports of our double-barrelled pistol, added to the stupendous +magnificence of the columns, and the splendid singularity of the scene, +produced emotions in the mind which defy description, and which future +impressions will never be able to obliterate. + +Reluctantly quitting the Cave of Fingal, we proceeded in our boat under +the highest part of the magnificent colonnade of basaltic pillars, which +rise to the height of one hundred and twelve feet above high-water +mark, between Fingal's Cave and a square dark aperture in the lowest +stratum of the rock called the Boat Cave, because it is accessible by +that mode alone, and runs in the rock one hundred and forty feet, like +the gallery of a mine. The columnar structure of the trap rock is +extremely evident above and around this cave, and continues equally so +as far as the Cormorant's or McKinnon's Cave to the west, which derives +its former name from the feathered race that inhabit it, and of which a +fine specimen flew over our heads as we approached the spacious entrance +of the cave. + +This singular aperture is peculiarly striking from the simplicity and +regularity of its form. The columns are extremely perfect, and rise +immediately from a black amorphous mass of indurated matter, through +which are dispersed nodules and fragments of a still darker rock, +altogether closely resembling the scoriae of a volcano, strongly +corroborative of the igneous origin of basaltic rocks. The height of +this cave is fifty feet, its breadth forty-eight, and its length two +hundred and twenty-four feet. The range of columns over its front is +extremely beautiful, being hollowed or bent into a concave recess, while +the upper part presents a curious and regular geometric ceiling of a +striking and unusual appearance. + +Repassing the Boat Cave and the range of columns above it, we landed +below the echoing arch of the great cave, and availing ourselves of the +natural steps afforded by the gigantic causeway, which rises step by +step up to the base of the grand colonnade, walked to the detached rock +called Buachaille ([Greek: Bougolos]), or the Herdsman. This noted rock +rises about thirty feet above the waves, consisting of an agglomeration +of columns resting against each other, and meeting, until they form a +conical body, which appears to lie upon a bed of singularly curved +horizontal columns visible only at low water,--an advantage which we +fortunately enjoyed, and found several sea anemones in the hollows of +the rocks. + +Passing a rugged point where the causeway projects considerably, we came +suddenly upon the Scallop or Clamshell Cave, so justly esteemed one of +the most wonderful features of this famous island. This cave is a large +rent or fissure in the rock, one hundred and thirty feet long, thirty in +height, and eighteen in breadth at its entrance, where it presents on +one side the singular phenomenon of the curved and contorted, yet as +usual polygonal, columns of basalt, bent so as to form a series of ribs, +each forty or fifty feet long, without a joint, their ends standing up +and terminating abruptly, not unlike the inside view of the timbers of a +ship. On the opposite side of the cave the broken ends of the pillars +are so disposed as to bear a general resemblance to the surface of a +honeycomb. The lateral dimensions of this cave gradually contract until +they terminate in a long, narrow fissure in the rock. By the continued +basaltic causeway on the northern side access is obtained to the +table-summit of the island, upon which black cattle find good pasturage, +though a ruined hut and an extensive prospect are all that can be +expected in requital of the fatigue of the ascent. + +This celebrated island, it may be remarked, lies in the same longitude +with the Giant's Causeway on the northern coast of Ireland. + +Returning from the Clamshell Cave round the point of the causeway, we +regained the Buachaille rock, under which, in the narrow channel between +it and the causeway, just sufficient to allow it to swim, we found our +boat, and were conveyed in it back to the steamboat, whence we surveyed, +with unsated curiosity, the wonderful island we had just explored, and +had ample opportunity of appreciating the truth of its Norwegian +derivation from _staff_, a stave, to which those barbarians likened its +columns. The grand southern facade of the island is formed of three beds +of trap-rock of unequal thickness; the lowest being a conglomerate +tufaceous trap, about fifty feet thick on the western side, but, in +consequence of its inclination, disappearing under the sea a little to +the westward of the great cave. The middle bed is composed of basaltic +columns, placed vertically on the plane of their bed, and of unequal +depth, varying from thirty-six to fifty-four feet. The upper stratum +consists of amorphous and tufaceous trap, intermixed with small basaltic +veins and columns, and by its inequality and depth forms the contour of +the island, whose surface is covered with turf, and presents nothing +remarkable. The cliffs upon the northern shore of the island are very +rugged and irregular, and contain about five caves of lesser note, being +remarkable only for the resounding of the waves upon breaking into them, +resembling much "the cannon's opening roar." + + [Not far removed from Staffa is the famous isle of Iona, + celebrated as the place where Columba, an Irish sixth century + saint, founded a monastery and converted the inhabitants from + Druidism to Christianity. The establishment founded by him + flourished for centuries, and the ruins of the cathedral and + other antique buildings still remain. One of these, "the Reilig + Ouran, to the south of St. Oran's Chapel, was for centuries the + ordinary burial-place of the Scottish kings, whose tombs, to + the number of forty-eight, form a long and continuous series of + oblong narrow stones, laid flat side by side, and bearing + scrolls and effigies, but no inscriptions."] + +Tradition has recorded Fergus the Second as the earliest monarch of the +line, having been entombed about 420 A.D., and included among the number +his successors down to Macbeth; though Macculloch conjectures, from the +circumstance of the body of Alexander II., who died at Kerrera, having +been conveyed to Melrose for burial, that Iona did not enjoy so great +a reputation as the burial-place of kings as it is commonly said to +have done in the earlier ages of the Scottish monarchy. However, our +conductor, parallel to the royal tombs of Scotland, pointed out to us +a similar line, containing eight Norwegian princes or viceroys of the +island, during the remote period when that barbarous people exercised +sovereignty over the Isles of the Gael. These tombs are chiefly +distinguished by the Runic knots and curious representations of vessels +rudely sculptured upon the oblong pieces of primitive rock which cover +their graves. Adjoining these, a row of four similar stones indicate the +graves of as many Irish kings, near to which is said to lie one king of +France. Altogether they constitute perhaps the most extensive +association of crowned heads in the habitable globe. + + [The latter "kings" were perhaps but chiefs, and here, near the + royal tombs, are buried most of the insular Highland + chieftains, the Macdonalds, the Macleans, and others of ancient + days.] + + + + +IRELAND AND ITS CAPITAL. + +MATTHEW WOODS, M. D. + + [Among recent books of travel few have attained more immediate + and flattering success than Dr. Woods's "Rambles of a + Physician," the racy story of a run through Ireland, Britain, + and the continent of Europe. The author has keen powers of + observation and fluency in description, and has put on record + much that other travellers fail to mention. We give his + _resume_ of his run through Ireland and his telling description + of what he saw in the people's quarter of Dublin.] + + +I have been strolling at leisure through the streets, and find myself at +the end of the long twilight perplexed instead of pleased by what I have +seen. Why is it so difficult to get at the truth about Ireland? Why is +it that, when a man begins to talk about even its beauty, he exaggerates +it beyond recognition, and that the very few who do give the plain facts +are not believed? Why do I read in a little book that I have just found +on the parlor table, and which explains the origin of the name "Emerald +Isle," the following words, paraphrased from a popular history: "The +name Emerald Isle is generally supposed to have been derived from the +_evergreen appearance of her shores_, whereas it really originated from +the ring which was set with the words 'Optimo Smaragdo,' and which Pope +Adrian sent to King Henry IV. as the instrument of his investiture with +the dominion of the land." Now, the truth is, Ireland's shores are not +"evergreen;" not green at all, but brown and barren, with occasional +patches of bright yellow when the _prussach's_ in bloom, and bronze when +the blossoms fall. + +From Queenstown to Cork there is, I admit, a refreshing verdure, +especially attractive because of the monotony of the recently-crossed +sea, and the houses, too, in this strip, are enveloped in flowers; but +this is not because they are in Ireland, but is rather due to their +being occupied by English or Scotch or their descendants, who sing thus +"the Lord's song in a strange land." Yet from Cork to Killarney, by the +Prince of Wales route, you rarely see a bit of verdure; not a flower +by the roadside, nor in a window, nor the slightest attempt at the +beautification of a home, or to make the best of little. For part of the +way not a green field, nor a tree, nor a shrub, nor a weed, nor a blade +of grass, nor the song of a bird, nor the hum of an insect,--nothing, +absolutely, but brown, barren desolation, associated with a sort of +solitude that but intensifies the gloom. Occasionally a narrow belt of +potatoes encircling a cabin, always built without mortar, as there is +no sand in Ireland, is the only relief from the depressing waste until +you reach Glengariff, where you find the English idea again, which has +covered the barren rocks with flowers and fruit, comfortable homes and +waving grain, the contrast, indeed, making the most taciturn eloquent in +praise. From Glengariff to Killarney the same sterile desolation. Miles +and miles without a bit of pleasant vegetation to rest the weary eyes. +The district suggesting rather some of the dismal places described by +Dante or Virgil, Ariosto, Tasso, or Milton, as the abode of souls +condemned, rather than districts occupied by living men. + +[Illustration: CUSTOM-HOUSE, DUBLIN, IRELAND] + +After passing through these regions of perpetual misery and despair, +these birdless and treeless wastes, you get to regard any little bit of +green as a godsend. You have, perhaps, closed your eyes to shut out the +depressing melancholy of the apparently anathematized place; you cannot +shut out all thoughts of the wretched and benighted men that relentless +fate seems to have anchored on these more relentless shores. You have +for some time past been ascending the side of a whin-spangled mountain; +having reached the summit, the vehicle stops,--you look abroad, and +behold the Islands of the Blest, Civitas Solis, Utopia, the New +Atlantis, Paradise, what you will; otherwise, Killarney is at your feet, +and you feel + + "Like stout Cortez when, with eagle eyes, + He stared at the Pacific,--and all his men + Looked at each other with a wild surmise,-- + Silent, upon a peak in Darien." + +It was here that, when we sought O'Holleron [an enthusiastic Irish +patriot of the party], who had suddenly disappeared, we found him +with bent head, tears running down his cheeks, and sobbing. You descend +from this Pisgah to the lakes, and remain for a few days, until you have +exhausted your collection of exclamations, and have repeated them again +in writing to your friends, when you proceed. + +From here to the Liffey the country is not so brown as the region +through which you have passed, but still unattractive in the extreme. It +is not green, but greenish, with most of the small fields, as is the +mode here, enclosed within thick walls of stone, built without mortar, +and void of vegetation. Farms small (average size about six acres), +tumble-down houses, no inspiring legends nor traditions, intellects +dead, no past, present, nor future, nothing but the same dreary lament, +in which everything participates,--the emigrant, landlord, tenant; the +very clouds weep over it; hardly ever cease. At every cluster of houses, +at a crossroad, the number of bare-limbed women, wearing but two +garments, one of them a petticoat, coming only below the knees, makes +you think of Gros's remark, that "Irishwomen have a dispensation from +the pope to wear the thick end of their legs downward."... + +Visitors here find the country so ludicrously, or rather so mournfully, +different from what they have been taught to expect--the Isle of +Saints; the Emerald Isle; "the land of chaste women and brave men;" the +hospitable land; "a kind-hearted people;" "a people of sobriety and +industry," are some of the epithets used--that, unless sickened into +silence by the humiliating reality, they think of what they have read +and heard as a joke, and, to keep the tears back, joke too; and this I +believe is the origin of many of the hilarious things written about +Ireland. + +You might think the birth of the Duke of Wellington and Oliver Goldsmith +here would have raised this part of the island above the commonplace, +as that of Burns did Ayr; of Shakespeare, Stratford; of Gray and Penn, +Stoke Poges; of Goethe, Frankfort; or of Emerson, a few white houses +upon a New England plain; but no, there are no memorials in this +district at all, except the scant fragments left by the old pagan +and semi-christianized natives before the land was the home of +thriftlessness and whiskey. The picture is the saddest of all the sad +pictures of modern retrogression, with no prospect of the advent of a +mind capable of suggesting the proper remedy. + + [Certainly one cannot but say, after this depressing picture + by one "to the manner born," that Ireland needs regenerating. + We give next his impressions of Dublin, which are no more + enlivening in tone.] + +But about Dublin. What of it? It is certainly a place of handsome +municipal buildings, and others, too, built in an imposing manner, +and yet all there is architecturally great in the whole city you see +at a glance, the moment you cross O'Connell's Bridge. The first view, +therefore, is impressive in the extreme; the buildings magnificent, +splendidly proportioned, symmetrical. You can see them all at once, and +are delighted; but penetrate those vistas, and behold them,--a suit of +sixteenth-century mail for man and horse on Sancho Panza and his mule, +or a gracefully painted window that shuts off an ugly view,--all that +you see at the first glance is all that there is. + +To be sure, there are many churches,--perhaps one hundred,--including +Methodists, Moravians, Friends, Baptists, Unitarians, Presbyterians, +Jews, besides those belonging to the two religious bodies most numerous +here,--the Churches of Ireland and Rome; some of them of great beauty; +ostentatious, to be sure, as if they were competing with each other in +display; and yet with all this the city has none of those pleasant +surprises that you expect in old towns, and that you find even with us +[in America], and more so, I judge, in towns on the Continent; that is +to say, narrow, clean streets opening into wide courts, having buildings +with carved fronts and pillars, and the like, or sudden bends in a +street, where the commonplace becomes magnificence. There is nothing +of this in Dublin,--no curious doors or windows, no "jutty frieze" nor +"coign of vantage." Very often an attempt at grandeur, but marred by +defective details. The interiors, too, as far as I could penetrate, +indicating more the desire for elegance than the capacity,--gay-colored +window-shades, but torn; door- and window-curtains, but faded; +window-boxes, broken and hanging askew, with flowers withering, either +from the smoky atmosphere or neglect; everything black from coal-dust, +and no flowers at all. No wonder Moore wrote so touchingly about the +last rose of summer. + +Plants, to my sorrow, were not in abundance. I searched the grounds of +Trinity and everywhere else in vain for a rose or anything else that +bloomed, and feel, therefore, as if Tom Moore's rose must have been +the last of its race; but what Dublin lacks in flowers it makes up in +taverns. Myriads--to quote again from Adam Clarke--of groggeries and +distilleries; one of these so large that it looks as if the muddy river +that runs through the city was dug there merely to carry its barges of +stout to people at the other end. It appears also here, like home, as +if these same gentry, who become rich on the drunkenness of the people, +were rather important factors in municipal affairs. One of these, +Guinness,--I feel, though, like apologizing for mentioning his name in +connection with liquor-dealers, as his commodity is stout,--however, +is the philanthropist of Dublin, the restorer of St. Patrick's, the +supporter of missionaries, the insurer of all his employes' lives, etc., +and not only has a monument here by Foley, but was also knighted during +the present reign. You remember Dickens,--"The nobility can brew, but +they can't bake." + +The streets are ornamented with many good statues, including Goldsmith, +Moore, Burke, Grattan, Stokes, Lords Carlisle, Corrigan, Eglinton, Smith +O'Brien, and others; but the University, the gift of that friend of +learning, Queen Elizabeth, is perhaps the chief glory of the town; +while "the Liberties," a portion of which I explored to-day, is probably +her greatest disgrace. From the lanes and alleys that penetrate this +malodorous district emerge the most curious race, I would judge, that +has ever been found in a civilized town. Here you find illustrations in +abundance, not only of the "philosophy of clothes," but of the comedy +and tragedy as well; this tendency to wear other people's garments being +one of the characteristics of the tribe, and the city being very liberal +in the matter of supplying them with shops where they may procure their +wares. + +In Cork the chief articles of _petit_ commerce are cast-off clothing +and "bits of mate," especially tails of things piled up on stalls, the +clothing spread on the streets; while in Dublin it is second-hand +clothing and bones, sold in mouldy dens,--"bone warehouses,"--twelve +feet wide, yawning like Elijah's cave after the ravens had been doing +the generous thing by him for months. In turning a corner, a fellow, +standing on his knees (stumps) near one of these, accosted me, asking +for money to help pay for a pair of cork legs, his own blown off in a +dynamite "experiment." Why not Dublin legs? I thought. "He needed but +five shillings more," he said; "they were already made, but the thief +of a maker would not let him have them until he had paid every penny." +Looking up into my face in a sort of confidential aside, he added, +"True enough, sir; he's giving them to me at cost." + +In the act of contributing to the needed balance, a young lady of +perhaps thirty-five autumns, and dressed in a crape hat, linen duster, +split down the back, and who had heard the pitiful story of the +descendant of Simon Tappertit, approached and said, "Don't give him a +ha'penny, sir; he has one pair of legs in pawn already; and he has two +wives and nine children that beg for him besides. If you have anything +to spare, give it to me, sir; I'm an orphan." + +What could not Herr Diogenes Teufelsdroeckh say about such a pandemonium +of rags as are to be found here? "Happy he who can look through the +clothes of man into the man." No difficulty here in being happy, if +holes can help you. You are among a colony of savages, as much in +conceit with their parti-colored wardrobe as a Mohawk with his beads. +Everything, from the "goodly Babylonish garments--the mantles of Shinar, +from Assyrian looms," down to the cast-off tarpaulin of discharged or +disgraced tars, are on the backs of the denizens of the Liberties. No +one is wearing the clothes made for him. The unexpected is the most +common. One fellow had on the cast-off coat of a policeman, too small +to reach across his naked body, with a pair of trousers with scarlet +stripes, billowing down to the uppers of his soleless shoes. Another +bare-footed man had nothing on but an ulster; another, daintily picking +his way across the street to one of the rag and bone shops that are +as thick here as leaves in Vallombrosa, and between his trousers and +short-waisted coat, with long tails, was a yawning gulf of dark flesh, +that a crimson sash tried in vain to conceal. Another had on an overcoat +with but one sleeve; a hole in the back large enough for him to thrust +his head through; fastened down the front by having bits of the coat +pulled through the buttonholes, and kept from slipping back by butchers' +skewers. + +Knee-breeches, red coats, cocked and battered stove-pipe hats, +swallow-tailed coats, costumes of every clime, together with the +official garments of the army in rags, are found here on the backs of +scoundrels that look as if they would run from a bit of soap as if it +were the plague,--if, indeed, they would _run_ from anything. The women, +like the men, indescribable. The saddest part of it, the children; +scores of half-naked little souls, swarming around and looking as if +all they ever had to eat they picked up in the streets; have nothing +of childhood about them but its seriousness; children that have never +been combed or washed; boys having nothing on but the trousers of men, +the waistband tied about their necks, their arms thrust through the +pocket-holes, and the legs rolled up like the coat-sleeves of "the +Artful Dodger." One little fellow wore a swallow-tailed coat and +stockings, nothing else; the strange thing about it, they are not aware +how curious they look; but the ladies! the very exuberance of grotesque +finery they exhibit silences my modest pen.... + +P.S.--You know that it is a custom among the subjects of England to +conclude all public meetings, especially of a secular nature, by singing +"God save the Queen." The only exception to this rule, I believe, are +the Irish Nationalists; they don't want God to do anything of the sort, +and have consequently substituted for the National Anthem a song +entitled "God save Ireland," which they sing in season and out of +season. You can always tell the politics of a district by the number of +fiddlers, _prima donnas_, tin whistle and jews-harp performers that play +this new vent for patriotism. + +_A propos_ of this, in coming home this evening I read on a great +sign, at the door of a dingy little drug-shop near the Liberties, the +following combination of enterprise and patriotism (which struck me as +being odd, and which, for your amusement, I transcribed, punctuation +points and all): + + "Prepared Castor Oil a penny a dose! + God Save Ireland? + Epsom salts 4 doses for a half-penny! + God Save Ireland? + Seidlitz Powder 6 pence a box! + God Save Ireland?" + +and so on, all the way to the bottom, until God had saved Ireland, I +think, some fifteen or sixteen times, but always after a powerful +physic; the last line of the placard was,-- + + "Home Rule Forever! + God Save Ireland?" + + + + +FROM CORK TO KILLARNEY. + +SARAH J. LIPPINCOTT. + + [Mrs. Lippincott, the favorite "Grace Greenwood" of former + American readers, was the author of several works of European + travel. The following selection is from her "Haps and Mishaps + of a Tour in Europe," and includes her interesting description + of Blarney Castle, Killarney, and the country between.] + + +The passage from Holyhead to Kingstown was accomplished in four hours; +but throughout the trip I felt that I would sooner cross the Styx to the +Plutonian shores than attempt it again. I thought that I had sounded the +lowest depths of mortal suffering in the way of sea-sickness, but I +found that my Atlantic experiences were but a faint prelude to a mild +suggestion of this. + +A gentleman at Cork told me an anecdote of a company of emigrants who +were observed passing back and forth on one of the ferry-boats during an +entire day, and when questioned in regard to their strange movements, +answered, they were bound to America in the next ship, and were +"practising at say-sickness, just." So the tourist in the utmost he may +endure on an Atlantic voyage, before crossing the Irish Channel, may +have the consolation of knowing that he is but "practising at +say-sickness." + +At Kingstown we were treated to a taste of nationality in the shape of +a bit of a row between two carmen. At the Dublin station we took that +peculiar and distinctive Irish vehicle, an outside jaunting-car, which +has the merit of giving you a variety in the way of exercise,--joltings, +backward, forward, and sidewise,--a vigilant and vigorous endeavor to +keep yourself and your luggage on, and an alert watchfulness to keep +other vehicles off. There are two kinds of jaunting-cars, which are thus +distinguished by the Irish carmen: "The outside car, yer honor, has the +wheels inside, and the inside car has the wheels outside."... + +The route from Dublin to Cork leads mostly through a barren, boggy, +miserable country, with here and there an oasis of waving green and +gold, telling of careful cultivation and wise husbandry. There are some +fine old ruins along the way, among which I best remember those of +Kilmallock, Kildare, where the pious nuns once kept the holy fires +burning "through long ages of darkness and storm," Loughman Castle, +and the Rocks of Dunamore and Cashel. But all along the line the ruins +are almost countless. You grow mortally weary of crumbling turrets, +tumble-down gate-ways, battered arches, and staggering towers, all +standing out boldly in the sun and storm, for the absence of trees and +shrubbery is a marked feature in the agricultural districts of Ireland. +Indeed, the larger part of this ill-fated isle seems, in contrast with +fruitful, prosperous, beautiful England, a wild, weary, shadowless +waste, scathed, peeled, desolated, and abandoned. + +On the following morning [after a night spent at Cork], amid golden +sunshine and silvery showers, we drove to Blarney Castle, and wandered +through those umbrageous grounds immortalized by the poet in the famous +song of the "Groves of Blarney." The castle itself is a noble old ruin, +and its situation and surroundings are remarkably picturesque and +curious. There are natural subterranean passages leading down to the +lake, and a black dungeon, where, according to our guide, "Cromwell, the +bloody nagur," confined his prisoners. The lake is small, but, according +to the above-mentioned authority, quite bottomless. He told us, with a +grave face, that the late "Lady Jeffers," having taken a whim into her +head to draw it off, had a drain dug full three feet below the surface, +but not a drop would run out,--a sturdy, conservative old lake. + +We ascended the great tower, at the top of which we all kissed the new +Blarney stone,--it being morally and physically impossible for ladies to +salute the real Simon Pure, which is outside the wall some feet from the +summit. The gentlemen who accomplish this feat must be held by the feet +over the wall, one hundred and twenty feet from the ground, by a stout +guide, who is liable to be seized with a sudden weakness, and to call +out that he must stop "to spit on his hands,"--that he can _howld_ on +no longer, unless his fee is double; and the unhappy dog in suspense +pledges himself to a treat. Our guide assured me that the new Blarney +stone was quite as good as the "rale,"--that a certain "widdy lady" made +a pilgrimage all the way from the north of England, kissed the spurious +stone most rapturously, and made a great match soon after. The question +arises, Lay the virtue in the stone, or in the pilgrim's faith? + +Our return drive was very charming,--the rain was past and sunlight and +fresh breezes poured beauty and gladness on our way. I cannot remember +to have seen anywhere within so short a distance so many wild flowers. +The shrubbery was more luxuriant, the trees finer and more abundant, +than we had ever seen,--everything on our path was beautiful and +gracious save the _humanity_, which was wretched and poverty-stricken +in the extreme. From the miserable little mud huts along the road +ran scores of children, of all sizes, bare-headed, bare-footed, and +bare-legged, with rags of all imaginable hues and textures fluttering in +the wind, and attached to their bodies by some unknown and mysterious +law of attraction, certainly by no visible bond or support. With faces +begrimed by smoke, and wild eyes overhung with wilder locks, they +stretched out their dirty beseeching palms, and assailed us on all sides +of our outside car,--most assailable of vehicles,--fit contrivance for a +beggared land. + +Irish carmen are a race of Jehus,--driving with eccentric flourishes +of the whip, and when more than usually excited, with strange barbaric +whoops and hellos, making their odd little vehicles jump along at an +astonishing rate. They are commonly communicative and amusing, though by +no means the quaint, cunning, delightful, inimitable wags and wits your +Lovers and Levers, your Edgeworths and Halls, have pictured. It is a +singular thing that, though they are from the first free and easy in +word and manner, they are never offensively so. Native tact, good humor, +and warmth of heart take from their advances all appearance of boldness +or impertinence. Our driver on this occasion was disposed to be +particularly sociable, though not in the jocular way. He was a man of +much intelligence for his station, of a serious, even sad expression +of face, and he talked powerfully and with intense bitterness of the +wrongs and sorrows of the Irish peasantry. I was struck by hearing him +ascribe most of their sufferings not to the English government but +to the _native_ _Irish proprietors_, who, he averred, had revelled in +heartless, wasteful extravagance, while the people starved, until, since +the failure of the potato, many of them have been reduced to absolute +want. It was almost fearful to mark the wild gleam in the man's eye as +he spoke his fierce joy in this retributive justice.... + +On the morning of August 16 we left Cork for Killarney, by way of Bantry +and Glengariff. After a short run on the rail we took a stage-coach, +choosing outside seats, like enthusiastic tourists as we are, though the +day was dark and showery. There was little in the scenery, and less in +the condition of the country and people, to repay us for our exposure to +wind and weather till we reached Bantry. I can never forget the forlorn +unmitigated wretchedness of the people who thronged around us at the +little town of Dunmanway. Among the crowd appealing to us, in all +possible variations of the whine mendicious and mendacious, we saw not +one man or woman in the national costume and cover-all,--the double +cape great-coat and the hooded cloak; all was squalor and tatters +soul-sickening and disgusting. Here was infancy, nude and needy, +reaching out its dirty little hands; and second childhood bent and +tottering, with palsied palm extended, eying you with all the mute +wistfulness of a starved spaniel. There was a full assortment of the +halt, the hump-backed, and the crippled,--all degrees of sightlessness +and unsightliness. I turned away from the miserable creatures with a +heart heavy with hopeless sympathy and vain pity, and with a conscience +stricken for all my own sins of unthankfulness and discontent. + +And here I may as well pause to remark briefly on the condition and +appearance of the peasants in the south of Ireland. Knowing that I could +not fairly judge of this class by the idle and ragged crowd who gather +round the coach or car in the towns and hamlets, I took occasion, +during my stay at Cork, to visit several of the country cottages of the +working peasants in company with one of the landed proprietors. In but +one out of six did I find a regular fireplace and chimney; in but one +was there a window of glass, and that consisted of a single pane. The +others had--with the exception of the door, and a hole in the roof, from +which the smoke, after wandering at its own sweet will through the +cabin, found its way out--no opening whatever for light or ventilation. +But I forget--we did remark a sort of improvised window in one other. +In a low, miserable hovel, belonging to a carman, we found a horse +occupying full a third of the scanty room; and above his manger a small +hole had been made through the mud wall, the good man having found that +the health of the animal required what himself and family lived +without,--air. + +To the mistress of this unique habitation, whose one apartment served +for kitchen, sleeping-room, _stable_, and hall, I said, in horrified +amazement, "How is it possible you can live with that horse?" "Sure, +miss, he's no throuble," she replied; "and it's little room he takes, +after all; for the childer can sleep on the straw under him, just, and +creep between his legs, and he never harming them at all, the sensible +cratur." It is a common thing to see hens drying their feathers by the +genial peat glow, and pigs enjoying the pleasures of the domestic +hearth. In another cabin we found two curious old crones, living +together on apparently nothing, who loaded us with blessings in +the original tongue, and actually went on their knees to offer up +thanksgiving for a few half-pence, which we gave as a consideration +for intruding on their retirement. + +Yet, though living in low, smoky, ill-ventilated cabins,--often with +mouldering thatches, and always with damp earth floors, with a pool of +stagnant water or a dung-hill before the door,--though themselves ill +fed and but half clad, it is a singular fact that the peasants of +southern Ireland are apparently a healthful and hardy race. You +occasionally see fine specimens of manly and childish beauty among them; +but a pretty Irish peasant girl we found the rarest of _rara avises_. +There are some families of Spanish origin about Bantry, and of these +we encountered one or two dark-eyed, olive-cheeked beggar boys, who +seemed to have leaped out of one of Murillo's pictures. The policemen +everywhere are a particularly fine-looking set of fellows; indeed, none +but well-made, tall, and powerful men have any chance of enrolment in +this honorable terror-inspiring, omnipresent corps. + +The professional beggars of Ireland seem a peculiarly hopeless and +irredeemable class,--not because of the poverty of the country alone, +but from their own inherent and inherited idleness and viciousness. They +are persistent, pertinacious, sometimes impudent, and often quick-witted +and amusing. A friend of ours was waylaid by a certain "widdy" woman, +with an unlimited amount of ragged responsibilities at her heels. On +hearing her doleful story, our friend advised the fair mendicant to +take refuge in the poor-house. "The poor-house!" she exclaimed; "sure +it's meself that keeps the poorest house in all Cork, yer honor." +I was amused by an appeal made by an elderly dame to one of our +fellow-passengers: "Here's a fine fat gentleman, sure; sure he'll give +a sixpence to a poor bony body that hasn't broken her fast at all the +day." + +If you wish to take a meditative walk among the hills, the chances are +that you will return with a considerable ragged retinue; but the larger +detachment of this ignoble army of alms-seekers are stationed along the +public roads. They make their startling sorties from the most lonely, +wild, and inaccessible places; like Roderick Dhu's men, they leap up +from "copse and heath." Every rock hides a waiting mendicant, and +every tuft of broom stirs as we approach with a lurking tatterdemalion. +They leap on your way from behind walls, and drop down upon you from +overhanging trees,--small footpads, or rather _paddies_, who present +palms instead of pistols, and blarney and worry you alike out of pence +and patience. + +After a day of wet and weary travel through a melancholy country, we +enjoyed to the utmost the beautiful approach to Bantry, under a clear +and sunny sky, and welcomed with enthusiasm the sight of its lovely and +famous bay. But even this bright vision was soon eclipsed by Glengariff, +where we spent the night. Thus far on my tour I have seen nothing to +compare with the glorious beauty of that place. In all the solemn +shadows of its wild loneliness, the dark deeps and frowning heights of +its grandeur, in all the sweet lights of its loveliness, it lives, and +must ever live, in my charmed memory; but I will not attempt to picture +it in words. + +After dinner, though a light rain was falling, we took a row around the +bay, and remained on the water until the night set in. I think we shall +none of us soon forget that row over the smooth and silent bay, in the +rain and deepening twilight, under the shadows of mountain and rock. +The scene would have been too wild, solemn, and awfully lonely but for +the peculiar wit and story-telling talent of "Jerry," our guide and +helmsman. He entertained us with some wonderful legends of a certain +Father Shannon, a priest, and a famous character in this region about +half a century ago. + +[Illustration: QUEENSTOWN HARBOR] + +One anecdote illustrative of the holy man's quick-wittedness impressed +me as an instance of "cuteness" passing the cuteness of Yankees. "The +good father," says Jerry, "was one day fishing, in his boat, on the +bay, when he heard a swarm of bees buzzing about him. Then he begins to +rattle with a knife, or spoon, in an iron kettle he had with him in the +boat, till he feels that all the bees have settled on his shoulders. +Then he slyly reaches back, and takes hold of the tail of his shirt +(begging your pardon, ladies!) and he suddenly turns it over his head, +bees and all, and puts it into the kettle, which he covers over in a +second just; and so he takes the whole swarm to Lord Bantry, and sells +them for three pounds, and gets his shirt back, too, yer honor."... + +The mountain road from Glengariff to Killarney is a splendid specimen +of engineering, and leads through scenery wild and beautiful in the +extreme. On the sunny morning of our leaving Glengariff, landscape and +air were fresh and delicious after the night's abundant rain, and with +thrills and palpitations of inexpressible joy my heart responded to the +gladness of nature. I shall never forget the childish ecstasy of delight +with which I gazed around me, and drank in the fragrant air of the +morning. + +The three lakes of Killarney descended upon by this road are likely to +disappoint the tourist, especially if he be an American, more especially +if he be a reader of, and a devout believer in, Mrs. Hall's beautiful +and most poetical book, "A Week in Killarney." In truth, such fairy +sheets of water seem little to deserve the name of lakes at first, but +they grow on your respect rapidly as you approach; their beauty is, +near or afar, quite exquisite and undeniable, and the mountains which +surround them are really very respectable elevations. Our first visit +was to the Tore Waterfall, by far the most beautiful cascade I have seen +since coming abroad. The fall is between sixty and seventy feet; the +glen into which the water comes leaping, and foaming, and flashing is +wild and rocky, and overhung with richest foliage.... + +Our first expedition was to the Gap of Dunloe, a wild and gloomy +mountain-pass, especially interesting to the reader of Gerald Griffin's +fine novel of "The Collegians" as the scene of poor Eily Connor's happy +honeymoon and tragic taking off. Our guide furnished myself and a +pleasant English friend with ponies; the remainder of the party took a +car. + +Though tolerably well mounted, and able to abruptly cut the company of +the old, crippled, and blind of the begging fraternity, we found that we +had small advantage over the boys; the fleet-footed little rascals kept +up with us for miles,--one juvenile Celt, literally _sans culotte_, but +in a shirt of elder-brotherly dimensions, giving us a sort of Tam +O'Shanter chase. A pretty, dark-eyed boy, running by my side, held +up a bunch of purple heather and wild honeysuckle, saying, with an +insinuating smile, "Plase, my lady, buy these ilegant bright flowers, so +like yer honor's self, this beautiful summer morning." What woman could +resist such an appeal? + +At the entrance of the Gap we were met by a detachment of volunteer +guides, and a company of "mountain-dew" girls,--maidens with cans of +goats' milk and flasks of "potheen," with which they are happy to treat +the traveller, for a consideration. After listening to some grand +echoes, called forth by the rich bugle-notes of our guide, we proceeded +through the pass. This, by itself, did not equal our expectation; its +finest feature is the "Purple Mountain," which in the glorious sunlight +of that morning was beautiful beyond conception. + +From Lord Brandon's demesne we embarked upon the upper lake, rowed among +its fairy islands, and ran down "the long range" to the middle lake, +pausing for a little gossip with the echoes of "Eagle Nest," and +shooting "Old Wier Bridge" on our way. The bay and mountain of Glena +are the gems of Killarney. Even now, looking back upon the scene through +the sobered light of recollection, it is all enchantment,--the shore +gorgeous with magnificent foliage, the waters flashing with silver +gleams, the sky golden with sunset light; and it is difficult for me to +believe that there is under the broad heaven a lovelier spot. Even the +echoes from this beautiful green mountain seemed clearer, yet softer +and more melodious, than any we had heard before. + +We took dinner on shore, in a delicious little nook shadowed by +arbutus-trees, dining off a large rock, some seated _a la Turc_, some +reclining in the ancient Oriental style. Oh, we had merry times! And +what with toasts and songs and legends, and joyous laughter ringing out, +peal on peal, over the still water, the wonder is we failed to rouse +the great O'Donoghue, who, according to popular tradition, dwells in a +princely palace under the lake, and only comes to the surface to take +an airing on horseback every May morning. Our row homeward, through +the soft lingering sunset light, with the plash and murmur of the blue +waves, rising with the rising wind, heard in the intervals between the +sweet songs of our guide, was a fitting close to a day of shadowless +pleasure. + + + + +NORTH OF IRELAND SCENES. + +W. GEORGE BEERS. + + [We have described a run through the south of Ireland, which to + the traveller seemed but a brown and barren commentary on the + so-called Emerald Island. The traveller from whom we now quote + found the aspect of nature verdant enough fully to justify this + title. But the poverty and shiftlessness which appeared so + patent to Dr. Woods proved equally evident to Mr. Beers, to + whom the lack of snakes in Green Erin seemed more than replaced + by the multitude of beggars.] + + +Up in the forecastle of an ocean steamer a group of sea-tired souls look +away to starboard, where a faint shape lies on the horizon like an +early-morning cloud. "It's only a bit of old-country fog," mutters the +Grumbler, and goes back to his bed. A thrush had been playing for over +an hour on the spars and rigging, and we fancied we could smell the land +from which it had flown to greet us. And by and by the dim line took a +more solid shape, and soon we could see the rough rocks of the northern +coast. We were nearing Innistrahull light-house and Malin Head, and the +ship's engines stopped, for the first time since leaving the New World, +to take on a pilot. A short sail along the rocky coast, passing the +ivy-covered ruins of an ancient castle, the green refreshing grass, the +hedges, and the white houses, and the beautiful panorama of Moville, at +the mouth of the Foyle, was unfolded, and Nature tinged the sea and sky +with a masterpiece of sunset. Suddenly a few jaunting-cars came flying +down the hill like highway comets, and the Grumbler came up again, in +time to find that we were only a hundred yards from shore. "That's +Ireland," said he. We felt enlightened. It was not long before we were +ashore at Moville, a quiet watering-place for the people of Derry, +Tyrone, and Donegal counties. + +Our first reception was from a sturdy beggar, who apologized for +the absence of the mayor and corporation. I had heard of this genius +of Moville before. He is a character of the place, and one of the +most original hypocrites among the begging fraternity. When I was in +Queenstown, a few weeks afterwards, I saw a perfect shoal of his kind, +of all degrees of dirt, disease, and disaster,--a sort of ragged +resurrection through which passengers from an American steamer had to +pass. There were beggars with strong lungs and stout legs; beggars with +scarce a lung and but one leg; paupers in all the traditional heraldry +of rags and wretchedness,--blind, crippled, crooked, and crazy; with +bags and babies, sticks and dogs, canes and crutches, all colors of hair +and all sorts of disease, real or feigned; some funny, some furious, +some bold, some blushing, nearly all overwhelming in benediction. + +One sore-eyed veteran, whose apostolical succession from blind Bartimeus +I should have been easily disposed to accept, stuck to my heels, and in +a tone that would have melted the Blarney stone implored me, "A pinny, +yer honor." With New-World innocence of Old-World wickedness, I gave my +Irish Moses a sixpence, upon which the crowd came upon me in a ring of +blessing, until I pushed through it with some rough epithet. In the +twinkling of an eye the circle of sickly saints fell into a close +column of renovated sinners, and yelled after me the characteristic +south-of-Ireland curses, from the mild "Bad luck to ye!" to the more +historical "The curse of Cromwell upon ye!" One crooked old lady had got +close to my ear: "Shure, yer honor, I've been bint up like this these +twinty year wid the rheumatiz, and me back's bruk and one of me lungs is +gone;" but when I shook her off she straightened up like a giantess and +swore at me with as hearty a pair of respiratory organs as any Glasgow +fish-wife might boast. I felt as if I had performed a miracle upon the +old lady's spine. But I nearly collapsed with laughter when I saw one +mild-looking fellow, who had been limping near me with his right leg +held up in a wooden crutch and his right hand apparently shrivelled +beyond the power of use, holding the crutch, which he had unhitched, +under his left arm and shaking the game leg and the lame fist at my +back. + +Our arrival at the north, however, was less ceremonious. I do not know +whether our Moville beggar was the last of the mendicant Mohicans of the +coast or had simply stolen a march upon the rest of his fraternity, but +there he stood, a monopolist of the art: "Good luck to ye, jintlemen! +Ye're welcome to Ireland. Ye'll give me a few pennies for luck, yer +honors, won't ye? Jist whativer ye like, jintlemen. Be good to the +motherless and sivin small childer, and niver a bite to ate since +yesterday mornin'. Jist whativer ye like, jintlemen." Our first +Old-World beggar had caught us in the tide of good nature, and the +pennies soon grew to shillings. It was our first experience, and we were +on the "Green Isle." We learned to be wiser before we had gone much +farther, and by the time we left the island we felt as if we could +throttle every beggar we met. + +"How long have you been begging?" I asked the Moville suppliant. + +"I began wid me mother, sir, soon after I was born." + +"And do you never work?" + +"Work, is it? Shure, sir, I was niver educated to it. And there's too +many people working already, sir." + +"How long is it since you used soap and water?" said I. + +"Now, yer honor, where'd _I_ get soap, when I can't get bread? Me +childer would ate it if there was any in the house." + +"Well, I'd like to see what you look like when you're clean. There's +another sixpence for you,--half for your stomach and half for your skin. +If you'll get some soap and go down to the sea there and wash yourself +well while we're away, I'll give you sixpence more when we come back." + +"Shure," quickly replied the Moville wit, "doesn't yer honor know that +ye can't use soap in salt water? But I'll go to the pump, so I will." + +It was quite a disappointment afterwards to learn that, like Montaigne's +page, our beggar was never guilty of telling the truth, that the "sivin +small childer" had yet to be born, and that he considered our party the +best fools he had met that season. + +We were to drive down to Green-Castle, in the vicinity of which the +jarvies said we should be sure to hear the cuckoo. Our first experience +of a jaunting-car was pleasant, though precarious. It had the dash of +danger which spices adventure. A sober foreigner can seldom keep his +seat at first; an Irishman may be so drunk that he walks zigzag on the +sidewalk, but he never falls off a car--unless he's sober. At first +blush, especially in the cities, the jaunting-car seems an ingenious +device to furnish Irish surgeons with amputations. As you go tearing +along the streets and flying around corners, your legs hanging over +the sides in close proximity to other "highway comets" tearing along +the opposite way, you have a choice of death by being dashed to +"smithereens" on your face by a jerk or dying in desperate collision +with a street-car. Our jarvie was a genuine Paddy, full to the brim of +wit and song. Between the stretches of his imagination in tale-telling +(all his native geese were royal swans, and for the one ruin we were +approaching he built a score of castles in the air) he made the road +lively with local Irish airs. During the winter these jarvies have +little or nothing to do, and one of them, being asked how they spent +that season, replied, "Making up stories, sir, to tell the travellers +in summer." + +However much we were imposed upon in the matter of tale and tradition, +there was no deception in the interest of the drive. The sea lay to the +right. Along the highway and in many of the fields, though much of the +country to the left was barren and hilly, the daisy was peeping up for +our first recognition; the primroses lay in rich golden clumps upon +the banks; violets, blue, red, and white, little purple bluebells, +day-nettles, which the bees and boys love to suck, and many other +new and old wild flowers, were pointed out to us as we jogged along. +Sometimes we jumped down to pick them, gathering whole handfuls of the +faintly-perfumed primroses and burying our noses in their exquisite +blossoms in a way to make an emigrant homesick. On we jolted, and soon +came within sight of the romantic hamlet, its picturesque castle and +fort facing the sea. With a final quick trot and a jerk our driver +pulled up at the Green-Castle Hotel, with the artless hint that its +champagne for jintlemen and its whiskey for jarvies had no rival from +Malin Head to Cape Clear. + + [After giving his readers the legendary history of Green-Castle + our author proceeds to describe its present appearance.] + +The old castle is now a roofless wreck of time and siege, but enough is +left of its walls--eight feet thick--and its deep dungeons to show that +it was in its time a strong fortress. We walked over the space between +the walls, about eighty yards by forty, upon which the sun and the rains +descend and where the grass grew knee-deep. Detached bits of wall were +covered with splendid ivy. On the walls here and there we saw the little +whitlow-grass, and in the crevices of the rocks the lilac flowers of the +toad-flax, which one sees in all such sea-side ruins in Ireland. We +climbed the steep crag of the highest portion facing the sea. Many of +the stones were loose and slipped out from under our feet. We mounted to +the very top of the old battlement,--a glorious spot from which to watch +a storm when the great waves roll up in close column and break over the +rocks. Creeping from the base of the perpendicular rock a hundred feet +below, thick ivy had grown to the very summit, its rootlets and tendrils +turning and twisting into and upon each other, binding the stones better +than mortar, sucking out the moisture of the wall, and keeping it as dry +as punk. Everywhere in Ireland one is struck by the wonderful tenacity +of ivy, which creeps along the ground or crawls up and clings to the +barest flint. If you lift one of the young shoots, it clings to the +earth like a hungry leech to human skin. If you turn it up, you see +rootlets, like the legs of a caterpillar, by which it attaches itself to +the ground, and which it seems to lose when transplanted to America. + +We leaned over on the thick leaves and tendrils to pull the pungent +berries, when out flew two scared jackdaws just below. We rustled +the tendrils, and away scudded a score or more of birds to tell the +sea-gulls of this invasion of their ancient nest. Down near the shore +white daisies speckled the green grass like a first snow-fall. + +But hark! Is that the mystic cry of the cuckoo we are hearing for the +first time? How plaintive and lonely its monotone!--"Cuckoo! cuckoo! +cuckoo!" We have never heard that sound in America except from wretched +Swiss clocks. What a world of delightful associations thrills through +our veins! How the old familiar stories told us of our parents' romps in +the green lanes of the old country come to our memories, and the wonder +with which in their childhood days they stopped to listen to this +classic bird. There it is again, over in the woodland. Hark! "Cuckoo! +cuckoo! cuckoo!" One of our company, born in the old land, and now +returned for the first time in thirty years, began to reach the +melting-point, when, looking in the direction of the cry, we caught +sight of an incautious Irish boy peeping from behind a tree, with one +hand to his mouth, just in the act of repeating this old Green-Castle +trick of "fooling the people from America who want to hear the cuckoo." + +When we came down from the battlement we were told that a drunken sailor +of H. M. "Vanguard" had fallen asleep on top of the wall a few weeks +before and had rolled off to the bottom, a distance of a hundred feet, +but had not been hurt enough to prevent his marriage the day before our +arrival. Our informant added that it was the "potheen" that had saved +him: "If he'd been sober, sir, shure he'd have wakened up a dead man." + +We had a rattling drive back to Moville. The first sight we met on +reaching the wharf was our jolly beggar, transformed almost past +recognition by soap and water, sneezing and coughing and claiming the +promised sixpence: "Shure, yer honor, ye might make it a shillin', for +in the washin' I've caught the divil of a cowld." When we came back a +few months afterwards we missed him. I made up my mind that he had never +recovered from that cleansing; but a more recent visitor tells me that +he is still alive, as witty and as dirty as ever. + + [The traveller next made his way, _via_ Londonderry, to Antrim, + where stands a celebrated round tower.] + +There is perhaps nothing of more puzzling interest to the Irish +antiquary than the round towers, of which there are about eighty in the +island. Their origin and purpose have been variously guessed at, some +maintaining that they were erected by the Danes as watch-towers and +afterwards changed by the Christian Irish into clock- or bell-towers. +But why should the Danes confine these structures to Ireland, and not +build them in England, Scotland, and other regions where they had a much +firmer foothold? Others regard them as fire-temples, where the Druids +lit the sacred flame and kept it safe from pollution. This view was +accepted for a long time as a settlement of the question, on account +of the resemblance of these towers to similar structures found in India +and thought to have been used in an extinct form of worship. The Irish +Druids followed many Eastern customs in their religious rites, but +these may have been mere coincidences. The turrets in the vicinity of +Turkish mosques, from the summits of which approaching festivals were +proclaimed, suggested the hypothesis that the Irish towers were intended +for the same purpose. Others held the theory that they were built by the +ancient bishops as strongholds for the sacred articles belonging to the +churches. In the neighborhood of many of these towers churches still +exist. A very picturesque one forms part of a church in Castle-Dermot, +in the county Down. At Drumbo, a few miles from Belfast, the ruin of +one stands in the church-yard of a Presbyterian chapel. + +The Antrim tower is in fine preservation to the very summit, but +no trace has been found to indicate that a church existed in its +vicinity. It is ninety-three feet high, and about fifty-three feet in +circumference at its base, is built of rough stone, and has a stone +flooring, underneath which it is supposed a sepulchre, as at Ardmore, +exists. Above the door-way is a bas-relief like a Maltese cross. I +climbed into the tower through the entrance, two feet by four. Its width +inside is about eight feet, but narrows gradually to the top. The ivy +which clung affectionately to its outside had grown into several of the +windows and lay in decayed brambles inside. Up at the very top the +jackdaws had a gloriously independent life of it all to themselves. The +grass outside was as level as a century's care and rolling could make +it. And hark! "Cuckoo! cuckoo! cuckoo!" "No, you don't, my dear fellow!" +I replied. "You are a relative of our cuckoo of Green-Castle." "Cuckoo!" +he replied in denial; and I found out that it was a live cuckoo coaxing +me to play at hide-and-seek. I started to accept the challenge,--when +"Trespassers will be Prosecuted" stared me in the face as I mounted an +innocent stile. Forty jackdaws--the Forty Thieves--got together on the +topmost boughs of trees near by and discussed my intentions: Was I +loading a gun, or only making a sketch? Was I painter or poacher? I +followed the cuckoo's cry in spite of the trespass, but caught no second +glimpse of him. + +Coming back and crossing a picturesque stream, a short walk brought me +to the famous Lough Neagh, the fourth largest lake in Europe, twenty +miles in length and fifteen in breadth. In size it seemed a mere pond, +compared to the great inland seas of America; but the legend of its +buried glories, and the belief of the fishermen that when the water is +clear they can see round towers and high steeples and churches of the +land below, would waken any one's interest. Wonderful petrifactions are +found along its margins, referable to some remote geological era, and no +doubt these fossil woods gave rise to the fishermen's superstition. On +the borders of the lake you see the ruins of the seat of Lord O'Neill, +"Shane's Castle," which is surrounded by as much superstition as the +lake. The banshee of the O'Neills was a firm article of faith of mine +host in Antrim, who told me that his father had heard its wail. + +As I came back to the town I saw a characteristic scene which reminded +me of Father Prout's remark, that "the pig is as essential an inmate of +the Irish cabin as the Arab steed of the shepherd's tent on the plains +of Mesopotamia." At the door of a thatched mud hut there was a fierce +tooth-and-nail contest between two pigs. Out sallied the good woman of +the house and belabored the nearest one gently with stick, roughly with +tongue: "Whist wid ye! Take that, now! _Come into the house wid ye!_" +With well-trained docility Piggy obeyed. A short distance away I saw a +crowd gathered about a cart covered with a pure white sheet. The look of +delight upon the faces of those who had peeped under the cover tempted +my curiosity, and I lifted the linen. It was a young pig, as white as +snow and as fresh as a daisy. + +But I intended only to take a peep at the northern coast of Ireland, and +here I am _en route_ to Belfast. As you go farther you fare better in +the way of fine scenery and interesting people. There is something about +the greenness of Ireland which sanctifies its claim to be called the +Emerald Isle. I have seen nothing anywhere else to rival the soft +luxuriance of nature here. Grass, ivy, and flowers seem as indigenous as +hospitable hearts. I was told that if you flung a clean-cut stick in a +County Meath meadow, you might pick it up in a day or two covered with +young lichens and moss; but this reminded me too much of the crow-bar +planted in some other fertile country in the evening which sprouted out +tenpenny nails in the morning. The very primroses have a depth of mellow +beauty I never saw in England. Walking through the country you get a +good insight into its social and political questions, and, whatever +preconceptions you may have, you will be sure--if you have no bigotry in +your bones and do not excite people about the burning questions of the +hour--to carry from Ireland memories of its lovely scenery which nothing +on earth can ever dispel. + + + + +PARIS AND ITS ATTRACTIONS. + +HARRIET BEECHER STOWE. + + [The city of Paris, the cynosure of European eyes, and the + paradise of good Americans, calls loudly for a description at + our hands. It is a call which can readily be answered. We + suffer, indeed, from a superfluity of riches. Descriptions of + every sort, shape, and complexion are so numerous that it is + not easy to select with discretion. We take one that has the + quality of enthusiastic admiration from the "Sunny Memories of + Foreign Lands" of the author of "Uncle Tom's Cabin." It begins + with her entrance into the city, after passing the easy ordeal + of the custom-house officials.] + + +We rode through streets whose names were familiar, crossed the +Carrousel, passed the Seine, and stopped before an ancient mansion, in +the Rue de Verneuil, belonging to M. le Marquis de Brige. This Faubourg +St. Germain is the part of Paris where the ancient nobility lived, and +the houses exhibit marks of former splendor. The marquis is one of those +chivalrous legitimists who uphold the claims of Henri V. He lives in the +country, and rents his hotel. Mrs. C. occupies the suite of rooms on the +lower floor. We entered by a ponderous old gate-way, opened by the +_concierge_, passed through a large paved quadrangle, traversed a short +hall, and found ourselves in a large, cheerful parlor, looking out into +a small flower garden. There was no carpet, but what is called here a +parquet floor, or mosaic of oak blocks, waxed and highly polished. The +sofas and chairs were covered with light chintz, and the whole air of +the apartment shady and cool as a grotto. A jardiniere filled with +flowers stood in the centre of the room, and around it a group of living +flowers--mother, sisters, and daughters--scarcely less beautiful. In +five minutes we were at home. French life is different from any other. +Elsewhere you do as the world pleases; here you do as you please +yourself; my spirits always rise when I get among the French.... + +_Monday, June 6._--This day was consecrated to knick-knacks. Accompanied +by Mrs. C., whom years of residence have converted into a perfect +_Parisienne_, we visited shop after shop and store after store. The +politeness of the shopkeepers is inexhaustible. I felt quite ashamed to +spend a half-hour looking at everything and then depart without buying; +but the civil Frenchman bowed and smiled, and thanked us for coming. + +In the evening we rode to L'Arc de Triomphe d'Etoile, an immense pile of +massive masonry, from the top of which we enjoyed a brilliant panorama. +Paris was beneath us, from the Louvre to the Bois de Boulogne, with its +gardens and moving myriads, its sports, and games, and light-hearted +mirth,--a vast Vanity Fair, blazing in the sunlight. A deep and +strangely-blended impression of sadness and gayety sunk into our hearts +as we gazed. All is vivacity, gracefulness, and sparkle to the eye; but +ah, what fires are smouldering below! Are not all these vines rooted in +the lava and ashes of the volcano-side?... + +_Wednesday, June 8._--A day on foot in Paris. Surrendered H. to the +care of our fair hostess. Attempted to hire a boat at one of the great +bathing establishments for a pull on the Seine. Why not on the Seine +as well as on the Thames? But the old Triton demurred. The tide +_marched_ too strong,--"_Il marche trop fort._" Onward, then, along +the quays; visiting the curious old book-stalls, picture-stands, +and flower-markets. Lean over the parapet and gaze upon this modern +Euphrates, rushing between solid walls of masonry through the heart +of another Babylon. The river is the only thing not old. These waters +are as turbid, tumultuous, unbridled, as when forests covered all +these banks,--fit symbol of peoples and nations in their mad career, +generation after generation. Institutions, like hewn granite, may wall +them in, and vast arches span their flow, and hierarchies domineer over +the tide; but the scorning waters burst into life unchangeable, and +sweep impetuous through the heart of Vanity Fair, and dash out again +into the future the same grand, ungovernable Euphrates stream. I do not +wonder Egypt adored her Nile and Rome her Tiber. Surely, the life artery +of Paris is this Seine beneath my feet! And there is no scene like this, +as I gaze upward and downward, comprehending in a glance the immense +panorama of art and architecture,--life, motion, enterprise, pleasure, +pomp, and power. Beautiful Paris! What city in the world can compare +with thee? + +And is it not chiefly because, either by accident or by instinctive good +taste, her treasures of beauty and art are so disposed along the Seine +as to be visible at a glance to the best effect? As the instinct of +the true _Parisienne_ teaches her the mystery of setting off the graces +of her person by the fascinations of dress, so the instinct of the +nation to set off the city by the fascinations of architecture and +embellishment. Hence a chief superiority of Paris to London. The Seine +is straight, and its banks are laid out in broad terraces on either +side, called _quais_, lined with her stateliest palaces and gardens. The +Thames forms an elbow, and is enveloped in dense fog and smoke. London +lowers; the Seine sparkles; London shuts down upon the Thames, and +there is no point of view for the whole river panorama; Paris rises +amphitheatrically, on either side the Seine, and the eye from the Pont +d'Austerlitz seems to fly through the immense reach like an arrow, +casting its shadow on everything of beauty or grandeur Paris possesses. + +[Illustration: GRAND OPERA-HOUSE, PARIS] + +Rapidly now I sped onward, paying brief visits to the Palais de Justice, +the Hotel de Ville, and spending a cool half-hour in Notre Dame. I love +to sit in these majestic fanes, abstracting them from the superstition +which does but desecrate them, and gaze upward to their lofty, vaulted +arches, to drink in the impression of architectural sublimity, which I +can neither analyze nor express. Cathedrals do not seem to me to have +been built; they seem, rather, stupendous growths of nature, like +crystals, or cliffs of basalt. There is little ornament here; that roof +looks plain and bare; yet I feel that the air is dense with sublimity. +Onward I sped, crossing a bridge by the Hotel Dieu, and, leaving the +river, plunged into narrow streets, exploring a quadrangular market; +surveyed the old church of St. Genevieve, and the new, now the Pantheon; +went onward to the Jardin des Plantes, and explored its tropical +bowers. Many things remind me to-day of New Orleans and its Levee, its +Mississippi, its Cathedral, and the luxuriant vegetation of the Gulf. +In fact, I seem to be walking in my sleep in a kind of glorified New +Orleans, all the while. Yet I return to the gardens of the Tuileries and +the Place Vendome, and in the shadow of Napoleon's Column the illusion +vanishes. Hundreds of battles look down upon me from their blazonry. + +In the evening I rested from the day's fatigue by an hour in the garden +of the Palais Royal. I sat by one of the little tables and called for an +ice. There were hundreds of ladies and gentlemen eating ices, drinking +wine, reading the papers, smoking, chatting; scores of pretty children +were frolicking and enjoying the balmy evening. Here six or eight +midgets were jumping the rope, while papa and mamma swung it for them. +Pretty little things, with their flushed cheeks and sparkling eyes, how +they did seem to enjoy themselves! What parent was ever far from home +that did not espy in every group of children his own little ones,--his +Mary or his Nellie, his Henry or Charlie? So it was with me. There was a +ring of twenty or thirty singing and dancing, with a smaller ring in the +centre, while old folks and boys stood outside. But I heard not a single +oath, nor saw a rough or rude action, during the whole time I was there. +The boys standing by looked on quietly, like young gentlemen. The best +finale of such a toilsome day of sight-seeing was a warm bath in the +Rue de Bac, for the trifling sum of fifteen sous. The cheapness and +convenience of bathing here is a great recommendation of Paris life. +They will bring you a hot bath at your house for twenty-five cents, +and that without bustle or disorder. And nothing so effectually as an +evening bath, as my experience testifies, cures fatigue and propitiates +to dreamless slumber.... + +After visiting the Luxembourg, I resorted to the gardens of the +Tuileries. The thermometer was at about eighty degrees in the shade. +From the number of people assembled, one would have thought, if it had +been in the United States, that some great mass convention was coming +off. Under the impenetrable screen of the trees, in the dark, cool, +refreshing shade, are thousands of chairs, for which one pays two cents +apiece. Whole families come, locking up their door, bringing the baby, +work, dinner, or lunch, take a certain number of chairs, and spend +the day. As far as eye can reach you see a multitude seated, as if in +church, with other multitudes moving to and fro, while boys and girls +without number are frolicking, racing, playing ball, driving hoop, etc., +but contriving to do it without making a hideous racket. + +How French children are taught to play and enjoy themselves without +disturbing everybody else is a mystery. "_C'est gentil_" seems to be a +talismanic spell; and "_Ce n'est pas gentil ca_" is sufficient to check +every rising irregularity. Oh, that some _savant_ would write a book and +tell us how it is done! I gazed for half an hour on the spectacle. A +more charming sight my eyes never beheld. There were gray-headed old +men, and women, and invalids; and there were beautiful demoiselles +working worsted, embroidery, sewing; men reading papers; and, in fact, +people doing everything they would do in their own parlors. And all were +graceful, kind, and obliging; not a word or an act of impoliteness or +indecency. No wonder the French adore Paris, thought I; in no other city +in the world is a scene like this possible. No wonder that their hearts +die within them at thoughts of exile in the fens of Cayenne! + +But under all this there lie, as under the cultivated crust of this fair +world, deep abysses of soul, where volcanic masses of molten lava surge +and shake the tremulous earth. In the gay and bustling Boulevards, a +friend, an old resident of Paris, pointed out to me, as we rode, the +bullet-marks that scarred the houses,--significant tokens of what seems, +but is not, forgotten. + +At sunset a military band of about seventy performers began playing in +front of the Tuileries. They formed an immense circle, the leader in +the centre. He played the octave flute, which also served as a baton +for marking time. The music was characterized by delicacy, precision, +suppression, and subjugation of rebellious material. + +I imagined a congress of horns, clarionets, trumpets, etc., conversing +in low tones on some important theme; nay, rather a conspiracy of +instruments, mourning between whiles their subjugation, and ever and +anon breaking out in a fierce _emeute_, then repressed, hushed, dying +away, as if they had heard of Baron Munchausen's frozen horn, and had +conceived the idea of yielding their harmonies without touch of human +lips, yet were sighing and sobbing at their impotence. Perhaps I +detected the pulses of a nation's palpitating heart, throbbing for +liberty, but trodden down, and sobbing in despair. + + [A _salon_ experience is next described, followed by a visit to + Versailles. Then our authoress plunges into the world of art at + the Louvre.] + +At last I have come into dream-land; into the lotos-eater's paradise; +into the land where it is always afternoon. I am released from care; I +am unknown, unknowing; I live in a house whose arrangements seem to me +strange, old, and dreamy. In the heart of a great city I am as still as +if in a convent; in the burning heats of summer our rooms are shadowy +and cool as a cave. My time is all my own. I may at will lie on a sofa, +and dreamily watch the play of the leaves and flowers in the little +garden into which my room opens; or I may go into the parlor adjoining, +whence I hear the quick voices of my beautiful and vivacious young +friends. + +You ought to see these girls. Emma might look like a Madonna, were it +not for her wicked wit; and as to Anna and Lizzie, as they glance by me, +now and then, I seem to think them a kind of sprite, or elf, made to +inhabit shady old houses, just as twinkling harebells grow in old +castles; and then the gracious mamma, who speaks French or English like +a stream of silver, is she not, after all, the fairest of any of them? +And there is Caroline, piquant, racy, full of conversation, sharp as a +quartz crystal, how I like to hear her talk! These people know Paris, +as we say in America, "like a book." They have studied it aesthetically, +historically, socially. They have studied French people and French +literature, and studied it with enthusiasm, as people ever should who +would truly understand. They are all kindness to me. Whenever I wish to +see anything, I have only to speak; or to know, I have only to ask. At +breakfast every morning we compare notes and make up our lists of wants. +My first, of course, was the Louvre. It is close by us. Think of it. To +one who has starved all a life, in vain imaginings of what art might be, +to know that you are within a stone's throw of a museum full of its +miracles; Greek, Assyrian, Egyptian, Roman sculptors and modern +painting, all there!... + +It was, then, with a thrill almost of awe that I approached the Louvre. +Here, perhaps, said I to myself, I shall answer fully the question that +has long wrought within my soul. What is art? and what can it do? Here, +perhaps, these yearnings for the ideal will meet their satisfaction. The +ascent to the picture-gallery tends to produce a flutter of excitement +and expectation. Magnificent staircases, dim perspectives of frescoes +and carvings, the glorious hall of Apollo, rooms with mosaic pavements, +antique vases, countless spoils of art, dazzle the eye of the neophyte, +and prepare the mind for some grand enchantment. Then opens on one the +grand hall of paintings arranged by schools, the works of each artist by +themselves, a wilderness of gorgeous growths. + +I first walked through the whole, offering my mind up aimlessly to see +if there were any picture there great and glorious enough to seize +and control my whole being, and answer at once the cravings of the +poetic and artistic element. For any such I looked in vain. I saw a +thousand beauties, as also a thousand enormities, but nothing of that +overwhelming, subduing nature which I had conceived. Most of the men +there had painted with dry eyes and cool hearts, thinking only of the +mixing of their colors and the jugglery of their art, thinking little +of heroism, love, faith, or immortality. Yet when I had resigned this +longing, when I was sure I should not meet there what I sought, then I +began to enjoy very heartily what there was. + +In the first place, I now saw Claudes worthy of the reputation he bore. +Three or four of these were studied with great delight,--the delight +one feels who, conscientiously bound to be delighted, suddenly comes +into a situation to be so. I saw, now, those atmospheric traits, those +reproductions of the mysteries of air and of light, which are called +so wonderful, and for which all admire Claude, but for which so few +admire Him who made Claude, and who every day creates around us in the +commonest scenes effects far more beautiful. How much, even now, my +admiration of Claude was genuine, I cannot say. How can we ever be sure +on this point, when we admire what has prestige and sanction, not to +admire which is an argument against ourselves? Certainly, however, I did +feel great delight in some of these works. + +One of my favorites was Rembrandt. I always did admire the gorgeous +and solemn mysteries of his coloring. Rembrandt is like Hawthorne. He +chooses simple and every-day objects, and so arranges light and shadow +as to give them a sombre richness and a mysterious gloom. The House of +the Seven Gables is a succession of Rembrandt pictures, done in words +instead of oils. Now, this pleases us, because our life really is a +haunted one; the simplest thing in it is a mystery, the invisible world +always lies around us like a shadow, and therefore this dreamy golden +gleam of Rembrandt meets somewhat in our inner consciousness, to which +it corresponds. There were no pictures in the gallery which I looked +upon so long, and to which I returned so often and with such growing +pleasure, as these. I found in them, if not a commanding, a drawing +influence, a full satisfaction for one part of my nature. + +There were Raphaels there which still disappointed me, because from +Raphael I asked and expected more. I wished to feel his hand on my soul +with a stronger grasp; these were too passionless in their serenity, and +almost effeminate in their tenderness. + +But Rubens, the great, joyous, full-souled, all-powerful Rubens! there +he was, full as ever of triumphant, abounding life; disgusting and +pleasing; making me laugh and making me angry; defying me to dislike +him; dragging me at his chariot-wheels; in despite of my protests +forcing me to confess that there was no other but he.... + +I should compare Rubens to Shakespeare for the wonderful variety and +vital force of his artistic power. I know no other mind he so nearly +resembles. Like Shakespeare, he forces you to accept and to forgive a +thousand excesses, and uses his own faults as musicians use discords, +only to enhance the perfection of harmony. There certainly is some use +even in defects. A faultless style sends you to sleep. Defects rouse +and excite the sensibility to seek and appreciate excellences. Some of +Shakespeare's finest passages explode all grammar and rhetoric like +sky-rockets,--the thought blows the language to shivers.... + +The halls devoted to painting of which I have spoken give you very +little idea of the treasures of the institution. Gallery after gallery +is filled with Greek, Roman, Assyrian, and Egyptian sculpture, coins, +vases, and antique remains of every description. There is also an +apartment in which I took a deep interest, containing the original +sketches of ancient masters. Here one may see the pen-and-ink drawings +of Claude, divided into squares to prepare them for the copyist. One +compares here with interest the manners of the different artists in +jotting down their ideas as they rose, some by chalk, some by crayon, +some by pencil, some by water-colors, and some by a heterogeneous +mixture of all. Mozart's scrap-bag of musical jottings could not have +been more amusing. + +On the whole, cravings of mere ideality have come nearer to meeting +satisfaction by some of these old mutilated remains of Greek sculpture +than anything I have met yet. In the paintings, even of the most +celebrated masters, there are often things which are excessively +annoying to me. I scarcely remember a master in whose works I have not +found a hand, or foot, or face, or feature so distorted, or coloring at +times so unnatural, or something so out of place and proportion in the +picture as very seriously to mar the pleasure that I derived from it. In +this statuary less is attempted and all is more harmonious, and one's +ideas of proportion are never violated. + +My favorite among all these remains is a mutilated statue which they +call the Venus de Milo. This is a statue which is so called from having +been dug up some years ago, piecemeal, in the island of Milos. There was +a struggle for her between a French naval officer, the English, and the +Turks. The French officer carried her off like another Helen, and she +was given to Paris, old Louis Philippe being bridegroom by proxy. +_Savans_ refer the statue to the time of Phidias, and as this is a +pleasant idea to me, I go a little further, and ascribe her to Phidias +himself. + +The statue is mutilated, both arms being gone, and part of the foot. But +there is a majesty and grace in the head and face, a union of loveliness +with intellectual and moral strength, beyond anything which I have ever +seen. To me she might represent Milton's glorious picture of unfallen, +perfect womanhood, in his Eve. + +Compared with this matchless Venus that of Medici seems as inane and +trifling as mere physical beauty always must by the side of beauty +baptized and made sacramental, as the symbol of that which alone is +truly fair. + + + + +TRAVEL IN FRANCE FIFTY YEARS AGO. + +CHARLES DICKENS. + + [It hardly seems to us, to whom the works of Dickens are + household words, that his fame as a writer began more than half + a century ago. Yet such is the case. The "Pictures from Italy," + from which we make the following selection, was published in + 1846, while his first book saw the light ten years earlier. We + give here his story of how France and French life appeared to + him on a journey southward from Paris.] + + +On a fine Sunday morning in the midsummer time and weather of eighteen +hundred and forty-four it was, my good friend, when--don't be alarmed; +not when two travellers might have been observed slowly making their way +over that picturesque and broken ground by which the first chapter of a +Middle Age novel is usually attained--but when an English travelling +carriage of considerable proportions, fresh from the shady halls of the +Pantechnicon near Belgrave Square, London, was observed (by a very small +French soldier, for I saw him look at it) to issue from the gate of the +Hotel Meurice in the Rue Rivoli at Paris. + +I am no more bound to explain why the English family travelling by this +carriage, inside and out, should be starting for Italy on a Sunday +morning, of all good days in the week, than I am to assign a reason +for all the little men in France being soldiers and all the big men +postilions, which is the invariable rule. But they had some sort of +reason for what they did, I have no doubt, and their reason for being +there at all was, as you know, that they were going to live in fair +Genoa for a year; and that the head of the family purposed in that space +of time to stroll about wherever his restless humor carried him. + +And it would have been small comfort to me to have explained to the +population of Paris generally that I was that Head and Chief, and not +the radiant embodiment of good-humor who sat beside me in the person of +a French courier,--best of servants and most beaming of men. Truth to +say, he looked a great deal more patriarchal than I, who, in the shadow +of his portly presence, dwindled down to no account at all. + +There was, of course, very little in the aspect of Paris--as we rattled +near the dismal Morgue and over the Pont Neuf--to reproach us for our +Sunday travelling. The wine-shops (every second house) were driving a +roaring trade; awnings were spreading, and chairs and tables arranging, +outside the cafes, preparatory to the eating of ices and drinking of +cool liquids later in the day; shoeblacks were busy on the bridges; +shops were open; carts and wagons clattered to and fro; the narrow, +uphill, funnel-like streets across the river were so many dense +perspectives of crowd and bustle, parti-colored nightcaps, tobacco +pipes, blouses, large boots, and shaggy heads of hair; nothing at that +hour denoted a day of rest, unless it were the appearance, here and +there, of a family pleasure-party, crammed into a bulky old lumbering +cab, or of some contemplative holiday-maker in the freest and easiest +dishabille, leaning out of a low garret window, watching the drying of +his newly-polished shoes on the little parapet outside (if a gentleman), +or the airing of her stockings in the sun (if a lady), with calm +anticipation. + +Once clear of the never-to-be-forgotten-or-forgiven pavement which +surrounds Paris, the first three days of travelling towards Marseilles +are quiet and monotonous enough. To Sens. To Avallon. To Chalons. A +sketch of one day's proceedings is a sketch of all three, and here it +is. + +We have four horses and one postilion, who has a very long whip, and +drives his team something like the courier of St. Petersburg in the +circle at Astley's or Franconi's, only he sits his own horse instead of +standing on him. The immense jack-boots worn by these postilions are +sometimes a century or two old, and are so ludicrously disproportionate +to the wearer's foot that the spur, which is put where his own heel +comes, is generally half-way up the leg of the boots. The man often +comes out of the stable-yard with his whip in his hand and his shoes on, +and brings out, in both hands, one boot at a time, which he plants on +the ground by the side of his horse with great gravity, until everything +is ready. When it is--and oh, Heaven! the noise they make about it!--he +gets into the boots, shoes and all, or is hoisted into them by a couple +of friends; adjusts the rope harness, embossed by the labors of +innumerable pigeons in the stables; makes all the horses kick and +plunge; cracks his whip like a madman; shouts "En route--hi!" and away +we go. He is sure to have a contest with his horse before we have gone +very far; and then he calls him a thief, and a brigand, and a pig, and +what not, and beats him about the head as if he were made of wood. + +There is little more than one variety in the appearance of the country +for the first two days,--from a dreary plain to an interminable avenue, +and from an interminable avenue to a dreary plain again. Plenty of vines +there are, in the open fields, but of a short, low kind, and not trained +in festoons, but about straight sticks. Beggars innumerable there are, +everywhere, but an extraordinarily scanty population and fewer children +than I ever encountered. I don't believe we saw a hundred children +between Paris and Chalons. Queer old towns, drawbridged and walled, with +odd little towers at the angles, like grotesque faces, as if the wall +had put a mask on, and were staring down into the moat; other strange +little towers, in gardens and fields, and down lanes and in farm-yards; +all alone, and always round, with a peaked roof, and never used for any +purpose at all; ruinous buildings of all sorts; sometimes an hotel de +ville, sometimes a guard-house, sometimes a dwelling-house, sometimes a +chateau with a rank garden, prolific in dandelion, and watched over by +extinguisher-topped turrets and blink-eyed little casements, are the +standard objects, repeated over and over again. + +Sometimes we pass a village inn, with a crumbling wall belonging to it, +and a perfect town of out-houses; and painted over the gate-way, +"Stabling for sixty horses," as indeed there might be stabling for sixty +score, were there any horses to be stabled there, or anybody resting +there, or anything stirring about the place but a dangling bush, +indicative of the wine inside, which flutters idly in the wind, in lazy +keeping with everything else, and certainly is never in a green old age, +though always so old as to be dropping to pieces. And all day long +strange little narrow wagons, in strings of six or eight, bringing +cheese from Switzerland, and frequently in charge, the whole line, of +one man, or even boy,--and he very often asleep in the foremost +cart,--come jingling past; the horses drowsily ringing the bells upon +their harness, and looking as if they thought (no doubt they do) their +great blue woolly furniture, of immense weight and thickness, with a +pair of grotesque horns growing out of the collar, very much too warm +for the midsummer weather. + +Then there is the diligence, twice or thrice a day, with the dusty +outsides in blue frocks, like butchers; and the insides in white +nightcaps; and its cabriolet head on the roof, nodding and shaking like +an idiot's head; and its Young-France passengers staring out of window, +with beards down to their waists, and blue spectacles awfully shading +their warlike eyes, and very big sticks clinched in their national +grasp. Also the malle-poste, with only a couple of passengers, tearing +along at a real good daredevil pace, and out of sight in no time. +Steady old cures come jolting past, in such ramshackle, musty, rusty, +clattering coaches as no Englishman would believe in; and bony women +dawdle about in solitary places, holding cows by ropes while they feed, +or digging and hoeing, or doing field-work of a more laborious kind, +or representing real shepherdesses with their flocks,--to obtain an +adequate idea of which pursuit and its followers, in any country, it is +only necessary to take any pastoral poem, or picture, and imagine to +yourself whatever is most exquisitely and widely unlike the descriptions +therein contained. + +You have been travelling along, stupidly enough, as you generally +do in the last stage of the day; and the ninety-six bells upon the +horses--twenty-four apiece--have been ringing sleepily in your ears +for half an hour or so; and it has become a very jog-trot, monotonous, +tiresome sort of business; and you have been thinking deeply about the +dinner you will have at the next stage; when down at the end of the long +avenue of trees through which you are travelling the first indication +of a town appears, in the shape of some straggling cottages; and the +carriage begins to rattle and roll over a horribly uneven pavement, ... +and here we are in the yard of the Hotel de l'Ecu d'Or.... + +The landlady of the Hotel de l'Ecu d'Or is here; and the landlord of the +Hotel de l'Ecu d'Or is here; and the femme de chambre of the Hotel de +l'Ecu d'Or is here; and a gentleman in a glazed cap, with a red beard +like a bosom friend, who is staying at the Hotel de l'Ecu d'Or, is here; +and Monsieur le Cure is walking up and down in a corner of the yard by +himself, with a shovel-hat upon his head, and a black gown on his back, +and a book in one hand, and an umbrella in the other; and everybody, +except Monsieur le Cure, is open-mouthed and open-eyed for the opening +of the carriage-door. The landlord of the Hotel de l'Ecu d'Or dotes to +that extent upon the courier that he can hardly wait for his coming down +from the box, but embraces his very legs and boot-heels as he descends. +"My courier! My brave courier! My friend! My brother!" The landlady +loves him, the femme de chambre blesses him, the garcon worships him. + +The courier asks if his letter has been received. It has, it has. Are +the rooms prepared? They are, they are. The best rooms for my noble +courier. The rooms of state for my gallant courier; the whole house +is at the service of my best of friends! He keeps his hand upon the +carriage-door, and asks some other question to enhance the expectation. +He carries a green leathern purse outside his coat, suspended by a belt. +The idlers look at it; one touches it. It is full of five-franc pieces. +Murmurs of admiration are heard among the boys. The landlord falls upon +the courier's neck and folds him to his breast. He is so much fatter +than he was, he says. He looks so rosy and so well!... + +The rooms are on the first floor, except the nursery for the night, +which is a great rambling chamber, with four or five beds in it; through +a dark passage, up two steps, down four, past a pump, across a balcony, +and next door to the stable. The other sleeping apartments are large and +lofty; each with two small bedsteads, tastefully hung, like the windows, +with red and white drapery. The sitting-room is famous. Dinner is +already laid in it for three; and the napkins are folded in cocked-hat +fashion. The floors are of red tile. There are no carpets, and not +much furniture to speak of; but there is abundance of looking-glass, +and there are large vases under glass shades filled with artificial +flowers, and there are plenty of clocks. The whole party are in motion. +The brave courier in particular, is everywhere, looking after the beds, +having wine poured down his throat by his dear brother the landlord, and +picking up green cucumbers,--always cucumbers; Heaven knows where he +gets them,--with which he walks about, one in each hand, like +truncheons. + +Dinner is announced. There is very thin soup; there are very large +loaves,--one apiece; a fish; four dishes afterwards; some poultry +afterwards; a dessert afterwards; and no lack of wine. There is not much +in the dishes, but they are very good, and always ready instantly. When +it is nearly dark, the brave courier, having eaten the two cucumbers, +sliced up in the contents of a pretty large decanter of oil and another +of vinegar, emerges from his retreat below, and proposes a visit to the +Cathedral, whose massive tower frowns down upon the court-yard of the +inn. Off we go; and very solemn and grand it is in the dim light; so dim +at last that the polite old lantern-jawed sacristan has a feeble little +bit of candle in his hand to grope among the tombs with, and looks, +among the grim columns, very like a lost ghost who is searching for his +own. + +Underneath the balcony, when we return, the inferior servants of the inn +are supping in the open air, at a great table; the dish, a stew of meat +and vegetables, smoking hot, and served in the iron caldron it was +boiled in. They have a pitcher of thin wine, and are very merry; merrier +than the gentleman with the red beard, who is playing billiards in the +light room on the left of the yard, where shadows with cues in their +hands and cigars in their mouths cross and recross the window +constantly. Still the thin cure walks up and down alone, with his book +and umbrella. And there he walks, and there the billiard-balls rattle, +long after we are fast asleep. + +We are astir at six the next morning. It is a delightful day, shaming +yesterday's mud upon the carriage, if anything could shame a carriage in +a land where carriages are never cleaned. Everybody is brisk, and as +we finish breakfast the horses come jingling into the yard from the +post-house. Everything taken out of the carriage is put back again. The +brave courier announces that all is ready, after walking into every room +and looking all round it to be certain that nothing is left behind. +Everybody gets in. Everybody connected with the Hotel de l'Ecu d'Or is +again enchanted. The brave courier runs into the house for a parcel +containing cold fowl, sliced ham, bread, and biscuits for lunch, hands +it into the coach, and runs back again. + +What has he got in his hand now? More cucumbers? No. A long strip of +paper. It's the bill. + +The brave courier has two belts on this morning,--one supporting the +purse, another a mighty good sort of leathern bottle, filled to the +throat with the best light Bordeaux wine in the house. He never pays +the bill till this bottle is full. Then he disputes it. + +He disputes it now violently. He is still the landlord's brother, but by +another father or mother. He is not so nearly related to him as he was +last night. The landlord scratches his head. The brave courier points +to certain figures in the bill, and intimates that if they remain there +the Hotel de l'Ecu d'Or is thenceforth and forever an hotel de l'ecu +de cuivre. The landlord goes into a little counting-house. The brave +courier follows, forces the bill and a pen into his hand, and talks more +rapidly than ever. The landlord takes the pen. The courier smiles. The +landlord makes an alteration. The courier cuts a joke. The landlord is +affectionate, but not weakly so. He bears it like a man. He shakes hands +with his brave brother, but he doesn't hug him. Still, he loves his +brother, for he knows that he will be returning that way one of these +fine days with another family, and he foresees that his heart will yearn +towards him again. The brave courier traverses all round the carriage +once, looks at the drag, inspects the wheels, jumps up, gives the word, +and away we go! + + [And so onward they go, passing Chalons, which excites little + comment, and at length reaching Lyons.] + +What a city Lyons is! Talk about people feeling at certain unlucky times +as if they had tumbled from the clouds! Here is a whole town that has +tumbled anyhow, out of the sky; having been first caught up, like other +stones that tumble down from that region, out of fens and barren places, +dismal to behold! The two great streets through which the two great +rivers dash, and all the little streets whose name is Legion, were +scorching, blistering, and sweltering. The houses, high and vast, dirty +to excess, rotten as old cheeses, and as thickly peopled. All up the +hills that hem the city in, these houses swarm; and the mites inside +were lolling out of the windows and drying their ragged clothes on +poles, and crawling in and out at the doors, and coming out to pant +and gasp upon the pavement, and creeping in and out among huge piles +and bales of fusty, musty, stifling goods, and living, or rather not +dying till their time should come, in an exhausted receiver. Every +manufacturing town melted into one would hardly convey an impression of +Lyons as it presented itself to me, for all the undrained, unscavengered +qualities of a foreign town seemed grafted there upon the native +miseries of a manufacturing one, and it bears such fruit as I would go +some miles out my way to avoid encountering again. + +In the cool of the evening, or rather in the faded heat of the day, +we went to see the Cathedral, where divers old women, and a few dogs, +were engaged in contemplation. There was no difference in point of +cleanliness between its stone pavement and that of the streets; and +there was a wax saint, in a little box like a berth aboard ship, with a +glass front to it, whom Madame Tussaud would have nothing to say to, on +any terms, and which even Westminster Abbey might be ashamed of. If you +would know all about the architecture of this church, or any other, its +dates, dimensions, endowments, and history, is it not written in Mr. +Murray's Guide-Book, and may you not read it there, with thanks to him, +as I did? + +For this reason, I should abstain from mentioning the curious clock in +Lyons Cathedral, if it were not for a small mistake I made in connection +with that piece of mechanism. The keeper of the church was very anxious +it should be shown; partly for the honor of the establishment and the +town, and partly, perhaps, because of his deriving a percentage from the +additional consideration. However that may be, it was set in motion, and +thereupon a host of little doors flew open, and innumerable little +figures staggered out of them, and jerked themselves back again, with +that special unsteadiness of purpose, and hitching in the gait, which +usually attaches to figures that are moved by clock-work. Meanwhile, +the sacristan stood explaining these wonders, and pointed them out, +severally, with a wand. There was a centre puppet of the Virgin Mary; +and close to her a small pigeon-hole, out of which another and a very +ill-looking puppet made one of the most sudden plunges I ever saw +accomplished; instantly flopping back again at sight of her, and banging +his little door violently after him. Taking this to be emblematic of the +victory over Sin and Death, and not at all unwilling to show that I +perfectly understood the subject, in anticipation of the showman, I +rashly said, "Aha! The Evil Spirit. To be sure. He is very soon +disposed of." "Pardon, monsieur," said the sacristan, with a polite +motion of his hand towards the little door, as if introducing +somebody,--"the Angel Gabriel!" + +Soon after daybreak next morning we were steaming down the arrowy Rhone, +at the rate of twenty miles an hour, in a very dirty vessel full of +merchandise, and with only three or four other passengers for our +companions; among whom, the most remarkable was a silly, old, +meek-faced, garlic-eating, immeasurably polite Chevalier, with a dirty +scrap of red ribbon hanging at his button-hole, as if he had tied it +there to remind himself of something; as Tom Noddy, in the farce, ties +knots in his pocket-handkerchief. + +For the last two days we had seen great sullen hills, the first +indications of the Alps, lowering in the distance. Now, we were rushing +on beside them; sometimes close beside them; sometimes with an +intervening slope, covered with vineyards. Villages and small towns +hanging in mid-air, with great woods of olives seen through the light +open towers of their churches, and clouds moving slowly on, upon the +steep acclivity behind them; ruined castles perched on every eminence; +and scattered houses in the clefts and gullies of the hills, made it +very beautiful. The great height of these, too, making the buildings +look so tiny that they had all the charm of elegant models; their +excessive whiteness, as contrasted with the brown rocks, or the sombre, +deep, dull, heavy green of the olive-tree, and the puny size and little +slow walk of the Liliputian men and women on the bank, made a charming +picture. There were ferries out of number, too; bridges; the famous Pont +d'Esprit, with I don't know how many arches; towns where memorable wines +are made; Vallence, where Napoleon studied; and the noble river, +bringing, at every winding turn, new beauties into view. + +There lay before us, that same afternoon, the broken bridge of Avignon, +and all the city baking in the sun; yet with an underdone-pie-crust, +battlemented wall that never will be brown, though it bake for +centuries. + + + + +FROM NORMANDY TO PROVENCE. + +DONALD G. MITCHELL. + + ["Fresh Gleanings; or, A New Sheaf from the Old Fields of + Continental Europe," an interesting and appreciative work of + travel by the "Ik Marvel" of literary fame, presents us with + the following picturesque account of some of the more + interesting cities of Normandy and Southern France, which can + scarcely fail to prove of interest to readers. Leaving Lyons, + our traveller makes a diligence journey to Limoges, in which + city we take up the thread of his route.] + + +We wish to take our stop at some not too large town of the interior, and +which shall it be,--Chalons-sur-Saone, with its bridge, and quays, and +meadows; or Dijon, lying in the vineyards of Burgundy; or Chateauroux, +in the great sheep plains of Central France; or Limoges, still more +unknown, prettily situated among the green hills of Limousin, and the +chief town of the department _Haute Vienne_? + +Let it be just by the Boule d'Or, in the town last named, that I quit my +seat in the diligence. The little old place is not upon any of the great +routes, so that the servants of the inn have not become too republican +for civility, and a blithe waiting-maid is at hand to take our luggage. + +A plain door-way in the heavy stone inn, and still plainer and steeper +stair-way, conduct to a clean, large chamber upon the first floor. +Below in the little salon some three or four are at supper. Join them +you may, if you please, with a chop nicely done, and a palatable _vin du +pays_. + +It is too dark to see the town. You are tired with eight-and-forty hours +of constant diligence-riding,--if you have come from Lyons, as I +did,--and the bed is excellent. + +The window overlooks the chief street of the place; it is wide and paved +with round stones, and dirty, and there are no sidewalks, though a town +of thirty thousand inhabitants. Nearly opposite is a cafe, with small +green settees ranged about the door, with some tall flowering shrubs in +green boxes; and even at eight in the morning two or three are loitering +upon their chairs and sipping coffee. Next door is the office of the +diligence for Paris. Farther up the street are haberdashery shops and +show-rooms of the famous Limoges crockery. Soldiers are passing by twos, +and cavalrymen in undress go sauntering by on fine coal-black horses; +and the guide-book tells me that from this region come the horses for +all the cavalry of France.... + +There are curious old churches, and a simple-minded, gray-haired +verger, to open the side chapels and to help you spell the names on +tombs. Not half so tedious will the old man prove as the automaton +cathedral-showers of England, and he spices his talk with a little wit. +There are shops, not unlike those of a middle-sized town in our country; +still, little air of trade, and none at all of progress. Decay seems to +be stamped on nearly all the country towns of France, unless so large as +to make cities, and so have a life of their own, or so small as to serve +only as market-towns for the peasantry.... + +Wandering out of the edge of the town of Limoges, you come upon hedges +and green fields, for Limousin is the Arcadia of France. Queer old +houses adorn some of the narrow streets, and women in strange +head-dresses look out of the balconies that lean half-way over. But +Sunday is their holiday time, when all are in their gayest, and when the +green walks encircling the town, laid upon that old line of ramparts +which the Black Prince stormed, are thronged with the population. + +The bill at the _Boule d'Or_ is not an extravagant one; for as strangers +are not common, the trick of extortion is unknown. The waiting-maid +drops a courtesy, and gives a smiling _bon jour_, not surely unmindful +of the little fee she gets; but she never disputes its amount, and seems +grateful for the least. There is no "boots" or waiter to dog you over to +the diligence; nay, if you are not too old, or ugly, the little girl +herself insists upon taking your portmanteau, and trips across with it, +and puts it in the hands of the conductor, and waits your going +earnestly, and waves her hand at you, and gives you another "_bon +voyage_" that makes your ears tingle till the houses of Limoges and its +high towers have vanished, and you are a mile away, down the pleasant +banks of the river Vienne. + +Shall we set a foot down for a moment in the queer, interesting, busy +old Norman town of Rouen, where everybody goes who goes to Paris, but +where few stop for a look at what in many respects is most curious to +see in all France? The broad, active quays, and the elegant modern +buildings upon them, and the bridges, and the river with its barges and +steamers, are, it is true, worth the seeing, and exposed to the eye of +every passer, and give one the idea of a new and enterprising city. But +back from this is another city--the old city--infinitely more worthy of +attention. + +Out of its midst rises the corkscrew iron tower of the Cathedral, under +which sleeps Rollo, the first Duke of Normandy; and if one have the +courage to mount to the dizzy summit of that corkscrew winding tower of +iron, he will see such a labyrinth of ways, shut in by such confusion +of gables, and such steep, sharp roofs, glittering with so many colored +tiles, as that he will seem to dream a dream of the olden time. + +And if he have an agricultural eye, it will wander delightedly over +the broad, rich plains that there border the Seine, rich in all manner +of corn-land and in orchards. And if he have an historic eye, it +will single out an old castle or two that show themselves upon the +neighboring hills; and the ruins, and the Seine, and the valley, and +the town will group together in his imagination, and he will bear away +the picture in his mind to his Western home in the wilderness; and it +shall serve him as an illustration--a living illustration--to the old +chronicles of wars, whether of Monstrelet, or Turner, or Anquetil, or +Michelet, down through all the time of his thinking life. So, when he +readeth of Norman plain blasted with battle, and knightly helmets +glittering in the crash of war, he shall have a scene,--a scene lying +clear as mid-day under the eye of steady memory,--in the which he may +plant his visions of Joan of Arc, or of stout Henry V., or of drivelling +Charles VI., or of _Jean sans peur_; for these--all of them, he +knows--have trodden the valley of Rouen. + +Whoever may have seen English Worcester or Gloucester will have a +foretaste of what comes under the eye at Rouen; but to one fresh from +the new, straight thoroughfares of America nothing surely can seem +stranger than the dark, crowded ways of the capital of Normandy. + +How narrow, how dirty, how cool! for even in summer the sun cannot come +down in them--for the projecting balconies and the tallness of the +houses; and between the fountains in the occasional open places and the +incessant washings it is never dry. There is no pavement for the +foot-goer but the sharp, round stones sticking up from side to side, +and sloping down to the sluice-way in the middle. Donkeys with loads of +cabbages, that nearly fill up the way, women with baskets on their +heads, and staring strangers, and _gendarmerie_ in their cocked hats, +marching two by two, and soldiers, and school-boys (not common in +France), and anxious-faced merchants (still rarer out of the North), all +troop together under gables, that would seem to totter were they not of +huge oak beams, whose blackened heads peep out from the brick walls like +faces of an age gone by. + +What quaint carving! what heavy old tiles, when you catch a glimpse of +the peaked roofs! what windings and twists! There are well-filled and +sometimes elegant shops below, with story on story reeling above them. + +Away through an opening, that is only a streak of light at the end, +appears the ugly brown statue of the Maid of Orleans. There she was +burned, poor girl!--and the valet, if you have the little English boy of +the Hotel de Rouen, will tell you how, and when, and why they burned +her; and he will ring the bell at the gate of a strange, old house close +by, and beckon you into the court, where you will see around the walls +the bas-reliefs of the Cloth of Gold. St. Owens too, which, after +Strasburg Cathedral, is the noblest Gothic church in France, is in some +corner of the never-ending curious streets. And on a fete day, what +store of costume on its pavement! What big, white muslin caps,--flaring +to left and right! What show of red petticoats, and steeple-crowned +hats, and clumping sabots, and short-waisted boys, and little, brown men +of Brittany!... + +Many--many dull diligence--days lie between Rouen and the sunny southern +town of Nismes; yet with the wishing we were there at once. + +Where was born Guizot,--where are Protestant people,--where are almost +quiet Sundays,--where there is a Roman Coliseum, dropped in the centre +of the town,--there are we. On a December day, when I was there, it was +as warm and summer-like,--the sunny side of that old ruin,--and the +green things peeped out from the wall as fresh and blossoming, as if +Merrie May had commenced her time of flowers. And the birds were +chattering out of all the corridors, and the brown stone looked as +mellow as a russet apple in the glow of that rich southern atmosphere. + +The trees along the Boulevard--running here through the town--wore a +spring-like air (there must have been olives or evergreen oaks among +them), and though I cannot say if the peach-trees were in bloom, yet I +know I picked a bright red rose in the garden by the fountain,--the +great Roman fountain which supplies the whole town with water,--and it +lies pressed for a witness in my journal yet. And there were a hundred +other roses in bloom all around,--and a little girl was passing through +the garden at the time, with one in her hair, and was playing with +another in her hand. And the old soldier who limps, and lives in the +little cottage at the gate of the garden, as patrol, was sunning himself +on the bench by the door; and a canary-bird that hung over it was +singing as blithely in his cage as the sparrows had been singing in the +ruin. + +And what was there in that charming garden spot of Nismes, with its wide +walks and shade of trees, and fresh with the sound of running water and +the music of birds? There was an old temple of Diana, and fountain of +the Nymphs. Both were embowered in trees at the foot of the hill which +lords it over the town. + +The fountain rises almost a river, and alone supplies a city of forty +thousand inhabitants. The guide-books will tell one that it is some +fifty or sixty feet in depth, and surrounded with walls of masonry,--now +green with moss and clinging herbs; and from this, its source, it +passes in a gushing flood over the marble floors of old Roman baths, as +smooth and exact now as the day on which they were laid. The old soldier +will conduct you down and open the door-way, so that you may tread upon +the smooth marble where trod the little feet of the unknown Roman girls. +For none know when the baths were built, or when this temple of Diana +was founded. Not even of the great arena, remarkable in many respects as +the Roman Coliseum, is there the slightest classic record. Nothing but +its own gigantic masonry tells of its origin. + +Upon the top of the hill, from whose foot flows the fountain, is still +another ruin,--a high, cumbrous tower. And as I wandered under it, full +of classic fervor, and looked up,--with ancient Rome in my eye, and the +gold AEgis, and the banner of triumph,--behold, an old woman with a red +handkerchief tied round her head was spreading a blue petticoat over the +edge of the tower to dry. + +But from the ground beneath was a rich view over the town and valley. +The hill and the garden at its base were cloaked with the deep black +green of pines and firs; beyond was the town, just veiled in the light +smoke of the morning fires; here peeped through a steeple, there a +heavy old tower, and looming with its hundred arches and circumference +of broken rocks--bigger than them all--was the amphitheatre of the +Latin people, whose language and monuments alone remain. Beside the +city--through an atmosphere clear as a morning on the valley of the +Connecticut--were the stiff velvety tops of the olive-orchards and the +long brown lines of vineyards;--away the meadows swept, with here and +there over the level reach an old gray town, with tall presiding castle, +or a glittering strip of the bright branches of the Rhone. + +But not only is there pleasant December sun and sunny landscape in and +about the Provencal town of Nismes, there are also pleasant streets and +walks; there is a beautiful Roman temple,--_La Maison Carree_,--than +which there is scarce a more perfect one through all Italy, among the +neat white houses of the city. Within it are abundance of curiosities, +for such as are curious about dates and inscriptions that cannot be made +out; and there are Roman portals still left in the vestiges of the Roman +walls.... + +There is the Grand Theatre for such as wish a stall for a month; and +there is the grander theatre of the old Roman Arene. True, the manager +is dead, and the actors are but bats and lizards, with now and then a +grum old owl for prompter. But what scenes the arched openings blackened +by the fires of barbarians, and the stunted trees growing where Roman +ladies sat, paint to the eye of fancy! What an orchestra the birds make +at twilight, and the recollections make always! + +It was better than Norma, it was richer than Robert le Diable, to sit +down on one of the fragments in front of where was the great entrance +and look through the iron grating, and follow the perspective of +corridors opening into the central arena, where the moonlight shone +on a still December night,--glimmering over the ranges of the seats and +upon the shaking leaves. And there was a rustle, a gentle sighing of +the night wind among the crevices, that one could easily believe was the +echo of a distant chorus behind the scenes:--and so it was,--a chorus of +Great Dead Ones,--mournful and slow,--listened to by no flesh ear, but +by the delicate ear of Memory. + +There are rides about Nismes. There is Avignon with its brown ramparts +and its gigantic Papal towers bundling up from the banks of the Rhone, +only a half-day's ride away; and half a day more will put one down at +the fountain of Vaucluse; where, if it be summer-time,--and it is +summer-time there three-quarters of the year,--you may sit down under +the shade of a fig-tree, or a fir, and read--undisturbed save by the +dashing of the water under the cliff--the fourteenth Canzonet of +Petrarch.... + +Coming back at nightfall, [the traveller] will have a mind to hunt +through the narrow, dim-lighted streets of Avignon in search of the tomb +of Laura, and he will find it embowered with laurels and shut up by a +thorn hedge and wicket; and to get within this, he will ring the bell of +the heavy, sombre-looking mansion close by, when a shuffling old man +with keys will come out and do the honors of the tomb. He will take a +franc,--not absolutely disdainfully, but with a world of _sang-froid_, +since it is not for himself (he says) but for the poor children within +the mansion, which is a foundling hospital. He puts the money in his red +waistcoat-pocket, suiting to the action a sigh, "_Mes pauvres enfans!_" +Perhaps you will add in the overflowing of your heart, "Poor children!" + +As you go out of the garden, a box at the gate, which had escaped your +notice, solicits offerings in behalf of the institution from strangers +visiting the tomb. The box has a lock and key; the old man does not keep +the key. You have a sudden suspicion of his red waistcoat-pocket, and +sigh as you go out, _Les pauvres enfans!_ + +_Pont du Gard_ is the finest existing remain of a Roman aqueduct, and +spans a quite deep stream, good for either fishing or bathing. Profusion +of wild flowers grow about and over it, and fig-trees and brambles make +a thicket together on the slope that goes down to the water. + +One may walk over the top of the ruin--two yards wide, without parapet +or rail--and look over into the depth three hundred feet below. The +nerves must be strong to endure it, then the enjoyment is full. Less +than half a day's ride will bring one from the Pont du Gard to the +Hotel du Luxembourg of Nismes. + +Montpellier is in Provence, the city of summer-like winters, and upon +the river is Arles, with its Arena, larger even than that of Nismes, but +far less perfect; and its pretty women--famous all over France--wear a +mischievous look about them, and the tie of their red turbans, as if +coquetry were one of their charms. + +It is a strange, mixed-up town, that of Arles,--ruins and dirt and +narrowness and grandeur, an old church in whose yard they dig up Roman +coffins, and a rolling bridge of boats. Not anywhere in France are there +dirtier and more crooked streets, not anywhere such motley array of +shops amid the filth, red turbans and meat, bread and blocks, old coins +and silks. Within the museum itself are collected more odd scraps of +antiquity than can be found elsewhere together; there are lead pipes +and stone fountains, old inscriptions and iron spikes, and the noblest +monument of all is a female head that has no nose; but the manager very +ingeniously supplies with his hand the missing feature. + +Opposite the doors of this museum stands an obelisk of granite, which +was fished out of the Rhone, and boasts a high antiquity, and upon its +top is a brilliant sun with staring eyes. To complete the extraordinary +grouping, upon another side of the same square is a church with the +strangest bas-relief over its central door-way that surely madcap fancy +ever devised. It is a representation of the Last Judgment; on the right, +the angels are leading away the blessed in pairs, and on the left a +grinning devil with horns, and with a stout rope passed over his +shoulder and clinched in his teeth, is tugging away at legions of +condemned souls. + +There is rare Gothic sculpture within some old cloisters adjoining, and +a marble bas-relief within the church, with a Virgin and Child in glory, +was--I say it on the authority of an ingenious _valet de place_--of +undoubtedly Roman origin. + +Ancient sarcophagi may be seen here and there in the streets, serving as +reservoirs at the fountains; and many a peasant of the adjoining country +makes the coffin of a Roman noble his water-trough. + +There belongs another antiquity to Provence besides that of Roman +date,--it is that of the gay, chivalrous times of William IX., Count of +Poitou, and all the gallant Troubadours who came after him. Then helmets +glittered over the Provencal plains, and ladies wove silken pennants in +princely halls. Then the tournament drew its throngs, and knights +contended not only with their lances for martial fame but with their +songs for the ears of love. Even monarchs--Barbarossa and Coeur de +Lion--vied with Troubadours, and the seat of the Provencal court was the +great centre of Southern chivalry. Arles had its court of love, more +splendid than now, and its _arret d'amour_ was more binding than the +charms of the brightest eyes that shine in Provence to-day. + +Little remains of the luxurious tastes of the old livers at Arles. The +cafe, dirty and dim, assembles the chivalry of the city, and a stranger +Western knight, in place of baronial hall, is entertained at the Hotel +du Forum, where, with excess of cheatery, they give him for St. Peray a +weak, carbonated Moselle. + +Let no one judge of the flat sand surface of Provence by the rich +descriptions of the Mysteries of Udolfo, nor let the lover of ballad +poetry reckon upon the peasant _patois_ as having the sweet flow of +Raymond or Bertrand de Born. + + + + +A FRENCH FARMER'S PARADISE. + +M. BETHAM-EDWARDS. + + [So many woful stories are told us of the penury and strife for + bare existence of the agriculturists of Europe that it is + pleasant to read of happier scenes and more plentiful larders. + M. Betham-Edwards, than whom few are better able to speak of the + conditions of life in rural France, has drawn for us, in her + "Holidays in Eastern France," a cheerful picture of such a + scene, which we take pleasure in reproducing. We are here taken + out of the beaten track of ordinary travel into "fresh scenes + and pastures new."] + + +How delicious to escape from the fever, heat, and turmoil of Paris +during the Exhibition to the green banks and sheltered ways of the +gently undulating Marne! With what delight we wake up in the morning to +the noise--if noise it can be called--of the mower's scythe, the rustle +of acacia-leaves, and the notes of the stock-dove, looking back as upon +a nightmare to the horn of the tramway conductor and the perpetual grind +of the stonemason's saw! Yes, to quit Paris at a time of tropic heat, +and nestle down in some country resort, is, indeed, like exchanging +Dante's lower circle for Paradise. The heat has followed us here; but +with a screen of luxuriant foliage ever between us and the burning blue +sky, and with a breeze rippling the leaves always, no one need complain. + +With the cocks and the hens, and the birds and the bees, we are all up +and stirring betimes; there are dozens of cool nooks and corners, if we +like to spend the morning out of doors, and do not feel enterprising +enough to set out on an exploring expedition by diligence or rail. After +the mid-day meal every one takes a siesta, as a matter of course, waking +up between four and five o'clock for a ramble. Wherever we go we find +lovely prospects. Quiet little rivers and canals, winding in between +lofty lines of poplars, undulating pastures, and amber cornfields; +picturesque villages, crowned by a church spire here and there; wide +sweeps of highly cultivated land, interspersed with rich woods, +vineyards, orchards, and gardens; all these make up the scenery +familiarized to us by some of the most characteristic of French +painters. + +Just such tranquil rural pictures have been portrayed over and over +again by Millet, Corot, Daubigny; and in this very simplicity often lies +their charm. No costume or grandiose outline is here, as in Brittany; no +picturesque poverty, no poetic archaisms; all is rustic and pastoral, +but with the rusticity and pastoralness of every day. + +We are in the midst of one of the wealthiest and best cultivated regions +of France, moreover, and, when we penetrate beneath the surface, we find +that in manner and customs, as well as dress and outward appearance, the +peasant and agricultural population generally differ no little from +their remote country-people, the Bretons. In this famous cheese-making +country, the "Fromage de Brie" being the specialty of these rich +dairy-farms, there is no superstition, hardly a trace of poverty, and +little that can be called poetic. The people are wealthy, laborious, and +progressive. The farmers' wives, however hard they may work at home, +wear the smartest of Parisian bonnets and gowns when paying visits. I +was going to say, when at church, but nobody does go there! + +It is a significant fact that in the fairly well-to-do educated +district, where newspapers are read by the poorest, where well-being is +the rule, poverty the exception, the church is empty on Sunday, and the +priest's authority is _nil_. The priests may preach against abstinence +from church in the pulpits, and may lecture their congregation in +private; no effect is thereby produced. Church-going has become out of +date among the manufacturers of Brie cheese. They amuse themselves on +Sundays by taking walks with their children, the _pater-familias_ bathes +in the river, the ladies put on their gala dresses and pay visits, but +they omit their devotions. + +Some of these tenant-farmers--many of the farms being hired on lease, +possessors of small farms hiring more land--are very rich, and one of +our neighbors whose wealth has been made by the manufacture of Brie +cheese lately gave his daughter one hundred thousand francs as a dowry. +The wedding-breakfast took place at the Grand Hotel, Paris, and a +hundred guests were invited to partake of a sumptuous collation. But in +spite of fine clothes and large dowries, farmers' wives and daughters +still attend to the dairies, and when they cease to do so doubtless +farming in Seine et Marne will no longer be the prosperous business we +find it. It is delightful to witness the wide-spread well-being of this +highly-farmed region. + +"There is no poverty here," my host tells me, "and this is why life is +so pleasant." + +True enough, wherever you go you find well-dressed, contented-looking +people; no rags, no squalor, no pinched want. Poverty is an accident of +rare occurrence, and not a normal condition, every one being able to get +plenty of work and good pay. The habitual look of content written upon +every face is very striking. It seems as if in this land of Goshen life +were no burden, but matter of satisfaction only, if not of thankfulness. +Class distinction can hardly be said to exist; there are employers and +employed, masters and servants, of course, but the line of demarcation +is lightly drawn, and we find an easy familiarity wholly free from +impoliteness, much less vulgarity, existing between them. + +The automatic demureness characterizing English servants in the presence +of their employers is wholly unknown here. There are households with us +where the servants might all be mutes for any signs of animation they +give, but here they take part in what is going on, and exchange a word +and smile with every member of the household, never dreaming that it +should be otherwise. One is struck, too, here by the good looks, +intelligence, and trim appearance of the children, who, it is plain, +are well cared for. The houses have vines and sweet peas on the walls, +flowers in the windows, and altogether a look of comfort and ease found +nowhere in Western France. The Breton villages are composed of mere +hovels, where pigs, cows, and poultry live in close proximity to their +owners, a dung-hill stands before every front door, and, to get in-doors +and out, you have always to cross a pool of liquid manure. Here order +and cleanliness prevail, with a diffusion of well-being hardly, I should +say, to be matched out of America. + +Travellers who visit France again and again, as much out of sympathy +with its people's institutions as from a desire to see its monuments and +outward features, will find ample to reward them in Seine et Marne. On +every side we have evidence of the tremendous natural resources and +indefatigable laboriousness of the people. There is one point here, as +elsewhere in France, which strikes an agriculturist with astonishment, +and that is the abundance of trees standing amid cornfields and +miscellaneous crops, also the interminable plantation of poplars that +can be seen on every side, apparently without any object. But the truth +is, the planting of apple- and pear-trees in fields is no extravagance, +rather an economy, the fruit they produce exceeding in value the corn +they damage, whilst the puzzling line of poplars growing beside canals +and rivers is the work of the government, every spare bit of ground +belonging to the state being planted with them for the sake of the +timber. The crops are splendid, partly owing to the soil, and partly to +the advanced system of agriculture. You may see exposed for sale, in +little towns, the newest American agricultural implements, while the +great diversity of products speaks volumes for the enterprise of the +farmers. + +As you stroll along, now climbing, now descending this pleasantly +undulated country, you may see growing in less than an acre, a patch of +potatoes here, a vineyard there, on one side a bit of wheat, oats, rye, +and barley, with fruit-trees casting abundant shadow over all; on the +other Indian-corn, clover, and mangel-wurzel in the green state, +recently planted for autumn fodder; farther on a poppy-field, three +weeks ago in full flower, now having full pods ready for gathering,--the +opium poppy being cultivated for commerce here. All those and many more +are found close together, and near them many a lovely little glen, +copse, and ravine, recalling Scotland and Wales, while the open +hill-sides show broad belts of pasture, corn, and vineyard. You may walk +for miles through what seems one vast orchard, only, instead of turf, +rich crops are growing under the trees. This is indeed the orchard of +France, on which we English folk largely depend for our summer fruits. A +few days ago the black-currant-trees were being stripped for the benefit +of Parisian lovers of _cassis_, a liqueur in high repute. + +We encounter on our walks carts laden with plums packed in baskets and +barrels on their way to Covent Garden. Later on, it will be the peach +and apricot crops that are gathered for exportation. Later still, +apples, walnuts, and pears; the village not far from our own sends fruit +to the Paris markets valued at one million francs annually, and the +entire valley of the Marne is unequalled throughout France for +fruitfulness and abundance. + +But the traveller must settle down in some delicious retreat in the +valley of the Marne to realize the interest and charm of such a country +as this. And he must above all things be a fairly good pedestrian, for, +though a land of Goshen flowing with milk and honey, it is not a land +of luxuries, and carriages, good, bad, or indifferent, are difficult to +be got. A countless succession of delightful prospects is offered to the +persevering explorer who, each day, strikes out in an entirely different +direction. I have always been of the opinion that the best way to see +a country is to make a halt in some good central point for weeks at a +time, and from thence "excursionize." By these means much fatigue is +avoided, and the two chief drawbacks to the pleasure of travel, namely, +hotels and perpetual railway travel, are avoided as much as possible. + +Seine et Marne, if not one of the most picturesque regions in France, +abounds in those quiet charms which grow upon the sympathetic traveller. +It is not a land of marvels and pictorial attractions like Brittany. +There is no costume, no legendary romance, no stone array of Carnac to +entice the stranger, but, on the other hand, the lover of nature in her +more subdued aspects, and the archaeologist also, will find ample to +repay them.... + + [Illustration: THE LUMINOUS PALACE + CHAMP DE MARS, PARIS, 1900] + +My rallying-point was a pleasant country house at Couilly, offering easy +opportunity of studying agriculture and rural life, as well as of making +excursions by road and rail. Couilly itself is charming. The canal, +winding its way between thick lines of poplar-trees towards Meaux, you +may follow in the hottest day of summer without fatigue. The river, +narrow and sleepy, yet so picturesquely curling amid green slopes and +tangled woods, is another delightful stroll; then there are broad, +richly-wooded hills rising above these, and shady side-paths leading +from hill to valley, with alternating vineyards, orchards, pastures, +and cornfields on either side. Couilly lies in the heart of the +cheese-making country, part of the ancient province of Brie, from +which this famous cheese is named. + + [The French _departement_ of Seine et Marne possesses but two + important historical monuments, the Chateau of Fontainebleau + and the Cathedral of Meaux, though it contains archaeological + remains from the Mediaeval to the Celtic Age. Fontainebleau is + too well known to need description here, so we shall conclude + by following our traveller to Meaux.] + +The diligence passes our garden gate early in the morning, and in an +hour and a half takes us to Meaux, former capital of the province of La +Brie, bishopric of the famous Bossuet, and one of the early strongholds +of the Reformation. The neighboring country, _pays Meldois_ as it is +called, is one vast fruit and vegetable garden, bringing in enormous +returns. From our vantage-ground--for, of course, we get outside the +vehicle--we survey the shifting landscape, wood and valley and plain, +soon seeing the city with its imposing Cathedral, flashing like marble, +high above the winding river and fields of green and gold on either +side. I know nothing that gives the mind an idea of fertility and wealth +more than this scene, and it is no wonder that the Prussians, in 1871, +here levied a heavy toll; their sojourn at Meaux having cost the +inhabitants not less than a million and a half of francs. All now is +peace and prosperity, and here, as in the neighboring towns, rags, want, +and beggary are not found. The evident well-being of all classes is +delightful to behold. + +Meaux, with its shady boulevards and pleasant public gardens, must be an +agreeable place to live in, nor would intellectual resources be wanting. +We strolled into the spacious town library, open, of course, to all +strangers, and could wish for no better occupation than to con the +curious old books and the manuscripts that it contains. One incident +amused me greatly. The employe, having shown me the busts adorning the +walls of the principal rooms, took me into a side closet, where, +ignominiously put out of sight, were the busts of Charles the Tenth and +Louis Philippe. + +"But," said our informant, "we have more busts in the garret,--the +Emperor Napoleon III., the Empress, and the Prince Imperial." + +Naturally enough, on the proclamation of the republic, these busts were +considered at least supererogatory, and it is to be hoped they will stay +where they are. + + + + +CORDOVA AND ITS MOSQUE. + +S. P. SCOTT. + + [The following selection we owe to Scott's "Through Spain: A + Narrative of Travel and Adventure in the Peninsula," a work of + unusual interest, and which reproduces in picturesque language + most of the attractions of that favored peninsula. The Moorish + inhabitants of Spain have left in that country numerous + monuments of their graceful architecture, notably the Alhambra + of Granada and the Mosque of Cordova. The latter, to the + description of which this selection is mainly devoted, is one + of the most magnificent examples of Saracenic architecture + extant, and despite the efforts of ecclesiastics to ruin it, + still remains a worthy object of pilgrimage for the lovers of + art.] + + +Once more we turn our faces southward over the bleak and lifeless +plains. Estremadura and La Mancha are soon left behind, as the flying +train darts through the passes of the Sierra Morena, and descends into +the beautiful province of Andalusia. It is almost like another world. +The country is thickly settled, green fields take the place of the +barren steppes, hedges of aloe and cactus enclose the extensive olive +plantations, and, here and there, overtopping the orange groves, are +seen the feathery branches of the palm. The costumes grow bright and +odd, and the people become more swarthy in complexion. + +The water-carrier, with her Arab alcarazza lightly poised upon her +head, approaches the car window, and deals out the crystal fluid to the +thirsty traveller at the moderate price of one-fifth of a cent a drink. +A few miles farther, and, entering a long and irregular city, with +tortuous streets reeking with villanous smells--each of which seems +considerably worse than the one you have just escaped--and squares +overrun with indefatigable beggars, all startling specimens of horrible +and loathsome deformity, we are informed that this is at last the +renowned capital of the Khalifs. + +If Cordova at first sight is so unprepossessing, a better acquaintance +is hardly calculated to produce a more favorable impression upon the +stranger. It is a sleepy old town, substantially paved with stone blocks +laid down by the Moors, whose notions of comfort and taste are further +manifested in the shady courts, surrounded by latticed galleries resting +upon graceful horseshoe arches,--peculiarities of the Arab style of +architecture. The innumerable canals, aqueducts, and fountains that +embellish the various squares reveal the predilection of its ancient +citizens for an abundant supply of water, an advantage not recognized by +the present inhabitants. The streets are so crooked, and pay such a +disregard to the points of the compass, that three minutes after you +have left the hotel you are helplessly lost, and wonder whether you +will be able to find any one of whom to ask the way. You approach one +of the houses that, barred like so many castles, line the streets, and +knock. After some delay the gate opens, and discloses the leather-clad +_portero_ rubbing his eyes, and half asleep. You explain your +misfortune; he laughs, and with a volubility that is perfectly amazing +delivers himself of a string of directions intended to be explicit, +but which soon involve you more deeply in the labyrinth than before. +Then you commit yourself to the tender mercies of a boy who has +providentially appeared, and who knows nothing of what you wish to see, +but will gladly repel the attacks of the beggars, a service which no one +who has had the benefit of it will be disposed to underrate. + +The bigoted character of the people of Cordova is betrayed by the number +of shrines, and the swarms of well-fed priests that congregate in the +neighborhood of the Cathedral and the parish churches. In the Jewish +quarter--where the Hebrews, persecuted by other nations, enjoyed +complete liberty of worship, as well as the confidence of their Saracen +rulers--stands the mosque. It is on the shore of the Guadalquivir, and +opposite the Alcazar of the Khalifs, which is now a military prison, and +destitute of even a suspicion of its ancient grandeur. It is impossible +to realize that this spot, now steaming with noxious vapors, smeared +with filth of every description, and haunted by ghastly representatives +of vice and misery, was once the abode of science and art, the seat of +the wealthiest court of mediaeval Europe, the refuge of the oppressed of +every creed in Christendom, and the home of the most polished society of +the age. + +The city contains but little to attest its former greatness, whose story +reads like an exaggerated romance of the Orient. The mosque remains, +indeed, sadly defaced by the hand of religious fanaticism; a few of the +baths are intact, though long disused and abandoned; the wheels of the +primitive stone mills are still turned by the rapid current of the +Guadalquivir; and the venerable bridge erected by Augustus has survived +the uninterrupted traffic and strange vicissitudes of nearly twenty +centuries. There are a few handsome palaces, once curious on account of +their minute and grotesque ornamentation, but now weather-beaten and +decayed. The orphan asylum, built in the sixteenth century, offers the +best example of the Gothic, but the churches are abominable, with the +exception of San Nicolas, which possesses the only minaret left out of +the seven hundred that once adorned the Saracen metropolis. The sight +of the crumbling relics of an empire which once overshadowed all Europe +with its power naturally recalls the circumstances under which that +power was obtained, and suggests a brief notice of the wonderful +civilization that, emanating from a people but a few removes from the +Bedouins, communicated new life to the nations brought within the sphere +of its authority, contributing so much of value to the common stock of +human knowledge, and imparting an extraordinary impulse to scientific +thought. + + [This historical notice we omit, and proceed with a description + of the celebrated mosque of Cordova.] + +There has probably never been an edifice erected by the piety of any +sect whose materials were gathered in as many different countries, or +which could boast such a variety of superb decorations, as the _Djalma_ +of Cordova. The stones for its foundations were transported upon the +shoulders of Christian captives from Narbonne in France. Pagan altars +and Romish churches were alike despoiled of their precious marbles. +Barbary gave her odoriferous woods, Egypt her ivory, Syria her stuccoes, +Persia her tapestry, Constantinople her elegant mosaics. + +The expenses of construction were defrayed by the appropriation of +one-fifth of the spoils of battle, which amount, important in itself, +was from time to time largely increased by contributions from the +wealthy, tribute of conquered nations and munificent gifts from the +royal treasury. The building measured six hundred and forty-two feet +from north to south by four hundred and sixty-two feet from east to +west; the walls were generally thirty-five feet high, except on the side +towards the river, where they reached an altitude of seventy feet and a +thickness of nearly twenty. They were strengthened by buttresses and +crowned by battlements painted in brilliant colors. Over all towered the +shapely minaret of Abderrahman III., inlaid with sculptured stone-work +and enamelled tiles, and bearing upon its summit three huge gilded +apples of bronze rising from the petals of silver lilies, the whole +surrounded by a pomegranate of massy gold. + +There were twenty-one entrances, encircled by legends from the Koran, +interspersed with scarlet and gilded arabesques; the doors were very +heavy, and covered with plates of polished brass. A subdued light +came through the interstices of marble lattices, carved in fantastic +patterns, imparting a mystic solemnity to the vast interior. + +A spacious garden or court, called then, as now, the Court of the +Oranges, planted with choice exotics and tropical trees, contained the +fountains where the Moor performed the ablutions prescribed by his +religion. One of these basins, still perfect, is a monolith hewn in the +quarries of the distant sierra, and requiring the combined efforts of +seventy oxen and hundreds of men to convey it to its present position. +The nineteen naves of the mosque opened upon the court,--none of them +had doors,--and through the fretted arcades were wafted odors of rose +and jasmine, which, mingling with incense and the smoke of perfumed +tapers, gave to the fanatic believer a reminiscence of Araby the Blest. +Some of these tapers weighed sixty pounds, and the largest chandelier, +used only during the feast of Ramadan, held fourteen hundred and +fifty-four lights. Lamps of gold and silver were suspended from the +richly-ornamented ceiling, and among them, memorable trophies of the +conquest of Galicia, swung the bells of the church of Santiago. + +Stretching around on every side was an endless forest of columns, the +horseshoe arches arranged in tiers increasing the resemblance to a grove +of palms,--that most primitive of temples,--which evidently served as a +model for the interior of the mosque. Not far from the centre was the +tribune, where, on Fridays, the Imam called the worshippers to prayer. +Elevated a few feet above the floor, it was surrounded by engrailed, +interlacing arches, and stood opposite the Kiblah, or point facing +Mecca. The latter was indicated by three chapels, the Mihrab being +placed in the central one. + +The Byzantine mosaics, with which both walls and domes are incrusted, +give to this part of the mosque an indescribably gorgeous appearance. +They contain no piece larger than the top of a lead-pencil, and, being +coated with glass like those of the church of St. Mark at Venice, which +are of about the same date, have been preserved in all their original +beauty. A noble horseshoe arch, opening in the mosaic, forms the +entrance to the Mihrab, a little grotto faced with marble slabs, towards +which the Moslem always turned to pray, and then made its circuit seven +times upon his knees; the evidences of this act of devotion remaining, +deeply furrowed in the pavement, after the lapse of six centuries. The +Mihrab is hexagonal in shape, and twelve feet in diameter. Exquisitely +carved, as became its sacred character, and the reverence with which it +was universally regarded, the skill of its architects was exhausted upon +its panels and its vaulted ceiling, cut from a single block of snowy +marble in the exact representation of a shell. Here was kept the most +precious relic of Mohammedan Spain, the Koran written by the Khalif +Othman, which he was reading when assassinated. It was studded with +jewels of immense value, and was so heavy that it required four men to +lift it. + +Great and important are the changes that have taken place in the +arrangements of the mosque since the Spanish domination. + +It was first purged of its heretical pollutions by the assembled clergy, +and then lined with chapels presided over by ugly idols glittering with +tinsel. + +The marble pavement was next removed and replaced by coarse red tiles. +The minaret, damaged by a storm in the sixteenth century, has been +metamorphosed into an ordinary spire; thirteen of the exterior +entrances, and sixteen of those in the Court of the Oranges, have been +walled up; and many of the mosaics and stuccoes have been so daubed +with whitewash that both colors and designs have disappeared. The +carved ceiling was long since removed, and sold to guitar-makers +and carpenters; the balustrades, inlaid with mother-of-pearl and +tortoise-shell, were utilized as fuel. The outside has suffered less, +and there still remain numerous tokens of its Oriental origin,--the +flame-shaped battlements of Persia, typical of the adoration of fire; +the Syrian ornamentation of the door-ways, where can also be traced +familiar symbols of ancient Egypt; and the suastika, or Indian cross, a +mysterious emblem of the highest antiquity, which Layard found upon the +palaces of Nineveh, Cesnola in the tombs of Cyprus, and Schliemann on +the walls of Troy. + +But even these "purifications" were not sufficient to satisfy the +demands of an orthodox and iconoclastic priesthood. In 1523 a zealous +bishop of Cordova, named Manriquez, wishing to distinguish himself, +determined to build a cathedral in the very centre of the mosque. The +people in vain protested against this outrage; the bishop appealed to +the emperor, who sustained him; and though Charles afterwards, when +visiting Cordova for the first time, sharply criticised the action of +the prelate, the remonstrance came with a bad grace from one who had +wrought such irreparable mischief in the Alhambra. The church was built, +and, though in itself elegant, has destroyed the proportions of the +unique structure, once the model of Saracen architecture and the pride +of all Islam.... + +The Moorish city of Cordova was divided into five wards, each isolated +by a fortified wall. Beyond these were the twenty-one suburbs, which--as +well as the central part of the capital, where were located the palace +and the Djalma--were paved and lighted, and furnished with mosques and +markets. To accommodate a population that exceeded a million there were +nine hundred public baths, more than are now to be found in all Europe. + +Of the suburbs, that of Medina-Azzahra was the most celebrated. It +enclosed a palace built by An-Nassir for a favorite of his harem, and +we are told that its decorations surpassed those of the mosque at the +period of its greatest magnificence. The most expensive marbles and +jaspers were used in its construction; Byzantine mosaics covered its +walls; the ceilings of its pavilions were composed of alternate plates +of gold and silver. In the principal hall stood a porphyry basin full of +quicksilver, so contrived that it could be agitated by hidden mechanism, +reflecting the rays of the sun with dazzling brilliancy, and striking +with terror the mystified beholders. Over this curious toy was a +miniature temple, with a dome of ebony and ivory, incrusted with pearls +and rubies, and sustained by columns of polished crystal. Attached to +the palace were delightful flower-gardens, orchards, labyrinths, lakes, +and fountains. There were six thousand three hundred women of all +ranks in An-Nassir's harem, who were guarded by an army of twelve +thousand eunuchs clothed in silk, and wearing girdles of gold. In the +neighborhood of the Khalif's residence stood the villas of the nobility, +which, with the houses of their slaves and retainers, constituted of +themselves a town of no inconsiderable dimensions. + +Having read much of Medina-Azzahra, I was naturally desirous to visit +the site of this luxurious retreat of the Khalifs, which is known as +"Cordoba la Vieja," or Old Cordova; and taking a carriage, the driver of +which assured me he was perfectly familiar with the locality, I rode out +to the mountains, a distance of about three miles. The carriage stopped; +I got out, and, seeing a few steps away a low wall of masonry, evidently +the enclosure of a pasture, I asked the driver what place this was. + +Touching his hat, he replied, "This, senor, is Cordoba la Vieja." + +"But the ruins you promised to show me,--where are they?" + +"The ruins, senor--yes--there they are!" And he pointed to a row of +dilapidated stables in the centre of the pasture, not far from where a +herd of fierce Andalusian bulls were grazing. I would not have crossed +that field for all the antiquities in Spain. + +"And this is all that is to be seen here?" + +"Yes, senor, this is all." + +Re-entering the carriage, I returned to the city, with a feeling of +disgust, which was not diminished by my honest coachman's demanding an +exorbitant fee for his services as guide.... + +Among the many revolutions which have affected the manners and formed +the society of Europe, none is entitled to more credit, or has been more +completely ignored, than the occupation of Spain by the Saracens. This +neglect is almost inexplicable, considering the prestige the invaders +acquired by their extensive conquests, long a menace to the peace of +Christendom, as well as by their invaluable services to literature, +whose influence is even now to be traced in the language, the theology, +the science, and the laws of distant countries, loath to acknowledge the +debt they owe to this most ingenious and polished people. For the +ambition and versatility of the Moor were boundless, and he labored +with the same persevering energy in the solution of some abstruse +mathematical problem as in the prosecution of every useful discovery +and the encouragement of every branch of trade. + +The importance of his foreign commerce is shown by the wealth and size +of his seaports. Of these Almeria stood first in rank; its merchants +not only maintained the closest intimacy with the nations of the +Mediterranean, but penetrated as far as Persia and China. It employed +three thousand eight hundred looms in the fabrication of damasks and +brocades; the gardens and plantations of its environs embraced an area +of four hundred square miles. Each city had its specialty: Baeza was +famous for woollens, Murcia for coats of mail, Valencia for perfumes, +Malaga for pottery and glass, Xativa for paper, Toledo and Seville for +swords of perfect temper. In the early part of the twelfth century there +were six hundred villages engaged in the manufacture of silk. Granada +was the chief mart of this industry, and soon after the accession of +Charles Fifth, when the Inquisition had already driven thousands of +skilful artisans into exile, the crown revenues from this source alone +amounted annually to one hundred and eighty-one thousand five hundred +gold ducats, or seven hundred and twenty-six thousand dollars of our +money. + +The luxurious tastes of the East caused the introduction of many useful +plants and fruits, among them the buckwheat, the sugar-cane, the peach, +and the pomegranate, and the first palm ever seen in Andalusia was +brought from Damascus by Abderrahman, in memory of his native land. In +his control over water, the most valuable treasure of his forefathers, +the Moor displayed a power little short of marvellous, and a reverence +as for something peculiarly sacred. Every drop of the precious fluid +was utilized, and its distribution protected by a code of stringent +regulations, causing its benefits to be felt in the remotest hamlets of +the kingdom. This code is still in force in Valencia, and the ancient +tribunal of seven judges, chosen from the farmers of the province, holds +its sessions in that city every Thursday, the last day of the Mohammedan +week, to hear and decide without appeal all questions involving the laws +of irrigation. + +The rapid progress made by the Spanish Arabs in those arts that tend to +diminish the burdens and increase the enjoyments of life, unexampled as +it was in history, was not more remarkable than the diligence with which +they applied themselves to literary and scientific pursuits, studies +destined to exert such lasting effects upon the happiness and well-being +of mankind.... + +In the personal appearance and mode of life of the Andalusians, and +particularly in those of the inhabitants of Cordova, can be detected +unmistakable signs of their Arab ancestry. Their skins are darker, and +the women especially have larger and more lustrous eyes than those +of the other provinces of Spain. Their dialect, full of proverbial +expressions, and unintelligible by its elision of consonants, seems +a barbarous jargon to the Castilian of Salamanca or Valladolid. The +popular cloak is the burnous; the hat of the muleteer a degenerate +turban; the haick, under whose folds Eastern jealousy required the +features of all females to be concealed, survives in the mantilla, that +once covered the face, and does yet in certain towns, as Tarifa, and +which has even travelled to Spanish America as the _tapada_ of Lima. +The sandal is much worn by the poorer classes, and the silken sash, +or girdle, passes yet under its Arab name of _faja_. The irrigating +apparatus, the cart, the plough,--which is nothing but a crooked +stick,--are all Oriental; the mills were either actually built by the +Moors, or modelled after those of that industrious people. Grain is +still tramped out by cattle upon the primitive threshing-floor, and +winnowed by the wind. The charcoal vender, with his panniers and his +scales, is identical in all save costume with the vagrant charbonnier +of Cairo. + +The clapping of hands to call servants reminds one of the "Arabian +Nights;" the seclusion of women savors strongly of the restraints of the +harem. + +Instances might be indefinitely multiplied to show the derivation of +similar customs interwoven with every act of social and domestic life. +And, notwithstanding the untold advantages and invaluable practical +knowledge--the results of ages of experience--bequeathed by the Saracen +to his conqueror, with the ruins of massive castles, and of palaces +unrivalled in magnificent decoration, scattered all over the land; with +the museums crowded with priceless relics of Arab art; with the fields +watered by an ingenious yet simple system of irrigation, yielding +prodigious returns with but trifling labor; it is the greatest insult +you can offer a Spaniard to call him a "Moor," or insinuate that in his +veins courses a drop of the blood of that despised race whose industry +was once the boast, as its neglected souvenirs are now the glory, of his +country. + + + + +THE SPANISH BULL-FIGHT. + +JOSEPH MOORE. + + ["Outlying Europe and the Nearer Orient," by Joseph Moore, Jr., + a work devoted to descriptive sketches of Egypt, the Holy Land, + and the various countries of Europe, is the source of the + following selection, which excellently delineates that ancient, + though hardly time-honored, institution of Spain, which has + long been its most distinctive form of public recreation. + Happily, no other race than the Spanish has adopted this cruel + sport.] + + +Nothing in the popular mind is more closely associated with Spain than +the bull-fight. To travel in that country without witnessing the +spectacle would imply the loss of an invaluable opportunity to study +Spanish life. The people of all classes throughout the kingdom are +unremitting in their enthusiasm for this favorite amusement, and no +political or social prerogative could be guarded with more zealous +devotion. + +This species of gladiatorial contest took its origin at a remote period, +and long before it assumed its present form exhibition combats of one +bull against another were not uncommon. Pictorial sculptures at Beni +Hassan and Thebes prove the latter to have been among the sports of +the Egyptians nearly three thousand years before the Christian era. +Strabo states that the bulls employed on these occasions were carefully +trained for the purpose, and the encounters generally took place in the +dromos, or avenue of approach to the temples. These displays, however, +were probably abandoned under succeeding dynasties, as no such +representations exist on walls of later periods. We have reasonable +evidence to assume that bull-fights which included men and beasts as +combatants were first instituted by the Thessalians more than three +hundred years before Christ. As a people, they were skilled in +horsemanship, and the spectacle was not unlike that of modern Spain. +Julius Caesar is believed to have noticed such exhibitions in Thessaly, +which led to their appearance in Rome about B.C. 45. In later ages they +were generally prohibited in the Latin empire, both by the emperors and +the popes. Gibbon, however, describes a feast celebrated at Rome in +1332, which included a bull-fight in the Coliseum, with the Roman +nobles as participants. The bull-fight was introduced into the Spanish +peninsula by the Moors in the eighth century, and when those people +were finally expelled in 1492 by Ferdinand and Isabella, Catholic Spain +adopted the cruel sport of her Mohammedan predecessors. In the sixteenth +century Pope Pius V. vainly decreed its extinction, and two hundred +years later Charles III. practically failed to accomplish the same +by persuasion. Late in the last century Charles IV. suppressed the +bull-fight, but Joseph Bonaparte soon after restored the privilege +to ingratiate himself with the nation whose throne he had usurped. +Since then the ancient diversion has flourished despite the unanimous +condemnation of the outer world. The present monarch, Alfonso XII., is +said to favor its abolition, but such an attempt, it is declared, would +be attended with the risk of engendering a revolution. + +Bull-fights are popular throughout Spain, but, with the exception of +Madrid, they are more frequent in the southern provinces. In fact, +Seville is regarded as the centre of _tauromachia_. The season extends +from the close of Lent to November, with Sundays and religious _fiestas_ +as the favorite days. The Plaza de Toros, or bull-ring, is an extensive +hypaethral amphitheatre resembling the Coliseum on a reduced scale. The +new one at Madrid is located near the driving-park, or Gardens of the +Buen Retiro, and will seat about fifteen thousand people. That at +Seville is an older building, situated near the Guadalquivir, and +estimated to accommodate from ten to twelve thousand spectators. The +stone Plaza de Toros of Jerez is credited with a capacity of thirteen +thousand. The seats are of various grades, and the charges for them +range from ten reales (fifty cents) to forty-six reales (two dollars +and thirty cents). The choicest are those in the shade and in the boxes +which form the upper tier. Not unfrequently during holy week in Seville +the demand for places is such that speculators will realize fifty +pesetas (ten dollars) for a single ticket. + +The various breeds of Spanish bulls are easily distinguished by the +practised eye, and the entire interest of the Spaniard is centred on the +movements of the doomed beast. A savage, aggressive _toro_ is an object +of admiration, and one of timid demeanor of corresponding reproach. +The fiercest of all are those of Andalusian blood. The stock of Navarre +and the Castilian bulls on the Jarama, near Aranjuez, are likewise +favorites, and the latter are generally used at Madrid. The proceeds of +the bull-fights are usually devoted to religious or charitable purposes; +those of the capital chiefly supporting the State hospital. + +The actors in the bull-fights are of four classes: _matadores_, +_banderilleros_, _picadores_, and _chulos_, their relative importance +being in the order named. The word _torero_ is a general term for +bull-fighters on foot, while _toreador_ is commonly applied to those on +horseback. Before entering the ring a bull-fighter repairs to the chapel +or confessional to be prepared for death should the merciless horns +chance to reach his life. + +Four o'clock in the afternoon is the usual time for the commencement of +the spectacle, and but few seats are vacant when that hour approaches. +The cheap circles are replete with boisterous humanity of both sexes, +who loudly vent their impatience in case of delay. During the +performance any failure of skill is greeted by the lower classes with +energetic cries of condemnation, many of the epithets used being of an +extremely vulgar character. The choicer sections contain a brilliant +assemblage, the _senoritas_ in full evening toilettes of delicate tints, +white kid gloves, lace veils, fans, and opera-glasses. The _senores_ +wear a suit of black, except a vest of white, and pearl-colored gloves. +Directly on the opposite side of the arena from the _toril_, or +bull-door, is the enclosure reserved for the _autoridad_, or one in +authority presiding on the occasion, just as a Caesar did of old in the +gladiatorial contests. In Madrid the king and his suite occupy this box, +and the nobility cluster in the vicinity. + +A few minutes before the performance opens, the floor of the arena is +sprinkled to prevent any disturbance of the dust during the struggle. +When this operation is completed, music by the band follows, and the +king or the president of the day enters the reserved box. The excitement +now becomes intense. A trumpeter stands awaiting the command to +inaugurate the exhibition, and but a few seconds elapse before the +notes are sounded. The band plays a march, a gate swings open, and a +procession advances towards the royal loge. There it halts, and every +performer salutes the occupant. The men on foot are in the Andalusian +costume, richly elaborated,--flat hats, embroidered jackets, +bright-colored knee-breeches, white stockings, and black slippers, and +with the hair confined in nets. The horsemen are arrayed as Spanish +knights of the olden time, with long buckskin breeches, under which the +limbs are protected from injury by cork or tin leggings. The spurs of +these combatants are provided with most cruel rowels to goad the +timorous horses. The lance which the _picador_ carries is of the usual +length for a horseman, but the spear-head is purposely too short to +inflict a very serious wound. The group of performers consists of six +_chulos_ on foot, with gay mantles, which they carry on the arm; two +_matadores_ in green, one with a red-hilted Toledo blade and the other +with a mantle; three _banderilleros_, each with a pair of decorated +barbed darts called _banderillas_; three _picadores_ on blindfolded +horses and armed with the lance; and, finally, some minor characters in +charge of two brightly-caparisoned teams harnessed to crossbars. + +After the salutation the teams withdraw, and the actors dispose +themselves at various points in the ring. A horseman clad in black court +costume, who has accompanied the procession and is called an _alguazil_, +now gallops over to the box containing the authorities to receive the +key of the _toril_, or bull-door. This he carries to the person in +charge of that gate, and then hurriedly withdraws. The trumpet again +sounds, the tumult becomes intensified, the toril-door opens, and the +bull dashes into the arena. Upon his flank is a bright rosette with long +ribbons, the _mona_, which is the prize of the victorious _matador_. For +an instant "the lord of lowing herds" halts to survey the situation, +but only an instant, and then the game of death commences. One of the +_picadores_, mounted on a horse whose ears are filled with tow and whose +eye towards the bull is covered, takes a position fronting the enemy, +with his blunt spear in rest. The mighty brute hesitates a second, +lowers his head, and charges. The spear is buried in the bull's +shoulder, and the unprotected horse rears to escape the attack, but the +deadly horns gore him, and all fall together. The bull's violence is +instantly diverted by a _chulo_, who flaunts the red cape, and the +_picador_ is quickly extricated by vigilant satellites. The attention of +a stranger is now instinctively directed to the horse, to discover the +extent of the damage. Perhaps his hip bleeds, or there is a visible rent +in his chest from which the blood jets forth, or a mass of entrails +protrudes as he walks. In the first case the wound is stanched with +clay, and the _picador_ immediately remounts. If either of the latter +happens, the horse is led towards the exit, but before reaching it he +staggers and falls, in all probability dead. A subordinate called a +_cachetero_ then thrusts a stiletto into the brain, as though the bull +had not wholly completed the tragedy. + +In the mean while the infuriated bovine has been otherwise engaged. A +_chulo_ or two have flashed their bright-colored mantles in his face to +madden him, or another _picador_ has stood an attack. Then a _chulo_ is +pursued, greatly to the delight of the audience, and hastily retreats +behind a short fence or refuge, built close to the ring and too narrow +to admit the bull. In some _plazas_ the refuges are entirely wanting, +and instead the nimble actors leap the first of the two barriers. +Occasionally the pursuing bull will likewise jump this outer fence, and +must then be driven from the intervening circle back to the arena +through a gate especially opened for the purpose. + +Time passes, and the bull is wearied and bleeding. A _banderillero_ now +advances with a pair of the _banderillas_, or barbed darts, before +mentioned. These instruments are rather less than a yard in length, and +when necessary to aggravate a cowardly bull they are sometimes charged +with explosives. The _banderillas_ are whisked in the brute's face until +he charges, which is the result desired. The _banderillero_ quickly +steps aside, the bull passes, and the javelins are thrust deeply into +his shoulders, one on each side of the spine. The movement is as +dexterous as it is dangerous, and never fails to excite a shout of +admiration. The bull struggles to extricate himself from the darts, and +perhaps one falls to the ground. A second adept immediately places a +second pair in the bleeding shoulders, and then still another, making +six in all. Now the bull is furious, and accordingly a _picador_ again +moves into position. A charge is made; all fall, and the horse is +gored,--in all probability killed. The _chulos_ again flaunt their +red lures, and so the struggle continues until the bull retires some +distance for a respite. Perhaps he will rest on his haunches, or lie +upon the ground in utter exhaustion. A cry from the audience at this +juncture is well understood. The skilled _matador_ advances with his +red-hilted Toledo blade and scarlet _muleta_ to ask formal permission +of the authority to despatch the foe. A duel ensues to display the +dexterity and grace of the _espada_. Frequently but a single step is +necessary to remove him from the approaching horns, so great is this +actor's composure, and so thorough his mastery of his movements. The +_matador_, to employ the technical parlance, "knows when the bull is +right to kill;" and finally he deliberately aims a thrust which in an +instant displays the sword transfixed almost to the hilt. If one blade +is not sufficient, another sinks to the appointed spot. + + "Where his vast neck just mingles with the spine, + Sheathed in his form the deadly weapon lies. + He stops--he starts--disdaining to decline; + Slowly he falls, amidst triumphant cries, + Without a groan, without a struggle, dies." + +The victorious _matador_ salutes the presiding dignitary, and Spain's +sons and daughters unite in one mighty outburst of joy and noise. One +of the teams is summoned; a rope is attached from the crossbar to the +deadly horns; the whips are applied, and the dead monarch of the farm +disappears with the galloping horses. Nothing is left of him save the +blood-stained track which his weighty corse has marked on the soil. The +trumpet again sounds; the toril-door swings on its hinges, and a second +bull rushes into the arena. The entertainment consists of the death of +six bulls, all by the original group of men, and is usually of three +hours duration. + +A remarkable fact to be noted is that injuries to the human combatants +are not frequent, though occasionally one is killed and others are +maimed. At Madrid we saw a _matador_ thrown by the bull immediately +after the sword had been fairly driven to the hilt. While the man lay +upon his breast he received three passes from the frantic beast before +the mantles of the _chulos_ could distract the animal's attention. +Strange to relate, the unfortunate performer escaped with no greater +injury than bruises, and, indeed, he evinced a disposition to renew the +contest; but his companions almost forcibly led him from the arena. An +instant afterwards the bull commenced bleeding at the mouth from the +internal sword wound, and in less than a minute dropped dead. In another +case related by a spectator, a _chulo_, in his attempt to escape, +slipped when close to the barrier. Upon falling the man quickly doubled +himself into a ball, and, miraculous as it may seem, the bull's horns +were driven into the wooden fence on each side of the huddled form, and +the actor was saved. In an instant the lure of a brother _chulo_ had +diverted a second attack. Once when we were present a _cachetero_ struck +a dying bull with a stiletto before the tenacious vitality was wholly +exhausted, and so suddenly did the brute resent the wound that the +public butcher had his nether garment rent by the pursuing horns. + +Words cannot describe the strange and engrossing excitement which the +bull-fight inspires. The brain is probably in a whirl of agitation, +when suddenly the heart ceases beating for an instant, as rider, horse, +and bull clash in the deliberate encounter. The sympathy for the poor +defenceless horse is without bounds, and with it comes a flush of +indignation that so noble an animal should be cruelly butchered to make +a Spanish holiday. It is true the horses thus devoted to immolation are +of little value; but they are nevertheless horses, and their wanton +slaughter will admit of no justification. The destruction of so many +bulls is equally to be condemned, and charity for the brute should not +be wanting because he employs the weapons and exhibits the propensities +with which the Creator endowed him. The stranger is also impelled to +contemplate the fact that those of the gentler sex, the famed beauty of +Spain, regard these combats with sufficient partiality to insure their +presence, and to behold with the utmost composure a death-stricken horse +trailing his vitals before their very eyes. In extenuation it must be +considered that their training and the traditions of the country +pronounce the bull-fight a legitimate amusement. Travellers, however, +are almost unanimous in their conclusion that pleasure is vainly sought +in frequenting the _corrida de toros_. Yet + + "Such the ungentle sport that oft invites + The Spanish maid, and cheers the Spanish swain." + + + + +SEVILLE, THE QUEEN OF ANDALUSIA. + +S. P. SCOTT. + + [We have already given one selection from Scott's "Through + Spain." The work is so worthy that we feel impelled to offer + other extracts from its well-filled pages. Seville, in many + respects the most attractive city in Spain, offers a charm to + the traveller which few can resist, while in respect to the + treasure of Moorish architecture, possessed by many of the + cities of Spain, it has to show its richly-decorated Alcazar, + or citadel, its _Torre del Oro_, or Golden Tower, and its + minaret, the Giralda, whose lofty summit looks down in pride + upon the modern cathedral. But we must leave this story to our + author's pen.] + + +Of all the cities of Spain, there is none that can compare in general +attractiveness with the beautiful Andalusian capital. In the feudal +towns of old Castile will be found much of interest to the student of +history: in Madrid can be witnessed the pompous ceremonial of the court; +Cordova has her mosque; Merida, her Roman, and Tarragona her Cyclopean, +remains; Granada, her peerless Alhambra. But in Seville--inferior to +none of these in the number and value of her antiquities--alone can be +studied to advantage the singular manners of a society in some respects +highly civilized yet in others manifesting unmistakable traces of +barbarism, more noticeable here than in any other city of the kingdom. + +It is a place of wonderful contrasts. On one side are stately avenues +lined with magnificent palaces and gardens; on the other rise gloomy +Moorish habitations, reached by winding passage-ways so narrow that an +ordinary umbrella, when raised, will barely clear the walls. As in +Oriental communities, the different sects are separated; the Jews are +restricted to one quarter, the Moors to another, the gypsies to a third, +and nowhere outside of Cairo and Damascus is exhibited such an array of +outlandish costumes. In the surging crowds of the promenades the uniform +of the soldier and the cowl of the friar are especially conspicuous, the +one the sign of a jealous military despotism, the other the badge of an +order fast passing away. + +Seville has the first and grandest bull-fights of the season; her +majos are the most extravagant in dress, her women the most witty and +beautiful, her religious festivals the most expensive and splendid in +the world. It is here, then, that we must look for the characteristic +types of Andalusia, that favored land where the ancients placed their +Elysian Fields and Garden of the Hesperides. + +The city lies very low upon the Guadalquivir, which, overflowing with +every freshet, has frequently submerged the streets and seriously +damaged buildings situated a long distance from its banks. + +The visitor, wandering along the substantial quays, will not fail to +notice a curious, isolated tower, whose loop-holes and battlements +resemble those of some feudal castle. It is the _Torre del Oro_, or +Golden Tower, one of the landmarks of Moorish Seville, and was named +from the shining yellow tiles that originally incrusted it, and which +Spanish taste has thoroughly "improved" with a coat of plaster. It once +guarded a bridge by which the city was supplied with provisions from the +_Ajarafe_, the rich territory that extended for fifty miles up and down +the river, and was under the most perfect cultivation. + +From the Golden Tower, an irregular wall, whose summit is on a level +with the roofs of the surrounding houses, can be traced for nearly a +quarter of a mile, till it terminates in the Alcazar, or citadel. The +date of the foundation of the Alcazar is too remote to be fixed with +certainty, although it is known that a palace stood here about the time +of the first Saracen invasion. The walls are fifty feet high and in +excellent preservation. Within the principal gate is the room where the +kadi, and after him Peter the Cruel,--who has left a deeper impress of +his individuality upon Seville than any other monarch, Christian or +Moslem,--exercised the office of judge. Beyond the grand court, which is +large enough for the review of a considerable body of troops, is a +smaller one enclosing the facade erected by Don Pedro in 1364. This, as +well as much of the interior, was the work of the finest artists of +Granada, sent to Don Pedro by his friend the Moorish king. Successive +and ill-advised alterations have modernized the inner apartments, and +what vandalism and whitewash could not accomplish has been effected by +the stupidity of those intrusted with the repairs, who have awkwardly +tried to imitate the delicate tile-work with paint, and have inserted +many Arabic inscriptions upside down. + +The Patio de las Doncellas was the central court of the seraglio, and +the place where the annual tribute of one hundred Christian maidens was +delivered by the vassals of the sultan. Its arches are festooned and +pointed, or ogive, denoting the period of transition between the +horseshoe of Cordova and the symmetrical curves of the Alhambra. + +The Hall of the Embassadors, in all probability the most gorgeously +decorated chamber in the world, opens upon this _patio_. Its dazzling +walls are crowned with a carved wooden dome, or _artesonado_, colored in +blue and scarlet, and studded with golden stars. Charles V. and Isabella +of Portugal, mother of Philip II., were married here March 12, 1526.... + +Scarcely a stone's throw from the Alcazar is the cathedral, overtopped +by the old Moorish minaret, the Giralda, which was built by the Sultan +Yacub Al-Mansur in 1184. It rests upon a triangular base composed of all +the statues of pagan deities and other idolatrous fragments of antiquity +that could be collected by the zealous iconoclasts who founded it. The +tower is fifty feet square, and the original height was two hundred +cubits; modern additions, however, have increased it somewhat, and it +now measures three hundred and fifty feet from the pavement to the head +of the statue. For eighty-seven feet the walls are of polished blocks +of stone; above this the material is brick, relieved by tracery and +arabesques of the most capricious designs, different on each side, yet +so artfully combined and blended that it requires close observation +to detect the variations. The interior is lighted by double windows, +divided by columns of white marble and alabaster. The Giralda is +ascended by a series of ramps, or inclined planes, so wide, and of such +easy slope, that two horsemen with lances poised could ride to the top +and back again without dismounting, a feat that was more than once +accomplished by the wild cavaliers of the Spanish court. + +The Campanile of St. Mark's at Venice has similar ramps, the invention +being of Byzantine origin. It is curious that the walls increase in +thickness as the summit is approached, an anomaly which has never been +satisfactorily explained. + +Late in the fourteenth century the upper portion of the Giralda was +injured by an earthquake, and remained half ruined until 1568, when the +present belfry was built. It is encircled by the biblical quotation, +"Fortissima turris nomen Domini," and supports a colossal bronze statue +of Faith, which acts as a weathercock, moving with the lightest breath +of air. + +The Court of the Oranges, with the walls enclosing its northern and +eastern sides, compose the existing portions of the mosque, upon whose +site the cathedral was erected. It contains cool arcades, a grove, and a +battered marble fountain, which for three hundred years served the Moor +for his ablutions, and where now the sturdy water-carriers fill their +kegs, trudging away with their cheerful "_A'ua! a'ua! quien quiere a'ua? +templ'a y muy 'uena!_"[A] a cry that is most welcome upon a sultry +day.... + +[Footnote A: "Water! water! Who wants water? tepid and good!"] + +A suite of rooms in the upper story of the old mosque contains the +precious collection of books and manuscripts bequeathed by Don Fernando +Columbus to the cathedral. Of rare interest is this library, the greater +number of whose musty volumes, bound in vellum, were once the property +of the most renowned of navigators. In a glass case are preserved the +original journals of Columbus, partly written in the dungeons of the +Inquisition, and the "Travels of Marco Polo," his _vade-mecum_ during +his voyages. + +This book, which bears evident marks of study and hard usage, is said +to have been the first that suggested to him the probable existence of +another world. There is scarcely a page that is not enriched with notes +jotted down from time to time by this wonderful man, whose handwriting +is as legible as print, the ink he used being but little faded after a +lapse of four hundred years. I should have been glad to have examined +these memorials more closely, and tried to induce the custodian to +unlock the case; but the tempting bribe I offered failed, to my +surprise, to accomplish the desired end, as he sorrowfully informed +me that he was not intrusted with the key. + +The Cathedral of Seville is worthy of its reputation as the grandest in +Spain, and one of the most elaborate ever constructed. Inside the walls +it measures three hundred and seventy-nine by two hundred and seventeen +feet, the central dome rising one hundred and seventy-three feet from +the floor. Begun in 1402, it is not yet finished, the delay affording a +convenient pretext for continually soliciting funds, which, by a pious +fiction, are presumed never to be adequate for the purpose. + +The enormous pillars, disposed in groups, impart an air of great +solidity to the edifice, whose dimensions, like those of all similar +structures, are not at the first glance appreciated. To several of the +pillars are attached iron coffers as large as ordinary trunks, for the +reception of donations for holy uses. Little is dropped into them now +but copper; but, at the time when the treasures of a world were pouring +into Seville, they were too small for the piles of doubloons with which +returning adventurers hoped to purchase immunity for revolting crimes +against God and man. + +Just inside the main entrance is the grave of Don Fernando Columbus, +the last of his illustrious race, who died in 1539. A simple marble slab +covers his remains; the Latin epitaph recites his own and his father's +deeds,--deeds that were so ill requited by the jealousy and ingratitude +of his sovereign. + +The three caravels which achieved the discovery of the Bahamas are +sculptured there, with the unique device, a globe belted with the famous +motto,-- + + "A Castilla y a Leon + Nuevo mundo dio Colon."... + +Seville possesses many ancient mansions, whose patios, perfumed with the +blossoms of choice exotics and vines twining about their marble columns, +and echoing to the songs of birds and the music of plashing fountains, +afford pictures little to be expected from the severely plain exterior. +In general one must be content with a passing glimpse of these luxurious +dwellings, for the haughty grandee resents all intrusion, and guards his +home with Oriental jealousy. There are, however, two palaces, the +hereditary seats of the Dukes of Montpensier and Alba, splendid +representatives of their class, where vagabond curiosity may enter and +range at will, provided it is well watched. The first is called San +Telmo, and is on the Guadalquivir, where the son of Louis Philippe lives +in regal state. His halls are full of elegant furniture, costly +paintings, and bronzes, embracing elegant masterpieces produced in the +palmy days of France and Spain; and his grounds are very extensive, +containing, in addition to the rare plants which grow with tropical +luxuriance, acres of valuable orange-trees. + +The palace of the Duke of Alba is semi-Moorish, and, being in an +unfashionable neighborhood, is seldom occupied by its owner. It is +approached by a fine gate-way, over which the arms of the house of +Alba, emblazoned in colored tiles, are encircled by flags taken in many +hard-fought battles, the insignia of the Golden Fleece, and the +significant motto, "Tu in ea ego pro ea." The crest, an angel holding in +one hand the globe and cross and in the other a flaming sword, is +typical of the position which the bulwark of the monarchy, the oppressor +of the Netherlands, and the doughty champion of the Faith, maintained to +the last in the affections of the suspicious and bigoted Philip,-- + + "Wie Gottes Cherub vor dem Paradies, + Steht Herzog Alba vor dem Thron." + +The ordinary houses of Seville are Oriental in plan, and well-fitted to +resist the scorching heat of the climate. The heavy gates admit to the +_zaguan_, a short hall having at the farther end an iron grating opening +upon the patio, or court. The zaguan is the place where the young ladies +receive calls. It would be a flagrant breach of etiquette for the lover +to be admitted to the parlor, so he takes his place on one side of +the grating, his dulcinea posting herself on the other. No chairs are +permitted in this airy drawing-room, for, if they were furnished, the +cavalier might never go away. As it is, it is not unusual to see couples +standing together at midnight, sometimes with the rain blowing in +upon them,--as the zaguan affords but slight protection from the +weather,--and apparently oblivious of all the world save themselves. +These protracted interviews are only allowed after betrothal, and the +sighing gallant, at first the embodiment of devotion and sentiment, +is usually transformed into the most imperious of husbands before the +expiration of the honeymoon, for he never allows himself to forget the +amusing proverb of his countrymen, "He who becomes a lieutenant upon +his wedding-day will never be promoted." + +Every court, even those belonging to the dwellings of the most modest +pretensions, has one or more fountains, and a flower-bed in the centre. +Overhead, covering the entire area, an awning--which is frequently +sprinkled with water--is stretched during the summer months to temper +the burning atmosphere, as the heat is so intense that an omelet can be +cooked in a few minutes if exposed to the rays of the mid-day sun. In +the old-fashioned Spanish houses the kitchen is always situated near the +front door, giving one the full benefit of the garlic and saffron odors +as soon as he enters, but preventing their diffusion through the parlors +and sleeping-apartments. The latter are constructed with lofty ceilings, +have no more windows than are absolutely necessary, and are often paved +with white marble, and finished with brilliant _azulejos_, or Moorish +tiles. They are delightfully cool in summer, but damp and cheerless at +all other seasons.... + +The great fair, held here in April, is famous, and the people who visit +it exhibit the best types of the Andalusian peasantry to be found in +the province. A perfect city of booths is raised in the suburb of San +Bernardo, each section, or ward, being assigned to a separate class of +merchants, as in the bazaars of the East. One quarter is set apart for +the nobility, many of whom have their private tents, which, as well as +those of the numerous civil and military organizations, are fitted up in +the most sumptuous manner. + +As the interiors are open to view, the scenes, especially at night, +when thousands of colored lamps and gas-jets make everything as light +as day, are extremely charming and novel. Dancing, love-making, and +flirting are going on on all sides, and down the broad avenues, upon +gayly-caparisoned horses, ride troops of majos and majas, the dandies +and coquettes of Andalusia, radiant in their beautiful national costume. +The click of the castanet mingles with the music of the bands and the +chants of the itinerant singers, who, standing in groups, compose +impromptu ballads, like the ancient troubadours; the brazen-lunged +showman recounts the wonderful feats of his dwarfs and educated ape, +while above all sounds rises the uproar from the canvas theatre, whose +tottering seats are packed to their utmost capacity with an appreciative +audience that, never tiring of the oft-repeated and not over-decent +comedies, regard this day as the brightest of their monotonous +existence. It is a veritable pandemonium. + +The picturesque gypsies are present in crowds, some wandering from booth +to booth telling the _buena ventura_ to the credulous, others selling +specifics for the evil eye, a superstition whose influence is not +limited to the ignorant, and against which holy water, generally so +potent, is universally conceded to be of no avail. + +These brown-skinned maidens, with their heads wreathed with flowers, +occupy one entire avenue, where they range themselves in lines, and +solicit all passers-by to taste their _bunuelos_, a kind of insipid +doughnuts boiled in olive oil. The presence of Moors and Jews from +Tangier and other cities of Morocco, who come for trade, offering +so-called Oriental curiosities, mostly manufactured in Paris and +Birmingham, adds not a little to the attractiveness of the great +fair of Andalusia.... + +The natives of Seville, even in Roman times, were noted for their +frivolity, their indisposition to labor, and their love of pleasure, +qualities which they have transmitted in an exaggerated degree to +their descendants. + +Venus was then, as now, their favorite goddess; her image was borne +during her festivals upon the shoulders of women of patrician rank, and +certain rites of the Phoenician Astarte, her prototype, survive in the +ceremonies of modern holidays. + +Some strange performances are to be witnessed on St. John's eve, +identical with the summer solstice, when numbers of both sexes assemble +in the parks and along the promenades, to dance around the fires of +Cybele, and leap over them when the clock strikes twelve; and at +daybreak run in crowds to gather the mysterious vervain, associated +with the religious observances of so many nations of antiquity. The +coquettish graces and fascinations of the Sevillian ladies,-- + + "Skilled in the ogle of a roguish eye, + Yet ever well inclined to heal the wound,"-- + +the lively, semi-Oriental dances, the groups of grotesque maskers and +musicians, the jaunty smugglers and bull-fighters, and the general air +of gayety and enjoyment that pervades all classes, make it well worth +while to lose a few hours' sleep on the merry eve of St. John. + +Seville, the "Queen of Andalusia," the depository of the glories and +crimes of a dozen distinct races, and nearly as many conflicting +religions, is slowly emerging from the darkness with which priestly +domination and Inquisitorial tyranny have enveloped her for centuries. +Her age of discovery and victory, of sentimental gallantry, of chivalric +devotion, is past,--the age "when dreams of conquest, and tales of +golden lands beyond the ocean, were wafted on every breeze;" the age +when Isabella, clad in shining armor, set forth at the head of her +knights to besiege Granada; the age when Alonso de Ojeda fastened the +scarf of the queen upon the dizzy pinnacle of the Giralda, and Ponce de +Leon threw himself, sword in hand, into the lion's den, in search of his +lady's glove; the age when Cortes and Pizarro, penniless adventurers, +sailed upon expeditions destined to immortal fame; the age when +Sebastian de Elcano, the lieutenant of Magellan, was received with royal +honors after his circumnavigation of the earth. + +Of the glorious deeds whose renown once filled the world the fruits were +recklessly wasted, the memory alone survives. And now the proud old +city, waking from the lethargy in which she has so long slumbered, +conscious of her great natural advantages, seems determined to again +reap their benefit and, if possible, recover her lost prestige. Her +commerce is yearly increasing, fleets of shipping are anchored in the +muddy Guadalquivir, and an infusion of foreign blood seems to have +imparted new life to the deserted streets, where the treasures of +America and Asia were once paraded, and bands of victorious soldiers of +fortune landed from the galleons that, freighted with the wealth of +Ormus and of Ind, were unloading their precious cargoes at the docks of +the chief emporium of Spain. + + + + +STREET SCENES IN GENOA. + +AUGUSTA MARRYAT. + + ["Genova la Superba," the great seaport city of mediaeval Italy, + and retaining still much of the beauty and grandeur of its days + of greatness, is amply worthy of attention in these modern + times. We give here, therefore, a picturesque account of what + Genoa retains for the eye of the traveller after its centuries + of decline.] + + +The town of Genoa is bustling and full of movement, and one that grows +upon the visitor, since each day discloses new beauties of situation, +and he is struck with increased admiration for the splendor of the +palaces. The streets are narrow, and the tops of the tall houses nearly +meet, so that the sun is jealously kept from even a glimpse of the +passers-by, who without other protection than a white muslin covering +for the head, or a fan by way of parasol, can walk in safety from its +scorching rays. These streets are too narrow to admit of a carriage, +but mules with jingling bells upon their headstalls, and laden with +birch brooms, or live kids in panniers on their backs, hustle along with +the greatest _sang-froid_, regardless whose toes they may crush in their +progress. There is a market held in an open space near the Carignano +bridge, where ladies with their heads dressed (and undergoing dressing) +in the latest Parisian fashion superintend the sale of peas and +potatoes. A brisk trade apparently is done in fowls, as there are +baskets and baskets of them on all sides. They are kept in their hampers +by means of netting placed over a framework of osier, and pass an idle +hour, squabble with and peck at one another, and make as much noise as +if they were at a show of prize poultry instead of in momentary +anticipation of death and the spit. + +In the Vico del Duca a lot of girls sit in a row, each having a little +_chauffrette_, with a gridiron on it, before her, busily employed frying +snails; and if ever martyrdom made canonization deserved the Genoese +snail is entitled to that distinction. The poor things are first trimmed +with a knife, then crammed into a small bird-cage to prevent their +crawling away, and finally set to bubble and frizzle and splutter, as +they are roasted alive. + +[Illustration: THE GROTTO OF THE SIBYL, TIVOLI] + +The Cathedral of Genoa very much resembles that of Florence, being +built of alternate blocks of black and white marble, and the facade is +remarkable for the beauty of its design. Inside some few monuments have +survived the fury of the revolution that destroyed so many relics of the +republic, but they are much mutilated. Here also is kept the celebrated +emerald vase called the Sano-calino, found at Caesarea, and chosen by the +Genoese, in 1101, in preference to any other spoil. It was broken on +its return from Paris, and has since been mounted in gold. It is said +to have been presented to Solomon by the Queen of Sheba (the same +queen, the cicerone added, who caused St. John the Baptist's head to be +cut off), and was used by our Saviour at the Last Supper. The vase is +composed of green bottle glass, and the only extraordinary thing about +it is that any people could have labored under such a delusion during +seven centuries. + +Every one who has ever visited Genoa is familiar with the Via degli +Orefici,--its quaint small shops, its stalls, and its marvels of +elegance in filigree-work, and its wealth of bonbons and cakes. The +beautiful mild face of the Madonna in the picture belonging to the +Goldsmiths' Company still gazes placidly down from her shrine on the +traffic below. + +The artist who painted this picture was called Pellegrino Piola, and was +a pupil of Castello, who, it is said, caused him to be assassinated from +motives of jealousy. A prize had been offered by the Goldsmiths' Company +for the best painting of a Holy Family, and Pellegrino, who was only +twenty-two years of age at the time, was the one to gain it. + +Every shop in the Via degli Orefici that is not filled with jewelry +is full of sweets; and chemists, grocers, and basket-makers are all +confectioners, or sweet-stuff sellers, as well. The little girls in +their white dresses and veils, who have just made their first communion, +carry baskets of bonbons in their hands, and one, too poor in station, +perhaps, to possess so extensive a present, wears a necklace of nuts +round her throat, with a cake by way of locket. The owner of the big +Bologna sausage, decorated with a pink camellia, has just placed a small +white-napkin-covered table in the door-way of his shop, so that he may +eat his dinner in a position to see and be seen by his friends in the +street. The Genoese salesman does not allow his domestic arrangements +to interfere with his business; and a young lady who was cooking the +mid-day meal at a little charcoal stove has just removed a saucepan +from the fire to tell the price of a counterpane. + +The lemonade seller has pitched his tent in the sunniest corner of the +Piazza delle Fontane Amorose, and calls aloud to thirsty thousands +as they pass, "Fres-ca, fres-ca." His emporium is very like a small +four-post bedstead, and its chintz curtains are wreathed with lemons +on boughs. And lemons bob up and down in cool-looking tin tanks filled +with water, but the lemonade itself seems guiltless of such an article, +except for a minute portion of the peel of one which floats in it. + +When tired of the gold and silver filigree-work, and the coral +ornaments, let the wanderer turn into the Street of Palaces. Here +his eyes will not be distracted by stalls of fluttering shawls and +handkerchiefs, or his progress impeded by stoves for the roasting of +chestnuts or baking of apples, but even in this aristocratic quarter of +the town mules will obstinately dispute the right of road with him, and +some agility is required to keep clear of them and of the carriages. +There are no pavements in Genoa, excepting in the new streets, and the +heads of the horses belonging to the grand carriages are so bedecked +with long horse-hair tassels and fur trimmings, and their tails tied up +with such smart satin ribbons, that they cannot be expected to think of +anything besides their personal appearance, much less the pedestrian's +feet. + +The Serra Palace is famous for its "golden" room, the panels of which +are of lapis lazuli. The Brignole is famous for its pictures, especially +some wonderfully beautiful Vandykes. This gallery is now joined to that +once belonging to the Durazzo Palace, but which by death became the +property of the former, and the two are united in the Palazzo Rosso, or +Brignole. The Cafe della Concordia is opposite, and is entered by a +flower-shop, up a marble staircase, and through a court with a fountain +and statue and weeping-willows that make a pleasant shade, and where +you can sit amidst orange-trees and myrtles and eat your breakfast or +dinner, if you prefer it to going inside. The Concordia is the prettiest +little place imaginable, and the scent of the flowers and the splashing +of the water are very refreshing coming in from the hot dusty street. +There is also the Cafe Mathurin in the Piazza San Carlo Felice, good and +reasonable in price, but more bustling and far less romantic than the +weeping-willowy Concordia. The Royal Palace is handsomely furnished, and +contains some valuable pictures amidst a great deal of rubbish. The +rooms are fairly proportioned, and the furniture, though somewhat faded, +is in good taste.... + +The once powerful family of Doria are possessed of numerous palaces and +villas in and about Genoa. The Palazzo Doria, just outside the Porta di +San Tomaso, however, is the one in which the great Andrea Doria lived. +It was given to him in 1522, when he rebuilt and improved it. It is now +very much out of repair, and the only portions of it shown to strangers +are the rooms formerly inhabited by him. There is not much furniture of +any kind in the old Admiral's bedroom; but the blue and white plates he +was in the habit of using at dinner are ranged in rows, at the back of +a large fireplace, on a thing somewhat resembling a kitchen dresser. A +large gilt arm-chair, once the property of Charles V., is in the drawing +room. It is a heavy-looking article, with a red velvet seat. It was +this monarch who granted Doria the title of "Il Principe." Life-sized +frescoes of him and of his sons appear in a gallery leading to a +terraced garden outside, and in these the portrait of Andrea is that +of a very brown old gentleman, with white hair and beard, and but small +allowance of clothes on. The sons, who are also in "semi-heroic" +costume, imitate Adam before the fall, except that each wears a helmet +and leans on a shield. + +These frescoes are the work of Pierino del Vaga, who, having been +obliged to seek refuge at Genoa from the calamities of Rome in 1527, was +patronized by the great Doria, and intrusted to decorate his palace. +Genoa has been the birthplace of many painters, and art was in its most +flourishing condition in this city in the fifteenth century, during +which time Giovanni Cambiaso lived. At this epoch, so many persons of +noble family were painters, that the Genoese, by a special decree, +raised painting from a trade to a profession, declaring that it was a +liberal art, and might be practised without derogating from nobility. +The reason of the sudden decline of the Genoese school is attributed to +the plague in 1657, when many of its chief painters fell victims to the +disease. Lazzaro Calvi, who lived one hundred and five years, was born +in 1502, and therefore died just fifty years prior to the epidemic, so +that his country may congratulate itself that he was not cut off +prematurely in the flower of his youth by that scourge. + +At the back of the palace is the grave of Andrea's dog, Roldano, given +to him by Charles V., and over it is the following epitaph, or something +like it: "Here lies the Great Roldano, a dog belonging to Prince Gio. +Andrea Doria, who, for his fidelity and goodness, was considered to +merit this memorial. In life, for years, he nobly obeyed both these +laws. In death we must place his ashes by the side of those of the beast +that perishes. A companion worthy indeed of his regal donor. Died at 11 +years and 10 months of age, in September of 1605, the 8th day, at 8 +o'clock at night." + +In the centre of the garden, facing the sea, and from whence Prince +Doria may have looked on his fleet of twenty-two galleys at anchor +in the harbor, is a fountain, and in it a statue in which he is +represented as Neptune. Doria's tomb is in the crypt beneath the high +altar of the church of San Matteo, and it is here also that the sword he +received, in 1535, from Paul III., for the services he had rendered the +church, is deposited. In the piazza adjoining there is a house with an +inscription over it, to the effect that it was given to Andrea Doria by +the republic. Here he once lived, and it was in an open square in front +of it that he assembled his fellow-citizens to consult with them on the +best way of repulsing the French, when they besieged Genoa in 1528. The +house is now used as a shop,--for pictures and old furniture on the +ground floor, and for stationery on the upper story. It, and the church +of San Matteo, which has always been under the patronage of the Dorias, +are both built of alternate layers of black and white marble. This +magpie style of construction was confined to public edifices, but four +patrician families--the Doria, Grimaldi, Spinola, and Fieschi--were +allowed the privilege of using it.... + +If Genoa is a fair city by day, she is a still fairer one by night, +when the innumerable lights on all sides make it look as if the stars +had come down from heaven, and give the whole place an appearance of +fairy-land. There are lights all round the harbor and on the quays; +lights above the hills, and below in the old town; lights in the gardens +of the cafes and in the streets, making them, and the gay company that +crowds them, more brilliant than when seen in the full glare of mid-day. +The fireflies flit and flicker, but never rest as they hold their +evening revels among the bushes and trees, and over the grass and +flowers. + +A charity bazaar was held every night on the Acqua Sola, when the +fountains were illuminated with gas, and rings of light spanned the +trunks of the great trees, and darling arches were placed over the +garden paths. All the decorations were exceedingly pretty and light, as +they were of gas arranged to represent branches of laurel, or lyres, or +such like devices. There were not many stalls,--two dozen, perhaps; but +these were in the fanciful shape of chalet or kiosk, and the Genoese +ladies, in their temporary character of shopwomen, sat within them, with +no covering on their heads but a white veil, and a rose at one side. + +The orthodox band played inside the fair, for part of the garden was +walled off, so only to admit of those who had tickets; whilst another +band just outside appeared to be trying hard to outblow it. A little +farther on, at the Cafe d'ltalie, the band of the Guides, in their +light blue and silver uniform, charm the eaters of ice and drinkers of +lemonade by their music, and make them linger at their little tables. + +This place is a favorite resort in the evening of the Genoese men (where +they put all the women is a mystery, as the streets are crowded with the +nobler sex of every class, whilst scarce any Italian fair ones of any +kind are to be seen), and it is, for light and brilliancy, a very +transformation scene. The lamps gleam from amidst beds of flowers and +groves of orange-trees that make the air faint with their sweetness; +and in the centre of the garden, under a kind of tent, is a large +cocoanut-tree, with a branching green head and a cluster of lamps +beneath to represent the fruit. And from the statues and fountains, and +trees and arches, rose-colored and white lamps are hung, and being all +of ground glass, they shed a subdued, mysterious light around the idlers +who crowd the seats and benches. In fact, Genoa never looks as if she +intended to go to bed at all; and the cool summer nights, the stars, the +lamps, the sweet scent of the flowers, and the bands of music make it so +pleasant a time that one cares not to think of to-morrow. + + + + +THE ALHAMBRA. + +S. P. SCOTT. + + [Among the many marvels of architecture left by the + Mohammedans, as landmarks of their outflow over the earth, none + have elicited more admiration than the remains of the Alhambra + at Granada. This celebrated group of Saracenic edifices has + suffered little from time, but much from ignorance and + vandalism, of which the most deplorable instance is the + demolition due to the Emperor Charles V., in his insane effort + to better the work of the Moors. This palace and fortress of + the Moorish caliphs of Spain is eloquently described in the + following selection.] + + +Few readers need to be told that the kingdom of Granada at the period of +the Conquest was one of the richest and most flourishing countries in +the world. Its fertile valleys embraced the garden of the Peninsula; its +industrious population had carried agriculture to a degree of perfection +unknown to modern times; its mountains yielded great quantities of the +precious metals; its manufactures of silk and porcelain found a ready +market in the courts of semi-barbaric Europe; the commerce of Almeria +and Malaga, its principal seaports, extended to the Indies. As the +victorious arms of Castile and Aragon gradually encroached upon the +provinces of Andalusia, the remains of that extraordinary civilization +which, in the ninth and tenth centuries, had raised the Western +khalifate to such a height of prosperity and renown, took refuge in +Granada. To the beautiful capital, that included within its walls +nearly half a million souls,--among them many thousand Jews and +Christians,--fled the exiles of the conquered cities, bringing with them +that advanced knowledge of the natural and exact sciences which, after +surviving the vicissitudes of four hundred years of revolution and +invasion, the ferocious bigotry of the Spanish clergy, more intolerant +by far than the rude barbarism of Africa, threatened with utter +extinction. + +Here, under the protection of a race of sovereigns who rivalled each +other in promoting the happiness of their subjects, a new impulse was +imparted to the study of astronomy and medicine, and literature and the +mechanical arts found in the tastes and habits of a luxurious people +an ample field for their development. And here began the third and +most glorious period of Arab art as displayed in its application to +architecture, which, appropriating to itself all that was valuable in +the experience of former ages,--ages which had witnessed the erection +of the Mosque of Cordova and the Giralda of Seville,--soon disclosed +a splendor and variety of decoration peculiarly its own, and, after +filling the kingdom with its monuments, attained its climax in the +creation of that masterpiece of human skill, the fairy palace of the +Alhambra.... + +The Alhambra, the stronghold of a prince who united the triple functions +of civil, military, and religious head of his people, stands on an +isolated hill five hundred feet above the plain, or Vega. This hill, +which romantic native writers love to compare to a _granada_, or +pomegranate, thence deriving the name of their favorite city, is half a +mile long by eight hundred feet wide, and is entirely surrounded by +walls. Traversing a grove of elms that covers the slope nearest the +Genil, we reach the Gate of Justice, a massive tower forming the +entrance to the fortress. The seat of the _kadi_, or civil magistrate, +who here settled all disputes not deemed important enough to be carried +before the sultan, the Gate of Justice was regarded with peculiar +veneration by the Moors. Innumerable are the legends connected with this +spot, many of them traceable to the mysterious hand and key carved upon +the outer and inner arches of the portal. The hand, an unfailing +talisman against the evil eye, was symbolical of the five precepts of +Islam,--prayer, fasting, alms, ablution, and the pilgrimage to Mecca; +the key referred to the dominion given to the Prophet over heaven and +hell, and was the badge of the kings of Andalusia. The old gate is well +preserved; the cement covering the masonry is as smooth as when laid on; +the ponderous bronze doors which opened to admit the Christian armies on +the memorable 2d of January, 1492, are still in their places, so also +are the racks that sustained the lances of the Moorish guard. + +We next enter the Plaza de los Algibes, a square of comparatively modern +date, which lies between the palace and the Alcazaba or citadel,--these +two portions of the sultan's residence having been originally separated +by a wall, of which the gate, now called the Puerta del Vino, alone +remains. Fronting the venerable Moorish battlements rises the facade of +the palace of Charles V., with the arms and trophies of the most +arrogant and crafty of emperors. + + [This structure was erected with the aid of money wrung from + the Moors themselves, as a bribe to the emperor and his + officials to suspend the work of the Inquisition.] + +The winter residence of the Moors, that seems to have equalled the +remainder in magnificence, and was probably of greater extent, was +razed, the fountains were removed, the doors and balustrades broken up, +and the stuccoes carted away as rubbish. Founded thus in the misery of +the most intelligent and thrifty portion of his subjects, and upon the +ruins of that unrivalled palace,--the boast and glory of the Western +empire of the Khalifs,--the ill-omened design of Charles V. was destined +never to be carried to completion. His attention soon became engrossed +by the discovery and conquest of Mexico and Peru, and this costly toy, +neglected and forgotten, was long utilized as a ring for bull-fighting, +being now degraded to the vilest uses of the beggars of Granada. + +The gorgeousness of Moorish architecture, which, with its enamelled +tile-work, its gilded domes and filigree arcades, speaks so eloquently +of Oriental luxury, bursts suddenly upon us as we pass, by a narrow +gate-way opened in the seventeenth century, from the Plaza de los +Algibes into the Court of the Myrtles. On the right is the portico of +what was once the winter palace, on the left the Tower of Comares, +containing the Hall of the Embassadors, the largest apartment of the +Alhambra. The great basin occupying the centre of the court is bordered +by hedges of myrtle interspersed with orange-trees. Arabic inscriptions +cover the walls and galleries, and in the latter appear the identical +jalousies which once screened from vulgar gaze the voluptuous charms of +the wives and favorites of the sultan. This court, the only part of the +building to which the public were ever admitted, was the theatre of +frequent intrigues of the hostile factions that contended for the +mastery even while the common enemy was thundering at the gates, and to +whose bitter feuds, as much as to the valor of the Christian arms, +should be attributed the downfall of the kingdom. In the Court of the +Myrtles were received the flower of the Castilian chivalry, who upon +grand occasions came to compete for the prize of knightly skill and +courtesy in the famous Plaza de la Bibarrambla; here were entertained +the picturesque envoys of the distant East, bringing greeting from the +lords of Cairo and Ispahan; here the captive bishop of Jaen defied +the monarch, and was sent to labor with his fellow-slaves upon the +fortifications of the city; and here the fiery old Abul Hacen, +surrounded by his harem, listened with gloomy forebodings to the +predictions of the astrologer announcing the loss of his empire and +the extinction of his race, and endeavored to forget his fears in the +stirring ballads of his ancestors, or in the caresses of the beautiful +Zorayda, the "Star of the Morning." + +The Hall of the Embassadors occupies the whole of the Tower of Comares, +and was used for coronations and royal festivals. From the balconies +which replace the curious Moorish lattices of its alcoves we look down +upon the gypsy quarter of the Albaycin, and the cypress groves that +fringe the banks of the Darro, so named from its sands of gold. In this +brilliant hall, during the closing days of the siege, Aixa, the mother +of Boabdil, learned for the first time that he had been arranging for +a capitulation; and, leading him to one of the windows, she threw open +the gilded lattice and bade him look below. The last rays of the sun +disappearing behind the Sierra Elvira lighted up the landscape, and +through the purple haze, which hung like a veil over the lovely Vega, +sparkled the domes of mosque and villa and the battlements of many a +shapely tower and minaret. It was the hour of prayer, and the shrill +tones of the muezzin, as turning towards each point of the compass he +summoned the faithful to their devotions, mingling with the clash of +arms and the cheers of the populace as they hailed the return of some +valiant band from the successful foray, rose faintly to the lofty +ramparts of the castle. A wilderness of orchards and vineyards which the +ravages of war had spared still covered the mountain-side. The score of +palaces with which the voluptuous Alhamares had embellished the environs +of the capital still displayed their wonted beauty; though over more +than one floated the hated banner of the infidel, whose intrenched lines +appeared in the distance, encircling like a band of steel the walls of +the devoted city. The quaint houses, red and white, with terraced roofs, +and embowered amid verdant groves, recalled the simile of the poet who +likened Granada to "a silver vase full of hyacinths and emeralds." The +Genil and the Darro, which the ancient Syrian invader had pronounced +rivals of Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, could be traced for +leagues, as, after turning the wheels of more than three hundred mills, +they distributed their refreshing waters, until lost in the innumerable +canals that, like a net-work of glittering threads, spread far and wide +over the fertile plain. + +As the cowardly king gazed in silence on a scene which, including the +fairest portion of his dominions, offered a view unequalled in the +world, his mother, who united the courage of a soldier with the +vindictiveness of the renegade, indignantly said, "See what you are +about to surrender, and remember that all of your ancestors died kings +of Granada, and that their line will end with you." The tears stood in +Boabdil's eyes as he turned away, but the remonstrance had come too +late. The truce was already signed; and three days later, attended by +his mournful retinue, he left the fortress by the Gate of the Seven +Stories, and departed for his little principality in the Alpujarras. + +The Court of the Lions, which communicates with the Court of the Myrtles +by means of a short passage, is rectangular in form, and is surrounded +by galleries and pavilions supported by columns of white marble. To the +right is the Hall of the Abencerrages, where, tradition says, the chiefs +of this noble tribe were beheaded one by one in the presence of Boabdil; +and beyond is the Hall of Justice, noted as the place where the rites of +the Christian religion were first celebrated after the Conquest. It was +used as a chapel while the cathedral was building, and differs in plan +from the other halls, being divided into a suite of rooms crowned with +little cupolas. The ceilings of its alcoves are covered with rude +paintings of unknown origin, almost obliterated by time and neglect. + +The Court of the Lions, renowned in ballad and chronicle, is the +culminating point of the beauties of the Alhambra. No pen can describe +them, no pencil can delineate them. The strange Cufic letters, the +lace-work of the graceful arches, the stalactitic pendants of the domes +blazing with scarlet and gold, the texts of the Koran meeting the glance +at every turn, the long colonnades through which slant the rays of +sunlight from the jalousies above, the chequered floors, the gorgeous +tiles incrusting pilaster and wall, dazzle the eye with their splendor. +And if now, with their ornaments cracked and faded, stained with damp +and defaced by vandal travellers, these scenes can so enthrall the mind, +what were they in the days of their glory, when the gilded arcades rang +with the laughter of the houris imprisoned here, and black eunuchs, in +silken robes and armed with jewel-hilted scimitars, guarded with jealous +care these treasures of the harem! + +On the north side of the court is the Hall of the Two Sisters, +unsurpassed in the elegance of its decorations. Its divans are models of +taste and richness, its enamels are the most curious in Spain. The broad +inscriptions, that, twined with buds and leaves, are so conspicuous, are +poems in praise of the builder, and amid the snowy arabesques appears at +frequent intervals his shield, bearing the devout motto of the +Alhamares, "There is no conqueror but God." + +Did space permit, much might be said of the subterranean apartments of +the Alhambra,--the cisterns, the baths, the dungeons, the magazines; of +the little oratories or mosques, mementos of the piety of the Moslem; of +the isolated towers, each forming a miniature palace, with guard-room +and courts and hall of state, their boudoirs cooled by the spray from +alabaster fountains, their walls incrusted with precious mosaics +resembling tissues of brocade. In the corridor under the Tower of +Comares the two discreet statues immortalized by Irving gaze yet upon +the niche where the treasure was discovered by the little Sanchica. +Unlike most of the legends to which Moorish fancy has given rise, +this story is substantially true, for three immense jars of finished +workmanship and full of coins and jewels were found here soon after the +Conquest. Two of them were afterwards lost by neglect; the third, the +famous vase of the Alhambra, unique in design, is preserved, though in a +damaged condition, in a room near the Court of the Lions. + +Of the numerous suburban villas that offered rest and seclusion to +the princes of Granada, but one, the Generalife, or Garden of the +Architect, now exists. It is situated much higher than the adjoining +fortifications, and, completely commanding the city, was a point of the +greatest strategic importance during the siege. Owned by a descendant of +Boabdil, who has not entirely forgotten the customs of his princely +line, the grounds of the Generalife present not a few of the distinctive +characteristics of Moorish horticulture. Most prominent in the landscape +are the venerable cypresses which have stood here for centuries, and by +the trunk of the largest well-founded tradition says the daring Aben +Hamet whispered words of illicit love in the ears of the frail sultana. + +So extensive are the alterations which ignorance and barbarism have made +in the Alhambra that its original plan cannot now be determined. We know +that it contained five grand courts, of which only two remain, and that +of the area enclosed by the outer wall scarce a foot of space was not +occupied by buildings, the latter as late as 1625 affording shelter +to six thousand souls who in that year attempted to turn the palace +into a ribbon-factory. The royal residence was divided into several +departments, each having its _alcalde_, or mayor, who was responsible to +the governor of the fortress. One quarter was assigned to the sultan's +family, another to the religious functionaries and doctors of the law, +another to the garrison. Upon the highest point of the hill were lodged +the _muftis_, or expounders of the Koran, and in the midst of their +dwellings rose the tapering minarets of the great mosque, whose rare +marbles and columns with capitals of massy silver caused it to be justly +regarded as one of the wonders of the Moslem world. Instead of the +coarse tiles whose weight is crushing the galleries, the roofs were +covered with thin plates of porcelain corresponding with the gay mosaics +of the pavements and the walls. The taste of the Oriental was visible +everywhere, in cascades and fountains, in groves where myrtle and +cypress were trimmed in all manner of fantastic shapes,--pyramids, +grottoes, obelisks, stalactitic arches,--in aromatic hedges diffusing +a succession of delicate perfumes, in beds where flowers of glowing +colors traced texts and legends on a ground of brightest green. Seventy +thousand gold ducats--one hundred and forty thousand dollars, equal to +four times that amount at the present day--were expended annually upon +the palace, to which additions were made by each succeeding monarch, +until arrested by the fatal dissensions that heralded the overthrow of +the Saracen power. + +No Arab names of the apartments of the Alhambra have come down to us: +those by which they are at present designated are modern and entirely +imaginary. We are even ignorant as to the uses of many rooms, and it +is sometimes difficult to separate the parts of the original structure +from those of later date erected with materials taken from the +demolished winter palace. These mutilations, that, under the pretext +of "improvements," were effected in the reign of Charles V. and his +immediate successors, have rendered a complete restoration impossible. +Enough remains, however, to show the immense progress made by the Moors +in architecture during the latter half of the fourteenth century, +appropriately named the Hispano-Arab age of gold. The changes undergone +by the various orders before the arch peculiar to Granada was developed +are clearly defined and worthy of attention; and not less interesting is +the study of the fragile and elaborate arabesques. + +It is remarkable that such magical results were produced by the simplest +means; for Arab ornamentation, far from being as complicated as it +appears, is subject to certain plain geometrical rules. The figures, +which at first sight show but a maze of lines and curves, can be easily +resolved into the square and the circle; the shawls of Cashmere have +afforded the patterns of the intricate floral designs lavished in such +bewildering variety; the stalactitic cornices and domes are modelled +after the sections of a pomegranate divested of its seeds. All the +countries which the armies of Islam had overrun in their wonderful +career seem to have furnished suggestions to the architects of the +Alhambra. The huge stone blocks of the gates, fitted with perfect +accuracy, are copied from the masonry of the Roman, who built for +eternity; the hanging gardens are the gardens of Babylon; the lions that +support the basin in the famous court are Phoenician; the fountain +itself is an imitation of the brazen laver of Solomon, mentioned in the +thirty-fourth _sura_ of the Koran; the _tarkish_, or stucco-work, was +invented at Damascus; the hand of the Persian artist is visible upon the +glittering walls of the Tower of Comares. Nor did the Moor, ever proud +of his origin and tenacious of the prejudices of his race, though +separated hundreds of leagues from the home of his ancestors and +domiciled for centuries in a foreign land, reject the influence of their +traditions in the decoration of his palaces. The lotus of Egypt and the +palm of Arabia are interwoven in the foliage of every fretted hall; the +letters of the Cufic alphabet--singularly adapted to ornament--proclaim +the doctrines of Islam from cornice and capital; while the profusion of +water and verdure proves that the Saracen, though surrounded by the +luxuriant vegetation of the Vega, beheld a grove or a fountain with the +same emotions as did the weary camel-driver when, uttering a prayer of +thanksgiving to Allah, he hailed with delight the refreshing oasis +shining amid the dull gray sands of the desert. + + "Quien no ha visto Granada + No ha visto nada,"--[B] + +so saith the Andalusian proverb; but, aside from the Alhambra, the city +boasts but few attractions. The streets are filthy beyond description, +and so narrow that two persons can hardly ride abreast; the houses have +a dilapidated appearance, and the people an air of dejected poverty. +Long Venetian blinds hang over the balconies, and through their +interstices peer the charming _Granadinas_, displaying in lustrous eyes +and jet-black tresses their Moorish ancestry. At the side of almost +every door is an altar, where a plaster image, arrayed in blue and +tinsel, amid a cloud of votos and paper flowers, stares vacantly at the +passer-by. + + [Footnote B: + "Who hath not Granada seen + Is no traveller, I ween."] + +The Granadan dress is wholly Spanish, far different from that of +the western provinces, where Parisian fashions are fast supplanting +the showy national costume. The ladies wear lace mantillas and +close-fitting skirts of light-colored silk, and are never seen without +the coquettish fan, which no one knows how to wield so well as the +charming Spanish woman. As for the men, they are almost invariably +muffled in a cloak that hides them to the very eyes, except on some +grand holiday, when they appear in all the splendor of plush jacket and +scarlet sash, adding much to the brilliancy of the gay and noisy throng. +When riding, the lady usually mounts behind her lover, and, with +nothing to steady her but a scarf fastened to the crupper, will gallop +unconcernedly over mountain-roads and through crooked lanes at the +greatest speed. At the festivals is exhibited to the best advantage the +character of the idle and music-loving Andalusian, from the lounging +dandy, praising in bad extempore verses the beauty of some bar-maid in +the little wine-shop, to the dishevelled gypsy, equally ready to sing a +song or pick the pocket of the careless and admiring stranger. + + + + +INDEX. + + + PAGE + + Alhambra, The S. P. SCOTT 257 + Andalusia, Seville, the Queen of S. P. SCOTT 238 + ANONYMOUS Windsor Forest and Castle 36 + Arthur's Land, King J. YOUNG 84 + + BARR, AMELIA The English Lake District 93 + BEERS, W. GEORGE North of Ireland Scenes 168 + BETHAM-EDWARDS, M. A French Farmer's Paradise 211 + BOTFIELD, BERIAH Island of Staffa and Fingal's + Cave 140 + Bull-Fight, The Spanish JOSEPH MOORE 230 + BURRITT, ELIHU Kenilworth and Warwick Castles 25 + + Chatsworth Castle JOHN LEYLAND 75 + Cordova and Its Mosque S. P. SCOTT 218 + Cork to Killarney SARAH J. LIPPINCOTT 157 + Cumberland, The Roman Wall of ROSE G. KINGSLEY 105 + + DICKENS, CHARLES Travel in France Fifty Years + Ago 189 + Dublin OLIVER H. G. LEIGH 21 + + Edinburgh, The "Old Town" of ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON 120 + English Lake District, The AMELIA BARR 93 + English Rural Scenery SARAH B. WISTER 112 + + Farmer's Paradise, A French M. BETHAM-EDWARDS 211 + Fingal's Cave, Island of Staffa and BERIAH BOTFIELD 140 + France Fifty Years Ago, Travel in CHARLES DICKENS 189 + French Farmer's Paradise, A M. BETHAM-EDWARDS 211 + + Genoa, Street Scenes in AUGUSTA MARRYAT 249 + Glasgow OLIVER H. G. LEIGH 23 + + HAWTHORNE, NATHANIEL Westminster Abbey 56 + HAWTHORNE, JULIAN The Gardens at Kew 64 + + Ireland and Its Capital MATTHEW WOODS 148 + Ireland, Scenes in North of W. GEORGE BEERS 168 + Island of Staffa and Fingal's Cave BERIAH BOTFIELD 140 + + Kenilworth and Warwick Castles ELIHU BURRITT 25 + Kew, The Gardens at JULIAN HAWTHORNE 64 + Killarney, Cork to SARAH J. LIPPINCOTT 157 + King Arthur's Land J. YOUNG 84 + KINGSLEY, ROSE G. The Roman Wall of Cumberland 105 + + Lake District, The English AMELIA BARR 93 + Land of Rob Roy, In the NATHANIEL P. WILLIS 129 + LEYLAND, JOHN Chatsworth Castle 75 + LEIGH, OLIVER H. G. London 5 + " " " Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow, + Dublin 17, 20, 23, 21 + LIPPINCOTT, SARAH J. From Cork to Killarney 157 + Liverpool OLIVER H. G. LEIGH 20 + London " " " 5 + London, The Aspect of HIPPOLYTE TAINE 47 + + Manchester OLIVER H. G. LEIGH 17 + MARRYAT, AUGUSTA Street Scenes in Genoa 249 + MITCHELL, DONALD G. From Normandy to Provence 200 + MOORE, JOSEPH The Spanish Bull-Fight 230 + + Normandy to Provence, From DONALD G. MITCHELL 200 + North of Ireland, Scenes in W. GEORGE BEERS 168 + + "Old Town" of Edinburgh, The ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON 120 + + Paris and Its Attractions HARRIET BEECHER STOWE 178 + Provence, From Normandy to DONALD G. MITCHELL 200 + + Rob Roy, In the Land of NATHANIEL P. WILLIS 129 + Roman Wall of Cumberland, The ROSE G. KINGSLEY 105 + Rural Scenery, English SARAH B. WISTER 112 + + SCOTT, S. P. Cordova and Its Mosque 218 + " " Seville, the Queen of Andalusia 238 + " " The Alhambra 257 + Seville, the Queen of Andalusia S. P. SCOTT 238 + Spanish Bull-Fight, The JOSEPH MOORE 230 + Staffa and Fingal's Cave, Island of BERIAH BOTFIELD 140 + STEVENSON, ROBERT LOUIS The "Old Town" of Edinburgh 120 + STOWE, HARRIET BEECHER Paris and Its Attractions 178 + + TAINE, HIPPOLYTE The Aspect of London 47 + Travel in France Fifty Years Ago CHARLES DICKENS 189 + + Warwick Castles, Kenilworth and ELIHU BURRITT 25 + Westminster Abbey NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 56 + WILLIS, NATHANIEL P. In the Land of Rob Roy 129 + Windsor Forest and Castle ANONYMOUS 36 + WISTER, SARAH B. English Rural Scenery 112 + WOODS, MATTHEW Ireland and Its Capital 148 + + YOUNG, J. 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