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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 60,
+No. 369, July 1846, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 60, No. 369, July 1846
+
+Author: Various
+
+Release Date: April 27, 2011 [EBook #35984]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE, JULY 1846 ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Brendan OConnor, JoAnn Greenwood, Jonathan
+Ingram and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
+generously made available by The Internet Library of Early
+Journals.)
+
+
+
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+
+
+
+
+
+                BLACKWOOD'S
+
+                 Edinburgh
+
+                 MAGAZINE.
+
+
+                 VOL. LX.
+
+            JULY-DECEMBER, 1846.
+
+
+              [Illustration]
+
+
+    WILLIAM BLACKWOOD & SONS, EDINBURGH
+                    AND
+       37, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON.
+
+
+                   1846
+
+
+TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: A few obvious misprints have been corrected, but
+in general the originally erratic spelling, punctuation and
+typesetting conventions have been retained. Accents in foreign
+language poetry and phrases are inconsistent in the original, and have
+not been standardized.
+
+
+BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.
+
+
+No. CCCLXIX. JULY, 1846. VOL. LX
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+    PERU,                                               1
+
+    LETTERS ON ENGLISH HEXAMETERS. LETTER I.,          19
+
+    MARLBOROUGH'S DISPATCHES. 1708-1709,               22
+
+    THE AMERICANS AND THE ABORIGINES. PART THE LAST,   45
+
+    THE DEATH OF ZUMALACARREGUI,                       56
+
+    NEW SCOTTISH PLAYS AND POEMS,                      62
+
+    ELINOR TRAVIS. CHAPTER THE SECOND,                 83
+
+    MORE ROGUES IN OUTLINE,                           101
+
+    THE LAST RECOLLECTIONS OF NAPOLEON,               110
+
+
+EDINBURGH:
+
+WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, 45, GEORGE STREET;
+
+AND 37, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON.
+
+_To whom all Communications (post paid) must be addressed._
+
+SOLD BY ALL THE BOOKSELLERS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.
+
+
+PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE AND HUGHES, EDINBURGH.
+
+
+
+
+PERU.[1]
+
+
+A clever book of travels, over ground comparatively untrodden, is in
+these days a welcome rarity. No dearth is there of vapid narratives by
+deluded persons, who, having leisure to travel, think they must also
+have wit to write: with these we have long been surfeited, and
+heartily grateful do we feel to the man who strikes out a new track,
+follows it observantly, and gives to the world, in pleasant and
+instructive form, the result of his observations. Such a traveller we
+have had the good fortune to meet with, and now present to our
+readers.
+
+We take it that no portion of the globe's surface, of equal extent,
+and comprising an equal number of civilized, or at least
+semi-civilized, states, is less known to the mass of Europeans than
+the continent of South America. Too distant and dangerous for the
+silken tourist, to whom steam-boats and dressing-cases are
+indispensable, it does not possess, in a political point of view, that
+kind of importance which might induce governments to stimulate its
+exploration. As a nest of mushroom republics, continually fighting
+with each other and revolutionizing themselves--a land where
+throat-cutting is a popular pastime, and earthquakes, fevers more or
+less yellow, and vermin rather more than less venomous, are amongst
+the indigenous comforts of the soil--it is notorious, and has been
+pretty generally avoided. Braving these dangers and disagreeables, a
+German of high reputation as a naturalist and man of letters, has
+devoted four years of a life valuable to science to a residence and
+travels in the most interesting district of South America; the ancient
+empire of the Incas, the scene of the conquests and cruelties of
+Francisco Pizarro.
+
+"The scientific results of my travels," says Dr Tschudi in his brief
+preface, "are recorded partly in my _Investigation of the Fauna
+Peruana_[2] and partly in appropriate periodicals: the following
+volumes are an attempt to satisfy the claim which an enlightened
+public may justly make on the man who visits a country in reality but
+little known."
+
+We congratulate the doctor on the good success of his attempt. The
+public, whether of Germany or of any other country into whose language
+his book may be translated, will be difficult indeed if they desire a
+better account of Peru than he has given them.
+
+Bound for the port of Callao, the ship Edmond, in which Dr Tschudi
+sailed from Havre-de-Grace, was driven by storms to the coast of
+Chili, and first cast anchor in the bay of San Carlos, on the island
+of Chiloe. Although by no means devoid of interest, we shall pass over
+his account of that island, which is thinly peopled, of small
+fertility, and cursed with an execrable climate; and accompany him to
+Valparaiso, his next halting place. There he found much bustle and
+movement. Chili was at war with the confederation of Peru and Bolivia,
+and an expedition was fitting out in all haste. Sundry decrees of the
+Peruvian Protector, Santa Cruz, had excited the ire of the Chilians,
+especially one diminishing the harbour dues on vessels arriving direct
+from Europe and discharging their cargoes in a Peruvian port. This had
+damaged the commerce of Chili; and already one army under General
+Blanco had been landed on the Peruvian coast to revenge the injury. It
+had signally failed in its object. Outmanœuvred and surrounded, it was
+taken prisoner to a man. On this occasion the behaviour of Santa Cruz
+was generous almost to quixotism. He sent back the soldiers to their
+country, and actually paid for the cavalry horses, which he kept. The
+Chilian government showed little gratitude for this chivalrous
+conduct. The treaty of peace concluded by Blanco was not ratified; but
+a second armament, far more powerful than the first, was got ready and
+shipped from Valparaiso during Dr Tschudi's stay in that port. His
+account of the Chilian army and navy is not very favourable. His ship
+had hardly anchored when several officers of the land forces came on
+board, and inquired if there were any swords to be sold, as they and
+their comrades were for the most part totally unprovided with such
+weapons. Swords formed no part of the cargo of the Edmond, but one of
+the ship's company, acquainted, perhaps, from previous experience,
+with the wants of these South American warriors, had brought out an
+assortment as a private spec., and amongst them was a sort of
+falchion, about five feet long, which had belonged to a cuirassier of
+Napoleon's guard. The officer who bought this weapon was a puny
+half-cast lad, who could hardly lift it with both hands, but who
+nevertheless opined that, in case of a charge, it would play the devil
+amongst the Peruvians. "Ten months later," says Dr Tschudi, "I met
+this hero on the march, amongst the mountains of Peru. He had girded
+on a little dirk, scarce larger than a toothpick, and behind him came
+a strapping negro, laden with the falchion. I could not help inquiring
+whether the latter arm had done much mischief in the then recent
+battle of Yungay, and he was honest enough to confess that he had not
+used it, finding it rather too heavy." The Chilian fleet, twenty-seven
+transports and nine men-of-war, was, with one or two exceptions, in
+bad condition; short of guns and hands, and manned in great part by
+sailors who had run from English, French, or North American ships. The
+officers were nearly all English. The shipment of the horses was
+conducted in the most clumsy manner: many were strangled in hoisting
+them up, others fell out of the slings and were drowned, and those
+that were embarked were so badly cared for, that each morning previous
+to the sailing of the fleet, their carcasses were thrown overboard by
+dozens. The Chilian troops had no stomach for the campaign, and, in
+great part, had to be embarked by force. "I stood on the landing
+place," writes the doctor, "when the Santiago battalion went on board.
+Ill uniformed, and bound two and two with cords, the soldiers were
+actually driven into the boats." With such an army, what besides
+defeat and disaster could be expected? But treachery and discord were
+at work in Peru, and success awaited the reluctant invaders.
+
+With unpardonable imprudence the captain of the Edmond had manifested
+an intention of selling his ship to the Peruvians to be converted into
+a man-of-war. A Yankee captain was suspected of a similar design; and
+the consequence was an embargo laid upon all ships in the port of
+Valparaiso, until such time as the Chilian army might be supposed to
+have reached its destination and struck the first blow. A delay of
+five-and-forty days was the consequence, particularly wearisome to Dr
+Tschudi, as he was unable to absent himself for more than twenty-four
+hours from the town, lest the embargo should be suddenly raised and
+the ship sail without him. He found few resources in Valparaiso, whose
+population, especially the numerous foreigners, have their time fully
+occupied by commercial pursuits. The town itself, closely built and
+dirty, is divided by _quebradas_ or ravines into three parts,
+extending along the side of a hill, and designated by the sailors as
+foretop, maintop, and mizentop. These quebradas, close to whose edge
+run the badly lighted streets, are particularly dangerous in the
+winter nights; and many a sailor, on shore for a "spree," finds his
+grave in them. The police is good, better probably than any other
+South American town; and although assassinations occasionally occur,
+the perpetrators rarely escape. One curious institution is the
+travelling house of correction, which consists of waggons, not unlike
+those in which menagerie keepers convey their beasts. Each of these
+contains sleeping accommodation for eight or ten criminals. Behind
+stands a sentry, and in front of some of them is a sort of kitchen.
+The prisoners draw the waggons themselves; and as they for the most
+part work upon the roads, often at some distance from the city, there
+is an evident gain thus in their conveying their dwelling with them.
+The plan answers well in a country where there is, properly speaking,
+no winter.
+
+A common article of sale on the Valparaiso market is live condors,
+which are taken in traps. A fine specimen is worth a dollar and a
+half. In one court-yard, Dr Tschudi saw eight of them, fettered after
+a peculiar fashion. A long narrow strip of untanned leather was run
+through their nostrils, tied tight, and the other end fastened to a
+post fixed in the ground. This allowed the birds liberty to move about
+in a tolerably large circle, but as soon as they attempted to fly,
+they were brought down by the head. Their voracity is prodigious. One
+of them ate eighteen pounds of meat in the course of a day, without at
+all impairing his appetite for the next morning's breakfast. Dr
+Tschudi measured one, and found it fourteen English feet from tip to
+tip of the wings.
+
+Most joyfully did our traveller hail the arrival of the long-looked
+for permission to sail. With a favouring breeze from the east, the
+Edmond soon made the islands of Juan Fernandez, and Dr Tschudi was
+indulging in pleasant recollections of Alexander Selkirk, Defoe, and
+Robinson Crusoe, when the cry "a man overboard" startled him from his
+reverie. Over went the hen-coops and empty casks; the ship was brought
+to, and a boat lowered. It was high time, for a shark had approached
+the swimmer, who defended himself with remarkable courage and presence
+of mind, striking out with his fists at his voracious pursuer. So
+unequal a combat could not last long, and the lookers-on thought him
+lost, for the shark had already seized his leg, when the boat came up;
+a rain of blows from oars and boat-hooks forced the monster to let go
+his hold, and the sailor was snatched, it might truly be said, from
+the jaws of death. His wounds, though deep, were not dangerous, and in
+a few weeks he was convalescent. Without other incident worthy of
+note, Dr Tschudi arrived in the bay of Callao. There the first news he
+heard was that the Chilians had effected a landing, taken Lima by
+storm, and were then besieging Callao. This magnificent fort, the last
+place in South America that had held out for the Spaniards, and which
+General Rodil defended for nearly eighteen months against the
+patriots, had since been in great measure dismantled, and
+three-fourths of the guns sold. Those that remained were now
+wretchedly served by the Peruvians, whilst the fire of the besiegers,
+on the other hand, did considerable damage. The siege, however, was
+pushed nothing like so vigorously as it had been by the patriots. Both
+the land and sea forces were too small. To the latter the Peruvians
+had unfortunately no fleet to oppose. Several men-of-war had been
+treacherously taken from them by the Chilians in time of peace, and
+the only two remaining were sunk upon the approach of the enemy.
+
+"One Sunday afternoon," says Dr Tschudi, "the Chilian brig-of-war,
+Colocolo, sailed close in under the walls of the fort, and threw in a
+few balls. The batteries immediately returned the fire with every gun
+they could bring to bear; but all their shots went too high, and fell
+amongst the merchantmen and other neutral vessels. Meanwhile the
+Colocolo sailed to and fro in derision of the batteries. At last the
+French commodore, seeing the danger of the merchant ships, sent a boat
+to the fort, menacing them with a broadside if they did not instantly
+cease firing. This the garrison were compelled to do, and to submit
+patiently to the insults of the Chilians. Another instance of the
+great prejudice which the vicinity of neutral shipping may be to
+besieged or besiegers, was witnessed on the night of the 5th November
+1820, in the bay of Callao, when Lord Cochrane and Captain Guise, with
+a hundred and fifty men, boarded the Spanish forty-four gun corvette
+Esmeralda. Between the Esmeralda and the fort lay a North American
+frigate, the Macedonia, which completely hindered the castle from
+covering the corvette with its guns. So enraged were the garrison at
+this, that the next morning an officer of the Macedonia was murdered
+with his whole boat's crew, the very instant they set foot on shore."
+
+We shall not accompany Dr Tschudi through his "fragment of the modern
+history of Peru;" for although lucid and interesting, it might become
+less so in the compressed form which we should necessarily have to
+adopt. We find at one time six self-styled presidents of Peru--each
+with his share of partizans, more or less numerous, and with a force
+at his command varying from one to five thousand men--oppressing the
+people, levying contributions, shooting and banishing the adherents of
+his five rivals. Let us examine the probable causes of such a state of
+things, of the revolutions and rebellions which have now lasted for
+twenty years--since the birth of the republic, in fact--and which must
+finally, if a check be not put to them, bring about the depopulation
+and total ruin of Peru. These causes Dr Tschudi finds in the want of
+honour and common honesty exhibited by the majority of the Peruvian
+officers. With the army all the revolutions have begun. As soon as an
+officer reaches the rank of colonel, and if he can only reckon upon
+the adherence of some fifteen hundred or two thousand soldiers, he
+begins to think of deposing the president and ruling in his stead. In
+so doing, he is actuated by avarice rather than by ambition. During
+their short-lived power these dictators levy enormous contributions,
+of which they pocket the greater part, and let the soldiers want.
+After a while they abandon the helm of government, either voluntarily
+or by compulsion, and take with them their ill-gotten wealth. When the
+chiefs set such examples, it cannot be wondered at if, amongst their
+inferiors, insubordination and mutiny are the order of the day. These,
+however, are most prevalent amongst the subaltern officers, scarcely
+ever originating with the soldiers, although their treatment, we are
+informed, is inhumanly cruel, and their privations and sufferings of
+the severest. There appears to be a great similarity in character
+between the Peruvian infantry and the Spanish troops of the present
+day; although the former are not of Spanish descent, but consist
+chiefly of Indians from the interior and mountainous districts of
+Peru. Dr Tschudi describes them as obedient, willing, and courageous;
+unparalleled in their endurance of hunger and fatigue, capable of
+sustaining for several days together marches of fourteen or sixteen
+leagues. The officers, however, must be good, or the men are useless
+in the field. If not well led, they throw away their arms and run, and
+there is no possibility of rallying them. Moreover, no retrograde
+movement must be made, although it be merely as a manœuvre--the
+Indians looking upon it as a signal for flight. The cavalry, for the
+most part well mounted, is worthless. It consists of negroes--a race
+rarely remarkable for courage. As cruel as they are cowardly, a
+defeated foe meets with barbarous treatment at their hands.
+
+With every Peruvian army march nearly as many women as it comprises
+men. Unpalatable as such a following would be to European commanders,
+it is encouraged and deemed indispensable by Peruvian generals. The
+Indian women, as enduring and hardy as their husbands, set out two or
+three hours before the troops, and precede them by about the same
+time at the halting place. They immediately collect wood for fires,
+and prepare the rations, which they carry with them, for their
+husbands, sons, and brothers. Without them, in the more desolate and
+mountainous districts, the soldiers would sometimes risk starvation.
+They are no impediment to the rapid march of a column, which they, on
+the contrary, accelerate, by saving the men trouble, and affording
+them more time for repose. During a battle they remain in the vicinity
+of the troops, but far enough off not to impede their movements; the
+fight over, they seek out the wounded and take care of them. The lot
+of these poor women, who go by the name of _rabonas_, is any thing but
+an enviable one; for besides their many privations and hardships, they
+meet with much ill usage at the hands of the soldiery, to which,
+however, they submit with incredible patience.
+
+The manner in which most of the officers treat the soldiers is
+perfectly inhuman, and the slightest offences meet with terrible
+chastisement. Every officer has a right, at least in war time, to
+inflict, without a court-martial, any punishment he pleases. Some of
+the chiefs are celebrated for the refinement of their cruelties; and
+many soldiers prefer death to serving under them. During General
+Gamarra's campaign against the Bolivians in 1842, several score of
+soldiers sprang one day from the bridge of Oroya, to seek death in the
+torrent that flows beneath it. With the scornful cry of "_Adios,
+capitan!_" they took the fatal leap, and the next instant lay mangled
+and expiring upon the rocks through which the stream forces its way.
+"I myself have witnessed," continues Dr Tschudi, "how soldiers who on
+the march were unable to keep up with the column, were shot dead upon
+the spot. On the road from Tarma to Jauja, a distance of nine leagues,
+I passed seven Indians who had thus lost their lives. It is true that
+the commandant of that battalion, an officer whose sword was as yet
+unstained with any blood save that of his own men, was accustomed to
+call out when he saw a soldier straggling from fatigue--'_pegale un
+tiro!_' Shoot him down! And the order was forthwith obeyed." When the
+troops reach the halting-place, and the _rabonas_ learn the fate of
+their sons or husbands, they mournfully retrace their weary footsteps,
+and amidst tears and lamentations dig a last resting place for these
+victims of military tyranny.
+
+The sick are scarcely better treated. When they can no longer drag
+themselves along, they are placed upon mules, and, through the
+severest cold or most burning heat, are driven after the army. When
+they die, which is most frequently the case, they are dropped at the
+next village, to be buried by the alcalde.
+
+"The major of a squadron of light cavalry," says our traveller, "once
+asked me, during my stay at Tarma in the year 1842, to take charge for
+a few days of his sick men. Of one hundred and twenty soldiers
+composing the squadron, sixty-eight lay huddled together in a damp
+dark hole, ill of the scarlet fever. Fourteen more were suffering from
+the effects of punishment. What a horrible sight they presented! Their
+backs were nearly bare of flesh and covered with the most frightful
+wounds. A mutiny had taken place, and the major had shot six men, and
+caused eighteen others to receive from one hundred to three hundred
+lashes, with broad thongs of tapir hide--a punishment so severe, that
+some of them died under its infliction. The survivors were compelled
+immediately to mount their horses and follow the squadron. For nine
+days they rode on in the most terrible agony, and during that time had
+to cross the Cordilleras. Several of them refused to have their wounds
+dressed; and it was necessary to use force to compel them. One man
+implored me with tears to do nothing to improve his state, for that he
+longed to die. Before they were nearly cured, a march was ordered, and
+they again had to mount and ride. The consequences of this barbarity
+were easy to foresee. Before another eight days had elapsed, the
+squadron was scarcely sixty men strong."
+
+Turn we from such horrors to a more pleasing theme. "Could I suppose,"
+says Dr Tschudi, "that my readers are acquainted with the excellent
+description of Lima which Stevenson gives in his Travels in South
+America,[3] I would willingly abstain from any detail of the houses,
+churches, squares, and streets of that capital. But as that esteemed
+work was published twenty years ago, and is now almost entirely
+forgotten, I may venture, without danger of repeating things
+universally known, to give a sketch of the city of Lima." And
+accordingly, the doctor devotes his fifth chapter to an account of the
+capital of Peru--an account over which we shall pass lightly, for the
+double reason, that our readers may be better acquainted with
+Stevenson's work than Dr Tschudi's countrymen can be supposed to be,
+and because, if we linger wherever we are tempted so to do in this
+very pleasant book, our paper will run out beyond any reasonable
+length. We must glance at the cathedral founded by Pizarro, and which
+took ninety years in building. Its magnificence and riches are
+scarcely to be surpassed by those of any other existing church. The
+high altar boasts of seven silver pillars of the Ionic order, twelve
+feet high, and a foot and a-half thick; the shrine is seven and a-half
+feet high, carved in gold, and studded with countless diamonds and
+emeralds; the silver candlesticks weigh one hundred and twelve pounds
+each. In connection with the convent of San Pedro, a curious anecdote
+is told. It belonged to the Jesuits, and was their "Colegio Maximo;"
+it was known to possess immense wealth, for the richest plantations
+and finest houses belonged to the order. In the year 1773, the king of
+Spain, supported by the famous bull of the 21st June of that year,
+"Dominus ac redemptor noster," sent orders to his South American
+viceroys to arrest all the Jesuits in one night, ship them off to
+Spain, and confiscate their wealth. The greatest secresy was observed,
+and no one but the viceroy, and those in his entire confidence, was
+supposed to know any thing of the plan. But the same ship which
+conveyed to the viceroy the king's instructions in his own
+handwriting, brought to the vicar-general of the Jesuits in Lima the
+needful instructions from the general of the order at Madrid, to whom
+his Majesty's designs had become known. In all silence, and with every
+precaution the needful preparations were made; at ten o'clock on the
+appointed night, the viceroy summoned his council, and communicated to
+them the royal commands. No one was allowed to leave the room till the
+blow had been struck. At midnight trusty officers were sent to arrest
+the Jesuits, of whose names the viceroy had a list. It was expected
+that they would be surprised in their sleep. The patrole knocked at
+the door of the San Pedro convent, which was immediately opened. The
+commanding officer asked to see the vicar-general, and was forthwith
+conducted into the principal hall, where he found the whole of the
+order assembled, waiting for him, and ready to depart. Each man had
+his portmanteau packed with whatever was necessary for a long voyage.
+In all the other convents of Jesuits similar preparations had been
+made. The astonishment and vexation of the viceroy may be imagined. He
+immediately sent off the whole fraternity to Callao, where ships were
+ready to receive them. Inventories were then taken, and search made
+for the Jesuits' money. But great was the surprise of the searchers
+when instead of the millions which the order was known to possess, but
+a few thousand dollars were to be discovered. All the keys, including
+that of the strong box, were found, duly ticketed, in the
+vicar-general's room. The Jesuits could hardly have taken a better
+revenge for the treachery that had been used with their order.
+
+It was supposed that the money was buried, partly in the plantations,
+and partly in the convent of San Pedro. An old negro, in the service
+of the convent, told how he and one of his comrades had been employed
+during several nights in carrying, with bandaged eyes, heavy sacks of
+money into the vaults beneath the building. Two Jesuits accompanied
+them, and helped them to load and unload their burdens. The researches
+hitherto made have been but superficial and imperfect; and Dr Tschudi
+opines, with some naïveté, that the hidden hoard may yet be
+discovered. We cannot partake his opinion. The cunning Jesuits who
+concealed the treasure will have found means to recover it.
+
+Lima was the principal seat of the Inquisition upon the west coast of
+South America, and in severity the tribunal was but little surpassed
+by that of Madrid itself. The building in which it was held still
+exists, but was gutted by the populace when the institution was
+abolished by the Cortes, and few traces of its internal arrangements
+and murderous engines are now to be seen. More visible ones are yet to
+be noticed in the persons of some unfortunate Limeños. "A Spaniard,"
+Dr Tschudi tells us, "whose limbs were frightfully distorted, told me,
+in reply to my inquiries, that he had fallen into a machine which had
+thus mangled him. A few days before his death, however, he confided to
+me that in his twenty-fourth year he had been brought before the
+tribunal of the Holy Inquisition, and by the most horrible tortures
+had been compelled to confess a crime of which he was not guilty. I
+still shudder when I remember his crushed and twisted limbs, at the
+thoughts of the agonies which the unhappy wretch must have endured."
+
+Now and then, however, the most holy ruffians of the Inquisition met
+their match, as the following anecdote serves to show. The Viceroy,
+Castel-Fuerte, once expressed, in presence of his confessor, certain
+opinions regarding religion which the good monk did not find very
+catholic, and which he accordingly, as in duty bound, reported to the
+Inquisitors. The latter, confident of their omnipotence, joyfully
+seized this opportunity to increase its _prestige_, by proving that
+their power extended even to the punishment of a viceroy. But
+Castel-Fuerte was not Philip of Spain. At the appointed hour, he
+repaired to the Inquisition at the head of his body-guard and of a
+company of infantry, with two pieces of artillery, which he caused to
+be pointed at the building. Entering the terrible hall, he strode up
+to the table, drew out his watch, and laid it before him. "Señores,"
+said he, "I am ready to discuss this affair, but for one hour only. If
+I am not back by that time, my officers have orders to level this
+building with the ground." Astounded at his boldness, the Inquisitors
+consulted together for a few moments, and then, with eager politeness,
+complimented the resolute Castel-Fuerte out of the house.
+
+Lima was founded by Pizarro in the year 1534, on the 6th of January,
+known amongst Roman Catholics as the Day of the Three Kings. From this
+latter circumstance it has frequently been called the City of the
+Kings. Like some tropical flower, urged into premature bloom and
+luxuriance by too rich a soil and too ardent a sun, its decay has been
+proportionably rapid, and the capital of Peru is already but the ghost
+of its former self. Some idea of its rapid growth may be formed from
+the circumstance that a wall built in 1585, only fifty years after its
+foundation, includes, with the exception of a small portion of the
+northern extremity and the suburb of San Lazaro, the whole of a city
+capable of containing one hundred thousand inhabitants, and measuring
+ten English miles in circumference. The dates of foundation of the
+principal public buildings further confirm the fact of Lima's rapid
+arrival at the size as well as the rank of a metropolis. The number of
+inhabitants, which in 1810 was estimated at eighty-seven thousand, in
+1842 was reduced to fifty-three thousand. It must be observed,
+however, that the manner of taking the census is loose and imperfect,
+and these numbers may need rectification. At the same time, there can
+be no doubt that the population has long been, and still is, daily
+diminishing. Of this diminution the causes are various, and may easily
+be traced to the physical and political state of the country. Terrible
+earthquakes have buried thousands of persons beneath the ruins of
+their dwellings; the struggle for independence also swept away its
+thousands; and banishment and emigration may further account for the
+decrease. Epidemics, the natural consequence of an imperfect police,
+and an utter neglect of cleanliness, frequently rage in the city and
+its environs; and Dr Tschudi proves, by interesting tables and
+statements, that the average excess of deaths over births has been,
+since the year 1826, no less than five hundred and fifty annually.
+Without entering into all the causes to which this may be attributed,
+he pronounces the criminal, but, in Lima, too common, practice of
+causing abortion to be one of the most prominent. So large a yearly
+decrease menaces the Peruvian capital with a speedy depopulation, and
+already whole streets and quarters of the city are desolate,--the
+houses falling in,--the gardens run to waste. To the country, not less
+than to the town, many of the above facts are applicable; and the once
+rich and flourishing region, that extends from the third to the
+twenty-second degree of southern latitude, and which, at the time of
+its conquest by Pizarro, contained an enormous population, now
+possesses but one million four hundred thousand inhabitants.
+
+One can really hardly grieve over the possible extinction of a race
+which, according to Dr Tschudi's showing, is in most respects so
+utterly worthless and undeserving of sympathy. We refer now more
+especially to the white Creoles,[4] who constitute about a third, or
+rather more, of the population of Lima, where there are comparatively
+few Indians of pure blood, but, on the other hand, a large number of
+half-casts of every shade, and about five thousand negroes, chiefly
+slaves. These white Creoles, with few exceptions the descendants of
+Spaniards, seem to have clung to, and improved upon, the vices of
+their progenitors, without inheriting their good qualities. Both
+physically and morally they have greatly degenerated. Weak, indolent,
+and effeminate, a ten hours' ride seems to them an exploit worthy of
+registration in the archives of the country. Sworn foes of any kind of
+trouble, if their circumstances compel them to choose an occupation,
+they set up some retail shop, which gives them little trouble, and
+allows them abundance of leisure to gossip with their neighbours and
+smoke their cigar. The richer class pass their time in complete
+idleness,--lounging in the streets, visiting their acquaintances, and
+occasionally taking a lazy ride to their plantations near the city.
+The afternoon is got rid of in the café, the gaming-house, or the
+cock-pit--cock-fighting being a darling diversion with the Creoles.
+Their education is defective, and the majority of them are ignorant
+beyond belief. Dr Tschudi tells us of a Peruvian minister of war who
+knew neither the population nor the area of his country, and who
+obstinately maintained that Portugal was the eastern boundary of Peru,
+and could be reached by land. Another Peruvian, high in place, was
+heard to give an exact account of how Frederick the Great had driven
+Napoleon out of Russia. There have been some brilliant exceptions to
+this general darkness, but the list of them is very brief, and may be
+comprised in a few lines. In their habits the Creoles are dirty,
+especially at table; and the disgusting custom of spitting is carried
+to an extent that would make even a Yankee stare. Their principal good
+qualities are abstinence from strong drinks, hospitality to strangers,
+and benevolence to the poor.
+
+The ladies of Lima, we learn, are in most respects far superior to the
+men. Tall and well made, with regular features, magnificent eyes and
+hair, beautiful teeth, and exquisitely small feet, they are spoken of
+by Dr Tschudi in terms almost of enthusiasm. Their dress is very
+original; one usual part of it being a silk petticoat, made so narrow
+at the ankles as to prevent rapid walking, and to render their kneeling
+down in church and getting up again a matter of some difficulty.
+During the revolution, when Lima was held alternately by the Spaniards
+and the Patriots, a party of the former, in order to ascertain the real
+sentiments of the Limeños, disguised themselves as Patriots, and
+approached the city. As soon as their coming was known, a crowd went
+out to meet them, and in the throng were many women with these narrow
+_sayas_. When sufficiently near, the disguised Spaniards drew their
+swords, and cut right and left amongst the defenceless mob. The men
+saved themselves by flight, but the women, impeded by their absurd
+petticoats, were for the most part sabred.
+
+The Limeñas are good mothers, but bad housekeepers. Most ladies have
+an unnecessarily numerous establishment of servants and slaves, each
+of whom does just what he pleases, and is rarely at hand when wanted.
+Smoking is pretty general amongst Peruvian women, but is on the
+decline rather than the increase. They are passionately fond of music,
+and most of them sing and play the guitar or piano, although, for want
+of good instruction, their performance is usually but middling. Many
+of them are skilled in needle-work; but they rarely occupy themselves
+in that manner--never in company or of an evening. "Happy city!"
+exclaims Dr Tschudi, thinking doubtless of his own fair countrywomen
+and their eternal knitting needles, "where stocking making is unknown
+in the social circle!" We do not find, however, that the doctor
+supports his assertion of the moral superiority of the Creole ladies
+over their _worser_ halves, by any very strong proofs. That assertion,
+on the contrary, is followed by the startling admissions, that they
+are confirmed gluttons, and ruin their husbands by their love of
+dress; that they gamble considerably, and intrigue not a few, favoured
+in this latter respect by a certain convenient veil of thick silk,
+called a _manto_, which entirely conceals their face, having only a
+small triangular loop-hole, "through which a great fiery eye flashes
+upon you." We fear that these "flashes," frequently repeated, have a
+little dazzled our learned traveller, and induced him to look
+leniently on the sins of the lovely Limeñas. We do not otherwise know
+how to reconcile the evidence with the eulogium.
+
+Ardent politicians, and endowed with a degree of courage not often
+found in their sex, these Peruvian dames have frequently played a
+prominent part in revolutions, and by their manœuvres have even
+brought about changes of government. Conspicuous amongst them was Doña
+Francisca Subyaga, wife of the former president, Gamarra. When, in
+1834, her cowardly and undecided husband was driven out of Lima by the
+populace, and stood lamenting and irresolute what to do, Doña
+Francisca snatched his sword from his side, put herself at the head of
+the troops, and commanded an orderly retreat, the only means by which
+to save herself and the remainder of the army. A bystander having
+ventured to utter some insolent remark, she rode up to him, and
+threatened that when she returned to Lima she would make a pair of
+riding-gloves out of his skin. She died in exile a few months later,
+or else, when her husband went back to Peru four years afterwards, at
+the head of a Chilian army, she would have been likely enough to keep
+her word.
+
+So much for the Limeñas, although Dr Tschudi gives us a great deal
+more information concerning them; and very amusing this part of his
+book is, reminding us considerably of Madame Calderon's delightful
+gossip about Mexico. "Lima," says the Spanish proverb, "is a heaven to
+women, a purgatory to husbands, and a hell to jackasses." The latter
+unfortunate beasts being infamously used by the negroes, who,
+especially the liberated ones, are the most cruel and vicious race in
+Peru. In this latter category must be included the Zambos and Chinos,
+half-casts between negroes and mulattos, and negroes and Indians. We
+turn a few pages and come to the carnival; during which, judging from
+the account before us, we should imagine that Lima became a hell not
+only to ill-treated donkeys, but to man woman, and child. The chief
+sport of that festive season consists in sprinkling people with water,
+concerning the purity of which the sprinklers are by no means
+fastidious. From nearly every balcony, liquids of the most various
+and unsavoury description are rained down upon the passers by; at the
+street corners stand negroes, who seize upon all who are not of their
+own cast, and roll them in the gutter, unless they prefer paying a
+certain ransom, in which case they get off with a trifling baptism of
+dirty water. Troops of young men force their way into the houses of
+their acquaintances and attack the ladies. First they sprinkle them
+with scented water, but when that is expended, the pump, and even
+worse, is had recourse to, and the sport becomes brutality. The
+ladies, with their clothes dripping wet, are chased from room to room,
+become heated, and are frequently rendered dangerously ill. Diseases
+of the lungs, and other rheumatic complaints, are the invariable
+consequences of the carnival, to whose barbarous celebration many fall
+victims. Besides this, every year murders occur out of revenge for
+this brutal treatment. One favourite trick is to fill a sack with
+fragments of glass and earthenware, and fasten it to the balcony by a
+cord, the length of which is so calculated, that when let down the
+sack hangs at about seven feet from the ground. The sack is kept on
+the balcony till somebody passes, and is then suddenly thrown out,
+but, thanks to the cord, remains at a safe distance above the heads of
+those below. Although it is tolerably well known that in most streets
+there is at least one of these infernal machines; yet the sudden shock
+and alarm are so great, that persons have been known to fall down
+senseless on the spot. Horses are thus made to shy violently, and
+frequently throw their riders. The practice is each year forbidden by
+the police, but the prohibition is disregarded.
+
+Heaven preserve us from a Lima carnival! If compelled to choose we
+should infinitely prefer a campaign against the Chilians, which, we
+apprehend, must be mere barrack-yard duty comparatively. No wonder
+that the city is becoming depopulated, when the fairer portion of its
+inhabitants are annually subjected to such inhuman treatment. In some
+respects the Peruvians appear to be perfect barbarians. Their
+favourite diversions are of the most cruel order; cock-fighting and
+bull-fights--but bull-fights, compared to which, those still in vogue
+in Spain are humane exhibitions. Peru is the only country in South
+America where this last amusement is kept up as a matter of regular
+occurrence. Bull-fighting in Spain may be considered cruel, but in
+Peru it becomes a mere torturing of beasts, without honour or credit
+to the men opposed to them, who are all negroes and zambos, the very
+dregs of the populace. There seems a total want of national character
+about the Peruvians. They are bad copies of the Spaniards, whose
+failings they imitate and out-herod till they become odious vices. Add
+to what has been already shown of their cruel and sensual
+propensities, the fact that their habitations, with the exception of
+the two rooms in which visits are received, bear more resemblance, for
+cleanliness and order, to stables than to human dwellings, and it will
+be acknowledged that not a little of the savage seems to have rubbed
+off upon the Peruvian.
+
+Ice is a necessary of life in Lima, and is brought from the
+Cordilleras, a distance of twenty-eight leagues. So essential in that
+ardent climate is this refreshment, that the lack of it for a few days
+is sufficient to cause a notable ferment among the people; and in all
+revolutions, therefore, the leaders cautiously abstain from applying
+the mules used for its carriage, to any other purpose. The Indians hew
+the ice out of the glaciers in lumps of six arrobas (150 pounds) each,
+and lower it from the mountains by ropes. Other Indians receive and
+carry it a couple of leagues to a depot, where it is packed upon
+mules. Two lumps form a mule load, and thirty of these loads are sent
+daily to Lima, where, by means of frequent relays, they arrive in
+eighteen or twenty hours. During the journey the ice loses about the
+third of its weight, and what remains is just sufficient to supply the
+city for a day. It is chiefly used in making ices, composed for the
+most part of milk or pine-apple juice.
+
+The want of good roads, and, in many directions, of any roads at all,
+renders carriage travelling in the neighbourhood of Lima exceedingly
+difficult and expensive. Only southwards from the city is it possible,
+at an enormous cost, to get to a distance of forty leagues. Sixty or
+eighty horses are driven by the side of the carriage, and every half
+hour fresh ones are harnessed, as the only means of getting the
+vehicle through the sand, which is more than a foot deep. A Peruvian,
+who was accustomed to send his wife every year on a visit to his
+plantation, at thirty-two leagues from Lima, told Dr Tschudi that the
+journey there and back cost him fourteen hundred dollars, or somewhere
+about three hundred pounds sterling. In former days, during the
+brilliant period of the Spanish domination, enormous sums were
+frequently given for carriages and mules; and the shoes of the latter,
+and tires of the wheels, were often of silver instead of iron. Even at
+the present day the Peruvians expend large sums upon the equipments of
+their horses, especially upon the stirrups, which are ponderous boxes
+carved in wood, and lavishly decorated with silver. A friend of Dr
+Tschudi's, a priest from the Sierra, had a pair made, the silver about
+which weighed forty pounds! The saddle and bridle were proportionably
+magnificent, and the value of the silver employed in the whole
+equipment was more than 1500 dollars. Spurs are of enormous size.
+According to the old usage they should contain three marks--a pound
+and a half--of silver, and be richly chased and ornamented. The rowels
+are one and a half to two inches in circumference. Besides the saddle,
+bridle, and stirrups above described, the unfortunate Peruvian horses
+are oppressed with sheepskin shabrack, saddle-bags, and various other
+appliances. "At first," says our traveller, "the Peruvian
+horse-trappings appear to a stranger both unwieldy and unserviceable;
+but he soon becomes convinced of their suitableness, and even finds
+them handsome." _We_ should not, nor, we dare be sworn, do the horses,
+whose many good qualities certainly deserve a lighter load and better
+treatment than they appear to get. Dr Tschudi speaks highly of their
+endurance and speed, although their usual pace is an amble, at which,
+however, they will outstrip many horses at full gallop. One variety of
+this favourite pace, the _paso portante_, in which the two feet on the
+same side of the body are thrown forward at the same time, is
+particularly curious, and peculiar to the Peruvian horse. The giraffe
+is the only other animal that employs it. In Peru a horse is valued
+according to the goodness of his amble. Beauty of form is a secondary
+consideration, and the finest trotters are thought nothing of, but are
+sold cheap for carriage work. It is considered a serious defect, and
+greatly depreciates a horse's value, if he has the habit of flapping
+or lashing himself with his tail when spurred, or at any other time.
+As this habit is found incurable, the sinews of the tail are sometimes
+cut through, which, by crippling it, hinders the obnoxious flapping.
+
+The breaking of a Peruvian horse occupies two years. The
+horse-breakers are, for the most part, free negroes, of powerful
+build, and they understand their business perfectly, only that they
+ill-treat the animals too much, and thereby render them shy. They
+teach them all sorts of ambles and manège tricks, one of the latter
+consisting in the horse pirouetting upon his hind legs. This they do
+when at full gallop, on the slightest signal of the rider. A
+well-known Limeño, says Dr Tschudi, rode at full speed up to the city
+wall, which is scarcely nine feet broad, leaped upon it, and made his
+horse repeatedly perform this _volte_, the fore feet of the beast each
+time describing the arc of a circle beyond the edge of the wall. He
+performed this feat with every one of his horses. Further on in the
+book, the doctor relates an incident that occurred to himself, proving
+the more valuable qualities of these horses, their strength, courage,
+and endurance. "I had occasion to go from Huacho to Lima," he says,
+"and wished to accomplish this journey without halting. The distance
+is twenty-eight leagues, (at least eighty-four miles,) and I left
+Huacho at two in the afternoon, accompanied by a negro guide. At one
+in the morning we reached the river Pasamayo, which had been greatly
+swoln by the recent rains, and thundered along with a fearful uproar.
+Several travellers were bivouacked upon the shore, waiting for
+daylight, and perhaps for the subsiding of the waters. My negro
+shrugged his shoulders, and said he had never seen the river so high;
+and the travellers agreed with him, and denied the possibility of
+crossing. But I had no time to lose, and made up my mind to risk the
+passage on my good horse, who had often served me in similar dilemmas.
+I cautiously entered the stream, which, at each step, became deeper
+and stronger. My horse soon lost his footing, and, in spite of his
+violent efforts, was swept down by the force of the current, until we
+were both dashed against a rock in the middle of the river. Just then
+the moon became clouded, and I could no longer distinguish the group
+of trees on the opposite shore, which I had fixed upon to land at.
+Luckily my horse had again found a footing; I turned his head, and
+plunging into deep water, the noble beast swam back, with incredible
+strength, to the bank whence we had come. After some search I found a
+more favourable place, and my negro and I succeeded in crossing. Three
+travellers, who were anxious to do the same, but did not dare venture
+alone, called to us for assistance. I sent back the negro on my own
+horse, and one by one he brought them over. Seven times did the good
+steed achieve the dangerous passage, and then carried me without a
+halt to Lima, where we arrived at the hour of noon."
+
+Such horses as these are indeed valuable in a country where carriage
+roads there are none, or next to none. The mules, whose price varies
+according to their qualities, from 100 to 1000 dollars, also perform,
+in spite of indifferent usage, scanty care, and frequently poor
+nourishment, journeys of great length over the arid sandy plains of
+Peru. They are also amblers, and often as swift as the horses. Dr
+Tschudi tells us of a priest at Piura, who, when he had to read mass
+at a sea-port town, fourteen leagues from his residence, mounted, at
+six in the morning, a splendid mule belonging to him, and reached his
+destination at nine o'clock. At four in the afternoon he set off on
+his return, and was home by seven or half-past. The whole of the road,
+which led across a sandflat, was gone over at an amble. The priest
+refused enormous sums for this beast, which he would on no account
+sell. At last Salaverry, then president of Peru, heard of the mule's
+extraordinary swiftness, and sent an aide-de-camp to buy it. The
+officer met with a refusal; but no sooner had he turned his back, than
+the priest, who knew Salaverry's despotic and violent character, cut
+off his mule's ears and tail. As he had foreseen, so it happened. The
+next morning a sergeant made his appearance, bearing positive orders
+to take away the animal in dispute, with or without the owner's
+sanction. This was done; but when Salaverry saw the cropped condition
+of poor _mulo_, he swore all the oaths in the language, and sent him
+back again. The priest had attained his end, for he valued the beast
+less for his beauty than for his more solid qualities.
+
+The Peruvian _cuisine_ has, not unnaturally, a considerable similarity
+with the Spanish. The puchero or olla is the basis of the dinner, and
+of red pepper, capsicums, and other stimulating condiments, abundant
+use is made. The Limeños have some extraordinary notions respecting
+eating and drinking. They consider that every sort of food is either
+heating or cooling, and is opposed to something else. The union in the
+stomach of two of these contrary substances is attended, according to
+their belief, with the most dangerous consequences, and may even cause
+death. A Limeño, who has eaten rice at dinner, omits the customary
+glass of water after the sweetmeats, because the two things _se
+oponen_, are opposites. To so absurd an extent is this carried, that
+servants who have eaten rice refuse to wash afterwards, and the
+washer-women never eat it. "I have been asked innumerable times," says
+Dr Tschudi, "by persons who had been ordered a foot-bath at night,
+whether they might venture to take it, for that they had eaten rice at
+dinner!"
+
+The market at Lima was formerly held upon the Plaza Mayor, and was
+renowned for the great abundance and variety of the fruits,
+vegetables, and flowers brought thither for sale. But it is now on the
+Plazuela de la Inquisicion, and its glory has in great measure
+departed. Along the sides of the gutters sit the fish and sausage
+sellers, who may be seen washing their wares in the filthy stream
+before them. The butchers exhibit good meat, but only beef and mutton,
+the slaughtering of young beasts being forbidden by law. On the flower
+market are sold Lima nosegays--_pucheros de flores_, as they are
+called. They are composed of a few specimens of the smaller tropical
+fruits, esteemed either for fragrance or beauty, laid upon a banana
+leaf, and tastefully intermingled with flowers. The whole is sprinkled
+with lavender water and other scents, and is very pretty to look at,
+but yields an overpoweringly strong perfume. The price depends on the
+rarity of the flowers employed, and some of these pucheros cost seven
+or eight dollars. They rank amongst the most acceptable presents that
+can be offered to a Peruvian lady.
+
+"The city of earthquakes," would be a far more appropriate name for
+Lima, than the city of the kings. On an average of years,
+five-and-forty shocks are annually felt, most of which occur in the
+latter half of October, in November, December, January, May, and June.
+January is the worst month, during which, in many years, scarcely a
+day passes without convulsions of this kind. The terrible earthquakes
+that play such havoc with the city, come at intervals of forty to
+sixty years. Since the west coast of South America is known to
+Europeans, the following are the dates:--1586, 1630, 1687, 1713, 1746,
+1806; always two in a century. It is greatly to be feared that ten
+more years will not elapse without Lima being visited by another of
+these awful calamities. Dr Tschudi gives a brief account of the
+earthquake of 1746. It was on the 28th of October, St Simon and St
+Jude's day, that at 31 minutes past 10 P.M., the earth shook with a
+fearful bellowing noise, and in an instant the whole of Lima was a
+heap of ruins. Noise, earthquake, and destruction were all the affair
+of _one_ moment. The few buildings whose strength resisted the first
+shock, were thrown down by a regular horizontal motion of the earth,
+which succeeded it and lasted four minutes. Out of more than three
+thousand houses only twenty-one remained uninjured. Nearly all the
+public buildings were overthrown. At the port of Callao the
+destruction was even more complete; for scarcely was the earthquake
+over, when the sea arose with a mighty rushing sound, and swallowed up
+both town and inhabitants. In an instant five thousand human beings
+became the prey of the waters.[5] The Spanish corvette San Fermin,
+which lay at anchor in the harbour, was hurled far over the walls of
+the fortress, and stranded at more than five hundred yards from the
+shore. A cross marks the place where she struck. Three heavily laden
+merchantmen met the same fate, and nineteen other vessels foundered.
+The town had disappeared, and travellers have related how, even now,
+when the sky is bright and the sea still, the houses and churches may
+be dimly seen through the transparent waters. Such a tale as this is
+scarce worth refuting, seeing that the houses were overturned by the
+earthquake before they were overwhelmed by the sea, whose action must
+long since have destroyed their every vestige. But the old sailors
+along that coast love to tell how on certain days the people are seen
+sitting at the doors of their houses, and standing about in the
+streets, and how, in the silent watches of the night, a cock has been
+heard to crow from out of the depths of the sea.
+
+Meteors frequently appear as forerunners of the earthquakes, amongst
+whose consequences may be reckoned the sudden sterilizing of districts
+previously fruitful, but which, after one of these convulsions of
+nature, refuse for many years to put forth vegetation. No frequency of
+repetition diminishes the alarm and horror occasioned by the shocks.
+The inhabitants of Lima, although accustomed from their earliest
+childhood to the constant recurrence of such phenomena, spring from
+their beds at the first quivering of the earth, and with cries of
+"misericordia!" rush out of their houses. The European, who knows
+nothing of earthquakes but the name, almost wishes for the arrival of
+one, and is sometimes inclined to laugh at the terror of the
+Peruvians; but when he has once felt a shock, any disposition to make
+merry on the subject disappears, and his dread of its recurrence is
+even greater than that of the natives. The deeply unpleasant
+impression left by an earthquake, is in Lima heightened by the
+_plegarias_ or general prayers that succeed it. The shock has no
+sooner been felt, than a signal is given from the cathedral, and
+during ten minutes all the bells in the town toll with long, measured
+strokes to call the inhabitants to their devotions.
+
+A pleasant country to live in! Those who may feel tempted by the
+doctor's commendation of the fascinating Limeñas--the delightful,
+although not very healthy, climate--the luscious fruits, and gorgeous
+flowers, and manifold wonders of Peru--to gird up their loins and
+betake themselves thither, will perhaps think twice of it when they
+learn that an earthquake might, and probably would, be their welcome.
+Descriptions of tropical countries remind us of those pictures of
+Italian festivals, where nymph-like damsels and Antinöus-looking
+youths are gracefully dancing round grape-laden cars; whilst some fine
+old Belisarius of a grandpapa, white bearded and benignant, sits upon
+the shaft and smiles upon his descendants. One sees the graceful
+forms, the classic features, the bursting grapes, and the bright
+sunshine; all of which, like enough, are depicted to the life, but one
+sees nothing of the filth, and nastiness, and crawling vermin, that
+would awfully shock us in the originals of the picture. Not that we
+mean to accuse Dr Tschudi of painting Peru in rose-colour, or
+remaining silent as to its defects. He is a conscientious traveller,
+and gives us things as he finds them. Besides the great nuisance of
+the earthquakes, and the lesser one of dirt, already adverted to;
+besides the armies of fleas, which render even the Lima theatre almost
+unvisitable--not mild European fleas, but sanguinary Spanish-American
+ones; besides the malaria in the swamps, the _piques_, _chinches_,
+mosquitos, and other insect tormentors, he favours us with some
+agreeable details touching the highwaymen who infest the whole coast
+of Peru, but especially the neighbourhood of Lima and Truxillo. They
+are usually runaway slaves, _simarrones_, as they are called, or else
+free negroes, zambos, and mulattos. Now and then Indians are found
+amongst them, who make themselves conspicuous by their cold-blooded
+cruelties, and occasionally even a white man takes to this infamous
+trade. In 1839 a North American, who had served on board of a
+man-of-war, was shot for highway robbery. Shooting, it must be
+observed, appears to be the usual way of inflicting capital punishment
+in Peru. These banditti, well mounted and armed, are very bold and
+numerous, and most of them belong to an extensive and well organised
+band, which has branches in various directions. Sometimes they
+approach the city in parties of thirty or forty men, and plunder all
+travellers who leave it. They prefer attacking foreigners, and usually
+spare the richer and more influential Peruvians, which may be one
+cause that stronger measures are not adopted against them. Shortly
+before Dr Tschudi's departure from Lima, they attacked the feeble
+escort of a sum of one hundred thousand dollars, which were on their
+way to the mines of Cerro de Pasco, and carried off the money. The
+silver bars sent from the mines to the city they allow to pass
+unmolested, as being too heavy and cumbersome. The unfortunate
+peasants who come in from the mountains on jackasses, with eggs and
+other produce, are marked for their particular prey, on account of the
+money which they usually carry with them to make purchases in the
+town. If no dollars are found on them, they are killed or terribly
+maltreated. We pass over some stories of the cruelties exercised by
+these bandits. Here is one of another sort. "One night that I found
+myself at Chancay," says the doctor, "an Indian told me the following
+anecdote: About half a mile from the village, he said, he had been met
+by a negro, who approached him with carbine cocked, and ordered him to
+halt. The Indian drew a large pistol, and said to the robber, 'You may
+thank heaven that this is not loaded, or it would be all over with
+you.' Laughing scornfully, the negro rode up and seized the Indian,
+who then pulled the trigger of his pistol and shot him dead on the
+spot."
+
+When attacked by the police or military, the robbers display desperate
+courage in their defence. Sometimes they take shelter in the bush or
+thicket, to which, if the space of ground it covers be not too
+extensive, the pursuers set fire on all sides; so that the bandits
+have no choice but to perish or yield themselves prisoners. In the
+latter case their trial is very short, and after they have been left
+shut up with a priest for the space of twelve hours, they are brought
+out and shot. They are allowed to choose their place of execution, and
+must carry thither a small bench or stool upon which they sit down.
+Four soldiers stand at a distance of three paces; two aim at the head
+and two at the heart. A few years ago a Zambo of great daring was
+sentenced to death for robbery, and he demanded to be shot upon the
+Plaza de la Inquisicion. He sat down upon his bench--the soldiers
+levelled and fired. When the smoke of the discharge blew away, the
+Zambo had disappeared. He had watched each movement of the soldiers,
+and at the very moment that they laid finger on trigger, had thrown
+himself on one side and taken refuge amidst the crowd, some of whom
+favoured his escape. In time of war a corps is formed composed chiefly
+of these banditti, and of men who have made themselves in some way
+obnoxious to the laws. They go by the name of Montoneros, and are
+found very useful as spies, skirmishers, despatch-bearers, &c., but
+are generally more remarkable for cruelty than courage. They wear no
+uniform; and sometimes they have not even shoes, but strap their spurs
+on their naked heels. In the year 1838, the Anglo-Peruvian general,
+Miller, commanded a thousand of these montoneros who were in the
+service of Santa Cruz. When war is at an end, these wild troops
+disband themselves, and for the most part return to their former
+occupation.
+
+Abandoning Lima and its environs, Dr Tschudi takes us with him on a
+visit to the various towns and villages along the coast, proceeding
+first north and then south of the capital. In a coasting voyage to the
+port of Huacho, he has the honour to reckon amongst his fellow
+passengers, Lord Cochrane's friend, the celebrated Padre Requena, then
+cura of that town. Of this ecclesiastic, of whom he, after his
+arrival, saw a good deal, he draws a picture which may be taken as a
+general type of the Peruvian priesthood, and is by no means creditable
+to them. Requena's chief passion is coursing, and his greatest
+annoyance, during Dr Tschudi's stay in Huacho, was, that ill health,
+brought on by his excesses, prevented him from indulging it. He had
+several magnificent horses, and a numerous pack of greyhounds, some of
+which latter had cost him one hundred and fifty and two hundred
+dollars a-piece. His seraglio was almost as well stocked as his
+kennel, and the number of children who called him _tio_, or _uncle_,
+the usual term in Peru in such cases, was quite prodigious. He took
+great pride in talking of his friendship with Lord Cochrane. He died a
+few weeks after his return to Huacho, and delayed so long to send for
+a confessor that the Indians at last surrounded the house with
+frightful menaces, and sent in a priest to render him the last offices
+of the church. He had great difficulty in making up his mind to death,
+or, as he expressed it, to a separation from his greyhounds and
+horses. At almost the last moment, when his hands began to grow cold,
+he made his negro put on them a pair of buckskin gloves.
+
+This respectable priest was by no means singular in his love of the
+chase, of which frequent examples are to be found in Peru. On reaching
+Quipico, the most easterly plantation in the beautiful valley of
+Huaura, Dr. Tschudi had scarcely entered the courtyard when he was
+surrounded by upwards of fifty greyhounds, whilst from every quarter
+others came springing towards him. They were the remains of a pack
+that had belonged to one Castilla, recently the owner of the
+plantation, and whose usual establishment consisted of two to three
+hundred of these dogs, with which he every day went coursing. The
+strictest discipline was kept up amongst this lightfooted multitude.
+At stated hours a bell summoned them to their meals, and in the kennel
+stood a gibbet, as a warning to the lazy or perverse. One day, when
+Castilla was out hunting, an Indian came up, with an ordinary-looking
+crossbred dog. In spite of his looks this dog out-stripped the whole
+pack, and pulled down the roebuck. Castilla immediately purchased him
+at the enormous price of three hundred and fifty dollars. A few days
+afterwards he again went out with his best hounds and his new
+acquisition. The leashes were slipped, and the greyhounds went off
+like the wind, but the crossbreed remained quietly by the horses. The
+same afternoon he was hung up to the gallows, an example to his
+fellows.
+
+The whole extent of the Peruvian coast, from its northern to its
+southern extremity, presents nearly the same aspect; vast deserts of
+sand, varied by fruitful valleys, with their villages and plantations;
+seaport towns there where nature or commerce has encouraged their
+foundation; alternate insupportable heat and damp fog; scarcity of
+men; crumbling monuments of a period of riches and greatness. In the
+sandy plains it is no unusual occurrence for travellers to lose their
+way and perish for thirst. In that fervent and unhealthy climate,
+human strength rapidly gives way before want of food and water. In the
+year 1823 a transport carrying a regiment of dragoons, three hundred
+and twenty strong, stranded on the coast near Pisco. The soldiers got
+on shore, and wandered for thirty-six hours through the sand-waste,
+out of which they were unable to find their way. At the end of that
+time they were met by a number of horsemen with water and food, who
+had been sent out from Pisco to seek them, but already one hundred and
+fifty of the unfortunates had died of thirst and weariness, and fifty
+more expired upon the following day. Forty-eight hours' wandering in
+those arid deserts, deprived of food and drink, is certain death to
+the strongest man. Rivers are scarce, and even where the bed of a
+stream is found, it is in many instances dry during the greater part
+of the year. The traveller's danger is increased by the shifting
+nature of the sand, which the wind raises in enormous clouds, and in
+columns eighty to one hundred feet high. The _medanos_ are another
+strange phenomenon of these dangerous wilds. They are sandhills in the
+form of a crescent, ten to twenty feet high, and with a sharp crest.
+Their base is moveable, and when impelled by a tolerably strong wind,
+they wander rapidly over the desert; the smaller ones, more easily
+propelled, preceding the large. The latter, however, after a time,
+prevent the current of air from reaching the former--take the wind out
+of their sails, it may be said--and then run over and crush them,
+themselves breaking up at the same time. In a few hours, what was
+previously a level, is often covered with ranges of hillocks,
+hindering a view of the horizon, and bewildering the most experienced
+wanderers through these perilous regions. In November the summer
+begins. The scorching rays of the sun break through the grey covering
+of the heavens, and threaten to consume, by their intensity, the
+entire vegetable and animal creation. Not a plant finds nourishment,
+nor a beast food upon the parched and glowing soil; no bird or insect
+floats upon the sultry air. Only in the upper regions is seen the
+majestic condor, flying towards the ocean. All life and movement is
+now confined to the coast. Troops of vultures assemble around the
+stranded carcases of sea monsters; otters and seals bask beneath the
+cliffs; variegated lizards scamper over the sand-heaps, and busy crabs
+and sea-spiders dig into the damp shore. In May the scene changes. A
+thin veil of mist spreads over sea and coast, gradually thickening,
+until in October the sun again dispels it. At the beginning and end of
+this winter, as it is called, the fog generally rises at nine or ten
+in the morning, and is again dissipated at three in the afternoon. It
+is thickest in August and September, when, for weeks together, it does
+not lift. It never changes into rain, but only into a fine penetrating
+mist, called the _garua_. On many parts of the Peruvian coast, it
+never rains, excepting after a very violent earthquake, and even then
+not always. The usual height of the fog from the ground is seven or
+eight hundred feet. It never exceeds a height of twelve hundred feet,
+nor is found at all beyond a few miles from the coast, at which
+distance it is replaced by violent rains. The boundary line between
+rain and fog may be determined with almost mathematical accuracy. Dr
+Tschudi visited two plantations, one about six leagues from Lima, the
+other in the neighbourhood of Huacho, one half of which was annually
+watered by the _garuas_, and the other half by rain. A wall was built
+upon the line where one mode of irrigation ceased and the other began.
+
+The province of Yca, whose soil is sandy, and to all appearance
+incapable of producing any description of vegetation, is devoted to
+the culture of the vine, which perfectly succeeds there. The young
+plants are set half a foot deep in the sand, and left to themselves;
+they speedily put forth leaves, and yield a luxuriant crop of grapes,
+remarkable for flavour and juiciness. These are mostly used for
+brandy, with which the whole of Peru and great part of Chili are
+supplied from the valley of Yca. It is of excellent quality,
+especially a sort made from muscatel grapes, and called _aguardiente
+de Italia_. Very little wine is made, except by one planter, Don
+Domingo Elias, who has attempted it after the European fashion. The
+result has been a wine resembling Madeira and Teneriffe, only much
+more fiery, and containing a larger proportion of alcohol. The brandy
+was formerly conveyed to the coast in huge earthen _botijas_, capable
+of containing one hundred and fifty to one hundred and seventy-five
+pounds weight of the liquor; but these were continually broken,
+chiefly by the thirsty mules across which they were slung like
+panniers, and who, when rushing in crowds to the watering-places,
+invariably smashed a number of them against each other. To remedy this
+the brandy-growers have adopted the use of goat-skins; and the manner
+in which, upon many plantations, these are prepared, is as frightful a
+piece of barbarity as can well be imagined. A negro hangs up the goat,
+alive, by the horns, makes a circular cut through the skin of the
+neck, and strips the hide from the agonized beast, which is only
+killed when completely flayed. The pretext for this execrable cruelty
+is, that the skin comes off more easily, and is found more durable. It
+is to be hoped that the planters will have sufficient humanity
+speedily to do away with so horrible a practice.
+
+The negro carnival, which Dr Tschudi witnessed at Yca, appears to us,
+of the two, a more civilized performance than the Creole carnival at
+Lima. In various of the streets large arches, tastefully decorated
+with ribands, are erected; the negresses and zambas dance beneath
+then; whilst the allotted task of the men is to gallop through without
+being stopped. If the women succeed in checking the horse, and pulling
+the rider out of the saddle, the latter has to pay a fine, and gets
+laughed at to boot. It is difficult to know which to admire most; the
+speed of the horses, the skill of the riders, or the daring of the
+women, who throw themselves upon the horse as he comes on at full
+gallop. As the horsemen approach, they are pelted with unripe oranges,
+which, thrown by a strong-armed zamba, are capable of inflicting
+tolerably hard knocks. Dr Tschudi saw one negro who, during a whole
+hour, galloped backwards and forwards without being stopped, and
+concluded by giving an extraordinary proof of muscular strength. At
+the very moment that he passed under the arch, he stooped forward over
+his horse's neck, caught up a negress under each arm, and rode off
+with them!
+
+Opposite to the ports of Pisco and Chincha, lie a number of small
+islands, noted for their large deposits of guano, or _huanu_, as Dr
+Tschudi corrects the orthography of the word. The doctor gives some
+very interesting particulars concerning this efficacious manure,
+which, although but recently adopted in Europe, appears to have been
+used in Peru as far back as the time of the first Incas. The Peruvians
+use it chiefly for the maize and potato fields; their manner of
+employing it is peculiar, and but little known in Europe. A few weeks
+after the seeds have begun to germinate, a small hole is made beside
+each plant, filled with huanu and covered up with earth. Twelve or
+fifteen hours later the whole field is laid under water, and left so
+for a few hours. The effect of the process is incredibly rapid. In a
+very few days the plants attain double their previous height. When the
+operation is repeated, but with a smaller quantity of the huanu, the
+farmer may reckon upon a crop at least threefold that which he would
+obtain from an unmanured soil. Of the white huanu, which is much
+stronger than the dark-coloured, less must be used, and the field must
+be watered sooner, and for a longer time, or the roots will be
+destroyed. When the land is tolerably good, seven hundred and fifty to
+nine hundred pounds of huanu are reckoned sufficient for a surface of
+fourteen thousand square feet; with poor soil a thousand to twelve
+hundred pounds are required.
+
+The waters that wash the coast of Peru swarm with fish, upon many of
+which nature has amused herself in bestowing the most singular and
+anomalous forms. For a period of six weeks, Dr Tschudi took up his
+abode at the port of Huacho, with a view to increase his
+ichthyological collection. Every morning at five o'clock he rode down
+to the beach to await the return of the fishermen from their nocturnal
+expeditions. From as far as they could distinguish him, the Indians
+would hold up to his notice some strange and newly captured variety of
+the finny race. He succeeded in getting together many hundred
+specimens of about a hundred and twenty species of sea and river fish;
+but ill luck attended this valuable collection. Through the negligence
+of the people at the port of Callao, a cask of brandy, in which the
+fish were preserved, was left for months upon the mole in the burning
+sun, till its contents were completely spoiled. A second cask, in
+spite of the most careful packing, arrived in Europe, after a fifteen
+months' voyage, in a similar condition. This, however, was not the
+only instance, during the doctor's stay in Peru, of the fruits of
+great industry, and trouble, and heavy expense, being snatched from
+him by untoward accidents. But nothing seems to have discouraged a man
+actuated by a sincere love of science and thirst for information, and
+possessed, as is made manifest by many parts of his modest and
+unegotistical narrative, of great determination and perseverance.
+Steadily he continued his researches, in defiance of difficulties and
+sufferings that would have driven ordinary men over and over again on
+board the first ship sailing for Europe.
+
+We have as yet scarcely referred to those portions of the volume
+dedicated to natural history, although the doctor rarely dismisses a
+province or district without giving a brief but interesting account of
+its most remarkable animals, fruits, and plants. His description of
+some of these is very curious. Amongst others, he tells us of a small
+bird called the _cheucau_, (Pteroptochus rubecula Kittl,) in connexion
+with which the people of Chiloë, of which island it is a native,
+entertain a host of superstitious fancies, foretelling good or bad
+luck according to the various modulations of its song. "I was one
+day," says the doctor, "out shooting with an Indian guide, when we
+came upon one of these birds, sitting on a bush and piping out a
+shrill _huit-huit-ru_. I had already taken aim at it, when my
+companion seized my arm, and begged me not to shoot it, for that it
+was singing its unlucky note. Wishing to obtain a specimen, I
+disregarded his entreaty and fired. I had leaned my gun against a
+tree, and was examining the little bird, when a vicious mule,
+irritated probably by the report, came charging down upon us, so that
+we had only just time to run behind a hedge in order to escape his
+attack. Before we could find means to drive the enraged animal away,
+he had thrown down my gun, bitten it furiously, and stamped on it with
+his fore-feet. The Indian gravely said that it would be well if no
+worse came of it, for that he had told me the bird was whistling bad
+luck." There is another bird, about the size of a starling, which
+passes its time, and finds its food, upon the backs of the cattle, and
+chiefly of horses and jackasses, picking out the insects which there
+abound. The beasts seem to feel that he is doing them a service, and
+allow him to walk unmolested over their backs and heads. Of the beasts
+of prey, the ounce is the most dangerous and bloodthirsty. It attains
+a very large size, and Dr Tschudi saw the carcass of one that measured
+eight feet and three inches from the nose to the extremity of the
+tail. The tail was two feet and eight inches long. It had been killed
+after a two days' hunt, during which, three negroes had been
+dangerously wounded by it. Of Peruvian fruits, the most delicious is
+the chirimoya. It is of a round form, sometimes heart-shaped or
+pyramidal, its rind thick and tough, of a green colour streaked with
+black. The inside is snow-white, soft and juicy, with black pips or
+seeds. Near Lima, they are small and of inferior quality, sometimes
+not larger than a man's fist; but in the interior, and especially in
+the province of Huanuco, they attain their full perfection, and often
+weigh fourteen or sixteen pounds. Their smell is most fragrant, and
+their delicious flavour, Dr Tschudi says, he can compare to nothing,
+for it is incomparable.
+
+We perceive, on glancing over what we have written, that we have
+occupied ourselves chiefly with the lighter portions of this book,
+and, by so doing, may have given the reader an erroneous idea of its
+value. Although, as already mentioned, the more important and
+scientific results of Dr Tschudi's travels are to be found in others
+of his works, the one before us must not be set down as a mere amusing
+and ephemeral production. It contains a great deal of curious
+information, and will be found useful as a book of reference by all
+who are interested in the commerce, natural history, and general
+statistics of Peru.
+
+Notwithstanding our endeavours to "go a-head," we have got no further
+than the conclusion of the first volume. In the second, which is also
+the final one, the doctor abandons the coast and the city, and
+penetrates into what may be termed the Peruvian back-woods, amongst
+the snow-covered Cordilleras and aboriginal forests, the silver mines
+and Indians. Of what he there saw and heard we shall give an account
+in our next Number.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] _Peru. Reiseskizzen aus den Jahren 1838-1842._ _Von_ J. J. VON
+TSCHUDI. St Gall: 1846.
+
+[2] _Untersuchungen über die Fauna Peruana._ St Gall: 1846.
+
+[3] An Historical and Descriptive Narrative of Twenty Years' Residence
+in South America. Containing Travels in Arauco, Chili, Peru, and
+Columbia; with an account of the Revolution, its rise, progress, and
+results; by W. B. STEVENSON. London: 1825.
+
+[4] Europeans are apt to attach the idea of some particular colour to
+the word Creole. It is a vulgar error. Creole (Spanish, Criollo) is
+derived from _criar_, to breed or produce, and is applied to native
+Americans descended from 'Old World' parents. Thus there are black
+Creoles as well as white, and a horse or a dog may be a Creole as well
+as a man, so long as the European or African blood is preserved
+unmixed.
+
+[5] The day and the event strangely coincide with the passage in
+Schiller's "Wilhelm Tell"--
+
+                    "'s ist Simon und Judä
+    Da rast der See und will sein Opfer haben."
+
+
+
+
+LETTERS ON ENGLISH HEXAMETERS.
+
+LETTER I.
+
+
+DEAR MR EDITOR--I perceive, by your having requested a second specimen
+of N.N.T.'s English hexameters, that you feel an interest in the
+question, whether that form of verse can be successfully employed in
+our language. Certainly the trial has never yet been made under any
+moderate advantages. Sidney, and the other Elizabethans, in their
+attempts, hampered themselves with Latin rules of the value of
+syllables, which the English ear refuses to recognise, and which drive
+them into intolerable harshness of expression and pronunciation.
+Stanihurst's _Virgil_ is so laboriously ridiculous in phraseology,
+that every thing belonging to it is involved in the ridicule.
+Southey's _Vision_ is a poem so offensive in its scheme, that no
+measure could have made it acceptable. Yet the beginning of that poem
+is, as you, Mr Editor, have remarked, a very happy specimen of this
+kind of verse; and would, I think, by a common English reader, be
+admired, independently of classical rules and classical recollections.
+Now, if we can reach this point, and at the same time give a good
+English imitation of the Epic mode of narration in Homer, we shall
+have a better image of Homer in our language than we yet possess. Your
+contributor appears to me to have advanced a good way towards the
+execution of this kind of work; and I should be glad if he, or you,
+would allow me, as a reader of English hexameters, to offer a few
+remarks on his first book of the _Iliad_, with a view to point out
+what appear to me the dangers and difficulties of the task. I do not
+say any thing of my general admiration of N.N.T.'s version, for mere
+praise you would hardly think worth its room.
+
+I should be glad to discuss with you, Mr Editor, the objections which
+are usually made to English hexameters. There is one of these
+objections which I will say a few words about at present. It proceeds
+upon a misapprehension, now, I hope, pretty generally rectified; I
+mean the objection that we cannot have hexameters, "because we have so
+few spondees the language." Southey says we have but one, _Egypt_; and
+gives this as a reason why the spondees of classical hexameters are
+replaced by trochees in German and English. As to Southey's example,
+_Egypt_ is no more a spondee than _precept_ or _rescript_; but the
+fact is, that we have in English spondees in abundance; and these
+spondees have tended more than any thing else to spoil our hexameters.
+The universal English feeling of rhythm rejects a spondee at the end
+of the verse; and if the syllables there placed are such as would, in
+the natural course of pronunciation, form a spondee, we nevertheless
+force upon them a trochaic character. This may be worth proving. Read,
+then, the following lines of Sidney:--
+
+  "But yet well do I find each man most wise in his _own case_."
+
+  "And yet neither of ūs great ōr blest deemeth his _own self_."
+
+  "Shall such morning dews be an ease to heat of a _love's fire_?"
+
+  "Tush, tush, said Natūre, this is all but a trifle; a _man's self_
+   Gives haps or mishaps, ev'n as he ord'reth his heart."
+
+Now, here you have four endings which are naturally spondees; but the
+verse compels you to pronounce them as trochees--_ōwn căse_, _ōwn
+sĕlf_, _lōve's fĭre_, _mān's sĕlf_. If you still doubt whether the
+last foot of English hexameters is necessarily a trochee, consider
+this:--that if you make them rhyme, you must use double rhymes, in
+order that the rhyme may include the strong syllable. Thus take any of
+the examples given in _Maga_ for April last:--
+
+  "See, O citizens! here old Ennius's image pre_sented_.
+   Honour me not with your tears; by none let my death be la_mented_."
+
+The ear would not be satisfied with a rhyme of one syllable such as
+this--
+
+  "But yet well do I find each man most wise in his own _case_:
+   Wisely let each resolve, and meet the event with a calm _face_."
+
+Now, so long as men retain the notion that the most perfect English
+hexameters are those which have spondees in the classical places, they
+are led to admit such verses as those just quoted; and this being
+done, the common reader, and indeed every reader, is compelled to do
+some violence to the language in reading. This, more than any thing
+else, has made an English hexameter frequently sound forced and
+unnatural. N.N.T. has a few such in his first _Iliad_.
+
+  "Pressed on the silvery hilt as he spake was the weight of his
+      _right hand_."
+
+  "Two generations complete of the blood of articulate _mankind_."
+
+  "Over the split wood then did the old man burn them, and _black wine_
+   Pour'd."
+
+These forms of English hexameter are to be avoided, if you would
+commend the verse to the common ear. And we may exclude them with a
+good conscience. Their forced and uneasy movement does not arise from
+any imperfection in our English spondees; but from the spondee in
+these cases being so perfect, that it cannot without some violence be
+made a trochee, which the English verse requires. I do not think you
+will find this bad trick in Southey. His habitual feeling of English
+rhythm preserved him from it.
+
+But there is another blemish, which Southey, forgetting his classical
+rhythm too much, for it ought to have guided his English practice, has
+often incurred. It is, the writing lines without a _cæsura_, so that
+they divide themselves into half lines. Such as these:--
+
+  "Washington, said the monarch, | well hast thou spoken and truly."
+
+  "Evil they sow, and sorrow | will they reap for their harvest."
+
+  "That its tribute of honour, | poor though it was, was witholden."
+
+  "Pure it was and diaphanous. | It had no visible lustre."
+
+N.N.T. has a few of these. One is the last line I quoted from him.
+
+The essential point in English hexameters, especially while they are
+imperfectly naturalized, is, that the rhythm should be _unforced_.
+Without this, they will always repel and offend the English reader.
+And hence, though our rhythm is to be constructed by stress, and not
+by Latin rules of long and short, still, if it do not destroy it mars
+the verse, to have, for short syllables, those which have long vowels,
+clustered consonants, or special emphasis.
+
+Such are the dactyls at the beginning of these lines of Southey:--
+
+  "Thōu, tŏo, dĭdst act with upright heart as befitted a sovereign."
+
+  "Hēaven ĭn thĕse things fulfilled its wise though inscrutable
+        purpose."
+
+  "Heār, Heăv'n! y̆e angels hear! souls of the good and the wicked."
+
+Except you prefer to read it thus--
+
+      "Hear, Heav'n! yē ăngĕls hear!"
+
+which is no better. Perhaps the worst of Southey's lines in this way
+is this--
+
+    "Flōw'd thĕ lĭght ūncrēātĕd; lĭght all sufficing, eternal."
+
+And as examples of weak syllables harshly made strong, take these--
+
+  "Fabius, Ātrides, and Solon and Epamininondas."
+
+  "Here, then, āt the gate of Heaven we are met! said the Spirit."
+
+  "Thē desire of my heart hath been alway the good of my people."
+
+N.N.T. has some examples of this. As a slight one, I notice at the end
+of a line, _hārvĕstlĕss ocean_. And these, which are spoiled by the
+violation of emphasis:--
+
+  "Trūly _Ĭ_ came not, for one, out of hate for the spearmen of Troja."
+
+  "Mightier even than you, yet amōng _thĕm_ Ĭ never was slighted."
+
+Here we have an emphatic _I_ and an emphatic _them_ which are made
+short in the rhythm.
+
+N.N.T. has one dactyl which I can hardly suppose was intended--
+
+  "Under his chāstĭsĭng hand."
+
+It appears to me that we shall never bring the lovers of English
+poetry to like our hexameters, except we can make the verses so that
+they _read themselves_. This the good ones among them do. N.N.T. has
+whole passages which run off without any violence or distortion.
+
+But the phraseology of English hexameters requires great care, as well
+as the rhythm, and especially in such a work as the translation of
+Homer. The measure has the great advantage of freeing us from the
+habitual chain of "poetical diction." But we must take care that we
+are not led, by this freedom, either into a modern prose style, or
+into mean colloquialities; or in translating, into phrases which,
+though expressive and lively, do not agree with the tone of the poem.
+The style must be homely, but dignified, like that of our translation
+of the Old Testament. Perhaps you will allow me, for the sake of
+example, to notice some of N.N.T.'s expressions:--
+
+  "Try not the engine of craft: to _come over me_ thus is _beyond thee_."
+
+  "This the _suggestion_, _forsooth_, that thyself being safe with thy
+      booty,
+   I shall _sit down_ without mine."
+
+The phrase to "_come over me_" is colloquial, and too low even for a
+letter. "Your _suggestion_" is a phrase for a letter, not for an epic
+poem. "_Forsooth_" would be good in construing, but not in a poem.
+Again, is this passage serious English:--
+
+  "Opposite rose Agamemnon in wrath, but before he could _open_?"
+
+I could notice other blemishes of style, as they seem to me; and,
+indeed, I could the more easily find them, on account of the very
+severe standard of good English, serious and dignified, yet plain and
+idiomatic, which I think the case requires. Every phrase should be the
+very best that can be found both for meaning and tone. I know that
+this requirement is difficult; but I think the thing may be done; and
+I do not see why N.N.T. should not do it, and thus give us a better
+English Homer than we have yet.
+
+If you can find room for me, I have a few more words to say on this
+same matter of English hexameters another day. It appears to me that
+there are still very erroneous notions current upon the subject. In
+the mean time I subscribe myself your obedient
+
+            M. L.
+
+
+
+
+MARLBOROUGH'S DISPATCHES.
+
+1708-1709.
+
+
+The fall of the external walls of Lille did not terminate the struggle
+for that important fortress. Marshal Boufflers still held the citadel,
+a stronghold in itself equal to most fortresses of the first order. No
+sooner, however, were the Allies in possession of the town, than the
+attack on the citadel commenced with all the vigour which the
+exhausted state of the magazines would furnish. Detached parties were
+sent into France, which levied contributions to a great extent, and
+both replenished the stores of the Allies and depressed the spirits of
+the French, by making them feel, in a manner not to be misunderstood,
+that the war had at length approached their own doors. To divert, if
+possible, Marlborough from his enterprise, the Elector of Bavaria, who
+had recently returned from the Rhine, was detached by Vendôme, with
+fifteen thousand men against Brussels; while he himself remained in
+his intrenched camp on the Scheldt, which barred the road from Lille
+to that city, at once stopping the communication, and ready to profit
+by any advantage afforded by the measures which the English general
+might make for its relief. The governor of Brussels, M. Paschal, who
+had seven thousand men under his orders, rejected the summons to
+surrender, and prepared for a vigorous defence; and meanwhile
+Marlborough prepared for its relief, by one of those brilliant strokes
+which, in so peculiar a manner, characterize his campaigns.
+
+Giving out that he was going to separate his army into
+winter-quarters, he dispatched the field artillery towards Menin, and
+he himself set out with his staff in rather an ostentatious way for
+Courtray. But no sooner had he lulled the vigilance of the enemy by
+these steps, than, wheeling suddenly round, he advanced with the bulk
+of his forces towards the Scheldt, and directed them against that part
+of the French general's lines where he knew them to be weakest. The
+army, upon seeing these movements, anticipated the bloodiest battle,
+on the day following, they had yet had during the war. But the skill
+of the English general rendered resistance hopeless, and gained his
+object with wonderfully little loss. The passage of the river was
+rapidly effected at three points; the French corps stationed at
+Oudenarde, vigorously assailed and driven back on Grammont with the
+loss of twelve hundred men, so as to leave the road uncovered, and
+restore the communication with Brussels. Having thus cleared the way
+of the enemy, Marlborough sent back Eugene to resume the siege of the
+citadel of Lille; while he himself, with the greater part of his
+forces, proceeded on to Brussels, which he entered in triumph on the
+29th November. The Elector of Bavaria was too happy to escape, leaving
+his guns and wounded behind; and the citadel of Lille, despairing now
+of succour, capitulated on the 11th December. Thus was this memorable
+campaign terminated by the capture of the strongest frontier fortress
+of France, under the eyes of its best general and most powerful
+army.[6]
+
+But Marlborough, like the hero in antiquity, deemed nothing done while
+any thing remained to do. Though his troops were exhausted by marching
+and fighting almost without intermission for five months, and he
+himself was labouring under severe illness in consequence of his
+fatigues, he resolved in the depth of winter to make an attempt for
+the recovery of Ghent, the loss of which in the early part of the
+campaign had been the subject of deep mortification. The enemy, after
+the citadel of Lille capitulated, having naturally broken up their
+army into cantonments, under the belief that the campaign was
+concluded, he suddenly collected his forces, and drew round Ghent on
+the 18th December. Eugene formed the covering force with the corps
+lately employed in the reduction of Lille. The garrison was very
+strong, consisting of no less than thirty battalions and nineteen
+squadrons, mustering eighteen thousand combatants.[7] The governor had
+been instructed by Vendôme to defend this important stronghold to the
+last extremity; but he was inadequately supplied with provisions and
+forage, and this event signally belied the expectations formed of his
+resistance. The approaches were vigorously pushed. On the 24th the
+trenches were opened; on the 25th a sortie was repulsed; on the 28th
+December, the fire began with great vigour from the breaching and
+mortar batteries; and at noon, the governor sent a flag of truce,
+offering to capitulate if not relieved before the 2d January. This was
+agreed to; and on the latter day, as no friendly force approached, the
+garrison surrendered the gates and marched out, in such strength that
+they were defiling incessantly from ten in the morning till seven at
+night! Bruges immediately followed the example; the garrison
+capitulated, and the town again hoisted the Austrian flag. The minor
+forts of Plassendall and Leffinghen were immediately evacuated by the
+enemy. With such expedition were these important operations conducted,
+that before Vendôme could even assemble a force adequate to interrupt
+the besiegers' operations, both towns were taken, and the French were
+entirely dispossessed of all the important strongholds they had gained
+in the early part of the campaign in the heart of Brabant. Having
+closed his labours with these glorious successes, Marlborough put the
+army into now secure winter-quarters on the Flemish frontiers, and
+himself repaired to the Hague to resume the eternal contest with the
+timidity and selfishness of his Dutch allies.[8]
+
+Such was the memorable campaign of 1708--one of the most glorious in
+the military annals of England, and the one in which the extraordinary
+capacity of the British general perhaps shone forth with the brightest
+lustre. The vigour and talent of Vendôme, joined to the secret
+communication which he had with those disaffected to the Austrian
+government in Ghent and Bruges, procured for him, in the commencement
+of the campaign, a great, and what, if opposed by less ability, might
+have proved a decisive advantage. By the acquisition of these towns,
+he gained the immense advantage of obtaining the entire command of the
+water communication of Brabant, and establishing himself in a solid
+manner in the heart of the enemy's territory. The entire expulsion of
+the Allies from Austrian Flanders seemed the unavoidable result of
+such a success, by so enterprising a general at the head of a hundred
+thousand combatants. But Marlborough was not discouraged; on the
+contrary, he built on the enemy's early successes a course of
+manœuvres, which in the end wrested all his conquests from him, and
+inflicted a series of disasters greater than could possibly have been
+anticipated from a campaign of unbroken success. Boldly assuming the
+lead, he struck such a blow at Oudenarde as resounded from one end of
+Europe to the other, struck a terror into the enemy which they never
+recovered for the remainder of the campaign, paralysed Vendôme in the
+midst of his success, and reduced him from a vigorous offensive to a
+painful defensive struggle. While the cabinet of Versailles were
+dreaming of expelling the Allies from Flanders, and detaching Holland,
+partly by intrigue, partly by force of arms, from the coalition, he
+boldly entered the territory of the Grand Monarque, and laid siege to
+its chief frontier fortress, under the eyes of its greatest army and
+best general. In vain was the water communication of the Netherlands
+interrupted by the enemy's possession of Ghent and Bruges; with
+incredible activity he got together, and with matchless skill
+conducted to the besiegers' lines before Lille, a huge convoy eighteen
+miles long, drawn by sixteen thousand horses, in the very teeth of
+Vendôme at the head of an hundred and twenty thousand men. Lille
+captured, Ghent and Bruges recovered, the allied standards solidly
+planted on the walls of the strongest fortress of France, terminated
+a campaign in which the British, over-matched and surrounded by
+lukewarm or disaffected friends, had wellnigh lost at the outset by
+foreign treachery all the fruits of the victory of Ramilies.
+
+The glorious termination of this campaign, and, above all, the
+addition made to the immediate security of Holland by the recovery of
+Ghent and Bruges, sensibly augmented Marlborough's influence at the
+Hague, and at length overcame the timidity and vacillation of the
+Dutch government. When the English general repaired there in the
+beginning of 1709, he quickly overawed the adherents of France,
+regained his wonted influence over the mind of the Pensionary
+Heinsius, and at length succeeded in persuading the government and the
+States to augment their forces by six thousand men. This, though by no
+means so great an accession of numbers as was required to meet the
+vast efforts which France was making, was still a considerable
+addition; and by the influence of Prince Eugene, who was well aware
+that the principal effort of the enemy in the next campaign would be
+made in the Netherlands, he obtained a promise that the Imperial
+troops should winter there, and be recruited, so as to compensate
+their losses in the preceding campaign. Great difficulties were
+experienced with the court of Turin, which had conceived the most
+extravagant hopes from the project of an invasion of France on the
+side both of Lyons and Franche Comté, and for this purpose required a
+large subsidy in money, and the aid of fifty thousand men under Prince
+Eugene on the Upper Rhine. Marlborough was too well aware, by
+experience, of the little reliance to be placed on any military
+operations in which the Emperor and the Italian powers were to be
+placed in co-operation, to be sanguine of success from this design;
+but as it was material to keep the court of Turin in good-humour, he
+gave the proposal the most respectful attention, and sent General
+Palmer on a special mission to the Duke of Savoy, to arrange the plan
+of the proposed irruption into the Lyonnois. With the cabinet of
+Berlin the difficulties were greater than ever, and in fact had become
+so urgent, that nothing but the presence of the English General, or an
+immediate agent from him, could prevent Prussia from seceding
+altogether from the alliance. General Grumbkow was sent there
+accordingly in March, and found the king in such ill-humour at the
+repeated disappointments he had experienced from the Emperor and the
+Dutch, that he declared he could only spare _three battalions_ for the
+approaching campaign.[9] By great exertions, however, and the aid of
+Marlborough's letters and influence, the king was at length prevailed
+on to continue his present troops in the Low Countries, and increase
+them by fourteen squadrons of horse.[10]
+
+But it was not on the Continent only that open enemies or lukewarm and
+treacherous friends were striving to arrest the course of
+Marlborough's victories. His difficulties at home, both with his own
+party and his opponents, were hourly increasing; and it was already
+foreseen, that they had become so formidable that they would cause, at
+no very remote period, his fall. Though he was publicly thanked, as
+well he might, by both houses of parliament, when he came to London on
+1st March 1709, yet he received no mark of favour from the Queen, and
+was treated with studied coldness at court.[11] Envy, the inseparable
+attendant on exalted merit--ingratitude, the usual result of
+irrequitable services, had completely alienated the Queen from him.
+Mrs Masham omitted nothing which could alienate her royal mistress
+from so formidable a rival; and it was hard to say whether she was
+most cordially aided in her efforts by the open Opposition, or the
+half Tory-Whigs who formed the administration. Both Godolphin and the
+Duke speedily found that they were tolerated in office merely: while,
+in order to weaken their influence with the people, every effort was
+made to depreciate even the glorious victories which had shed such
+imperishable lustre over the British cause. Deeply mortified by this
+ingratitude, Marlborough gladly embraced an offer which was made to
+him by the government, in order to remove him from court, to conduct
+the negotiation now pending at the Hague with Louis XIV. for the
+conclusion of a general peace.[12]
+
+The pride of the French monarch was now so much humbled that he sent
+the President Rouillé to Holland, with public instructions to offer
+terms to the Allies, and private directions to do every thing possible
+to sow dissension among them, and, if possible, detach Holland from
+the alliance. His proposals were to give up Spain, the Indies, and the
+Milanese to King Charles; and cede the Italian islands, reserving
+Naples and Sicily for his grandson. In the Netherlands and Germany, he
+offered to restore matters to the state they were at the peace of
+Ryswick; and though he was very reluctant to give up Lille, he offered
+to cede Menin in its place. These terms being communicated to the
+court of London, they returned an answer insisting that the whole
+Spanish monarchy should be restored to the house of Austria, the title
+of Queen Anne to the Crown of England, and the Protestant succession
+acknowledged, the Pretender removed, the harbour of Dunkirk destroyed,
+and an adequate barrier secured for the Dutch. In their ideas upon
+this barrier, however, they went much beyond what Marlborough was
+disposed to sanction, and therefore he maintained a prudent reserve on
+the subject. As the French plenipotentiary could not agree to these
+terms, Marlborough returned to England, and Lord Townsend was
+associated with him as plenipotentiary. They were instructed to insist
+that Furmes, Ipres, Menin, Lille, Tournay, Condé, Valenciennes, and
+Maubeuge, should be given up to form a barrier, and that Newfoundland
+and Hudson's Bay should be restored. Alarmed at the exaction of such
+rigorous terms, Louis sent M. de Torcy, who made large concessions;
+and Marlborough, who was seriously desirous of bringing the war to a
+conclusion, exerted all his influence with the States to induce them
+to accept the barrier offered. He so far succeeded, that on the very
+day after his return to the Hague, he wrote both to Lord Godolphin and
+the Duchess of Marlborough, that he had prevailed on the Dutch
+commissioners to accede to the principal articles, and that he had no
+doubt the negotiation would terminate in an honourable peace.[13]
+
+These flattering prospects, however, were soon overcast. The Dutch
+renewed their demand of having their barrier strengthened _at the
+expense of Austria_, and insisted that the Flemish fortresses of
+Dendermonde and Ghent, forming part of the _Imperial_ dominions,
+should be included in it. To this both Eugene and Marlborough
+objected, and the Dutch, in spite, refused to stipulate for the
+demolition of Dunkirk. So violent an altercation took place on the
+subject between the Pensionary Heinsius and Marlborough, that it had
+wellnigh produced a schism in the grand alliance. M. de Torcy at first
+endeavoured to mitigate the demands of the Dutch government; but
+finding them altogether immovable, he addressed himself privately to
+Marlborough, offering him enormous bribes if he could procure more
+favourable terms for France. The offers were 2,000,000 livres
+(£80,000) if he could secure Naples and Sicily, or even Naples alone,
+for the grandson of the King of France; and 4,000,000 livres
+(£160,000) if, in addition to this, he could save Strasburg, Dunkirk,
+and Landau, for France. Marlborough turned away from the disgraceful
+proposal with coldness and contempt;[14] but enforced in the most
+earnest manner on the French king, the prudence and even necessity of
+yielding to the proffered terms, if he would save his country from
+dismemberment, and himself from ruin. His efforts, however, to bring
+matters to an accommodation with France proved ineffectual; and after
+some weeks longer spent in proposals and counter-proposals, the
+ultimatum of the Allies was finally delivered to the French
+plenipotentiary by the Pensionary of Holland.[15]
+
+By this ultimatum, Charles was to be acknowledged King of Spain and
+the Indies, and the whole Spanish monarchy was to be ceded by France.
+All the conquests of Louis in the Low Countries were to be given up;
+the Duke of Anjou was to surrender Spain and Sicily in two months, and
+if not delivered, Louis was to concur with the Allies for his
+expulsion. The barrier towns, so eagerly coveted by the Dutch, were to
+be given up to them. Namur, Menin, Charleroi, Luxembourg, Condé,
+Tournay, Maubeuge, Nieuport, Fismes, and Ipres, were to be put into
+the possession of the Allies. De Torcy objected to the articles
+regarding the cession of the whole Spanish monarchy in two months;
+though he declared his willingness to go to Paris, in order to
+persuade the French monarch to comply with them, and actually set off
+for that purpose. On the way to the French capital, however, he was
+met by a messenger from the French king, who rejected the proposals.
+"If I must continue the war," said Louis, with a spirit worthy his
+race, "it is better to contend with my enemies than my own family." So
+confidently had it been believed, both at the Hague and in London,
+that peace was not only probable, but actually concluded, that letters
+of congratulation poured in on the duke from all quarters, celebrating
+his dexterity and address in negotiation not less than his prowess in
+arms. So confident, indeed, was Marlborough that peace would be
+concluded, that he was grievously disappointed by the rupture of the
+negotiations; and never ceased to strive, during the whole summer, to
+smooth away difficulties, and bring the Allies to such terms as the
+French king would accept. He was overruled, however, by the ministry
+at home, who concluded the celebrated barrier treaty with the Dutch,
+which Marlborough refused to sign, and was accordingly signed by
+Townsend alone, without his concurrence! And it is now decisively
+proved by the publication of his private correspondence with Lord
+Godolphin, that he disapproved of the severe articles insisted upon by
+the Allies and his own cabinet; and that, if he had had the
+uncontrolled management of the negotiation, it would have been brought
+to a favourable issue on terms highly advantageous to England, and
+which would have prevented the treaty of Utrecht from forming a stain
+on its annals.[16]
+
+The rigorous terms demanded, however, by the Allied cabinets, and the
+resolute conduct of the King of France in rejecting them, had an
+important effect upon the war, and called for more vigorous efforts on
+the part of the confederates than they had yet put forth, or were even
+now disposed to make. Louis made a touching appeal to the patriotic
+spirit of his people, in an eloquent circular which he addressed to
+the prelates and nobles of his realm. He there set forth the great
+sacrifices which he had offered to make to secure a general peace;
+showed how willing he had been to divest himself of all his conquests,
+abandon all his dreams of ambition; and concluded by observing, that
+he was now compelled to continue the contest, because the Allies
+insisted upon his descending to the humiliation of joining his arms to
+theirs to dispossess his own grandson. The appeal was not made in vain
+to the spirit of a gallant nobility, and the patriotism of a brave
+people. It kindled a spark of general enthusiasm and loyalty: all
+ranks and parties vied with each other in contributing their property
+and personal service for the maintenance of the war; and the campaign
+which opened under such disastrous auspices, was commenced with a
+degree of energy and unanimity on the part of the French people which
+had never hitherto been evinced in the course of the contest.[17] As
+afterwards, in the wars of the Revolution, too, the misfortunes of the
+state tended to the increase of its military forces. The stoppage of
+commerce, and shock to credit, threw numbers out of employment; and
+starving multitudes crowded to the frontier, to find that subsistence
+amidst the dangers of war which they could no longer find in the
+occupations of peace.
+
+Skilfully availing themselves of this burst of patriotic fervour, the
+ministers of Louis were enabled to open the campaign with greater
+forces than they had yet accumulated since the beginning of the war.
+The principal effort was made in Flanders, where the chief danger was
+to be apprehended, and the enemy's most powerful army and greatest
+general were to be faced. Fifty-one battalions and forty-nine
+squadrons were drawn from the Rhine to Flanders; and this great
+reinforcement, joined to the crowds of recruits whom the public
+distress impelled to his standards, enabled the renowned Marshal
+Villars, who had received the command of the French, to take the field
+at the head of 112,000 men. With this imposing force, he took a
+position, strong both by nature and art, extending from Douay to the
+Lye; the right resting on the canal of Douay, the centre covered by
+the village of La Bassie, the left supported by Bethune and its
+circumjacent marshes. The whole line was strengthened by redoubts and
+partial inundations. Marlborough was at the head of 110,000 men, and
+although his force was composed of a heterogeneous mixture of the
+troops of different nations, yet, like the _colluvies omnium gentium_
+which followed the standards of Hannibal, it was held together by the
+firm bond of military success, and inspired with unbounded confidence,
+founded on experience, in the resources and capacity of its chief.
+Events of the greatest and most interesting kind could not but be
+anticipated, when two armies of such magnitude, headed by such
+leaders, were brought into collision; and the patriotic ardour of the
+French nation, now roused to the uttermost, was matched against the
+military strength of the confederates, matured by so long and
+brilliant a series of victories.[18]
+
+Though relying with confidence on the skill and intrepidity of his
+troops, Marlborough, according to his usual system, resolved if
+possible to circumvent the enemy by manœuvring, and reserve his hard
+blows for the time when success was to be won in no other way. His
+design was to begin the campaign with a general battle, or the
+reduction of Tournay, which lay on the direct road from Brussels by
+Mons to Paris, and would break through, in the most important part,
+the barrier fortresses. To prepare for either event, and divert the
+enemy's attention, strong demonstrations were made against Villars'
+intrenched position, and if it had been practicable, it would have
+been attacked; but after a close reconnoitre, both generals deemed it
+too hazardous an enterprise, and it was resolved to besiege the
+fortress. On the 23d June, the right under Eugene crossed the lower
+Dyle below Lille; while the left, with whom were the whole English and
+Dutch contingents, crossed the upper Dyle, and Marlborough fixed his
+headquarters at the castle of Looz. So threatening were the masses
+which the Allies now accumulated in his front, that Villars never
+doubted he was about to be attacked; and in consequence he
+strengthened his position to the utmost of his power, called in all
+his detachments, and drew considerable reinforcements from the
+garrisons of Tournay and other fortresses in his vicinity. Having thus
+fixed his antagonist's attention, and concentrated his force in his
+intrenched lines between Douay and Bethune, Marlborough suddenly moved
+off to the left, in the direction of Tournay. This was done, however,
+with every imaginable precaution to impose upon the enemy. They
+decamped at nightfall on the 27th in dead silence, and advanced part
+of the night straight towards the French lines; but at two in the
+morning, the troops were suddenly halted, wheeled to the left, and
+marched in two columns, by Pont à Bovines and Pont à Tressins, towards
+Tournay. So expeditiously was the change in the line of march managed,
+and so complete the surprise, that by seven in the morning the troops
+were drawn round Tournay, and the investment complete, while a half of
+the garrison was still absent in the lines of Marshal Villars, and it
+was thereby rendered incapable of making any effectual defence.
+Meanwhile, that commander was so deceived, that he was congratulating
+himself that the enemy had "fixed on the siege of Tournay, which
+should occupy them the whole remainder of the campaign; when it is
+evident their design had been, after defeating me, to thunder against
+Aire la Venant with their heavy artillery, penetrate as far as
+Boulogne, and after laying all Picardy under contribution, push on
+even to Paris."[19]
+
+Tournay is an old town, the ancient walls of which are of wide
+circuit; but it had a series of advanced works erected by Vauban, and
+its citadel, a regular pentagon, was considered by the great Condé as
+one of the most perfect specimens of modern fortification in
+existence. So little did the governor expect their approach, that many
+of the officers were absent, and a detachment of the garrison, sent
+out to forage, was made prisoners by General Lumley, who commanded the
+investing corps. The fortifications, however, were in the best state,
+and the magazines well stored with ammunition and military stores. It
+was the ancient capital of the Nervii, so celebrated for their valour
+in the wars with Cæsar; and an inscription on its walls testified that
+Louis XIV., after taking it in four days, had assisted in the
+construction of the additional works which would render it
+impregnable. The attempt to take such a place with a force no greater
+than that with which Villars had at hand to interrupt the operations,
+would have been an enterprise of the utmost temerity, and probably
+terminated in disaster, had it not been for the admirable skill with
+which the attention of the enemy had been fixed on another quarter,
+and the siege commenced with half its garrison absent, and what was
+there, imperfectly supplied with provisions.[20]
+
+The heavy artillery and siege equipage required to be brought up the
+Scheldt from Ghent, which in the outset occasioned some delay in the
+operations. Marlborough commanded the attacking, Eugene the covering
+forces. By the 6th, however, the approaches were commenced; on the
+10th, the battering train arrived and the trenches armed; repeated
+sallies of the enemy to interrupt the operations were repulsed, and
+several of the outworks carried, between that time and the 21st, on
+which last occasion the besiegers succeeded in establishing themselves
+in the covered ways. The breaching batteries continued to thunder with
+terrible effect upon the walls; and on the 27th, a strong horn-work,
+called of the Seven Fountains, was carried, and the Allies were
+masters of nearly the whole line of the counterscarp. Meanwhile,
+Villars made no serious movement to interrupt the besiegers,
+contenting himself with making demonstrations between the Scarfe and
+the Scheldt to alarm the covering forces. Eugene, however, narrowly
+watched all his proceedings; and in truth the French marshal, far from
+really intending to disquiet the Allies in their operations, was
+busied with an immense army of pioneers and labourers in constructing
+a new set of lines from Douay along the Scarfe to the Scheldt near
+Condé, in order to arrest the progress of the Allies in the direction
+they had now taken. Seeing no prospect of being relieved, the governor
+on the 29th surrendered the town, and retired with the remains of the
+garrison, still four thousand strong, into the citadel.[21]
+
+On the surrender of the town, no time was lost in prosecuting
+operations against the citadel, and the line of circumvallation was
+traced out that very evening. But this undertaking proved more
+difficult than had been expected, and several weeks elapsed before any
+material progress was made in the operations, during which Villars
+made good use of his time in completing his new lines to cover
+Valenciennes and Condé. The garrison of the citadel, though unequal to
+the defence of the town of Tournay, was quite adequate to that of the
+citadel: and the vast mines with which the whole outworks and glacis
+were perforated, rendered the approaches in the highest degree
+perilous and difficult. The governor, M. De Surville, proposed, on the
+5th August, to capitulate in a month if not relieved; and to this
+proposition, Marlborough and Eugene with praiseworthy humanity at once
+acceded: but the King of France refused to ratify the terms proposed,
+unless the suspension of arms was made general to the whole
+Netherlands, to which the allied general would not accede. The
+military operations consequently went on, and soon acquired a degree
+of horror hitherto unparalleled even in that long and bloody contest.
+The art of countermining, and of counteracting the danger of mines
+exploding, was then very imperfectly understood, though that of
+besieging above ground had been brought to the very highest degree of
+perfection. The soldiers, in consequence, entertained a great and
+almost superstitious dread of the perils of that subterraneous
+warfare, where prowess and courage were alike unavailing, and the
+bravest, equally as the most pusillanimous, were liable to be at any
+moment blown into the air, or smothered under ground, by the
+explosions of an unseen, and therefore appalling, enemy. The Allies
+were inferior in regular sappers and miners to the besieged, who were
+singularly well supplied with that important arm of the service. The
+ordinary soldiers, how brave soever in the field, evinced a repugnance
+at engaging in this novel and terrific species of warfare: and it was
+only by personally visiting the trenches in the very hottest of the
+fire, and offering high rewards to the soldiers who would enter into
+the mines, that men could be got who would venture on the perilous
+service.[22]
+
+It was not surprising that even the bravest of the allied troops were
+appalled at the new and extraordinary dangers which now awaited them,
+for they were truly of the most formidable description. What rendered
+them peculiarly so, was, that the perils in a peculiar manner affected
+the bold and the forward. The first to mount a breach, to effect a
+lodgement in a horn-work, to penetrate into a mine, was sure to
+perish. First a hollow rumbling noise was heard, which froze the
+bravest hearts with horror: a violent rush as of a subterraneous
+cataract succeeded; and immediately the earth heaved, and whole
+companies, and even battalions, were destroyed with a frightful
+explosion. On the 15th August a sally by M. De Surville was bravely
+repulsed, and the besiegers, pursuing their advantage, effected a
+lodgement in the outwork: but immediately a mine was sprung, and a
+hundred and fifty men were blown into the air. In the night between
+the 16th and 17th, a long and furious conflict took place below ground
+and in utter darkness, between the contending parties, which at length
+terminated to the advantage of the besiegers.[23] On the 23d a mine
+was discovered, sixty feet long by twenty broad, which would have
+blown up a whole battalion of Hanoverian troops placed above it; but
+while the Allies were in the mine, congratulating themselves on the
+discovery, a mine below it was suddenly sprung, and all within the
+upper one buried in the ruins. On the night of the 25th, three hundred
+men, posted in a large mine discovered to the Allies by an inhabitant
+of Tournay, were crushed by the explosion of another mine directly
+below it; and on the same night, one hundred men posted in the town
+ditch were suddenly buried under a bastion blown out upon them. Great
+was the dismay which these dreadful and unheard-of disasters produced
+among the allied troops. But at length the resolution and energy of
+Marlborough and Eugene triumphed over every obstacle. Early on the
+morning of the 31st August the white flag was displayed, and a
+conference took place between the two commanders in the house of the
+Earl of Albemarle; but the governor having refused to accede to the
+terms demanded--that he should surrender prisoners of war--the fire
+recommenced, and a tremendous discharge from all the batteries took
+place for the next three days. This compelled the brave De Surville to
+submit; and Marlborough, in consideration of his gallant defence,
+permitted the garrison to march out with the honours of war, and
+return to France, on condition of not serving again till exchanged. On
+September 3d the gates were surrendered; and the entire command of
+this strong fortress and rich city, which entirely covered Spanish
+Flanders, was obtained by the Allies.[24]
+
+No sooner was Tournay taken than the allied generals turned their
+eyes to Mons, the next great fortress on the road to Paris, and which,
+with Valenciennes, constituted the only remaining strongholds that lay
+on that line between them and Paris. So anxious was Marlborough to
+hasten operations against this important town, that on the very day on
+which the white flag was displayed from the citadel of Tournay, he
+dispatched Lord Orkney with all the grenadiers of the army, and twenty
+squadrons, to surprise Ghislain, and secure the passage of the Haine.
+On the 3d, the Prince of Hesse-Cassel was dispatched after him with
+4000 foot and 60 squadrons. Lord Orkney, on arriving on the banks of
+the Haine, found the passage so strongly guarded that he did not deem
+it prudent to alarm the enemy by attempting to force them. The Prince
+of Hesse-Cassel, however, was more fortunate. He marched with such
+extraordinary diligence, that he got over forty-nine English miles in
+fifty-six successive hours; a rapidity of advance, for such a
+distance, that had never been surpassed at that, though it has been
+outdone in later times.[25] By this means he reached the Haine on the
+other side of Mons, and surprised the passage near Obourg, at two in
+the morning of the 6th, and at noon he entered the French lines of the
+Trouille without opposition, the enemy retiring with precipitation as
+he advanced. He immediately extended his forces over the valley of the
+Trouille, fixed his headquarters at the abbey of Belian, and with his
+right occupied in strength the important plateau of Jemappes, which
+intercepted the communication between Mons and Valenciennes. It was on
+this height that the famous battle was fought between the French
+Republicans under Dumourier in 1792: another proof among the many
+which history affords how frequently the crisis of war, at long
+distances of time from each other, takes place in the same place. By
+this decisive movement Marlborough gained an immense advantage;--Mons
+was now passed and _invested on the side of France_; and the
+formidable lines, thirty leagues in length, on which Marshal Villars
+had been labouring with such assiduity during the two preceding
+months, were turned and rendered of no avail.[26]
+
+While the Prince of Hesse-Cassel, with the advanced guard of the army,
+gained this brilliant success, Marlborough was rapidly following with
+the main body in the same direction. The force besieging Tournay
+crossed the Scheldt at the bridge of that town, and joined the
+covering force under Eugene. From thence they advanced to Sirant,
+where they were joined by Lord Orkney with his detachment, which had
+failed in passing the Haine. On the 6th, having learned of the success
+of the Prince of Hesse-Cassel, who had turned the enemy's lines, and
+got between Mons and France, the allied generals pushed on with the
+utmost expedition, and leaving their army to form the investment of
+Mons, joined the prince in the abbey of Belian. Both commanders
+bestowed on him the highest compliments for the advantages he had
+gained; but he replied, "The French have deprived me of the glory due
+to such a compliment, since they have not even waited my arrival." In
+truth, such had been the celerity and skill of his dispositions, that
+they had rendered resistance hopeless, and achieved success without
+the necessity of striking a blow. Meanwhile Marshal Boufflers, hearing
+a battle was imminent, arrived in the camp as a volunteer, to serve
+under Villars, his junior in military service; a noble example of
+disinterested patriotism, which, not less than the justly popular
+character of that distinguished general, raised the enthusiasm of the
+French soldiers to the very highest pitch.[27] Every thing announced
+a more sanguinary and important conflict between the renowned
+commanders and gallant armies now arrayed on the opposite sides, than
+had yet taken place since the commencement of the war.[28]
+
+During these rapid and vigorous movements, which entirely turned and
+broke through his much-vaunted lines of defence, Villars remained with
+the great body of his forces in a state of inactivity. Aware he was to
+be attacked, but ignorant where the blow was first likely to fall, he
+judged, and probably rightly, that it would be hazardous to weaken his
+lines at any one point by accumulating forces at another. No sooner,
+however, did he receive intelligence of the march of the Prince of
+Hesse-Cassel, than he broke up from the lines of Douay, and hastily
+collecting his forces, advanced towards that adventurous commander. At
+two in the morning of the 4th, he arrived in front of him with his
+cavalry; but conceiving the whole allied army was before him, he did
+not venture to make an attack at a time when his great superiority of
+force would have enabled him to do it with every chance of success.
+The movement of Villars, however, and general _feux-de-joie_ which
+resounded through the French lines on the arrival of Marshal
+Boufflers, warned the allied leaders that a general battle was at
+hand; and orders were in consequence given to the whole army to
+advance at four o'clock on the afternoon of the 7th. A detachment of
+Eugene's troops was left to watch Mons, the garrison of which
+consisted only of eleven weak battalions and a regiment of horse, not
+mustering above five thousand combatants; and the whole remainder of
+the allied army, ninety thousand strong, pressed forward in dense
+masses into the level and marshy plain in the middle of which Mons is
+situated. They advanced in different columns, headed by Marlborough
+and Eugene; and never was a more magnificent spectacle presented, than
+when they emerged from the woods upon the plain, and ascended in the
+finest order, with their whole cavalry and artillery, as well as
+infantry, the undulating ground which lies to the south of that town.
+They arrived at night, and bivouacked on the heights of Quaregnon,
+near Genly, and thence on to the village of Quevy, in a line not three
+miles in length, and only five distant from the enemy; so that it was
+evident a general battle would take place on the following day, unless
+Villars was prepared to abandon Mons to its fate.[29]
+
+The French marshal, however, had no intention of declining the combat.
+His army was entirely fresh, and in the finest order; it had engaged
+in no previous operations; whereas a bloody siege, and subsequent
+fatiguing marches in bad weather, had sensibly weakened the strength,
+though they had not depressed the spirits, of the allied soldiers. The
+vast efforts of the French government, joined to the multitude of
+recruits whom the public distress had impelled into the army, had in
+an extraordinary degree recruited his ranks. After making provision
+for all the garrisons and detached posts with which he was charged, he
+could bring into the field no less than a hundred and thirty
+battalions, and two hundred and sixty squadrons; and as they had all
+been raised to their full complement, they mustered sixty-five
+thousand infantry, and twenty-six thousand horse, with eighty guns; in
+all, with the artillery, ninety-five thousand combatants. This vast
+array had the advantage of being almost entirely of one nation,
+speaking one language, and animated with one spirit; while the allied
+force was a motley array of many different faces and nations of men,
+held together by no other bond but the strong one of military success
+and confidence in their chief. Both armies were of nearly equal
+strength, under the command of the ablest and most intrepid commanders
+of their day; the soldiers of both had acted long together, and
+acquired confidence in each other; and both contained that
+intermixture of the fire of young, with the caution of veteran troops,
+which is of the happiest augury for military success. It was hard to
+say, between such antagonists, to which side the scales of victory
+would incline.[30]
+
+The face of the country occupied by the French army, and which was to
+be the theatre of the great battle which was approaching, is an
+irregular plateau, interspersed by woods and intersected by streams,
+and elevated from a hundred and fifty to two hundred feet above the
+meadows of the Trouille. Mons and Bavay, the villages of Quevrain and
+Giory, formed the angular points of this broken surface. Extensive
+woods on all the principal eminences both give diversity and beauty to
+the landscape, and, in a military point of view, added much to the
+strength of the position as defensible ground against an enemy. Near
+MALPLAQUET, on the west of the ridge, is a small heath, and
+immediately to the south of it the ground descends by a rapid slope to
+the Hon, which finds its way by a circuitous route by the rear of the
+French position to the Trouille, which it joins near Condé. The
+streams from Malplaquet to the northward all flow by a gentle slope
+through steep wooded banks to the Trouille, into which they fall near
+Mons. The woods on the plateau are the remains of a great natural
+forest which formerly covered the whole of these uplands, and out of
+which the clearings round the villages and hamlets which now exist,
+have been cut by the hands of laborious industry. Two woods near the
+summit level of the ground are of great extent, and deserve particular
+notice. The first, called the wood of Louvière, stretches from
+Longueville in a north-easterly direction to Cauchie; the second,
+named the wood Taisnière, of still larger size, extends from the
+Chaussée de Bois to the village of Bouson. Between these woods are two
+openings, or Trouées as they are called in the country--the Trouée de
+la Louvière, and the Trouée d'Aulnoet. Generally speaking, the ground
+occupied by the French, and which was to be the theatre of the battle,
+may be described as a rough and woody natural barrier, stretching
+across the high plateau which separates the Haine and the Trouille,
+and pervious only by the two openings of Louvière and Aulnoet, both of
+which are in a very great degree susceptible of defence.[31]
+
+The allied army consisted of one hundred and thirty-nine battalions,
+and two hundred and fifty-three squadrons, with one hundred and five
+guns; mustering ninety-three thousand combatants. The two armies,
+therefore, were as nearly as possible equal in point of military
+strength--a slight numerical superiority on the part of the French
+being compensated by a superiority of twenty-five guns on that of the
+Allies. Among the French nobles present at the battle, were no less
+than twelve who were afterwards marshals of France.[32] The son of
+James II., under the name of the Chevalier of St George, who combined
+the graces of youth with the hereditary valour of his race, was there;
+St Hilaire and Folard, whose works afterwards threw such light on
+military science, were to be found in its ranks. The Garde-du-corps,
+Mousquetaires gris, Grenadiers _à cheval_, French, Swiss, and Bavarian
+guards, as well as the Irish brigade, stood among the combatants. The
+reverses of Louis had called forth the flower of the nobility, as well
+as the last reserves of the monarchy.[33]
+
+Early on the morning of the 9th, Marlborough and Eugene were on the
+look-out at the Mill of Sart, with a strong escort, consisting of
+thirty squadrons of horse. From the reports brought in, it was soon
+ascertained that the whole enemy's army was in march towards the plain
+of Malplaquet, on the west of the plateau, and that Villars himself
+was occupying the woods of Lasnière and Taisnière. His headquarters
+were at Blaugnies, in the rear of the centre. The two armies were now
+only a league and a half separate, and Marlborough and Eugene were
+clear for immediately attacking the enemy, before they could add to
+the natural strength of their position by intrenchnents. But the Dutch
+deputies, Hooft and Goslinga, interfered, as they had done on a
+similar occasion between Wavre and Waterloo, and so far modified this
+resolution as to induce a council of war, summoned on the occasion, to
+determine not to fight till the troops from Tournay were within reach,
+and St Ghislain, which commanded a passage over the Haine, was taken.
+This was done next day, the fort being carried by escalade, and its
+garrison of two hundred men made prisoners; and on the day following,
+all the reserves from Tournay came up. But these advantages, which in
+themselves were not inconsiderable, were dearly purchased by the time
+which Villars gained for strengthening his position. Instead of
+pushing on to attack the allies, as Marlborough and Eugene had
+expected, to raise the siege of Mons, that able commander employed
+himself with the utmost skill and vigour in throwing up intrenchments
+in every part of his position. The nature of the ground singularly
+favoured his efforts. The heights he occupied, plentifully
+interspersed with woods and eminences, formed a concave semicircle,
+the artillery from which enfiladed on all sides the little plain of
+Malplaquet, so as to render it literally, in Dumont's words, "une
+trouée d'enfer." Around this semicircle, redoubts, palisades, abattis,
+and stockades, were disposed with such skill and judgment, that,
+literally speaking, there was not a single inequality of ground, (and
+there were many,) which was not turned to good account. The two
+_trouées_ or openings, in particular, already mentioned, by which it
+was foreseen the Allies would endeavour to force an entrance, were so
+enfiladed by cross batteries as to be wellnigh unassailable. Twenty
+pieces of artillery were placed on a redoubt situated on an eminence
+near the centre of the field; the remainder were arranged along the
+field-works constructed along the lines. Half the army laboured at
+these works without a moment's intermission during the whole of the
+9th and 10th, while the other were under arms, ready to repel any
+attack which might be hazarded. With such vigour were the operations
+conducted, that by the night of the 10th, the position was deemed
+impregnable.[34]
+
+During these two days, which were passed in inactivity, awaiting the
+coming up of the reinforcements from Tournay, which the council of war
+had deemed indispensable to the commencement of operations,
+Marlborough and Eugene had repeatedly reconnoitred the enemy's
+position, and were fully aware of its growing strength. Despairing of
+openly forcing such formidable lines, defended by so numerous and
+gallant an army, they resolved to combine their first attack with a
+powerful demonstration in rear. With this view, the rear-guard, which
+was coming up from Tournay under General Withers, of nineteen
+battalions and ten squadrons, received orders not to join the main
+body of the army, but, stopping short at St Ghislain, to cross the
+Haine there, and, traversing the wood of Blangris by a country road,
+assail the extreme left of the enemy at the farm of La Folie, when the
+combat was seriously engaged in front. Forty battalions of Eugene's
+army, under Baron Schulemberg, were to attack the wood of Taisnière,
+supported by forty pieces of cannon, so placed that their shot reached
+every part of the wood. To distract the enemy's attention, other
+attacks were directed along the whole line; but the main effort was to
+be made by Eugene's corps on the wood of Taisnière; and it was from
+the co-operation of the attack of Schulemberg on its flank, that
+decisive success was expected.[35] All the corps had reached their
+respective points of destination on the evening of the 10th.
+Schulemberg was near La Folie; Eugene was grouped, in four lines, in
+front of Taisnière; and the men lay down to sleep, anxiously awaiting
+the dawn of the eventful morrow.[36]
+
+At three in the morning of the 11th, divine service was performed,
+with the utmost decorum, at the head of every regiment, and listened
+to by the soldiers, after the example of their chief, with the most
+devout attention. The awful nature of the occasion, the momentous
+interests at stake, the uncertainty who might survive to the close of
+the day, the protracted struggle now to be brought to a decisive
+issue, had banished all lighter feelings, and impressed a noble
+character on that impressive solemnity. A thick fog overspread the
+field, under cover of which the troops marched, with the utmost
+regularity, to their appointed stations: the guns were brought forward
+to the grand battery in the centre, which was protected on either side
+by an _épaulement_ to prevent an enfilade. No sooner did the French
+outposts give notice that the Allies were preparing for an attack,
+than the whole army stood to their arms, and all the working parties,
+who were still toiling in the trenches, cast aside their tools, and
+joyfully resumed their places in the ranks. Never, since the
+commencement of the war, had the spirit of the French soldier been so
+high, or so enthusiastic a feeling infused into every bosom. With
+confidence they looked forward to regaining the laurels, under their
+beloved commander, Marshal Villars, which had been withered in eight
+successive campaigns, and arresting the flood of conquest which
+threatened to overwhelm their country. No sooner did he mount on
+horseback at seven, than loud cries of "Vive le Roi!" "Vive le
+Maréchal de Villars!" burst from their ranks. He himself took the
+command of the left, giving the post of honour on the right, in
+courtesy, to Marshal Boufflers. On the allied side, enthusiasm was not
+so loudly expressed, but confidence was not the less strongly felt.
+They relied with reason on the tried and splendid abilities of their
+chiefs, on their own experienced constancy and success in the field.
+They had the confidence of veteran soldiers, who had long fought and
+conquered together. In allusion to the numerous field-works before
+them, and which almost concealed the enemy's ranks from their view,
+the sarcastic expression passed through the ranks, "We are again about
+to make war on moles." The fog still lingered on the ground, so as to
+prevent the gunners seeing to take aim; but at half-past seven it
+cleared up; the sun broke forth with uncommon brilliancy, and
+immediately the fire commenced with the utmost vigour from the
+artillery on both sides.[37]
+
+For about half an hour the cannon continued to thunder, so as to reach
+every part of the field of battle with their balls, when Marlborough
+moved forward his troops in échelon, the right in front, in order to
+commence his projected attack on the French centre and left. The
+Dutch, who were on the left, agreeably to the orders they had
+received, halted when within range of grape, and a violent cannonade
+was merely exchanged on both sides; but Count Lottum, who commanded
+the centre of twenty battalions, continued to press on, regardless of
+the storm of shot and grape with which he was assailed, and when well
+into the enemy's line, he brought up his left shoulders, and in three
+lines attacked the right of the wood of Taisnière. Schulemberg, at the
+same time, with his forty battalions to the right of Lottum, advanced
+against the wood of Taisnière in front; while Lord Orkney, with his
+fifteen battalions, as Lottum's men inclined to the right, marched
+straight forward to the ground they had occupied, and attacked the
+intrenchment before him in the opening. Eugene, who was with
+Schulemberg's men, advanced without firing a shot, though suffering
+dreadfully from the grape of the batteries, till within pistol-shot of
+the batteries. They were there, however, received by so terrible a
+discharge of all arms from the intrenchments--the French soldiers
+laying their pieces deliberately over the parapet, and taking aim
+within twenty yards of their opponents--that they recoiled above two
+hundred yards, and were only brought back to the charge by the heroic
+efforts of Eugene, who exposed his person in the very front of the
+line. Meanwhile, three battalions brought up from the blockade of Mons
+stole unperceived, amidst the tumult in front, into the south-eastern
+angle of the wood of Taisnière, and were making some progress, when
+they were met by three battalions of French troops, and a vehement
+fire of musketry soon rang in the recesses of the wood.
+
+Meanwhile, Marlborough in person led on D'Auvergne's cavalry in
+support of Lottum's men, who speedily were engaged in a most terrific
+conflict. They bore without flinching the fire of the French brigade
+_du Roi_, and, crossing a ravine and small morass, rushed with fixed
+bayonets, and the most determined resolution, right against the
+intrenchment. So vehement was the onset, so impetuous the rush, that
+some of the leading files actually reached the summit of the parapet,
+and those behind pushing vehemently on, the redoubt was carried amidst
+deafening cheers. But Villars was directly in rear of that work; and
+he immediately led up in person a brigade in the finest order, which
+expelled the assailants at the point of the bayonet, and regained the
+work. Marlborough upon this charged at the head of D'Auvergne's
+cavalry; and that gallant body of men, three thousand strong, dashed
+forward, entered the intrenchments, which were, at the same time,
+surmounted by some of Lottum's battalions. While this desperate
+conflict was going on in front and flank of the wood, Withers, with
+his corps brought up from Tournay, was silently, and with great
+caution, entering the wood on the side of La Folie, and had already
+made considerable progress before any great efforts were made to expel
+them. The advance of this corps in his rear rendered it impossible for
+Villars any longer to maintain the advanced line of works in the front
+of the wood; it was therefore abandoned, but slowly, and in admirable
+order--the troops retiring through the trees to the second line of
+works in their rear, which they prepared to defend to the last
+extremity.
+
+While this bloody conflict was raging in and around the wood of
+Taisnière, the half-hour during which the Prince of Orange had been
+directed to suspend his attack had elapsed, and that gallant chief,
+impatient of inactivity when the battle was raging with such fury on
+his right, resolved to move forward in good earnest. The Scotch
+brigade, led on by the Marquis of Tullibardine, headed the column on
+the left; to their right were the Dutch, under Spaar and Oxenstiern;
+while the Prince of Hesse-Cassel, with twenty-one squadrons, was in
+reserve to support and follow the infantry into the works, when an
+opening was made. On the word "march" being given, the troops of these
+various nations, with rival courage, advanced to the attack. The
+Scotch Highlanders, headed by the gallant Tullibardine,[38] rushed
+impetuously forward to the attack, despite a tremendous fire of grape
+and musketry which issued from the works, and succeeded in reaching
+the top of the intrenchment. But before they could deploy, they were
+charged by the French infantry in close order, and driven out.
+Tullibardine met a glorious death in the redoubt he had won. Equally
+gallant was the assault, and unpropitious the result, of the Prince of
+Orange's attack on the right towards the French centre. There, too,
+by a vehement rush the intrenchment was carried; but the troops which
+surmounted it had no sooner penetrated in than they were attacked by
+Boufflers, at the head of fresh troops in close order in front, while
+a powerful battery opened with grape on their flank. This double
+attack proved irresistible; the assailants were pushed out of the
+works with dreadful slaughter. Spaar lay dead on the spot; Hamilton
+was carried off wounded. Seeing his men recoil, the Prince of Orange
+seized a standard, and advancing alone to the slope of the
+intrenchment, said aloud, "Follow me, my friends; here is your post."
+But it was all in vain. Boufflers' men from the French second line had
+now closed up with the first, which lined the works, and a dense mass
+of bayonets, six deep, bristled at their summit behind the embrasures
+of the guns. A dreadful rolling fire issued from them; their position
+could be marked by the ceaseless line of flame, even through the
+volumes of smoke which enveloped them on all sides; and at length,
+after displaying the most heroic valour, the Prince of Orange was
+obliged to draw off his men, with the loss of three thousand killed,
+and twice that number wounded. Instantly the brigade of Navarre issued
+with loud shouts out of the intrenchments. Several Dutch battalions
+were driven back, and some colours, with an advanced battery, fell
+into the enemy's hands. Boufflers supported this sally by his
+grenadiers _à cheval_; but the Prince of Hesse-Cassel came up with his
+well-appointed squadron on the other side, and, after a short
+struggle, drove the French back into their works.
+
+Hearing that matters were in this precarious state on the left,
+Marlborough galloped from the right centre, accompanied by his staff,
+where Lotturn's infantry and D'Auvergne's horse had gained such
+important advantages. Matters erelong became so alarming, that Eugene
+also followed in the same direction. On his way along the rear of the
+line, the English general had a painful proof of the enthusiastic
+spirit with which his troops were animated, by seeing numbers of the
+wounded Dutch and Hanoverians, whose hurts had just been bound up by
+the surgeons, again hastening to the front, to join their comrades,
+though some, faint from the loss of blood, yet tottered under the
+weight of their muskets. The reserves were hastily directed to the
+menaced front, and by their aid the combat was in some degree restored
+in that quarter; while Marlborough and Eugene laboured to persuade the
+Prince of Orange, who was burning with anxiety at all hazards to renew
+the attack, that his operations were only intended as a feint, and
+that the real effort was to be made on the right, where considerable
+progress had already been made. Order was hardly restored in this
+quarter, when intelligence arrived from the right that the enemy were
+assuming the initiative in the wood of Taisnière, and were pressing
+hard both upon the troops at La Folie and in front of the wood. In
+fact, Villars, alarmed at the progress of the enemy on his left in the
+wood, had drawn considerable reinforcements from his centre, and sent
+them to the threatened quarter. Marlborough instantly saw the
+advantage which this weakening of the enemy's centre was likely to
+give him. While he hastened back, therefore, with all imaginable
+expedition to the right, to arrest the progress of the enemy in that
+quarter, he directed Lord Orkney to advance, supported by a powerful
+body of horse on each flank, directly in at the opening between the
+two woods, and if possible force the enemy's intrenchments in the
+centre, now stripped of their principal defenders.
+
+These dispositions, adopted on the spur of the moment, and instantly
+acted upon, proved entirely successful. Eugene galloped to the extreme
+right, and renewed the attack with Schulemberg's men, while Withers
+again pressed on the rear of the wood near La Folie. So vigorous was
+the onset, that the Allies gained ground on both sides of the wood,
+and Villars hastening up with the French guards to restore the combat
+near La Folie, received a wound in the knee, when gallantly heading a
+charge of bayonets, which obliged him to quit the field. In the
+centre, still more decisive advantages were gained. Lord Orkney there
+made the attack with such vigour, that the intrenchments, now not
+adequately manned, were at once carried; and the horse, following
+rapidly on the traces of the foot soldiers, broke through at several
+openings made by the artillery, and spread themselves over the plain,
+cutting down in every direction. The grand battery of forty cannon in
+the allied centre received orders to advance. In the twinkling of an
+eye the guns were limbered up, and moving on at a quick trot. They
+soon passed the intrenchments in the centre, and facing to the right
+and left, opened a tremendous fire of canister and grape on the dense
+masses of the French cavalry which there stood in the rear of the
+infantry, who were almost all in front among the works. These noble
+troops, however, bore up gallantly against the storm, and even charged
+the allied horse before they had time to form within the lines; but
+they were unable to make any impression, and retired from the attack
+sorely shattered by the allied artillery.
+
+The battle was now gained. Villars' position, how strong and gallantly
+defended soever, was no longer tenable. Pierced through in the centre,
+with a formidable enemy's battery thundering on either side, in the
+very heart of his line, on the reserve squadrons, turned and menaced
+with rout on the left, it was no longer possible to keep the field.
+Boufflers, upon whom, in the absence of Villars in consequence of his
+wound, the direction of affairs had devolved, accordingly prepared for
+a retreat; and he conducted it with consummate skill, as well as the
+most undaunted firmness. Collecting a body of two thousand chosen
+horse yet fresh, consisting of the _élite_ of the horse-guards and
+garde-du-corps, he charged the allied horse which had penetrated into
+the centre, and was by this time much blown by its severe fatigues in
+the preceding part of the day. It was accordingly worsted and put to
+flight; but all the efforts of this noble body of horsemen were
+shattered against Orkney's infantry, which, posted on the reverse of
+the works they had won, poured in, when charged, so close and
+destructive a fire, as stretched half of the gallant cavaliers on the
+plain, and forced the remainder to a precipitate retreat. Still the
+indefatigable Boufflers made another effort. Drawing a large body of
+infantry from the works on his extreme right, which had been little
+engaged, he marched them to the left, and reforming his squadrons
+again, advanced to the charge. But Marlborough no sooner saw this,
+than he charged the garde-du-corps with a body of English horse which
+he himself led on, and drove them back, while the infantry staggered
+and reeled like a sinking ship under the terrific fire of the allied
+guns, which had penetrated the centre. At the same time the Prince of
+Orange and the Prince of Hesse-Cassel, perceiving that the
+intrenchments before them were stript of great part of their
+defenders, renewed the attack; in ten minutes these works were
+carried; a tremendous shout, heard along the whole line, announced
+that the whole left of the position had fallen into the hands of the
+Allies.
+
+In these desperate circumstances, Boufflers and his brave troops did
+all that skill or courage could suggest to arrest the progress of the
+victors, and withdraw from the field without any additional losses.
+Forming his troops into three great masses, with the cavalry which had
+suffered least in rear, he slowly, and in perfect regularity,
+commenced his retreat. The Allies had suffered so much, and were so
+completely exhausted by the fatigue of this bloody and protracted
+battle, that they gave them very little molestation. Contenting
+themselves with pursuing as far as the heath of Malplaquet, and the
+level ground around Taisnière, they halted, and the men lay down to
+sleep. Meanwhile the French, in the best order, but in deep dejection,
+continued their retreat still in three columns; and after crossing the
+Hon in their rear, reunited below Quesnoy and Valenciennes, about
+twelve miles from the field of battle.[39]
+
+Such was the desperate battle of Malplaquet, the most bloody and
+obstinately contested which had yet occurred in the war, and in which
+it is hard to say to which of the gallant antagonists the palm of
+valour and heroism is to be given. The victory was unquestionably
+gained by the Allies, since they forced the enemy's position, drove
+them to a considerable distance from the field of battle, and hindered
+the siege of Mons, the object for which both parties fought, from
+being raised. The valour they displayed had extorted the admiration of
+their gallant and generous enemies.[40] On the other hand, these
+advantages had been purchased at an enormous sacrifice, and never
+since the commencement of the contest had the scales hung so even
+between the contending parties. The Allies lost, killed in the
+infantry alone, five thousand five hundred and forty-four; wounded and
+missing, twelve thousand seven hundred and six; in all eighteen
+thousand two hundred and fifty, of whom two hundred and eighty-six
+were officers killed, and seven hundred and sixty-two wounded.
+Including the casualties in the cavalry and artillery, their total
+loss was not less than twenty thousand men, or nearly a fifth of the
+number engaged. The French loss, though they were worsted in the
+fight, was less considerable; it did not exceed fourteen thousand
+men--an unusual circumstance with a beaten army, but easily accounted
+for, if the formidable nature of the intrenchments which the Allies
+had to storm in the first part of the action, is taken into
+consideration. In proportion to the numbers engaged, the loss to the
+victors was not, however, nearly so great as at Waterloo.[41] Few
+prisoners, not above five hundred, were made on the field; but the
+woods and intrenchments were filled with wounded French, whom
+Marlborough, with characteristic humanity, proposed to Villars to
+remove to the French headquarters, on condition of their being
+considered prisoners of war--an offer which that general thankfully
+accepted. A solemn thanksgiving was read in all the regiments of the
+army two days after the battle, after which the soldiers of both
+armies joined in removing the wounded French on two hundred waggons to
+the French camp. Thus, after the conclusion of one of the bloodiest
+fights recorded in modern history, the first acts of the victors were
+in raising the voice of thanksgiving, and doing deeds of mercy.[42]
+
+No sooner were these pious cares concluded, than the Allies resumed
+the investment of Mons: Marlborough, with the English and Dutch,
+having his headquarters at Belian, and Eugene, with the Germans, at
+Quaregnon. The Prince of Orange, with thirty battalions and as many
+squadrons, was intrusted with the blockade. Great efforts were
+immediately made to get the necessary siege equipage and stores up
+from Brussels; but the heavy rains of autumn set in with such
+severity, that it was not till the 25th September that the trenches
+could be opened. Boufflers, though at no great distance, did not
+venture to disturb the operations. On 9th October, a lodgement was
+effected in the covered way; on the 17th, the outworks were stormed;
+and on the 26th, the place surrendered with its garrison, still three
+thousand five hundred strong. By this important success, the conquest
+of Brabant was finished; the burden and expense of the war removed
+from the Dutch provinces; the barrier which they had so long sought
+after was rendered nearly complete; and the defences of France were so
+far laid bare, that by the reduction of Valenciennes and Quesnoy, in
+the next campaign, no fortified place would remain between the Allies
+and Paris. Having achieved this important success, the allied generals
+put their army into winter-quarters at Ghent, Bruges, Brussels, and on
+the Meuse; while fifty battalions of the French, with one hundred
+squadrons, were quartered, under the command of the Duke of Berwick,
+in the neighbourhood of Maubeuge, and the remainder of their great
+army in and around Valenciennes and Quesnoy.[43]
+
+During the progress of this short but brilliant campaign, Marlborough
+was more than ever annoyed and disheartened by the evident and
+increasing decline of his influence at home. Harley and Mrs Masham
+contrived to thwart him in every way in their power; and scarcely
+disguised their desire to make the situation of the Duke and Godolphin
+so uncomfortable, that out of spleen they might resign; in which case,
+the entire direction of affairs would have fallen into their
+hands.[44] Influenced by these new favourites, the Queen became cold
+and resentful to the Duchess of Marlborough, to whom she had formerly
+been so much attached; and the Duke, perceiving this, strongly advised
+her to abstain from any correspondence with her Majesty, as more
+likely to increase than diminish the estrangement so rapidly growing
+between them. The Duchess, however, was herself of too irritable a
+temper to follow this sage advice; reproaches, explanations, and
+renewed complaints ensued on both sides; and as usual in such cases,
+where excessive fondness has been succeeded by coldness, all attempts
+to repair the breach only had the effect of widening it. Numerous
+events at court, trifles in themselves, but "confirmation strong" to
+the jealous, served to show in what direction the wind was setting.
+The Duchess took the strong and injudicious step of intruding herself
+on the Queen, and asking what crime she had committed to produce so
+great an estrangement between them. This drew from her Majesty a
+letter, exculpating her from any fault, but ascribing their alienation
+to a discordance in political opinion, adding, "I do not think it a
+crime in any one not to be of my mind, or blamable, because you cannot
+see with my eyes, or hear with my ears." While this relieved
+Marlborough from the dread of a personal quarrel between the Duchess
+and Royalty, it only aggravated the precarious nature of his
+situation, by showing that the split was owing to the wider and more
+irremediable division on political subjects.[45]
+
+Encouraged by this powerful support at court, Harley now openly
+pursued his design of effecting the downfall of Marlborough, and his
+removal from office, and the command of the armies. The whole campaign
+which had terminated so gloriously, was criticised in the most unjust
+and malignant spirit. The siege of Tournay was useless and expensive;
+the battle of Malplaquet an unnecessary carnage. It was even
+insinuated the Duke had purposely exposed the officers to slaughter,
+that he might obtain a profit by the sale of their commissions. The
+preliminaries first agreed to at the Hague were too favourable to
+France; when Louis rejected them, the rupture of the negotiations
+rested with Marlborough. In a word, there was nothing done by the
+English general, successful or unsuccessful, pacific or warlike, which
+was not made the subject of loud condemnation, and unmeasured
+invective. Harley even corresponded with the disaffected party in
+Holland, in order to induce them to cut short the Duke's career of
+victory by clamouring for a general peace. Louis was represented as
+invincible, and rising stronger from every defeat: the prolongation of
+the war was entirely owing to the selfish interests and ambition of
+the allied chief. These and similar accusations, loudly re-echoed by
+all the Tories, and sedulously poured into the royal ear by Harley and
+Mrs Masham, made such an impression on the Queen, that she did not
+offer the smallest congratulation to the Duchess on the victory of
+Malplaquet, nor express the least satisfaction at the Duke's escape
+from the innumerable dangers which he had incurred.[46]
+
+An ill-timed and injudicious step of Marlborough at this juncture, one
+of the few which can be imputed to him in his whole public career,
+inflamed the jealousy of the Queen and the Tories at him. Perceiving
+the decline of his influence at court, and anticipating his dismissal
+from the command of the army at no distant period, he solicited from
+the Queen a patent constituting him Captain-general for life. In vain
+he was assured by the Lord Chancellor that such an appointment was
+wholly unprecedented in English history; he persisted in laying the
+petition before the Queen, by whom it was of course refused. Piqued at
+this disappointment, he wrote an acrimonious letter to her Majesty, in
+which he reproached her with the neglect of his public services, and
+bitterly complained of the neglect of the Duchess, and transfer of the
+royal favour to Mrs Masham. So deeply did Marlborough feel this
+disappointment, that on leaving the Hague to return to England, he
+said publicly to the deputies of the States--"I am grieved that I am
+obliged to return to England, where my services to your republic will
+be turned to my disgrace."[47]
+
+Marlborough was received in the most flattering manner by the people,
+on landing on 15th November, and he was greeted by the thanks of both
+Houses of Parliament for his great and glorious services. The Queen
+declared in her speech from the throne, that this campaign had been at
+least as glorious as any which had preceded it; and the Chancellor, in
+communicating the thanks of the House of Lords, added--"This high
+eulogium must be looked upon as added to, and standing upon the
+foundation already laid in the records of this House, for preserving
+your memory fresh to all future times; so that your Grace has also the
+satisfaction of seeing this everlasting monument of your glory rise
+every year much higher." Such was the impulse communicated to both
+Houses by the presence of the Duke, and the recollection of his
+glorious services, that liberal supplies for carrying on the war were
+granted by both Houses. The Commons voted £6,000,000 for the service
+of the ensuing year, and on the earnest representation of Marlborough,
+an addition was made to the military forces.
+
+But in the midst of all these flattering appearances, the hand of
+destruction was already impending over the British hero. It was mainly
+raised by the very greatness and inappreciable nature of his services.
+Envy, the invariable attendant on exalted merit, had already singled
+him out as her victim: jealousy, the prevailing weakness of little
+minds, had prepared his ruin. The Queen had become uneasy at the
+greatness of her subject. There had even been a talk of the Duke of
+Argyll arresting him in her name, when in command of the army. Anne
+lent a ready ear to the representations of her flatterers, and
+especially Mrs Masham, that she was enthralled by a single family;
+that Marlborough was the real sovereign of England, and that the
+crown was overshadowed by the field-marshal's baton. Godolphin,
+violently libelled in a sermon by Dr Sacheverell, at St Saviour's,
+Southwark, the Doctor was impeached before the House of Lords for the
+offence. The government of the Tower, usually bestowed on the
+recommendation of the commander-in-chief, was, to mortify Marlborough,
+bestowed without consulting him on Lord Rivers. At length matters came
+to such a pass, and the ascendency of Mrs Masham was so evident, while
+her influence was exercised in so undisguised a manner to humiliate
+him, that he prepared the draft of a letter of resignation of his
+commands to her Majesty, in which, after enumerating his services, and
+the abuse which Mrs Masham continued to heap on him and his relations,
+he concluded with saying--"I hope your Majesty will either dismiss her
+or myself."[48]
+
+Sunderland and several of the Whig leaders warmly approved of this
+vigorous step; but Godolphin, who foresaw the total ruin of the
+ministry and himself, in the resignation of the general, had influence
+enough to prevent its being sent. Instead of doing so, that nobleman
+had a long private audience with her Majesty on the subject; in which,
+notwithstanding the warmest professions on her part, and the strong
+sense she entertained of his great and lasting services, it was not
+difficult to perceive that a reserve as to future intentions was
+manifested, which indicated a loss of confidence. Marlborough declared
+he would be governed in the whole matter by the advice and opinion of
+his friends; but strongly expressed his own opinion, "that all must be
+undone if this poison continues about the Queen."[49] Such, however,
+was the agony of apprehension of Godolphin at the effects of the
+duke's resignation, that he persuaded him to adopt a middle course,
+the usual resource of second-rate men in critical circumstances, but
+generally the most hazardous that can be adopted. This plan was to
+write a warm remonstrance to the Queen, but without making Mrs
+Masham's removal a condition of his remaining in office. In this
+letter, after many invectives against Mrs Masham, and a full
+enumeration of his grievances, he concludes with these words--"This is
+only one of many mortifications that I have met with, and as I may not
+have many opportunities of writing to you, let me beg of your Majesty
+to reflect what your own people and the rest of the world must think,
+who have been witnesses of the love, zeal, and duty with which I have
+served you, when they shall see that, after all I have done, it has
+not been able to protect me against the malice of a bed-chamber
+woman.[50] But your Majesty may be assured that my zeal for you and my
+country is so great, that in my retirement I shall daily pray for your
+prosperity, and that those who serve you as faithfully as I have done,
+may never feel the hard return I have met with."
+
+These expressions, how just soever in themselves, and natural in one
+whose great services had been requited as Marlborough's had been, were
+not likely to make a favourable impression on the royal mind, and,
+accordingly, at a private audience which he had soon after of the
+Queen, he was received in the coldest manner.[51] He retired in
+consequence to Blenheim, determined to resign all his commands,
+unless Mrs Masham was removed from the royal presence. Matters seemed
+so near a rupture, that the Queen personally applied to several of the
+Tories, and even Jacobites, who had long kept aloof from court, to
+support her in opposition to the address expected from both Houses of
+Parliament on the duke's resignation. Godolphin and Somers, however,
+did their utmost to bend the firm general; and they so far succeeded
+in opposition to his better judgment, and the decided opinions of the
+Duchess, as to induce him to continue in office without requiring the
+removal of Mrs Masham from court. The Queen, delighted at this victory
+over so formidable an opponent, received him at his next audience in
+the most flattering manner, and with a degree of apparent regard which
+she had scarcely ever evinced to him in the days of his highest
+favour. But in the midst of these deceitful appearances his ruin was
+secretly resolved on; and in order to accelerate his departure from
+court, the Queen inserted in her reply to the address of the Commons
+at the close of the Session of Parliament, a statement of her
+resolution to send him immediately to Holland, as "I shall always
+esteem him the chief instrument of my glory, and of my people's
+happiness." He embarked accordingly, and landed at the Brill on March
+18th, in appearance possessing the same credit and authority as
+before, but in reality thwarted and opposed by a jealous and ambitious
+faction at home, which restrained his most important measures, and
+prevented him from effecting any thing in future on a level with his
+former glorious achievements.
+
+The year 1709 was signalized by the decisive victory of the Czar Peter
+over Charles XII. at Pultowa, who was totally routed and irretrievably
+ruined by the Muscovite forces, commanded by the Czar in person on
+that disastrous day. This overthrow was one of the most momentous
+which has occurred in modern times. Not only was a great and dreaded
+conqueror at once overturned, and erelong reduced to captivity; but a
+new balance of power was established in the north which has never
+since been shaken. Sweden was reduced to her natural rank as a
+third-rate power from which she had been only raised by the
+extraordinary valour and military talents of a series of warlike
+sovereigns, who had succeeded in rendering the Scandinavian warriors,
+like the Macedonians of old, a race of heroes. Russia, by the same
+event, acquired the entire ascendency over the other Baltic powers,
+and obtained that preponderance which she has ever since maintained in
+the affairs of Europe. Marlborough sympathised warmly with the
+misfortunes of the heroic sovereign, for whose genius and gallantry he
+had conceived the highest admiration. But he was too sagacious not to
+see that his disasters, like those of Napoleon afterwards in the same
+regions, were entirely the result of his own imprudence; and that if
+he had judiciously taken advantage of the terror of his name, and the
+success of his arms, in the outset of his invasion, he might have
+gained all the objects for which he contended without incurring any
+serious evil.[52]
+
+Peter the Great, who gained this astonishing and decisive success, was
+one of the most remarkable men who ever appeared on the theatre of
+public affairs. He was nothing by halves. For good or for evil he was
+gigantic. Vigour seems to have been the great characteristic of his
+mind; but it was often fearfully disfigured by passion, and not
+unfrequently misled by the example of more advanced states. To elevate
+Russia to an exalted place among nations, and give her the influence
+which her vast extent and physical resources seemed to render within
+her reach, was throughout life the great object of his ambition; and
+he succeeded in it to an extent which naturally acquired for him the
+unbounded admiration of mankind. His overthrow of the Strelitzes, long
+the Prætorian guards and terror of the czars of Muscovy, was effected
+with a vigour and stained by a cruelty similar to that with which
+Sultan Mahommed a century after destroyed the Janissaries at
+Constantinople. The sight of a young and despotic sovereign leaving
+the glittering toys and real enjoyments of royalty to labour in the
+dockyards of Saardem with his own hands, and instruct his subjects in
+shipbuilding by first teaching himself, was too striking and
+remarkable not to excite universal attention. And when the result of
+this was seen: when the Czar was found introducing among his subjects
+the military discipline, naval architecture, nautical skill, or any of
+the arts and warlike institutions of Europe, and in consequence long
+resisting and at length destroying the terrible conqueror who had so
+long been the terror of Northern Europe, the astonishment of men knew
+no bounds. He was at once the Solon and Scipio of modern times: and
+literary servility, vying with great and disinterested admiration,
+extolled him as one of the greatest heroes and benefactors of his
+species who had ever appeared among men.
+
+But time, the great dispeller of illusions, and whose mighty arm no
+individual greatness, how great soever, can long withstand, has begun
+to abate much from this colossal reputation. His temper was violent in
+the extreme; frequent acts of hideous cruelty, and occasional
+oppression, signalized his reign. More than any other man, he did evil
+that good may come of it. He compelled his people, as he thought, to
+civilisation, though, in seeking to cross the stream, hundreds of
+thousands perished in the waves. "Peter the Great," says Mackintosh,
+"did not civilize Russia: that undertaking was beyond his genius,
+great as it was; he only gave the Russians the art of civilized war."
+The truth was, he attempted what was altogether impracticable. No one
+man can at once civilize a nation: he can only put it in the way of
+civilisation. To complete the fabric must be the work of continued
+effort and sustained industry during many successive generations. That
+Peter failed in rendering his people on a level with the other nations
+of Europe in refinement and industry, is no reproach to him. It was
+impossible to do so in less than several centuries. The real
+particular in which he erred was, that he departed from the national
+spirit, that he tore up the national institutions, violated in
+numerous instances the strongest national feelings. He clothed his
+court and capital in European dress; but men do not put off old
+feelings with the costume of their fathers. Peter's civilisation
+extended no further than the surface. He succeeded in inducing an
+extraordinary degree of discipline in his army, and the appearance of
+considerable refinement among his courtiers. But it is easier to
+remodel an army than change a nation; and the celebrated _bon-mot_ of
+Diderot, that the Russians were "rotten before they were ripe," is but
+a happy expression, indicating how much easier it is to introduce the
+vices than the virtues of civilisation among an unlettered people. To
+this day the civilisation of Russia has never descended below the
+higher ranks; and the efforts of the real patriotic czars who have
+since wielded the Muscovite sceptre, Alexander and Nicholas, have been
+mainly directed to get out of the fictitious career into which Peter
+turned the people, and revive with the old institutions the true
+spirit and inherent aspirations of the nation. The immense success
+with which their efforts have been attended, and the gradual, though
+still slow descent of civilisation and improvement through the great
+body of the people, prove the wisdom of the principles on which they
+have proceeded. Possibly Russia is yet destined to afford another
+illustration of the truth of Montesquieu's maxim, that no nation ever
+yet rose to durable greatness but through institutions in harmony with
+its spirit. And in charity let us hope that the words of Peter on his
+death-bed have been realized: "I trust that, in respect of the good I
+have striven to do my people, God will pardon my sins."
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[6] Marlborough to Mr Secretary Boyle, 17th December 1708. _Disp._ iv.
+362.
+
+[7] _Disp._ iv. 315, 323, 345. Marlborough to Duke de Mole, 10th Dec.
+1708. _Ibid._ 346. COXE, iv. 278.
+
+[8] Marlborough to Mr Secretary Boyle, 3d January 1709, _Disp._ iv.
+389.
+
+[9] "'Can I do more than I do now?' said the King. 'I make treaties,
+but the Emperor breaks his word with me, as well as Holland, every
+moment. Besides it is impossible, without great inconvenience, _to
+give more than three battalions_; and he is a wretch who would advise
+me otherwise.' I said he was a wretch who should advise him not to do
+it. He replied, 'You speak very boldly, and may perhaps repent it, if
+your arguments are not conclusive.'"--General Grumbkow to Marlborough,
+March 9, 1709. COXE, iv. 341.
+
+[10] King of Prussia to Marlborough, March 9, 1709. COXE, iv. 346.
+
+[11] In communicating the thanks of the House of Lords, the Chancellor
+said,
+
+"I shall not be thought to exceed my present commission, if, being
+thus led to contemplate the mighty things which your Grace has done
+for us, I cannot but conclude with acknowledging, with all gratitude,
+the providence of God in raising you up to be an instrument of so much
+good, in so critical a juncture, when it was so much wanted." COXE,
+iv. 375.
+
+[12] COXE, iv. 352, 366, 377.
+
+[13] "M. de Torcy has offered so much, that I have no doubt it will
+end in a good peace." Marlborough to Godolphin, 19th May 1707.
+
+"Every thing goes on so well here, that there is no doubt of its
+ending in a good peace. Government have in readiness the sideboard of
+plate, and the chairs of state and canopy; and I beg it may be made so
+as to form part of a bed when I am done with it here, _which I hope
+may be by the end of this summer_, so that I may enjoy your dear
+society in quiet, which is the greatest satisfaction I am capable of
+having." Marlborough to the Duchess, 19th May 1709. COXE, iv. 393.
+
+[14] _Mémoire, M. de Torcy_, ii. 104-111.
+
+[15] SWIFT'S _Conduct of the Allies_, 72; COXE, iv. 395-415.
+
+[16] "I have as much mistrust for the sincerity of France as any body
+living can have; but I will own to you, that in my opinion, if France
+had delivered the towns promised by the plenipotentiaries, and
+demolished Dunkirk and the other towns mentioned, they must have been
+at our discretion; so that if they had played tricks, so much the
+worse for themselves." Marlborough to Lord Godolphin, June 10, 1709.
+COXE, iv. 405.
+
+[17] COXE, iv. 401.
+
+[18] _Ibid._ v. i. 5.
+
+[19] _Mém. de Villars_, ii. 63. Marlborough to Godolphin, June 27,
+1709. COXE, iv. 5, 6.
+
+[20] Marlborough to Mr Secretary Boyle, 27th June 1709. _Disp._ iv.
+520. COXE, v. 7, 8.
+
+[21] Marlborough to Lord Galway, 4th July 1709; and to the Queen, 29th
+July 1709. _Disp._ iv. 530 and 556. COXE, v. 8, 13. Marlborough's
+private letters to the Duchess at this period, as indeed throughout
+all his campaigns, prove how he was tired of the war, and how ardently
+he sighed for repose at Blenheim. "The taking of the citadel of
+Tournay will, I fear, cost us more men and time than that of the town;
+but that which gives me the greatest prospect for the happiness of
+being with you, is, that certainly the misery of France increases,
+which must bring us a peace. The misery of the poor people we see is
+such, that one must be a brute not to pity them. May you be ever
+happy, and I enjoy some few years of quiet with you, is what I daily
+pray for." Marlborough to the Duchess, July 30, 1709. COXE, v. 12.
+
+[22] DUMONT'S _Military History_, ii. 104. COXE, v. 15, 16.
+
+[23] A very striking incident occurred in the siege, which shows to
+what a height the heroic spirit with which the troops were animated
+had risen. An officer commanding a detachment, was sent by Lord
+Albemarle to occupy a certain lunette which had been captured from the
+enemy; and though it was concealed from the men, the commander told
+the officer he had every reason to believe the post was undermined,
+and that the party would be blown up. Knowing this, he proceeded with
+perfect calmness to the place of his destination; and when provisions
+and wine were served out to the men, he desired them to fill their
+calashes, and said, "Here is a health to those who die the death of
+the brave." The mine in effect was immediately after sprung; but
+fortunately the explosion failed, and his comrades survived to relate
+their commander's noble conduct.
+
+[24] Marlborough to Mr Secretary Boyle, 31st August and 3d September
+1709. _Disp._ iv. 585, 588. COXE, v. 14, 18. DUMONT'S _Military
+History_, ii. 103.
+
+[25] Mackenzie's brigade, which joined Wellington's army after the
+battle of Talavera, marched sixty-two English miles in twenty-six
+hours. NAPIER, ii. 412.
+
+[26] COXE, v. 20, 25. Marlborough to Mr Secretary Boyle, 7th September
+1709. _Disp._ iv. 590.
+
+[27] A similar incident occurred in the British service, when Sir
+Henry, now Lord Hardinge, and Governor-general of India, served as
+second in command to Sir Hugh Gough, his senior in military rank, but
+subordinate in station, at the glorious battles of Ferozepore and
+Sobraon, with the Sikhs. How identical is the noble and heroic spirit
+in all ages and countries! It forms a freemasonry throughout the
+world.
+
+[28] COXE, v. 24, 25. _Disp._ iv. 588, 595.
+
+[29] Marlborough to Mr Secretary Boyle, 7th and 11th September 1709.
+_Disp._ iv. 591, 592. COXE, v. 25, 26.
+
+[30] _Mém. de Villars_, ii. 167, 184. COXE, v. 26, 28.
+
+[31] COXE, v. 29, 30. The author has passed over the ground, and can
+attest the accuracy of the description here given.
+
+[32] Viz. Artagnan, Maréchal de Montesquieu; De Guiche, Maréchal de
+Grammont; Puysegur, Montmorenci, Coigny, Broglio, Chaulnes, Nangis,
+Isenghien, Duras, Houdancourt, and Sanneterre. The monarchy never sent
+forth a nobler array.
+
+[33] COXE, v. 32. _Mém. de Villars_, ii, 280.
+
+[34] COXE, v. 34, 37; DUMONT'S _Military History_, ii. 381-7.
+
+[35] Marlborough's General Orders, Sept. 10, 1709.
+
+[36] COXE, v. 40, 44.
+
+[37] LEDIARD, _Life of Marlborough_, ii. 172, 180. COXE, v. 45, 47.
+
+[38] The regiments of Tullibardine and Hepburn were almost all Atholl
+Highlanders.
+
+[39] COXE, v. 54, 63; _Disp._ v. 592, Marlborough to Mr Secretary
+Boyle, Sept. 11, 1709, and to Mr Wauchope, same date, v. 598.
+
+[40] "The Eugenes and Marlboroughs ought to be well satisfied with us
+during that day; since till then they had not met with resistance
+worthy of them. They may now say with justice that nothing can stand
+before them; and indeed what shall be able to stay the rapid progress
+of these heroes, if an army of one hundred thousand men of the best
+troops, strongly posted between two woods, trebly entrenched, and
+performing their duty as well as any brave men could do, were not able
+to stop them one day? Will you not then own with me that they surpass
+all the heroes of former ages?"--_Letter of a French Officer who
+fought at Malplaquet_; COXE, v. 65.
+
+[41] At Waterloo, there were sixty-nine thousand six hundred and
+eighty-six men in Wellington's army, and the loss was twenty-two
+thousand four hundred and sixty-nine, or one in three nearly; at
+Malplaquet, it was one in five; at Talavera, one in four--five
+thousand being killed and wounded out of nineteen thousand eight
+hundred engaged.--SIBORNE'S _Waterloo_, ii. 352 and 519.
+
+[42] Marlborough to Marshal Villars, 13th September 1709, and to Mr
+Secretary Boyle, 16th September 1709; _Disp._ v. 596, 599.--COXE, v.
+64.
+
+[43] Marlborough to Mr Secretary Boyle, October 21, 1709. _Disp._ v.
+617, 621.
+
+[44] "Be assured that Mrs Masham and Mr Harley will, underhand, do
+every thing that can make the business uneasy, particularly to you the
+Lord Treasurer, and me, for they know well that if we were removed
+every thing would be in their power. This is what they labour for,
+believing it would make them both great and happy; but I am very well
+persuaded it would be their destruction." _Marlborough to Godolphin_,
+Nov. 1, 1709; COXE, v. 105.
+
+[45] COXE, v. 105, 111.
+
+[46] COXE, v. 115, 116.
+
+[47] SWIFT, _Mem. on Queen's Change of Ministry in 1710_, p. 37. COXE,
+v. 117-118.
+
+[48] COXE, v. 124, 133.
+
+[49] Duchess of Marlborough to Maynwaring, January 18, 1710. COXE, v.
+134
+
+[50] Marlborough to Queen Anne, January 19, 1710.
+
+[51] "On Wednesday sennight I waited upon the Queen, in order to
+represent the mischief of such recommendations in the army, and before
+I came away I expressed all the concern for her change to me, that is
+natural to a man that has served her so faithfully for many years,
+which made no impression, nor was her Majesty pleased to take so much
+notice of me as to ask my Lord Treasurer where I was upon her missing
+me at Council. I have had several letters from him since I came here,
+and I cannot find that her Majesty has ever thought me worth naming;
+when my Lord Treasurer once endeavoured to show her the mischief that
+would happen, she made him no answer but a bow." Marlborough to Lord
+Somers, January 21, 1710.
+
+[52] "If this unfortunate king had been so well advised as to have
+made peace the beginning of this summer, he might in a great measure
+have influenced the peace between France and the Allies, and made
+other kingdoms happy. I am extremely touched with the misfortunes of
+this young king. His continued successes, and the contempt he had of
+his enemies, have been his ruin." Marlborough to Godolphin, August 26,
+1709. _Disp._ v. 510.
+
+
+
+
+THE AMERICANS AND THE ABORIGINES.
+
+A TALE OF THE SHORT WAR.
+
+
+PART THE LAST.
+
+
+It may be present to the memory of some of our readers, that when the
+British troops, under Sir Edward Pakenham, menaced New Orleans, the
+constitution of Louisiana was temporarily and arbitrarily suspended by
+General Jackson, commanding the American forces in the south, with a
+view to greater unity in the defensive operations. This suspension
+excited great indignation amongst the Louisianians, who viewed it as a
+direct attack upon their liberties, unjustified by circumstances.
+Meetings were called, and the general's conduct was made the subject
+of vehement censure. When the news of the peace between England and
+the United States, concluded in Europe before the fight of New Orleans
+took place, arrived, judicial proceedings were instituted against
+Jackson; he was found guilty of a violation of the Habeas Corpus act,
+and condemned to a fine of two thousand dollars. This fine the
+Louisianian Creoles were anxious to pay for him; but he preferred
+paying it himself, and did so with a good grace, thereby augmenting
+the popularity he had acquired by his victories over the Creek
+Indians, and by the still more important repulse of Pakenham's
+ill-planned and worse-fated expedition. In the book which forms the
+subject of the present article, this historical incident has been
+introduced, rather, however, to illustrate American character and
+feelings, than in connexion with the main plot of the tale. Captain
+Percy, a young officer of regulars, brings the announcement of the
+suspension of the Louisianian constitution to a town on the
+Mississippi, then the headquarters of the militia, who, at the moment
+of his arrival, are assembled on parade. The general commanding reads
+the despatch with grave dissatisfaction, and communicates its contents
+to his officers. The news has already got wind through some passengers
+by the steam-boat which brought the despatch-bearer, and discontent is
+rife amongst the militia. The parade is dismissed, the troops
+disperse, and the officers are about to return to their quarters, when
+they are detained by the following incident:--
+
+From the opposite shore of the river, two boats had some time
+previously pushed off; one of them seeming at first uncertain what
+direction to take. It had turned first up, then down stream, but had
+at last pulled obliquely across the river towards the bayou or creek,
+on the shore of which the little town was situated. It was manned by
+sailors, judging from their shirts of blue and red flannel; but there
+were also other persons on board, differently dressed, one of whom
+reconnoitred the shore of the bayou with a telescope. It was the
+strange appearance of these persons that now attracted the attention
+of the officers. They were about twelve in number; some of them had
+their heads bound up, others had their arms in slings; several had
+great plasters upon their faces. They were of foreign aspect, and,
+judging from the style of their brown, yellow, and black
+physiognomies, of no very respectable class. As if wishing to escape
+observation, they sat with their backs to the bayou. At a word from
+General Billow, an officer stepped down to meet them.
+
+The boat was close to shore, but as soon as the suspicious-looking
+strangers perceived the approach of the militia officer, it was turned
+into the creek and shot rapidly up it. Suddenly it was brought to
+land; one of the better dressed of the men stepped out and approached
+the captain of regulars, who just then came out of the guard-house.
+With a military salute he handed him a paper, saluted again, and
+returned to his companions in the boat. After a short time the whole
+party ascended the bank of the bayou, and walked off in the direction
+of the town. The captain looked alternately at the men and at the
+paper, and then approached the group of officers.
+
+"What do those people want?" inquired General Billow.
+
+The officer handed him the paper.
+
+"Read it yourself, general. I can hardly believe my eyes. A passport
+for Armand, Marceau, Bernardin, Cordon, &c., planters from
+Nacogdoches, delivered by the Mexican authorities, and countersigned
+by the general-in-chief.
+
+"Have you inquired their destination?"
+
+Captain Percy shrugged his shoulders. "New Orleans. Any thing further,
+the man tells me, is known to the general-in-chief. A most suspicious
+rabble, and who seem quite at home here."
+
+"Ah, Mister Billow and Barrow, how goes it? Glad to see you. You look
+magnificent in your scarfs and plumes."
+
+This boisterous greeting, uttered in a rough, good-humoured voice,
+proceeded from our friend Squire Copeland, who had just landed from
+the second boat with his companions and horses, and having given the
+latter to a negro to hold, now stepped into the circle of officers,
+his broad-brimmed quaker-looking hat decorated with the magnificent
+bunch of feathers, for which his daughters had laid the tenants of the
+poultry-yard under such severe contribution.
+
+"Gentlemen," said he, half seriously and half laughing, "you see Major
+Copeland before you. To-morrow my battalion will be here."
+
+"You are welcome, major," said the general and other officers, with a
+gravity that seemed intended as a slight check on the loquacity of
+their new brother in arms.
+
+"And these men," continued the major, who either did not or would not
+understand the hint, "you might perhaps take for my aides-de-camp.
+This one, Dick Gloom, is our county constable; and as to the other,"
+he pointed to the Englishman, "I myself hardly know what to call him."
+
+"I will help you then," interrupted Hodges, impatient at this singular
+introduction. "I am an Englishman, midshipman of his Majesty's frigate
+Thunderer, from which I have, by mishap, been separated. I demand a
+prompt investigation of the fact, and report to your headquarters."
+
+The general glanced slightly at the overhasty speaker, and then at the
+written examination which the squire handed to him.
+
+"This is your department, Captain Percy," said he; "be pleased to do
+the needful."
+
+The officer looked over the paper, and called an orderly.
+
+"Let this young man be kept in strict confinement. A sentinel with
+loaded musket before his door, and no one to have access to him."
+
+"I really do not know which is the most suspicious," said the general;
+"this spy, as he is called, or the queer customers who have just
+walked away."
+
+Squire Copeland had heard with some discontent the quick decided
+orders given by the captain of regulars.
+
+"All that might be spared," said he. "He's as nice a lad as ever I
+saw. I was sitting yesterday at breakfast, when a parcel of my
+fellows, who are half horse, half alligator, and a trifle beyond, came
+tumbling into the house as if they would have pulled it down. Didn't
+know what it meant, till Joe Drum and Sam Shad brought the younker
+before me, and wanted to make him out a spy. I had half a mind to
+treat the thing as nonsense; but as we sat at table he let out
+something about Tokeah; and when the women spoke of Rosa--you know who
+I mean, Colonel Parker; Rosa, whom I've so often told you of--he got
+as red as any turkey-cock. Thinks I to myself, 'tisn't all right;
+better take him with you. You know Tokeah, the Indian, who gave us so
+much trouble some fifteen years ago?"
+
+"Tokeah, the chief of the Oconees?"
+
+"The same," continued the squire. "I chanced to mention his name, and
+the lad blurted out, 'Tokeah! Do you know him?' and when Mistress
+Copeland spoke of Rosa"----
+
+"But, my dear major, this circumstance is very important, and I see no
+mention of it in your report," said the general reprovingly.
+
+"I daresay not," replied the loquacious justice of peace; "he'd hardly
+be such a fool as to put that down. I had my head and hands so full
+that I asked him just to draw up an account of the matter himself."
+
+The officers looked at each other.
+
+"Upon my word, squire," said the general, "you take the duties of your
+office pretty easily. Who ever heard of setting a spy to take down his
+own examination, and a foreigner too? How could you so expose yourself
+and us?"
+
+The squire scratched himself behind the ear. "Damn it, you're right!"
+said he.
+
+During this dialogue, the officers had approached one of the five
+taverns, composing nearly a third part of the infant town, towards
+which the ill-looking strangers had betaken themselves. The latter
+seemed very anxious to reach the house first, but owing to the
+tardiness of some of their party, who walked with difficulty, they
+were presently overtaken by the prisoner and his escort. When the
+foremost of them caught a sight of the Englishman's face, he started
+and hastily turned away. Hodges sprang on one side, stared him full in
+the face, and was on the point of rushing upon him, when one of his
+guards roughly seized his arm and pointed forwards.
+
+"Stop!" cried the midshipman, "I know that man."
+
+"Maybe," replied the orderly dryly, "Forward!"
+
+"Let me go!" exclaimed Hodges, "It is the pirate."
+
+"Pirate?" repeated the soldier, who had again laid hold of his
+prisoner. "If you cut any more such capers, I'll take you to prison in
+a way that your bones will remember for a week to come. This young man
+says," added he to the officers, who just then came up, "that yonder
+fellow is a pirate."
+
+"Obey your orders," was the sole reply of the general; and again the
+orderly pushed his prisoner onwards.
+
+"And you?" said the militia general, turning to the foreigners--"Who
+may you be?"
+
+One of the strangers, half of whose face was bound up with a black
+silk bandage, whilst of the other half, which was covered with a large
+plaster, only a grey eye was visible, now stepped forward, and bowed
+with an air of easy confidence.
+
+"I believe I have the honour to address officers of militia, preparing
+for the approaching conflict. If, as I hope, you go down stream
+to-morrow, we shall have the pleasure of accompanying you."
+
+"Very kind," replied the general.
+
+"Not bashful," added the squire.
+
+"We also are come," continued the stranger in the same free and easy
+tone, "to lay our humble offering upon the altar of the land of
+liberty, the happy asylum of the persecuted and oppressed. Who would
+not risk his best blood for the greatest of earth's blessings?"
+
+"You are very liberal with your best blood," replied the general
+dryly. "How is it that, being already wounded, you come so far to seek
+fresh wounds in a foreign service?"
+
+"Our wounds were received from a party of Osages who attacked us on
+the road, and paid dearly for their temerity. We are not quite
+strangers here; we have for many years had connexions in New Orleans,
+and some of the produce of our plantations will follow us in a few
+days."
+
+"And this gentleman," said Colonel Parker, who, after staring for some
+time at one of the adventurers, now seized him by the collar, and in
+spite of his struggles dragged him forward: "does he also come to make
+an offering upon liberty's altar?"
+
+With a blow of his hand he knocked off the man's cap, and with it a
+bandage covering part of his face.
+
+"By jingo! dat our Pompey, what run from Massa John in New Orlean,"
+tittered the colonel's black servant, who stood a little on one side
+with the horses.
+
+"Pompey not know massa. Pompey free Mexican. Noding to massa,"
+screamed the runaway slave.
+
+"You'll soon learn to know me," said the colonel. "Orderly, take this
+man to jail, and clap irons on his neck and ankles."
+
+"You will remain here," said the general in a tone of command to the
+spokesman of the party, who had looked on with an appearance of
+perfect indifference during the detection and arrest of his black
+confederate.
+
+"It will be at your peril if you detain us," was the reply. "We are
+ordered to repair to headquarters as speedily as possible."
+
+"The surgeon will examine you, and if you are really wounded, you
+will be at liberty to fix your temporary abode in the town. If not,
+the prison will be your lodging."
+
+"Sir!" said the man with an assumption of haughtiness.
+
+"Say no more about it," replied the general coldly--"the
+commander-in-chief shall be informed of your arrival, and you will
+wait his orders here."
+
+The stranger stepped forward, as if he would have expostulated, but
+the general turned his back upon him, and walked away. A party of
+militia now took charge of the gang, and conducted them to the
+guard-house.
+
+This scarred and ill-looking crew are Lafitte and the remnant of his
+band, come, according to a private understanding with General Jackson,
+to serve the American artillery against the British, (an historical
+fact.) Their bandages and plasters being found to cover real wounds,
+they are allowed to quarter themselves at the _estaminet_ of the Garde
+Imperiale, kept by a Spaniard called Benito, once a member of
+Lafitte's band, but now settled in Louisiana, married, and,
+comparatively speaking, an honest man. Benito is greatly alarmed at
+the sight of his former captain and comrades, and still more so when
+they insist upon his aiding them that very night to rescue Pompey the
+negro, lest he should betray their real character to the militia
+officers. Lafitte promises to have the runaway slave conveyed across
+the Mississippi; but as this would require the absence, for at least
+three hours, of several of the pirates, who, although at liberty, are
+kept under a species of surveillance, the real intention is to make
+away with the unfortunate Pompey as soon as the boat is at a certain
+distance from land. The negro is confined in a large building used as
+a cotton store, built of boards, and in a dilapidated condition; the
+militia on guard leave their post to listen to the proceedings of a
+meeting then holding for the discussion of General Jackson's
+unconstitutional conduct, and, profiting by their absence, Benito and
+four of the pirates, Mexican Spaniards, contrive the escape of a
+prisoner whom they believe to be Pompey. In the darkness they mistake
+their man, and bring away Hodges, who is confined in the same
+building. This occurs at midnight. The meeting, which absorbs the
+attention of the militia, is not yet over, when the four pirates,
+Benito, and the rescued prisoner, arrive at the junction of the creek
+and the Mississippi, and, unmooring a boat, prepare to embark.
+
+At this moment a second boat became visible, gliding gently down the
+bayou towards the stream.
+
+"_Que diablo!_" muttered the Mexicans. "What is that?"
+
+The boat drew near; a man was in it.
+
+"Who is that?" whispered the pirates, and then one of them sprang
+suddenly into the strange skiff, whence the clanking of chains was
+heard to proceed. The Mexican stared the unwelcome witness hard in the
+face.
+
+"Ah, massa Miguel!" cried the new-comer with a grin: "Pompey not stop
+in jail. Pompey not love the ninetail."
+
+"The devil!" exclaimed the Mexican--"it is Pompey. Who is the other
+then? We are seven instead of six. What does all this mean?"
+
+"Santiago!" cried the pirates: "Who is he?" they whispered,
+surrounding the seventh, and, as it seemed, superfluous member of
+their society.
+
+"No Spanish. Speak English," was the reply.
+
+"Santa Virgen! How came you here?"
+
+"You ought to know, since you brought me."
+
+The men stepped back, and whispered to each other in Spanish. "Come,
+then!" said one of them at last.
+
+"Not a step till I know who you are, and where you go."
+
+"Fool! Who we are matters little to you, and where we go, as little.
+Any place is better for you than this. Stop here and I would not give
+a real for your neck."
+
+"Leave him! Leave him!" muttered the others.
+
+"Be off, and back again quickly," whispered the tavern-keeper, "or you
+are all lost."
+
+"Stop!" cried the Englishman. "I will go with you."
+
+The negro had already jumped into the Mexicans' boat, and, with the
+heedlessness of his race, had left his own adrift.
+
+"Ingles!" said one of the pirates, "sit you here." And he showed him
+his place in the bow of the boat next to a young Mexican. "And Pompey
+in the middle, and now let's be off."
+
+"Stop!" cried Hodges. "Had we not better divide ourselves between the
+two boats?"
+
+"Ah, massa never rowed across the Sippi," tittered the lazy negro.
+"Massa not get over in six hours, and come to land at Point Coupé."
+
+"Hush, Pompey," muttered his neighbour, and the boat, impelled by six
+pair of hands, darted swiftly out into the stream.
+
+"Ah, Massa Manuel, let Pompey file off him chains," grumbled the
+black. "Pompey been in upper jail--been cunning," laughed he to
+himself; "took file and helped himself out. Massa Parker stare when he
+see Pompey gone."
+
+"Hold your tongue, doctor," commanded a voice from the hinder part of
+the boat, "and let your chains be till you get across."
+
+The negro shook his head discontentedly. "Massa Felipe wouldn't like
+to be in the collars," said he; but nevertheless he put away his file,
+and whilst with one hand he managed the oar, with the other he held
+the chain connecting the ankle irons with the collar, and which had
+been filed in too close to the latter. This collar consisted of a ring
+two inches broad, and as thick as a man's finger, encircling the neck,
+and from which three long hooks rose up over the crown of the head.
+With a sort of childish wonder he weighed the chain in his hand,
+staring at it the while, and then let it fall into the bottom of the
+boat, which now advanced towards the middle of the stream.
+
+"Poor Lolli!" said the negro after a short silence--"she be sad not to
+see Pompey. She live in St John's, behind the cathedral."
+
+"Pompey!" cried the Mexican who sat forward on the same bench with
+Hodges, "your cursed chain is rubbing the skin off my ankles."
+
+"Sit still, Pompey," said the negro's neighbour. "I'll take it out of
+the way."
+
+"Ah! massa hurt poor Pompey," cried the black to his next man, who had
+wound the chain round his feet, and now gave it so sudden a pull that
+the negro let go his oar and fell back in the boat. The young
+Englishman became suddenly attentive to what passed.
+
+"What are you about?" cried he; "what are you doing to the poor
+negro?"
+
+"Gor-a-mighty's sake, massa, not joke so with poor Pompey," groaned
+the negro. "Massa strangle poor nigger."
+
+"It's nothing at all, Pompey; think of your fat Lolli behind the
+cathedral, and don't forget the way to Nacogdoches," said the man on
+the sternmost bench, who had taken the chain from his comrade, passed
+it through the neck-iron, and, violently pulling it, drew the unhappy
+negro up into a heap.
+
+"Massa, Massa, Ma----!" gasped the negro, whose breath was leaving
+him.
+
+The whole had been the work of a moment, and the stifled groans and
+sobs of the agonized slave were nearly drowned by the rush of the
+waters and splash of the oar-strokes.
+
+"The devil!" cried the Englishman, "what is all this?"
+
+At that moment the board on which he sat was lifted, his fellow-rower
+threw himself against him with all his force, and nearly succeeded in
+precipitating him into the stream. Hodges staggered, but managed to
+regain his balance, and turning quickly upon his treacherous
+neighbour, dealt him a blow with his fist that knocked him overboard.
+
+"_Buen viage á los infiernos!_" cried the other Mexicans with a burst
+of hellish laughter, hearing the splash, but misapprehending its
+cause.
+
+"Go to hell yourself!" shouted the Englishman, grasping his oar, and
+dealing the man in front of him a blow that stretched him by the side
+of the negro.
+
+"Santa Virgen! who is that?" cried the two sternmost pirates.
+
+"The Englishman!" exclaimed one of them, pressing forwards towards
+Hodges, but stumbling over the men at the bottom of the boat, which
+now rocked violently from the furious struggle going on within it.
+
+"Ma---- Ma----!" groaned the negro again, now seemingly in the death
+agony--His eyes stood out from their sockets, and glittered like
+stars in the darkness; his tongue hung from his mouth, swollen and
+convulsed.
+
+"By the living God! if you don't unfasten the negro, I'll knock you
+all into the river."
+
+"_Maldito Ingles! Picaro gojo!_"
+
+"Let him go! Let him go! Holy Virgin!" yelled the three Mexicans, as
+one of them who had approached the Englishman was knocked bellowing
+into his place by a furious blow of the oar. "It's the devil himself!"
+cried the pirates, and one of them pushed the negro towards Hodges.
+
+"Stand back!" cried the midshipman, "and take off his neck-iron. If
+you strangle him, you are all dead men."
+
+One of the Mexicans laid hold of the negro, who was coiled up like a
+ball, and drew the chain out of the collar. The poor slave's limbs
+fell back, dead and powerless as pieces of wood. A gasping, rattling
+noise in his throat alone denoted that life was still in him.
+
+"Stand back!" repeated Hodges, stooping down, and endeavouring, by
+vigorous friction with a blanket, to restore the negro to
+consciousness. During this life-and-death struggle, the boat, left at
+the mercy of the waters, had been borne swiftly away by the stream,
+and was now floating amongst a number of the enormous trees which the
+Mississippi carries down by thousands to the sea. The Mexicans resumed
+their places, and with their utmost strength began to pull up-stream.
+Not far from the frail skiff, beneath the mantle of fog covering the
+river, a huge tree-trunk was seen coming directly towards the
+boat--Hodges had barely time to bid the Mexicans be careful, when it
+shot by them. As it did so, a strange, unnatural cry saluted their
+ears, and straining his eyes through the darkness, the young
+Englishman saw a head and a hand appearing above one of the limbs of
+the forest giant.
+
+"_Misericordia!_" cried the voice--"_Socorro! Por Dios!_"
+
+It was the Mexican whom Hodges had knocked into the water, and who, by
+means of the tree, had saved himself from drowning.
+
+"Turn the boat!" cried Hodges, "your countryman is still alive."
+
+"_Es verdad!_" exclaimed the desperadoes, and the boat was
+turned--Meanwhile the negro had come gradually to himself, and now
+crouched down at the feet of his deliverer. He peered over the gunwale
+at the half-drowned Mexican.
+
+"Gor-a-mighty, Massa!" cried he, seizing the Englishman's oar--"dat
+Miguel--trike him dead, Massa; Miguel very bad mans."
+
+"Keep still, Pompey!" answered Hodges, pulling with might and main to
+the assistance of the Mexican. The boat shot alongside the floating
+tree, and the half-drowned wretch had just sufficient strength left to
+extend his hand, which the Englishman grasped.
+
+"Take care, Massa! the pirates will kill us both," cried the negro.
+
+At that moment the boat received a violent shock, a wave dashed over
+it, and threw the Mexican on the gunwale, across which he lay more
+dead than alive.
+
+"Lay hold of him!" said Hodges to the negro.
+
+"Ah, Pompey not such dam' fool--Pompey lub Massa too much. The others
+don't row. Look, Massa, they only wait to kill Massa."
+
+"Hark ye!" cried Hodges to the Mexicans, at the same time giving the
+nearest to him a blow with his oar--"the first who leaves off
+rowing--you understand me?"
+
+The boat rocked on the huge sheet of water, in the midst of the
+floating trees, menaced each moment with destruction from the latter,
+or with being swallowed up by the troubled and impetuous stream; the
+Mexicans cowered upon their benches--thirst of blood, and rage,
+suppressed only by fear, gleaming in their black, rolling eyes and
+ferocious countenances. The negro now twisted the boat rope round the
+body of the rescued man, who, still groaning and imploring mercy, was
+dragged on board.
+
+"Ah, Massa! Miguel good swimmer; bath not hurt him, Massa," mumbled
+the restless black: "Massa not forget to take his oar with him out of
+the boat."
+
+"And Pompey not forget to handle his own a little more diligently,"
+was the reply of Hodges.
+
+For a time the negro obeyed the injunction, and then looked at the
+young Englishman, who appeared to listen attentively to some distant
+sound.
+
+"Massa never fear, militiaman sleep well--only Sippi's noise. Pompey
+know the road, Massa Parker not catch him."
+
+A quarter of an hour passed away, and the strength of the rowers began
+to diminish under their continued and laborious efforts.
+
+"Massa soon see land--out of the current already," cried the negro.
+
+Another quarter of an hour elapsed, and they reached the shore; Hodges
+jumped out of the boat, and was followed by the negro, still loaded
+with his fetters. The Mexicans sprang after them.
+
+"Stop by your boat!" cried Hodges in a threatening tone. Instead of an
+answer, a knife, thrown by a sure and practised hand, struck him on
+the breast. The deerskin vest with which Canondah had equipped him,
+proved his protection. The weapon stuck in it, and remained hanging
+there.
+
+"Vile assassins!" cried Hodges, who now broke off the flat part of his
+oar, and grasping the other half, was about to rush upon the bandits,
+when the negro threw his arms round him.
+
+"Massa not be a fool! pirates have more knives, and be glad if he go
+near them. Kill him then easy."
+
+"You are right, Pompey," said Hodges, half laughing, half angry, at
+the negro, who was showing his white teeth in an agony of fear and
+anxiety. "The dogs are not worth the killing."
+
+For a moment the three assassins stood undecided; then yelling out a
+"Buen viage á los infiernos," got into their boat and speedily
+disappeared in the fog and darkness.
+
+Hodges is pursued and recaptured, but Tokeah and Rosa, who, with their
+companions, are brought in by a party of militia, and the latter of
+whom is joyfully recognised and welcomed by the worthy Squire
+Copeland, clear him of the charge of spying, and he remains a prisoner
+of war. The troops take their departure for New Orleans, and the
+Indians are detained at the town, whence, however, Tokeah and El Sol
+depart in the night-time, and continue their journey. The old chief
+accomplishes his object, disinters his father's bones, and returns to
+fetch Rosa, and proceed with her to his new home in the country of the
+Comanches. Meanwhile the action of New Orleans has been fought, and he
+finds, to his grief and astonishment, that Lafitte, whose life he had
+spared in the expectation of his meeting punishment at the hands of
+the Americans, has actually been fighting in their ranks, and has
+received, as a reward for his services, a free pardon, coupled,
+however, with an injunction to quit the territory of the United
+States. Through an advertisement in an old newspaper, traces have been
+discovered of Rosa's father, who, as the reader is given to
+understand, is a Mexican of high rank. She had been stolen by a tribe
+of Indians with whom Tokeah was at war, and from whose hands he
+rescued her. Tokeah has an interview with General Jackson, who
+cautions him against the further indulgence of his inveterate
+hostility to the Americans, and permits him to depart. Rosa now goes
+to take leave of the old chief, who is as yet unaware that she is not
+to accompany him.
+
+When Rosa, Squire Copeland, and Hodges entered the estaminet of the
+Garde Imperiale, they found the two chiefs and their followers seated
+in their usual manner upon the floor of the room, which had no other
+occupants. El Sol rose at their entrance, and, advancing a few steps,
+took Rosa's hand and conducted her to a chair. She did not sit down,
+but ran to the Miko and affectionately embraced him. The old chief
+gazed at her with a cold and inquiring look.
+
+"Miko," said the squire, "Miss Rosa has come to take leave of you, and
+to thank you for the kindness you have shown her. You yourself shall
+fix the sum that will compensate you for your expenses on her
+account."
+
+"Tokeah," replied the Indian, misunderstanding Major Copeland's words,
+and taking a leather bag from his wampum belt, "will willingly pay
+what the white chief claims for food and drink given to the White
+Rose."
+
+"You are mistaken," replied the squire; "payment is due to you.
+Strictly speaking, the amount should be fixed by a jury, but you have
+only to ask, and any reasonable sum shall be paid at once."
+
+"The white chief," said the Indian, "may take whatever he pleases."
+
+"I tell you it is I, and not you, who have to pay," returned the
+squire.
+
+"Has my daughter bid farewell to her foster-father?" said the Indian
+to Rosa, who had listened to this dialogue with some uneasiness. "Rosa
+must leave the wigwam of the white men; the Miko's path is a long one,
+and his spirit is weary of the palefaces."
+
+"And must the Miko go?" said Rosa. "Oh! father of my Canondah! remain
+here; the white men will love thee as a brother."
+
+The Indian looked at her with astonishment.
+
+"What means the White Rose?" said he,--"the palefaces love Tokeah? Has
+the White Rose----?" He paused, and surveyed her gloomily and
+suspiciously. "Tokeah," continued he, at last, "is very weary of the
+white men; he will be gone."
+
+"Miko," said Rosa, timidly--for it was evident that the chief was
+still in error as to the motive of her visit--"Rosa has come to beg
+you to remain a while with the white men; but if you must go, she
+will"----
+
+"The Miko is the father of his people," interrupted Tokeah; "they call
+him; he must go, and the Rose of the Oconees shall also be the Rose of
+the Comanches, the squaw of a great chief."
+
+The young girl blushed, and stepped back.
+
+"Miko," said she, "you are the beloved father of my dear Canondah; you
+saved my life and maintained me, and I thank you heartily; but, Miko,
+I cannot, I must not, do as you wish. I no longer belong to you, but
+to my father, my long-lost father."
+
+"Rosa speaks truth--she belongs to her father," said the Miko, not yet
+undeceived; "my daughter's feet are weak, but she shall sit in a canoe
+till she reaches the wigwams of the Pawnees, and they have many
+horses."
+
+"By G--!" cried the squire, "here is a mistake; the Indian thinks to
+take Rosa with him. My dear boy," continued he to Hodges, "run as
+quick as you can to Colonel Parker, and bring a party of men. Bayonets
+are the only things these savages respect. Rosa, say no more to him,
+he is getting wild."
+
+A change had taken place in the Indian, although it was one which only
+a keen observer could detect. He began to have an inkling that Rosa
+was to be taken from him, and his gloomy inanimate physiognomy
+betrayed a restless agitation, which alarmed the major.
+
+"The White Rose," resumed Tokeah, after a while, "is a dutiful
+daughter. She will cook her father's venison."
+
+"That would I willingly do for the father of my Canondah," said the
+young girl; "but a higher duty calls me. Father of my Canondah! Rosa
+has come to take leave of thee."
+
+The Indian listened attentively.
+
+"Miko," continued the maiden, "the father who gave me life, is found.
+Rosa must hasten to him who for fourteen years has wept and sought
+her."
+
+"Tokeah gave Rosa her life; he saved her from the tomahawk of
+Milimach; he paid with skins for the milk she drank."
+
+"But Rosa has another father who is nearer to her, whom the Great
+Spirit bestowed upon her; to him must she go. I _must_ leave you,
+Miko," said she, with increased firmness of manner.
+
+Upon the countenance of the Indian all the bad passions of his nature
+were legible. The scales had at last fallen from his eyes; but even
+now his cold and terrible calmness did not desert him, although the
+violence of the storm raging within showed itself in the play of his
+features and the variation of his complexion.
+
+"Miko," said the squire, who foresaw an approaching outburst of
+fury--"Miko, you heard the words of the great warrior of the
+palefaces?"
+
+The Indian took no notice of the caution; his whole frame was agitated
+by a feverish trembling; his hand sought his scalping-knife; and he
+cast so terrible a look at Rosa, that the horrorstruck squire sprang
+to her side. To Major Copeland's astonishment, the young girl had
+regained all her courage, and there was even a certain dignity in her
+manner.
+
+"Miko," said she, extending her arms, "I must leave you."
+
+"What says my daughter?" demanded the Indian--who even yet seemed
+unable to believe his ears--his voice assuming so shrill and unnatural
+a tone, that the tavern-keeper and his wife rushed terrified into the
+room. "Tokeah is not her father? she will not follow the Miko?"
+
+"She cannot," answered Rosa firmly.
+
+"And Rosa," continued the Indian, in the same piercing accents, "will
+leave the Miko; will let him wander alone on his far and weary path?"
+
+The words were scarcely uttered, when, by a sudden and unexpected
+movement, Tokeah sprang to his feet, caught Rosa in his arms, and with
+a like rapidity retreating to the side door of the room, came in such
+violent contact with it, that its glass panes were shivered into a
+thousand pieces.
+
+"And does the white snake think," he exclaimed, with flashing eyes,
+"that the Miko is a fool?" He held the maiden in his left arm, whilst
+his right raised the glittering scalping-knife. "Does the white snake
+think," continued the raging Indian, with a shrill laugh of scorn,
+whilst the foam gathered round his mouth, "that the Miko fed and
+cherished her, and gave skins for her, that she might return to the
+white men, the venomous palefaces, whom he spits upon?" And he spat
+with loathing upon the ground.
+
+"By the God who made you, hold! Hurt the child, and you are a dead
+man!" cried the squire, who seized a stool and endeavoured to force
+his way to Rosa, but was repulsed by the Comanches and Oconees.
+
+"Therefore did the white snake accompany me!" yelled Tokeah. "Does my
+son know," cried he to El Sol, "that the White Rose has betrayed her
+father--betrayed him for the palefaces? Will the white snake follow
+her father?" screamed the frantic savage.
+
+"I cannot," was the reply. "The voice of my white father calls me."
+
+An expression of intense hatred came over the features of the Indian,
+as he gazed at the beautiful creature who lay half-fainting on his
+arm.
+
+"Tokeah will leave the White Rose with her friends," said he, with a
+low deadly laugh, drawing back his hand and aiming the knife at her
+bosom.
+
+"Gracious God! he is killing her!" cried the major, breaking furiously
+through the opposing Indians. But at this critical moment the young
+Comanche was beforehand with him. With a bound he interposed himself
+between the chief's armed hand and intended victim, tore Rosa from the
+grasp of Tokeah, and hurled him back against the door with such force
+that it flew into fragments.
+
+"Tokeah is indeed a wild cat!" cried he with indignant disgust. "He
+forgets that he is a chief amongst his people, and brings shame upon
+the name of the Red men. El Sol is ashamed of such a father."
+
+These words, spoken in the Pawnee dialect, had an indescribable effect
+upon the old savage. He had partly raised himself after his fall, but
+now again sank down as if lifeless. Just then several file of militia
+entered the room with bayonets fixed.
+
+"Shall we take the Indian to prison?" said Lieutenant Parker.
+
+The major stood speechless, both his arms clasped round Rosa.
+
+"Lieutenant Parker," said he, "support Rosa for a moment: the Almighty
+himself has protected her, and it beseems not us to take vengeance."
+He approached the old Indian, who still lay upon the floor, lifted him
+up, and placed him against the wall. "Tokeah," he said, "according to
+our laws your life is forfeited, and the halter the least you deserve;
+nevertheless, begone, and that instantly. You will find your
+punishment without receiving it at our hands."
+
+"He was my father, my unhappy father!" exclaimed Rosa, and tottering
+to the Indian, she threw her arms around him. "Father of my Canondah,"
+cried she, "Rosa would never leave you, but the voice of her own
+father calls. Forgive her who has been a daughter to you!"
+
+The Indian remained mute. She gazed at him for a while with tearful
+eyes; then turned to El Sol, and bowing her head modestly and
+respectfully, took leave of him, and left the house with her
+companions.
+
+The young chief of the Comanches remained as in a dream, till the
+major, with Rosa and the militia, were already far from the estaminet.
+Suddenly he came bounding after them, and placing himself before Rosa,
+took her hands, pressed them to his breast, and bowed his head so
+mournfully, that the witnesses of the scene stood silent, sympathizing
+with his evident affliction.
+
+"El Sol," whispered he, in a scarcely audible tone, "has seen Rosa: he
+will never forget her."
+
+And without raising his eyes to her face, he turned away.
+
+"As I live," exclaimed the squire, with some emotion, "the noble
+savage weeps!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+An hour subsequently to this scene, the party of Indians left the
+bayou in a canoe, and ascended the Mississippi. Upon reaching the
+mouth of the Red River, they turned into it, and continued their route
+up-stream. On the tenth day from that of their departure, they found
+themselves upon the elevated plain where the western district of
+Arkansas and Louisiana joins the Mexican territory. To their front
+were the snowy summits of the Ozark range, beyond which are immense
+steppes extending towards the Rocky Mountains. The sun sank behind the
+snow-capped peaks, as the Indians landed at the western extremity of
+the long table-rock, which there stretches like a wall along the left
+bank of the Red River. Leaving their canoe, they approached a hill, or
+rather a mass of rock, that rises not far from the shore in the barren
+salt steppe, and in whose side exists a cave or grotto, resembling, by
+its regularity of form, an artificial archway. Here, upon the
+imaginary boundary line separating the hunting grounds of the Pawnees
+of the Toyask tribe from those of the Cousas and Osages, they took up
+their quarters for the night. El Sol ordered a fire to be made; for
+Tokeah, who had just left the warm climate of Louisiana, shivered with
+cold. Their frugal meal dispatched, the Miko and his Oconees stretched
+themselves upon the ground and slept. El Sol still listened to a
+legend related by one of the Comanches, when he was startled by a
+distant noise. In an instant the three warriors were upon their feet,
+their heads stretched out in the direction of the breeze which had
+conveyed the sound to their ears.
+
+"The dogs!" murmured the young Comanche; "they bay after a foe in
+whose power it once was to crush them."
+
+The Oconees were roused from their slumber, and the party hurried to
+the place where they had left the canoe. The Miko and his warriors got
+in and descended the stream; whilst El Sol and the two Comanches crept
+noiselessly along the water's edge in the same direction. After
+proceeding for about half a mile, the canoe stopped, and the young
+chief and his followers entered it, previously breaking the bushes
+growing upon the shore, so as to leave unmistakable marks of their
+passage. They continued their progress down the river to the end of
+the table-rock, and then, leaving the old man in the boat, El Sol and
+the four warriors again landed, and glided away in the direction of
+their recently abandoned bivouac. In its vicinity were stationed a
+troop of twenty horses. Of the Indians to whom these belonged, ten
+remained mounted, whilst the remainder searched the cave, and followed
+the trail left by its late occupants. Crouching and crawling upon the
+ground, the better to distinguish the footmarks dimly visible in the
+moonlight, it might almost have been doubted whether their dark forms
+were those of men, or of some strange amphibious animals who had
+stolen out of the depths of the river for a midnight prowl upon the
+shore.
+
+His ear against the rock, and motionless as a statue, El Sol observed
+each movement of the foe. Suddenly, when the Indians who followed the
+trail were at some distance from the cave, he made a sign to his
+companions, and, with a noiseless swiftness that defied detection, the
+five warriors approached the horses. A slight undulation of the plain
+was all that now separated them from their enemy. El Sol listened,
+gazed upwards at the moon's silver disk, just then emerging from
+behind a snow-charged cloud, raised himself upon his knee, and taking
+a long and steady aim, nodded to his warriors. The next instant five
+savages, pierced by as many bullets, fell from their horses to the
+ground; a terrible yell shattered the stillness of the night; and with
+lightning swiftness El Sol sprang upon the terrified survivors, who,
+answering his war-whoop by cries of terror, fled in confusion from the
+place. It needed all the surprising rapidity and dexterity of the
+young chief and his followers to secure six of the half-wild horses,
+whose bridles, so swift and well-calculated had been the movements of
+the Comanches, might be said to fall from the hands of their slain
+riders into those of the assailants. The remaining steeds reared in
+extreme terror, and then, with neigh and snort, dashed madly across
+the wide waste of the steppe.
+
+Springing upon the backs of the captured animals, the Comanches
+galloped to the shore. Scarcely had they entered the canoe, astern of
+which the horses were made to swim, when the bullets and arrows of the
+pursuing foe whistled around them.
+
+"Will my son promise the Miko to be a good father to the Oconees?"
+said the old chief in a hollow voice, as they pulled out of range of
+the fire.
+
+"A father and a brother," answered the Comanche. "But why does my
+father ask? He will dwell long and happily with his children."
+
+"Will El Sol swear it by the Great Spirit?" repeated the old man,
+earnestly, but in a fainter voice.
+
+"He will," replied the young chief.
+
+"Will he swear to bury Tokeah and his father's bones in the grave of
+the warriors of the Comanches?"
+
+"He will," said El Sol.
+
+"So shall the white men not scoff at his ashes nor at those of his
+father," groaned the Miko. "But it is the will of the Great Spirit
+that Tokeah should not see the hunting-grounds of the Comanches; he is
+doomed to die in the land of the palefaces."
+
+A rattling in his throat interrupted the old man; he murmured a few
+broken words in the ears of his Oconees, who broke out into a wild
+howl of lamentation. Still clasping to his breast the coffin
+containing his father's bones, he sank back in the boat in the agonies
+of death. El Sol raised him in his arms, but life had already fled. A
+bullet had struck him between the shoulders, and inflicted a mortal
+wound. In silent grief the young chief threw himself upon the corpse,
+and long after the boat had reached the opposite shore, he lay there,
+unmindful of all but his sorrow. Roused at length by the whispers of
+his companions, to a sense of the danger of longer delay, he laid the
+body across a horse, and himself mounting the same animal, took the
+road to the village of the Pawnees. There, upon the following day, to
+the wild and mournful music of the death-song, the little party made
+its sorrowful entrance.
+
+At this point the narrative ceases. We turn the page, expecting at
+least another chapter, or some notice of Rosa's restoration to her
+father, and subsequent marriage with Hodges, which the previous
+portion of the novel certainly led us to anticipate. But our author,
+with his usual eccentric disregard of the established routine of
+romance writers, contents himself with a postscript, consisting of an
+advertisement extracted from the Opelousas county paper, and dated
+March 1816, announcing the marriage of the amiable and accomplished
+Miss Mary Copeland, daughter of the Honourable John Copeland, of James
+county, to Mr James Hodges, formerly of H.B.M. Navy, and now of
+Hodges' Seat in the same state. The reader is left to complete the
+denouement for himself, if he so pleases, and to conjecture that
+Rosa's father, a Mexican grandee, takes back his daughter to her
+native country, and that the incipient attachment between her and the
+young Englishman is mutually forgotten.
+
+We here finally conclude our extracts from the already published work
+of our German American friend--extracts comprising, as we believe, the
+cream of the twenty volumes, or thereabouts, which he has given to the
+world. The incognito behind which this clever and original writer has
+so long shrouded himself, is at length abandoned; and to a new edition
+of his works, now in course of publication, stands prefixed the name
+of Charles Sealsfield.
+
+
+
+
+THE DEATH OF ZUMALACARREGUI.
+
+BY COLONEL LORD HOWDEN, K.ST.F., K.C.S.
+
+
+     "Ac sane, quod difficilimum, et prælio strenuus erat et bonus
+     in consilio; quorum alterum ex providentiâ timorem, alterum
+     ex audaciâ temeritatem, adferre plerumque solet. In Jugurthâ
+     tantus dolus, tantaque peritia locorum et militiæ erat, ut
+     absens aut præsens perniciosior esset in incerto
+     haberetur."--SALLUST.
+
+
+The siege of Bilbao was undertaken against the will, and strongly
+expressed counsel of Zumalacarregui. He was not only aware of the risk
+of the enterprise, with the insufficient means at his disposal for
+attempting it, but he had other plans. His plans, however, were
+undervalued, and his counsels were slighted, at the court of the
+Pretender. The little empty politicians there, were dazzled by the
+idea of possessing an important town, not deeming it their business to
+calculate the means by which it was to be obtained; the incompetent
+military advisers who directed from afar, thought that this bold
+attempt, proceeding from them, would contrast in bright relief with
+the hitherto wary and waiting policy of the commander-in-chief; and
+the wish, not an unnatural one, of the wandering prince, to find
+himself for once in comfortable quarters, was not the least among the
+motives which decided the operation. Though at this moment the
+Christino army was in a state of great discouragement from a long
+series of advantages that had been gained by the Carlists, the funds
+of the latter were entirely exhausted; and the idea of a forced loan
+upon the rich inhabitants of Bilbao was too seducing to be coldly
+examined by those little acquainted with the real difficulties of the
+war. Zumalacarregui wished to attack Victoria, and, profiting by the
+prestige of his late successes, to throw himself on the fertile and
+virgin ground of the Castiles. This was doubtlessly the right course,
+but the project was overruled.
+
+Independently of what thus gave rise to these ambitious aspirations,
+there was a personal feeling which had long been busy, either in
+attempting new and unexpected combinations on the part of the
+Camarilla, or in mutilating or rendering ineffectual those that had
+been imagined by Zumalacarregui. There was no passion, bold or mean,
+no jealousy, no intrigues, vegetating ever so rankly or rifely in the
+oldest and largest court of Europe, which did not flourish in that of
+Don Carlos.
+
+There was not a Christino general more disliked by the hangers-on of
+Don Carlos than Zumalacarregui. They feared him, they respected him,
+but they hated him.
+
+When the Pretender first made his appearance in Navarre,
+Zumalacarregui was in his favourite retreat of the Amescuas. He was
+far from insensible to the advantage which the presence of the chief
+actor in the drama might produce, if his personal bearing should be
+such as to create an enthusiasm for his cause, and if those who
+accompanied him should bring each his personal contingent of
+enlightened advice and honest activity. But with all these hopes,
+Zumalacarregui was not without his fears; his sagacity foresaw what
+his experience soon confirmed, that the royal chief was worse than a
+nullity, and that the royal suite were actively in the way. Lord Bacon
+says, "it is the solecism of princes to think to command the end, and
+yet not to endure the means." Dr Carlos was always commanding the end,
+while his general was left to find the means as best he could. A large
+portion of his small army was absorbed in protecting the prince, and
+could rarely be counted on in a combined movement; and the
+non-combatants, under every denomination of title and rank, drew more
+rations for their consumption than would have sufficed for the support
+of a large body of soldiers.
+
+Zumalacarregui, personally, was never very enthusiastic in the cause.
+It is true that his feelings had always had a tendency to absolutism,
+or rather he entertained the conviction that a strong government was
+necessary to the happiness of Spain, and that the greater the unity of
+that government, the greater was its chance of stability, and its
+power of favourable action; but when he left Pamplona to put himself
+at the head of the insurgent Navarrese, he was influenced far more by
+pique against the existing state of things, than by enthusiasm for
+the new one which he sought to establish. He had been treated both
+brutally and unjustly by Quesada, at that time inspector of infantry;
+and, with his active spirit, a condemnation to inactivity was the
+severest sentence that could be passed upon him. Rest to his unquiet
+bosom was a hell from which he was determined to emerge; and,
+confident in his powers, he seized the first opportunity which enabled
+him to bring them into action.
+
+The meeting between Zumalacarregui and the prince was respectful, but
+not warm; the first was unaccustomed to have any feelings, the second
+was unaccustomed to conceal those he had. The new importation had
+brought no new ideas, no plans, no accession of science; above all,
+_no money_; at least no more than was to be applied to its own wants.
+Don Carlos was evidently under the constraint that a strong mind
+imposes on a weak one. He saw that the servant was the master, as much
+in commanding intellect as in actual power. They were both
+uncomfortable; Zumalacarregui neither flattered the prince, nor his
+chances of success; he laid before him his difficulties, almost
+insuperable in his own opinion--for let it be known as a fact, _that
+he always in his heart despaired of the ultimate upshot of the war_.
+In conversational phrase, he had made himself thoroughly disagreeable;
+for he had spoken calmly, coldly, truly--and the hopes of an immediate
+march to Madrid had been rudely shaken. Zumalacarregui left the
+prince's headquarters with a discouragement and a contempt which he
+was at no pains to conceal. From that moment he was an object, often
+of admiration, but never of affection; and it was evident that the
+effort to esteem him was too painful to ensure a continuance of
+confidence.
+
+Among those who consider Zumalacarregui solely as the able chief of a
+devoted army, putting aside all the circumstances of political
+partisanship, there can be little difference of opinion, if that
+opinion be fairly formed and honestly given. By those who remark upon
+the comparatively small number of his troops, and the relatively
+confined scale of his operations, and who therefore refuse him the
+name of a great general, it must be remembered, that if this principle
+of applying reputation be pushed further in its expression--if
+military praise and appreciation are to be awarded strictly according
+to the size of the theatre and the magnitude of the numbers, and not
+according to the spirit which moves over the one, and directs the
+others--by such geometrical logic, our own great hero would be deemed
+immeasurably inferior to the French emperor.
+
+Zumalacarregui possessed great courage, but he made no show of it. It
+would have been more brilliant if he had had more vanity; and the
+exposure of his person was always subservient to some object of
+utility. He had a comprehensive view of military movements, but he
+never forgot the peculiar nature of his warfare; and he never
+ambitiously allowed himself to be carried away by plans or manœuvres
+beyond the exigencies of his position. As an administrator in forming
+reserves, in procuring supplies, in discovering resources, in bringing
+raw battalions to a state of rough efficiency in the shortest possible
+time, he was unrivalled; yet his mind was not cramped by detail, and
+when he descended to minute matters, it was because they were really
+important. He was severe and inflexible, even taciturn and morose; yet
+he was extremely loved by his troops. At the time that he was
+commander-in-chief, commissary-general and treasurer, and that all the
+sums of money, raised or sent, passed through his hands without a
+check or a receipt, there never was a breath raised against the purity
+of his moral character. These certainly are the elements out of which
+great generals are made; and it is not irrational to think that, under
+other circumstances, the same man, this Navarrese Guerrillero, far
+superior as such to the brave but improvident Mina, or the active but
+dull Jauregui, might have expanded into a European hero, and have left
+a less perishable name.
+
+When the siege of Bilbao was decided on, Zumalacarregui threw his
+objections to the winds, and set about it with his constitutional
+ardour. He arrived before it with fourteen battalions, and a miserable
+battering-train, composed of two twelve-pounders, one six-pounder, two
+brass four-pounders, two howitzers and a mortar, and with a great
+penury of corresponding ammunition. The town was garrisoned by a force
+of four thousand men, well armed, without counting the national guard,
+and was protected by forty pieces of artillery, mostly of large
+calibre, mounted on different forts thrown up in favourable positions.
+But what was of chief advantage to the besieged, and what almost
+rendered success hopeless, was the free communication from without
+kept up by French and English vessels of war stationed in the Nervion,
+a river that runs alongside the town, and joins the sea at some seven
+or eight miles' distance.
+
+Zumalacarregui fixed his headquarters at a spot called Puente Nuevo,
+in a small straggling village, just at this side of the town of
+Bilbao, and under one of its most fashionable and frequented walks.
+Eraso had begun the investiture of the place a few days previously,
+and both these chiefs lodged in a small inn named the Three Sisters.
+Puente Nuevo was completely commanded by an eminence called the Morro,
+just outside the gates of Bilbao; but the garrison, either from
+motives of prudence or others, gave the Carlists no inconvenience from
+that point.
+
+At a short distance to the right of the Durango road, and on a height
+immediately over the town of Bilbao, is a church, called Our Lady of
+Begoña; and not far from it is a house, which, from its comparative
+size and solidity, and from its commanding view of the country around,
+goes by the name of the Palace. On the second day of the siege, two
+serious misfortunes befell the besiegers: eighty of the best muskets
+they possessed were piled in the portico of the church of Begoña, and
+were all entirely destroyed by a grenade that took them horizontally,
+killing the two sentinels that were mounting guard over them. The same
+evening the two largest of the guns, already half-worn out, burst from
+continued firing, just as something like an impression appeared on the
+spot it was proposed to breach.
+
+Don Carlos, during this time, was at Durango, a distance of five or
+six hours. Zumalacarregui, seeing the hopelessness of the operation,
+and, above all, the discouragement of the men, sent an express to the
+prince to say, "that he would be obliged infallibly to raise the siege
+and retire, unless some means were immediately taken to raise the
+drooping spirits of his army; that they were without clothes, without
+food, and almost without ammunition; that it was absolutely necessary
+that a sum of money should be procured and sent to him, which would
+enable him to pay the troops a part of what was due to them; and that
+then, as the means of prolonging a siege was out of the question, he
+would endeavour to carry out his majesty's wishes, and try to take the
+place by assault."
+
+Cruz-Mayor, the lead of the Camarilla, loved to humiliate
+Zumalacarregui, and no answer was returned to this letter; but
+Zumalacarregui was not idle, nor did he allow inaction to dispirit
+still more the minds of his men. He even attempted an assault, which
+failed, with the loss of all those who were ordered on this service.
+Unfortunately for the attacking column, lots were drawn for the troops
+that were to compose it; and they fell upon a regiment of Navarrese,
+entirely ignorant of the localities, who, getting confused in
+cross-paths and lanes at the foot of the walls, were cut off to a man.
+It was thought that the result of this attack might have been
+otherwise had it been undertaken by the Biscayan companies, who knew
+every inch of the ground. The hour, too, was ill judged, for it was at
+the beginning of nightfall, when it was just dark enough to embarrass
+those who were attempting the assault, without being sufficiently so
+to induce the inhabitants and national guards to retire from the
+walls.
+
+On the 15th June 1835, Zumalacarregui proceeded to the palace of
+Begoña, not far from the church of the same name, as the best spot for
+observing the repairs made, and the additional means of defence raised
+by the enemy during the night. He passed through the middle room on
+the first story, and, throwing open the window, went out on the iron
+balcony overlooking the town. The balls were flying so thick and fast
+that he desired all those who accompanied him to remain within; but,
+notwithstanding their supplications, he himself remained leaning on
+the railing of the balcony, his knees nearly touching the ground. The
+telescope which he used, showing the marksmen in the enemy's works
+that he was probably a personage of importance, occasioned a general
+discharge from the nearest battery. It was now exactly eight o'clock
+in the morning, and a ball from this discharge struck Zumalacarregui
+in the upper and anterior part of the right leg, on the inner side,
+about two inches below the knee. From the position in which he was
+struck, the ball took a downwards direction, and, as no part of the
+intricate machinery of the knee was injured, there was every reason to
+suppose that no serious consequences could ensue.
+
+Either from the extreme pain of the wound, or the shock given to the
+nervous system, Zumalacarregui fainted. His secretary, Zaratiegui, and
+the rest of his staff, picked him up in a state of insensibility, and
+placed him on a chair. The surgeon, Grediaga, a man of considerable
+acquirements, who was then practising in the sacristy of the church of
+Begoña, which had been converted into an hospital, was immediately
+sent for, as well as a young English surgeon of the name of Burgess,
+belonging to a small body of cavalry called the "Holy Squadron," or
+the "Squadron of Legitimacy."
+
+This young man, a person of great respectability, and well informed in
+his profession, has been since as grossly as ridiculously accused of
+having been bought by the English government to hasten the end of
+Zumalacarregui, if ever his services enabled him to do so; and it is
+still said, and believed by many, that the death of the general was
+owing to poison put into the bandages with which Mr Burgess first
+dressed the wound. In a country like Spain, where there is much
+ignorance and deep prejudice, it does not suffice to laugh to scorn
+accusations of any sort: it is better to meet them seriously, and
+disprove them by a fact. _Mr Burgess never dressed Zumalacarregui's
+leg at all._ He spoke no Spanish, and while he was endeavouring to
+make himself understood and to learn what had happened, Grediaga
+arrived and put on the first application.
+
+On being asked whither he should be carried, Zumalacarregui
+immediately said to Cegama, a town three days' journey off, situated
+in a solitary neighbourhood, and entirely unprovided with any thing
+like comfort, medicines, or professional assistance. The surprise of
+all was manifest, but the general was too accustomed to be obeyed not
+to be so in this instance. He was placed upon an old sofa from which
+the legs were sawed, and which was carried by eight guides of Navarre,
+with twenty-four others as a reserve. Neither he nor the chief of his
+staff and secretary, Zaratiegui, had a single peseta in their pockets,
+and he received from Mendigana, the paymaster-general, twenty ounces
+of gold, as a part of the pay that was due to him.
+
+The reason which induced Zumalacarregui to go to Cegama, was indeed a
+strange one, and a fatal one. It was one he never expressed, but which
+prompted this revelation from the very instant that he received his
+wound. There lived in this district a quack of the very lowest
+capacity, of the name of Petriquillo--a man entirely unimbued with the
+slightest tincture of medical science, but whose chance cures of
+gunshot wounds during the time of the Army of the Faith in 1822, had
+astonished and taken possession of the mind of Zumalacarregui. He even
+refused to allow the ball to be extracted at a moment when the
+operation presented no danger, and his only anxiety was to put himself
+into the hands of this ignorant adventurer.
+
+When the party arrived at Durango, Don Carlos sent word that he would
+next morning pay a visit to his wounded chief; the frame of mind of
+the latter may be collected from an exclamation he made on the road,
+heard by all, and commented on by many--"Truly this is a happy day for
+the court of the king!"
+
+As announced, Don Carlos came, and the following remarkable
+conversation took place:--"Well, Thomas, how could'st thou do so
+foolish a thing as to get wounded?" (The Spanish royal family always
+use the second person singular.) "Sir, I exposed myself, because it
+was my duty to do so--besides, I have lived long enough, _and I am
+firmly convinced that we shall all have to die in your majesty's
+service_." "Well, but where do'st thou intend going?" "To Cegama,
+sir." "No, don't go there, it is a long way off: stay here, I'll have
+thee taken care of." "Sir, I have said I would go to Cegama, and to
+Cegama will I go: your majesty knows me well enough to be convinced
+that what I say, I do." "Oh yes! Thomas, that is certain--well, go
+with God, and take care of thyself."
+
+After this interview, Zumalacarregui instantly set off, as if it was a
+relief to him to get out of the atmosphere of the court. Between
+Durango and Bergara he was met by the quack Petriquillo and the cura
+Zabala. Besides the above-mentioned Grediaga, Don Carlos had desired
+two other nominal physicians, Gelos and Voloqui, to accompany the
+general; but these two men were, in fact, as ignorant, and as rash,
+and as opinionated as Petriquillo himself. Petriquillo took off the
+dressing from the wound; he made two men rub the patient for four
+hours from the hip to the ankle, with an unctuous substance known only
+to himself. He then put on a bandage dipped in some medicament of his
+own composition. Zumalacarregui suffered extremely during the night.
+
+Next morning a violent fever manifested itself. Mr Burgess, frightened
+at this treatment, returned to Bilbao, and Zumalacarregui continued
+his journey, arriving at Cegama on the evening of the 17th.
+
+The surgeon Grediaga still continued, not his services, but his
+useless advice. As the fever increased, he recommended quiet, diet,
+and blood-letting. Petriquillo objected to venesection or leeches; he
+administered food in large quantities, to support the general's
+strength, and kept the room full of company to keep up the general's
+spirits.
+
+Five days passed in this way with this treatment, or rather absence of
+treatment, only diversified by various attempts to extract the ball,
+though the leg, by the progress of the fever, and the continued
+application of the knife and probe, was swollen to twice its size, and
+was in a state of the highest exacerbation.
+
+In the middle of the night of the 23d, a great idea struck Gelos and
+Petriquillo, the former was sleeping in the same room with Grediaga,
+and, fearful lest the latter should prevent its accomplishment, rose
+stealthily at one o'clock in the morning, proceeded with Petriquillo
+to the room of the general, and they there together _did_ extract the
+ball.
+
+At daylight, the joy in the house was extreme; the ball was passed
+through the hands of every inhabitant in Cegama, and was then
+dispatched in a box to Don Carlos. Petriquillo and Gelos announced,
+that in fifteen days the general would be at the head of his army
+before Bilbao.
+
+At six o'clock, Zumalacarregui began to complain of insupportable
+thirst, and of pains all through the body; shortly afterwards, general
+shiverings came on, with convulsions at times. During an interval
+between these, he received the last consolations of religion; for
+though far from being a bigot, or even a devotee, Zumalacarregui
+respected, and practised reverentially, the religion of his country.
+At eleven o'clock in the morning of the 24th of June 1835, he expired.
+
+On examining the body, it was found that two cuts had been made
+completely through the calf of the leg in order to get at the ball:
+Their length was about three inches, and their depth was as great as
+it could be; for they reached the bone. The whole of the integuments
+had been divided by Petriquillo, and the sheets of the bed were one
+mass of blood.
+
+About three hours before the general's death, Petriquillo, unseen,
+went into the stable, saddled his mule, and departed.
+
+As the dead chief never possessed the uniform of a general, his body
+was laid out in borrowed garments belonging to the attorney of the
+place. It was dressed in a black coat and black pantaloons, with a
+white waistcoat, and over the shoulder was put the riband of the fifth
+class of St Ferdinand, without the star, for he never had one.
+Zumalacarregui had troubled himself little about external decorations;
+and his ordinary dress, a black sheep-skin jacket, red overalls, and a
+flat scarlet boyna, or cap of the country, which he thought
+sufficiently good for his body when living, was deemed unworthy of him
+when he became dust. It was an apt type of what had preceded, and what
+was to follow: the rude neglected warrior during life--the Duke, the
+_King's friend_, the grandee of Spain after death.
+
+One word about the cruelty of Zumalacarregui. He _was_ cruel, and what
+is about to be said is a reason, but it is not put forth as either an
+excuse or a justification. His cruelty proceeded from no innate or
+idiosyncratic ferocity. In a less cruel atmosphere he would have
+breathed a milder spirit. There is an indifference to life in all
+Spaniards, which, on one side, prompts great deeds, and, on the other,
+readily ripens into inhumanity. They care little about their own
+lives, and speedily learn to care still less about the lives of
+others. In this melancholy warfare there was cruelty on all sides;
+and, from the execution of Santos Ladron, there followed a series of
+bloody atonements, each producing each, which strewed the highways
+with as many bodies as had fallen in the field.
+
+Though the temptation of straying into any thing like a biography has
+been studiously avoided, there is one anecdote so curious, and not
+only so explanatory of what has just been said, but so illustrative of
+the character of both the man and the country, that it will hardly be
+deemed out of place.
+
+A young grandee of Spain, the Count of Via-Manuel, had been taken
+prisoner. Zumalacarregui was anxious to save his life, though the
+circumstance of his rank seemed to make his death the more certain, as
+being a fitter expiation for many executions which had lately taken
+place on the Christino side. Zumalacarregui addressed a letter to
+Rodil, the commander-in-chief of that army, saying that he was anxious
+to exchange his prisoner for a subaltern officer, and some soldiers
+that had been lately seized sick in a farm-house, and that he awaited
+the answer. The distance between the armies was short, and, some hours
+after, Via-Manuel requested permission to see the general and learn
+his fate. Zumalacarregui received him in the room when he was just
+going to dinner, and, in that oriental style so interwoven in the
+whole web of Spanish customs, offered him a part of the repast that
+was before him. In ordinary times, this is but a courteous form, and
+it is rarely accepted; but Via-Manuel, thinking perhaps of the Arab's
+salt in this Moorish compliment, accepted the invitation, and sat down
+at the table. They eat, and at the end of dinner an orderly entered
+and gave a letter to the general. It was from Rodil, and contained
+only these words--"The rebels were shot this morning." Zumalacarregui,
+without saying a word, handed the paper to Via-Manuel, rose from
+table, and went out of the room. The unfortunate count was that night
+placed, according to custom, in the chapel of the village, and was
+shot next morning.
+
+This happened in Lecumberri, which was entered shortly afterwards by
+the troops of the Queen. On leaving it the following day, two Carlist
+officers were pinioned and shot through the back, on the very spot
+where Via-Manuel fell. Such was the frightful mode of reciprocal
+expiation carried on on both sides; but the writer of this notice has,
+at least, among those painful recollections, the consolation of
+reflecting, that in this, as in other instances more fortunate, he did
+all in his power to save the victims.
+
+This little sketch has swelled beyond its intended bulk, but when
+those who love Spain have passed the Pyrenees, it is difficult not to
+linger there, even on paper. Amid dangers and difficulties, and even
+the horrors of civil war, Spain has an attraction which it would be as
+difficult to explain to those who do not feel it, as to describe the
+sound of a trumpet to a deaf man. To those who have passed their early
+years there, Spain is like the shining decoration in a play, which
+still continues haunting the slumbers of the child that has seen one
+for the first time.
+
+After the death of Zumalacarregui, Don Carlos took command of the
+army, with Moreno for chief of his staff, but the latter exercised all
+real authority. The Pretender was utterly deficient of every thing
+like military talent, and from the day of Zumalacarregui's death, his
+cause was not only hopeless, but felt to be so by the queen's party,
+who shortly regained the large portion of occupied territory which
+they had recently lost.
+
+Zumalacarregui, from the 1st May 1835 to the 11th of June of that
+year, had made upwards of three thousand soldiers and a hundred
+officers prisoners. He left for all inheritance to his wife and
+daughters something less than forty pounds and four horses.
+
+
+
+
+NEW SCOTTISH PLAYS AND POEMS.[53]
+
+
+We suspect that in this railway age poetry is at a greater discount
+than ever. The reason is obvious. Not only the public, who are the
+readers, but even the poets themselves, have been largely infected by
+the current mania of speculation. Had the possession of capital been
+requisite for a participation in any of the thousand defunct schemes
+which have caused so unprecedented an emigration to the breezy shores
+of Boulogne, our poetical friends might have claimed for their
+vocation the credit of a rare morality. But unfortunately, the
+national gaming-table was open to men of every class. Peer and
+peasant, count and costermonger, millionaire and bankrupt, were alike
+entitled to figure as allottees, or even as committee-men, for the
+simple subscription of their signatures; and amidst the rush and
+squeeze of the crowd, who thronged towards the portal of Plutus, we
+were less surprised than pained to observe some of the most venerated
+votaries of Apollo. We shall not affect to disguise the purpose for
+which we were there ourselves. But much may be permitted to the
+prosaic writer which is forbidden to the canonized bard. Ours is a pen
+of all work--equally ready to concoct a prospectus, or to expose a
+literary charlatan. We are intensely fond of lucre, and expect, some
+day or another, to be in possession of the moiety of a plum. We have
+therefore no vain scruples regarding the sanctity of our calling, but
+carry our genius like a hooded falcon upon our wrist, ready to let it
+fly at any manner of game which may arise. We, however, deny in
+absolute terms the right of a poet to any such general license. He has
+no business whatever to trespass one foot beyond the limits his own
+domain. He ought to be thoroughly ignorant of the existence of bulls
+and bears, stags and ducks, and the rest of the zoology of the
+Exchange. Consols should be to him a mystery more impenetrable than
+the Sibylline verses, and the state of the stocks as unaccountable as
+the policy of Sir Robert Peel. The mischief, however, is done, and we
+fear it is irremediable. The example of the Poet-Laureate may indeed
+serve as a kind of excuse for the minor professors of the art. His
+well-known attempt to _bear_ the Kendal and Windermere line, by a
+series of ferocious sonnets, is still fresh in the memory of the
+public, and we trust the veteran has, long ere this, realized a
+handsome profit. We ourselves made a little money out of the Perth and
+Inverness, by means of an indignant tirade against the desecration of
+the Pass of Killiecrankie; and we should, to a certainty, have made
+more, had not the Parliamentary Committee been weak enough to believe
+us, and, in consequence, to reject the bill. Yet it may be long before
+the literary market can recover its healthy tone--ere sonnets once
+more resume their ancient ascendency, and circulate from hand to hand
+in the character of intellectual scrip.
+
+We suspect that very few of the poets backed out of the scrape in
+time. Their sanguine and enthusiastic temperament led them to hold, at
+all risks and hazards; and they did not, as a body, take warning from
+the symptoms of a declining market. An amiable friend of ours who
+belongs to the Young England party, and who has issued a couple of
+duodecimos in laudation of Bishop Bonner, found himself at the period
+of the crash in possession of two thousand Caithness and Land's End
+scrip, utterly unsaleable at any discount, though a fortnight before
+they were quoted at fifteen premium. He meditates, as we are
+informed, a speedy retirement to the penal solitudes of La Trappe, as
+there now seems to be little hope that Louis Philippe will provide a
+proper refuge for chivalrous misfortune by resuscitating the Order of
+Malta. The weaver-poet of Camlachie has gone into the Gazette in
+consequence of an unfortunate speculation in Caledonians. His lyre is
+as silent as his shuttle; and we fear that in his hours of despondency
+he is becoming by far too much addicted to drink. A clever young
+dramatist confessed to us some time ago that he found himself utterly
+"goosed;" and the last hope of the school of Byron has been forced to
+deny himself the luxury of inverted collars, as his uncompromising
+laundress peremptorily refused to accept of payment in characteristic
+Cemetery shares.
+
+In the gross, this state of things seems deplorable enough; and yet,
+when we analyse it, there is still some room for comfort. Never, since
+we first had the honour of wielding the critical lash--for the Crutch
+is a sacred instrument--in the broad amphitheatre of letters, do we
+recollect a year less fertile in the product of verse than the
+present. Our young friends are not possessed with the same supreme and
+sublime contempt of gold which formed so disinterested a feature of
+the poets of the by-gone age. They have become corrupted by the
+manufacturing and utilitarian tenets of the day; and--we shudder to
+record it--divers of them are violent free-traders. They have all
+fallen into the snare of the man Broker; and at the very outset of
+life, in the heyday and spring of their existence, they can count both
+sides of a shilling with the acuteness of a born Pennsylvanian. Hence
+it is, we presume, that they have attained to a knowledge of the
+fact--long ago notorious among the Trade--that poetry will not pay.
+They look upon genius through the glasses of Adam Smith, weigh the
+probability of an adequate demand before they venture on the
+production of a supply, and cut short the inchoate canto upon
+principles of Political Economy. In a few years, we fear, poetry will
+be no longer extant, save for the commercial purposes of the
+advertisements of Messrs Moses and Hyam; unless, indeed, some Welsh or
+Highland railway company should take the matter up, and double their
+dividends by bribing a first-rate poet to produce another _Lady of the
+Lake_. Hence the sparseness of our library table, which renders our
+old vocation comparatively a sinecure, and leaves us, without the
+necessity of immolation, to the undisturbed enjoyment of our chair.
+
+We might indeed, were we savagely inclined, discover some Volscians
+worth our fluttering in the ranks of Young England, or the more sombre
+group of poetical Oxonian divines. But we look with a kindly eye upon
+the eccentricities of the one school, and we listen to the drowsy
+strains of the other with no more active demonstration of disapproval
+than a yawn. We have high hope of George Sydney Smythe, Lord John
+Manners, and others, who have already produced some things of evident
+promise--not mere beaten tinsel, such as the resuscitated Cockneys are
+again beginning to vend in the literary market--but verses of true and
+genuine originality. Could we but ensure them against the vitiating
+effects of politics, it were a light hazard to predict for either of
+the above gentlemen a far higher reputation than has been achieved by
+the united efforts of the whole canorous crew which constituted the
+Melbourne administration. We must indeed except Mr Macaulay, a better
+poet than a politician, but--the brilliant ballad-writer being
+removed--what soul could have been contented to fatten upon the spongy
+lyrics of a Spring Rice, or the intolerable tragedies of a Russell!
+What food to sweeten the tedium of a solitary imprisonment for life!
+
+As for the Oxford school, we fairly confess that its votaries are
+beyond our comprehension. Amiable they are, no doubt, although ascetic
+in principle; but they are likewise insufferably tedious. We have
+attempted at various times, and during different states of the
+barometer, to make ourselves master of the compositions of Mr Williams
+and his principal followers. We failed. After skimming over a page or
+two of mellifluous blank verse, we began to experience a strange
+sensation, as if a bee were humming through the room. At each
+evolution of the imaginary insect, our eyes felt heavier and heavier.
+We made a strong effort to rally ourselves at the description of a
+crystalline stream, meandering, as we rather think, somewhere through
+the confines of Paradise; but the hue of the water gradually changed.
+It became dark and treacly, purled with a somniferous sound, as though
+the channel had been filled with living laudanum; and in three minutes
+more we were unconscious of the existence of the income-tax, and as
+relieved from the load of worldly cares as though we had joined
+company with the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus.
+
+Surely we have a right to expect something better from Oxford than
+this. The old nurse of learning must bestir herself once more,
+forswear morphia, and teach her pupils to strike a manlier chord, else
+men will cease to believe in the ancient magic of her name. What we
+want is, power, energy, pathos--not mere vapid sentiment, so
+diligently distilled that scarce a flavour of the original material is
+left to enable us to discover its origin. If poetry be a copy or a
+reflex of life, let it show out lifelike and true; if it be the
+representation of a dream, at all events let us have the vision, as in
+the mirror of Agrippa, well defined, though around its edges rest the
+clouds of impenetrable mystery. Above all things, let us have meaning,
+not vague allegorical phrases--power if not passion--sense if not
+sublimity. If the classics cannot teach us these, let us go back to
+the earlier ballads, and see how our fathers wrote without the aid of
+metaphysical jargon.
+
+Our present purpose is to deal with Scottish writers, and fortunately
+we have material at hand. Last month we were in London, engaged in
+divers matters connected with the state of the nation and our own
+private emolument, which latter pursuit we as seldom as possible
+neglect. The cares of a railway witness, in which capacity we had the
+honour to act, are but few. A bountiful table was spread for us, not
+in the wilderness, but in an excellent hotel in St James's; breakfast,
+luncheon, dinner, and supper, followed one another with praiseworthy
+regularity; the matutinal soda-water was only succeeded by the iced
+hock and champagne of the vespers, and a beneficent Fairy of seventeen
+stone, in the guise of a Writer to Her Majesty's Signet, was courteous
+enough not only to defray the whole of the attending expenses, but to
+furnish us with certain sums of gold, which we disseminated at our own
+proper pleasure. In return for the attentions of our legal Barmecide,
+we submitted to ensconce ourselves for a couple of days in a hot room
+somewhere about the Cloisters, in the course of which sederunt we held
+an animated conversation with several gentlemen in wigs, for the
+edification--as we were given to understand--of five other gentlemen
+in hats, who sat yawning behind a green table. We take this
+opportunity of tendering our acknowledgments to the eminent and
+raucous Queen's Counsel who was kind enough to conduct our
+cross-examination, and who so delicately insinuated his doubts as to
+the veracity and candour of our replies. As his knowledge of the
+localities about Braemar--the district then under question--was about
+equal to his cognizance of the natural history of Kamschatka, we felt
+the compliment deeply; and should we ever have the pleasure of
+encountering our beetle-browed acquaintance during a vacation ramble
+on the skirts of Schehallion, we pledge ourselves that he shall carry
+back with him to Lincoln's Inn some lasting tokens of our regard. In
+the mean time we sincerely hope he has recovered from that distressing
+fit of huskiness which rendered his immediate vicinity by no means a
+seat of comfort to his solicitor.
+
+As a matter of course, we relieved the monotony of our duties by
+divers modes of relaxation. Greenwich--in the glory of its whitebait,
+its undeniable Thames flounders, its dear little ducklings enshrined
+in their asparagus nest, and its flagons, wherein the cider cup shows
+sparklingly through the light blue _Borage_--was not unfrequented by
+us in the course of the sultry afternoon. At Richmond, likewise, we
+battened sybaritically; and more than once essayed to resuscitate our
+appetite, and awake within us the dormant sense of poetry, by a stroll
+along the breezy heath of Hampstead, preparatory to a dive into the
+Saracen, where, doubtless, in the days of yore, Leigh Hunt, Keats, and
+Hazlitt used to make wild work among the eggs and spinach. Our
+attendance at the theatres, however, was a matter of rarity. We have
+no fancy to undergo martyrdom by means of a slow stewing, when the
+sole palm we can win, in exchange for the sudorific pangs, is the
+enjoyment of some such shabby-genteel comedy as _The Beggar on
+Horseback_, or a travestie like that of the _Birds_ of Aristophanes,
+the only peculiarity of which is its utter want of meaning. As a
+general rule, we prefer the spectacles on the Surrey side, to those
+exhibited in the Metropolitan or Westminster districts. There, the
+nautical drama still flourishes in its pristine force. The old British
+tar, in ringlets, pumps, and oil-skin castor, still hitches up his
+trousers with appropriate oath; revolves the unfailing bolus of
+pigtail in his cheek--swims to shore across a tempestuous sea of
+canvass, with a pistol in each hand and a cutlass in his teeth, from
+the wreck of the foundering frigate--and sets foot once more on the
+British soil, just in time to deliver Pretty Poll of Portsmouth, his
+affianced bride, (who has a passion for short petticoats and crimson
+stockings,) from the persecutions of that bebuttoned pirate with the
+whiskers, who carries more pistols in his girdle than the scalps of an
+Indian chief, and whose fall, after a terrific combat with
+basket-hilts and shower of fiery sparkles, brings down the curtain at
+the close of the third act amidst roars of unmitigated joy. Also we
+delight to see, at never-failing Astley's, the revived glories of
+British prowess--Wellington, in the midst of his staff, smiling
+benignantly upon the facetious pleasantries of a Fitzroy
+Somerset--Sergeant M'Craw of the Forty-Second, delighting the _élite_
+of Brussels by his performance of the reel of Tullochgorum at the
+Duchess of Richmond's ball--the charge of the Scots Greys--the single
+combat between Marshal Ney and the infuriated Life-guardsman Shaw--and
+the final retreat of Napoleon amidst a volley of Roman candles, and
+the flames of an arseniated Hougomont. Nor is our gratification less
+to discern, after the subsiding of the shower of saw-dust so
+gracefully scattered by that groom in the doeskin integuments, the
+stately form of Widdicomb, cased in martial apparel, advancing towards
+the centre of the wing, and commanding--with imperious gestures, and
+some slight flagellation in return for dubious compliment--the
+double-jointed clown to assist the Signora Cavalcanti to her seat upon
+the celebrated Arabian. How lovely looks the lady, as she vaults to
+her feet upon the breadth of the yielding saddle! With what inimitable
+grace does she whirl these tiny banners around her head, as winningly
+as a Titania performing the sword exercise! How coyly does she dispose
+her garments and floating drapery to hide the too maddening symmetry
+of her limbs! Gods!--She is transformed all at once into an
+Amazon--the fawn-like timidity of her first demeanour is gone. Bold
+and beautiful flushes her cheek with animated crimson--her full
+voluptuous lip is more compressed and firm--the deep passion of the
+huntress sparkles in her lustrous eye! Widdicomb becomes excited--he
+moves with quicker step around the periphery of his central
+circle--incessant is the smacking of his whip--not this time directed
+against Mr Merryman, who at his ease is enjoying a swim upon the
+saw-dust--and lo! the grooms rush in, six bars are elevated in a
+trice, and over them all bounds the volatile Signora like a panther,
+nor pauses until, with airy somersets, she has passed twice through
+the purgatory of the blazing hoop, and then, drooping and exhausted,
+sinks like a Sabine into the arms of the herculean Master, who--a
+second Romulus--bears away his lovely burden to the stables, amidst
+such a whirlwind of applause as Kemble might have been proud to earn!
+
+"So," in the language of Tennyson--
+
+  "So we triumph'd, ere our passion sweeping through us left us dry,
+  Left us with the palsied heart, and left us with the jaundiced eye."
+
+"Dryness," however, according to our creed and practice, is not
+altogether unappeasable, and by the help of Barclay, Perkins, and
+Company, we succeeded in mitigating its rage. But we confess to the
+other miseries of the palsied heart and jaundiced eye, so soon as we
+were informed by the above-mentioned scribe, that our bill had been
+thrown out upon committee, and that, if we tarried longer in London,
+it must be upon our own proper charges. We had been so used for the
+last twelve months to voyage, and to subsist at the expense of
+joint-stock companies--so habituated to dine with provisional
+committees, and to hold sweet supper consultations in the society of
+salaried surveyors--that a reference to our private resources appeared
+a matter of serious hardship. However, there was no help for it. Some
+mean and unreasonable share-holders were already growling about a
+return of some portion of the deposits, and even, to the infinite
+disgust of the directors, hinted at a taxation of accounts. The
+murmurs of these slaves of Mammon broke up our little Eden. The Irish
+egg-merchant, who had been fed for three weeks upon turtle to induce
+him to give testimony touching the importation of eerocks--the tollman
+from Strathspey, who nightly meandered to the Coal-hole, in company
+with the intoxicated distiller--the three clerks who did the dirty
+work of the committee-room, and were therefore, with wise precaution,
+stinted in their allowance of beer--the northern bailie, who stuck
+strenuously to toddy, and the maritime provost, who affected the
+vintage of the Rhine--the raw uncouth surveyor from Dingwall, who,
+guiltless of straps, and rejoicing in a superfluity of rig-and-fur
+over a pair of monstrous brogues, displayed his native symmetry every
+afternoon in Regent Street, and reciprocated the gaze of the wondering
+milliners with a coarse guffaw, and the exhibition of his enormous
+teeth;--All these worthies vanished from the house in a single day,
+like spirits at the crowing of the cock, and returned to their native
+hills in a state of comparative demoralization. For our own part, we
+packed our portmanteau in gloomy silence, and meditated a speedy
+retreat to the distant solitudes of Loch Awe.
+
+We were eating, as we thought, our last muffin, when our eye was
+accidentally caught by an advertisement in the _Times_, purporting
+that a new play was to be immediately produced at the Princess's
+theatre, and that its title was _The King of the Commons_. A spasm of
+delight shot through us. We were aware, some time before, that a dear
+friend, and distinguished fellow-labourer of ours, whose contributions
+have always been of sweetest savour in the nostrils of fastidious
+Christopher, had turned his attention to dramatic poetry, and was
+resolved, for once at least, to launch an experimental shallop upon
+the stage. Nor did we doubt that this was the enunciation of his
+attempt. We divined it at once from the subject, so akin to his genius
+and deep national feelings--we knew the fervour of his love to
+Scotland, and his earnest desire to illustrate some page of her varied
+annals--and we resolved accordingly to postpone our departure, and be
+present at the success or discomfiture of our bold and adventurous
+brother.
+
+The first night of a new play is always attended with some agreeable
+excitement. If the author is a known man upon the boards--a veteran of
+some six comedies, all of which have found their way into the
+provinces, and are usually selected by the leading Star on the
+occasion of his or her benefit--the general audiences are desirous to
+ascertain whether his new effort is equal in point of merit to the
+rest. The critics, most of whom have failed in their own proper
+persons, are by no means indisposed to detect the occurrence of
+blemishes--friends hope that it may succeed, and unsuccessful rivals
+devoutly trust it may be damned. If the author is unknown, and if no
+very flagrant efforts have been made to pre-puff his performance, he
+has at all events the chance of an impartial hearing. Let the play go
+on smoothly to the middle; let no very glaring absurdities appear; let
+the actors really exert themselves, and display any thing like
+interest or talent in their business, and young Sophocles is generally
+sure of a favourable verdict. Our dear friends, the public, are always
+well disposed towards a winning man. One cheer elicits another, and
+applause, once commenced, goes on at a multiplied ratio. No doubt, the
+case may be reversed, and the sound of a solitary catcall from the pit
+awake the slumbering serpents, and become the signal for universal
+sibilation.
+
+The danger is, that an unknown author, unpuffed, may be ruined for
+want of an audience. We have no great faith in the panacea of free
+tickets, issued by the lessee for the simple purpose of getting up a
+house. The worth of a production is usually estimated by its current
+value, and we doubt if a favourable bias can be produced in the minds
+of any, by means of gratuitous pasteboard. Puffing, again, often
+defeats its own object. It creates doubt in the anticipations of some,
+jealousy in those of others and is also apt to create a _prestige_
+which the result may not justify. When we are told, on the authority
+of newspaper paragraphs, that _Bianca Franconi, or the Seven Bloody
+Poignards of Parma_, is to take the town by storm,--that nothing equal
+to it in merit has been produced since the days of Shakspeare,--that
+the critic who had the privilege of attending the first rehearsal,
+emerged from the theatre with his blood in a state of congelation,
+owing to the sepulchral tones and vehement gestures of Mr Charles
+Kean, who represents the part of Giacomo degli Assassinazioni, the
+Demon Host of the Abruzzi;--when we listen to this preliminary
+flourish of trumpets, we are apt to screw our imaginations a peg too
+high, and may chance to derive less rapture than we had anticipated
+from the many scenes of murder which garnish the _dénouement_ of the
+drama.
+
+A greater virtue than fidelity is not in the celestial catalogue. We
+should at all times be ready to accompany a friend, either in a
+triumphal ovation or in a melancholy march to the scaffold,--to place
+the laurel on his head, or the funereal handkerchief in his hand. It
+was an exuberance of this feeling which determined us to be present at
+the first representation of _The King of the Commons_; and being
+firmly convinced of the truth of the adage, that there is safety in a
+multitude of councillors, we sent round the fiery cross to such of our
+fellow-contributors as were then in London, requesting them to favour
+us with their company to an early dinner at the Parthenon, as a proper
+preliminary to the more serious business of the evening.
+
+Some half-dozen of the younger hands responded punctually to our call.
+They came dropping in in high glee, with a rather mischievous
+expression of countenance, as though they anticipated fun; nor had
+they been five minutes in the room, before we discovered, to our
+unspeakable consternation, that every man was furnished, either with a
+catcall or a railway whistle! Here was a proper business! We knew very
+well that the articles which our dramatic friend contributes to Maga,
+have found more favour in the eyes of the public than the lucubrations
+of all the rest of us put together, and yet we had been foolish enough
+to assume, that, after the manner of the brethren, we had been
+convoking a literary Lodge. In fact, we had made no allowance for that
+indescribable delight which prompts you irresistibly, and without
+thought of succour, to cram your horse at the ditch into which, six
+seconds before, the friend of your bosom has been pitched from the
+back of his runaway mare, and wherein he is now lying with his head
+fixed inextricably in the mud, and his legs demonstrating in the air a
+series of spasmodic mathematical propositions. Not that, in the
+slightest degree, the dispositions of the lads were evil. If the play
+turned out well, we knew that they would be found cheering with the
+most uproarious, and probably raving for the next week about the
+merits of their fortunate compeer;--but if, on the contrary, it should
+happen that our brother had overestimated his powers, little doubt
+existed in our mind, that each contributor would exert himself on his
+peculiar instrument as vigorously as Herr Kœnig, on the
+cornet-à-piston, nor seek to excuse himself afterwards on any more
+elaborate plea, than the right of every Briton to participate in a
+popular amusement.
+
+The dinner went off well. We were, however, cautious to confine each
+man to his solitary pint, lest their spirits should prove too
+exuberant at the moment of the rising of the curtain. Coffee over, we
+wended our way to the theatre, where we arrived just in time to hear
+the expiring crash of the overture. The first glimpse of the
+well-filled house assured us that there was no fear of the play
+falling still-born for want of an adequate audience. Boxes, pit, and
+gallery were equally crammed. We took our seat in the midst of the
+band of catcallers and whistlemen, and proceeded to the inspection of
+the bill as diligently as though it were an exponent of the piece. It
+must be confessed that our friend has not been very fortunate in the
+selection of his names. Early associations with the neighbourhood of
+Mid-Calder, a region abounding in cacophonous localities, seem to have
+led him a little astray. Adam Weir, Portioner in Laichmont, is a name
+which may be found figuring in the _Cloud of Witnesses_, or in that
+very silly book, Mr Simpson's _Traditions of the Covenanters_. It
+might sound admirably in a tale of the "hill-folk," but we totally
+repudiate and deny the propriety of enrolling Sir Adam Weir of
+Laichmont in the list of King James's Bannerets. Buckie of Drumshorlan
+likewise, though he may turn out on further acquaintance to be a
+fellow of infinite fancy, appears to us in print the _eidolon_ of a
+Bathgate carter. Madeleine we acknowledge to be a pretty name, but it
+loses its effect in conjunction with a curt patronymic. However, these
+are minor matters. It may be allowable to us, who drew our first trout
+from the Linnhouse Water, to notice them, but English ears may not be
+so fastidious. Tomkins, to the Chinese, is probably a name as terrible
+in sound as Wellington.
+
+But see!--the curtain rises, and displays an interior in Holyrood.
+James White--you are a lucky fellow! That mechanist is worth his
+weight in gold; for, what with stained windows and draperies and
+pilasters, he has contrived to transform our old gloomy palace, where
+solemnity sits guardian at the portal, into as gay a habitation as
+ever was decked out for a southern potentate. Francesco and
+Bernardo--that is, Buckie and Mungo Small--have some preliminary talk,
+for which we care not; when suddenly the folding-doors fly open, and
+enter James the Fifth of Scotland, surrounded by his nobles.
+
+Unquestionably the greatest of living British actors, Macready, has
+never wanted honours. This night he has them to the full, if deafening
+applause can testify the public goodwill; and of a truth he deserves
+them all, and more, were it but for that king-like bearing. There is
+no mock majesty in his aspect. Admirably has he appreciated the
+chivalrous character of James, who in many points seems to have borne
+a strong resemblance to the English Richard--as gallant and fearless,
+as hasty and bountiful--more trusting perhaps, but yet not more
+deceived. There is now a cloud on the royal brow. Some of the nobles
+have delayed, upon various pretexts, to send their vassals to the
+general muster on the Borough Muir, preparatory to an inroad upon
+England, and James cannot urge them on. Somerville and some others,
+who have no mind for the war, are pleading their excuse, greatly to
+the indignation of the King, who considers the honour of Scotland more
+bound up with the enterprise than his own.
+
+  "I was the proudest king--too proud perhaps--
+  I thought I was but foremost in a band
+  Of men, of brothers, of true-hearted Scots;
+  But pshaw!--it shall not move me."
+
+He thus reproaches his nobles, who would fain instigate him to peace,
+but who on this occasion, as on many others, were opposed to the
+opinions, not only of the clergy, but of the people.
+
+                                "What! to hear
+    His threats, and worse than threats--his patronage?
+    As if we stoop'd our sovran crown, or held it
+    As vassal from the greatest king alive!
+    No; we are poor--I know we are poor, my lords;
+    Our realm is but a niggard in its soil,
+    And the fat fields of England wave their crops
+    In richer dalliance with the autumn winds
+    Than our bleak plains;--but from our rugged dells
+    Springs a far richer harvest--gallant hearts,
+    Stout hands, and courage that would think foul scorn
+    To quail before the face of mortal man.
+    We are our people's king. For you, my lords,
+    Leave me to face the enemy alone!
+    I care not for your silken company.
+    I'll to my stalwart men--I'll name my name,
+    And bid them follow James. They'll follow me--
+    Fear not--they'll follow!"
+
+After some more such dialogue, the nobles promise obedience and
+retire, leaving James convinced of their lukewarmness, though
+unsuspicious of their treason, and more determined than ever to trust
+implicitly to the devotion of the people.
+
+  "Will they be traitors still? and play the game
+   Was play'd at Lauder Bridge? and leave their king
+   Unshielded to the scorn and laugh of England?
+   I will not think so meanly of them yet!
+   _They are not forward, as their fathers were
+   Who died at Flodden, as the brave should die,
+   With sword in hand, defiance in their hearts,
+   And a whole land to weep and honour them._
+   If they desert me--well, I can but die,
+   And better die than live a powerless king!"
+
+Some good passages had occurred before, but this was the first
+palpable hit in the play. The word Flodden came home like a
+cannon-shot to the heart of every Scotsman in the house, and a yell
+arose from the pit, as though the general body of bordering surveyors
+who packed it, were ready for another insurrection.
+
+Buckie of Drumshorlan, who, it seems, is a notorious reiver, or, as he
+phrases it--"an outcast--a poor Scottish Ishmaelite,"--a fact,
+however, unknown to the king, whom he had rescued from the waters
+while attempting to cross the Avon in a spate--now comes forward, and
+gives information against Sir Adam Weir of Laichmont, as an agent of
+the English court, and a corrupter of the treacherous nobility. James
+determines to expiscate the matter in person; and accordingly, in the
+next scene, we are transported to a wood near Laichmont, where
+Madeleine Weir, the grandchild of the knight, and Malcolm Young, her
+cousin, are apparently bird-nesting, but in reality, though they know
+it not, making love. For poor Malcolm is an orphan, dependent entirely
+on Sir Adam, who will not let him become a soldier, but has condemned
+him to holy orders. It is, in short, the story--nearly as old as the
+world--of disappointed hope and love; though Madeleine, with a sweet
+innocence which we suspect is rarely to be found save on the stage,
+seems unconscious of the true state of her feelings with reference to
+her early playmate. Their _tête-à-tête_ is interrupted by the entrance
+of King James, of course in disguise, and now beset by sundry ruffians
+who have left their mark on the royal costard; and Malcolm, like a
+tight St Andrews student, springs to the rescue. This effects the
+introduction of the King to the house of Laichmont, where we find Sir
+Adam--a hoary, calculating traitor--in great anxiety to find a
+messenger to communicate an English dispatch to the disaffected lords
+of Scotland. We pass over his colloquy with his neighbour, Laird
+Small--an elderly idiot, whose son Mungo holds the post of usher at
+Holyrood, and who now agrees with Sir Adam to unite the two estates by
+a marriage between the said Mungo and Madeleine. This scene, which is
+pure dramatic business, is pleasantly enough conducted, although in
+point of probability, and considering the ambition of the knight, he
+might have looked for a better match for his daughter than a coxcomb
+of an usher, heir though he was of some plashy acres in the
+rush-covered confines of Mid-Calder. We have observed, however, that
+love of district is as deep a passion in the human mind as love of
+country; and the intense yearning of the Switzer for his clear
+Lucerne, may not transcend the tide of parochial patriotism which
+swells the bosom of the native of the Kirk of Shotts.
+
+In the second act, Sir Adam somewhat incautiously selects James
+himself as the messenger to the nobles; and here we cannot altogether
+acquit our friend from the charge of great improbability. That blemish
+excepted, the scene is a good one, especially in the part where James,
+with the true vanity of a poet, becomes ruffled at the account of the
+common criticism on his verses. In the next scene, James extracts the
+secret of his love from Malcolm--a character which, by the way, was
+admirably performed by Mr Leigh Murray--and the whole mystery of the
+sadness of her cousin is revealed to the agitated Madeleine. We have
+an idea that dramatic love-scenes must be very ticklish in
+composition; at least of this we are aware, that in real life they are
+peculiarly perplexing. We never felt so like a booby as when we first
+attempted a proposal; and, to our shame be it said, we experienced far
+less pain from the positive refusal of Jemima, than from the
+consciousness that, at that moment, we must have appeared
+inexpressibly absurd. And so it is, we apprehend, with the great
+majority of lovers. They keep beating about the bush for months, and
+never seem absolutely to know what they would be at. The great
+majority of marriages are the result of accident. We have known
+several proposals follow the overturning of a chaise. A sharp race
+from the pursuit of an infuriated bull--the collision of a
+steam-boat--even a good rattling thunder-storm, will bring to a proper
+understanding parties who, under ordinary circumstances, and with no
+such pretty casualties, might have dawdled out years of unprofitable
+courtship, and finally separated for ever in consequence of some
+imaginary coldness, for which neither one nor the other of them could
+have assigned a plausible reason. Now, within the limits of a five-act
+play, there is no space for dawdling. The flirtation must always be of
+the warmest, and the engagement consequent thereon. A friend to whom
+your hero can tell his story, is of immense advantage in the drama,
+more especially when the young gentleman, as in this case, is under
+difficulties, and the young lady playfully concealed behind a
+whinbush, for no other purpose than that of learning the cause of his
+secret sorrow. Let us see how our friend manages this.
+
+    "JAMES.--You know not--but--enough! Poor Malcolm Young!
+  Tell me what weighs so heavy on your heart.
+
+    MADELEINE. (_behind._)--Now I shall hear what makes poor Malcolm sad.
+
+    MALCOLM.--Sir,'tis but three weeks since that I came home--
+  Home! no, I dare not call it home,--came here,--
+  After long tarrying at St Andrew's schools,
+  By order of my kinsman, at the last,
+  A month since,--'tis one little month ago----
+
+    JAMES.--Go on, go on!
+
+    MADELEINE.--Now comes the hidden grief.
+
+    MALCOLM.--He forced me by deceitful messages
+  To vow me to the priesthood, when my soul
+  Long'd more for neighing steeds than psalteries.
+  Oh, what a happy fortune had been mine
+  To draw the sword 'neath gallant James's eye,
+  And rouge it to the hilt in English blood!
+
+    JAMES.--God bless you, boy!--your hand again--your hand!
+  Would you have served the king?
+
+    MALCOLM.--Ay! died for him!
+
+    JAMES.--And he'd have cherish'd you, believe me, boy,
+  And held you to his heart, and trusted you--
+  And you'd ha' been true brothers;--for a love
+  Like yours is what poor James has need of most.
+  Is this your grief?
+
+    MALCOLM.--Alas, my grief lies deeper!
+  I might have bent me to my cruel fate
+  With prayers that our brave king find Scots as true,
+  And worthier of his praise than Malcolm Young.
+  When I came back, I had not been a day
+  'Mid well-known scenes in the remember'd rooms,
+  Till to my heart, my soul, the dreadful truth
+  Was open'd like a gulf; and I--fool! fool!
+  To be so dull, so blind--I knew too late
+  That I was wretched--miserable--doom'd,
+  Like Tantalus, to more than hellish pains--
+  To feel--yet not to dare to speak, or think;
+  To love--and be a priest!
+
+    MADELEINE.--To love! to love!
+  How strange this is!
+
+    JAMES.--How found you this, poor friend?
+
+    MALCOLM.--By throbbings at the heart, when I but heard
+  Her whisper'd name; thoughts buried long ago
+  'Neath childish memories--we were children both--
+  Rose up like armed phantoms from their grave,
+  Waving me from them with their mailèd hands!
+  I saw her with the light of womanhood
+  Spread o'er the childish charms I loved so well--
+  I heard her voice sweet with the trustful tones
+  She spoke with long ago, yet richer grown
+  With the full burden of her ripen'd thoughts.
+
+    MADELEINE.--My head goes round--my heart will burst!
+
+    MALCOLM.--I saw
+  A world lie open--and an envious spell
+  Fencing it from me; day by day, I felt
+  Grief and the blackness of unsunn'd despair
+  Closing all round me.
+
+    JAMES.--And the maiden's name?
+
+    MALCOLM.--Was Madeleine Weir."
+
+Obedient to dramatic rule, Madeleine faints away at the discovery; and
+the good-natured king, without however discovering himself, determines
+to secure the happiness of the youthful couple.
+
+This brings us to the third act, where the accusing Buckie again makes
+his appearance, and denounces Sir Adam Weir, not only as a traitor,
+but as a plunderer of his own kin. He avers the existence of a nephew,
+who, were a multiplepoinding instituted, would be found to have good
+right to a considerable slice of Laichmont, not to mention divers
+other dividends; and he pledges himself to compear at Holyrood on an
+early day, at the peril of his head, to prove the truth of his
+allegations. With reference to the correspondence with the nobility,
+James speaks thus:--
+
+              "Your words are strong
+  As if they sprang from truth. I came to prove
+  Sir Adam Weir; through him to reach the hearts
+  Of higher men. _The saddest heart alive
+  Would be as careless as a lark's in June
+  Compared to mine, if what my fear portends
+  Proves true._ Sir Adam Weir has wealth in store--
+  Is crafty, politic, and is of weight--
+  The words are his--with certain of our lords.
+
+    BUCKIE.--I told you so. I know he has deep dealings
+  With----
+
+    JAMES.--Name them not; from their own lips I'll hear
+  Their guilt; no other tongue shall blot the fame
+  Of James's nobles. If it should be so;
+  If the two men I've trusted from my youth--
+  If Hume--If Seton--let the rest go hang!
+  But Seton, my old playmate!--if he's false,
+  Then break, weak heart! farewell, my life and crown!----
+  I pray you meet me here within an hour
+  This very night; I shall have need of you.
+  And as you speak as one brave man should speak
+  To another man, albeit he is a king,
+  I will put trust in you; and, ere the morn,
+  You shall impeach Sir Adam in our court:
+  And woe betide the guilty! Say no more;
+  I meet you here again."
+
+Sir Adam Weir delivers the important packet to the king to be conveyed
+to the traitors, and James immediately hands it over to Buckie, with a
+strict charge that it shall be produced that evening in the court at
+Holyrood. His majesty having no further business at Laichmont, departs
+in hot haste for Edinburgh.
+
+It is now full time for old Sir Adam to exercise his parental
+authority over Madeleine in the matter of her nuptials with Mungo
+Small, who has at last arrived at Laichmont. The aged reprobate having
+already sold his king and country, cannot be expected to have any
+remorse about trafficking with his own flesh and blood; and
+accordingly he shows himself, in this interview, quite as great a
+brute as the elder Capulet. Nay, to our apprehension, he is
+considerably worse; for he not only threatens the meek-eyed Madeleine
+with starvation, but extends his threats of vengeance to the
+unoffending Malcolm in case of her refusal to wed with the gentle
+County Mungo. Madeleine is no Juliet, but a good Scots lassie--brought
+up, we hope, in proper knowledge of her breviary, if not of her
+catechism, and quite incapable of applying to the Friar Laurence of
+Mid-Calder for an ounce of deceptive morphia. She has a hankering for
+St Ninian's and the holy vocation of a nun.
+
+    "MADELEINE--I'll hie me to the monastery door,
+  And ask the meek-eyed nuns to take me in;
+  And it shall be my grave; and the thick walls
+  Shall keep me from the world; and in my heart
+  I'll cherish him, and think on all his looks,
+  Since we were children--all his gentle tones;
+  And when my weary breast shall heave no more,
+  I'll lay me down and die, and name his name
+  With my last breath. I would we both were dead
+  For we shall then be happy; but on earth
+  No happiness for me--no hope, no hope!"
+
+But Madeleine is not yet to get off quite so easily. Young Master
+Small is introduced to ensnare her with his manifold accomplishments,
+and certainly he does exhibit himself as a nincompoop of the first
+water. With all respect and affection for our brother, we hold this
+character to be a failure. There is, we maintain, a vast difference
+between vanity, however preposterous, and sheer undaunted drivel,
+which latter article constitutes the staple of Master Mungo's
+conversation. Not but what a driveller may be a fair character for a
+play, but then he ought to drivel with some kind of consistency and
+likelihood. Far are we from denying that there are many fools to be
+found in Scotland; we even consider it a kind of patriotism to claim
+our just quota of national idiocy. Our main objection to Mungo is,
+that he represents, so far as we have seen, no section of the Scottish
+Bauldy. If he resembles any thing, it is a Cockney of the Tittlebat
+Titmouse breed, or one of those absurd blockheads in the plays of Mr
+Sheridan Knowles who do the comic business, wear cock's feathers in
+their hats, and are perpetually inquiring after news. There is a dash
+of solemnity, a ludicrous assumption of priggism, about the Scottish
+fool which Mr White has entirely evaded. Ass though he be, the
+northern dunderhead is neither a man-milliner nor a flunky; and yet
+Mungo Small is an arrant compound of the two. We put it to the public
+if the following scene is facetious:--
+
+    "MUNGO.--She curtseys with an air; though, for my part,
+  I like the Spanish swale, as thus, (_curtseys,_) low, low;
+  Not the French dip, as thus, (_curtseys,_) dip, dip.
+  Which think you best?
+
+    MADELEINE.--Sir! did you speak to me?
+
+    MUNGO.--Did I? 'pon honour--yes, I think I did:
+  Some like the Austrian bend, (_curtseys,_) d'ye like it so?
+  Our girls, the Hamiltons, have got it pat;
+  No sooner do I say, 'Sweet Lady Jane,'
+  And draw my feather so, and place my hand
+  Here on my heart, 'Fair Lady Jane, how are ye?'
+  But up she goes, and bend, (_curtseys;_) but if an ass,
+  Some fribble she don't like, comes near her, lo!
+  A swale! (_curtseys,_) 'tis very like this gentlewoman.
+  I hope there's no one near you you don't like?
+  For if there is, 'fore gad! an 'twere my father,
+  I'd cut him into slices like cold ham,
+  As thin as that.
+
+    LAIRD.--Gadso! pray gad it ain't;
+  I hope it ain't his father--he would do it!
+  He's such a youth!"
+
+Fancy such a capon as this holding office at the court of James the
+Fifth!
+
+The mock account of the tournament which follows, would be pleasant
+reading were it not for the total incongruity of the narrator with the
+scene which he describes. The actor who performed this part was
+evidently quite at home in the representation of the smallest Cockney
+characters. He brought out Mungo as the most pitiful little reptile
+that ever waddled across the stage, and in consequence the audience,
+for the first and only time, exhibited some symptoms of
+disapprobation. What had gone before was really so good--the
+performers had so ably seconded the efforts of the author--the
+interest excited by the general business of the play was so
+great--that this declension, which might otherwise have been
+overlooked, was felt to be a positive grievance. Our chosen band of
+contributors had hitherto behaved with great decorum. They had cheered
+lustily at the proper places, pocketed their whistles, and although
+the house was remarkably warm, not a man of them had emerged between
+the acts for the sake of customary refreshment. All at once, in the
+middle of the tournament scene, the shrill sharp squeak of a catcall
+greeted on our ear, and turning rapidly round, we detected a Political
+Economist in the act of commencing a concerto. It was all we could do
+to wring the instrument from the villain's hand. We threatened to make
+a report of his contumacious conduct to head-quarters, and menaced him
+with the wrath of Christopher; but his sole reply to our remonstrance
+was something like a grumbled defiance; and very glad were we when the
+offending Mungo disappeared, and a pretty scene between Madeleine and
+Malcolm, made the audience forget the ill-omened pleasantries of the
+Cockney.
+
+The fourth act is remarkably good. Of all the Scottish nobles, Lord
+Seton and Hume have ever been the dearest to James; his belief in
+their enduring faith and constancy has enabled him to bear up against
+the coldness and disaffection of the others; but the time has now
+arrived when his confidence in the honour of at least one of them is
+destined to be shaken. One of the bishops--Mr White does not specify
+his diocese--accuses Lord Seton of holding correspondence with the
+leader of the English host. The charge is not believed--nay, hardly
+entertained--until Seton himself being sent for, to some extent admits
+the fact of having received a messenger.
+
+    "BISHOP.--And he sent a message back to Dacre,
+  And gave the envoy passage and safe conduct.
+
+    JAMES.--Is all this true?--Oh, Seton, say the word,
+  One little word--tell me it is not true!
+
+    SETON.--My liege,'tis true.
+
+    JAMES.--Then by the name we bear
+  You die!--a traitor's death! Sirrah! the guard.
+  I will not look again on where he stands.
+  Let him be taken hence--and let the axe
+  Rid me of----Seton! is it so in truth,
+  That you've deceived me--join'd my enemies?
+  You--you--my friend--my playmate!--is it so?
+  Sir, will you tell me wherein I have fail'd
+  In friendship to the man who was my friend?
+  I thought I loved you--that in all my heart
+  Dwelt not a thought that wrong'd you.
+
+    SETON.--You have heard
+  What my accuser says, and you condemn me--
+  I say no word to save a forfeit life--
+  A life is not worth having, when't has lost
+  All that gave value to it--my sovereign's trust!
+
+    JAMES (_to the_ BISHOP.)--You see this man, sir--he's the selfsame age
+  That I am. We were children both together--
+  We grew--we read in the same book--my lord,
+  You must remember that?--how we were never
+  Separate from each other; well, this man
+  Lived with me, year by year; he counsell'd me'
+  Cheer'd me, sustained me--he was as myself--
+  _The very throne, that is to other kings
+  A desolate island rising in the sea--
+  A pinnacle of power, in solitude,
+  Grew to a seat of pleasance in his trust._
+  The sea that chafed all round it with its waves
+  This man bridged over with his love, and made it
+  A highway for our subjects' happiness--
+  And now! for a few pieces of red gold
+  He leaves me. Oh, he might have coin'd my life
+  Into base ingots--stript me of it all--
+  If he had left me faith in one true heart,
+  And I should ne'er have grudged him the exchange.
+  Go, now. We speak your doom--you die the death!
+  God pardon you! I dare not pardon you--
+  Farewell.
+
+    SETON.--I ask no pardon, sir, from you.
+  May you find pardon--ay, in your own heart
+  For what you do this day!
+
+    BISHOP.--Be firm, my liege.
+
+    JAMES.--Away, away, old man!--You do not know--
+  You cannot know, what this thing costs me."
+
+After all, it turns out that Seton is perfectly innocent--that the
+message he has dispatched to English Lord Dacre is one of scorn and
+defiance--and that the old Cacofogo of the church, who might have
+belonged to The Club, has been rather too hasty in his inferences.
+Macready--great throughout the whole scene--outshone himself in the
+reconciliation which follows; and we believe our friend the Political
+Economist was alone in his minority when he muttered, with
+characteristic adherence to matter of fact--"Why the plague didn't
+that fellow Seton clear himself at once, and save us the whole of the
+bother?" We return for a moment to Laichmont, where there is a regular
+flare-up between old Sir Adam and Malcolm, the latter pitching it into
+the senior in superior style. An officer from the court arrives, and
+the whole family party are ordered off _instanter_ to Holyrood.
+
+The last act shows us King James vigilant, and yet calm, in the midst
+of the corrupted barons. It is some weeks since the latter have seen a
+glimpse of an English rouleau, and their fingers are now itching
+extremely for an instalment. They are dismissed for the moment, and
+the king begins to perform his royal functions and redeem his
+promises, by procuring from the Cardinal-Legate letters of dismission
+from the church in favour of Malcolm Young. The court is then
+convoked, and Buckie--public prosecutor throughout--appears with a
+pair of wolf's jaws upon his head, which we hold to be a singular and
+somewhat inconvenient substitute for a wig. The indictment is twofold.
+The first charge is against Sir Adam for falsehood, fraud, and wilful
+imposition; in consequence of which, his nephew, described as a lad of
+considerable early promise, has been compelled to betake himself to
+the king's highway, in the reputable capacity of a cutpurse. This
+missing youth turns out to be identical with the cateran of
+Drumshorlan. The second charge is more serious. It relates to the
+public treachery of Weir; in proof of which, Buckie produces the
+packet containing the dispatches to the Lords. All is confusion and
+dismay.
+
+    "SOMERVILLE.--'Tis some foolishness,
+  I'll take the charge.
+
+    JAMES.--Bring me the packet, lord!
+  Here, Maxwell! break the seal--but your hand shakes.
+  Hume! lay it open. (HUME _opens the packet_.) Blessings on you, Hume!
+  Oh, what a thing is truth! Here, give it me!
+  Now, by my soul, this is a happy time!
+  I hold a score of heads within my hands--
+  Heads--noble heads--right honourable heads--
+  Stand where you are! ay, coroneted heads--
+  Nay, whisper not! What think you that I am?
+  A dolt--a madman? As I live by bread,
+  I'll show you what I am! You thought me blind,
+  You called me heedless James, and hoodwink'd James--
+  You'll find me watchful James, and vengeful James!
+
+      (HUME _marches in the Guard, with Headsman;
+        They stand beside the Lords, who form a group_.)
+
+  One little word, and it will conjure up
+  The fiend to tear you. One motion of this hand--
+  One turning of the leaf--Who stirs a foot
+  Is a dead man! _If I but turn the leaf,
+  Shame sits like a foul vulture on a corse,
+  And flaps its wings on the dishonor'd names
+  Of knights and nobles._
+
+      (_A pause; the_ LORDS _look at each other_.)
+
+            Nay, blench not, good my lords;
+  I mean not _you_; the idle words I say
+  Can have no sting for you! You are true men--
+  True to your king! You'll show your truth, my lords,
+  In battle; pah! we'll teach those Englishmen
+  We are not the base things they take us for;
+  They'll see James and his nobles side by side--
+  (_Aside._) If they desert me now, then farewell all!
+  (_Aloud._) There!--(_gives the packet back to Somerville_)
+  I know nothing!"
+
+After this act of magnanimity, our readers will readily believe that
+all the other personages in the drama are properly disposed of--that
+pardon and reconciliation is the order of the day--and that the lovers
+are duly united. So ends one of the most successful dramas which has
+been produced for a long time upon the stage. Our own judgment might
+possibly have been swayed by partiality--not so that of the thousands
+who have since witnessed its repeated and successful representation.
+Were we to venture upon any broad criticism, after a careful perusal
+of this play, and of _The Earl of Gowrie_, we should be inclined to
+say that Mr White sins rather upon the side of reserve, than that of
+abandonment. We think he might well afford to give a freer rein to his
+genius--to scatter before us more of the flowers of poesy--to elevate
+the tone of his language and the breadth of his imagery, more
+especially in the principal scenes. It may be--and we almost believe
+it--that he entertains a theory contrary to ours--that his effort
+throughout has been to avoid all exaggeration, and to imitate, as
+nearly as the vehicle of verse will allow, not only the transactions,
+but the dialogue of actual life. But, is this theory, after all,
+substantially correct? A play, according to our ideas, is not intended
+to be a mere daguerreotype of what has passed or is passing around us;
+it is also essentially a poem, and never can be damaged by any of the
+arts which the greatest masters in all times have used for the
+composition of their poetry. Much must be said in a play, which in
+real life would find no utterance; for passion, in most of its phases,
+does not usually speak aloud; and therefore it is that we not only
+forgive, but actually require some exaggeration on the stage, in order
+to bring out more clearly the thoughts which in truth would have
+remained unspoken. In the matter of ornament, much must be left to the
+discretion and the skill of the author. We are as averse as any man
+can be to overflowing diction--to a smothering of thoughts in
+verbiage--to images which distract the mind by their over-importance
+to the subject. But the dramatic author, if he carefully considers the
+past annals of his craft, can hardly fail to remark that no play has
+ever yet achieved a permanent reputation, unless, in addition to
+general equable excellence, it contains some scenes or passages of
+more than common beauty and power, into the composition of which the
+highest species of poetry enters--where the imagination is allowed its
+unchecked flight, and the fancy its utmost range. Thus it was, at all
+events, that Shakespeare wrote; and if our theory should be by any
+deemed erroneous, we are contented to take shelter under his mighty
+name, and appeal to his practice, artless as it may have been--as the
+highest authority of the world.
+
+But, after all, we are content to take the play as we find it. Of _The
+Earl of Gowrie_, Mr White's earlier production, we have left ourselves
+in this article little room to speak. In some points it is of a higher
+and more ambitious caste than the other--written with more apparent
+freedom; and some of the characters--Logan of Restalrig for
+example--are powerfully conceived. It is not, however, so well adapted
+for the stage as the other drama. James the Sixth, according to our
+author's portraiture, is a far less personable individual than his
+grandsire; and the quaint mixture of Scots and Latin with which his
+speeches are decorated, would sound strangely and uncouthly in modern
+ears, even could a competent actor be found. We would much rather see
+this play performed by an amateur section of the Parliament House,
+than brought out on the boards of Drury Lane. If the Lords Ordinary
+stood upon their dignity and refused participation in the jinks, we
+think we could still cull from the ranks of the senior bar, a fitting
+representative for the gentle King Jamie. We have Logans and Gowries
+in abundance, and should the representation ever take place, we shall
+count upon the attendance of Mr White, who shall have free permission
+for that evening to use the catcall to his heart's content.
+
+Not less pleased are we with the delightful book of Highland
+Minstrelsy from the pen of Mrs David Ogilvy, and so characteristically
+illustrated by our friend R. R. M'Ian, which now claims our attention.
+We are glad to find, in one young writer at least, a return to a
+better and a simpler style than that which has been lately
+prevalent--a strong national feeling not warped or perverted by
+prejudice, and a true veneration for all that is great and glorious in
+the past. These poems are, as the authoress informs us in her preface,
+intended to bear upon "the traditions, the sentiments, and the customs
+of a romantic people"--they are rather sketches of the Highlanders,
+than illustrations drawn from history--they are well conceived, and
+clearly and delicately executed.
+
+Indeed, notwithstanding the mighty harvest which Sir Walter Scott has
+reaped, there is a wide field still open to those who comprehend the
+national character. It is, however, one into which no stranger may
+hope to enter with the slightest prospect of success. A more
+lamentable failure than that committed by Mr Serjeant Talfourd in his
+attempt to found a tragedy upon the woful massacre of Glencoe--a
+grosser jumble of nonsense about ancestry and chieftainship--was, we
+verily believe, never yet perpetrated. At the distance of six years,
+we can vividly remember the tingling of our fingers for the pen when
+we first detected the Serjeant upon his northern poaching expedition;
+nor assuredly should he have escaped without exposure, had not the
+memory of _Ion_ been still fresh, and many graceful services to
+literature pled strongly within us in his behalf. But our authoress,
+if not born, has been bred in the heart of the mountains--she knows,
+we are sure, every rood of great Strath-Tay from Balloch to the
+roaring Tummel--she has seen the deep pass of Killiecrankie alike in
+sunshine and storm, and sweet must have been the walks of her
+childhood in the silent woods of Tullymet. It is among such scenes as
+these--in the midst of a brave, honest and an affectionate
+people--that she has received her earliest poetical impulse, and
+gratefully has she repaid that inspiration with the present tribute of
+her muse.
+
+We hardly know to which of her ballads we should give precedence. Our
+favourite--it may be from association, or from the working of Jacobite
+sympathies of which we never shall be ashamed--is the first in order,
+and accordingly we give it without comment:--
+
+
+  "THE EXILE AT CULLODEN.
+
+  "There was tempest on the waters, there was darkness on the earth,
+  When a single Danish schooner struggled up the Moray Firth.
+  Looming large, the Ross-shire mountains frown'd unfriendly on its track,
+  Shriek'd the wind along their gorges, like a sufferer on the rack;
+  And the utmost deeps were shaken by the stunning thunder-peal;--
+  'Twas a sturdy hand, I trow ye, that was needed at the wheel.
+
+  "Though the billows flew about them, till the mast was hid in spray,
+  Though the timbers strain'd beneath them, still they bore upon their way,
+  Till they reach'd a fisher-village where the vessel they could moor--
+  Every head was on its pillow when they landed on the shore;
+  And a man of noble presence bade the crew "Wait here for me.
+  I will come back in the morning, when the sun has left the sea."
+
+  "He was yet in manly vigour, though his lips were ashen white,
+  On his brow were early furrows, in his eyes a clouded light;
+  Firm his step withal and hasty, through the blinding mist so sure,
+  That he found himself by dawning on a wide and lonesome muir,
+  Mark'd by dykes and undulations, barren both of house and wood,
+  And he knew the purple ridges--'twas Culloden where he stood.
+
+  "He had known it well aforetime--not, as now, so drear and quiet;
+  When astir with battle's horror,--reeling with destruction's riot;
+  Now so peacefully unconscious that the orphan'd and exiled
+  Was unmann'd to see its calmness, weeping weakly as a child;
+  And a thought arose of madness, and his hand was on his sword--
+  But he crush'd the coward impulse, and he spake the bitter word;--
+
+  "'I am here, O sons of Scotland--ye who perish'd for your king!
+  In the misty wreaths before me I can see your tartans swing--
+  I can hear your slogan, comrades, who to Saxon never knelt;
+  Oh! that I had died among ye, with the fortunes of the Celt!
+
+  "'There he rode, our princely warrior, and his features wore the same
+  Pallid cast of deep foreboding as the First one of his name;
+  Ay, as gloomy as his sunset, though no Scot his life betray'd;
+  Better plunge in bloody glory, than go down in shame and shade.
+
+  "'Stormy hills, did ye protect him, that o'erlook Culloden's plain,
+  Dabbled with the heather blossoms red as life-drops of the slain?
+  Did ye hide your hunted children from the vengeance of the foe?
+  Did ye rally back the flying for one last despairing blow?
+  No! the kingdom is the Saxon's, and the humbled clans obey,
+  And our bones must rot in exile who disdain usurper's sway.
+
+  "'He is sunk in wine's oblivion for whom Highland blood was shed,
+  Whom the wretched cateran shelter'd, with a price upon his head,
+  Beaten down like hounds by scourging, crouching from their master's
+    sight;
+  And I tread my native mountains, as a robber, in the night;
+  Spite of tempest, spite of danger, hostile man and hostile sea,
+  Gory field of sad Culloden, I have come to gaze on thee!'
+
+  "So he pluck'd a tuft of heather that was blooming at his foot,
+  That was nourish'd by dead kinsmen, and their bones were at its root;
+  With a sigh he took the blossom, and he strode unto the strand,
+  Where his Danish crew awaited with a motley fisher band;
+  Brief the parley, swift his sailing, with the tide, and ne'er again
+  Saw the Moray Firth the stranger or the schooner of the Dane."
+
+"Eilan Mohr" and the "Vow of Ian Lom," the renowned Seannachie of the
+Highlands, are both fine poems, but rather too long for extract; and
+as we do not doubt that this volume will erelong be found in the
+boudoir and drawing-room of many of our fair countrywomen, we have
+less hesitation in leaving them to a more leisurely perusal.
+
+The young authoress will, we trust, forgive us if we tender one word
+of advice before parting with her on the heights of Urrard--a spot
+which was once--and we hope will be again--the home of more worth,
+beauty, and excellence, than is often to be found within the circle of
+a single family. She ought to be very cautious in her attempts to
+write in the Scottish dialect. Few, even of those who have habitually
+heard it spoken from their childhood, can discern the almost
+indefinable line which exists between the older and purer phraseology,
+and that which is more corrupt. The very spelling of the words is a
+matter of considerable difficulty, and when not correctly written, the
+effect is any thing but pleasing. With this hint and another extract
+we shall return the volume to better keeping than our own, with our
+sincere approval of its contents, and our admiration for the genius of
+the writer.
+
+
+    "THE OLD HOUSE OF URRARD.
+
+  "Dost fear the grim brown twilight?
+    Dost care to walk alone,
+  When the firs upon the hill-top
+    With human voices moan?
+  When the river twineth restless
+    Through deep and jagged linn,
+  Like one who cannot sleep o' nights
+    For evil thoughts within?
+  When the hooting owls grow silent,
+    The ghostly sounds to hark,
+  In the ancient house of Urrard,
+    When the night is still and dark.
+
+  "There are graves about old Urrard,
+    Huge mounds by rock and tree;
+  And they who lie beneath them
+    Died fighting by Dundee.
+  Far down along the valley,
+    And up along the hill,
+  The fight of Killicrankie
+    Has left a story still.
+  But thickest show the traces
+    And thickest throng the sprites,
+  In the woods about old Urrard,
+    On the gloomy winter nights.
+
+  "In the garden of old Urrard,
+    Among the bosky yews,
+  A turfen hillock riseth
+    Where latest lie the dews;
+  Here sank the warrior stricken
+    By charmèd silver ball,
+  And all the hope of victory
+    Fell with him in his fall.
+  Last stay of exiled Stuart,
+    Last heir of chivalrie,
+  In the garden of old Urrard
+    He died, the brave Dundee!
+
+  "In the ancient house of Urrard,
+    There's many a hiding den;
+  The very walls are hollow,
+    To cover dying men;
+  For not e'en lady's chamber
+    Barr'd out the fierce affray;
+  And couch and damask curtain
+    Were stain'd with blood that day
+  And there's a secret passage,
+    Whence sword, and skull, and bone,
+  Were brought to light in Urrard,
+    When years had pass'd and gone.
+
+  "If thou sleep alone in Urrard,
+    Perchance in midnight gloom
+  Thou'lt hear behind the wainscot
+    Of that old haunted room,
+  A fleshless hand that knocketh,
+    A wail that cries on thee;
+  And rattling limbs that struggle
+    To break out and be free.
+  It is a thought of horror!--
+    I would not sleep alone
+  In the haunted rooms of Urrard,
+    Where evil deeds were done.
+
+  "Amidst the dust of garrets
+    That stretch along the roof,
+  Stand chests of ancient garments
+    Of gold and silken woof.
+  When men are lock'd in slumber,
+    The rustling sounds are heard
+  Of dainty ladies' dresses,
+    Of laugh and whisper'd word,
+  Of waving wind of feathers,
+    And steps of dancing feet,
+  In the haunted halls of Urrard,
+    When the winds of winter beat."
+
+We cannot altogether dismiss the book without bearing testimony to the
+merits of M'Ian, a rising artist and thorough Highlander, already
+favourably known to the public by his Sketches of the Clans, and other
+admirable works. Few pictures have ever affected us more than his
+Highland prisoner, exhibited last year in the Royal Academy, into
+which he has thrown a far deeper feeling, both of poetry and romance,
+than is at the command of many of his brethren, whose names are more
+widely bruited than his own. We send him across the Border our cordial
+greeting, and our best wishes for his continued success and
+prosperity.
+
+And here we should have concluded this article in peace and amity with
+all men--haunted by no other thoughts save those of sweet
+recollection--and as innocent of blood as our terrier pup, who, we are
+gratified to observe, is at this moment vainly attempting to enlarge a
+casual fracture in our slipper. But our eye has accidentally lighted
+upon a fugitive volume, half smothered beneath a heap of share-lists;
+and mindful of our duty, however painful, we drag forth the impostor
+to his doom. _Morning and other Poems, by a Member of the Scotch Bar!_
+Why, the very name of the book is enough to betray its spurious
+origin. The unfortunate person who has rashly attempted to give
+currency to his verses by assuming a high and honourable position, to
+which, we believe from the bottom of our soul, he has not the remotest
+pretension--has not even taken the pains to ascertain the corporate
+name of the body with which he claims affiliation, and bungles even in
+the title-page. With the members of the SCOTTISH BAR we have some
+acquaintance--nay, we think that--from habitual attendance at the
+Parliament House, being unfortunately implicated in a law-plea as
+interminable as that of Peebles against Plainstanes--we know almost
+every one of them by headmark, from the Pet of the Stove, whose
+snuff-box is as open as his heart, to the saturnine gentleman who is
+never seen beyond the precincts of the First Division. We acquit every
+one of them of participation in this dreary drivel.
+
+It may be that the gods have not made all of them poetical--and, for
+the sake of the judges, we opine that it is better so--yet some rank
+amongst our dearest and most choice contributors; nor, we believe, is
+there one out of the whole genuine fraternity of educated and
+accomplished gentlemen who could not, if required, versify a summons,
+or turn out a Lay of the Multiplepoinding, equal, if not superior, to
+Schiller's Song of the Bell. It is rather too much that the literary
+character of the bar of Scotland is to be jeopardied by the dulness of
+the author of _Morning and other Poems_. Why has he not the courage,
+instead of sheltering himself under a legal denomination common to
+some three hundred gentlemen, to place his own name upon the
+title-page, and stand or fall by the bantlings of his own creation?
+Does he think, forsooth, that it is beneath the dignity of a barrister
+to publish verses, or to hold at any time a brief in the court of
+Apollo? If so, why does he attempt to thrust forward his vocation so
+wantonly? But he knows that it is no disgrace. The literary reputation
+of the bar is so high, that he actually assumes the title for the
+sake of obtaining a hearing, and yet merges his own individuality, so
+that he may be enabled to slink away in silence and obscurity from the
+ridicule which is sure to overwhelm him.
+
+Morning, and other Poems! It was impossible for the author to have
+stumbled upon a more unfortunate subject in support of his
+pretensions. Of all imaginable themes, that of morning is least likely
+to inspire with enthusiasm the soul of a Scottish barrister. Few are
+the associations of delight which that word awakens in his mind. It
+recalls to him the memory of many a winter, throughout which he has
+been roused from his comfortable nap at half-past seven, by the shrill
+unquellable voice of Girzy, herself malignant and sullen as the
+bespoken warning of the watchman. He recollects the misery of shaving
+with tepid water and a blunt razor by the light of a feeble dip--the
+fireless study--the disordered papers--the hasty and uncomfortable
+breakfast, and the bolting of the slippery eggs. Blash comes a sheet,
+half hail half slush, against the window--the wind is howling without
+like a hurricane, and threatens to carry off that poor shivering
+lamplighter, whose matutinal duty it is to extinguish the few
+straggling remnants of gas now waning sickly and dim, in the dawn of a
+bad December morning. What would he not give if this were a Monday
+when he might remain in peace at home! But there is no help for it. He
+is down for three early motions on the roll of the most punctual
+Ordinary that ever cursed a persecuted bar; so he buttons his
+trot-cosey around him, and, without taking leave of the wife of his
+bosom--who, like a sensible woman as she is, never thinks of moving
+until ten--he dashes out, ankle-deep in mud and melting snow, works
+his way up a continuous hill of a mile and a half in length, with a
+snell wind smiting him in the face, his nose bluemigating like a plum,
+and his linen as thoroughly damped as though it had been drawn through
+the wash-tub. Just as he begins to discern through the haze the
+steeple of Knox's kirk, nine strokes upon the bell warn him that his
+watch is too slow. He rushes on through gutter and dub, and arrives in
+the robing-room simultaneously with ten other brethren, who are all
+clamorously demanding their wigs and gowns from the two distracted
+functionaries. Accomodated at last, he hurries up the stairs, and
+when, through the yellow haze of the house, he has groped his way to
+the den where early Æacus is dispensing judgment by candle-light, he
+finds that the roll has been already called without the appearance of
+a single counsel. Such, for half the year--the other half being varied
+by a baking--are the joys which morning brings to the member of the
+Scottish bar. Few, we think, in their senses would be inclined to sing
+them, nor, indeed, to do our author justice, does he attempt it. His
+notions of morning occupations are very different. Let us see what
+sort of employment he advises in an apostrophe, which, though
+ostensibly addressed to Sleep, (a goddess with two mothers, for he
+calls her "Daughter of Jove and Night, by Lethe born,") must, we
+presume, have been intended for the edification of his fellow-mortals.
+
+                  "Nor then, thy knees
+    Vex with long orisons. The morning task,
+    The morning meal, or healthful morning walk
+    Demand attention next. Thy hungry feed,
+    Among thy stall, if lowing herds be thine;
+    Drain the vex'd udders, set the pail apart
+    For the wean'd kid; the doggish sentinel
+    Supply, nor let him miss the usual hand
+    He loves. Then, having seen all full and glad,
+    Body and soul with food thyself sustain.
+    If wedded bliss be yours, the fruitful vine
+    Greet lovingly, and greet the olive shoots,
+    The gifts of God!"
+
+Here is a pretty fellow! What! First breakfast, then a walk, then the
+byre, the ewe-bught, the pig-stye, and the kennel, and after all
+that, without wiping the gowkspittle of the tares from your jacket,
+or the stickiness of Cato's soss from your fingers, you would sit down
+to a second breakfast, like a great snorting gormandizer, and never
+say good-morning to your wife and children until you have finished
+your third roll, and washed down that monstrous quantity of fried ham
+with your fifth basin of bohea! But no--we turn over a couple of
+pages, and find that we have done our friend injustice. He is a poet,
+and, according to his idea of that race, they subsist entirely upon
+porridge or on sowens.
+
+    "But what becomes the rustic, little suits
+    The poet and the high Æonian fire----
+    His toils I mean; sacred the morning prime
+    Is still to song, and sacred still the grove;
+    No fields he boasts, no herds to grace his stalls,
+    The muse has made him poor and happy too,
+    She robs him of much care and some dull coin,
+    Stints him in gay attire and costly books,
+    But gives a wealth and luxury all her own,
+    _And, on a little pulse, like gods they diet._"
+
+Our theory is, that this man is a medical student. We have a high
+regard for the healing faculty; nor do we think that, amongst its
+ranks, there is to be found more than the ordinary proportion of
+blockheads. But the smattering of diversified knowledge which the
+young acolytes are sure to pick up in the classes, is apt to go to
+their heads, and to lead them into literary and other extravagances,
+which their more sober judgment would condemn. They are seldom able,
+however, to disguise their actual calling; and even their most
+powerful efforts are tinctured with the flavour of rhubarb or of
+senna. This youth has been educated in obstetrics.
+
+    "Three months scarce had thrice increased
+    Ere the world with thee was blest."
+
+He is an adept in the mysteries of gestation--an enthusiast so far in
+his profession, and cannot even contemplate the approach of morning
+without the feelings of a genuine Howdie. Mark his exordium--
+
+      "The splendid fault, solicitude of fame,
+    Which spurs so many, me not moves at all
+    To sing, but grateful sense of favours obtain'd
+    By many a green-spread tree and leafy hill:
+    The MORNING calls, escaped from dewy sleep
+    And Tithon's bed to celebrate her charms,
+    What sounds awake, what airs salute the dawn!
+      "That virgin darkness, loveliest imp of time,
+    Is, to an amorous vision, nightly wed,
+    And made the mother of a shining boy,
+    By mortals hight the day, let others tell,
+    In livelier strains, and to the Lydian flute
+    Suit the warm verse; but be it ours to wait
+    In the birth-chamber, and receive the babe,
+    All smiling, from the fair maternal side,
+    By pleasant musings only well repaid."
+
+It is a great pity that one so highly gifted should ever have been
+tempted to forsake the muse for any mere mundane occupation. But in
+spite of his modest request that sundry celestial spirits--
+
+    "Will to a worthier give the bays to Phœbus dear,
+    And crown MY WORDSWORTH with the branch _I must not wear_"--
+
+we are not altogether without hopes that he will reconsider the
+matter, avoid too hard work, which, in his own elegant language, might
+make him
+
+    "Wan as nun who takes the vows,
+    Or primrose pale, or _lips of cows_!"--
+
+and not only delight us occasionally with a few Miltonic parodies as
+delectable as these, but be persuaded in time to assume the laureat's
+wreath. As for the pretext that he is getting into practice--whether
+legal or medical--that is all fudge. He informs us that "the following
+pages were written, during the author's leisure hours, some years ago,
+before the superior claims of professional occupations interfered to
+make such pursuits unlawful, and would probably have remained
+unpublished, but for the accident of a talented friend's perusal."
+Moreover, he says that "his conscience will not reproach him with the
+hours which the preparation of these poems for the press has filched
+from graver business--
+
+    'The tedious forms, the solemn prate,
+    The pert dispute, the dull debate.'"
+
+We assure him that it need not do so. No man who has glanced at this
+volume will accuse him of knowing the difference between a process of
+Ranking and Sale and a Declarator of Legitimacy; and he may comfort
+himself with the conviction that his literary pursuits are quite as
+lawful at the present time as they were some years ago. No importunate
+solicitor will ever interfere to divert him from them. The man who
+cannot compass an ordinary distich will never shine in minutes of
+debate; nor have we the slightest expectation that a three-guinea
+fee--even were he entitled to receive it--would ever supply the place
+of that unflinching principle of honour, which he thus modestly, and
+not unprophetically acknowledges to be the mainspring of his
+inspiration--
+
+    "'Tis this which strings, in time, my feeble harp,
+    And yet shall ravish long eternal years!"
+
+The following imprecation, which we find in "Morning," inspires us
+with something like hope of the continuance of his favours:--
+
+    "When I forget the dear enraptured lay,
+    May this right hand its wonted skill forego,
+    And never, never touch the lyre again!"
+
+We dare not say Amen to such a wish. On the contrary, in the name of
+the whole Outer-House, we demand a supplementary canto. Let him submit
+it to the perusal of his "talented friend," and we dare answer for it
+that the publishers will make no objection to stand sponsors for a new
+volume on the same terms as before.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[53] _The Earl of Gowrie_; a Tragedy. By the Rev. JAMES WHITE. London:
+1845.
+
+_The King of the Commons_; a Drama. By the Same. 1846.
+
+_A Book of Highland Minstrelsy._ By Mrs D. OGILVY. Illustrated by R.
+R. M'IAN. London: 1846.
+
+_Morning, and other Poems._ By a Member of the Scotch Bar. London:
+1846.
+
+
+
+
+ELINOR TRAVIS.
+
+A TALE IN THREE CHAPTERS.
+
+CHAPTER THE SECOND.
+
+
+So far have I spoken of what I saw and witnessed. Much of what follows
+came to me, years afterwards, authenticated by the chief performer in
+the eventful drama which I write, and by others no less worthy of
+belief. After what has been already narrated, it will not be supposed
+that I suffered the life of my friend to pass away unnoticed. We
+corresponded, but fitfully, and at long intervals. Here and there we
+met, often strangely and by accident, and I became now the depositary
+of his heart's dearest secrets, now the reluctant adviser, and now the
+bold and earnest remonstrant. Our intimacy, however, ceased abruptly
+and unhappily a year or two subsequently to his marriage. Sinclair, it
+will be seen, then went abroad, and I returned to my duty at the
+university. I recur to the memoranda of his history which lie before
+me, and proceed with my text.
+
+It would appear that General Travis overtook the fugitives, but, as
+good or ill fortune would have it, not until the knot was tied, and
+his presence profited nothing. I have been told that the desperate
+father, at one period of the chase, was within an easy stage of the
+runaways, and, had he been so disposed, might have laid hands on the
+delinquents without ruinously bribing the postilions, who prudently
+husbanded their strength in full expectation of additional largess.
+But, at the very moment of victory, as it were, the general
+unfortunately was seized with illness, and compelled to pass a day and
+night under the hands of a village doctor in a roadside inn. He was
+very angry and rebellious, you may be sure, and oftener than once
+asserted with an oath--so that there could be no doubt whatever of his
+sincerity--that he would give the world (if he had it) to be allowed
+to proceed; at the same time that he unreasonably accused the
+practitioner, whom he had never seen before, of conspiring with his
+enemies to bring his gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. The worthy
+apothecary, guilty of nothing but the venial offence of making the
+most of a visitation of Providence, merely shook his head dolefully at
+every exclamation of his patient, hinted at gastric fever, and rubbed
+his palms, intimating by that act that so he proposed to wash his
+hands of all responsibility. Whereupon the general prudently gave in,
+held out his massive fist, was prescribed for, went to bed and put out
+his candle, just two minutes after he had put out the basket of physic
+which had been sent to prolong his stay in the inn for at least a week
+to come.
+
+The interview between the disconsolate parent and the youthful
+offenders is adverted to in the letter which I received from Rupert
+Sinclair in London early in the honeymoon. It is many years since it
+was written: the paper is discoloured, and the ink fading. It is the
+effusion of a fond and enthusiastic youth; but it looks mournful and
+dried up, more like the decaying writing on the rolls of a mummy than
+the ardent outpourings of a recent passion. Alack for the mutability
+of life! I have no apologies to make for giving the letter as it
+stands. It speaks for itself: its publication cannot harm the dead.
+
+    "DEAREST WALTER--Congratulate me! wish me joy! But no greater
+    joy than I experience at this hour, with the sunny and smiling
+    heaven above, and in the possession of a treasure of which no
+    man living can rob me: of which I am prouder than Alexander
+    could have been of all his conquered worlds. She is mine! I
+    have ventured much for the prize; yet little--for I feel I
+    could have parted with every thing in life for her who is to
+    me--life, every thing. She is mine! Oh the comprehensiveness
+    of that one little word! Mine whilst existence lasts--mine to
+    cherish and uphold--mine for earth and heaven! We walked this
+    morning to the placid lake which lies hidden in the heart of
+    the mountains, to which we have retreated for a season away
+    from the envious eyes of men. The waters were as calm as at
+    the dawn of the first sabbath! The sky that overarched us
+    looked down upon them in unutterable love. The slightest
+    breath that crept amongst the trees was audible. Her arm was
+    upon mine. Nature had attuned my soul to the surrounding
+    harmony--the gentlest pressure of her confiding hand oppressed
+    me with joy and moved me to tears. Laugh at me if you will.
+    You answer to all this--that I dream. Be it so:--That I must
+    soon awake. It is possible. Nay, I grant you that this
+    foretaste of heaven, now vouchsafed to me, must pass away and
+    leave behind it only the remembrance of this golden epoch.
+    Still the remembrance is mine, the undying memory of a vision
+    unparalleled by all other dreams of life.
+
+    "I have written to my father, but he replies not. He has no
+    sympathy for attachments such as mine, and cannot understand
+    the bitterness of life caused by a blighted hope. But he will
+    relent. He has a noble nature, and will take no delight in my
+    unhappiness. My mother's influence is unbounded. She loves me,
+    and will plead my cause with him, when the first paroxysm of
+    anger has passed away, and has left him open to her sway. I
+    will take my Elinor to her; her innocence and beauty would
+    melt a stubborn heart to pity. Shall it not prevail with her
+    whose heart is ours already by the ties of holiest nature?
+    Believe me, I have no fear of Lord Railton's lasting anger.
+
+    "The general reached us the day after we were married. Happily
+    for me that he arrived not before. Elinor, as I have told you
+    often, reveres her father, and has a chivalric sense of filial
+    obligations. Had he commanded her to return to his roof whilst
+    the right to command remained with him, she would have deemed
+    it her paramount duty to obey him. His rage was terrible when
+    we met; I had never seen a man so plunged in grief before. He
+    accused me of treachery--of having betrayed his
+    confidence--and taken advantage of his daughter's simplicity
+    and warm affection. The world, he said, would reproach him for
+    an act which he would have moved heaven and earth to prevent,
+    and the reputation of the family would be blasted by the
+    conduct of one, who, but for his own base deed, should have
+    remained for ever a stranger to it. What could I reply to
+    this? For my dear Elinor's sake, I bore his cruel words, and
+    answered not. Her gentle spirit has already prevailed. He
+    quitted us this morning reconciled to our union, and resolved
+    to stand by us in all extremities. There was no resisting the
+    appeal of beauty such as hers. The old man wept like a child
+    upon her neck as he forgave and blest her. Urgent business
+    carries the general abroad for a season, but he returns to
+    England shortly, to make arrangements for the future.
+    Meanwhile, in obedience to his earnest request, I shall seek
+    an interview with my father, and in person entreat his
+    forgiveness and aid. My plans are unsettled, and necessarily
+    depend upon the conduct of Lord Railton. Let me hear from you,
+    dearest Wilson. Once more wish me joy. I ask no better fate
+    for you than happiness such as mine.
+
+        "Your faithful and devoted
+
+            "RUPERT SINCLAIR."
+
+The honeymoon over, Rupert Sinclair repaired to his father's house.
+Since his marriage he had received no tidings of his parents: he had
+written to his father and mother, but from neither came one syllable
+of acknowledgment or reply. It was strange, but he relied with
+unshaken confidence upon his power over the fond mother's heart, and
+upon the magic influence of that loveliness which he himself had found
+resistless and invincible. The blissful dream was a short one; he was
+about to be roused from it. Elinor and he were in town: upon the
+morning of his visit to Grosvenor Square, they sat together in their
+hotel and weaved their bright and airy plans in syllables more
+unsubstantial than the gossamer.
+
+"You will love my mother, my dearest Elinor," said Sinclair. "The
+great world, in which she acts no unimportant part, has not spoiled
+her affections. She is indulgent and fond almost to a fault."
+
+"I shall love her for your sake, Rupert," answered the lovely wife.
+"How like she is!" she exclaimed, looking at a miniature which she
+wore around her neck, and then comparing it with the living
+countenance that beamed upon her. "Yet," she continued with a sigh,
+"she owes me no return of love."
+
+"And wherefore?"
+
+"Have I not stolen her most cherished treasure?"
+
+"Have you not added to her treasures? She will rejoice in her
+new-found daughter. I know her well. She will not even suffer my
+father to frown upon us. When he would be most stern, she will lead
+you to him, and melt him into tenderness and pardon."
+
+"I hope, dear Rupert, that it may be so. I would my father were with
+us!"
+
+"Lord Railton will be a father to you till his return. Trust me for
+it. You shall find a happy home with him, until arrangements are made
+for our settlement here or elsewhere."
+
+"Oh, elsewhere, dear Rupert, if it be possible! Let us go abroad; I
+was never happy in London, and strange to say, never felt at home in
+England. Yet London was my birth-place."
+
+"You love blue sky, dearest!"
+
+"Yes, and happy people. Men and women who are not mere slaves to form
+and fashion: who breathe free air and imbibe a sense of freedom. Oh
+Venice! dear Venice!--we shall go to Venice, shall we not? It is the
+land of enchantment, dearest Rupert, there is nothing like it in the
+world--the land of love and of romance."
+
+"You shall visit it, sweetest, and abide there if you wish it. To me
+all spots are alike that find you happy and at my side. When you are
+tired of Venice, you shall lead me whithersoever you will."
+
+"Will you always say so?"
+
+"Always. But that our departure may not be delayed, let us attend to
+the pressing business of the hour. All our movements depend upon my
+father's sanction. Once reconciled to him, and the world is before us,
+to minister, sweet Elinor, to your every wish."
+
+"What if he should punish you for my offence?"
+
+"For your offence, dear girl! and what is that? Think not of it. I go
+to remove your fears and seal our happiness!"
+
+With these and similar words of confidence and hope, the youth
+departed on his errand. Not without some misgiving and apprehension,
+however, did he present himself at that door which heretofore had
+flown open at his approach, always offering to his view the forms of
+obsequious lackeys, only too willing to anticipate his pleasure. The
+establishment of Lord Railton in a striking manner represented the
+sentiments and feelings of the noble proprietor. There was not a
+servant in the house who did not know, and that most accurately, the
+opinions, public and private, of "my lord," and the relative regard he
+had for all who approached his noble person, and who, moreover, did
+not give evidence of this knowledge in his conduct towards mankind. A
+stranger might have formed a just opinion of the influence of a
+visitor by simply remarking the bearing of Mister Brown the butler, as
+he ushered that visitor into the sublime presence. Smiles of
+welcome--a sweet relaxation of the features--greeted "the favoured
+guest;" cold rigidity, withering politeness, if not the stern
+expression of rebuke itself, were the undisguised acknowledgments of
+one who was "a bore" in his lordship's study, and consequently "a
+rejected" in the steward's room. During the boyhood of Rupert
+Sinclair, and whilst his mamma was known to be affectionately disposed
+to spoil her offspring by every kind of cruel indulgence, the regard
+entertained for the young scion, from Mister Brown downwards, was
+beautiful to contemplate. If he appeared in the hall, one sickening
+and hollow smile pervaded the cheeks of every individual; the tongue
+that was still wet with slander and abuse, became, as if by magic,
+sugary with choice phrases; and not a soul of all the lying crew, but
+sought to surpass the rest by the profuseness of its palpable and
+unmeaning flattery. Rupert Sinclair, worldly wise though he was not,
+would have been stolid indeed had he not gathered from the porter's
+air something of the reception that awaited him from his offended
+sire, when the wide portal opened to receive the unforgiven prodigal.
+
+"His lordship?"----began Rupert inquiringly.
+
+"Not at home, sir," said the flunkey, with all imaginable coolness
+interrupting him.
+
+"Lady Railton?"
+
+"Not at home, sir."
+
+"She is in town?"
+
+"In town, sir?--yes, sir."
+
+"I will wait," said Sinclair, moving towards the inner hall.
+
+He had not spoken before the porter pulled with all his might at a
+bell-wire that communicated with the steward's room. As though the
+signals were preconcerted, Mister Brown was in the hall in no time,
+and confronting the intruder upon the thresh-hold of the sanctuary. "I
+beg your pardon, Mr Sinclair," said Mister Brown, half respectfully,
+half confidentially. "Lord Railton is par_tic_ularly engaged this
+morning, and has given orders to that effect. It is the painfulest
+thing to communicate, but I am but an agent."
+
+Rupert coloured up, and hesitated for a moment.
+
+"I must see Lady Railton, then?" he continued hastily.
+
+"Her ladyship is ill, sir--really very ill. She is not suffered to see
+any body. My lord has forbidden any one to approach her but her maid.
+I hope no offence, but I heard Doctor Bennett tell her ladyship that
+it was of the highest consequence to keep Mr Sinclair away for the
+present."
+
+"Is she really so ill, sir?" asked Rupert, turning pale, and with a
+quivering lip.
+
+Mister Brown drew his handkerchief from his pocket, and applied it to
+his eyes.
+
+"She is indeed, sir," said that hoary hypocrite; "we have had a
+dreadful time of it. I thought his lordship would have blown his
+brains out. My lady was given over for a week. For my own part, I may
+say that duty and feeling have struggled in my bosom till I am quite
+worn out, and it's quite impossible for me to say who will be laid up
+next."
+
+"I _must_ see my father, Mr Brown," said Sinclair, advancing a step or
+two, to the great discomfort of the butler, who was evidently sadly
+perplexed by the conflicting emotions of his mind; for whilst he
+acknowledged Lord Railton for his master, he respected Mr Sinclair as
+his heir, and felt how important it was to obey his present lord
+without declining to serve the youth whom he hoped to make his future
+lord. "I _must_ see him. Go to him, I beg of you, and tell him I am
+here."
+
+So saying, Mr Sinclair advanced a few steps further, and found himself
+unhindered in the dining-room--moreover, to his surprise and
+agitation, in the presence of his father. Mister Brown vanished. To
+behold his parent, to fall on his knees before him, and to grasp his
+hand, was the work of a moment. Lord Railton recoiled as though a
+serpent, and not his child, had wound about him. He was livid with
+rage, and an unnatural hate was settled in his cold, yet piercing eye.
+
+"Your pardon, father!" cried the youth.
+
+"Never, so help me"----
+
+"Oh, do not say it, father!" exclaimed the son, interrupting him
+before the awful word was spoken; "for heaven's sake, do not call that
+name to witness such a fearful sentence--do not drive me to
+distraction!"
+
+"You have driven me mad; you have blasted every hope of mine. You have
+been a traitor and a shame to the name you bear, and of which I would
+it were in my power to deprive you as easily as it is to attach to it
+the curse with which you shall receive from me your title and your
+inheritance. Begone! I never knew what it was to hate till now."
+
+Rupert arose and burst into tears. His father looked at him unmoved
+except by scorn.
+
+"You have not seen her," exclaimed Rupert, when the first burst of
+grief had passed away; "you do not know the value of the child whom
+you reject."
+
+"No, but I have heard. The _world_ has heard of our disgrace. Mark me,
+you are no longer child of mine. I disown and discard you. I will
+enter into no particulars. From this moment I will hold no further
+intercourse with you. At my death you will obtain my name, and all
+that the law allows you. Until my death, you will receive from my man
+of business more than a sufficient sum for your support. Let me not
+hear from you again. I shall struggle to forget you and your
+ingratitude. Neither in health nor sickness, neither by letter nor in
+person, let me know any thing of you or yours. You have forsaken your
+natural ties for new associations. They have made you a traitor to
+your blood--let them make the most of the adoption."
+
+"Father, you cannot mean it!" cried Rupert in an agony of sorrow.
+
+"Father!" said the old lord, repeating the word; "in virtue of what
+filial act do you claim such a kindred with me? Call that man father
+whose bankrupt fortune and reputation have had such marvellous power
+to wean you from your duty. Mark me, Sinclair--you were the first to
+violate the tie between us, I will be the last to restore or reunite
+it. Leave me. I cannot bear to look upon you."
+
+"My mother!" inquired Sinclair, in a voice that dared not rise above a
+whisper.
+
+"Name not that poor broken-hearted woman," replied Lord Railton:
+"spare me and her the pang of that inquiry. You have killed her."
+
+"Oh, no, no, impossible!" ejaculated Sinclair. "Let me see her, and
+obtain her forgiveness, if I am driven afterwards from your door."
+
+"She lies upon a bed of sickness, placed there by yourself. She will
+never rise again. Your wife must be fair indeed, if her beauty can
+atone for such a murder."
+
+"Oh, you are unjust, most cruel and unjust!"
+
+"You have taught us such injustice and cruelty as we practise. Begone,
+sir! As long as we live, we must not meet again. If you remain in
+England, I shall go abroad. If you travel, I remain in England. The
+sea shall be between us. I reproach myself with nothing. I denied you
+nothing. I knew my duty towards you, and performed it. Your mother
+lived only for your happiness. We have been cursed and disappointed. I
+forget you from this hour. Had I received intelligence this morning of
+your death, it would have given me no pain, evoked no sorrow. You are
+dead to me. Come not again across this threshold and I will endeavour
+to forget that I was not always childless."
+
+And so saying, Lord Railton put an end to the interview by quitting
+the apartment. Grief, in the bosom of Rupert, had already given place
+to offended pride and resentment--such resentment, at least, as his
+mild nature understood. Whatever might have been his offence, he felt
+that it did not, could not deserve the vindictive hatred which burned
+no less in his father's countenance than in his terrible
+denunciations. What! was it a crime to link one's fate with virtuous
+innocence and beauty, such as hers who called him husband? If it was a
+fault to carve one's own way to happiness, did it deserve a harsher
+condemnation than that apportioned to the felon? The image of Elinor
+rose for the protection of the youth, and armed him with courage for
+the trial of that hour. He came a suppliant; but he returned in
+triumph: he came acknowledging his offence and suing for forgiveness;
+he returned justified and self-acquitted. Deprived of love and
+friendship at the hearth and home of his youth, he appreciated at even
+more than their value the joys that had been created for him in the
+palace of his own bright home, where a divinity presided as queen. The
+punishment he received for her dear sake, rendered her, if that were
+possible, the object still more of his passionate regard. He would
+have made any sacrifice to appease the anger of his father and the
+offended pride of his mother--he did not believe in the dangerous
+illness of the latter--but repulsed like a dog from their side, he
+deemed himself absolved from further trials of their tenderness,
+additional exercise of his own forbearance and filial duty.
+
+It was during the day of his visit to Grosvenor Square that Sinclair
+was honoured with a return visit from the attorney of Lord Railton.
+That gentleman had received instructions that very morning to pay to
+the order of Mr Rupert Sinclair the sum of one thousand pounds per
+annum, in quarterly payments of two hundred and fifty pounds each:
+"But really," as the legal gentleman said to Rupert, upon breaking the
+matter to him, "he could not reconcile it to his sense of duty, and to
+the esteem which it was natural for him to entertain towards every
+member of Lord Railton's family--to perform his very unthankful
+office without using all his humble efforts to bring about a
+reconciliation, which in every respect was so very desirable. God
+forbid that business should ever prevent him from doing his duty as a
+Christian."
+
+It need hardly be said that Mr Crawly, the attorney in question, was
+too keen a judge of things in general to throw dirt in the face of the
+rising sun, simply because he had worshipped the setting luminary a
+few hours before. Like all who depended more or less upon the estates
+of the Railton family for their support, it was of the highest
+consequence to maintain a good understanding with either party. If
+Lord Railton fed Mr Crawly now, Rupert Sinclair was expected to feed
+by and by Crawly's son and heir, who was preparing himself for the
+paternal stool by a short round of folly and extravagance at the
+university. Who could tell? Lord Railton might die to-morrow--he had
+had a squeak or two--and Crawly had been called to make his will: or
+he might forgive his son--or twenty things might happen to remove
+present differences, and restore the divided interest to its first
+integrity. Crawly had boasted to his relations and friends for the
+first twenty years of his official career, that he had never made one
+enemy; and when he set up his carriage in the prime of life, he
+invented his own arms and crest, and assumed for his motto the words,
+"always agreeable."
+
+"It really is, my dear Sinclair," said Crawly, "a thousand pities that
+we cannot bring about a more satisfactory state of things; but I do
+hope that time will do wonders. Some excuses must be made for Lord
+Railton. Remember his age."
+
+[He had said the same thing to Lord Railton in the morning: "Some
+excuses must be made for Mr Sinclair, my lord. Remember his _youth_!"]
+
+"I cannot but think, Mr Crawly," answered Rupert, "that I have been
+treated with unmerited harshness."
+
+"I cannot say, Mr Sinclair--I do not think it would become me to
+reply--that you have been treated handsomely."
+
+[Crawly, Crawly! you spoke those words in Grosvenor Square!]
+
+"I accept the allowance, sir, and will make the most of it. You may
+assure my father that I shall not prefer any further claims upon his
+bounty, or force myself again into his presence."
+
+"As for bounty, my dear Mr Sinclair, you must permit me to state that
+the expression is hardly a correct one. The property of his lordship
+descends to you, and you are perfectly justified in spending freely
+what is your own."
+
+["Mr Crawly," said Lord Railton, in Grosvenor Square that morning,
+foaming with rage, "I will deprive him of every shilling that is not
+his own. I have been economical for his sake; I will be extravagant to
+spite him."
+
+"_My lord_," replied Crawly, "_you are perfectly justified in spending
+freely what is your own_."]
+
+"May I take the liberty, Mr Sinclair," said the lawyer after a pause,
+"to inquire what your present views may be?"
+
+"I am undecided, sir. I know not whether I shall remain here or go
+abroad. My father's reception of me has staggered and confounded me. I
+would have consulted his wishes had he received me as his son. I have
+now to satisfy only my own convenience."
+
+"I shall pay your annuity, Mr Sinclair, into your banker's regularly
+every quarter-day. The first payment will be made in advance. I need
+not assure you, I trust, that I act in this most painful business
+rather as a mediator and a friend than a hired agent. There may be a
+time when an additional advance may be both convenient and acceptable.
+I have known you long, Mr Rupert. I know you to be a man of honour. I
+have only to add, that at such times you will confer a favour upon me
+by making me your banker, and commanding my purse."
+
+I wonder if this was the reason why Mr Crawly suggested to Lord
+Railton the propriety of grinding Mr Sinclair down to as small a sum
+as possible. If so, if it were merely to give himself the opportunity
+of acting like a second father to the castaway, the recommendation
+cannot be too highly applauded.
+
+"Thank you, sir; I shall not trouble you. I know my income, and I
+shall take care to keep my ambition within its bounds. I have had but
+few desires, I have now fewer than ever. A humble cottage and
+contentment are to be prized far beyond a palace and its harassing
+cares. I do not want the world to administer to my happiness. I am the
+happiest of men at home. To have that home invaded by the vulgar
+pleasures of life, would be to rob me of its charm!"
+
+Now nothing could have been more satisfactory than this sentiment, had
+it but been responded to by her upon whom not only the annual expenses
+of Mr Rupert Sinclair's household depended, but his every movement,
+wish, and thought. Unfortunately for the domestic husband, the wife
+understood the bliss of love in a cottage no more than a nightingale
+may be supposed to appreciate the advantages of imprisonment in a cage
+of gold. She was born, and had been educated, in the world. It was the
+scene of her triumphs, the home of her affections. She had played no
+unimportant part in it; her sway had been acknowledged, her beauty had
+gained its victory _there_. _Home!_ she had never known any other, and
+what right had Sinclair to suppose that she was adapted for a
+narrower? He had met her in dissipation, but had he won her from it?
+Hardly; since a few days only had intervened between the hour of their
+meeting, and the still more luckless hour of their union. Was it to be
+imagined, could it in fairness be expected, that this young creature,
+all life all fascination and vanity, with her heart attuned to the
+joys of fashion, with the object of her life attained--with power and
+position now, and wealth and rank to come, would forego all the
+advantages within her reach, all the influence that she felt, and all
+the pleasure that it was simply to ask for, in order to obtain "Love
+in a cottage?" Rupert Sinclair! pull down the thatch, and build some
+marble hall for the fairy you have caught--not chained!
+
+Within six months of his marriage, the Honourable Rupert Sinclair was
+living at the rate of--not one--but five thousand a-year. Persuaded by
+his wife, (who learnt any thing but quiet submission from the tyranny
+of Lord Railton, and whose determination to go abroad was relinquished
+the moment she discovered her absence from England would be agreeable
+to her husband's family,) Rupert had taken a mansion in town, and Mrs
+Rupert Sinclair was the admired of all admirers, a leader of fashion,
+and the proclaimed beauty of her day. Rupert had been dragged into the
+vortex, with no power to hold back, even had he been willing to
+interfere with those delights which gained him a smile of approbation,
+and expressions of gratitude, cheaply purchased at any cost or
+sacrifice of his. True he was fearfully in debt; true Mr Crawly had
+been summoned oftener than once to the rescue; true that wily
+gentleman had advanced heavy sums of money, taking particular care,
+however, to be amply secured by legal documents, and more than amply
+repaid by the exaction of illegal interest. It was perhaps natural for
+Sinclair to believe, as debts accumulated upon debts, that the hour of
+his estrangement from his parents was drawing rapidly to a close, and
+that, although his way of living could not but aggrieve and offend his
+stern and angry father, yet it was impossible nature could suffer him
+much longer to withhold his paternal and forgiving hand. Mental
+reasoning of this character is the last resource of the culpable and
+the self-deluded. Lord Railton, faithful to his threat, went abroad;
+Lady Railton was sufficiently recovered to accompany him; and both
+quitted England without deigning to notice the spend-thrifts, whose
+extravagance and need were soon the common talk of scandalmongers,
+dissatisfied tradesmen, and spiteful serving-men. Yet there was no
+flinching on the part of Rupert. A cloud of anxiety might sit
+temporarily on his brow, a sigh now and then escape him; but he
+uttered no remonstrance, and took no pains to stem the tide of folly
+and prodigality that flowed unceasingly within his walls. His love for
+Elinor had increased rather than diminished since their marriage. He
+was proud of the homage of mankind, and knew her worthy of the
+highest. Why should he seek to restrain the innocent pleasures of a
+woman for whose gratification and happiness he lived? Why curtail the
+joys in which she had participated almost from infancy? why prevent
+her from crowning a scene, for the adornment of which she was created
+and eminently fitted?
+
+And where was General Travis during this brief season of intoxication
+and wanton waste? At Calais, whither his liabilities had banished him,
+and were likely to detain him for some time to come. There was no
+doubt of his ruin. He lived with his melancholy-looking wife and
+younger daughter, upon a pittance secured upon the life of the former,
+but hardly sufficient to support them in decency. Yet they maintained,
+even in their reverses, a style that to a degree reflected on the
+scene of their exile the brilliancy of their brighter years. Could it
+be that the substance of poor Rupert Sinclair was ministering here
+also to the vices of this unhappy family? I fear there is no doubt of
+it. The general was as huge a braggart as ever. He insisted upon
+drawing a line midway between the highest and the lowest of the
+swindling fraternity to which he belonged, and by whom he was
+surrounded, and suffered intercourse to exist only with the favoured
+members of the upper class. He was prating for ever of his son-in-law,
+his connexions, his influence with the ministry through the potent
+Lord Railton, and was most lavish of his promises of preferment to any
+credulous individual whom he could persuade to favour him with the
+eternal loan of a five-pound note. General Travis had, not
+unaccountably perhaps, acquired much power over the mind of Sinclair.
+Expelled from his natural counsellors, who, in their best days, had
+been any thing but faithful advisers,--harassed and tormented by
+growing cares, it is not to be wondered at, that he should seek
+counsel and aid from one whom he believed to be a thorough man of the
+world--who was bound to him by the closest ties, and of whose
+integrity and honour he had not the remotest suspicion. It was General
+Travis who instructed Sinclair in the recondite science of raising
+money--and of staving off the attacks of tradesmen with the weapons of
+generous usurers: who taught him that still more marvellous art of
+civilized life, of living upon one thousand a-year more sumptuously
+than your neighbour with ten; and who day after day persuaded him, by
+arguments which I cannot attempt to recite, that by forestalling his
+inheritance in his youth, he would not materially affect the property
+which must accrue to him in his age. It may be that the arguments
+would have been more severely tested had they come from any other than
+Elinor's father--had they not been employed to increase the comforts
+and desires of Elinor herself. But whether this be so or not, it is
+certain that Rupert Sinclair, for a long time, was a helpless victim
+in the hands of a bold and ruthless destroyer.
+
+Chance, I have hinted at the beginning of this chapter, brought Rupert
+and myself together at singular times and places, and made me an actor
+in his history whether I would or not. Since his first letter to me, I
+had heard from him but once; _of_ him, alas! I had heard too much. He
+was in the height of his giddy career, when I passed through London
+for the first time since his marriage, and resolved to pay him a
+visit. I arrived late in the evening, and I had but a few hours at my
+command, for early in the morning I was to start for France by the
+Calais packet. When I reached my hotel, I sent my card to the
+residence of my friend, who instantly invited me to his too hospitable
+roof. There was a gay and brilliant assembly in his house that
+evening, and, as usual, Elinor outshone the multitude in beauty and
+animation. She received me cordially, and kindly held out her
+snow-white hand at my approach, and greeted me with a smile of
+fascination that robbed me of whatever displeasure I had brought with
+me on account of her proceedings. How could I reproach Sinclair for
+submitting to the spell that governed him, when it was impossible for
+me--a stranger, and one certainly not prepossessed in her favor--to
+resist it?
+
+Sinclair was much altered in appearance. He looked jaded and unhappy.
+There was nothing in his countenance harmonizing with the scene around
+him. He seldom spoke, and to all my questions he returned evasive
+answers, seeking rather to direct his discourse to matters in which
+neither of us found a personal interest, than to his own affairs,
+which at the time had far more interest for me than my own.
+
+"I am glad you are here to-night, Wilson," said Rupert, as we sat
+together. "To-morrow I leave town for a few days, and we should not
+have met had you arrived a day later."
+
+"I am off to France myself to-night for a week or more, and----"
+
+As I spoke, I saw the colour in Sinclair's cheek rapidly changing. He
+was evidently surprised and chagrined by the intelligence.
+
+"Can I serve you," said I at once, taking advantage of my opportunity,
+"by remaining in town?"
+
+"No, no, I thank you. What route do you take?"
+
+"By packet to Calais, and from Calais to Paris by the formidable
+diligence. Can I help you at the seat of politeness and art?"
+
+"No, I thank you," replied Sinclair, changing colour again. "You are
+aware that my father is in Paris?"
+
+"So I have heard. It is said that his lordship"----
+
+"Do not speak of it," he said, mildly interrupting me. "Whatever may
+happen to me, I cannot but think that the blame must rest ultimately
+there."
+
+"Do you fear evil, then?" I eagerly inquired.
+
+Mr Crawly came up at this moment, with his lady upon his arm, and
+Crawly, junior, lounging in his immediate rear. The latter was an
+Adonis in his way--got up with a perfect contempt of expense and all
+propriety. Crawly beckoned to Sinclair, who at once quitted my side
+and walked over to him, whilst I was left in possession of Mrs Crawly
+and the hopeful. I escaped as soon as I could, and seeing no more of
+Sinclair, took my departure at a comparatively early hour.
+
+Three nights after this, I was roused from sleep in my bed at the
+Hotel Louis Seize, (a comfortable hotel in those days, bordering on
+the marketplace in Calais,) by a murmuring sound which at first I
+believed to be nothing more than a portion of an unsatisfactory dream
+in which I had once again found myself with Rupert and his lady in
+London. Satisfying myself that the dream and the sound were distinct,
+I was already again midway between the lands of life and death, when
+the tones of a voice roused me almost like a cannon-shot from my
+couch, and caused me seriously to inquire whether I was sleeping or
+waking, dreaming or acting. I could have sworn that the voice I had
+heard belonged to Rupert Sinclair. I jumped from my bed, and struck a
+light. It was twelve o'clock by my watch. For a few seconds all was as
+silent as the grave; then I heard most distinctly a step along the
+passage, into which my bed-room conducted--the sound of a door
+opening, closing, and immediately a heavy tread in the adjoining room.
+Two chairs were then drawn close to a table; upon the latter a
+rough-voiced man knocked with his fist, and exclaimed at the same
+moment--
+
+"There are the papers, then!"
+
+Surely I had heard that voice before. To whom could it belong? Whilst
+I still puzzled my brains to remember, another voice replied. It was
+impossible to mistake _that_. Most assuredly it was Rupert Sinclair's.
+
+"I see them!" it said; every syllable bringing fresh perspiration on
+my brow.
+
+How came he here? what was his business? and with whom? A thin
+partition merely divided my bed-room from that in which the speakers
+were. Had I been inclined to close my ears against their words, it
+would have been difficult. Anxious, and even eager, to obtain
+knowledge of the movements of my friend, I made no scruple of
+listening most attentively to every word. Who knew but he was in the
+hands of sharpers, and might I not have been providentially sent to
+his rescue? At all events I listened, and not a syllable did I suffer
+to escape me.
+
+"I know, my dear young friend," began the rougher voice--whose but
+General Travis's?--"that you are anxious to do what is best for us
+all. Your interest, you know, is my daughter's, and my daughter's is,
+of course, mine. We are all in one boat."
+
+"Yes, undoubtedly," said Rupert.
+
+"These debts are very large," continued the general.
+
+"Yes," replied Sinclair; "and some of them must be discharged
+forthwith. Crawly is impatient and angry, and accuses me of having
+used him ill."
+
+"Crawly is a villain," said the general hurriedly; "he has made a
+fortune out of you, and now wishes to back out. The interest alone
+that he has exacted has been enough to ruin you."
+
+"Your messenger, you say, failed to see my father?"
+
+"Yes. His lordship closed his doors upon him, and took no notice of
+his letter, in which he asked that some amicable arrangement might be
+made with respect to the property that must evidently come to you."
+
+There succeeded to this a few sentences in an under tone from either
+party, which I could not make out.
+
+"Then what is to be done?" murmured Sinclair again in a tone of
+entreaty.
+
+"Don't be advised by me, my friend," said the general in a subdued
+voice, which I strained my ears to catch; "God forbid that you should
+reproach me hereafter for advice which I tender solely with a view to
+your peace of mind and comfort. Heaven knows you have had little peace
+of late!"
+
+Rupert sighed heavily.
+
+"I have for the last week been turning the matter over and over
+seriously. As I said before, I can have no object but your well-doing,
+and--naturally--my child's--my child's, Sinclair--your loving, and I
+know, beloved wife."
+
+"I believe it," said Rupert.
+
+"Is any one aware of your visit here?"
+
+"Not a creature."
+
+"Crawly?"
+
+"Was with me the very night I started, but he does not suspect. He
+believes that I am now in England."
+
+"Now, my dear friend, I don't think I ought to say what"--
+
+As ill luck would have it, I coughed. The general ceased upon the
+instant, and opened his door hastily. I blew out my light, and held my
+breath.
+
+"What was that?" asked the general in a whisper.
+
+Both listened for a few seconds, and then the general proceeded, still
+whispering.
+
+"There was a man in London whom I found in my reverses faithful and
+considerate; an honest man in a world of dishonesty and knavery. He is
+well to do in life, and he has visited me here. Nay, he is here
+now--has been here some days; is in this very hotel."
+
+"What of him?" asked Rupert.
+
+"We are as brothers, and I have entrusted him with the history of your
+affairs. He is willing to assist and relieve you; and he can do it,
+for he has a mint of money."
+
+"I must borrow no more, sir," eagerly interposed Sinclair. "My
+liabilities are even now greater than I can bear. My income will not
+pay the interest of the money that has been advanced."
+
+"And therefore comes my friend in the very nick of time to save you. I
+agree with you that it would be ridiculous to think of further loans.
+Your only plan now is to sell out and out. This you may do
+advantageously, relieve yourself of every incumbrance, and retain
+sufficient for the future, if you will be but moderately careful, and
+invest your capital with caution."
+
+"How do you mean?" inquired my friend.
+
+The general whispered lower than ever, as though ashamed that even the
+bare walls should witness his heartless proposition. I gathered his
+suggestion from the quick and anxious answer.
+
+"What!" exclaimed Sinclair, "sell my inheritance, part with my
+birth-right?"
+
+"No! neither sell nor part with it--but forestall and enjoy it."
+
+I heard no more. There came a gentle knock at the door of the room in
+which Rupert and his father-in-law were speaking; the door softly
+opened, and another visitor arrived. Sinclair's name was mentioned by
+way of introduction; then the stranger's, which escaped me; and
+shortly afterwards the whole party quitted the apartment, as it
+seemed, maintaining a dead silence--for, listen as eagerly as I would,
+not a syllable could I gather. Repose was impossible that night. After
+keeping my position for about half an hour, I hastily dressed, and
+sallied forth in quest of information. I descended, and inquired of
+the first servant whom I could summon, the names of the English
+gentlemen who were then staying in the house. My answer was very
+unsatisfactory.
+
+"There was Milor Anglais," said the man who was the great referee of
+the house in all matters pertaining to the English tongue, "friend of
+Mons. le General; the gentleman as come to-morrow; Monsieur Jones who
+vos arrive yesterday; Monsieur Smith, his ami, and Monsieur Sir John
+Alderman, Esquire, vith his madame and petite famille. There vos none
+more."
+
+With this imperfect information, I returned to my couch, not to sleep,
+but to form some plan that would save my unhappy friend from the fangs
+of the sharks who were about to sacrifice him to their rapacity. He
+stood upon the very verge of destruction. There could be no doubt of
+it. How to get sight of him--how to warn him of his danger--how to
+help him out of the difficulties into which extravagance and
+wickedness had brought him? These were some of the questions that
+crowded upon my disturbed mind during the whole of the anxious
+night--questions that easily came--were less easily dismissed, and
+still less easily answered with comfort to myself, or with prospect of
+salvation to my friend.
+
+The first individual I saw, upon leaving my apartment on the following
+morning, was General Travis himself. He was walking hastily
+down-stairs, evidently about to quit the hotel. I called his name. He
+started more like the thief "who fears each bush an officer," than the
+traveller "who fears each bush a thief," and turned his restless eye
+upon me. At first he pretended not to know me--then he bowed, and
+continued his way.
+
+"One moment, general," said I, stopping him. "I have a word to say to
+you."
+
+"I am somewhat pressed for time this morning--but a moment is easily
+spared," replied the general very collectedly. He followed me
+up-stairs, and entered my room. I closed the door.
+
+"You have seen my friend lately?" I asked in nervous haste.
+
+"Your friend?" rejoined General Travis. "To whom have I the honour to
+speak?"
+
+His effrontery was amusing. I looked at him hard--but his countenance
+in no way betrayed him.
+
+"My name is Wilson," said I; "that of my friend, Rupert Sinclair."
+
+"O--h! I remember!" exclaimed the cunning master, with all the
+affectation of extreme surprise. "And how did you leave Sinclair--gay,
+giddy, and happy as ever?"
+
+I gazed upon the man with a view to shame him into blushing. I was
+grievously disappointed. He returned me gaze for gaze, and looked
+unconscious innocence itself. I resolved to bring our business to a
+crisis without further parley.
+
+"General Travis," I began, "I was last night, I will not say the
+unwilling, but certainly the unintentional listener to the plan
+propounded by you to my inexperienced friend, your son-in-law, of
+whose presence in this town you seem so lamentably ignorant."
+
+The general _did_ change colour now. He was about to speak, when I
+stopped him.
+
+"Hear me!" I continued aloud and sternly. "I know the man with whom I
+have to deal. It is but fair that we should be on equal terms. I go
+this day to London to denounce your conspiracy, and to prevent its
+success. Your scheme for beggaring your children, and enriching
+yourself, clever as it is, is killed in the bud. Attempt to carry it
+out, and the law shall reach you even here."
+
+"My dear Mr"----interposed the general.
+
+"Let us have no argument," I proceeded in the same loud tone; "my
+business is to prevent the havoc you would bring about, and rest
+assured I will. Make no new attempts upon the credulity of your
+victim, and you are safe. Take another step in the nefarious business,
+and I solemnly vow to heaven that I will not leave you till I have
+exacted a fearful penalty for your crime."
+
+"You really, Mr Wilson, do"----stammered the general, with increasing
+awkwardness at every word.
+
+"Where is Mr Sinclair now?" I vehemently asked.
+
+"Gone," replied the general.
+
+"Whither?"
+
+"To England."
+
+"Satisfy me of the truth of this--give me your solemn promise to urge
+him no more to the commission of an act which insures his ruin, and I
+leave you. Refuse me, and I will expose your designs, and brand you to
+the world as the unnatural and cruel destroyer I have found you."
+
+The general manifestly believed me to be in possession of more than I
+knew. He fairly quailed beneath my impetuosity and anger. I had
+expected resistance and battle. I met with mean capitulation and fear.
+He shuffled out apologies--entreated me to believe that he was
+actuated only by the sincerest wishes for his children's
+welfare--indeed, how could it be otherwise?--and assured me that
+although he might have been mistaken in the plans he had formed for Mr
+Sinclair's extrication, his motives were unquestioned, and as pure as
+could be. Still I might see these things with different eyes, and a
+better remedy might suggest itself to me. For his part, he should be
+glad to listen to it, and to recommend it to Sinclair's attention. At
+all events, he was prepared to engage to proceed no further with the
+transaction of which I had obtained knowledge, and all he asked in
+return was, that I should not wait upon Lord Railton, and acquaint him
+with what had transpired. To communicate the matter to his lordship,
+would be to shut out finally and for ever the last hopes of the
+unhappy children.
+
+My promise was given, as soon as I learned for certain that Rupert had
+set sail for London by the packet that quitted Calais harbour at an
+early hour that morning. My own business urged me to proceed forthwith
+to Paris, but I could not be easy until I had secured the fulfilment
+of General Travis's engagement by another interview with Rupert.
+Accordingly, I returned to England. My task with Sinclair was an easy
+one. He had already had the good sense to discover that to part with
+all that he had in the world for a sum that must be dissipated in a
+few years at the most, would be an act of madness which no amount of
+pressing difficulty could warrant. Moreover, the sum of money that was
+offered by the gentleman whose honesty and generosity had been so
+highly lauded by the general, had been so shamefully small, that
+Rupert retreated with horror from the abyss towards which he had so
+incautiously advanced. I received a full assurance from the harassed
+man that he would suffer any extremity rather than listen again to
+similar propositions, and then I recommenced my journey with an easier
+conscience. So far, a tremendous blow had been averted. But what would
+happen next--what scheme the general would next suggest--what measures
+the very critical condition of Sinclair's affairs would make
+absolutely necessary--it was impossible to guess--to foresee, or to
+think of without deep anxiety and great alarm.
+
+Six months elapsed, and Rupert Sinclair was still rapidly descending.
+With increased and increasing liabilities, there was more profuseness
+and greater recklessness. No one knew better than Rupert himself the
+folly and even sinfulness of his mode of life, yet any body would have
+found it easier than himself to put a stop to it. He was absorbed in
+the existence of his wife. As I have already said, her life was
+his--her wishes, her thoughts, and aims. She could not desire, and he
+not gratify; she could not ask to be a queen amidst the throng in
+which she moved, and he not place her on the throne at any sacrifice,
+however costly; at any risk, however desperate. This was the secret of
+his misery. And then from day to day, he lived bankrupt-like, on hope.
+Something would happen. He had faith in the love of his mother, in the
+natural goodness of a father's heart. Time would heal the wound that
+had been inflicted; and incline them to look with commiseration on
+youthful errors easy to repair.
+
+A glimmering of promise stole forth at this crisis of the history. The
+critical position of the ministry for the time being, had brought Lord
+Railton and his wife back to England; and I resolved, in my eagerness
+to serve my unhappy pupil, to see her ladyship, and to make an
+attempt at reconciliation, even if it should be repulsed with the
+insult I had met with at her husband's hands. I could not suffer
+Sinclair to sink, so long as one effort might save him. I had heard
+that, cold and selfish as Lady Railton was, love for her child had
+been a redeeming point in her character from the moment of his birth.
+Feeling surely was not dead within her! Could I but gain an interview,
+would it not be easy to recall in her heart natural emotions, which,
+though deadened, might never be entirely hushed, and to extract
+sympathy from a bosom already inclined to pity by love? The attempt
+was a bold one--but the prize, in the event of success, was not small;
+and surely worth a venture. I took courage, and was not wholly
+disappointed.
+
+His lordship, I had heard upon inquiry, was generally absent from home
+during the forenoon. One morning, at ten o'clock precisely, I
+presented myself at Grosvenor Square, and sent my card to her
+ladyship. I was admitted at once. In an elegantly furnished boudoir,
+surrounded by all the luxuries that money could furnish, or the
+pampered sense demand, I beheld Lady Railton, for the first time since
+the marriage of her son. She sat behind an open screen, through which
+she spoke to me, with her eyes bent to the table on which her arms
+rested. She had been writing at the moment of my announcement; and
+though excited by my presence, her countenance betrayed more
+satisfaction than displeasure at my visit. A visible change had taken
+place in her. She was much thinner than when I saw her last; her eyes
+were sunken, and her cheek was very pale; she was evidently suffering
+from the shock which I had occasioned her, for her thin lips were
+tightly pressed together, and quivering at the corners. I felt deep
+pity for the slave of fashion; but gathered courage also from the
+pleasing exhibition of sensibility in one whom God had made a mother
+to save her from heartlessness.
+
+"Shut the door, Mr Wilson," said Lady Railton in an under tone, "and
+pray be seated."
+
+I complied with her request.
+
+"You have been somewhat tardy, methinks, in finding your way hither,"
+proceeded her ladyship.
+
+I informed her of my visit to Lord Railton, and its disagreeable
+termination. She had not heard of it.
+
+"Lord Railton," she continued, "has requested me to hold no
+intercourse with my son, and his lordship's requests have ever been
+commands to me. I have not disobeyed him. But I have looked for you. I
+made no promise to deny admittance to you. You were his friend. When
+did you see him?"
+
+"Very lately, madam," I answered.
+
+"He is in great difficulty and trouble--is he not?"
+
+I shook my head.
+
+Kind nature pleaded for poor Rupert. The mother attempted to
+speak--once--twice: her lips trembled: she could not: a flood of tears
+saved her from choking.
+
+"He is well?" she asked at length.
+
+"Well," I answered, "but for his trials--which are severe indeed."
+
+"What can be done?" inquired Lady Railton.
+
+"To bring him peace of mind--to repair the mischief that has
+happened--to secure prudence for the future--to save him from utter
+ruin, I know no remedy save reconciliation with his parents."
+
+Lady Railton sighed deeply, and exclaimed--
+
+"Impossible!"
+
+"Indeed!" said I, as if surprised.
+
+"Lord Railton is inexorable. He has listened to my appeals unmoved: he
+will listen to them no longer. Unhappy Rupert!"
+
+"Unhappy indeed!" said I.
+
+"His wife is very fair, they say?"
+
+"Lovely, madam!"
+
+"But wilful and extravagant?"
+
+"Wayward, perhaps, but young. Oh Lady Railton, do not revenge too
+harshly upon a spoiled child of nature and the world, the sins of the
+world's committing. Mrs Sinclair has a warm and affectionate heart;
+she is devoted to her husband. Your ladyship's friendship and advice
+would at once render her all you could hope to find in the wife of
+your son. Permit me to say that the absence of your countenance has
+alone been sufficient to"----
+
+"Alas! you urge in vain. I dare not see them!"
+
+"It is a hard saying, madam," I rejoined: "may you not live to repent
+it!"
+
+Lady Railton rose from her seat, came from behind the screen, and
+paced her small chamber with perturbation. She suddenly stopped before
+a cabinet--a drawer of which she unlocked, and produced from it a
+pocket-book.
+
+"Take this, Mr Wilson," she said in a hurried and faltering voice. "I
+dare not see him--must not correspond with him. I am his mother, and I
+feel bitterly, most bitterly for him. But I am Lord Railton's wife,
+and I know my duty. He has disgraced us--irreparably, irrecoverably.
+You cannot understand how deep the stain is which our name has
+suffered; you cannot calculate the wrong inflicted on my husband.
+Reconciliation is hopeless!"
+
+"And this pocket-book, madam?" I coldly asked.
+
+"Contains an order on my banker for three thousand pounds--all that I
+have been able to hoard up for my unhappy boy since he deserted us.
+The sum, I know, is trifling, compared with his exigencies. But what
+can I do? His own conduct has rendered me helpless."
+
+Poor Lady Railton, to do her justice, suffered much from the struggle
+between maternal feeling and her mistaken sense of duty. Her eyes
+filled with tears again, and she sat before me sobbing bitterly.
+
+"Let me entreat your ladyship," I exclaimed with animation, "to make
+one effort for the redemption of the children whom you may lose for
+ever by the stern course you now adopt. Your influence with Lord
+Railton is naturally and deservedly very great. I cannot bring myself
+to believe that he will be insensible to your appeals, if you will but
+urge them with the earnestness and tenderness which so well become
+you. I an satisfied that the difficulties of Mr Sinclair would cease
+at once, and his happiness as well as your own be secured, if he could
+find parents and advisers in those to whom he has a right to look for
+advice and aid. Whatever his extravagance may have been, whatever his
+youthful follies, I do implore your ladyship to bear in mind, that not
+he alone is answerable for them, but they also in part who deserted
+him in the hour of his greatest need. You may save him now--when I
+next meet your ladyship, the time will have passed away."
+
+"Spare me this anguish," said her ladyship with assumed calmness. "I
+repeat--it is impossible. The hour may come when it shall be permitted
+me to satisfy the promptings of my heart. Till that hour arrives, it
+is but torture to be reminded of my inability and weakness."
+
+"Pardon me, Lady Railton--I have done."
+
+I was about to rise, when her ladyship checked me.
+
+"In that pocket-book, Mr Wilson," she continued, "you will find a
+correspondence respecting the sale of Sinclair's commission."
+
+"His commission!" said I with surprise, for I had not heard of his
+desire to sell out before.
+
+"Yes. He now awaits a purchaser of his commission to be gazetted out.
+I have prevented the sale hitherto. Assure him--not from me, but from
+yourself, that however slender is the hope now of his father's
+ultimate forgiveness, he cuts it off entirely by that act. Let the
+commission be withdrawn at once from the Horse-guards; the draft that
+accompanies the correspondence will make up to him the sum he loses.
+
+"Am I to present it as a gift from your ladyship?"
+
+"No--yes--as you will; but let him not write or communicate with me in
+any way. I have engaged to hold no intercourse with him, and I cannot
+disobey the injunctions of Lord Railton." I rose; her ladyship gave me
+her hand with an expression of good will, and then suffered me to
+depart without another word.
+
+Things were really mending. In Lady Railton we had unquestionably a
+friend, time and opportunity serving. It was of the highest consequence
+to be assured of that. With her upon our side, I had no fear of
+eventual peace and harmony, provided measures could be taken for
+present difficulties; whilst, without her, every effort would have been
+purposeless, and even worse. Nor was this our only gleam of sunshine.
+When I returned to Rupert, the glad messenger of good tidings, I found
+that another friend had been sent by Providence to the rescue. Amongst
+the many high-born and eminent individuals whom the beauty and genius
+of Elinor had attracted to the gay habitation of Rupert Sinclair, was
+one who enjoyed, in an especial degree, the favour of his sovereign,
+and who was intimately connected by ties of blood and friendship with
+the commander-in-chief of his majesty's forces. The Earl of Minden had
+little to recommend him beyond his influence with the court and the
+powers that were. He belonged to an old family, of which he was the
+last lineal representative; was master of unbounded wealth, but was
+selfish, grasping, and mean to the last degree. He had a small body,
+but still smaller mind. Generation after generation, the head of the
+family to which he belonged, had held high office in the state, and had
+helped to govern the country without genius for statesmanship, or the
+ordinary ability of their humble business men. Office came to them as a
+matter of right, and custom had induced a people, slow to interfere
+with prescription, to regard the Earls of Minden as divinely appointed
+rulers, whom it would be sacrilege to depose. By marriage, the Earl of
+Minden was connected with the chief families of England: he had
+represented his king and country at the principal courts of Europe,
+where his magnificence and prodigality--for meanness itself may be
+lavish--had gained for him, as a matter of course, inordinate
+admiration and regard. Powerful with the ministry--the owner of four
+boroughs--the acknowledged friend, and even associate of royalty--what
+commoner did not feel honoured by his patronage?--what noble not
+gratified by his esteem? Lord Minden had but few of the weaknesses
+common to mankind. Proud and self-sufficient, he acknowledged no
+supremacy but that of woman. The only graceful infirmity of which his
+contemporaries could accuse his lordship, and to which posterity might
+point, was the infirmity of the best and bravest--that of a facile
+heart in the affairs of love.
+
+Lord Minden, charmed by the bewitching grace of Elinor Sinclair, had,
+as it were, gladly resigned himself to its sweet influence. He was
+never happier, after what were deemed the fatigues of office, than in
+the brilliant assembly which she could summon at her bidding; never so
+gay as when listening at her side to the arch sallies which drew
+smiles of approval from lips that seldom cared to relax. The
+overbearing peer was content to play the humblest part in the scene of
+which she was the heroine, and to which she imparted a life and spirit
+that were sought in vain elsewhere. The intervention of Lady Railton
+had been already superseded by the generosity of one far more
+influential. The Earl of Minden himself had taken Rupert under his
+all-powerful wing. Not only was the commission restored, but promises
+of advancement were made, and the most flattering assurances of
+friendship and regard liberally offered. Lady Railton's draft, at her
+own request, was applied to the payment of a pressing debt. I
+contrived to make her acquainted with the new and incalculable
+acquisition that had been made. The information had all the effect I
+could desire; her ladyship, dazzled by the brilliancy of the prospect,
+and eager to make as much of it as she could, to my great astonishment
+sent for me, and actually opened negotiations for an interview between
+herself and her so recently discarded son. Oh world! world!
+
+Before these negotiations, however, could lead to any satisfactory
+result, a new colour was given to the state of things, by some
+incidents of a most disagreeable and painful character. I was sitting
+in my room one morning, conning in my mind the most advisable means to
+adopt for the presentation of Sinclair at the parental abode, when a
+modest knock at my door announced a visitor of humble rank. My request
+to "walk in" was timidly responded to by a very old friend, in the
+shape of John Humphrys, the valet of Sinclair, and the oldest servant
+in his establishment. John had nursed his master on his knee, having
+been himself nursed in the house of Lord Railton's father, whose
+coachman had acknowledged John for his son. John had never been
+married, but he loved his master as faithfully as though he had been
+his own child, and had resigned as good a situation as any in the
+kingdom to follow the fortunes of the exile, whatever they might be.
+With this unbounded reverence for Rupert, Humphrys regarded Rupert's
+former instructor in the light of a demigod.
+
+"Ah, John, is it you?" said I. "Step in, old friend, and be seated."
+
+John obeyed awkwardly, twirled his hat about, coughed and hemmed, but
+said nothing.
+
+"Well, Humphrys, what news?" I continued, to give him confidence.
+
+Humphrys shook his head despondingly.
+
+I grew alarmed. "Any thing amiss?" I exclaimed. "Mr Sinclair ill,
+or"----
+
+"All well--in health, sir," stammered John--"all well there. I--I am
+going, sir."
+
+"Going!"
+
+"Yes, sir," said Humphrys in a whisper, and getting up to close the
+door. "My heart's broke."
+
+"Don't desert your master now, John," said I encouragingly. "You have
+weathered the storm hitherto. Things are mending. Take my word for it,
+we shall be in smooth water presently."
+
+Humphrys shook his head again.
+
+"Never, sir!" said he with emphasis, "as sure as my name's John."
+
+"Explain yourself, Humphrys. What is it you have learned?"
+
+"Too much, sir. I can bear it no longer. It is the common talk of the
+servants! I would have stayed with him for a crust till death, but I
+cannot hear him so spoken of."
+
+"You frighten me. Go on."
+
+"I ask your forgiveness, Mr Wilson," proceeded Humphrys, mumbling on,
+"but there are strange things said, and I didn't believe them at
+first,--and I was ready to knock the man down that hinted them to
+me--and I would have done it,--but I have seen, sir--with my own
+eyes--I wish I had been blind!" suddenly and passionately exclaimed
+the good fellow, his eyes overflowing with honest tears.
+
+"Man, man!" said I hastily and vexed. "You talk in riddles. What is it
+you drive at?"
+
+"Can't you guess, sir?" he answered meaningly.
+
+"Guess?"
+
+"Yes, sir,--Mrs Sinclair!"
+
+"Mrs Sinclair?"
+
+"And Lord Minden."
+
+"Lord Minden! For God sake"--
+
+"Hush, sir!" said John, putting his finger to his lips. "I wouldn't
+have any body overhear us for the world. But it's true, it's true, as
+I am a living man."
+
+"It is a lie!" I cried--"an infamous and slanderous lie! Some tale of
+a discharged and disappointed servant--a base conspiracy to destroy a
+good man's character. For shame, John Humphrys--for shame!"
+
+"I don't wonder at you, sir," continued Humphrys. "They were my own
+words; and, until I was satisfied with my own eyes of the truth of
+what I had heard, I wouldn't have believed an angel from heaven. God
+knows, Mr Wilson, it is too true. We have lived to see terrible
+things, sir."
+
+I entreated Humphrys to be still more explicit, and he was so. His
+communication went to show that the interference of Lord Minden in the
+affairs of his master was far from being disinterested, and that the
+price to be exacted for the preferment was much too great to make
+preferment or even life desirable to Rupert Sinclair. If I was
+horrorstruck at this announcement, how shall I describe my feelings
+when he further stated, with a serious and touching earnestness, that,
+as he hoped for salvation hereafter, he firmly believed that Rupert
+Sinclair was a party to his own dishonour. I was about to strike the
+fellow to the earth for his audacity; but I reflected for a moment,
+and was relieved of a load of oppression. I could have laughed
+outright, so overjoyed did I at once become, with the sudden upsetting
+of this tremendous fabrication. Sinclair a party to his own dishonour!
+Any thing short of that might have found me credulous. That accusation
+would have destroyed the unimpeached evidence of saints. I recovered
+myself and spoke.
+
+"You are an honest man, John Humphrys," said I, "a good servant, and
+faithful, I believe. But go your ways, and let not the wicked impose
+upon you more. Your tale is too good by half. Tell your informants,
+that, if they look for success, they must be less ambitious: if they
+desire to bring conviction to their listeners, they must not prove so
+much. And beware"--I proceeded in a more serious tone--"how you give
+currency to the slander you have brought to me. You love your master.
+Show your fidelity by treating this calumny with the scorn it merits."
+
+"Sir," answered Humphrys, "if I were to be called from this world
+to-night, I could not retract the words I have spoken. I have not
+hinted to another what, alas! I know to be true. You may be sure I
+have no desire to circulate Mr Sinclair's infamy. I shall leave his
+service, for with him I can no longer live,--and you will soon learn
+whether or not I have uttered the truth. Oh dear! oh dear!" he added,
+with a sigh of despair,--"what will the world say?"
+
+I dismissed John Humphrys, and turned to my own affairs. It was
+neither prudent nor becoming to listen further to the revelations of
+such a person; I would not even permit him to explain to me how he had
+arrived at the convictions which no doubt he honestly entertained. It
+was sufficient to hear the charges he brought against poor Rupert, to
+be convinced that the man was grossly deceived; that he had been
+cruelly imposed upon by vicious and vindictive men. But, could I be
+otherwise than deeply aggrieved by the rumour which had arisen, and
+which was not likely to lose on the lips of those who would be too
+eager to give it currency? It was a new and unexpected element in the
+complicated misfortunes of Lord Railton's house. _Unexpected?_ What,
+Walter Wilson, and had not suspicions crossed your mind before, of the
+probability of such slander? Had you not many times angrily repulsed
+intruding thoughts that savoured of uncharitableness towards the
+volatile and beauteous wife? Had not prejudice before her marriage
+rendered you cruel; and experience since--did it not tend, if not to
+foster cruelty, to sustain alarm? _But Rupert a party to his own
+dishonour!_ Monstrous! Ridiculous! Absurd!
+
+Either the perseverance of Lady Railton, or the magic power of Lord
+Minden's name, had achieved a miracle. The stony and stubborn heart of
+Lord Railton was mollified. True, he hesitated to forgive his son;
+true, he would not see him; but he graciously submitted to be spoken
+to on his son's affairs, and even went so far as to admit me to an
+audience, in order that I might explain, as well as I knew them, the
+difficulties under which Mr Rupert Sinclair at present laboured. The
+doors of Lord Railton's house opened wide on the auspicious morning.
+The sun shone brilliantly in Grosvenor Square. The porter was a living
+smile from head to foot. The under butler all blandness and honied
+words. He rubbed his hands when he received me, bowed patronisingly
+and preceded me to his lordship's study with the air of one who knew
+which way the wind was, and that it was blowing pleasantly. There was
+a frozen air about the house when I had visited his lordship
+before--now it was summer-like and warm. Then every thing seemed bound
+with iron clasps,--men's mouths, and hearts, and minds; and even doors
+and windows. Now, every thing looked free and open, pleasant,
+hospitable, inviting. Could it be that I had changed,--or was it only
+that Lord Railton's note was different, and that the universal heart
+of that great house had pitched itself to the prevailing key?
+
+No word of apology was offered for former rudeness. His lordship, as
+before, presented me with his finger, and then proceeded to our
+business. He had heard, he said, of Lord Minden's kind interference on
+behalf of his son, who was indeed most unworthy of his lordship's
+favourable notice; nay, he had been spoken to by Lord Minden himself,
+and desirous as he was at all times to comply with the wishes of any
+member of His Majesty's government, he could not but feel, that when
+their wishes pointed to the advancement of his own flesh and blood,
+there was additional reason for listening, to all they had to urge.
+For his part, if Lord Minden should feel justified in extending his
+patronage to Mr Sinclair, he, Lord Railton, on his side, should deem
+it a matter of grave consideration, whether it would not be advisable
+to extricate the object of Lord Minden's favor from the liabilities
+which he had thoughtlessly incurred. Not that Mr Sinclair must look
+for pardon--or reconciliation--yet; that is to say, until Lord Minden
+should be satisfied that his protégé had deserved the gracious favour
+of His Majesty, and had shown himself worthy of the condescension, &c.
+&c. &c.
+
+The upshot of the long harangue was, that as soon as Lord Minden
+should aid in promoting Sinclair, Lord Railton would be ready to pay
+his debts--and to receive terms for peace, provided the patronage of
+the commander-in-chief continued to rest upon the fortunate
+scapegrace, and His Majesty thought him still a fit object for the
+exercise of his royal favour. Translated into honest English, Lord
+Railton's proposition was neither more nor less than this,--"I will
+forgive my son, as soon as circumstances render my forgiveness not
+worth a button to him. I will withhold it so long as it is necessary
+to save him from ruin, and to restore him to tranquillity." A right
+worldly proposition too!
+
+Lord Railton requested, as a preliminary step, to be informed of the
+exact state of his son's affairs; and I, as mediator, undertook to lay
+it before his lordship. I quitted the mansion in Grosvenor Square to
+procure at once the necessary documents from Sinclair. Approaching the
+house of the latter, I perceived standing before the door two horses
+and a groom. I advanced, knocked, and was informed that groom and
+horses were the property of the Earl of Minden, who was then with Mrs
+Sinclair, and that Mr Sinclair himself was from home. I had no right
+to feel uncomfortable at this announcement, yet uncomfortable I was,
+in spite of myself. "When does Mr Sinclair return?" I asked.
+
+The two lackeys who listened to my question exchanged an almost
+imperceptible smile, and replied, that "they could not tell." That
+smile passed like a dagger to my heart.
+
+I hesitated for a moment--left my card--and then withdrew.
+
+I had not proceeded to the corner of the street before I turned round
+instinctively, and without a thought. To my joy I perceived Rupert
+making his way from the other extremity of the street to his own door.
+I moved to meet him. He came nearer and nearer--approached within
+sight of the horses and groom--and then turned back. What did it mean?
+Why did he not go home? I grew giddy with coming apprehensions. Whilst
+I stood motionless on the path, I felt a touch upon my shoulder. I
+perceived John Humphrys.
+
+"Here, sir," said the man, "you have seen with your own eyes what I
+have seen every day for the last month. As soon as Lord Minden
+arrives, Mr Sinclair goes out, and never returns until he takes his
+departure. If he should by chance return whilst his lordship's horse
+is standing there, he walks away, and does not think of coming back
+until"----
+
+"It is a lie! a dream!" I exclaimed, almost bewildered. "It cannot
+be!"
+
+"I wish to say nothing, sir," proceeded Humphrys. "You have seen, you
+have seen!"
+
+"I have! I have!" I cried, coming to myself. "I wash my hands of him
+and his. Father of Heaven! can such wickedness exist--and in _him_, in
+_him_? But I have done with him for ever!"
+
+And so saying, I fled maniac-like from the accursed spot, and vowed in
+my excitement and indignation to return no more. I kept my word.
+
+
+
+
+MORE ROGUES IN OUTLINE.
+
+
+THE SICK ANTIQUARY.
+
+  "Aspettar e non venire,
+  Star in letto e non dormire.
+  Son' due cose da morire."
+
+        _Italian Proverb._
+
+Three years are passed since we last visited Herr Ascherson, and we
+once more find ourselves, with considerably improved tact and
+knowledge, both as to virtuosi and virtu, ringing at the well-known
+bell! On the door being unbarred to us, we are sorry to hear that he
+is now a great invalid, and confined to bed. "I hope we don't disturb
+you, Mr Ascherson," said we, as a half-witted slattern of fifty opened
+the door of the sick man's room, and discovered to us something
+alarmingly like Cheops redivivus, reclining on a Codrus-looking couch,
+which was too short to receive his whole body save diagonally, in
+which position he accordingly lay. Upon hearing these words, the
+much-swathed object suddenly draws itself up in bed; and after looking
+keenly to make us out in the dusk, (as if he suspected a visit of
+cajoling rather than condolence.) his eye lost its anxious look, and
+his features gradually expanded, when he saw at a glance that we were
+come, not to cheat, but to cheer him. The first words he uttered
+were--"_Ja, ja_; dat is mein nobil freund the Doctor;" and then,
+falling back, he resigned himself to his pains, like a man who has
+been long trained to suffer. We ask after his health. The poor invalid
+shakes his head, and tells us, groaning, that he was "sehr krank, very
+ill indeed; had much dolors but no slipp;" apologising also for having
+sent for some 10 pi. which we owed him, and which "it was need," so he
+told us, "to pay his medicine mit." Really concerned to see one whom
+we had so recently known under worldly circumstances so unlike the
+present, so suffering, so poor, and so solitary, we told him that we
+had been intending to call on him that very day for that very
+purpose--observing, by way of consoling his feelings, that it was not
+to be expected "that a man who had laid out so much money of the
+_present_ currency to procure fine specimens of one that was out of
+date, could be quite so well off in ready cash as those whose money
+was all in hard coin at their bankers. "_Ja, ja_," it was even so; and
+then, his pains remitting for a moment, he proceeded to explain, for
+our satisfaction, how he had become so short of the needful supplies.
+"Tis three monate seyne mein freund Vinhler went to Paris--(an honest
+and heart-good man, Mr Vinhler)--to whom this commission I
+consign:--'See you give a careful _eye-blink_ to this 9000 ducats,
+which you must take mit you to Paris. There in the house of Furet you
+shall _become_ some moneys, which you shall send to me directly; and
+mit these ducats you shall also pay their consignment.' Well, it was a
+simple _direct_, als any childer might do. So Vinhler takes my money,
+gets to Paris, calls and _pays_ Mr Furet, and writes that he will be
+back in _Neapoli_ in a week. So I stay! Drei monate I stay, and no Mr
+Vinhler come! Then lastly, when I hav begin to _scold myself_, two
+days seyne, comes _eine briefe_, and says, 'I hav been stopt here for
+three weeks by what I then foresaw not when I did write you lastly. I
+am promised to marry Herr Furet's daughter, and we mak the marriage in
+eine monate. I am sorry for the delay about your monete, but shall
+bring them mit Mrs Vinhler and myself to Neapoli, when we arrive!" So,
+while he is happy mit his Julia in Paris, I cannot _become_ my Julias
+that I hav bought; and I hav lost much by this man's delay. Ah!
+(continued he,) _whenever_ he had felt mein dolors," (the poor man had
+now wrought himself up into a painful excitement,) "my no slipp, this
+_unendlich_ irritation, this torment to pay the Doctor, for no
+gute--my loss of practice, my loss of friends, my physique so bad,
+_mein eine samkeit_ so dull--he should surely have sent me that
+_cassetta_ of coins to make me a little more gay." Being obliged to
+quit Naples suddenly, we left him in the midst of his pains, which had
+been wholly unrelieved by our medication; fretting more and more daily
+at the non-arrival of his friend; with nobody to _visit_ him but the
+needy Leech, who, having asked himself--
+
+    "And will my patient _pay_?
+    And _can_ he swallow draughts until his dying day?"
+
+thinks no further _self_-interrogatory needful; with none to _inquire_
+after him, save only the peasants, whose findings he is too ill to
+look at, and too poor to purchase; and Death's grim _auctioneer, who
+undertakes_ for the district; and who, when he has made the daily
+inquiry at his door, not to lose further time, begins to ply his small
+hammer, and is tap-tap-tapping away for somebody else, till _wanted_.
+Oh! who would change places with a sick antiquary, whose _conscience_,
+though he sleeps, is awake to torment him, and whose dreams, if he
+dream, are of rifled tombs, profaned temples, Charon and his boat!
+
+    "Nocte, brevem si forte indulsit cura soporem,
+    Et toto versato toro, jam membra quiescunt,
+    Continuo _templum et violati numinis aras_,
+    Et quod præcipuis mentem sudoribus urget,
+    Se _vidit_ in somnis!"
+
+
+OLD IGNAZIO.
+
+  "Oh dear! what can the matter be?
+  Oh dear! what shall I do?
+  Nobody coming to Jockey, and
+  Nobody coming to _Jew_!"
+
+What quondam collector at Rome but must recollect that snuffy and
+gruffy old fellow, Ignazio Vesconali, who lives at the bottom of
+_Scalirata_, and has grown old with the Piazza itself! Go down at any
+hour of the day, and there he was sure to be, either blinking away
+through his blue goggle glasses, with his cap on, at his door, or at a
+little shabby table fumbling over curiosities; or creeping over to the
+coffee-house opposite, to toddle back again, with his cotton
+pocket-handkerchief, his snuff-box, and his key in hand, to re-arrange
+his treasures, and utter lamentations that nobody any longer comes to
+buy. On such occasions we have sometimes entered; and after a "_buon
+giorno_," and a remark on the weather, (which, if you abused it,
+however injuriously, always secured you his assent; for he quarrels now
+even with the calendar,) he expected you to _hope_ he had sold
+something lately, to afford him an opportunity to say, "_Ma ché, ma
+niente_;" and then you had to sit and listen while he told you all his
+grievances--how once "a dozen English noblemen had stood _all of a row
+there_," and he showed you where, in his shop, fighting for his wares,
+and buying them almost quicker than he could register the purchases
+they made; and how sometimes he could sell 500 scudi worth of property
+before breakfast, and get an appetite by doing so! No! there was not a
+man of note in England, that had not some day or other been _booked_ by
+him. All _their_ kindness, no doubt--and then they came not to tease
+poor Ignazio, but to buy of him. Now a different set of customers dropt
+in one by one to look at his gems, and to find nothing good enough for
+them; some tumbling over his antiques, and offering a scudo for his
+best onyxes; "_uno scudo, Santissima Maria Virgine!_" others
+adventuring a whole paul! a price for his best Consular coins!--_ah!
+gli avari!_ The earth too, once so bountiful, was now as avaricious of
+parting with her treasures as the English themselves. The fields had
+ceased to yield their former supplies; and the peasants about Rome
+would scarce stoop to picking up rubbish, for which, however, they
+always wanted Ignazio's money. "Ah, poor old man!--_che vecchio?_ old
+man forsooth! say rather an old dotard, who is unfit to buy, to
+bargain, or to live!" And then he would ventriloquize once more to
+himself. "Ah, poor Ignazio! ah, poor old man! your day is indeed gone
+by." Such appeals were irresistible. So, whenever we had a few scudi to
+spare, (and it was not quite discreet to go into his shop without,) we
+used to beg to see some of his boxes of engraved stones; and having
+pored for a time over wares that had been examined by the most cunning
+eyes in Rome, would find one of better workmanship, and stop to inquire
+its price. "_Quanto_, Signor Ignazio?" and while Signor Ignazio was
+recollecting himself, we glanced on from one to the other, (the great
+rule in bargaining being never to appear to know what you are
+bargaining for!) "_Per cinque scudi vi lo do._" Viewed thus in the
+light of a donation, we would think it too high, and tell him so. "Take
+it for four, then--_pigliate lo per quattro_;" and at this fresh
+concession he would grunt a little, like a tame seal in a water-tub!
+Still we would hesitate, and dare to offer two. "For every body else,
+he had said _impossible_,--for us we were _padronissimi_ to take it, as
+the old man's gift, on our own terms." So we would put it up, and then,
+elated at our _bargain_, and at his respect for us, we would remove
+another "_intaglio_" from the box; and this time, naming our own price,
+say with perfect nonchalance, "_due scudi_." The old fellow would then
+fumble it up in his snuffy old gloves, and bring it near his snuffy old
+nose; and having wiped his snuffy old magnifier, would bend his blue
+goggle glasses over it--and having _screamed_--"_Che! due scudi?_ what
+do you mean by two scudi? A stone of this beauty! a living head of
+Medusa--a front face, too--for two scudi! The serpents in the hair were
+worth more money--one-half of such a head, were the stone in _two_,
+would be worth more money." And then would come in the antistrophe as
+before--"_Ah, povero Ignazio! povero vecchio!_"--and we would be
+shocked, and declare with compunction that we had no intention to cheat
+him; and he, already "_persuasissimo_ of that," would beg us to say no
+more, but to put it into our pocket for _three_. After these
+preliminaries were settled and paid for, we would be contented to hear
+him once more recount the tale of his younger days, when he had the
+antiquity business all to himself; when he married his first wife; had
+dealings with Demidoff; and knew all that were worth knowing in
+Rome--both buyers and sellers. "Old age, Signor, is preparing me fast
+to give up both my business and my life! Buy, buy, now's your time,
+_eccomi_! an old man who wants to sell off every thing! name your
+prices! Don't be afraid, you may offer me any thing _now_." "Three
+scudi?" "Impossible I should let you have it for that. It cost me five;
+but never mind! there's the mask at three scudi. Take it! Any thing
+else?" "This intaglio?" "You are a capital judge, or you would not have
+thus picked out my _best_ intaglio--will no colonnati suit?" "No."
+"Will you be pleased if I prove my friendship for you by sacrificing it
+at fifteen?" No! "There, take it as our third gift for twelve; but, oh
+that I should have lived to sell it for that, _even to you_! But you
+will come and see me again; I know you will, _Dottore mio!_ And sure
+you might contrive to spend a few more _fees_ with me than you do, and
+be all the richer for it into the bargain--what fine opportunities
+_you_ must have of selling things to your patients, especially to the
+_donne_! I wish I was a doctor, that I might carry on my business for a
+year or two longer!"
+
+
+SIGNOR DEDOMENICIS.
+
+"I have a hundred questions to ask," said we, turning into
+Dedomenicis' curiosity-shop, and casting a furtive glance behind his
+old armour and arras hangings, to see that there was no other
+confidant to whom we might be betraying our ignorance. "_Dunque_--well
+then, one at a time; _è s'accommodi_--make yourself at home," said the
+old dealer, pushing us a chair, and looking humanely communicative,
+as he adjusted to his temples a huge pair of spectacles, and stood at
+our side ready to be interrogated.
+
+An old dealer, like a young beauty, when you are together, expects
+something flattering to be said about his eyes, so "we wished ours
+were as good as his." He said, "they were younger." "But what was the
+use of young eyes, or of any eyes," said we, disparaging our own,
+"that could not make out the wholesomeness of a coin, nor distinguish
+the patina of antiquity from vulgar verdigris?"
+
+Dedomenicis' _cough_ convinced us that this sentiment of ours was not
+very far from what he himself believed to be the truth, only he was
+too polite to _say_ so.
+
+"There!" said we, "look at these bronze bargains of ours, these two
+_counterfeit_ coins, which have not been a week in our possession, and
+which C---- has already declared to be false! Oh! would _you_ not have
+deemed it a happier lot to put up with a blameless blindness, and all
+its evils, rather than, having eyes in your head, to have disgraced
+them by such a purchase?" Dedomenicis glances one glance at the false
+Emperors, and then passes a sentence which banishes them for ever from
+the society of the Cæsars; while he _wonders_ how we could have hoped
+to buy a real Piscennius and a Pertinax in the same adventure, and
+both so well preserved too?
+
+"Were we ignorant of the prices usually set upon the heads of all
+those emperors who had enjoyed but a few weeks' reign?" Did not every
+body, for instance, know that the African Gordians, both father and
+son, were, in _bronze_, worth their weight in gold? that a Vitellius
+in bronze was cheap at six pounds? and that he might be considered
+fortunate indeed who could convert his spare ten-pound notes into as
+many Pertinax penny-pieces, or come into the possession of a
+half-penny or a second module, as it is called, of Pescennius Niger,
+at the same price? Did not every body know that Domitia was coy at
+£20, and stood out for £25? That Matidia, Mariana, and Plotina smiled
+upon none who would not give £40 to possess them, and that Annia
+Faustina was become a priceless piece? Had we been so long returned to
+Rome and not yet heard of the Matidia now in the keeping of our
+gallant countryman, General A----, who was jealous (at least so B----
+had told him) of showing her even to his best friends, lest she should
+prove too much for their virtue to withstand, and slept with her, and
+could not snore securely unless she was by his side? Well, he had paid
+£40 for her at Thomas's sale in London, and Rollin, on seeing her in
+Paris, would have gladly detained her there for £50, but the general
+was not to be bribed; "so you see, _dottore mio_, it costs a good deal
+to collect coins even in the baser metal." "So it would appear,
+indeed, Dedomenicis; and the next time a Pertinax in bronze turns up,
+we will most _pertinaciously_ refuse to bid for him; or if another
+Pescennius should ever again cross our path, we will mutter 'Hic
+_Niger_ est,' and remember to have nothing to do with him."
+
+"And I think," said the old fellow, slily taking off his spectacles,
+and placing them on the table,--"I think you will not lose much if you
+adhere to your present intention."
+
+"And yet it is annoying not to know the difference between the works
+of those _Paduan_ brothers, of a recent century, and such as really
+belong to the old Roman mint;" saying which we began to study them
+afresh, as a policeman would do to a rogue, whom he expected to meet
+again. "Is this knowledge, dear Dedomenicis, to be acquired 'per
+càrita?' let us not waste our time, if it be not." "_Lei lo sapra!_ it
+will come in good time. _Pazienza!_ be patient! you know our
+proverb--'time and straw ripen medlars,' and your judgment will mature
+in time, _just as the medlars do_."
+
+Crude as an unripe medlar though our judgment certainly then _was_,
+still the prospect of its _mellowing into unsoundness at last_ was by
+no means consolatory; and so we told him, pocketing our false coins,
+and going home to consult the memorandum of their price,--here it is!
+_Eccola!_ as it was most ingeniously registered by us at the
+time--"Nov. 7, 1840--Bought to-day of a peasant on his way from Ricci
+to Rome, two _beautiful coins_, a Pertinax and a Pescennius Niger, in
+_perfect preservation_! only paid £5 for the two!! the _simple_
+contadino, who can't read the epigraphes, asks whether they are not
+Nero's!!"[54]
+
+A ring at the bell, and our courier has announced Signor Dedomenicis.
+"By all means, show him in then,"--for he had come, a year later, to
+see coins we had picked up during our summer trip to Sicily. "There,"
+said we gaily, and to put him in a good humour at once, (for the remark
+showed we had made ourselves master of his physiognomy),--"there,
+Dedomenicis, is a Ptolemy Evergetes, who was, to judge by his coins,
+your very prototype--it is your nose--your chin--your"----
+
+"Suppose you make it mine altogether then," said he slily; but we
+"prized it too much, on this very account, to part with it!" After
+which we go to the nearest cabinet in the room--unlock the door, take
+out drawer No. 1, marked Sicilian, and _rare_; and in the pride of our
+young beginnings, and little knowing what we were to bring upon
+ourselves in so doing,--
+
+    "Midst hopes, and fears that kindle hopes.
+    A pleasing anxious throng;
+    And shrewd suspicions often lull'd,
+    But now returning strong,"--
+
+we hand over the tray to Dedomenicis, whose running commentary, as
+soon as he had brought it into the field of his spectacles, was really
+appalling; and he plied it as destructively as a Sikh battery, or a
+Perkins's steam gun.
+
+Prepared to see him take out the first coin in the row, to subject it
+to his magnifier, to turn it round, now on this side, now on that, and
+then to pause, ere he could decide upon it, little could we have
+supposed that in a second his battery was to commence fire; and that
+in less than a minute, he would have passed a summary sentence upon
+every coin of the lot.
+
+"_One--two--three._"--Thus it began; "_roba commune_--common as
+blackberries; (four, five, six,) _niente di buono_--good for what you
+can get for them; (seven, eight, nine,) _Idem_; (ten, eleven, twelve,)
+_Idem_; thirteen, _not_ of Messina, as it pretended to be; and here
+had sold us a _Neapolitan cat_ in place of a _Sicilian hare_!"
+"_Come!_ a cat?" (for we called to mind what each of puss's _nine_
+lives had cost us, and determined to die game for it), "_that_ coin a
+_counterfeit_?" "Sī--Sīg-nō-rĕ!" in that sort of sing-song gamut twang
+in which one Roman answers another's incredulity--"_anzi falsīssimo_,"
+with a most provoking lengthening out of the second syllable of that
+most provoking superlative; he knew all about its fabrication; the
+_gentleman_ who made these coins was an acquaintance--not a _friend_
+of his; the original coin being in request, and somewhat expensive, he
+had contrived to get up a new issue of the Messina Hare,[55] which was
+much in vogue, and seemed, like Gay's Hare, to court an extensive
+acquaintance, and many friends. "That _Himera_[56] hen is of a brood
+that never lays golden eggs, and the sooner you can get rid of her the
+better. Time was when such poultry fetched its price; now, thanks to
+the prolific process of our modern hatchings, we see her as often in
+the market as widgeon, snipe, or plovers. _That's_ a fine lion; 'tis
+a pity you've no lioness to match him; but one such real _Rhegium
+leone_ is worth a host of counterfeits,--'_unus, sane, at Leo_'. As to
+your Ptolemies' eagles here, at least they are well preserved, and
+that always should give a coin some claim to a place in a _beginner's_
+collection; though to us dealers, who see many of them, these eagles
+at last become somewhat uninteresting and vulgar birds. What a
+collection is here of Hieros[57] on horseback, all in good plight too!
+Well, I might have bought _in_ or _out_ of these ranks myself; but _I_
+should not, I think, like you, have purchased the whole troop--of
+course you paid but little for them." "Yes," said we timidly, "not
+overmuch, not more than they were worth perhaps, six pauls a-piece,"
+and we coughed nervously, and expected him to speak encouragingly; but
+he said nothing, and proceeded with his scrutiny of our box. "_Per
+Bacco!_ What a quantity of cuttlefish! Methinks Syracuse has rather
+overdone you with her _Lobigo_, but _that_ at least is genuine, for
+'tis too cheap to make money of by imitation. This of _Naxos_ will do.
+_This_ of Tarentum, _va bene!_ this of _Locri, corresponde_." A faint
+"bravo!" escapes him on taking up an Athenian Tetradrachm, with the
+_Archer's_ name on the field; but he takes no note, has no "winged
+words" to throw away upon our winged horses, though every nag of them,
+we know, came from Corinth or from Argos.
+
+The bearded corn of Metapontus, with Ceres or Mars on the reverse:
+Arion on his dolphin--that beautiful, most beautiful of coins--were,
+together with sundry others, all too common for his antiquarian eye to
+take pleasure in; he sought something less frequently presented to it,
+and at last he found it in a Croton coin with a rare reverse, which,
+"would we sell him, he would take at twenty dollars, and pay us in
+_living_ silver." A bow told him we were not disposed to part with it.
+And now he comes to what we consider to be our finest piece,--our
+Lipari bronze! And on it is a fat _dolphin_ sporting on a _green_ sea.
+Dedomenicis' manner is vastly discouraging, and we are prepared for
+new disappointment, yet we could have sworn that _that_ coin was
+genuine. But if false, as he believes it to be, why then not have done
+with it? why put it down to take it up _again_? why ask whether _we_
+don't repute it false, when he knows we know nothing of the matter?
+And why _mouse_ it so closely under his keen eye, and look round the
+rim of it, and examine the face of it, and appear as if he would
+penetrate into its very soul,[58] and get at its history? Oh! 'tis all
+right, then; if "he may be mistaken," doubtless he _is_ so: and this
+is confirmed by his now proposing--thinking an exchange no robbery, of
+course--to exchange it for us. Ingenuous man! who hadst twice invoked
+the saints and the Madonna in our behalf when thou heardest the price
+we paid for our unlucky Hare; and when thou knewest how C---- had
+beguiled us into taking, and paying for a _Roman_, the price of an
+_Etruscan_ "As;" and now thou wouldst have robbed us of our best coin,
+have deprived us of the very _Delphin classic_ of our collection; it
+won't do! Our Messenian hare is welcome, but, old æruscator, we cannot
+let you swim away on our dolphin; and we rise to _replace him_ in our
+_monetaro_ accordingly.
+
+A third interview with Dedomenicis is recorded in our entry-book of
+such matters.--"Here are the coins, Signor, which you gave me to clean
+last week: they are ten in number, for which you owe me as many
+pauls.--_Eccole!_" "Ah," said we, "you have not made much of them, I
+fear." "Look and see," was the laconic reply. By which time we had
+taken up the first, and were pleased to find that an Augustus, whose
+lineaments we could hardly recognise, when we gave him to Dedomenicis
+to _scale_, had come back to us perfectly restored. "Why,
+Dedomenicis," said we, "this is a restitution better than Trajan's, of
+this very Emperor's coinage; for that, after all, was but the
+_imitation_ of an old mint; but yours the _restoration_ of the old one
+itself. Henceforth I prefer _Dedomenicis' restituit_ to _Trajan's
+restituit_." "Well, then, when you have looked over the others, you
+will, I dare say, pay these and them at the same rate, as if they had
+been the issues of that Emperor."[59] We were indeed surprised at what
+we saw, so much had all our coins gained by the process to which
+Dedomenicis had subjected them. The second we took up represented the
+_Ostian harbour_, (Portus Ostiensis.) We had given it to him with a
+_foul bottom_--it was restored to us with its basin cleared out, and
+with all its shipping, just as it used to look in the days of Nero; in
+another, the whole arena of the Colosseum had been disencumbered; in
+another, Antonine's column shone bright from top to bottom; here we
+saw _Honos et Virtus_ (honour and military prowess) again taking the
+field; here the scales of Justice once more appeared, and librated
+freely in her hand; here Hope resumed her green trefoil; Pudicity
+_un_veils her face; and there sat Fecundity on a curule seat, with all
+her family about her; lastly, there were those three scandalous
+sisters of Caligula--the Misses _Money_ (Moneta,)[60]--standing
+together with their arms intertwined, and their names at their backs.
+All these ten restitutions cost only ten pauls! "And how did you
+manage to clean then so well, Dedomenicis?" "_Col tempo ed il
+temperino_,"--with time and a penknife: "_Ma ci vuo il genio_,"--you
+must have a talent for it.
+
+
+SCALING A COIN.
+
+"_Ci vuo il genio_,"--he was right; and think you 'tis so easy or
+simple a thing to clean a coin? to unmask an empress, pertinacious in
+her disguise, or to _scrape_ acquaintance with emperors? Try it;--not
+that you will succeed; but that the difficulties which you are thus
+made to encounter in the attempt, will dispose you the more readily to
+do justice to the skill of those who succeed in this delicate process,
+which, like the finer operations of surgery, requires at once
+precision and address, great nicety in the handling of your
+instrument; while the importance attached to the operation itself
+makes the successful performance of it not a little desirable. The
+penknife, guided by a _dexterous_ hand, may light upon a discovery
+that has been buried for ages; and a pin's point may make revelations
+sufficient to adjust some obscure point in history. Who knows what
+face may now lie hid (_facies dicatur an ulcus?_) under some obscure
+coating of paste? What an it be a Vitellius; what if a Pertinax should
+reveal himself? or suppose, when you have removed the foul _larvæ_,
+you _undermine_ a Matidia! a Plotina!! an Annia Faustina!!! and your
+fortune is made! 'Tis a lottery, we admit. But the very principle of
+the excitement--the charm is, that you know not what _may_ turn up;
+for a less chance, you may possibly have bought a "Terno" in a
+Frankfort lottery, the chance of an estate on the Moselle! But there
+are small prizes to be picked up occasionally--and here's a case in
+point:--"I was one day sauntering," said our friend C----, "by the
+tomb of Cecilia Metella, when a peasant came up with a handful of very
+dirty-looking coins, so firmly encrusted with mortar, that it seemed
+absurd to attempt its removal. Having nothing particular to do, and
+liking the wild quiet of the spot, I gave some 'baiocchi' to the man;
+and taking my seat on a bit of the old aqueduct, I opened my penknife,
+and began to scrape away. At first I saw the _trace_ of a letter; and
+digging round it, I at length disinterred a large M----a Roman M! It
+was probably Maximin, or his son Maximus, that I then had under my
+thumb; but it _might_ be a Marinus, in which case it was a valuable
+coin; so I wrought on with renewed vigour, and presently an _L_ was in
+the _field_. A better prospect this than the last; for if it turned
+out to be an Æmilianus, I should have made a good morning's work of
+it--and it was so! Little by little, line by line, grain by grain, I
+opened the field, till _C. Julius Æmilianus, Pontif: Max: in a full
+epigraphe, shone forth with the imperial_ head in full relief, all in
+a bright emerald patina. I have seen several Æmilianuses, but none
+like that; and it cost me only a penny."
+
+Now, touching the difficulties in your way--should you still fancy
+them to be imaginary--take any dirty coin _nigra moneta sordibus_, and
+try to clean it; oil it, and scrub it as you may; pick into, poke at,
+finally, waste your whole morning over it, till your back aches, and
+your penknife is blunted; you will have to confess at last that your
+labour has been lost! Your only chance, then, is the fire; and if the
+_actual cautery_ fails, there is no longer any hope. As in learning to
+scale properly, you must come to sacrifice _a great many coins_ before
+you can hope to succeed, _fiat experimentum in corpore vili_--begin
+with those that are worthless. Never mind scratching a Faustina's
+face; set no store by Nero; you may, if you like, mutilate as many
+_Domitians_ as that emperor mutilated flies. For why?--they cost
+nothing; unless, indeed, there were something to be gained by
+_reversing_ the picture. But this only while learning, and to learn;
+for when you _know_ how to clean a coin properly, you will hardly
+waste your time in adding new Trajans to the ten thousands already in
+existence; nor whet your curiosity or steel upon an empress, known to
+be as common in bronze as she was wont to be in the flesh! When you
+have a really valuable coin, on which your pains will not be thrown
+away, your mode of procedure is, first to scrape, with extreme
+caution, on some small spot by the margin, till you have taken your
+proper soundings, and come down to the _patina_. Your next step must
+be, to ascertain whether that patina is hard, or soft and friable; in
+which latter case you will have to use all diligence not to poke your
+penknife in Crispina's eyeball, nor to wound her husband, with a few
+days' beard upon his chin. No _healing process_ can help you here to
+undo your clumsy surgery and want of skill. He will remain
+_cicatrised_, and she _lippa_ for life. Each separate feature requires
+renewed care. When your minute manipulations have brought out the
+eyeball _unspecked_, then comes the nose; and to remove the closely
+sticking plaster from its side, and expose uninjured the curling
+nostril underneath, requires more than Taliacotian sleight of hand to
+manage properly. You must not trifle with Faustina's _hair_, nor with
+Philip's _beard_. The "_flava coma_," which we do not consider as
+ornamental at any time, looks far worse in _brass_ than in _golden_
+tresses. You must be an aurist when you come to the ear. Deal with the
+ear, and remember that it has its _portio mollis_ as you gently probe
+your way into its tube. Need we insist upon the necessity of
+respecting a lady's _lips_? and yet you will wound them, unless you
+are careful. And when all is done, you may find that your coin is no
+sooner cleaned, than it is seized with the _smallpox_,[61] which will
+become _confluent_ and spread, unless properly instructed. You have
+probed each cicatrix to the bottom, and filled the minute holes with
+_ink_. Thus you will see that patience, tact, and care are all
+required in scaling a coin; or, as Dedomenicis said, _ci vuo il
+genio_!
+
+The collecting coins is a pleasant way of learning the chronology of
+the royal families of antiquity; and if you are culpably negligent in
+their arrangement, the first dealer who sees your cabinet takes care
+to apprize you of your mistakes, and will generally rate you soundly
+as he does so. The first time Dedomenicis visited our collection of
+the Roman emperors, he was in a great taking on detecting (which he
+did not fail to do at a glance) various anachronisms in our
+arrangement. "By all that should be, if here is not Agrippina the wife
+of Germanicus, and Claudius's Agrippina, in next-door neighbourhood!
+the two Faustinas (_che scandalo, dottore mio!_) lying side by side
+with _strange husbands_! Philip junior deposing his own father--_ci
+avevano questa consuetudine_, so let that pass; but here is a more
+serious affair. Pray separate all these Julias a little, my dear sir,
+_caro lei_, (looking at us very reproachfully;) here, in this one
+tray, you have mixed, introduced, and confounded together all the
+Julias of the Roman empire! Julia, the daughter of Titus, alone in her
+right place beside her first consort Domitian. But Julia Pia and Julia
+Domna are but the _aliases_ of the same empress, the wife of Septimius
+Severus; and here you have placed by mistake Julia Paula, the wife of
+Eliogabalus, after Julia Mammæa, who you _must_ remember married
+Maximin. Pray attend to these things; and whenever your series is
+deficient, leave vacant spaces in your trays to mark the deficiencies.
+Don't crowd your emperors thus together, when time has separated them
+in history," &c. &c. &c. We promised faithfully to attend to these
+hints; but it was all to no purpose, for in one week our friends, to
+whom we used to show our collection properly arranged, would again
+involve our chronology in inextricable confusion, especially certain
+dear young ladies of our acquaintance, who, by no means showing the
+same respect for old Time that old Time continued to demonstrate
+towards them, would make light of whole centuries; and we have known
+them so regardless of all dates, except perhaps their own, as to bring
+up a Constantine or Maxentius, and to place them under the very nose
+of Augustus!
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[54] It is worth noting, because one does not see why it is so, that
+the only imperial _birbone_ of the lot universally known and execrated
+at Rome is _Nero_. One is much better able to understand (with Capri
+in front of one's windows) why a like exclusive and unenviable
+popularity at Naples attaches to _Tiberius_.
+
+[55] The _hare_ was first introduced into Sicily by Anaxilaus of
+Rhegium, and was adopted by the Messenians on their coins, as was also
+the _chariot_, in commemoration of his victory in the _mule_ races at
+Olympia.
+
+[56] On the urbic coins of Aquinum, Suessa, and Tiano, which are
+generally of bronze, the _cock_ figures on one side, the subject on
+the other varying; on those of Himera (a silver currency,) chanticleer
+is always confronted on the reverse by Dame Partlett.
+
+[57] Hiero the Second, tyrant of Syracuse, who flourished 216 B.C.,
+and was contemporary with Archimedes. The face is one expressive of
+refinement, and the coin of a very fine style of art, as indeed are
+all those that ever issued from the old and original mint of Sicily;
+but alas! there are now many small and illicit mints to which the
+travelling public that buys coins, is, without always knowing it,
+vastly more indebted. "Roba Siciliana"--Sicilian trash, exclaims the
+indignant Neapolitan, when you show him a modern forgery by which you
+have been duped. "Sciochezza di Napoli" retorts the dealer at Messina
+or Palermo, vindicating at once his own honour, which seems aspersed,
+and that of his Trinacrian associates. To reconcile these two
+statements, which are both true, the reader has only to be informed
+that there are mints every where, and coiners as cunning at Pozzuoli
+as at Palermo.
+
+[58] By the word _anima_, or _soul_ of a coin, numismatists designate
+the interior of the metal, as opposed to its superficies or _field_.
+
+[59] The _restitution_ of the coinage of one Emperor by his successor,
+consisting of a smaller issue of pieces than the original from which
+it is taken, has become comparatively scarce; hence such
+_restitutions_ fetch a much _higher price_ than those of the earlier
+currency, and Dedomenicis's remark was not without its meaning.
+
+[60] Moneta, one of the many epithets or _aliases_ of Juno, borrowed
+by the Emperor Caligula for his three sisters, Agrippina, Drusilla,
+and Livilla, who are represented standing in a row, each with her
+cornucopia and scales, and her name behind her back.
+
+[61] "_La petite verole_" is the name employed by French numismatists
+to designate this _disease_. They could not have hit upon a happier. A
+finely characteristic specimen of it is to be seen at present in the
+bronze impersonation of George IV. which stands on the Steym at
+Brighton, where the whole face looking seaward has become _balafré_
+and pock-marked. It is strange that under the epithet of _pustular_,
+as applied to _silver_, the ancients appear to have meant the purest
+and most refined quality of that metal, when it is the alloy mixed
+with the bronze that makes it pustular.
+
+
+
+
+THE LAST RECOLLECTIONS OF NAPOLEON.[62]
+
+
+There are few things more striking than the analogy in civil and
+physical changes of the world. There have been in the history of man
+periods as distinctive as in the history of nations. From these
+periods society and nations have alike assumed new aspects, and the
+world has commenced a new career. The fall of the Roman Empire was the
+demarcation between the old world and the new. It was the moral
+deluge, out of which a new condition of man, new laws, new forms of
+religion, new styles of thought, almost a totally new configuration of
+human society, were to arise. A new settlement of the civil world took
+place: power absorbed by one race of mankind was to be divided among
+various races; and the development of principles of government and
+society, hitherto unknown, was to be scarcely less memorable, less
+unexpected, or less productive, than that voyage by which Columbus
+doubled the space of the habitable globe.
+
+The Reformation was another mighty change. It introduced civil liberty
+into the empire of tyranny, religion into the realm of superstition,
+and science into the depths of national ignorance. The French
+Revolution was the last, and not the least powerful change within
+human experience. Its purpose is, like its operation, still dubious.
+Whether it came simply for wrath, or simply for restoration--whether,
+like the earthquake of Lisbon, it came only to destroy, and leave its
+ruins visible for a century to come; to clear the ground of
+incumbrances too massive for the hand of man, and open the soil for
+exertions nobler than the old, must be left to time to interpret. But
+there can be no question, that the most prominent agency, the most
+powerful influence, and the most dazzling lustre, of a period in which
+all the stronger impulses of our being were in the wildest activity,
+centred in the character of one man, and that man--Napoleon.
+
+It is evidently a law of Providence, that all the great changes of
+society shall be the work of individual minds. Yet when we recollect
+the difficulty of effecting any general change, embracing the infinite
+varieties of human interests, caprices, passions, and purposes,
+nothing could seem more improbable. But it has always been the course
+of things. Without Charlemagne, the little principalities of Gothic
+Europe would never have been systematised into an empire;--without
+Luther, what could have been the progress of the Reformation?--without
+Napoleon, the French Revolution would have burnt itself out, vanished
+into air, or sunk into ashes. He alone collected its materials,
+combined them into a new and powerful shape, crowned this being of his
+own formation with the imperial robe, erected it in the centre of
+Europe, and called the nations to bow down before a new idol, like the
+gods of the Indian known only by its mysterious frown, the startling
+splendour of its diadem, and the swords and serpents grasped in its
+hands.
+
+That the character of Napoleon was a singular compound of the highest
+intellectual powers with the lowest moral qualities, is evidently the
+true description of this extraordinary being. This combination alone
+accounts for the rapidity, the splendour of his career, and the sudden
+and terrible completeness of his fall. Nothing less than pre-eminent
+capacity could have shot him up through the clouds and tempests of the
+Revolution into the highest place of power. A mixture of this force of
+mind and desperate selfishness of heart could alone have suggested and
+sustained the system of the Imperial wars, policy, and ambition; and
+the discovery of his utter faithlessness could alone have rendered all
+thrones hopeless of binding him by the common bonds of sovereign to
+sovereign, and compelled them to find their only security for the
+peace of Europe in consigning him to a dungeon. He was the only
+instance in modern history of a monarch dethroned by a universal
+conviction; warred against by mankind, as the sole object of the war;
+delivered over into captivity by the unanimous judgment of nations;
+and held in the same unrelaxing and judicial fetters until he died.
+
+It is another striking feature of this catastrophe, that the whole
+family of Napoleon sank along with him. They neither possessed his
+faculties, nor were guilty of his offences. But as they had risen
+solely by him, they perished entirely with him. Future history will
+continually hover over this period of our annals, as the one which
+most resembles some of those fabrications of the Oriental genius, in
+which human events are continually under the guidance of spirits of
+the air; in which fantastic palaces are erected by a spell, and the
+treasures of the earth developed by the wave of a wand--in which the
+mendicant of this hour is exalted into the prince of the next; and
+while the wonder still glitters before the eye, another sign of the
+necromancer dissolves the whole pageant into air again. Human
+recollection has no record of so much power, so widely distributed,
+and apparently so fixed above all the ordinary casualties of the
+world, so instantly and so irretrievably overthrown. The kings of
+earth are not undone at a blow; kingdoms do not change their rulers
+without a struggle. Great passions and great havoc have always
+preceded and followed the fall of monarchies. But the four diadems of
+the Napoleon race fell from their wearers' brows with scarcely a touch
+from the hand of man. The surrender of the crown by Napoleon
+extinguished the crowns actually ruling over millions, and virtually
+influencing the whole Continent. They were extinguished, too, at the
+moment when the Imperial crown disappeared. It had no sooner been
+crushed at Waterloo, than they all fell into fragments, of
+themselves;--the whole dynasty went down with Napoleon into the
+dungeon, and not one of them has since returned to the world.
+
+The name of General Count Montholon is well known to this country, as
+that of a brave officer, who, after acquiring distinguished rank in
+the French army by his sword, followed Napoleon to St Helena; remained
+with him during his captivity; and upon his death was made the
+depositary of his papers, and his executor. But his own language, in a
+letter dated from the Castle of Ham in June 1844, gives the best
+account of his authority and his proceedings.
+
+"A soldier of the Republic, a brigadier-general at twenty years of
+age, and minister-plenipotentiary in Germany in 1812 and 1813, I
+could, like others, have left memoirs concerning the things which I
+saw; but the whole is effaced from my mind in presence of a single
+thing, a single event, and a single man. The thing is Waterloo; the
+event, the fall of the Empire; and the man, Napoleon."
+
+He then proceeds to tell us, that he shared the St Helena captivity
+for six years; that for forty-two nights he watched the dying bed of
+the ex-monarch; and that, by Napoleon's express desire, he closed his
+eyes. But to those duties of private friendship were affixed official
+services, which looked much more like tyranny than the tribute of
+personal regard, and which we should think must have worn out the
+patience, and tried the constitution, of the most devoted follower of
+this extraordinary captive.
+
+Napoleon, though apparently contemptuous of the opinions of mankind,
+evidently felt the strongest anxiety to make out a favourable
+statement for himself. And all his hours, except the few devoted to
+exercise on horseback and to sleep, and to his meals, were employed in
+completing the narrative which was to clear up his character to
+mankind.
+
+During the last years passed in St Helena, Napoleon sent for the Count
+every night at eleven o'clock, and continued dictating to him until
+six in the morning, when he went into the bath, dismissing the count
+with--"Come, my son, go and repose, and come to me again at nine
+o'clock. We shall have breakfast, and resume the labours of the
+night." At nine, he returned, and remained with him till one, when
+Napoleon went to bed. Between four and five, he sent for the count
+again, who dined with him every day, and at nine o'clock left him, to
+return at eleven.
+
+The world little knew the drudgery to which these unfortunate
+followers of the Ex-Emperor were thus exposed, and they must all have
+rejoiced at any termination of a toil so remorseless and so
+uncheering.
+
+Napoleon was fond of the Turkish doctrine of fatality. Whether so
+acute a mind was capable of believing a doctrine so palpably
+contradicted by the common circumstances of life, and so utterly
+repugnant to reason, can scarcely be a question; but with him, as with
+the Turks, it was a capital doctrine for the mighty machine which he
+called an army. But the count seems to have been a true believer. He,
+too, pronounces, that "destiny is written," and regards himself as
+being under the peculiar influence of a malignant star, or, in his own
+words: "In fact, without having sought it, my destiny brought me into
+contact with the Emperor in the Elysée Bourbon, conducted me, without
+my knowing it, to the shores of Boulogne, where honour imposed upon me
+the necessity of not abandoning the nephew of the Emperor in presence
+of the dangers by which he was surrounded. Irrevocably bound to the
+misfortunes of a family, I am now perishing in Ham; the captivity
+commenced in St Helena."
+
+Of Count Montholon, it must be acknowledged, that he was unstained by
+either the vices or the violences which scandalized Europe so
+frequently in the leaders of the French armies. He appears to have
+been at all times a man of honourable habits, as he certainly is of
+striking intelligence. But we have no faith in his doctrine of the
+star, and think that he would have acted much more wisely if he had
+left the stars to take care of themselves, avoided the blunder of
+mistaking the nephew of Napoleon for a hero and a genius, and stayed
+quietly in London, instead of risking himself with an invasion of
+valets to take the diadem off the most sagacious head in Europe.
+
+The narrative commences with the return of Napoleon to Paris after his
+renown, his throne, and his dynasty were alike crushed by the British
+charge at Waterloo. He reached Paris at six in the morning of the
+21st. It is now clear that the greatest blunder of this extraordinary
+man was his flight from the army. If he had remained at its head, let
+its shattered condition be what it might, he would have been powerful,
+have awed the growing hostility of the capital, and have probably been
+able to make peace alike for himself and his nation. But by hurrying
+to Paris, all was lost: he stripped himself of his strength; he threw
+himself on the mercy of his enemies; and palpably capitulated to the
+men who, but the day before, were trembling under the fear of his
+vengeance.
+
+Nobleness of heart is essential to all true renown; and perhaps it is
+not less essential to all real security. Napoleon, with talents which
+it is perfectly childish to question, though the attempt has been made
+since the close of his brilliant career, wanted this nobleness of
+heart, and through its want ultimately perished. Of the bravery of him
+who fought the splendid campaigns of Italy, and of the political
+sagacity of him who raised himself from being a subaltern of artillery
+to a sovereign of sovereigns, there can be no doubt. But his
+selfishness was so excessive that it occasionally made both
+contemptible, and gave his conduct alike the appearance of cowardice,
+and the appearance of infatuation. His flight from Egypt, leaving his
+army to be massacred or captured, disgraced him in the face of Europe.
+His flight from Russia, leaving the remnant of his legions to be
+destroyed, was a new scandal; but hitherto no evil had been produced
+by this gross regard of self. The penalty, however, must be paid. His
+flight from the army in Belgian, leaving it without counsel or
+direction, to be crushed by a victorious enemy, was the third instance
+of that ignoble preference of his own objects which had characterised
+and stained his Egyptian and Russian career. But retribution was now
+come, and he was to be undone. The slaughter of Waterloo had been
+tremendous, but it was not final. The loss of the French army had been
+computed at forty thousand men, killed, wounded, and dispersed. He had
+come into the field with seventy-two thousand men, independent of
+Grouchy. He had thus thirty thousand remaining. Grouchy's force of
+thirty thousand was still untouched, and was able to make its way to
+Paris. In addition to these sixty thousand, strong garrisons had been
+left in all the fortresses, which he might without difficulty have
+gathered upon his retreat. The Parisian national guard would have
+augmented this force, probably, on the whole, to one hundred thousand
+men. It is true that the allied Russian and Austrian forces were on
+the frontier. But they had not yet moved, and could not prevent the
+march of those reinforcements. Thus, without reckoning the provincial
+militia of France, or calculating on a _levée en masse_, Napoleon
+within a fortnight might have been at the head of one hundred and
+fifty thousand men, while the pursuing army could not have mustered
+half the number. He would thus have had time for negotiation; and time
+with him was every thing. Or let the event be what it might, the
+common sense of the Allies would have led them to avoid a direct
+collision with so powerful a force fighting on its own ground under
+the walls of the capital, and knowing that the only alternatives were
+complete triumph or total ruin.
+
+Count Montholon makes a remark on the facility with which courtiers
+make their escape from a falling throne, which has been so often
+exemplified in history. But it was never more strikingly exemplified
+than in the double overthrow of Napoleon. "At Fontainbleau, in 1814,"
+says the Count, "when I hastened to offer to carry him off with the
+troops under my command, I found no one in those vast corridors,
+formerly too small for the crowd of courtiers, except the Duke of
+Bassano and two aides-de-camp." His whole court, down to his Mameluke
+and valet, had run off to Paris, to look for pay and place under the
+Bourbons. In a similar case in the next year, at the Elysée Bourbon,
+he found but two counts and an equerry. It was perfectly plain to all
+the world but Napoleon himself that his fate was decided.
+
+There certainly seems to have been something in his conduct at this
+period that can scarcely be accounted for but by infatuation. His
+first act, the desertion of his army, was degrading to his honour, but
+his conduct on his arrival was not less degrading to his sagacity.
+Even his brother Lucien said that he was blinded with the smoke of
+Waterloo. He seems to have utterly lost that distinct view and fierce
+decision which formerly characterised all his conduct. It was no more
+the cannon-shot or the thunder-clap, it was the wavering of a mind
+suddenly perplexed by the difficulties which he would once have solved
+by a sentence and overwhelmed by resistance--which he would have once
+swept away like a swarm of flies. The leader of armies was crushed by
+a conspiracy of clerks, and the sovereign of the Continent was sent to
+the dungeon by cabal of his own slaves.
+
+While Napoleon was thus lingering in the Elysée Bourbon, the two
+chambers of the Legislature were busily employed between terror and
+intrigue. The time was delicate, for the Bourbons and the Allies were
+approaching. But, on the other hand, the fortunes of Napoleon might
+change; tardiness in recognising the Bourbons might be fatal to their
+hopes of place, but the precipitancy of abandoning Napoleon might
+bring their heads under the knife of the guillotine. All public life
+is experimental, and there never was a time when the experiment was of
+a more tremulous description.
+
+At length they began to act; and the first precaution of the Chamber
+of Deputies was to secure their own existence. Old Lafayette moved a
+resolution, that the man should be regarded as a traitor to the
+country who made any attempt to dissolve the Chamber. This was an
+obvious declaration against the authority of the Empire. The next
+motion was, that General Beker should be appointed commandant of the
+guard ordered to protect the Legislature. This was a provision against
+the mob of Paris. The Legislature was now safe on its two prominent
+perils. In the mean time, Napoleon had made another capital blunder.
+He had held a council of the ministers, to which he proposed the
+question, whether he should proceed in person to the Chamber of
+Deputies, and demand supplies, or send his brothers and ministers to
+make the communication. Three of the ministers approved of his going
+in person, but the majority disapproved of it--on the plea of its
+being a dangerous experiment, in the excited state of the public
+passions. If Napoleon had declined this counsel, which arose from
+either pusillanimity or perfidy, it is perfectly possible that he
+might have silenced all opposition. The known attachment of the
+troops, the superstition connected with his fortunes, the presence of
+the man whom they all so lately worshipped, as the Indians worship the
+serpent for the poison of its fang, might have produced a complete
+revulsion. Napoleon, too, was singularly eloquent--his language had a
+romantic splendour which captivates the artificial taste of the
+nation; and with an imperial figure before them, surrounded with more
+powerful incidents than the drama could ever offer, and threatening a
+fifth act which might involve the fate of France and Europe, the day
+might have finished by a new burst of national enthusiasm, and the
+restoration of Napoleon to the throne, with all his enemies in the
+Legislature chained to its footstool.
+
+But he sent his brother Joseph to the Chamber of Peers, and received
+the answer to his mission next morning, in a proposal which was
+equivalent to a demand for his abdication.
+
+A council of ministers was again held on this proposal. The same three
+who had voted for his presence in the Chamber, now voted for his
+rejection of the proposal. The majority, however, were against them.
+Napoleon yielded to the majority. He had lost his opportunity--and in
+politics opportunity is every thing. He had now nothing more to lose.
+He drew up an acknowledgment of his abdication; but appended to it the
+condition of proclaiming his son, Napoleon Second, emperor of the
+French. This was an artifice, but it was unworthy even of the art of
+Napoleon. He must have been conscious that the Allies would have
+regarded this appointment as a trick to ensure his own restoration.
+His son was yet a child; a regent must have been appointed; Napoleon
+would have naturally been that regent; and in six months, or on the
+first retreat of the Allies, he would as naturally have reappointed
+himself emperor. The trick was too shallow for his sagacity, and it
+was impossible to hope that it could have been suffered by the Allies.
+Yet it passed the Chamber, and Napoleon Second was acknowledged within
+the walls. But the acknowledgment was laughed at without them; the
+Allies did not condescend to notice it; and the Allies proceeded to
+their work of restoration as if he had never existed. In fact, the
+dynasty was at an end; a provisional government was appointed, with
+Fouché at its head, and the name of Napoleon was pronounced no more.
+
+Count Montholon gives a brief but striking description of the
+confusion, dismay, and despair, into which Waterloo had thrown the
+Bonapartists. He had hurried to the Elysée a few hours after the
+arrival of Bonaparte from the field. He met the Duke of Vicenza coming
+out, with a countenance of dejection, and asked him what was going on.
+"All is lost," was the answer. "You arrived to-day, as you did at
+Fontainbleau, only to see the emperor resign his crown. The leaders of
+the Chambers desire his abdication. They will have it; and in a week
+Louis XVIII. will be in Paris. At night on the 19th, a short note in
+pencil was left with my Swiss, announcing the destruction of the army.
+The same notice was given to Carnot. The last telegraphic dispatch had
+brought news of victory; we both hastened to the Duke of Otranto; he
+assured us with all his cadaverous coldness that he knew nothing. He
+knew all, however, I am well assured. Events succeeded each other with
+the rapidity of lightning; there is no longer any possible illusion.
+All is lost, and the Bourbons will be here in a week."
+
+The Count remained forty-eight hours at the palace. The fallen Emperor
+had now made up his mind to go to America, and the Count promised to
+accompany him. A couple of regiments, formed of the workmen of the
+Faubourg St Germain, marching by the palace, now demanded that
+Napoleon should put himself at their head, and take vengeance on his
+enemies. But he well knew the figure which the volunteers of the mob
+would make in front of the bayonets which had crushed his guard at
+Waterloo, and he declined the honour of this new command. A few
+courtiers, who adhered to him still, continued to talk of his putting
+himself at the head of the national force. But Waterloo had
+effectually cured him of the passion for soldiership, and he
+constantly appealed to his unwillingness to shed the blood of
+Frenchmen. It was at least evident that he intended to tempt the field
+no more, but after being the cause of shedding the blood of two
+millions of the people, his reserve was romantic.
+
+The Count was sent to dismiss the volunteers, and they having
+performed their act of heroism, and offered to challenge the whole
+British army, were content with the glory of the threat, and
+heroically marched home to their shops.
+
+But Montholon, on returning again, addressed Napoleon on the
+feasibility of attacking Wellington and Blucher with the battalions of
+the Messrs Calicot, upon which the Ex-Emperor made the following
+solemn speech: "To put into action the brute force of the masses,
+would without doubt save Paris, and ensure me the crown, without
+having recourse to the horrors of a civil war. But this would be also
+to risk the shedding of rivers of fresh blood. What is the compressive
+force which would be sufficiently strong to regulate the outburst of
+so much passion, hatred, and vengeance? No, I never can forget one
+thing, that I have been brought from Cannes to Paris in the midst of
+cries for blood, 'Down with the priests!' 'Down with the nobles!' I
+would rather have the regrets of France than possess its crown."
+
+There is no country in the world, where Napoleon's own phrase, that
+from the sublime to the ridiculous is but a step, is more perpetually
+and practically realised than in France. Here was a man utterly
+ruined, without a soldier on the face of the earth, all but a
+prisoner, abandoned by every human being who could be of the slightest
+service to him, beaten in the field, beaten on his own ground, and now
+utterly separated from his remaining troops, and with a hundred
+thousand of the victors rushing after him, hour by hour, to Paris. Yet
+he talks as if he had the world still at his disposal, applauds his
+own magnanimity in declining the impossible combat, vaunts his own
+philosophy in standing still, when he could neither advance nor
+retreat, and gives himself credit as a philanthropist, when he was on
+the very point of being handed over to the enemy as a prisoner. Some
+unaccountable tricks of a lower description now began to be played on
+the goods and chattels of the Elysée Bourbon. A case containing
+snuff-boxes adorned with portraits set in diamonds, was laid by
+Bertrand on the mantel-piece. He accidentally turned to converse with
+General Montholon at the window. Only one person entered the room. The
+Count does not give his name,--he was evidently a person of rank. On
+turning to the mantel-piece again, the case was gone.
+
+One of the ministers had brought some negotiable paper to the amount
+of several millions of francs into the Emperor's chamber. The packet
+was placed under one of the cushions of the sofa. Only one person, and
+that one a man of rank who had served in Italy, entered the chamber.
+Napoleon went to look for the money, calculated a moment, and a
+million and a half of francs, or about £60,000 sterling, had been
+taken in the interim. Those were times for thievery, and the
+plunderers of Europe were now on the alert, to make spoil of each
+other. The Allies were still advancing, but they were not yet in
+sight; and the mob of Paris, who had been at first delighted to find
+that the war was at an end, having nothing else to do, and thinking
+that, as Wellington and Blucher had not arrived within a week, they
+would not arrive within a century, began to clamour _Vive l'Empereur!_
+Fouché and the provisional government began to feel alarm, and it was
+determined to keep Napoleon out of sight of the mob. Accordingly they
+ordered him to be taken to Malmaison; and on the 25th, towards
+nightfall, Napoleon submissively quitted the Elysée, and went to
+Malmaison. At Malmaison he remained for the greater part of the time,
+in evident fear of being put to death, and in fact a prisoner.--Such
+was the fate of the most powerful sovereign that Europe had seen since
+Charlemagne. Such was the humiliation of the conqueror, who, but seven
+years before, had summoned the continental sovereigns to bow down to
+his footstool at Erfurth; and who wrote to Talma the actor these words
+of supreme arrogance--"Come to Erfurth, and you shall play before a
+pit-full of kings."
+
+From this period, day by day, a succession of measures was adopted by
+the government to tighten his chain. He was ordered to set out for the
+coast, nominally with the intention of giving him a passage to
+America. But we must doubt that intention. Fouché, the head of the
+government, had now thrown off the mask which he had worn so many
+years. And it was impossible for him to expect forgiveness, in case of
+any future return of Napoleon to power. But Napoleon, in America,
+would have been at all times within one-and-twenty days of Paris. And
+the mere probability of his return would have been enough to make many
+a pillow sleepless in Paris. We are to recollect also, that the
+English ministry must have been perfectly aware of the arrest of
+Napoleon; that St Helena had been already mentioned as a place of
+security for his person; and that if it was essential to the safety of
+Europe,--a matter about which Fouché probably cared but little; it was
+not less essential to the safety of Fouché's own neck,--a matter about
+which he always cared very much, that the Ex-Emperor should never set
+foot in France again.
+
+The result was, an order from the minister at war, Davoust, Prince of
+Eckmuhl, couched in the following terms. We give it as a document of
+history.
+
+     "General, I have the honour to transmit to you the subjoined
+     decree, which the commission of government desires you to
+     notify to the Emperor Napoleon: at the same time informing
+     his majesty, that the circumstances are become imperative,
+     and that it is necessary for him immediately to decide on
+     setting out for the Isle of Aix. This decree has been passed
+     as much for the safety of his person as for the interest of
+     the state, which ought always to be dear to him. Should the
+     Emperor not adopt the above mentioned resolution, on your
+     notification of this decree, it will then be your duty to
+     _exercise the strictest surveillance_, both with a view of
+     preventing his majesty from leaving Malmaion, and of guarding
+     against any attempt upon his life. You will station guards at
+     all the approaches to Malmaison. I have written to the
+     inspector-general of the gendarmerie, and to the commandant
+     of Paris, to place such of the gendarmerie and troops as you
+     may require at your disposal.
+
+     "I repeat to you, general, that this decree has been adopted
+     solely for the good of the state, and the personal safety of
+     the Emperor. Its prompt execution is indispensable, as the
+     future fate of his majesty and his family depends upon it. It
+     is unnecessary to say to you, general, that all your measures
+     should be taken with the greatest possible secresy.
+
+            (Signed) "PRINCE OF ECKMUHL,
+                Marshal and Minister of War."
+
+     Those documents, which have now appeared, we believe, for the
+     first time authentically, will be of importance to the
+     historian, and of still higher importance to the moralist.
+     Who could have once believed that the most fiery of soldiers,
+     the most subtle of statesmen and the proudest of sovereigns,
+     would ever be the subject of a rescript like the following?
+     It begins with an absolute command that "Napoleon Bonaparte"
+     (it has already dropped the emperor) "shall remain in the
+     roads of the Isle of Aix till the arrival of passports." It
+     then proceeds:--"It is of importance to the well-being of the
+     state, which should not be indifferent to him, that he should
+     remain till his fate, and that of his family, have been
+     definitively regulated. French honour is interested in such
+     an issue; but in the mean time every precaution should be
+     taken for the personal safety of Napoleon, and that he must
+     not be allowed to leave the place of his present sojourn.
+
+            (Signed) "THE DUKE OF OTRANTO.
+                THE PRINCE OF ECKMUHL."
+
+A similar document was issued to General Beker, signed by Carnot and
+Caulaincourt. Count Montholon remarks, with sufficient justice, on the
+signature of Caulaincourt to this paper, that the Emperor would have
+been extremely astonished to see that name subscribed to a letter in
+which he was called Napoleon--if any thing could have astonished the
+former exile of Elba, and the future exile of St Helena.
+
+This must have been a period of the deepest anxiety to the imperial
+prisoner. He evidently regarded his life as unsafe; thought that he
+discovered in the project of his journey a determination to throw him
+either into the hands of assassins or of the French king, and formally
+announced his refusal to leave Malmaison "until informed of his fate
+by the Duke of Wellington." He was now reduced to the lowest ebb. He
+acknowledged himself powerless, hopeless, and utterly dependent on the
+will of his conqueror. The bitterness of heart which dictated such
+words must have been beyond all description. He was now abandoned by
+the few who had followed him from the Elysée.
+
+But time was pressing; Wellington was advancing with rapid steps, and
+there was a possibility that he might capture Napoleon at Malmaison.
+Troops were sent to burn the neighbouring bridge, and precautions were
+taken to prevent the catastrophe. A division of the army coming from
+the Vendée halted before the palace, and insisted on seeing Napoleon,
+and on being led by him to battle. This was rodomontade, with the
+advanced troops of the whole army now within sight of Paris. But it
+was enough to betray him into the absurdity of proposing to try
+another chance for his crown. Beker was dispatched to Paris to try the
+effect of this communication. Fouché gave for answer, the simple fact
+that the Prussians were advancing on Versailles. The sitting of the
+provisional government would have been worth the hand of a great
+painter. Fouché, after sharply rebuking the general for bringing in
+his proposal from Malmaison, made him sit down at his side, while he
+wrote a peremptory and decided refusal. Carnot was walking gloomily up
+and down the room. Caulaincourt, Baron Quinette, and General Grenier,
+sat silently around the table. Not a word was uttered except by the
+Duke of Otranto. The general received his dispatch and departed. On
+passing through the anterooms, he found them filled with generals and
+high civil officers, who all expressed but one opinion on the
+necessity of getting rid of Napoleon. "Let him set off, let him go,"
+was the universal cry. "We can undertake nothing for either his
+personal good or Paris." There was now no alternative. Napoleon must
+either remain and fall into the hands of Louis XVIII., who had already
+proclaimed him a traitor and an outlaw, or he must try to make his
+escape by sea. On the 29th of June, at five o'clock in the evening, he
+entered the carriage which was to convey him to the coast, leaving
+Paris behind, to which he was never to return alive, but to which his
+remains have returned in a posthumous triumph twenty-six years after,
+on the 15th of September 1840.
+
+On his arrival at Rochfort, all the talent of the French for projects
+was immediately in full exercise. Never were there so many castles in
+the air built in so short a time. Proposals were made to smuggle the
+prisoner to the United States in a Danish merchant vessel, in which,
+in case of search, he was to be barrelled in a hogshead perforated
+with breathing holes.
+
+Another project was, to put him on board a kind of fishing-boat manned
+by midshipmen, and thus escape the English. A third project proposed,
+that the two French frigates anchored under the guns of the Isle of
+Aix should put to sea together; that one of them should run alongside
+Captain Maitland's ship, and attack her fiercely, with the hope of
+distracting her attention, even with the certainty of being destroyed,
+while the other frigate made her escape with Napoleon on board. This
+is what the French would call a _grande pensée_, and quite as heroic
+as any thing in a melodrama of the Porte St Martin. But the captain of
+the leading frigate declined the distinction, and evidently thought it
+not necessary that he and his crew should be blown out of the water,
+as they certainly would have been if they came in contact with the
+Bellerophon; so this third project perished.
+
+After a few days of this busy foolery, the prisoner, startled by new
+reports of the success of the Allies every where, and too sagacious
+not to feel that the hands of the French king might be the most
+dangerous into which the murderer of the Duc D'Enghien could fall;
+looking with evident contempt upon the foolish projects for his
+escape, and conscious that his day was done, resolved to throw himself
+into the hands of Captain Maitland, the commander of the Bellerophon,
+then anchored in Basque roads. On the night of the 10th, Savary and
+Las Cases were sent on board the English ship, to inquire whether the
+captain would allow a French or neutral ship, or the frigates with
+Napoleon on board, to pass free? Captain Maitland simply answered,
+that he had received no orders except those ordinarily given in case
+of war; but that he should attack the frigates if they attempted to
+pass; that if a neutral flag came in his way, he would order it to be
+searched as usual. But that, in consequence of the peculiar nature of
+the case, he would communicate with the admiral in command.
+
+A circumstance occurred on this occasion, which brought M. Las Cases
+into no small disrepute afterwards. The captain hospitably asked Las
+Cases and Savary to lunch with him, and, while at table, inquired
+whether they understood English. He was answered that they did not;
+and the captain, though of course relying upon the answer, made his
+observations in English to his officers, while he addressed the
+Frenchman in his own tongue. It was afterwards ascertained that Las
+Cases, who had been an emigrant for some years in England, understood
+English perfectly. Nothing could therefore be more pitiful than his
+conduct in suffering the captain to believe that he was ignorant on
+the subject, and thus obtain a confidence to which he had no right.
+The circumstance, as Count Montholon says,--"was afterwards made a
+bitter reproach against Las Cases; the English charging him with a
+violation of honour; because, as they affirmed, he had positively
+declared that he was unacquainted with their language, when the
+question was put to him at the commencement of the conference. This,
+however," says Count Montholon, "is not correct." And how does he show
+that it is not correct? "The question," says he, "was put
+collectively, that is, to both alike, and Savary alone answered in the
+negative." Of course the answer was understood collectively, and
+comprised M. Las Cases as well as M. Savary. In short, the conduct was
+contemptible, and the excuse not much better. Las Cases, of course,
+should not have allowed any other person's word to be taken, when it
+led to a delusion. It is _possible_ that Savary was unacquainted with
+his companion's knowledge of English,--though when we recollect that
+Savary was minister of police, and that Las Cases was about the court
+of Napoleon, it is difficult to conceive his ignorance on the subject.
+But in all instances, there could be no apology for his
+fellow-Frenchman's sitting to hear conversations of which he was
+supposed, on the credit of Savary's word, and his own silence, to
+comprehend nothing.
+
+It happily turns out, however, that all this _dexterity_ had only the
+effect of blinding the parties themselves.
+
+"This mystification and piece of diplomatic chicanery"--we use the
+language of the volume--"proved, in fact, rather detrimental than
+useful; for, no doubt, the information thus gained by _surprise_ from
+Captain Maitland and his officers, contributed to induce the Emperor
+to decide on surrendering himself to the English." The captain was too
+honourable a man to think of practising any chicane on the subject;
+but if the two _employés_ overreached themselves, so much the better.
+
+But events now thickened. On the 12th, the Paris journals arrived,
+announcing the entrance of the Allies into Paris, and the
+establishment of Louis XVIII. in the Tuileries! All was renewed
+confusion, consternation, and projects. On the next day Joseph
+Bonaparte came to the Isle of Aix, to propose the escape of his fallen
+brother in a merchant vessel from Bordeaux, for America, and remain in
+his place. This offer was generous, but it could scarcely be accepted
+by any human being, and it was refused. But delay was becoming doubly
+hazardous. It was perfectly possible that the first measure of the new
+government would be an order for his seizure, and the next, for his
+execution. On that evening he decided to accept the offer of the
+_chasse-marées_, to go on board before morning, and trust to the young
+midshipmen and chance for his passage across the Atlantic.
+
+We know no history more instructive than these "last days" of a
+fugitive Emperor. That he might have escaped a week before, is
+certain, for the harbour was not then blockaded; that he might have
+made his way among the channels of that very difficult and obstructed
+coast even after the blockade, is possible; that he might have found
+his way, by a hundred roads, out of France, or reached the remnant of
+his armies, is clear, for all his brothers escaped by land. But that
+he still hesitated--and alone hesitated; that this man--the most
+memorable for decision, famed for promptitude, for the discovery of
+the true point of danger, daring to the height of rashness, when
+daring was demanded--should have paused at the very instant when his
+fate seemed to be in his own hand, more resembles a preternatural loss
+of faculty than the course of nature. His whole conduct on the shore
+of France is to be equalled only by his conduct among the ashes of
+Moscow,--it was infatuation.
+
+Again the man of decision hesitated; and at four in the morning
+General Lallemand and Las Cases were sent on board the Bellerophon
+under the pretext of waiting for the admiral's answer, but in reality
+to ascertain whether the captain would express _officially_ any pledge
+or opinion relative to Napoleon's favourable reception in England;
+which Las Cases had conceived him to express in his conversation with
+his officers, and of which this M. Las Cases was supposed not to have
+understood a syllable.
+
+Captain Maitland's answer was distinct and simple. It was, "that he
+had yet received no information, but hourly expected it; that he was
+authorized to receive Napoleon on board, and convey him to England,
+where, according to his own opinion, he would receive all the
+attention and respect to which he could lay any claim." But, to
+prevent all presumptions on the subject, adding--"I am anxious that it
+should be well understood, that I am expressing only my personal
+opinion on this subject, and have in no respect spoken in the name of
+the government, having received _no_ instructions from either the
+admiralty or the admiral."
+
+It is almost painful to contemplate these scenes. What agonies must
+have passed through the heart of such a man, so humbled! What
+inevitable contrasts of the throne with the dungeon! What sense of
+shame in the humiliation which thus placed him at the disposal of his
+own few followers! What sleepless anxiety in those midnight
+consultations, in those exposures to public shame, in this sense of
+utter ruin, in this terrible despair! If some great painter shall
+hereafter rise to vindicate the pencil by showing its power of
+delineating the deepest passions of our nature, or some still greater
+poet shall come to revive the day of Shakspeare, and exhibit the
+tortures of a greater Macbeth, fallen from the highest elevation of
+human things into a depth of self-reproach and self-abasement to which
+all the powers of human language might be pale,--what a subject for
+them were here!
+
+The theatrical habits of the French are singularly unfortunate for a
+nation which assumes to take an influential rank in the world. They
+deprive them of that capacity for coping with real things which is
+essential to all substantial greatness. With them the business of the
+world must be all melodrame, and the most commonplace, or the most
+serious actions of life, must be connected with scene-shifting,
+trap-doors, and the mimic thunders of the stage. Napoleon was now in a
+condition the most deeply calculated to force these stern realities of
+life on the mind. Yet even with him all was to be dramatic; he was to
+throw himself on the clemency of his conqueror, like one of the heroes
+of Corneille. England was to stand in admiration of his magnanimous
+devotedness. The sovereign was to receive him with astonishment and
+open arms, and, after an embrace of royal enthusiasm, he was to be
+placed in secure splendour, cheered by the acclamations of a people
+hastening to do him homage. In this false and high-coloured view of
+things, he wrote the famous and absurd note, in which he pronounced
+himself another Themistocles, come to sit by the hearth of the British
+people. A manlier, because a more rational view of things, would have
+told him that a war, expressly begun with a determination to overthrow
+his dynasty, could not be suffered to conclude by giving him the power
+of again disturbing the world--that his utter faithlessness prohibited
+the possibility of relying on his pledges--the security of the Bourbon
+throne absolutely demanded his being finally disabled from disturbing
+its authority--England owed it to her allies to prevent a repetition
+of the numberless calamities which his reign had inflicted upon
+Europe, and owed it to herself to prevent all necessity for the havoc
+of a new Waterloo.
+
+The national passion for a _coup de théâtre_ rendered all this
+knowledge of no avail, and he flung himself at the feet of the Prince
+Regent, with the flattering phraseology of claiming protection "from
+the most powerful, the most constant, and the most generous of his
+enemies."
+
+The step was now taken. On the 15th of July, at daybreak, he left the
+Isle of Aix, and entered one of the boats which was to convey him on
+board the Bellerophon. He had still a parting pang to undergo. As he
+looked round the shore, a white flag was flying on all the ships and
+batteries. All the rest of this curious narrative has been already
+given to the world. We have no desire to repeat the details.
+
+Count Montholon, in his fondness for excitement, here states that a
+privy council was held on the question, whether the terms of the
+Congress of Vienna prevented England from giving up Napoleon to the
+vengeance of Louis XVIII., adding that "the dispatches of the Duke of
+Wellington urged them to adopt bloody and terrible determinations."
+This we utterly disbelieve; and, if we required additional reasons for
+our disbelief, it would be in the Count's telling us that the
+energetic opposition of the Duke of Sussex alone prevented the
+delivery of the prisoner--there not being perhaps any prince, or any
+individual of England, less likely to have weight in the councils of
+the existing government.
+
+Without presuming to trace the steps of Providence, it is natural and
+not unwise to follow them in those leading transactions which give
+character to their times, or which complete events decisive of the
+fates of eminent men or nations. One of the most characteristic and
+abhorred acts of the entire life of the French Emperor, was his
+imprisonment of the English who were travelling in his country at the
+commencement of his reign. The act was the most treacherous within
+human record--it was perfidy on the largest scale. Europe had been
+often scandalised by breaches of political faith, but the agents and
+the sufferers were sovereigns and nations. But in this instance the
+blow fell upon individuals with the most sudden treachery, the most
+causeless tyranny, and the most sweeping ruin. Twelve thousand
+individuals, travelling under the protection of the imperial laws,
+wholly incapable of being regarded by those laws as prisoners, and
+relying on the good faith of the government, were seized as felons,
+put under duress, separated from their families in England, suddenly
+deprived of their means of existence, stopt in the progress of their
+professions, plundered of their property, and kept under the most
+vigilant surveillance for eleven years.
+
+The retribution now fell, and that retribution exactly in the form of
+the crime by which it was drawn down. We give a few extracts of the
+document by which Napoleon protested against his detention, as a most
+complete, though unconscious indictment against his own act eleven
+years before.
+
+Protest at sea, on board the Bellerophon, August 1815--"In the face of
+God and man, I solemnly protest against the injury which has been
+committed upon me, by the violation of my most sacred rights, in
+forcibly disposing of _my person and liberty_.
+
+"I came freely on board the Bellerophon, and _am not a prisoner_,--I
+am the _guest of England_.
+
+"I presented myself in good faith, and came to place myself under the
+protection of the laws of England. As soon as I set my foot on board
+the Bellerophon, I felt myself on the soil of the British people. If
+the orders issued by the government to receive myself and my suite
+were merely intended as a snare, then they have _forfeited their
+bond_. If such an act were really done, it would be in vain for
+England in future to speak of her faith, her laws, and her liberty.
+
+"She pretended to offer _the hand of hospitality_ to an enemy, _and
+when he had trusted to her fidelity_, she immolated him."
+
+If the _detenus_ at Verdun, and scattered through the various
+fortresses of France, had drawn up a petition against the desperate
+act which had consigned them to captivity, they might have anticipated
+the language with which Napoleon went to the dungeon, that was never
+to send him back again amongst mankind.
+
+There was but one preliminary to his departure now to take place. It
+was the execution of an order from the Government to examine the
+baggage in the strictest manner, and to require the surrender of all
+money or jewels of value in the possession of Napoleon and his suite.
+Necessary as this act was, for the prevention of bribery, and attempts
+to escape from St Helena, not for any undue seizure of private
+property, for a most ample allowance was already appointed by the
+government for the expenses of the prisoner, this duty seems to have
+been most imperfectly performed. As the Count tells us, "the
+grand-marshal, gave up 4000 Napoleons, as constituting the Emperor's
+chest. We kept secret about 400,000 francs in gold--from three to four
+hundred thousand francs in valuables and diamonds, and letters of
+credit for more than four million of francs." Whether this immense sum
+was overlooked by the extraordinary negligence of those whose duty it
+was to fulfil the orders of government, or whether their search was
+baffled, the narrative does not disclose. But there can be no question
+that the suite were bound to deliver up all that they possessed; and
+that there can be as little question that with such sums of money at
+his disposal, Napoleon's subsequent complaints of poverty were
+ridiculous, and that the subsequent sale of his plate to supply his
+table was merely for the purpose of exciting a clamour, and was
+charlatanish and contemptible.
+
+We pass rapidly over the details of the voyage. Napoleon spent a
+considerable part of his time on the quarter-deck, took opportunities
+of conversing affably with the officers, and even with the crew. On one
+occasion, after some conversation with the master, he invited him to
+dine at the admiral's table. The master declined the invitation, as a
+sin against naval etiquette. "Oh! in that case," said Napoleon, "you
+must come and dine in my own cabin." The admiral, however, had the good
+sense to tell Napoleon, that any one invited by him to the honour of
+sitting at his table, was, by that circumstance alone, placed above all
+rule of etiquette, and that the master should be welcome to dinner next
+day. This conduct, of course, made him very popular on board; but the
+chief interest of these important volumes is in the conversations which
+he held from time to time with the officers, and especially in the long
+details of his military and imperial career, which he dictated at St
+Helena, and which make the true novelty and value of the work. In one
+of those conversations which he had with them, he referred emphatically
+to his own efforts to make France a great naval power. "Unfortunately,"
+said he, "I found nobody who understood me. During the expedition to
+Egypt, I cast my eyes on Decrés. I reckoned on him for understanding
+and executing my projects in regard to the navy. I was mistaken; his
+passion was to form a police, and to find out, by means of the
+smugglers, every web which your ministers, or the intriguers of
+Hartwell, were weaving against me. He had no enlarged ideas; always the
+spirit of locality and insignificant detail--paralysing my views." He
+then proceeded to state the hopeless condition of the French navy when
+he assumed the throne. The navy of Louis XVI. was no longer in
+existence; the Republic possessed but four ships of the line; the
+taking of Toulon, the battle of the river Jenes in 1793--of Rochefort
+in 1794, and finally, the battle of Aboukir, had given the death-blow
+to the navy. "Well, notwithstanding the disaster of Trafalgar, which I
+owe entirely to the disobedience of Admiral Villeneuve, I left to
+France one hundred ships of the line, and 80,000 sailors and marines,
+and all this in a reign of ten years." The truth is, that the attempt
+to make the French navy was one of the pre-eminent blunders of
+Napoleon. France is naturally a great military power, but her people
+are not maritime. England is not naturally a great military power, but
+her people are maritime. France has an immense land frontier which can
+be defended only by a land force. England has no land frontier at all.
+The sea is her only frontier, and it, of course, can be defended only
+by a fleet. A fleet is not a necessary of existence to France. A fleet
+is a necessary of existence to England. It is therefore self-evident
+that France only wastes her power in dividing it between her fleet and
+her army; and may be a great power, without having a ship; while
+England is compelled to concentrate her strength upon her fleet, and
+without her fleet must be undone. Thus the law of existence, which is
+equivalent to a law of nature, gives the naval superiority to England.
+There are symptoms in France at the present day, of falling into
+Napoleon's blunder, and of imagining the possibility of her becoming
+the naval rival of England. That she may build ships is perfectly
+possible, and that she may crowd them with a naval conscription is
+equally possible. But the first collision will show her the utter folly
+of contending with her partial strength against the power on which
+England rests her defence--a struggle between a species of volunteer
+and adventurous aggression, and the stern and desperate defence in
+which the safety of a nation is supremely involved.
+
+On crossing the Line, the triumph of Neptune was celebrated in the
+usual grotesque style. The Deity of the Sea requested permission to
+make acquaintance with Napoleon, who received him graciously, and
+presented him with five hundred Napoleons for himself and the crew,
+upon which he was rewarded with three cheers, and "Long live the
+Emperor Napoleon!"
+
+On the 16th of October 1815, the Northumberland cast anchor in the
+roads at St Helena. The Count remarks that the 17th, the day on which
+he disembarked, reminded him of a disastrous day. It was the
+anniversary of the last day of the battle of Leipsig. If distance from
+all the habitable parts of the globe were to be the merits of
+Napoleon's prison, nothing could have been more appropriate than the
+island of St Helena. It was two thousand leagues from Europe, twelve
+hundred leagues from the Cape, and nine hundred from any continent. A
+volcanic rock in the centre of the ocean.
+
+In the month of April, the frigate Phaeton anchored in the roads,
+having the new governor, Sir Hudson Lowe, with his family, on board.
+Sir Hudson is now where neither praise nor blame can reach him, but
+the choice was unfortunate in the very point for which probably he had
+been chosen;--he had been colonel of the Corsican regiment in our
+service, had served much in the Mediterranean, and had already been
+(as far as we remember) the object of Napoleon's bitterness in some of
+his Italian manifestoes. There can be no doubt that the mildest of
+governors would have been no favourite with the prisoner of Longwood.
+But in the present instance Napoleon's blood boiled at the idea of
+being placed under the jurisdiction of the colonel of the Corsican
+rangers; and he, accordingly, took every opportunity of exhibiting his
+indignation--a sort of feeling which, in a foreigner, and especially
+one of southern blood, always amounts to fury.
+
+We pass over a multitude of minor circumstances, though all
+characteristic, and all invaluable to the historian of the next
+century; but which would retard the more interesting conversations of
+the extraordinary captive. On the communication of the convention
+signed at Paris in August 1815, declaring him the prisoner of the four
+allied powers, and the announcement of the commissioners under whose
+charge he was to be placed, Napoleon burst out into a passionate
+remonstrance, which, however, he addressed only to the people around
+him. On those occasions he always adopted that abrupt and decisive
+style which in a Frenchman passes for oracular.
+
+"The expenses of my captivity will certainly exceed ten millions of
+francs a-year. It has not been the will of fate that my work should
+finish by effecting the social reorganisation of Europe." He then ran
+into his old boasting of his probable triumph in his great collision
+with the British army. "At Waterloo I ought to have been
+victorious--the chances were a hundred to one in my favour; but Ney,
+the bravest of the brave, at the head of 42,000 Frenchmen, suffered
+himself to be delayed a whole day by some thousands of Nassau troops.
+Had it not been for this inexplicable inactivity, the English army
+would have been taken _flagrante delicto_, and annihilated without
+striking a blow. Grouchy, with 40,000 men, suffered Bulow and Blucher
+to escape from him; and finally, a heavy fall of rain had made the
+ground so soft that it was impossible to commence the attack at
+daybreak. Had I been able to commence early, Wellington's army would
+have been trodden down in the defiles of the forest before the
+Prussians could have had time to arrive. It was lost without resource.
+The defeat of Wellington's army would have been peace, the repose of
+Europe, the recognition of the interests of the masses and of the
+democracy."
+
+Napoleon was always fluent on this subject; but the only true matter
+of surprise is, that so clever a personage should have talked such
+nonsense. In the first place, he must have known that Ney with his
+40,000 men had been soundly beaten by about half that number, and was
+thus unable to move a step beyond Quatre-Bras. In the next, that
+Grouchy, instead of suffering the Prussians to escape him, was
+gallantly fought by their rear-guard, was unable to make any
+impression whatever on them, and if he had not made his escape in the
+night, would unquestionably have been crushed to pieces the next day;
+and thirdly, as to the English armies being saved by the rain, the
+Duke of Wellington fought the French from eleven in the forenoon till
+seven in the evening without being driven an inch from the ground. If
+the French could not beat him in eight hours, they could not beat him
+in as many days. It was not until seven in the evening that the
+Prussian guns were heard coming into the field. Even then they were a
+mile and a half from Wellington's position. The British then charged,
+swept the French before them, Napoleon himself running away amongst
+the foremost, leaving 40,000 of his troops on the field or in the
+hands of the enemy. It would have been much wiser to have said not a
+syllable upon the battle, or much manlier to have acknowledged that he
+was more thoroughly beaten than he had ever seen an army beaten
+before; and that with 72,000 French veterans in the field, he had been
+routed and ruined by 25,000 British, three-fourths of whom had never
+fired a shot before in their lives.
+
+We have from time to time some curious acknowledgments of the
+political treacheries which formed the actual system of Napoleon's
+government, whether consular or imperial. On dictating a note relative
+to St Domingo to Count Montholon, he elucidated this policy in the
+most unequivocal manner. It will be remembered that, on the peace of
+Amiens, he had sent out a powerful fleet and an army of thirty
+thousand men to the West Indies. It will also be remembered, that in
+reply to the remonstrance of the British government, who naturally
+looked on so formidable an armament with considerable suspicion, the
+First Consul disclaimed in the most solemn manner all sinister views,
+pronounced, with every appearance of sincerity, that his sole object
+was the subjection of a French island then in revolt, and when this
+object was effected his whole purpose would be accomplished. But in St
+Helena, where candour cost nothing, he amply acknowledged the
+treachery. "I had two plans," said he, "for St Domingo. The first was
+that of acknowledging the power of the blacks, making Toussaint
+L'Ouverture governor, and, in fact, making St Domingo a West Indian
+vice-royalty. This plan was my favourite, and why? The French flag
+would acquire a great development of power in the American waters,
+and a variety of expeditions might have been undertaken against
+Jamaica and all the Antilles, and against South America, with an army
+of thirty thousand blacks trained and disciplined by French officers."
+
+We are to remember that at this time he was at peace with both England
+and Spain, whose territories he was thus about to dismember; for we
+cannot believe that the affairs of St Domingo were suffered greatly to
+occupy his mind. In the busy days from Marengo to the loss of Egypt,
+and the conclusion of peace, he had intended to have raised an
+universal negro insurrection in our islands. Upon the colours of his
+negro army he was to have inscribed "Brave blacks, remember that
+France alone recognises your liberty"--which would have been, in fact,
+a manifesto, calling upon all the negroes of the West Indies to revolt
+without delay. But the negroes of St Domingo, having formed plans of
+liberty for themselves, dispatched one of their colonels with a demand
+of independence. The chance, therefore, of invading Jamaica through
+their means was extinguished at once, and France was punished by the
+loss of her greatest colony for ever.
+
+In a conversation with Colonel Wilks, the ex-governor, on taking his
+leave, he told him that India had been constantly an object of his
+policy--that he had constantly assailed it by negotiations, and would
+have reached it by arms, had he been able to come to an understanding
+with the Emperor of Russia on the partition of Turkey. He then talked
+of his constant wish for peace--a declaration which the colonel
+probably received with a smile; and next disclosed a transaction,
+which, on any other authority, would have been incredible, but which
+amounted to perhaps the boldest and broadest piece of bribery ever
+attempted with a distinguished minister.
+
+While the French army was still on the right bank of the Elbe, the
+offer of the Austrian mediation was brought by Prince Metternich,
+demanding, as a preliminary, the abandonment of the great German
+fortresses which still remained in French hands.
+
+"I said to Metternich with indignation," are the words of this
+singular conference--"Is it my father-in-law who entertains such a
+project? Is it he who sends you to me? How much has England _given
+you_, to induce you to play this game against me? Have I not done
+enough for your fortune? It is of no consequence--be _frank_--what is
+it _you wish_? If _twenty millions_ will not satisfy you, say _what
+you wish_?"
+
+He adds, that on this scandalous offer of corruption, Metternich's
+sudden sullenness and total silence recalled him to a sense of what he
+had just expressed, and that thenceforth he had found this great
+minister wholly impracticable. Who can wonder that he did so, or that
+the offer was regarded as the deepest injury by a man of honour? But
+Napoleon's conception of the matter, to the last, was evidently not
+that he had committed an act of bribery, but that he had "mistaken his
+man." "It was," as Fouché observed, "_worse_ than a crime, it was a
+_blunder_."
+
+One of the absurdities of the crowd who collected anecdotes of
+Napoleon, was a perpetual affectation of surprise that he should not
+have terminated his imprisonment by his own hand. He was conscious of
+the imputation, and it seems to have formed the occasional subject of
+his thoughts. But his powerful understanding soon saw through the
+sophistry of that species of dramatic heroism, by which a man escapes
+"with a bare bodkin" all the duties and responsibilities of his being.
+
+"I have always regarded it," said he, "as a maxim, that a man exhibits
+more real courage by supporting calamities, and resisting misfortunes,
+than by putting an end to his life. Self-destruction is the act of a
+gambler who has lost all, or that of a ruined spendthrift, and proves
+nothing but a want of courage."
+
+The attempts to prove that Napoleon wanted personal intrepidity were
+at all times childish. His whole career in his Italian campaigns was
+one of personal exposure, and from the period when he rose into civil
+eminence, he had other responsibilities than those of the mere
+general. His life was no longer his own; it was the keystone of the
+government. Whether as consul or as emperor, his fall would have
+brought down along with it the whole fabric on which the fate of so
+many others immediately depended. It is, however, certain, that his
+courage was not chivalric, that no gallant fit of glory ever tempted
+him beyond the necessary degree of peril, and that he calculated the
+gain and loss of personal enterprise with too nice a view as to the
+balance of honour and advantage. A man of higher mind--an emperor who
+had not forgot that he was a general, would never have deserted his
+perishing army in Poland; an emperor who had not forgot that he was a
+soldier, would never have sent his Imperial guard, shouting, to
+massacre, and stayed himself behind. But to expect this devotion of
+courage is to expect a spirit which Napoleon never exhibited; and
+which is singular among the military exploits of the south. Napoleon
+might have commanded at Platea, but he would never have died at
+Thermopylæ.
+
+In days like ours, which begin to familiarize men with the chances of
+political convulsion, it may be well worth while to listen to the
+conceptions of one who better knew the nature of the French Revolution
+than perhaps any among the great actors of the time. Napoleon was
+sitting by his fireside, in St Helena, on the 3d of September:--
+
+     "To-day," said he, "is the anniversary of a hideous
+     remembrance, the St Bartholomew of the French Revolution--a
+     bloody stain, which was the act of the Commune of Paris, a
+     rival power of the Legislature, which built its strength upon
+     the _dregs of the passions of the people_. * *
+
+     We must acknowledge, that there has been no political change
+     without a fit of popular vengeance, as soon as, _for any
+     cause whatever_, the mass of the people _enter into action_.
+     * *
+
+     General rule:--_No social revolution without terror!_ Every
+     revolution is in principle a _revolt_, which time and success
+     ennoble and render legal; but of which terror has been one of
+     the _inevitable phases_. How, indeed, can we understand, that
+     one could say to those who possess fortune and public
+     situations, 'Begone, and leave us your fortunes and your
+     situations,' without first intimidating them, and rendering
+     any defence impossible? The Reign of Terror began, in fact,
+     on the night of the 4th of August, when privileges, nobility,
+     tithes, the remains of the feudal system, and the fortunes of
+     the clergy, were done away with, and _all those remains of
+     the old monarchy_ were thrown to the people. Then only did
+     the people understand the Revolution, because they gained
+     something, and wished to keep it, even at the expense of
+     blood."
+
+This language is memorable. It ought to be a lesson to England.
+Napoleon here pronounces, that the great stimulant of political
+revolution is public robbery. Privileges may be the pretence, but the
+real object is plunder; and the progress of reason may be alleged as
+the instrument, but the true weapon is terror. In England, we are
+preparing the way for a total change. The groundwork of a revolution
+is laid from hour to hour; the Aristocracy, the Church, the landed
+proprietors, are made objects of popular libel, only preparatory to
+their being made objects of popular assault. The League has not yet
+taken upon it the office of the Commune of Paris, nor have the nobles,
+the clergy, and the bankers, been massacred in the prisons; but when
+once the popular passions are kindled by the hopes of national
+plunder, the revolution will have begun, and then farewell to the
+constitution. The habits of England, we willingly allow, are opposed
+to public cruelty; and in the worst excesses, the France of 1793 would
+probably leave us behind. But the principle in every nation is the
+same--the possessors of property will resist, the plunderers of
+property will fight; conflicting banners will be raised, and, after
+desperate struggles, the multitude will be the masters of the land.
+
+There can be nothing more evident, than that some of the leaders in
+these new movements contemplate the overthrow of the monarchy. There
+may be mere dupes in their ranks, the spirit of money-making may be
+the temper of others; but there are darker minds among them which
+scarcely condescend to conceal their intentions. The presidentship of
+a British republic would be not without its charms for the demagogue;
+and the bloody revolution of 1641, might rapidly find its still more
+sanguinary counterpart in the revolution of the nineteenth century. We
+have the history in the annals of France, and the commentator is the
+"child and champion of Jacobinism"--Napoleon.
+
+His impression that revolution always fixed its especial object in
+plunder, found another authority in one of the peculiar agents of
+public disturbance. "Barrère," said Napoleon, "affirmed, and truly,
+_Le peuple bat monnaie sur la place Louis XV._" ("The people coin
+money in the square of Louis XV.")--alluding to the guillotine, which
+enriched the treasury by the death of the nobles, whose wealth became
+the property of the nation.
+
+He proceeded, with equal decision and truth: "A revolution is always,
+whatever some may think, one of the greatest misfortunes with which
+the Divine anger can punish a nation. It is the scourge of the
+generation which brings it about; and for a long course of years, even
+a century, it is the misfortune of all, though it may be the advantage
+of individuals."
+
+Napoleon spent the chief portion of his time in dictating the
+recollections of his government, and general defences of his conduct.
+Those dictations were sometimes written down by Montholon, and
+sometimes by Las Cases. But in November 1816, an order was issued for
+the arrest of Las Cases, and his dismissal from the island, in
+consequence of his attempting to send, without the knowledge of the
+governor, a letter to Prince Lucien, sowed up in the clothes of a
+mulatto. This arrest made a prodigious noise among the household of
+Napoleon, and was turned to good advantage in England, as an instance
+of the cruelty of his treatment. Yet it seems perfectly probable that
+the whole was a trick of the Ex-emperor himself, and a mere
+contrivance for the purpose of sending to Europe Las Cases as an agent
+in his service.
+
+The security of Napoleon's imprisonment was essential to the peace of
+Europe; and no precaution could be justly regarded as severe, which
+prevented an outbreak so hazardous to the quiet of the world. Among
+those precautions, was the strictest prohibition of carrying on any
+correspondence with Europe, except through the hands of the governor.
+The whole household were distinctly pledged to the observance of this
+order, and any infraction of it was to be punished by instant arrest
+and deportation from the island.
+
+An order had been sent from England to reduce the number of the
+household by four domestics; and it seems not improbable that
+Napoleon's craft was suddenly awakened to the prospect of establishing
+a confidential intercourse with the faction whom he had left behind.
+But the four domestics were obviously inadequate to this object, and
+some person of higher condition was necessary. Las Cases some time
+before had attempted to send a letter to Europe by the mulatto. The
+fellow had been detected, and was threatened with a flogging if he
+repeated the experiment; yet it was to this same mulatto that Las
+Cases committed another letter, which the mulatto immediately carried
+to the governor, and Las Cases was arrested in consequence. Napoleon
+was instantly indignant, and vented his rage against the cruelty of
+the arrest, at the same time expressing his scorn at the clumsiness of
+Las Cases in delivering his letter to so awkward a messenger. But,
+whatever might be his pretended wonder at the want of dexterity in the
+Count, it was exceeded by his indignation at the conduct of the
+governor. "Longwood," he writes in a long and formal protest against
+his detention, "is wrapped in a veil which he would fain make
+impenetrable, in order to hide _criminal_ conduct. This peculiar care
+to conceal matters gives room to suspect the most _odious
+intentions_." This was obviously a hint that the governor's purpose
+was to put him secretly to death: a hint which neither Napoleon nor
+any other human being could have believed.
+
+But in alluding to the arrest of the Count, he touches closely on the
+acknowledgment of the intrigue.
+
+     "I looked through the window," he said, "and saw them taking
+     you away. A numerous staff pranced about you. I imagined I
+     saw some South Sea Islanders dancing round the prisoners
+     whom they were about to devour!" After this Italian
+     extravaganza, he returns to his object. "Your services were
+     necessary to me. You alone could read, speak, and understand
+     English. Nevertheless, I request you, and in case of need,
+     command you, to require the governor _to send you to the
+     Continent_. He _cannot refuse_, because he has no power over
+     you, except through the voluntary document which you signed.
+     It would be great _consolation to me_ to know that you were
+     on your way to more happy countries."
+
+This letter was carried by Bertrand to the governor for Las Cases, and
+"the wished-for effect was produced on Sir Hudson Lowe, as soon as he
+saw the terms in which the Emperor expressed his regret." We are
+fairly entitled to doubt the sincerity of the wish; for on Sir
+Hudson's offering to let Las Cases remain at Longwood, a new obstacle
+instantly arose,--the Count declared that "to remain was utterly
+impossible;" his honour was touched; he absolutely must go; or, as
+Count Montholon describes this happy punctilio,--"Unfortunately, Las
+Cases, influenced by extreme susceptibility of honour, thought himself
+_bound to refuse_ the governor's offer. He felt himself too deeply
+outraged by the insult; he explained this to the grand-marshal, and we
+were obliged to renounce the hope of seeing him again." Then came the
+finale of this diplomatic farce. "It was in vain that the Emperor sent
+Bertrand and Gourgaud to persuade him to renounce his determination;
+_he was resolved to leave the island_; and on the 29th of December
+1816, he quitted St Helena."
+
+We have but little doubt that the whole was a mystification. The gross
+folly of sending a secret dispatch by the same man of colour who had
+been detected by the governor, and threatened with punishment for the
+attempt to convey a letter; the bustle made on the subject at
+Longwood; the refusal of Las Cases to comply with Napoleon's request
+to remain, which, if it had been sincere, would have been equivalent
+to a command; and the conduct of Las Cases immediately on his arrival
+Europe, his publications and activity, amply show the object of his
+return. But a simple arrangement on the governor's part disconcerted
+the whole contrivance. Instead of transmitting Las Cases to Europe,
+Sir Hudson Lowe sent him to the Cape; where he was further detained,
+until permission was sent from England for his voyage to Europe. On
+his arrival, Napoleon's days were already numbered, and all dexterity
+was in vain. We have adverted to this transaction chiefly for the
+credit which it reflects on the governor. It shows his vigilance to
+have been constantly necessary; it also shows him to have been willing
+to regard Napoleon's convenience when it was possible; and it further
+shows that he was not destitute of the sagacity which was so fully
+required in dealing with the _coterie_ at Longwood.
+
+Napoleon's habits of dictating his memoirs must have been formidable
+toil to his secretaries. He sometimes dictated for twelve or fourteen
+hours, with scarcely an intermission. He spoke rapidly, and it was
+necessary to follow him as rapidly as he spoke, and never to make him
+repeat the last word. His first dictation was a mere revival of his
+recollections, without any order. The copy of his first dictation
+served as notes to the second, and the copy of this second became the
+subject of his personal revision; but he, unfortunately for his
+transcribers, made his corrections almost always in pencil, as he thus
+avoided staining his fingers--no woman being more careful in
+preserving the delicacy of her hands.
+
+Those dictations must be regarded as the studied defences of Napoleon
+against the heavy charges laid against his government.
+
+We have now given a general glance at the career of the French
+Emperor, as exhibited to us in these Recollections. He strikingly
+showed, in all the details of his government, the characteristics of
+his own nature. Impetuous, daring, and contemptuous of the feelings of
+mankind, from the first hour of his public life, his government was,
+like himself, the model of fierceness, violence, and disregard of
+human laws. Whatever was to him an object of ambition, was instantly
+in his grasp; whatever he seized was made the instrument of a fresh
+seizure; and whatever he possessed he mastered in the fullest spirit
+of tyranny. He was to be supreme; the world was to be composed of
+_his_ soldiery, his serfs, courtiers, and tools. The earth was to be
+only an incalculable population of French slaves. There was to be but
+one man free upon the globe, and that man Napoleon.
+
+We find, in this romance of power, the romance of his education. It
+has been often said, that he was Oriental in all his habits. His plan
+of supremacy bore all the stamp of Orientalism--the solitary pomp, the
+inflexible will, the unshared power, and the inexorable revenge. The
+throne of the empire was as isolated as the seraglio. It was
+surrounded by all the strength of terror and craft, more formidable
+than battlements and bastions. Its interior was as mysterious as its
+exterior was magnificent; no man was suffered to approach it but as
+soldier or slave; its will was heard only by the roaring of cannon;
+the overthrow of a minister, the proclamation of a war, or the
+announcement of a dynasty crushed and a kingdom overrun, were the only
+notices to Europe of the doings within that central place of power.
+
+But, with all the genius of Napoleon, he overlooked the true
+principles of supremacy. All power must be pyramidal to be secure. The
+base must not only be broad, but the gradations of the pile must be
+regular to the summit. With Napoleon the pyramid was inverted--it
+touched the earth but in one point; and the very magnitude of the mass
+resting upon his single fortune, exposed it to overthrow at the first
+change of circumstances.
+
+Still, he was an extraordinary being. No man of Europe has played so
+memorable a part on the great theatre of national events for the last
+thousand years. The French Revolution had been the palpable work of
+Providence, for the punishment of a long career of kingly guilt,
+consummated by an unparalleled act of perfidy, the partition of
+Poland. The passions of men had been made the means of punishing the
+vices of government. When the cup was full, Napoleon was sent to force
+it upon the startled lips of Prussia, Austria, and Russia. The three
+conspirators were crushed in bloody encounters--the capitals of the
+three were captured--the provinces of the three were plundered--and
+the military pride of the three was humiliated by contemptuous and
+bitter conditions of peace.
+
+But, when the destined work was done, the means were required no more.
+When the victims were broken on the wheel, the wheel and the
+executioner were alike hurried from the sight of man. The empire of
+France was extinguished by the same sovereign law which had permitted
+its existence. The man who had guided the empire in its track of
+devastation--the soul of all its strength, of its ambition, and its
+evil--was swept away. And as if for the final moral of human
+arrogance, France was subjected to a deeper humiliation than had been
+known in the annals of national reverses since the fall of Rome; and
+the ruler of France was plunged into a depth of defeat, a bitterness
+of degradation, an irreparable ruin, of which the civilized world
+possesses no example. His army destroyed in Russia by the hand of Him
+who rules the storm--the last forces of his empire massacred in
+Belgium--his crown struck off by the British sword--his liberty
+fettered by British chains--the remnant of his years worn away in a
+British dungeon, and his whole dynasty flung along with him into the
+political tomb, were only the incidents of the great judicial process
+of our age. The world has been suffered to return to peace; while the
+sepulchre of this man of boundless but brief grandeur has been
+suffered to stand in the midst of that nation which most requires the
+great lesson--that ambition always pays for its splendour by its
+calamities; that the strength of a nation is in the justice of its
+councils; and that he "who uses the sword shall perish by the sword!"
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[62] _History of the Captivity of Napoleon at St. Helena._ By GENERAL
+COUNT MONTHOLON. 2 vols. London: Colburn.
+
+
+
+
+_Edinburgh: Printed by Ballantyne and Hughes, Paul's Work._
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume
+60, No. 369, July 1846, by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE, JULY 1846 ***
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 60,
+No. 369, July 1846, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 60, No. 369, July 1846
+
+Author: Various
+
+Release Date: April 27, 2011 [EBook #35984]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE, JULY 1846 ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Brendan OConnor, JoAnn Greenwood, Jonathan
+Ingram and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
+generously made available by The Internet Library of Early
+Journals.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                BLACKWOOD'S
+
+                 Edinburgh
+
+                 MAGAZINE.
+
+
+                 VOL. LX.
+
+            JULY-DECEMBER, 1846.
+
+
+              [Illustration]
+
+
+    WILLIAM BLACKWOOD & SONS, EDINBURGH
+                    AND
+       37, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON.
+
+
+                   1846
+
+
+TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: A few obvious misprints have been corrected, but in
+general the originally erratic spelling, punctuation and typesetting
+conventions have been retained. Accents in foreign language poetry and
+phrases are inconsistent in the original, and have not been
+standardized. In "English Hexameters" letter: [=x] is x with a macron,
+[)x] is x with a breve. Readers interested in this article are strongly
+encouraged to refer to the UTF8 or HTML versions.
+
+
+BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.
+
+
+No. CCCLXIX. JULY, 1846. VOL. LX
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+    PERU,                                               1
+
+    LETTERS ON ENGLISH HEXAMETERS. LETTER I.,          19
+
+    MARLBOROUGH'S DISPATCHES. 1708-1709,               22
+
+    THE AMERICANS AND THE ABORIGINES. PART THE LAST,   45
+
+    THE DEATH OF ZUMALACARREGUI,                       56
+
+    NEW SCOTTISH PLAYS AND POEMS,                      62
+
+    ELINOR TRAVIS. CHAPTER THE SECOND,                 83
+
+    MORE ROGUES IN OUTLINE,                           101
+
+    THE LAST RECOLLECTIONS OF NAPOLEON,               110
+
+
+EDINBURGH:
+
+WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, 45, GEORGE STREET;
+
+AND 37, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON.
+
+_To whom all Communications (post paid) must be addressed._
+
+SOLD BY ALL THE BOOKSELLERS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.
+
+
+PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE AND HUGHES, EDINBURGH.
+
+
+
+
+PERU.[1]
+
+
+A clever book of travels, over ground comparatively untrodden, is in
+these days a welcome rarity. No dearth is there of vapid narratives by
+deluded persons, who, having leisure to travel, think they must also
+have wit to write: with these we have long been surfeited, and
+heartily grateful do we feel to the man who strikes out a new track,
+follows it observantly, and gives to the world, in pleasant and
+instructive form, the result of his observations. Such a traveller we
+have had the good fortune to meet with, and now present to our
+readers.
+
+We take it that no portion of the globe's surface, of equal extent,
+and comprising an equal number of civilized, or at least
+semi-civilized, states, is less known to the mass of Europeans than
+the continent of South America. Too distant and dangerous for the
+silken tourist, to whom steam-boats and dressing-cases are
+indispensable, it does not possess, in a political point of view, that
+kind of importance which might induce governments to stimulate its
+exploration. As a nest of mushroom republics, continually fighting
+with each other and revolutionizing themselves--a land where
+throat-cutting is a popular pastime, and earthquakes, fevers more or
+less yellow, and vermin rather more than less venomous, are amongst
+the indigenous comforts of the soil--it is notorious, and has been
+pretty generally avoided. Braving these dangers and disagreeables, a
+German of high reputation as a naturalist and man of letters, has
+devoted four years of a life valuable to science to a residence and
+travels in the most interesting district of South America; the ancient
+empire of the Incas, the scene of the conquests and cruelties of
+Francisco Pizarro.
+
+"The scientific results of my travels," says Dr Tschudi in his brief
+preface, "are recorded partly in my _Investigation of the Fauna
+Peruana_[2] and partly in appropriate periodicals: the following
+volumes are an attempt to satisfy the claim which an enlightened
+public may justly make on the man who visits a country in reality but
+little known."
+
+We congratulate the doctor on the good success of his attempt. The
+public, whether of Germany or of any other country into whose language
+his book may be translated, will be difficult indeed if they desire a
+better account of Peru than he has given them.
+
+Bound for the port of Callao, the ship Edmond, in which Dr Tschudi
+sailed from Havre-de-Grace, was driven by storms to the coast of
+Chili, and first cast anchor in the bay of San Carlos, on the island
+of Chiloe. Although by no means devoid of interest, we shall pass over
+his account of that island, which is thinly peopled, of small
+fertility, and cursed with an execrable climate; and accompany him to
+Valparaiso, his next halting place. There he found much bustle and
+movement. Chili was at war with the confederation of Peru and Bolivia,
+and an expedition was fitting out in all haste. Sundry decrees of the
+Peruvian Protector, Santa Cruz, had excited the ire of the Chilians,
+especially one diminishing the harbour dues on vessels arriving direct
+from Europe and discharging their cargoes in a Peruvian port. This had
+damaged the commerce of Chili; and already one army under General
+Blanco had been landed on the Peruvian coast to revenge the injury. It
+had signally failed in its object. Outmanoeuvred and surrounded, it was
+taken prisoner to a man. On this occasion the behaviour of Santa Cruz
+was generous almost to quixotism. He sent back the soldiers to their
+country, and actually paid for the cavalry horses, which he kept. The
+Chilian government showed little gratitude for this chivalrous
+conduct. The treaty of peace concluded by Blanco was not ratified; but
+a second armament, far more powerful than the first, was got ready and
+shipped from Valparaiso during Dr Tschudi's stay in that port. His
+account of the Chilian army and navy is not very favourable. His ship
+had hardly anchored when several officers of the land forces came on
+board, and inquired if there were any swords to be sold, as they and
+their comrades were for the most part totally unprovided with such
+weapons. Swords formed no part of the cargo of the Edmond, but one of
+the ship's company, acquainted, perhaps, from previous experience,
+with the wants of these South American warriors, had brought out an
+assortment as a private spec., and amongst them was a sort of
+falchion, about five feet long, which had belonged to a cuirassier of
+Napoleon's guard. The officer who bought this weapon was a puny
+half-cast lad, who could hardly lift it with both hands, but who
+nevertheless opined that, in case of a charge, it would play the devil
+amongst the Peruvians. "Ten months later," says Dr Tschudi, "I met
+this hero on the march, amongst the mountains of Peru. He had girded
+on a little dirk, scarce larger than a toothpick, and behind him came
+a strapping negro, laden with the falchion. I could not help inquiring
+whether the latter arm had done much mischief in the then recent
+battle of Yungay, and he was honest enough to confess that he had not
+used it, finding it rather too heavy." The Chilian fleet, twenty-seven
+transports and nine men-of-war, was, with one or two exceptions, in
+bad condition; short of guns and hands, and manned in great part by
+sailors who had run from English, French, or North American ships. The
+officers were nearly all English. The shipment of the horses was
+conducted in the most clumsy manner: many were strangled in hoisting
+them up, others fell out of the slings and were drowned, and those
+that were embarked were so badly cared for, that each morning previous
+to the sailing of the fleet, their carcasses were thrown overboard by
+dozens. The Chilian troops had no stomach for the campaign, and, in
+great part, had to be embarked by force. "I stood on the landing
+place," writes the doctor, "when the Santiago battalion went on board.
+Ill uniformed, and bound two and two with cords, the soldiers were
+actually driven into the boats." With such an army, what besides
+defeat and disaster could be expected? But treachery and discord were
+at work in Peru, and success awaited the reluctant invaders.
+
+With unpardonable imprudence the captain of the Edmond had manifested
+an intention of selling his ship to the Peruvians to be converted into
+a man-of-war. A Yankee captain was suspected of a similar design; and
+the consequence was an embargo laid upon all ships in the port of
+Valparaiso, until such time as the Chilian army might be supposed to
+have reached its destination and struck the first blow. A delay of
+five-and-forty days was the consequence, particularly wearisome to Dr
+Tschudi, as he was unable to absent himself for more than twenty-four
+hours from the town, lest the embargo should be suddenly raised and
+the ship sail without him. He found few resources in Valparaiso, whose
+population, especially the numerous foreigners, have their time fully
+occupied by commercial pursuits. The town itself, closely built and
+dirty, is divided by _quebradas_ or ravines into three parts,
+extending along the side of a hill, and designated by the sailors as
+foretop, maintop, and mizentop. These quebradas, close to whose edge
+run the badly lighted streets, are particularly dangerous in the
+winter nights; and many a sailor, on shore for a "spree," finds his
+grave in them. The police is good, better probably than any other
+South American town; and although assassinations occasionally occur,
+the perpetrators rarely escape. One curious institution is the
+travelling house of correction, which consists of waggons, not unlike
+those in which menagerie keepers convey their beasts. Each of these
+contains sleeping accommodation for eight or ten criminals. Behind
+stands a sentry, and in front of some of them is a sort of kitchen.
+The prisoners draw the waggons themselves; and as they for the most
+part work upon the roads, often at some distance from the city, there
+is an evident gain thus in their conveying their dwelling with them.
+The plan answers well in a country where there is, properly speaking,
+no winter.
+
+A common article of sale on the Valparaiso market is live condors,
+which are taken in traps. A fine specimen is worth a dollar and a
+half. In one court-yard, Dr Tschudi saw eight of them, fettered after
+a peculiar fashion. A long narrow strip of untanned leather was run
+through their nostrils, tied tight, and the other end fastened to a
+post fixed in the ground. This allowed the birds liberty to move about
+in a tolerably large circle, but as soon as they attempted to fly,
+they were brought down by the head. Their voracity is prodigious. One
+of them ate eighteen pounds of meat in the course of a day, without at
+all impairing his appetite for the next morning's breakfast. Dr
+Tschudi measured one, and found it fourteen English feet from tip to
+tip of the wings.
+
+Most joyfully did our traveller hail the arrival of the long-looked
+for permission to sail. With a favouring breeze from the east, the
+Edmond soon made the islands of Juan Fernandez, and Dr Tschudi was
+indulging in pleasant recollections of Alexander Selkirk, Defoe, and
+Robinson Crusoe, when the cry "a man overboard" startled him from his
+reverie. Over went the hen-coops and empty casks; the ship was brought
+to, and a boat lowered. It was high time, for a shark had approached
+the swimmer, who defended himself with remarkable courage and presence
+of mind, striking out with his fists at his voracious pursuer. So
+unequal a combat could not last long, and the lookers-on thought him
+lost, for the shark had already seized his leg, when the boat came up;
+a rain of blows from oars and boat-hooks forced the monster to let go
+his hold, and the sailor was snatched, it might truly be said, from
+the jaws of death. His wounds, though deep, were not dangerous, and in
+a few weeks he was convalescent. Without other incident worthy of
+note, Dr Tschudi arrived in the bay of Callao. There the first news he
+heard was that the Chilians had effected a landing, taken Lima by
+storm, and were then besieging Callao. This magnificent fort, the last
+place in South America that had held out for the Spaniards, and which
+General Rodil defended for nearly eighteen months against the
+patriots, had since been in great measure dismantled, and
+three-fourths of the guns sold. Those that remained were now
+wretchedly served by the Peruvians, whilst the fire of the besiegers,
+on the other hand, did considerable damage. The siege, however, was
+pushed nothing like so vigorously as it had been by the patriots. Both
+the land and sea forces were too small. To the latter the Peruvians
+had unfortunately no fleet to oppose. Several men-of-war had been
+treacherously taken from them by the Chilians in time of peace, and
+the only two remaining were sunk upon the approach of the enemy.
+
+"One Sunday afternoon," says Dr Tschudi, "the Chilian brig-of-war,
+Colocolo, sailed close in under the walls of the fort, and threw in a
+few balls. The batteries immediately returned the fire with every gun
+they could bring to bear; but all their shots went too high, and fell
+amongst the merchantmen and other neutral vessels. Meanwhile the
+Colocolo sailed to and fro in derision of the batteries. At last the
+French commodore, seeing the danger of the merchant ships, sent a boat
+to the fort, menacing them with a broadside if they did not instantly
+cease firing. This the garrison were compelled to do, and to submit
+patiently to the insults of the Chilians. Another instance of the
+great prejudice which the vicinity of neutral shipping may be to
+besieged or besiegers, was witnessed on the night of the 5th November
+1820, in the bay of Callao, when Lord Cochrane and Captain Guise, with
+a hundred and fifty men, boarded the Spanish forty-four gun corvette
+Esmeralda. Between the Esmeralda and the fort lay a North American
+frigate, the Macedonia, which completely hindered the castle from
+covering the corvette with its guns. So enraged were the garrison at
+this, that the next morning an officer of the Macedonia was murdered
+with his whole boat's crew, the very instant they set foot on shore."
+
+We shall not accompany Dr Tschudi through his "fragment of the modern
+history of Peru;" for although lucid and interesting, it might become
+less so in the compressed form which we should necessarily have to
+adopt. We find at one time six self-styled presidents of Peru--each
+with his share of partizans, more or less numerous, and with a force
+at his command varying from one to five thousand men--oppressing the
+people, levying contributions, shooting and banishing the adherents of
+his five rivals. Let us examine the probable causes of such a state of
+things, of the revolutions and rebellions which have now lasted for
+twenty years--since the birth of the republic, in fact--and which must
+finally, if a check be not put to them, bring about the depopulation
+and total ruin of Peru. These causes Dr Tschudi finds in the want of
+honour and common honesty exhibited by the majority of the Peruvian
+officers. With the army all the revolutions have begun. As soon as an
+officer reaches the rank of colonel, and if he can only reckon upon
+the adherence of some fifteen hundred or two thousand soldiers, he
+begins to think of deposing the president and ruling in his stead. In
+so doing, he is actuated by avarice rather than by ambition. During
+their short-lived power these dictators levy enormous contributions,
+of which they pocket the greater part, and let the soldiers want.
+After a while they abandon the helm of government, either voluntarily
+or by compulsion, and take with them their ill-gotten wealth. When the
+chiefs set such examples, it cannot be wondered at if, amongst their
+inferiors, insubordination and mutiny are the order of the day. These,
+however, are most prevalent amongst the subaltern officers, scarcely
+ever originating with the soldiers, although their treatment, we are
+informed, is inhumanly cruel, and their privations and sufferings of
+the severest. There appears to be a great similarity in character
+between the Peruvian infantry and the Spanish troops of the present
+day; although the former are not of Spanish descent, but consist
+chiefly of Indians from the interior and mountainous districts of
+Peru. Dr Tschudi describes them as obedient, willing, and courageous;
+unparalleled in their endurance of hunger and fatigue, capable of
+sustaining for several days together marches of fourteen or sixteen
+leagues. The officers, however, must be good, or the men are useless
+in the field. If not well led, they throw away their arms and run, and
+there is no possibility of rallying them. Moreover, no retrograde
+movement must be made, although it be merely as a manoeuvre--the
+Indians looking upon it as a signal for flight. The cavalry, for the
+most part well mounted, is worthless. It consists of negroes--a race
+rarely remarkable for courage. As cruel as they are cowardly, a
+defeated foe meets with barbarous treatment at their hands.
+
+With every Peruvian army march nearly as many women as it comprises
+men. Unpalatable as such a following would be to European commanders,
+it is encouraged and deemed indispensable by Peruvian generals. The
+Indian women, as enduring and hardy as their husbands, set out two or
+three hours before the troops, and precede them by about the same
+time at the halting place. They immediately collect wood for fires,
+and prepare the rations, which they carry with them, for their
+husbands, sons, and brothers. Without them, in the more desolate and
+mountainous districts, the soldiers would sometimes risk starvation.
+They are no impediment to the rapid march of a column, which they, on
+the contrary, accelerate, by saving the men trouble, and affording
+them more time for repose. During a battle they remain in the vicinity
+of the troops, but far enough off not to impede their movements; the
+fight over, they seek out the wounded and take care of them. The lot
+of these poor women, who go by the name of _rabonas_, is any thing but
+an enviable one; for besides their many privations and hardships, they
+meet with much ill usage at the hands of the soldiery, to which,
+however, they submit with incredible patience.
+
+The manner in which most of the officers treat the soldiers is
+perfectly inhuman, and the slightest offences meet with terrible
+chastisement. Every officer has a right, at least in war time, to
+inflict, without a court-martial, any punishment he pleases. Some of
+the chiefs are celebrated for the refinement of their cruelties; and
+many soldiers prefer death to serving under them. During General
+Gamarra's campaign against the Bolivians in 1842, several score of
+soldiers sprang one day from the bridge of Oroya, to seek death in the
+torrent that flows beneath it. With the scornful cry of "_Adios,
+capitan!_" they took the fatal leap, and the next instant lay mangled
+and expiring upon the rocks through which the stream forces its way.
+"I myself have witnessed," continues Dr Tschudi, "how soldiers who on
+the march were unable to keep up with the column, were shot dead upon
+the spot. On the road from Tarma to Jauja, a distance of nine leagues,
+I passed seven Indians who had thus lost their lives. It is true that
+the commandant of that battalion, an officer whose sword was as yet
+unstained with any blood save that of his own men, was accustomed to
+call out when he saw a soldier straggling from fatigue--'_pegale un
+tiro!_' Shoot him down! And the order was forthwith obeyed." When the
+troops reach the halting-place, and the _rabonas_ learn the fate of
+their sons or husbands, they mournfully retrace their weary footsteps,
+and amidst tears and lamentations dig a last resting place for these
+victims of military tyranny.
+
+The sick are scarcely better treated. When they can no longer drag
+themselves along, they are placed upon mules, and, through the
+severest cold or most burning heat, are driven after the army. When
+they die, which is most frequently the case, they are dropped at the
+next village, to be buried by the alcalde.
+
+"The major of a squadron of light cavalry," says our traveller, "once
+asked me, during my stay at Tarma in the year 1842, to take charge for
+a few days of his sick men. Of one hundred and twenty soldiers
+composing the squadron, sixty-eight lay huddled together in a damp
+dark hole, ill of the scarlet fever. Fourteen more were suffering from
+the effects of punishment. What a horrible sight they presented! Their
+backs were nearly bare of flesh and covered with the most frightful
+wounds. A mutiny had taken place, and the major had shot six men, and
+caused eighteen others to receive from one hundred to three hundred
+lashes, with broad thongs of tapir hide--a punishment so severe, that
+some of them died under its infliction. The survivors were compelled
+immediately to mount their horses and follow the squadron. For nine
+days they rode on in the most terrible agony, and during that time had
+to cross the Cordilleras. Several of them refused to have their wounds
+dressed; and it was necessary to use force to compel them. One man
+implored me with tears to do nothing to improve his state, for that he
+longed to die. Before they were nearly cured, a march was ordered, and
+they again had to mount and ride. The consequences of this barbarity
+were easy to foresee. Before another eight days had elapsed, the
+squadron was scarcely sixty men strong."
+
+Turn we from such horrors to a more pleasing theme. "Could I suppose,"
+says Dr Tschudi, "that my readers are acquainted with the excellent
+description of Lima which Stevenson gives in his Travels in South
+America,[3] I would willingly abstain from any detail of the houses,
+churches, squares, and streets of that capital. But as that esteemed
+work was published twenty years ago, and is now almost entirely
+forgotten, I may venture, without danger of repeating things
+universally known, to give a sketch of the city of Lima." And
+accordingly, the doctor devotes his fifth chapter to an account of the
+capital of Peru--an account over which we shall pass lightly, for the
+double reason, that our readers may be better acquainted with
+Stevenson's work than Dr Tschudi's countrymen can be supposed to be,
+and because, if we linger wherever we are tempted so to do in this
+very pleasant book, our paper will run out beyond any reasonable
+length. We must glance at the cathedral founded by Pizarro, and which
+took ninety years in building. Its magnificence and riches are
+scarcely to be surpassed by those of any other existing church. The
+high altar boasts of seven silver pillars of the Ionic order, twelve
+feet high, and a foot and a-half thick; the shrine is seven and a-half
+feet high, carved in gold, and studded with countless diamonds and
+emeralds; the silver candlesticks weigh one hundred and twelve pounds
+each. In connection with the convent of San Pedro, a curious anecdote
+is told. It belonged to the Jesuits, and was their "Colegio Maximo;"
+it was known to possess immense wealth, for the richest plantations
+and finest houses belonged to the order. In the year 1773, the king of
+Spain, supported by the famous bull of the 21st June of that year,
+"Dominus ac redemptor noster," sent orders to his South American
+viceroys to arrest all the Jesuits in one night, ship them off to
+Spain, and confiscate their wealth. The greatest secresy was observed,
+and no one but the viceroy, and those in his entire confidence, was
+supposed to know any thing of the plan. But the same ship which
+conveyed to the viceroy the king's instructions in his own
+handwriting, brought to the vicar-general of the Jesuits in Lima the
+needful instructions from the general of the order at Madrid, to whom
+his Majesty's designs had become known. In all silence, and with every
+precaution the needful preparations were made; at ten o'clock on the
+appointed night, the viceroy summoned his council, and communicated to
+them the royal commands. No one was allowed to leave the room till the
+blow had been struck. At midnight trusty officers were sent to arrest
+the Jesuits, of whose names the viceroy had a list. It was expected
+that they would be surprised in their sleep. The patrole knocked at
+the door of the San Pedro convent, which was immediately opened. The
+commanding officer asked to see the vicar-general, and was forthwith
+conducted into the principal hall, where he found the whole of the
+order assembled, waiting for him, and ready to depart. Each man had
+his portmanteau packed with whatever was necessary for a long voyage.
+In all the other convents of Jesuits similar preparations had been
+made. The astonishment and vexation of the viceroy may be imagined. He
+immediately sent off the whole fraternity to Callao, where ships were
+ready to receive them. Inventories were then taken, and search made
+for the Jesuits' money. But great was the surprise of the searchers
+when instead of the millions which the order was known to possess, but
+a few thousand dollars were to be discovered. All the keys, including
+that of the strong box, were found, duly ticketed, in the
+vicar-general's room. The Jesuits could hardly have taken a better
+revenge for the treachery that had been used with their order.
+
+It was supposed that the money was buried, partly in the plantations,
+and partly in the convent of San Pedro. An old negro, in the service
+of the convent, told how he and one of his comrades had been employed
+during several nights in carrying, with bandaged eyes, heavy sacks of
+money into the vaults beneath the building. Two Jesuits accompanied
+them, and helped them to load and unload their burdens. The researches
+hitherto made have been but superficial and imperfect; and Dr Tschudi
+opines, with some na�vet�, that the hidden hoard may yet be
+discovered. We cannot partake his opinion. The cunning Jesuits who
+concealed the treasure will have found means to recover it.
+
+Lima was the principal seat of the Inquisition upon the west coast of
+South America, and in severity the tribunal was but little surpassed
+by that of Madrid itself. The building in which it was held still
+exists, but was gutted by the populace when the institution was
+abolished by the Cortes, and few traces of its internal arrangements
+and murderous engines are now to be seen. More visible ones are yet to
+be noticed in the persons of some unfortunate Lime�os. "A Spaniard,"
+Dr Tschudi tells us, "whose limbs were frightfully distorted, told me,
+in reply to my inquiries, that he had fallen into a machine which had
+thus mangled him. A few days before his death, however, he confided to
+me that in his twenty-fourth year he had been brought before the
+tribunal of the Holy Inquisition, and by the most horrible tortures
+had been compelled to confess a crime of which he was not guilty. I
+still shudder when I remember his crushed and twisted limbs, at the
+thoughts of the agonies which the unhappy wretch must have endured."
+
+Now and then, however, the most holy ruffians of the Inquisition met
+their match, as the following anecdote serves to show. The Viceroy,
+Castel-Fuerte, once expressed, in presence of his confessor, certain
+opinions regarding religion which the good monk did not find very
+catholic, and which he accordingly, as in duty bound, reported to the
+Inquisitors. The latter, confident of their omnipotence, joyfully
+seized this opportunity to increase its _prestige_, by proving that
+their power extended even to the punishment of a viceroy. But
+Castel-Fuerte was not Philip of Spain. At the appointed hour, he
+repaired to the Inquisition at the head of his body-guard and of a
+company of infantry, with two pieces of artillery, which he caused to
+be pointed at the building. Entering the terrible hall, he strode up
+to the table, drew out his watch, and laid it before him. "Se�ores,"
+said he, "I am ready to discuss this affair, but for one hour only. If
+I am not back by that time, my officers have orders to level this
+building with the ground." Astounded at his boldness, the Inquisitors
+consulted together for a few moments, and then, with eager politeness,
+complimented the resolute Castel-Fuerte out of the house.
+
+Lima was founded by Pizarro in the year 1534, on the 6th of January,
+known amongst Roman Catholics as the Day of the Three Kings. From this
+latter circumstance it has frequently been called the City of the
+Kings. Like some tropical flower, urged into premature bloom and
+luxuriance by too rich a soil and too ardent a sun, its decay has been
+proportionably rapid, and the capital of Peru is already but the ghost
+of its former self. Some idea of its rapid growth may be formed from
+the circumstance that a wall built in 1585, only fifty years after its
+foundation, includes, with the exception of a small portion of the
+northern extremity and the suburb of San Lazaro, the whole of a city
+capable of containing one hundred thousand inhabitants, and measuring
+ten English miles in circumference. The dates of foundation of the
+principal public buildings further confirm the fact of Lima's rapid
+arrival at the size as well as the rank of a metropolis. The number of
+inhabitants, which in 1810 was estimated at eighty-seven thousand, in
+1842 was reduced to fifty-three thousand. It must be observed,
+however, that the manner of taking the census is loose and imperfect,
+and these numbers may need rectification. At the same time, there can
+be no doubt that the population has long been, and still is, daily
+diminishing. Of this diminution the causes are various, and may easily
+be traced to the physical and political state of the country. Terrible
+earthquakes have buried thousands of persons beneath the ruins of
+their dwellings; the struggle for independence also swept away its
+thousands; and banishment and emigration may further account for the
+decrease. Epidemics, the natural consequence of an imperfect police,
+and an utter neglect of cleanliness, frequently rage in the city and
+its environs; and Dr Tschudi proves, by interesting tables and
+statements, that the average excess of deaths over births has been,
+since the year 1826, no less than five hundred and fifty annually.
+Without entering into all the causes to which this may be attributed,
+he pronounces the criminal, but, in Lima, too common, practice of
+causing abortion to be one of the most prominent. So large a yearly
+decrease menaces the Peruvian capital with a speedy depopulation, and
+already whole streets and quarters of the city are desolate,--the
+houses falling in,--the gardens run to waste. To the country, not less
+than to the town, many of the above facts are applicable; and the once
+rich and flourishing region, that extends from the third to the
+twenty-second degree of southern latitude, and which, at the time of
+its conquest by Pizarro, contained an enormous population, now
+possesses but one million four hundred thousand inhabitants.
+
+One can really hardly grieve over the possible extinction of a race
+which, according to Dr Tschudi's showing, is in most respects so
+utterly worthless and undeserving of sympathy. We refer now more
+especially to the white Creoles,[4] who constitute about a third, or
+rather more, of the population of Lima, where there are comparatively
+few Indians of pure blood, but, on the other hand, a large number of
+half-casts of every shade, and about five thousand negroes, chiefly
+slaves. These white Creoles, with few exceptions the descendants of
+Spaniards, seem to have clung to, and improved upon, the vices of
+their progenitors, without inheriting their good qualities. Both
+physically and morally they have greatly degenerated. Weak, indolent,
+and effeminate, a ten hours' ride seems to them an exploit worthy of
+registration in the archives of the country. Sworn foes of any kind of
+trouble, if their circumstances compel them to choose an occupation,
+they set up some retail shop, which gives them little trouble, and
+allows them abundance of leisure to gossip with their neighbours and
+smoke their cigar. The richer class pass their time in complete
+idleness,--lounging in the streets, visiting their acquaintances, and
+occasionally taking a lazy ride to their plantations near the city.
+The afternoon is got rid of in the caf�, the gaming-house, or the
+cock-pit--cock-fighting being a darling diversion with the Creoles.
+Their education is defective, and the majority of them are ignorant
+beyond belief. Dr Tschudi tells us of a Peruvian minister of war who
+knew neither the population nor the area of his country, and who
+obstinately maintained that Portugal was the eastern boundary of Peru,
+and could be reached by land. Another Peruvian, high in place, was
+heard to give an exact account of how Frederick the Great had driven
+Napoleon out of Russia. There have been some brilliant exceptions to
+this general darkness, but the list of them is very brief, and may be
+comprised in a few lines. In their habits the Creoles are dirty,
+especially at table; and the disgusting custom of spitting is carried
+to an extent that would make even a Yankee stare. Their principal good
+qualities are abstinence from strong drinks, hospitality to strangers,
+and benevolence to the poor.
+
+The ladies of Lima, we learn, are in most respects far superior to the
+men. Tall and well made, with regular features, magnificent eyes and
+hair, beautiful teeth, and exquisitely small feet, they are spoken of
+by Dr Tschudi in terms almost of enthusiasm. Their dress is very
+original; one usual part of it being a silk petticoat, made so narrow
+at the ankles as to prevent rapid walking, and to render their kneeling
+down in church and getting up again a matter of some difficulty.
+During the revolution, when Lima was held alternately by the Spaniards
+and the Patriots, a party of the former, in order to ascertain the real
+sentiments of the Lime�os, disguised themselves as Patriots, and
+approached the city. As soon as their coming was known, a crowd went
+out to meet them, and in the throng were many women with these narrow
+_sayas_. When sufficiently near, the disguised Spaniards drew their
+swords, and cut right and left amongst the defenceless mob. The men
+saved themselves by flight, but the women, impeded by their absurd
+petticoats, were for the most part sabred.
+
+The Lime�as are good mothers, but bad housekeepers. Most ladies have
+an unnecessarily numerous establishment of servants and slaves, each
+of whom does just what he pleases, and is rarely at hand when wanted.
+Smoking is pretty general amongst Peruvian women, but is on the
+decline rather than the increase. They are passionately fond of music,
+and most of them sing and play the guitar or piano, although, for want
+of good instruction, their performance is usually but middling. Many
+of them are skilled in needle-work; but they rarely occupy themselves
+in that manner--never in company or of an evening. "Happy city!"
+exclaims Dr Tschudi, thinking doubtless of his own fair countrywomen
+and their eternal knitting needles, "where stocking making is unknown
+in the social circle!" We do not find, however, that the doctor
+supports his assertion of the moral superiority of the Creole ladies
+over their _worser_ halves, by any very strong proofs. That assertion,
+on the contrary, is followed by the startling admissions, that they
+are confirmed gluttons, and ruin their husbands by their love of
+dress; that they gamble considerably, and intrigue not a few, favoured
+in this latter respect by a certain convenient veil of thick silk,
+called a _manto_, which entirely conceals their face, having only a
+small triangular loop-hole, "through which a great fiery eye flashes
+upon you." We fear that these "flashes," frequently repeated, have a
+little dazzled our learned traveller, and induced him to look
+leniently on the sins of the lovely Lime�as. We do not otherwise know
+how to reconcile the evidence with the eulogium.
+
+Ardent politicians, and endowed with a degree of courage not often
+found in their sex, these Peruvian dames have frequently played a
+prominent part in revolutions, and by their manoeuvres have even
+brought about changes of government. Conspicuous amongst them was Do�a
+Francisca Subyaga, wife of the former president, Gamarra. When, in
+1834, her cowardly and undecided husband was driven out of Lima by the
+populace, and stood lamenting and irresolute what to do, Do�a
+Francisca snatched his sword from his side, put herself at the head of
+the troops, and commanded an orderly retreat, the only means by which
+to save herself and the remainder of the army. A bystander having
+ventured to utter some insolent remark, she rode up to him, and
+threatened that when she returned to Lima she would make a pair of
+riding-gloves out of his skin. She died in exile a few months later,
+or else, when her husband went back to Peru four years afterwards, at
+the head of a Chilian army, she would have been likely enough to keep
+her word.
+
+So much for the Lime�as, although Dr Tschudi gives us a great deal
+more information concerning them; and very amusing this part of his
+book is, reminding us considerably of Madame Calderon's delightful
+gossip about Mexico. "Lima," says the Spanish proverb, "is a heaven to
+women, a purgatory to husbands, and a hell to jackasses." The latter
+unfortunate beasts being infamously used by the negroes, who,
+especially the liberated ones, are the most cruel and vicious race in
+Peru. In this latter category must be included the Zambos and Chinos,
+half-casts between negroes and mulattos, and negroes and Indians. We
+turn a few pages and come to the carnival; during which, judging from
+the account before us, we should imagine that Lima became a hell not
+only to ill-treated donkeys, but to man woman, and child. The chief
+sport of that festive season consists in sprinkling people with water,
+concerning the purity of which the sprinklers are by no means
+fastidious. From nearly every balcony, liquids of the most various
+and unsavoury description are rained down upon the passers by; at the
+street corners stand negroes, who seize upon all who are not of their
+own cast, and roll them in the gutter, unless they prefer paying a
+certain ransom, in which case they get off with a trifling baptism of
+dirty water. Troops of young men force their way into the houses of
+their acquaintances and attack the ladies. First they sprinkle them
+with scented water, but when that is expended, the pump, and even
+worse, is had recourse to, and the sport becomes brutality. The
+ladies, with their clothes dripping wet, are chased from room to room,
+become heated, and are frequently rendered dangerously ill. Diseases
+of the lungs, and other rheumatic complaints, are the invariable
+consequences of the carnival, to whose barbarous celebration many fall
+victims. Besides this, every year murders occur out of revenge for
+this brutal treatment. One favourite trick is to fill a sack with
+fragments of glass and earthenware, and fasten it to the balcony by a
+cord, the length of which is so calculated, that when let down the
+sack hangs at about seven feet from the ground. The sack is kept on
+the balcony till somebody passes, and is then suddenly thrown out,
+but, thanks to the cord, remains at a safe distance above the heads of
+those below. Although it is tolerably well known that in most streets
+there is at least one of these infernal machines; yet the sudden shock
+and alarm are so great, that persons have been known to fall down
+senseless on the spot. Horses are thus made to shy violently, and
+frequently throw their riders. The practice is each year forbidden by
+the police, but the prohibition is disregarded.
+
+Heaven preserve us from a Lima carnival! If compelled to choose we
+should infinitely prefer a campaign against the Chilians, which, we
+apprehend, must be mere barrack-yard duty comparatively. No wonder
+that the city is becoming depopulated, when the fairer portion of its
+inhabitants are annually subjected to such inhuman treatment. In some
+respects the Peruvians appear to be perfect barbarians. Their
+favourite diversions are of the most cruel order; cock-fighting and
+bull-fights--but bull-fights, compared to which, those still in vogue
+in Spain are humane exhibitions. Peru is the only country in South
+America where this last amusement is kept up as a matter of regular
+occurrence. Bull-fighting in Spain may be considered cruel, but in
+Peru it becomes a mere torturing of beasts, without honour or credit
+to the men opposed to them, who are all negroes and zambos, the very
+dregs of the populace. There seems a total want of national character
+about the Peruvians. They are bad copies of the Spaniards, whose
+failings they imitate and out-herod till they become odious vices. Add
+to what has been already shown of their cruel and sensual
+propensities, the fact that their habitations, with the exception of
+the two rooms in which visits are received, bear more resemblance, for
+cleanliness and order, to stables than to human dwellings, and it will
+be acknowledged that not a little of the savage seems to have rubbed
+off upon the Peruvian.
+
+Ice is a necessary of life in Lima, and is brought from the
+Cordilleras, a distance of twenty-eight leagues. So essential in that
+ardent climate is this refreshment, that the lack of it for a few days
+is sufficient to cause a notable ferment among the people; and in all
+revolutions, therefore, the leaders cautiously abstain from applying
+the mules used for its carriage, to any other purpose. The Indians hew
+the ice out of the glaciers in lumps of six arrobas (150 pounds) each,
+and lower it from the mountains by ropes. Other Indians receive and
+carry it a couple of leagues to a depot, where it is packed upon
+mules. Two lumps form a mule load, and thirty of these loads are sent
+daily to Lima, where, by means of frequent relays, they arrive in
+eighteen or twenty hours. During the journey the ice loses about the
+third of its weight, and what remains is just sufficient to supply the
+city for a day. It is chiefly used in making ices, composed for the
+most part of milk or pine-apple juice.
+
+The want of good roads, and, in many directions, of any roads at all,
+renders carriage travelling in the neighbourhood of Lima exceedingly
+difficult and expensive. Only southwards from the city is it possible,
+at an enormous cost, to get to a distance of forty leagues. Sixty or
+eighty horses are driven by the side of the carriage, and every half
+hour fresh ones are harnessed, as the only means of getting the
+vehicle through the sand, which is more than a foot deep. A Peruvian,
+who was accustomed to send his wife every year on a visit to his
+plantation, at thirty-two leagues from Lima, told Dr Tschudi that the
+journey there and back cost him fourteen hundred dollars, or somewhere
+about three hundred pounds sterling. In former days, during the
+brilliant period of the Spanish domination, enormous sums were
+frequently given for carriages and mules; and the shoes of the latter,
+and tires of the wheels, were often of silver instead of iron. Even at
+the present day the Peruvians expend large sums upon the equipments of
+their horses, especially upon the stirrups, which are ponderous boxes
+carved in wood, and lavishly decorated with silver. A friend of Dr
+Tschudi's, a priest from the Sierra, had a pair made, the silver about
+which weighed forty pounds! The saddle and bridle were proportionably
+magnificent, and the value of the silver employed in the whole
+equipment was more than 1500 dollars. Spurs are of enormous size.
+According to the old usage they should contain three marks--a pound
+and a half--of silver, and be richly chased and ornamented. The rowels
+are one and a half to two inches in circumference. Besides the saddle,
+bridle, and stirrups above described, the unfortunate Peruvian horses
+are oppressed with sheepskin shabrack, saddle-bags, and various other
+appliances. "At first," says our traveller, "the Peruvian
+horse-trappings appear to a stranger both unwieldy and unserviceable;
+but he soon becomes convinced of their suitableness, and even finds
+them handsome." _We_ should not, nor, we dare be sworn, do the horses,
+whose many good qualities certainly deserve a lighter load and better
+treatment than they appear to get. Dr Tschudi speaks highly of their
+endurance and speed, although their usual pace is an amble, at which,
+however, they will outstrip many horses at full gallop. One variety of
+this favourite pace, the _paso portante_, in which the two feet on the
+same side of the body are thrown forward at the same time, is
+particularly curious, and peculiar to the Peruvian horse. The giraffe
+is the only other animal that employs it. In Peru a horse is valued
+according to the goodness of his amble. Beauty of form is a secondary
+consideration, and the finest trotters are thought nothing of, but are
+sold cheap for carriage work. It is considered a serious defect, and
+greatly depreciates a horse's value, if he has the habit of flapping
+or lashing himself with his tail when spurred, or at any other time.
+As this habit is found incurable, the sinews of the tail are sometimes
+cut through, which, by crippling it, hinders the obnoxious flapping.
+
+The breaking of a Peruvian horse occupies two years. The
+horse-breakers are, for the most part, free negroes, of powerful
+build, and they understand their business perfectly, only that they
+ill-treat the animals too much, and thereby render them shy. They
+teach them all sorts of ambles and man�ge tricks, one of the latter
+consisting in the horse pirouetting upon his hind legs. This they do
+when at full gallop, on the slightest signal of the rider. A
+well-known Lime�o, says Dr Tschudi, rode at full speed up to the city
+wall, which is scarcely nine feet broad, leaped upon it, and made his
+horse repeatedly perform this _volte_, the fore feet of the beast each
+time describing the arc of a circle beyond the edge of the wall. He
+performed this feat with every one of his horses. Further on in the
+book, the doctor relates an incident that occurred to himself, proving
+the more valuable qualities of these horses, their strength, courage,
+and endurance. "I had occasion to go from Huacho to Lima," he says,
+"and wished to accomplish this journey without halting. The distance
+is twenty-eight leagues, (at least eighty-four miles,) and I left
+Huacho at two in the afternoon, accompanied by a negro guide. At one
+in the morning we reached the river Pasamayo, which had been greatly
+swoln by the recent rains, and thundered along with a fearful uproar.
+Several travellers were bivouacked upon the shore, waiting for
+daylight, and perhaps for the subsiding of the waters. My negro
+shrugged his shoulders, and said he had never seen the river so high;
+and the travellers agreed with him, and denied the possibility of
+crossing. But I had no time to lose, and made up my mind to risk the
+passage on my good horse, who had often served me in similar dilemmas.
+I cautiously entered the stream, which, at each step, became deeper
+and stronger. My horse soon lost his footing, and, in spite of his
+violent efforts, was swept down by the force of the current, until we
+were both dashed against a rock in the middle of the river. Just then
+the moon became clouded, and I could no longer distinguish the group
+of trees on the opposite shore, which I had fixed upon to land at.
+Luckily my horse had again found a footing; I turned his head, and
+plunging into deep water, the noble beast swam back, with incredible
+strength, to the bank whence we had come. After some search I found a
+more favourable place, and my negro and I succeeded in crossing. Three
+travellers, who were anxious to do the same, but did not dare venture
+alone, called to us for assistance. I sent back the negro on my own
+horse, and one by one he brought them over. Seven times did the good
+steed achieve the dangerous passage, and then carried me without a
+halt to Lima, where we arrived at the hour of noon."
+
+Such horses as these are indeed valuable in a country where carriage
+roads there are none, or next to none. The mules, whose price varies
+according to their qualities, from 100 to 1000 dollars, also perform,
+in spite of indifferent usage, scanty care, and frequently poor
+nourishment, journeys of great length over the arid sandy plains of
+Peru. They are also amblers, and often as swift as the horses. Dr
+Tschudi tells us of a priest at Piura, who, when he had to read mass
+at a sea-port town, fourteen leagues from his residence, mounted, at
+six in the morning, a splendid mule belonging to him, and reached his
+destination at nine o'clock. At four in the afternoon he set off on
+his return, and was home by seven or half-past. The whole of the road,
+which led across a sandflat, was gone over at an amble. The priest
+refused enormous sums for this beast, which he would on no account
+sell. At last Salaverry, then president of Peru, heard of the mule's
+extraordinary swiftness, and sent an aide-de-camp to buy it. The
+officer met with a refusal; but no sooner had he turned his back, than
+the priest, who knew Salaverry's despotic and violent character, cut
+off his mule's ears and tail. As he had foreseen, so it happened. The
+next morning a sergeant made his appearance, bearing positive orders
+to take away the animal in dispute, with or without the owner's
+sanction. This was done; but when Salaverry saw the cropped condition
+of poor _mulo_, he swore all the oaths in the language, and sent him
+back again. The priest had attained his end, for he valued the beast
+less for his beauty than for his more solid qualities.
+
+The Peruvian _cuisine_ has, not unnaturally, a considerable similarity
+with the Spanish. The puchero or olla is the basis of the dinner, and
+of red pepper, capsicums, and other stimulating condiments, abundant
+use is made. The Lime�os have some extraordinary notions respecting
+eating and drinking. They consider that every sort of food is either
+heating or cooling, and is opposed to something else. The union in the
+stomach of two of these contrary substances is attended, according to
+their belief, with the most dangerous consequences, and may even cause
+death. A Lime�o, who has eaten rice at dinner, omits the customary
+glass of water after the sweetmeats, because the two things _se
+oponen_, are opposites. To so absurd an extent is this carried, that
+servants who have eaten rice refuse to wash afterwards, and the
+washer-women never eat it. "I have been asked innumerable times," says
+Dr Tschudi, "by persons who had been ordered a foot-bath at night,
+whether they might venture to take it, for that they had eaten rice at
+dinner!"
+
+The market at Lima was formerly held upon the Plaza Mayor, and was
+renowned for the great abundance and variety of the fruits,
+vegetables, and flowers brought thither for sale. But it is now on the
+Plazuela de la Inquisicion, and its glory has in great measure
+departed. Along the sides of the gutters sit the fish and sausage
+sellers, who may be seen washing their wares in the filthy stream
+before them. The butchers exhibit good meat, but only beef and mutton,
+the slaughtering of young beasts being forbidden by law. On the flower
+market are sold Lima nosegays--_pucheros de flores_, as they are
+called. They are composed of a few specimens of the smaller tropical
+fruits, esteemed either for fragrance or beauty, laid upon a banana
+leaf, and tastefully intermingled with flowers. The whole is sprinkled
+with lavender water and other scents, and is very pretty to look at,
+but yields an overpoweringly strong perfume. The price depends on the
+rarity of the flowers employed, and some of these pucheros cost seven
+or eight dollars. They rank amongst the most acceptable presents that
+can be offered to a Peruvian lady.
+
+"The city of earthquakes," would be a far more appropriate name for
+Lima, than the city of the kings. On an average of years,
+five-and-forty shocks are annually felt, most of which occur in the
+latter half of October, in November, December, January, May, and June.
+January is the worst month, during which, in many years, scarcely a
+day passes without convulsions of this kind. The terrible earthquakes
+that play such havoc with the city, come at intervals of forty to
+sixty years. Since the west coast of South America is known to
+Europeans, the following are the dates:--1586, 1630, 1687, 1713, 1746,
+1806; always two in a century. It is greatly to be feared that ten
+more years will not elapse without Lima being visited by another of
+these awful calamities. Dr Tschudi gives a brief account of the
+earthquake of 1746. It was on the 28th of October, St Simon and St
+Jude's day, that at 31 minutes past 10 P.M., the earth shook with a
+fearful bellowing noise, and in an instant the whole of Lima was a
+heap of ruins. Noise, earthquake, and destruction were all the affair
+of _one_ moment. The few buildings whose strength resisted the first
+shock, were thrown down by a regular horizontal motion of the earth,
+which succeeded it and lasted four minutes. Out of more than three
+thousand houses only twenty-one remained uninjured. Nearly all the
+public buildings were overthrown. At the port of Callao the
+destruction was even more complete; for scarcely was the earthquake
+over, when the sea arose with a mighty rushing sound, and swallowed up
+both town and inhabitants. In an instant five thousand human beings
+became the prey of the waters.[5] The Spanish corvette San Fermin,
+which lay at anchor in the harbour, was hurled far over the walls of
+the fortress, and stranded at more than five hundred yards from the
+shore. A cross marks the place where she struck. Three heavily laden
+merchantmen met the same fate, and nineteen other vessels foundered.
+The town had disappeared, and travellers have related how, even now,
+when the sky is bright and the sea still, the houses and churches may
+be dimly seen through the transparent waters. Such a tale as this is
+scarce worth refuting, seeing that the houses were overturned by the
+earthquake before they were overwhelmed by the sea, whose action must
+long since have destroyed their every vestige. But the old sailors
+along that coast love to tell how on certain days the people are seen
+sitting at the doors of their houses, and standing about in the
+streets, and how, in the silent watches of the night, a cock has been
+heard to crow from out of the depths of the sea.
+
+Meteors frequently appear as forerunners of the earthquakes, amongst
+whose consequences may be reckoned the sudden sterilizing of districts
+previously fruitful, but which, after one of these convulsions of
+nature, refuse for many years to put forth vegetation. No frequency of
+repetition diminishes the alarm and horror occasioned by the shocks.
+The inhabitants of Lima, although accustomed from their earliest
+childhood to the constant recurrence of such phenomena, spring from
+their beds at the first quivering of the earth, and with cries of
+"misericordia!" rush out of their houses. The European, who knows
+nothing of earthquakes but the name, almost wishes for the arrival of
+one, and is sometimes inclined to laugh at the terror of the
+Peruvians; but when he has once felt a shock, any disposition to make
+merry on the subject disappears, and his dread of its recurrence is
+even greater than that of the natives. The deeply unpleasant
+impression left by an earthquake, is in Lima heightened by the
+_plegarias_ or general prayers that succeed it. The shock has no
+sooner been felt, than a signal is given from the cathedral, and
+during ten minutes all the bells in the town toll with long, measured
+strokes to call the inhabitants to their devotions.
+
+A pleasant country to live in! Those who may feel tempted by the
+doctor's commendation of the fascinating Lime�as--the delightful,
+although not very healthy, climate--the luscious fruits, and gorgeous
+flowers, and manifold wonders of Peru--to gird up their loins and
+betake themselves thither, will perhaps think twice of it when they
+learn that an earthquake might, and probably would, be their welcome.
+Descriptions of tropical countries remind us of those pictures of
+Italian festivals, where nymph-like damsels and Antin�us-looking
+youths are gracefully dancing round grape-laden cars; whilst some fine
+old Belisarius of a grandpapa, white bearded and benignant, sits upon
+the shaft and smiles upon his descendants. One sees the graceful
+forms, the classic features, the bursting grapes, and the bright
+sunshine; all of which, like enough, are depicted to the life, but one
+sees nothing of the filth, and nastiness, and crawling vermin, that
+would awfully shock us in the originals of the picture. Not that we
+mean to accuse Dr Tschudi of painting Peru in rose-colour, or
+remaining silent as to its defects. He is a conscientious traveller,
+and gives us things as he finds them. Besides the great nuisance of
+the earthquakes, and the lesser one of dirt, already adverted to;
+besides the armies of fleas, which render even the Lima theatre almost
+unvisitable--not mild European fleas, but sanguinary Spanish-American
+ones; besides the malaria in the swamps, the _piques_, _chinches_,
+mosquitos, and other insect tormentors, he favours us with some
+agreeable details touching the highwaymen who infest the whole coast
+of Peru, but especially the neighbourhood of Lima and Truxillo. They
+are usually runaway slaves, _simarrones_, as they are called, or else
+free negroes, zambos, and mulattos. Now and then Indians are found
+amongst them, who make themselves conspicuous by their cold-blooded
+cruelties, and occasionally even a white man takes to this infamous
+trade. In 1839 a North American, who had served on board of a
+man-of-war, was shot for highway robbery. Shooting, it must be
+observed, appears to be the usual way of inflicting capital punishment
+in Peru. These banditti, well mounted and armed, are very bold and
+numerous, and most of them belong to an extensive and well organised
+band, which has branches in various directions. Sometimes they
+approach the city in parties of thirty or forty men, and plunder all
+travellers who leave it. They prefer attacking foreigners, and usually
+spare the richer and more influential Peruvians, which may be one
+cause that stronger measures are not adopted against them. Shortly
+before Dr Tschudi's departure from Lima, they attacked the feeble
+escort of a sum of one hundred thousand dollars, which were on their
+way to the mines of Cerro de Pasco, and carried off the money. The
+silver bars sent from the mines to the city they allow to pass
+unmolested, as being too heavy and cumbersome. The unfortunate
+peasants who come in from the mountains on jackasses, with eggs and
+other produce, are marked for their particular prey, on account of the
+money which they usually carry with them to make purchases in the
+town. If no dollars are found on them, they are killed or terribly
+maltreated. We pass over some stories of the cruelties exercised by
+these bandits. Here is one of another sort. "One night that I found
+myself at Chancay," says the doctor, "an Indian told me the following
+anecdote: About half a mile from the village, he said, he had been met
+by a negro, who approached him with carbine cocked, and ordered him to
+halt. The Indian drew a large pistol, and said to the robber, 'You may
+thank heaven that this is not loaded, or it would be all over with
+you.' Laughing scornfully, the negro rode up and seized the Indian,
+who then pulled the trigger of his pistol and shot him dead on the
+spot."
+
+When attacked by the police or military, the robbers display desperate
+courage in their defence. Sometimes they take shelter in the bush or
+thicket, to which, if the space of ground it covers be not too
+extensive, the pursuers set fire on all sides; so that the bandits
+have no choice but to perish or yield themselves prisoners. In the
+latter case their trial is very short, and after they have been left
+shut up with a priest for the space of twelve hours, they are brought
+out and shot. They are allowed to choose their place of execution, and
+must carry thither a small bench or stool upon which they sit down.
+Four soldiers stand at a distance of three paces; two aim at the head
+and two at the heart. A few years ago a Zambo of great daring was
+sentenced to death for robbery, and he demanded to be shot upon the
+Plaza de la Inquisicion. He sat down upon his bench--the soldiers
+levelled and fired. When the smoke of the discharge blew away, the
+Zambo had disappeared. He had watched each movement of the soldiers,
+and at the very moment that they laid finger on trigger, had thrown
+himself on one side and taken refuge amidst the crowd, some of whom
+favoured his escape. In time of war a corps is formed composed chiefly
+of these banditti, and of men who have made themselves in some way
+obnoxious to the laws. They go by the name of Montoneros, and are
+found very useful as spies, skirmishers, despatch-bearers, &c., but
+are generally more remarkable for cruelty than courage. They wear no
+uniform; and sometimes they have not even shoes, but strap their spurs
+on their naked heels. In the year 1838, the Anglo-Peruvian general,
+Miller, commanded a thousand of these montoneros who were in the
+service of Santa Cruz. When war is at an end, these wild troops
+disband themselves, and for the most part return to their former
+occupation.
+
+Abandoning Lima and its environs, Dr Tschudi takes us with him on a
+visit to the various towns and villages along the coast, proceeding
+first north and then south of the capital. In a coasting voyage to the
+port of Huacho, he has the honour to reckon amongst his fellow
+passengers, Lord Cochrane's friend, the celebrated Padre Requena, then
+cura of that town. Of this ecclesiastic, of whom he, after his
+arrival, saw a good deal, he draws a picture which may be taken as a
+general type of the Peruvian priesthood, and is by no means creditable
+to them. Requena's chief passion is coursing, and his greatest
+annoyance, during Dr Tschudi's stay in Huacho, was, that ill health,
+brought on by his excesses, prevented him from indulging it. He had
+several magnificent horses, and a numerous pack of greyhounds, some of
+which latter had cost him one hundred and fifty and two hundred
+dollars a-piece. His seraglio was almost as well stocked as his
+kennel, and the number of children who called him _tio_, or _uncle_,
+the usual term in Peru in such cases, was quite prodigious. He took
+great pride in talking of his friendship with Lord Cochrane. He died a
+few weeks after his return to Huacho, and delayed so long to send for
+a confessor that the Indians at last surrounded the house with
+frightful menaces, and sent in a priest to render him the last offices
+of the church. He had great difficulty in making up his mind to death,
+or, as he expressed it, to a separation from his greyhounds and
+horses. At almost the last moment, when his hands began to grow cold,
+he made his negro put on them a pair of buckskin gloves.
+
+This respectable priest was by no means singular in his love of the
+chase, of which frequent examples are to be found in Peru. On reaching
+Quipico, the most easterly plantation in the beautiful valley of
+Huaura, Dr. Tschudi had scarcely entered the courtyard when he was
+surrounded by upwards of fifty greyhounds, whilst from every quarter
+others came springing towards him. They were the remains of a pack
+that had belonged to one Castilla, recently the owner of the
+plantation, and whose usual establishment consisted of two to three
+hundred of these dogs, with which he every day went coursing. The
+strictest discipline was kept up amongst this lightfooted multitude.
+At stated hours a bell summoned them to their meals, and in the kennel
+stood a gibbet, as a warning to the lazy or perverse. One day, when
+Castilla was out hunting, an Indian came up, with an ordinary-looking
+crossbred dog. In spite of his looks this dog out-stripped the whole
+pack, and pulled down the roebuck. Castilla immediately purchased him
+at the enormous price of three hundred and fifty dollars. A few days
+afterwards he again went out with his best hounds and his new
+acquisition. The leashes were slipped, and the greyhounds went off
+like the wind, but the crossbreed remained quietly by the horses. The
+same afternoon he was hung up to the gallows, an example to his
+fellows.
+
+The whole extent of the Peruvian coast, from its northern to its
+southern extremity, presents nearly the same aspect; vast deserts of
+sand, varied by fruitful valleys, with their villages and plantations;
+seaport towns there where nature or commerce has encouraged their
+foundation; alternate insupportable heat and damp fog; scarcity of
+men; crumbling monuments of a period of riches and greatness. In the
+sandy plains it is no unusual occurrence for travellers to lose their
+way and perish for thirst. In that fervent and unhealthy climate,
+human strength rapidly gives way before want of food and water. In the
+year 1823 a transport carrying a regiment of dragoons, three hundred
+and twenty strong, stranded on the coast near Pisco. The soldiers got
+on shore, and wandered for thirty-six hours through the sand-waste,
+out of which they were unable to find their way. At the end of that
+time they were met by a number of horsemen with water and food, who
+had been sent out from Pisco to seek them, but already one hundred and
+fifty of the unfortunates had died of thirst and weariness, and fifty
+more expired upon the following day. Forty-eight hours' wandering in
+those arid deserts, deprived of food and drink, is certain death to
+the strongest man. Rivers are scarce, and even where the bed of a
+stream is found, it is in many instances dry during the greater part
+of the year. The traveller's danger is increased by the shifting
+nature of the sand, which the wind raises in enormous clouds, and in
+columns eighty to one hundred feet high. The _medanos_ are another
+strange phenomenon of these dangerous wilds. They are sandhills in the
+form of a crescent, ten to twenty feet high, and with a sharp crest.
+Their base is moveable, and when impelled by a tolerably strong wind,
+they wander rapidly over the desert; the smaller ones, more easily
+propelled, preceding the large. The latter, however, after a time,
+prevent the current of air from reaching the former--take the wind out
+of their sails, it may be said--and then run over and crush them,
+themselves breaking up at the same time. In a few hours, what was
+previously a level, is often covered with ranges of hillocks,
+hindering a view of the horizon, and bewildering the most experienced
+wanderers through these perilous regions. In November the summer
+begins. The scorching rays of the sun break through the grey covering
+of the heavens, and threaten to consume, by their intensity, the
+entire vegetable and animal creation. Not a plant finds nourishment,
+nor a beast food upon the parched and glowing soil; no bird or insect
+floats upon the sultry air. Only in the upper regions is seen the
+majestic condor, flying towards the ocean. All life and movement is
+now confined to the coast. Troops of vultures assemble around the
+stranded carcases of sea monsters; otters and seals bask beneath the
+cliffs; variegated lizards scamper over the sand-heaps, and busy crabs
+and sea-spiders dig into the damp shore. In May the scene changes. A
+thin veil of mist spreads over sea and coast, gradually thickening,
+until in October the sun again dispels it. At the beginning and end of
+this winter, as it is called, the fog generally rises at nine or ten
+in the morning, and is again dissipated at three in the afternoon. It
+is thickest in August and September, when, for weeks together, it does
+not lift. It never changes into rain, but only into a fine penetrating
+mist, called the _garua_. On many parts of the Peruvian coast, it
+never rains, excepting after a very violent earthquake, and even then
+not always. The usual height of the fog from the ground is seven or
+eight hundred feet. It never exceeds a height of twelve hundred feet,
+nor is found at all beyond a few miles from the coast, at which
+distance it is replaced by violent rains. The boundary line between
+rain and fog may be determined with almost mathematical accuracy. Dr
+Tschudi visited two plantations, one about six leagues from Lima, the
+other in the neighbourhood of Huacho, one half of which was annually
+watered by the _garuas_, and the other half by rain. A wall was built
+upon the line where one mode of irrigation ceased and the other began.
+
+The province of Yca, whose soil is sandy, and to all appearance
+incapable of producing any description of vegetation, is devoted to
+the culture of the vine, which perfectly succeeds there. The young
+plants are set half a foot deep in the sand, and left to themselves;
+they speedily put forth leaves, and yield a luxuriant crop of grapes,
+remarkable for flavour and juiciness. These are mostly used for
+brandy, with which the whole of Peru and great part of Chili are
+supplied from the valley of Yca. It is of excellent quality,
+especially a sort made from muscatel grapes, and called _aguardiente
+de Italia_. Very little wine is made, except by one planter, Don
+Domingo Elias, who has attempted it after the European fashion. The
+result has been a wine resembling Madeira and Teneriffe, only much
+more fiery, and containing a larger proportion of alcohol. The brandy
+was formerly conveyed to the coast in huge earthen _botijas_, capable
+of containing one hundred and fifty to one hundred and seventy-five
+pounds weight of the liquor; but these were continually broken,
+chiefly by the thirsty mules across which they were slung like
+panniers, and who, when rushing in crowds to the watering-places,
+invariably smashed a number of them against each other. To remedy this
+the brandy-growers have adopted the use of goat-skins; and the manner
+in which, upon many plantations, these are prepared, is as frightful a
+piece of barbarity as can well be imagined. A negro hangs up the goat,
+alive, by the horns, makes a circular cut through the skin of the
+neck, and strips the hide from the agonized beast, which is only
+killed when completely flayed. The pretext for this execrable cruelty
+is, that the skin comes off more easily, and is found more durable. It
+is to be hoped that the planters will have sufficient humanity
+speedily to do away with so horrible a practice.
+
+The negro carnival, which Dr Tschudi witnessed at Yca, appears to us,
+of the two, a more civilized performance than the Creole carnival at
+Lima. In various of the streets large arches, tastefully decorated
+with ribands, are erected; the negresses and zambas dance beneath
+then; whilst the allotted task of the men is to gallop through without
+being stopped. If the women succeed in checking the horse, and pulling
+the rider out of the saddle, the latter has to pay a fine, and gets
+laughed at to boot. It is difficult to know which to admire most; the
+speed of the horses, the skill of the riders, or the daring of the
+women, who throw themselves upon the horse as he comes on at full
+gallop. As the horsemen approach, they are pelted with unripe oranges,
+which, thrown by a strong-armed zamba, are capable of inflicting
+tolerably hard knocks. Dr Tschudi saw one negro who, during a whole
+hour, galloped backwards and forwards without being stopped, and
+concluded by giving an extraordinary proof of muscular strength. At
+the very moment that he passed under the arch, he stooped forward over
+his horse's neck, caught up a negress under each arm, and rode off
+with them!
+
+Opposite to the ports of Pisco and Chincha, lie a number of small
+islands, noted for their large deposits of guano, or _huanu_, as Dr
+Tschudi corrects the orthography of the word. The doctor gives some
+very interesting particulars concerning this efficacious manure,
+which, although but recently adopted in Europe, appears to have been
+used in Peru as far back as the time of the first Incas. The Peruvians
+use it chiefly for the maize and potato fields; their manner of
+employing it is peculiar, and but little known in Europe. A few weeks
+after the seeds have begun to germinate, a small hole is made beside
+each plant, filled with huanu and covered up with earth. Twelve or
+fifteen hours later the whole field is laid under water, and left so
+for a few hours. The effect of the process is incredibly rapid. In a
+very few days the plants attain double their previous height. When the
+operation is repeated, but with a smaller quantity of the huanu, the
+farmer may reckon upon a crop at least threefold that which he would
+obtain from an unmanured soil. Of the white huanu, which is much
+stronger than the dark-coloured, less must be used, and the field must
+be watered sooner, and for a longer time, or the roots will be
+destroyed. When the land is tolerably good, seven hundred and fifty to
+nine hundred pounds of huanu are reckoned sufficient for a surface of
+fourteen thousand square feet; with poor soil a thousand to twelve
+hundred pounds are required.
+
+The waters that wash the coast of Peru swarm with fish, upon many of
+which nature has amused herself in bestowing the most singular and
+anomalous forms. For a period of six weeks, Dr Tschudi took up his
+abode at the port of Huacho, with a view to increase his
+ichthyological collection. Every morning at five o'clock he rode down
+to the beach to await the return of the fishermen from their nocturnal
+expeditions. From as far as they could distinguish him, the Indians
+would hold up to his notice some strange and newly captured variety of
+the finny race. He succeeded in getting together many hundred
+specimens of about a hundred and twenty species of sea and river fish;
+but ill luck attended this valuable collection. Through the negligence
+of the people at the port of Callao, a cask of brandy, in which the
+fish were preserved, was left for months upon the mole in the burning
+sun, till its contents were completely spoiled. A second cask, in
+spite of the most careful packing, arrived in Europe, after a fifteen
+months' voyage, in a similar condition. This, however, was not the
+only instance, during the doctor's stay in Peru, of the fruits of
+great industry, and trouble, and heavy expense, being snatched from
+him by untoward accidents. But nothing seems to have discouraged a man
+actuated by a sincere love of science and thirst for information, and
+possessed, as is made manifest by many parts of his modest and
+unegotistical narrative, of great determination and perseverance.
+Steadily he continued his researches, in defiance of difficulties and
+sufferings that would have driven ordinary men over and over again on
+board the first ship sailing for Europe.
+
+We have as yet scarcely referred to those portions of the volume
+dedicated to natural history, although the doctor rarely dismisses a
+province or district without giving a brief but interesting account of
+its most remarkable animals, fruits, and plants. His description of
+some of these is very curious. Amongst others, he tells us of a small
+bird called the _cheucau_, (Pteroptochus rubecula Kittl,) in connexion
+with which the people of Chilo�, of which island it is a native,
+entertain a host of superstitious fancies, foretelling good or bad
+luck according to the various modulations of its song. "I was one
+day," says the doctor, "out shooting with an Indian guide, when we
+came upon one of these birds, sitting on a bush and piping out a
+shrill _huit-huit-ru_. I had already taken aim at it, when my
+companion seized my arm, and begged me not to shoot it, for that it
+was singing its unlucky note. Wishing to obtain a specimen, I
+disregarded his entreaty and fired. I had leaned my gun against a
+tree, and was examining the little bird, when a vicious mule,
+irritated probably by the report, came charging down upon us, so that
+we had only just time to run behind a hedge in order to escape his
+attack. Before we could find means to drive the enraged animal away,
+he had thrown down my gun, bitten it furiously, and stamped on it with
+his fore-feet. The Indian gravely said that it would be well if no
+worse came of it, for that he had told me the bird was whistling bad
+luck." There is another bird, about the size of a starling, which
+passes its time, and finds its food, upon the backs of the cattle, and
+chiefly of horses and jackasses, picking out the insects which there
+abound. The beasts seem to feel that he is doing them a service, and
+allow him to walk unmolested over their backs and heads. Of the beasts
+of prey, the ounce is the most dangerous and bloodthirsty. It attains
+a very large size, and Dr Tschudi saw the carcass of one that measured
+eight feet and three inches from the nose to the extremity of the
+tail. The tail was two feet and eight inches long. It had been killed
+after a two days' hunt, during which, three negroes had been
+dangerously wounded by it. Of Peruvian fruits, the most delicious is
+the chirimoya. It is of a round form, sometimes heart-shaped or
+pyramidal, its rind thick and tough, of a green colour streaked with
+black. The inside is snow-white, soft and juicy, with black pips or
+seeds. Near Lima, they are small and of inferior quality, sometimes
+not larger than a man's fist; but in the interior, and especially in
+the province of Huanuco, they attain their full perfection, and often
+weigh fourteen or sixteen pounds. Their smell is most fragrant, and
+their delicious flavour, Dr Tschudi says, he can compare to nothing,
+for it is incomparable.
+
+We perceive, on glancing over what we have written, that we have
+occupied ourselves chiefly with the lighter portions of this book,
+and, by so doing, may have given the reader an erroneous idea of its
+value. Although, as already mentioned, the more important and
+scientific results of Dr Tschudi's travels are to be found in others
+of his works, the one before us must not be set down as a mere amusing
+and ephemeral production. It contains a great deal of curious
+information, and will be found useful as a book of reference by all
+who are interested in the commerce, natural history, and general
+statistics of Peru.
+
+Notwithstanding our endeavours to "go a-head," we have got no further
+than the conclusion of the first volume. In the second, which is also
+the final one, the doctor abandons the coast and the city, and
+penetrates into what may be termed the Peruvian back-woods, amongst
+the snow-covered Cordilleras and aboriginal forests, the silver mines
+and Indians. Of what he there saw and heard we shall give an account
+in our next Number.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] _Peru. Reiseskizzen aus den Jahren 1838-1842._ _Von_ J. J. VON
+TSCHUDI. St Gall: 1846.
+
+[2] _Untersuchungen �ber die Fauna Peruana._ St Gall: 1846.
+
+[3] An Historical and Descriptive Narrative of Twenty Years' Residence
+in South America. Containing Travels in Arauco, Chili, Peru, and
+Columbia; with an account of the Revolution, its rise, progress, and
+results; by W. B. STEVENSON. London: 1825.
+
+[4] Europeans are apt to attach the idea of some particular colour to
+the word Creole. It is a vulgar error. Creole (Spanish, Criollo) is
+derived from _criar_, to breed or produce, and is applied to native
+Americans descended from 'Old World' parents. Thus there are black
+Creoles as well as white, and a horse or a dog may be a Creole as well
+as a man, so long as the European or African blood is preserved
+unmixed.
+
+[5] The day and the event strangely coincide with the passage in
+Schiller's "Wilhelm Tell"--
+
+                    "'s ist Simon und Jud�
+    Da rast der See und will sein Opfer haben."
+
+
+
+
+LETTERS ON ENGLISH HEXAMETERS.
+
+LETTER I.
+
+
+DEAR MR EDITOR--I perceive, by your having requested a second specimen
+of N.N.T.'s English hexameters, that you feel an interest in the
+question, whether that form of verse can be successfully employed in
+our language. Certainly the trial has never yet been made under any
+moderate advantages. Sidney, and the other Elizabethans, in their
+attempts, hampered themselves with Latin rules of the value of
+syllables, which the English ear refuses to recognise, and which drive
+them into intolerable harshness of expression and pronunciation.
+Stanihurst's _Virgil_ is so laboriously ridiculous in phraseology,
+that every thing belonging to it is involved in the ridicule.
+Southey's _Vision_ is a poem so offensive in its scheme, that no
+measure could have made it acceptable. Yet the beginning of that poem
+is, as you, Mr Editor, have remarked, a very happy specimen of this
+kind of verse; and would, I think, by a common English reader, be
+admired, independently of classical rules and classical recollections.
+Now, if we can reach this point, and at the same time give a good
+English imitation of the Epic mode of narration in Homer, we shall
+have a better image of Homer in our language than we yet possess. Your
+contributor appears to me to have advanced a good way towards the
+execution of this kind of work; and I should be glad if he, or you,
+would allow me, as a reader of English hexameters, to offer a few
+remarks on his first book of the _Iliad_, with a view to point out
+what appear to me the dangers and difficulties of the task. I do not
+say any thing of my general admiration of N.N.T.'s version, for mere
+praise you would hardly think worth its room.
+
+I should be glad to discuss with you, Mr Editor, the objections which
+are usually made to English hexameters. There is one of these
+objections which I will say a few words about at present. It proceeds
+upon a misapprehension, now, I hope, pretty generally rectified; I
+mean the objection that we cannot have hexameters, "because we have so
+few spondees the language." Southey says we have but one, _Egypt_; and
+gives this as a reason why the spondees of classical hexameters are
+replaced by trochees in German and English. As to Southey's example,
+_Egypt_ is no more a spondee than _precept_ or _rescript_; but the
+fact is, that we have in English spondees in abundance; and these
+spondees have tended more than any thing else to spoil our hexameters.
+The universal English feeling of rhythm rejects a spondee at the end
+of the verse; and if the syllables there placed are such as would, in
+the natural course of pronunciation, form a spondee, we nevertheless
+force upon them a trochaic character. This may be worth proving. Read,
+then, the following lines of Sidney:--
+
+  "But yet well do I find each man most wise in his _own case_."
+
+  "And yet neither of [=u]s great [=o]r blest deemeth his _own self_."
+
+  "Shall such morning dews be an ease to heat of a _love's fire_?"
+
+  "Tush, tush, said Nat[=u]re, this is all but a trifle; a _man's self_
+   Gives haps or mishaps, ev'n as he ord'reth his heart."
+
+Now, here you have four endings which are naturally spondees; but the
+verse compels you to pronounce them as trochees--_[=o]wn c[)a]se_,
+_[=o]wn s[)e]lf_, _l[=o]ve's f[)i]re_, _m[=a]n's s[)e]lf_. If you still
+doubt whether the last foot of English hexameters is necessarily a
+trochee, consider this:--that if you make them rhyme, you must use
+double rhymes, in order that the rhyme may include the strong syllable.
+Thus take any of the examples given in _Maga_ for April last:--
+
+  "See, O citizens! here old Ennius's image pre_sented_.
+   Honour me not with your tears; by none let my death be la_mented_."
+
+The ear would not be satisfied with a rhyme of one syllable such as
+this--
+
+  "But yet well do I find each man most wise in his own _case_:
+   Wisely let each resolve, and meet the event with a calm _face_."
+
+Now, so long as men retain the notion that the most perfect English
+hexameters are those which have spondees in the classical places, they
+are led to admit such verses as those just quoted; and this being
+done, the common reader, and indeed every reader, is compelled to do
+some violence to the language in reading. This, more than any thing
+else, has made an English hexameter frequently sound forced and
+unnatural. N.N.T. has a few such in his first _Iliad_.
+
+  "Pressed on the silvery hilt as he spake was the weight of his
+      _right hand_."
+
+  "Two generations complete of the blood of articulate _mankind_."
+
+  "Over the split wood then did the old man burn them, and _black wine_
+   Pour'd."
+
+These forms of English hexameter are to be avoided, if you would
+commend the verse to the common ear. And we may exclude them with a
+good conscience. Their forced and uneasy movement does not arise from
+any imperfection in our English spondees; but from the spondee in
+these cases being so perfect, that it cannot without some violence be
+made a trochee, which the English verse requires. I do not think you
+will find this bad trick in Southey. His habitual feeling of English
+rhythm preserved him from it.
+
+But there is another blemish, which Southey, forgetting his classical
+rhythm too much, for it ought to have guided his English practice, has
+often incurred. It is, the writing lines without a _c�sura_, so that
+they divide themselves into half lines. Such as these:--
+
+  "Washington, said the monarch, | well hast thou spoken and truly."
+
+  "Evil they sow, and sorrow | will they reap for their harvest."
+
+  "That its tribute of honour, | poor though it was, was witholden."
+
+  "Pure it was and diaphanous. | It had no visible lustre."
+
+N.N.T. has a few of these. One is the last line I quoted from him.
+
+The essential point in English hexameters, especially while they are
+imperfectly naturalized, is, that the rhythm should be _unforced_.
+Without this, they will always repel and offend the English reader.
+And hence, though our rhythm is to be constructed by stress, and not
+by Latin rules of long and short, still, if it do not destroy it mars
+the verse, to have, for short syllables, those which have long vowels,
+clustered consonants, or special emphasis.
+
+Such are the dactyls at the beginning of these lines of Southey:--
+
+  "Th[=o]u, t[=o]o, d[)i]dst act with upright heart as befitted a
+        sovereign."
+
+  "H[=e]aven [)i]n th[)e]se things fulfilled its wise though inscrutable
+        purpose."
+
+  "He[=a]r, He[)a]v'n! [)y]e angels hear! souls of the good and the
+        wicked."
+
+Except you prefer to read it thus--
+
+      "Hear, Heav'n! y[=e] [)a]ng[)e]ls hear!"
+
+which is no better. Perhaps the worst of Southey's lines in this way
+is this--
+
+    "Fl[=o]w'd th[)e] l[)i]ght [=u]ncr[=e][=a]t[)e]d; l[)i]ght all
+          sufficing, eternal."
+
+And as examples of weak syllables harshly made strong, take these--
+
+  "Fabius, [=A]trides, and Solon and Epamininondas."
+
+  "Here, then, [=a]t the gate of Heaven we are met! said the Spirit."
+
+  "Th[=e] desire of my heart hath been alway the good of my people."
+
+N.N.T. has some examples of this. As a slight one, I notice at the end
+of a line, _h[=a]rv[)e]stl[)e]ss ocean_. And these, which are spoiled
+by the violation of emphasis:--
+
+  "Tr[=u]ly _[)I]_ came not, for one, out of hate for the spearmen of
+          Troja."
+
+  "Mightier even than you, yet am[=o]ng _th[)e]m_ [)I] never was slighted."
+
+Here we have an emphatic _I_ and an emphatic _them_ which are made
+short in the rhythm.
+
+N.N.T. has one dactyl which I can hardly suppose was intended--
+
+  "Under his ch[=a]st[)i]s[)i]ng hand."
+
+It appears to me that we shall never bring the lovers of English
+poetry to like our hexameters, except we can make the verses so that
+they _read themselves_. This the good ones among them do. N.N.T. has
+whole passages which run off without any violence or distortion.
+
+But the phraseology of English hexameters requires great care, as well
+as the rhythm, and especially in such a work as the translation of
+Homer. The measure has the great advantage of freeing us from the
+habitual chain of "poetical diction." But we must take care that we
+are not led, by this freedom, either into a modern prose style, or
+into mean colloquialities; or in translating, into phrases which,
+though expressive and lively, do not agree with the tone of the poem.
+The style must be homely, but dignified, like that of our translation
+of the Old Testament. Perhaps you will allow me, for the sake of
+example, to notice some of N.N.T.'s expressions:--
+
+  "Try not the engine of craft: to _come over me_ thus is _beyond thee_."
+
+  "This the _suggestion_, _forsooth_, that thyself being safe with thy
+      booty,
+   I shall _sit down_ without mine."
+
+The phrase to "_come over me_" is colloquial, and too low even for a
+letter. "Your _suggestion_" is a phrase for a letter, not for an epic
+poem. "_Forsooth_" would be good in construing, but not in a poem.
+Again, is this passage serious English:--
+
+  "Opposite rose Agamemnon in wrath, but before he could _open_?"
+
+I could notice other blemishes of style, as they seem to me; and,
+indeed, I could the more easily find them, on account of the very
+severe standard of good English, serious and dignified, yet plain and
+idiomatic, which I think the case requires. Every phrase should be the
+very best that can be found both for meaning and tone. I know that
+this requirement is difficult; but I think the thing may be done; and
+I do not see why N.N.T. should not do it, and thus give us a better
+English Homer than we have yet.
+
+If you can find room for me, I have a few more words to say on this
+same matter of English hexameters another day. It appears to me that
+there are still very erroneous notions current upon the subject. In
+the mean time I subscribe myself your obedient
+
+            M. L.
+
+
+
+
+MARLBOROUGH'S DISPATCHES.
+
+1708-1709.
+
+
+The fall of the external walls of Lille did not terminate the struggle
+for that important fortress. Marshal Boufflers still held the citadel,
+a stronghold in itself equal to most fortresses of the first order. No
+sooner, however, were the Allies in possession of the town, than the
+attack on the citadel commenced with all the vigour which the
+exhausted state of the magazines would furnish. Detached parties were
+sent into France, which levied contributions to a great extent, and
+both replenished the stores of the Allies and depressed the spirits of
+the French, by making them feel, in a manner not to be misunderstood,
+that the war had at length approached their own doors. To divert, if
+possible, Marlborough from his enterprise, the Elector of Bavaria, who
+had recently returned from the Rhine, was detached by Vend�me, with
+fifteen thousand men against Brussels; while he himself remained in
+his intrenched camp on the Scheldt, which barred the road from Lille
+to that city, at once stopping the communication, and ready to profit
+by any advantage afforded by the measures which the English general
+might make for its relief. The governor of Brussels, M. Paschal, who
+had seven thousand men under his orders, rejected the summons to
+surrender, and prepared for a vigorous defence; and meanwhile
+Marlborough prepared for its relief, by one of those brilliant strokes
+which, in so peculiar a manner, characterize his campaigns.
+
+Giving out that he was going to separate his army into
+winter-quarters, he dispatched the field artillery towards Menin, and
+he himself set out with his staff in rather an ostentatious way for
+Courtray. But no sooner had he lulled the vigilance of the enemy by
+these steps, than, wheeling suddenly round, he advanced with the bulk
+of his forces towards the Scheldt, and directed them against that part
+of the French general's lines where he knew them to be weakest. The
+army, upon seeing these movements, anticipated the bloodiest battle,
+on the day following, they had yet had during the war. But the skill
+of the English general rendered resistance hopeless, and gained his
+object with wonderfully little loss. The passage of the river was
+rapidly effected at three points; the French corps stationed at
+Oudenarde, vigorously assailed and driven back on Grammont with the
+loss of twelve hundred men, so as to leave the road uncovered, and
+restore the communication with Brussels. Having thus cleared the way
+of the enemy, Marlborough sent back Eugene to resume the siege of the
+citadel of Lille; while he himself, with the greater part of his
+forces, proceeded on to Brussels, which he entered in triumph on the
+29th November. The Elector of Bavaria was too happy to escape, leaving
+his guns and wounded behind; and the citadel of Lille, despairing now
+of succour, capitulated on the 11th December. Thus was this memorable
+campaign terminated by the capture of the strongest frontier fortress
+of France, under the eyes of its best general and most powerful
+army.[6]
+
+But Marlborough, like the hero in antiquity, deemed nothing done while
+any thing remained to do. Though his troops were exhausted by marching
+and fighting almost without intermission for five months, and he
+himself was labouring under severe illness in consequence of his
+fatigues, he resolved in the depth of winter to make an attempt for
+the recovery of Ghent, the loss of which in the early part of the
+campaign had been the subject of deep mortification. The enemy, after
+the citadel of Lille capitulated, having naturally broken up their
+army into cantonments, under the belief that the campaign was
+concluded, he suddenly collected his forces, and drew round Ghent on
+the 18th December. Eugene formed the covering force with the corps
+lately employed in the reduction of Lille. The garrison was very
+strong, consisting of no less than thirty battalions and nineteen
+squadrons, mustering eighteen thousand combatants.[7] The governor had
+been instructed by Vend�me to defend this important stronghold to the
+last extremity; but he was inadequately supplied with provisions and
+forage, and this event signally belied the expectations formed of his
+resistance. The approaches were vigorously pushed. On the 24th the
+trenches were opened; on the 25th a sortie was repulsed; on the 28th
+December, the fire began with great vigour from the breaching and
+mortar batteries; and at noon, the governor sent a flag of truce,
+offering to capitulate if not relieved before the 2d January. This was
+agreed to; and on the latter day, as no friendly force approached, the
+garrison surrendered the gates and marched out, in such strength that
+they were defiling incessantly from ten in the morning till seven at
+night! Bruges immediately followed the example; the garrison
+capitulated, and the town again hoisted the Austrian flag. The minor
+forts of Plassendall and Leffinghen were immediately evacuated by the
+enemy. With such expedition were these important operations conducted,
+that before Vend�me could even assemble a force adequate to interrupt
+the besiegers' operations, both towns were taken, and the French were
+entirely dispossessed of all the important strongholds they had gained
+in the early part of the campaign in the heart of Brabant. Having
+closed his labours with these glorious successes, Marlborough put the
+army into now secure winter-quarters on the Flemish frontiers, and
+himself repaired to the Hague to resume the eternal contest with the
+timidity and selfishness of his Dutch allies.[8]
+
+Such was the memorable campaign of 1708--one of the most glorious in
+the military annals of England, and the one in which the extraordinary
+capacity of the British general perhaps shone forth with the brightest
+lustre. The vigour and talent of Vend�me, joined to the secret
+communication which he had with those disaffected to the Austrian
+government in Ghent and Bruges, procured for him, in the commencement
+of the campaign, a great, and what, if opposed by less ability, might
+have proved a decisive advantage. By the acquisition of these towns,
+he gained the immense advantage of obtaining the entire command of the
+water communication of Brabant, and establishing himself in a solid
+manner in the heart of the enemy's territory. The entire expulsion of
+the Allies from Austrian Flanders seemed the unavoidable result of
+such a success, by so enterprising a general at the head of a hundred
+thousand combatants. But Marlborough was not discouraged; on the
+contrary, he built on the enemy's early successes a course of
+manoeuvres, which in the end wrested all his conquests from him, and
+inflicted a series of disasters greater than could possibly have been
+anticipated from a campaign of unbroken success. Boldly assuming the
+lead, he struck such a blow at Oudenarde as resounded from one end of
+Europe to the other, struck a terror into the enemy which they never
+recovered for the remainder of the campaign, paralysed Vend�me in the
+midst of his success, and reduced him from a vigorous offensive to a
+painful defensive struggle. While the cabinet of Versailles were
+dreaming of expelling the Allies from Flanders, and detaching Holland,
+partly by intrigue, partly by force of arms, from the coalition, he
+boldly entered the territory of the Grand Monarque, and laid siege to
+its chief frontier fortress, under the eyes of its greatest army and
+best general. In vain was the water communication of the Netherlands
+interrupted by the enemy's possession of Ghent and Bruges; with
+incredible activity he got together, and with matchless skill
+conducted to the besiegers' lines before Lille, a huge convoy eighteen
+miles long, drawn by sixteen thousand horses, in the very teeth of
+Vend�me at the head of an hundred and twenty thousand men. Lille
+captured, Ghent and Bruges recovered, the allied standards solidly
+planted on the walls of the strongest fortress of France, terminated
+a campaign in which the British, over-matched and surrounded by
+lukewarm or disaffected friends, had wellnigh lost at the outset by
+foreign treachery all the fruits of the victory of Ramilies.
+
+The glorious termination of this campaign, and, above all, the
+addition made to the immediate security of Holland by the recovery of
+Ghent and Bruges, sensibly augmented Marlborough's influence at the
+Hague, and at length overcame the timidity and vacillation of the
+Dutch government. When the English general repaired there in the
+beginning of 1709, he quickly overawed the adherents of France,
+regained his wonted influence over the mind of the Pensionary
+Heinsius, and at length succeeded in persuading the government and the
+States to augment their forces by six thousand men. This, though by no
+means so great an accession of numbers as was required to meet the
+vast efforts which France was making, was still a considerable
+addition; and by the influence of Prince Eugene, who was well aware
+that the principal effort of the enemy in the next campaign would be
+made in the Netherlands, he obtained a promise that the Imperial
+troops should winter there, and be recruited, so as to compensate
+their losses in the preceding campaign. Great difficulties were
+experienced with the court of Turin, which had conceived the most
+extravagant hopes from the project of an invasion of France on the
+side both of Lyons and Franche Comt�, and for this purpose required a
+large subsidy in money, and the aid of fifty thousand men under Prince
+Eugene on the Upper Rhine. Marlborough was too well aware, by
+experience, of the little reliance to be placed on any military
+operations in which the Emperor and the Italian powers were to be
+placed in co-operation, to be sanguine of success from this design;
+but as it was material to keep the court of Turin in good-humour, he
+gave the proposal the most respectful attention, and sent General
+Palmer on a special mission to the Duke of Savoy, to arrange the plan
+of the proposed irruption into the Lyonnois. With the cabinet of
+Berlin the difficulties were greater than ever, and in fact had become
+so urgent, that nothing but the presence of the English General, or an
+immediate agent from him, could prevent Prussia from seceding
+altogether from the alliance. General Grumbkow was sent there
+accordingly in March, and found the king in such ill-humour at the
+repeated disappointments he had experienced from the Emperor and the
+Dutch, that he declared he could only spare _three battalions_ for the
+approaching campaign.[9] By great exertions, however, and the aid of
+Marlborough's letters and influence, the king was at length prevailed
+on to continue his present troops in the Low Countries, and increase
+them by fourteen squadrons of horse.[10]
+
+But it was not on the Continent only that open enemies or lukewarm and
+treacherous friends were striving to arrest the course of
+Marlborough's victories. His difficulties at home, both with his own
+party and his opponents, were hourly increasing; and it was already
+foreseen, that they had become so formidable that they would cause, at
+no very remote period, his fall. Though he was publicly thanked, as
+well he might, by both houses of parliament, when he came to London on
+1st March 1709, yet he received no mark of favour from the Queen, and
+was treated with studied coldness at court.[11] Envy, the inseparable
+attendant on exalted merit--ingratitude, the usual result of
+irrequitable services, had completely alienated the Queen from him.
+Mrs Masham omitted nothing which could alienate her royal mistress
+from so formidable a rival; and it was hard to say whether she was
+most cordially aided in her efforts by the open Opposition, or the
+half Tory-Whigs who formed the administration. Both Godolphin and the
+Duke speedily found that they were tolerated in office merely: while,
+in order to weaken their influence with the people, every effort was
+made to depreciate even the glorious victories which had shed such
+imperishable lustre over the British cause. Deeply mortified by this
+ingratitude, Marlborough gladly embraced an offer which was made to
+him by the government, in order to remove him from court, to conduct
+the negotiation now pending at the Hague with Louis XIV. for the
+conclusion of a general peace.[12]
+
+The pride of the French monarch was now so much humbled that he sent
+the President Rouill� to Holland, with public instructions to offer
+terms to the Allies, and private directions to do every thing possible
+to sow dissension among them, and, if possible, detach Holland from
+the alliance. His proposals were to give up Spain, the Indies, and the
+Milanese to King Charles; and cede the Italian islands, reserving
+Naples and Sicily for his grandson. In the Netherlands and Germany, he
+offered to restore matters to the state they were at the peace of
+Ryswick; and though he was very reluctant to give up Lille, he offered
+to cede Menin in its place. These terms being communicated to the
+court of London, they returned an answer insisting that the whole
+Spanish monarchy should be restored to the house of Austria, the title
+of Queen Anne to the Crown of England, and the Protestant succession
+acknowledged, the Pretender removed, the harbour of Dunkirk destroyed,
+and an adequate barrier secured for the Dutch. In their ideas upon
+this barrier, however, they went much beyond what Marlborough was
+disposed to sanction, and therefore he maintained a prudent reserve on
+the subject. As the French plenipotentiary could not agree to these
+terms, Marlborough returned to England, and Lord Townsend was
+associated with him as plenipotentiary. They were instructed to insist
+that Furmes, Ipres, Menin, Lille, Tournay, Cond�, Valenciennes, and
+Maubeuge, should be given up to form a barrier, and that Newfoundland
+and Hudson's Bay should be restored. Alarmed at the exaction of such
+rigorous terms, Louis sent M. de Torcy, who made large concessions;
+and Marlborough, who was seriously desirous of bringing the war to a
+conclusion, exerted all his influence with the States to induce them
+to accept the barrier offered. He so far succeeded, that on the very
+day after his return to the Hague, he wrote both to Lord Godolphin and
+the Duchess of Marlborough, that he had prevailed on the Dutch
+commissioners to accede to the principal articles, and that he had no
+doubt the negotiation would terminate in an honourable peace.[13]
+
+These flattering prospects, however, were soon overcast. The Dutch
+renewed their demand of having their barrier strengthened _at the
+expense of Austria_, and insisted that the Flemish fortresses of
+Dendermonde and Ghent, forming part of the _Imperial_ dominions,
+should be included in it. To this both Eugene and Marlborough
+objected, and the Dutch, in spite, refused to stipulate for the
+demolition of Dunkirk. So violent an altercation took place on the
+subject between the Pensionary Heinsius and Marlborough, that it had
+wellnigh produced a schism in the grand alliance. M. de Torcy at first
+endeavoured to mitigate the demands of the Dutch government; but
+finding them altogether immovable, he addressed himself privately to
+Marlborough, offering him enormous bribes if he could procure more
+favourable terms for France. The offers were 2,000,000 livres
+(�80,000) if he could secure Naples and Sicily, or even Naples alone,
+for the grandson of the King of France; and 4,000,000 livres
+(�160,000) if, in addition to this, he could save Strasburg, Dunkirk,
+and Landau, for France. Marlborough turned away from the disgraceful
+proposal with coldness and contempt;[14] but enforced in the most
+earnest manner on the French king, the prudence and even necessity of
+yielding to the proffered terms, if he would save his country from
+dismemberment, and himself from ruin. His efforts, however, to bring
+matters to an accommodation with France proved ineffectual; and after
+some weeks longer spent in proposals and counter-proposals, the
+ultimatum of the Allies was finally delivered to the French
+plenipotentiary by the Pensionary of Holland.[15]
+
+By this ultimatum, Charles was to be acknowledged King of Spain and
+the Indies, and the whole Spanish monarchy was to be ceded by France.
+All the conquests of Louis in the Low Countries were to be given up;
+the Duke of Anjou was to surrender Spain and Sicily in two months, and
+if not delivered, Louis was to concur with the Allies for his
+expulsion. The barrier towns, so eagerly coveted by the Dutch, were to
+be given up to them. Namur, Menin, Charleroi, Luxembourg, Cond�,
+Tournay, Maubeuge, Nieuport, Fismes, and Ipres, were to be put into
+the possession of the Allies. De Torcy objected to the articles
+regarding the cession of the whole Spanish monarchy in two months;
+though he declared his willingness to go to Paris, in order to
+persuade the French monarch to comply with them, and actually set off
+for that purpose. On the way to the French capital, however, he was
+met by a messenger from the French king, who rejected the proposals.
+"If I must continue the war," said Louis, with a spirit worthy his
+race, "it is better to contend with my enemies than my own family." So
+confidently had it been believed, both at the Hague and in London,
+that peace was not only probable, but actually concluded, that letters
+of congratulation poured in on the duke from all quarters, celebrating
+his dexterity and address in negotiation not less than his prowess in
+arms. So confident, indeed, was Marlborough that peace would be
+concluded, that he was grievously disappointed by the rupture of the
+negotiations; and never ceased to strive, during the whole summer, to
+smooth away difficulties, and bring the Allies to such terms as the
+French king would accept. He was overruled, however, by the ministry
+at home, who concluded the celebrated barrier treaty with the Dutch,
+which Marlborough refused to sign, and was accordingly signed by
+Townsend alone, without his concurrence! And it is now decisively
+proved by the publication of his private correspondence with Lord
+Godolphin, that he disapproved of the severe articles insisted upon by
+the Allies and his own cabinet; and that, if he had had the
+uncontrolled management of the negotiation, it would have been brought
+to a favourable issue on terms highly advantageous to England, and
+which would have prevented the treaty of Utrecht from forming a stain
+on its annals.[16]
+
+The rigorous terms demanded, however, by the Allied cabinets, and the
+resolute conduct of the King of France in rejecting them, had an
+important effect upon the war, and called for more vigorous efforts on
+the part of the confederates than they had yet put forth, or were even
+now disposed to make. Louis made a touching appeal to the patriotic
+spirit of his people, in an eloquent circular which he addressed to
+the prelates and nobles of his realm. He there set forth the great
+sacrifices which he had offered to make to secure a general peace;
+showed how willing he had been to divest himself of all his conquests,
+abandon all his dreams of ambition; and concluded by observing, that
+he was now compelled to continue the contest, because the Allies
+insisted upon his descending to the humiliation of joining his arms to
+theirs to dispossess his own grandson. The appeal was not made in vain
+to the spirit of a gallant nobility, and the patriotism of a brave
+people. It kindled a spark of general enthusiasm and loyalty: all
+ranks and parties vied with each other in contributing their property
+and personal service for the maintenance of the war; and the campaign
+which opened under such disastrous auspices, was commenced with a
+degree of energy and unanimity on the part of the French people which
+had never hitherto been evinced in the course of the contest.[17] As
+afterwards, in the wars of the Revolution, too, the misfortunes of the
+state tended to the increase of its military forces. The stoppage of
+commerce, and shock to credit, threw numbers out of employment; and
+starving multitudes crowded to the frontier, to find that subsistence
+amidst the dangers of war which they could no longer find in the
+occupations of peace.
+
+Skilfully availing themselves of this burst of patriotic fervour, the
+ministers of Louis were enabled to open the campaign with greater
+forces than they had yet accumulated since the beginning of the war.
+The principal effort was made in Flanders, where the chief danger was
+to be apprehended, and the enemy's most powerful army and greatest
+general were to be faced. Fifty-one battalions and forty-nine
+squadrons were drawn from the Rhine to Flanders; and this great
+reinforcement, joined to the crowds of recruits whom the public
+distress impelled to his standards, enabled the renowned Marshal
+Villars, who had received the command of the French, to take the field
+at the head of 112,000 men. With this imposing force, he took a
+position, strong both by nature and art, extending from Douay to the
+Lye; the right resting on the canal of Douay, the centre covered by
+the village of La Bassie, the left supported by Bethune and its
+circumjacent marshes. The whole line was strengthened by redoubts and
+partial inundations. Marlborough was at the head of 110,000 men, and
+although his force was composed of a heterogeneous mixture of the
+troops of different nations, yet, like the _colluvies omnium gentium_
+which followed the standards of Hannibal, it was held together by the
+firm bond of military success, and inspired with unbounded confidence,
+founded on experience, in the resources and capacity of its chief.
+Events of the greatest and most interesting kind could not but be
+anticipated, when two armies of such magnitude, headed by such
+leaders, were brought into collision; and the patriotic ardour of the
+French nation, now roused to the uttermost, was matched against the
+military strength of the confederates, matured by so long and
+brilliant a series of victories.[18]
+
+Though relying with confidence on the skill and intrepidity of his
+troops, Marlborough, according to his usual system, resolved if
+possible to circumvent the enemy by manoeuvring, and reserve his hard
+blows for the time when success was to be won in no other way. His
+design was to begin the campaign with a general battle, or the
+reduction of Tournay, which lay on the direct road from Brussels by
+Mons to Paris, and would break through, in the most important part,
+the barrier fortresses. To prepare for either event, and divert the
+enemy's attention, strong demonstrations were made against Villars'
+intrenched position, and if it had been practicable, it would have
+been attacked; but after a close reconnoitre, both generals deemed it
+too hazardous an enterprise, and it was resolved to besiege the
+fortress. On the 23d June, the right under Eugene crossed the lower
+Dyle below Lille; while the left, with whom were the whole English and
+Dutch contingents, crossed the upper Dyle, and Marlborough fixed his
+headquarters at the castle of Looz. So threatening were the masses
+which the Allies now accumulated in his front, that Villars never
+doubted he was about to be attacked; and in consequence he
+strengthened his position to the utmost of his power, called in all
+his detachments, and drew considerable reinforcements from the
+garrisons of Tournay and other fortresses in his vicinity. Having thus
+fixed his antagonist's attention, and concentrated his force in his
+intrenched lines between Douay and Bethune, Marlborough suddenly moved
+off to the left, in the direction of Tournay. This was done, however,
+with every imaginable precaution to impose upon the enemy. They
+decamped at nightfall on the 27th in dead silence, and advanced part
+of the night straight towards the French lines; but at two in the
+morning, the troops were suddenly halted, wheeled to the left, and
+marched in two columns, by Pont � Bovines and Pont � Tressins, towards
+Tournay. So expeditiously was the change in the line of march managed,
+and so complete the surprise, that by seven in the morning the troops
+were drawn round Tournay, and the investment complete, while a half of
+the garrison was still absent in the lines of Marshal Villars, and it
+was thereby rendered incapable of making any effectual defence.
+Meanwhile, that commander was so deceived, that he was congratulating
+himself that the enemy had "fixed on the siege of Tournay, which
+should occupy them the whole remainder of the campaign; when it is
+evident their design had been, after defeating me, to thunder against
+Aire la Venant with their heavy artillery, penetrate as far as
+Boulogne, and after laying all Picardy under contribution, push on
+even to Paris."[19]
+
+Tournay is an old town, the ancient walls of which are of wide
+circuit; but it had a series of advanced works erected by Vauban, and
+its citadel, a regular pentagon, was considered by the great Cond� as
+one of the most perfect specimens of modern fortification in
+existence. So little did the governor expect their approach, that many
+of the officers were absent, and a detachment of the garrison, sent
+out to forage, was made prisoners by General Lumley, who commanded the
+investing corps. The fortifications, however, were in the best state,
+and the magazines well stored with ammunition and military stores. It
+was the ancient capital of the Nervii, so celebrated for their valour
+in the wars with C�sar; and an inscription on its walls testified that
+Louis XIV., after taking it in four days, had assisted in the
+construction of the additional works which would render it
+impregnable. The attempt to take such a place with a force no greater
+than that with which Villars had at hand to interrupt the operations,
+would have been an enterprise of the utmost temerity, and probably
+terminated in disaster, had it not been for the admirable skill with
+which the attention of the enemy had been fixed on another quarter,
+and the siege commenced with half its garrison absent, and what was
+there, imperfectly supplied with provisions.[20]
+
+The heavy artillery and siege equipage required to be brought up the
+Scheldt from Ghent, which in the outset occasioned some delay in the
+operations. Marlborough commanded the attacking, Eugene the covering
+forces. By the 6th, however, the approaches were commenced; on the
+10th, the battering train arrived and the trenches armed; repeated
+sallies of the enemy to interrupt the operations were repulsed, and
+several of the outworks carried, between that time and the 21st, on
+which last occasion the besiegers succeeded in establishing themselves
+in the covered ways. The breaching batteries continued to thunder with
+terrible effect upon the walls; and on the 27th, a strong horn-work,
+called of the Seven Fountains, was carried, and the Allies were
+masters of nearly the whole line of the counterscarp. Meanwhile,
+Villars made no serious movement to interrupt the besiegers,
+contenting himself with making demonstrations between the Scarfe and
+the Scheldt to alarm the covering forces. Eugene, however, narrowly
+watched all his proceedings; and in truth the French marshal, far from
+really intending to disquiet the Allies in their operations, was
+busied with an immense army of pioneers and labourers in constructing
+a new set of lines from Douay along the Scarfe to the Scheldt near
+Cond�, in order to arrest the progress of the Allies in the direction
+they had now taken. Seeing no prospect of being relieved, the governor
+on the 29th surrendered the town, and retired with the remains of the
+garrison, still four thousand strong, into the citadel.[21]
+
+On the surrender of the town, no time was lost in prosecuting
+operations against the citadel, and the line of circumvallation was
+traced out that very evening. But this undertaking proved more
+difficult than had been expected, and several weeks elapsed before any
+material progress was made in the operations, during which Villars
+made good use of his time in completing his new lines to cover
+Valenciennes and Cond�. The garrison of the citadel, though unequal to
+the defence of the town of Tournay, was quite adequate to that of the
+citadel: and the vast mines with which the whole outworks and glacis
+were perforated, rendered the approaches in the highest degree
+perilous and difficult. The governor, M. De Surville, proposed, on the
+5th August, to capitulate in a month if not relieved; and to this
+proposition, Marlborough and Eugene with praiseworthy humanity at once
+acceded: but the King of France refused to ratify the terms proposed,
+unless the suspension of arms was made general to the whole
+Netherlands, to which the allied general would not accede. The
+military operations consequently went on, and soon acquired a degree
+of horror hitherto unparalleled even in that long and bloody contest.
+The art of countermining, and of counteracting the danger of mines
+exploding, was then very imperfectly understood, though that of
+besieging above ground had been brought to the very highest degree of
+perfection. The soldiers, in consequence, entertained a great and
+almost superstitious dread of the perils of that subterraneous
+warfare, where prowess and courage were alike unavailing, and the
+bravest, equally as the most pusillanimous, were liable to be at any
+moment blown into the air, or smothered under ground, by the
+explosions of an unseen, and therefore appalling, enemy. The Allies
+were inferior in regular sappers and miners to the besieged, who were
+singularly well supplied with that important arm of the service. The
+ordinary soldiers, how brave soever in the field, evinced a repugnance
+at engaging in this novel and terrific species of warfare: and it was
+only by personally visiting the trenches in the very hottest of the
+fire, and offering high rewards to the soldiers who would enter into
+the mines, that men could be got who would venture on the perilous
+service.[22]
+
+It was not surprising that even the bravest of the allied troops were
+appalled at the new and extraordinary dangers which now awaited them,
+for they were truly of the most formidable description. What rendered
+them peculiarly so, was, that the perils in a peculiar manner affected
+the bold and the forward. The first to mount a breach, to effect a
+lodgement in a horn-work, to penetrate into a mine, was sure to
+perish. First a hollow rumbling noise was heard, which froze the
+bravest hearts with horror: a violent rush as of a subterraneous
+cataract succeeded; and immediately the earth heaved, and whole
+companies, and even battalions, were destroyed with a frightful
+explosion. On the 15th August a sally by M. De Surville was bravely
+repulsed, and the besiegers, pursuing their advantage, effected a
+lodgement in the outwork: but immediately a mine was sprung, and a
+hundred and fifty men were blown into the air. In the night between
+the 16th and 17th, a long and furious conflict took place below ground
+and in utter darkness, between the contending parties, which at length
+terminated to the advantage of the besiegers.[23] On the 23d a mine
+was discovered, sixty feet long by twenty broad, which would have
+blown up a whole battalion of Hanoverian troops placed above it; but
+while the Allies were in the mine, congratulating themselves on the
+discovery, a mine below it was suddenly sprung, and all within the
+upper one buried in the ruins. On the night of the 25th, three hundred
+men, posted in a large mine discovered to the Allies by an inhabitant
+of Tournay, were crushed by the explosion of another mine directly
+below it; and on the same night, one hundred men posted in the town
+ditch were suddenly buried under a bastion blown out upon them. Great
+was the dismay which these dreadful and unheard-of disasters produced
+among the allied troops. But at length the resolution and energy of
+Marlborough and Eugene triumphed over every obstacle. Early on the
+morning of the 31st August the white flag was displayed, and a
+conference took place between the two commanders in the house of the
+Earl of Albemarle; but the governor having refused to accede to the
+terms demanded--that he should surrender prisoners of war--the fire
+recommenced, and a tremendous discharge from all the batteries took
+place for the next three days. This compelled the brave De Surville to
+submit; and Marlborough, in consideration of his gallant defence,
+permitted the garrison to march out with the honours of war, and
+return to France, on condition of not serving again till exchanged. On
+September 3d the gates were surrendered; and the entire command of
+this strong fortress and rich city, which entirely covered Spanish
+Flanders, was obtained by the Allies.[24]
+
+No sooner was Tournay taken than the allied generals turned their
+eyes to Mons, the next great fortress on the road to Paris, and which,
+with Valenciennes, constituted the only remaining strongholds that lay
+on that line between them and Paris. So anxious was Marlborough to
+hasten operations against this important town, that on the very day on
+which the white flag was displayed from the citadel of Tournay, he
+dispatched Lord Orkney with all the grenadiers of the army, and twenty
+squadrons, to surprise Ghislain, and secure the passage of the Haine.
+On the 3d, the Prince of Hesse-Cassel was dispatched after him with
+4000 foot and 60 squadrons. Lord Orkney, on arriving on the banks of
+the Haine, found the passage so strongly guarded that he did not deem
+it prudent to alarm the enemy by attempting to force them. The Prince
+of Hesse-Cassel, however, was more fortunate. He marched with such
+extraordinary diligence, that he got over forty-nine English miles in
+fifty-six successive hours; a rapidity of advance, for such a
+distance, that had never been surpassed at that, though it has been
+outdone in later times.[25] By this means he reached the Haine on the
+other side of Mons, and surprised the passage near Obourg, at two in
+the morning of the 6th, and at noon he entered the French lines of the
+Trouille without opposition, the enemy retiring with precipitation as
+he advanced. He immediately extended his forces over the valley of the
+Trouille, fixed his headquarters at the abbey of Belian, and with his
+right occupied in strength the important plateau of Jemappes, which
+intercepted the communication between Mons and Valenciennes. It was on
+this height that the famous battle was fought between the French
+Republicans under Dumourier in 1792: another proof among the many
+which history affords how frequently the crisis of war, at long
+distances of time from each other, takes place in the same place. By
+this decisive movement Marlborough gained an immense advantage;--Mons
+was now passed and _invested on the side of France_; and the
+formidable lines, thirty leagues in length, on which Marshal Villars
+had been labouring with such assiduity during the two preceding
+months, were turned and rendered of no avail.[26]
+
+While the Prince of Hesse-Cassel, with the advanced guard of the army,
+gained this brilliant success, Marlborough was rapidly following with
+the main body in the same direction. The force besieging Tournay
+crossed the Scheldt at the bridge of that town, and joined the
+covering force under Eugene. From thence they advanced to Sirant,
+where they were joined by Lord Orkney with his detachment, which had
+failed in passing the Haine. On the 6th, having learned of the success
+of the Prince of Hesse-Cassel, who had turned the enemy's lines, and
+got between Mons and France, the allied generals pushed on with the
+utmost expedition, and leaving their army to form the investment of
+Mons, joined the prince in the abbey of Belian. Both commanders
+bestowed on him the highest compliments for the advantages he had
+gained; but he replied, "The French have deprived me of the glory due
+to such a compliment, since they have not even waited my arrival." In
+truth, such had been the celerity and skill of his dispositions, that
+they had rendered resistance hopeless, and achieved success without
+the necessity of striking a blow. Meanwhile Marshal Boufflers, hearing
+a battle was imminent, arrived in the camp as a volunteer, to serve
+under Villars, his junior in military service; a noble example of
+disinterested patriotism, which, not less than the justly popular
+character of that distinguished general, raised the enthusiasm of the
+French soldiers to the very highest pitch.[27] Every thing announced
+a more sanguinary and important conflict between the renowned
+commanders and gallant armies now arrayed on the opposite sides, than
+had yet taken place since the commencement of the war.[28]
+
+During these rapid and vigorous movements, which entirely turned and
+broke through his much-vaunted lines of defence, Villars remained with
+the great body of his forces in a state of inactivity. Aware he was to
+be attacked, but ignorant where the blow was first likely to fall, he
+judged, and probably rightly, that it would be hazardous to weaken his
+lines at any one point by accumulating forces at another. No sooner,
+however, did he receive intelligence of the march of the Prince of
+Hesse-Cassel, than he broke up from the lines of Douay, and hastily
+collecting his forces, advanced towards that adventurous commander. At
+two in the morning of the 4th, he arrived in front of him with his
+cavalry; but conceiving the whole allied army was before him, he did
+not venture to make an attack at a time when his great superiority of
+force would have enabled him to do it with every chance of success.
+The movement of Villars, however, and general _feux-de-joie_ which
+resounded through the French lines on the arrival of Marshal
+Boufflers, warned the allied leaders that a general battle was at
+hand; and orders were in consequence given to the whole army to
+advance at four o'clock on the afternoon of the 7th. A detachment of
+Eugene's troops was left to watch Mons, the garrison of which
+consisted only of eleven weak battalions and a regiment of horse, not
+mustering above five thousand combatants; and the whole remainder of
+the allied army, ninety thousand strong, pressed forward in dense
+masses into the level and marshy plain in the middle of which Mons is
+situated. They advanced in different columns, headed by Marlborough
+and Eugene; and never was a more magnificent spectacle presented, than
+when they emerged from the woods upon the plain, and ascended in the
+finest order, with their whole cavalry and artillery, as well as
+infantry, the undulating ground which lies to the south of that town.
+They arrived at night, and bivouacked on the heights of Quaregnon,
+near Genly, and thence on to the village of Quevy, in a line not three
+miles in length, and only five distant from the enemy; so that it was
+evident a general battle would take place on the following day, unless
+Villars was prepared to abandon Mons to its fate.[29]
+
+The French marshal, however, had no intention of declining the combat.
+His army was entirely fresh, and in the finest order; it had engaged
+in no previous operations; whereas a bloody siege, and subsequent
+fatiguing marches in bad weather, had sensibly weakened the strength,
+though they had not depressed the spirits, of the allied soldiers. The
+vast efforts of the French government, joined to the multitude of
+recruits whom the public distress had impelled into the army, had in
+an extraordinary degree recruited his ranks. After making provision
+for all the garrisons and detached posts with which he was charged, he
+could bring into the field no less than a hundred and thirty
+battalions, and two hundred and sixty squadrons; and as they had all
+been raised to their full complement, they mustered sixty-five
+thousand infantry, and twenty-six thousand horse, with eighty guns; in
+all, with the artillery, ninety-five thousand combatants. This vast
+array had the advantage of being almost entirely of one nation,
+speaking one language, and animated with one spirit; while the allied
+force was a motley array of many different faces and nations of men,
+held together by no other bond but the strong one of military success
+and confidence in their chief. Both armies were of nearly equal
+strength, under the command of the ablest and most intrepid commanders
+of their day; the soldiers of both had acted long together, and
+acquired confidence in each other; and both contained that
+intermixture of the fire of young, with the caution of veteran troops,
+which is of the happiest augury for military success. It was hard to
+say, between such antagonists, to which side the scales of victory
+would incline.[30]
+
+The face of the country occupied by the French army, and which was to
+be the theatre of the great battle which was approaching, is an
+irregular plateau, interspersed by woods and intersected by streams,
+and elevated from a hundred and fifty to two hundred feet above the
+meadows of the Trouille. Mons and Bavay, the villages of Quevrain and
+Giory, formed the angular points of this broken surface. Extensive
+woods on all the principal eminences both give diversity and beauty to
+the landscape, and, in a military point of view, added much to the
+strength of the position as defensible ground against an enemy. Near
+MALPLAQUET, on the west of the ridge, is a small heath, and
+immediately to the south of it the ground descends by a rapid slope to
+the Hon, which finds its way by a circuitous route by the rear of the
+French position to the Trouille, which it joins near Cond�. The
+streams from Malplaquet to the northward all flow by a gentle slope
+through steep wooded banks to the Trouille, into which they fall near
+Mons. The woods on the plateau are the remains of a great natural
+forest which formerly covered the whole of these uplands, and out of
+which the clearings round the villages and hamlets which now exist,
+have been cut by the hands of laborious industry. Two woods near the
+summit level of the ground are of great extent, and deserve particular
+notice. The first, called the wood of Louvi�re, stretches from
+Longueville in a north-easterly direction to Cauchie; the second,
+named the wood Taisni�re, of still larger size, extends from the
+Chauss�e de Bois to the village of Bouson. Between these woods are two
+openings, or Trou�es as they are called in the country--the Trou�e de
+la Louvi�re, and the Trou�e d'Aulnoet. Generally speaking, the ground
+occupied by the French, and which was to be the theatre of the battle,
+may be described as a rough and woody natural barrier, stretching
+across the high plateau which separates the Haine and the Trouille,
+and pervious only by the two openings of Louvi�re and Aulnoet, both of
+which are in a very great degree susceptible of defence.[31]
+
+The allied army consisted of one hundred and thirty-nine battalions,
+and two hundred and fifty-three squadrons, with one hundred and five
+guns; mustering ninety-three thousand combatants. The two armies,
+therefore, were as nearly as possible equal in point of military
+strength--a slight numerical superiority on the part of the French
+being compensated by a superiority of twenty-five guns on that of the
+Allies. Among the French nobles present at the battle, were no less
+than twelve who were afterwards marshals of France.[32] The son of
+James II., under the name of the Chevalier of St George, who combined
+the graces of youth with the hereditary valour of his race, was there;
+St Hilaire and Folard, whose works afterwards threw such light on
+military science, were to be found in its ranks. The Garde-du-corps,
+Mousquetaires gris, Grenadiers _� cheval_, French, Swiss, and Bavarian
+guards, as well as the Irish brigade, stood among the combatants. The
+reverses of Louis had called forth the flower of the nobility, as well
+as the last reserves of the monarchy.[33]
+
+Early on the morning of the 9th, Marlborough and Eugene were on the
+look-out at the Mill of Sart, with a strong escort, consisting of
+thirty squadrons of horse. From the reports brought in, it was soon
+ascertained that the whole enemy's army was in march towards the plain
+of Malplaquet, on the west of the plateau, and that Villars himself
+was occupying the woods of Lasni�re and Taisni�re. His headquarters
+were at Blaugnies, in the rear of the centre. The two armies were now
+only a league and a half separate, and Marlborough and Eugene were
+clear for immediately attacking the enemy, before they could add to
+the natural strength of their position by intrenchnents. But the Dutch
+deputies, Hooft and Goslinga, interfered, as they had done on a
+similar occasion between Wavre and Waterloo, and so far modified this
+resolution as to induce a council of war, summoned on the occasion, to
+determine not to fight till the troops from Tournay were within reach,
+and St Ghislain, which commanded a passage over the Haine, was taken.
+This was done next day, the fort being carried by escalade, and its
+garrison of two hundred men made prisoners; and on the day following,
+all the reserves from Tournay came up. But these advantages, which in
+themselves were not inconsiderable, were dearly purchased by the time
+which Villars gained for strengthening his position. Instead of
+pushing on to attack the allies, as Marlborough and Eugene had
+expected, to raise the siege of Mons, that able commander employed
+himself with the utmost skill and vigour in throwing up intrenchments
+in every part of his position. The nature of the ground singularly
+favoured his efforts. The heights he occupied, plentifully
+interspersed with woods and eminences, formed a concave semicircle,
+the artillery from which enfiladed on all sides the little plain of
+Malplaquet, so as to render it literally, in Dumont's words, "une
+trou�e d'enfer." Around this semicircle, redoubts, palisades, abattis,
+and stockades, were disposed with such skill and judgment, that,
+literally speaking, there was not a single inequality of ground, (and
+there were many,) which was not turned to good account. The two
+_trou�es_ or openings, in particular, already mentioned, by which it
+was foreseen the Allies would endeavour to force an entrance, were so
+enfiladed by cross batteries as to be wellnigh unassailable. Twenty
+pieces of artillery were placed on a redoubt situated on an eminence
+near the centre of the field; the remainder were arranged along the
+field-works constructed along the lines. Half the army laboured at
+these works without a moment's intermission during the whole of the
+9th and 10th, while the other were under arms, ready to repel any
+attack which might be hazarded. With such vigour were the operations
+conducted, that by the night of the 10th, the position was deemed
+impregnable.[34]
+
+During these two days, which were passed in inactivity, awaiting the
+coming up of the reinforcements from Tournay, which the council of war
+had deemed indispensable to the commencement of operations,
+Marlborough and Eugene had repeatedly reconnoitred the enemy's
+position, and were fully aware of its growing strength. Despairing of
+openly forcing such formidable lines, defended by so numerous and
+gallant an army, they resolved to combine their first attack with a
+powerful demonstration in rear. With this view, the rear-guard, which
+was coming up from Tournay under General Withers, of nineteen
+battalions and ten squadrons, received orders not to join the main
+body of the army, but, stopping short at St Ghislain, to cross the
+Haine there, and, traversing the wood of Blangris by a country road,
+assail the extreme left of the enemy at the farm of La Folie, when the
+combat was seriously engaged in front. Forty battalions of Eugene's
+army, under Baron Schulemberg, were to attack the wood of Taisni�re,
+supported by forty pieces of cannon, so placed that their shot reached
+every part of the wood. To distract the enemy's attention, other
+attacks were directed along the whole line; but the main effort was to
+be made by Eugene's corps on the wood of Taisni�re; and it was from
+the co-operation of the attack of Schulemberg on its flank, that
+decisive success was expected.[35] All the corps had reached their
+respective points of destination on the evening of the 10th.
+Schulemberg was near La Folie; Eugene was grouped, in four lines, in
+front of Taisni�re; and the men lay down to sleep, anxiously awaiting
+the dawn of the eventful morrow.[36]
+
+At three in the morning of the 11th, divine service was performed,
+with the utmost decorum, at the head of every regiment, and listened
+to by the soldiers, after the example of their chief, with the most
+devout attention. The awful nature of the occasion, the momentous
+interests at stake, the uncertainty who might survive to the close of
+the day, the protracted struggle now to be brought to a decisive
+issue, had banished all lighter feelings, and impressed a noble
+character on that impressive solemnity. A thick fog overspread the
+field, under cover of which the troops marched, with the utmost
+regularity, to their appointed stations: the guns were brought forward
+to the grand battery in the centre, which was protected on either side
+by an _�paulement_ to prevent an enfilade. No sooner did the French
+outposts give notice that the Allies were preparing for an attack,
+than the whole army stood to their arms, and all the working parties,
+who were still toiling in the trenches, cast aside their tools, and
+joyfully resumed their places in the ranks. Never, since the
+commencement of the war, had the spirit of the French soldier been so
+high, or so enthusiastic a feeling infused into every bosom. With
+confidence they looked forward to regaining the laurels, under their
+beloved commander, Marshal Villars, which had been withered in eight
+successive campaigns, and arresting the flood of conquest which
+threatened to overwhelm their country. No sooner did he mount on
+horseback at seven, than loud cries of "Vive le Roi!" "Vive le
+Mar�chal de Villars!" burst from their ranks. He himself took the
+command of the left, giving the post of honour on the right, in
+courtesy, to Marshal Boufflers. On the allied side, enthusiasm was not
+so loudly expressed, but confidence was not the less strongly felt.
+They relied with reason on the tried and splendid abilities of their
+chiefs, on their own experienced constancy and success in the field.
+They had the confidence of veteran soldiers, who had long fought and
+conquered together. In allusion to the numerous field-works before
+them, and which almost concealed the enemy's ranks from their view,
+the sarcastic expression passed through the ranks, "We are again about
+to make war on moles." The fog still lingered on the ground, so as to
+prevent the gunners seeing to take aim; but at half-past seven it
+cleared up; the sun broke forth with uncommon brilliancy, and
+immediately the fire commenced with the utmost vigour from the
+artillery on both sides.[37]
+
+For about half an hour the cannon continued to thunder, so as to reach
+every part of the field of battle with their balls, when Marlborough
+moved forward his troops in �chelon, the right in front, in order to
+commence his projected attack on the French centre and left. The
+Dutch, who were on the left, agreeably to the orders they had
+received, halted when within range of grape, and a violent cannonade
+was merely exchanged on both sides; but Count Lottum, who commanded
+the centre of twenty battalions, continued to press on, regardless of
+the storm of shot and grape with which he was assailed, and when well
+into the enemy's line, he brought up his left shoulders, and in three
+lines attacked the right of the wood of Taisni�re. Schulemberg, at the
+same time, with his forty battalions to the right of Lottum, advanced
+against the wood of Taisni�re in front; while Lord Orkney, with his
+fifteen battalions, as Lottum's men inclined to the right, marched
+straight forward to the ground they had occupied, and attacked the
+intrenchment before him in the opening. Eugene, who was with
+Schulemberg's men, advanced without firing a shot, though suffering
+dreadfully from the grape of the batteries, till within pistol-shot of
+the batteries. They were there, however, received by so terrible a
+discharge of all arms from the intrenchments--the French soldiers
+laying their pieces deliberately over the parapet, and taking aim
+within twenty yards of their opponents--that they recoiled above two
+hundred yards, and were only brought back to the charge by the heroic
+efforts of Eugene, who exposed his person in the very front of the
+line. Meanwhile, three battalions brought up from the blockade of Mons
+stole unperceived, amidst the tumult in front, into the south-eastern
+angle of the wood of Taisni�re, and were making some progress, when
+they were met by three battalions of French troops, and a vehement
+fire of musketry soon rang in the recesses of the wood.
+
+Meanwhile, Marlborough in person led on D'Auvergne's cavalry in
+support of Lottum's men, who speedily were engaged in a most terrific
+conflict. They bore without flinching the fire of the French brigade
+_du Roi_, and, crossing a ravine and small morass, rushed with fixed
+bayonets, and the most determined resolution, right against the
+intrenchment. So vehement was the onset, so impetuous the rush, that
+some of the leading files actually reached the summit of the parapet,
+and those behind pushing vehemently on, the redoubt was carried amidst
+deafening cheers. But Villars was directly in rear of that work; and
+he immediately led up in person a brigade in the finest order, which
+expelled the assailants at the point of the bayonet, and regained the
+work. Marlborough upon this charged at the head of D'Auvergne's
+cavalry; and that gallant body of men, three thousand strong, dashed
+forward, entered the intrenchments, which were, at the same time,
+surmounted by some of Lottum's battalions. While this desperate
+conflict was going on in front and flank of the wood, Withers, with
+his corps brought up from Tournay, was silently, and with great
+caution, entering the wood on the side of La Folie, and had already
+made considerable progress before any great efforts were made to expel
+them. The advance of this corps in his rear rendered it impossible for
+Villars any longer to maintain the advanced line of works in the front
+of the wood; it was therefore abandoned, but slowly, and in admirable
+order--the troops retiring through the trees to the second line of
+works in their rear, which they prepared to defend to the last
+extremity.
+
+While this bloody conflict was raging in and around the wood of
+Taisni�re, the half-hour during which the Prince of Orange had been
+directed to suspend his attack had elapsed, and that gallant chief,
+impatient of inactivity when the battle was raging with such fury on
+his right, resolved to move forward in good earnest. The Scotch
+brigade, led on by the Marquis of Tullibardine, headed the column on
+the left; to their right were the Dutch, under Spaar and Oxenstiern;
+while the Prince of Hesse-Cassel, with twenty-one squadrons, was in
+reserve to support and follow the infantry into the works, when an
+opening was made. On the word "march" being given, the troops of these
+various nations, with rival courage, advanced to the attack. The
+Scotch Highlanders, headed by the gallant Tullibardine,[38] rushed
+impetuously forward to the attack, despite a tremendous fire of grape
+and musketry which issued from the works, and succeeded in reaching
+the top of the intrenchment. But before they could deploy, they were
+charged by the French infantry in close order, and driven out.
+Tullibardine met a glorious death in the redoubt he had won. Equally
+gallant was the assault, and unpropitious the result, of the Prince of
+Orange's attack on the right towards the French centre. There, too,
+by a vehement rush the intrenchment was carried; but the troops which
+surmounted it had no sooner penetrated in than they were attacked by
+Boufflers, at the head of fresh troops in close order in front, while
+a powerful battery opened with grape on their flank. This double
+attack proved irresistible; the assailants were pushed out of the
+works with dreadful slaughter. Spaar lay dead on the spot; Hamilton
+was carried off wounded. Seeing his men recoil, the Prince of Orange
+seized a standard, and advancing alone to the slope of the
+intrenchment, said aloud, "Follow me, my friends; here is your post."
+But it was all in vain. Boufflers' men from the French second line had
+now closed up with the first, which lined the works, and a dense mass
+of bayonets, six deep, bristled at their summit behind the embrasures
+of the guns. A dreadful rolling fire issued from them; their position
+could be marked by the ceaseless line of flame, even through the
+volumes of smoke which enveloped them on all sides; and at length,
+after displaying the most heroic valour, the Prince of Orange was
+obliged to draw off his men, with the loss of three thousand killed,
+and twice that number wounded. Instantly the brigade of Navarre issued
+with loud shouts out of the intrenchments. Several Dutch battalions
+were driven back, and some colours, with an advanced battery, fell
+into the enemy's hands. Boufflers supported this sally by his
+grenadiers _� cheval_; but the Prince of Hesse-Cassel came up with his
+well-appointed squadron on the other side, and, after a short
+struggle, drove the French back into their works.
+
+Hearing that matters were in this precarious state on the left,
+Marlborough galloped from the right centre, accompanied by his staff,
+where Lotturn's infantry and D'Auvergne's horse had gained such
+important advantages. Matters erelong became so alarming, that Eugene
+also followed in the same direction. On his way along the rear of the
+line, the English general had a painful proof of the enthusiastic
+spirit with which his troops were animated, by seeing numbers of the
+wounded Dutch and Hanoverians, whose hurts had just been bound up by
+the surgeons, again hastening to the front, to join their comrades,
+though some, faint from the loss of blood, yet tottered under the
+weight of their muskets. The reserves were hastily directed to the
+menaced front, and by their aid the combat was in some degree restored
+in that quarter; while Marlborough and Eugene laboured to persuade the
+Prince of Orange, who was burning with anxiety at all hazards to renew
+the attack, that his operations were only intended as a feint, and
+that the real effort was to be made on the right, where considerable
+progress had already been made. Order was hardly restored in this
+quarter, when intelligence arrived from the right that the enemy were
+assuming the initiative in the wood of Taisni�re, and were pressing
+hard both upon the troops at La Folie and in front of the wood. In
+fact, Villars, alarmed at the progress of the enemy on his left in the
+wood, had drawn considerable reinforcements from his centre, and sent
+them to the threatened quarter. Marlborough instantly saw the
+advantage which this weakening of the enemy's centre was likely to
+give him. While he hastened back, therefore, with all imaginable
+expedition to the right, to arrest the progress of the enemy in that
+quarter, he directed Lord Orkney to advance, supported by a powerful
+body of horse on each flank, directly in at the opening between the
+two woods, and if possible force the enemy's intrenchments in the
+centre, now stripped of their principal defenders.
+
+These dispositions, adopted on the spur of the moment, and instantly
+acted upon, proved entirely successful. Eugene galloped to the extreme
+right, and renewed the attack with Schulemberg's men, while Withers
+again pressed on the rear of the wood near La Folie. So vigorous was
+the onset, that the Allies gained ground on both sides of the wood,
+and Villars hastening up with the French guards to restore the combat
+near La Folie, received a wound in the knee, when gallantly heading a
+charge of bayonets, which obliged him to quit the field. In the
+centre, still more decisive advantages were gained. Lord Orkney there
+made the attack with such vigour, that the intrenchments, now not
+adequately manned, were at once carried; and the horse, following
+rapidly on the traces of the foot soldiers, broke through at several
+openings made by the artillery, and spread themselves over the plain,
+cutting down in every direction. The grand battery of forty cannon in
+the allied centre received orders to advance. In the twinkling of an
+eye the guns were limbered up, and moving on at a quick trot. They
+soon passed the intrenchments in the centre, and facing to the right
+and left, opened a tremendous fire of canister and grape on the dense
+masses of the French cavalry which there stood in the rear of the
+infantry, who were almost all in front among the works. These noble
+troops, however, bore up gallantly against the storm, and even charged
+the allied horse before they had time to form within the lines; but
+they were unable to make any impression, and retired from the attack
+sorely shattered by the allied artillery.
+
+The battle was now gained. Villars' position, how strong and gallantly
+defended soever, was no longer tenable. Pierced through in the centre,
+with a formidable enemy's battery thundering on either side, in the
+very heart of his line, on the reserve squadrons, turned and menaced
+with rout on the left, it was no longer possible to keep the field.
+Boufflers, upon whom, in the absence of Villars in consequence of his
+wound, the direction of affairs had devolved, accordingly prepared for
+a retreat; and he conducted it with consummate skill, as well as the
+most undaunted firmness. Collecting a body of two thousand chosen
+horse yet fresh, consisting of the _�lite_ of the horse-guards and
+garde-du-corps, he charged the allied horse which had penetrated into
+the centre, and was by this time much blown by its severe fatigues in
+the preceding part of the day. It was accordingly worsted and put to
+flight; but all the efforts of this noble body of horsemen were
+shattered against Orkney's infantry, which, posted on the reverse of
+the works they had won, poured in, when charged, so close and
+destructive a fire, as stretched half of the gallant cavaliers on the
+plain, and forced the remainder to a precipitate retreat. Still the
+indefatigable Boufflers made another effort. Drawing a large body of
+infantry from the works on his extreme right, which had been little
+engaged, he marched them to the left, and reforming his squadrons
+again, advanced to the charge. But Marlborough no sooner saw this,
+than he charged the garde-du-corps with a body of English horse which
+he himself led on, and drove them back, while the infantry staggered
+and reeled like a sinking ship under the terrific fire of the allied
+guns, which had penetrated the centre. At the same time the Prince of
+Orange and the Prince of Hesse-Cassel, perceiving that the
+intrenchments before them were stript of great part of their
+defenders, renewed the attack; in ten minutes these works were
+carried; a tremendous shout, heard along the whole line, announced
+that the whole left of the position had fallen into the hands of the
+Allies.
+
+In these desperate circumstances, Boufflers and his brave troops did
+all that skill or courage could suggest to arrest the progress of the
+victors, and withdraw from the field without any additional losses.
+Forming his troops into three great masses, with the cavalry which had
+suffered least in rear, he slowly, and in perfect regularity,
+commenced his retreat. The Allies had suffered so much, and were so
+completely exhausted by the fatigue of this bloody and protracted
+battle, that they gave them very little molestation. Contenting
+themselves with pursuing as far as the heath of Malplaquet, and the
+level ground around Taisni�re, they halted, and the men lay down to
+sleep. Meanwhile the French, in the best order, but in deep dejection,
+continued their retreat still in three columns; and after crossing the
+Hon in their rear, reunited below Quesnoy and Valenciennes, about
+twelve miles from the field of battle.[39]
+
+Such was the desperate battle of Malplaquet, the most bloody and
+obstinately contested which had yet occurred in the war, and in which
+it is hard to say to which of the gallant antagonists the palm of
+valour and heroism is to be given. The victory was unquestionably
+gained by the Allies, since they forced the enemy's position, drove
+them to a considerable distance from the field of battle, and hindered
+the siege of Mons, the object for which both parties fought, from
+being raised. The valour they displayed had extorted the admiration of
+their gallant and generous enemies.[40] On the other hand, these
+advantages had been purchased at an enormous sacrifice, and never
+since the commencement of the contest had the scales hung so even
+between the contending parties. The Allies lost, killed in the
+infantry alone, five thousand five hundred and forty-four; wounded and
+missing, twelve thousand seven hundred and six; in all eighteen
+thousand two hundred and fifty, of whom two hundred and eighty-six
+were officers killed, and seven hundred and sixty-two wounded.
+Including the casualties in the cavalry and artillery, their total
+loss was not less than twenty thousand men, or nearly a fifth of the
+number engaged. The French loss, though they were worsted in the
+fight, was less considerable; it did not exceed fourteen thousand
+men--an unusual circumstance with a beaten army, but easily accounted
+for, if the formidable nature of the intrenchments which the Allies
+had to storm in the first part of the action, is taken into
+consideration. In proportion to the numbers engaged, the loss to the
+victors was not, however, nearly so great as at Waterloo.[41] Few
+prisoners, not above five hundred, were made on the field; but the
+woods and intrenchments were filled with wounded French, whom
+Marlborough, with characteristic humanity, proposed to Villars to
+remove to the French headquarters, on condition of their being
+considered prisoners of war--an offer which that general thankfully
+accepted. A solemn thanksgiving was read in all the regiments of the
+army two days after the battle, after which the soldiers of both
+armies joined in removing the wounded French on two hundred waggons to
+the French camp. Thus, after the conclusion of one of the bloodiest
+fights recorded in modern history, the first acts of the victors were
+in raising the voice of thanksgiving, and doing deeds of mercy.[42]
+
+No sooner were these pious cares concluded, than the Allies resumed
+the investment of Mons: Marlborough, with the English and Dutch,
+having his headquarters at Belian, and Eugene, with the Germans, at
+Quaregnon. The Prince of Orange, with thirty battalions and as many
+squadrons, was intrusted with the blockade. Great efforts were
+immediately made to get the necessary siege equipage and stores up
+from Brussels; but the heavy rains of autumn set in with such
+severity, that it was not till the 25th September that the trenches
+could be opened. Boufflers, though at no great distance, did not
+venture to disturb the operations. On 9th October, a lodgement was
+effected in the covered way; on the 17th, the outworks were stormed;
+and on the 26th, the place surrendered with its garrison, still three
+thousand five hundred strong. By this important success, the conquest
+of Brabant was finished; the burden and expense of the war removed
+from the Dutch provinces; the barrier which they had so long sought
+after was rendered nearly complete; and the defences of France were so
+far laid bare, that by the reduction of Valenciennes and Quesnoy, in
+the next campaign, no fortified place would remain between the Allies
+and Paris. Having achieved this important success, the allied generals
+put their army into winter-quarters at Ghent, Bruges, Brussels, and on
+the Meuse; while fifty battalions of the French, with one hundred
+squadrons, were quartered, under the command of the Duke of Berwick,
+in the neighbourhood of Maubeuge, and the remainder of their great
+army in and around Valenciennes and Quesnoy.[43]
+
+During the progress of this short but brilliant campaign, Marlborough
+was more than ever annoyed and disheartened by the evident and
+increasing decline of his influence at home. Harley and Mrs Masham
+contrived to thwart him in every way in their power; and scarcely
+disguised their desire to make the situation of the Duke and Godolphin
+so uncomfortable, that out of spleen they might resign; in which case,
+the entire direction of affairs would have fallen into their
+hands.[44] Influenced by these new favourites, the Queen became cold
+and resentful to the Duchess of Marlborough, to whom she had formerly
+been so much attached; and the Duke, perceiving this, strongly advised
+her to abstain from any correspondence with her Majesty, as more
+likely to increase than diminish the estrangement so rapidly growing
+between them. The Duchess, however, was herself of too irritable a
+temper to follow this sage advice; reproaches, explanations, and
+renewed complaints ensued on both sides; and as usual in such cases,
+where excessive fondness has been succeeded by coldness, all attempts
+to repair the breach only had the effect of widening it. Numerous
+events at court, trifles in themselves, but "confirmation strong" to
+the jealous, served to show in what direction the wind was setting.
+The Duchess took the strong and injudicious step of intruding herself
+on the Queen, and asking what crime she had committed to produce so
+great an estrangement between them. This drew from her Majesty a
+letter, exculpating her from any fault, but ascribing their alienation
+to a discordance in political opinion, adding, "I do not think it a
+crime in any one not to be of my mind, or blamable, because you cannot
+see with my eyes, or hear with my ears." While this relieved
+Marlborough from the dread of a personal quarrel between the Duchess
+and Royalty, it only aggravated the precarious nature of his
+situation, by showing that the split was owing to the wider and more
+irremediable division on political subjects.[45]
+
+Encouraged by this powerful support at court, Harley now openly
+pursued his design of effecting the downfall of Marlborough, and his
+removal from office, and the command of the armies. The whole campaign
+which had terminated so gloriously, was criticised in the most unjust
+and malignant spirit. The siege of Tournay was useless and expensive;
+the battle of Malplaquet an unnecessary carnage. It was even
+insinuated the Duke had purposely exposed the officers to slaughter,
+that he might obtain a profit by the sale of their commissions. The
+preliminaries first agreed to at the Hague were too favourable to
+France; when Louis rejected them, the rupture of the negotiations
+rested with Marlborough. In a word, there was nothing done by the
+English general, successful or unsuccessful, pacific or warlike, which
+was not made the subject of loud condemnation, and unmeasured
+invective. Harley even corresponded with the disaffected party in
+Holland, in order to induce them to cut short the Duke's career of
+victory by clamouring for a general peace. Louis was represented as
+invincible, and rising stronger from every defeat: the prolongation of
+the war was entirely owing to the selfish interests and ambition of
+the allied chief. These and similar accusations, loudly re-echoed by
+all the Tories, and sedulously poured into the royal ear by Harley and
+Mrs Masham, made such an impression on the Queen, that she did not
+offer the smallest congratulation to the Duchess on the victory of
+Malplaquet, nor express the least satisfaction at the Duke's escape
+from the innumerable dangers which he had incurred.[46]
+
+An ill-timed and injudicious step of Marlborough at this juncture, one
+of the few which can be imputed to him in his whole public career,
+inflamed the jealousy of the Queen and the Tories at him. Perceiving
+the decline of his influence at court, and anticipating his dismissal
+from the command of the army at no distant period, he solicited from
+the Queen a patent constituting him Captain-general for life. In vain
+he was assured by the Lord Chancellor that such an appointment was
+wholly unprecedented in English history; he persisted in laying the
+petition before the Queen, by whom it was of course refused. Piqued at
+this disappointment, he wrote an acrimonious letter to her Majesty, in
+which he reproached her with the neglect of his public services, and
+bitterly complained of the neglect of the Duchess, and transfer of the
+royal favour to Mrs Masham. So deeply did Marlborough feel this
+disappointment, that on leaving the Hague to return to England, he
+said publicly to the deputies of the States--"I am grieved that I am
+obliged to return to England, where my services to your republic will
+be turned to my disgrace."[47]
+
+Marlborough was received in the most flattering manner by the people,
+on landing on 15th November, and he was greeted by the thanks of both
+Houses of Parliament for his great and glorious services. The Queen
+declared in her speech from the throne, that this campaign had been at
+least as glorious as any which had preceded it; and the Chancellor, in
+communicating the thanks of the House of Lords, added--"This high
+eulogium must be looked upon as added to, and standing upon the
+foundation already laid in the records of this House, for preserving
+your memory fresh to all future times; so that your Grace has also the
+satisfaction of seeing this everlasting monument of your glory rise
+every year much higher." Such was the impulse communicated to both
+Houses by the presence of the Duke, and the recollection of his
+glorious services, that liberal supplies for carrying on the war were
+granted by both Houses. The Commons voted �6,000,000 for the service
+of the ensuing year, and on the earnest representation of Marlborough,
+an addition was made to the military forces.
+
+But in the midst of all these flattering appearances, the hand of
+destruction was already impending over the British hero. It was mainly
+raised by the very greatness and inappreciable nature of his services.
+Envy, the invariable attendant on exalted merit, had already singled
+him out as her victim: jealousy, the prevailing weakness of little
+minds, had prepared his ruin. The Queen had become uneasy at the
+greatness of her subject. There had even been a talk of the Duke of
+Argyll arresting him in her name, when in command of the army. Anne
+lent a ready ear to the representations of her flatterers, and
+especially Mrs Masham, that she was enthralled by a single family;
+that Marlborough was the real sovereign of England, and that the
+crown was overshadowed by the field-marshal's baton. Godolphin,
+violently libelled in a sermon by Dr Sacheverell, at St Saviour's,
+Southwark, the Doctor was impeached before the House of Lords for the
+offence. The government of the Tower, usually bestowed on the
+recommendation of the commander-in-chief, was, to mortify Marlborough,
+bestowed without consulting him on Lord Rivers. At length matters came
+to such a pass, and the ascendency of Mrs Masham was so evident, while
+her influence was exercised in so undisguised a manner to humiliate
+him, that he prepared the draft of a letter of resignation of his
+commands to her Majesty, in which, after enumerating his services, and
+the abuse which Mrs Masham continued to heap on him and his relations,
+he concluded with saying--"I hope your Majesty will either dismiss her
+or myself."[48]
+
+Sunderland and several of the Whig leaders warmly approved of this
+vigorous step; but Godolphin, who foresaw the total ruin of the
+ministry and himself, in the resignation of the general, had influence
+enough to prevent its being sent. Instead of doing so, that nobleman
+had a long private audience with her Majesty on the subject; in which,
+notwithstanding the warmest professions on her part, and the strong
+sense she entertained of his great and lasting services, it was not
+difficult to perceive that a reserve as to future intentions was
+manifested, which indicated a loss of confidence. Marlborough declared
+he would be governed in the whole matter by the advice and opinion of
+his friends; but strongly expressed his own opinion, "that all must be
+undone if this poison continues about the Queen."[49] Such, however,
+was the agony of apprehension of Godolphin at the effects of the
+duke's resignation, that he persuaded him to adopt a middle course,
+the usual resource of second-rate men in critical circumstances, but
+generally the most hazardous that can be adopted. This plan was to
+write a warm remonstrance to the Queen, but without making Mrs
+Masham's removal a condition of his remaining in office. In this
+letter, after many invectives against Mrs Masham, and a full
+enumeration of his grievances, he concludes with these words--"This is
+only one of many mortifications that I have met with, and as I may not
+have many opportunities of writing to you, let me beg of your Majesty
+to reflect what your own people and the rest of the world must think,
+who have been witnesses of the love, zeal, and duty with which I have
+served you, when they shall see that, after all I have done, it has
+not been able to protect me against the malice of a bed-chamber
+woman.[50] But your Majesty may be assured that my zeal for you and my
+country is so great, that in my retirement I shall daily pray for your
+prosperity, and that those who serve you as faithfully as I have done,
+may never feel the hard return I have met with."
+
+These expressions, how just soever in themselves, and natural in one
+whose great services had been requited as Marlborough's had been, were
+not likely to make a favourable impression on the royal mind, and,
+accordingly, at a private audience which he had soon after of the
+Queen, he was received in the coldest manner.[51] He retired in
+consequence to Blenheim, determined to resign all his commands,
+unless Mrs Masham was removed from the royal presence. Matters seemed
+so near a rupture, that the Queen personally applied to several of the
+Tories, and even Jacobites, who had long kept aloof from court, to
+support her in opposition to the address expected from both Houses of
+Parliament on the duke's resignation. Godolphin and Somers, however,
+did their utmost to bend the firm general; and they so far succeeded
+in opposition to his better judgment, and the decided opinions of the
+Duchess, as to induce him to continue in office without requiring the
+removal of Mrs Masham from court. The Queen, delighted at this victory
+over so formidable an opponent, received him at his next audience in
+the most flattering manner, and with a degree of apparent regard which
+she had scarcely ever evinced to him in the days of his highest
+favour. But in the midst of these deceitful appearances his ruin was
+secretly resolved on; and in order to accelerate his departure from
+court, the Queen inserted in her reply to the address of the Commons
+at the close of the Session of Parliament, a statement of her
+resolution to send him immediately to Holland, as "I shall always
+esteem him the chief instrument of my glory, and of my people's
+happiness." He embarked accordingly, and landed at the Brill on March
+18th, in appearance possessing the same credit and authority as
+before, but in reality thwarted and opposed by a jealous and ambitious
+faction at home, which restrained his most important measures, and
+prevented him from effecting any thing in future on a level with his
+former glorious achievements.
+
+The year 1709 was signalized by the decisive victory of the Czar Peter
+over Charles XII. at Pultowa, who was totally routed and irretrievably
+ruined by the Muscovite forces, commanded by the Czar in person on
+that disastrous day. This overthrow was one of the most momentous
+which has occurred in modern times. Not only was a great and dreaded
+conqueror at once overturned, and erelong reduced to captivity; but a
+new balance of power was established in the north which has never
+since been shaken. Sweden was reduced to her natural rank as a
+third-rate power from which she had been only raised by the
+extraordinary valour and military talents of a series of warlike
+sovereigns, who had succeeded in rendering the Scandinavian warriors,
+like the Macedonians of old, a race of heroes. Russia, by the same
+event, acquired the entire ascendency over the other Baltic powers,
+and obtained that preponderance which she has ever since maintained in
+the affairs of Europe. Marlborough sympathised warmly with the
+misfortunes of the heroic sovereign, for whose genius and gallantry he
+had conceived the highest admiration. But he was too sagacious not to
+see that his disasters, like those of Napoleon afterwards in the same
+regions, were entirely the result of his own imprudence; and that if
+he had judiciously taken advantage of the terror of his name, and the
+success of his arms, in the outset of his invasion, he might have
+gained all the objects for which he contended without incurring any
+serious evil.[52]
+
+Peter the Great, who gained this astonishing and decisive success, was
+one of the most remarkable men who ever appeared on the theatre of
+public affairs. He was nothing by halves. For good or for evil he was
+gigantic. Vigour seems to have been the great characteristic of his
+mind; but it was often fearfully disfigured by passion, and not
+unfrequently misled by the example of more advanced states. To elevate
+Russia to an exalted place among nations, and give her the influence
+which her vast extent and physical resources seemed to render within
+her reach, was throughout life the great object of his ambition; and
+he succeeded in it to an extent which naturally acquired for him the
+unbounded admiration of mankind. His overthrow of the Strelitzes, long
+the Pr�torian guards and terror of the czars of Muscovy, was effected
+with a vigour and stained by a cruelty similar to that with which
+Sultan Mahommed a century after destroyed the Janissaries at
+Constantinople. The sight of a young and despotic sovereign leaving
+the glittering toys and real enjoyments of royalty to labour in the
+dockyards of Saardem with his own hands, and instruct his subjects in
+shipbuilding by first teaching himself, was too striking and
+remarkable not to excite universal attention. And when the result of
+this was seen: when the Czar was found introducing among his subjects
+the military discipline, naval architecture, nautical skill, or any of
+the arts and warlike institutions of Europe, and in consequence long
+resisting and at length destroying the terrible conqueror who had so
+long been the terror of Northern Europe, the astonishment of men knew
+no bounds. He was at once the Solon and Scipio of modern times: and
+literary servility, vying with great and disinterested admiration,
+extolled him as one of the greatest heroes and benefactors of his
+species who had ever appeared among men.
+
+But time, the great dispeller of illusions, and whose mighty arm no
+individual greatness, how great soever, can long withstand, has begun
+to abate much from this colossal reputation. His temper was violent in
+the extreme; frequent acts of hideous cruelty, and occasional
+oppression, signalized his reign. More than any other man, he did evil
+that good may come of it. He compelled his people, as he thought, to
+civilisation, though, in seeking to cross the stream, hundreds of
+thousands perished in the waves. "Peter the Great," says Mackintosh,
+"did not civilize Russia: that undertaking was beyond his genius,
+great as it was; he only gave the Russians the art of civilized war."
+The truth was, he attempted what was altogether impracticable. No one
+man can at once civilize a nation: he can only put it in the way of
+civilisation. To complete the fabric must be the work of continued
+effort and sustained industry during many successive generations. That
+Peter failed in rendering his people on a level with the other nations
+of Europe in refinement and industry, is no reproach to him. It was
+impossible to do so in less than several centuries. The real
+particular in which he erred was, that he departed from the national
+spirit, that he tore up the national institutions, violated in
+numerous instances the strongest national feelings. He clothed his
+court and capital in European dress; but men do not put off old
+feelings with the costume of their fathers. Peter's civilisation
+extended no further than the surface. He succeeded in inducing an
+extraordinary degree of discipline in his army, and the appearance of
+considerable refinement among his courtiers. But it is easier to
+remodel an army than change a nation; and the celebrated _bon-mot_ of
+Diderot, that the Russians were "rotten before they were ripe," is but
+a happy expression, indicating how much easier it is to introduce the
+vices than the virtues of civilisation among an unlettered people. To
+this day the civilisation of Russia has never descended below the
+higher ranks; and the efforts of the real patriotic czars who have
+since wielded the Muscovite sceptre, Alexander and Nicholas, have been
+mainly directed to get out of the fictitious career into which Peter
+turned the people, and revive with the old institutions the true
+spirit and inherent aspirations of the nation. The immense success
+with which their efforts have been attended, and the gradual, though
+still slow descent of civilisation and improvement through the great
+body of the people, prove the wisdom of the principles on which they
+have proceeded. Possibly Russia is yet destined to afford another
+illustration of the truth of Montesquieu's maxim, that no nation ever
+yet rose to durable greatness but through institutions in harmony with
+its spirit. And in charity let us hope that the words of Peter on his
+death-bed have been realized: "I trust that, in respect of the good I
+have striven to do my people, God will pardon my sins."
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[6] Marlborough to Mr Secretary Boyle, 17th December 1708. _Disp._ iv.
+362.
+
+[7] _Disp._ iv. 315, 323, 345. Marlborough to Duke de Mole, 10th Dec.
+1708. _Ibid._ 346. COXE, iv. 278.
+
+[8] Marlborough to Mr Secretary Boyle, 3d January 1709, _Disp._ iv.
+389.
+
+[9] "'Can I do more than I do now?' said the King. 'I make treaties,
+but the Emperor breaks his word with me, as well as Holland, every
+moment. Besides it is impossible, without great inconvenience, _to
+give more than three battalions_; and he is a wretch who would advise
+me otherwise.' I said he was a wretch who should advise him not to do
+it. He replied, 'You speak very boldly, and may perhaps repent it, if
+your arguments are not conclusive.'"--General Grumbkow to Marlborough,
+March 9, 1709. COXE, iv. 341.
+
+[10] King of Prussia to Marlborough, March 9, 1709. COXE, iv. 346.
+
+[11] In communicating the thanks of the House of Lords, the Chancellor
+said,
+
+"I shall not be thought to exceed my present commission, if, being
+thus led to contemplate the mighty things which your Grace has done
+for us, I cannot but conclude with acknowledging, with all gratitude,
+the providence of God in raising you up to be an instrument of so much
+good, in so critical a juncture, when it was so much wanted." COXE,
+iv. 375.
+
+[12] COXE, iv. 352, 366, 377.
+
+[13] "M. de Torcy has offered so much, that I have no doubt it will
+end in a good peace." Marlborough to Godolphin, 19th May 1707.
+
+"Every thing goes on so well here, that there is no doubt of its
+ending in a good peace. Government have in readiness the sideboard of
+plate, and the chairs of state and canopy; and I beg it may be made so
+as to form part of a bed when I am done with it here, _which I hope
+may be by the end of this summer_, so that I may enjoy your dear
+society in quiet, which is the greatest satisfaction I am capable of
+having." Marlborough to the Duchess, 19th May 1709. COXE, iv. 393.
+
+[14] _M�moire, M. de Torcy_, ii. 104-111.
+
+[15] SWIFT'S _Conduct of the Allies_, 72; COXE, iv. 395-415.
+
+[16] "I have as much mistrust for the sincerity of France as any body
+living can have; but I will own to you, that in my opinion, if France
+had delivered the towns promised by the plenipotentiaries, and
+demolished Dunkirk and the other towns mentioned, they must have been
+at our discretion; so that if they had played tricks, so much the
+worse for themselves." Marlborough to Lord Godolphin, June 10, 1709.
+COXE, iv. 405.
+
+[17] COXE, iv. 401.
+
+[18] _Ibid._ v. i. 5.
+
+[19] _M�m. de Villars_, ii. 63. Marlborough to Godolphin, June 27,
+1709. COXE, iv. 5, 6.
+
+[20] Marlborough to Mr Secretary Boyle, 27th June 1709. _Disp._ iv.
+520. COXE, v. 7, 8.
+
+[21] Marlborough to Lord Galway, 4th July 1709; and to the Queen, 29th
+July 1709. _Disp._ iv. 530 and 556. COXE, v. 8, 13. Marlborough's
+private letters to the Duchess at this period, as indeed throughout
+all his campaigns, prove how he was tired of the war, and how ardently
+he sighed for repose at Blenheim. "The taking of the citadel of
+Tournay will, I fear, cost us more men and time than that of the town;
+but that which gives me the greatest prospect for the happiness of
+being with you, is, that certainly the misery of France increases,
+which must bring us a peace. The misery of the poor people we see is
+such, that one must be a brute not to pity them. May you be ever
+happy, and I enjoy some few years of quiet with you, is what I daily
+pray for." Marlborough to the Duchess, July 30, 1709. COXE, v. 12.
+
+[22] DUMONT'S _Military History_, ii. 104. COXE, v. 15, 16.
+
+[23] A very striking incident occurred in the siege, which shows to
+what a height the heroic spirit with which the troops were animated
+had risen. An officer commanding a detachment, was sent by Lord
+Albemarle to occupy a certain lunette which had been captured from the
+enemy; and though it was concealed from the men, the commander told
+the officer he had every reason to believe the post was undermined,
+and that the party would be blown up. Knowing this, he proceeded with
+perfect calmness to the place of his destination; and when provisions
+and wine were served out to the men, he desired them to fill their
+calashes, and said, "Here is a health to those who die the death of
+the brave." The mine in effect was immediately after sprung; but
+fortunately the explosion failed, and his comrades survived to relate
+their commander's noble conduct.
+
+[24] Marlborough to Mr Secretary Boyle, 31st August and 3d September
+1709. _Disp._ iv. 585, 588. COXE, v. 14, 18. DUMONT'S _Military
+History_, ii. 103.
+
+[25] Mackenzie's brigade, which joined Wellington's army after the
+battle of Talavera, marched sixty-two English miles in twenty-six
+hours. NAPIER, ii. 412.
+
+[26] COXE, v. 20, 25. Marlborough to Mr Secretary Boyle, 7th September
+1709. _Disp._ iv. 590.
+
+[27] A similar incident occurred in the British service, when Sir
+Henry, now Lord Hardinge, and Governor-general of India, served as
+second in command to Sir Hugh Gough, his senior in military rank, but
+subordinate in station, at the glorious battles of Ferozepore and
+Sobraon, with the Sikhs. How identical is the noble and heroic spirit
+in all ages and countries! It forms a freemasonry throughout the
+world.
+
+[28] COXE, v. 24, 25. _Disp._ iv. 588, 595.
+
+[29] Marlborough to Mr Secretary Boyle, 7th and 11th September 1709.
+_Disp._ iv. 591, 592. COXE, v. 25, 26.
+
+[30] _M�m. de Villars_, ii. 167, 184. COXE, v. 26, 28.
+
+[31] COXE, v. 29, 30. The author has passed over the ground, and can
+attest the accuracy of the description here given.
+
+[32] Viz. Artagnan, Mar�chal de Montesquieu; De Guiche, Mar�chal de
+Grammont; Puysegur, Montmorenci, Coigny, Broglio, Chaulnes, Nangis,
+Isenghien, Duras, Houdancourt, and Sanneterre. The monarchy never sent
+forth a nobler array.
+
+[33] COXE, v. 32. _M�m. de Villars_, ii, 280.
+
+[34] COXE, v. 34, 37; DUMONT'S _Military History_, ii. 381-7.
+
+[35] Marlborough's General Orders, Sept. 10, 1709.
+
+[36] COXE, v. 40, 44.
+
+[37] LEDIARD, _Life of Marlborough_, ii. 172, 180. COXE, v. 45, 47.
+
+[38] The regiments of Tullibardine and Hepburn were almost all Atholl
+Highlanders.
+
+[39] COXE, v. 54, 63; _Disp._ v. 592, Marlborough to Mr Secretary
+Boyle, Sept. 11, 1709, and to Mr Wauchope, same date, v. 598.
+
+[40] "The Eugenes and Marlboroughs ought to be well satisfied with us
+during that day; since till then they had not met with resistance
+worthy of them. They may now say with justice that nothing can stand
+before them; and indeed what shall be able to stay the rapid progress
+of these heroes, if an army of one hundred thousand men of the best
+troops, strongly posted between two woods, trebly entrenched, and
+performing their duty as well as any brave men could do, were not able
+to stop them one day? Will you not then own with me that they surpass
+all the heroes of former ages?"--_Letter of a French Officer who
+fought at Malplaquet_; COXE, v. 65.
+
+[41] At Waterloo, there were sixty-nine thousand six hundred and
+eighty-six men in Wellington's army, and the loss was twenty-two
+thousand four hundred and sixty-nine, or one in three nearly; at
+Malplaquet, it was one in five; at Talavera, one in four--five
+thousand being killed and wounded out of nineteen thousand eight
+hundred engaged.--SIBORNE'S _Waterloo_, ii. 352 and 519.
+
+[42] Marlborough to Marshal Villars, 13th September 1709, and to Mr
+Secretary Boyle, 16th September 1709; _Disp._ v. 596, 599.--COXE, v.
+64.
+
+[43] Marlborough to Mr Secretary Boyle, October 21, 1709. _Disp._ v.
+617, 621.
+
+[44] "Be assured that Mrs Masham and Mr Harley will, underhand, do
+every thing that can make the business uneasy, particularly to you the
+Lord Treasurer, and me, for they know well that if we were removed
+every thing would be in their power. This is what they labour for,
+believing it would make them both great and happy; but I am very well
+persuaded it would be their destruction." _Marlborough to Godolphin_,
+Nov. 1, 1709; COXE, v. 105.
+
+[45] COXE, v. 105, 111.
+
+[46] COXE, v. 115, 116.
+
+[47] SWIFT, _Mem. on Queen's Change of Ministry in 1710_, p. 37. COXE,
+v. 117-118.
+
+[48] COXE, v. 124, 133.
+
+[49] Duchess of Marlborough to Maynwaring, January 18, 1710. COXE, v.
+134
+
+[50] Marlborough to Queen Anne, January 19, 1710.
+
+[51] "On Wednesday sennight I waited upon the Queen, in order to
+represent the mischief of such recommendations in the army, and before
+I came away I expressed all the concern for her change to me, that is
+natural to a man that has served her so faithfully for many years,
+which made no impression, nor was her Majesty pleased to take so much
+notice of me as to ask my Lord Treasurer where I was upon her missing
+me at Council. I have had several letters from him since I came here,
+and I cannot find that her Majesty has ever thought me worth naming;
+when my Lord Treasurer once endeavoured to show her the mischief that
+would happen, she made him no answer but a bow." Marlborough to Lord
+Somers, January 21, 1710.
+
+[52] "If this unfortunate king had been so well advised as to have
+made peace the beginning of this summer, he might in a great measure
+have influenced the peace between France and the Allies, and made
+other kingdoms happy. I am extremely touched with the misfortunes of
+this young king. His continued successes, and the contempt he had of
+his enemies, have been his ruin." Marlborough to Godolphin, August 26,
+1709. _Disp._ v. 510.
+
+
+
+
+THE AMERICANS AND THE ABORIGINES.
+
+A TALE OF THE SHORT WAR.
+
+
+PART THE LAST.
+
+
+It may be present to the memory of some of our readers, that when the
+British troops, under Sir Edward Pakenham, menaced New Orleans, the
+constitution of Louisiana was temporarily and arbitrarily suspended by
+General Jackson, commanding the American forces in the south, with a
+view to greater unity in the defensive operations. This suspension
+excited great indignation amongst the Louisianians, who viewed it as a
+direct attack upon their liberties, unjustified by circumstances.
+Meetings were called, and the general's conduct was made the subject
+of vehement censure. When the news of the peace between England and
+the United States, concluded in Europe before the fight of New Orleans
+took place, arrived, judicial proceedings were instituted against
+Jackson; he was found guilty of a violation of the Habeas Corpus act,
+and condemned to a fine of two thousand dollars. This fine the
+Louisianian Creoles were anxious to pay for him; but he preferred
+paying it himself, and did so with a good grace, thereby augmenting
+the popularity he had acquired by his victories over the Creek
+Indians, and by the still more important repulse of Pakenham's
+ill-planned and worse-fated expedition. In the book which forms the
+subject of the present article, this historical incident has been
+introduced, rather, however, to illustrate American character and
+feelings, than in connexion with the main plot of the tale. Captain
+Percy, a young officer of regulars, brings the announcement of the
+suspension of the Louisianian constitution to a town on the
+Mississippi, then the headquarters of the militia, who, at the moment
+of his arrival, are assembled on parade. The general commanding reads
+the despatch with grave dissatisfaction, and communicates its contents
+to his officers. The news has already got wind through some passengers
+by the steam-boat which brought the despatch-bearer, and discontent is
+rife amongst the militia. The parade is dismissed, the troops
+disperse, and the officers are about to return to their quarters, when
+they are detained by the following incident:--
+
+From the opposite shore of the river, two boats had some time
+previously pushed off; one of them seeming at first uncertain what
+direction to take. It had turned first up, then down stream, but had
+at last pulled obliquely across the river towards the bayou or creek,
+on the shore of which the little town was situated. It was manned by
+sailors, judging from their shirts of blue and red flannel; but there
+were also other persons on board, differently dressed, one of whom
+reconnoitred the shore of the bayou with a telescope. It was the
+strange appearance of these persons that now attracted the attention
+of the officers. They were about twelve in number; some of them had
+their heads bound up, others had their arms in slings; several had
+great plasters upon their faces. They were of foreign aspect, and,
+judging from the style of their brown, yellow, and black
+physiognomies, of no very respectable class. As if wishing to escape
+observation, they sat with their backs to the bayou. At a word from
+General Billow, an officer stepped down to meet them.
+
+The boat was close to shore, but as soon as the suspicious-looking
+strangers perceived the approach of the militia officer, it was turned
+into the creek and shot rapidly up it. Suddenly it was brought to
+land; one of the better dressed of the men stepped out and approached
+the captain of regulars, who just then came out of the guard-house.
+With a military salute he handed him a paper, saluted again, and
+returned to his companions in the boat. After a short time the whole
+party ascended the bank of the bayou, and walked off in the direction
+of the town. The captain looked alternately at the men and at the
+paper, and then approached the group of officers.
+
+"What do those people want?" inquired General Billow.
+
+The officer handed him the paper.
+
+"Read it yourself, general. I can hardly believe my eyes. A passport
+for Armand, Marceau, Bernardin, Cordon, &c., planters from
+Nacogdoches, delivered by the Mexican authorities, and countersigned
+by the general-in-chief.
+
+"Have you inquired their destination?"
+
+Captain Percy shrugged his shoulders. "New Orleans. Any thing further,
+the man tells me, is known to the general-in-chief. A most suspicious
+rabble, and who seem quite at home here."
+
+"Ah, Mister Billow and Barrow, how goes it? Glad to see you. You look
+magnificent in your scarfs and plumes."
+
+This boisterous greeting, uttered in a rough, good-humoured voice,
+proceeded from our friend Squire Copeland, who had just landed from
+the second boat with his companions and horses, and having given the
+latter to a negro to hold, now stepped into the circle of officers,
+his broad-brimmed quaker-looking hat decorated with the magnificent
+bunch of feathers, for which his daughters had laid the tenants of the
+poultry-yard under such severe contribution.
+
+"Gentlemen," said he, half seriously and half laughing, "you see Major
+Copeland before you. To-morrow my battalion will be here."
+
+"You are welcome, major," said the general and other officers, with a
+gravity that seemed intended as a slight check on the loquacity of
+their new brother in arms.
+
+"And these men," continued the major, who either did not or would not
+understand the hint, "you might perhaps take for my aides-de-camp.
+This one, Dick Gloom, is our county constable; and as to the other,"
+he pointed to the Englishman, "I myself hardly know what to call him."
+
+"I will help you then," interrupted Hodges, impatient at this singular
+introduction. "I am an Englishman, midshipman of his Majesty's frigate
+Thunderer, from which I have, by mishap, been separated. I demand a
+prompt investigation of the fact, and report to your headquarters."
+
+The general glanced slightly at the overhasty speaker, and then at the
+written examination which the squire handed to him.
+
+"This is your department, Captain Percy," said he; "be pleased to do
+the needful."
+
+The officer looked over the paper, and called an orderly.
+
+"Let this young man be kept in strict confinement. A sentinel with
+loaded musket before his door, and no one to have access to him."
+
+"I really do not know which is the most suspicious," said the general;
+"this spy, as he is called, or the queer customers who have just
+walked away."
+
+Squire Copeland had heard with some discontent the quick decided
+orders given by the captain of regulars.
+
+"All that might be spared," said he. "He's as nice a lad as ever I
+saw. I was sitting yesterday at breakfast, when a parcel of my
+fellows, who are half horse, half alligator, and a trifle beyond, came
+tumbling into the house as if they would have pulled it down. Didn't
+know what it meant, till Joe Drum and Sam Shad brought the younker
+before me, and wanted to make him out a spy. I had half a mind to
+treat the thing as nonsense; but as we sat at table he let out
+something about Tokeah; and when the women spoke of Rosa--you know who
+I mean, Colonel Parker; Rosa, whom I've so often told you of--he got
+as red as any turkey-cock. Thinks I to myself, 'tisn't all right;
+better take him with you. You know Tokeah, the Indian, who gave us so
+much trouble some fifteen years ago?"
+
+"Tokeah, the chief of the Oconees?"
+
+"The same," continued the squire. "I chanced to mention his name, and
+the lad blurted out, 'Tokeah! Do you know him?' and when Mistress
+Copeland spoke of Rosa"----
+
+"But, my dear major, this circumstance is very important, and I see no
+mention of it in your report," said the general reprovingly.
+
+"I daresay not," replied the loquacious justice of peace; "he'd hardly
+be such a fool as to put that down. I had my head and hands so full
+that I asked him just to draw up an account of the matter himself."
+
+The officers looked at each other.
+
+"Upon my word, squire," said the general, "you take the duties of your
+office pretty easily. Who ever heard of setting a spy to take down his
+own examination, and a foreigner too? How could you so expose yourself
+and us?"
+
+The squire scratched himself behind the ear. "Damn it, you're right!"
+said he.
+
+During this dialogue, the officers had approached one of the five
+taverns, composing nearly a third part of the infant town, towards
+which the ill-looking strangers had betaken themselves. The latter
+seemed very anxious to reach the house first, but owing to the
+tardiness of some of their party, who walked with difficulty, they
+were presently overtaken by the prisoner and his escort. When the
+foremost of them caught a sight of the Englishman's face, he started
+and hastily turned away. Hodges sprang on one side, stared him full in
+the face, and was on the point of rushing upon him, when one of his
+guards roughly seized his arm and pointed forwards.
+
+"Stop!" cried the midshipman, "I know that man."
+
+"Maybe," replied the orderly dryly, "Forward!"
+
+"Let me go!" exclaimed Hodges, "It is the pirate."
+
+"Pirate?" repeated the soldier, who had again laid hold of his
+prisoner. "If you cut any more such capers, I'll take you to prison in
+a way that your bones will remember for a week to come. This young man
+says," added he to the officers, who just then came up, "that yonder
+fellow is a pirate."
+
+"Obey your orders," was the sole reply of the general; and again the
+orderly pushed his prisoner onwards.
+
+"And you?" said the militia general, turning to the foreigners--"Who
+may you be?"
+
+One of the strangers, half of whose face was bound up with a black
+silk bandage, whilst of the other half, which was covered with a large
+plaster, only a grey eye was visible, now stepped forward, and bowed
+with an air of easy confidence.
+
+"I believe I have the honour to address officers of militia, preparing
+for the approaching conflict. If, as I hope, you go down stream
+to-morrow, we shall have the pleasure of accompanying you."
+
+"Very kind," replied the general.
+
+"Not bashful," added the squire.
+
+"We also are come," continued the stranger in the same free and easy
+tone, "to lay our humble offering upon the altar of the land of
+liberty, the happy asylum of the persecuted and oppressed. Who would
+not risk his best blood for the greatest of earth's blessings?"
+
+"You are very liberal with your best blood," replied the general
+dryly. "How is it that, being already wounded, you come so far to seek
+fresh wounds in a foreign service?"
+
+"Our wounds were received from a party of Osages who attacked us on
+the road, and paid dearly for their temerity. We are not quite
+strangers here; we have for many years had connexions in New Orleans,
+and some of the produce of our plantations will follow us in a few
+days."
+
+"And this gentleman," said Colonel Parker, who, after staring for some
+time at one of the adventurers, now seized him by the collar, and in
+spite of his struggles dragged him forward: "does he also come to make
+an offering upon liberty's altar?"
+
+With a blow of his hand he knocked off the man's cap, and with it a
+bandage covering part of his face.
+
+"By jingo! dat our Pompey, what run from Massa John in New Orlean,"
+tittered the colonel's black servant, who stood a little on one side
+with the horses.
+
+"Pompey not know massa. Pompey free Mexican. Noding to massa,"
+screamed the runaway slave.
+
+"You'll soon learn to know me," said the colonel. "Orderly, take this
+man to jail, and clap irons on his neck and ankles."
+
+"You will remain here," said the general in a tone of command to the
+spokesman of the party, who had looked on with an appearance of
+perfect indifference during the detection and arrest of his black
+confederate.
+
+"It will be at your peril if you detain us," was the reply. "We are
+ordered to repair to headquarters as speedily as possible."
+
+"The surgeon will examine you, and if you are really wounded, you
+will be at liberty to fix your temporary abode in the town. If not,
+the prison will be your lodging."
+
+"Sir!" said the man with an assumption of haughtiness.
+
+"Say no more about it," replied the general coldly--"the
+commander-in-chief shall be informed of your arrival, and you will
+wait his orders here."
+
+The stranger stepped forward, as if he would have expostulated, but
+the general turned his back upon him, and walked away. A party of
+militia now took charge of the gang, and conducted them to the
+guard-house.
+
+This scarred and ill-looking crew are Lafitte and the remnant of his
+band, come, according to a private understanding with General Jackson,
+to serve the American artillery against the British, (an historical
+fact.) Their bandages and plasters being found to cover real wounds,
+they are allowed to quarter themselves at the _estaminet_ of the Garde
+Imperiale, kept by a Spaniard called Benito, once a member of
+Lafitte's band, but now settled in Louisiana, married, and,
+comparatively speaking, an honest man. Benito is greatly alarmed at
+the sight of his former captain and comrades, and still more so when
+they insist upon his aiding them that very night to rescue Pompey the
+negro, lest he should betray their real character to the militia
+officers. Lafitte promises to have the runaway slave conveyed across
+the Mississippi; but as this would require the absence, for at least
+three hours, of several of the pirates, who, although at liberty, are
+kept under a species of surveillance, the real intention is to make
+away with the unfortunate Pompey as soon as the boat is at a certain
+distance from land. The negro is confined in a large building used as
+a cotton store, built of boards, and in a dilapidated condition; the
+militia on guard leave their post to listen to the proceedings of a
+meeting then holding for the discussion of General Jackson's
+unconstitutional conduct, and, profiting by their absence, Benito and
+four of the pirates, Mexican Spaniards, contrive the escape of a
+prisoner whom they believe to be Pompey. In the darkness they mistake
+their man, and bring away Hodges, who is confined in the same
+building. This occurs at midnight. The meeting, which absorbs the
+attention of the militia, is not yet over, when the four pirates,
+Benito, and the rescued prisoner, arrive at the junction of the creek
+and the Mississippi, and, unmooring a boat, prepare to embark.
+
+At this moment a second boat became visible, gliding gently down the
+bayou towards the stream.
+
+"_Que diablo!_" muttered the Mexicans. "What is that?"
+
+The boat drew near; a man was in it.
+
+"Who is that?" whispered the pirates, and then one of them sprang
+suddenly into the strange skiff, whence the clanking of chains was
+heard to proceed. The Mexican stared the unwelcome witness hard in the
+face.
+
+"Ah, massa Miguel!" cried the new-comer with a grin: "Pompey not stop
+in jail. Pompey not love the ninetail."
+
+"The devil!" exclaimed the Mexican--"it is Pompey. Who is the other
+then? We are seven instead of six. What does all this mean?"
+
+"Santiago!" cried the pirates: "Who is he?" they whispered,
+surrounding the seventh, and, as it seemed, superfluous member of
+their society.
+
+"No Spanish. Speak English," was the reply.
+
+"Santa Virgen! How came you here?"
+
+"You ought to know, since you brought me."
+
+The men stepped back, and whispered to each other in Spanish. "Come,
+then!" said one of them at last.
+
+"Not a step till I know who you are, and where you go."
+
+"Fool! Who we are matters little to you, and where we go, as little.
+Any place is better for you than this. Stop here and I would not give
+a real for your neck."
+
+"Leave him! Leave him!" muttered the others.
+
+"Be off, and back again quickly," whispered the tavern-keeper, "or you
+are all lost."
+
+"Stop!" cried the Englishman. "I will go with you."
+
+The negro had already jumped into the Mexicans' boat, and, with the
+heedlessness of his race, had left his own adrift.
+
+"Ingles!" said one of the pirates, "sit you here." And he showed him
+his place in the bow of the boat next to a young Mexican. "And Pompey
+in the middle, and now let's be off."
+
+"Stop!" cried Hodges. "Had we not better divide ourselves between the
+two boats?"
+
+"Ah, massa never rowed across the Sippi," tittered the lazy negro.
+"Massa not get over in six hours, and come to land at Point Coup�."
+
+"Hush, Pompey," muttered his neighbour, and the boat, impelled by six
+pair of hands, darted swiftly out into the stream.
+
+"Ah, Massa Manuel, let Pompey file off him chains," grumbled the
+black. "Pompey been in upper jail--been cunning," laughed he to
+himself; "took file and helped himself out. Massa Parker stare when he
+see Pompey gone."
+
+"Hold your tongue, doctor," commanded a voice from the hinder part of
+the boat, "and let your chains be till you get across."
+
+The negro shook his head discontentedly. "Massa Felipe wouldn't like
+to be in the collars," said he; but nevertheless he put away his file,
+and whilst with one hand he managed the oar, with the other he held
+the chain connecting the ankle irons with the collar, and which had
+been filed in too close to the latter. This collar consisted of a ring
+two inches broad, and as thick as a man's finger, encircling the neck,
+and from which three long hooks rose up over the crown of the head.
+With a sort of childish wonder he weighed the chain in his hand,
+staring at it the while, and then let it fall into the bottom of the
+boat, which now advanced towards the middle of the stream.
+
+"Poor Lolli!" said the negro after a short silence--"she be sad not to
+see Pompey. She live in St John's, behind the cathedral."
+
+"Pompey!" cried the Mexican who sat forward on the same bench with
+Hodges, "your cursed chain is rubbing the skin off my ankles."
+
+"Sit still, Pompey," said the negro's neighbour. "I'll take it out of
+the way."
+
+"Ah! massa hurt poor Pompey," cried the black to his next man, who had
+wound the chain round his feet, and now gave it so sudden a pull that
+the negro let go his oar and fell back in the boat. The young
+Englishman became suddenly attentive to what passed.
+
+"What are you about?" cried he; "what are you doing to the poor
+negro?"
+
+"Gor-a-mighty's sake, massa, not joke so with poor Pompey," groaned
+the negro. "Massa strangle poor nigger."
+
+"It's nothing at all, Pompey; think of your fat Lolli behind the
+cathedral, and don't forget the way to Nacogdoches," said the man on
+the sternmost bench, who had taken the chain from his comrade, passed
+it through the neck-iron, and, violently pulling it, drew the unhappy
+negro up into a heap.
+
+"Massa, Massa, Ma----!" gasped the negro, whose breath was leaving
+him.
+
+The whole had been the work of a moment, and the stifled groans and
+sobs of the agonized slave were nearly drowned by the rush of the
+waters and splash of the oar-strokes.
+
+"The devil!" cried the Englishman, "what is all this?"
+
+At that moment the board on which he sat was lifted, his fellow-rower
+threw himself against him with all his force, and nearly succeeded in
+precipitating him into the stream. Hodges staggered, but managed to
+regain his balance, and turning quickly upon his treacherous
+neighbour, dealt him a blow with his fist that knocked him overboard.
+
+"_Buen viage � los infiernos!_" cried the other Mexicans with a burst
+of hellish laughter, hearing the splash, but misapprehending its
+cause.
+
+"Go to hell yourself!" shouted the Englishman, grasping his oar, and
+dealing the man in front of him a blow that stretched him by the side
+of the negro.
+
+"Santa Virgen! who is that?" cried the two sternmost pirates.
+
+"The Englishman!" exclaimed one of them, pressing forwards towards
+Hodges, but stumbling over the men at the bottom of the boat, which
+now rocked violently from the furious struggle going on within it.
+
+"Ma---- Ma----!" groaned the negro again, now seemingly in the death
+agony--His eyes stood out from their sockets, and glittered like
+stars in the darkness; his tongue hung from his mouth, swollen and
+convulsed.
+
+"By the living God! if you don't unfasten the negro, I'll knock you
+all into the river."
+
+"_Maldito Ingles! Picaro gojo!_"
+
+"Let him go! Let him go! Holy Virgin!" yelled the three Mexicans, as
+one of them who had approached the Englishman was knocked bellowing
+into his place by a furious blow of the oar. "It's the devil himself!"
+cried the pirates, and one of them pushed the negro towards Hodges.
+
+"Stand back!" cried the midshipman, "and take off his neck-iron. If
+you strangle him, you are all dead men."
+
+One of the Mexicans laid hold of the negro, who was coiled up like a
+ball, and drew the chain out of the collar. The poor slave's limbs
+fell back, dead and powerless as pieces of wood. A gasping, rattling
+noise in his throat alone denoted that life was still in him.
+
+"Stand back!" repeated Hodges, stooping down, and endeavouring, by
+vigorous friction with a blanket, to restore the negro to
+consciousness. During this life-and-death struggle, the boat, left at
+the mercy of the waters, had been borne swiftly away by the stream,
+and was now floating amongst a number of the enormous trees which the
+Mississippi carries down by thousands to the sea. The Mexicans resumed
+their places, and with their utmost strength began to pull up-stream.
+Not far from the frail skiff, beneath the mantle of fog covering the
+river, a huge tree-trunk was seen coming directly towards the
+boat--Hodges had barely time to bid the Mexicans be careful, when it
+shot by them. As it did so, a strange, unnatural cry saluted their
+ears, and straining his eyes through the darkness, the young
+Englishman saw a head and a hand appearing above one of the limbs of
+the forest giant.
+
+"_Misericordia!_" cried the voice--"_Socorro! Por Dios!_"
+
+It was the Mexican whom Hodges had knocked into the water, and who, by
+means of the tree, had saved himself from drowning.
+
+"Turn the boat!" cried Hodges, "your countryman is still alive."
+
+"_Es verdad!_" exclaimed the desperadoes, and the boat was
+turned--Meanwhile the negro had come gradually to himself, and now
+crouched down at the feet of his deliverer. He peered over the gunwale
+at the half-drowned Mexican.
+
+"Gor-a-mighty, Massa!" cried he, seizing the Englishman's oar--"dat
+Miguel--trike him dead, Massa; Miguel very bad mans."
+
+"Keep still, Pompey!" answered Hodges, pulling with might and main to
+the assistance of the Mexican. The boat shot alongside the floating
+tree, and the half-drowned wretch had just sufficient strength left to
+extend his hand, which the Englishman grasped.
+
+"Take care, Massa! the pirates will kill us both," cried the negro.
+
+At that moment the boat received a violent shock, a wave dashed over
+it, and threw the Mexican on the gunwale, across which he lay more
+dead than alive.
+
+"Lay hold of him!" said Hodges to the negro.
+
+"Ah, Pompey not such dam' fool--Pompey lub Massa too much. The others
+don't row. Look, Massa, they only wait to kill Massa."
+
+"Hark ye!" cried Hodges to the Mexicans, at the same time giving the
+nearest to him a blow with his oar--"the first who leaves off
+rowing--you understand me?"
+
+The boat rocked on the huge sheet of water, in the midst of the
+floating trees, menaced each moment with destruction from the latter,
+or with being swallowed up by the troubled and impetuous stream; the
+Mexicans cowered upon their benches--thirst of blood, and rage,
+suppressed only by fear, gleaming in their black, rolling eyes and
+ferocious countenances. The negro now twisted the boat rope round the
+body of the rescued man, who, still groaning and imploring mercy, was
+dragged on board.
+
+"Ah, Massa! Miguel good swimmer; bath not hurt him, Massa," mumbled
+the restless black: "Massa not forget to take his oar with him out of
+the boat."
+
+"And Pompey not forget to handle his own a little more diligently,"
+was the reply of Hodges.
+
+For a time the negro obeyed the injunction, and then looked at the
+young Englishman, who appeared to listen attentively to some distant
+sound.
+
+"Massa never fear, militiaman sleep well--only Sippi's noise. Pompey
+know the road, Massa Parker not catch him."
+
+A quarter of an hour passed away, and the strength of the rowers began
+to diminish under their continued and laborious efforts.
+
+"Massa soon see land--out of the current already," cried the negro.
+
+Another quarter of an hour elapsed, and they reached the shore; Hodges
+jumped out of the boat, and was followed by the negro, still loaded
+with his fetters. The Mexicans sprang after them.
+
+"Stop by your boat!" cried Hodges in a threatening tone. Instead of an
+answer, a knife, thrown by a sure and practised hand, struck him on
+the breast. The deerskin vest with which Canondah had equipped him,
+proved his protection. The weapon stuck in it, and remained hanging
+there.
+
+"Vile assassins!" cried Hodges, who now broke off the flat part of his
+oar, and grasping the other half, was about to rush upon the bandits,
+when the negro threw his arms round him.
+
+"Massa not be a fool! pirates have more knives, and be glad if he go
+near them. Kill him then easy."
+
+"You are right, Pompey," said Hodges, half laughing, half angry, at
+the negro, who was showing his white teeth in an agony of fear and
+anxiety. "The dogs are not worth the killing."
+
+For a moment the three assassins stood undecided; then yelling out a
+"Buen viage � los infiernos," got into their boat and speedily
+disappeared in the fog and darkness.
+
+Hodges is pursued and recaptured, but Tokeah and Rosa, who, with their
+companions, are brought in by a party of militia, and the latter of
+whom is joyfully recognised and welcomed by the worthy Squire
+Copeland, clear him of the charge of spying, and he remains a prisoner
+of war. The troops take their departure for New Orleans, and the
+Indians are detained at the town, whence, however, Tokeah and El Sol
+depart in the night-time, and continue their journey. The old chief
+accomplishes his object, disinters his father's bones, and returns to
+fetch Rosa, and proceed with her to his new home in the country of the
+Comanches. Meanwhile the action of New Orleans has been fought, and he
+finds, to his grief and astonishment, that Lafitte, whose life he had
+spared in the expectation of his meeting punishment at the hands of
+the Americans, has actually been fighting in their ranks, and has
+received, as a reward for his services, a free pardon, coupled,
+however, with an injunction to quit the territory of the United
+States. Through an advertisement in an old newspaper, traces have been
+discovered of Rosa's father, who, as the reader is given to
+understand, is a Mexican of high rank. She had been stolen by a tribe
+of Indians with whom Tokeah was at war, and from whose hands he
+rescued her. Tokeah has an interview with General Jackson, who
+cautions him against the further indulgence of his inveterate
+hostility to the Americans, and permits him to depart. Rosa now goes
+to take leave of the old chief, who is as yet unaware that she is not
+to accompany him.
+
+When Rosa, Squire Copeland, and Hodges entered the estaminet of the
+Garde Imperiale, they found the two chiefs and their followers seated
+in their usual manner upon the floor of the room, which had no other
+occupants. El Sol rose at their entrance, and, advancing a few steps,
+took Rosa's hand and conducted her to a chair. She did not sit down,
+but ran to the Miko and affectionately embraced him. The old chief
+gazed at her with a cold and inquiring look.
+
+"Miko," said the squire, "Miss Rosa has come to take leave of you, and
+to thank you for the kindness you have shown her. You yourself shall
+fix the sum that will compensate you for your expenses on her
+account."
+
+"Tokeah," replied the Indian, misunderstanding Major Copeland's words,
+and taking a leather bag from his wampum belt, "will willingly pay
+what the white chief claims for food and drink given to the White
+Rose."
+
+"You are mistaken," replied the squire; "payment is due to you.
+Strictly speaking, the amount should be fixed by a jury, but you have
+only to ask, and any reasonable sum shall be paid at once."
+
+"The white chief," said the Indian, "may take whatever he pleases."
+
+"I tell you it is I, and not you, who have to pay," returned the
+squire.
+
+"Has my daughter bid farewell to her foster-father?" said the Indian
+to Rosa, who had listened to this dialogue with some uneasiness. "Rosa
+must leave the wigwam of the white men; the Miko's path is a long one,
+and his spirit is weary of the palefaces."
+
+"And must the Miko go?" said Rosa. "Oh! father of my Canondah! remain
+here; the white men will love thee as a brother."
+
+The Indian looked at her with astonishment.
+
+"What means the White Rose?" said he,--"the palefaces love Tokeah? Has
+the White Rose----?" He paused, and surveyed her gloomily and
+suspiciously. "Tokeah," continued he, at last, "is very weary of the
+white men; he will be gone."
+
+"Miko," said Rosa, timidly--for it was evident that the chief was
+still in error as to the motive of her visit--"Rosa has come to beg
+you to remain a while with the white men; but if you must go, she
+will"----
+
+"The Miko is the father of his people," interrupted Tokeah; "they call
+him; he must go, and the Rose of the Oconees shall also be the Rose of
+the Comanches, the squaw of a great chief."
+
+The young girl blushed, and stepped back.
+
+"Miko," said she, "you are the beloved father of my dear Canondah; you
+saved my life and maintained me, and I thank you heartily; but, Miko,
+I cannot, I must not, do as you wish. I no longer belong to you, but
+to my father, my long-lost father."
+
+"Rosa speaks truth--she belongs to her father," said the Miko, not yet
+undeceived; "my daughter's feet are weak, but she shall sit in a canoe
+till she reaches the wigwams of the Pawnees, and they have many
+horses."
+
+"By G--!" cried the squire, "here is a mistake; the Indian thinks to
+take Rosa with him. My dear boy," continued he to Hodges, "run as
+quick as you can to Colonel Parker, and bring a party of men. Bayonets
+are the only things these savages respect. Rosa, say no more to him,
+he is getting wild."
+
+A change had taken place in the Indian, although it was one which only
+a keen observer could detect. He began to have an inkling that Rosa
+was to be taken from him, and his gloomy inanimate physiognomy
+betrayed a restless agitation, which alarmed the major.
+
+"The White Rose," resumed Tokeah, after a while, "is a dutiful
+daughter. She will cook her father's venison."
+
+"That would I willingly do for the father of my Canondah," said the
+young girl; "but a higher duty calls me. Father of my Canondah! Rosa
+has come to take leave of thee."
+
+The Indian listened attentively.
+
+"Miko," continued the maiden, "the father who gave me life, is found.
+Rosa must hasten to him who for fourteen years has wept and sought
+her."
+
+"Tokeah gave Rosa her life; he saved her from the tomahawk of
+Milimach; he paid with skins for the milk she drank."
+
+"But Rosa has another father who is nearer to her, whom the Great
+Spirit bestowed upon her; to him must she go. I _must_ leave you,
+Miko," said she, with increased firmness of manner.
+
+Upon the countenance of the Indian all the bad passions of his nature
+were legible. The scales had at last fallen from his eyes; but even
+now his cold and terrible calmness did not desert him, although the
+violence of the storm raging within showed itself in the play of his
+features and the variation of his complexion.
+
+"Miko," said the squire, who foresaw an approaching outburst of
+fury--"Miko, you heard the words of the great warrior of the
+palefaces?"
+
+The Indian took no notice of the caution; his whole frame was agitated
+by a feverish trembling; his hand sought his scalping-knife; and he
+cast so terrible a look at Rosa, that the horrorstruck squire sprang
+to her side. To Major Copeland's astonishment, the young girl had
+regained all her courage, and there was even a certain dignity in her
+manner.
+
+"Miko," said she, extending her arms, "I must leave you."
+
+"What says my daughter?" demanded the Indian--who even yet seemed
+unable to believe his ears--his voice assuming so shrill and unnatural
+a tone, that the tavern-keeper and his wife rushed terrified into the
+room. "Tokeah is not her father? she will not follow the Miko?"
+
+"She cannot," answered Rosa firmly.
+
+"And Rosa," continued the Indian, in the same piercing accents, "will
+leave the Miko; will let him wander alone on his far and weary path?"
+
+The words were scarcely uttered, when, by a sudden and unexpected
+movement, Tokeah sprang to his feet, caught Rosa in his arms, and with
+a like rapidity retreating to the side door of the room, came in such
+violent contact with it, that its glass panes were shivered into a
+thousand pieces.
+
+"And does the white snake think," he exclaimed, with flashing eyes,
+"that the Miko is a fool?" He held the maiden in his left arm, whilst
+his right raised the glittering scalping-knife. "Does the white snake
+think," continued the raging Indian, with a shrill laugh of scorn,
+whilst the foam gathered round his mouth, "that the Miko fed and
+cherished her, and gave skins for her, that she might return to the
+white men, the venomous palefaces, whom he spits upon?" And he spat
+with loathing upon the ground.
+
+"By the God who made you, hold! Hurt the child, and you are a dead
+man!" cried the squire, who seized a stool and endeavoured to force
+his way to Rosa, but was repulsed by the Comanches and Oconees.
+
+"Therefore did the white snake accompany me!" yelled Tokeah. "Does my
+son know," cried he to El Sol, "that the White Rose has betrayed her
+father--betrayed him for the palefaces? Will the white snake follow
+her father?" screamed the frantic savage.
+
+"I cannot," was the reply. "The voice of my white father calls me."
+
+An expression of intense hatred came over the features of the Indian,
+as he gazed at the beautiful creature who lay half-fainting on his
+arm.
+
+"Tokeah will leave the White Rose with her friends," said he, with a
+low deadly laugh, drawing back his hand and aiming the knife at her
+bosom.
+
+"Gracious God! he is killing her!" cried the major, breaking furiously
+through the opposing Indians. But at this critical moment the young
+Comanche was beforehand with him. With a bound he interposed himself
+between the chief's armed hand and intended victim, tore Rosa from the
+grasp of Tokeah, and hurled him back against the door with such force
+that it flew into fragments.
+
+"Tokeah is indeed a wild cat!" cried he with indignant disgust. "He
+forgets that he is a chief amongst his people, and brings shame upon
+the name of the Red men. El Sol is ashamed of such a father."
+
+These words, spoken in the Pawnee dialect, had an indescribable effect
+upon the old savage. He had partly raised himself after his fall, but
+now again sank down as if lifeless. Just then several file of militia
+entered the room with bayonets fixed.
+
+"Shall we take the Indian to prison?" said Lieutenant Parker.
+
+The major stood speechless, both his arms clasped round Rosa.
+
+"Lieutenant Parker," said he, "support Rosa for a moment: the Almighty
+himself has protected her, and it beseems not us to take vengeance."
+He approached the old Indian, who still lay upon the floor, lifted him
+up, and placed him against the wall. "Tokeah," he said, "according to
+our laws your life is forfeited, and the halter the least you deserve;
+nevertheless, begone, and that instantly. You will find your
+punishment without receiving it at our hands."
+
+"He was my father, my unhappy father!" exclaimed Rosa, and tottering
+to the Indian, she threw her arms around him. "Father of my Canondah,"
+cried she, "Rosa would never leave you, but the voice of her own
+father calls. Forgive her who has been a daughter to you!"
+
+The Indian remained mute. She gazed at him for a while with tearful
+eyes; then turned to El Sol, and bowing her head modestly and
+respectfully, took leave of him, and left the house with her
+companions.
+
+The young chief of the Comanches remained as in a dream, till the
+major, with Rosa and the militia, were already far from the estaminet.
+Suddenly he came bounding after them, and placing himself before Rosa,
+took her hands, pressed them to his breast, and bowed his head so
+mournfully, that the witnesses of the scene stood silent, sympathizing
+with his evident affliction.
+
+"El Sol," whispered he, in a scarcely audible tone, "has seen Rosa: he
+will never forget her."
+
+And without raising his eyes to her face, he turned away.
+
+"As I live," exclaimed the squire, with some emotion, "the noble
+savage weeps!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+An hour subsequently to this scene, the party of Indians left the
+bayou in a canoe, and ascended the Mississippi. Upon reaching the
+mouth of the Red River, they turned into it, and continued their route
+up-stream. On the tenth day from that of their departure, they found
+themselves upon the elevated plain where the western district of
+Arkansas and Louisiana joins the Mexican territory. To their front
+were the snowy summits of the Ozark range, beyond which are immense
+steppes extending towards the Rocky Mountains. The sun sank behind the
+snow-capped peaks, as the Indians landed at the western extremity of
+the long table-rock, which there stretches like a wall along the left
+bank of the Red River. Leaving their canoe, they approached a hill, or
+rather a mass of rock, that rises not far from the shore in the barren
+salt steppe, and in whose side exists a cave or grotto, resembling, by
+its regularity of form, an artificial archway. Here, upon the
+imaginary boundary line separating the hunting grounds of the Pawnees
+of the Toyask tribe from those of the Cousas and Osages, they took up
+their quarters for the night. El Sol ordered a fire to be made; for
+Tokeah, who had just left the warm climate of Louisiana, shivered with
+cold. Their frugal meal dispatched, the Miko and his Oconees stretched
+themselves upon the ground and slept. El Sol still listened to a
+legend related by one of the Comanches, when he was startled by a
+distant noise. In an instant the three warriors were upon their feet,
+their heads stretched out in the direction of the breeze which had
+conveyed the sound to their ears.
+
+"The dogs!" murmured the young Comanche; "they bay after a foe in
+whose power it once was to crush them."
+
+The Oconees were roused from their slumber, and the party hurried to
+the place where they had left the canoe. The Miko and his warriors got
+in and descended the stream; whilst El Sol and the two Comanches crept
+noiselessly along the water's edge in the same direction. After
+proceeding for about half a mile, the canoe stopped, and the young
+chief and his followers entered it, previously breaking the bushes
+growing upon the shore, so as to leave unmistakable marks of their
+passage. They continued their progress down the river to the end of
+the table-rock, and then, leaving the old man in the boat, El Sol and
+the four warriors again landed, and glided away in the direction of
+their recently abandoned bivouac. In its vicinity were stationed a
+troop of twenty horses. Of the Indians to whom these belonged, ten
+remained mounted, whilst the remainder searched the cave, and followed
+the trail left by its late occupants. Crouching and crawling upon the
+ground, the better to distinguish the footmarks dimly visible in the
+moonlight, it might almost have been doubted whether their dark forms
+were those of men, or of some strange amphibious animals who had
+stolen out of the depths of the river for a midnight prowl upon the
+shore.
+
+His ear against the rock, and motionless as a statue, El Sol observed
+each movement of the foe. Suddenly, when the Indians who followed the
+trail were at some distance from the cave, he made a sign to his
+companions, and, with a noiseless swiftness that defied detection, the
+five warriors approached the horses. A slight undulation of the plain
+was all that now separated them from their enemy. El Sol listened,
+gazed upwards at the moon's silver disk, just then emerging from
+behind a snow-charged cloud, raised himself upon his knee, and taking
+a long and steady aim, nodded to his warriors. The next instant five
+savages, pierced by as many bullets, fell from their horses to the
+ground; a terrible yell shattered the stillness of the night; and with
+lightning swiftness El Sol sprang upon the terrified survivors, who,
+answering his war-whoop by cries of terror, fled in confusion from the
+place. It needed all the surprising rapidity and dexterity of the
+young chief and his followers to secure six of the half-wild horses,
+whose bridles, so swift and well-calculated had been the movements of
+the Comanches, might be said to fall from the hands of their slain
+riders into those of the assailants. The remaining steeds reared in
+extreme terror, and then, with neigh and snort, dashed madly across
+the wide waste of the steppe.
+
+Springing upon the backs of the captured animals, the Comanches
+galloped to the shore. Scarcely had they entered the canoe, astern of
+which the horses were made to swim, when the bullets and arrows of the
+pursuing foe whistled around them.
+
+"Will my son promise the Miko to be a good father to the Oconees?"
+said the old chief in a hollow voice, as they pulled out of range of
+the fire.
+
+"A father and a brother," answered the Comanche. "But why does my
+father ask? He will dwell long and happily with his children."
+
+"Will El Sol swear it by the Great Spirit?" repeated the old man,
+earnestly, but in a fainter voice.
+
+"He will," replied the young chief.
+
+"Will he swear to bury Tokeah and his father's bones in the grave of
+the warriors of the Comanches?"
+
+"He will," said El Sol.
+
+"So shall the white men not scoff at his ashes nor at those of his
+father," groaned the Miko. "But it is the will of the Great Spirit
+that Tokeah should not see the hunting-grounds of the Comanches; he is
+doomed to die in the land of the palefaces."
+
+A rattling in his throat interrupted the old man; he murmured a few
+broken words in the ears of his Oconees, who broke out into a wild
+howl of lamentation. Still clasping to his breast the coffin
+containing his father's bones, he sank back in the boat in the agonies
+of death. El Sol raised him in his arms, but life had already fled. A
+bullet had struck him between the shoulders, and inflicted a mortal
+wound. In silent grief the young chief threw himself upon the corpse,
+and long after the boat had reached the opposite shore, he lay there,
+unmindful of all but his sorrow. Roused at length by the whispers of
+his companions, to a sense of the danger of longer delay, he laid the
+body across a horse, and himself mounting the same animal, took the
+road to the village of the Pawnees. There, upon the following day, to
+the wild and mournful music of the death-song, the little party made
+its sorrowful entrance.
+
+At this point the narrative ceases. We turn the page, expecting at
+least another chapter, or some notice of Rosa's restoration to her
+father, and subsequent marriage with Hodges, which the previous
+portion of the novel certainly led us to anticipate. But our author,
+with his usual eccentric disregard of the established routine of
+romance writers, contents himself with a postscript, consisting of an
+advertisement extracted from the Opelousas county paper, and dated
+March 1816, announcing the marriage of the amiable and accomplished
+Miss Mary Copeland, daughter of the Honourable John Copeland, of James
+county, to Mr James Hodges, formerly of H.B.M. Navy, and now of
+Hodges' Seat in the same state. The reader is left to complete the
+denouement for himself, if he so pleases, and to conjecture that
+Rosa's father, a Mexican grandee, takes back his daughter to her
+native country, and that the incipient attachment between her and the
+young Englishman is mutually forgotten.
+
+We here finally conclude our extracts from the already published work
+of our German American friend--extracts comprising, as we believe, the
+cream of the twenty volumes, or thereabouts, which he has given to the
+world. The incognito behind which this clever and original writer has
+so long shrouded himself, is at length abandoned; and to a new edition
+of his works, now in course of publication, stands prefixed the name
+of Charles Sealsfield.
+
+
+
+
+THE DEATH OF ZUMALACARREGUI.
+
+BY COLONEL LORD HOWDEN, K.ST.F., K.C.S.
+
+
+     "Ac sane, quod difficilimum, et pr�lio strenuus erat et bonus
+     in consilio; quorum alterum ex providenti� timorem, alterum
+     ex audaci� temeritatem, adferre plerumque solet. In Jugurth�
+     tantus dolus, tantaque peritia locorum et militi� erat, ut
+     absens aut pr�sens perniciosior esset in incerto
+     haberetur."--SALLUST.
+
+
+The siege of Bilbao was undertaken against the will, and strongly
+expressed counsel of Zumalacarregui. He was not only aware of the risk
+of the enterprise, with the insufficient means at his disposal for
+attempting it, but he had other plans. His plans, however, were
+undervalued, and his counsels were slighted, at the court of the
+Pretender. The little empty politicians there, were dazzled by the
+idea of possessing an important town, not deeming it their business to
+calculate the means by which it was to be obtained; the incompetent
+military advisers who directed from afar, thought that this bold
+attempt, proceeding from them, would contrast in bright relief with
+the hitherto wary and waiting policy of the commander-in-chief; and
+the wish, not an unnatural one, of the wandering prince, to find
+himself for once in comfortable quarters, was not the least among the
+motives which decided the operation. Though at this moment the
+Christino army was in a state of great discouragement from a long
+series of advantages that had been gained by the Carlists, the funds
+of the latter were entirely exhausted; and the idea of a forced loan
+upon the rich inhabitants of Bilbao was too seducing to be coldly
+examined by those little acquainted with the real difficulties of the
+war. Zumalacarregui wished to attack Victoria, and, profiting by the
+prestige of his late successes, to throw himself on the fertile and
+virgin ground of the Castiles. This was doubtlessly the right course,
+but the project was overruled.
+
+Independently of what thus gave rise to these ambitious aspirations,
+there was a personal feeling which had long been busy, either in
+attempting new and unexpected combinations on the part of the
+Camarilla, or in mutilating or rendering ineffectual those that had
+been imagined by Zumalacarregui. There was no passion, bold or mean,
+no jealousy, no intrigues, vegetating ever so rankly or rifely in the
+oldest and largest court of Europe, which did not flourish in that of
+Don Carlos.
+
+There was not a Christino general more disliked by the hangers-on of
+Don Carlos than Zumalacarregui. They feared him, they respected him,
+but they hated him.
+
+When the Pretender first made his appearance in Navarre,
+Zumalacarregui was in his favourite retreat of the Amescuas. He was
+far from insensible to the advantage which the presence of the chief
+actor in the drama might produce, if his personal bearing should be
+such as to create an enthusiasm for his cause, and if those who
+accompanied him should bring each his personal contingent of
+enlightened advice and honest activity. But with all these hopes,
+Zumalacarregui was not without his fears; his sagacity foresaw what
+his experience soon confirmed, that the royal chief was worse than a
+nullity, and that the royal suite were actively in the way. Lord Bacon
+says, "it is the solecism of princes to think to command the end, and
+yet not to endure the means." Dr Carlos was always commanding the end,
+while his general was left to find the means as best he could. A large
+portion of his small army was absorbed in protecting the prince, and
+could rarely be counted on in a combined movement; and the
+non-combatants, under every denomination of title and rank, drew more
+rations for their consumption than would have sufficed for the support
+of a large body of soldiers.
+
+Zumalacarregui, personally, was never very enthusiastic in the cause.
+It is true that his feelings had always had a tendency to absolutism,
+or rather he entertained the conviction that a strong government was
+necessary to the happiness of Spain, and that the greater the unity of
+that government, the greater was its chance of stability, and its
+power of favourable action; but when he left Pamplona to put himself
+at the head of the insurgent Navarrese, he was influenced far more by
+pique against the existing state of things, than by enthusiasm for
+the new one which he sought to establish. He had been treated both
+brutally and unjustly by Quesada, at that time inspector of infantry;
+and, with his active spirit, a condemnation to inactivity was the
+severest sentence that could be passed upon him. Rest to his unquiet
+bosom was a hell from which he was determined to emerge; and,
+confident in his powers, he seized the first opportunity which enabled
+him to bring them into action.
+
+The meeting between Zumalacarregui and the prince was respectful, but
+not warm; the first was unaccustomed to have any feelings, the second
+was unaccustomed to conceal those he had. The new importation had
+brought no new ideas, no plans, no accession of science; above all,
+_no money_; at least no more than was to be applied to its own wants.
+Don Carlos was evidently under the constraint that a strong mind
+imposes on a weak one. He saw that the servant was the master, as much
+in commanding intellect as in actual power. They were both
+uncomfortable; Zumalacarregui neither flattered the prince, nor his
+chances of success; he laid before him his difficulties, almost
+insuperable in his own opinion--for let it be known as a fact, _that
+he always in his heart despaired of the ultimate upshot of the war_.
+In conversational phrase, he had made himself thoroughly disagreeable;
+for he had spoken calmly, coldly, truly--and the hopes of an immediate
+march to Madrid had been rudely shaken. Zumalacarregui left the
+prince's headquarters with a discouragement and a contempt which he
+was at no pains to conceal. From that moment he was an object, often
+of admiration, but never of affection; and it was evident that the
+effort to esteem him was too painful to ensure a continuance of
+confidence.
+
+Among those who consider Zumalacarregui solely as the able chief of a
+devoted army, putting aside all the circumstances of political
+partisanship, there can be little difference of opinion, if that
+opinion be fairly formed and honestly given. By those who remark upon
+the comparatively small number of his troops, and the relatively
+confined scale of his operations, and who therefore refuse him the
+name of a great general, it must be remembered, that if this principle
+of applying reputation be pushed further in its expression--if
+military praise and appreciation are to be awarded strictly according
+to the size of the theatre and the magnitude of the numbers, and not
+according to the spirit which moves over the one, and directs the
+others--by such geometrical logic, our own great hero would be deemed
+immeasurably inferior to the French emperor.
+
+Zumalacarregui possessed great courage, but he made no show of it. It
+would have been more brilliant if he had had more vanity; and the
+exposure of his person was always subservient to some object of
+utility. He had a comprehensive view of military movements, but he
+never forgot the peculiar nature of his warfare; and he never
+ambitiously allowed himself to be carried away by plans or manoeuvres
+beyond the exigencies of his position. As an administrator in forming
+reserves, in procuring supplies, in discovering resources, in bringing
+raw battalions to a state of rough efficiency in the shortest possible
+time, he was unrivalled; yet his mind was not cramped by detail, and
+when he descended to minute matters, it was because they were really
+important. He was severe and inflexible, even taciturn and morose; yet
+he was extremely loved by his troops. At the time that he was
+commander-in-chief, commissary-general and treasurer, and that all the
+sums of money, raised or sent, passed through his hands without a
+check or a receipt, there never was a breath raised against the purity
+of his moral character. These certainly are the elements out of which
+great generals are made; and it is not irrational to think that, under
+other circumstances, the same man, this Navarrese Guerrillero, far
+superior as such to the brave but improvident Mina, or the active but
+dull Jauregui, might have expanded into a European hero, and have left
+a less perishable name.
+
+When the siege of Bilbao was decided on, Zumalacarregui threw his
+objections to the winds, and set about it with his constitutional
+ardour. He arrived before it with fourteen battalions, and a miserable
+battering-train, composed of two twelve-pounders, one six-pounder, two
+brass four-pounders, two howitzers and a mortar, and with a great
+penury of corresponding ammunition. The town was garrisoned by a force
+of four thousand men, well armed, without counting the national guard,
+and was protected by forty pieces of artillery, mostly of large
+calibre, mounted on different forts thrown up in favourable positions.
+But what was of chief advantage to the besieged, and what almost
+rendered success hopeless, was the free communication from without
+kept up by French and English vessels of war stationed in the Nervion,
+a river that runs alongside the town, and joins the sea at some seven
+or eight miles' distance.
+
+Zumalacarregui fixed his headquarters at a spot called Puente Nuevo,
+in a small straggling village, just at this side of the town of
+Bilbao, and under one of its most fashionable and frequented walks.
+Eraso had begun the investiture of the place a few days previously,
+and both these chiefs lodged in a small inn named the Three Sisters.
+Puente Nuevo was completely commanded by an eminence called the Morro,
+just outside the gates of Bilbao; but the garrison, either from
+motives of prudence or others, gave the Carlists no inconvenience from
+that point.
+
+At a short distance to the right of the Durango road, and on a height
+immediately over the town of Bilbao, is a church, called Our Lady of
+Bego�a; and not far from it is a house, which, from its comparative
+size and solidity, and from its commanding view of the country around,
+goes by the name of the Palace. On the second day of the siege, two
+serious misfortunes befell the besiegers: eighty of the best muskets
+they possessed were piled in the portico of the church of Bego�a, and
+were all entirely destroyed by a grenade that took them horizontally,
+killing the two sentinels that were mounting guard over them. The same
+evening the two largest of the guns, already half-worn out, burst from
+continued firing, just as something like an impression appeared on the
+spot it was proposed to breach.
+
+Don Carlos, during this time, was at Durango, a distance of five or
+six hours. Zumalacarregui, seeing the hopelessness of the operation,
+and, above all, the discouragement of the men, sent an express to the
+prince to say, "that he would be obliged infallibly to raise the siege
+and retire, unless some means were immediately taken to raise the
+drooping spirits of his army; that they were without clothes, without
+food, and almost without ammunition; that it was absolutely necessary
+that a sum of money should be procured and sent to him, which would
+enable him to pay the troops a part of what was due to them; and that
+then, as the means of prolonging a siege was out of the question, he
+would endeavour to carry out his majesty's wishes, and try to take the
+place by assault."
+
+Cruz-Mayor, the lead of the Camarilla, loved to humiliate
+Zumalacarregui, and no answer was returned to this letter; but
+Zumalacarregui was not idle, nor did he allow inaction to dispirit
+still more the minds of his men. He even attempted an assault, which
+failed, with the loss of all those who were ordered on this service.
+Unfortunately for the attacking column, lots were drawn for the troops
+that were to compose it; and they fell upon a regiment of Navarrese,
+entirely ignorant of the localities, who, getting confused in
+cross-paths and lanes at the foot of the walls, were cut off to a man.
+It was thought that the result of this attack might have been
+otherwise had it been undertaken by the Biscayan companies, who knew
+every inch of the ground. The hour, too, was ill judged, for it was at
+the beginning of nightfall, when it was just dark enough to embarrass
+those who were attempting the assault, without being sufficiently so
+to induce the inhabitants and national guards to retire from the
+walls.
+
+On the 15th June 1835, Zumalacarregui proceeded to the palace of
+Bego�a, not far from the church of the same name, as the best spot for
+observing the repairs made, and the additional means of defence raised
+by the enemy during the night. He passed through the middle room on
+the first story, and, throwing open the window, went out on the iron
+balcony overlooking the town. The balls were flying so thick and fast
+that he desired all those who accompanied him to remain within; but,
+notwithstanding their supplications, he himself remained leaning on
+the railing of the balcony, his knees nearly touching the ground. The
+telescope which he used, showing the marksmen in the enemy's works
+that he was probably a personage of importance, occasioned a general
+discharge from the nearest battery. It was now exactly eight o'clock
+in the morning, and a ball from this discharge struck Zumalacarregui
+in the upper and anterior part of the right leg, on the inner side,
+about two inches below the knee. From the position in which he was
+struck, the ball took a downwards direction, and, as no part of the
+intricate machinery of the knee was injured, there was every reason to
+suppose that no serious consequences could ensue.
+
+Either from the extreme pain of the wound, or the shock given to the
+nervous system, Zumalacarregui fainted. His secretary, Zaratiegui, and
+the rest of his staff, picked him up in a state of insensibility, and
+placed him on a chair. The surgeon, Grediaga, a man of considerable
+acquirements, who was then practising in the sacristy of the church of
+Bego�a, which had been converted into an hospital, was immediately
+sent for, as well as a young English surgeon of the name of Burgess,
+belonging to a small body of cavalry called the "Holy Squadron," or
+the "Squadron of Legitimacy."
+
+This young man, a person of great respectability, and well informed in
+his profession, has been since as grossly as ridiculously accused of
+having been bought by the English government to hasten the end of
+Zumalacarregui, if ever his services enabled him to do so; and it is
+still said, and believed by many, that the death of the general was
+owing to poison put into the bandages with which Mr Burgess first
+dressed the wound. In a country like Spain, where there is much
+ignorance and deep prejudice, it does not suffice to laugh to scorn
+accusations of any sort: it is better to meet them seriously, and
+disprove them by a fact. _Mr Burgess never dressed Zumalacarregui's
+leg at all._ He spoke no Spanish, and while he was endeavouring to
+make himself understood and to learn what had happened, Grediaga
+arrived and put on the first application.
+
+On being asked whither he should be carried, Zumalacarregui
+immediately said to Cegama, a town three days' journey off, situated
+in a solitary neighbourhood, and entirely unprovided with any thing
+like comfort, medicines, or professional assistance. The surprise of
+all was manifest, but the general was too accustomed to be obeyed not
+to be so in this instance. He was placed upon an old sofa from which
+the legs were sawed, and which was carried by eight guides of Navarre,
+with twenty-four others as a reserve. Neither he nor the chief of his
+staff and secretary, Zaratiegui, had a single peseta in their pockets,
+and he received from Mendigana, the paymaster-general, twenty ounces
+of gold, as a part of the pay that was due to him.
+
+The reason which induced Zumalacarregui to go to Cegama, was indeed a
+strange one, and a fatal one. It was one he never expressed, but which
+prompted this revelation from the very instant that he received his
+wound. There lived in this district a quack of the very lowest
+capacity, of the name of Petriquillo--a man entirely unimbued with the
+slightest tincture of medical science, but whose chance cures of
+gunshot wounds during the time of the Army of the Faith in 1822, had
+astonished and taken possession of the mind of Zumalacarregui. He even
+refused to allow the ball to be extracted at a moment when the
+operation presented no danger, and his only anxiety was to put himself
+into the hands of this ignorant adventurer.
+
+When the party arrived at Durango, Don Carlos sent word that he would
+next morning pay a visit to his wounded chief; the frame of mind of
+the latter may be collected from an exclamation he made on the road,
+heard by all, and commented on by many--"Truly this is a happy day for
+the court of the king!"
+
+As announced, Don Carlos came, and the following remarkable
+conversation took place:--"Well, Thomas, how could'st thou do so
+foolish a thing as to get wounded?" (The Spanish royal family always
+use the second person singular.) "Sir, I exposed myself, because it
+was my duty to do so--besides, I have lived long enough, _and I am
+firmly convinced that we shall all have to die in your majesty's
+service_." "Well, but where do'st thou intend going?" "To Cegama,
+sir." "No, don't go there, it is a long way off: stay here, I'll have
+thee taken care of." "Sir, I have said I would go to Cegama, and to
+Cegama will I go: your majesty knows me well enough to be convinced
+that what I say, I do." "Oh yes! Thomas, that is certain--well, go
+with God, and take care of thyself."
+
+After this interview, Zumalacarregui instantly set off, as if it was a
+relief to him to get out of the atmosphere of the court. Between
+Durango and Bergara he was met by the quack Petriquillo and the cura
+Zabala. Besides the above-mentioned Grediaga, Don Carlos had desired
+two other nominal physicians, Gelos and Voloqui, to accompany the
+general; but these two men were, in fact, as ignorant, and as rash,
+and as opinionated as Petriquillo himself. Petriquillo took off the
+dressing from the wound; he made two men rub the patient for four
+hours from the hip to the ankle, with an unctuous substance known only
+to himself. He then put on a bandage dipped in some medicament of his
+own composition. Zumalacarregui suffered extremely during the night.
+
+Next morning a violent fever manifested itself. Mr Burgess, frightened
+at this treatment, returned to Bilbao, and Zumalacarregui continued
+his journey, arriving at Cegama on the evening of the 17th.
+
+The surgeon Grediaga still continued, not his services, but his
+useless advice. As the fever increased, he recommended quiet, diet,
+and blood-letting. Petriquillo objected to venesection or leeches; he
+administered food in large quantities, to support the general's
+strength, and kept the room full of company to keep up the general's
+spirits.
+
+Five days passed in this way with this treatment, or rather absence of
+treatment, only diversified by various attempts to extract the ball,
+though the leg, by the progress of the fever, and the continued
+application of the knife and probe, was swollen to twice its size, and
+was in a state of the highest exacerbation.
+
+In the middle of the night of the 23d, a great idea struck Gelos and
+Petriquillo, the former was sleeping in the same room with Grediaga,
+and, fearful lest the latter should prevent its accomplishment, rose
+stealthily at one o'clock in the morning, proceeded with Petriquillo
+to the room of the general, and they there together _did_ extract the
+ball.
+
+At daylight, the joy in the house was extreme; the ball was passed
+through the hands of every inhabitant in Cegama, and was then
+dispatched in a box to Don Carlos. Petriquillo and Gelos announced,
+that in fifteen days the general would be at the head of his army
+before Bilbao.
+
+At six o'clock, Zumalacarregui began to complain of insupportable
+thirst, and of pains all through the body; shortly afterwards, general
+shiverings came on, with convulsions at times. During an interval
+between these, he received the last consolations of religion; for
+though far from being a bigot, or even a devotee, Zumalacarregui
+respected, and practised reverentially, the religion of his country.
+At eleven o'clock in the morning of the 24th of June 1835, he expired.
+
+On examining the body, it was found that two cuts had been made
+completely through the calf of the leg in order to get at the ball:
+Their length was about three inches, and their depth was as great as
+it could be; for they reached the bone. The whole of the integuments
+had been divided by Petriquillo, and the sheets of the bed were one
+mass of blood.
+
+About three hours before the general's death, Petriquillo, unseen,
+went into the stable, saddled his mule, and departed.
+
+As the dead chief never possessed the uniform of a general, his body
+was laid out in borrowed garments belonging to the attorney of the
+place. It was dressed in a black coat and black pantaloons, with a
+white waistcoat, and over the shoulder was put the riband of the fifth
+class of St Ferdinand, without the star, for he never had one.
+Zumalacarregui had troubled himself little about external decorations;
+and his ordinary dress, a black sheep-skin jacket, red overalls, and a
+flat scarlet boyna, or cap of the country, which he thought
+sufficiently good for his body when living, was deemed unworthy of him
+when he became dust. It was an apt type of what had preceded, and what
+was to follow: the rude neglected warrior during life--the Duke, the
+_King's friend_, the grandee of Spain after death.
+
+One word about the cruelty of Zumalacarregui. He _was_ cruel, and what
+is about to be said is a reason, but it is not put forth as either an
+excuse or a justification. His cruelty proceeded from no innate or
+idiosyncratic ferocity. In a less cruel atmosphere he would have
+breathed a milder spirit. There is an indifference to life in all
+Spaniards, which, on one side, prompts great deeds, and, on the other,
+readily ripens into inhumanity. They care little about their own
+lives, and speedily learn to care still less about the lives of
+others. In this melancholy warfare there was cruelty on all sides;
+and, from the execution of Santos Ladron, there followed a series of
+bloody atonements, each producing each, which strewed the highways
+with as many bodies as had fallen in the field.
+
+Though the temptation of straying into any thing like a biography has
+been studiously avoided, there is one anecdote so curious, and not
+only so explanatory of what has just been said, but so illustrative of
+the character of both the man and the country, that it will hardly be
+deemed out of place.
+
+A young grandee of Spain, the Count of Via-Manuel, had been taken
+prisoner. Zumalacarregui was anxious to save his life, though the
+circumstance of his rank seemed to make his death the more certain, as
+being a fitter expiation for many executions which had lately taken
+place on the Christino side. Zumalacarregui addressed a letter to
+Rodil, the commander-in-chief of that army, saying that he was anxious
+to exchange his prisoner for a subaltern officer, and some soldiers
+that had been lately seized sick in a farm-house, and that he awaited
+the answer. The distance between the armies was short, and, some hours
+after, Via-Manuel requested permission to see the general and learn
+his fate. Zumalacarregui received him in the room when he was just
+going to dinner, and, in that oriental style so interwoven in the
+whole web of Spanish customs, offered him a part of the repast that
+was before him. In ordinary times, this is but a courteous form, and
+it is rarely accepted; but Via-Manuel, thinking perhaps of the Arab's
+salt in this Moorish compliment, accepted the invitation, and sat down
+at the table. They eat, and at the end of dinner an orderly entered
+and gave a letter to the general. It was from Rodil, and contained
+only these words--"The rebels were shot this morning." Zumalacarregui,
+without saying a word, handed the paper to Via-Manuel, rose from
+table, and went out of the room. The unfortunate count was that night
+placed, according to custom, in the chapel of the village, and was
+shot next morning.
+
+This happened in Lecumberri, which was entered shortly afterwards by
+the troops of the Queen. On leaving it the following day, two Carlist
+officers were pinioned and shot through the back, on the very spot
+where Via-Manuel fell. Such was the frightful mode of reciprocal
+expiation carried on on both sides; but the writer of this notice has,
+at least, among those painful recollections, the consolation of
+reflecting, that in this, as in other instances more fortunate, he did
+all in his power to save the victims.
+
+This little sketch has swelled beyond its intended bulk, but when
+those who love Spain have passed the Pyrenees, it is difficult not to
+linger there, even on paper. Amid dangers and difficulties, and even
+the horrors of civil war, Spain has an attraction which it would be as
+difficult to explain to those who do not feel it, as to describe the
+sound of a trumpet to a deaf man. To those who have passed their early
+years there, Spain is like the shining decoration in a play, which
+still continues haunting the slumbers of the child that has seen one
+for the first time.
+
+After the death of Zumalacarregui, Don Carlos took command of the
+army, with Moreno for chief of his staff, but the latter exercised all
+real authority. The Pretender was utterly deficient of every thing
+like military talent, and from the day of Zumalacarregui's death, his
+cause was not only hopeless, but felt to be so by the queen's party,
+who shortly regained the large portion of occupied territory which
+they had recently lost.
+
+Zumalacarregui, from the 1st May 1835 to the 11th of June of that
+year, had made upwards of three thousand soldiers and a hundred
+officers prisoners. He left for all inheritance to his wife and
+daughters something less than forty pounds and four horses.
+
+
+
+
+NEW SCOTTISH PLAYS AND POEMS.[53]
+
+
+We suspect that in this railway age poetry is at a greater discount
+than ever. The reason is obvious. Not only the public, who are the
+readers, but even the poets themselves, have been largely infected by
+the current mania of speculation. Had the possession of capital been
+requisite for a participation in any of the thousand defunct schemes
+which have caused so unprecedented an emigration to the breezy shores
+of Boulogne, our poetical friends might have claimed for their
+vocation the credit of a rare morality. But unfortunately, the
+national gaming-table was open to men of every class. Peer and
+peasant, count and costermonger, millionaire and bankrupt, were alike
+entitled to figure as allottees, or even as committee-men, for the
+simple subscription of their signatures; and amidst the rush and
+squeeze of the crowd, who thronged towards the portal of Plutus, we
+were less surprised than pained to observe some of the most venerated
+votaries of Apollo. We shall not affect to disguise the purpose for
+which we were there ourselves. But much may be permitted to the
+prosaic writer which is forbidden to the canonized bard. Ours is a pen
+of all work--equally ready to concoct a prospectus, or to expose a
+literary charlatan. We are intensely fond of lucre, and expect, some
+day or another, to be in possession of the moiety of a plum. We have
+therefore no vain scruples regarding the sanctity of our calling, but
+carry our genius like a hooded falcon upon our wrist, ready to let it
+fly at any manner of game which may arise. We, however, deny in
+absolute terms the right of a poet to any such general license. He has
+no business whatever to trespass one foot beyond the limits his own
+domain. He ought to be thoroughly ignorant of the existence of bulls
+and bears, stags and ducks, and the rest of the zoology of the
+Exchange. Consols should be to him a mystery more impenetrable than
+the Sibylline verses, and the state of the stocks as unaccountable as
+the policy of Sir Robert Peel. The mischief, however, is done, and we
+fear it is irremediable. The example of the Poet-Laureate may indeed
+serve as a kind of excuse for the minor professors of the art. His
+well-known attempt to _bear_ the Kendal and Windermere line, by a
+series of ferocious sonnets, is still fresh in the memory of the
+public, and we trust the veteran has, long ere this, realized a
+handsome profit. We ourselves made a little money out of the Perth and
+Inverness, by means of an indignant tirade against the desecration of
+the Pass of Killiecrankie; and we should, to a certainty, have made
+more, had not the Parliamentary Committee been weak enough to believe
+us, and, in consequence, to reject the bill. Yet it may be long before
+the literary market can recover its healthy tone--ere sonnets once
+more resume their ancient ascendency, and circulate from hand to hand
+in the character of intellectual scrip.
+
+We suspect that very few of the poets backed out of the scrape in
+time. Their sanguine and enthusiastic temperament led them to hold, at
+all risks and hazards; and they did not, as a body, take warning from
+the symptoms of a declining market. An amiable friend of ours who
+belongs to the Young England party, and who has issued a couple of
+duodecimos in laudation of Bishop Bonner, found himself at the period
+of the crash in possession of two thousand Caithness and Land's End
+scrip, utterly unsaleable at any discount, though a fortnight before
+they were quoted at fifteen premium. He meditates, as we are
+informed, a speedy retirement to the penal solitudes of La Trappe, as
+there now seems to be little hope that Louis Philippe will provide a
+proper refuge for chivalrous misfortune by resuscitating the Order of
+Malta. The weaver-poet of Camlachie has gone into the Gazette in
+consequence of an unfortunate speculation in Caledonians. His lyre is
+as silent as his shuttle; and we fear that in his hours of despondency
+he is becoming by far too much addicted to drink. A clever young
+dramatist confessed to us some time ago that he found himself utterly
+"goosed;" and the last hope of the school of Byron has been forced to
+deny himself the luxury of inverted collars, as his uncompromising
+laundress peremptorily refused to accept of payment in characteristic
+Cemetery shares.
+
+In the gross, this state of things seems deplorable enough; and yet,
+when we analyse it, there is still some room for comfort. Never, since
+we first had the honour of wielding the critical lash--for the Crutch
+is a sacred instrument--in the broad amphitheatre of letters, do we
+recollect a year less fertile in the product of verse than the
+present. Our young friends are not possessed with the same supreme and
+sublime contempt of gold which formed so disinterested a feature of
+the poets of the by-gone age. They have become corrupted by the
+manufacturing and utilitarian tenets of the day; and--we shudder to
+record it--divers of them are violent free-traders. They have all
+fallen into the snare of the man Broker; and at the very outset of
+life, in the heyday and spring of their existence, they can count both
+sides of a shilling with the acuteness of a born Pennsylvanian. Hence
+it is, we presume, that they have attained to a knowledge of the
+fact--long ago notorious among the Trade--that poetry will not pay.
+They look upon genius through the glasses of Adam Smith, weigh the
+probability of an adequate demand before they venture on the
+production of a supply, and cut short the inchoate canto upon
+principles of Political Economy. In a few years, we fear, poetry will
+be no longer extant, save for the commercial purposes of the
+advertisements of Messrs Moses and Hyam; unless, indeed, some Welsh or
+Highland railway company should take the matter up, and double their
+dividends by bribing a first-rate poet to produce another _Lady of the
+Lake_. Hence the sparseness of our library table, which renders our
+old vocation comparatively a sinecure, and leaves us, without the
+necessity of immolation, to the undisturbed enjoyment of our chair.
+
+We might indeed, were we savagely inclined, discover some Volscians
+worth our fluttering in the ranks of Young England, or the more sombre
+group of poetical Oxonian divines. But we look with a kindly eye upon
+the eccentricities of the one school, and we listen to the drowsy
+strains of the other with no more active demonstration of disapproval
+than a yawn. We have high hope of George Sydney Smythe, Lord John
+Manners, and others, who have already produced some things of evident
+promise--not mere beaten tinsel, such as the resuscitated Cockneys are
+again beginning to vend in the literary market--but verses of true and
+genuine originality. Could we but ensure them against the vitiating
+effects of politics, it were a light hazard to predict for either of
+the above gentlemen a far higher reputation than has been achieved by
+the united efforts of the whole canorous crew which constituted the
+Melbourne administration. We must indeed except Mr Macaulay, a better
+poet than a politician, but--the brilliant ballad-writer being
+removed--what soul could have been contented to fatten upon the spongy
+lyrics of a Spring Rice, or the intolerable tragedies of a Russell!
+What food to sweeten the tedium of a solitary imprisonment for life!
+
+As for the Oxford school, we fairly confess that its votaries are
+beyond our comprehension. Amiable they are, no doubt, although ascetic
+in principle; but they are likewise insufferably tedious. We have
+attempted at various times, and during different states of the
+barometer, to make ourselves master of the compositions of Mr Williams
+and his principal followers. We failed. After skimming over a page or
+two of mellifluous blank verse, we began to experience a strange
+sensation, as if a bee were humming through the room. At each
+evolution of the imaginary insect, our eyes felt heavier and heavier.
+We made a strong effort to rally ourselves at the description of a
+crystalline stream, meandering, as we rather think, somewhere through
+the confines of Paradise; but the hue of the water gradually changed.
+It became dark and treacly, purled with a somniferous sound, as though
+the channel had been filled with living laudanum; and in three minutes
+more we were unconscious of the existence of the income-tax, and as
+relieved from the load of worldly cares as though we had joined
+company with the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus.
+
+Surely we have a right to expect something better from Oxford than
+this. The old nurse of learning must bestir herself once more,
+forswear morphia, and teach her pupils to strike a manlier chord, else
+men will cease to believe in the ancient magic of her name. What we
+want is, power, energy, pathos--not mere vapid sentiment, so
+diligently distilled that scarce a flavour of the original material is
+left to enable us to discover its origin. If poetry be a copy or a
+reflex of life, let it show out lifelike and true; if it be the
+representation of a dream, at all events let us have the vision, as in
+the mirror of Agrippa, well defined, though around its edges rest the
+clouds of impenetrable mystery. Above all things, let us have meaning,
+not vague allegorical phrases--power if not passion--sense if not
+sublimity. If the classics cannot teach us these, let us go back to
+the earlier ballads, and see how our fathers wrote without the aid of
+metaphysical jargon.
+
+Our present purpose is to deal with Scottish writers, and fortunately
+we have material at hand. Last month we were in London, engaged in
+divers matters connected with the state of the nation and our own
+private emolument, which latter pursuit we as seldom as possible
+neglect. The cares of a railway witness, in which capacity we had the
+honour to act, are but few. A bountiful table was spread for us, not
+in the wilderness, but in an excellent hotel in St James's; breakfast,
+luncheon, dinner, and supper, followed one another with praiseworthy
+regularity; the matutinal soda-water was only succeeded by the iced
+hock and champagne of the vespers, and a beneficent Fairy of seventeen
+stone, in the guise of a Writer to Her Majesty's Signet, was courteous
+enough not only to defray the whole of the attending expenses, but to
+furnish us with certain sums of gold, which we disseminated at our own
+proper pleasure. In return for the attentions of our legal Barmecide,
+we submitted to ensconce ourselves for a couple of days in a hot room
+somewhere about the Cloisters, in the course of which sederunt we held
+an animated conversation with several gentlemen in wigs, for the
+edification--as we were given to understand--of five other gentlemen
+in hats, who sat yawning behind a green table. We take this
+opportunity of tendering our acknowledgments to the eminent and
+raucous Queen's Counsel who was kind enough to conduct our
+cross-examination, and who so delicately insinuated his doubts as to
+the veracity and candour of our replies. As his knowledge of the
+localities about Braemar--the district then under question--was about
+equal to his cognizance of the natural history of Kamschatka, we felt
+the compliment deeply; and should we ever have the pleasure of
+encountering our beetle-browed acquaintance during a vacation ramble
+on the skirts of Schehallion, we pledge ourselves that he shall carry
+back with him to Lincoln's Inn some lasting tokens of our regard. In
+the mean time we sincerely hope he has recovered from that distressing
+fit of huskiness which rendered his immediate vicinity by no means a
+seat of comfort to his solicitor.
+
+As a matter of course, we relieved the monotony of our duties by
+divers modes of relaxation. Greenwich--in the glory of its whitebait,
+its undeniable Thames flounders, its dear little ducklings enshrined
+in their asparagus nest, and its flagons, wherein the cider cup shows
+sparklingly through the light blue _Borage_--was not unfrequented by
+us in the course of the sultry afternoon. At Richmond, likewise, we
+battened sybaritically; and more than once essayed to resuscitate our
+appetite, and awake within us the dormant sense of poetry, by a stroll
+along the breezy heath of Hampstead, preparatory to a dive into the
+Saracen, where, doubtless, in the days of yore, Leigh Hunt, Keats, and
+Hazlitt used to make wild work among the eggs and spinach. Our
+attendance at the theatres, however, was a matter of rarity. We have
+no fancy to undergo martyrdom by means of a slow stewing, when the
+sole palm we can win, in exchange for the sudorific pangs, is the
+enjoyment of some such shabby-genteel comedy as _The Beggar on
+Horseback_, or a travestie like that of the _Birds_ of Aristophanes,
+the only peculiarity of which is its utter want of meaning. As a
+general rule, we prefer the spectacles on the Surrey side, to those
+exhibited in the Metropolitan or Westminster districts. There, the
+nautical drama still flourishes in its pristine force. The old British
+tar, in ringlets, pumps, and oil-skin castor, still hitches up his
+trousers with appropriate oath; revolves the unfailing bolus of
+pigtail in his cheek--swims to shore across a tempestuous sea of
+canvass, with a pistol in each hand and a cutlass in his teeth, from
+the wreck of the foundering frigate--and sets foot once more on the
+British soil, just in time to deliver Pretty Poll of Portsmouth, his
+affianced bride, (who has a passion for short petticoats and crimson
+stockings,) from the persecutions of that bebuttoned pirate with the
+whiskers, who carries more pistols in his girdle than the scalps of an
+Indian chief, and whose fall, after a terrific combat with
+basket-hilts and shower of fiery sparkles, brings down the curtain at
+the close of the third act amidst roars of unmitigated joy. Also we
+delight to see, at never-failing Astley's, the revived glories of
+British prowess--Wellington, in the midst of his staff, smiling
+benignantly upon the facetious pleasantries of a Fitzroy
+Somerset--Sergeant M'Craw of the Forty-Second, delighting the _�lite_
+of Brussels by his performance of the reel of Tullochgorum at the
+Duchess of Richmond's ball--the charge of the Scots Greys--the single
+combat between Marshal Ney and the infuriated Life-guardsman Shaw--and
+the final retreat of Napoleon amidst a volley of Roman candles, and
+the flames of an arseniated Hougomont. Nor is our gratification less
+to discern, after the subsiding of the shower of saw-dust so
+gracefully scattered by that groom in the doeskin integuments, the
+stately form of Widdicomb, cased in martial apparel, advancing towards
+the centre of the wing, and commanding--with imperious gestures, and
+some slight flagellation in return for dubious compliment--the
+double-jointed clown to assist the Signora Cavalcanti to her seat upon
+the celebrated Arabian. How lovely looks the lady, as she vaults to
+her feet upon the breadth of the yielding saddle! With what inimitable
+grace does she whirl these tiny banners around her head, as winningly
+as a Titania performing the sword exercise! How coyly does she dispose
+her garments and floating drapery to hide the too maddening symmetry
+of her limbs! Gods!--She is transformed all at once into an
+Amazon--the fawn-like timidity of her first demeanour is gone. Bold
+and beautiful flushes her cheek with animated crimson--her full
+voluptuous lip is more compressed and firm--the deep passion of the
+huntress sparkles in her lustrous eye! Widdicomb becomes excited--he
+moves with quicker step around the periphery of his central
+circle--incessant is the smacking of his whip--not this time directed
+against Mr Merryman, who at his ease is enjoying a swim upon the
+saw-dust--and lo! the grooms rush in, six bars are elevated in a
+trice, and over them all bounds the volatile Signora like a panther,
+nor pauses until, with airy somersets, she has passed twice through
+the purgatory of the blazing hoop, and then, drooping and exhausted,
+sinks like a Sabine into the arms of the herculean Master, who--a
+second Romulus--bears away his lovely burden to the stables, amidst
+such a whirlwind of applause as Kemble might have been proud to earn!
+
+"So," in the language of Tennyson--
+
+  "So we triumph'd, ere our passion sweeping through us left us dry,
+  Left us with the palsied heart, and left us with the jaundiced eye."
+
+"Dryness," however, according to our creed and practice, is not
+altogether unappeasable, and by the help of Barclay, Perkins, and
+Company, we succeeded in mitigating its rage. But we confess to the
+other miseries of the palsied heart and jaundiced eye, so soon as we
+were informed by the above-mentioned scribe, that our bill had been
+thrown out upon committee, and that, if we tarried longer in London,
+it must be upon our own proper charges. We had been so used for the
+last twelve months to voyage, and to subsist at the expense of
+joint-stock companies--so habituated to dine with provisional
+committees, and to hold sweet supper consultations in the society of
+salaried surveyors--that a reference to our private resources appeared
+a matter of serious hardship. However, there was no help for it. Some
+mean and unreasonable share-holders were already growling about a
+return of some portion of the deposits, and even, to the infinite
+disgust of the directors, hinted at a taxation of accounts. The
+murmurs of these slaves of Mammon broke up our little Eden. The Irish
+egg-merchant, who had been fed for three weeks upon turtle to induce
+him to give testimony touching the importation of eerocks--the tollman
+from Strathspey, who nightly meandered to the Coal-hole, in company
+with the intoxicated distiller--the three clerks who did the dirty
+work of the committee-room, and were therefore, with wise precaution,
+stinted in their allowance of beer--the northern bailie, who stuck
+strenuously to toddy, and the maritime provost, who affected the
+vintage of the Rhine--the raw uncouth surveyor from Dingwall, who,
+guiltless of straps, and rejoicing in a superfluity of rig-and-fur
+over a pair of monstrous brogues, displayed his native symmetry every
+afternoon in Regent Street, and reciprocated the gaze of the wondering
+milliners with a coarse guffaw, and the exhibition of his enormous
+teeth;--All these worthies vanished from the house in a single day,
+like spirits at the crowing of the cock, and returned to their native
+hills in a state of comparative demoralization. For our own part, we
+packed our portmanteau in gloomy silence, and meditated a speedy
+retreat to the distant solitudes of Loch Awe.
+
+We were eating, as we thought, our last muffin, when our eye was
+accidentally caught by an advertisement in the _Times_, purporting
+that a new play was to be immediately produced at the Princess's
+theatre, and that its title was _The King of the Commons_. A spasm of
+delight shot through us. We were aware, some time before, that a dear
+friend, and distinguished fellow-labourer of ours, whose contributions
+have always been of sweetest savour in the nostrils of fastidious
+Christopher, had turned his attention to dramatic poetry, and was
+resolved, for once at least, to launch an experimental shallop upon
+the stage. Nor did we doubt that this was the enunciation of his
+attempt. We divined it at once from the subject, so akin to his genius
+and deep national feelings--we knew the fervour of his love to
+Scotland, and his earnest desire to illustrate some page of her varied
+annals--and we resolved accordingly to postpone our departure, and be
+present at the success or discomfiture of our bold and adventurous
+brother.
+
+The first night of a new play is always attended with some agreeable
+excitement. If the author is a known man upon the boards--a veteran of
+some six comedies, all of which have found their way into the
+provinces, and are usually selected by the leading Star on the
+occasion of his or her benefit--the general audiences are desirous to
+ascertain whether his new effort is equal in point of merit to the
+rest. The critics, most of whom have failed in their own proper
+persons, are by no means indisposed to detect the occurrence of
+blemishes--friends hope that it may succeed, and unsuccessful rivals
+devoutly trust it may be damned. If the author is unknown, and if no
+very flagrant efforts have been made to pre-puff his performance, he
+has at all events the chance of an impartial hearing. Let the play go
+on smoothly to the middle; let no very glaring absurdities appear; let
+the actors really exert themselves, and display any thing like
+interest or talent in their business, and young Sophocles is generally
+sure of a favourable verdict. Our dear friends, the public, are always
+well disposed towards a winning man. One cheer elicits another, and
+applause, once commenced, goes on at a multiplied ratio. No doubt, the
+case may be reversed, and the sound of a solitary catcall from the pit
+awake the slumbering serpents, and become the signal for universal
+sibilation.
+
+The danger is, that an unknown author, unpuffed, may be ruined for
+want of an audience. We have no great faith in the panacea of free
+tickets, issued by the lessee for the simple purpose of getting up a
+house. The worth of a production is usually estimated by its current
+value, and we doubt if a favourable bias can be produced in the minds
+of any, by means of gratuitous pasteboard. Puffing, again, often
+defeats its own object. It creates doubt in the anticipations of some,
+jealousy in those of others and is also apt to create a _prestige_
+which the result may not justify. When we are told, on the authority
+of newspaper paragraphs, that _Bianca Franconi, or the Seven Bloody
+Poignards of Parma_, is to take the town by storm,--that nothing equal
+to it in merit has been produced since the days of Shakspeare,--that
+the critic who had the privilege of attending the first rehearsal,
+emerged from the theatre with his blood in a state of congelation,
+owing to the sepulchral tones and vehement gestures of Mr Charles
+Kean, who represents the part of Giacomo degli Assassinazioni, the
+Demon Host of the Abruzzi;--when we listen to this preliminary
+flourish of trumpets, we are apt to screw our imaginations a peg too
+high, and may chance to derive less rapture than we had anticipated
+from the many scenes of murder which garnish the _d�nouement_ of the
+drama.
+
+A greater virtue than fidelity is not in the celestial catalogue. We
+should at all times be ready to accompany a friend, either in a
+triumphal ovation or in a melancholy march to the scaffold,--to place
+the laurel on his head, or the funereal handkerchief in his hand. It
+was an exuberance of this feeling which determined us to be present at
+the first representation of _The King of the Commons_; and being
+firmly convinced of the truth of the adage, that there is safety in a
+multitude of councillors, we sent round the fiery cross to such of our
+fellow-contributors as were then in London, requesting them to favour
+us with their company to an early dinner at the Parthenon, as a proper
+preliminary to the more serious business of the evening.
+
+Some half-dozen of the younger hands responded punctually to our call.
+They came dropping in in high glee, with a rather mischievous
+expression of countenance, as though they anticipated fun; nor had
+they been five minutes in the room, before we discovered, to our
+unspeakable consternation, that every man was furnished, either with a
+catcall or a railway whistle! Here was a proper business! We knew very
+well that the articles which our dramatic friend contributes to Maga,
+have found more favour in the eyes of the public than the lucubrations
+of all the rest of us put together, and yet we had been foolish enough
+to assume, that, after the manner of the brethren, we had been
+convoking a literary Lodge. In fact, we had made no allowance for that
+indescribable delight which prompts you irresistibly, and without
+thought of succour, to cram your horse at the ditch into which, six
+seconds before, the friend of your bosom has been pitched from the
+back of his runaway mare, and wherein he is now lying with his head
+fixed inextricably in the mud, and his legs demonstrating in the air a
+series of spasmodic mathematical propositions. Not that, in the
+slightest degree, the dispositions of the lads were evil. If the play
+turned out well, we knew that they would be found cheering with the
+most uproarious, and probably raving for the next week about the
+merits of their fortunate compeer;--but if, on the contrary, it should
+happen that our brother had overestimated his powers, little doubt
+existed in our mind, that each contributor would exert himself on his
+peculiar instrument as vigorously as Herr Koenig, on the
+cornet-�-piston, nor seek to excuse himself afterwards on any more
+elaborate plea, than the right of every Briton to participate in a
+popular amusement.
+
+The dinner went off well. We were, however, cautious to confine each
+man to his solitary pint, lest their spirits should prove too
+exuberant at the moment of the rising of the curtain. Coffee over, we
+wended our way to the theatre, where we arrived just in time to hear
+the expiring crash of the overture. The first glimpse of the
+well-filled house assured us that there was no fear of the play
+falling still-born for want of an adequate audience. Boxes, pit, and
+gallery were equally crammed. We took our seat in the midst of the
+band of catcallers and whistlemen, and proceeded to the inspection of
+the bill as diligently as though it were an exponent of the piece. It
+must be confessed that our friend has not been very fortunate in the
+selection of his names. Early associations with the neighbourhood of
+Mid-Calder, a region abounding in cacophonous localities, seem to have
+led him a little astray. Adam Weir, Portioner in Laichmont, is a name
+which may be found figuring in the _Cloud of Witnesses_, or in that
+very silly book, Mr Simpson's _Traditions of the Covenanters_. It
+might sound admirably in a tale of the "hill-folk," but we totally
+repudiate and deny the propriety of enrolling Sir Adam Weir of
+Laichmont in the list of King James's Bannerets. Buckie of Drumshorlan
+likewise, though he may turn out on further acquaintance to be a
+fellow of infinite fancy, appears to us in print the _eidolon_ of a
+Bathgate carter. Madeleine we acknowledge to be a pretty name, but it
+loses its effect in conjunction with a curt patronymic. However, these
+are minor matters. It may be allowable to us, who drew our first trout
+from the Linnhouse Water, to notice them, but English ears may not be
+so fastidious. Tomkins, to the Chinese, is probably a name as terrible
+in sound as Wellington.
+
+But see!--the curtain rises, and displays an interior in Holyrood.
+James White--you are a lucky fellow! That mechanist is worth his
+weight in gold; for, what with stained windows and draperies and
+pilasters, he has contrived to transform our old gloomy palace, where
+solemnity sits guardian at the portal, into as gay a habitation as
+ever was decked out for a southern potentate. Francesco and
+Bernardo--that is, Buckie and Mungo Small--have some preliminary talk,
+for which we care not; when suddenly the folding-doors fly open, and
+enter James the Fifth of Scotland, surrounded by his nobles.
+
+Unquestionably the greatest of living British actors, Macready, has
+never wanted honours. This night he has them to the full, if deafening
+applause can testify the public goodwill; and of a truth he deserves
+them all, and more, were it but for that king-like bearing. There is
+no mock majesty in his aspect. Admirably has he appreciated the
+chivalrous character of James, who in many points seems to have borne
+a strong resemblance to the English Richard--as gallant and fearless,
+as hasty and bountiful--more trusting perhaps, but yet not more
+deceived. There is now a cloud on the royal brow. Some of the nobles
+have delayed, upon various pretexts, to send their vassals to the
+general muster on the Borough Muir, preparatory to an inroad upon
+England, and James cannot urge them on. Somerville and some others,
+who have no mind for the war, are pleading their excuse, greatly to
+the indignation of the King, who considers the honour of Scotland more
+bound up with the enterprise than his own.
+
+  "I was the proudest king--too proud perhaps--
+  I thought I was but foremost in a band
+  Of men, of brothers, of true-hearted Scots;
+  But pshaw!--it shall not move me."
+
+He thus reproaches his nobles, who would fain instigate him to peace,
+but who on this occasion, as on many others, were opposed to the
+opinions, not only of the clergy, but of the people.
+
+                                "What! to hear
+    His threats, and worse than threats--his patronage?
+    As if we stoop'd our sovran crown, or held it
+    As vassal from the greatest king alive!
+    No; we are poor--I know we are poor, my lords;
+    Our realm is but a niggard in its soil,
+    And the fat fields of England wave their crops
+    In richer dalliance with the autumn winds
+    Than our bleak plains;--but from our rugged dells
+    Springs a far richer harvest--gallant hearts,
+    Stout hands, and courage that would think foul scorn
+    To quail before the face of mortal man.
+    We are our people's king. For you, my lords,
+    Leave me to face the enemy alone!
+    I care not for your silken company.
+    I'll to my stalwart men--I'll name my name,
+    And bid them follow James. They'll follow me--
+    Fear not--they'll follow!"
+
+After some more such dialogue, the nobles promise obedience and
+retire, leaving James convinced of their lukewarmness, though
+unsuspicious of their treason, and more determined than ever to trust
+implicitly to the devotion of the people.
+
+  "Will they be traitors still? and play the game
+   Was play'd at Lauder Bridge? and leave their king
+   Unshielded to the scorn and laugh of England?
+   I will not think so meanly of them yet!
+   _They are not forward, as their fathers were
+   Who died at Flodden, as the brave should die,
+   With sword in hand, defiance in their hearts,
+   And a whole land to weep and honour them._
+   If they desert me--well, I can but die,
+   And better die than live a powerless king!"
+
+Some good passages had occurred before, but this was the first
+palpable hit in the play. The word Flodden came home like a
+cannon-shot to the heart of every Scotsman in the house, and a yell
+arose from the pit, as though the general body of bordering surveyors
+who packed it, were ready for another insurrection.
+
+Buckie of Drumshorlan, who, it seems, is a notorious reiver, or, as he
+phrases it--"an outcast--a poor Scottish Ishmaelite,"--a fact,
+however, unknown to the king, whom he had rescued from the waters
+while attempting to cross the Avon in a spate--now comes forward, and
+gives information against Sir Adam Weir of Laichmont, as an agent of
+the English court, and a corrupter of the treacherous nobility. James
+determines to expiscate the matter in person; and accordingly, in the
+next scene, we are transported to a wood near Laichmont, where
+Madeleine Weir, the grandchild of the knight, and Malcolm Young, her
+cousin, are apparently bird-nesting, but in reality, though they know
+it not, making love. For poor Malcolm is an orphan, dependent entirely
+on Sir Adam, who will not let him become a soldier, but has condemned
+him to holy orders. It is, in short, the story--nearly as old as the
+world--of disappointed hope and love; though Madeleine, with a sweet
+innocence which we suspect is rarely to be found save on the stage,
+seems unconscious of the true state of her feelings with reference to
+her early playmate. Their _t�te-�-t�te_ is interrupted by the entrance
+of King James, of course in disguise, and now beset by sundry ruffians
+who have left their mark on the royal costard; and Malcolm, like a
+tight St Andrews student, springs to the rescue. This effects the
+introduction of the King to the house of Laichmont, where we find Sir
+Adam--a hoary, calculating traitor--in great anxiety to find a
+messenger to communicate an English dispatch to the disaffected lords
+of Scotland. We pass over his colloquy with his neighbour, Laird
+Small--an elderly idiot, whose son Mungo holds the post of usher at
+Holyrood, and who now agrees with Sir Adam to unite the two estates by
+a marriage between the said Mungo and Madeleine. This scene, which is
+pure dramatic business, is pleasantly enough conducted, although in
+point of probability, and considering the ambition of the knight, he
+might have looked for a better match for his daughter than a coxcomb
+of an usher, heir though he was of some plashy acres in the
+rush-covered confines of Mid-Calder. We have observed, however, that
+love of district is as deep a passion in the human mind as love of
+country; and the intense yearning of the Switzer for his clear
+Lucerne, may not transcend the tide of parochial patriotism which
+swells the bosom of the native of the Kirk of Shotts.
+
+In the second act, Sir Adam somewhat incautiously selects James
+himself as the messenger to the nobles; and here we cannot altogether
+acquit our friend from the charge of great improbability. That blemish
+excepted, the scene is a good one, especially in the part where James,
+with the true vanity of a poet, becomes ruffled at the account of the
+common criticism on his verses. In the next scene, James extracts the
+secret of his love from Malcolm--a character which, by the way, was
+admirably performed by Mr Leigh Murray--and the whole mystery of the
+sadness of her cousin is revealed to the agitated Madeleine. We have
+an idea that dramatic love-scenes must be very ticklish in
+composition; at least of this we are aware, that in real life they are
+peculiarly perplexing. We never felt so like a booby as when we first
+attempted a proposal; and, to our shame be it said, we experienced far
+less pain from the positive refusal of Jemima, than from the
+consciousness that, at that moment, we must have appeared
+inexpressibly absurd. And so it is, we apprehend, with the great
+majority of lovers. They keep beating about the bush for months, and
+never seem absolutely to know what they would be at. The great
+majority of marriages are the result of accident. We have known
+several proposals follow the overturning of a chaise. A sharp race
+from the pursuit of an infuriated bull--the collision of a
+steam-boat--even a good rattling thunder-storm, will bring to a proper
+understanding parties who, under ordinary circumstances, and with no
+such pretty casualties, might have dawdled out years of unprofitable
+courtship, and finally separated for ever in consequence of some
+imaginary coldness, for which neither one nor the other of them could
+have assigned a plausible reason. Now, within the limits of a five-act
+play, there is no space for dawdling. The flirtation must always be of
+the warmest, and the engagement consequent thereon. A friend to whom
+your hero can tell his story, is of immense advantage in the drama,
+more especially when the young gentleman, as in this case, is under
+difficulties, and the young lady playfully concealed behind a
+whinbush, for no other purpose than that of learning the cause of his
+secret sorrow. Let us see how our friend manages this.
+
+    "JAMES.--You know not--but--enough! Poor Malcolm Young!
+  Tell me what weighs so heavy on your heart.
+
+    MADELEINE. (_behind._)--Now I shall hear what makes poor Malcolm sad.
+
+    MALCOLM.--Sir,'tis but three weeks since that I came home--
+  Home! no, I dare not call it home,--came here,--
+  After long tarrying at St Andrew's schools,
+  By order of my kinsman, at the last,
+  A month since,--'tis one little month ago----
+
+    JAMES.--Go on, go on!
+
+    MADELEINE.--Now comes the hidden grief.
+
+    MALCOLM.--He forced me by deceitful messages
+  To vow me to the priesthood, when my soul
+  Long'd more for neighing steeds than psalteries.
+  Oh, what a happy fortune had been mine
+  To draw the sword 'neath gallant James's eye,
+  And rouge it to the hilt in English blood!
+
+    JAMES.--God bless you, boy!--your hand again--your hand!
+  Would you have served the king?
+
+    MALCOLM.--Ay! died for him!
+
+    JAMES.--And he'd have cherish'd you, believe me, boy,
+  And held you to his heart, and trusted you--
+  And you'd ha' been true brothers;--for a love
+  Like yours is what poor James has need of most.
+  Is this your grief?
+
+    MALCOLM.--Alas, my grief lies deeper!
+  I might have bent me to my cruel fate
+  With prayers that our brave king find Scots as true,
+  And worthier of his praise than Malcolm Young.
+  When I came back, I had not been a day
+  'Mid well-known scenes in the remember'd rooms,
+  Till to my heart, my soul, the dreadful truth
+  Was open'd like a gulf; and I--fool! fool!
+  To be so dull, so blind--I knew too late
+  That I was wretched--miserable--doom'd,
+  Like Tantalus, to more than hellish pains--
+  To feel--yet not to dare to speak, or think;
+  To love--and be a priest!
+
+    MADELEINE.--To love! to love!
+  How strange this is!
+
+    JAMES.--How found you this, poor friend?
+
+    MALCOLM.--By throbbings at the heart, when I but heard
+  Her whisper'd name; thoughts buried long ago
+  'Neath childish memories--we were children both--
+  Rose up like armed phantoms from their grave,
+  Waving me from them with their mail�d hands!
+  I saw her with the light of womanhood
+  Spread o'er the childish charms I loved so well--
+  I heard her voice sweet with the trustful tones
+  She spoke with long ago, yet richer grown
+  With the full burden of her ripen'd thoughts.
+
+    MADELEINE.--My head goes round--my heart will burst!
+
+    MALCOLM.--I saw
+  A world lie open--and an envious spell
+  Fencing it from me; day by day, I felt
+  Grief and the blackness of unsunn'd despair
+  Closing all round me.
+
+    JAMES.--And the maiden's name?
+
+    MALCOLM.--Was Madeleine Weir."
+
+Obedient to dramatic rule, Madeleine faints away at the discovery; and
+the good-natured king, without however discovering himself, determines
+to secure the happiness of the youthful couple.
+
+This brings us to the third act, where the accusing Buckie again makes
+his appearance, and denounces Sir Adam Weir, not only as a traitor,
+but as a plunderer of his own kin. He avers the existence of a nephew,
+who, were a multiplepoinding instituted, would be found to have good
+right to a considerable slice of Laichmont, not to mention divers
+other dividends; and he pledges himself to compear at Holyrood on an
+early day, at the peril of his head, to prove the truth of his
+allegations. With reference to the correspondence with the nobility,
+James speaks thus:--
+
+              "Your words are strong
+  As if they sprang from truth. I came to prove
+  Sir Adam Weir; through him to reach the hearts
+  Of higher men. _The saddest heart alive
+  Would be as careless as a lark's in June
+  Compared to mine, if what my fear portends
+  Proves true._ Sir Adam Weir has wealth in store--
+  Is crafty, politic, and is of weight--
+  The words are his--with certain of our lords.
+
+    BUCKIE.--I told you so. I know he has deep dealings
+  With----
+
+    JAMES.--Name them not; from their own lips I'll hear
+  Their guilt; no other tongue shall blot the fame
+  Of James's nobles. If it should be so;
+  If the two men I've trusted from my youth--
+  If Hume--If Seton--let the rest go hang!
+  But Seton, my old playmate!--if he's false,
+  Then break, weak heart! farewell, my life and crown!----
+  I pray you meet me here within an hour
+  This very night; I shall have need of you.
+  And as you speak as one brave man should speak
+  To another man, albeit he is a king,
+  I will put trust in you; and, ere the morn,
+  You shall impeach Sir Adam in our court:
+  And woe betide the guilty! Say no more;
+  I meet you here again."
+
+Sir Adam Weir delivers the important packet to the king to be conveyed
+to the traitors, and James immediately hands it over to Buckie, with a
+strict charge that it shall be produced that evening in the court at
+Holyrood. His majesty having no further business at Laichmont, departs
+in hot haste for Edinburgh.
+
+It is now full time for old Sir Adam to exercise his parental
+authority over Madeleine in the matter of her nuptials with Mungo
+Small, who has at last arrived at Laichmont. The aged reprobate having
+already sold his king and country, cannot be expected to have any
+remorse about trafficking with his own flesh and blood; and
+accordingly he shows himself, in this interview, quite as great a
+brute as the elder Capulet. Nay, to our apprehension, he is
+considerably worse; for he not only threatens the meek-eyed Madeleine
+with starvation, but extends his threats of vengeance to the
+unoffending Malcolm in case of her refusal to wed with the gentle
+County Mungo. Madeleine is no Juliet, but a good Scots lassie--brought
+up, we hope, in proper knowledge of her breviary, if not of her
+catechism, and quite incapable of applying to the Friar Laurence of
+Mid-Calder for an ounce of deceptive morphia. She has a hankering for
+St Ninian's and the holy vocation of a nun.
+
+    "MADELEINE--I'll hie me to the monastery door,
+  And ask the meek-eyed nuns to take me in;
+  And it shall be my grave; and the thick walls
+  Shall keep me from the world; and in my heart
+  I'll cherish him, and think on all his looks,
+  Since we were children--all his gentle tones;
+  And when my weary breast shall heave no more,
+  I'll lay me down and die, and name his name
+  With my last breath. I would we both were dead
+  For we shall then be happy; but on earth
+  No happiness for me--no hope, no hope!"
+
+But Madeleine is not yet to get off quite so easily. Young Master
+Small is introduced to ensnare her with his manifold accomplishments,
+and certainly he does exhibit himself as a nincompoop of the first
+water. With all respect and affection for our brother, we hold this
+character to be a failure. There is, we maintain, a vast difference
+between vanity, however preposterous, and sheer undaunted drivel,
+which latter article constitutes the staple of Master Mungo's
+conversation. Not but what a driveller may be a fair character for a
+play, but then he ought to drivel with some kind of consistency and
+likelihood. Far are we from denying that there are many fools to be
+found in Scotland; we even consider it a kind of patriotism to claim
+our just quota of national idiocy. Our main objection to Mungo is,
+that he represents, so far as we have seen, no section of the Scottish
+Bauldy. If he resembles any thing, it is a Cockney of the Tittlebat
+Titmouse breed, or one of those absurd blockheads in the plays of Mr
+Sheridan Knowles who do the comic business, wear cock's feathers in
+their hats, and are perpetually inquiring after news. There is a dash
+of solemnity, a ludicrous assumption of priggism, about the Scottish
+fool which Mr White has entirely evaded. Ass though he be, the
+northern dunderhead is neither a man-milliner nor a flunky; and yet
+Mungo Small is an arrant compound of the two. We put it to the public
+if the following scene is facetious:--
+
+    "MUNGO.--She curtseys with an air; though, for my part,
+  I like the Spanish swale, as thus, (_curtseys,_) low, low;
+  Not the French dip, as thus, (_curtseys,_) dip, dip.
+  Which think you best?
+
+    MADELEINE.--Sir! did you speak to me?
+
+    MUNGO.--Did I? 'pon honour--yes, I think I did:
+  Some like the Austrian bend, (_curtseys,_) d'ye like it so?
+  Our girls, the Hamiltons, have got it pat;
+  No sooner do I say, 'Sweet Lady Jane,'
+  And draw my feather so, and place my hand
+  Here on my heart, 'Fair Lady Jane, how are ye?'
+  But up she goes, and bend, (_curtseys;_) but if an ass,
+  Some fribble she don't like, comes near her, lo!
+  A swale! (_curtseys,_) 'tis very like this gentlewoman.
+  I hope there's no one near you you don't like?
+  For if there is, 'fore gad! an 'twere my father,
+  I'd cut him into slices like cold ham,
+  As thin as that.
+
+    LAIRD.--Gadso! pray gad it ain't;
+  I hope it ain't his father--he would do it!
+  He's such a youth!"
+
+Fancy such a capon as this holding office at the court of James the
+Fifth!
+
+The mock account of the tournament which follows, would be pleasant
+reading were it not for the total incongruity of the narrator with the
+scene which he describes. The actor who performed this part was
+evidently quite at home in the representation of the smallest Cockney
+characters. He brought out Mungo as the most pitiful little reptile
+that ever waddled across the stage, and in consequence the audience,
+for the first and only time, exhibited some symptoms of
+disapprobation. What had gone before was really so good--the
+performers had so ably seconded the efforts of the author--the
+interest excited by the general business of the play was so
+great--that this declension, which might otherwise have been
+overlooked, was felt to be a positive grievance. Our chosen band of
+contributors had hitherto behaved with great decorum. They had cheered
+lustily at the proper places, pocketed their whistles, and although
+the house was remarkably warm, not a man of them had emerged between
+the acts for the sake of customary refreshment. All at once, in the
+middle of the tournament scene, the shrill sharp squeak of a catcall
+greeted on our ear, and turning rapidly round, we detected a Political
+Economist in the act of commencing a concerto. It was all we could do
+to wring the instrument from the villain's hand. We threatened to make
+a report of his contumacious conduct to head-quarters, and menaced him
+with the wrath of Christopher; but his sole reply to our remonstrance
+was something like a grumbled defiance; and very glad were we when the
+offending Mungo disappeared, and a pretty scene between Madeleine and
+Malcolm, made the audience forget the ill-omened pleasantries of the
+Cockney.
+
+The fourth act is remarkably good. Of all the Scottish nobles, Lord
+Seton and Hume have ever been the dearest to James; his belief in
+their enduring faith and constancy has enabled him to bear up against
+the coldness and disaffection of the others; but the time has now
+arrived when his confidence in the honour of at least one of them is
+destined to be shaken. One of the bishops--Mr White does not specify
+his diocese--accuses Lord Seton of holding correspondence with the
+leader of the English host. The charge is not believed--nay, hardly
+entertained--until Seton himself being sent for, to some extent admits
+the fact of having received a messenger.
+
+    "BISHOP.--And he sent a message back to Dacre,
+  And gave the envoy passage and safe conduct.
+
+    JAMES.--Is all this true?--Oh, Seton, say the word,
+  One little word--tell me it is not true!
+
+    SETON.--My liege,'tis true.
+
+    JAMES.--Then by the name we bear
+  You die!--a traitor's death! Sirrah! the guard.
+  I will not look again on where he stands.
+  Let him be taken hence--and let the axe
+  Rid me of----Seton! is it so in truth,
+  That you've deceived me--join'd my enemies?
+  You--you--my friend--my playmate!--is it so?
+  Sir, will you tell me wherein I have fail'd
+  In friendship to the man who was my friend?
+  I thought I loved you--that in all my heart
+  Dwelt not a thought that wrong'd you.
+
+    SETON.--You have heard
+  What my accuser says, and you condemn me--
+  I say no word to save a forfeit life--
+  A life is not worth having, when't has lost
+  All that gave value to it--my sovereign's trust!
+
+    JAMES (_to the_ BISHOP.)--You see this man, sir--he's the selfsame age
+  That I am. We were children both together--
+  We grew--we read in the same book--my lord,
+  You must remember that?--how we were never
+  Separate from each other; well, this man
+  Lived with me, year by year; he counsell'd me'
+  Cheer'd me, sustained me--he was as myself--
+  _The very throne, that is to other kings
+  A desolate island rising in the sea--
+  A pinnacle of power, in solitude,
+  Grew to a seat of pleasance in his trust._
+  The sea that chafed all round it with its waves
+  This man bridged over with his love, and made it
+  A highway for our subjects' happiness--
+  And now! for a few pieces of red gold
+  He leaves me. Oh, he might have coin'd my life
+  Into base ingots--stript me of it all--
+  If he had left me faith in one true heart,
+  And I should ne'er have grudged him the exchange.
+  Go, now. We speak your doom--you die the death!
+  God pardon you! I dare not pardon you--
+  Farewell.
+
+    SETON.--I ask no pardon, sir, from you.
+  May you find pardon--ay, in your own heart
+  For what you do this day!
+
+    BISHOP.--Be firm, my liege.
+
+    JAMES.--Away, away, old man!--You do not know--
+  You cannot know, what this thing costs me."
+
+After all, it turns out that Seton is perfectly innocent--that the
+message he has dispatched to English Lord Dacre is one of scorn and
+defiance--and that the old Cacofogo of the church, who might have
+belonged to The Club, has been rather too hasty in his inferences.
+Macready--great throughout the whole scene--outshone himself in the
+reconciliation which follows; and we believe our friend the Political
+Economist was alone in his minority when he muttered, with
+characteristic adherence to matter of fact--"Why the plague didn't
+that fellow Seton clear himself at once, and save us the whole of the
+bother?" We return for a moment to Laichmont, where there is a regular
+flare-up between old Sir Adam and Malcolm, the latter pitching it into
+the senior in superior style. An officer from the court arrives, and
+the whole family party are ordered off _instanter_ to Holyrood.
+
+The last act shows us King James vigilant, and yet calm, in the midst
+of the corrupted barons. It is some weeks since the latter have seen a
+glimpse of an English rouleau, and their fingers are now itching
+extremely for an instalment. They are dismissed for the moment, and
+the king begins to perform his royal functions and redeem his
+promises, by procuring from the Cardinal-Legate letters of dismission
+from the church in favour of Malcolm Young. The court is then
+convoked, and Buckie--public prosecutor throughout--appears with a
+pair of wolf's jaws upon his head, which we hold to be a singular and
+somewhat inconvenient substitute for a wig. The indictment is twofold.
+The first charge is against Sir Adam for falsehood, fraud, and wilful
+imposition; in consequence of which, his nephew, described as a lad of
+considerable early promise, has been compelled to betake himself to
+the king's highway, in the reputable capacity of a cutpurse. This
+missing youth turns out to be identical with the cateran of
+Drumshorlan. The second charge is more serious. It relates to the
+public treachery of Weir; in proof of which, Buckie produces the
+packet containing the dispatches to the Lords. All is confusion and
+dismay.
+
+    "SOMERVILLE.--'Tis some foolishness,
+  I'll take the charge.
+
+    JAMES.--Bring me the packet, lord!
+  Here, Maxwell! break the seal--but your hand shakes.
+  Hume! lay it open. (HUME _opens the packet_.) Blessings on you, Hume!
+  Oh, what a thing is truth! Here, give it me!
+  Now, by my soul, this is a happy time!
+  I hold a score of heads within my hands--
+  Heads--noble heads--right honourable heads--
+  Stand where you are! ay, coroneted heads--
+  Nay, whisper not! What think you that I am?
+  A dolt--a madman? As I live by bread,
+  I'll show you what I am! You thought me blind,
+  You called me heedless James, and hoodwink'd James--
+  You'll find me watchful James, and vengeful James!
+
+      (HUME _marches in the Guard, with Headsman;
+        They stand beside the Lords, who form a group_.)
+
+  One little word, and it will conjure up
+  The fiend to tear you. One motion of this hand--
+  One turning of the leaf--Who stirs a foot
+  Is a dead man! _If I but turn the leaf,
+  Shame sits like a foul vulture on a corse,
+  And flaps its wings on the dishonor'd names
+  Of knights and nobles._
+
+      (_A pause; the_ LORDS _look at each other_.)
+
+            Nay, blench not, good my lords;
+  I mean not _you_; the idle words I say
+  Can have no sting for you! You are true men--
+  True to your king! You'll show your truth, my lords,
+  In battle; pah! we'll teach those Englishmen
+  We are not the base things they take us for;
+  They'll see James and his nobles side by side--
+  (_Aside._) If they desert me now, then farewell all!
+  (_Aloud._) There!--(_gives the packet back to Somerville_)
+  I know nothing!"
+
+After this act of magnanimity, our readers will readily believe that
+all the other personages in the drama are properly disposed of--that
+pardon and reconciliation is the order of the day--and that the lovers
+are duly united. So ends one of the most successful dramas which has
+been produced for a long time upon the stage. Our own judgment might
+possibly have been swayed by partiality--not so that of the thousands
+who have since witnessed its repeated and successful representation.
+Were we to venture upon any broad criticism, after a careful perusal
+of this play, and of _The Earl of Gowrie_, we should be inclined to
+say that Mr White sins rather upon the side of reserve, than that of
+abandonment. We think he might well afford to give a freer rein to his
+genius--to scatter before us more of the flowers of poesy--to elevate
+the tone of his language and the breadth of his imagery, more
+especially in the principal scenes. It may be--and we almost believe
+it--that he entertains a theory contrary to ours--that his effort
+throughout has been to avoid all exaggeration, and to imitate, as
+nearly as the vehicle of verse will allow, not only the transactions,
+but the dialogue of actual life. But, is this theory, after all,
+substantially correct? A play, according to our ideas, is not intended
+to be a mere daguerreotype of what has passed or is passing around us;
+it is also essentially a poem, and never can be damaged by any of the
+arts which the greatest masters in all times have used for the
+composition of their poetry. Much must be said in a play, which in
+real life would find no utterance; for passion, in most of its phases,
+does not usually speak aloud; and therefore it is that we not only
+forgive, but actually require some exaggeration on the stage, in order
+to bring out more clearly the thoughts which in truth would have
+remained unspoken. In the matter of ornament, much must be left to the
+discretion and the skill of the author. We are as averse as any man
+can be to overflowing diction--to a smothering of thoughts in
+verbiage--to images which distract the mind by their over-importance
+to the subject. But the dramatic author, if he carefully considers the
+past annals of his craft, can hardly fail to remark that no play has
+ever yet achieved a permanent reputation, unless, in addition to
+general equable excellence, it contains some scenes or passages of
+more than common beauty and power, into the composition of which the
+highest species of poetry enters--where the imagination is allowed its
+unchecked flight, and the fancy its utmost range. Thus it was, at all
+events, that Shakespeare wrote; and if our theory should be by any
+deemed erroneous, we are contented to take shelter under his mighty
+name, and appeal to his practice, artless as it may have been--as the
+highest authority of the world.
+
+But, after all, we are content to take the play as we find it. Of _The
+Earl of Gowrie_, Mr White's earlier production, we have left ourselves
+in this article little room to speak. In some points it is of a higher
+and more ambitious caste than the other--written with more apparent
+freedom; and some of the characters--Logan of Restalrig for
+example--are powerfully conceived. It is not, however, so well adapted
+for the stage as the other drama. James the Sixth, according to our
+author's portraiture, is a far less personable individual than his
+grandsire; and the quaint mixture of Scots and Latin with which his
+speeches are decorated, would sound strangely and uncouthly in modern
+ears, even could a competent actor be found. We would much rather see
+this play performed by an amateur section of the Parliament House,
+than brought out on the boards of Drury Lane. If the Lords Ordinary
+stood upon their dignity and refused participation in the jinks, we
+think we could still cull from the ranks of the senior bar, a fitting
+representative for the gentle King Jamie. We have Logans and Gowries
+in abundance, and should the representation ever take place, we shall
+count upon the attendance of Mr White, who shall have free permission
+for that evening to use the catcall to his heart's content.
+
+Not less pleased are we with the delightful book of Highland
+Minstrelsy from the pen of Mrs David Ogilvy, and so characteristically
+illustrated by our friend R. R. M'Ian, which now claims our attention.
+We are glad to find, in one young writer at least, a return to a
+better and a simpler style than that which has been lately
+prevalent--a strong national feeling not warped or perverted by
+prejudice, and a true veneration for all that is great and glorious in
+the past. These poems are, as the authoress informs us in her preface,
+intended to bear upon "the traditions, the sentiments, and the customs
+of a romantic people"--they are rather sketches of the Highlanders,
+than illustrations drawn from history--they are well conceived, and
+clearly and delicately executed.
+
+Indeed, notwithstanding the mighty harvest which Sir Walter Scott has
+reaped, there is a wide field still open to those who comprehend the
+national character. It is, however, one into which no stranger may
+hope to enter with the slightest prospect of success. A more
+lamentable failure than that committed by Mr Serjeant Talfourd in his
+attempt to found a tragedy upon the woful massacre of Glencoe--a
+grosser jumble of nonsense about ancestry and chieftainship--was, we
+verily believe, never yet perpetrated. At the distance of six years,
+we can vividly remember the tingling of our fingers for the pen when
+we first detected the Serjeant upon his northern poaching expedition;
+nor assuredly should he have escaped without exposure, had not the
+memory of _Ion_ been still fresh, and many graceful services to
+literature pled strongly within us in his behalf. But our authoress,
+if not born, has been bred in the heart of the mountains--she knows,
+we are sure, every rood of great Strath-Tay from Balloch to the
+roaring Tummel--she has seen the deep pass of Killiecrankie alike in
+sunshine and storm, and sweet must have been the walks of her
+childhood in the silent woods of Tullymet. It is among such scenes as
+these--in the midst of a brave, honest and an affectionate
+people--that she has received her earliest poetical impulse, and
+gratefully has she repaid that inspiration with the present tribute of
+her muse.
+
+We hardly know to which of her ballads we should give precedence. Our
+favourite--it may be from association, or from the working of Jacobite
+sympathies of which we never shall be ashamed--is the first in order,
+and accordingly we give it without comment:--
+
+
+  "THE EXILE AT CULLODEN.
+
+  "There was tempest on the waters, there was darkness on the earth,
+  When a single Danish schooner struggled up the Moray Firth.
+  Looming large, the Ross-shire mountains frown'd unfriendly on its track,
+  Shriek'd the wind along their gorges, like a sufferer on the rack;
+  And the utmost deeps were shaken by the stunning thunder-peal;--
+  'Twas a sturdy hand, I trow ye, that was needed at the wheel.
+
+  "Though the billows flew about them, till the mast was hid in spray,
+  Though the timbers strain'd beneath them, still they bore upon their way,
+  Till they reach'd a fisher-village where the vessel they could moor--
+  Every head was on its pillow when they landed on the shore;
+  And a man of noble presence bade the crew "Wait here for me.
+  I will come back in the morning, when the sun has left the sea."
+
+  "He was yet in manly vigour, though his lips were ashen white,
+  On his brow were early furrows, in his eyes a clouded light;
+  Firm his step withal and hasty, through the blinding mist so sure,
+  That he found himself by dawning on a wide and lonesome muir,
+  Mark'd by dykes and undulations, barren both of house and wood,
+  And he knew the purple ridges--'twas Culloden where he stood.
+
+  "He had known it well aforetime--not, as now, so drear and quiet;
+  When astir with battle's horror,--reeling with destruction's riot;
+  Now so peacefully unconscious that the orphan'd and exiled
+  Was unmann'd to see its calmness, weeping weakly as a child;
+  And a thought arose of madness, and his hand was on his sword--
+  But he crush'd the coward impulse, and he spake the bitter word;--
+
+  "'I am here, O sons of Scotland--ye who perish'd for your king!
+  In the misty wreaths before me I can see your tartans swing--
+  I can hear your slogan, comrades, who to Saxon never knelt;
+  Oh! that I had died among ye, with the fortunes of the Celt!
+
+  "'There he rode, our princely warrior, and his features wore the same
+  Pallid cast of deep foreboding as the First one of his name;
+  Ay, as gloomy as his sunset, though no Scot his life betray'd;
+  Better plunge in bloody glory, than go down in shame and shade.
+
+  "'Stormy hills, did ye protect him, that o'erlook Culloden's plain,
+  Dabbled with the heather blossoms red as life-drops of the slain?
+  Did ye hide your hunted children from the vengeance of the foe?
+  Did ye rally back the flying for one last despairing blow?
+  No! the kingdom is the Saxon's, and the humbled clans obey,
+  And our bones must rot in exile who disdain usurper's sway.
+
+  "'He is sunk in wine's oblivion for whom Highland blood was shed,
+  Whom the wretched cateran shelter'd, with a price upon his head,
+  Beaten down like hounds by scourging, crouching from their master's
+    sight;
+  And I tread my native mountains, as a robber, in the night;
+  Spite of tempest, spite of danger, hostile man and hostile sea,
+  Gory field of sad Culloden, I have come to gaze on thee!'
+
+  "So he pluck'd a tuft of heather that was blooming at his foot,
+  That was nourish'd by dead kinsmen, and their bones were at its root;
+  With a sigh he took the blossom, and he strode unto the strand,
+  Where his Danish crew awaited with a motley fisher band;
+  Brief the parley, swift his sailing, with the tide, and ne'er again
+  Saw the Moray Firth the stranger or the schooner of the Dane."
+
+"Eilan Mohr" and the "Vow of Ian Lom," the renowned Seannachie of the
+Highlands, are both fine poems, but rather too long for extract; and
+as we do not doubt that this volume will erelong be found in the
+boudoir and drawing-room of many of our fair countrywomen, we have
+less hesitation in leaving them to a more leisurely perusal.
+
+The young authoress will, we trust, forgive us if we tender one word
+of advice before parting with her on the heights of Urrard--a spot
+which was once--and we hope will be again--the home of more worth,
+beauty, and excellence, than is often to be found within the circle of
+a single family. She ought to be very cautious in her attempts to
+write in the Scottish dialect. Few, even of those who have habitually
+heard it spoken from their childhood, can discern the almost
+indefinable line which exists between the older and purer phraseology,
+and that which is more corrupt. The very spelling of the words is a
+matter of considerable difficulty, and when not correctly written, the
+effect is any thing but pleasing. With this hint and another extract
+we shall return the volume to better keeping than our own, with our
+sincere approval of its contents, and our admiration for the genius of
+the writer.
+
+
+    "THE OLD HOUSE OF URRARD.
+
+  "Dost fear the grim brown twilight?
+    Dost care to walk alone,
+  When the firs upon the hill-top
+    With human voices moan?
+  When the river twineth restless
+    Through deep and jagged linn,
+  Like one who cannot sleep o' nights
+    For evil thoughts within?
+  When the hooting owls grow silent,
+    The ghostly sounds to hark,
+  In the ancient house of Urrard,
+    When the night is still and dark.
+
+  "There are graves about old Urrard,
+    Huge mounds by rock and tree;
+  And they who lie beneath them
+    Died fighting by Dundee.
+  Far down along the valley,
+    And up along the hill,
+  The fight of Killicrankie
+    Has left a story still.
+  But thickest show the traces
+    And thickest throng the sprites,
+  In the woods about old Urrard,
+    On the gloomy winter nights.
+
+  "In the garden of old Urrard,
+    Among the bosky yews,
+  A turfen hillock riseth
+    Where latest lie the dews;
+  Here sank the warrior stricken
+    By charm�d silver ball,
+  And all the hope of victory
+    Fell with him in his fall.
+  Last stay of exiled Stuart,
+    Last heir of chivalrie,
+  In the garden of old Urrard
+    He died, the brave Dundee!
+
+  "In the ancient house of Urrard,
+    There's many a hiding den;
+  The very walls are hollow,
+    To cover dying men;
+  For not e'en lady's chamber
+    Barr'd out the fierce affray;
+  And couch and damask curtain
+    Were stain'd with blood that day
+  And there's a secret passage,
+    Whence sword, and skull, and bone,
+  Were brought to light in Urrard,
+    When years had pass'd and gone.
+
+  "If thou sleep alone in Urrard,
+    Perchance in midnight gloom
+  Thou'lt hear behind the wainscot
+    Of that old haunted room,
+  A fleshless hand that knocketh,
+    A wail that cries on thee;
+  And rattling limbs that struggle
+    To break out and be free.
+  It is a thought of horror!--
+    I would not sleep alone
+  In the haunted rooms of Urrard,
+    Where evil deeds were done.
+
+  "Amidst the dust of garrets
+    That stretch along the roof,
+  Stand chests of ancient garments
+    Of gold and silken woof.
+  When men are lock'd in slumber,
+    The rustling sounds are heard
+  Of dainty ladies' dresses,
+    Of laugh and whisper'd word,
+  Of waving wind of feathers,
+    And steps of dancing feet,
+  In the haunted halls of Urrard,
+    When the winds of winter beat."
+
+We cannot altogether dismiss the book without bearing testimony to the
+merits of M'Ian, a rising artist and thorough Highlander, already
+favourably known to the public by his Sketches of the Clans, and other
+admirable works. Few pictures have ever affected us more than his
+Highland prisoner, exhibited last year in the Royal Academy, into
+which he has thrown a far deeper feeling, both of poetry and romance,
+than is at the command of many of his brethren, whose names are more
+widely bruited than his own. We send him across the Border our cordial
+greeting, and our best wishes for his continued success and
+prosperity.
+
+And here we should have concluded this article in peace and amity with
+all men--haunted by no other thoughts save those of sweet
+recollection--and as innocent of blood as our terrier pup, who, we are
+gratified to observe, is at this moment vainly attempting to enlarge a
+casual fracture in our slipper. But our eye has accidentally lighted
+upon a fugitive volume, half smothered beneath a heap of share-lists;
+and mindful of our duty, however painful, we drag forth the impostor
+to his doom. _Morning and other Poems, by a Member of the Scotch Bar!_
+Why, the very name of the book is enough to betray its spurious
+origin. The unfortunate person who has rashly attempted to give
+currency to his verses by assuming a high and honourable position, to
+which, we believe from the bottom of our soul, he has not the remotest
+pretension--has not even taken the pains to ascertain the corporate
+name of the body with which he claims affiliation, and bungles even in
+the title-page. With the members of the SCOTTISH BAR we have some
+acquaintance--nay, we think that--from habitual attendance at the
+Parliament House, being unfortunately implicated in a law-plea as
+interminable as that of Peebles against Plainstanes--we know almost
+every one of them by headmark, from the Pet of the Stove, whose
+snuff-box is as open as his heart, to the saturnine gentleman who is
+never seen beyond the precincts of the First Division. We acquit every
+one of them of participation in this dreary drivel.
+
+It may be that the gods have not made all of them poetical--and, for
+the sake of the judges, we opine that it is better so--yet some rank
+amongst our dearest and most choice contributors; nor, we believe, is
+there one out of the whole genuine fraternity of educated and
+accomplished gentlemen who could not, if required, versify a summons,
+or turn out a Lay of the Multiplepoinding, equal, if not superior, to
+Schiller's Song of the Bell. It is rather too much that the literary
+character of the bar of Scotland is to be jeopardied by the dulness of
+the author of _Morning and other Poems_. Why has he not the courage,
+instead of sheltering himself under a legal denomination common to
+some three hundred gentlemen, to place his own name upon the
+title-page, and stand or fall by the bantlings of his own creation?
+Does he think, forsooth, that it is beneath the dignity of a barrister
+to publish verses, or to hold at any time a brief in the court of
+Apollo? If so, why does he attempt to thrust forward his vocation so
+wantonly? But he knows that it is no disgrace. The literary reputation
+of the bar is so high, that he actually assumes the title for the
+sake of obtaining a hearing, and yet merges his own individuality, so
+that he may be enabled to slink away in silence and obscurity from the
+ridicule which is sure to overwhelm him.
+
+Morning, and other Poems! It was impossible for the author to have
+stumbled upon a more unfortunate subject in support of his
+pretensions. Of all imaginable themes, that of morning is least likely
+to inspire with enthusiasm the soul of a Scottish barrister. Few are
+the associations of delight which that word awakens in his mind. It
+recalls to him the memory of many a winter, throughout which he has
+been roused from his comfortable nap at half-past seven, by the shrill
+unquellable voice of Girzy, herself malignant and sullen as the
+bespoken warning of the watchman. He recollects the misery of shaving
+with tepid water and a blunt razor by the light of a feeble dip--the
+fireless study--the disordered papers--the hasty and uncomfortable
+breakfast, and the bolting of the slippery eggs. Blash comes a sheet,
+half hail half slush, against the window--the wind is howling without
+like a hurricane, and threatens to carry off that poor shivering
+lamplighter, whose matutinal duty it is to extinguish the few
+straggling remnants of gas now waning sickly and dim, in the dawn of a
+bad December morning. What would he not give if this were a Monday
+when he might remain in peace at home! But there is no help for it. He
+is down for three early motions on the roll of the most punctual
+Ordinary that ever cursed a persecuted bar; so he buttons his
+trot-cosey around him, and, without taking leave of the wife of his
+bosom--who, like a sensible woman as she is, never thinks of moving
+until ten--he dashes out, ankle-deep in mud and melting snow, works
+his way up a continuous hill of a mile and a half in length, with a
+snell wind smiting him in the face, his nose bluemigating like a plum,
+and his linen as thoroughly damped as though it had been drawn through
+the wash-tub. Just as he begins to discern through the haze the
+steeple of Knox's kirk, nine strokes upon the bell warn him that his
+watch is too slow. He rushes on through gutter and dub, and arrives in
+the robing-room simultaneously with ten other brethren, who are all
+clamorously demanding their wigs and gowns from the two distracted
+functionaries. Accomodated at last, he hurries up the stairs, and
+when, through the yellow haze of the house, he has groped his way to
+the den where early �acus is dispensing judgment by candle-light, he
+finds that the roll has been already called without the appearance of
+a single counsel. Such, for half the year--the other half being varied
+by a baking--are the joys which morning brings to the member of the
+Scottish bar. Few, we think, in their senses would be inclined to sing
+them, nor, indeed, to do our author justice, does he attempt it. His
+notions of morning occupations are very different. Let us see what
+sort of employment he advises in an apostrophe, which, though
+ostensibly addressed to Sleep, (a goddess with two mothers, for he
+calls her "Daughter of Jove and Night, by Lethe born,") must, we
+presume, have been intended for the edification of his fellow-mortals.
+
+                  "Nor then, thy knees
+    Vex with long orisons. The morning task,
+    The morning meal, or healthful morning walk
+    Demand attention next. Thy hungry feed,
+    Among thy stall, if lowing herds be thine;
+    Drain the vex'd udders, set the pail apart
+    For the wean'd kid; the doggish sentinel
+    Supply, nor let him miss the usual hand
+    He loves. Then, having seen all full and glad,
+    Body and soul with food thyself sustain.
+    If wedded bliss be yours, the fruitful vine
+    Greet lovingly, and greet the olive shoots,
+    The gifts of God!"
+
+Here is a pretty fellow! What! First breakfast, then a walk, then the
+byre, the ewe-bught, the pig-stye, and the kennel, and after all
+that, without wiping the gowkspittle of the tares from your jacket,
+or the stickiness of Cato's soss from your fingers, you would sit down
+to a second breakfast, like a great snorting gormandizer, and never
+say good-morning to your wife and children until you have finished
+your third roll, and washed down that monstrous quantity of fried ham
+with your fifth basin of bohea! But no--we turn over a couple of
+pages, and find that we have done our friend injustice. He is a poet,
+and, according to his idea of that race, they subsist entirely upon
+porridge or on sowens.
+
+    "But what becomes the rustic, little suits
+    The poet and the high �onian fire----
+    His toils I mean; sacred the morning prime
+    Is still to song, and sacred still the grove;
+    No fields he boasts, no herds to grace his stalls,
+    The muse has made him poor and happy too,
+    She robs him of much care and some dull coin,
+    Stints him in gay attire and costly books,
+    But gives a wealth and luxury all her own,
+    _And, on a little pulse, like gods they diet._"
+
+Our theory is, that this man is a medical student. We have a high
+regard for the healing faculty; nor do we think that, amongst its
+ranks, there is to be found more than the ordinary proportion of
+blockheads. But the smattering of diversified knowledge which the
+young acolytes are sure to pick up in the classes, is apt to go to
+their heads, and to lead them into literary and other extravagances,
+which their more sober judgment would condemn. They are seldom able,
+however, to disguise their actual calling; and even their most
+powerful efforts are tinctured with the flavour of rhubarb or of
+senna. This youth has been educated in obstetrics.
+
+    "Three months scarce had thrice increased
+    Ere the world with thee was blest."
+
+He is an adept in the mysteries of gestation--an enthusiast so far in
+his profession, and cannot even contemplate the approach of morning
+without the feelings of a genuine Howdie. Mark his exordium--
+
+      "The splendid fault, solicitude of fame,
+    Which spurs so many, me not moves at all
+    To sing, but grateful sense of favours obtain'd
+    By many a green-spread tree and leafy hill:
+    The MORNING calls, escaped from dewy sleep
+    And Tithon's bed to celebrate her charms,
+    What sounds awake, what airs salute the dawn!
+      "That virgin darkness, loveliest imp of time,
+    Is, to an amorous vision, nightly wed,
+    And made the mother of a shining boy,
+    By mortals hight the day, let others tell,
+    In livelier strains, and to the Lydian flute
+    Suit the warm verse; but be it ours to wait
+    In the birth-chamber, and receive the babe,
+    All smiling, from the fair maternal side,
+    By pleasant musings only well repaid."
+
+It is a great pity that one so highly gifted should ever have been
+tempted to forsake the muse for any mere mundane occupation. But in
+spite of his modest request that sundry celestial spirits--
+
+    "Will to a worthier give the bays to Phoebus dear,
+    And crown MY WORDSWORTH with the branch _I must not wear_"--
+
+we are not altogether without hopes that he will reconsider the
+matter, avoid too hard work, which, in his own elegant language, might
+make him
+
+    "Wan as nun who takes the vows,
+    Or primrose pale, or _lips of cows_!"--
+
+and not only delight us occasionally with a few Miltonic parodies as
+delectable as these, but be persuaded in time to assume the laureat's
+wreath. As for the pretext that he is getting into practice--whether
+legal or medical--that is all fudge. He informs us that "the following
+pages were written, during the author's leisure hours, some years ago,
+before the superior claims of professional occupations interfered to
+make such pursuits unlawful, and would probably have remained
+unpublished, but for the accident of a talented friend's perusal."
+Moreover, he says that "his conscience will not reproach him with the
+hours which the preparation of these poems for the press has filched
+from graver business--
+
+    'The tedious forms, the solemn prate,
+    The pert dispute, the dull debate.'"
+
+We assure him that it need not do so. No man who has glanced at this
+volume will accuse him of knowing the difference between a process of
+Ranking and Sale and a Declarator of Legitimacy; and he may comfort
+himself with the conviction that his literary pursuits are quite as
+lawful at the present time as they were some years ago. No importunate
+solicitor will ever interfere to divert him from them. The man who
+cannot compass an ordinary distich will never shine in minutes of
+debate; nor have we the slightest expectation that a three-guinea
+fee--even were he entitled to receive it--would ever supply the place
+of that unflinching principle of honour, which he thus modestly, and
+not unprophetically acknowledges to be the mainspring of his
+inspiration--
+
+    "'Tis this which strings, in time, my feeble harp,
+    And yet shall ravish long eternal years!"
+
+The following imprecation, which we find in "Morning," inspires us
+with something like hope of the continuance of his favours:--
+
+    "When I forget the dear enraptured lay,
+    May this right hand its wonted skill forego,
+    And never, never touch the lyre again!"
+
+We dare not say Amen to such a wish. On the contrary, in the name of
+the whole Outer-House, we demand a supplementary canto. Let him submit
+it to the perusal of his "talented friend," and we dare answer for it
+that the publishers will make no objection to stand sponsors for a new
+volume on the same terms as before.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[53] _The Earl of Gowrie_; a Tragedy. By the Rev. JAMES WHITE. London:
+1845.
+
+_The King of the Commons_; a Drama. By the Same. 1846.
+
+_A Book of Highland Minstrelsy._ By Mrs D. OGILVY. Illustrated by R.
+R. M'IAN. London: 1846.
+
+_Morning, and other Poems._ By a Member of the Scotch Bar. London:
+1846.
+
+
+
+
+ELINOR TRAVIS.
+
+A TALE IN THREE CHAPTERS.
+
+CHAPTER THE SECOND.
+
+
+So far have I spoken of what I saw and witnessed. Much of what follows
+came to me, years afterwards, authenticated by the chief performer in
+the eventful drama which I write, and by others no less worthy of
+belief. After what has been already narrated, it will not be supposed
+that I suffered the life of my friend to pass away unnoticed. We
+corresponded, but fitfully, and at long intervals. Here and there we
+met, often strangely and by accident, and I became now the depositary
+of his heart's dearest secrets, now the reluctant adviser, and now the
+bold and earnest remonstrant. Our intimacy, however, ceased abruptly
+and unhappily a year or two subsequently to his marriage. Sinclair, it
+will be seen, then went abroad, and I returned to my duty at the
+university. I recur to the memoranda of his history which lie before
+me, and proceed with my text.
+
+It would appear that General Travis overtook the fugitives, but, as
+good or ill fortune would have it, not until the knot was tied, and
+his presence profited nothing. I have been told that the desperate
+father, at one period of the chase, was within an easy stage of the
+runaways, and, had he been so disposed, might have laid hands on the
+delinquents without ruinously bribing the postilions, who prudently
+husbanded their strength in full expectation of additional largess.
+But, at the very moment of victory, as it were, the general
+unfortunately was seized with illness, and compelled to pass a day and
+night under the hands of a village doctor in a roadside inn. He was
+very angry and rebellious, you may be sure, and oftener than once
+asserted with an oath--so that there could be no doubt whatever of his
+sincerity--that he would give the world (if he had it) to be allowed
+to proceed; at the same time that he unreasonably accused the
+practitioner, whom he had never seen before, of conspiring with his
+enemies to bring his gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. The worthy
+apothecary, guilty of nothing but the venial offence of making the
+most of a visitation of Providence, merely shook his head dolefully at
+every exclamation of his patient, hinted at gastric fever, and rubbed
+his palms, intimating by that act that so he proposed to wash his
+hands of all responsibility. Whereupon the general prudently gave in,
+held out his massive fist, was prescribed for, went to bed and put out
+his candle, just two minutes after he had put out the basket of physic
+which had been sent to prolong his stay in the inn for at least a week
+to come.
+
+The interview between the disconsolate parent and the youthful
+offenders is adverted to in the letter which I received from Rupert
+Sinclair in London early in the honeymoon. It is many years since it
+was written: the paper is discoloured, and the ink fading. It is the
+effusion of a fond and enthusiastic youth; but it looks mournful and
+dried up, more like the decaying writing on the rolls of a mummy than
+the ardent outpourings of a recent passion. Alack for the mutability
+of life! I have no apologies to make for giving the letter as it
+stands. It speaks for itself: its publication cannot harm the dead.
+
+    "DEAREST WALTER--Congratulate me! wish me joy! But no greater
+    joy than I experience at this hour, with the sunny and smiling
+    heaven above, and in the possession of a treasure of which no
+    man living can rob me: of which I am prouder than Alexander
+    could have been of all his conquered worlds. She is mine! I
+    have ventured much for the prize; yet little--for I feel I
+    could have parted with every thing in life for her who is to
+    me--life, every thing. She is mine! Oh the comprehensiveness
+    of that one little word! Mine whilst existence lasts--mine to
+    cherish and uphold--mine for earth and heaven! We walked this
+    morning to the placid lake which lies hidden in the heart of
+    the mountains, to which we have retreated for a season away
+    from the envious eyes of men. The waters were as calm as at
+    the dawn of the first sabbath! The sky that overarched us
+    looked down upon them in unutterable love. The slightest
+    breath that crept amongst the trees was audible. Her arm was
+    upon mine. Nature had attuned my soul to the surrounding
+    harmony--the gentlest pressure of her confiding hand oppressed
+    me with joy and moved me to tears. Laugh at me if you will.
+    You answer to all this--that I dream. Be it so:--That I must
+    soon awake. It is possible. Nay, I grant you that this
+    foretaste of heaven, now vouchsafed to me, must pass away and
+    leave behind it only the remembrance of this golden epoch.
+    Still the remembrance is mine, the undying memory of a vision
+    unparalleled by all other dreams of life.
+
+    "I have written to my father, but he replies not. He has no
+    sympathy for attachments such as mine, and cannot understand
+    the bitterness of life caused by a blighted hope. But he will
+    relent. He has a noble nature, and will take no delight in my
+    unhappiness. My mother's influence is unbounded. She loves me,
+    and will plead my cause with him, when the first paroxysm of
+    anger has passed away, and has left him open to her sway. I
+    will take my Elinor to her; her innocence and beauty would
+    melt a stubborn heart to pity. Shall it not prevail with her
+    whose heart is ours already by the ties of holiest nature?
+    Believe me, I have no fear of Lord Railton's lasting anger.
+
+    "The general reached us the day after we were married. Happily
+    for me that he arrived not before. Elinor, as I have told you
+    often, reveres her father, and has a chivalric sense of filial
+    obligations. Had he commanded her to return to his roof whilst
+    the right to command remained with him, she would have deemed
+    it her paramount duty to obey him. His rage was terrible when
+    we met; I had never seen a man so plunged in grief before. He
+    accused me of treachery--of having betrayed his
+    confidence--and taken advantage of his daughter's simplicity
+    and warm affection. The world, he said, would reproach him for
+    an act which he would have moved heaven and earth to prevent,
+    and the reputation of the family would be blasted by the
+    conduct of one, who, but for his own base deed, should have
+    remained for ever a stranger to it. What could I reply to
+    this? For my dear Elinor's sake, I bore his cruel words, and
+    answered not. Her gentle spirit has already prevailed. He
+    quitted us this morning reconciled to our union, and resolved
+    to stand by us in all extremities. There was no resisting the
+    appeal of beauty such as hers. The old man wept like a child
+    upon her neck as he forgave and blest her. Urgent business
+    carries the general abroad for a season, but he returns to
+    England shortly, to make arrangements for the future.
+    Meanwhile, in obedience to his earnest request, I shall seek
+    an interview with my father, and in person entreat his
+    forgiveness and aid. My plans are unsettled, and necessarily
+    depend upon the conduct of Lord Railton. Let me hear from you,
+    dearest Wilson. Once more wish me joy. I ask no better fate
+    for you than happiness such as mine.
+
+        "Your faithful and devoted
+
+            "RUPERT SINCLAIR."
+
+The honeymoon over, Rupert Sinclair repaired to his father's house.
+Since his marriage he had received no tidings of his parents: he had
+written to his father and mother, but from neither came one syllable
+of acknowledgment or reply. It was strange, but he relied with
+unshaken confidence upon his power over the fond mother's heart, and
+upon the magic influence of that loveliness which he himself had found
+resistless and invincible. The blissful dream was a short one; he was
+about to be roused from it. Elinor and he were in town: upon the
+morning of his visit to Grosvenor Square, they sat together in their
+hotel and weaved their bright and airy plans in syllables more
+unsubstantial than the gossamer.
+
+"You will love my mother, my dearest Elinor," said Sinclair. "The
+great world, in which she acts no unimportant part, has not spoiled
+her affections. She is indulgent and fond almost to a fault."
+
+"I shall love her for your sake, Rupert," answered the lovely wife.
+"How like she is!" she exclaimed, looking at a miniature which she
+wore around her neck, and then comparing it with the living
+countenance that beamed upon her. "Yet," she continued with a sigh,
+"she owes me no return of love."
+
+"And wherefore?"
+
+"Have I not stolen her most cherished treasure?"
+
+"Have you not added to her treasures? She will rejoice in her
+new-found daughter. I know her well. She will not even suffer my
+father to frown upon us. When he would be most stern, she will lead
+you to him, and melt him into tenderness and pardon."
+
+"I hope, dear Rupert, that it may be so. I would my father were with
+us!"
+
+"Lord Railton will be a father to you till his return. Trust me for
+it. You shall find a happy home with him, until arrangements are made
+for our settlement here or elsewhere."
+
+"Oh, elsewhere, dear Rupert, if it be possible! Let us go abroad; I
+was never happy in London, and strange to say, never felt at home in
+England. Yet London was my birth-place."
+
+"You love blue sky, dearest!"
+
+"Yes, and happy people. Men and women who are not mere slaves to form
+and fashion: who breathe free air and imbibe a sense of freedom. Oh
+Venice! dear Venice!--we shall go to Venice, shall we not? It is the
+land of enchantment, dearest Rupert, there is nothing like it in the
+world--the land of love and of romance."
+
+"You shall visit it, sweetest, and abide there if you wish it. To me
+all spots are alike that find you happy and at my side. When you are
+tired of Venice, you shall lead me whithersoever you will."
+
+"Will you always say so?"
+
+"Always. But that our departure may not be delayed, let us attend to
+the pressing business of the hour. All our movements depend upon my
+father's sanction. Once reconciled to him, and the world is before us,
+to minister, sweet Elinor, to your every wish."
+
+"What if he should punish you for my offence?"
+
+"For your offence, dear girl! and what is that? Think not of it. I go
+to remove your fears and seal our happiness!"
+
+With these and similar words of confidence and hope, the youth
+departed on his errand. Not without some misgiving and apprehension,
+however, did he present himself at that door which heretofore had
+flown open at his approach, always offering to his view the forms of
+obsequious lackeys, only too willing to anticipate his pleasure. The
+establishment of Lord Railton in a striking manner represented the
+sentiments and feelings of the noble proprietor. There was not a
+servant in the house who did not know, and that most accurately, the
+opinions, public and private, of "my lord," and the relative regard he
+had for all who approached his noble person, and who, moreover, did
+not give evidence of this knowledge in his conduct towards mankind. A
+stranger might have formed a just opinion of the influence of a
+visitor by simply remarking the bearing of Mister Brown the butler, as
+he ushered that visitor into the sublime presence. Smiles of
+welcome--a sweet relaxation of the features--greeted "the favoured
+guest;" cold rigidity, withering politeness, if not the stern
+expression of rebuke itself, were the undisguised acknowledgments of
+one who was "a bore" in his lordship's study, and consequently "a
+rejected" in the steward's room. During the boyhood of Rupert
+Sinclair, and whilst his mamma was known to be affectionately disposed
+to spoil her offspring by every kind of cruel indulgence, the regard
+entertained for the young scion, from Mister Brown downwards, was
+beautiful to contemplate. If he appeared in the hall, one sickening
+and hollow smile pervaded the cheeks of every individual; the tongue
+that was still wet with slander and abuse, became, as if by magic,
+sugary with choice phrases; and not a soul of all the lying crew, but
+sought to surpass the rest by the profuseness of its palpable and
+unmeaning flattery. Rupert Sinclair, worldly wise though he was not,
+would have been stolid indeed had he not gathered from the porter's
+air something of the reception that awaited him from his offended
+sire, when the wide portal opened to receive the unforgiven prodigal.
+
+"His lordship?"----began Rupert inquiringly.
+
+"Not at home, sir," said the flunkey, with all imaginable coolness
+interrupting him.
+
+"Lady Railton?"
+
+"Not at home, sir."
+
+"She is in town?"
+
+"In town, sir?--yes, sir."
+
+"I will wait," said Sinclair, moving towards the inner hall.
+
+He had not spoken before the porter pulled with all his might at a
+bell-wire that communicated with the steward's room. As though the
+signals were preconcerted, Mister Brown was in the hall in no time,
+and confronting the intruder upon the thresh-hold of the sanctuary. "I
+beg your pardon, Mr Sinclair," said Mister Brown, half respectfully,
+half confidentially. "Lord Railton is par_tic_ularly engaged this
+morning, and has given orders to that effect. It is the painfulest
+thing to communicate, but I am but an agent."
+
+Rupert coloured up, and hesitated for a moment.
+
+"I must see Lady Railton, then?" he continued hastily.
+
+"Her ladyship is ill, sir--really very ill. She is not suffered to see
+any body. My lord has forbidden any one to approach her but her maid.
+I hope no offence, but I heard Doctor Bennett tell her ladyship that
+it was of the highest consequence to keep Mr Sinclair away for the
+present."
+
+"Is she really so ill, sir?" asked Rupert, turning pale, and with a
+quivering lip.
+
+Mister Brown drew his handkerchief from his pocket, and applied it to
+his eyes.
+
+"She is indeed, sir," said that hoary hypocrite; "we have had a
+dreadful time of it. I thought his lordship would have blown his
+brains out. My lady was given over for a week. For my own part, I may
+say that duty and feeling have struggled in my bosom till I am quite
+worn out, and it's quite impossible for me to say who will be laid up
+next."
+
+"I _must_ see my father, Mr Brown," said Sinclair, advancing a step or
+two, to the great discomfort of the butler, who was evidently sadly
+perplexed by the conflicting emotions of his mind; for whilst he
+acknowledged Lord Railton for his master, he respected Mr Sinclair as
+his heir, and felt how important it was to obey his present lord
+without declining to serve the youth whom he hoped to make his future
+lord. "I _must_ see him. Go to him, I beg of you, and tell him I am
+here."
+
+So saying, Mr Sinclair advanced a few steps further, and found himself
+unhindered in the dining-room--moreover, to his surprise and
+agitation, in the presence of his father. Mister Brown vanished. To
+behold his parent, to fall on his knees before him, and to grasp his
+hand, was the work of a moment. Lord Railton recoiled as though a
+serpent, and not his child, had wound about him. He was livid with
+rage, and an unnatural hate was settled in his cold, yet piercing eye.
+
+"Your pardon, father!" cried the youth.
+
+"Never, so help me"----
+
+"Oh, do not say it, father!" exclaimed the son, interrupting him
+before the awful word was spoken; "for heaven's sake, do not call that
+name to witness such a fearful sentence--do not drive me to
+distraction!"
+
+"You have driven me mad; you have blasted every hope of mine. You have
+been a traitor and a shame to the name you bear, and of which I would
+it were in my power to deprive you as easily as it is to attach to it
+the curse with which you shall receive from me your title and your
+inheritance. Begone! I never knew what it was to hate till now."
+
+Rupert arose and burst into tears. His father looked at him unmoved
+except by scorn.
+
+"You have not seen her," exclaimed Rupert, when the first burst of
+grief had passed away; "you do not know the value of the child whom
+you reject."
+
+"No, but I have heard. The _world_ has heard of our disgrace. Mark me,
+you are no longer child of mine. I disown and discard you. I will
+enter into no particulars. From this moment I will hold no further
+intercourse with you. At my death you will obtain my name, and all
+that the law allows you. Until my death, you will receive from my man
+of business more than a sufficient sum for your support. Let me not
+hear from you again. I shall struggle to forget you and your
+ingratitude. Neither in health nor sickness, neither by letter nor in
+person, let me know any thing of you or yours. You have forsaken your
+natural ties for new associations. They have made you a traitor to
+your blood--let them make the most of the adoption."
+
+"Father, you cannot mean it!" cried Rupert in an agony of sorrow.
+
+"Father!" said the old lord, repeating the word; "in virtue of what
+filial act do you claim such a kindred with me? Call that man father
+whose bankrupt fortune and reputation have had such marvellous power
+to wean you from your duty. Mark me, Sinclair--you were the first to
+violate the tie between us, I will be the last to restore or reunite
+it. Leave me. I cannot bear to look upon you."
+
+"My mother!" inquired Sinclair, in a voice that dared not rise above a
+whisper.
+
+"Name not that poor broken-hearted woman," replied Lord Railton:
+"spare me and her the pang of that inquiry. You have killed her."
+
+"Oh, no, no, impossible!" ejaculated Sinclair. "Let me see her, and
+obtain her forgiveness, if I am driven afterwards from your door."
+
+"She lies upon a bed of sickness, placed there by yourself. She will
+never rise again. Your wife must be fair indeed, if her beauty can
+atone for such a murder."
+
+"Oh, you are unjust, most cruel and unjust!"
+
+"You have taught us such injustice and cruelty as we practise. Begone,
+sir! As long as we live, we must not meet again. If you remain in
+England, I shall go abroad. If you travel, I remain in England. The
+sea shall be between us. I reproach myself with nothing. I denied you
+nothing. I knew my duty towards you, and performed it. Your mother
+lived only for your happiness. We have been cursed and disappointed. I
+forget you from this hour. Had I received intelligence this morning of
+your death, it would have given me no pain, evoked no sorrow. You are
+dead to me. Come not again across this threshold and I will endeavour
+to forget that I was not always childless."
+
+And so saying, Lord Railton put an end to the interview by quitting
+the apartment. Grief, in the bosom of Rupert, had already given place
+to offended pride and resentment--such resentment, at least, as his
+mild nature understood. Whatever might have been his offence, he felt
+that it did not, could not deserve the vindictive hatred which burned
+no less in his father's countenance than in his terrible
+denunciations. What! was it a crime to link one's fate with virtuous
+innocence and beauty, such as hers who called him husband? If it was a
+fault to carve one's own way to happiness, did it deserve a harsher
+condemnation than that apportioned to the felon? The image of Elinor
+rose for the protection of the youth, and armed him with courage for
+the trial of that hour. He came a suppliant; but he returned in
+triumph: he came acknowledging his offence and suing for forgiveness;
+he returned justified and self-acquitted. Deprived of love and
+friendship at the hearth and home of his youth, he appreciated at even
+more than their value the joys that had been created for him in the
+palace of his own bright home, where a divinity presided as queen. The
+punishment he received for her dear sake, rendered her, if that were
+possible, the object still more of his passionate regard. He would
+have made any sacrifice to appease the anger of his father and the
+offended pride of his mother--he did not believe in the dangerous
+illness of the latter--but repulsed like a dog from their side, he
+deemed himself absolved from further trials of their tenderness,
+additional exercise of his own forbearance and filial duty.
+
+It was during the day of his visit to Grosvenor Square that Sinclair
+was honoured with a return visit from the attorney of Lord Railton.
+That gentleman had received instructions that very morning to pay to
+the order of Mr Rupert Sinclair the sum of one thousand pounds per
+annum, in quarterly payments of two hundred and fifty pounds each:
+"But really," as the legal gentleman said to Rupert, upon breaking the
+matter to him, "he could not reconcile it to his sense of duty, and to
+the esteem which it was natural for him to entertain towards every
+member of Lord Railton's family--to perform his very unthankful
+office without using all his humble efforts to bring about a
+reconciliation, which in every respect was so very desirable. God
+forbid that business should ever prevent him from doing his duty as a
+Christian."
+
+It need hardly be said that Mr Crawly, the attorney in question, was
+too keen a judge of things in general to throw dirt in the face of the
+rising sun, simply because he had worshipped the setting luminary a
+few hours before. Like all who depended more or less upon the estates
+of the Railton family for their support, it was of the highest
+consequence to maintain a good understanding with either party. If
+Lord Railton fed Mr Crawly now, Rupert Sinclair was expected to feed
+by and by Crawly's son and heir, who was preparing himself for the
+paternal stool by a short round of folly and extravagance at the
+university. Who could tell? Lord Railton might die to-morrow--he had
+had a squeak or two--and Crawly had been called to make his will: or
+he might forgive his son--or twenty things might happen to remove
+present differences, and restore the divided interest to its first
+integrity. Crawly had boasted to his relations and friends for the
+first twenty years of his official career, that he had never made one
+enemy; and when he set up his carriage in the prime of life, he
+invented his own arms and crest, and assumed for his motto the words,
+"always agreeable."
+
+"It really is, my dear Sinclair," said Crawly, "a thousand pities that
+we cannot bring about a more satisfactory state of things; but I do
+hope that time will do wonders. Some excuses must be made for Lord
+Railton. Remember his age."
+
+[He had said the same thing to Lord Railton in the morning: "Some
+excuses must be made for Mr Sinclair, my lord. Remember his _youth_!"]
+
+"I cannot but think, Mr Crawly," answered Rupert, "that I have been
+treated with unmerited harshness."
+
+"I cannot say, Mr Sinclair--I do not think it would become me to
+reply--that you have been treated handsomely."
+
+[Crawly, Crawly! you spoke those words in Grosvenor Square!]
+
+"I accept the allowance, sir, and will make the most of it. You may
+assure my father that I shall not prefer any further claims upon his
+bounty, or force myself again into his presence."
+
+"As for bounty, my dear Mr Sinclair, you must permit me to state that
+the expression is hardly a correct one. The property of his lordship
+descends to you, and you are perfectly justified in spending freely
+what is your own."
+
+["Mr Crawly," said Lord Railton, in Grosvenor Square that morning,
+foaming with rage, "I will deprive him of every shilling that is not
+his own. I have been economical for his sake; I will be extravagant to
+spite him."
+
+"_My lord_," replied Crawly, "_you are perfectly justified in spending
+freely what is your own_."]
+
+"May I take the liberty, Mr Sinclair," said the lawyer after a pause,
+"to inquire what your present views may be?"
+
+"I am undecided, sir. I know not whether I shall remain here or go
+abroad. My father's reception of me has staggered and confounded me. I
+would have consulted his wishes had he received me as his son. I have
+now to satisfy only my own convenience."
+
+"I shall pay your annuity, Mr Sinclair, into your banker's regularly
+every quarter-day. The first payment will be made in advance. I need
+not assure you, I trust, that I act in this most painful business
+rather as a mediator and a friend than a hired agent. There may be a
+time when an additional advance may be both convenient and acceptable.
+I have known you long, Mr Rupert. I know you to be a man of honour. I
+have only to add, that at such times you will confer a favour upon me
+by making me your banker, and commanding my purse."
+
+I wonder if this was the reason why Mr Crawly suggested to Lord
+Railton the propriety of grinding Mr Sinclair down to as small a sum
+as possible. If so, if it were merely to give himself the opportunity
+of acting like a second father to the castaway, the recommendation
+cannot be too highly applauded.
+
+"Thank you, sir; I shall not trouble you. I know my income, and I
+shall take care to keep my ambition within its bounds. I have had but
+few desires, I have now fewer than ever. A humble cottage and
+contentment are to be prized far beyond a palace and its harassing
+cares. I do not want the world to administer to my happiness. I am the
+happiest of men at home. To have that home invaded by the vulgar
+pleasures of life, would be to rob me of its charm!"
+
+Now nothing could have been more satisfactory than this sentiment, had
+it but been responded to by her upon whom not only the annual expenses
+of Mr Rupert Sinclair's household depended, but his every movement,
+wish, and thought. Unfortunately for the domestic husband, the wife
+understood the bliss of love in a cottage no more than a nightingale
+may be supposed to appreciate the advantages of imprisonment in a cage
+of gold. She was born, and had been educated, in the world. It was the
+scene of her triumphs, the home of her affections. She had played no
+unimportant part in it; her sway had been acknowledged, her beauty had
+gained its victory _there_. _Home!_ she had never known any other, and
+what right had Sinclair to suppose that she was adapted for a
+narrower? He had met her in dissipation, but had he won her from it?
+Hardly; since a few days only had intervened between the hour of their
+meeting, and the still more luckless hour of their union. Was it to be
+imagined, could it in fairness be expected, that this young creature,
+all life all fascination and vanity, with her heart attuned to the
+joys of fashion, with the object of her life attained--with power and
+position now, and wealth and rank to come, would forego all the
+advantages within her reach, all the influence that she felt, and all
+the pleasure that it was simply to ask for, in order to obtain "Love
+in a cottage?" Rupert Sinclair! pull down the thatch, and build some
+marble hall for the fairy you have caught--not chained!
+
+Within six months of his marriage, the Honourable Rupert Sinclair was
+living at the rate of--not one--but five thousand a-year. Persuaded by
+his wife, (who learnt any thing but quiet submission from the tyranny
+of Lord Railton, and whose determination to go abroad was relinquished
+the moment she discovered her absence from England would be agreeable
+to her husband's family,) Rupert had taken a mansion in town, and Mrs
+Rupert Sinclair was the admired of all admirers, a leader of fashion,
+and the proclaimed beauty of her day. Rupert had been dragged into the
+vortex, with no power to hold back, even had he been willing to
+interfere with those delights which gained him a smile of approbation,
+and expressions of gratitude, cheaply purchased at any cost or
+sacrifice of his. True he was fearfully in debt; true Mr Crawly had
+been summoned oftener than once to the rescue; true that wily
+gentleman had advanced heavy sums of money, taking particular care,
+however, to be amply secured by legal documents, and more than amply
+repaid by the exaction of illegal interest. It was perhaps natural for
+Sinclair to believe, as debts accumulated upon debts, that the hour of
+his estrangement from his parents was drawing rapidly to a close, and
+that, although his way of living could not but aggrieve and offend his
+stern and angry father, yet it was impossible nature could suffer him
+much longer to withhold his paternal and forgiving hand. Mental
+reasoning of this character is the last resource of the culpable and
+the self-deluded. Lord Railton, faithful to his threat, went abroad;
+Lady Railton was sufficiently recovered to accompany him; and both
+quitted England without deigning to notice the spend-thrifts, whose
+extravagance and need were soon the common talk of scandalmongers,
+dissatisfied tradesmen, and spiteful serving-men. Yet there was no
+flinching on the part of Rupert. A cloud of anxiety might sit
+temporarily on his brow, a sigh now and then escape him; but he
+uttered no remonstrance, and took no pains to stem the tide of folly
+and prodigality that flowed unceasingly within his walls. His love for
+Elinor had increased rather than diminished since their marriage. He
+was proud of the homage of mankind, and knew her worthy of the
+highest. Why should he seek to restrain the innocent pleasures of a
+woman for whose gratification and happiness he lived? Why curtail the
+joys in which she had participated almost from infancy? why prevent
+her from crowning a scene, for the adornment of which she was created
+and eminently fitted?
+
+And where was General Travis during this brief season of intoxication
+and wanton waste? At Calais, whither his liabilities had banished him,
+and were likely to detain him for some time to come. There was no
+doubt of his ruin. He lived with his melancholy-looking wife and
+younger daughter, upon a pittance secured upon the life of the former,
+but hardly sufficient to support them in decency. Yet they maintained,
+even in their reverses, a style that to a degree reflected on the
+scene of their exile the brilliancy of their brighter years. Could it
+be that the substance of poor Rupert Sinclair was ministering here
+also to the vices of this unhappy family? I fear there is no doubt of
+it. The general was as huge a braggart as ever. He insisted upon
+drawing a line midway between the highest and the lowest of the
+swindling fraternity to which he belonged, and by whom he was
+surrounded, and suffered intercourse to exist only with the favoured
+members of the upper class. He was prating for ever of his son-in-law,
+his connexions, his influence with the ministry through the potent
+Lord Railton, and was most lavish of his promises of preferment to any
+credulous individual whom he could persuade to favour him with the
+eternal loan of a five-pound note. General Travis had, not
+unaccountably perhaps, acquired much power over the mind of Sinclair.
+Expelled from his natural counsellors, who, in their best days, had
+been any thing but faithful advisers,--harassed and tormented by
+growing cares, it is not to be wondered at, that he should seek
+counsel and aid from one whom he believed to be a thorough man of the
+world--who was bound to him by the closest ties, and of whose
+integrity and honour he had not the remotest suspicion. It was General
+Travis who instructed Sinclair in the recondite science of raising
+money--and of staving off the attacks of tradesmen with the weapons of
+generous usurers: who taught him that still more marvellous art of
+civilized life, of living upon one thousand a-year more sumptuously
+than your neighbour with ten; and who day after day persuaded him, by
+arguments which I cannot attempt to recite, that by forestalling his
+inheritance in his youth, he would not materially affect the property
+which must accrue to him in his age. It may be that the arguments
+would have been more severely tested had they come from any other than
+Elinor's father--had they not been employed to increase the comforts
+and desires of Elinor herself. But whether this be so or not, it is
+certain that Rupert Sinclair, for a long time, was a helpless victim
+in the hands of a bold and ruthless destroyer.
+
+Chance, I have hinted at the beginning of this chapter, brought Rupert
+and myself together at singular times and places, and made me an actor
+in his history whether I would or not. Since his first letter to me, I
+had heard from him but once; _of_ him, alas! I had heard too much. He
+was in the height of his giddy career, when I passed through London
+for the first time since his marriage, and resolved to pay him a
+visit. I arrived late in the evening, and I had but a few hours at my
+command, for early in the morning I was to start for France by the
+Calais packet. When I reached my hotel, I sent my card to the
+residence of my friend, who instantly invited me to his too hospitable
+roof. There was a gay and brilliant assembly in his house that
+evening, and, as usual, Elinor outshone the multitude in beauty and
+animation. She received me cordially, and kindly held out her
+snow-white hand at my approach, and greeted me with a smile of
+fascination that robbed me of whatever displeasure I had brought with
+me on account of her proceedings. How could I reproach Sinclair for
+submitting to the spell that governed him, when it was impossible for
+me--a stranger, and one certainly not prepossessed in her favor--to
+resist it?
+
+Sinclair was much altered in appearance. He looked jaded and unhappy.
+There was nothing in his countenance harmonizing with the scene around
+him. He seldom spoke, and to all my questions he returned evasive
+answers, seeking rather to direct his discourse to matters in which
+neither of us found a personal interest, than to his own affairs,
+which at the time had far more interest for me than my own.
+
+"I am glad you are here to-night, Wilson," said Rupert, as we sat
+together. "To-morrow I leave town for a few days, and we should not
+have met had you arrived a day later."
+
+"I am off to France myself to-night for a week or more, and----"
+
+As I spoke, I saw the colour in Sinclair's cheek rapidly changing. He
+was evidently surprised and chagrined by the intelligence.
+
+"Can I serve you," said I at once, taking advantage of my opportunity,
+"by remaining in town?"
+
+"No, no, I thank you. What route do you take?"
+
+"By packet to Calais, and from Calais to Paris by the formidable
+diligence. Can I help you at the seat of politeness and art?"
+
+"No, I thank you," replied Sinclair, changing colour again. "You are
+aware that my father is in Paris?"
+
+"So I have heard. It is said that his lordship"----
+
+"Do not speak of it," he said, mildly interrupting me. "Whatever may
+happen to me, I cannot but think that the blame must rest ultimately
+there."
+
+"Do you fear evil, then?" I eagerly inquired.
+
+Mr Crawly came up at this moment, with his lady upon his arm, and
+Crawly, junior, lounging in his immediate rear. The latter was an
+Adonis in his way--got up with a perfect contempt of expense and all
+propriety. Crawly beckoned to Sinclair, who at once quitted my side
+and walked over to him, whilst I was left in possession of Mrs Crawly
+and the hopeful. I escaped as soon as I could, and seeing no more of
+Sinclair, took my departure at a comparatively early hour.
+
+Three nights after this, I was roused from sleep in my bed at the
+Hotel Louis Seize, (a comfortable hotel in those days, bordering on
+the marketplace in Calais,) by a murmuring sound which at first I
+believed to be nothing more than a portion of an unsatisfactory dream
+in which I had once again found myself with Rupert and his lady in
+London. Satisfying myself that the dream and the sound were distinct,
+I was already again midway between the lands of life and death, when
+the tones of a voice roused me almost like a cannon-shot from my
+couch, and caused me seriously to inquire whether I was sleeping or
+waking, dreaming or acting. I could have sworn that the voice I had
+heard belonged to Rupert Sinclair. I jumped from my bed, and struck a
+light. It was twelve o'clock by my watch. For a few seconds all was as
+silent as the grave; then I heard most distinctly a step along the
+passage, into which my bed-room conducted--the sound of a door
+opening, closing, and immediately a heavy tread in the adjoining room.
+Two chairs were then drawn close to a table; upon the latter a
+rough-voiced man knocked with his fist, and exclaimed at the same
+moment--
+
+"There are the papers, then!"
+
+Surely I had heard that voice before. To whom could it belong? Whilst
+I still puzzled my brains to remember, another voice replied. It was
+impossible to mistake _that_. Most assuredly it was Rupert Sinclair's.
+
+"I see them!" it said; every syllable bringing fresh perspiration on
+my brow.
+
+How came he here? what was his business? and with whom? A thin
+partition merely divided my bed-room from that in which the speakers
+were. Had I been inclined to close my ears against their words, it
+would have been difficult. Anxious, and even eager, to obtain
+knowledge of the movements of my friend, I made no scruple of
+listening most attentively to every word. Who knew but he was in the
+hands of sharpers, and might I not have been providentially sent to
+his rescue? At all events I listened, and not a syllable did I suffer
+to escape me.
+
+"I know, my dear young friend," began the rougher voice--whose but
+General Travis's?--"that you are anxious to do what is best for us
+all. Your interest, you know, is my daughter's, and my daughter's is,
+of course, mine. We are all in one boat."
+
+"Yes, undoubtedly," said Rupert.
+
+"These debts are very large," continued the general.
+
+"Yes," replied Sinclair; "and some of them must be discharged
+forthwith. Crawly is impatient and angry, and accuses me of having
+used him ill."
+
+"Crawly is a villain," said the general hurriedly; "he has made a
+fortune out of you, and now wishes to back out. The interest alone
+that he has exacted has been enough to ruin you."
+
+"Your messenger, you say, failed to see my father?"
+
+"Yes. His lordship closed his doors upon him, and took no notice of
+his letter, in which he asked that some amicable arrangement might be
+made with respect to the property that must evidently come to you."
+
+There succeeded to this a few sentences in an under tone from either
+party, which I could not make out.
+
+"Then what is to be done?" murmured Sinclair again in a tone of
+entreaty.
+
+"Don't be advised by me, my friend," said the general in a subdued
+voice, which I strained my ears to catch; "God forbid that you should
+reproach me hereafter for advice which I tender solely with a view to
+your peace of mind and comfort. Heaven knows you have had little peace
+of late!"
+
+Rupert sighed heavily.
+
+"I have for the last week been turning the matter over and over
+seriously. As I said before, I can have no object but your well-doing,
+and--naturally--my child's--my child's, Sinclair--your loving, and I
+know, beloved wife."
+
+"I believe it," said Rupert.
+
+"Is any one aware of your visit here?"
+
+"Not a creature."
+
+"Crawly?"
+
+"Was with me the very night I started, but he does not suspect. He
+believes that I am now in England."
+
+"Now, my dear friend, I don't think I ought to say what"--
+
+As ill luck would have it, I coughed. The general ceased upon the
+instant, and opened his door hastily. I blew out my light, and held my
+breath.
+
+"What was that?" asked the general in a whisper.
+
+Both listened for a few seconds, and then the general proceeded, still
+whispering.
+
+"There was a man in London whom I found in my reverses faithful and
+considerate; an honest man in a world of dishonesty and knavery. He is
+well to do in life, and he has visited me here. Nay, he is here
+now--has been here some days; is in this very hotel."
+
+"What of him?" asked Rupert.
+
+"We are as brothers, and I have entrusted him with the history of your
+affairs. He is willing to assist and relieve you; and he can do it,
+for he has a mint of money."
+
+"I must borrow no more, sir," eagerly interposed Sinclair. "My
+liabilities are even now greater than I can bear. My income will not
+pay the interest of the money that has been advanced."
+
+"And therefore comes my friend in the very nick of time to save you. I
+agree with you that it would be ridiculous to think of further loans.
+Your only plan now is to sell out and out. This you may do
+advantageously, relieve yourself of every incumbrance, and retain
+sufficient for the future, if you will be but moderately careful, and
+invest your capital with caution."
+
+"How do you mean?" inquired my friend.
+
+The general whispered lower than ever, as though ashamed that even the
+bare walls should witness his heartless proposition. I gathered his
+suggestion from the quick and anxious answer.
+
+"What!" exclaimed Sinclair, "sell my inheritance, part with my
+birth-right?"
+
+"No! neither sell nor part with it--but forestall and enjoy it."
+
+I heard no more. There came a gentle knock at the door of the room in
+which Rupert and his father-in-law were speaking; the door softly
+opened, and another visitor arrived. Sinclair's name was mentioned by
+way of introduction; then the stranger's, which escaped me; and
+shortly afterwards the whole party quitted the apartment, as it
+seemed, maintaining a dead silence--for, listen as eagerly as I would,
+not a syllable could I gather. Repose was impossible that night. After
+keeping my position for about half an hour, I hastily dressed, and
+sallied forth in quest of information. I descended, and inquired of
+the first servant whom I could summon, the names of the English
+gentlemen who were then staying in the house. My answer was very
+unsatisfactory.
+
+"There was Milor Anglais," said the man who was the great referee of
+the house in all matters pertaining to the English tongue, "friend of
+Mons. le General; the gentleman as come to-morrow; Monsieur Jones who
+vos arrive yesterday; Monsieur Smith, his ami, and Monsieur Sir John
+Alderman, Esquire, vith his madame and petite famille. There vos none
+more."
+
+With this imperfect information, I returned to my couch, not to sleep,
+but to form some plan that would save my unhappy friend from the fangs
+of the sharks who were about to sacrifice him to their rapacity. He
+stood upon the very verge of destruction. There could be no doubt of
+it. How to get sight of him--how to warn him of his danger--how to
+help him out of the difficulties into which extravagance and
+wickedness had brought him? These were some of the questions that
+crowded upon my disturbed mind during the whole of the anxious
+night--questions that easily came--were less easily dismissed, and
+still less easily answered with comfort to myself, or with prospect of
+salvation to my friend.
+
+The first individual I saw, upon leaving my apartment on the following
+morning, was General Travis himself. He was walking hastily
+down-stairs, evidently about to quit the hotel. I called his name. He
+started more like the thief "who fears each bush an officer," than the
+traveller "who fears each bush a thief," and turned his restless eye
+upon me. At first he pretended not to know me--then he bowed, and
+continued his way.
+
+"One moment, general," said I, stopping him. "I have a word to say to
+you."
+
+"I am somewhat pressed for time this morning--but a moment is easily
+spared," replied the general very collectedly. He followed me
+up-stairs, and entered my room. I closed the door.
+
+"You have seen my friend lately?" I asked in nervous haste.
+
+"Your friend?" rejoined General Travis. "To whom have I the honour to
+speak?"
+
+His effrontery was amusing. I looked at him hard--but his countenance
+in no way betrayed him.
+
+"My name is Wilson," said I; "that of my friend, Rupert Sinclair."
+
+"O--h! I remember!" exclaimed the cunning master, with all the
+affectation of extreme surprise. "And how did you leave Sinclair--gay,
+giddy, and happy as ever?"
+
+I gazed upon the man with a view to shame him into blushing. I was
+grievously disappointed. He returned me gaze for gaze, and looked
+unconscious innocence itself. I resolved to bring our business to a
+crisis without further parley.
+
+"General Travis," I began, "I was last night, I will not say the
+unwilling, but certainly the unintentional listener to the plan
+propounded by you to my inexperienced friend, your son-in-law, of
+whose presence in this town you seem so lamentably ignorant."
+
+The general _did_ change colour now. He was about to speak, when I
+stopped him.
+
+"Hear me!" I continued aloud and sternly. "I know the man with whom I
+have to deal. It is but fair that we should be on equal terms. I go
+this day to London to denounce your conspiracy, and to prevent its
+success. Your scheme for beggaring your children, and enriching
+yourself, clever as it is, is killed in the bud. Attempt to carry it
+out, and the law shall reach you even here."
+
+"My dear Mr"----interposed the general.
+
+"Let us have no argument," I proceeded in the same loud tone; "my
+business is to prevent the havoc you would bring about, and rest
+assured I will. Make no new attempts upon the credulity of your
+victim, and you are safe. Take another step in the nefarious business,
+and I solemnly vow to heaven that I will not leave you till I have
+exacted a fearful penalty for your crime."
+
+"You really, Mr Wilson, do"----stammered the general, with increasing
+awkwardness at every word.
+
+"Where is Mr Sinclair now?" I vehemently asked.
+
+"Gone," replied the general.
+
+"Whither?"
+
+"To England."
+
+"Satisfy me of the truth of this--give me your solemn promise to urge
+him no more to the commission of an act which insures his ruin, and I
+leave you. Refuse me, and I will expose your designs, and brand you to
+the world as the unnatural and cruel destroyer I have found you."
+
+The general manifestly believed me to be in possession of more than I
+knew. He fairly quailed beneath my impetuosity and anger. I had
+expected resistance and battle. I met with mean capitulation and fear.
+He shuffled out apologies--entreated me to believe that he was
+actuated only by the sincerest wishes for his children's
+welfare--indeed, how could it be otherwise?--and assured me that
+although he might have been mistaken in the plans he had formed for Mr
+Sinclair's extrication, his motives were unquestioned, and as pure as
+could be. Still I might see these things with different eyes, and a
+better remedy might suggest itself to me. For his part, he should be
+glad to listen to it, and to recommend it to Sinclair's attention. At
+all events, he was prepared to engage to proceed no further with the
+transaction of which I had obtained knowledge, and all he asked in
+return was, that I should not wait upon Lord Railton, and acquaint him
+with what had transpired. To communicate the matter to his lordship,
+would be to shut out finally and for ever the last hopes of the
+unhappy children.
+
+My promise was given, as soon as I learned for certain that Rupert had
+set sail for London by the packet that quitted Calais harbour at an
+early hour that morning. My own business urged me to proceed forthwith
+to Paris, but I could not be easy until I had secured the fulfilment
+of General Travis's engagement by another interview with Rupert.
+Accordingly, I returned to England. My task with Sinclair was an easy
+one. He had already had the good sense to discover that to part with
+all that he had in the world for a sum that must be dissipated in a
+few years at the most, would be an act of madness which no amount of
+pressing difficulty could warrant. Moreover, the sum of money that was
+offered by the gentleman whose honesty and generosity had been so
+highly lauded by the general, had been so shamefully small, that
+Rupert retreated with horror from the abyss towards which he had so
+incautiously advanced. I received a full assurance from the harassed
+man that he would suffer any extremity rather than listen again to
+similar propositions, and then I recommenced my journey with an easier
+conscience. So far, a tremendous blow had been averted. But what would
+happen next--what scheme the general would next suggest--what measures
+the very critical condition of Sinclair's affairs would make
+absolutely necessary--it was impossible to guess--to foresee, or to
+think of without deep anxiety and great alarm.
+
+Six months elapsed, and Rupert Sinclair was still rapidly descending.
+With increased and increasing liabilities, there was more profuseness
+and greater recklessness. No one knew better than Rupert himself the
+folly and even sinfulness of his mode of life, yet any body would have
+found it easier than himself to put a stop to it. He was absorbed in
+the existence of his wife. As I have already said, her life was
+his--her wishes, her thoughts, and aims. She could not desire, and he
+not gratify; she could not ask to be a queen amidst the throng in
+which she moved, and he not place her on the throne at any sacrifice,
+however costly; at any risk, however desperate. This was the secret of
+his misery. And then from day to day, he lived bankrupt-like, on hope.
+Something would happen. He had faith in the love of his mother, in the
+natural goodness of a father's heart. Time would heal the wound that
+had been inflicted; and incline them to look with commiseration on
+youthful errors easy to repair.
+
+A glimmering of promise stole forth at this crisis of the history. The
+critical position of the ministry for the time being, had brought Lord
+Railton and his wife back to England; and I resolved, in my eagerness
+to serve my unhappy pupil, to see her ladyship, and to make an
+attempt at reconciliation, even if it should be repulsed with the
+insult I had met with at her husband's hands. I could not suffer
+Sinclair to sink, so long as one effort might save him. I had heard
+that, cold and selfish as Lady Railton was, love for her child had
+been a redeeming point in her character from the moment of his birth.
+Feeling surely was not dead within her! Could I but gain an interview,
+would it not be easy to recall in her heart natural emotions, which,
+though deadened, might never be entirely hushed, and to extract
+sympathy from a bosom already inclined to pity by love? The attempt
+was a bold one--but the prize, in the event of success, was not small;
+and surely worth a venture. I took courage, and was not wholly
+disappointed.
+
+His lordship, I had heard upon inquiry, was generally absent from home
+during the forenoon. One morning, at ten o'clock precisely, I
+presented myself at Grosvenor Square, and sent my card to her
+ladyship. I was admitted at once. In an elegantly furnished boudoir,
+surrounded by all the luxuries that money could furnish, or the
+pampered sense demand, I beheld Lady Railton, for the first time since
+the marriage of her son. She sat behind an open screen, through which
+she spoke to me, with her eyes bent to the table on which her arms
+rested. She had been writing at the moment of my announcement; and
+though excited by my presence, her countenance betrayed more
+satisfaction than displeasure at my visit. A visible change had taken
+place in her. She was much thinner than when I saw her last; her eyes
+were sunken, and her cheek was very pale; she was evidently suffering
+from the shock which I had occasioned her, for her thin lips were
+tightly pressed together, and quivering at the corners. I felt deep
+pity for the slave of fashion; but gathered courage also from the
+pleasing exhibition of sensibility in one whom God had made a mother
+to save her from heartlessness.
+
+"Shut the door, Mr Wilson," said Lady Railton in an under tone, "and
+pray be seated."
+
+I complied with her request.
+
+"You have been somewhat tardy, methinks, in finding your way hither,"
+proceeded her ladyship.
+
+I informed her of my visit to Lord Railton, and its disagreeable
+termination. She had not heard of it.
+
+"Lord Railton," she continued, "has requested me to hold no
+intercourse with my son, and his lordship's requests have ever been
+commands to me. I have not disobeyed him. But I have looked for you. I
+made no promise to deny admittance to you. You were his friend. When
+did you see him?"
+
+"Very lately, madam," I answered.
+
+"He is in great difficulty and trouble--is he not?"
+
+I shook my head.
+
+Kind nature pleaded for poor Rupert. The mother attempted to
+speak--once--twice: her lips trembled: she could not: a flood of tears
+saved her from choking.
+
+"He is well?" she asked at length.
+
+"Well," I answered, "but for his trials--which are severe indeed."
+
+"What can be done?" inquired Lady Railton.
+
+"To bring him peace of mind--to repair the mischief that has
+happened--to secure prudence for the future--to save him from utter
+ruin, I know no remedy save reconciliation with his parents."
+
+Lady Railton sighed deeply, and exclaimed--
+
+"Impossible!"
+
+"Indeed!" said I, as if surprised.
+
+"Lord Railton is inexorable. He has listened to my appeals unmoved: he
+will listen to them no longer. Unhappy Rupert!"
+
+"Unhappy indeed!" said I.
+
+"His wife is very fair, they say?"
+
+"Lovely, madam!"
+
+"But wilful and extravagant?"
+
+"Wayward, perhaps, but young. Oh Lady Railton, do not revenge too
+harshly upon a spoiled child of nature and the world, the sins of the
+world's committing. Mrs Sinclair has a warm and affectionate heart;
+she is devoted to her husband. Your ladyship's friendship and advice
+would at once render her all you could hope to find in the wife of
+your son. Permit me to say that the absence of your countenance has
+alone been sufficient to"----
+
+"Alas! you urge in vain. I dare not see them!"
+
+"It is a hard saying, madam," I rejoined: "may you not live to repent
+it!"
+
+Lady Railton rose from her seat, came from behind the screen, and
+paced her small chamber with perturbation. She suddenly stopped before
+a cabinet--a drawer of which she unlocked, and produced from it a
+pocket-book.
+
+"Take this, Mr Wilson," she said in a hurried and faltering voice. "I
+dare not see him--must not correspond with him. I am his mother, and I
+feel bitterly, most bitterly for him. But I am Lord Railton's wife,
+and I know my duty. He has disgraced us--irreparably, irrecoverably.
+You cannot understand how deep the stain is which our name has
+suffered; you cannot calculate the wrong inflicted on my husband.
+Reconciliation is hopeless!"
+
+"And this pocket-book, madam?" I coldly asked.
+
+"Contains an order on my banker for three thousand pounds--all that I
+have been able to hoard up for my unhappy boy since he deserted us.
+The sum, I know, is trifling, compared with his exigencies. But what
+can I do? His own conduct has rendered me helpless."
+
+Poor Lady Railton, to do her justice, suffered much from the struggle
+between maternal feeling and her mistaken sense of duty. Her eyes
+filled with tears again, and she sat before me sobbing bitterly.
+
+"Let me entreat your ladyship," I exclaimed with animation, "to make
+one effort for the redemption of the children whom you may lose for
+ever by the stern course you now adopt. Your influence with Lord
+Railton is naturally and deservedly very great. I cannot bring myself
+to believe that he will be insensible to your appeals, if you will but
+urge them with the earnestness and tenderness which so well become
+you. I an satisfied that the difficulties of Mr Sinclair would cease
+at once, and his happiness as well as your own be secured, if he could
+find parents and advisers in those to whom he has a right to look for
+advice and aid. Whatever his extravagance may have been, whatever his
+youthful follies, I do implore your ladyship to bear in mind, that not
+he alone is answerable for them, but they also in part who deserted
+him in the hour of his greatest need. You may save him now--when I
+next meet your ladyship, the time will have passed away."
+
+"Spare me this anguish," said her ladyship with assumed calmness. "I
+repeat--it is impossible. The hour may come when it shall be permitted
+me to satisfy the promptings of my heart. Till that hour arrives, it
+is but torture to be reminded of my inability and weakness."
+
+"Pardon me, Lady Railton--I have done."
+
+I was about to rise, when her ladyship checked me.
+
+"In that pocket-book, Mr Wilson," she continued, "you will find a
+correspondence respecting the sale of Sinclair's commission."
+
+"His commission!" said I with surprise, for I had not heard of his
+desire to sell out before.
+
+"Yes. He now awaits a purchaser of his commission to be gazetted out.
+I have prevented the sale hitherto. Assure him--not from me, but from
+yourself, that however slender is the hope now of his father's
+ultimate forgiveness, he cuts it off entirely by that act. Let the
+commission be withdrawn at once from the Horse-guards; the draft that
+accompanies the correspondence will make up to him the sum he loses.
+
+"Am I to present it as a gift from your ladyship?"
+
+"No--yes--as you will; but let him not write or communicate with me in
+any way. I have engaged to hold no intercourse with him, and I cannot
+disobey the injunctions of Lord Railton." I rose; her ladyship gave me
+her hand with an expression of good will, and then suffered me to
+depart without another word.
+
+Things were really mending. In Lady Railton we had unquestionably a
+friend, time and opportunity serving. It was of the highest consequence
+to be assured of that. With her upon our side, I had no fear of
+eventual peace and harmony, provided measures could be taken for
+present difficulties; whilst, without her, every effort would have been
+purposeless, and even worse. Nor was this our only gleam of sunshine.
+When I returned to Rupert, the glad messenger of good tidings, I found
+that another friend had been sent by Providence to the rescue. Amongst
+the many high-born and eminent individuals whom the beauty and genius
+of Elinor had attracted to the gay habitation of Rupert Sinclair, was
+one who enjoyed, in an especial degree, the favour of his sovereign,
+and who was intimately connected by ties of blood and friendship with
+the commander-in-chief of his majesty's forces. The Earl of Minden had
+little to recommend him beyond his influence with the court and the
+powers that were. He belonged to an old family, of which he was the
+last lineal representative; was master of unbounded wealth, but was
+selfish, grasping, and mean to the last degree. He had a small body,
+but still smaller mind. Generation after generation, the head of the
+family to which he belonged, had held high office in the state, and had
+helped to govern the country without genius for statesmanship, or the
+ordinary ability of their humble business men. Office came to them as a
+matter of right, and custom had induced a people, slow to interfere
+with prescription, to regard the Earls of Minden as divinely appointed
+rulers, whom it would be sacrilege to depose. By marriage, the Earl of
+Minden was connected with the chief families of England: he had
+represented his king and country at the principal courts of Europe,
+where his magnificence and prodigality--for meanness itself may be
+lavish--had gained for him, as a matter of course, inordinate
+admiration and regard. Powerful with the ministry--the owner of four
+boroughs--the acknowledged friend, and even associate of royalty--what
+commoner did not feel honoured by his patronage?--what noble not
+gratified by his esteem? Lord Minden had but few of the weaknesses
+common to mankind. Proud and self-sufficient, he acknowledged no
+supremacy but that of woman. The only graceful infirmity of which his
+contemporaries could accuse his lordship, and to which posterity might
+point, was the infirmity of the best and bravest--that of a facile
+heart in the affairs of love.
+
+Lord Minden, charmed by the bewitching grace of Elinor Sinclair, had,
+as it were, gladly resigned himself to its sweet influence. He was
+never happier, after what were deemed the fatigues of office, than in
+the brilliant assembly which she could summon at her bidding; never so
+gay as when listening at her side to the arch sallies which drew
+smiles of approval from lips that seldom cared to relax. The
+overbearing peer was content to play the humblest part in the scene of
+which she was the heroine, and to which she imparted a life and spirit
+that were sought in vain elsewhere. The intervention of Lady Railton
+had been already superseded by the generosity of one far more
+influential. The Earl of Minden himself had taken Rupert under his
+all-powerful wing. Not only was the commission restored, but promises
+of advancement were made, and the most flattering assurances of
+friendship and regard liberally offered. Lady Railton's draft, at her
+own request, was applied to the payment of a pressing debt. I
+contrived to make her acquainted with the new and incalculable
+acquisition that had been made. The information had all the effect I
+could desire; her ladyship, dazzled by the brilliancy of the prospect,
+and eager to make as much of it as she could, to my great astonishment
+sent for me, and actually opened negotiations for an interview between
+herself and her so recently discarded son. Oh world! world!
+
+Before these negotiations, however, could lead to any satisfactory
+result, a new colour was given to the state of things, by some
+incidents of a most disagreeable and painful character. I was sitting
+in my room one morning, conning in my mind the most advisable means to
+adopt for the presentation of Sinclair at the parental abode, when a
+modest knock at my door announced a visitor of humble rank. My request
+to "walk in" was timidly responded to by a very old friend, in the
+shape of John Humphrys, the valet of Sinclair, and the oldest servant
+in his establishment. John had nursed his master on his knee, having
+been himself nursed in the house of Lord Railton's father, whose
+coachman had acknowledged John for his son. John had never been
+married, but he loved his master as faithfully as though he had been
+his own child, and had resigned as good a situation as any in the
+kingdom to follow the fortunes of the exile, whatever they might be.
+With this unbounded reverence for Rupert, Humphrys regarded Rupert's
+former instructor in the light of a demigod.
+
+"Ah, John, is it you?" said I. "Step in, old friend, and be seated."
+
+John obeyed awkwardly, twirled his hat about, coughed and hemmed, but
+said nothing.
+
+"Well, Humphrys, what news?" I continued, to give him confidence.
+
+Humphrys shook his head despondingly.
+
+I grew alarmed. "Any thing amiss?" I exclaimed. "Mr Sinclair ill,
+or"----
+
+"All well--in health, sir," stammered John--"all well there. I--I am
+going, sir."
+
+"Going!"
+
+"Yes, sir," said Humphrys in a whisper, and getting up to close the
+door. "My heart's broke."
+
+"Don't desert your master now, John," said I encouragingly. "You have
+weathered the storm hitherto. Things are mending. Take my word for it,
+we shall be in smooth water presently."
+
+Humphrys shook his head again.
+
+"Never, sir!" said he with emphasis, "as sure as my name's John."
+
+"Explain yourself, Humphrys. What is it you have learned?"
+
+"Too much, sir. I can bear it no longer. It is the common talk of the
+servants! I would have stayed with him for a crust till death, but I
+cannot hear him so spoken of."
+
+"You frighten me. Go on."
+
+"I ask your forgiveness, Mr Wilson," proceeded Humphrys, mumbling on,
+"but there are strange things said, and I didn't believe them at
+first,--and I was ready to knock the man down that hinted them to
+me--and I would have done it,--but I have seen, sir--with my own
+eyes--I wish I had been blind!" suddenly and passionately exclaimed
+the good fellow, his eyes overflowing with honest tears.
+
+"Man, man!" said I hastily and vexed. "You talk in riddles. What is it
+you drive at?"
+
+"Can't you guess, sir?" he answered meaningly.
+
+"Guess?"
+
+"Yes, sir,--Mrs Sinclair!"
+
+"Mrs Sinclair?"
+
+"And Lord Minden."
+
+"Lord Minden! For God sake"--
+
+"Hush, sir!" said John, putting his finger to his lips. "I wouldn't
+have any body overhear us for the world. But it's true, it's true, as
+I am a living man."
+
+"It is a lie!" I cried--"an infamous and slanderous lie! Some tale of
+a discharged and disappointed servant--a base conspiracy to destroy a
+good man's character. For shame, John Humphrys--for shame!"
+
+"I don't wonder at you, sir," continued Humphrys. "They were my own
+words; and, until I was satisfied with my own eyes of the truth of
+what I had heard, I wouldn't have believed an angel from heaven. God
+knows, Mr Wilson, it is too true. We have lived to see terrible
+things, sir."
+
+I entreated Humphrys to be still more explicit, and he was so. His
+communication went to show that the interference of Lord Minden in the
+affairs of his master was far from being disinterested, and that the
+price to be exacted for the preferment was much too great to make
+preferment or even life desirable to Rupert Sinclair. If I was
+horrorstruck at this announcement, how shall I describe my feelings
+when he further stated, with a serious and touching earnestness, that,
+as he hoped for salvation hereafter, he firmly believed that Rupert
+Sinclair was a party to his own dishonour. I was about to strike the
+fellow to the earth for his audacity; but I reflected for a moment,
+and was relieved of a load of oppression. I could have laughed
+outright, so overjoyed did I at once become, with the sudden upsetting
+of this tremendous fabrication. Sinclair a party to his own dishonour!
+Any thing short of that might have found me credulous. That accusation
+would have destroyed the unimpeached evidence of saints. I recovered
+myself and spoke.
+
+"You are an honest man, John Humphrys," said I, "a good servant, and
+faithful, I believe. But go your ways, and let not the wicked impose
+upon you more. Your tale is too good by half. Tell your informants,
+that, if they look for success, they must be less ambitious: if they
+desire to bring conviction to their listeners, they must not prove so
+much. And beware"--I proceeded in a more serious tone--"how you give
+currency to the slander you have brought to me. You love your master.
+Show your fidelity by treating this calumny with the scorn it merits."
+
+"Sir," answered Humphrys, "if I were to be called from this world
+to-night, I could not retract the words I have spoken. I have not
+hinted to another what, alas! I know to be true. You may be sure I
+have no desire to circulate Mr Sinclair's infamy. I shall leave his
+service, for with him I can no longer live,--and you will soon learn
+whether or not I have uttered the truth. Oh dear! oh dear!" he added,
+with a sigh of despair,--"what will the world say?"
+
+I dismissed John Humphrys, and turned to my own affairs. It was
+neither prudent nor becoming to listen further to the revelations of
+such a person; I would not even permit him to explain to me how he had
+arrived at the convictions which no doubt he honestly entertained. It
+was sufficient to hear the charges he brought against poor Rupert, to
+be convinced that the man was grossly deceived; that he had been
+cruelly imposed upon by vicious and vindictive men. But, could I be
+otherwise than deeply aggrieved by the rumour which had arisen, and
+which was not likely to lose on the lips of those who would be too
+eager to give it currency? It was a new and unexpected element in the
+complicated misfortunes of Lord Railton's house. _Unexpected?_ What,
+Walter Wilson, and had not suspicions crossed your mind before, of the
+probability of such slander? Had you not many times angrily repulsed
+intruding thoughts that savoured of uncharitableness towards the
+volatile and beauteous wife? Had not prejudice before her marriage
+rendered you cruel; and experience since--did it not tend, if not to
+foster cruelty, to sustain alarm? _But Rupert a party to his own
+dishonour!_ Monstrous! Ridiculous! Absurd!
+
+Either the perseverance of Lady Railton, or the magic power of Lord
+Minden's name, had achieved a miracle. The stony and stubborn heart of
+Lord Railton was mollified. True, he hesitated to forgive his son;
+true, he would not see him; but he graciously submitted to be spoken
+to on his son's affairs, and even went so far as to admit me to an
+audience, in order that I might explain, as well as I knew them, the
+difficulties under which Mr Rupert Sinclair at present laboured. The
+doors of Lord Railton's house opened wide on the auspicious morning.
+The sun shone brilliantly in Grosvenor Square. The porter was a living
+smile from head to foot. The under butler all blandness and honied
+words. He rubbed his hands when he received me, bowed patronisingly
+and preceded me to his lordship's study with the air of one who knew
+which way the wind was, and that it was blowing pleasantly. There was
+a frozen air about the house when I had visited his lordship
+before--now it was summer-like and warm. Then every thing seemed bound
+with iron clasps,--men's mouths, and hearts, and minds; and even doors
+and windows. Now, every thing looked free and open, pleasant,
+hospitable, inviting. Could it be that I had changed,--or was it only
+that Lord Railton's note was different, and that the universal heart
+of that great house had pitched itself to the prevailing key?
+
+No word of apology was offered for former rudeness. His lordship, as
+before, presented me with his finger, and then proceeded to our
+business. He had heard, he said, of Lord Minden's kind interference on
+behalf of his son, who was indeed most unworthy of his lordship's
+favourable notice; nay, he had been spoken to by Lord Minden himself,
+and desirous as he was at all times to comply with the wishes of any
+member of His Majesty's government, he could not but feel, that when
+their wishes pointed to the advancement of his own flesh and blood,
+there was additional reason for listening, to all they had to urge.
+For his part, if Lord Minden should feel justified in extending his
+patronage to Mr Sinclair, he, Lord Railton, on his side, should deem
+it a matter of grave consideration, whether it would not be advisable
+to extricate the object of Lord Minden's favor from the liabilities
+which he had thoughtlessly incurred. Not that Mr Sinclair must look
+for pardon--or reconciliation--yet; that is to say, until Lord Minden
+should be satisfied that his prot�g� had deserved the gracious favour
+of His Majesty, and had shown himself worthy of the condescension, &c.
+&c. &c.
+
+The upshot of the long harangue was, that as soon as Lord Minden
+should aid in promoting Sinclair, Lord Railton would be ready to pay
+his debts--and to receive terms for peace, provided the patronage of
+the commander-in-chief continued to rest upon the fortunate
+scapegrace, and His Majesty thought him still a fit object for the
+exercise of his royal favour. Translated into honest English, Lord
+Railton's proposition was neither more nor less than this,--"I will
+forgive my son, as soon as circumstances render my forgiveness not
+worth a button to him. I will withhold it so long as it is necessary
+to save him from ruin, and to restore him to tranquillity." A right
+worldly proposition too!
+
+Lord Railton requested, as a preliminary step, to be informed of the
+exact state of his son's affairs; and I, as mediator, undertook to lay
+it before his lordship. I quitted the mansion in Grosvenor Square to
+procure at once the necessary documents from Sinclair. Approaching the
+house of the latter, I perceived standing before the door two horses
+and a groom. I advanced, knocked, and was informed that groom and
+horses were the property of the Earl of Minden, who was then with Mrs
+Sinclair, and that Mr Sinclair himself was from home. I had no right
+to feel uncomfortable at this announcement, yet uncomfortable I was,
+in spite of myself. "When does Mr Sinclair return?" I asked.
+
+The two lackeys who listened to my question exchanged an almost
+imperceptible smile, and replied, that "they could not tell." That
+smile passed like a dagger to my heart.
+
+I hesitated for a moment--left my card--and then withdrew.
+
+I had not proceeded to the corner of the street before I turned round
+instinctively, and without a thought. To my joy I perceived Rupert
+making his way from the other extremity of the street to his own door.
+I moved to meet him. He came nearer and nearer--approached within
+sight of the horses and groom--and then turned back. What did it mean?
+Why did he not go home? I grew giddy with coming apprehensions. Whilst
+I stood motionless on the path, I felt a touch upon my shoulder. I
+perceived John Humphrys.
+
+"Here, sir," said the man, "you have seen with your own eyes what I
+have seen every day for the last month. As soon as Lord Minden
+arrives, Mr Sinclair goes out, and never returns until he takes his
+departure. If he should by chance return whilst his lordship's horse
+is standing there, he walks away, and does not think of coming back
+until"----
+
+"It is a lie! a dream!" I exclaimed, almost bewildered. "It cannot
+be!"
+
+"I wish to say nothing, sir," proceeded Humphrys. "You have seen, you
+have seen!"
+
+"I have! I have!" I cried, coming to myself. "I wash my hands of him
+and his. Father of Heaven! can such wickedness exist--and in _him_, in
+_him_? But I have done with him for ever!"
+
+And so saying, I fled maniac-like from the accursed spot, and vowed in
+my excitement and indignation to return no more. I kept my word.
+
+
+
+
+MORE ROGUES IN OUTLINE.
+
+
+THE SICK ANTIQUARY.
+
+  "Aspettar e non venire,
+  Star in letto e non dormire.
+  Son' due cose da morire."
+
+        _Italian Proverb._
+
+Three years are passed since we last visited Herr Ascherson, and we
+once more find ourselves, with considerably improved tact and
+knowledge, both as to virtuosi and virtu, ringing at the well-known
+bell! On the door being unbarred to us, we are sorry to hear that he
+is now a great invalid, and confined to bed. "I hope we don't disturb
+you, Mr Ascherson," said we, as a half-witted slattern of fifty opened
+the door of the sick man's room, and discovered to us something
+alarmingly like Cheops redivivus, reclining on a Codrus-looking couch,
+which was too short to receive his whole body save diagonally, in
+which position he accordingly lay. Upon hearing these words, the
+much-swathed object suddenly draws itself up in bed; and after looking
+keenly to make us out in the dusk, (as if he suspected a visit of
+cajoling rather than condolence.) his eye lost its anxious look, and
+his features gradually expanded, when he saw at a glance that we were
+come, not to cheat, but to cheer him. The first words he uttered
+were--"_Ja, ja_; dat is mein nobil freund the Doctor;" and then,
+falling back, he resigned himself to his pains, like a man who has
+been long trained to suffer. We ask after his health. The poor invalid
+shakes his head, and tells us, groaning, that he was "sehr krank, very
+ill indeed; had much dolors but no slipp;" apologising also for having
+sent for some 10 pi. which we owed him, and which "it was need," so he
+told us, "to pay his medicine mit." Really concerned to see one whom
+we had so recently known under worldly circumstances so unlike the
+present, so suffering, so poor, and so solitary, we told him that we
+had been intending to call on him that very day for that very
+purpose--observing, by way of consoling his feelings, that it was not
+to be expected "that a man who had laid out so much money of the
+_present_ currency to procure fine specimens of one that was out of
+date, could be quite so well off in ready cash as those whose money
+was all in hard coin at their bankers. "_Ja, ja_," it was even so; and
+then, his pains remitting for a moment, he proceeded to explain, for
+our satisfaction, how he had become so short of the needful supplies.
+"Tis three monate seyne mein freund Vinhler went to Paris--(an honest
+and heart-good man, Mr Vinhler)--to whom this commission I
+consign:--'See you give a careful _eye-blink_ to this 9000 ducats,
+which you must take mit you to Paris. There in the house of Furet you
+shall _become_ some moneys, which you shall send to me directly; and
+mit these ducats you shall also pay their consignment.' Well, it was a
+simple _direct_, als any childer might do. So Vinhler takes my money,
+gets to Paris, calls and _pays_ Mr Furet, and writes that he will be
+back in _Neapoli_ in a week. So I stay! Drei monate I stay, and no Mr
+Vinhler come! Then lastly, when I hav begin to _scold myself_, two
+days seyne, comes _eine briefe_, and says, 'I hav been stopt here for
+three weeks by what I then foresaw not when I did write you lastly. I
+am promised to marry Herr Furet's daughter, and we mak the marriage in
+eine monate. I am sorry for the delay about your monete, but shall
+bring them mit Mrs Vinhler and myself to Neapoli, when we arrive!" So,
+while he is happy mit his Julia in Paris, I cannot _become_ my Julias
+that I hav bought; and I hav lost much by this man's delay. Ah!
+(continued he,) _whenever_ he had felt mein dolors," (the poor man had
+now wrought himself up into a painful excitement,) "my no slipp, this
+_unendlich_ irritation, this torment to pay the Doctor, for no
+gute--my loss of practice, my loss of friends, my physique so bad,
+_mein eine samkeit_ so dull--he should surely have sent me that
+_cassetta_ of coins to make me a little more gay." Being obliged to
+quit Naples suddenly, we left him in the midst of his pains, which had
+been wholly unrelieved by our medication; fretting more and more daily
+at the non-arrival of his friend; with nobody to _visit_ him but the
+needy Leech, who, having asked himself--
+
+    "And will my patient _pay_?
+    And _can_ he swallow draughts until his dying day?"
+
+thinks no further _self_-interrogatory needful; with none to _inquire_
+after him, save only the peasants, whose findings he is too ill to
+look at, and too poor to purchase; and Death's grim _auctioneer, who
+undertakes_ for the district; and who, when he has made the daily
+inquiry at his door, not to lose further time, begins to ply his small
+hammer, and is tap-tap-tapping away for somebody else, till _wanted_.
+Oh! who would change places with a sick antiquary, whose _conscience_,
+though he sleeps, is awake to torment him, and whose dreams, if he
+dream, are of rifled tombs, profaned temples, Charon and his boat!
+
+    "Nocte, brevem si forte indulsit cura soporem,
+    Et toto versato toro, jam membra quiescunt,
+    Continuo _templum et violati numinis aras_,
+    Et quod pr�cipuis mentem sudoribus urget,
+    Se _vidit_ in somnis!"
+
+
+OLD IGNAZIO.
+
+  "Oh dear! what can the matter be?
+  Oh dear! what shall I do?
+  Nobody coming to Jockey, and
+  Nobody coming to _Jew_!"
+
+What quondam collector at Rome but must recollect that snuffy and
+gruffy old fellow, Ignazio Vesconali, who lives at the bottom of
+_Scalirata_, and has grown old with the Piazza itself! Go down at any
+hour of the day, and there he was sure to be, either blinking away
+through his blue goggle glasses, with his cap on, at his door, or at a
+little shabby table fumbling over curiosities; or creeping over to the
+coffee-house opposite, to toddle back again, with his cotton
+pocket-handkerchief, his snuff-box, and his key in hand, to re-arrange
+his treasures, and utter lamentations that nobody any longer comes to
+buy. On such occasions we have sometimes entered; and after a "_buon
+giorno_," and a remark on the weather, (which, if you abused it,
+however injuriously, always secured you his assent; for he quarrels now
+even with the calendar,) he expected you to _hope_ he had sold
+something lately, to afford him an opportunity to say, "_Ma ch�, ma
+niente_;" and then you had to sit and listen while he told you all his
+grievances--how once "a dozen English noblemen had stood _all of a row
+there_," and he showed you where, in his shop, fighting for his wares,
+and buying them almost quicker than he could register the purchases
+they made; and how sometimes he could sell 500 scudi worth of property
+before breakfast, and get an appetite by doing so! No! there was not a
+man of note in England, that had not some day or other been _booked_ by
+him. All _their_ kindness, no doubt--and then they came not to tease
+poor Ignazio, but to buy of him. Now a different set of customers dropt
+in one by one to look at his gems, and to find nothing good enough for
+them; some tumbling over his antiques, and offering a scudo for his
+best onyxes; "_uno scudo, Santissima Maria Virgine!_" others
+adventuring a whole paul! a price for his best Consular coins!--_ah!
+gli avari!_ The earth too, once so bountiful, was now as avaricious of
+parting with her treasures as the English themselves. The fields had
+ceased to yield their former supplies; and the peasants about Rome
+would scarce stoop to picking up rubbish, for which, however, they
+always wanted Ignazio's money. "Ah, poor old man!--_che vecchio?_ old
+man forsooth! say rather an old dotard, who is unfit to buy, to
+bargain, or to live!" And then he would ventriloquize once more to
+himself. "Ah, poor Ignazio! ah, poor old man! your day is indeed gone
+by." Such appeals were irresistible. So, whenever we had a few scudi to
+spare, (and it was not quite discreet to go into his shop without,) we
+used to beg to see some of his boxes of engraved stones; and having
+pored for a time over wares that had been examined by the most cunning
+eyes in Rome, would find one of better workmanship, and stop to inquire
+its price. "_Quanto_, Signor Ignazio?" and while Signor Ignazio was
+recollecting himself, we glanced on from one to the other, (the great
+rule in bargaining being never to appear to know what you are
+bargaining for!) "_Per cinque scudi vi lo do._" Viewed thus in the
+light of a donation, we would think it too high, and tell him so. "Take
+it for four, then--_pigliate lo per quattro_;" and at this fresh
+concession he would grunt a little, like a tame seal in a water-tub!
+Still we would hesitate, and dare to offer two. "For every body else,
+he had said _impossible_,--for us we were _padronissimi_ to take it, as
+the old man's gift, on our own terms." So we would put it up, and then,
+elated at our _bargain_, and at his respect for us, we would remove
+another "_intaglio_" from the box; and this time, naming our own price,
+say with perfect nonchalance, "_due scudi_." The old fellow would then
+fumble it up in his snuffy old gloves, and bring it near his snuffy old
+nose; and having wiped his snuffy old magnifier, would bend his blue
+goggle glasses over it--and having _screamed_--"_Che! due scudi?_ what
+do you mean by two scudi? A stone of this beauty! a living head of
+Medusa--a front face, too--for two scudi! The serpents in the hair were
+worth more money--one-half of such a head, were the stone in _two_,
+would be worth more money." And then would come in the antistrophe as
+before--"_Ah, povero Ignazio! povero vecchio!_"--and we would be
+shocked, and declare with compunction that we had no intention to cheat
+him; and he, already "_persuasissimo_ of that," would beg us to say no
+more, but to put it into our pocket for _three_. After these
+preliminaries were settled and paid for, we would be contented to hear
+him once more recount the tale of his younger days, when he had the
+antiquity business all to himself; when he married his first wife; had
+dealings with Demidoff; and knew all that were worth knowing in
+Rome--both buyers and sellers. "Old age, Signor, is preparing me fast
+to give up both my business and my life! Buy, buy, now's your time,
+_eccomi_! an old man who wants to sell off every thing! name your
+prices! Don't be afraid, you may offer me any thing _now_." "Three
+scudi?" "Impossible I should let you have it for that. It cost me five;
+but never mind! there's the mask at three scudi. Take it! Any thing
+else?" "This intaglio?" "You are a capital judge, or you would not have
+thus picked out my _best_ intaglio--will no colonnati suit?" "No."
+"Will you be pleased if I prove my friendship for you by sacrificing it
+at fifteen?" No! "There, take it as our third gift for twelve; but, oh
+that I should have lived to sell it for that, _even to you_! But you
+will come and see me again; I know you will, _Dottore mio!_ And sure
+you might contrive to spend a few more _fees_ with me than you do, and
+be all the richer for it into the bargain--what fine opportunities
+_you_ must have of selling things to your patients, especially to the
+_donne_! I wish I was a doctor, that I might carry on my business for a
+year or two longer!"
+
+
+SIGNOR DEDOMENICIS.
+
+"I have a hundred questions to ask," said we, turning into
+Dedomenicis' curiosity-shop, and casting a furtive glance behind his
+old armour and arras hangings, to see that there was no other
+confidant to whom we might be betraying our ignorance. "_Dunque_--well
+then, one at a time; _� s'accommodi_--make yourself at home," said the
+old dealer, pushing us a chair, and looking humanely communicative,
+as he adjusted to his temples a huge pair of spectacles, and stood at
+our side ready to be interrogated.
+
+An old dealer, like a young beauty, when you are together, expects
+something flattering to be said about his eyes, so "we wished ours
+were as good as his." He said, "they were younger." "But what was the
+use of young eyes, or of any eyes," said we, disparaging our own,
+"that could not make out the wholesomeness of a coin, nor distinguish
+the patina of antiquity from vulgar verdigris?"
+
+Dedomenicis' _cough_ convinced us that this sentiment of ours was not
+very far from what he himself believed to be the truth, only he was
+too polite to _say_ so.
+
+"There!" said we, "look at these bronze bargains of ours, these two
+_counterfeit_ coins, which have not been a week in our possession, and
+which C---- has already declared to be false! Oh! would _you_ not have
+deemed it a happier lot to put up with a blameless blindness, and all
+its evils, rather than, having eyes in your head, to have disgraced
+them by such a purchase?" Dedomenicis glances one glance at the false
+Emperors, and then passes a sentence which banishes them for ever from
+the society of the C�sars; while he _wonders_ how we could have hoped
+to buy a real Piscennius and a Pertinax in the same adventure, and
+both so well preserved too?
+
+"Were we ignorant of the prices usually set upon the heads of all
+those emperors who had enjoyed but a few weeks' reign?" Did not every
+body, for instance, know that the African Gordians, both father and
+son, were, in _bronze_, worth their weight in gold? that a Vitellius
+in bronze was cheap at six pounds? and that he might be considered
+fortunate indeed who could convert his spare ten-pound notes into as
+many Pertinax penny-pieces, or come into the possession of a
+half-penny or a second module, as it is called, of Pescennius Niger,
+at the same price? Did not every body know that Domitia was coy at
+�20, and stood out for �25? That Matidia, Mariana, and Plotina smiled
+upon none who would not give �40 to possess them, and that Annia
+Faustina was become a priceless piece? Had we been so long returned to
+Rome and not yet heard of the Matidia now in the keeping of our
+gallant countryman, General A----, who was jealous (at least so B----
+had told him) of showing her even to his best friends, lest she should
+prove too much for their virtue to withstand, and slept with her, and
+could not snore securely unless she was by his side? Well, he had paid
+�40 for her at Thomas's sale in London, and Rollin, on seeing her in
+Paris, would have gladly detained her there for �50, but the general
+was not to be bribed; "so you see, _dottore mio_, it costs a good deal
+to collect coins even in the baser metal." "So it would appear,
+indeed, Dedomenicis; and the next time a Pertinax in bronze turns up,
+we will most _pertinaciously_ refuse to bid for him; or if another
+Pescennius should ever again cross our path, we will mutter 'Hic
+_Niger_ est,' and remember to have nothing to do with him."
+
+"And I think," said the old fellow, slily taking off his spectacles,
+and placing them on the table,--"I think you will not lose much if you
+adhere to your present intention."
+
+"And yet it is annoying not to know the difference between the works
+of those _Paduan_ brothers, of a recent century, and such as really
+belong to the old Roman mint;" saying which we began to study them
+afresh, as a policeman would do to a rogue, whom he expected to meet
+again. "Is this knowledge, dear Dedomenicis, to be acquired 'per
+c�rita?' let us not waste our time, if it be not." "_Lei lo sapra!_ it
+will come in good time. _Pazienza!_ be patient! you know our
+proverb--'time and straw ripen medlars,' and your judgment will mature
+in time, _just as the medlars do_."
+
+Crude as an unripe medlar though our judgment certainly then _was_,
+still the prospect of its _mellowing into unsoundness at last_ was by
+no means consolatory; and so we told him, pocketing our false coins,
+and going home to consult the memorandum of their price,--here it is!
+_Eccola!_ as it was most ingeniously registered by us at the
+time--"Nov. 7, 1840--Bought to-day of a peasant on his way from Ricci
+to Rome, two _beautiful coins_, a Pertinax and a Pescennius Niger, in
+_perfect preservation_! only paid �5 for the two!! the _simple_
+contadino, who can't read the epigraphes, asks whether they are not
+Nero's!!"[54]
+
+A ring at the bell, and our courier has announced Signor Dedomenicis.
+"By all means, show him in then,"--for he had come, a year later, to
+see coins we had picked up during our summer trip to Sicily. "There,"
+said we gaily, and to put him in a good humour at once, (for the remark
+showed we had made ourselves master of his physiognomy),--"there,
+Dedomenicis, is a Ptolemy Evergetes, who was, to judge by his coins,
+your very prototype--it is your nose--your chin--your"----
+
+"Suppose you make it mine altogether then," said he slily; but we
+"prized it too much, on this very account, to part with it!" After
+which we go to the nearest cabinet in the room--unlock the door, take
+out drawer No. 1, marked Sicilian, and _rare_; and in the pride of our
+young beginnings, and little knowing what we were to bring upon
+ourselves in so doing,--
+
+    "Midst hopes, and fears that kindle hopes.
+    A pleasing anxious throng;
+    And shrewd suspicions often lull'd,
+    But now returning strong,"--
+
+we hand over the tray to Dedomenicis, whose running commentary, as
+soon as he had brought it into the field of his spectacles, was really
+appalling; and he plied it as destructively as a Sikh battery, or a
+Perkins's steam gun.
+
+Prepared to see him take out the first coin in the row, to subject it
+to his magnifier, to turn it round, now on this side, now on that, and
+then to pause, ere he could decide upon it, little could we have
+supposed that in a second his battery was to commence fire; and that
+in less than a minute, he would have passed a summary sentence upon
+every coin of the lot.
+
+"_One--two--three._"--Thus it began; "_roba commune_--common as
+blackberries; (four, five, six,) _niente di buono_--good for what you
+can get for them; (seven, eight, nine,) _Idem_; (ten, eleven, twelve,)
+_Idem_; thirteen, _not_ of Messina, as it pretended to be; and here
+had sold us a _Neapolitan cat_ in place of a _Sicilian hare_!"
+"_Come!_ a cat?" (for we called to mind what each of puss's _nine_
+lives had cost us, and determined to die game for it), "_that_ coin a
+_counterfeit_?" "Si--Sig-no-re!" in that sort of sing-song gamut twang
+in which one Roman answers another's incredulity--"_anzi falsissimo_,"
+with a most provoking lengthening out of the second syllable of that
+most provoking superlative; he knew all about its fabrication; the
+_gentleman_ who made these coins was an acquaintance--not a _friend_
+of his; the original coin being in request, and somewhat expensive, he
+had contrived to get up a new issue of the Messina Hare,[55] which was
+much in vogue, and seemed, like Gay's Hare, to court an extensive
+acquaintance, and many friends. "That _Himera_[56] hen is of a brood
+that never lays golden eggs, and the sooner you can get rid of her the
+better. Time was when such poultry fetched its price; now, thanks to
+the prolific process of our modern hatchings, we see her as often in
+the market as widgeon, snipe, or plovers. _That's_ a fine lion; 'tis
+a pity you've no lioness to match him; but one such real _Rhegium
+leone_ is worth a host of counterfeits,--'_unus, sane, at Leo_'. As to
+your Ptolemies' eagles here, at least they are well preserved, and
+that always should give a coin some claim to a place in a _beginner's_
+collection; though to us dealers, who see many of them, these eagles
+at last become somewhat uninteresting and vulgar birds. What a
+collection is here of Hieros[57] on horseback, all in good plight too!
+Well, I might have bought _in_ or _out_ of these ranks myself; but _I_
+should not, I think, like you, have purchased the whole troop--of
+course you paid but little for them." "Yes," said we timidly, "not
+overmuch, not more than they were worth perhaps, six pauls a-piece,"
+and we coughed nervously, and expected him to speak encouragingly; but
+he said nothing, and proceeded with his scrutiny of our box. "_Per
+Bacco!_ What a quantity of cuttlefish! Methinks Syracuse has rather
+overdone you with her _Lobigo_, but _that_ at least is genuine, for
+'tis too cheap to make money of by imitation. This of _Naxos_ will do.
+_This_ of Tarentum, _va bene!_ this of _Locri, corresponde_." A faint
+"bravo!" escapes him on taking up an Athenian Tetradrachm, with the
+_Archer's_ name on the field; but he takes no note, has no "winged
+words" to throw away upon our winged horses, though every nag of them,
+we know, came from Corinth or from Argos.
+
+The bearded corn of Metapontus, with Ceres or Mars on the reverse:
+Arion on his dolphin--that beautiful, most beautiful of coins--were,
+together with sundry others, all too common for his antiquarian eye to
+take pleasure in; he sought something less frequently presented to it,
+and at last he found it in a Croton coin with a rare reverse, which,
+"would we sell him, he would take at twenty dollars, and pay us in
+_living_ silver." A bow told him we were not disposed to part with it.
+And now he comes to what we consider to be our finest piece,--our
+Lipari bronze! And on it is a fat _dolphin_ sporting on a _green_ sea.
+Dedomenicis' manner is vastly discouraging, and we are prepared for
+new disappointment, yet we could have sworn that _that_ coin was
+genuine. But if false, as he believes it to be, why then not have done
+with it? why put it down to take it up _again_? why ask whether _we_
+don't repute it false, when he knows we know nothing of the matter?
+And why _mouse_ it so closely under his keen eye, and look round the
+rim of it, and examine the face of it, and appear as if he would
+penetrate into its very soul,[58] and get at its history? Oh! 'tis all
+right, then; if "he may be mistaken," doubtless he _is_ so: and this
+is confirmed by his now proposing--thinking an exchange no robbery, of
+course--to exchange it for us. Ingenuous man! who hadst twice invoked
+the saints and the Madonna in our behalf when thou heardest the price
+we paid for our unlucky Hare; and when thou knewest how C---- had
+beguiled us into taking, and paying for a _Roman_, the price of an
+_Etruscan_ "As;" and now thou wouldst have robbed us of our best coin,
+have deprived us of the very _Delphin classic_ of our collection; it
+won't do! Our Messenian hare is welcome, but, old �ruscator, we cannot
+let you swim away on our dolphin; and we rise to _replace him_ in our
+_monetaro_ accordingly.
+
+A third interview with Dedomenicis is recorded in our entry-book of
+such matters.--"Here are the coins, Signor, which you gave me to clean
+last week: they are ten in number, for which you owe me as many
+pauls.--_Eccole!_" "Ah," said we, "you have not made much of them, I
+fear." "Look and see," was the laconic reply. By which time we had
+taken up the first, and were pleased to find that an Augustus, whose
+lineaments we could hardly recognise, when we gave him to Dedomenicis
+to _scale_, had come back to us perfectly restored. "Why,
+Dedomenicis," said we, "this is a restitution better than Trajan's, of
+this very Emperor's coinage; for that, after all, was but the
+_imitation_ of an old mint; but yours the _restoration_ of the old one
+itself. Henceforth I prefer _Dedomenicis' restituit_ to _Trajan's
+restituit_." "Well, then, when you have looked over the others, you
+will, I dare say, pay these and them at the same rate, as if they had
+been the issues of that Emperor."[59] We were indeed surprised at what
+we saw, so much had all our coins gained by the process to which
+Dedomenicis had subjected them. The second we took up represented the
+_Ostian harbour_, (Portus Ostiensis.) We had given it to him with a
+_foul bottom_--it was restored to us with its basin cleared out, and
+with all its shipping, just as it used to look in the days of Nero; in
+another, the whole arena of the Colosseum had been disencumbered; in
+another, Antonine's column shone bright from top to bottom; here we
+saw _Honos et Virtus_ (honour and military prowess) again taking the
+field; here the scales of Justice once more appeared, and librated
+freely in her hand; here Hope resumed her green trefoil; Pudicity
+_un_veils her face; and there sat Fecundity on a curule seat, with all
+her family about her; lastly, there were those three scandalous
+sisters of Caligula--the Misses _Money_ (Moneta,)[60]--standing
+together with their arms intertwined, and their names at their backs.
+All these ten restitutions cost only ten pauls! "And how did you
+manage to clean then so well, Dedomenicis?" "_Col tempo ed il
+temperino_,"--with time and a penknife: "_Ma ci vuo il genio_,"--you
+must have a talent for it.
+
+
+SCALING A COIN.
+
+"_Ci vuo il genio_,"--he was right; and think you 'tis so easy or
+simple a thing to clean a coin? to unmask an empress, pertinacious in
+her disguise, or to _scrape_ acquaintance with emperors? Try it;--not
+that you will succeed; but that the difficulties which you are thus
+made to encounter in the attempt, will dispose you the more readily to
+do justice to the skill of those who succeed in this delicate process,
+which, like the finer operations of surgery, requires at once
+precision and address, great nicety in the handling of your
+instrument; while the importance attached to the operation itself
+makes the successful performance of it not a little desirable. The
+penknife, guided by a _dexterous_ hand, may light upon a discovery
+that has been buried for ages; and a pin's point may make revelations
+sufficient to adjust some obscure point in history. Who knows what
+face may now lie hid (_facies dicatur an ulcus?_) under some obscure
+coating of paste? What an it be a Vitellius; what if a Pertinax should
+reveal himself? or suppose, when you have removed the foul _larv�_,
+you _undermine_ a Matidia! a Plotina!! an Annia Faustina!!! and your
+fortune is made! 'Tis a lottery, we admit. But the very principle of
+the excitement--the charm is, that you know not what _may_ turn up;
+for a less chance, you may possibly have bought a "Terno" in a
+Frankfort lottery, the chance of an estate on the Moselle! But there
+are small prizes to be picked up occasionally--and here's a case in
+point:--"I was one day sauntering," said our friend C----, "by the
+tomb of Cecilia Metella, when a peasant came up with a handful of very
+dirty-looking coins, so firmly encrusted with mortar, that it seemed
+absurd to attempt its removal. Having nothing particular to do, and
+liking the wild quiet of the spot, I gave some 'baiocchi' to the man;
+and taking my seat on a bit of the old aqueduct, I opened my penknife,
+and began to scrape away. At first I saw the _trace_ of a letter; and
+digging round it, I at length disinterred a large M----a Roman M! It
+was probably Maximin, or his son Maximus, that I then had under my
+thumb; but it _might_ be a Marinus, in which case it was a valuable
+coin; so I wrought on with renewed vigour, and presently an _L_ was in
+the _field_. A better prospect this than the last; for if it turned
+out to be an �milianus, I should have made a good morning's work of
+it--and it was so! Little by little, line by line, grain by grain, I
+opened the field, till _C. Julius �milianus, Pontif: Max: in a full
+epigraphe, shone forth with the imperial_ head in full relief, all in
+a bright emerald patina. I have seen several �milianuses, but none
+like that; and it cost me only a penny."
+
+Now, touching the difficulties in your way--should you still fancy
+them to be imaginary--take any dirty coin _nigra moneta sordibus_, and
+try to clean it; oil it, and scrub it as you may; pick into, poke at,
+finally, waste your whole morning over it, till your back aches, and
+your penknife is blunted; you will have to confess at last that your
+labour has been lost! Your only chance, then, is the fire; and if the
+_actual cautery_ fails, there is no longer any hope. As in learning to
+scale properly, you must come to sacrifice _a great many coins_ before
+you can hope to succeed, _fiat experimentum in corpore vili_--begin
+with those that are worthless. Never mind scratching a Faustina's
+face; set no store by Nero; you may, if you like, mutilate as many
+_Domitians_ as that emperor mutilated flies. For why?--they cost
+nothing; unless, indeed, there were something to be gained by
+_reversing_ the picture. But this only while learning, and to learn;
+for when you _know_ how to clean a coin properly, you will hardly
+waste your time in adding new Trajans to the ten thousands already in
+existence; nor whet your curiosity or steel upon an empress, known to
+be as common in bronze as she was wont to be in the flesh! When you
+have a really valuable coin, on which your pains will not be thrown
+away, your mode of procedure is, first to scrape, with extreme
+caution, on some small spot by the margin, till you have taken your
+proper soundings, and come down to the _patina_. Your next step must
+be, to ascertain whether that patina is hard, or soft and friable; in
+which latter case you will have to use all diligence not to poke your
+penknife in Crispina's eyeball, nor to wound her husband, with a few
+days' beard upon his chin. No _healing process_ can help you here to
+undo your clumsy surgery and want of skill. He will remain
+_cicatrised_, and she _lippa_ for life. Each separate feature requires
+renewed care. When your minute manipulations have brought out the
+eyeball _unspecked_, then comes the nose; and to remove the closely
+sticking plaster from its side, and expose uninjured the curling
+nostril underneath, requires more than Taliacotian sleight of hand to
+manage properly. You must not trifle with Faustina's _hair_, nor with
+Philip's _beard_. The "_flava coma_," which we do not consider as
+ornamental at any time, looks far worse in _brass_ than in _golden_
+tresses. You must be an aurist when you come to the ear. Deal with the
+ear, and remember that it has its _portio mollis_ as you gently probe
+your way into its tube. Need we insist upon the necessity of
+respecting a lady's _lips_? and yet you will wound them, unless you
+are careful. And when all is done, you may find that your coin is no
+sooner cleaned, than it is seized with the _smallpox_,[61] which will
+become _confluent_ and spread, unless properly instructed. You have
+probed each cicatrix to the bottom, and filled the minute holes with
+_ink_. Thus you will see that patience, tact, and care are all
+required in scaling a coin; or, as Dedomenicis said, _ci vuo il
+genio_!
+
+The collecting coins is a pleasant way of learning the chronology of
+the royal families of antiquity; and if you are culpably negligent in
+their arrangement, the first dealer who sees your cabinet takes care
+to apprize you of your mistakes, and will generally rate you soundly
+as he does so. The first time Dedomenicis visited our collection of
+the Roman emperors, he was in a great taking on detecting (which he
+did not fail to do at a glance) various anachronisms in our
+arrangement. "By all that should be, if here is not Agrippina the wife
+of Germanicus, and Claudius's Agrippina, in next-door neighbourhood!
+the two Faustinas (_che scandalo, dottore mio!_) lying side by side
+with _strange husbands_! Philip junior deposing his own father--_ci
+avevano questa consuetudine_, so let that pass; but here is a more
+serious affair. Pray separate all these Julias a little, my dear sir,
+_caro lei_, (looking at us very reproachfully;) here, in this one
+tray, you have mixed, introduced, and confounded together all the
+Julias of the Roman empire! Julia, the daughter of Titus, alone in her
+right place beside her first consort Domitian. But Julia Pia and Julia
+Domna are but the _aliases_ of the same empress, the wife of Septimius
+Severus; and here you have placed by mistake Julia Paula, the wife of
+Eliogabalus, after Julia Mamm�a, who you _must_ remember married
+Maximin. Pray attend to these things; and whenever your series is
+deficient, leave vacant spaces in your trays to mark the deficiencies.
+Don't crowd your emperors thus together, when time has separated them
+in history," &c. &c. &c. We promised faithfully to attend to these
+hints; but it was all to no purpose, for in one week our friends, to
+whom we used to show our collection properly arranged, would again
+involve our chronology in inextricable confusion, especially certain
+dear young ladies of our acquaintance, who, by no means showing the
+same respect for old Time that old Time continued to demonstrate
+towards them, would make light of whole centuries; and we have known
+them so regardless of all dates, except perhaps their own, as to bring
+up a Constantine or Maxentius, and to place them under the very nose
+of Augustus!
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[54] It is worth noting, because one does not see why it is so, that
+the only imperial _birbone_ of the lot universally known and execrated
+at Rome is _Nero_. One is much better able to understand (with Capri
+in front of one's windows) why a like exclusive and unenviable
+popularity at Naples attaches to _Tiberius_.
+
+[55] The _hare_ was first introduced into Sicily by Anaxilaus of
+Rhegium, and was adopted by the Messenians on their coins, as was also
+the _chariot_, in commemoration of his victory in the _mule_ races at
+Olympia.
+
+[56] On the urbic coins of Aquinum, Suessa, and Tiano, which are
+generally of bronze, the _cock_ figures on one side, the subject on
+the other varying; on those of Himera (a silver currency,) chanticleer
+is always confronted on the reverse by Dame Partlett.
+
+[57] Hiero the Second, tyrant of Syracuse, who flourished 216 B.C.,
+and was contemporary with Archimedes. The face is one expressive of
+refinement, and the coin of a very fine style of art, as indeed are
+all those that ever issued from the old and original mint of Sicily;
+but alas! there are now many small and illicit mints to which the
+travelling public that buys coins, is, without always knowing it,
+vastly more indebted. "Roba Siciliana"--Sicilian trash, exclaims the
+indignant Neapolitan, when you show him a modern forgery by which you
+have been duped. "Sciochezza di Napoli" retorts the dealer at Messina
+or Palermo, vindicating at once his own honour, which seems aspersed,
+and that of his Trinacrian associates. To reconcile these two
+statements, which are both true, the reader has only to be informed
+that there are mints every where, and coiners as cunning at Pozzuoli
+as at Palermo.
+
+[58] By the word _anima_, or _soul_ of a coin, numismatists designate
+the interior of the metal, as opposed to its superficies or _field_.
+
+[59] The _restitution_ of the coinage of one Emperor by his successor,
+consisting of a smaller issue of pieces than the original from which
+it is taken, has become comparatively scarce; hence such
+_restitutions_ fetch a much _higher price_ than those of the earlier
+currency, and Dedomenicis's remark was not without its meaning.
+
+[60] Moneta, one of the many epithets or _aliases_ of Juno, borrowed
+by the Emperor Caligula for his three sisters, Agrippina, Drusilla,
+and Livilla, who are represented standing in a row, each with her
+cornucopia and scales, and her name behind her back.
+
+[61] "_La petite verole_" is the name employed by French numismatists
+to designate this _disease_. They could not have hit upon a happier. A
+finely characteristic specimen of it is to be seen at present in the
+bronze impersonation of George IV. which stands on the Steym at
+Brighton, where the whole face looking seaward has become _balafr�_
+and pock-marked. It is strange that under the epithet of _pustular_,
+as applied to _silver_, the ancients appear to have meant the purest
+and most refined quality of that metal, when it is the alloy mixed
+with the bronze that makes it pustular.
+
+
+
+
+THE LAST RECOLLECTIONS OF NAPOLEON.[62]
+
+
+There are few things more striking than the analogy in civil and
+physical changes of the world. There have been in the history of man
+periods as distinctive as in the history of nations. From these
+periods society and nations have alike assumed new aspects, and the
+world has commenced a new career. The fall of the Roman Empire was the
+demarcation between the old world and the new. It was the moral
+deluge, out of which a new condition of man, new laws, new forms of
+religion, new styles of thought, almost a totally new configuration of
+human society, were to arise. A new settlement of the civil world took
+place: power absorbed by one race of mankind was to be divided among
+various races; and the development of principles of government and
+society, hitherto unknown, was to be scarcely less memorable, less
+unexpected, or less productive, than that voyage by which Columbus
+doubled the space of the habitable globe.
+
+The Reformation was another mighty change. It introduced civil liberty
+into the empire of tyranny, religion into the realm of superstition,
+and science into the depths of national ignorance. The French
+Revolution was the last, and not the least powerful change within
+human experience. Its purpose is, like its operation, still dubious.
+Whether it came simply for wrath, or simply for restoration--whether,
+like the earthquake of Lisbon, it came only to destroy, and leave its
+ruins visible for a century to come; to clear the ground of
+incumbrances too massive for the hand of man, and open the soil for
+exertions nobler than the old, must be left to time to interpret. But
+there can be no question, that the most prominent agency, the most
+powerful influence, and the most dazzling lustre, of a period in which
+all the stronger impulses of our being were in the wildest activity,
+centred in the character of one man, and that man--Napoleon.
+
+It is evidently a law of Providence, that all the great changes of
+society shall be the work of individual minds. Yet when we recollect
+the difficulty of effecting any general change, embracing the infinite
+varieties of human interests, caprices, passions, and purposes,
+nothing could seem more improbable. But it has always been the course
+of things. Without Charlemagne, the little principalities of Gothic
+Europe would never have been systematised into an empire;--without
+Luther, what could have been the progress of the Reformation?--without
+Napoleon, the French Revolution would have burnt itself out, vanished
+into air, or sunk into ashes. He alone collected its materials,
+combined them into a new and powerful shape, crowned this being of his
+own formation with the imperial robe, erected it in the centre of
+Europe, and called the nations to bow down before a new idol, like the
+gods of the Indian known only by its mysterious frown, the startling
+splendour of its diadem, and the swords and serpents grasped in its
+hands.
+
+That the character of Napoleon was a singular compound of the highest
+intellectual powers with the lowest moral qualities, is evidently the
+true description of this extraordinary being. This combination alone
+accounts for the rapidity, the splendour of his career, and the sudden
+and terrible completeness of his fall. Nothing less than pre-eminent
+capacity could have shot him up through the clouds and tempests of the
+Revolution into the highest place of power. A mixture of this force of
+mind and desperate selfishness of heart could alone have suggested and
+sustained the system of the Imperial wars, policy, and ambition; and
+the discovery of his utter faithlessness could alone have rendered all
+thrones hopeless of binding him by the common bonds of sovereign to
+sovereign, and compelled them to find their only security for the
+peace of Europe in consigning him to a dungeon. He was the only
+instance in modern history of a monarch dethroned by a universal
+conviction; warred against by mankind, as the sole object of the war;
+delivered over into captivity by the unanimous judgment of nations;
+and held in the same unrelaxing and judicial fetters until he died.
+
+It is another striking feature of this catastrophe, that the whole
+family of Napoleon sank along with him. They neither possessed his
+faculties, nor were guilty of his offences. But as they had risen
+solely by him, they perished entirely with him. Future history will
+continually hover over this period of our annals, as the one which
+most resembles some of those fabrications of the Oriental genius, in
+which human events are continually under the guidance of spirits of
+the air; in which fantastic palaces are erected by a spell, and the
+treasures of the earth developed by the wave of a wand--in which the
+mendicant of this hour is exalted into the prince of the next; and
+while the wonder still glitters before the eye, another sign of the
+necromancer dissolves the whole pageant into air again. Human
+recollection has no record of so much power, so widely distributed,
+and apparently so fixed above all the ordinary casualties of the
+world, so instantly and so irretrievably overthrown. The kings of
+earth are not undone at a blow; kingdoms do not change their rulers
+without a struggle. Great passions and great havoc have always
+preceded and followed the fall of monarchies. But the four diadems of
+the Napoleon race fell from their wearers' brows with scarcely a touch
+from the hand of man. The surrender of the crown by Napoleon
+extinguished the crowns actually ruling over millions, and virtually
+influencing the whole Continent. They were extinguished, too, at the
+moment when the Imperial crown disappeared. It had no sooner been
+crushed at Waterloo, than they all fell into fragments, of
+themselves;--the whole dynasty went down with Napoleon into the
+dungeon, and not one of them has since returned to the world.
+
+The name of General Count Montholon is well known to this country, as
+that of a brave officer, who, after acquiring distinguished rank in
+the French army by his sword, followed Napoleon to St Helena; remained
+with him during his captivity; and upon his death was made the
+depositary of his papers, and his executor. But his own language, in a
+letter dated from the Castle of Ham in June 1844, gives the best
+account of his authority and his proceedings.
+
+"A soldier of the Republic, a brigadier-general at twenty years of
+age, and minister-plenipotentiary in Germany in 1812 and 1813, I
+could, like others, have left memoirs concerning the things which I
+saw; but the whole is effaced from my mind in presence of a single
+thing, a single event, and a single man. The thing is Waterloo; the
+event, the fall of the Empire; and the man, Napoleon."
+
+He then proceeds to tell us, that he shared the St Helena captivity
+for six years; that for forty-two nights he watched the dying bed of
+the ex-monarch; and that, by Napoleon's express desire, he closed his
+eyes. But to those duties of private friendship were affixed official
+services, which looked much more like tyranny than the tribute of
+personal regard, and which we should think must have worn out the
+patience, and tried the constitution, of the most devoted follower of
+this extraordinary captive.
+
+Napoleon, though apparently contemptuous of the opinions of mankind,
+evidently felt the strongest anxiety to make out a favourable
+statement for himself. And all his hours, except the few devoted to
+exercise on horseback and to sleep, and to his meals, were employed in
+completing the narrative which was to clear up his character to
+mankind.
+
+During the last years passed in St Helena, Napoleon sent for the Count
+every night at eleven o'clock, and continued dictating to him until
+six in the morning, when he went into the bath, dismissing the count
+with--"Come, my son, go and repose, and come to me again at nine
+o'clock. We shall have breakfast, and resume the labours of the
+night." At nine, he returned, and remained with him till one, when
+Napoleon went to bed. Between four and five, he sent for the count
+again, who dined with him every day, and at nine o'clock left him, to
+return at eleven.
+
+The world little knew the drudgery to which these unfortunate
+followers of the Ex-Emperor were thus exposed, and they must all have
+rejoiced at any termination of a toil so remorseless and so
+uncheering.
+
+Napoleon was fond of the Turkish doctrine of fatality. Whether so
+acute a mind was capable of believing a doctrine so palpably
+contradicted by the common circumstances of life, and so utterly
+repugnant to reason, can scarcely be a question; but with him, as with
+the Turks, it was a capital doctrine for the mighty machine which he
+called an army. But the count seems to have been a true believer. He,
+too, pronounces, that "destiny is written," and regards himself as
+being under the peculiar influence of a malignant star, or, in his own
+words: "In fact, without having sought it, my destiny brought me into
+contact with the Emperor in the Elys�e Bourbon, conducted me, without
+my knowing it, to the shores of Boulogne, where honour imposed upon me
+the necessity of not abandoning the nephew of the Emperor in presence
+of the dangers by which he was surrounded. Irrevocably bound to the
+misfortunes of a family, I am now perishing in Ham; the captivity
+commenced in St Helena."
+
+Of Count Montholon, it must be acknowledged, that he was unstained by
+either the vices or the violences which scandalized Europe so
+frequently in the leaders of the French armies. He appears to have
+been at all times a man of honourable habits, as he certainly is of
+striking intelligence. But we have no faith in his doctrine of the
+star, and think that he would have acted much more wisely if he had
+left the stars to take care of themselves, avoided the blunder of
+mistaking the nephew of Napoleon for a hero and a genius, and stayed
+quietly in London, instead of risking himself with an invasion of
+valets to take the diadem off the most sagacious head in Europe.
+
+The narrative commences with the return of Napoleon to Paris after his
+renown, his throne, and his dynasty were alike crushed by the British
+charge at Waterloo. He reached Paris at six in the morning of the
+21st. It is now clear that the greatest blunder of this extraordinary
+man was his flight from the army. If he had remained at its head, let
+its shattered condition be what it might, he would have been powerful,
+have awed the growing hostility of the capital, and have probably been
+able to make peace alike for himself and his nation. But by hurrying
+to Paris, all was lost: he stripped himself of his strength; he threw
+himself on the mercy of his enemies; and palpably capitulated to the
+men who, but the day before, were trembling under the fear of his
+vengeance.
+
+Nobleness of heart is essential to all true renown; and perhaps it is
+not less essential to all real security. Napoleon, with talents which
+it is perfectly childish to question, though the attempt has been made
+since the close of his brilliant career, wanted this nobleness of
+heart, and through its want ultimately perished. Of the bravery of him
+who fought the splendid campaigns of Italy, and of the political
+sagacity of him who raised himself from being a subaltern of artillery
+to a sovereign of sovereigns, there can be no doubt. But his
+selfishness was so excessive that it occasionally made both
+contemptible, and gave his conduct alike the appearance of cowardice,
+and the appearance of infatuation. His flight from Egypt, leaving his
+army to be massacred or captured, disgraced him in the face of Europe.
+His flight from Russia, leaving the remnant of his legions to be
+destroyed, was a new scandal; but hitherto no evil had been produced
+by this gross regard of self. The penalty, however, must be paid. His
+flight from the army in Belgian, leaving it without counsel or
+direction, to be crushed by a victorious enemy, was the third instance
+of that ignoble preference of his own objects which had characterised
+and stained his Egyptian and Russian career. But retribution was now
+come, and he was to be undone. The slaughter of Waterloo had been
+tremendous, but it was not final. The loss of the French army had been
+computed at forty thousand men, killed, wounded, and dispersed. He had
+come into the field with seventy-two thousand men, independent of
+Grouchy. He had thus thirty thousand remaining. Grouchy's force of
+thirty thousand was still untouched, and was able to make its way to
+Paris. In addition to these sixty thousand, strong garrisons had been
+left in all the fortresses, which he might without difficulty have
+gathered upon his retreat. The Parisian national guard would have
+augmented this force, probably, on the whole, to one hundred thousand
+men. It is true that the allied Russian and Austrian forces were on
+the frontier. But they had not yet moved, and could not prevent the
+march of those reinforcements. Thus, without reckoning the provincial
+militia of France, or calculating on a _lev�e en masse_, Napoleon
+within a fortnight might have been at the head of one hundred and
+fifty thousand men, while the pursuing army could not have mustered
+half the number. He would thus have had time for negotiation; and time
+with him was every thing. Or let the event be what it might, the
+common sense of the Allies would have led them to avoid a direct
+collision with so powerful a force fighting on its own ground under
+the walls of the capital, and knowing that the only alternatives were
+complete triumph or total ruin.
+
+Count Montholon makes a remark on the facility with which courtiers
+make their escape from a falling throne, which has been so often
+exemplified in history. But it was never more strikingly exemplified
+than in the double overthrow of Napoleon. "At Fontainbleau, in 1814,"
+says the Count, "when I hastened to offer to carry him off with the
+troops under my command, I found no one in those vast corridors,
+formerly too small for the crowd of courtiers, except the Duke of
+Bassano and two aides-de-camp." His whole court, down to his Mameluke
+and valet, had run off to Paris, to look for pay and place under the
+Bourbons. In a similar case in the next year, at the Elys�e Bourbon,
+he found but two counts and an equerry. It was perfectly plain to all
+the world but Napoleon himself that his fate was decided.
+
+There certainly seems to have been something in his conduct at this
+period that can scarcely be accounted for but by infatuation. His
+first act, the desertion of his army, was degrading to his honour, but
+his conduct on his arrival was not less degrading to his sagacity.
+Even his brother Lucien said that he was blinded with the smoke of
+Waterloo. He seems to have utterly lost that distinct view and fierce
+decision which formerly characterised all his conduct. It was no more
+the cannon-shot or the thunder-clap, it was the wavering of a mind
+suddenly perplexed by the difficulties which he would once have solved
+by a sentence and overwhelmed by resistance--which he would have once
+swept away like a swarm of flies. The leader of armies was crushed by
+a conspiracy of clerks, and the sovereign of the Continent was sent to
+the dungeon by cabal of his own slaves.
+
+While Napoleon was thus lingering in the Elys�e Bourbon, the two
+chambers of the Legislature were busily employed between terror and
+intrigue. The time was delicate, for the Bourbons and the Allies were
+approaching. But, on the other hand, the fortunes of Napoleon might
+change; tardiness in recognising the Bourbons might be fatal to their
+hopes of place, but the precipitancy of abandoning Napoleon might
+bring their heads under the knife of the guillotine. All public life
+is experimental, and there never was a time when the experiment was of
+a more tremulous description.
+
+At length they began to act; and the first precaution of the Chamber
+of Deputies was to secure their own existence. Old Lafayette moved a
+resolution, that the man should be regarded as a traitor to the
+country who made any attempt to dissolve the Chamber. This was an
+obvious declaration against the authority of the Empire. The next
+motion was, that General Beker should be appointed commandant of the
+guard ordered to protect the Legislature. This was a provision against
+the mob of Paris. The Legislature was now safe on its two prominent
+perils. In the mean time, Napoleon had made another capital blunder.
+He had held a council of the ministers, to which he proposed the
+question, whether he should proceed in person to the Chamber of
+Deputies, and demand supplies, or send his brothers and ministers to
+make the communication. Three of the ministers approved of his going
+in person, but the majority disapproved of it--on the plea of its
+being a dangerous experiment, in the excited state of the public
+passions. If Napoleon had declined this counsel, which arose from
+either pusillanimity or perfidy, it is perfectly possible that he
+might have silenced all opposition. The known attachment of the
+troops, the superstition connected with his fortunes, the presence of
+the man whom they all so lately worshipped, as the Indians worship the
+serpent for the poison of its fang, might have produced a complete
+revulsion. Napoleon, too, was singularly eloquent--his language had a
+romantic splendour which captivates the artificial taste of the
+nation; and with an imperial figure before them, surrounded with more
+powerful incidents than the drama could ever offer, and threatening a
+fifth act which might involve the fate of France and Europe, the day
+might have finished by a new burst of national enthusiasm, and the
+restoration of Napoleon to the throne, with all his enemies in the
+Legislature chained to its footstool.
+
+But he sent his brother Joseph to the Chamber of Peers, and received
+the answer to his mission next morning, in a proposal which was
+equivalent to a demand for his abdication.
+
+A council of ministers was again held on this proposal. The same three
+who had voted for his presence in the Chamber, now voted for his
+rejection of the proposal. The majority, however, were against them.
+Napoleon yielded to the majority. He had lost his opportunity--and in
+politics opportunity is every thing. He had now nothing more to lose.
+He drew up an acknowledgment of his abdication; but appended to it the
+condition of proclaiming his son, Napoleon Second, emperor of the
+French. This was an artifice, but it was unworthy even of the art of
+Napoleon. He must have been conscious that the Allies would have
+regarded this appointment as a trick to ensure his own restoration.
+His son was yet a child; a regent must have been appointed; Napoleon
+would have naturally been that regent; and in six months, or on the
+first retreat of the Allies, he would as naturally have reappointed
+himself emperor. The trick was too shallow for his sagacity, and it
+was impossible to hope that it could have been suffered by the Allies.
+Yet it passed the Chamber, and Napoleon Second was acknowledged within
+the walls. But the acknowledgment was laughed at without them; the
+Allies did not condescend to notice it; and the Allies proceeded to
+their work of restoration as if he had never existed. In fact, the
+dynasty was at an end; a provisional government was appointed, with
+Fouch� at its head, and the name of Napoleon was pronounced no more.
+
+Count Montholon gives a brief but striking description of the
+confusion, dismay, and despair, into which Waterloo had thrown the
+Bonapartists. He had hurried to the Elys�e a few hours after the
+arrival of Bonaparte from the field. He met the Duke of Vicenza coming
+out, with a countenance of dejection, and asked him what was going on.
+"All is lost," was the answer. "You arrived to-day, as you did at
+Fontainbleau, only to see the emperor resign his crown. The leaders of
+the Chambers desire his abdication. They will have it; and in a week
+Louis XVIII. will be in Paris. At night on the 19th, a short note in
+pencil was left with my Swiss, announcing the destruction of the army.
+The same notice was given to Carnot. The last telegraphic dispatch had
+brought news of victory; we both hastened to the Duke of Otranto; he
+assured us with all his cadaverous coldness that he knew nothing. He
+knew all, however, I am well assured. Events succeeded each other with
+the rapidity of lightning; there is no longer any possible illusion.
+All is lost, and the Bourbons will be here in a week."
+
+The Count remained forty-eight hours at the palace. The fallen Emperor
+had now made up his mind to go to America, and the Count promised to
+accompany him. A couple of regiments, formed of the workmen of the
+Faubourg St Germain, marching by the palace, now demanded that
+Napoleon should put himself at their head, and take vengeance on his
+enemies. But he well knew the figure which the volunteers of the mob
+would make in front of the bayonets which had crushed his guard at
+Waterloo, and he declined the honour of this new command. A few
+courtiers, who adhered to him still, continued to talk of his putting
+himself at the head of the national force. But Waterloo had
+effectually cured him of the passion for soldiership, and he
+constantly appealed to his unwillingness to shed the blood of
+Frenchmen. It was at least evident that he intended to tempt the field
+no more, but after being the cause of shedding the blood of two
+millions of the people, his reserve was romantic.
+
+The Count was sent to dismiss the volunteers, and they having
+performed their act of heroism, and offered to challenge the whole
+British army, were content with the glory of the threat, and
+heroically marched home to their shops.
+
+But Montholon, on returning again, addressed Napoleon on the
+feasibility of attacking Wellington and Blucher with the battalions of
+the Messrs Calicot, upon which the Ex-Emperor made the following
+solemn speech: "To put into action the brute force of the masses,
+would without doubt save Paris, and ensure me the crown, without
+having recourse to the horrors of a civil war. But this would be also
+to risk the shedding of rivers of fresh blood. What is the compressive
+force which would be sufficiently strong to regulate the outburst of
+so much passion, hatred, and vengeance? No, I never can forget one
+thing, that I have been brought from Cannes to Paris in the midst of
+cries for blood, 'Down with the priests!' 'Down with the nobles!' I
+would rather have the regrets of France than possess its crown."
+
+There is no country in the world, where Napoleon's own phrase, that
+from the sublime to the ridiculous is but a step, is more perpetually
+and practically realised than in France. Here was a man utterly
+ruined, without a soldier on the face of the earth, all but a
+prisoner, abandoned by every human being who could be of the slightest
+service to him, beaten in the field, beaten on his own ground, and now
+utterly separated from his remaining troops, and with a hundred
+thousand of the victors rushing after him, hour by hour, to Paris. Yet
+he talks as if he had the world still at his disposal, applauds his
+own magnanimity in declining the impossible combat, vaunts his own
+philosophy in standing still, when he could neither advance nor
+retreat, and gives himself credit as a philanthropist, when he was on
+the very point of being handed over to the enemy as a prisoner. Some
+unaccountable tricks of a lower description now began to be played on
+the goods and chattels of the Elys�e Bourbon. A case containing
+snuff-boxes adorned with portraits set in diamonds, was laid by
+Bertrand on the mantel-piece. He accidentally turned to converse with
+General Montholon at the window. Only one person entered the room. The
+Count does not give his name,--he was evidently a person of rank. On
+turning to the mantel-piece again, the case was gone.
+
+One of the ministers had brought some negotiable paper to the amount
+of several millions of francs into the Emperor's chamber. The packet
+was placed under one of the cushions of the sofa. Only one person, and
+that one a man of rank who had served in Italy, entered the chamber.
+Napoleon went to look for the money, calculated a moment, and a
+million and a half of francs, or about �60,000 sterling, had been
+taken in the interim. Those were times for thievery, and the
+plunderers of Europe were now on the alert, to make spoil of each
+other. The Allies were still advancing, but they were not yet in
+sight; and the mob of Paris, who had been at first delighted to find
+that the war was at an end, having nothing else to do, and thinking
+that, as Wellington and Blucher had not arrived within a week, they
+would not arrive within a century, began to clamour _Vive l'Empereur!_
+Fouch� and the provisional government began to feel alarm, and it was
+determined to keep Napoleon out of sight of the mob. Accordingly they
+ordered him to be taken to Malmaison; and on the 25th, towards
+nightfall, Napoleon submissively quitted the Elys�e, and went to
+Malmaison. At Malmaison he remained for the greater part of the time,
+in evident fear of being put to death, and in fact a prisoner.--Such
+was the fate of the most powerful sovereign that Europe had seen since
+Charlemagne. Such was the humiliation of the conqueror, who, but seven
+years before, had summoned the continental sovereigns to bow down to
+his footstool at Erfurth; and who wrote to Talma the actor these words
+of supreme arrogance--"Come to Erfurth, and you shall play before a
+pit-full of kings."
+
+From this period, day by day, a succession of measures was adopted by
+the government to tighten his chain. He was ordered to set out for the
+coast, nominally with the intention of giving him a passage to
+America. But we must doubt that intention. Fouch�, the head of the
+government, had now thrown off the mask which he had worn so many
+years. And it was impossible for him to expect forgiveness, in case of
+any future return of Napoleon to power. But Napoleon, in America,
+would have been at all times within one-and-twenty days of Paris. And
+the mere probability of his return would have been enough to make many
+a pillow sleepless in Paris. We are to recollect also, that the
+English ministry must have been perfectly aware of the arrest of
+Napoleon; that St Helena had been already mentioned as a place of
+security for his person; and that if it was essential to the safety of
+Europe,--a matter about which Fouch� probably cared but little; it was
+not less essential to the safety of Fouch�'s own neck,--a matter about
+which he always cared very much, that the Ex-Emperor should never set
+foot in France again.
+
+The result was, an order from the minister at war, Davoust, Prince of
+Eckmuhl, couched in the following terms. We give it as a document of
+history.
+
+     "General, I have the honour to transmit to you the subjoined
+     decree, which the commission of government desires you to
+     notify to the Emperor Napoleon: at the same time informing
+     his majesty, that the circumstances are become imperative,
+     and that it is necessary for him immediately to decide on
+     setting out for the Isle of Aix. This decree has been passed
+     as much for the safety of his person as for the interest of
+     the state, which ought always to be dear to him. Should the
+     Emperor not adopt the above mentioned resolution, on your
+     notification of this decree, it will then be your duty to
+     _exercise the strictest surveillance_, both with a view of
+     preventing his majesty from leaving Malmaion, and of guarding
+     against any attempt upon his life. You will station guards at
+     all the approaches to Malmaison. I have written to the
+     inspector-general of the gendarmerie, and to the commandant
+     of Paris, to place such of the gendarmerie and troops as you
+     may require at your disposal.
+
+     "I repeat to you, general, that this decree has been adopted
+     solely for the good of the state, and the personal safety of
+     the Emperor. Its prompt execution is indispensable, as the
+     future fate of his majesty and his family depends upon it. It
+     is unnecessary to say to you, general, that all your measures
+     should be taken with the greatest possible secresy.
+
+            (Signed) "PRINCE OF ECKMUHL,
+                Marshal and Minister of War."
+
+     Those documents, which have now appeared, we believe, for the
+     first time authentically, will be of importance to the
+     historian, and of still higher importance to the moralist.
+     Who could have once believed that the most fiery of soldiers,
+     the most subtle of statesmen and the proudest of sovereigns,
+     would ever be the subject of a rescript like the following?
+     It begins with an absolute command that "Napoleon Bonaparte"
+     (it has already dropped the emperor) "shall remain in the
+     roads of the Isle of Aix till the arrival of passports." It
+     then proceeds:--"It is of importance to the well-being of the
+     state, which should not be indifferent to him, that he should
+     remain till his fate, and that of his family, have been
+     definitively regulated. French honour is interested in such
+     an issue; but in the mean time every precaution should be
+     taken for the personal safety of Napoleon, and that he must
+     not be allowed to leave the place of his present sojourn.
+
+            (Signed) "THE DUKE OF OTRANTO.
+                THE PRINCE OF ECKMUHL."
+
+A similar document was issued to General Beker, signed by Carnot and
+Caulaincourt. Count Montholon remarks, with sufficient justice, on the
+signature of Caulaincourt to this paper, that the Emperor would have
+been extremely astonished to see that name subscribed to a letter in
+which he was called Napoleon--if any thing could have astonished the
+former exile of Elba, and the future exile of St Helena.
+
+This must have been a period of the deepest anxiety to the imperial
+prisoner. He evidently regarded his life as unsafe; thought that he
+discovered in the project of his journey a determination to throw him
+either into the hands of assassins or of the French king, and formally
+announced his refusal to leave Malmaison "until informed of his fate
+by the Duke of Wellington." He was now reduced to the lowest ebb. He
+acknowledged himself powerless, hopeless, and utterly dependent on the
+will of his conqueror. The bitterness of heart which dictated such
+words must have been beyond all description. He was now abandoned by
+the few who had followed him from the Elys�e.
+
+But time was pressing; Wellington was advancing with rapid steps, and
+there was a possibility that he might capture Napoleon at Malmaison.
+Troops were sent to burn the neighbouring bridge, and precautions were
+taken to prevent the catastrophe. A division of the army coming from
+the Vend�e halted before the palace, and insisted on seeing Napoleon,
+and on being led by him to battle. This was rodomontade, with the
+advanced troops of the whole army now within sight of Paris. But it
+was enough to betray him into the absurdity of proposing to try
+another chance for his crown. Beker was dispatched to Paris to try the
+effect of this communication. Fouch� gave for answer, the simple fact
+that the Prussians were advancing on Versailles. The sitting of the
+provisional government would have been worth the hand of a great
+painter. Fouch�, after sharply rebuking the general for bringing in
+his proposal from Malmaison, made him sit down at his side, while he
+wrote a peremptory and decided refusal. Carnot was walking gloomily up
+and down the room. Caulaincourt, Baron Quinette, and General Grenier,
+sat silently around the table. Not a word was uttered except by the
+Duke of Otranto. The general received his dispatch and departed. On
+passing through the anterooms, he found them filled with generals and
+high civil officers, who all expressed but one opinion on the
+necessity of getting rid of Napoleon. "Let him set off, let him go,"
+was the universal cry. "We can undertake nothing for either his
+personal good or Paris." There was now no alternative. Napoleon must
+either remain and fall into the hands of Louis XVIII., who had already
+proclaimed him a traitor and an outlaw, or he must try to make his
+escape by sea. On the 29th of June, at five o'clock in the evening, he
+entered the carriage which was to convey him to the coast, leaving
+Paris behind, to which he was never to return alive, but to which his
+remains have returned in a posthumous triumph twenty-six years after,
+on the 15th of September 1840.
+
+On his arrival at Rochfort, all the talent of the French for projects
+was immediately in full exercise. Never were there so many castles in
+the air built in so short a time. Proposals were made to smuggle the
+prisoner to the United States in a Danish merchant vessel, in which,
+in case of search, he was to be barrelled in a hogshead perforated
+with breathing holes.
+
+Another project was, to put him on board a kind of fishing-boat manned
+by midshipmen, and thus escape the English. A third project proposed,
+that the two French frigates anchored under the guns of the Isle of
+Aix should put to sea together; that one of them should run alongside
+Captain Maitland's ship, and attack her fiercely, with the hope of
+distracting her attention, even with the certainty of being destroyed,
+while the other frigate made her escape with Napoleon on board. This
+is what the French would call a _grande pens�e_, and quite as heroic
+as any thing in a melodrama of the Porte St Martin. But the captain of
+the leading frigate declined the distinction, and evidently thought it
+not necessary that he and his crew should be blown out of the water,
+as they certainly would have been if they came in contact with the
+Bellerophon; so this third project perished.
+
+After a few days of this busy foolery, the prisoner, startled by new
+reports of the success of the Allies every where, and too sagacious
+not to feel that the hands of the French king might be the most
+dangerous into which the murderer of the Duc D'Enghien could fall;
+looking with evident contempt upon the foolish projects for his
+escape, and conscious that his day was done, resolved to throw himself
+into the hands of Captain Maitland, the commander of the Bellerophon,
+then anchored in Basque roads. On the night of the 10th, Savary and
+Las Cases were sent on board the English ship, to inquire whether the
+captain would allow a French or neutral ship, or the frigates with
+Napoleon on board, to pass free? Captain Maitland simply answered,
+that he had received no orders except those ordinarily given in case
+of war; but that he should attack the frigates if they attempted to
+pass; that if a neutral flag came in his way, he would order it to be
+searched as usual. But that, in consequence of the peculiar nature of
+the case, he would communicate with the admiral in command.
+
+A circumstance occurred on this occasion, which brought M. Las Cases
+into no small disrepute afterwards. The captain hospitably asked Las
+Cases and Savary to lunch with him, and, while at table, inquired
+whether they understood English. He was answered that they did not;
+and the captain, though of course relying upon the answer, made his
+observations in English to his officers, while he addressed the
+Frenchman in his own tongue. It was afterwards ascertained that Las
+Cases, who had been an emigrant for some years in England, understood
+English perfectly. Nothing could therefore be more pitiful than his
+conduct in suffering the captain to believe that he was ignorant on
+the subject, and thus obtain a confidence to which he had no right.
+The circumstance, as Count Montholon says,--"was afterwards made a
+bitter reproach against Las Cases; the English charging him with a
+violation of honour; because, as they affirmed, he had positively
+declared that he was unacquainted with their language, when the
+question was put to him at the commencement of the conference. This,
+however," says Count Montholon, "is not correct." And how does he show
+that it is not correct? "The question," says he, "was put
+collectively, that is, to both alike, and Savary alone answered in the
+negative." Of course the answer was understood collectively, and
+comprised M. Las Cases as well as M. Savary. In short, the conduct was
+contemptible, and the excuse not much better. Las Cases, of course,
+should not have allowed any other person's word to be taken, when it
+led to a delusion. It is _possible_ that Savary was unacquainted with
+his companion's knowledge of English,--though when we recollect that
+Savary was minister of police, and that Las Cases was about the court
+of Napoleon, it is difficult to conceive his ignorance on the subject.
+But in all instances, there could be no apology for his
+fellow-Frenchman's sitting to hear conversations of which he was
+supposed, on the credit of Savary's word, and his own silence, to
+comprehend nothing.
+
+It happily turns out, however, that all this _dexterity_ had only the
+effect of blinding the parties themselves.
+
+"This mystification and piece of diplomatic chicanery"--we use the
+language of the volume--"proved, in fact, rather detrimental than
+useful; for, no doubt, the information thus gained by _surprise_ from
+Captain Maitland and his officers, contributed to induce the Emperor
+to decide on surrendering himself to the English." The captain was too
+honourable a man to think of practising any chicane on the subject;
+but if the two _employ�s_ overreached themselves, so much the better.
+
+But events now thickened. On the 12th, the Paris journals arrived,
+announcing the entrance of the Allies into Paris, and the
+establishment of Louis XVIII. in the Tuileries! All was renewed
+confusion, consternation, and projects. On the next day Joseph
+Bonaparte came to the Isle of Aix, to propose the escape of his fallen
+brother in a merchant vessel from Bordeaux, for America, and remain in
+his place. This offer was generous, but it could scarcely be accepted
+by any human being, and it was refused. But delay was becoming doubly
+hazardous. It was perfectly possible that the first measure of the new
+government would be an order for his seizure, and the next, for his
+execution. On that evening he decided to accept the offer of the
+_chasse-mar�es_, to go on board before morning, and trust to the young
+midshipmen and chance for his passage across the Atlantic.
+
+We know no history more instructive than these "last days" of a
+fugitive Emperor. That he might have escaped a week before, is
+certain, for the harbour was not then blockaded; that he might have
+made his way among the channels of that very difficult and obstructed
+coast even after the blockade, is possible; that he might have found
+his way, by a hundred roads, out of France, or reached the remnant of
+his armies, is clear, for all his brothers escaped by land. But that
+he still hesitated--and alone hesitated; that this man--the most
+memorable for decision, famed for promptitude, for the discovery of
+the true point of danger, daring to the height of rashness, when
+daring was demanded--should have paused at the very instant when his
+fate seemed to be in his own hand, more resembles a preternatural loss
+of faculty than the course of nature. His whole conduct on the shore
+of France is to be equalled only by his conduct among the ashes of
+Moscow,--it was infatuation.
+
+Again the man of decision hesitated; and at four in the morning
+General Lallemand and Las Cases were sent on board the Bellerophon
+under the pretext of waiting for the admiral's answer, but in reality
+to ascertain whether the captain would express _officially_ any pledge
+or opinion relative to Napoleon's favourable reception in England;
+which Las Cases had conceived him to express in his conversation with
+his officers, and of which this M. Las Cases was supposed not to have
+understood a syllable.
+
+Captain Maitland's answer was distinct and simple. It was, "that he
+had yet received no information, but hourly expected it; that he was
+authorized to receive Napoleon on board, and convey him to England,
+where, according to his own opinion, he would receive all the
+attention and respect to which he could lay any claim." But, to
+prevent all presumptions on the subject, adding--"I am anxious that it
+should be well understood, that I am expressing only my personal
+opinion on this subject, and have in no respect spoken in the name of
+the government, having received _no_ instructions from either the
+admiralty or the admiral."
+
+It is almost painful to contemplate these scenes. What agonies must
+have passed through the heart of such a man, so humbled! What
+inevitable contrasts of the throne with the dungeon! What sense of
+shame in the humiliation which thus placed him at the disposal of his
+own few followers! What sleepless anxiety in those midnight
+consultations, in those exposures to public shame, in this sense of
+utter ruin, in this terrible despair! If some great painter shall
+hereafter rise to vindicate the pencil by showing its power of
+delineating the deepest passions of our nature, or some still greater
+poet shall come to revive the day of Shakspeare, and exhibit the
+tortures of a greater Macbeth, fallen from the highest elevation of
+human things into a depth of self-reproach and self-abasement to which
+all the powers of human language might be pale,--what a subject for
+them were here!
+
+The theatrical habits of the French are singularly unfortunate for a
+nation which assumes to take an influential rank in the world. They
+deprive them of that capacity for coping with real things which is
+essential to all substantial greatness. With them the business of the
+world must be all melodrame, and the most commonplace, or the most
+serious actions of life, must be connected with scene-shifting,
+trap-doors, and the mimic thunders of the stage. Napoleon was now in a
+condition the most deeply calculated to force these stern realities of
+life on the mind. Yet even with him all was to be dramatic; he was to
+throw himself on the clemency of his conqueror, like one of the heroes
+of Corneille. England was to stand in admiration of his magnanimous
+devotedness. The sovereign was to receive him with astonishment and
+open arms, and, after an embrace of royal enthusiasm, he was to be
+placed in secure splendour, cheered by the acclamations of a people
+hastening to do him homage. In this false and high-coloured view of
+things, he wrote the famous and absurd note, in which he pronounced
+himself another Themistocles, come to sit by the hearth of the British
+people. A manlier, because a more rational view of things, would have
+told him that a war, expressly begun with a determination to overthrow
+his dynasty, could not be suffered to conclude by giving him the power
+of again disturbing the world--that his utter faithlessness prohibited
+the possibility of relying on his pledges--the security of the Bourbon
+throne absolutely demanded his being finally disabled from disturbing
+its authority--England owed it to her allies to prevent a repetition
+of the numberless calamities which his reign had inflicted upon
+Europe, and owed it to herself to prevent all necessity for the havoc
+of a new Waterloo.
+
+The national passion for a _coup de th��tre_ rendered all this
+knowledge of no avail, and he flung himself at the feet of the Prince
+Regent, with the flattering phraseology of claiming protection "from
+the most powerful, the most constant, and the most generous of his
+enemies."
+
+The step was now taken. On the 15th of July, at daybreak, he left the
+Isle of Aix, and entered one of the boats which was to convey him on
+board the Bellerophon. He had still a parting pang to undergo. As he
+looked round the shore, a white flag was flying on all the ships and
+batteries. All the rest of this curious narrative has been already
+given to the world. We have no desire to repeat the details.
+
+Count Montholon, in his fondness for excitement, here states that a
+privy council was held on the question, whether the terms of the
+Congress of Vienna prevented England from giving up Napoleon to the
+vengeance of Louis XVIII., adding that "the dispatches of the Duke of
+Wellington urged them to adopt bloody and terrible determinations."
+This we utterly disbelieve; and, if we required additional reasons for
+our disbelief, it would be in the Count's telling us that the
+energetic opposition of the Duke of Sussex alone prevented the
+delivery of the prisoner--there not being perhaps any prince, or any
+individual of England, less likely to have weight in the councils of
+the existing government.
+
+Without presuming to trace the steps of Providence, it is natural and
+not unwise to follow them in those leading transactions which give
+character to their times, or which complete events decisive of the
+fates of eminent men or nations. One of the most characteristic and
+abhorred acts of the entire life of the French Emperor, was his
+imprisonment of the English who were travelling in his country at the
+commencement of his reign. The act was the most treacherous within
+human record--it was perfidy on the largest scale. Europe had been
+often scandalised by breaches of political faith, but the agents and
+the sufferers were sovereigns and nations. But in this instance the
+blow fell upon individuals with the most sudden treachery, the most
+causeless tyranny, and the most sweeping ruin. Twelve thousand
+individuals, travelling under the protection of the imperial laws,
+wholly incapable of being regarded by those laws as prisoners, and
+relying on the good faith of the government, were seized as felons,
+put under duress, separated from their families in England, suddenly
+deprived of their means of existence, stopt in the progress of their
+professions, plundered of their property, and kept under the most
+vigilant surveillance for eleven years.
+
+The retribution now fell, and that retribution exactly in the form of
+the crime by which it was drawn down. We give a few extracts of the
+document by which Napoleon protested against his detention, as a most
+complete, though unconscious indictment against his own act eleven
+years before.
+
+Protest at sea, on board the Bellerophon, August 1815--"In the face of
+God and man, I solemnly protest against the injury which has been
+committed upon me, by the violation of my most sacred rights, in
+forcibly disposing of _my person and liberty_.
+
+"I came freely on board the Bellerophon, and _am not a prisoner_,--I
+am the _guest of England_.
+
+"I presented myself in good faith, and came to place myself under the
+protection of the laws of England. As soon as I set my foot on board
+the Bellerophon, I felt myself on the soil of the British people. If
+the orders issued by the government to receive myself and my suite
+were merely intended as a snare, then they have _forfeited their
+bond_. If such an act were really done, it would be in vain for
+England in future to speak of her faith, her laws, and her liberty.
+
+"She pretended to offer _the hand of hospitality_ to an enemy, _and
+when he had trusted to her fidelity_, she immolated him."
+
+If the _detenus_ at Verdun, and scattered through the various
+fortresses of France, had drawn up a petition against the desperate
+act which had consigned them to captivity, they might have anticipated
+the language with which Napoleon went to the dungeon, that was never
+to send him back again amongst mankind.
+
+There was but one preliminary to his departure now to take place. It
+was the execution of an order from the Government to examine the
+baggage in the strictest manner, and to require the surrender of all
+money or jewels of value in the possession of Napoleon and his suite.
+Necessary as this act was, for the prevention of bribery, and attempts
+to escape from St Helena, not for any undue seizure of private
+property, for a most ample allowance was already appointed by the
+government for the expenses of the prisoner, this duty seems to have
+been most imperfectly performed. As the Count tells us, "the
+grand-marshal, gave up 4000 Napoleons, as constituting the Emperor's
+chest. We kept secret about 400,000 francs in gold--from three to four
+hundred thousand francs in valuables and diamonds, and letters of
+credit for more than four million of francs." Whether this immense sum
+was overlooked by the extraordinary negligence of those whose duty it
+was to fulfil the orders of government, or whether their search was
+baffled, the narrative does not disclose. But there can be no question
+that the suite were bound to deliver up all that they possessed; and
+that there can be as little question that with such sums of money at
+his disposal, Napoleon's subsequent complaints of poverty were
+ridiculous, and that the subsequent sale of his plate to supply his
+table was merely for the purpose of exciting a clamour, and was
+charlatanish and contemptible.
+
+We pass rapidly over the details of the voyage. Napoleon spent a
+considerable part of his time on the quarter-deck, took opportunities
+of conversing affably with the officers, and even with the crew. On one
+occasion, after some conversation with the master, he invited him to
+dine at the admiral's table. The master declined the invitation, as a
+sin against naval etiquette. "Oh! in that case," said Napoleon, "you
+must come and dine in my own cabin." The admiral, however, had the good
+sense to tell Napoleon, that any one invited by him to the honour of
+sitting at his table, was, by that circumstance alone, placed above all
+rule of etiquette, and that the master should be welcome to dinner next
+day. This conduct, of course, made him very popular on board; but the
+chief interest of these important volumes is in the conversations which
+he held from time to time with the officers, and especially in the long
+details of his military and imperial career, which he dictated at St
+Helena, and which make the true novelty and value of the work. In one
+of those conversations which he had with them, he referred emphatically
+to his own efforts to make France a great naval power. "Unfortunately,"
+said he, "I found nobody who understood me. During the expedition to
+Egypt, I cast my eyes on Decr�s. I reckoned on him for understanding
+and executing my projects in regard to the navy. I was mistaken; his
+passion was to form a police, and to find out, by means of the
+smugglers, every web which your ministers, or the intriguers of
+Hartwell, were weaving against me. He had no enlarged ideas; always the
+spirit of locality and insignificant detail--paralysing my views." He
+then proceeded to state the hopeless condition of the French navy when
+he assumed the throne. The navy of Louis XVI. was no longer in
+existence; the Republic possessed but four ships of the line; the
+taking of Toulon, the battle of the river Jenes in 1793--of Rochefort
+in 1794, and finally, the battle of Aboukir, had given the death-blow
+to the navy. "Well, notwithstanding the disaster of Trafalgar, which I
+owe entirely to the disobedience of Admiral Villeneuve, I left to
+France one hundred ships of the line, and 80,000 sailors and marines,
+and all this in a reign of ten years." The truth is, that the attempt
+to make the French navy was one of the pre-eminent blunders of
+Napoleon. France is naturally a great military power, but her people
+are not maritime. England is not naturally a great military power, but
+her people are maritime. France has an immense land frontier which can
+be defended only by a land force. England has no land frontier at all.
+The sea is her only frontier, and it, of course, can be defended only
+by a fleet. A fleet is not a necessary of existence to France. A fleet
+is a necessary of existence to England. It is therefore self-evident
+that France only wastes her power in dividing it between her fleet and
+her army; and may be a great power, without having a ship; while
+England is compelled to concentrate her strength upon her fleet, and
+without her fleet must be undone. Thus the law of existence, which is
+equivalent to a law of nature, gives the naval superiority to England.
+There are symptoms in France at the present day, of falling into
+Napoleon's blunder, and of imagining the possibility of her becoming
+the naval rival of England. That she may build ships is perfectly
+possible, and that she may crowd them with a naval conscription is
+equally possible. But the first collision will show her the utter folly
+of contending with her partial strength against the power on which
+England rests her defence--a struggle between a species of volunteer
+and adventurous aggression, and the stern and desperate defence in
+which the safety of a nation is supremely involved.
+
+On crossing the Line, the triumph of Neptune was celebrated in the
+usual grotesque style. The Deity of the Sea requested permission to
+make acquaintance with Napoleon, who received him graciously, and
+presented him with five hundred Napoleons for himself and the crew,
+upon which he was rewarded with three cheers, and "Long live the
+Emperor Napoleon!"
+
+On the 16th of October 1815, the Northumberland cast anchor in the
+roads at St Helena. The Count remarks that the 17th, the day on which
+he disembarked, reminded him of a disastrous day. It was the
+anniversary of the last day of the battle of Leipsig. If distance from
+all the habitable parts of the globe were to be the merits of
+Napoleon's prison, nothing could have been more appropriate than the
+island of St Helena. It was two thousand leagues from Europe, twelve
+hundred leagues from the Cape, and nine hundred from any continent. A
+volcanic rock in the centre of the ocean.
+
+In the month of April, the frigate Phaeton anchored in the roads,
+having the new governor, Sir Hudson Lowe, with his family, on board.
+Sir Hudson is now where neither praise nor blame can reach him, but
+the choice was unfortunate in the very point for which probably he had
+been chosen;--he had been colonel of the Corsican regiment in our
+service, had served much in the Mediterranean, and had already been
+(as far as we remember) the object of Napoleon's bitterness in some of
+his Italian manifestoes. There can be no doubt that the mildest of
+governors would have been no favourite with the prisoner of Longwood.
+But in the present instance Napoleon's blood boiled at the idea of
+being placed under the jurisdiction of the colonel of the Corsican
+rangers; and he, accordingly, took every opportunity of exhibiting his
+indignation--a sort of feeling which, in a foreigner, and especially
+one of southern blood, always amounts to fury.
+
+We pass over a multitude of minor circumstances, though all
+characteristic, and all invaluable to the historian of the next
+century; but which would retard the more interesting conversations of
+the extraordinary captive. On the communication of the convention
+signed at Paris in August 1815, declaring him the prisoner of the four
+allied powers, and the announcement of the commissioners under whose
+charge he was to be placed, Napoleon burst out into a passionate
+remonstrance, which, however, he addressed only to the people around
+him. On those occasions he always adopted that abrupt and decisive
+style which in a Frenchman passes for oracular.
+
+"The expenses of my captivity will certainly exceed ten millions of
+francs a-year. It has not been the will of fate that my work should
+finish by effecting the social reorganisation of Europe." He then ran
+into his old boasting of his probable triumph in his great collision
+with the British army. "At Waterloo I ought to have been
+victorious--the chances were a hundred to one in my favour; but Ney,
+the bravest of the brave, at the head of 42,000 Frenchmen, suffered
+himself to be delayed a whole day by some thousands of Nassau troops.
+Had it not been for this inexplicable inactivity, the English army
+would have been taken _flagrante delicto_, and annihilated without
+striking a blow. Grouchy, with 40,000 men, suffered Bulow and Blucher
+to escape from him; and finally, a heavy fall of rain had made the
+ground so soft that it was impossible to commence the attack at
+daybreak. Had I been able to commence early, Wellington's army would
+have been trodden down in the defiles of the forest before the
+Prussians could have had time to arrive. It was lost without resource.
+The defeat of Wellington's army would have been peace, the repose of
+Europe, the recognition of the interests of the masses and of the
+democracy."
+
+Napoleon was always fluent on this subject; but the only true matter
+of surprise is, that so clever a personage should have talked such
+nonsense. In the first place, he must have known that Ney with his
+40,000 men had been soundly beaten by about half that number, and was
+thus unable to move a step beyond Quatre-Bras. In the next, that
+Grouchy, instead of suffering the Prussians to escape him, was
+gallantly fought by their rear-guard, was unable to make any
+impression whatever on them, and if he had not made his escape in the
+night, would unquestionably have been crushed to pieces the next day;
+and thirdly, as to the English armies being saved by the rain, the
+Duke of Wellington fought the French from eleven in the forenoon till
+seven in the evening without being driven an inch from the ground. If
+the French could not beat him in eight hours, they could not beat him
+in as many days. It was not until seven in the evening that the
+Prussian guns were heard coming into the field. Even then they were a
+mile and a half from Wellington's position. The British then charged,
+swept the French before them, Napoleon himself running away amongst
+the foremost, leaving 40,000 of his troops on the field or in the
+hands of the enemy. It would have been much wiser to have said not a
+syllable upon the battle, or much manlier to have acknowledged that he
+was more thoroughly beaten than he had ever seen an army beaten
+before; and that with 72,000 French veterans in the field, he had been
+routed and ruined by 25,000 British, three-fourths of whom had never
+fired a shot before in their lives.
+
+We have from time to time some curious acknowledgments of the
+political treacheries which formed the actual system of Napoleon's
+government, whether consular or imperial. On dictating a note relative
+to St Domingo to Count Montholon, he elucidated this policy in the
+most unequivocal manner. It will be remembered that, on the peace of
+Amiens, he had sent out a powerful fleet and an army of thirty
+thousand men to the West Indies. It will also be remembered, that in
+reply to the remonstrance of the British government, who naturally
+looked on so formidable an armament with considerable suspicion, the
+First Consul disclaimed in the most solemn manner all sinister views,
+pronounced, with every appearance of sincerity, that his sole object
+was the subjection of a French island then in revolt, and when this
+object was effected his whole purpose would be accomplished. But in St
+Helena, where candour cost nothing, he amply acknowledged the
+treachery. "I had two plans," said he, "for St Domingo. The first was
+that of acknowledging the power of the blacks, making Toussaint
+L'Ouverture governor, and, in fact, making St Domingo a West Indian
+vice-royalty. This plan was my favourite, and why? The French flag
+would acquire a great development of power in the American waters,
+and a variety of expeditions might have been undertaken against
+Jamaica and all the Antilles, and against South America, with an army
+of thirty thousand blacks trained and disciplined by French officers."
+
+We are to remember that at this time he was at peace with both England
+and Spain, whose territories he was thus about to dismember; for we
+cannot believe that the affairs of St Domingo were suffered greatly to
+occupy his mind. In the busy days from Marengo to the loss of Egypt,
+and the conclusion of peace, he had intended to have raised an
+universal negro insurrection in our islands. Upon the colours of his
+negro army he was to have inscribed "Brave blacks, remember that
+France alone recognises your liberty"--which would have been, in fact,
+a manifesto, calling upon all the negroes of the West Indies to revolt
+without delay. But the negroes of St Domingo, having formed plans of
+liberty for themselves, dispatched one of their colonels with a demand
+of independence. The chance, therefore, of invading Jamaica through
+their means was extinguished at once, and France was punished by the
+loss of her greatest colony for ever.
+
+In a conversation with Colonel Wilks, the ex-governor, on taking his
+leave, he told him that India had been constantly an object of his
+policy--that he had constantly assailed it by negotiations, and would
+have reached it by arms, had he been able to come to an understanding
+with the Emperor of Russia on the partition of Turkey. He then talked
+of his constant wish for peace--a declaration which the colonel
+probably received with a smile; and next disclosed a transaction,
+which, on any other authority, would have been incredible, but which
+amounted to perhaps the boldest and broadest piece of bribery ever
+attempted with a distinguished minister.
+
+While the French army was still on the right bank of the Elbe, the
+offer of the Austrian mediation was brought by Prince Metternich,
+demanding, as a preliminary, the abandonment of the great German
+fortresses which still remained in French hands.
+
+"I said to Metternich with indignation," are the words of this
+singular conference--"Is it my father-in-law who entertains such a
+project? Is it he who sends you to me? How much has England _given
+you_, to induce you to play this game against me? Have I not done
+enough for your fortune? It is of no consequence--be _frank_--what is
+it _you wish_? If _twenty millions_ will not satisfy you, say _what
+you wish_?"
+
+He adds, that on this scandalous offer of corruption, Metternich's
+sudden sullenness and total silence recalled him to a sense of what he
+had just expressed, and that thenceforth he had found this great
+minister wholly impracticable. Who can wonder that he did so, or that
+the offer was regarded as the deepest injury by a man of honour? But
+Napoleon's conception of the matter, to the last, was evidently not
+that he had committed an act of bribery, but that he had "mistaken his
+man." "It was," as Fouch� observed, "_worse_ than a crime, it was a
+_blunder_."
+
+One of the absurdities of the crowd who collected anecdotes of
+Napoleon, was a perpetual affectation of surprise that he should not
+have terminated his imprisonment by his own hand. He was conscious of
+the imputation, and it seems to have formed the occasional subject of
+his thoughts. But his powerful understanding soon saw through the
+sophistry of that species of dramatic heroism, by which a man escapes
+"with a bare bodkin" all the duties and responsibilities of his being.
+
+"I have always regarded it," said he, "as a maxim, that a man exhibits
+more real courage by supporting calamities, and resisting misfortunes,
+than by putting an end to his life. Self-destruction is the act of a
+gambler who has lost all, or that of a ruined spendthrift, and proves
+nothing but a want of courage."
+
+The attempts to prove that Napoleon wanted personal intrepidity were
+at all times childish. His whole career in his Italian campaigns was
+one of personal exposure, and from the period when he rose into civil
+eminence, he had other responsibilities than those of the mere
+general. His life was no longer his own; it was the keystone of the
+government. Whether as consul or as emperor, his fall would have
+brought down along with it the whole fabric on which the fate of so
+many others immediately depended. It is, however, certain, that his
+courage was not chivalric, that no gallant fit of glory ever tempted
+him beyond the necessary degree of peril, and that he calculated the
+gain and loss of personal enterprise with too nice a view as to the
+balance of honour and advantage. A man of higher mind--an emperor who
+had not forgot that he was a general, would never have deserted his
+perishing army in Poland; an emperor who had not forgot that he was a
+soldier, would never have sent his Imperial guard, shouting, to
+massacre, and stayed himself behind. But to expect this devotion of
+courage is to expect a spirit which Napoleon never exhibited; and
+which is singular among the military exploits of the south. Napoleon
+might have commanded at Platea, but he would never have died at
+Thermopyl�.
+
+In days like ours, which begin to familiarize men with the chances of
+political convulsion, it may be well worth while to listen to the
+conceptions of one who better knew the nature of the French Revolution
+than perhaps any among the great actors of the time. Napoleon was
+sitting by his fireside, in St Helena, on the 3d of September:--
+
+     "To-day," said he, "is the anniversary of a hideous
+     remembrance, the St Bartholomew of the French Revolution--a
+     bloody stain, which was the act of the Commune of Paris, a
+     rival power of the Legislature, which built its strength upon
+     the _dregs of the passions of the people_. * *
+
+     We must acknowledge, that there has been no political change
+     without a fit of popular vengeance, as soon as, _for any
+     cause whatever_, the mass of the people _enter into action_.
+     * *
+
+     General rule:--_No social revolution without terror!_ Every
+     revolution is in principle a _revolt_, which time and success
+     ennoble and render legal; but of which terror has been one of
+     the _inevitable phases_. How, indeed, can we understand, that
+     one could say to those who possess fortune and public
+     situations, 'Begone, and leave us your fortunes and your
+     situations,' without first intimidating them, and rendering
+     any defence impossible? The Reign of Terror began, in fact,
+     on the night of the 4th of August, when privileges, nobility,
+     tithes, the remains of the feudal system, and the fortunes of
+     the clergy, were done away with, and _all those remains of
+     the old monarchy_ were thrown to the people. Then only did
+     the people understand the Revolution, because they gained
+     something, and wished to keep it, even at the expense of
+     blood."
+
+This language is memorable. It ought to be a lesson to England.
+Napoleon here pronounces, that the great stimulant of political
+revolution is public robbery. Privileges may be the pretence, but the
+real object is plunder; and the progress of reason may be alleged as
+the instrument, but the true weapon is terror. In England, we are
+preparing the way for a total change. The groundwork of a revolution
+is laid from hour to hour; the Aristocracy, the Church, the landed
+proprietors, are made objects of popular libel, only preparatory to
+their being made objects of popular assault. The League has not yet
+taken upon it the office of the Commune of Paris, nor have the nobles,
+the clergy, and the bankers, been massacred in the prisons; but when
+once the popular passions are kindled by the hopes of national
+plunder, the revolution will have begun, and then farewell to the
+constitution. The habits of England, we willingly allow, are opposed
+to public cruelty; and in the worst excesses, the France of 1793 would
+probably leave us behind. But the principle in every nation is the
+same--the possessors of property will resist, the plunderers of
+property will fight; conflicting banners will be raised, and, after
+desperate struggles, the multitude will be the masters of the land.
+
+There can be nothing more evident, than that some of the leaders in
+these new movements contemplate the overthrow of the monarchy. There
+may be mere dupes in their ranks, the spirit of money-making may be
+the temper of others; but there are darker minds among them which
+scarcely condescend to conceal their intentions. The presidentship of
+a British republic would be not without its charms for the demagogue;
+and the bloody revolution of 1641, might rapidly find its still more
+sanguinary counterpart in the revolution of the nineteenth century. We
+have the history in the annals of France, and the commentator is the
+"child and champion of Jacobinism"--Napoleon.
+
+His impression that revolution always fixed its especial object in
+plunder, found another authority in one of the peculiar agents of
+public disturbance. "Barr�re," said Napoleon, "affirmed, and truly,
+_Le peuple bat monnaie sur la place Louis XV._" ("The people coin
+money in the square of Louis XV.")--alluding to the guillotine, which
+enriched the treasury by the death of the nobles, whose wealth became
+the property of the nation.
+
+He proceeded, with equal decision and truth: "A revolution is always,
+whatever some may think, one of the greatest misfortunes with which
+the Divine anger can punish a nation. It is the scourge of the
+generation which brings it about; and for a long course of years, even
+a century, it is the misfortune of all, though it may be the advantage
+of individuals."
+
+Napoleon spent the chief portion of his time in dictating the
+recollections of his government, and general defences of his conduct.
+Those dictations were sometimes written down by Montholon, and
+sometimes by Las Cases. But in November 1816, an order was issued for
+the arrest of Las Cases, and his dismissal from the island, in
+consequence of his attempting to send, without the knowledge of the
+governor, a letter to Prince Lucien, sowed up in the clothes of a
+mulatto. This arrest made a prodigious noise among the household of
+Napoleon, and was turned to good advantage in England, as an instance
+of the cruelty of his treatment. Yet it seems perfectly probable that
+the whole was a trick of the Ex-emperor himself, and a mere
+contrivance for the purpose of sending to Europe Las Cases as an agent
+in his service.
+
+The security of Napoleon's imprisonment was essential to the peace of
+Europe; and no precaution could be justly regarded as severe, which
+prevented an outbreak so hazardous to the quiet of the world. Among
+those precautions, was the strictest prohibition of carrying on any
+correspondence with Europe, except through the hands of the governor.
+The whole household were distinctly pledged to the observance of this
+order, and any infraction of it was to be punished by instant arrest
+and deportation from the island.
+
+An order had been sent from England to reduce the number of the
+household by four domestics; and it seems not improbable that
+Napoleon's craft was suddenly awakened to the prospect of establishing
+a confidential intercourse with the faction whom he had left behind.
+But the four domestics were obviously inadequate to this object, and
+some person of higher condition was necessary. Las Cases some time
+before had attempted to send a letter to Europe by the mulatto. The
+fellow had been detected, and was threatened with a flogging if he
+repeated the experiment; yet it was to this same mulatto that Las
+Cases committed another letter, which the mulatto immediately carried
+to the governor, and Las Cases was arrested in consequence. Napoleon
+was instantly indignant, and vented his rage against the cruelty of
+the arrest, at the same time expressing his scorn at the clumsiness of
+Las Cases in delivering his letter to so awkward a messenger. But,
+whatever might be his pretended wonder at the want of dexterity in the
+Count, it was exceeded by his indignation at the conduct of the
+governor. "Longwood," he writes in a long and formal protest against
+his detention, "is wrapped in a veil which he would fain make
+impenetrable, in order to hide _criminal_ conduct. This peculiar care
+to conceal matters gives room to suspect the most _odious
+intentions_." This was obviously a hint that the governor's purpose
+was to put him secretly to death: a hint which neither Napoleon nor
+any other human being could have believed.
+
+But in alluding to the arrest of the Count, he touches closely on the
+acknowledgment of the intrigue.
+
+     "I looked through the window," he said, "and saw them taking
+     you away. A numerous staff pranced about you. I imagined I
+     saw some South Sea Islanders dancing round the prisoners
+     whom they were about to devour!" After this Italian
+     extravaganza, he returns to his object. "Your services were
+     necessary to me. You alone could read, speak, and understand
+     English. Nevertheless, I request you, and in case of need,
+     command you, to require the governor _to send you to the
+     Continent_. He _cannot refuse_, because he has no power over
+     you, except through the voluntary document which you signed.
+     It would be great _consolation to me_ to know that you were
+     on your way to more happy countries."
+
+This letter was carried by Bertrand to the governor for Las Cases, and
+"the wished-for effect was produced on Sir Hudson Lowe, as soon as he
+saw the terms in which the Emperor expressed his regret." We are
+fairly entitled to doubt the sincerity of the wish; for on Sir
+Hudson's offering to let Las Cases remain at Longwood, a new obstacle
+instantly arose,--the Count declared that "to remain was utterly
+impossible;" his honour was touched; he absolutely must go; or, as
+Count Montholon describes this happy punctilio,--"Unfortunately, Las
+Cases, influenced by extreme susceptibility of honour, thought himself
+_bound to refuse_ the governor's offer. He felt himself too deeply
+outraged by the insult; he explained this to the grand-marshal, and we
+were obliged to renounce the hope of seeing him again." Then came the
+finale of this diplomatic farce. "It was in vain that the Emperor sent
+Bertrand and Gourgaud to persuade him to renounce his determination;
+_he was resolved to leave the island_; and on the 29th of December
+1816, he quitted St Helena."
+
+We have but little doubt that the whole was a mystification. The gross
+folly of sending a secret dispatch by the same man of colour who had
+been detected by the governor, and threatened with punishment for the
+attempt to convey a letter; the bustle made on the subject at
+Longwood; the refusal of Las Cases to comply with Napoleon's request
+to remain, which, if it had been sincere, would have been equivalent
+to a command; and the conduct of Las Cases immediately on his arrival
+Europe, his publications and activity, amply show the object of his
+return. But a simple arrangement on the governor's part disconcerted
+the whole contrivance. Instead of transmitting Las Cases to Europe,
+Sir Hudson Lowe sent him to the Cape; where he was further detained,
+until permission was sent from England for his voyage to Europe. On
+his arrival, Napoleon's days were already numbered, and all dexterity
+was in vain. We have adverted to this transaction chiefly for the
+credit which it reflects on the governor. It shows his vigilance to
+have been constantly necessary; it also shows him to have been willing
+to regard Napoleon's convenience when it was possible; and it further
+shows that he was not destitute of the sagacity which was so fully
+required in dealing with the _coterie_ at Longwood.
+
+Napoleon's habits of dictating his memoirs must have been formidable
+toil to his secretaries. He sometimes dictated for twelve or fourteen
+hours, with scarcely an intermission. He spoke rapidly, and it was
+necessary to follow him as rapidly as he spoke, and never to make him
+repeat the last word. His first dictation was a mere revival of his
+recollections, without any order. The copy of his first dictation
+served as notes to the second, and the copy of this second became the
+subject of his personal revision; but he, unfortunately for his
+transcribers, made his corrections almost always in pencil, as he thus
+avoided staining his fingers--no woman being more careful in
+preserving the delicacy of her hands.
+
+Those dictations must be regarded as the studied defences of Napoleon
+against the heavy charges laid against his government.
+
+We have now given a general glance at the career of the French
+Emperor, as exhibited to us in these Recollections. He strikingly
+showed, in all the details of his government, the characteristics of
+his own nature. Impetuous, daring, and contemptuous of the feelings of
+mankind, from the first hour of his public life, his government was,
+like himself, the model of fierceness, violence, and disregard of
+human laws. Whatever was to him an object of ambition, was instantly
+in his grasp; whatever he seized was made the instrument of a fresh
+seizure; and whatever he possessed he mastered in the fullest spirit
+of tyranny. He was to be supreme; the world was to be composed of
+_his_ soldiery, his serfs, courtiers, and tools. The earth was to be
+only an incalculable population of French slaves. There was to be but
+one man free upon the globe, and that man Napoleon.
+
+We find, in this romance of power, the romance of his education. It
+has been often said, that he was Oriental in all his habits. His plan
+of supremacy bore all the stamp of Orientalism--the solitary pomp, the
+inflexible will, the unshared power, and the inexorable revenge. The
+throne of the empire was as isolated as the seraglio. It was
+surrounded by all the strength of terror and craft, more formidable
+than battlements and bastions. Its interior was as mysterious as its
+exterior was magnificent; no man was suffered to approach it but as
+soldier or slave; its will was heard only by the roaring of cannon;
+the overthrow of a minister, the proclamation of a war, or the
+announcement of a dynasty crushed and a kingdom overrun, were the only
+notices to Europe of the doings within that central place of power.
+
+But, with all the genius of Napoleon, he overlooked the true
+principles of supremacy. All power must be pyramidal to be secure. The
+base must not only be broad, but the gradations of the pile must be
+regular to the summit. With Napoleon the pyramid was inverted--it
+touched the earth but in one point; and the very magnitude of the mass
+resting upon his single fortune, exposed it to overthrow at the first
+change of circumstances.
+
+Still, he was an extraordinary being. No man of Europe has played so
+memorable a part on the great theatre of national events for the last
+thousand years. The French Revolution had been the palpable work of
+Providence, for the punishment of a long career of kingly guilt,
+consummated by an unparalleled act of perfidy, the partition of
+Poland. The passions of men had been made the means of punishing the
+vices of government. When the cup was full, Napoleon was sent to force
+it upon the startled lips of Prussia, Austria, and Russia. The three
+conspirators were crushed in bloody encounters--the capitals of the
+three were captured--the provinces of the three were plundered--and
+the military pride of the three was humiliated by contemptuous and
+bitter conditions of peace.
+
+But, when the destined work was done, the means were required no more.
+When the victims were broken on the wheel, the wheel and the
+executioner were alike hurried from the sight of man. The empire of
+France was extinguished by the same sovereign law which had permitted
+its existence. The man who had guided the empire in its track of
+devastation--the soul of all its strength, of its ambition, and its
+evil--was swept away. And as if for the final moral of human
+arrogance, France was subjected to a deeper humiliation than had been
+known in the annals of national reverses since the fall of Rome; and
+the ruler of France was plunged into a depth of defeat, a bitterness
+of degradation, an irreparable ruin, of which the civilized world
+possesses no example. His army destroyed in Russia by the hand of Him
+who rules the storm--the last forces of his empire massacred in
+Belgium--his crown struck off by the British sword--his liberty
+fettered by British chains--the remnant of his years worn away in a
+British dungeon, and his whole dynasty flung along with him into the
+political tomb, were only the incidents of the great judicial process
+of our age. The world has been suffered to return to peace; while the
+sepulchre of this man of boundless but brief grandeur has been
+suffered to stand in the midst of that nation which most requires the
+great lesson--that ambition always pays for its splendour by its
+calamities; that the strength of a nation is in the justice of its
+councils; and that he "who uses the sword shall perish by the sword!"
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[62] _History of the Captivity of Napoleon at St. Helena._ By GENERAL
+COUNT MONTHOLON. 2 vols. London: Colburn.
+
+
+
+
+_Edinburgh: Printed by Ballantyne and Hughes, Paul's Work._
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume
+60, No. 369, July 1846, by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE, JULY 1846 ***
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+
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 60,
+No. 369, July 1846, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 60, No. 369, July 1846
+
+Author: Various
+
+Release Date: April 27, 2011 [EBook #35984]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE, JULY 1846 ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Brendan OConnor, JoAnn Greenwood, Jonathan
+Ingram and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
+generously made available by The Internet Library of Early
+Journals.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+
+<h1>BLACKWOOD'S<br />
+Edinburgh<br />
+MAGAZINE.<br /></h1>
+
+
+<h3>VOL. LX.<br /><br /></h3>
+<h2>JULY-DECEMBER, 1846.<br /><br /></h2>
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 322px;">
+<img src="images/cover.png" width="322" height="372" alt="Blackwood image" title="" />
+</div>
+
+
+<h4>WILLIAM BLACKWOOD &amp; SONS, EDINBURGH<br />
+AND<br />
+37, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON.<br /><br />
+
+1846</h4>
+
+
+<div class="transnote">
+TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: A few obvious misprints have been corrected, but
+in general the originally erratic spelling, punctuation and
+typesetting conventions have been retained. Accents in foreign
+language poetry and phrases are inconsistent in the original, and have
+not been standardized.</div>
+
+
+<h1>BLACKWOOD'S<br />
+EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.<br /><br /></h1>
+
+
+<h3>
+<span class="rspace">No. CCCLXIX.</span>
+<span class="btbb">JULY, 1846.</span>
+<span class="lspace"><span class="smcap">Vol</span>. LX</span>
+</h3>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<div class="center">CONTENTS.</div>
+
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents">
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Peru,</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Letters on English Hexameters. Letter I.</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_19">19</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Marlborough's Dispatches. 1708-1709</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_22">22</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Americans and the Aborigines. Part the Last</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_45">45</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Death of Zumalacarregui</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_56">56</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">New Scottish Plays and Poems</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_62">62</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Elinor Travis. Chapter the Second</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_83">83</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">More Rogues in Outline</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_101">101</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Last Recollections of Napoleon</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_110">110</a></td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<div class="center">
+EDINBURGH:<br />
+
+WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, 45, GEORGE STREET;<br />
+AND 37, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON.<br />
+<br />
+<i>To whom all Communications (post paid) must be addressed.</i><br />
+<br />
+SOLD BY ALL THE BOOKSELLERS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.<br />
+<br />
+PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE AND HUGHES, EDINBURGH.<br />
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p>
+<h2>PERU.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></h2>
+
+
+<p>A <span class="smcap">clever</span> book of travels, over
+ground comparatively untrodden, is
+in these days a welcome rarity. No
+dearth is there of vapid narratives by
+deluded persons, who, having leisure to
+travel, think they must also have wit
+to write: with these we have long
+been surfeited, and heartily grateful
+do we feel to the man who strikes
+out a new track, follows it observantly,
+and gives to the world, in pleasant
+and instructive form, the result of his
+observations. Such a traveller we
+have had the good fortune to meet
+with, and now present to our readers.</p>
+
+<p>We take it that no portion of the
+globe's surface, of equal extent, and
+comprising an equal number of civilized,
+or at least semi-civilized, states,
+is less known to the mass of Europeans
+than the continent of South
+America. Too distant and dangerous
+for the silken tourist, to whom steam-boats
+and dressing-cases are indispensable,
+it does not possess, in a political
+point of view, that kind of importance
+which might induce governments to
+stimulate its exploration. As a nest of
+mushroom republics, continually fighting
+with each other and revolutionizing
+themselves&mdash;a land where throat-cutting
+is a popular pastime, and
+earthquakes, fevers more or less
+yellow, and vermin rather more than
+less venomous, are amongst the indigenous
+comforts of the soil&mdash;it is
+notorious, and has been pretty generally
+avoided. Braving these dangers
+and disagreeables, a German of high
+reputation as a naturalist and man of
+letters, has devoted four years of a
+life valuable to science to a residence
+and travels in the most interesting
+district of South America; the ancient
+empire of the Incas, the scene of the
+conquests and cruelties of Francisco
+Pizarro.</p>
+
+<p>"The scientific results of my
+travels," says Dr Tschudi in his brief
+preface, "are recorded partly in my
+<i>Investigation of the Fauna Peruana</i><a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a>
+and partly in appropriate periodicals:
+the following volumes are an attempt
+to satisfy the claim which an enlightened
+public may justly make on the
+man who visits a country in reality
+but little known."</p>
+
+<p>We congratulate the doctor on the
+good success of his attempt. The
+public, whether of Germany or of
+any other country into whose language
+his book may be translated, will be
+difficult indeed if they desire a better
+account of Peru than he has given
+them.</p>
+
+<p>Bound for the port of Callao, the
+ship Edmond, in which Dr Tschudi
+sailed from Havre-de-Grace, was
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span>
+driven by storms to the coast of
+Chili, and first cast anchor in the bay
+of San Carlos, on the island of Chiloe.
+Although by no means devoid of interest,
+we shall pass over his account
+of that island, which is thinly peopled,
+of small fertility, and cursed with an
+execrable climate; and accompany
+him to Valparaiso, his next halting
+place. There he found much bustle
+and movement. Chili was at war
+with the confederation of Peru and
+Bolivia, and an expedition was fitting
+out in all haste. Sundry decrees of
+the Peruvian Protector, Santa Cruz,
+had excited the ire of the Chilians,
+especially one diminishing the harbour
+dues on vessels arriving direct
+from Europe and discharging their
+cargoes in a Peruvian port. This
+had damaged the commerce of Chili;
+and already one army under General
+Blanco had been landed on the Peruvian
+coast to revenge the injury.
+It had signally failed in its object.
+Outmanœuvred and surrounded, it
+was taken prisoner to a man. On
+this occasion the behaviour of Santa
+Cruz was generous almost to quixotism.
+He sent back the soldiers to
+their country, and actually paid for
+the cavalry horses, which he kept.
+The Chilian government showed little
+gratitude for this chivalrous conduct.
+The treaty of peace concluded by
+Blanco was not ratified; but a second
+armament, far more powerful than
+the first, was got ready and shipped
+from Valparaiso during Dr Tschudi's
+stay in that port. His account of
+the Chilian army and navy is not
+very favourable. His ship had hardly
+anchored when several officers of the
+land forces came on board, and inquired
+if there were any swords to be
+sold, as they and their comrades were
+for the most part totally unprovided
+with such weapons. Swords formed
+no part of the cargo of the Edmond,
+but one of the ship's company, acquainted,
+perhaps, from previous experience,
+with the wants of these
+South American warriors, had brought
+out an assortment as a private spec.,
+and amongst them was a sort
+of falchion, about five feet long,
+which had belonged to a cuirassier of
+Napoleon's guard. The officer who
+bought this weapon was a puny half-cast
+lad, who could hardly lift it
+with both hands, but who nevertheless
+opined that, in case of a charge, it
+would play the devil amongst the
+Peruvians. "Ten months later,"
+says Dr Tschudi, "I met this hero
+on the march, amongst the mountains
+of Peru. He had girded on a little
+dirk, scarce larger than a toothpick,
+and behind him came a strapping
+negro, laden with the falchion. I
+could not help inquiring whether the
+latter arm had done much mischief in
+the then recent battle of Yungay, and
+he was honest enough to confess that
+he had not used it, finding it rather
+too heavy." The Chilian fleet, twenty-seven
+transports and nine men-of-war,
+was, with one or two exceptions,
+in bad condition; short of guns and
+hands, and manned in great part by
+sailors who had run from English,
+French, or North American ships.
+The officers were nearly all English.
+The shipment of the horses was conducted
+in the most clumsy manner:
+many were strangled in hoisting them
+up, others fell out of the slings and
+were drowned, and those that were
+embarked were so badly cared for,
+that each morning previous to the
+sailing of the fleet, their carcasses were
+thrown overboard by dozens. The
+Chilian troops had no stomach for
+the campaign, and, in great part, had
+to be embarked by force. "I stood
+on the landing place," writes the
+doctor, "when the Santiago battalion
+went on board. Ill uniformed, and
+bound two and two with cords, the
+soldiers were actually driven into the
+boats." With such an army, what
+besides defeat and disaster could be
+expected? But treachery and discord
+were at work in Peru, and success
+awaited the reluctant invaders.</p>
+
+<p>With unpardonable imprudence
+the captain of the Edmond had manifested
+an intention of selling his ship
+to the Peruvians to be converted into
+a man-of-war. A Yankee captain
+was suspected of a similar design; and
+the consequence was an embargo laid
+upon all ships in the port of Valparaiso,
+until such time as the Chilian
+army might be supposed to have
+reached its destination and struck the
+first blow. A delay of five-and-forty
+days was the consequence, particularly
+wearisome to Dr Tschudi, as he
+was unable to absent himself for more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span>
+than twenty-four hours from the town,
+lest the embargo should be suddenly
+raised and the ship sail without him.
+He found few resources in Valparaiso,
+whose population, especially the
+numerous foreigners, have their time
+fully occupied by commercial pursuits.
+The town itself, closely built and
+dirty, is divided by <i>quebradas</i> or
+ravines into three parts, extending
+along the side of a hill, and designated
+by the sailors as foretop, maintop, and
+mizentop. These quebradas, close to
+whose edge run the badly lighted
+streets, are particularly dangerous in
+the winter nights; and many a sailor,
+on shore for a "spree," finds his grave
+in them. The police is good, better
+probably than any other South American
+town; and although assassinations
+occasionally occur, the perpetrators
+rarely escape. One curious institution
+is the travelling house of
+correction, which consists of waggons,
+not unlike those in which menagerie
+keepers convey their beasts. Each
+of these contains sleeping accommodation
+for eight or ten criminals.
+Behind stands a sentry, and in front
+of some of them is a sort of kitchen.
+The prisoners draw the waggons
+themselves; and as they for the most
+part work upon the roads, often at
+some distance from the city, there is
+an evident gain thus in their conveying
+their dwelling with them. The
+plan answers well in a country where
+there is, properly speaking, no winter.</p>
+
+<p>A common article of sale on the
+Valparaiso market is live condors,
+which are taken in traps. A fine specimen
+is worth a dollar and a half.
+In one court-yard, Dr Tschudi saw
+eight of them, fettered after a peculiar
+fashion. A long narrow strip of untanned
+leather was run through their
+nostrils, tied tight, and the other end
+fastened to a post fixed in the ground.
+This allowed the birds liberty to move
+about in a tolerably large circle, but
+as soon as they attempted to fly, they
+were brought down by the head. Their
+voracity is prodigious. One of them
+ate eighteen pounds of meat in the
+course of a day, without at all impairing
+his appetite for the next morning's
+breakfast. Dr Tschudi measured one,
+and found it fourteen English feet
+from tip to tip of the wings.</p>
+
+<p>Most joyfully did our traveller hail
+the arrival of the long-looked for permission
+to sail. With a favouring
+breeze from the east, the Edmond
+soon made the islands of Juan Fernandez,
+and Dr Tschudi was indulging
+in pleasant recollections of Alexander
+Selkirk, Defoe, and Robinson
+Crusoe, when the cry "a man overboard"
+startled him from his reverie.
+Over went the hen-coops and empty
+casks; the ship was brought to, and
+a boat lowered. It was high time,
+for a shark had approached the swimmer,
+who defended himself with remarkable
+courage and presence of
+mind, striking out with his fists at his
+voracious pursuer. So unequal a combat
+could not last long, and the lookers-on
+thought him lost, for the shark had
+already seized his leg, when the boat
+came up; a rain of blows from oars
+and boat-hooks forced the monster to
+let go his hold, and the sailor was
+snatched, it might truly be said, from
+the jaws of death. His wounds,
+though deep, were not dangerous, and
+in a few weeks he was convalescent.
+Without other incident worthy of
+note, Dr Tschudi arrived in the bay
+of Callao. There the first news he
+heard was that the Chilians had effected
+a landing, taken Lima by storm,
+and were then besieging Callao. This
+magnificent fort, the last place in
+South America that had held out for
+the Spaniards, and which General
+Rodil defended for nearly eighteen
+months against the patriots, had since
+been in great measure dismantled, and
+three-fourths of the guns sold. Those
+that remained were now wretchedly
+served by the Peruvians, whilst the
+fire of the besiegers, on the other hand,
+did considerable damage. The siege,
+however, was pushed nothing like so
+vigorously as it had been by the patriots.
+Both the land and sea forces
+were too small. To the latter the Peruvians
+had unfortunately no fleet to
+oppose. Several men-of-war had been
+treacherously taken from them by the
+Chilians in time of peace, and the only
+two remaining were sunk upon the
+approach of the enemy.</p>
+
+<p>"One Sunday afternoon," says Dr
+Tschudi, "the Chilian brig-of-war, Colocolo,
+sailed close in under the walls
+of the fort, and threw in a few balls.
+The batteries immediately returned
+the fire with every gun they could<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span>
+bring to bear; but all their shots went
+too high, and fell amongst the merchantmen
+and other neutral vessels.
+Meanwhile the Colocolo sailed to and
+fro in derision of the batteries. At
+last the French commodore, seeing
+the danger of the merchant ships, sent
+a boat to the fort, menacing them
+with a broadside if they did not instantly
+cease firing. This the garrison
+were compelled to do, and to submit
+patiently to the insults of the
+Chilians. Another instance of the
+great prejudice which the vicinity of
+neutral shipping may be to besieged
+or besiegers, was witnessed on the
+night of the 5th November 1820, in
+the bay of Callao, when Lord Cochrane
+and Captain Guise, with a hundred
+and fifty men, boarded the Spanish
+forty-four gun corvette Esmeralda.
+Between the Esmeralda and
+the fort lay a North American frigate,
+the Macedonia, which completely
+hindered the castle from covering the
+corvette with its guns. So enraged
+were the garrison at this, that the
+next morning an officer of the Macedonia
+was murdered with his whole
+boat's crew, the very instant they set
+foot on shore."</p>
+
+<p>We shall not accompany Dr Tschudi
+through his "fragment of the modern
+history of Peru;" for although lucid
+and interesting, it might become
+less so in the compressed form which
+we should necessarily have to adopt.
+We find at one time six self-styled
+presidents of Peru&mdash;each with his
+share of partizans, more or less numerous,
+and with a force at his command
+varying from one to five thousand
+men&mdash;oppressing the people,
+levying contributions, shooting and
+banishing the adherents of his five
+rivals. Let us examine the probable
+causes of such a state of things, of the
+revolutions and rebellions which have
+now lasted for twenty years&mdash;since
+the birth of the republic, in fact&mdash;and
+which must finally, if a check be not
+put to them, bring about the depopulation
+and total ruin of Peru. These
+causes Dr Tschudi finds in the want
+of honour and common honesty exhibited
+by the majority of the Peruvian
+officers. With the army all the revolutions
+have begun. As soon as an
+officer reaches the rank of colonel,
+and if he can only reckon upon the
+adherence of some fifteen hundred
+or two thousand soldiers, he begins
+to think of deposing the president
+and ruling in his stead. In so doing,
+he is actuated by avarice rather than
+by ambition. During their short-lived
+power these dictators levy enormous
+contributions, of which they pocket
+the greater part, and let the soldiers
+want. After a while they abandon
+the helm of government, either voluntarily
+or by compulsion, and take with
+them their ill-gotten wealth. When
+the chiefs set such examples, it cannot
+be wondered at if, amongst their
+inferiors, insubordination and mutiny
+are the order of the day. These, however,
+are most prevalent amongst the
+subaltern officers, scarcely ever originating
+with the soldiers, although
+their treatment, we are informed, is
+inhumanly cruel, and their privations
+and sufferings of the severest.
+There appears to be a great similarity
+in character between the Peruvian infantry
+and the Spanish troops of the
+present day; although the former are
+not of Spanish descent, but consist
+chiefly of Indians from the interior
+and mountainous districts of Peru.
+Dr Tschudi describes them as obedient,
+willing, and courageous; unparalleled
+in their endurance of hunger
+and fatigue, capable of sustaining for
+several days together marches of fourteen
+or sixteen leagues. The officers,
+however, must be good, or the
+men are useless in the field. If not
+well led, they throw away their arms
+and run, and there is no possibility of
+rallying them. Moreover, no retrograde
+movement must be made, although
+it be merely as a manœuvre&mdash;the
+Indians looking upon it as a signal
+for flight. The cavalry, for the most
+part well mounted, is worthless. It
+consists of negroes&mdash;a race rarely remarkable
+for courage. As cruel as
+they are cowardly, a defeated foe
+meets with barbarous treatment at
+their hands.</p>
+
+<p>With every Peruvian army march
+nearly as many women as it comprises
+men. Unpalatable as such a following
+would be to European commanders,
+it is encouraged and deemed indispensable
+by Peruvian generals.
+The Indian women, as enduring and
+hardy as their husbands, set out two
+or three hours before the troops, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span>
+precede them by about the same time
+at the halting place. They immediately
+collect wood for fires, and prepare
+the rations, which they carry
+with them, for their husbands, sons,
+and brothers. Without them, in the
+more desolate and mountainous districts,
+the soldiers would sometimes
+risk starvation. They are no impediment
+to the rapid march of a column,
+which they, on the contrary, accelerate,
+by saving the men trouble,
+and affording them more time for repose.
+During a battle they remain in
+the vicinity of the troops, but far enough
+off not to impede their movements;
+the fight over, they seek out
+the wounded and take care of them.
+The lot of these poor women, who go
+by the name of <i>rabonas</i>, is any thing
+but an enviable one; for besides their
+many privations and hardships, they
+meet with much ill usage at the
+hands of the soldiery, to which,
+however, they submit with incredible
+patience.</p>
+
+<p>The manner in which most of the
+officers treat the soldiers is perfectly
+inhuman, and the slightest offences
+meet with terrible chastisement. Every
+officer has a right, at least in war time,
+to inflict, without a court-martial, any
+punishment he pleases. Some of the
+chiefs are celebrated for the refinement
+of their cruelties; and many soldiers
+prefer death to serving under them.
+During General Gamarra's campaign
+against the Bolivians in 1842, several
+score of soldiers sprang one day from
+the bridge of Oroya, to seek death in
+the torrent that flows beneath it. With
+the scornful cry of "<i>Adios, capitan!</i>"
+they took the fatal leap, and the next
+instant lay mangled and expiring upon
+the rocks through which the stream
+forces its way. "I myself have witnessed,"
+continues Dr Tschudi, "how soldiers
+who on the march were unable to
+keep up with the column, were shot
+dead upon the spot. On the road from
+Tarma to Jauja, a distance of nine
+leagues, I passed seven Indians who
+had thus lost their lives. It is true
+that the commandant of that battalion,
+an officer whose sword was as yet
+unstained with any blood save that
+of his own men, was accustomed to
+call out when he saw a soldier straggling
+from fatigue&mdash;'<i>pegale un tiro!</i>'
+Shoot him down! And the order was
+forthwith obeyed." When the troops
+reach the halting-place, and the <i>rabonas</i>
+learn the fate of their sons or husbands,
+they mournfully retrace their
+weary footsteps, and amidst tears and
+lamentations dig a last resting place
+for these victims of military tyranny.</p>
+
+<p>The sick are scarcely better treated.
+When they can no longer drag themselves
+along, they are placed upon
+mules, and, through the severest cold
+or most burning heat, are driven after
+the army. When they die, which is
+most frequently the case, they are
+dropped at the next village, to be
+buried by the alcalde.</p>
+
+<p>"The major of a squadron of light
+cavalry," says our traveller, "once asked
+me, during my stay at Tarma in the
+year 1842, to take charge for a few
+days of his sick men. Of one hundred
+and twenty soldiers composing the
+squadron, sixty-eight lay huddled together
+in a damp dark hole, ill of the
+scarlet fever. Fourteen more were suffering
+from the effects of punishment.
+What a horrible sight they presented!
+Their backs were nearly bare
+of flesh and covered with the most
+frightful wounds. A mutiny had taken
+place, and the major had shot six men,
+and caused eighteen others to receive
+from one hundred to three hundred
+lashes, with broad thongs of tapir hide&mdash;a
+punishment so severe, that some of
+them died under its infliction. The
+survivors were compelled immediately
+to mount their horses and follow the
+squadron. For nine days they rode
+on in the most terrible agony, and
+during that time had to cross the Cordilleras.
+Several of them refused to
+have their wounds dressed; and it was
+necessary to use force to compel them.
+One man implored me with tears to do
+nothing to improve his state, for that
+he longed to die. Before they were
+nearly cured, a march was ordered,
+and they again had to mount and ride.
+The consequences of this barbarity
+were easy to foresee. Before another
+eight days had elapsed, the squadron
+was scarcely sixty men strong."</p>
+
+<p>Turn we from such horrors to a more
+pleasing theme. "Could I suppose,"
+says Dr Tschudi, "that my readers
+are acquainted with the excellent description
+of Lima which Stevenson<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span>
+gives in his Travels in South America,<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a>
+I would willingly abstain from any
+detail of the houses, churches, squares,
+and streets of that capital. But as
+that esteemed work was published
+twenty years ago, and is now almost
+entirely forgotten, I may venture,
+without danger of repeating things
+universally known, to give a sketch of
+the city of Lima." And accordingly,
+the doctor devotes his fifth chapter to
+an account of the capital of Peru&mdash;an
+account over which we shall pass
+lightly, for the double reason, that our
+readers may be better acquainted with
+Stevenson's work than Dr Tschudi's
+countrymen can be supposed to be,
+and because, if we linger wherever we
+are tempted so to do in this very pleasant
+book, our paper will run out beyond
+any reasonable length. We
+must glance at the cathedral founded
+by Pizarro, and which took ninety
+years in building. Its magnificence
+and riches are scarcely to be surpassed
+by those of any other existing
+church. The high altar boasts of seven
+silver pillars of the Ionic order, twelve
+feet high, and a foot and a-half thick;
+the shrine is seven and a-half feet
+high, carved in gold, and studded with
+countless diamonds and emeralds; the
+silver candlesticks weigh one hundred
+and twelve pounds each. In connection
+with the convent of San Pedro, a
+curious anecdote is told. It belonged
+to the Jesuits, and was their "Colegio
+Maximo;" it was known to possess
+immense wealth, for the richest plantations
+and finest houses belonged to
+the order. In the year 1773, the king
+of Spain, supported by the famous bull
+of the 21st June of that year, "Dominus
+ac redemptor noster," sent orders
+to his South American viceroys to arrest
+all the Jesuits in one night, ship
+them off to Spain, and confiscate their
+wealth. The greatest secresy was observed,
+and no one but the viceroy,
+and those in his entire confidence, was
+supposed to know any thing of the
+plan. But the same ship which conveyed
+to the viceroy the king's instructions
+in his own handwriting,
+brought to the vicar-general of the
+Jesuits in Lima the needful instructions
+from the general of the order at
+Madrid, to whom his Majesty's designs
+had become known. In all silence,
+and with every precaution the needful
+preparations were made; at ten
+o'clock on the appointed night, the
+viceroy summoned his council, and
+communicated to them the royal commands.
+No one was allowed to leave
+the room till the blow had been struck.
+At midnight trusty officers were sent
+to arrest the Jesuits, of whose names
+the viceroy had a list. It was expected
+that they would be surprised
+in their sleep. The patrole knocked
+at the door of the San Pedro convent,
+which was immediately opened. The
+commanding officer asked to see the
+vicar-general, and was forthwith conducted
+into the principal hall, where
+he found the whole of the order assembled,
+waiting for him, and ready
+to depart. Each man had his portmanteau
+packed with whatever was
+necessary for a long voyage. In all
+the other convents of Jesuits similar
+preparations had been made. The
+astonishment and vexation of the viceroy
+may be imagined. He immediately
+sent off the whole fraternity to
+Callao, where ships were ready to receive
+them. Inventories were then
+taken, and search made for the Jesuits'
+money. But great was the surprise
+of the searchers when instead of
+the millions which the order was
+known to possess, but a few thousand
+dollars were to be discovered. All
+the keys, including that of the strong
+box, were found, duly ticketed, in the
+vicar-general's room. The Jesuits
+could hardly have taken a better revenge
+for the treachery that had been
+used with their order.</p>
+
+<p>It was supposed that the money
+was buried, partly in the plantations,
+and partly in the convent of San
+Pedro. An old negro, in the service
+of the convent, told how he and one
+of his comrades had been employed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span>
+during several nights in carrying, with
+bandaged eyes, heavy sacks of money
+into the vaults beneath the building.
+Two Jesuits accompanied them, and
+helped them to load and unload their
+burdens. The researches hitherto
+made have been but superficial and
+imperfect; and Dr Tschudi opines,
+with some naïveté, that the hidden
+hoard may yet be discovered. We
+cannot partake his opinion. The
+cunning Jesuits who concealed the
+treasure will have found means to
+recover it.</p>
+
+<p>Lima was the principal seat of the
+Inquisition upon the west coast of
+South America, and in severity the
+tribunal was but little surpassed by
+that of Madrid itself. The building
+in which it was held still exists, but
+was gutted by the populace when the
+institution was abolished by the Cortes,
+and few traces of its internal arrangements
+and murderous engines are now
+to be seen. More visible ones are yet
+to be noticed in the persons of some
+unfortunate Limeños. "A Spaniard,"
+Dr Tschudi tells us, "whose limbs were
+frightfully distorted, told me, in reply
+to my inquiries, that he had fallen into
+a machine which had thus mangled
+him. A few days before his death,
+however, he confided to me that in
+his twenty-fourth year he had been
+brought before the tribunal of the
+Holy Inquisition, and by the most
+horrible tortures had been compelled
+to confess a crime of which he was
+not guilty. I still shudder when I
+remember his crushed and twisted
+limbs, at the thoughts of the agonies
+which the unhappy wretch must have
+endured."</p>
+
+<p>Now and then, however, the most
+holy ruffians of the Inquisition met
+their match, as the following anecdote
+serves to show. The Viceroy,
+Castel-Fuerte, once expressed, in presence
+of his confessor, certain opinions
+regarding religion which the good
+monk did not find very catholic, and
+which he accordingly, as in duty bound,
+reported to the Inquisitors. The latter,
+confident of their omnipotence, joyfully
+seized this opportunity to increase
+its <i>prestige</i>, by proving that
+their power extended even to the
+punishment of a viceroy. But Castel-Fuerte
+was not Philip of Spain. At
+the appointed hour, he repaired to the
+Inquisition at the head of his body-guard
+and of a company of infantry,
+with two pieces of artillery, which he
+caused to be pointed at the building.
+Entering the terrible hall, he strode
+up to the table, drew out his watch,
+and laid it before him. "Señores,"
+said he, "I am ready to discuss this
+affair, but for one hour only. If I am
+not back by that time, my officers have
+orders to level this building with the
+ground." Astounded at his boldness,
+the Inquisitors consulted together for
+a few moments, and then, with eager
+politeness, complimented the resolute
+Castel-Fuerte out of the house.</p>
+
+<p>Lima was founded by Pizarro in
+the year 1534, on the 6th of January,
+known amongst Roman Catholics as
+the Day of the Three Kings. From
+this latter circumstance it has frequently
+been called the City of the
+Kings. Like some tropical flower,
+urged into premature bloom and luxuriance
+by too rich a soil and too ardent
+a sun, its decay has been proportionably
+rapid, and the capital of Peru is
+already but the ghost of its former
+self. Some idea of its rapid growth
+may be formed from the circumstance
+that a wall built in 1585, only fifty
+years after its foundation, includes,
+with the exception of a small portion
+of the northern extremity and the
+suburb of San Lazaro, the whole of a
+city capable of containing one hundred
+thousand inhabitants, and measuring
+ten English miles in circumference.
+The dates of foundation of the principal
+public buildings further confirm
+the fact of Lima's rapid arrival at the
+size as well as the rank of a metropolis.
+The number of inhabitants, which in
+1810 was estimated at eighty-seven
+thousand, in 1842 was reduced to fifty-three
+thousand. It must be observed,
+however, that the manner of
+taking the census is loose and imperfect,
+and these numbers may need
+rectification. At the same time, there
+can be no doubt that the population
+has long been, and still is, daily diminishing.
+Of this diminution the causes
+are various, and may easily be traced
+to the physical and political state of
+the country. Terrible earthquakes
+have buried thousands of persons beneath
+the ruins of their dwellings; the
+struggle for independence also swept
+away its thousands; and banishment<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span>
+and emigration may further account
+for the decrease. Epidemics, the natural
+consequence of an imperfect
+police, and an utter neglect of cleanliness,
+frequently rage in the city and
+its environs; and Dr Tschudi proves, by
+interesting tables and statements,
+that the average excess of deaths over
+births has been, since the year 1826,
+no less than five hundred and fifty
+annually. Without entering into all
+the causes to which this may be attributed,
+he pronounces the criminal, but,
+in Lima, too common, practice of causing
+abortion to be one of the most prominent.
+So large a yearly decrease
+menaces the Peruvian capital with
+a speedy depopulation, and already
+whole streets and quarters of the city
+are desolate,&mdash;the houses falling in,&mdash;the
+gardens run to waste. To the
+country, not less than to the town,
+many of the above facts are applicable;
+and the once rich and flourishing
+region, that extends from the third
+to the twenty-second degree of southern
+latitude, and which, at the time of
+its conquest by Pizarro, contained an
+enormous population, now possesses
+but one million four hundred thousand
+inhabitants.</p>
+
+<p>One can really hardly grieve over
+the possible extinction of a race which,
+according to Dr Tschudi's showing, is
+in most respects so utterly worthless
+and undeserving of sympathy. We
+refer now more especially to the white
+Creoles,<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> who constitute about a third,
+or rather more, of the population of
+Lima, where there are comparatively
+few Indians of pure blood, but, on the
+other hand, a large number of half-casts
+of every shade, and about five
+thousand negroes, chiefly slaves.
+These white Creoles, with few exceptions
+the descendants of Spaniards,
+seem to have clung to, and improved
+upon, the vices of their progenitors,
+without inheriting their good qualities.
+Both physically and morally
+they have greatly degenerated. Weak,
+indolent, and effeminate, a ten hours'
+ride seems to them an exploit worthy
+of registration in the archives of the
+country. Sworn foes of any kind of
+trouble, if their circumstances compel
+them to choose an occupation, they
+set up some retail shop, which gives
+them little trouble, and allows them
+abundance of leisure to gossip with
+their neighbours and smoke their cigar.
+The richer class pass their time in
+complete idleness,&mdash;lounging in the
+streets, visiting their acquaintances,
+and occasionally taking a lazy ride to
+their plantations near the city. The
+afternoon is got rid of in the café, the
+gaming-house, or the cock-pit&mdash;cock-fighting
+being a darling diversion with
+the Creoles. Their education is defective,
+and the majority of them are
+ignorant beyond belief. Dr Tschudi
+tells us of a Peruvian minister of war
+who knew neither the population nor
+the area of his country, and who obstinately
+maintained that Portugal
+was the eastern boundary of Peru,
+and could be reached by land. Another
+Peruvian, high in place, was
+heard to give an exact account of how
+Frederick the Great had driven Napoleon
+out of Russia. There have been
+some brilliant exceptions to this general
+darkness, but the list of them is
+very brief, and may be comprised in a
+few lines. In their habits the Creoles
+are dirty, especially at table; and
+the disgusting custom of spitting is
+carried to an extent that would make
+even a Yankee stare. Their principal
+good qualities are abstinence from
+strong drinks, hospitality to strangers,
+and benevolence to the poor.</p>
+
+<p>The ladies of Lima, we learn, are
+in most respects far superior to the
+men. Tall and well made, with regular
+features, magnificent eyes and
+hair, beautiful teeth, and exquisitely
+small feet, they are spoken of by Dr
+Tschudi in terms almost of enthusiasm.
+Their dress is very original;
+one usual part of it being a silk petticoat,
+made so narrow at the ankles as
+to prevent rapid walking, and to render
+their kneeling down in church and
+getting up again a matter of some difficulty.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span>
+During the revolution, when
+Lima was held alternately by the
+Spaniards and the Patriots, a party
+of the former, in order to ascertain
+the real sentiments of the Limeños,
+disguised themselves as Patriots, and
+approached the city. As soon as
+their coming was known, a crowd
+went out to meet them, and in the
+throng were many women with these
+narrow <i>sayas</i>. When sufficiently near,
+the disguised Spaniards drew their
+swords, and cut right and left amongst
+the defenceless mob. The men saved
+themselves by flight, but the women,
+impeded by their absurd petticoats,
+were for the most part sabred.</p>
+
+<p>The Limeñas are good mothers, but
+bad housekeepers. Most ladies have
+an unnecessarily numerous establishment
+of servants and slaves, each of
+whom does just what he pleases, and
+is rarely at hand when wanted.
+Smoking is pretty general amongst
+Peruvian women, but is on the decline
+rather than the increase. They
+are passionately fond of music, and
+most of them sing and play the guitar
+or piano, although, for want of good
+instruction, their performance is usually
+but middling. Many of them
+are skilled in needle-work; but they
+rarely occupy themselves in that manner&mdash;never
+in company or of an evening.
+"Happy city!" exclaims Dr
+Tschudi, thinking doubtless of his own
+fair countrywomen and their eternal
+knitting needles, "where stocking making
+is unknown in the social circle!"
+We do not find, however, that the
+doctor supports his assertion of the
+moral superiority of the Creole ladies
+over their <i>worser</i> halves, by any very
+strong proofs. That assertion, on the
+contrary, is followed by the startling
+admissions, that they are confirmed
+gluttons, and ruin their husbands by
+their love of dress; that they gamble
+considerably, and intrigue not a few,
+favoured in this latter respect by a
+certain convenient veil of thick silk,
+called a <i>manto</i>, which entirely conceals
+their face, having only a small
+triangular loop-hole, "through which
+a great fiery eye flashes upon you."
+We fear that these "flashes," frequently
+repeated, have a little dazzled our
+learned traveller, and induced him to
+look leniently on the sins of the lovely
+Limeñas. We do not otherwise know
+how to reconcile the evidence with the
+eulogium.</p>
+
+<p>Ardent politicians, and endowed with
+a degree of courage not often found
+in their sex, these Peruvian dames
+have frequently played a prominent
+part in revolutions, and by their
+manœuvres have even brought about
+changes of government. Conspicuous
+amongst them was Doña Francisca
+Subyaga, wife of the former president,
+Gamarra. When, in 1834, her
+cowardly and undecided husband was
+driven out of Lima by the populace,
+and stood lamenting and irresolute
+what to do, Doña Francisca snatched
+his sword from his side, put herself
+at the head of the troops, and commanded
+an orderly retreat, the only
+means by which to save herself and
+the remainder of the army. A bystander
+having ventured to utter
+some insolent remark, she rode up to
+him, and threatened that when she
+returned to Lima she would make a
+pair of riding-gloves out of his skin.
+She died in exile a few months later,
+or else, when her husband went back
+to Peru four years afterwards, at the
+head of a Chilian army, she would
+have been likely enough to keep her
+word.</p>
+
+<p>So much for the Limeñas, although
+Dr Tschudi gives us a great deal
+more information concerning them;
+and very amusing this part of his
+book is, reminding us considerably of
+Madame Calderon's delightful gossip
+about Mexico. "Lima," says the
+Spanish proverb, "is a heaven to
+women, a purgatory to husbands,
+and a hell to jackasses." The latter
+unfortunate beasts being infamously
+used by the negroes, who,
+especially the liberated ones, are the
+most cruel and vicious race in Peru.
+In this latter category must be included
+the Zambos and Chinos, half-casts
+between negroes and mulattos,
+and negroes and Indians. We turn
+a few pages and come to the carnival;
+during which, judging from the account
+before us, we should imagine
+that Lima became a hell not only to
+ill-treated donkeys, but to man
+woman, and child. The chief sport
+of that festive season consists in
+sprinkling people with water, concerning
+the purity of which the sprinklers
+are by no means fastidious.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span>
+From nearly every balcony, liquids of
+the most various and unsavoury description
+are rained down upon the
+passers by; at the street corners stand
+negroes, who seize upon all who are
+not of their own cast, and roll them
+in the gutter, unless they prefer paying
+a certain ransom, in which case
+they get off with a trifling baptism of
+dirty water. Troops of young men
+force their way into the houses of
+their acquaintances and attack the
+ladies. First they sprinkle them
+with scented water, but when that is
+expended, the pump, and even worse,
+is had recourse to, and the sport becomes
+brutality. The ladies, with
+their clothes dripping wet, are chased
+from room to room, become heated,
+and are frequently rendered dangerously
+ill. Diseases of the lungs, and
+other rheumatic complaints, are the
+invariable consequences of the carnival,
+to whose barbarous celebration
+many fall victims. Besides this,
+every year murders occur out of revenge
+for this brutal treatment. One
+favourite trick is to fill a sack with
+fragments of glass and earthenware,
+and fasten it to the balcony by a cord,
+the length of which is so calculated,
+that when let down the sack hangs
+at about seven feet from the ground.
+The sack is kept on the balcony till
+somebody passes, and is then suddenly
+thrown out, but, thanks to the cord,
+remains at a safe distance above the
+heads of those below. Although it is
+tolerably well known that in most
+streets there is at least one of these
+infernal machines; yet the sudden
+shock and alarm are so great, that
+persons have been known to fall down
+senseless on the spot. Horses are
+thus made to shy violently, and frequently
+throw their riders. The practice
+is each year forbidden by the
+police, but the prohibition is disregarded.</p>
+
+<p>Heaven preserve us from a Lima
+carnival! If compelled to choose
+we should infinitely prefer a campaign
+against the Chilians, which, we apprehend,
+must be mere barrack-yard
+duty comparatively. No wonder
+that the city is becoming depopulated,
+when the fairer portion of its inhabitants
+are annually subjected to such
+inhuman treatment. In some respects
+the Peruvians appear to be perfect
+barbarians. Their favourite diversions
+are of the most cruel order; cock-fighting
+and bull-fights&mdash;but bull-fights,
+compared to which, those still
+in vogue in Spain are humane exhibitions.
+Peru is the only country in
+South America where this last amusement
+is kept up as a matter of regular
+occurrence. Bull-fighting in Spain
+may be considered cruel, but in Peru
+it becomes a mere torturing of beasts,
+without honour or credit to the men
+opposed to them, who are all negroes
+and zambos, the very dregs of the
+populace. There seems a total want
+of national character about the Peruvians.
+They are bad copies of the
+Spaniards, whose failings they imitate
+and out-herod till they become odious
+vices. Add to what has been already
+shown of their cruel and sensual
+propensities, the fact that their
+habitations, with the exception of the
+two rooms in which visits are received,
+bear more resemblance, for cleanliness
+and order, to stables than to
+human dwellings, and it will be acknowledged
+that not a little of the
+savage seems to have rubbed off upon
+the Peruvian.</p>
+
+<p>Ice is a necessary of life in Lima,
+and is brought from the Cordilleras, a
+distance of twenty-eight leagues. So
+essential in that ardent climate is this
+refreshment, that the lack of it for a
+few days is sufficient to cause a notable
+ferment among the people; and in all
+revolutions, therefore, the leaders
+cautiously abstain from applying the
+mules used for its carriage, to any
+other purpose. The Indians hew the
+ice out of the glaciers in lumps of six
+arrobas (150 pounds) each, and lower
+it from the mountains by ropes.
+Other Indians receive and carry it a
+couple of leagues to a depot, where it
+is packed upon mules. Two lumps
+form a mule load, and thirty of these
+loads are sent daily to Lima, where,
+by means of frequent relays, they arrive
+in eighteen or twenty hours.
+During the journey the ice loses about
+the third of its weight, and what remains
+is just sufficient to supply the
+city for a day. It is chiefly used in
+making ices, composed for the most
+part of milk or pine-apple juice.</p>
+
+<p>The want of good roads, and, in
+many directions, of any roads at all,
+renders carriage travelling in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span>
+neighbourhood of Lima exceedingly
+difficult and expensive. Only southwards
+from the city is it possible, at
+an enormous cost, to get to a distance
+of forty leagues. Sixty or eighty
+horses are driven by the side of the
+carriage, and every half hour fresh
+ones are harnessed, as the only means
+of getting the vehicle through the
+sand, which is more than a foot deep.
+A Peruvian, who was accustomed to
+send his wife every year on a visit to
+his plantation, at thirty-two leagues
+from Lima, told Dr Tschudi that the
+journey there and back cost him fourteen
+hundred dollars, or somewhere
+about three hundred pounds sterling.
+In former days, during the brilliant
+period of the Spanish domination,
+enormous sums were frequently given
+for carriages and mules; and the shoes
+of the latter, and tires of the wheels,
+were often of silver instead of iron.
+Even at the present day the Peruvians
+expend large sums upon the equipments
+of their horses, especially upon
+the stirrups, which are ponderous boxes
+carved in wood, and lavishly decorated
+with silver. A friend of Dr Tschudi's,
+a priest from the Sierra, had a pair
+made, the silver about which weighed
+forty pounds! The saddle and bridle
+were proportionably magnificent, and
+the value of the silver employed in
+the whole equipment was more than
+1500 dollars. Spurs are of enormous
+size. According to the old usage they
+should contain three marks&mdash;a pound
+and a half&mdash;of silver, and be richly
+chased and ornamented. The rowels
+are one and a half to two inches in
+circumference. Besides the saddle,
+bridle, and stirrups above described,
+the unfortunate Peruvian horses are
+oppressed with sheepskin shabrack,
+saddle-bags, and various other appliances.
+"At first," says our traveller,
+"the Peruvian horse-trappings appear
+to a stranger both unwieldy and unserviceable;
+but he soon becomes
+convinced of their suitableness, and
+even finds them handsome." <i>We</i>
+should not, nor, we dare be sworn, do
+the horses, whose many good qualities
+certainly deserve a lighter load and
+better treatment than they appear to
+get. Dr Tschudi speaks highly of
+their endurance and speed, although
+their usual pace is an amble, at which,
+however, they will outstrip many
+horses at full gallop. One variety of
+this favourite pace, the <i>paso portante</i>,
+in which the two feet on the same side
+of the body are thrown forward at the
+same time, is particularly curious, and
+peculiar to the Peruvian horse. The
+giraffe is the only other animal that
+employs it. In Peru a horse is valued
+according to the goodness of his amble.
+Beauty of form is a secondary
+consideration, and the finest trotters
+are thought nothing of, but are sold
+cheap for carriage work. It is considered
+a serious defect, and greatly
+depreciates a horse's value, if he has
+the habit of flapping or lashing himself
+with his tail when spurred, or at
+any other time. As this habit is
+found incurable, the sinews of the tail
+are sometimes cut through, which, by
+crippling it, hinders the obnoxious
+flapping.</p>
+
+<p>The breaking of a Peruvian horse
+occupies two years. The horse-breakers
+are, for the most part, free
+negroes, of powerful build, and they
+understand their business perfectly,
+only that they ill-treat the animals
+too much, and thereby render them
+shy. They teach them all sorts of
+ambles and manège tricks, one of the
+latter consisting in the horse pirouetting
+upon his hind legs. This they
+do when at full gallop, on the slightest
+signal of the rider. A well-known
+Limeño, says Dr Tschudi, rode at full
+speed up to the city wall, which is
+scarcely nine feet broad, leaped upon
+it, and made his horse repeatedly
+perform this <i>volte</i>, the fore feet of the
+beast each time describing the arc of
+a circle beyond the edge of the wall.
+He performed this feat with every one
+of his horses. Further on in the book,
+the doctor relates an incident that
+occurred to himself, proving the more
+valuable qualities of these horses,
+their strength, courage, and endurance.
+"I had occasion to go from
+Huacho to Lima," he says, "and
+wished to accomplish this journey
+without halting. The distance is
+twenty-eight leagues, (at least eighty-four
+miles,) and I left Huacho at two
+in the afternoon, accompanied by a
+negro guide. At one in the morning
+we reached the river Pasamayo,
+which had been greatly swoln by the
+recent rains, and thundered along
+with a fearful uproar. Several travellers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>
+were bivouacked upon the
+shore, waiting for daylight, and perhaps
+for the subsiding of the waters.
+My negro shrugged his shoulders, and
+said he had never seen the river so
+high; and the travellers agreed with
+him, and denied the possibility of
+crossing. But I had no time to lose,
+and made up my mind to risk the
+passage on my good horse, who had
+often served me in similar dilemmas.
+I cautiously entered the stream,
+which, at each step, became deeper
+and stronger. My horse soon lost his
+footing, and, in spite of his violent
+efforts, was swept down by the force
+of the current, until we were both
+dashed against a rock in the middle
+of the river. Just then the moon became
+clouded, and I could no longer
+distinguish the group of trees on the
+opposite shore, which I had fixed
+upon to land at. Luckily my horse
+had again found a footing; I turned
+his head, and plunging into deep
+water, the noble beast swam back,
+with incredible strength, to the bank
+whence we had come. After some
+search I found a more favourable
+place, and my negro and I succeeded
+in crossing. Three travellers, who
+were anxious to do the same, but did
+not dare venture alone, called to us
+for assistance. I sent back the negro
+on my own horse, and one by one he
+brought them over. Seven times did
+the good steed achieve the dangerous
+passage, and then carried me without
+a halt to Lima, where we arrived at
+the hour of noon.</p>
+
+<p>Such horses as these are indeed
+valuable in a country where carriage
+roads there are none, or next to
+none. The mules, whose price varies
+according to their qualities, from 100
+to 1000 dollars, also perform, in spite
+of indifferent usage, scanty care, and
+frequently poor nourishment, journeys
+of great length over the arid sandy
+plains of Peru. They are also amblers,
+and often as swift as the horses. Dr
+Tschudi tells us of a priest at Piura,
+who, when he had to read mass at a
+sea-port town, fourteen leagues from
+his residence, mounted, at six in the
+morning, a splendid mule belonging
+to him, and reached his destination
+at nine o'clock. At four in the afternoon
+he set off on his return, and was
+home by seven or half-past. The
+whole of the road, which led across a
+sandflat, was gone over at an amble.
+The priest refused enormous sums for
+this beast, which he would on no
+account sell. At last Salaverry, then
+president of Peru, heard of the mule's
+extraordinary swiftness, and sent an
+aide-de-camp to buy it. The officer
+met with a refusal; but no sooner
+had he turned his back, than the
+priest, who knew Salaverry's despotic
+and violent character, cut off his
+mule's ears and tail. As he had foreseen,
+so it happened. The next
+morning a sergeant made his appearance,
+bearing positive orders to take
+away the animal in dispute, with or
+without the owner's sanction. This
+was done; but when Salaverry saw
+the cropped condition of poor <i>mulo</i>,
+he swore all the oaths in the language,
+and sent him back again. The priest
+had attained his end, for he valued
+the beast less for his beauty than for
+his more solid qualities.</p>
+
+<p>The Peruvian <i>cuisine</i> has, not unnaturally,
+a considerable similarity
+with the Spanish. The puchero or
+olla is the basis of the dinner, and of
+red pepper, capsicums, and other stimulating
+condiments, abundant use is
+made. The Limeños have some extraordinary
+notions respecting eating
+and drinking. They consider that every
+sort of food is either heating or cooling,
+and is opposed to something else.
+The union in the stomach of two of
+these contrary substances is attended,
+according to their belief, with the
+most dangerous consequences, and
+may even cause death. A Limeño,
+who has eaten rice at dinner, omits
+the customary glass of water after the
+sweetmeats, because the two things <i>se
+oponen</i>, are opposites. To so absurd
+an extent is this carried, that servants
+who have eaten rice refuse to
+wash afterwards, and the washer-women
+never eat it. "I have been
+asked innumerable times," says Dr
+Tschudi, "by persons who had been
+ordered a foot-bath at night, whether
+they might venture to take it, for that
+they had eaten rice at dinner!"</p>
+
+<p>The market at Lima was formerly
+held upon the Plaza Mayor, and was
+renowned for the great abundance and
+variety of the fruits, vegetables, and
+flowers brought thither for sale. But
+it is now on the Plazuela de la Inquisicion,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>
+and its glory has in great
+measure departed. Along the sides
+of the gutters sit the fish and sausage
+sellers, who may be seen washing
+their wares in the filthy stream before
+them. The butchers exhibit
+good meat, but only beef and mutton,
+the slaughtering of young beasts being
+forbidden by law. On the flower
+market are sold Lima nosegays&mdash;<i>pucheros
+de flores</i>, as they are called.
+They are composed of a few specimens
+of the smaller tropical fruits,
+esteemed either for fragrance or
+beauty, laid upon a banana leaf, and
+tastefully intermingled with flowers.
+The whole is sprinkled with lavender
+water and other scents, and is very
+pretty to look at, but yields an overpoweringly
+strong perfume. The
+price depends on the rarity of the
+flowers employed, and some of these
+pucheros cost seven or eight dollars.
+They rank amongst the most acceptable
+presents that can be offered to a
+Peruvian lady.</p>
+
+<p>"The city of earthquakes," would
+be a far more appropriate name for
+Lima, than the city of the kings. On
+an average of years, five-and-forty
+shocks are annually felt, most of
+which occur in the latter half of October,
+in November, December, January,
+May, and June. January is the
+worst month, during which, in many
+years, scarcely a day passes without
+convulsions of this kind. The terrible
+earthquakes that play such havoc
+with the city, come at intervals of
+forty to sixty years. Since the west
+coast of South America is known to
+Europeans, the following are the
+dates:&mdash;1586, 1630, 1687, 1713, 1746,
+1806; always two in a century. It
+is greatly to be feared that ten more
+years will not elapse without Lima
+being visited by another of these awful
+calamities. Dr Tschudi gives a
+brief account of the earthquake of
+1746. It was on the 28th of October,
+St Simon and St Jude's day, that at
+31 minutes past 10 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span>, the earth
+shook with a fearful bellowing noise,
+and in an instant the whole of Lima
+was a heap of ruins. Noise, earthquake,
+and destruction were all the
+affair of <i>one</i> moment. The few buildings
+whose strength resisted the first
+shock, were thrown down by a regular
+horizontal motion of the earth,
+which succeeded it and lasted four
+minutes. Out of more than three
+thousand houses only twenty-one remained
+uninjured. Nearly all the
+public buildings were overthrown.
+At the port of Callao the destruction
+was even more complete; for
+scarcely was the earthquake over,
+when the sea arose with a mighty
+rushing sound, and swallowed up both
+town and inhabitants. In an instant
+five thousand human beings became
+the prey of the waters.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> The Spanish
+corvette San Fermin, which lay
+at anchor in the harbour, was hurled
+far over the walls of the fortress, and
+stranded at more than five hundred
+yards from the shore. A cross marks
+the place where she struck. Three
+heavily laden merchantmen met the
+same fate, and nineteen other vessels
+foundered. The town had disappeared,
+and travellers have related how,
+even now, when the sky is bright and
+the sea still, the houses and churches
+may be dimly seen through the
+transparent waters. Such a tale as
+this is scarce worth refuting, seeing
+that the houses were overturned by
+the earthquake before they were overwhelmed
+by the sea, whose action
+must long since have destroyed their
+every vestige. But the old sailors
+along that coast love to tell how on
+certain days the people are seen sitting
+at the doors of their houses, and
+standing about in the streets, and
+how, in the silent watches of the night,
+a cock has been heard to crow from
+out of the depths of the sea.</p>
+
+<p>Meteors frequently appear as forerunners
+of the earthquakes, amongst
+whose consequences may be reckoned
+the sudden sterilizing of districts previously
+fruitful, but which, after one
+of these convulsions of nature, refuse
+for many years to put forth vegetation.
+No frequency of repetition diminishes
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>the alarm and horror occasioned
+by the shocks. The inhabitants
+of Lima, although accustomed
+from their earliest childhood to
+the constant recurrence of such phenomena,
+spring from their beds at the
+first quivering of the earth, and with
+cries of "misericordia!" rush out of
+their houses. The European, who
+knows nothing of earthquakes but the
+name, almost wishes for the arrival of
+one, and is sometimes inclined to
+laugh at the terror of the Peruvians;
+but when he has once felt a shock,
+any disposition to make merry on the
+subject disappears, and his dread of
+its recurrence is even greater than that
+of the natives. The deeply unpleasant
+impression left by an earthquake,
+is in Lima heightened by the <i>plegarias</i>
+or general prayers that succeed it.
+The shock has no sooner been felt,
+than a signal is given from the cathedral,
+and during ten minutes all the
+bells in the town toll with long, measured
+strokes to call the inhabitants
+to their devotions.</p>
+
+<p>A pleasant country to live in!
+Those who may feel tempted by the
+doctor's commendation of the fascinating
+Limeñas&mdash;the delightful, although
+not very healthy, climate&mdash;the
+luscious fruits, and gorgeous flowers,
+and manifold wonders of Peru&mdash;to gird
+up their loins and betake themselves
+thither, will perhaps think twice of it
+when they learn that an earthquake
+might, and probably would, be their
+welcome. Descriptions of tropical
+countries remind us of those pictures
+of Italian festivals, where nymph-like
+damsels and Antinöus-looking youths
+are gracefully dancing round grape-laden
+cars; whilst some fine old Belisarius
+of a grandpapa, white bearded
+and benignant, sits upon the shaft and
+smiles upon his descendants. One
+sees the graceful forms, the classic
+features, the bursting grapes, and the
+bright sunshine; all of which, like
+enough, are depicted to the life, but
+one sees nothing of the filth, and nastiness,
+and crawling vermin, that
+would awfully shock us in the originals
+of the picture. Not that we
+mean to accuse Dr Tschudi of painting
+Peru in rose-colour, or remaining
+silent as to its defects. He is a conscientious
+traveller, and gives us
+things as he finds them. Besides the
+great nuisance of the earthquakes,
+and the lesser one of dirt, already adverted
+to; besides the armies of fleas,
+which render even the Lima theatre
+almost unvisitable&mdash;not mild European
+fleas, but sanguinary Spanish-American
+ones; besides the malaria
+in the swamps, the <i>piques</i>, <i>chinches</i>,
+mosquitos, and other insect tormentors,
+he favours us with some agreeable
+details touching the highwaymen
+who infest the whole coast of Peru,
+but especially the neighbourhood of
+Lima and Truxillo. They are usually
+runaway slaves, <i>simarrones</i>, as they
+are called, or else free negroes, zambos,
+and mulattos. Now and then
+Indians are found amongst them, who
+make themselves conspicuous by their
+cold-blooded cruelties, and occasionally
+even a white man takes to this
+infamous trade. In 1839 a North
+American, who had served on board
+of a man-of-war, was shot for highway
+robbery. Shooting, it must be
+observed, appears to be the usual way
+of inflicting capital punishment in
+Peru. These banditti, well mounted
+and armed, are very bold and numerous,
+and most of them belong to an
+extensive and well organised band,
+which has branches in various directions.
+Sometimes they approach the
+city in parties of thirty or forty men,
+and plunder all travellers who leave
+it. They prefer attacking foreigners,
+and usually spare the richer and more
+influential Peruvians, which may be
+one cause that stronger measures are
+not adopted against them. Shortly
+before Dr Tschudi's departure from
+Lima, they attacked the feeble escort
+of a sum of one hundred thousand
+dollars, which were on their way to
+the mines of Cerro de Pasco, and
+carried off the money. The silver
+bars sent from the mines to the city
+they allow to pass unmolested, as
+being too heavy and cumbersome.
+The unfortunate peasants who come
+in from the mountains on jackasses,
+with eggs and other produce, are
+marked for their particular prey, on
+account of the money which they
+usually carry with them to make purchases
+in the town. If no dollars are
+found on them, they are killed or
+terribly maltreated. We pass over
+some stories of the cruelties exercised
+by these bandits. Here is one of another<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span>
+sort. "One night that I found
+myself at Chancay," says the doctor,
+"an Indian told me the following anecdote:
+About half a mile from the village,
+he said, he had been met by a
+negro, who approached him with carbine
+cocked, and ordered him to halt.
+The Indian drew a large pistol, and
+said to the robber, 'You may thank
+heaven that this is not loaded, or it
+would be all over with you.' Laughing
+scornfully, the negro rode up and
+seized the Indian, who then pulled
+the trigger of his pistol and shot him
+dead on the spot."</p>
+
+<p>When attacked by the police or
+military, the robbers display desperate
+courage in their defence. Sometimes
+they take shelter in the bush or
+thicket, to which, if the space of
+ground it covers be not too extensive,
+the pursuers set fire on all sides; so
+that the bandits have no choice but
+to perish or yield themselves prisoners.
+In the latter case their trial is
+very short, and after they have been
+left shut up with a priest for the space
+of twelve hours, they are brought out
+and shot. They are allowed to choose
+their place of execution, and must
+carry thither a small bench or stool
+upon which they sit down. Four
+soldiers stand at a distance of three
+paces; two aim at the head and two
+at the heart. A few years ago a
+Zambo of great daring was sentenced
+to death for robbery, and he demanded
+to be shot upon the Plaza de la
+Inquisicion. He sat down upon his
+bench&mdash;the soldiers levelled and fired.
+When the smoke of the discharge
+blew away, the Zambo had disappeared.
+He had watched each movement
+of the soldiers, and at the very moment
+that they laid finger on trigger,
+had thrown himself on one side and
+taken refuge amidst the crowd, some
+of whom favoured his escape. In
+time of war a corps is formed composed
+chiefly of these banditti, and of
+men who have made themselves in
+some way obnoxious to the laws.
+They go by the name of Montoneros,
+and are found very useful as spies,
+skirmishers, despatch-bearers, &amp;c.,
+but are generally more remarkable for
+cruelty than courage. They wear no
+uniform; and sometimes they have
+not even shoes, but strap their spurs
+on their naked heels. In the year
+1838, the Anglo-Peruvian general,
+Miller, commanded a thousand of
+these montoneros who were in the
+service of Santa Cruz. When war is
+at an end, these wild troops disband
+themselves, and for the most part return
+to their former occupation.</p>
+
+<p>Abandoning Lima and its environs,
+Dr Tschudi takes us with him on a
+visit to the various towns and villages
+along the coast, proceeding first north
+and then south of the capital. In a
+coasting voyage to the port of Huacho,
+he has the honour to reckon amongst
+his fellow passengers, Lord Cochrane's
+friend, the celebrated Padre Requena,
+then cura of that town. Of this ecclesiastic,
+of whom he, after his arrival,
+saw a good deal, he draws a picture
+which may be taken as a general
+type of the Peruvian priesthood, and is
+by no means creditable to them. Requena's
+chief passion is coursing, and
+his greatest annoyance, during Dr
+Tschudi's stay in Huacho, was, that
+ill health, brought on by his excesses,
+prevented him from indulging it. He
+had several magnificent horses, and
+a numerous pack of greyhounds, some
+of which latter had cost him one hundred
+and fifty and two hundred dollars
+a-piece. His seraglio was almost as
+well stocked as his kennel, and the
+number of children who called him
+<i>tio</i>, or <i>uncle</i>, the usual term in Peru in
+such cases, was quite prodigious. He
+took great pride in talking of his
+friendship with Lord Cochrane. He
+died a few weeks after his return to
+Huacho, and delayed so long to send
+for a confessor that the Indians at last
+surrounded the house with frightful
+menaces, and sent in a priest to render
+him the last offices of the church.
+He had great difficulty in making up
+his mind to death, or, as he expressed
+it, to a separation from his greyhounds
+and horses. At almost the last moment,
+when his hands began to grow
+cold, he made his negro put on them
+a pair of buckskin gloves.</p>
+
+<p>This respectable priest was by no
+means singular in his love of the
+chase, of which frequent examples are
+to be found in Peru. On reaching
+Quipico, the most easterly plantation
+in the beautiful valley of Huaura, Dr.
+Tschudi had scarcely entered the
+courtyard when he was surrounded by
+upwards of fifty greyhounds, whilst<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>
+from every quarter others came springing
+towards him. They were the remains
+of a pack that had belonged to
+one Castilla, recently the owner of
+the plantation, and whose usual establishment
+consisted of two to three
+hundred of these dogs, with which he
+every day went coursing. The strictest
+discipline was kept up amongst this
+lightfooted multitude. At stated
+hours a bell summoned them to their
+meals, and in the kennel stood a gibbet,
+as a warning to the lazy or perverse.
+One day, when Castilla was
+out hunting, an Indian came up, with
+an ordinary-looking crossbred dog.
+In spite of his looks this dog out-stripped
+the whole pack, and pulled
+down the roebuck. Castilla immediately
+purchased him at the enormous
+price of three hundred and fifty dollars.
+A few days afterwards he again
+went out with his best hounds and
+his new acquisition. The leashes were
+slipped, and the greyhounds went off
+like the wind, but the crossbreed remained
+quietly by the horses. The
+same afternoon he was hung up to
+the gallows, an example to his fellows.</p>
+
+<p>The whole extent of the Peruvian
+coast, from its northern to its southern
+extremity, presents nearly the same
+aspect; vast deserts of sand, varied
+by fruitful valleys, with their villages
+and plantations; seaport towns
+there where nature or commerce has
+encouraged their foundation; alternate
+insupportable heat and damp
+fog; scarcity of men; crumbling
+monuments of a period of riches and
+greatness. In the sandy plains it is
+no unusual occurrence for travellers to
+lose their way and perish for thirst.
+In that fervent and unhealthy climate,
+human strength rapidly gives way
+before want of food and water. In
+the year 1823 a transport carrying
+a regiment of dragoons, three hundred
+and twenty strong, stranded on the
+coast near Pisco. The soldiers got on
+shore, and wandered for thirty-six
+hours through the sand-waste, out of
+which they were unable to find their
+way. At the end of that time they
+were met by a number of horsemen
+with water and food, who had been
+sent out from Pisco to seek them, but
+already one hundred and fifty of the
+unfortunates had died of thirst and
+weariness, and fifty more expired upon
+the following day. Forty-eight hours'
+wandering in those arid deserts, deprived
+of food and drink, is certain
+death to the strongest man. Rivers
+are scarce, and even where the bed of
+a stream is found, it is in many instances
+dry during the greater part of
+the year. The traveller's danger is
+increased by the shifting nature of the
+sand, which the wind raises in enormous
+clouds, and in columns eighty to
+one hundred feet high. The <i>medanos</i>
+are another strange phenomenon of
+these dangerous wilds. They are
+sandhills in the form of a crescent,
+ten to twenty feet high, and with a
+sharp crest. Their base is moveable,
+and when impelled by a tolerably
+strong wind, they wander rapidly over
+the desert; the smaller ones, more
+easily propelled, preceding the large.
+The latter, however, after a time,
+prevent the current of air from reaching
+the former&mdash;take the wind out of
+their sails, it may be said&mdash;and then
+run over and crush them, themselves
+breaking up at the same time. In a
+few hours, what was previously a
+level, is often covered with ranges of
+hillocks, hindering a view of the horizon,
+and bewildering the most experienced
+wanderers through these
+perilous regions. In November the
+summer begins. The scorching rays
+of the sun break through the grey
+covering of the heavens, and threaten
+to consume, by their intensity, the
+entire vegetable and animal creation.
+Not a plant finds nourishment, nor a
+beast food upon the parched and
+glowing soil; no bird or insect floats
+upon the sultry air. Only in the
+upper regions is seen the majestic
+condor, flying towards the ocean.
+All life and movement is now confined
+to the coast. Troops of vultures
+assemble around the stranded carcases
+of sea monsters; otters and
+seals bask beneath the cliffs; variegated
+lizards scamper over the sand-heaps,
+and busy crabs and sea-spiders
+dig into the damp shore. In May
+the scene changes. A thin veil of
+mist spreads over sea and coast, gradually
+thickening, until in October
+the sun again dispels it. At the beginning
+and end of this winter, as it
+is called, the fog generally rises at
+nine or ten in the morning, and
+is again dissipated at three in the afternoon.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>
+It is thickest in August and
+September, when, for weeks together,
+it does not lift. It never changes
+into rain, but only into a fine penetrating
+mist, called the <i>garua</i>. On
+many parts of the Peruvian coast, it
+never rains, excepting after a very
+violent earthquake, and even then
+not always. The usual height of the
+fog from the ground is seven or
+eight hundred feet. It never exceeds
+a height of twelve hundred feet,
+nor is found at all beyond a few miles
+from the coast, at which distance it is
+replaced by violent rains. The boundary
+line between rain and fog may be
+determined with almost mathematical
+accuracy. Dr Tschudi visited two
+plantations, one about six leagues
+from Lima, the other in the neighbourhood
+of Huacho, one half of
+which was annually watered by the
+<i>garuas</i>, and the other half by rain.
+A wall was built upon the line where
+one mode of irrigation ceased and the
+other began.</p>
+
+<p>The province of Yca, whose soil is
+sandy, and to all appearance incapable
+of producing any description of
+vegetation, is devoted to the culture
+of the vine, which perfectly succeeds
+there. The young plants are set half
+a foot deep in the sand, and left to
+themselves; they speedily put forth
+leaves, and yield a luxuriant crop of
+grapes, remarkable for flavour and
+juiciness. These are mostly used for
+brandy, with which the whole of Peru
+and great part of Chili are supplied
+from the valley of Yca. It is of
+excellent quality, especially a sort
+made from muscatel grapes, and called
+<i>aguardiente de Italia</i>. Very little
+wine is made, except by one planter,
+Don Domingo Elias, who has attempted
+it after the European fashion.
+The result has been a wine resembling
+Madeira and Teneriffe, only much
+more fiery, and containing a larger proportion
+of alcohol. The brandy was
+formerly conveyed to the coast in huge
+earthen <i>botijas</i>, capable of containing
+one hundred and fifty to one hundred
+and seventy-five pounds weight of the
+liquor; but these were continually
+broken, chiefly by the thirsty mules
+across which they were slung like
+panniers, and who, when rushing in
+crowds to the watering-places, invariably
+smashed a number of them
+against each other. To remedy this
+the brandy-growers have adopted the
+use of goat-skins; and the manner in
+which, upon many plantations, these
+are prepared, is as frightful a piece of
+barbarity as can well be imagined. A
+negro hangs up the goat, alive, by the
+horns, makes a circular cut through
+the skin of the neck, and strips the
+hide from the agonized beast, which
+is only killed when completely flayed.
+The pretext for this execrable cruelty
+is, that the skin comes off more easily,
+and is found more durable. It is to
+be hoped that the planters will have
+sufficient humanity speedily to do
+away with so horrible a practice.</p>
+
+<p>The negro carnival, which Dr
+Tschudi witnessed at Yca, appears to
+us, of the two, a more civilized performance
+than the Creole carnival at
+Lima. In various of the streets large
+arches, tastefully decorated with ribands,
+are erected; the negresses and
+zambas dance beneath then; whilst
+the allotted task of the men is to gallop
+through without being stopped.
+If the women succeed in checking the
+horse, and pulling the rider out of the
+saddle, the latter has to pay a fine,
+and gets laughed at to boot. It is
+difficult to know which to admire
+most; the speed of the horses, the
+skill of the riders, or the daring of the
+women, who throw themselves upon
+the horse as he comes on at full gallop.
+As the horsemen approach, they
+are pelted with unripe oranges, which,
+thrown by a strong-armed zamba, are
+capable of inflicting tolerably hard
+knocks. Dr Tschudi saw one negro
+who, during a whole hour, galloped
+backwards and forwards without being
+stopped, and concluded by giving
+an extraordinary proof of muscular
+strength. At the very moment that
+he passed under the arch, he stooped
+forward over his horse's neck, caught
+up a negress under each arm, and
+rode off with them!</p>
+
+<p>Opposite to the ports of Pisco and
+Chincha, lie a number of small islands,
+noted for their large deposits of guano,
+or <i>huanu</i>, as Dr Tschudi corrects the
+orthography of the word. The doctor
+gives some very interesting particulars
+concerning this efficacious manure,
+which, although but recently adopted
+in Europe, appears to have been used
+in Peru as far back as the time of the
+first Incas. The Peruvians use it
+chiefly for the maize and potato fields;
+their manner of employing it is peculiar,
+and but little known in Europe.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>
+A few weeks after the seeds have begun
+to germinate, a small hole is
+made beside each plant, filled with
+huanu and covered up with earth.
+Twelve or fifteen hours later the whole
+field is laid under water, and left so
+for a few hours. The effect of the
+process is incredibly rapid. In a very
+few days the plants attain double
+their previous height. When the operation
+is repeated, but with a smaller
+quantity of the huanu, the farmer may
+reckon upon a crop at least threefold
+that which he would obtain from an
+unmanured soil. Of the white huanu,
+which is much stronger than the dark-coloured,
+less must be used, and the
+field must be watered sooner, and for
+a longer time, or the roots will be destroyed.
+When the land is tolerably
+good, seven hundred and fifty to nine
+hundred pounds of huanu are reckoned
+sufficient for a surface of fourteen
+thousand square feet; with poor soil
+a thousand to twelve hundred pounds
+are required.</p>
+
+<p>The waters that wash the coast
+of Peru swarm with fish, upon many
+of which nature has amused herself
+in bestowing the most singular
+and anomalous forms. For a period
+of six weeks, Dr Tschudi took up his
+abode at the port of Huacho, with a
+view to increase his ichthyological
+collection. Every morning at five
+o'clock he rode down to the beach to
+await the return of the fishermen from
+their nocturnal expeditions. From
+as far as they could distinguish him,
+the Indians would hold up to his notice
+some strange and newly captured
+variety of the finny race. He succeeded
+in getting together many hundred
+specimens of about a hundred
+and twenty species of sea and river
+fish; but ill luck attended this valuable
+collection. Through the negligence
+of the people at the port of
+Callao, a cask of brandy, in which
+the fish were preserved, was left for
+months upon the mole in the burning
+sun, till its contents were completely
+spoiled. A second cask, in spite of the
+most careful packing, arrived in Europe,
+after a fifteen months' voyage,
+in a similar condition. This, however, was
+not the only instance, during
+the doctor's stay in Peru, of the fruits
+of great industry, and trouble, and
+heavy expense, being snatched from
+him by untoward accidents. But nothing
+seems to have discouraged a
+man actuated by a sincere love of
+science and thirst for information, and
+possessed, as is made manifest by
+many parts of his modest and unegotistical
+narrative, of great determination
+and perseverance. Steadily he
+continued his researches, in defiance
+of difficulties and sufferings that would
+have driven ordinary men over and
+over again on board the first ship sailing
+for Europe.</p>
+
+<p>We have as yet scarcely referred
+to those portions of the volume dedicated
+to natural history, although the
+doctor rarely dismisses a province or
+district without giving a brief but interesting
+account of its most remarkable
+animals, fruits, and plants. His
+description of some of these is very
+curious. Amongst others, he tells us
+of a small bird called the <i>cheucau</i>,
+(Pteroptochus rubecula Kittl,) in
+connexion with which the people of
+Chiloë, of which island it is a native,
+entertain a host of superstitious fancies,
+foretelling good or bad luck according
+to the various modulations of
+its song. "I was one day," says the
+doctor, "out shooting with an Indian
+guide, when we came upon one of
+these birds, sitting on a bush and piping
+out a shrill <i>huit-huit-ru</i>. I had
+already taken aim at it, when my
+companion seized my arm, and begged
+me not to shoot it, for that it was
+singing its unlucky note. Wishing to
+obtain a specimen, I disregarded his
+entreaty and fired. I had leaned my
+gun against a tree, and was examining
+the little bird, when a vicious
+mule, irritated probably by the report,
+came charging down upon us, so that
+we had only just time to run behind
+a hedge in order to escape his attack.
+Before we could find means to drive
+the enraged animal away, he had
+thrown down my gun, bitten it furiously,
+and stamped on it with his
+fore-feet. The Indian gravely said
+that it would be well if no worse came
+of it, for that he had told me the bird
+was whistling bad luck." There is
+another bird, about the size of a starling,
+which passes its time, and finds
+its food, upon the backs of the cattle,
+and chiefly of horses and jackasses,
+picking out the insects which there
+abound. The beasts seem to feel that
+he is doing them a service, and allow
+him to walk unmolested over their
+backs and heads. Of the beasts of
+prey, the ounce is the most dangerous<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>
+and bloodthirsty. It attains a very
+large size, and Dr Tschudi saw the
+carcass of one that measured eight
+feet and three inches from the nose
+to the extremity of the tail. The
+tail was two feet and eight inches
+long. It had been killed after a
+two days' hunt, during which,
+three negroes had been dangerously
+wounded by it. Of Peruvian fruits,
+the most delicious is the chirimoya.
+It is of a round form, sometimes heart-shaped
+or pyramidal, its rind thick
+and tough, of a green colour streaked
+with black. The inside is snow-white,
+soft and juicy, with black pips or seeds.
+Near Lima, they are small and of
+inferior quality, sometimes not larger
+than a man's fist; but in the interior,
+and especially in the province of Huanuco,
+they attain their full perfection,
+and often weigh fourteen or sixteen
+pounds. Their smell is most fragrant,
+and their delicious flavour, Dr
+Tschudi says, he can compare to nothing,
+for it is incomparable.</p>
+
+<p>We perceive, on glancing over what
+we have written, that we have occupied
+ourselves chiefly with the lighter
+portions of this book, and, by so doing,
+may have given the reader an erroneous
+idea of its value. Although, as
+already mentioned, the more important
+and scientific results of Dr Tschudi's
+travels are to be found in others
+of his works, the one before us must
+not be set down as a mere amusing
+and ephemeral production. It contains
+a great deal of curious information,
+and will be found useful as a
+book of reference by all who are interested
+in the commerce, natural history,
+and general statistics of Peru.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding our endeavours to
+"go a-head," we have got no further
+than the conclusion of the first volume.
+In the second, which is also the final
+one, the doctor abandons the coast
+and the city, and penetrates into what
+may be termed the Peruvian back-woods,
+amongst the snow-covered
+Cordilleras and aboriginal forests, the
+silver mines and Indians. Of what
+he there saw and heard we shall give
+an account in our next Number.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>LETTERS ON ENGLISH HEXAMETERS.</h2>
+
+<div class="center"><span class="smcap">Letter</span> I.</div>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Dear Mr Editor</span>&mdash;I perceive, by your having requested a second specimen
+of N.N.T.'s English hexameters, that you feel an interest in the question,
+whether that form of verse can be successfully employed in our language.
+Certainly the trial has never yet been made under any moderate advantages.
+Sidney, and the other Elizabethans, in their attempts, hampered themselves
+with Latin rules of the value of syllables, which the English ear refuses to
+recognise, and which drive them into intolerable harshness of expression and
+pronunciation. Stanihurst's <i>Virgil</i> is so laboriously ridiculous in phraseology,
+that every thing belonging to it is involved in the ridicule. Southey's <i>Vision</i>
+is a poem so offensive in its scheme, that no measure could have made it
+acceptable. Yet the beginning of that poem is, as you, Mr Editor, have
+remarked, a very happy specimen of this kind of verse; and would, I think,
+by a common English reader, be admired, independently of classical rules
+and classical recollections. Now, if we can reach this point, and at the same
+time give a good English imitation of the Epic mode of narration in Homer,
+we shall have a better image of Homer in our language than we yet possess.
+Your contributor appears to me to have advanced a good way towards the
+execution of this kind of work; and I should be glad if he, or you, would
+allow me, as a reader of English hexameters, to offer a few remarks on his
+first book of the <i>Iliad</i>, with a view to point out what appear to me the
+dangers and difficulties of the task. I do not say any thing of my general
+admiration of N.N.T.'s version, for mere praise you would hardly think
+worth its room.</p>
+
+<p>I should be glad to discuss with you, Mr Editor, the objections which are
+usually made to English hexameters. There is one of these objections which
+I will say a few words about at present. It proceeds upon a misapprehension,
+now, I hope, pretty generally rectified; I mean the objection that we cannot
+have hexameters, "because we have so few spondees the language."
+Southey says we have but one, <i>Egypt</i>; and gives this as a reason why the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>
+spondees of classical hexameters are replaced by trochees in German and
+English. As to Southey's example, <i>Egypt</i> is no more a spondee than <i>precept</i>
+or <i>rescript</i>; but the fact is, that we have in English spondees in abundance;
+and these spondees have tended more than any thing else to spoil our hexameters.
+The universal English feeling of rhythm rejects a spondee at the end of
+the verse; and if the syllables there placed are such as would, in the natural
+course of pronunciation, form a spondee, we nevertheless force upon them a
+trochaic character. This may be worth proving. Read, then, the following
+lines of Sidney:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i0">"But yet well do I find each man most wise in his <i>own case</i>."<br /></span>
+<p><br /></p>
+<span class="i0">"And yet neither of ūs great ōr blest deemeth his <i>own self</i>."<br /></span>
+<p><br /></p>
+<span class="i0">"Shall such morning dews be an ease to heat of a <i>love's fire</i>?"<br /></span>
+<p><br /></p>
+<span class="i0">"Tush, tush, said Natūre, this is all but a trifle; a <i>man's self</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Gives haps or mishaps, ev'n as he ord'reth his heart."<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>Now, here you have four endings which are naturally spondees; but the verse
+compels you to pronounce them as trochees&mdash;<i>ōwn căse</i>, <i>ōwn sĕlf</i>, <i>lōve's fĭre</i>,
+<i>mān's sĕlf</i>. If you still doubt whether the last foot of English hexameters is
+necessarily a trochee, consider this:&mdash;that if you make them rhyme, you
+must use double rhymes, in order that the rhyme may include the strong syllable.
+Thus take any of the examples given in <i>Maga</i> for April last:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i0">"See, O citizens! here old Ennius's image pre<i>sented</i>.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Honour me not with your tears; by none let my death be la<i>mented</i>."<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>The ear would not be satisfied with a rhyme of one syllable such as this&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i0">"But yet well do I find each man most wise in his own <i>case</i>:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Wisely let each resolve, and meet the event with a calm <i>face</i>."<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>Now, so long as men retain the notion that the most perfect English hexameters
+are those which have spondees in the classical places, they are led to
+admit such verses as those just quoted; and this being done, the common
+reader, and indeed every reader, is compelled to do some violence to the
+language in reading. This, more than any thing else, has made an English
+hexameter frequently sound forced and unnatural. N.N.T. has a few such
+in his first <i>Iliad</i>.</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i0">"Pressed on the silvery hilt as he spake was the weight of his <i>right hand</i>."<br /></span>
+<p><br /></p>
+<span class="i0">"Two generations complete of the blood of articulate <i>mankind</i>."<br /></span>
+<p><br /></p>
+<span class="i0">"Over the split wood then did the old man burn them, and <i>black wine</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Pour'd."<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>These forms of English hexameter are to be avoided, if you would commend
+the verse to the common ear. And we may exclude them with a good
+conscience. Their forced and uneasy movement does not arise from any imperfection
+in our English spondees; but from the spondee in these cases being
+so perfect, that it cannot without some violence be made a trochee, which the
+English verse requires. I do not think you will find this bad trick in Southey.
+His habitual feeling of English rhythm preserved him from it.</p>
+
+<p>But there is another blemish, which Southey, forgetting his classical rhythm
+too much, for it ought to have guided his English practice, has often incurred.
+It is, the writing lines without a <i>cæsura</i>, so that they divide themselves into
+half lines. Such as these:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i0">"Washington, said the monarch, | well hast thou spoken and truly."<br /></span>
+<p><br /></p>
+<span class="i0">"Evil they sow, and sorrow | will they reap for their harvest."<br /></span>
+<p><br /></p>
+<span class="i0">"That its tribute of honour, | poor though it was, was witholden."<br /></span>
+<p><br /></p>
+<span class="i0">"Pure it was and diaphanous. | It had no visible lustre."<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>N.N.T. has a few of these. One is the last line I quoted from him.</p>
+
+<p>The essential point in English hexameters, especially while they are imperfectly
+naturalized, is, that the rhythm should be <i>unforced</i>. Without this,
+they will always repel and offend the English reader. And hence, though
+our rhythm is to be constructed by stress, and not by Latin rules of long and
+short, still, if it do not destroy it mars the verse, to have, for short syllables,
+those which have long vowels, clustered consonants, or special emphasis.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Such are the dactyls at the beginning of these lines of Southey:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i0">"Thōu, tŏo, dĭdst act with upright heart as befitted a sovereign."<br /></span>
+<p><br /></p>
+<span class="i0">"Hēaven ĭn thĕse things fulfilled its wise though inscrutable purpose."<br /></span>
+<p><br /></p>
+<span class="i0">"Heār, Heăv'n! y̆e angels hear! souls of the good and the wicked."<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>Except you prefer to read it thus&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i4">"Hear, Heav'n! yē ăngĕls hear!"<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>which is no better. Perhaps the worst of Southey's lines in this way is this&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i2">"Flōw'd thĕ lĭght ūncrēātĕd; lĭght all sufficing, eternal."<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>And as examples of weak syllables harshly made strong, take these&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i0">"Fabius, Ātrides, and Solon and Epamininondas."<br /></span>
+<p><br /></p>
+<span class="i0">"Here, then, āt the gate of Heaven we are met! said the Spirit."<br /></span>
+<p><br /></p>
+<span class="i0">"Thē desire of my heart hath been alway the good of my people."<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>N.N.T. has some examples of this. As a slight one, I notice at the end of
+a line, <i>hārvĕstlĕss ocean</i>. And these, which are spoiled by the violation of emphasis:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i0">"Trūly <i>Ĭ</i> came not, for one, out of hate for the spearmen of Troja."<br /></span>
+<p><br /></p>
+<span class="i0">"Mightier even than you, yet amōng <i>thĕm</i> Ĭ never was slighted."<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>Here we have an emphatic <i>I</i> and an emphatic <i>them</i> which are made short
+in the rhythm.</p>
+
+<p>N.N.T. has one dactyl which I can hardly suppose was intended&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i4">"Under his chāstĭsĭng hand."<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>It appears to me that we shall never bring the lovers of English poetry to
+like our hexameters, except we can make the verses so that they <i>read themselves</i>.
+This the good ones among them do. N.N.T. has whole passages which
+run off without any violence or distortion.</p>
+
+<p>But the phraseology of English hexameters requires great care, as well as
+the rhythm, and especially in such a work as the translation of Homer. The
+measure has the great advantage of freeing us from the habitual chain of
+"poetical diction." But we must take care that we are not led, by this
+freedom, either into a modern prose style, or into mean colloquialities; or in
+translating, into phrases which, though expressive and lively, do not agree
+with the tone of the poem. The style must be homely, but dignified, like that
+of our translation of the Old Testament. Perhaps you will allow me, for the
+sake of example, to notice some of N.N.T.'s expressions:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i0">"Try not the engine of craft: to <i>come over me</i> thus is <i>beyond thee</i>."<br /></span>
+<p><br /></p>
+<span class="i0">"This the <i>suggestion</i>, <i>forsooth</i>, that thyself being safe with thy booty,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I shall <i>sit down</i> without mine."<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>The phrase to "<i>come over me</i>" is colloquial, and too low even for a letter.
+"Your <i>suggestion</i>" is a phrase for a letter, not for an epic poem. "<i>Forsooth</i>"
+would be good in construing, but not in a poem. Again, is this passage serious
+English:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i0">"Opposite rose Agamemnon in wrath, but before he could <i>open</i>?"<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>I could notice other blemishes of style, as they seem to me; and, indeed, I
+could the more easily find them, on account of the very severe standard of
+good English, serious and dignified, yet plain and idiomatic, which I think
+the case requires. Every phrase should be the very best that can be found
+both for meaning and tone. I know that this requirement is difficult; but I
+think the thing may be done; and I do not see why N.N.T. should not do it,
+and thus give us a better English Homer than we have yet.</p>
+
+<p>If you can find room for me, I have a few more words to say on this same
+matter of English hexameters another day. It appears to me that there are
+still very erroneous notions current upon the subject. In the mean time I
+subscribe myself your obedient</p>
+
+
+<div class="author">M. L.</div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>MARLBOROUGH'S DISPATCHES.</h2>
+
+<h3>1708-1709.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span> fall of the external walls of
+Lille did not terminate the struggle
+for that important fortress. Marshal
+Boufflers still held the citadel, a stronghold
+in itself equal to most fortresses
+of the first order. No sooner, however,
+were the Allies in possession of
+the town, than the attack on the citadel
+commenced with all the vigour
+which the exhausted state of the magazines
+would furnish. Detached parties
+were sent into France, which
+levied contributions to a great extent,
+and both replenished the stores of
+the Allies and depressed the spirits of
+the French, by making them feel, in a
+manner not to be misunderstood, that
+the war had at length approached
+their own doors. To divert, if possible,
+Marlborough from his enterprise, the
+Elector of Bavaria, who had recently
+returned from the Rhine, was detached
+by Vendôme, with fifteen thousand
+men against Brussels; while he himself
+remained in his intrenched camp
+on the Scheldt, which barred the
+road from Lille to that city, at once
+stopping the communication, and ready
+to profit by any advantage afforded
+by the measures which the English
+general might make for its relief.
+The governor of Brussels, M. Paschal,
+who had seven thousand men under
+his orders, rejected the summons to
+surrender, and prepared for a vigorous
+defence; and meanwhile Marlborough
+prepared for its relief, by one of those
+brilliant strokes which, in so peculiar
+a manner, characterize his campaigns.</p>
+
+<p>Giving out that he was going to
+separate his army into winter-quarters,
+he dispatched the field artillery towards
+Menin, and he himself set out
+with his staff in rather an ostentatious
+way for Courtray. But no sooner
+had he lulled the vigilance of the
+enemy by these steps, than, wheeling
+suddenly round, he advanced with the
+bulk of his forces towards the Scheldt,
+and directed them against that part
+of the French general's lines where he
+knew them to be weakest. The army,
+upon seeing these movements, anticipated
+the bloodiest battle, on the day
+following, they had yet had during the
+war. But the skill of the English
+general rendered resistance hopeless,
+and gained his object with wonderfully
+little loss. The passage of the river
+was rapidly effected at three points;
+the French corps stationed at Oudenarde,
+vigorously assailed and driven
+back on Grammont with the loss of
+twelve hundred men, so as to leave the
+road uncovered, and restore the communication
+with Brussels. Having thus
+cleared the way of the enemy, Marlborough
+sent back Eugene to resume
+the siege of the citadel of Lille; while
+he himself, with the greater part of his
+forces, proceeded on to Brussels,
+which he entered in triumph on the
+29th November. The Elector of Bavaria
+was too happy to escape, leaving
+his guns and wounded behind; and
+the citadel of Lille, despairing now of
+succour, capitulated on the 11th December.
+Thus was this memorable
+campaign terminated by the capture
+of the strongest frontier fortress of
+France, under the eyes of its best
+general and most powerful army.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p>
+
+<p>But Marlborough, like the hero in
+antiquity, deemed nothing done while
+any thing remained to do. Though
+his troops were exhausted by marching
+and fighting almost without intermission
+for five months, and he
+himself was labouring under severe
+illness in consequence of his fatigues,
+he resolved in the depth of winter to
+make an attempt for the recovery of
+Ghent, the loss of which in the early
+part of the campaign had been the
+subject of deep mortification. The
+enemy, after the citadel of Lille capitulated,
+having naturally broken up
+their army into cantonments, under
+the belief that the campaign was
+concluded, he suddenly collected his
+forces, and drew round Ghent on the
+18th December. Eugene formed the
+covering force with the corps lately
+employed in the reduction of Lille.
+The garrison was very strong, consisting
+of no less than thirty battalions
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>
+and nineteen squadrons, mustering
+eighteen thousand combatants.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> The
+governor had been instructed by Vendôme
+to defend this important stronghold
+to the last extremity; but he was
+inadequately supplied with provisions
+and forage, and this event signally
+belied the expectations formed of his
+resistance. The approaches were vigorously
+pushed. On the 24th the
+trenches were opened; on the 25th
+a sortie was repulsed; on the 28th
+December, the fire began with great
+vigour from the breaching and mortar
+batteries; and at noon, the governor
+sent a flag of truce, offering to capitulate
+if not relieved before the 2d
+January. This was agreed to; and on
+the latter day, as no friendly force
+approached, the garrison surrendered
+the gates and marched out,
+in such strength that they were
+defiling incessantly from ten in the
+morning till seven at night! Bruges
+immediately followed the example;
+the garrison capitulated, and the town
+again hoisted the Austrian flag. The
+minor forts of Plassendall and Leffinghen
+were immediately evacuated by
+the enemy. With such expedition
+were these important operations conducted,
+that before Vendôme could
+even assemble a force adequate to interrupt
+the besiegers' operations, both
+towns were taken, and the French
+were entirely dispossessed of all the
+important strongholds they had gained
+in the early part of the campaign in
+the heart of Brabant. Having closed
+his labours with these glorious successes,
+Marlborough put the army into
+now secure winter-quarters on the
+Flemish frontiers, and himself repaired
+to the Hague to resume the eternal
+contest with the timidity and selfishness
+of his Dutch allies.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p>
+
+<p>Such was the memorable campaign
+of 1708&mdash;one of the most glorious in
+the military annals of England, and
+the one in which the extraordinary
+capacity of the British general perhaps
+shone forth with the brightest
+lustre. The vigour and talent of
+Vendôme, joined to the secret communication
+which he had with those
+disaffected to the Austrian government
+in Ghent and Bruges, procured
+for him, in the commencement of the
+campaign, a great, and what, if opposed
+by less ability, might have proved
+a decisive advantage. By the acquisition
+of these towns, he gained the
+immense advantage of obtaining the
+entire command of the water communication
+of Brabant, and establishing
+himself in a solid manner in the
+heart of the enemy's territory. The
+entire expulsion of the Allies from
+Austrian Flanders seemed the unavoidable
+result of such a success, by
+so enterprising a general at the head
+of a hundred thousand combatants.
+But Marlborough was not discouraged;
+on the contrary, he built on the enemy's
+early successes a course of manœuvres,
+which in the end wrested all
+his conquests from him, and inflicted a
+series of disasters greater than could
+possibly have been anticipated from a
+campaign of unbroken success. Boldly
+assuming the lead, he struck such a
+blow at Oudenarde as resounded
+from one end of Europe to the other,
+struck a terror into the enemy which
+they never recovered for the remainder
+of the campaign, paralysed Vendôme
+in the midst of his success, and
+reduced him from a vigorous offensive
+to a painful defensive struggle. While
+the cabinet of Versailles were dreaming
+of expelling the Allies from Flanders,
+and detaching Holland, partly
+by intrigue, partly by force of arms,
+from the coalition, he boldly entered
+the territory of the Grand Monarque,
+and laid siege to its chief frontier fortress,
+under the eyes of its greatest
+army and best general. In vain was
+the water communication of the Netherlands
+interrupted by the enemy's
+possession of Ghent and Bruges;
+with incredible activity he got together,
+and with matchless skill conducted
+to the besiegers' lines before Lille, a
+huge convoy eighteen miles long, drawn
+by sixteen thousand horses, in the
+very teeth of Vendôme at the head of
+an hundred and twenty thousand men.
+Lille captured, Ghent and Bruges recovered,
+the allied standards solidly
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span>
+planted on the walls of the strongest
+fortress of France, terminated a campaign
+in which the British, over-matched
+and surrounded by lukewarm
+or disaffected friends, had wellnigh
+lost at the outset by foreign treachery
+all the fruits of the victory of Ramilies.</p>
+
+<p>The glorious termination of this
+campaign, and, above all, the addition
+made to the immediate security
+of Holland by the recovery of Ghent
+and Bruges, sensibly augmented Marlborough's
+influence at the Hague, and
+at length overcame the timidity and
+vacillation of the Dutch government.
+When the English general repaired
+there in the beginning of 1709, he quickly
+overawed the adherents of France,
+regained his wonted influence over
+the mind of the Pensionary Heinsius,
+and at length succeeded in persuading
+the government and the States to
+augment their forces by six thousand
+men. This, though by no means so
+great an accession of numbers as was
+required to meet the vast efforts
+which France was making, was
+still a considerable addition; and by
+the influence of Prince Eugene, who
+was well aware that the principal
+effort of the enemy in the next
+campaign would be made in the Netherlands,
+he obtained a promise that
+the Imperial troops should winter
+there, and be recruited, so as to compensate
+their losses in the preceding
+campaign. Great difficulties were
+experienced with the court of Turin,
+which had conceived the most extravagant
+hopes from the project of an
+invasion of France on the side both of
+Lyons and Franche Comté, and for
+this purpose required a large subsidy
+in money, and the aid of fifty thousand
+men under Prince Eugene on the Upper
+Rhine. Marlborough was too well
+aware, by experience, of the little reliance
+to be placed on any military
+operations in which the Emperor and
+the Italian powers were to be placed
+in co-operation, to be sanguine of
+success from this design; but as it
+was material to keep the court of
+Turin in good-humour, he gave the
+proposal the most respectful attention,
+and sent General Palmer on a
+special mission to the Duke of Savoy,
+to arrange the plan of the proposed
+irruption into the Lyonnois. With the
+cabinet of Berlin the difficulties were
+greater than ever, and in fact had become
+so urgent, that nothing but the
+presence of the English General, or an
+immediate agent from him, could prevent
+Prussia from seceding altogether
+from the alliance. General Grumbkow
+was sent there accordingly in
+March, and found the king in such
+ill-humour at the repeated disappointments
+he had experienced from
+the Emperor and the Dutch, that he
+declared he could only spare <i>three
+battalions</i> for the approaching campaign.<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a>
+By great exertions, however,
+and the aid of Marlborough's letters
+and influence, the king was at length
+prevailed on to continue his present
+troops in the Low Countries, and increase
+them by fourteen squadrons of
+horse.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p>
+
+<p>But it was not on the Continent
+only that open enemies or lukewarm
+and treacherous friends were striving
+to arrest the course of Marlborough's
+victories. His difficulties at home,
+both with his own party and his opponents,
+were hourly increasing; and
+it was already foreseen, that they
+had become so formidable that they
+would cause, at no very remote period,
+his fall. Though he was publicly
+thanked, as well he might, by both
+houses of parliament, when he came
+to London on 1st March 1709, yet he
+received no mark of favour from the
+Queen, and was treated with studied
+coldness at court.<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a>
+Envy, the inseparable<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span>
+attendant on exalted merit&mdash;ingratitude,
+the usual result of irrequitable
+services, had completely
+alienated the Queen from him. Mrs
+Masham omitted nothing which could
+alienate her royal mistress from so
+formidable a rival; and it was hard
+to say whether she was most cordially
+aided in her efforts by the open Opposition,
+or the half Tory-Whigs who
+formed the administration. Both
+Godolphin and the Duke speedily
+found that they were tolerated in
+office merely: while, in order to
+weaken their influence with the people,
+every effort was made to depreciate
+even the glorious victories
+which had shed such imperishable
+lustre over the British cause. Deeply
+mortified by this ingratitude, Marlborough
+gladly embraced an offer
+which was made to him by the
+government, in order to remove him
+from court, to conduct the negotiation
+now pending at the Hague with Louis
+XIV. for the conclusion of a general
+peace.<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p>
+
+<p>The pride of the French monarch
+was now so much humbled that he
+sent the President Rouillé to Holland,
+with public instructions to offer terms
+to the Allies, and private directions to
+do every thing possible to sow dissension
+among them, and, if possible, detach
+Holland from the alliance. His
+proposals were to give up Spain, the
+Indies, and the Milanese to King
+Charles; and cede the Italian islands,
+reserving Naples and Sicily for his
+grandson. In the Netherlands and
+Germany, he offered to restore matters
+to the state they were at the
+peace of Ryswick; and though he was
+very reluctant to give up Lille, he offered
+to cede Menin in its place. These
+terms being communicated to the
+court of London, they returned an
+answer insisting that the whole Spanish
+monarchy should be restored to
+the house of Austria, the title of Queen
+Anne to the Crown of England, and
+the Protestant succession acknowledged,
+the Pretender removed, the
+harbour of Dunkirk destroyed, and
+an adequate barrier secured for the
+Dutch. In their ideas upon this barrier,
+however, they went much beyond
+what Marlborough was disposed
+to sanction, and therefore he maintained
+a prudent reserve on the subject.
+As the French plenipotentiary
+could not agree to these terms, Marlborough
+returned to England, and
+Lord Townsend was associated with
+him as plenipotentiary. They were instructed
+to insist that Furmes, Ipres,
+Menin, Lille, Tournay, Condé, Valenciennes,
+and Maubeuge, should be
+given up to form a barrier, and that
+Newfoundland and Hudson's Bay
+should be restored. Alarmed at the
+exaction of such rigorous terms, Louis
+sent M. de Torcy, who made large
+concessions; and Marlborough, who
+was seriously desirous of bringing the
+war to a conclusion, exerted all his
+influence with the States to induce
+them to accept the barrier offered.
+He so far succeeded, that on the very
+day after his return to the Hague, he
+wrote both to Lord Godolphin and the
+Duchess of Marlborough, that he had
+prevailed on the Dutch commissioners
+to accede to the principal articles, and
+that he had no doubt the negotiation
+would terminate in an honourable
+peace.<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p>
+
+<p>These flattering prospects, however,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>
+were soon overcast. The Dutch renewed
+their demand of having their
+barrier strengthened <i>at the expense of
+Austria</i>, and insisted that the Flemish
+fortresses of Dendermonde and Ghent,
+forming part of the <i>Imperial</i> dominions,
+should be included in it. To this both
+Eugene and Marlborough objected,
+and the Dutch, in spite, refused to
+stipulate for the demolition of Dunkirk.
+So violent an altercation took
+place on the subject between the Pensionary
+Heinsius and Marlborough,
+that it had wellnigh produced a
+schism in the grand alliance. M. de
+Torcy at first endeavoured to mitigate
+the demands of the Dutch government;
+but finding them altogether
+immovable, he addressed himself privately
+to Marlborough, offering him
+enormous bribes if he could procure
+more favourable terms for France.
+The offers were 2,000,000 livres
+(£80,000) if he could secure Naples
+and Sicily, or even Naples alone, for
+the grandson of the King of France;
+and 4,000,000 livres (£160,000) if, in
+addition to this, he could save Strasburg,
+Dunkirk, and Landau, for
+France. Marlborough turned away
+from the disgraceful proposal with
+coldness and contempt;<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> but enforced
+in the most earnest manner on the
+French king, the prudence and even
+necessity of yielding to the proffered
+terms, if he would save his country
+from dismemberment, and himself
+from ruin. His efforts, however, to
+bring matters to an accommodation
+with France proved ineffectual; and
+after some weeks longer spent in proposals
+and counter-proposals, the ultimatum
+of the Allies was finally delivered
+to the French plenipotentiary
+by the Pensionary of Holland.<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></p>
+
+<p>By this ultimatum, Charles was to
+be acknowledged King of Spain and
+the Indies, and the whole Spanish
+monarchy was to be ceded by France.
+All the conquests of Louis in the Low
+Countries were to be given up; the
+Duke of Anjou was to surrender Spain
+and Sicily in two months, and if not
+delivered, Louis was to concur with the
+Allies for his expulsion. The barrier
+towns, so eagerly coveted by the Dutch,
+were to be given up to them. Namur,
+Menin, Charleroi, Luxembourg,
+Condé, Tournay, Maubeuge, Nieuport,
+Fismes, and Ipres, were to be put into
+the possession of the Allies. De Torcy
+objected to the articles regarding the
+cession of the whole Spanish monarchy
+in two months; though he declared
+his willingness to go to Paris,
+in order to persuade the French monarch
+to comply with them, and
+actually set off for that purpose. On
+the way to the French capital, however,
+he was met by a messenger from
+the French king, who rejected the
+proposals. "If I must continue the
+war," said Louis, with a spirit worthy
+his race, "it is better to contend with
+my enemies than my own family."
+So confidently had it been believed,
+both at the Hague and in London,
+that peace was not only probable, but
+actually concluded, that letters of
+congratulation poured in on the duke
+from all quarters, celebrating his dexterity
+and address in negotiation not
+less than his prowess in arms. So
+confident, indeed, was Marlborough
+that peace would be concluded, that
+he was grievously disappointed by the
+rupture of the negotiations; and never
+ceased to strive, during the whole
+summer, to smooth away difficulties,
+and bring the Allies to such terms as
+the French king would accept. He
+was overruled, however, by the ministry
+at home, who concluded the celebrated
+barrier treaty with the Dutch,
+which Marlborough refused to sign,
+and was accordingly signed by Townsend
+alone, without his concurrence!
+And it is now decisively proved by
+the publication of his private correspondence
+with Lord Godolphin, that
+he disapproved of the severe articles
+insisted upon by the Allies and his
+own cabinet; and that, if he had had
+the uncontrolled management of the
+negotiation, it would have been
+brought to a favourable issue on
+terms highly advantageous to England,
+and which would have prevented
+the treaty of Utrecht from forming a
+stain on its annals.<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span></p>
+<p>The rigorous terms demanded, however,
+by the Allied cabinets, and the
+resolute conduct of the King of France
+in rejecting them, had an important
+effect upon the war, and called for
+more vigorous efforts on the part of
+the confederates than they had yet
+put forth, or were even now disposed
+to make. Louis made a touching
+appeal to the patriotic spirit of his
+people, in an eloquent circular which
+he addressed to the prelates and
+nobles of his realm. He there set
+forth the great sacrifices which he had
+offered to make to secure a general
+peace; showed how willing he had
+been to divest himself of all his conquests,
+abandon all his dreams of ambition;
+and concluded by observing,
+that he was now compelled to continue
+the contest, because the Allies
+insisted upon his descending to the
+humiliation of joining his arms to theirs
+to dispossess his own grandson. The
+appeal was not made in vain to the
+spirit of a gallant nobility, and the
+patriotism of a brave people. It kindled
+a spark of general enthusiasm
+and loyalty: all ranks and parties
+vied with each other in contributing
+their property and personal service for
+the maintenance of the war; and the
+campaign which opened under such
+disastrous auspices, was commenced
+with a degree of energy and unanimity
+on the part of the French people which
+had never hitherto been evinced in the
+course of the contest.<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> As afterwards,
+in the wars of the Revolution, too, the
+misfortunes of the state tended to the
+increase of its military forces. The
+stoppage of commerce, and shock to
+credit, threw numbers out of employment;
+and starving multitudes crowded
+to the frontier, to find that subsistence
+amidst the dangers of war which they
+could no longer find in the occupations
+of peace.</p>
+
+<p>Skilfully availing themselves of this
+burst of patriotic fervour, the ministers
+of Louis were enabled to open the
+campaign with greater forces than
+they had yet accumulated since the
+beginning of the war. The principal
+effort was made in Flanders, where
+the chief danger was to be apprehended,
+and the enemy's most powerful
+army and greatest general were to be
+faced. Fifty-one battalions and
+forty-nine squadrons were drawn
+from the Rhine to Flanders; and this
+great reinforcement, joined to the
+crowds of recruits whom the public
+distress impelled to his standards,
+enabled the renowned Marshal Villars,
+who had received the command of
+the French, to take the field at the
+head of 112,000 men. With this imposing
+force, he took a position, strong
+both by nature and art, extending
+from Douay to the Lye; the right
+resting on the canal of Douay, the
+centre covered by the village of La
+Bassie, the left supported by Bethune
+and its circumjacent marshes.
+The whole line was strengthened by
+redoubts and partial inundations.
+Marlborough was at the head of
+110,000 men, and although his force
+was composed of a heterogeneous
+mixture of the troops of different nations,
+yet, like the <i>colluvies omnium
+gentium</i> which followed the standards
+of Hannibal, it was held together by
+the firm bond of military success, and
+inspired with unbounded confidence,
+founded on experience, in the resources
+and capacity of its chief.
+Events of the greatest and most interesting
+kind could not but be anticipated,
+when two armies of such
+magnitude, headed by such leaders,
+were brought into collision; and the
+patriotic ardour of the French nation,
+now roused to the uttermost, was
+matched against the military strength
+of the confederates, matured by so long
+and brilliant a series of victories.<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p>
+
+<p>Though relying with confidence on
+the skill and intrepidity of his troops,
+Marlborough, according to his usual
+system, resolved if possible to circumvent
+the enemy by manœuvring, and
+reserve his hard blows for the time
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>
+when success was to be won in no
+other way. His design was to begin
+the campaign with a general battle, or
+the reduction of Tournay, which lay
+on the direct road from Brussels by
+Mons to Paris, and would break
+through, in the most important part,
+the barrier fortresses. To prepare for
+either event, and divert the enemy's
+attention, strong demonstrations were
+made against Villars' intrenched position,
+and if it had been practicable,
+it would have been attacked; but
+after a close reconnoitre, both generals
+deemed it too hazardous an enterprise,
+and it was resolved to besiege
+the fortress. On the 23d June, the
+right under Eugene crossed the lower
+Dyle below Lille; while the left, with
+whom were the whole English and
+Dutch contingents, crossed the upper
+Dyle, and Marlborough fixed his
+headquarters at the castle of Looz.
+So threatening were the masses which
+the Allies now accumulated in his
+front, that Villars never doubted he
+was about to be attacked; and in
+consequence he strengthened his position
+to the utmost of his power,
+called in all his detachments, and
+drew considerable reinforcements from
+the garrisons of Tournay and other
+fortresses in his vicinity. Having
+thus fixed his antagonist's attention,
+and concentrated his force in his intrenched
+lines between Douay and
+Bethune, Marlborough suddenly
+moved off to the left, in the direction
+of Tournay. This was done, however,
+with every imaginable precaution to
+impose upon the enemy. They decamped
+at nightfall on the 27th in
+dead silence, and advanced part of
+the night straight towards the French
+lines; but at two in the morning, the
+troops were suddenly halted, wheeled
+to the left, and marched in two columns,
+by Pont à Bovines and Pont
+à Tressins, towards Tournay. So expeditiously
+was the change in the line
+of march managed, and so complete
+the surprise, that by seven in the
+morning the troops were drawn round
+Tournay, and the investment complete,
+while a half of the garrison was
+still absent in the lines of Marshal
+Villars, and it was thereby rendered
+incapable of making any effectual defence.
+Meanwhile, that commander
+was so deceived, that he was congratulating
+himself that the enemy had
+"fixed on the siege of Tournay, which
+should occupy them the whole remainder
+of the campaign; when it is
+evident their design had been, after
+defeating me, to thunder against
+Aire la Venant with their heavy
+artillery, penetrate as far as Boulogne,
+and after laying all Picardy
+under contribution, push on even to
+Paris."<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></p>
+
+<p>Tournay is an old town, the ancient
+walls of which are of wide circuit;
+but it had a series of advanced works
+erected by Vauban, and its citadel, a
+regular pentagon, was considered by
+the great Condé as one of the most
+perfect specimens of modern fortification
+in existence. So little did the
+governor expect their approach, that
+many of the officers were absent, and
+a detachment of the garrison, sent out
+to forage, was made prisoners by
+General Lumley, who commanded the
+investing corps. The fortifications,
+however, were in the best state, and
+the magazines well stored with ammunition
+and military stores. It was
+the ancient capital of the Nervii, so
+celebrated for their valour in the wars
+with Cæsar; and an inscription on its
+walls testified that Louis XIV., after
+taking it in four days, had assisted in
+the construction of the additional
+works which would render it impregnable.
+The attempt to take such a
+place with a force no greater than that
+with which Villars had at hand to
+interrupt the operations, would have
+been an enterprise of the utmost
+temerity, and probably terminated in
+disaster, had it not been for the admirable
+skill with which the attention
+of the enemy had been fixed on another
+quarter, and the siege commenced
+with half its garrison absent,
+and what was there, imperfectly supplied
+with provisions.<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>
+The heavy artillery and siege
+equipage required to be brought up
+the Scheldt from Ghent, which in the
+outset occasioned some delay in the
+operations. Marlborough commanded
+the attacking, Eugene the covering
+forces. By the 6th, however, the approaches
+were commenced; on the
+10th, the battering train arrived and
+the trenches armed; repeated sallies
+of the enemy to interrupt the operations
+were repulsed, and several of the
+outworks carried, between that time
+and the 21st, on which last occasion
+the besiegers succeeded in establishing
+themselves in the covered ways. The
+breaching batteries continued to
+thunder with terrible effect upon the
+walls; and on the 27th, a strong horn-work,
+called of the Seven Fountains,
+was carried, and the Allies were masters
+of nearly the whole line of the
+counterscarp. Meanwhile, Villars
+made no serious movement to interrupt
+the besiegers, contenting himself
+with making demonstrations between
+the Scarfe and the Scheldt to
+alarm the covering forces. Eugene,
+however, narrowly watched all his
+proceedings; and in truth the French
+marshal, far from really intending
+to disquiet the Allies in their operations,
+was busied with an immense
+army of pioneers and labourers in
+constructing a new set of lines from
+Douay along the Scarfe to the Scheldt
+near Condé, in order to arrest the progress
+of the Allies in the direction they
+had now taken. Seeing no prospect
+of being relieved, the governor on the
+29th surrendered the town, and retired
+with the remains of the garrison, still
+four thousand strong, into the citadel.<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p>
+
+<p>On the surrender of the town, no
+time was lost in prosecuting operations
+against the citadel, and the line
+of circumvallation was traced out
+that very evening. But this undertaking
+proved more difficult than had
+been expected, and several weeks
+elapsed before any material progress
+was made in the operations, during
+which Villars made good use
+of his time in completing his new
+lines to cover Valenciennes and Condé.
+The garrison of the citadel, though
+unequal to the defence of the town of
+Tournay, was quite adequate to that
+of the citadel: and the vast mines
+with which the whole outworks and
+glacis were perforated, rendered the
+approaches in the highest degree
+perilous and difficult. The governor,
+M. De Surville, proposed, on the 5th
+August, to capitulate in a month if
+not relieved; and to this proposition,
+Marlborough and Eugene with praiseworthy
+humanity at once acceded: but
+the King of France refused to ratify
+the terms proposed, unless the suspension
+of arms was made general to the
+whole Netherlands, to which the allied
+general would not accede. The
+military operations consequently went
+on, and soon acquired a degree of
+horror hitherto unparalleled even in
+that long and bloody contest. The
+art of countermining, and of counteracting
+the danger of mines exploding,
+was then very imperfectly understood,
+though that of besieging above
+ground had been brought to the very
+highest degree of perfection. The
+soldiers, in consequence, entertained
+a great and almost superstitious dread
+of the perils of that subterraneous
+warfare, where prowess and courage
+were alike unavailing, and the bravest,
+equally as the most pusillanimous, were
+liable to be at any moment blown into
+the air, or smothered under ground,
+by the explosions of an unseen, and
+therefore appalling, enemy. The
+Allies were inferior in regular sappers
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>
+and miners to the besieged, who were
+singularly well supplied with that important
+arm of the service. The ordinary
+soldiers, how brave soever in
+the field, evinced a repugnance at
+engaging in this novel and terrific
+species of warfare: and it was only
+by personally visiting the trenches in
+the very hottest of the fire, and offering
+high rewards to the soldiers who
+would enter into the mines, that men
+could be got who would venture on
+the perilous service.<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></p>
+
+<p>It was not surprising that even the
+bravest of the allied troops were appalled
+at the new and extraordinary
+dangers which now awaited them, for
+they were truly of the most formidable
+description. What rendered them peculiarly
+so, was, that the perils in a
+peculiar manner affected the bold and
+the forward. The first to mount a
+breach, to effect a lodgement in a horn-work,
+to penetrate into a mine, was
+sure to perish. First a hollow rumbling
+noise was heard, which froze the bravest
+hearts with horror: a violent rush as
+of a subterraneous cataract succeeded;
+and immediately the earth heaved,
+and whole companies, and even battalions,
+were destroyed with a frightful
+explosion. On the 15th August
+a sally by M. De Surville was bravely
+repulsed, and the besiegers, pursuing
+their advantage, effected a lodgement
+in the outwork: but immediately a
+mine was sprung, and a hundred and
+fifty men were blown into the air.
+In the night between the 16th and
+17th, a long and furious conflict took
+place below ground and in utter darkness,
+between the contending parties,
+which at length terminated to the
+advantage of the besiegers.<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> On the
+23d a mine was discovered, sixty feet
+long by twenty broad, which would
+have blown up a whole battalion of
+Hanoverian troops placed above it;
+but while the Allies were in the mine,
+congratulating themselves on the discovery,
+a mine below it was suddenly
+sprung, and all within the upper one
+buried in the ruins. On the night of
+the 25th, three hundred men, posted
+in a large mine discovered to the
+Allies by an inhabitant of Tournay,
+were crushed by the explosion of another
+mine directly below it; and on
+the same night, one hundred men
+posted in the town ditch were suddenly
+buried under a bastion blown
+out upon them. Great was the dismay
+which these dreadful and unheard-of
+disasters produced among the allied
+troops. But at length the resolution
+and energy of Marlborough and Eugene
+triumphed over every obstacle.
+Early on the morning of the 31st
+August the white flag was displayed,
+and a conference took place between
+the two commanders in the house of
+the Earl of Albemarle; but the governor
+having refused to accede to the
+terms demanded&mdash;that he should surrender
+prisoners of war&mdash;the fire
+recommenced, and a tremendous discharge
+from all the batteries took
+place for the next three days. This
+compelled the brave De Surville to
+submit; and Marlborough, in consideration
+of his gallant defence, permitted
+the garrison to march out with
+the honours of war, and return to
+France, on condition of not serving
+again till exchanged. On September
+3d the gates were surrendered; and
+the entire command of this strong
+fortress and rich city, which entirely
+covered Spanish Flanders, was obtained
+by the Allies.<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>
+No sooner was Tournay taken than
+the allied generals turned their eyes
+to Mons, the next great fortress on
+the road to Paris, and which, with
+Valenciennes, constituted the only remaining
+strongholds that lay on that
+line between them and Paris. So
+anxious was Marlborough to hasten
+operations against this important
+town, that on the very day on which
+the white flag was displayed from the
+citadel of Tournay, he dispatched
+Lord Orkney with all the grenadiers
+of the army, and twenty squadrons,
+to surprise Ghislain, and secure the
+passage of the Haine. On the 3d,
+the Prince of Hesse-Cassel was dispatched
+after him with 4000 foot and
+60 squadrons. Lord Orkney, on arriving
+on the banks of the Haine,
+found the passage so strongly guarded
+that he did not deem it prudent to alarm
+the enemy by attempting to force them.
+The Prince of Hesse-Cassel, however,
+was more fortunate. He marched with
+such extraordinary diligence, that
+he got over forty-nine English miles
+in fifty-six successive hours; a rapidity
+of advance, for such a distance,
+that had never been surpassed at that,
+though it has been outdone in later
+times.<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> By this means he reached
+the Haine on the other side of Mons,
+and surprised the passage near Obourg,
+at two in the morning of the 6th, and
+at noon he entered the French lines
+of the Trouille without opposition, the
+enemy retiring with precipitation as
+he advanced. He immediately extended
+his forces over the valley of
+the Trouille, fixed his headquarters
+at the abbey of Belian, and with his
+right occupied in strength the important
+plateau of Jemappes, which intercepted
+the communication between
+Mons and Valenciennes. It was on
+this height that the famous battle
+was fought between the French Republicans
+under Dumourier in 1792:
+another proof among the many which
+history affords how frequently the
+crisis of war, at long distances of
+time from each other, takes place in
+the same place. By this decisive
+movement Marlborough gained an
+immense advantage;&mdash;Mons was now
+passed and <i>invested on the side of
+France</i>; and the formidable lines,
+thirty leagues in length, on which
+Marshal Villars had been labouring
+with such assiduity during the two
+preceding months, were turned and
+rendered of no avail.<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a></p>
+
+<p>While the Prince of Hesse-Cassel,
+with the advanced guard of the army,
+gained this brilliant success, Marlborough
+was rapidly following with the
+main body in the same direction. The
+force besieging Tournay crossed the
+Scheldt at the bridge of that town,
+and joined the covering force under
+Eugene. From thence they
+advanced to Sirant, where they were
+joined by Lord Orkney with his
+detachment, which had failed in passing
+the Haine. On the 6th, having
+learned of the success of the Prince of
+Hesse-Cassel, who had turned the enemy's
+lines, and got between Mons and
+France, the allied generals pushed on
+with the utmost expedition, and leaving
+their army to form the investment
+of Mons, joined the prince in the abbey
+of Belian. Both commanders bestowed
+on him the highest compliments for
+the advantages he had gained; but he
+replied, "The French have deprived
+me of the glory due to such a compliment,
+since they have not even waited
+my arrival." In truth, such had been
+the celerity and skill of his dispositions,
+that they had rendered resistance
+hopeless, and achieved success without
+the necessity of striking a blow.
+Meanwhile Marshal Boufflers, hearing
+a battle was imminent, arrived in
+the camp as a volunteer, to serve under
+Villars, his junior in military service;
+a noble example of disinterested
+patriotism, which, not less than the
+justly popular character of that distinguished
+general, raised the enthusiasm
+of the French soldiers to the
+very highest pitch.<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a>
+Every thing announced
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>
+a more sanguinary and important
+conflict between the renowned
+commanders and gallant armies now
+arrayed on the opposite sides, than
+had yet taken place since the commencement
+of the war.<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a></p>
+
+<p>During these rapid and vigorous
+movements, which entirely turned and
+broke through his much-vaunted lines
+of defence, Villars remained with the
+great body of his forces in a state of
+inactivity. Aware he was to be attacked,
+but ignorant where the blow
+was first likely to fall, he judged, and
+probably rightly, that it would be
+hazardous to weaken his lines at any
+one point by accumulating forces at
+another. No sooner, however, did he
+receive intelligence of the march of the
+Prince of Hesse-Cassel, than he broke
+up from the lines of Douay, and hastily
+collecting his forces, advanced towards
+that adventurous commander.
+At two in the morning of the 4th, he
+arrived in front of him with his cavalry;
+but conceiving the whole allied
+army was before him, he did not
+venture to make an attack at a time
+when his great superiority of force
+would have enabled him to do it with
+every chance of success. The movement
+of Villars, however, and general
+<i>feux-de-joie</i> which resounded through
+the French lines on the arrival of
+Marshal Boufflers, warned the allied
+leaders that a general battle was at
+hand; and orders were in consequence
+given to the whole army to advance
+at four o'clock on the afternoon of the
+7th. A detachment of Eugene's troops
+was left to watch Mons, the garrison
+of which consisted only of eleven weak
+battalions and a regiment of horse,
+not mustering above five thousand
+combatants; and the whole remainder
+of the allied army, ninety thousand
+strong, pressed forward in dense masses
+into the level and marshy plain
+in the middle of which Mons is situated.
+They advanced in different columns,
+headed by Marlborough and
+Eugene; and never was a more magnificent
+spectacle presented, than
+when they emerged from the woods
+upon the plain, and ascended in the
+finest order, with their whole cavalry
+and artillery, as well as infantry, the
+undulating ground which lies to the
+south of that town. They arrived at
+night, and bivouacked on the heights
+of Quaregnon, near Genly, and thence
+on to the village of Quevy, in a line
+not three miles in length, and only
+five distant from the enemy; so that
+it was evident a general battle would
+take place on the following day, unless
+Villars was prepared to abandon
+Mons to its fate.<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a></p>
+
+<p>The French marshal, however, had
+no intention of declining the combat.
+His army was entirely fresh, and in
+the finest order; it had engaged in
+no previous operations; whereas a
+bloody siege, and subsequent fatiguing
+marches in bad weather, had sensibly
+weakened the strength, though they
+had not depressed the spirits, of the
+allied soldiers. The vast efforts of
+the French government, joined to the
+multitude of recruits whom the public
+distress had impelled into the army,
+had in an extraordinary degree recruited
+his ranks. After making provision
+for all the garrisons and detached
+posts with which he was charged,
+he could bring into the field no less
+than a hundred and thirty battalions,
+and two hundred and sixty squadrons;
+and as they had all been raised to their
+full complement, they mustered sixty-five
+thousand infantry, and twenty-six
+thousand horse, with eighty guns;
+in all, with the artillery, ninety-five
+thousand combatants. This vast array
+had the advantage of being almost
+entirely of one nation, speaking one
+language, and animated with one spirit;
+while the allied force was a motley
+array of many different faces and
+nations of men, held together by no
+other bond but the strong one of military
+success and confidence in their
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>
+chief. Both armies were of nearly
+equal strength, under the command of
+the ablest and most intrepid commanders
+of their day; the soldiers of
+both had acted long together, and
+acquired confidence in each other;
+and both contained that intermixture
+of the fire of young, with the caution
+of veteran troops, which is of the happiest
+augury for military success. It
+was hard to say, between such antagonists,
+to which side the scales of
+victory would incline.<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></p>
+
+<p>The face of the country occupied by
+the French army, and which was to
+be the theatre of the great battle which
+was approaching, is an irregular plateau,
+interspersed by woods and intersected
+by streams, and elevated
+from a hundred and fifty to two hundred
+feet above the meadows of the
+Trouille. Mons and Bavay, the villages
+of Quevrain and Giory, formed
+the angular points of this broken surface.
+Extensive woods on all the
+principal eminences both give diversity
+and beauty to the landscape, and,
+in a military point of view, added
+much to the strength of the position
+as defensible ground against an enemy.
+Near <span class="smcap">Malplaquet</span>, on the west
+of the ridge, is a small heath, and immediately
+to the south of it the ground
+descends by a rapid slope to the Hon,
+which finds its way by a circuitous
+route by the rear of the French position
+to the Trouille, which it joins
+near Condé. The streams from Malplaquet
+to the northward all flow by
+a gentle slope through steep wooded
+banks to the Trouille, into which they
+fall near Mons. The woods on the
+plateau are the remains of a great
+natural forest which formerly covered
+the whole of these uplands, and out
+of which the clearings round the villages
+and hamlets which now exist,
+have been cut by the hands of laborious
+industry. Two woods near the
+summit level of the ground are of great
+extent, and deserve particular notice.
+The first, called the wood of Louvière,
+stretches from Longueville in
+a north-easterly direction to Cauchie;
+the second, named the wood Taisnière,
+of still larger size, extends from the
+Chaussée de Bois to the village of
+Bouson. Between these woods are
+two openings, or Trouées as they are
+called in the country&mdash;the Trouée de
+la Louvière, and the Trouée d'Aulnoet.
+Generally speaking, the ground
+occupied by the French, and which
+was to be the theatre of the battle,
+may be described as a rough and
+woody natural barrier, stretching
+across the high plateau which separates
+the Haine and the Trouille, and
+pervious only by the two openings of
+Louvière and Aulnoet, both of which
+are in a very great degree susceptible
+of defence.<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a></p>
+
+<p>The allied army consisted of one
+hundred and thirty-nine battalions,
+and two hundred and fifty-three squadrons,
+with one hundred and five guns;
+mustering ninety-three thousand combatants.
+The two armies, therefore,
+were as nearly as possible equal in
+point of military strength&mdash;a slight
+numerical superiority on the part of
+the French being compensated by a
+superiority of twenty-five guns on
+that of the Allies. Among the French
+nobles present at the battle, were no
+less than twelve who were afterwards
+marshals of France.<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> The son of
+James II., under the name of the
+Chevalier of St George, who combined
+the graces of youth with the
+hereditary valour of his race, was
+there; St Hilaire and Folard, whose
+works afterwards threw such light on
+military science, were to be found in
+its ranks. The Garde-du-corps, Mousquetaires
+gris, Grenadiers <i>à cheval</i>,
+French, Swiss, and Bavarian guards,
+as well as the Irish brigade, stood
+among the combatants. The reverses
+of Louis had called forth the flower of
+the nobility, as well as the last reserves
+of the monarchy.<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>
+Early on the morning of the 9th,
+Marlborough and Eugene were on the
+look-out at the Mill of Sart, with a
+strong escort, consisting of thirty
+squadrons of horse. From the reports
+brought in, it was soon ascertained
+that the whole enemy's army was in
+march towards the plain of Malplaquet,
+on the west of the plateau, and
+that Villars himself was occupying
+the woods of Lasnière and Taisnière.
+His headquarters were at Blaugnies,
+in the rear of the centre. The two
+armies were now only a league and a
+half separate, and Marlborough and
+Eugene were clear for immediately
+attacking the enemy, before they could
+add to the natural strength of their
+position by intrenchnents. But the
+Dutch deputies, Hooft and Goslinga,
+interfered, as they had done on a
+similar occasion between Wavre and
+Waterloo, and so far modified this
+resolution as to induce a council of
+war, summoned on the occasion, to
+determine not to fight till the troops
+from Tournay were within reach, and
+St Ghislain, which commanded a passage
+over the Haine, was taken. This
+was done next day, the fort being
+carried by escalade, and its garrison
+of two hundred men made prisoners;
+and on the day following, all the reserves
+from Tournay came up. But
+these advantages, which in themselves
+were not inconsiderable, were dearly
+purchased by the time which Villars
+gained for strengthening his position.
+Instead of pushing on to attack the
+allies, as Marlborough and Eugene
+had expected, to raise the siege of
+Mons, that able commander employed
+himself with the utmost skill and
+vigour in throwing up intrenchments
+in every part of his position. The
+nature of the ground singularly favoured
+his efforts. The heights he
+occupied, plentifully interspersed with
+woods and eminences, formed a concave
+semicircle, the artillery from
+which enfiladed on all sides the little
+plain of Malplaquet, so as to render
+it literally, in Dumont's words, "une
+trouée d'enfer." Around this semicircle,
+redoubts, palisades, abattis, and
+stockades, were disposed with such
+skill and judgment, that, literally
+speaking, there was not a single inequality
+of ground, (and there were
+many,) which was not turned to good
+account. The two <i>trouées</i> or openings,
+in particular, already mentioned,
+by which it was foreseen the Allies
+would endeavour to force an entrance,
+were so enfiladed by cross batteries as
+to be wellnigh unassailable. Twenty
+pieces of artillery were placed on a
+redoubt situated on an eminence near
+the centre of the field; the remainder
+were arranged along the field-works
+constructed along the lines. Half the
+army laboured at these works without
+a moment's intermission during the
+whole of the 9th and 10th, while
+the other were under arms, ready to
+repel any attack which might be hazarded.
+With such vigour were the
+operations conducted, that by the
+night of the 10th, the position was
+deemed impregnable.<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a></p>
+
+<p>During these two days, which were
+passed in inactivity, awaiting the
+coming up of the reinforcements from
+Tournay, which the council of war
+had deemed indispensable to the
+commencement of operations, Marlborough
+and Eugene had repeatedly
+reconnoitred the enemy's position,
+and were fully aware of its growing
+strength. Despairing of openly forcing
+such formidable lines, defended
+by so numerous and gallant an army,
+they resolved to combine their first
+attack with a powerful demonstration
+in rear. With this view, the
+rear-guard, which was coming up
+from Tournay under General Withers,
+of nineteen battalions and ten squadrons,
+received orders not to join the
+main body of the army, but, stopping
+short at St Ghislain, to cross the
+Haine there, and, traversing the wood
+of Blangris by a country road, assail
+the extreme left of the enemy at the
+farm of La Folie, when the combat
+was seriously engaged in front. Forty
+battalions of Eugene's army, under
+Baron Schulemberg, were to attack
+the wood of Taisnière, supported by
+forty pieces of cannon, so placed that
+their shot reached every part of the
+wood. To distract the enemy's attention,
+other attacks were directed along
+the whole line; but the main effort
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>
+was to be made by Eugene's corps on
+the wood of Taisnière; and it was
+from the co-operation of the attack of
+Schulemberg on its flank, that decisive
+success was expected.<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> All the corps
+had reached their respective points of
+destination on the evening of the
+10th. Schulemberg was near La
+Folie; Eugene was grouped, in four
+lines, in front of Taisnière; and the
+men lay down to sleep, anxiously
+awaiting the dawn of the eventful
+morrow.<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a></p>
+
+<p>At three in the morning of the
+11th, divine service was performed,
+with the utmost decorum, at the head
+of every regiment, and listened to by
+the soldiers, after the example of their
+chief, with the most devout attention.
+The awful nature of the occasion, the
+momentous interests at stake, the uncertainty
+who might survive to the
+close of the day, the protracted struggle
+now to be brought to a decisive
+issue, had banished all lighter feelings,
+and impressed a noble character
+on that impressive solemnity. A
+thick fog overspread the field, under
+cover of which the troops marched,
+with the utmost regularity, to their
+appointed stations: the guns were
+brought forward to the grand battery
+in the centre, which was protected on
+either side by an <i>épaulement</i> to prevent
+an enfilade. No sooner did the
+French outposts give notice that the
+Allies were preparing for an attack,
+than the whole army stood to their
+arms, and all the working parties,
+who were still toiling in the trenches,
+cast aside their tools, and joyfully
+resumed their places in the ranks.
+Never, since the commencement of
+the war, had the spirit of the French
+soldier been so high, or so enthusiastic
+a feeling infused into every bosom.
+With confidence they looked forward
+to regaining the laurels, under their
+beloved commander, Marshal Villars,
+which had been withered in eight
+successive campaigns, and arresting
+the flood of conquest which threatened
+to overwhelm their country.
+No sooner did he mount on horseback
+at seven, than loud cries of
+"Vive le Roi!" "Vive le Maréchal
+de Villars!" burst from their ranks.
+He himself took the command of the
+left, giving the post of honour on
+the right, in courtesy, to Marshal
+Boufflers. On the allied side, enthusiasm
+was not so loudly expressed,
+but confidence was not the less
+strongly felt. They relied with reason
+on the tried and splendid abilities of
+their chiefs, on their own experienced
+constancy and success in the field.
+They had the confidence of veteran
+soldiers, who had long fought and
+conquered together. In allusion to the
+numerous field-works before them,
+and which almost concealed the enemy's
+ranks from their view, the sarcastic
+expression passed through the
+ranks, "We are again about to make
+war on moles." The fog still lingered
+on the ground, so as to prevent the
+gunners seeing to take aim; but at
+half-past seven it cleared up; the sun
+broke forth with uncommon brilliancy,
+and immediately the fire commenced
+with the utmost vigour from the artillery
+on both sides.<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a></p>
+
+<p>For about half an hour the cannon
+continued to thunder, so as to reach
+every part of the field of battle with
+their balls, when Marlborough moved
+forward his troops in échelon, the
+right in front, in order to commence
+his projected attack on the French
+centre and left. The Dutch, who
+were on the left, agreeably to the
+orders they had received, halted when
+within range of grape, and a violent
+cannonade was merely exchanged on
+both sides; but Count Lottum, who
+commanded the centre of twenty
+battalions, continued to press on,
+regardless of the storm of shot and
+grape with which he was assailed,
+and when well into the enemy's line,
+he brought up his left shoulders, and
+in three lines attacked the right of
+the wood of Taisnière. Schulemberg,
+at the same time, with his forty
+battalions to the right of Lottum,
+advanced against the wood of Taisnière
+in front; while Lord Orkney,
+with his fifteen battalions, as Lottum's
+men inclined to the right, marched
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>
+straight forward to the ground they
+had occupied, and attacked the intrenchment
+before him in the opening.
+Eugene, who was with Schulemberg's
+men, advanced without firing a shot,
+though suffering dreadfully from the
+grape of the batteries, till within
+pistol-shot of the batteries. They
+were there, however, received by so
+terrible a discharge of all arms from
+the intrenchments&mdash;the French soldiers
+laying their pieces deliberately
+over the parapet, and taking aim
+within twenty yards of their opponents&mdash;that
+they recoiled above two
+hundred yards, and were only brought
+back to the charge by the heroic
+efforts of Eugene, who exposed his
+person in the very front of the line.
+Meanwhile, three battalions brought
+up from the blockade of Mons stole
+unperceived, amidst the tumult in
+front, into the south-eastern angle of
+the wood of Taisnière, and were
+making some progress, when they
+were met by three battalions of
+French troops, and a vehement fire
+of musketry soon rang in the recesses
+of the wood.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, Marlborough in person
+led on D'Auvergne's cavalry in support
+of Lottum's men, who speedily
+were engaged in a most terrific conflict.
+They bore without flinching
+the fire of the French brigade <i>du Roi</i>,
+and, crossing a ravine and small
+morass, rushed with fixed bayonets,
+and the most determined resolution,
+right against the intrenchment. So
+vehement was the onset, so impetuous
+the rush, that some of the leading
+files actually reached the summit of
+the parapet, and those behind pushing
+vehemently on, the redoubt was
+carried amidst deafening cheers. But
+Villars was directly in rear of that
+work; and he immediately led up in
+person a brigade in the finest order,
+which expelled the assailants at the
+point of the bayonet, and regained
+the work. Marlborough upon this
+charged at the head of D'Auvergne's
+cavalry; and that gallant body of men,
+three thousand strong, dashed forward,
+entered the intrenchments,
+which were, at the same time, surmounted
+by some of Lottum's battalions.
+While this desperate conflict
+was going on in front and flank of
+the wood, Withers, with his corps
+brought up from Tournay, was
+silently, and with great caution, entering
+the wood on the side of La
+Folie, and had already made considerable
+progress before any great
+efforts were made to expel them.
+The advance of this corps in his rear
+rendered it impossible for Villars any
+longer to maintain the advanced line
+of works in the front of the wood;
+it was therefore abandoned, but
+slowly, and in admirable order&mdash;the
+troops retiring through the trees to
+the second line of works in their rear,
+which they prepared to defend to the
+last extremity.</p>
+
+<p>While this bloody conflict was
+raging in and around the wood of
+Taisnière, the half-hour during which
+the Prince of Orange had been directed
+to suspend his attack had elapsed,
+and that gallant chief, impatient of
+inactivity when the battle was raging
+with such fury on his right, resolved
+to move forward in good earnest.
+The Scotch brigade, led on by the
+Marquis of Tullibardine, headed the
+column on the left; to their right
+were the Dutch, under Spaar and
+Oxenstiern; while the Prince of
+Hesse-Cassel, with twenty-one squadrons,
+was in reserve to support and
+follow the infantry into the works,
+when an opening was made. On the
+word "march" being given, the troops
+of these various nations, with rival
+courage, advanced to the attack. The
+Scotch Highlanders, headed by the
+gallant Tullibardine,<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> rushed impetuously
+forward to the attack, despite
+a tremendous fire of grape and musketry
+which issued from the works,
+and succeeded in reaching the top of
+the intrenchment. But before they
+could deploy, they were charged by
+the French infantry in close order,
+and driven out. Tullibardine met a
+glorious death in the redoubt he had
+won. Equally gallant was the assault,
+and unpropitious the result, of the
+Prince of Orange's attack on the right
+towards the French centre. There,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>
+too, by a vehement rush the intrenchment
+was carried; but the troops
+which surmounted it had no sooner
+penetrated in than they were attacked
+by Boufflers, at the head of fresh
+troops in close order in front, while a
+powerful battery opened with grape
+on their flank. This double attack
+proved irresistible; the assailants
+were pushed out of the works with
+dreadful slaughter. Spaar lay dead
+on the spot; Hamilton was carried off
+wounded. Seeing his men recoil, the
+Prince of Orange seized a standard,
+and advancing alone to the slope of
+the intrenchment, said aloud, "Follow
+me, my friends; here is your
+post." But it was all in vain.
+Boufflers' men from the French second
+line had now closed up with the first,
+which lined the works, and a dense
+mass of bayonets, six deep, bristled
+at their summit behind the embrasures
+of the guns. A dreadful rolling
+fire issued from them; their position
+could be marked by the ceaseless line
+of flame, even through the volumes
+of smoke which enveloped them on all
+sides; and at length, after displaying
+the most heroic valour, the Prince of
+Orange was obliged to draw off his
+men, with the loss of three thousand
+killed, and twice that number wounded.
+Instantly the brigade of Navarre
+issued with loud shouts out of the intrenchments.
+Several Dutch battalions
+were driven back, and some
+colours, with an advanced battery,
+fell into the enemy's hands. Boufflers
+supported this sally by his grenadiers
+<i>à cheval</i>; but the Prince of Hesse-Cassel
+came up with his well-appointed
+squadron on the other side,
+and, after a short struggle, drove the
+French back into their works.</p>
+
+<p>Hearing that matters were in this
+precarious state on the left, Marlborough
+galloped from the right centre,
+accompanied by his staff, where
+Lotturn's infantry and D'Auvergne's
+horse had gained such important advantages.
+Matters erelong became so
+alarming, that Eugene also followed
+in the same direction. On his way
+along the rear of the line, the English
+general had a painful proof of the
+enthusiastic spirit with which his
+troops were animated, by seeing numbers
+of the wounded Dutch and Hanoverians,
+whose hurts had just been
+bound up by the surgeons, again hastening
+to the front, to join their comrades,
+though some, faint from the loss
+of blood, yet tottered under the weight
+of their muskets. The reserves were
+hastily directed to the menaced front,
+and by their aid the combat was in some
+degree restored in that quarter; while
+Marlborough and Eugene laboured to
+persuade the Prince of Orange, who
+was burning with anxiety at all
+hazards to renew the attack, that his
+operations were only intended as a
+feint, and that the real effort was to
+be made on the right, where considerable
+progress had already been made.
+Order was hardly restored in this
+quarter, when intelligence arrived
+from the right that the enemy were
+assuming the initiative in the wood
+of Taisnière, and were pressing hard
+both upon the troops at La Folie and
+in front of the wood. In fact, Villars,
+alarmed at the progress of the enemy
+on his left in the wood, had drawn
+considerable reinforcements from his
+centre, and sent them to the threatened
+quarter. Marlborough instantly
+saw the advantage which this weakening
+of the enemy's centre was likely
+to give him. While he hastened back,
+therefore, with all imaginable expedition
+to the right, to arrest the progress
+of the enemy in that quarter,
+he directed Lord Orkney to advance,
+supported by a powerful body of horse
+on each flank, directly in at the opening
+between the two woods, and if
+possible force the enemy's intrenchments
+in the centre, now stripped of
+their principal defenders.</p>
+
+<p>These dispositions, adopted on the
+spur of the moment, and instantly
+acted upon, proved entirely successful.
+Eugene galloped to the extreme
+right, and renewed the attack with
+Schulemberg's men, while Withers
+again pressed on the rear of the wood
+near La Folie. So vigorous was the
+onset, that the Allies gained ground on
+both sides of the wood, and Villars
+hastening up with the French guards
+to restore the combat near La Folie,
+received a wound in the knee, when
+gallantly heading a charge of bayonets,
+which obliged him to quit the field.
+In the centre, still more decisive advantages
+were gained. Lord Orkney
+there made the attack with such
+vigour, that the intrenchments, now<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span>
+not adequately manned, were at once
+carried; and the horse, following
+rapidly on the traces of the foot soldiers,
+broke through at several openings
+made by the artillery, and spread
+themselves over the plain, cutting
+down in every direction. The grand
+battery of forty cannon in the allied
+centre received orders to advance.
+In the twinkling of an eye the guns
+were limbered up, and moving on at
+a quick trot. They soon passed the
+intrenchments in the centre, and
+facing to the right and left, opened
+a tremendous fire of canister and
+grape on the dense masses of the
+French cavalry which there stood in
+the rear of the infantry, who were
+almost all in front among the works.
+These noble troops, however, bore up
+gallantly against the storm, and even
+charged the allied horse before they
+had time to form within the lines;
+but they were unable to make any
+impression, and retired from the attack
+sorely shattered by the allied
+artillery.</p>
+
+<p>The battle was now gained. Villars'
+position, how strong and gallantly
+defended soever, was no longer
+tenable. Pierced through in the centre,
+with a formidable enemy's battery
+thundering on either side, in the very
+heart of his line, on the reserve
+squadrons, turned and menaced with
+rout on the left, it was no longer possible
+to keep the field. Boufflers,
+upon whom, in the absence of Villars
+in consequence of his wound, the
+direction of affairs had devolved, accordingly
+prepared for a retreat; and
+he conducted it with consummate
+skill, as well as the most undaunted
+firmness. Collecting a body of two
+thousand chosen horse yet fresh, consisting
+of the <i>élite</i> of the horse-guards
+and garde-du-corps, he charged the
+allied horse which had penetrated into
+the centre, and was by this time
+much blown by its severe fatigues in
+the preceding part of the day. It was
+accordingly worsted and put to flight;
+but all the efforts of this noble body
+of horsemen were shattered against
+Orkney's infantry, which, posted on
+the reverse of the works they had
+won, poured in, when charged, so
+close and destructive a fire, as stretched
+half of the gallant cavaliers on the
+plain, and forced the remainder to a
+precipitate retreat. Still the indefatigable
+Boufflers made another effort.
+Drawing a large body of infantry
+from the works on his extreme right,
+which had been little engaged, he
+marched them to the left, and reforming
+his squadrons again, advanced to
+the charge. But Marlborough no
+sooner saw this, than he charged the
+garde-du-corps with a body of English
+horse which he himself led on, and
+drove them back, while the infantry
+staggered and reeled like a sinking
+ship under the terrific fire of the allied
+guns, which had penetrated the centre.
+At the same time the Prince of Orange
+and the Prince of Hesse-Cassel, perceiving
+that the intrenchments before
+them were stript of great part of their
+defenders, renewed the attack; in ten
+minutes these works were carried;
+a tremendous shout, heard along the
+whole line, announced that the whole
+left of the position had fallen into the
+hands of the Allies.</p>
+
+<p>In these desperate circumstances,
+Boufflers and his brave troops did all
+that skill or courage could suggest to
+arrest the progress of the victors, and
+withdraw from the field without any
+additional losses. Forming his troops
+into three great masses, with the
+cavalry which had suffered least in
+rear, he slowly, and in perfect regularity,
+commenced his retreat. The
+Allies had suffered so much, and were
+so completely exhausted by the
+fatigue of this bloody and protracted
+battle, that they gave them very little
+molestation. Contenting themselves
+with pursuing as far as the heath of
+Malplaquet, and the level ground
+around Taisnière, they halted, and the
+men lay down to sleep. Meanwhile
+the French, in the best order, but in
+deep dejection, continued their retreat
+still in three columns; and after crossing
+the Hon in their rear, reunited
+below Quesnoy and Valenciennes,
+about twelve miles from the field of
+battle.<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a></p>
+
+<p>Such was the desperate battle of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>
+Malplaquet, the most bloody and
+obstinately contested which had yet
+occurred in the war, and in which it
+is hard to say to which of the gallant
+antagonists the palm of valour and
+heroism is to be given. The victory
+was unquestionably gained by the
+Allies, since they forced the enemy's
+position, drove them to a considerable
+distance from the field of battle, and
+hindered the siege of Mons, the object
+for which both parties fought, from
+being raised. The valour they displayed
+had extorted the admiration
+of their gallant and generous enemies.<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a>
+On the other hand, these
+advantages had been purchased at an
+enormous sacrifice, and never since
+the commencement of the contest
+had the scales hung so even between
+the contending parties. The Allies
+lost, killed in the infantry alone, five
+thousand five hundred and forty-four;
+wounded and missing, twelve thousand
+seven hundred and six; in all
+eighteen thousand two hundred and
+fifty, of whom two hundred and
+eighty-six were officers killed, and
+seven hundred and sixty-two wounded.
+Including the casualties in the
+cavalry and artillery, their total loss
+was not less than twenty thousand
+men, or nearly a fifth of the number
+engaged. The French loss, though
+they were worsted in the fight, was
+less considerable; it did not exceed
+fourteen thousand men&mdash;an unusual
+circumstance with a beaten army, but
+easily accounted for, if the formidable
+nature of the intrenchments which
+the Allies had to storm in the first
+part of the action, is taken into consideration.
+In proportion to the numbers
+engaged, the loss to the victors
+was not, however, nearly so great as
+at Waterloo.<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> Few prisoners, not
+above five hundred, were made on the
+field; but the woods and intrenchments
+were filled with wounded
+French, whom Marlborough, with
+characteristic humanity, proposed to
+Villars to remove to the French
+headquarters, on condition of their
+being considered prisoners of war&mdash;an
+offer which that general thankfully
+accepted. A solemn thanksgiving
+was read in all the regiments of the
+army two days after the battle, after
+which the soldiers of both armies
+joined in removing the wounded
+French on two hundred waggons to
+the French camp. Thus, after the
+conclusion of one of the bloodiest
+fights recorded in modern history,
+the first acts of the victors were in
+raising the voice of thanksgiving, and
+doing deeds of mercy.<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a></p>
+
+<p>No sooner were these pious cares
+concluded, than the Allies resumed
+the investment of Mons: Marlborough,
+with the English and Dutch,
+having his headquarters at Belian,
+and Eugene, with the Germans, at
+Quaregnon. The Prince of Orange,
+with thirty battalions and as many
+squadrons, was intrusted with the
+blockade. Great efforts were immediately
+made to get the necessary
+siege equipage and stores up from
+Brussels; but the heavy rains of
+autumn set in with such severity,
+that it was not till the 25th September
+that the trenches could be opened.
+Boufflers, though at no great distance,
+did not venture to disturb the
+operations. On 9th October, a lodgement
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>
+was effected in the covered
+way; on the 17th, the outworks were
+stormed; and on the 26th, the place
+surrendered with its garrison, still
+three thousand five hundred strong.
+By this important success, the conquest
+of Brabant was finished; the
+burden and expense of the war removed
+from the Dutch provinces;
+the barrier which they had so long
+sought after was rendered nearly
+complete; and the defences of France
+were so far laid bare, that by the
+reduction of Valenciennes and Quesnoy,
+in the next campaign, no fortified
+place would remain between the
+Allies and Paris. Having achieved
+this important success, the allied
+generals put their army into winter-quarters
+at Ghent, Bruges, Brussels,
+and on the Meuse; while fifty battalions
+of the French, with one hundred
+squadrons, were quartered, under
+the command of the Duke of Berwick,
+in the neighbourhood of Maubeuge,
+and the remainder of their great army
+in and around Valenciennes and Quesnoy.<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a></p>
+
+<p>During the progress of this short
+but brilliant campaign, Marlborough
+was more than ever annoyed and disheartened
+by the evident and increasing
+decline of his influence at home.
+Harley and Mrs Masham contrived
+to thwart him in every way in their
+power; and scarcely disguised their
+desire to make the situation of the
+Duke and Godolphin so uncomfortable,
+that out of spleen they might resign;
+in which case, the entire direction of
+affairs would have fallen into their
+hands.<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> Influenced by these new
+favourites, the Queen became cold and
+resentful to the Duchess of Marlborough,
+to whom she had formerly
+been so much attached; and the Duke,
+perceiving this, strongly advised her
+to abstain from any correspondence
+with her Majesty, as more likely to
+increase than diminish the estrangement
+so rapidly growing between
+them. The Duchess, however, was
+herself of too irritable a temper to
+follow this sage advice; reproaches,
+explanations, and renewed complaints
+ensued on both sides; and as usual
+in such cases, where excessive fondness
+has been succeeded by coldness, all
+attempts to repair the breach only had
+the effect of widening it. Numerous
+events at court, trifles in themselves,
+but "confirmation strong" to the
+jealous, served to show in what direction
+the wind was setting. The
+Duchess took the strong and injudicious
+step of intruding herself on the
+Queen, and asking what crime she
+had committed to produce so great an
+estrangement between them. This
+drew from her Majesty a letter, exculpating
+her from any fault, but ascribing
+their alienation to a discordance
+in political opinion, adding, "I do not
+think it a crime in any one not to be
+of my mind, or blamable, because
+you cannot see with my eyes, or hear
+with my ears." While this relieved
+Marlborough from the dread of a
+personal quarrel between the Duchess
+and Royalty, it only aggravated the
+precarious nature of his situation, by
+showing that the split was owing to
+the wider and more irremediable division
+on political subjects.<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a></p>
+
+<p>Encouraged by this powerful support
+at court, Harley now openly
+pursued his design of effecting the
+downfall of Marlborough, and his removal
+from office, and the command
+of the armies. The whole campaign
+which had terminated so gloriously,
+was criticised in the most unjust and
+malignant spirit. The siege of Tournay
+was useless and expensive; the
+battle of Malplaquet an unnecessary
+carnage. It was even insinuated the
+Duke had purposely exposed the
+officers to slaughter, that he might obtain
+a profit by the sale of their commissions.
+The preliminaries first
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>
+agreed to at the Hague were too favourable
+to France; when Louis rejected
+them, the rupture of the negotiations
+rested with Marlborough. In
+a word, there was nothing done by the
+English general, successful or unsuccessful,
+pacific or warlike, which was
+not made the subject of loud condemnation,
+and unmeasured invective.
+Harley even corresponded with the
+disaffected party in Holland, in order
+to induce them to cut short the
+Duke's career of victory by clamouring
+for a general peace. Louis
+was represented as invincible, and
+rising stronger from every defeat: the
+prolongation of the war was entirely
+owing to the selfish interests and ambition
+of the allied chief. These and
+similar accusations, loudly re-echoed
+by all the Tories, and sedulously
+poured into the royal ear by Harley
+and Mrs Masham, made such an impression
+on the Queen, that she did
+not offer the smallest congratulation
+to the Duchess on the victory of Malplaquet,
+nor express the least satisfaction
+at the Duke's escape from the
+innumerable dangers which he had
+incurred.<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a></p>
+
+<p>An ill-timed and injudicious step of
+Marlborough at this juncture, one of
+the few which can be imputed to him
+in his whole public career, inflamed
+the jealousy of the Queen and the
+Tories at him. Perceiving the decline
+of his influence at court, and anticipating
+his dismissal from the command
+of the army at no distant period, he
+solicited from the Queen a patent constituting
+him Captain-general for life.
+In vain he was assured by the Lord
+Chancellor that such an appointment
+was wholly unprecedented in English
+history; he persisted in laying the
+petition before the Queen, by whom
+it was of course refused. Piqued at
+this disappointment, he wrote an
+acrimonious letter to her Majesty, in
+which he reproached her with the
+neglect of his public services, and
+bitterly complained of the neglect of
+the Duchess, and transfer of the royal
+favour to Mrs Masham. So deeply
+did Marlborough feel this disappointment,
+that on leaving the Hague to
+return to England, he said publicly to
+the deputies of the States&mdash;"I am
+grieved that I am obliged to return
+to England, where my services to your
+republic will be turned to my disgrace."<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a></p>
+
+<p>Marlborough was received in the
+most flattering manner by the people,
+on landing on 15th November, and he
+was greeted by the thanks of both
+Houses of Parliament for his great and
+glorious services. The Queen declared
+in her speech from the throne, that
+this campaign had been at least as
+glorious as any which had preceded
+it; and the Chancellor, in communicating
+the thanks of the House of
+Lords, added&mdash;"This high eulogium
+must be looked upon as added to, and
+standing upon the foundation already
+laid in the records of this House, for
+preserving your memory fresh to all
+future times; so that your Grace has
+also the satisfaction of seeing this
+everlasting monument of your glory
+rise every year much higher." Such
+was the impulse communicated to both
+Houses by the presence of the Duke,
+and the recollection of his glorious
+services, that liberal supplies for
+carrying on the war were granted by
+both Houses. The Commons voted
+£6,000,000 for the service of the
+ensuing year, and on the earnest representation
+of Marlborough, an addition
+was made to the military forces.</p>
+
+<p>But in the midst of all these flattering
+appearances, the hand of destruction
+was already impending over
+the British hero. It was mainly raised
+by the very greatness and inappreciable
+nature of his services. Envy,
+the invariable attendant on exalted
+merit, had already singled him out as
+her victim: jealousy, the prevailing
+weakness of little minds, had prepared
+his ruin. The Queen had become
+uneasy at the greatness of her subject.
+There had even been a talk of the
+Duke of Argyll arresting him in her
+name, when in command of the army.
+Anne lent a ready ear to the representations
+of her flatterers, and especially
+Mrs Masham, that she was
+enthralled by a single family; that
+Marlborough was the real sovereign
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>
+of England, and that the crown was
+overshadowed by the field-marshal's
+baton. Godolphin, violently libelled
+in a sermon by Dr Sacheverell, at St
+Saviour's, Southwark, the Doctor was
+impeached before the House of Lords
+for the offence. The government of the
+Tower, usually bestowed on the recommendation
+of the commander-in-chief,
+was, to mortify Marlborough, bestowed
+without consulting him on Lord
+Rivers. At length matters came to
+such a pass, and the ascendency of
+Mrs Masham was so evident, while
+her influence was exercised in so undisguised
+a manner to humiliate him,
+that he prepared the draft of a letter
+of resignation of his commands to her
+Majesty, in which, after enumerating
+his services, and the abuse which Mrs
+Masham continued to heap on him and
+his relations, he concluded with saying&mdash;"I
+hope your Majesty will either
+dismiss her or myself."<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a></p>
+
+<p>Sunderland and several of the Whig
+leaders warmly approved of this vigorous
+step; but Godolphin, who foresaw
+the total ruin of the ministry and
+himself, in the resignation of the
+general, had influence enough to prevent
+its being sent. Instead of doing
+so, that nobleman had a long private
+audience with her Majesty on the subject;
+in which, notwithstanding the
+warmest professions on her part, and
+the strong sense she entertained of his
+great and lasting services, it was not
+difficult to perceive that a reserve as
+to future intentions was manifested,
+which indicated a loss of confidence.
+Marlborough declared he would be
+governed in the whole matter by the
+advice and opinion of his friends; but
+strongly expressed his own opinion,
+"that all must be undone if this
+poison continues about the Queen."<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a>
+Such, however, was the agony of apprehension
+of Godolphin at the effects of
+the duke's resignation, that he persuaded
+him to adopt a middle course,
+the usual resource of second-rate men
+in critical circumstances, but generally
+the most hazardous that can be adopted.
+This plan was to write a warm
+remonstrance to the Queen, but
+without making Mrs Masham's removal
+a condition of his remaining in office.
+In this letter, after many invectives
+against Mrs Masham, and a full enumeration
+of his grievances, he concludes
+with these words&mdash;"This is only one
+of many mortifications that I have
+met with, and as I may not have
+many opportunities of writing to you,
+let me beg of your Majesty to reflect
+what your own people and the rest of
+the world must think, who have been
+witnesses of the love, zeal, and duty
+with which I have served you, when
+they shall see that, after all I have
+done, it has not been able to protect
+me against the malice of a bed-chamber
+woman.<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> But your Majesty
+may be assured that my zeal for you
+and my country is so great, that in my
+retirement I shall daily pray for your
+prosperity, and that those who serve
+you as faithfully as I have done, may
+never feel the hard return I have met
+with."</p>
+
+<p>These expressions, how just soever
+in themselves, and natural in one
+whose great services had been requited
+as Marlborough's had been, were not
+likely to make a favourable impression
+on the royal mind, and, accordingly,
+at a private audience which he had
+soon after of the Queen, he was
+received in the coldest manner.<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a>
+He retired in consequence to Blenheim,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span>
+determined to resign all his commands,
+unless Mrs Masham was removed
+from the royal presence. Matters
+seemed so near a rupture, that the
+Queen personally applied to several of
+the Tories, and even Jacobites, who
+had long kept aloof from court, to
+support her in opposition to the address
+expected from both Houses of
+Parliament on the duke's resignation.
+Godolphin and Somers, however, did
+their utmost to bend the firm general;
+and they so far succeeded in opposition
+to his better judgment, and the
+decided opinions of the Duchess, as
+to induce him to continue in office
+without requiring the removal of Mrs
+Masham from court. The Queen,
+delighted at this victory over so formidable
+an opponent, received him at
+his next audience in the most flattering
+manner, and with a degree of apparent
+regard which she had scarcely
+ever evinced to him in the days of
+his highest favour. But in the midst
+of these deceitful appearances his ruin
+was secretly resolved on; and in order
+to accelerate his departure from court,
+the Queen inserted in her reply to the
+address of the Commons at the close
+of the Session of Parliament, a statement
+of her resolution to send him
+immediately to Holland, as "I shall
+always esteem him the chief instrument
+of my glory, and of my people's
+happiness." He embarked accordingly,
+and landed at the Brill on March 18th,
+in appearance possessing the same
+credit and authority as before, but in
+reality thwarted and opposed by a
+jealous and ambitious faction at home,
+which restrained his most important
+measures, and prevented him from
+effecting any thing in future on a level
+with his former glorious achievements.</p>
+
+<p>The year 1709 was signalized by the
+decisive victory of the Czar Peter
+over Charles XII. at Pultowa, who
+was totally routed and irretrievably
+ruined by the Muscovite forces, commanded
+by the Czar in person on that
+disastrous day. This overthrow was
+one of the most momentous which
+has occurred in modern times. Not
+only was a great and dreaded conqueror
+at once overturned, and erelong
+reduced to captivity; but a new balance
+of power was established in the
+north which has never since been
+shaken. Sweden was reduced to her
+natural rank as a third-rate power
+from which she had been only raised
+by the extraordinary valour and military
+talents of a series of warlike
+sovereigns, who had succeeded in rendering
+the Scandinavian warriors, like
+the Macedonians of old, a race of
+heroes. Russia, by the same event,
+acquired the entire ascendency over
+the other Baltic powers, and obtained
+that preponderance which she has ever
+since maintained in the affairs of
+Europe. Marlborough sympathised
+warmly with the misfortunes of the
+heroic sovereign, for whose genius
+and gallantry he had conceived the
+highest admiration. But he was too
+sagacious not to see that his disasters,
+like those of Napoleon afterwards in
+the same regions, were entirely the
+result of his own imprudence; and
+that if he had judiciously taken advantage
+of the terror of his name, and
+the success of his arms, in the outset
+of his invasion, he might have gained
+all the objects for which he contended
+without incurring any serious evil.<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a></p>
+
+<p>Peter the Great, who gained this astonishing
+and decisive success, was
+one of the most remarkable men who
+ever appeared on the theatre of public
+affairs. He was nothing by halves.
+For good or for evil he was gigantic.
+Vigour seems to have been the great
+characteristic of his mind; but it was
+often fearfully disfigured by passion,
+and not unfrequently misled by the
+example of more advanced states.
+To elevate Russia to an exalted place
+among nations, and give her the influence
+which her vast extent and
+physical resources seemed to render
+within her reach, was throughout life
+the great object of his ambition; and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>
+he succeeded in it to an extent which
+naturally acquired for him the unbounded
+admiration of mankind. His
+overthrow of the Strelitzes, long the
+Prætorian guards and terror of the
+czars of Muscovy, was effected with a
+vigour and stained by a cruelty similar
+to that with which Sultan Mahommed
+a century after destroyed the
+Janissaries at Constantinople. The
+sight of a young and despotic sovereign
+leaving the glittering toys and
+real enjoyments of royalty to labour
+in the dockyards of Saardem with his
+own hands, and instruct his subjects
+in shipbuilding by first teaching himself,
+was too striking and remarkable
+not to excite universal attention.
+And when the result of this was seen:
+when the Czar was found introducing
+among his subjects the military discipline,
+naval architecture, nautical
+skill, or any of the arts and warlike
+institutions of Europe, and in consequence
+long resisting and at length
+destroying the terrible conqueror who
+had so long been the terror of Northern
+Europe, the astonishment of men
+knew no bounds. He was at once
+the Solon and Scipio of modern times:
+and literary servility, vying with great
+and disinterested admiration, extolled
+him as one of the greatest heroes and
+benefactors of his species who had ever
+appeared among men.</p>
+
+<p>But time, the great dispeller of illusions,
+and whose mighty arm no individual
+greatness, how great soever,
+can long withstand, has begun to
+abate much from this colossal reputation.
+His temper was violent in the
+extreme; frequent acts of hideous
+cruelty, and occasional oppression, signalized
+his reign. More than any other
+man, he did evil that good may come
+of it. He compelled his people, as he
+thought, to civilisation, though, in
+seeking to cross the stream, hundreds
+of thousands perished in the waves.
+"Peter the Great," says Mackintosh,
+"did not civilize Russia: that undertaking
+was beyond his genius, great
+as it was; he only gave the Russians
+the art of civilized war." The truth
+was, he attempted what was altogether
+impracticable. No one man can at
+once civilize a nation: he can only put
+it in the way of civilisation. To complete
+the fabric must be the work of
+continued effort and sustained industry
+during many successive generations.
+That Peter failed in rendering his
+people on a level with the other nations
+of Europe in refinement and industry,
+is no reproach to him. It was
+impossible to do so in less than several
+centuries. The real particular in
+which he erred was, that he departed
+from the national spirit, that he tore
+up the national institutions, violated
+in numerous instances the strongest
+national feelings. He clothed his
+court and capital in European dress;
+but men do not put off old feelings
+with the costume of their fathers.
+Peter's civilisation extended no further
+than the surface. He succeeded in
+inducing an extraordinary degree of
+discipline in his army, and the appearance
+of considerable refinement among
+his courtiers. But it is easier to remodel
+an army than change a nation;
+and the celebrated <i>bon-mot</i> of Diderot,
+that the Russians were "rotten before
+they were ripe," is but a happy expression,
+indicating how much easier
+it is to introduce the vices than the
+virtues of civilisation among an unlettered
+people. To this day the civilisation
+of Russia has never descended
+below the higher ranks; and the efforts
+of the real patriotic czars who
+have since wielded the Muscovite
+sceptre, Alexander and Nicholas, have
+been mainly directed to get out of the
+fictitious career into which Peter
+turned the people, and revive with the
+old institutions the true spirit and inherent
+aspirations of the nation. The
+immense success with which their efforts
+have been attended, and the gradual,
+though still slow descent of civilisation
+and improvement through the
+great body of the people, prove the
+wisdom of the principles on which
+they have proceeded. Possibly Russia
+is yet destined to afford another illustration
+of the truth of Montesquieu's
+maxim, that no nation ever yet rose
+to durable greatness but through institutions
+in harmony with its spirit.
+And in charity let us hope that the
+words of Peter on his death-bed have
+been realized: "I trust that, in respect
+of the good I have striven to do my
+people, God will pardon my sins."</p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>THE AMERICANS AND THE ABORIGINES.</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">A Tale of the Short War.</span><br /><br />
+
+<span class="smcap">Part the Last.</span></h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">It</span> may be present to the memory of
+some of our readers, that when the
+British troops, under Sir Edward Pakenham,
+menaced New Orleans, the
+constitution of Louisiana was temporarily
+and arbitrarily suspended by
+General Jackson, commanding the
+American forces in the south, with a
+view to greater unity in the defensive
+operations. This suspension excited
+great indignation amongst the Louisianians,
+who viewed it as a direct attack
+upon their liberties, unjustified by
+circumstances. Meetings were called,
+and the general's conduct was made
+the subject of vehement censure.
+When the news of the peace between
+England and the United States, concluded
+in Europe before the fight of
+New Orleans took place, arrived,
+judicial proceedings were instituted
+against Jackson; he was found guilty
+of a violation of the Habeas Corpus
+act, and condemned to a fine of two
+thousand dollars. This fine the Louisianian
+Creoles were anxious to pay
+for him; but he preferred paying it
+himself, and did so with a good grace,
+thereby augmenting the popularity he
+had acquired by his victories over the
+Creek Indians, and by the still more
+important repulse of Pakenham's ill-planned
+and worse-fated expedition.
+In the book which forms the subject
+of the present article, this historical
+incident has been introduced, rather,
+however, to illustrate American character
+and feelings, than in connexion
+with the main plot of the tale. Captain
+Percy, a young officer of regulars,
+brings the announcement of the suspension
+of the Louisianian constitution
+to a town on the Mississippi, then the
+headquarters of the militia, who, at
+the moment of his arrival, are assembled
+on parade. The general commanding
+reads the despatch with grave
+dissatisfaction, and communicates its
+contents to his officers. The news
+has already got wind through some
+passengers by the steam-boat which
+brought the despatch-bearer, and discontent
+is rife amongst the militia.
+The parade is dismissed, the troops
+disperse, and the officers are about to
+return to their quarters, when they
+are detained by the following incident:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>From the opposite shore of the river,
+two boats had some time previously
+pushed off; one of them seeming at
+first uncertain what direction to take.
+It had turned first up, then down
+stream, but had at last pulled obliquely
+across the river towards the
+bayou or creek, on the shore of which
+the little town was situated. It was
+manned by sailors, judging from their
+shirts of blue and red flannel; but
+there were also other persons on board,
+differently dressed, one of whom reconnoitred
+the shore of the bayou
+with a telescope. It was the strange
+appearance of these persons that now
+attracted the attention of the officers.
+They were about twelve in number;
+some of them had their heads bound
+up, others had their arms in slings;
+several had great plasters upon their
+faces. They were of foreign aspect,
+and, judging from the style of their
+brown, yellow, and black physiognomies,
+of no very respectable
+class. As if wishing to escape observation,
+they sat with their backs to
+the bayou. At a word from General
+Billow, an officer stepped down to
+meet them.</p>
+
+<p>The boat was close to shore, but as
+soon as the suspicious-looking strangers
+perceived the approach of the
+militia officer, it was turned into the
+creek and shot rapidly up it. Suddenly
+it was brought to land; one of
+the better dressed of the men stepped
+out and approached the captain of regulars,
+who just then came out of the
+guard-house. With a military salute
+he handed him a paper, saluted again,
+and returned to his companions in the
+boat. After a short time the whole
+party ascended the bank of the bayou,
+and walked off in the direction of the
+town. The captain looked alternately
+at the men and at the paper, and then
+approached the group of officers.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"What do those people want?"
+inquired General Billow.</p>
+
+<p>The officer handed him the paper.</p>
+
+<p>"Read it yourself, general. I can
+hardly believe my eyes. A passport
+for Armand, Marceau, Bernardin,
+Cordon, &amp;c., planters from Nacogdoches,
+delivered by the Mexican authorities,
+and countersigned by the
+general-in-chief.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you inquired their destination?"</p>
+
+<p>Captain Percy shrugged his shoulders.
+"New Orleans. Any thing
+further, the man tells me, is known
+to the general-in-chief. A most suspicious
+rabble, and who seem quite at
+home here."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, Mister Billow and Barrow,
+how goes it? Glad to see you. You
+look magnificent in your scarfs and
+plumes."</p>
+
+<p>This boisterous greeting, uttered in
+a rough, good-humoured voice, proceeded
+from our friend Squire Copeland,
+who had just landed from the
+second boat with his companions and
+horses, and having given the latter to
+a negro to hold, now stepped into the
+circle of officers, his broad-brimmed
+quaker-looking hat decorated with
+the magnificent bunch of feathers, for
+which his daughters had laid the tenants
+of the poultry-yard under such
+severe contribution.</p>
+
+<p>"Gentlemen," said he, half seriously
+and half laughing, "you see
+Major Copeland before you. To-morrow
+my battalion will be here."</p>
+
+<p>"You are welcome, major," said
+the general and other officers, with a
+gravity that seemed intended as a
+slight check on the loquacity of their
+new brother in arms.</p>
+
+<p>"And these men," continued the
+major, who either did not or would
+not understand the hint, "you might
+perhaps take for my aides-de-camp.
+This one, Dick Gloom, is our county
+constable; and as to the other," he
+pointed to the Englishman, "I myself
+hardly know what to call him."</p>
+
+<p>"I will help you then," interrupted
+Hodges, impatient at this singular introduction.
+"I am an Englishman,
+midshipman of his Majesty's frigate
+Thunderer, from which I have, by
+mishap, been separated. I demand a
+prompt investigation of the fact, and
+report to your headquarters."</p>
+
+<p>The general glanced slightly at the
+overhasty speaker, and then at the
+written examination which the squire
+handed to him.</p>
+
+<p>"This is your department, Captain
+Percy," said he; "be pleased to do the
+needful."</p>
+
+<p>The officer looked over the paper,
+and called an orderly.</p>
+
+<p>"Let this young man be kept in
+strict confinement. A sentinel with
+loaded musket before his door, and no
+one to have access to him."</p>
+
+<p>"I really do not know which is
+the most suspicious," said the general;
+"this spy, as he is called, or the queer
+customers who have just walked
+away."</p>
+
+<p>Squire Copeland had heard with
+some discontent the quick decided
+orders given by the captain of regulars.</p>
+
+<p>"All that might be spared," said
+he. "He's as nice a lad as ever I
+saw. I was sitting yesterday at breakfast,
+when a parcel of my fellows,
+who are half horse, half alligator, and
+a trifle beyond, came tumbling into
+the house as if they would have pulled
+it down. Didn't know what it meant,
+till Joe Drum and Sam Shad brought
+the younker before me, and wanted to
+make him out a spy. I had half a
+mind to treat the thing as nonsense;
+but as we sat at table he let out something
+about Tokeah; and when the
+women spoke of Rosa&mdash;you know who
+I mean, Colonel Parker; Rosa, whom
+I've so often told you of&mdash;he got as
+red as any turkey-cock. Thinks I to
+myself, 'tisn't all right; better take
+him with you. You know Tokeah,
+the Indian, who gave us so much
+trouble some fifteen years ago?"</p>
+
+<p>"Tokeah, the chief of the Oconees?"</p>
+
+<p>"The same," continued the squire.
+"I chanced to mention his name, and
+the lad blurted out, 'Tokeah! Do
+you know him?' and when Mistress
+Copeland spoke of Rosa"&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"But, my dear major, this circumstance
+is very important, and I see
+no mention of it in your report," said
+the general reprovingly.</p>
+
+<p>"I daresay not," replied the loquacious
+justice of peace; "he'd
+hardly be such a fool as to put that
+down. I had my head and hands so
+full that I asked him just to draw up
+an account of the matter himself."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The officers looked at each other.</p>
+
+<p>"Upon my word, squire," said the
+general, "you take the duties of your
+office pretty easily. Who ever heard
+of setting a spy to take down his
+own examination, and a foreigner too?
+How could you so expose yourself and
+us?"</p>
+
+<p>The squire scratched himself behind
+the ear. "Damn it, you're right!"
+said he.</p>
+
+<p>During this dialogue, the officers
+had approached one of the five taverns,
+composing nearly a third part of the
+infant town, towards which the ill-looking
+strangers had betaken themselves.
+The latter seemed very anxious
+to reach the house first, but owing
+to the tardiness of some of their party,
+who walked with difficulty, they were
+presently overtaken by the prisoner
+and his escort. When the foremost
+of them caught a sight of the Englishman's
+face, he started and hastily
+turned away. Hodges sprang on one
+side, stared him full in the face, and
+was on the point of rushing upon
+him, when one of his guards roughly
+seized his arm and pointed forwards.</p>
+
+<p>"Stop!" cried the midshipman, "I
+know that man."</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe," replied the orderly dryly,
+"Forward!"</p>
+
+<p>"Let me go!" exclaimed Hodges,
+"It is the pirate."</p>
+
+<p>"Pirate?" repeated the soldier,
+who had again laid hold of his prisoner.
+"If you cut any more such
+capers, I'll take you to prison in a
+way that your bones will remember
+for a week to come. This young man
+says," added he to the officers, who
+just then came up, "that yonder fellow
+is a pirate."</p>
+
+<p>"Obey your orders," was the sole
+reply of the general; and again the
+orderly pushed his prisoner onwards.</p>
+
+<p>"And you?" said the militia
+general, turning to the foreigners&mdash;"Who
+may you be?"</p>
+
+<p>One of the strangers, half of whose
+face was bound up with a black silk
+bandage, whilst of the other half,
+which was covered with a large
+plaster, only a grey eye was visible,
+now stepped forward, and bowed with
+an air of easy confidence.</p>
+
+<p>"I believe I have the honour to
+address officers of militia, preparing
+for the approaching conflict. If, as I
+hope, you go down stream to-morrow,
+we shall have the pleasure of accompanying
+you."</p>
+
+<p>"Very kind," replied the general.</p>
+
+<p>"Not bashful," added the squire.</p>
+
+<p>"We also are come," continued the
+stranger in the same free and easy
+tone, "to lay our humble offering
+upon the altar of the land of liberty,
+the happy asylum of the persecuted
+and oppressed. Who would not risk
+his best blood for the greatest of
+earth's blessings?"</p>
+
+<p>"You are very liberal with your
+best blood," replied the general dryly.
+"How is it that, being already wounded,
+you come so far to seek fresh
+wounds in a foreign service?"</p>
+
+<p>"Our wounds were received from
+a party of Osages who attacked us on
+the road, and paid dearly for their
+temerity. We are not quite strangers
+here; we have for many years had
+connexions in New Orleans, and
+some of the produce of our plantations
+will follow us in a few days."</p>
+
+<p>"And this gentleman," said Colonel
+Parker, who, after staring for some
+time at one of the adventurers, now
+seized him by the collar, and in spite
+of his struggles dragged him forward:
+"does he also come to make an offering
+upon liberty's altar?"</p>
+
+<p>With a blow of his hand he knocked
+off the man's cap, and with it a
+bandage covering part of his face.</p>
+
+<p>"By jingo! dat our Pompey, what
+run from Massa John in New Orlean,"
+tittered the colonel's black servant,
+who stood a little on one side with
+the horses.</p>
+
+<p>"Pompey not know massa. Pompey
+free Mexican. Noding to massa,"
+screamed the runaway slave.</p>
+
+<p>"You'll soon learn to know me,"
+said the colonel. "Orderly, take this
+man to jail, and clap irons on his neck
+and ankles."</p>
+
+<p>"You will remain here," said the
+general in a tone of command to the
+spokesman of the party, who had
+looked on with an appearance of perfect
+indifference during the detection
+and arrest of his black confederate.</p>
+
+<p>"It will be at your peril if you detain
+us," was the reply. "We are
+ordered to repair to headquarters as
+speedily as possible."</p>
+
+<p>"The surgeon will examine you,
+and if you are really wounded, you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>
+will be at liberty to fix your temporary
+abode in the town. If not, the
+prison will be your lodging."</p>
+
+<p>"Sir!" said the man with an assumption
+of haughtiness.</p>
+
+<p>"Say no more about it," replied
+the general coldly&mdash;"the commander-in-chief
+shall be informed of your arrival,
+and you will wait his orders
+here."</p>
+
+<p>The stranger stepped forward, as if
+he would have expostulated, but the
+general turned his back upon him, and
+walked away. A party of militia now
+took charge of the gang, and conducted
+them to the guard-house.</p>
+
+<p>This scarred and ill-looking crew
+are Lafitte and the remnant of his
+band, come, according to a private
+understanding with General Jackson,
+to serve the American artillery against
+the British, (an historical fact.) Their
+bandages and plasters being found to
+cover real wounds, they are allowed
+to quarter themselves at the <i>estaminet</i>
+of the Garde Imperiale, kept by a
+Spaniard called Benito, once a member
+of Lafitte's band, but now settled
+in Louisiana, married, and, comparatively
+speaking, an honest man.
+Benito is greatly alarmed at the sight
+of his former captain and comrades,
+and still more so when they insist
+upon his aiding them that very night
+to rescue Pompey the negro, lest he
+should betray their real character to
+the militia officers. Lafitte promises
+to have the runaway slave conveyed
+across the Mississippi; but as this
+would require the absence, for at least
+three hours, of several of the pirates,
+who, although at liberty, are kept under
+a species of surveillance, the real
+intention is to make away with the
+unfortunate Pompey as soon as the
+boat is at a certain distance from land.
+The negro is confined in a large building
+used as a cotton store, built of
+boards, and in a dilapidated condition;
+the militia on guard leave their post
+to listen to the proceedings of a meeting
+then holding for the discussion of
+General Jackson's unconstitutional
+conduct, and, profiting by their
+absence, Benito and four of the
+pirates, Mexican Spaniards, contrive
+the escape of a prisoner whom they
+believe to be Pompey. In the darkness
+they mistake their man, and
+bring away Hodges, who is confined
+in the same building. This occurs at
+midnight. The meeting, which absorbs
+the attention of the militia, is
+not yet over, when the four pirates,
+Benito, and the rescued prisoner, arrive
+at the junction of the creek and
+the Mississippi, and, unmooring a boat,
+prepare to embark.</p>
+
+<p>At this moment a second boat became
+visible, gliding gently down the
+bayou towards the stream.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Que diablo!</i>" muttered the Mexicans.
+"What is that?"</p>
+
+<p>The boat drew near; a man was in it.</p>
+
+<p>"Who is that?" whispered the
+pirates, and then one of them sprang
+suddenly into the strange skiff, whence
+the clanking of chains was heard to
+proceed. The Mexican stared the
+unwelcome witness hard in the face.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, massa Miguel!" cried the
+new-comer with a grin: "Pompey
+not stop in jail. Pompey not love
+the ninetail."</p>
+
+<p>"The devil!" exclaimed the Mexican&mdash;"it
+is Pompey. Who is the
+other then? We are seven instead
+of six. What does all this mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"Santiago!" cried the pirates:
+"Who is he?" they whispered, surrounding
+the seventh, and, as it seemed,
+superfluous member of their society.</p>
+
+<p>"No Spanish. Speak English,"
+was the reply.</p>
+
+<p>"Santa Virgen! How came you
+here?"</p>
+
+<p>"You ought to know, since you
+brought me."</p>
+
+<p>The men stepped back, and whispered
+to each other in Spanish. "Come,
+then!" said one of them at last.</p>
+
+<p>"Not a step till I know who you
+are, and where you go."</p>
+
+<p>"Fool! Who we are matters little
+to you, and where we go, as little.
+Any place is better for you than this.
+Stop here and I would not give a real
+for your neck."</p>
+
+<p>"Leave him! Leave him!" muttered
+the others.</p>
+
+<p>"Be off, and back again quickly,"
+whispered the tavern-keeper, "or you
+are all lost."</p>
+
+<p>"Stop!" cried the Englishman.
+"I will go with you."</p>
+
+<p>The negro had already jumped into
+the Mexicans' boat, and, with the
+heedlessness of his race, had left his
+own adrift.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Ingles!" said one of the pirates,
+"sit you here." And he showed him
+his place in the bow of the boat next
+to a young Mexican. "And Pompey
+in the middle, and now let's be off."</p>
+
+<p>"Stop!" cried Hodges. "Had we
+not better divide ourselves between
+the two boats?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, massa never rowed across
+the Sippi," tittered the lazy negro.
+"Massa not get over in six hours,
+and come to land at Point Coupé."</p>
+
+<p>"Hush, Pompey," muttered his
+neighbour, and the boat, impelled by
+six pair of hands, darted swiftly out
+into the stream.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, Massa Manuel, let Pompey
+file off him chains," grumbled the
+black. "Pompey been in upper jail&mdash;been
+cunning," laughed he to himself;
+"took file and helped himself
+out. Massa Parker stare when he
+see Pompey gone."</p>
+
+<p>"Hold your tongue, doctor," commanded
+a voice from the hinder part
+of the boat, "and let your chains be
+till you get across."</p>
+
+<p>The negro shook his head discontentedly.
+"Massa Felipe wouldn't
+like to be in the collars," said he; but
+nevertheless he put away his file, and
+whilst with one hand he managed the
+oar, with the other he held the chain
+connecting the ankle irons with the
+collar, and which had been filed in
+too close to the latter. This collar
+consisted of a ring two inches broad,
+and as thick as a man's finger, encircling
+the neck, and from which
+three long hooks rose up over the
+crown of the head. With a sort of
+childish wonder he weighed the chain
+in his hand, staring at it the while,
+and then let it fall into the bottom of
+the boat, which now advanced towards
+the middle of the stream.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Lolli!" said the negro after
+a short silence&mdash;"she be sad not to
+see Pompey. She live in St John's,
+behind the cathedral."</p>
+
+<p>"Pompey!" cried the Mexican
+who sat forward on the same bench
+with Hodges, "your cursed chain is
+rubbing the skin off my ankles."</p>
+
+<p>"Sit still, Pompey," said the
+negro's neighbour. "I'll take it out of
+the way."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! massa hurt poor Pompey,"
+cried the black to his next man, who
+had wound the chain round his feet,
+and now gave it so sudden a pull that
+the negro let go his oar and fell back
+in the boat. The young Englishman
+became suddenly attentive to what
+passed.</p>
+
+<p>"What are you about?" cried he;
+"what are you doing to the poor
+negro?"</p>
+
+<p>"Gor-a-mighty's sake, massa, not
+joke so with poor Pompey," groaned
+the negro. "Massa strangle poor
+nigger."</p>
+
+<p>"It's nothing at all, Pompey; think
+of your fat Lolli behind the cathedral,
+and don't forget the way to Nacogdoches,"
+said the man on the sternmost
+bench, who had taken the chain
+from his comrade, passed it through
+the neck-iron, and, violently pulling it,
+drew the unhappy negro up into a heap.</p>
+
+<p>"Massa, Massa, Ma&mdash;&mdash;!" gasped
+the negro, whose breath was leaving
+him.</p>
+
+<p>The whole had been the work of a
+moment, and the stifled groans and
+sobs of the agonized slave were nearly
+drowned by the rush of the waters
+and splash of the oar-strokes.</p>
+
+<p>"The devil!" cried the Englishman,
+"what is all this?"</p>
+
+<p>At that moment the board on which
+he sat was lifted, his fellow-rower
+threw himself against him with all
+his force, and nearly succeeded in
+precipitating him into the stream.
+Hodges staggered, but managed to
+regain his balance, and turning quickly
+upon his treacherous neighbour,
+dealt him a blow with his fist that
+knocked him overboard.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Buen viage á los infiernos!</i>" cried
+the other Mexicans with a burst of
+hellish laughter, hearing the splash,
+but misapprehending its cause.</p>
+
+<p>"Go to hell yourself!" shouted the
+Englishman, grasping his oar, and
+dealing the man in front of him a
+blow that stretched him by the side
+of the negro.</p>
+
+<p>"Santa Virgen! who is that?"
+cried the two sternmost pirates.</p>
+
+<p>"The Englishman!" exclaimed one
+of them, pressing forwards towards
+Hodges, but stumbling over the men
+at the bottom of the boat, which
+now rocked violently from the furious
+struggle going on within it.</p>
+
+<p>"Ma&mdash;&mdash; Ma&mdash;&mdash;!" groaned the
+negro again, now seemingly in the
+death agony&mdash;His eyes stood out from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>
+their sockets, and glittered like stars
+in the darkness; his tongue hung
+from his mouth, swollen and convulsed.</p>
+
+<p>"By the living God! if you don't
+unfasten the negro, I'll knock you all
+into the river."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Maldito Ingles! Picaro gojo!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>"Let him go! Let him go! Holy
+Virgin!" yelled the three Mexicans,
+as one of them who had approached
+the Englishman was knocked bellowing
+into his place by a furious blow
+of the oar. "It's the devil himself!"
+cried the pirates, and one of them
+pushed the negro towards Hodges.</p>
+
+<p>"Stand back!" cried the midshipman,
+"and take off his neck-iron.
+If you strangle him, you are all dead
+men."</p>
+
+<p>One of the Mexicans laid hold of the
+negro, who was coiled up like a ball,
+and drew the chain out of the collar.
+The poor slave's limbs fell back, dead
+and powerless as pieces of wood. A
+gasping, rattling noise in his throat
+alone denoted that life was still in him.</p>
+
+<p>"Stand back!" repeated Hodges,
+stooping down, and endeavouring, by
+vigorous friction with a blanket, to
+restore the negro to consciousness.
+During this life-and-death struggle,
+the boat, left at the mercy of the
+waters, had been borne swiftly away
+by the stream, and was now floating
+amongst a number of the enormous
+trees which the Mississippi carries
+down by thousands to the sea. The
+Mexicans resumed their places, and
+with their utmost strength began to
+pull up-stream. Not far from the
+frail skiff, beneath the mantle of fog
+covering the river, a huge tree-trunk
+was seen coming directly towards the
+boat&mdash;Hodges had barely time to bid
+the Mexicans be careful, when it shot
+by them. As it did so, a strange, unnatural
+cry saluted their ears, and
+straining his eyes through the darkness,
+the young Englishman saw a
+head and a hand appearing above one
+of the limbs of the forest giant.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Misericordia!</i>" cried the voice&mdash;"<i>Socorro!
+Por Dios!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>It was the Mexican whom Hodges
+had knocked into the water, and who,
+by means of the tree, had saved himself
+from drowning.</p>
+
+<p>"Turn the boat!" cried Hodges,
+"your countryman is still alive."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Es verdad!</i>" exclaimed the desperadoes,
+and the boat was turned&mdash;Meanwhile
+the negro had come gradually
+to himself, and now crouched
+down at the feet of his deliverer. He
+peered over the gunwale at the half-drowned
+Mexican.</p>
+
+<p>"Gor-a-mighty, Massa!" cried he,
+seizing the Englishman's oar&mdash;"dat
+Miguel&mdash;trike him dead, Massa;
+Miguel very bad mans."</p>
+
+<p>"Keep still, Pompey!" answered
+Hodges, pulling with might and main
+to the assistance of the Mexican.
+The boat shot alongside the floating
+tree, and the half-drowned wretch
+had just sufficient strength left to extend
+his hand, which the Englishman
+grasped.</p>
+
+<p>"Take care, Massa! the pirates
+will kill us both," cried the negro.</p>
+
+<p>At that moment the boat received
+a violent shock, a wave dashed over
+it, and threw the Mexican on the gunwale,
+across which he lay more dead
+than alive.</p>
+
+<p>"Lay hold of him!" said Hodges
+to the negro.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, Pompey not such dam' fool&mdash;Pompey
+lub Massa too much. The
+others don't row. Look, Massa, they
+only wait to kill Massa."</p>
+
+<p>"Hark ye!" cried Hodges to the
+Mexicans, at the same time giving
+the nearest to him a blow with his
+oar&mdash;"the first who leaves off rowing&mdash;you
+understand me?"</p>
+
+<p>The boat rocked on the huge sheet
+of water, in the midst of the floating
+trees, menaced each moment with
+destruction from the latter, or with
+being swallowed up by the troubled
+and impetuous stream; the Mexicans
+cowered upon their benches&mdash;thirst of
+blood, and rage, suppressed only by
+fear, gleaming in their black, rolling
+eyes and ferocious countenances.
+The negro now twisted the boat rope
+round the body of the rescued man,
+who, still groaning and imploring
+mercy, was dragged on board.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, Massa! Miguel good swimmer;
+bath not hurt him, Massa,"
+mumbled the restless black: "Massa
+not forget to take his oar with him
+out of the boat."</p>
+
+<p>"And Pompey not forget to handle
+his own a little more diligently," was
+the reply of Hodges.</p>
+
+<p>For a time the negro obeyed the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>
+injunction, and then looked at the
+young Englishman, who appeared to
+listen attentively to some distant
+sound.</p>
+
+<p>"Massa never fear, militiaman sleep
+well&mdash;only Sippi's noise. Pompey
+know the road, Massa Parker not
+catch him."</p>
+
+<p>A quarter of an hour passed away,
+and the strength of the rowers began
+to diminish under their continued and
+laborious efforts.</p>
+
+<p>"Massa soon see land&mdash;out of the
+current already," cried the negro.</p>
+
+<p>Another quarter of an hour elapsed,
+and they reached the shore; Hodges
+jumped out of the boat, and was followed
+by the negro, still loaded with
+his fetters. The Mexicans sprang
+after them.</p>
+
+<p>"Stop by your boat!" cried Hodges
+in a threatening tone. Instead of an
+answer, a knife, thrown by a sure
+and practised hand, struck him on
+the breast. The deerskin vest with
+which Canondah had equipped him,
+proved his protection. The weapon
+stuck in it, and remained hanging
+there.</p>
+
+<p>"Vile assassins!" cried Hodges,
+who now broke off the flat part of his
+oar, and grasping the other half, was
+about to rush upon the bandits, when
+the negro threw his arms round him.</p>
+
+<p>"Massa not be a fool! pirates have
+more knives, and be glad if he go near
+them. Kill him then easy."</p>
+
+<p>"You are right, Pompey," said
+Hodges, half laughing, half angry, at
+the negro, who was showing his white
+teeth in an agony of fear and anxiety.
+"The dogs are not worth the killing."</p>
+
+<p>For a moment the three assassins
+stood undecided; then yelling out a
+"Buen viage á los infiernos," got into
+their boat and speedily disappeared
+in the fog and darkness.</p>
+
+<p>Hodges is pursued and recaptured,
+but Tokeah and Rosa, who, with their
+companions, are brought in by a party
+of militia, and the latter of whom is
+joyfully recognised and welcomed by
+the worthy Squire Copeland, clear
+him of the charge of spying, and he
+remains a prisoner of war. The
+troops take their departure for New
+Orleans, and the Indians are detained
+at the town, whence, however, Tokeah
+and El Sol depart in the night-time,
+and continue their journey. The old
+chief accomplishes his object, disinters
+his father's bones, and returns to
+fetch Rosa, and proceed with her to
+his new home in the country of the
+Comanches. Meanwhile the action
+of New Orleans has been fought, and
+he finds, to his grief and astonishment,
+that Lafitte, whose life he had spared
+in the expectation of his meeting punishment
+at the hands of the Americans,
+has actually been fighting in
+their ranks, and has received, as a
+reward for his services, a free pardon,
+coupled, however, with an injunction
+to quit the territory of the United
+States. Through an advertisement in
+an old newspaper, traces have been
+discovered of Rosa's father, who, as
+the reader is given to understand, is
+a Mexican of high rank. She had
+been stolen by a tribe of Indians with
+whom Tokeah was at war, and from
+whose hands he rescued her. Tokeah
+has an interview with General Jackson,
+who cautions him against the
+further indulgence of his inveterate
+hostility to the Americans, and permits
+him to depart. Rosa now goes
+to take leave of the old chief, who is
+as yet unaware that she is not to
+accompany him.</p>
+
+<p>When Rosa, Squire Copeland, and
+Hodges entered the estaminet of the
+Garde Imperiale, they found the two
+chiefs and their followers seated in
+their usual manner upon the floor of
+the room, which had no other occupants.
+El Sol rose at their entrance,
+and, advancing a few steps, took
+Rosa's hand and conducted her to a
+chair. She did not sit down, but ran
+to the Miko and affectionately embraced
+him. The old chief gazed at
+her with a cold and inquiring look.</p>
+
+<p>"Miko," said the squire, "Miss
+Rosa has come to take leave of you,
+and to thank you for the kindness you
+have shown her. You yourself shall
+fix the sum that will compensate you
+for your expenses on her account."</p>
+
+<p>"Tokeah," replied the Indian, misunderstanding
+Major Copeland's
+words, and taking a leather bag from
+his wampum belt, "will willingly pay
+what the white chief claims for food
+and drink given to the White Rose."</p>
+
+<p>"You are mistaken," replied the
+squire; "payment is due to you.
+Strictly speaking, the amount should<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>
+be fixed by a jury, but you have only
+to ask, and any reasonable sum shall
+be paid at once."</p>
+
+<p>"The white chief," said the Indian,
+"may take whatever he pleases."</p>
+
+<p>"I tell you it is I, and not you,
+who have to pay," returned the squire.</p>
+
+<p>"Has my daughter bid farewell to
+her foster-father?" said the Indian to
+Rosa, who had listened to this dialogue
+with some uneasiness. "Rosa
+must leave the wigwam of the white
+men; the Miko's path is a long one,
+and his spirit is weary of the palefaces."</p>
+
+<p>"And must the Miko go?" said
+Rosa. "Oh! father of my Canondah!
+remain here; the white men
+will love thee as a brother."</p>
+
+<p>The Indian looked at her with astonishment.</p>
+
+<p>"What means the White Rose?"
+said he,&mdash;"the palefaces love Tokeah?
+Has the White Rose&mdash;&mdash;?" He
+paused, and surveyed her gloomily and
+suspiciously. "Tokeah," continued he,
+at last, "is very weary of the white
+men; he will be gone."</p>
+
+<p>"Miko," said Rosa, timidly&mdash;for it
+was evident that the chief was still in
+error as to the motive of her visit&mdash;"Rosa
+has come to beg you to remain
+a while with the white men; but
+if you must go, she will"&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"The Miko is the father of his people,"
+interrupted Tokeah; "they call
+him; he must go, and the Rose of the
+Oconees shall also be the Rose of the
+Comanches, the squaw of a great
+chief."</p>
+
+<p>The young girl blushed, and stepped
+back.</p>
+
+<p>"Miko," said she, "you are the
+beloved father of my dear Canondah;
+you saved my life and maintained me,
+and I thank you heartily; but, Miko,
+I cannot, I must not, do as you wish.
+I no longer belong to you, but to my
+father, my long-lost father."</p>
+
+<p>"Rosa speaks truth&mdash;she belongs to
+her father," said the Miko, not yet
+undeceived; "my daughter's feet are
+weak, but she shall sit in a canoe till
+she reaches the wigwams of the Pawnees,
+and they have many horses."</p>
+
+<p>"By G&mdash;!" cried the squire, "here
+is a mistake; the Indian thinks to take
+Rosa with him. My dear boy," continued
+he to Hodges, "run as quick as
+you can to Colonel Parker, and bring
+a party of men. Bayonets are the only
+things these savages respect. Rosa,
+say no more to him, he is getting
+wild."</p>
+
+<p>A change had taken place in the
+Indian, although it was one which only
+a keen observer could detect. He
+began to have an inkling that Rosa
+was to be taken from him, and his
+gloomy inanimate physiognomy betrayed
+a restless agitation, which
+alarmed the major.</p>
+
+<p>"The White Rose," resumed Tokeah,
+after a while, "is a dutiful
+daughter. She will cook her father's
+venison."</p>
+
+<p>"That would I willingly do for the
+father of my Canondah," said the
+young girl; "but a higher duty calls
+me. Father of my Canondah! Rosa
+has come to take leave of thee."</p>
+
+<p>The Indian listened attentively.</p>
+
+<p>"Miko," continued the maiden,
+"the father who gave me life, is found.
+Rosa must hasten to him who for
+fourteen years has wept and sought
+her."</p>
+
+<p>"Tokeah gave Rosa her life; he
+saved her from the tomahawk of Milimach;
+he paid with skins for the milk
+she drank."</p>
+
+<p>"But Rosa has another father who
+is nearer to her, whom the Great
+Spirit bestowed upon her; to him must
+she go. I <i>must</i> leave you, Miko,"
+said she, with increased firmness of
+manner.</p>
+
+<p>Upon the countenance of the Indian
+all the bad passions of his nature were
+legible. The scales had at last fallen
+from his eyes; but even now his
+cold and terrible calmness did not desert
+him, although the violence of the
+storm raging within showed itself
+in the play of his features and the
+variation of his complexion.</p>
+
+<p>"Miko," said the squire, who foresaw
+an approaching outburst of fury&mdash;"Miko,
+you heard the words of the
+great warrior of the palefaces?"</p>
+
+<p>The Indian took no notice of the
+caution; his whole frame was agitated
+by a feverish trembling; his hand
+sought his scalping-knife; and he cast
+so terrible a look at Rosa, that the
+horrorstruck squire sprang to her side.
+To Major Copeland's astonishment, the
+young girl had regained all her courage,
+and there was even a certain dignity
+in her manner.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Miko," said she, extending her
+arms, "I must leave you."</p>
+
+<p>"What says my daughter?" demanded
+the Indian&mdash;who even yet
+seemed unable to believe his ears&mdash;his
+voice assuming so shrill and unnatural
+a tone, that the tavern-keeper
+and his wife rushed terrified into the
+room. "Tokeah is not her father?
+she will not follow the Miko?"</p>
+
+<p>"She cannot," answered Rosa
+firmly.</p>
+
+<p>"And Rosa," continued the Indian,
+in the same piercing accents,
+"will leave the Miko; will let him
+wander alone on his far and weary
+path?"</p>
+
+<p>The words were scarcely uttered,
+when, by a sudden and unexpected
+movement, Tokeah sprang to his feet,
+caught Rosa in his arms, and with a
+like rapidity retreating to the side
+door of the room, came in such violent
+contact with it, that its glass
+panes were shivered into a thousand
+pieces.</p>
+
+<p>"And does the white snake think,"
+he exclaimed, with flashing eyes,
+"that the Miko is a fool?" He held
+the maiden in his left arm, whilst his
+right raised the glittering scalping-knife.
+"Does the white snake think,"
+continued the raging Indian, with a
+shrill laugh of scorn, whilst the foam
+gathered round his mouth, "that the
+Miko fed and cherished her, and gave
+skins for her, that she might return to
+the white men, the venomous palefaces,
+whom he spits upon?" And he
+spat with loathing upon the ground.</p>
+
+<p>"By the God who made you, hold!
+Hurt the child, and you are a dead
+man!" cried the squire, who seized
+a stool and endeavoured to force his
+way to Rosa, but was repulsed by the
+Comanches and Oconees.</p>
+
+<p>"Therefore did the white snake
+accompany me!" yelled Tokeah.
+"Does my son know," cried he to
+El Sol, "that the White Rose has
+betrayed her father&mdash;betrayed him
+for the palefaces? Will the white
+snake follow her father?" screamed
+the frantic savage.</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot," was the reply. "The
+voice of my white father calls me."</p>
+
+<p>An expression of intense hatred
+came over the features of the Indian,
+as he gazed at the beautiful creature
+who lay half-fainting on his arm.</p>
+
+<p>"Tokeah will leave the White
+Rose with her friends," said he, with
+a low deadly laugh, drawing back his
+hand and aiming the knife at her
+bosom.</p>
+
+<p>"Gracious God! he is killing her!"
+cried the major, breaking furiously
+through the opposing Indians. But
+at this critical moment the young
+Comanche was beforehand with him.
+With a bound he interposed himself
+between the chief's armed hand and
+intended victim, tore Rosa from the
+grasp of Tokeah, and hurled him back
+against the door with such force that
+it flew into fragments.</p>
+
+<p>"Tokeah is indeed a wild cat!"
+cried he with indignant disgust. "He
+forgets that he is a chief amongst his
+people, and brings shame upon the
+name of the Red men. El Sol is
+ashamed of such a father."</p>
+
+<p>These words, spoken in the Pawnee
+dialect, had an indescribable effect
+upon the old savage. He had partly
+raised himself after his fall, but now
+again sank down as if lifeless. Just
+then several file of militia entered the
+room with bayonets fixed.</p>
+
+<p>"Shall we take the Indian to prison?"
+said Lieutenant Parker.</p>
+
+<p>The major stood speechless, both
+his arms clasped round Rosa.</p>
+
+<p>"Lieutenant Parker," said he,
+"support Rosa for a moment: the
+Almighty himself has protected her,
+and it beseems not us to take vengeance."
+He approached the old Indian,
+who still lay upon the floor,
+lifted him up, and placed him against
+the wall. "Tokeah," he said, "according
+to our laws your life is forfeited,
+and the halter the least you deserve;
+nevertheless, begone, and that
+instantly. You will find your punishment
+without receiving it at our
+hands."</p>
+
+<p>"He was my father, my unhappy
+father!" exclaimed Rosa, and tottering
+to the Indian, she threw her arms
+around him. "Father of my Canondah,"
+cried she, "Rosa would never
+leave you, but the voice of her own
+father calls. Forgive her who has been
+a daughter to you!"</p>
+
+<p>The Indian remained mute. She
+gazed at him for a while with tearful
+eyes; then turned to El Sol, and bowing
+her head modestly and respectfully,
+took leave of him, and left the
+house with her companions.</p>
+
+<p>The young chief of the Comanches<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>
+remained as in a dream, till the major,
+with Rosa and the militia, were already
+far from the estaminet. Suddenly
+he came bounding after them, and
+placing himself before Rosa, took her
+hands, pressed them to his breast, and
+bowed his head so mournfully, that
+the witnesses of the scene stood silent,
+sympathizing with his evident affliction.</p>
+
+<p>"El Sol," whispered he, in a scarcely
+audible tone, "has seen Rosa: he
+will never forget her."</p>
+
+<p>And without raising his eyes to her
+face, he turned away.</p>
+
+<p>"As I live," exclaimed the squire,
+with some emotion, "the noble savage
+weeps!"</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>An hour subsequently to this scene,
+the party of Indians left the bayou in
+a canoe, and ascended the Mississippi.
+Upon reaching the mouth of the Red
+River, they turned into it, and continued
+their route up-stream. On the
+tenth day from that of their departure,
+they found themselves upon the
+elevated plain where the western district
+of Arkansas and Louisiana joins
+the Mexican territory. To their front
+were the snowy summits of the Ozark
+range, beyond which are immense
+steppes extending towards the Rocky
+Mountains. The sun sank behind the
+snow-capped peaks, as the Indians
+landed at the western extremity of
+the long table-rock, which there
+stretches like a wall along the left
+bank of the Red River. Leaving
+their canoe, they approached a hill,
+or rather a mass of rock, that rises
+not far from the shore in the barren
+salt steppe, and in whose side exists
+a cave or grotto, resembling, by its
+regularity of form, an artificial archway.
+Here, upon the imaginary
+boundary line separating the hunting
+grounds of the Pawnees of the Toyask
+tribe from those of the Cousas and
+Osages, they took up their quarters
+for the night. El Sol ordered a fire
+to be made; for Tokeah, who had
+just left the warm climate of Louisiana,
+shivered with cold. Their
+frugal meal dispatched, the Miko and
+his Oconees stretched themselves
+upon the ground and slept. El Sol
+still listened to a legend related by
+one of the Comanches, when he was
+startled by a distant noise. In an
+instant the three warriors were upon
+their feet, their heads stretched out
+in the direction of the breeze which
+had conveyed the sound to their
+ears.</p>
+
+<p>"The dogs!" murmured the
+young Comanche; "they bay after
+a foe in whose power it once was to
+crush them."</p>
+
+<p>The Oconees were roused from
+their slumber, and the party hurried
+to the place where they had left the
+canoe. The Miko and his warriors
+got in and descended the stream;
+whilst El Sol and the two Comanches
+crept noiselessly along the water's
+edge in the same direction. After
+proceeding for about half a mile, the
+canoe stopped, and the young chief
+and his followers entered it, previously
+breaking the bushes growing upon
+the shore, so as to leave unmistakable
+marks of their passage. They continued
+their progress down the river
+to the end of the table-rock, and
+then, leaving the old man in the
+boat, El Sol and the four warriors
+again landed, and glided away in the
+direction of their recently abandoned
+bivouac. In its vicinity were stationed
+a troop of twenty horses. Of
+the Indians to whom these belonged,
+ten remained mounted, whilst the remainder
+searched the cave, and followed
+the trail left by its late occupants.
+Crouching and crawling upon the
+ground, the better to distinguish the
+footmarks dimly visible in the moonlight,
+it might almost have been
+doubted whether their dark forms
+were those of men, or of some strange
+amphibious animals who had stolen
+out of the depths of the river for a
+midnight prowl upon the shore.</p>
+
+<p>His ear against the rock, and motionless
+as a statue, El Sol observed
+each movement of the foe. Suddenly,
+when the Indians who followed the
+trail were at some distance from the
+cave, he made a sign to his companions,
+and, with a noiseless swiftness
+that defied detection, the five
+warriors approached the horses. A
+slight undulation of the plain was all
+that now separated them from their
+enemy. El Sol listened, gazed upwards
+at the moon's silver disk, just
+then emerging from behind a snow-charged
+cloud, raised himself upon his
+knee, and taking a long and steady
+aim, nodded to his warriors. The
+next instant five savages, pierced by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>
+as many bullets, fell from their horses
+to the ground; a terrible yell shattered
+the stillness of the night; and
+with lightning swiftness El Sol sprang
+upon the terrified survivors, who,
+answering his war-whoop by cries of
+terror, fled in confusion from the
+place. It needed all the surprising
+rapidity and dexterity of the young
+chief and his followers to secure six
+of the half-wild horses, whose bridles,
+so swift and well-calculated had been
+the movements of the Comanches,
+might be said to fall from the hands
+of their slain riders into those of the
+assailants. The remaining steeds
+reared in extreme terror, and then,
+with neigh and snort, dashed madly
+across the wide waste of the steppe.</p>
+
+<p>Springing upon the backs of the
+captured animals, the Comanches galloped
+to the shore. Scarcely had they
+entered the canoe, astern of which
+the horses were made to swim, when
+the bullets and arrows of the pursuing
+foe whistled around them.</p>
+
+<p>"Will my son promise the Miko
+to be a good father to the Oconees?"
+said the old chief in a hollow voice, as
+they pulled out of range of the fire.</p>
+
+<p>"A father and a brother," answered
+the Comanche. "But why does my
+father ask? He will dwell long and
+happily with his children."</p>
+
+<p>"Will El Sol swear it by the Great
+Spirit?" repeated the old man, earnestly,
+but in a fainter voice.</p>
+
+<p>"He will," replied the young chief.</p>
+
+<p>"Will he swear to bury Tokeah
+and his father's bones in the grave of
+the warriors of the Comanches?"</p>
+
+<p>"He will," said El Sol.</p>
+
+<p>"So shall the white men not scoff
+at his ashes nor at those of his father,"
+groaned the Miko. "But it is
+the will of the Great Spirit that Tokeah
+should not see the hunting-grounds
+of the Comanches; he is doomed to
+die in the land of the palefaces."</p>
+
+<p>A rattling in his throat interrupted
+the old man; he murmured a few broken
+words in the ears of his Oconees,
+who broke out into a wild howl of
+lamentation. Still clasping to his
+breast the coffin containing his father's
+bones, he sank back in the boat in the
+agonies of death. El Sol raised him
+in his arms, but life had already fled.
+A bullet had struck him between the
+shoulders, and inflicted a mortal
+wound. In silent grief the young
+chief threw himself upon the corpse,
+and long after the boat had reached
+the opposite shore, he lay there, unmindful
+of all but his sorrow. Roused
+at length by the whispers of his companions,
+to a sense of the danger of
+longer delay, he laid the body across
+a horse, and himself mounting the
+same animal, took the road to the
+village of the Pawnees. There, upon
+the following day, to the wild and
+mournful music of the death-song,
+the little party made its sorrowful
+entrance.</p>
+
+<p>At this point the narrative ceases.
+We turn the page, expecting at least
+another chapter, or some notice of Rosa's
+restoration to her father, and subsequent
+marriage with Hodges, which
+the previous portion of the novel certainly
+led us to anticipate. But our author,
+with his usual eccentric disregard
+of the established routine of romance
+writers, contents himself with a postscript,
+consisting of an advertisement
+extracted from the Opelousas county
+paper, and dated March 1816, announcing
+the marriage of the amiable
+and accomplished Miss Mary Copeland,
+daughter of the Honourable
+John Copeland, of James county, to
+Mr James Hodges, formerly of H.B.M.
+Navy, and now of Hodges' Seat in the
+same state. The reader is left to complete
+the denouement for himself, if
+he so pleases, and to conjecture that
+Rosa's father, a Mexican grandee,
+takes back his daughter to her native
+country, and that the incipient attachment
+between her and the young
+Englishman is mutually forgotten.</p>
+
+<p>We here finally conclude our extracts
+from the already published
+work of our German American friend&mdash;extracts
+comprising, as we believe,
+the cream of the twenty volumes, or
+thereabouts, which he has given to the
+world. The incognito behind which
+this clever and original writer has so
+long shrouded himself, is at length
+abandoned; and to a new edition of
+his works, now in course of publication,
+stands prefixed the name of
+Charles Sealsfield.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span></p>
+<h2>THE DEATH OF ZUMALACARREGUI.</h2>
+
+<div class="center"><span class="smcap">By Colonel Lord Howden, K.St.F., K.C.S.</span></div>
+
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Ac sane, quod difficilimum, et prælio strenuus erat et bonus in consilio; quorum alterum ex
+providentiâ timorem, alterum ex audaciâ temeritatem, adferre plerumque solet. In Jugurthâ
+tantus dolus, tantaque peritia locorum et militiæ erat, ut absens aut præsens perniciosior esset
+in incerto haberetur."&mdash;<span class="smcap">Sallust.</span></p></div>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span> siege of Bilbao was undertaken
+against the will, and strongly
+expressed counsel of Zumalacarregui.
+He was not only aware of the risk of
+the enterprise, with the insufficient
+means at his disposal for attempting
+it, but he had other plans. His
+plans, however, were undervalued,
+and his counsels were slighted, at the
+court of the Pretender. The little
+empty politicians there, were dazzled
+by the idea of possessing an important
+town, not deeming it their business
+to calculate the means by which
+it was to be obtained; the incompetent
+military advisers who directed
+from afar, thought that this bold
+attempt, proceeding from them, would
+contrast in bright relief with the
+hitherto wary and waiting policy of
+the commander-in-chief; and the wish,
+not an unnatural one, of the wandering
+prince, to find himself for once
+in comfortable quarters, was not the
+least among the motives which decided
+the operation. Though at this
+moment the Christino army was in a
+state of great discouragement from a
+long series of advantages that had
+been gained by the Carlists, the funds
+of the latter were entirely exhausted;
+and the idea of a forced loan upon the
+rich inhabitants of Bilbao was too
+seducing to be coldly examined by
+those little acquainted with the real
+difficulties of the war. Zumalacarregui
+wished to attack Victoria, and,
+profiting by the prestige of his late
+successes, to throw himself on the
+fertile and virgin ground of the Castiles.
+This was doubtlessly the right
+course, but the project was overruled.</p>
+
+<p>Independently of what thus gave
+rise to these ambitious aspirations,
+there was a personal feeling which
+had long been busy, either in attempting
+new and unexpected combinations
+on the part of the Camarilla, or in
+mutilating or rendering ineffectual
+those that had been imagined by
+Zumalacarregui. There was no passion,
+bold or mean, no jealousy, no
+intrigues, vegetating ever so rankly
+or rifely in the oldest and largest
+court of Europe, which did not flourish
+in that of Don Carlos.</p>
+
+<p>There was not a Christino general
+more disliked by the hangers-on of
+Don Carlos than Zumalacarregui.
+They feared him, they respected him,
+but they hated him.</p>
+
+<p>When the Pretender first made his
+appearance in Navarre, Zumalacarregui
+was in his favourite retreat of
+the Amescuas. He was far from insensible
+to the advantage which the presence
+of the chief actor in the drama
+might produce, if his personal bearing
+should be such as to create an enthusiasm
+for his cause, and if those who
+accompanied him should bring each
+his personal contingent of enlightened
+advice and honest activity. But with
+all these hopes, Zumalacarregui was
+not without his fears; his sagacity
+foresaw what his experience soon
+confirmed, that the royal chief was
+worse than a nullity, and that the
+royal suite were actively in the way.
+Lord Bacon says, "it is the solecism
+of princes to think to command the
+end, and yet not to endure the means."
+Dr Carlos was always commanding
+the end, while his general was left to
+find the means as best he could. A
+large portion of his small army was
+absorbed in protecting the prince, and
+could rarely be counted on in a combined
+movement; and the non-combatants,
+under every denomination
+of title and rank, drew more rations
+for their consumption than would have
+sufficed for the support of a large
+body of soldiers.</p>
+
+<p>Zumalacarregui, personally, was
+never very enthusiastic in the cause.
+It is true that his feelings had
+always had a tendency to absolutism,
+or rather he entertained the conviction
+that a strong government
+was necessary to the happiness of
+Spain, and that the greater the unity
+of that government, the greater was
+its chance of stability, and its power
+of favourable action; but when he
+left Pamplona to put himself at the
+head of the insurgent Navarrese, he
+was influenced far more by pique<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span>
+against the existing state of things,
+than by enthusiasm for the new one
+which he sought to establish. He
+had been treated both brutally and
+unjustly by Quesada, at that time inspector
+of infantry; and, with his active
+spirit, a condemnation to inactivity
+was the severest sentence that
+could be passed upon him. Rest to
+his unquiet bosom was a hell from
+which he was determined to emerge;
+and, confident in his powers, he seized
+the first opportunity which enabled
+him to bring them into action.</p>
+
+<p>The meeting between Zumalacarregui
+and the prince was respectful,
+but not warm; the first was unaccustomed
+to have any feelings, the
+second was unaccustomed to conceal
+those he had. The new importation
+had brought no new ideas, no plans,
+no accession of science; above all,
+<i>no money</i>; at least no more than was
+to be applied to its own wants.
+Don Carlos was evidently under the
+constraint that a strong mind imposes
+on a weak one. He saw that the
+servant was the master, as much in
+commanding intellect as in actual
+power. They were both uncomfortable;
+Zumalacarregui neither flattered the
+prince, nor his chances of success; he
+laid before him his difficulties, almost
+insuperable in his own opinion&mdash;for let
+it be known as a fact, <i>that he always
+in his heart despaired of the ultimate
+upshot of the war</i>. In conversational
+phrase, he had made himself
+thoroughly disagreeable; for he had
+spoken calmly, coldly, truly&mdash;and the
+hopes of an immediate march to
+Madrid had been rudely shaken.
+Zumalacarregui left the prince's
+headquarters with a discouragement
+and a contempt which he was at no
+pains to conceal. From that moment
+he was an object, often of admiration,
+but never of affection; and it was
+evident that the effort to esteem him
+was too painful to ensure a continuance
+of confidence.</p>
+
+<p>Among those who consider Zumalacarregui
+solely as the able chief of a
+devoted army, putting aside all the
+circumstances of political partisanship,
+there can be little difference of
+opinion, if that opinion be fairly
+formed and honestly given. By those
+who remark upon the comparatively
+small number of his troops, and the
+relatively confined scale of his operations,
+and who therefore refuse him
+the name of a great general, it must
+be remembered, that if this principle
+of applying reputation be pushed further
+in its expression&mdash;if military
+praise and appreciation are to be
+awarded strictly according to the
+size of the theatre and the magnitude
+of the numbers, and not according to
+the spirit which moves over the one,
+and directs the others&mdash;by such geometrical
+logic, our own great hero
+would be deemed immeasurably inferior
+to the French emperor.</p>
+
+<p>Zumalacarregui possessed great
+courage, but he made no show of it.
+It would have been more brilliant if
+he had had more vanity; and the
+exposure of his person was always
+subservient to some object of utility.
+He had a comprehensive view of
+military movements, but he never
+forgot the peculiar nature of his warfare;
+and he never ambitiously allowed
+himself to be carried away by
+plans or manœuvres beyond the exigencies
+of his position. As an administrator
+in forming reserves, in procuring
+supplies, in discovering resources,
+in bringing raw battalions
+to a state of rough efficiency in the
+shortest possible time, he was unrivalled;
+yet his mind was not cramped
+by detail, and when he descended to
+minute matters, it was because they
+were really important. He was severe
+and inflexible, even taciturn and
+morose; yet he was extremely loved
+by his troops. At the time that he
+was commander-in-chief, commissary-general
+and treasurer, and that all the
+sums of money, raised or sent, passed
+through his hands without a check or
+a receipt, there never was a breath
+raised against the purity of his moral
+character. These certainly are the
+elements out of which great generals
+are made; and it is not irrational to
+think that, under other circumstances,
+the same man, this Navarrese Guerrillero,
+far superior as such to the
+brave but improvident Mina, or the
+active but dull Jauregui, might have
+expanded into a European hero, and
+have left a less perishable name.</p>
+
+<p>When the siege of Bilbao was
+decided on, Zumalacarregui threw his
+objections to the winds, and set about
+it with his constitutional ardour. He
+arrived before it with fourteen battalions,
+and a miserable battering-train,
+composed of two twelve-pounders,
+one six-pounder, two brass four-pounders,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span>
+two howitzers and a mortar,
+and with a great penury of corresponding
+ammunition. The town
+was garrisoned by a force of four
+thousand men, well armed, without
+counting the national guard, and was
+protected by forty pieces of artillery,
+mostly of large calibre, mounted on
+different forts thrown up in favourable
+positions. But what was of chief
+advantage to the besieged, and what
+almost rendered success hopeless,
+was the free communication from
+without kept up by French and English
+vessels of war stationed in the
+Nervion, a river that runs alongside
+the town, and joins the sea at some
+seven or eight miles' distance.</p>
+
+<p>Zumalacarregui fixed his headquarters
+at a spot called Puente
+Nuevo, in a small straggling village,
+just at this side of the town of Bilbao,
+and under one of its most fashionable
+and frequented walks. Eraso had
+begun the investiture of the place a
+few days previously, and both these
+chiefs lodged in a small inn named
+the Three Sisters. Puente Nuevo was
+completely commanded by an eminence
+called the Morro, just outside
+the gates of Bilbao; but the garrison,
+either from motives of prudence or
+others, gave the Carlists no inconvenience
+from that point.</p>
+
+<p>At a short distance to the right of
+the Durango road, and on a height
+immediately over the town of Bilbao,
+is a church, called Our Lady of
+Begoña; and not far from it is a
+house, which, from its comparative
+size and solidity, and from its commanding
+view of the country around,
+goes by the name of the Palace. On
+the second day of the siege, two
+serious misfortunes befell the besiegers:
+eighty of the best muskets they
+possessed were piled in the portico of
+the church of Begoña, and were all
+entirely destroyed by a grenade that
+took them horizontally, killing the
+two sentinels that were mounting
+guard over them. The same evening
+the two largest of the guns, already
+half-worn out, burst from continued
+firing, just as something like an impression
+appeared on the spot it was
+proposed to breach.</p>
+
+<p>Don Carlos, during this time, was
+at Durango, a distance of five or six
+hours. Zumalacarregui, seeing the
+hopelessness of the operation, and,
+above all, the discouragement of the
+men, sent an express to the prince to
+say, "that he would be obliged infallibly
+to raise the siege and retire, unless
+some means were immediately taken
+to raise the drooping spirits of his
+army; that they were without clothes,
+without food, and almost without ammunition;
+that it was absolutely
+necessary that a sum of money should
+be procured and sent to him, which
+would enable him to pay the troops
+a part of what was due to them; and
+that then, as the means of prolonging
+a siege was out of the question, he
+would endeavour to carry out his majesty's
+wishes, and try to take the
+place by assault."</p>
+
+<p>Cruz-Mayor, the lead of the Camarilla,
+loved to humiliate Zumalacarregui,
+and no answer was returned to
+this letter; but Zumalacarregui was
+not idle, nor did he allow inaction to
+dispirit still more the minds of his men.
+He even attempted an assault, which
+failed, with the loss of all those who
+were ordered on this service. Unfortunately
+for the attacking column,
+lots were drawn for the troops that
+were to compose it; and they fell upon
+a regiment of Navarrese, entirely
+ignorant of the localities, who, getting
+confused in cross-paths and lanes at
+the foot of the walls, were cut off to
+a man. It was thought that the result
+of this attack might have been
+otherwise had it been undertaken by
+the Biscayan companies, who knew
+every inch of the ground. The hour,
+too, was ill judged, for it was at the
+beginning of nightfall, when it was
+just dark enough to embarrass those
+who were attempting the assault,
+without being sufficiently so to induce
+the inhabitants and national guards
+to retire from the walls.</p>
+
+<p>On the 15th June 1835, Zumalacarregui
+proceeded to the palace of
+Begoña, not far from the church of
+the same name, as the best spot for
+observing the repairs made, and the
+additional means of defence raised by
+the enemy during the night. He passed
+through the middle room on the
+first story, and, throwing open the
+window, went out on the iron balcony
+overlooking the town. The balls
+were flying so thick and fast that he
+desired all those who accompanied
+him to remain within; but, notwithstanding
+their supplications, he himself
+remained leaning on the railing
+of the balcony, his knees nearly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>
+touching the ground. The telescope
+which he used, showing the marksmen
+in the enemy's works that he
+was probably a personage of importance,
+occasioned a general discharge
+from the nearest battery. It was now
+exactly eight o'clock in the morning,
+and a ball from this discharge struck
+Zumalacarregui in the upper and anterior
+part of the right leg, on the inner
+side, about two inches below the
+knee. From the position in which he
+was struck, the ball took a downwards
+direction, and, as no part of
+the intricate machinery of the knee
+was injured, there was every reason
+to suppose that no serious consequences
+could ensue.</p>
+
+<p>Either from the extreme pain of
+the wound, or the shock given to the
+nervous system, Zumalacarregui fainted.
+His secretary, Zaratiegui, and
+the rest of his staff, picked him up in
+a state of insensibility, and placed
+him on a chair. The surgeon, Grediaga,
+a man of considerable acquirements,
+who was then practising in the
+sacristy of the church of Begoña,
+which had been converted into an
+hospital, was immediately sent for,
+as well as a young English surgeon
+of the name of Burgess, belonging to
+a small body of cavalry called the
+"Holy Squadron," or the "Squadron
+of Legitimacy."</p>
+
+<p>This young man, a person of great
+respectability, and well informed in
+his profession, has been since as
+grossly as ridiculously accused of having
+been bought by the English
+government to hasten the end of
+Zumalacarregui, if ever his services
+enabled him to do so; and it is still
+said, and believed by many, that the
+death of the general was owing to
+poison put into the bandages with
+which Mr Burgess first dressed the
+wound. In a country like Spain,
+where there is much ignorance and
+deep prejudice, it does not suffice to
+laugh to scorn accusations of any sort:
+it is better to meet them seriously,
+and disprove them by a fact. <i>Mr
+Burgess never dressed Zumalacarregui's
+leg at all.</i> He spoke no Spanish,
+and while he was endeavouring to
+make himself understood and to learn
+what had happened, Grediaga arrived
+and put on the first application.</p>
+
+<p>On being asked whither he should
+be carried, Zumalacarregui immediately
+said to Cegama, a town three
+days' journey off, situated in a solitary
+neighbourhood, and entirely unprovided
+with any thing like comfort,
+medicines, or professional assistance.
+The surprise of all was manifest, but
+the general was too accustomed to be
+obeyed not to be so in this instance.
+He was placed upon an old sofa from
+which the legs were sawed, and which
+was carried by eight guides of Navarre,
+with twenty-four others as a reserve.
+Neither he nor the chief of his staff
+and secretary, Zaratiegui, had a single
+peseta in their pockets, and he received
+from Mendigana, the paymaster-general,
+twenty ounces of gold, as a
+part of the pay that was due to him.</p>
+
+<p>The reason which induced Zumalacarregui
+to go to Cegama, was indeed
+a strange one, and a fatal one. It
+was one he never expressed, but
+which prompted this revelation from
+the very instant that he received his
+wound. There lived in this district
+a quack of the very lowest capacity,
+of the name of Petriquillo&mdash;a man entirely
+unimbued with the slightest
+tincture of medical science, but whose
+chance cures of gunshot wounds during
+the time of the Army of the Faith
+in 1822, had astonished and taken
+possession of the mind of Zumalacarregui.
+He even refused to allow the
+ball to be extracted at a moment
+when the operation presented no
+danger, and his only anxiety was to
+put himself into the hands of this
+ignorant adventurer.</p>
+
+<p>When the party arrived at Durango,
+Don Carlos sent word that he would
+next morning pay a visit to his wounded
+chief; the frame of mind of the
+latter may be collected from an exclamation
+he made on the road, heard
+by all, and commented on by many&mdash;"Truly
+this is a happy day for the
+court of the king!"</p>
+
+<p>As announced, Don Carlos came,
+and the following remarkable conversation
+took place:&mdash;"Well, Thomas,
+how could'st thou do so foolish a thing
+as to get wounded?" (The Spanish
+royal family always use the second
+person singular.) "Sir, I exposed myself,
+because it was my duty to do so&mdash;besides,
+I have lived long enough, <i>and
+I am firmly convinced that we shall all
+have to die in your majesty's service</i>."
+"Well, but where do'st thou intend
+going?" "To Cegama, sir." "No,
+don't go there, it is a long way off:
+stay here, I'll have thee taken care<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>
+of." "Sir, I have said I would go to
+Cegama, and to Cegama will I go: your
+majesty knows me well enough to be
+convinced that what I say, I do." "Oh
+yes! Thomas, that is certain&mdash;well,
+go with God, and take care of thyself."</p>
+
+<p>After this interview, Zumalacarregui
+instantly set off, as if it was a
+relief to him to get out of the atmosphere
+of the court. Between Durango
+and Bergara he was met by the quack
+Petriquillo and the cura Zabala. Besides
+the above-mentioned Grediaga,
+Don Carlos had desired two other nominal
+physicians, Gelos and Voloqui,
+to accompany the general; but these
+two men were, in fact, as ignorant,
+and as rash, and as opinionated as Petriquillo
+himself. Petriquillo took off
+the dressing from the wound; he made
+two men rub the patient for four
+hours from the hip to the ankle, with
+an unctuous substance known only
+to himself. He then put on a bandage
+dipped in some medicament of
+his own composition. Zumalacarregui
+suffered extremely during the
+night.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning a violent fever manifested
+itself. Mr Burgess, frightened
+at this treatment, returned to
+Bilbao, and Zumalacarregui continued
+his journey, arriving at Cegama on the
+evening of the 17th.</p>
+
+<p>The surgeon Grediaga still continued,
+not his services, but his useless
+advice. As the fever increased, he
+recommended quiet, diet, and blood-letting.
+Petriquillo objected to venesection
+or leeches; he administered
+food in large quantities, to support the
+general's strength, and kept the room
+full of company to keep up the general's
+spirits.</p>
+
+<p>Five days passed in this way with
+this treatment, or rather absence of
+treatment, only diversified by various
+attempts to extract the ball, though
+the leg, by the progress of the fever,
+and the continued application of the
+knife and probe, was swollen to twice
+its size, and was in a state of the
+highest exacerbation.</p>
+
+<p>In the middle of the night of the
+23d, a great idea struck Gelos and
+Petriquillo, the former was sleeping
+in the same room with Grediaga, and,
+fearful lest the latter should prevent
+its accomplishment, rose stealthily at
+one o'clock in the morning, proceeded
+with Petriquillo to the room of the
+general, and they there together <i>did</i>
+extract the ball.</p>
+
+<p>At daylight, the joy in the house
+was extreme; the ball was passed
+through the hands of every inhabitant
+in Cegama, and was then dispatched
+in a box to Don Carlos. Petriquillo
+and Gelos announced, that in fifteen
+days the general would be at the head
+of his army before Bilbao.</p>
+
+<p>At six o'clock, Zumalacarregui began
+to complain of insupportable thirst,
+and of pains all through the body;
+shortly afterwards, general shiverings
+came on, with convulsions at times.
+During an interval between these, he
+received the last consolations of religion;
+for though far from being a bigot,
+or even a devotee, Zumalacarregui
+respected, and practised reverentially,
+the religion of his country. At eleven
+o'clock in the morning of the 24th of
+June 1835, he expired.</p>
+
+<p>On examining the body, it was
+found that two cuts had been made
+completely through the calf of the leg
+in order to get at the ball: Their
+length was about three inches, and
+their depth was as great as it could be;
+for they reached the bone. The whole
+of the integuments had been divided
+by Petriquillo, and the sheets of the
+bed were one mass of blood.</p>
+
+<p>About three hours before the general's
+death, Petriquillo, unseen, went
+into the stable, saddled his mule, and
+departed.</p>
+
+<p>As the dead chief never possessed
+the uniform of a general, his body was
+laid out in borrowed garments belonging
+to the attorney of the place. It
+was dressed in a black coat and black
+pantaloons, with a white waistcoat,
+and over the shoulder was put the
+riband of the fifth class of St Ferdinand,
+without the star, for he never
+had one. Zumalacarregui had troubled
+himself little about external decorations;
+and his ordinary dress, a black
+sheep-skin jacket, red overalls, and a
+flat scarlet boyna, or cap of the country,
+which he thought sufficiently good
+for his body when living, was deemed
+unworthy of him when he became
+dust. It was an apt type of what
+had preceded, and what was to follow:
+the rude neglected warrior during life&mdash;the
+Duke, the <i>King's friend</i>, the
+grandee of Spain after death.</p>
+
+<p>One word about the cruelty of Zumalacarregui.
+He <i>was</i> cruel, and what
+is about to be said is a reason, but it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span>
+is not put forth as either an excuse or
+a justification. His cruelty proceeded
+from no innate or idiosyncratic ferocity.
+In a less cruel atmosphere he
+would have breathed a milder spirit.
+There is an indifference to life in all
+Spaniards, which, on one side, prompts
+great deeds, and, on the other, readily
+ripens into inhumanity. They care
+little about their own lives, and speedily
+learn to care still less about the
+lives of others. In this melancholy
+warfare there was cruelty on all sides;
+and, from the execution of Santos
+Ladron, there followed a series of
+bloody atonements, each producing
+each, which strewed the highways
+with as many bodies as had fallen in
+the field.</p>
+
+<p>Though the temptation of straying
+into any thing like a biography has
+been studiously avoided, there is one
+anecdote so curious, and not only so
+explanatory of what has just been
+said, but so illustrative of the character
+of both the man and the country,
+that it will hardly be deemed out of
+place.</p>
+
+<p>A young grandee of Spain, the
+Count of Via-Manuel, had been taken
+prisoner. Zumalacarregui was anxious
+to save his life, though the circumstance
+of his rank seemed to make his
+death the more certain, as being a
+fitter expiation for many executions
+which had lately taken place on the
+Christino side. Zumalacarregui addressed
+a letter to Rodil, the commander-in-chief
+of that army, saying
+that he was anxious to exchange his
+prisoner for a subaltern officer, and
+some soldiers that had been lately
+seized sick in a farm-house, and that
+he awaited the answer. The distance
+between the armies was short, and,
+some hours after, Via-Manuel requested
+permission to see the general
+and learn his fate. Zumalacarregui
+received him in the room when he was
+just going to dinner, and, in that
+oriental style so interwoven in the
+whole web of Spanish customs, offered
+him a part of the repast that was before
+him. In ordinary times, this is
+but a courteous form, and it is rarely
+accepted; but Via-Manuel, thinking
+perhaps of the Arab's salt in this
+Moorish compliment, accepted the invitation,
+and sat down at the table.
+They eat, and at the end of dinner an
+orderly entered and gave a letter to
+the general. It was from Rodil, and
+contained only these words&mdash;"The
+rebels were shot this morning." Zumalacarregui,
+without saying a word,
+handed the paper to Via-Manuel, rose
+from table, and went out of the room.
+The unfortunate count was that night
+placed, according to custom, in the
+chapel of the village, and was shot
+next morning.</p>
+
+<p>This happened in Lecumberri, which
+was entered shortly afterwards by the
+troops of the Queen. On leaving it
+the following day, two Carlist officers
+were pinioned and shot through the
+back, on the very spot where Via-Manuel
+fell. Such was the frightful
+mode of reciprocal expiation carried on
+on both sides; but the writer of this
+notice has, at least, among those painful
+recollections, the consolation of reflecting,
+that in this, as in other instances
+more fortunate, he did all in
+his power to save the victims.</p>
+
+<p>This little sketch has swelled beyond
+its intended bulk, but when
+those who love Spain have passed the
+Pyrenees, it is difficult not to linger
+there, even on paper. Amid dangers
+and difficulties, and even the horrors
+of civil war, Spain has an attraction
+which it would be as difficult
+to explain to those who do not feel it,
+as to describe the sound of a trumpet
+to a deaf man. To those who have
+passed their early years there, Spain is
+like the shining decoration in a play,
+which still continues haunting the
+slumbers of the child that has seen
+one for the first time.</p>
+
+<p>After the death of Zumalacarregui,
+Don Carlos took command of the
+army, with Moreno for chief of his
+staff, but the latter exercised all real
+authority. The Pretender was utterly
+deficient of every thing like military
+talent, and from the day of Zumalacarregui's
+death, his cause was not
+only hopeless, but felt to be so by the
+queen's party, who shortly regained
+the large portion of occupied territory
+which they had recently lost.</p>
+
+<p>Zumalacarregui, from the 1st May
+1835 to the 11th of June of that year,
+had made upwards of three thousand
+soldiers and a hundred officers prisoners.
+He left for all inheritance to his
+wife and daughters something less
+than forty pounds and four horses.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span></p>
+<h2>NEW SCOTTISH PLAYS AND POEMS.<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a></h2>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">We</span> suspect that in this railway age
+poetry is at a greater discount than
+ever. The reason is obvious. Not
+only the public, who are the readers,
+but even the poets themselves, have
+been largely infected by the current
+mania of speculation. Had the possession
+of capital been requisite for a
+participation in any of the thousand
+defunct schemes which have caused
+so unprecedented an emigration to the
+breezy shores of Boulogne, our poetical
+friends might have claimed for
+their vocation the credit of a rare
+morality. But unfortunately, the national
+gaming-table was open to men
+of every class. Peer and peasant,
+count and costermonger, millionaire
+and bankrupt, were alike entitled to
+figure as allottees, or even as committee-men,
+for the simple subscription
+of their signatures; and amidst
+the rush and squeeze of the crowd,
+who thronged towards the portal of
+Plutus, we were less surprised than
+pained to observe some of the most venerated
+votaries of Apollo. We shall
+not affect to disguise the purpose for
+which we were there ourselves. But
+much may be permitted to the prosaic
+writer which is forbidden to the canonized
+bard. Ours is a pen of all
+work&mdash;equally ready to concoct a
+prospectus, or to expose a literary
+charlatan. We are intensely fond of
+lucre, and expect, some day or another,
+to be in possession of the moiety
+of a plum. We have therefore no
+vain scruples regarding the sanctity
+of our calling, but carry our genius
+like a hooded falcon upon our wrist,
+ready to let it fly at any manner of
+game which may arise. We, however,
+deny in absolute terms the right
+of a poet to any such general license.
+He has no business whatever to trespass
+one foot beyond the limits
+his own domain. He ought to be
+thoroughly ignorant of the existence
+of bulls and bears, stags and ducks,
+and the rest of the zoology of the
+Exchange. Consols should be to him
+a mystery more impenetrable than the
+Sibylline verses, and the state of the
+stocks as unaccountable as the policy
+of Sir Robert Peel. The mischief,
+however, is done, and we fear it is
+irremediable. The example of the
+Poet-Laureate may indeed serve as a
+kind of excuse for the minor professors
+of the art. His well-known attempt
+to <i>bear</i> the Kendal and Windermere
+line, by a series of ferocious
+sonnets, is still fresh in the memory
+of the public, and we trust the veteran
+has, long ere this, realized a handsome
+profit. We ourselves made a
+little money out of the Perth and Inverness,
+by means of an indignant
+tirade against the desecration of the
+Pass of Killiecrankie; and we should,
+to a certainty, have made more, had
+not the Parliamentary Committee been
+weak enough to believe us, and, in
+consequence, to reject the bill. Yet
+it may be long before the literary
+market can recover its healthy tone&mdash;ere
+sonnets once more resume their
+ancient ascendency, and circulate
+from hand to hand in the character of
+intellectual scrip.</p>
+
+<p>We suspect that very few of the
+poets backed out of the scrape in time.
+Their sanguine and enthusiastic temperament
+led them to hold, at all risks
+and hazards; and they did not, as a
+body, take warning from the symptoms
+of a declining market. An
+amiable friend of ours who belongs to
+the Young England party, and who
+has issued a couple of duodecimos in
+laudation of Bishop Bonner, found himself
+at the period of the crash in possession
+of two thousand Caithness and
+Land's End scrip, utterly unsaleable
+at any discount, though a fortnight
+before they were quoted at fifteen
+premium. He meditates, as we are
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span>
+informed, a speedy retirement to the
+penal solitudes of La Trappe, as there
+now seems to be little hope that Louis
+Philippe will provide a proper refuge
+for chivalrous misfortune by resuscitating
+the Order of Malta. The
+weaver-poet of Camlachie has gone
+into the Gazette in consequence of an
+unfortunate speculation in Caledonians.
+His lyre is as silent as his
+shuttle; and we fear that in his hours
+of despondency he is becoming by far
+too much addicted to drink. A clever
+young dramatist confessed to us some
+time ago that he found himself utterly
+"goosed;" and the last hope of the
+school of Byron has been forced to
+deny himself the luxury of inverted
+collars, as his uncompromising laundress
+peremptorily refused to accept
+of payment in characteristic Cemetery
+shares.</p>
+
+<p>In the gross, this state of things
+seems deplorable enough; and yet,
+when we analyse it, there is still some
+room for comfort. Never, since we
+first had the honour of wielding the
+critical lash&mdash;for the Crutch is a sacred
+instrument&mdash;in the broad amphitheatre
+of letters, do we recollect a
+year less fertile in the product of verse
+than the present. Our young friends
+are not possessed with the same supreme
+and sublime contempt of gold
+which formed so disinterested a feature
+of the poets of the by-gone age.
+They have become corrupted by the
+manufacturing and utilitarian tenets
+of the day; and&mdash;we shudder to record
+it&mdash;divers of them are violent free-traders.
+They have all fallen into
+the snare of the man Broker; and at
+the very outset of life, in the heyday
+and spring of their existence, they can
+count both sides of a shilling with the
+acuteness of a born Pennsylvanian.
+Hence it is, we presume, that they
+have attained to a knowledge of the
+fact&mdash;long ago notorious among the
+Trade&mdash;that poetry will not pay. They
+look upon genius through the glasses
+of Adam Smith, weigh the probability
+of an adequate demand before they
+venture on the production of a supply,
+and cut short the inchoate canto
+upon principles of Political Economy.
+In a few years, we fear, poetry will
+be no longer extant, save for the commercial
+purposes of the advertisements
+of Messrs Moses and Hyam; unless,
+indeed, some Welsh or Highland railway
+company should take the matter
+up, and double their dividends by
+bribing a first-rate poet to produce
+another <i>Lady of the Lake</i>. Hence
+the sparseness of our library table,
+which renders our old vocation comparatively
+a sinecure, and leaves us,
+without the necessity of immolation,
+to the undisturbed enjoyment of our
+chair.</p>
+
+<p>We might indeed, were we savagely
+inclined, discover some Volscians
+worth our fluttering in the ranks of
+Young England, or the more sombre
+group of poetical Oxonian divines.
+But we look with a kindly eye upon
+the eccentricities of the one school,
+and we listen to the drowsy strains
+of the other with no more active demonstration
+of disapproval than a
+yawn. We have high hope of George
+Sydney Smythe, Lord John Manners,
+and others, who have already produced
+some things of evident promise&mdash;not
+mere beaten tinsel, such as the
+resuscitated Cockneys are again beginning
+to vend in the literary market&mdash;but
+verses of true and genuine originality.
+Could we but ensure them
+against the vitiating effects of politics,
+it were a light hazard to predict for
+either of the above gentlemen a far
+higher reputation than has been
+achieved by the united efforts of the
+whole canorous crew which constituted
+the Melbourne administration. We
+must indeed except Mr Macaulay, a
+better poet than a politician, but&mdash;the
+brilliant ballad-writer being removed&mdash;what
+soul could have been
+contented to fatten upon the spongy
+lyrics of a Spring Rice, or the intolerable
+tragedies of a Russell! What
+food to sweeten the tedium of a solitary
+imprisonment for life!</p>
+
+<p>As for the Oxford school, we fairly
+confess that its votaries are beyond
+our comprehension. Amiable they
+are, no doubt, although ascetic in
+principle; but they are likewise insufferably
+tedious. We have attempted
+at various times, and during different
+states of the barometer, to make ourselves
+master of the compositions of
+Mr Williams and his principal followers.
+We failed. After skimming
+over a page or two of mellifluous
+blank verse, we began to experience
+a strange sensation, as if a bee were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span>
+humming through the room. At each
+evolution of the imaginary insect, our
+eyes felt heavier and heavier. We
+made a strong effort to rally ourselves
+at the description of a crystalline
+stream, meandering, as we rather
+think, somewhere through the confines
+of Paradise; but the hue of the
+water gradually changed. It became
+dark and treacly, purled with a
+somniferous sound, as though the
+channel had been filled with living
+laudanum; and in three minutes more
+we were unconscious of the existence
+of the income-tax, and as relieved
+from the load of worldly cares as
+though we had joined company with
+the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus.</p>
+
+<p>Surely we have a right to expect
+something better from Oxford than
+this. The old nurse of learning must
+bestir herself once more, forswear
+morphia, and teach her pupils to strike
+a manlier chord, else men will cease
+to believe in the ancient magic of her
+name. What we want is, power,
+energy, pathos&mdash;not mere vapid sentiment,
+so diligently distilled that scarce
+a flavour of the original material is
+left to enable us to discover its origin.
+If poetry be a copy or a reflex of life,
+let it show out lifelike and true; if
+it be the representation of a dream,
+at all events let us have the vision,
+as in the mirror of Agrippa, well defined,
+though around its edges rest
+the clouds of impenetrable mystery.
+Above all things, let us have meaning,
+not vague allegorical phrases&mdash;power
+if not passion&mdash;sense if not sublimity.
+If the classics cannot teach us these,
+let us go back to the earlier ballads,
+and see how our fathers wrote without
+the aid of metaphysical jargon.</p>
+
+<p>Our present purpose is to deal with
+Scottish writers, and fortunately we
+have material at hand. Last month
+we were in London, engaged in
+divers matters connected with the
+state of the nation and our own private
+emolument, which latter pursuit
+we as seldom as possible neglect.
+The cares of a railway witness, in
+which capacity we had the honour to
+act, are but few. A bountiful table
+was spread for us, not in the wilderness,
+but in an excellent hotel in St
+James's; breakfast, luncheon, dinner,
+and supper, followed one another with
+praiseworthy regularity; the matutinal
+soda-water was only succeeded by
+the iced hock and champagne of the
+vespers, and a beneficent Fairy of
+seventeen stone, in the guise of a
+Writer to Her Majesty's Signet, was
+courteous enough not only to defray
+the whole of the attending expenses,
+but to furnish us with certain sums
+of gold, which we disseminated at our
+own proper pleasure. In return for
+the attentions of our legal Barmecide,
+we submitted to ensconce ourselves
+for a couple of days in a hot room
+somewhere about the Cloisters, in the
+course of which sederunt we held an
+animated conversation with several
+gentlemen in wigs, for the edification&mdash;as
+we were given to understand&mdash;of
+five other gentlemen in hats, who
+sat yawning behind a green table.
+We take this opportunity of tendering
+our acknowledgments to the eminent
+and raucous Queen's Counsel who was
+kind enough to conduct our cross-examination,
+and who so delicately
+insinuated his doubts as to the veracity
+and candour of our replies. As his
+knowledge of the localities about
+Braemar&mdash;the district then under
+question&mdash;was about equal to his
+cognizance of the natural history of
+Kamschatka, we felt the compliment
+deeply; and should we ever have the
+pleasure of encountering our beetle-browed
+acquaintance during a vacation
+ramble on the skirts of Schehallion,
+we pledge ourselves that he
+shall carry back with him to Lincoln's
+Inn some lasting tokens of our regard.
+In the mean time we sincerely
+hope he has recovered from that distressing
+fit of huskiness which rendered
+his immediate vicinity by no means
+a seat of comfort to his solicitor.</p>
+
+<p>As a matter of course, we relieved
+the monotony of our duties by divers
+modes of relaxation. Greenwich&mdash;in
+the glory of its whitebait, its undeniable
+Thames flounders, its dear little
+ducklings enshrined in their asparagus
+nest, and its flagons, wherein the
+cider cup shows sparklingly through
+the light blue <i>Borage</i>&mdash;was not unfrequented
+by us in the course of the sultry
+afternoon. At Richmond, likewise,
+we battened sybaritically; and more
+than once essayed to resuscitate our
+appetite, and awake within us the
+dormant sense of poetry, by a stroll
+along the breezy heath of Hampstead,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span>
+preparatory to a dive into the Saracen,
+where, doubtless, in the days of yore,
+Leigh Hunt, Keats, and Hazlitt used
+to make wild work among the eggs
+and spinach. Our attendance at the
+theatres, however, was a matter of
+rarity. We have no fancy to undergo
+martyrdom by means of a slow stewing,
+when the sole palm we can win,
+in exchange for the sudorific pangs,
+is the enjoyment of some such shabby-genteel
+comedy as <i>The Beggar on
+Horseback</i>, or a travestie like that of
+the <i>Birds</i> of Aristophanes, the only
+peculiarity of which is its utter want
+of meaning. As a general rule, we
+prefer the spectacles on the Surrey
+side, to those exhibited in the Metropolitan
+or Westminster districts.
+There, the nautical drama still flourishes
+in its pristine force. The old
+British tar, in ringlets, pumps, and
+oil-skin castor, still hitches up his
+trousers with appropriate oath; revolves
+the unfailing bolus of pigtail
+in his cheek&mdash;swims to shore across a
+tempestuous sea of canvass, with a
+pistol in each hand and a cutlass in
+his teeth, from the wreck of the
+foundering frigate&mdash;and sets foot once
+more on the British soil, just in time
+to deliver Pretty Poll of Portsmouth,
+his affianced bride, (who has a passion
+for short petticoats and crimson stockings,)
+from the persecutions of that
+bebuttoned pirate with the whiskers,
+who carries more pistols in his girdle
+than the scalps of an Indian chief, and
+whose fall, after a terrific combat with
+basket-hilts and shower of fiery sparkles,
+brings down the curtain at the
+close of the third act amidst roars of
+unmitigated joy. Also we delight to
+see, at never-failing Astley's, the revived
+glories of British prowess&mdash;Wellington,
+in the midst of his staff,
+smiling benignantly upon the facetious
+pleasantries of a Fitzroy Somerset&mdash;Sergeant
+M'Craw of the Forty-Second,
+delighting the <i>élite</i> of Brussels by his
+performance of the reel of Tullochgorum
+at the Duchess of Richmond's
+ball&mdash;the charge of the Scots Greys&mdash;the
+single combat between Marshal
+Ney and the infuriated Life-guardsman
+Shaw&mdash;and the final retreat of
+Napoleon amidst a volley of Roman
+candles, and the flames of an arseniated
+Hougomont. Nor is our gratification
+less to discern, after the subsiding
+of the shower of saw-dust so
+gracefully scattered by that groom in
+the doeskin integuments, the stately
+form of Widdicomb, cased in martial
+apparel, advancing towards the centre
+of the wing, and commanding&mdash;with
+imperious gestures, and some slight
+flagellation in return for dubious compliment&mdash;the
+double-jointed clown to
+assist the Signora Cavalcanti to her
+seat upon the celebrated Arabian.
+How lovely looks the lady, as she
+vaults to her feet upon the breadth of
+the yielding saddle! With what inimitable
+grace does she whirl these
+tiny banners around her head, as winningly
+as a Titania performing the
+sword exercise! How coyly does she
+dispose her garments and floating drapery
+to hide the too maddening symmetry
+of her limbs! Gods!&mdash;She is
+transformed all at once into an Amazon&mdash;the
+fawn-like timidity of her
+first demeanour is gone. Bold and
+beautiful flushes her cheek with animated
+crimson&mdash;her full voluptuous
+lip is more compressed and firm&mdash;the
+deep passion of the huntress sparkles
+in her lustrous eye! Widdicomb becomes
+excited&mdash;he moves with quicker
+step around the periphery of his central
+circle&mdash;incessant is the smacking
+of his whip&mdash;not this time directed
+against Mr Merryman, who at his
+ease is enjoying a swim upon the saw-dust&mdash;and
+lo! the grooms rush in,
+six bars are elevated in a trice, and
+over them all bounds the volatile
+Signora like a panther, nor pauses
+until, with airy somersets, she has
+passed twice through the purgatory of
+the blazing hoop, and then, drooping
+and exhausted, sinks like a Sabine
+into the arms of the herculean Master,
+who&mdash;a second Romulus&mdash;bears
+away his lovely burden to the stables,
+amidst such a whirlwind of applause
+as Kemble might have been proud to
+earn!</p>
+
+<p>"So," in the language of Tennyson&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i0">"So we triumph'd, ere our passion sweeping through us left us dry,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Left us with the palsied heart, and left us with the jaundiced eye."<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>"Dryness," however, according to
+our creed and practice, is not altogether
+unappeasable, and by the help
+of Barclay, Perkins, and Company, we
+succeeded in mitigating its rage. But<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span>
+we confess to the other miseries of the
+palsied heart and jaundiced eye, so
+soon as we were informed by the above-mentioned
+scribe, that our bill had
+been thrown out upon committee, and
+that, if we tarried longer in London, it
+must be upon our own proper charges.
+We had been so used for the last
+twelve months to voyage, and to subsist
+at the expense of joint-stock companies&mdash;so
+habituated to dine with
+provisional committees, and to hold
+sweet supper consultations in the society
+of salaried surveyors&mdash;that a
+reference to our private resources
+appeared a matter of serious hardship.
+However, there was no help for it.
+Some mean and unreasonable share-holders
+were already growling about
+a return of some portion of the
+deposits, and even, to the infinite
+disgust of the directors, hinted at a
+taxation of accounts. The murmurs of
+these slaves of Mammon broke up our
+little Eden. The Irish egg-merchant,
+who had been fed for three weeks upon
+turtle to induce him to give testimony
+touching the importation of eerocks&mdash;the
+tollman from Strathspey, who
+nightly meandered to the Coal-hole,
+in company with the intoxicated distiller&mdash;the
+three clerks who did the
+dirty work of the committee-room,
+and were therefore, with wise precaution,
+stinted in their allowance of beer&mdash;the
+northern bailie, who stuck strenuously
+to toddy, and the maritime
+provost, who affected the vintage of the
+Rhine&mdash;the raw uncouth surveyor
+from Dingwall, who, guiltless of straps,
+and rejoicing in a superfluity of rig-and-fur
+over a pair of monstrous
+brogues, displayed his native symmetry
+every afternoon in Regent
+Street, and reciprocated the gaze of
+the wondering milliners with a coarse
+guffaw, and the exhibition of his enormous
+teeth;&mdash;All these worthies
+vanished from the house in a single
+day, like spirits at the crowing of the
+cock, and returned to their native
+hills in a state of comparative demoralization.
+For our own part, we
+packed our portmanteau in gloomy silence,
+and meditated a speedy retreat
+to the distant solitudes of Loch Awe.</p>
+
+<p>We were eating, as we thought, our
+last muffin, when our eye was accidentally
+caught by an advertisement in
+the <i>Times</i>, purporting that a new play
+was to be immediately produced at
+the Princess's theatre, and that its
+title was <i>The King of the Commons</i>.
+A spasm of delight shot through us.
+We were aware, some time before,
+that a dear friend, and distinguished
+fellow-labourer of ours, whose contributions
+have always been of sweetest
+savour in the nostrils of fastidious
+Christopher, had turned his attention
+to dramatic poetry, and was resolved,
+for once at least, to launch an experimental
+shallop upon the stage. Nor
+did we doubt that this was the enunciation
+of his attempt. We divined
+it at once from the subject, so akin to
+his genius and deep national feelings&mdash;we
+knew the fervour of his love to
+Scotland, and his earnest desire to illustrate
+some page of her varied annals&mdash;and
+we resolved accordingly to
+postpone our departure, and be present
+at the success or discomfiture of
+our bold and adventurous brother.</p>
+
+<p>The first night of a new play is always
+attended with some agreeable
+excitement. If the author is a known
+man upon the boards&mdash;a veteran of
+some six comedies, all of which have
+found their way into the provinces,
+and are usually selected by the leading
+Star on the occasion of his or her
+benefit&mdash;the general audiences are
+desirous to ascertain whether his new
+effort is equal in point of merit to the
+rest. The critics, most of whom have
+failed in their own proper persons,
+are by no means indisposed to detect
+the occurrence of blemishes&mdash;friends
+hope that it may succeed, and unsuccessful
+rivals devoutly trust it may be
+damned. If the author is unknown,
+and if no very flagrant efforts have
+been made to pre-puff his performance,
+he has at all events the chance
+of an impartial hearing. Let the
+play go on smoothly to the middle;
+let no very glaring absurdities appear;
+let the actors really exert themselves,
+and display any thing like interest
+or talent in their business, and
+young Sophocles is generally sure of a
+favourable verdict. Our dear friends,
+the public, are always well disposed
+towards a winning man. One cheer
+elicits another, and applause, once
+commenced, goes on at a multiplied
+ratio. No doubt, the case may be
+reversed, and the sound of a solitary
+catcall from the pit awake the slumbering
+serpents, and become the signal
+for universal sibilation.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The danger is, that an unknown
+author, unpuffed, may be ruined for
+want of an audience. We have no
+great faith in the panacea of free
+tickets, issued by the lessee for the
+simple purpose of getting up a house.
+The worth of a production is usually
+estimated by its current value, and we
+doubt if a favourable bias can be produced
+in the minds of any, by means
+of gratuitous pasteboard. Puffing,
+again, often defeats its own object.
+It creates doubt in the anticipations
+of some, jealousy in those of others
+and is also apt to create a <i>prestige</i>
+which the result may not justify.
+When we are told, on the authority of
+newspaper paragraphs, that <i>Bianca
+Franconi, or the Seven Bloody Poignards
+of Parma</i>, is to take the town
+by storm,&mdash;that nothing equal to it
+in merit has been produced since the
+days of Shakspeare,&mdash;that the critic
+who had the privilege of attending the
+first rehearsal, emerged from the
+theatre with his blood in a state of
+congelation, owing to the sepulchral
+tones and vehement gestures of Mr
+Charles Kean, who represents the
+part of Giacomo degli Assassinazioni,
+the Demon Host of the Abruzzi;&mdash;when
+we listen to this preliminary
+flourish of trumpets, we are apt to
+screw our imaginations a peg too high,
+and may chance to derive less rapture
+than we had anticipated from the
+many scenes of murder which garnish
+the <i>dénouement</i> of the drama.</p>
+
+<p>A greater virtue than fidelity is not
+in the celestial catalogue. We should
+at all times be ready to accompany a
+friend, either in a triumphal ovation
+or in a melancholy march to the scaffold,&mdash;to
+place the laurel on his head,
+or the funereal handkerchief in his
+hand. It was an exuberance of this
+feeling which determined us to be
+present at the first representation of
+<i>The King of the Commons</i>; and
+being firmly convinced of the truth of
+the adage, that there is safety in a
+multitude of councillors, we sent round
+the fiery cross to such of our fellow-contributors
+as were then in London,
+requesting them to favour us with
+their company to an early dinner at
+the Parthenon, as a proper preliminary
+to the more serious business of
+the evening.</p>
+
+<p>Some half-dozen of the younger
+hands responded punctually to our
+call. They came dropping in in high
+glee, with a rather mischievous expression
+of countenance, as though
+they anticipated fun; nor had they
+been five minutes in the room, before
+we discovered, to our unspeakable
+consternation, that every man was
+furnished, either with a catcall or a
+railway whistle! Here was a proper
+business! We knew very well that
+the articles which our dramatic friend
+contributes to Maga, have found more
+favour in the eyes of the public than
+the lucubrations of all the rest of us
+put together, and yet we had been
+foolish enough to assume, that, after
+the manner of the brethren, we had
+been convoking a literary Lodge. In
+fact, we had made no allowance for
+that indescribable delight which
+prompts you irresistibly, and without
+thought of succour, to cram your
+horse at the ditch into which, six
+seconds before, the friend of your
+bosom has been pitched from the
+back of his runaway mare, and wherein
+he is now lying with his head fixed
+inextricably in the mud, and his legs
+demonstrating in the air a series of
+spasmodic mathematical propositions.
+Not that, in the slightest degree, the
+dispositions of the lads were evil. If
+the play turned out well, we knew
+that they would be found cheering
+with the most uproarious, and probably
+raving for the next week about
+the merits of their fortunate compeer;&mdash;but
+if, on the contrary, it should
+happen that our brother had overestimated
+his powers, little doubt existed
+in our mind, that each contributor
+would exert himself on his
+peculiar instrument as vigorously as
+Herr Kœnig, on the cornet-à-piston,
+nor seek to excuse himself afterwards
+on any more elaborate plea, than the
+right of every Briton to participate in
+a popular amusement.</p>
+
+<p>The dinner went off well. We were,
+however, cautious to confine each man
+to his solitary pint, lest their spirits
+should prove too exuberant at the
+moment of the rising of the curtain.
+Coffee over, we wended our way to
+the theatre, where we arrived just in
+time to hear the expiring crash of the
+overture. The first glimpse of the
+well-filled house assured us that there
+was no fear of the play falling still-born<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span>
+for want of an adequate audience.
+Boxes, pit, and gallery were equally
+crammed. We took our seat in the
+midst of the band of catcallers and
+whistlemen, and proceeded to the inspection
+of the bill as diligently as
+though it were an exponent of the
+piece. It must be confessed that our
+friend has not been very fortunate in
+the selection of his names. Early associations
+with the neighbourhood of
+Mid-Calder, a region abounding in
+cacophonous localities, seem to have
+led him a little astray. Adam Weir,
+Portioner in Laichmont, is a name
+which may be found figuring in the
+<i>Cloud of Witnesses</i>, or in that very
+silly book, Mr Simpson's <i>Traditions
+of the Covenanters</i>. It might sound
+admirably in a tale of the "hill-folk,"
+but we totally repudiate and deny the
+propriety of enrolling Sir Adam Weir
+of Laichmont in the list of King
+James's Bannerets. Buckie of Drumshorlan
+likewise, though he may turn
+out on further acquaintance to be a
+fellow of infinite fancy, appears to us
+in print the <i>eidolon</i> of a Bathgate
+carter. Madeleine we acknowledge
+to be a pretty name, but it loses its
+effect in conjunction with a curt patronymic.
+However, these are minor
+matters. It may be allowable to us,
+who drew our first trout from the
+Linnhouse Water, to notice them, but
+English ears may not be so fastidious.
+Tomkins, to the Chinese, is probably
+a name as terrible in sound as Wellington.</p>
+
+<p>But see!&mdash;the curtain rises, and displays
+an interior in Holyrood. James
+White&mdash;you are a lucky fellow! That
+mechanist is worth his weight in gold;
+for, what with stained windows and
+draperies and pilasters, he has contrived
+to transform our old gloomy
+palace, where solemnity sits guardian
+at the portal, into as gay a habitation
+as ever was decked out for a
+southern potentate. Francesco and
+Bernardo&mdash;that is, Buckie and Mungo
+Small&mdash;have some preliminary talk,
+for which we care not; when suddenly
+the folding-doors fly open, and enter
+James the Fifth of Scotland, surrounded
+by his nobles.</p>
+
+<p>Unquestionably the greatest of
+living British actors, Macready, has
+never wanted honours. This night
+he has them to the full, if deafening
+applause can testify the public goodwill;
+and of a truth he deserves them
+all, and more, were it but for that
+king-like bearing. There is no mock
+majesty in his aspect. Admirably has
+he appreciated the chivalrous character
+of James, who in many points
+seems to have borne a strong resemblance
+to the English Richard&mdash;as
+gallant and fearless, as hasty and
+bountiful&mdash;more trusting perhaps, but
+yet not more deceived. There is now
+a cloud on the royal brow. Some of
+the nobles have delayed, upon various
+pretexts, to send their vassals to the
+general muster on the Borough Muir,
+preparatory to an inroad upon England,
+and James cannot urge them on.
+Somerville and some others, who have
+no mind for the war, are pleading their
+excuse, greatly to the indignation of
+the King, who considers the honour
+of Scotland more bound up with the
+enterprise than his own.</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i0">"I was the proudest king&mdash;too proud perhaps&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I thought I was but foremost in a band<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Of men, of brothers, of true-hearted Scots;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But pshaw!&mdash;it shall not move me."<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>He thus reproaches his nobles, who
+would fain instigate him to peace, but
+who on this occasion, as on many
+others, were opposed to the opinions,
+not only of the clergy, but of the
+people.</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i10">"What! to hear<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">His threats, and worse than threats&mdash;his patronage?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">As if we stoop'd our sovran crown, or held it<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">As vassal from the greatest king alive!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">No; we are poor&mdash;I know we are poor, my lords;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Our realm is but a niggard in its soil,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And the fat fields of England wave their crops<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">In richer dalliance with the autumn winds<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Than our bleak plains;&mdash;but from our rugged dells<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Springs a far richer harvest&mdash;gallant hearts,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Stout hands, and courage that would think foul scorn<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To quail before the face of mortal man.<br /></span>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>
+<span class="i0">We are our people's king. For you, my lords,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Leave me to face the enemy alone!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I care not for your silken company.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I'll to my stalwart men&mdash;I'll name my name,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And bid them follow James. They'll follow me&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Fear not&mdash;they'll follow!"<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>After some more such dialogue, the
+nobles promise obedience and retire,
+leaving James convinced of their lukewarmness,
+though unsuspicious of
+their treason, and more determined
+than ever to trust implicitly to the
+devotion of the people.</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i0">"Will they be traitors still? and play the game<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Was play'd at Lauder Bridge? and leave their king<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Unshielded to the scorn and laugh of England?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I will not think so meanly of them yet!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>They are not forward, as their fathers were</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>Who died at Flodden, as the brave should die,</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>With sword in hand, defiance in their hearts,</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>And a whole land to weep and honour them.</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i0">If they desert me&mdash;well, I can but die,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And better die than live a powerless king!"<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>Some good passages had occurred
+before, but this was the first palpable
+hit in the play. The word Flodden
+came home like a cannon-shot to the
+heart of every Scotsman in the house,
+and a yell arose from the pit, as though
+the general body of bordering surveyors
+who packed it, were ready for
+another insurrection.</p>
+
+<p>Buckie of Drumshorlan, who, it
+seems, is a notorious reiver, or, as he
+phrases it&mdash;"an outcast&mdash;a poor
+Scottish Ishmaelite,"&mdash;a fact, however,
+unknown to the king, whom he
+had rescued from the waters while
+attempting to cross the Avon in a
+spate&mdash;now comes forward, and gives
+information against Sir Adam Weir
+of Laichmont, as an agent of the
+English court, and a corrupter of the
+treacherous nobility. James determines
+to expiscate the matter in person;
+and accordingly, in the next
+scene, we are transported to a wood
+near Laichmont, where Madeleine
+Weir, the grandchild of the knight,
+and Malcolm Young, her cousin, are
+apparently bird-nesting, but in reality,
+though they know it not, making
+love. For poor Malcolm is an orphan,
+dependent entirely on Sir Adam, who
+will not let him become a soldier, but
+has condemned him to holy orders.
+It is, in short, the story&mdash;nearly as
+old as the world&mdash;of disappointed
+hope and love; though Madeleine,
+with a sweet innocence which we suspect
+is rarely to be found save on the
+stage, seems unconscious of the true
+state of her feelings with reference to
+her early playmate. Their <i>tête-à-tête</i>
+is interrupted by the entrance of King
+James, of course in disguise, and now
+beset by sundry ruffians who have left
+their mark on the royal costard; and
+Malcolm, like a tight St Andrews
+student, springs to the rescue. This
+effects the introduction of the King to
+the house of Laichmont, where we
+find Sir Adam&mdash;a hoary, calculating
+traitor&mdash;in great anxiety to find a
+messenger to communicate an English
+dispatch to the disaffected lords of
+Scotland. We pass over his colloquy
+with his neighbour, Laird Small&mdash;an
+elderly idiot, whose son Mungo holds
+the post of usher at Holyrood, and
+who now agrees with Sir Adam to
+unite the two estates by a marriage
+between the said Mungo and Madeleine.
+This scene, which is pure dramatic
+business, is pleasantly enough
+conducted, although in point of probability,
+and considering the ambition
+of the knight, he might have looked
+for a better match for his daughter
+than a coxcomb of an usher, heir
+though he was of some plashy acres
+in the rush-covered confines of Mid-Calder.
+We have observed, however,
+that love of district is as deep a passion
+in the human mind as love of
+country; and the intense yearning of
+the Switzer for his clear Lucerne, may
+not transcend the tide of parochial
+patriotism which swells the bosom
+of the native of the Kirk of Shotts.</p>
+
+<p>In the second act, Sir Adam somewhat<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>
+incautiously selects James himself
+as the messenger to the nobles;
+and here we cannot altogether acquit
+our friend from the charge of great
+improbability. That blemish excepted,
+the scene is a good one, especially in
+the part where James, with the true
+vanity of a poet, becomes ruffled at
+the account of the common criticism
+on his verses. In the next scene,
+James extracts the secret of his love
+from Malcolm&mdash;a character which, by
+the way, was admirably performed by
+Mr Leigh Murray&mdash;and the whole
+mystery of the sadness of her cousin
+is revealed to the agitated Madeleine.
+We have an idea that dramatic love-scenes
+must be very ticklish in composition;
+at least of this we are aware,
+that in real life they are peculiarly
+perplexing. We never felt so like a
+booby as when we first attempted a
+proposal; and, to our shame be it said,
+we experienced far less pain from the
+positive refusal of Jemima, than from
+the consciousness that, at that moment,
+we must have appeared inexpressibly
+absurd. And so it is, we
+apprehend, with the great majority of
+lovers. They keep beating about the
+bush for months, and never seem absolutely
+to know what they would be
+at. The great majority of marriages
+are the result of accident. We have
+known several proposals follow the
+overturning of a chaise. A sharp race
+from the pursuit of an infuriated bull&mdash;the
+collision of a steam-boat&mdash;even
+a good rattling thunder-storm, will
+bring to a proper understanding parties
+who, under ordinary circumstances,
+and with no such pretty casualties,
+might have dawdled out years of unprofitable
+courtship, and finally separated
+for ever in consequence of some
+imaginary coldness, for which neither
+one nor the other of them could have
+assigned a plausible reason. Now,
+within the limits of a five-act play, there
+is no space for dawdling. The flirtation
+must always be of the warmest, and
+the engagement consequent thereon.
+A friend to whom your hero can tell
+his story, is of immense advantage in
+the drama, more especially when the
+young gentleman, as in this case, is
+under difficulties, and the young lady
+playfully concealed behind a whinbush,
+for no other purpose than that
+of learning the cause of his secret sorrow.
+Let us see how our friend manages
+this.</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i2"><span class="smcap">James.</span>&mdash;You know not&mdash;but&mdash;enough! Poor Malcolm Young!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Tell me what weighs so heavy on your heart.<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i2"><span class="smcap">Madeleine.</span> (<i>behind.</i>)&mdash;Now I shall hear what makes poor Malcolm sad.<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i2"><span class="smcap">Malcolm.</span>&mdash;Sir,'tis but three weeks since that I came home&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Home! no, I dare not call it home,&mdash;came here,&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">After long tarrying at St Andrew's schools,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">By order of my kinsman, at the last,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">A month since,&mdash;'tis one little month ago&mdash;&mdash;<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i2"><span class="smcap">James.</span>&mdash;Go on, go on!<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i2"><span class="smcap">Madeleine.</span>&mdash;Now comes the hidden grief.<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i2"><span class="smcap">Malcolm.</span>&mdash;He forced me by deceitful messages<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To vow me to the priesthood, when my soul<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Long'd more for neighing steeds than psalteries.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Oh, what a happy fortune had been mine<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To draw the sword 'neath gallant James's eye,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And rouge it to the hilt in English blood!<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i2"><span class="smcap">James.</span>&mdash;God bless you, boy!&mdash;your hand again&mdash;your hand!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Would you have served the king?<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i2"><span class="smcap">Malcolm.</span>&mdash;Ay! died for him!<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i2"><span class="smcap">James.</span>&mdash;And he'd have cherish'd you, believe me, boy,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And held you to his heart, and trusted you&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And you'd ha' been true brothers;&mdash;for a love<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Like yours is what poor James has need of most.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Is this your grief?<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i2"><span class="smcap">Malcolm.</span>&mdash;Alas, my grief lies deeper!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I might have bent me to my cruel fate<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">With prayers that our brave king find Scots as true,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And worthier of his praise than Malcolm Young.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">When I came back, I had not been a day<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">'Mid well-known scenes in the remember'd rooms,<br /></span>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span>
+<span class="i0">Till to my heart, my soul, the dreadful truth<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Was open'd like a gulf; and I&mdash;fool! fool!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To be so dull, so blind&mdash;I knew too late<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That I was wretched&mdash;miserable&mdash;doom'd,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Like Tantalus, to more than hellish pains&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To feel&mdash;yet not to dare to speak, or think;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To love&mdash;and be a priest!<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i2"><span class="smcap">Madeleine.</span>&mdash;To love! to love!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">How strange this is!<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i2"><span class="smcap">James.</span>&mdash;How found you this, poor friend?<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i2"><span class="smcap">Malcolm.</span>&mdash;By throbbings at the heart, when I but heard<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Her whisper'd name; thoughts buried long ago<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">'Neath childish memories&mdash;we were children both&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Rose up like armed phantoms from their grave,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Waving me from them with their mailèd hands!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I saw her with the light of womanhood<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Spread o'er the childish charms I loved so well&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I heard her voice sweet with the trustful tones<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">She spoke with long ago, yet richer grown<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">With the full burden of her ripen'd thoughts.<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i2"><span class="smcap">Madeleine.</span>&mdash;My head goes round&mdash;my heart will burst!<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i2"><span class="smcap">Malcolm.</span>&mdash;I saw<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">A world lie open&mdash;and an envious spell<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Fencing it from me; day by day, I felt<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Grief and the blackness of unsunn'd despair<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Closing all round me.<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i2"><span class="smcap">James.</span>&mdash;And the maiden's name?<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i2"><span class="smcap">Malcolm.</span>&mdash;Was Madeleine Weir."<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>Obedient to dramatic rule, Madeleine
+faints away at the discovery;
+and the good-natured king, without
+however discovering himself, determines
+to secure the happiness of the
+youthful couple.</p>
+
+<p>This brings us to the third act,
+where the accusing Buckie again
+makes his appearance, and denounces
+Sir Adam Weir, not only as a traitor,
+but as a plunderer of his own kin.
+He avers the existence of a nephew,
+who, were a multiplepoinding instituted,
+would be found to have good
+right to a considerable slice of Laichmont,
+not to mention divers other
+dividends; and he pledges himself to
+compear at Holyrood on an early day,
+at the peril of his head, to prove the
+truth of his allegations. With reference
+to the correspondence with the
+nobility, James speaks thus:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i4">"Your words are strong<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">As if they sprang from truth. I came to prove<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Sir Adam Weir; through him to reach the hearts<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Of higher men. <i>The saddest heart alive</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>Would be as careless as a lark's in June</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>Compared to mine, if what my fear portends</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>Proves true.</i> Sir Adam Weir has wealth in store&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Is crafty, politic, and is of weight&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The words are his&mdash;with certain of our lords.<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i2"><span class="smcap">Buckie.</span>&mdash;I told you so. I know he has deep dealings<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">With&mdash;&mdash;<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i2"><span class="smcap">James.</span>&mdash;Name them not; from their own lips I'll hear<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Their guilt; no other tongue shall blot the fame<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Of James's nobles. If it should be so;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">If the two men I've trusted from my youth&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">If Hume&mdash;If Seton&mdash;let the rest go hang!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But Seton, my old playmate!&mdash;if he's false,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Then break, weak heart! farewell, my life and crown!&mdash;&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I pray you meet me here within an hour<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">This very night; I shall have need of you.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And as you speak as one brave man should speak<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To another man, albeit he is a king,<br /></span>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span>
+<span class="i0">I will put trust in you; and, ere the morn,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">You shall impeach Sir Adam in our court:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And woe betide the guilty! Say no more;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I meet you here again."<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>Sir Adam Weir delivers the important
+packet to the king to be conveyed
+to the traitors, and James immediately
+hands it over to Buckie,
+with a strict charge that it shall be
+produced that evening in the court at
+Holyrood. His majesty having no
+further business at Laichmont, departs
+in hot haste for Edinburgh.</p>
+
+<p>It is now full time for old Sir
+Adam to exercise his parental authority
+over Madeleine in the matter of
+her nuptials with Mungo Small, who
+has at last arrived at Laichmont.
+The aged reprobate having already
+sold his king and country, cannot be
+expected to have any remorse about
+trafficking with his own flesh and
+blood; and accordingly he shows himself,
+in this interview, quite as great
+a brute as the elder Capulet. Nay,
+to our apprehension, he is considerably
+worse; for he not only threatens
+the meek-eyed Madeleine with starvation,
+but extends his threats of vengeance
+to the unoffending Malcolm
+in case of her refusal to wed with the
+gentle County Mungo. Madeleine is
+no Juliet, but a good Scots lassie&mdash;brought
+up, we hope, in proper knowledge
+of her breviary, if not of her catechism,
+and quite incapable of applying
+to the Friar Laurence of Mid-Calder
+for an ounce of deceptive morphia.
+She has a hankering for St
+Ninian's and the holy vocation of a
+nun.</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i2">"<span class="smcap">Madeleine</span>&mdash;I'll hie me to the monastery door,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And ask the meek-eyed nuns to take me in;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And it shall be my grave; and the thick walls<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Shall keep me from the world; and in my heart<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I'll cherish him, and think on all his looks,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Since we were children&mdash;all his gentle tones;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And when my weary breast shall heave no more,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I'll lay me down and die, and name his name<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">With my last breath. I would we both were dead<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">For we shall then be happy; but on earth<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">No happiness for me&mdash;no hope, no hope!"<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>But Madeleine is not yet to get off
+quite so easily. Young Master Small
+is introduced to ensnare her with his
+manifold accomplishments, and certainly
+he does exhibit himself as a nincompoop
+of the first water. With all
+respect and affection for our brother,
+we hold this character to be a failure.
+There is, we maintain, a vast difference
+between vanity, however preposterous,
+and sheer undaunted drivel,
+which latter article constitutes the staple
+of Master Mungo's conversation.
+Not but what a driveller may be a fair
+character for a play, but then he ought
+to drivel with some kind of consistency
+and likelihood. Far are we from denying
+that there are many fools to be
+found in Scotland; we even consider
+it a kind of patriotism to claim our
+just quota of national idiocy. Our
+main objection to Mungo is, that he
+represents, so far as we have seen, no
+section of the Scottish Bauldy. If he
+resembles any thing, it is a Cockney
+of the Tittlebat Titmouse breed, or
+one of those absurd blockheads in the
+plays of Mr Sheridan Knowles who
+do the comic business, wear cock's
+feathers in their hats, and are perpetually
+inquiring after news. There is
+a dash of solemnity, a ludicrous assumption
+of priggism, about the Scottish
+fool which Mr White has entirely
+evaded. Ass though he be, the northern
+dunderhead is neither a man-milliner
+nor a flunky; and yet Mungo
+Small is an arrant compound of the
+two. We put it to the public if the
+following scene is facetious:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i2">"<span class="smcap">Mungo.</span>&mdash;She curtseys with an air; though, for my part,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I like the Spanish swale, as thus, (<i>curtseys,</i>) low, low;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Not the French dip, as thus, (<i>curtseys,</i>) dip, dip.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Which think you best?<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i2"><span class="smcap">Madeleine.</span>&mdash;Sir! did you speak to me?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span><br /></span>
+<span class="i2"><span class="smcap">Mungo.</span>&mdash;Did I? 'pon honour&mdash;yes, I think I did:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Some like the Austrian bend, (<i>curtseys,</i>) d'ye like it so?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Our girls, the Hamiltons, have got it pat;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">No sooner do I say, 'Sweet Lady Jane,'<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And draw my feather so, and place my hand<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Here on my heart, 'Fair Lady Jane, how are ye?'<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But up she goes, and bend, (<i>curtseys;</i>) but if an ass,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Some fribble she don't like, comes near her, lo!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">A swale! (<i>curtseys,</i>) 'tis very like this gentlewoman.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I hope there's no one near you you don't like?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">For if there is, 'fore gad! an 'twere my father,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I'd cut him into slices like cold ham,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">As thin as that.<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i2"><span class="smcap">Laird.</span>&mdash;Gadso! pray gad it ain't;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I hope it ain't his father&mdash;he would do it!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">He's such a youth!"<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>Fancy such a capon as this holding
+office at the court of James the Fifth!</p>
+
+<p>The mock account of the tournament
+which follows, would be pleasant
+reading were it not for the total incongruity
+of the narrator with the
+scene which he describes. The actor
+who performed this part was evidently
+quite at home in the representation of
+the smallest Cockney characters. He
+brought out Mungo as the most pitiful
+little reptile that ever waddled across
+the stage, and in consequence the
+audience, for the first and only time,
+exhibited some symptoms of disapprobation.
+What had gone before
+was really so good&mdash;the performers
+had so ably seconded the efforts of the
+author&mdash;the interest excited by the
+general business of the play was so
+great&mdash;that this declension, which
+might otherwise have been overlooked,
+was felt to be a positive grievance.
+Our chosen band of contributors
+had hitherto behaved with great
+decorum. They had cheered lustily
+at the proper places, pocketed their
+whistles, and although the house was
+remarkably warm, not a man of them
+had emerged between the acts for the
+sake of customary refreshment. All at
+once, in the middle of the tournament
+scene, the shrill sharp squeak of a
+catcall greeted on our ear, and turning
+rapidly round, we detected a
+Political Economist in the act of commencing
+a concerto. It was all we
+could do to wring the instrument
+from the villain's hand. We threatened
+to make a report of his contumacious
+conduct to head-quarters,
+and menaced him with the wrath of
+Christopher; but his sole reply to our
+remonstrance was something like a
+grumbled defiance; and very glad
+were we when the offending Mungo
+disappeared, and a pretty scene between
+Madeleine and Malcolm, made
+the audience forget the ill-omened
+pleasantries of the Cockney.</p>
+
+<p>The fourth act is remarkably good.
+Of all the Scottish nobles, Lord Seton
+and Hume have ever been the dearest
+to James; his belief in their enduring
+faith and constancy has enabled him
+to bear up against the coldness and
+disaffection of the others; but the
+time has now arrived when his confidence
+in the honour of at least one of
+them is destined to be shaken. One
+of the bishops&mdash;Mr White does not
+specify his diocese&mdash;accuses Lord
+Seton of holding correspondence with
+the leader of the English host. The
+charge is not believed&mdash;nay, hardly
+entertained&mdash;until Seton himself being
+sent for, to some extent admits the
+fact of having received a messenger.</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i2">"<span class="smcap">Bishop.</span>&mdash;And he sent a message back to Dacre,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And gave the envoy passage and safe conduct.<br /></span>
+<br />
+<span class="i2"><span class="smcap">James.</span>&mdash;Is all this true?&mdash;Oh, Seton, say the word,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">One little word&mdash;tell me it is not true!<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i2"><span class="smcap">Seton.</span>&mdash;My liege,'tis true.<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i2"><span class="smcap">James.</span>&mdash;Then by the name we bear<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">You die!&mdash;a traitor's death! Sirrah! the guard.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I will not look again on where he stands.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Let him be taken hence&mdash;and let the axe<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Rid me of&mdash;&mdash;Seton! is it so in truth,<br /></span>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span>
+<span class="i0">That you've deceived me&mdash;join'd my enemies?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">You&mdash;you&mdash;my friend&mdash;my playmate!&mdash;is it so?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Sir, will you tell me wherein I have fail'd<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">In friendship to the man who was my friend?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I thought I loved you&mdash;that in all my heart<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Dwelt not a thought that wrong'd you.<br /></span>
+<br />
+<span class="i2"><span class="smcap">Seton.</span>&mdash;You have heard<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">What my accuser says, and you condemn me&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I say no word to save a forfeit life&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">A life is not worth having, when't has lost<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">All that gave value to it&mdash;my sovereign's trust!<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i2"><span class="smcap">James</span> (<i>to the</i> <span class="smcap">Bishop</span>.)&mdash;You see this man, sir&mdash;he's the selfsame age<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That I am. We were children both together&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">We grew&mdash;we read in the same book&mdash;my lord,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">You must remember that?&mdash;how we were never<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Separate from each other; well, this man<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Lived with me, year by year; he counsell'd me'<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Cheer'd me, sustained me&mdash;he was as myself&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>The very throne, that is to other kings</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>A desolate island rising in the sea&mdash;</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>A pinnacle of power, in solitude,</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>Grew to a seat of pleasance in his trust.</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The sea that chafed all round it with its waves<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">This man bridged over with his love, and made it<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">A highway for our subjects' happiness&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And now! for a few pieces of red gold<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">He leaves me. Oh, he might have coin'd my life<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Into base ingots&mdash;stript me of it all&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">If he had left me faith in one true heart,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And I should ne'er have grudged him the exchange.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Go, now. We speak your doom&mdash;you die the death!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">God pardon you! I dare not pardon you&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Farewell.<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i2"><span class="smcap">Seton.</span>&mdash;I ask no pardon, sir, from you.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">May you find pardon&mdash;ay, in your own heart<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">For what you do this day!<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i2"><span class="smcap">Bishop.</span>&mdash;Be firm, my liege.<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i2"><span class="smcap">James.</span>&mdash;Away, away, old man!&mdash;You do not know&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">You cannot know, what this thing costs me."<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>After all, it turns out that Seton is
+perfectly innocent&mdash;that the message
+he has dispatched to English Lord
+Dacre is one of scorn and defiance&mdash;and
+that the old Cacofogo of the
+church, who might have belonged to
+The Club, has been rather too hasty
+in his inferences. Macready&mdash;great
+throughout the whole scene&mdash;outshone
+himself in the reconciliation
+which follows; and we believe our
+friend the Political Economist was
+alone in his minority when he muttered,
+with characteristic adherence
+to matter of fact&mdash;"Why the plague
+didn't that fellow Seton clear himself
+at once, and save us the whole of the
+bother?" We return for a moment
+to Laichmont, where there is a regular
+flare-up between old Sir Adam
+and Malcolm, the latter pitching it into
+the senior in superior style. An
+officer from the court arrives, and the
+whole family party are ordered off
+<i>instanter</i> to Holyrood.</p>
+
+<p>The last act shows us King James
+vigilant, and yet calm, in the midst of
+the corrupted barons. It is some
+weeks since the latter have seen a
+glimpse of an English rouleau, and
+their fingers are now itching extremely
+for an instalment. They are dismissed
+for the moment, and the king
+begins to perform his royal functions
+and redeem his promises, by procuring
+from the Cardinal-Legate letters
+of dismission from the church in favour
+of Malcolm Young. The court
+is then convoked, and Buckie&mdash;public
+prosecutor throughout&mdash;appears with
+a pair of wolf's jaws upon his head,
+which we hold to be a singular and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span>
+somewhat inconvenient substitute for
+a wig. The indictment is twofold.
+The first charge is against Sir Adam
+for falsehood, fraud, and wilful imposition;
+in consequence of which, his
+nephew, described as a lad of considerable
+early promise, has been compelled
+to betake himself to the king's
+highway, in the reputable capacity of
+a cutpurse. This missing youth turns
+out to be identical with the cateran
+of Drumshorlan. The second charge
+is more serious. It relates to the
+public treachery of Weir; in proof of
+which, Buckie produces the packet
+containing the dispatches to the Lords.
+All is confusion and dismay.</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i2">"<span class="smcap">Somerville.</span>&mdash;'Tis some foolishness,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I'll take the charge.<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i2"><span class="smcap">James.</span>&mdash;Bring me the packet, lord!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Here, Maxwell! break the seal&mdash;but your hand shakes.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Hume! lay it open. (<span class="smcap">Hume</span> <i>opens the packet</i>.) Blessings on you, Hume!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Oh, what a thing is truth! Here, give it me!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Now, by my soul, this is a happy time!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I hold a score of heads within my hands&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Heads&mdash;noble heads&mdash;right honourable heads&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Stand where you are! ay, coroneted heads&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Nay, whisper not! What think you that I am?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">A dolt&mdash;a madman? As I live by bread,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I'll show you what I am! You thought me blind,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">You called me heedless James, and hoodwink'd James&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">You'll find me watchful James, and vengeful James!<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i4">(<span class="smcap">Hume</span> <i>marches in the Guard, with Headsman;</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i6"><i>They stand beside the Lords, who form a group</i>.)<br /></span>
+
+<span class="i0">One little word, and it will conjure up<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The fiend to tear you. One motion of this hand&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">One turning of the leaf&mdash;Who stirs a foot<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Is a dead man! <i>If I but turn the leaf,</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>Shame sits like a foul vulture on a corse,</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>And flaps its wings on the dishonor'd names</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>Of knights and nobles.</i><br /></span>
+
+<span class="i4">(<i>A pause; the</i> <span class="smcap">Lords</span> <i>look at each other</i>.)<br /></span>
+<span class="i10">Nay, blench not, good my lords;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I mean not <i>you</i>; the idle words I say<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Can have no sting for you! You are true men&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">True to your king! You'll show your truth, my lords,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">In battle; pah! we'll teach those Englishmen<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">We are not the base things they take us for;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">They'll see James and his nobles side by side&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">(<i>Aside.</i>) If they desert me now, then farewell all!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">(<i>Aloud.</i>) There!&mdash;(<i>gives the packet back to Somerville</i>)<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I know nothing!"<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>After this act of magnanimity, our
+readers will readily believe that all
+the other personages in the drama
+are properly disposed of&mdash;that pardon
+and reconciliation is the order of
+the day&mdash;and that the lovers are duly
+united. So ends one of the most successful
+dramas which has been produced
+for a long time upon the stage.
+Our own judgment might possibly
+have been swayed by partiality&mdash;not so
+that of the thousands who have since
+witnessed its repeated and successful
+representation. Were we to venture
+upon any broad criticism, after a
+careful perusal of this play, and of
+<i>The Earl of Gowrie</i>, we should be inclined
+to say that Mr White sins rather
+upon the side of reserve, than
+that of abandonment. We think he
+might well afford to give a freer rein
+to his genius&mdash;to scatter before us
+more of the flowers of poesy&mdash;to elevate
+the tone of his language and the
+breadth of his imagery, more especially
+in the principal scenes. It may
+be&mdash;and we almost believe it&mdash;that
+he entertains a theory contrary to ours&mdash;that
+his effort throughout has been
+to avoid all exaggeration, and to imitate,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span>
+as nearly as the vehicle of verse
+will allow, not only the transactions,
+but the dialogue of actual life. But,
+is this theory, after all, substantially
+correct? A play, according to our
+ideas, is not intended to be a mere
+daguerreotype of what has passed or
+is passing around us; it is also essentially
+a poem, and never can be
+damaged by any of the arts which the
+greatest masters in all times have
+used for the composition of their poetry.
+Much must be said in a play,
+which in real life would find no utterance;
+for passion, in most of its
+phases, does not usually speak aloud;
+and therefore it is that we not only
+forgive, but actually require some
+exaggeration on the stage, in order to
+bring out more clearly the thoughts
+which in truth would have remained
+unspoken. In the matter of ornament,
+much must be left to the discretion
+and the skill of the author.
+We are as averse as any man can be
+to overflowing diction&mdash;to a smothering
+of thoughts in verbiage&mdash;to images
+which distract the mind by their over-importance
+to the subject. But the
+dramatic author, if he carefully considers
+the past annals of his craft, can
+hardly fail to remark that no play has
+ever yet achieved a permanent reputation,
+unless, in addition to general
+equable excellence, it contains some
+scenes or passages of more than common
+beauty and power, into the composition
+of which the highest species
+of poetry enters&mdash;where the imagination
+is allowed its unchecked flight,
+and the fancy its utmost range. Thus
+it was, at all events, that Shakespeare
+wrote; and if our theory should be by
+any deemed erroneous, we are contented
+to take shelter under his mighty
+name, and appeal to his practice, artless
+as it may have been&mdash;as the
+highest authority of the world.</p>
+
+<p>But, after all, we are content to
+take the play as we find it. Of <i>The
+Earl of Gowrie</i>, Mr White's earlier
+production, we have left ourselves in
+this article little room to speak. In
+some points it is of a higher and more
+ambitious caste than the other&mdash;written
+with more apparent freedom;
+and some of the characters&mdash;Logan of
+Restalrig for example&mdash;are powerfully
+conceived. It is not, however,
+so well adapted for the stage as the
+other drama. James the Sixth, according
+to our author's portraiture,
+is a far less personable individual
+than his grandsire; and the quaint
+mixture of Scots and Latin with which
+his speeches are decorated, would
+sound strangely and uncouthly in
+modern ears, even could a competent
+actor be found. We would much
+rather see this play performed by an
+amateur section of the Parliament
+House, than brought out on the
+boards of Drury Lane. If the Lords
+Ordinary stood upon their dignity
+and refused participation in the jinks,
+we think we could still cull from the
+ranks of the senior bar, a fitting representative
+for the gentle King Jamie.
+We have Logans and Gowries in
+abundance, and should the representation
+ever take place, we shall count
+upon the attendance of Mr White,
+who shall have free permission for
+that evening to use the catcall to his
+heart's content.</p>
+
+<p>Not less pleased are we with the
+delightful book of Highland Minstrelsy
+from the pen of Mrs David Ogilvy,
+and so characteristically illustrated by
+our friend R. R. M'Ian, which now
+claims our attention. We are glad
+to find, in one young writer at least,
+a return to a better and a simpler
+style than that which has been lately
+prevalent&mdash;a strong national feeling
+not warped or perverted by prejudice,
+and a true veneration for all that is
+great and glorious in the past. These
+poems are, as the authoress informs
+us in her preface, intended to bear
+upon "the traditions, the sentiments,
+and the customs of a romantic people"&mdash;they
+are rather sketches of the
+Highlanders, than illustrations drawn
+from history&mdash;they are well conceived,
+and clearly and delicately executed.</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, notwithstanding the mighty
+harvest which Sir Walter Scott has
+reaped, there is a wide field still open
+to those who comprehend the national
+character. It is, however, one into
+which no stranger may hope to enter
+with the slightest prospect of success.
+A more lamentable failure than that
+committed by Mr Serjeant Talfourd
+in his attempt to found a tragedy
+upon the woful massacre of Glencoe&mdash;a
+grosser jumble of nonsense about
+ancestry and chieftainship&mdash;was, we
+verily believe, never yet perpetrated.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span>
+At the distance of six years, we can
+vividly remember the tingling of our
+fingers for the pen when we first detected
+the Serjeant upon his northern
+poaching expedition; nor assuredly
+should he have escaped without exposure,
+had not the memory of <i>Ion</i>
+been still fresh, and many graceful
+services to literature pled strongly
+within us in his behalf. But our authoress,
+if not born, has been bred in
+the heart of the mountains&mdash;she
+knows, we are sure, every rood
+of great Strath-Tay from Balloch
+to the roaring Tummel&mdash;she has
+seen the deep pass of Killiecrankie
+alike in sunshine and storm, and
+sweet must have been the walks
+of her childhood in the silent woods
+of Tullymet. It is among such scenes
+as these&mdash;in the midst of a brave,
+honest and an affectionate people&mdash;that
+she has received her earliest
+poetical impulse, and gratefully has
+she repaid that inspiration with the
+present tribute of her muse.</p>
+
+<p>We hardly know to which of her
+ballads we should give precedence.
+Our favourite&mdash;it may be from association,
+or from the working of Jacobite
+sympathies of which we never
+shall be ashamed&mdash;is the first in
+order, and accordingly we give it
+without comment:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+
+<div class="cpoem1">
+<div class="center">"<span class="smcap">The Exile at Culloden.</span></div>
+
+<div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"There was tempest on the waters, there was darkness on the earth,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">When a single Danish schooner struggled up the Moray Firth.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Looming large, the Ross-shire mountains frown'd unfriendly on its track,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Shriek'd the wind along their gorges, like a sufferer on the rack;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And the utmost deeps were shaken by the stunning thunder-peal;&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">'Twas a sturdy hand, I trow ye, that was needed at the wheel.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Though the billows flew about them, till the mast was hid in spray,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Though the timbers strain'd beneath them, still they bore upon their way,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Till they reach'd a fisher-village where the vessel they could moor&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Every head was on its pillow when they landed on the shore;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And a man of noble presence bade the crew "Wait here for me.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I will come back in the morning, when the sun has left the sea."<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"He was yet in manly vigour, though his lips were ashen white,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">On his brow were early furrows, in his eyes a clouded light;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Firm his step withal and hasty, through the blinding mist so sure,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That he found himself by dawning on a wide and lonesome muir,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Mark'd by dykes and undulations, barren both of house and wood,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And he knew the purple ridges&mdash;'twas Culloden where he stood.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"He had known it well aforetime&mdash;not, as now, so drear and quiet;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">When astir with battle's horror,&mdash;reeling with destruction's riot;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Now so peacefully unconscious that the orphan'd and exiled<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Was unmann'd to see its calmness, weeping weakly as a child;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And a thought arose of madness, and his hand was on his sword&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But he crush'd the coward impulse, and he spake the bitter word;&mdash;<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"'I am here, O sons of Scotland&mdash;ye who perish'd for your king!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">In the misty wreaths before me I can see your tartans swing&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I can hear your slogan, comrades, who to Saxon never knelt;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Oh! that I had died among ye, with the fortunes of the Celt!<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"'There he rode, our princely warrior, and his features wore the same<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Pallid cast of deep foreboding as the First one of his name;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Ay, as gloomy as his sunset, though no Scot his life betray'd;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Better plunge in bloody glory, than go down in shame and shade.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"'Stormy hills, did ye protect him, that o'erlook Culloden's plain,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Dabbled with the heather blossoms red as life-drops of the slain?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Did ye hide your hunted children from the vengeance of the foe?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Did ye rally back the flying for one last despairing blow?<br /></span>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>
+<span class="i0">No! the kingdom is the Saxon's, and the humbled clans obey,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And our bones must rot in exile who disdain usurper's sway.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"'He is sunk in wine's oblivion for whom Highland blood was shed,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Whom the wretched cateran shelter'd, with a price upon his head,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Beaten down like hounds by scourging, crouching from their master's sight;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And I tread my native mountains, as a robber, in the night;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Spite of tempest, spite of danger, hostile man and hostile sea,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Gory field of sad Culloden, I have come to gaze on thee!'<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"So he pluck'd a tuft of heather that was blooming at his foot,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That was nourish'd by dead kinsmen, and their bones were at its root;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">With a sigh he took the blossom, and he strode unto the strand,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Where his Danish crew awaited with a motley fisher band;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Brief the parley, swift his sailing, with the tide, and ne'er again<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Saw the Moray Firth the stranger or the schooner of the Dane."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>"Eilan Mohr" and the "Vow of Ian
+Lom," the renowned Seannachie of the
+Highlands, are both fine poems, but
+rather too long for extract; and as
+we do not doubt that this volume
+will erelong be found in the boudoir
+and drawing-room of many of our fair
+countrywomen, we have less hesitation
+in leaving them to a more leisurely
+perusal.</p>
+
+<p>The young authoress will, we trust,
+forgive us if we tender one word of
+advice before parting with her on the
+heights of Urrard&mdash;a spot which was
+once&mdash;and we hope will be again&mdash;the
+home of more worth, beauty, and
+excellence, than is often to be found
+within the circle of a single family.
+She ought to be very cautious in her
+attempts to write in the Scottish
+dialect. Few, even of those who
+have habitually heard it spoken from
+their childhood, can discern the almost
+indefinable line which exists
+between the older and purer phraseology,
+and that which is more corrupt.
+The very spelling of the words is a
+matter of considerable difficulty, and
+when not correctly written, the effect
+is any thing but pleasing. With this
+hint and another extract we shall
+return the volume to better keeping
+than our own, with our sincere approval
+of its contents, and our admiration
+for the genius of the writer.</p>
+
+
+
+<div class="cpoem2">
+"<span class="smcap">The Old House of Urrard.</span>
+
+<div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Dost fear the grim brown twilight?<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Dost care to walk alone,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">When the firs upon the hill-top<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">With human voices moan?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">When the river twineth restless<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Through deep and jagged linn,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Like one who cannot sleep o' nights<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">For evil thoughts within?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">When the hooting owls grow silent,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The ghostly sounds to hark,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">In the ancient house of Urrard,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">When the night is still and dark.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"There are graves about old Urrard,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Huge mounds by rock and tree;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And they who lie beneath them<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Died fighting by Dundee.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Far down along the valley,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And up along the hill,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The fight of Killicrankie<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Has left a story still.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But thickest show the traces<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And thickest throng the sprites,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">In the woods about old Urrard,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">On the gloomy winter nights.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"In the garden of old Urrard,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Among the bosky yews,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">A turfen hillock riseth<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Where latest lie the dews;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Here sank the warrior stricken<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">By charmèd silver ball,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And all the hope of victory<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Fell with him in his fall.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Last stay of exiled Stuart,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Last heir of chivalrie,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">In the garden of old Urrard<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">He died, the brave Dundee!<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"In the ancient house of Urrard,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">There's many a hiding den;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The very walls are hollow,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To cover dying men;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">For not e'en lady's chamber<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Barr'd out the fierce affray;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And couch and damask curtain<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Were stain'd with blood that day<br /></span>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span>
+<span class="i0">And there's a secret passage,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Whence sword, and skull, and bone,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Were brought to light in Urrard,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">When years had pass'd and gone.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"If thou sleep alone in Urrard,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Perchance in midnight gloom<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Thou'lt hear behind the wainscot<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Of that old haunted room,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">A fleshless hand that knocketh,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A wail that cries on thee;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And rattling limbs that struggle<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To break out and be free.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">It is a thought of horror!&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">I would not sleep alone<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">In the haunted rooms of Urrard,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Where evil deeds were done.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Amidst the dust of garrets<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">That stretch along the roof,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Stand chests of ancient garments<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Of gold and silken woof.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">When men are lock'd in slumber,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The rustling sounds are heard<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Of dainty ladies' dresses,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Of laugh and whisper'd word,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Of waving wind of feathers,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And steps of dancing feet,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">In the haunted halls of Urrard,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">When the winds of winter beat."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>We cannot altogether dismiss the
+book without bearing testimony to the
+merits of M'Ian, a rising artist and
+thorough Highlander, already favourably
+known to the public by his
+Sketches of the Clans, and other admirable
+works. Few pictures have
+ever affected us more than his Highland
+prisoner, exhibited last year in
+the Royal Academy, into which he
+has thrown a far deeper feeling, both
+of poetry and romance, than is at the
+command of many of his brethren,
+whose names are more widely bruited
+than his own. We send him across
+the Border our cordial greeting, and
+our best wishes for his continued success
+and prosperity.</p>
+
+<p>And here we should have concluded
+this article in peace and amity with
+all men&mdash;haunted by no other thoughts
+save those of sweet recollection&mdash;and
+as innocent of blood as our terrier pup,
+who, we are gratified to observe, is at
+this moment vainly attempting to enlarge
+a casual fracture in our slipper.
+But our eye has accidentally lighted
+upon a fugitive volume, half smothered
+beneath a heap of share-lists; and
+mindful of our duty, however painful,
+we drag forth the impostor to his
+doom. <i>Morning and other Poems,
+by a Member of the Scotch Bar!</i>
+Why, the very name of the book is
+enough to betray its spurious origin.
+The unfortunate person who has rashly
+attempted to give currency to his
+verses by assuming a high and honourable
+position, to which, we believe
+from the bottom of our soul, he
+has not the remotest pretension&mdash;has
+not even taken the pains to ascertain
+the corporate name of the body with
+which he claims affiliation, and bungles
+even in the title-page. With the
+members of the <span class="smcap">Scottish Bar</span> we
+have some acquaintance&mdash;nay, we
+think that&mdash;from habitual attendance
+at the Parliament House, being unfortunately
+implicated in a law-plea as
+interminable as that of Peebles against
+Plainstanes&mdash;we know almost every
+one of them by headmark, from the
+Pet of the Stove, whose snuff-box is
+as open as his heart, to the saturnine
+gentleman who is never seen beyond
+the precincts of the First Division.
+We acquit every one of them of participation
+in this dreary drivel.</p>
+
+<p>It may be that the gods have not
+made all of them poetical&mdash;and, for
+the sake of the judges, we opine that
+it is better so&mdash;yet some rank amongst
+our dearest and most choice contributors;
+nor, we believe, is there one
+out of the whole genuine fraternity of
+educated and accomplished gentlemen
+who could not, if required, versify a
+summons, or turn out a Lay of the
+Multiplepoinding, equal, if not superior,
+to Schiller's Song of the Bell. It
+is rather too much that the literary
+character of the bar of Scotland is to
+be jeopardied by the dulness of the
+author of <i>Morning and other Poems</i>.
+Why has he not the courage, instead
+of sheltering himself under a legal denomination
+common to some three
+hundred gentlemen, to place his own
+name upon the title-page, and stand
+or fall by the bantlings of his own
+creation? Does he think, forsooth,
+that it is beneath the dignity of a barrister
+to publish verses, or to hold at
+any time a brief in the court of Apollo?
+If so, why does he attempt to thrust
+forward his vocation so wantonly?
+But he knows that it is no disgrace.
+The literary reputation of the bar is
+so high, that he actually assumes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span>
+the title for the sake of obtaining a
+hearing, and yet merges his own individuality,
+so that he may be enabled
+to slink away in silence and obscurity
+from the ridicule which is sure to
+overwhelm him.</p>
+
+<p>Morning, and other Poems! It
+was impossible for the author to have
+stumbled upon a more unfortunate
+subject in support of his pretensions.
+Of all imaginable themes, that of
+morning is least likely to inspire with
+enthusiasm the soul of a Scottish
+barrister. Few are the associations
+of delight which that word awakens
+in his mind. It recalls to him the
+memory of many a winter, throughout
+which he has been roused from his
+comfortable nap at half-past seven,
+by the shrill unquellable voice of
+Girzy, herself malignant and sullen
+as the bespoken warning of the watchman.
+He recollects the misery of
+shaving with tepid water and a blunt
+razor by the light of a feeble dip&mdash;the
+fireless study&mdash;the disordered
+papers&mdash;the hasty and uncomfortable
+breakfast, and the bolting of the slippery
+eggs. Blash comes a sheet,
+half hail half slush, against the window&mdash;the
+wind is howling without
+like a hurricane, and threatens to
+carry off that poor shivering lamplighter,
+whose matutinal duty it is to
+extinguish the few straggling remnants
+of gas now waning sickly and dim, in
+the dawn of a bad December morning.
+What would he not give if this were
+a Monday when he might remain in
+peace at home! But there is no help
+for it. He is down for three early
+motions on the roll of the most
+punctual Ordinary that ever cursed a
+persecuted bar; so he buttons his
+trot-cosey around him, and, without
+taking leave of the wife of his bosom&mdash;who,
+like a sensible woman as she
+is, never thinks of moving until ten&mdash;he
+dashes out, ankle-deep in mud and
+melting snow, works his way up a
+continuous hill of a mile and a half in
+length, with a snell wind smiting him
+in the face, his nose bluemigating like
+a plum, and his linen as thoroughly
+damped as though it had been drawn
+through the wash-tub. Just as he
+begins to discern through the haze the
+steeple of Knox's kirk, nine strokes
+upon the bell warn him that his watch
+is too slow. He rushes on through gutter
+and dub, and arrives in the robing-room
+simultaneously with ten other
+brethren, who are all clamorously demanding
+their wigs and gowns from
+the two distracted functionaries. Accomodated
+at last, he hurries up the
+stairs, and when, through the yellow
+haze of the house, he has groped his
+way to the den where early Æacus is
+dispensing judgment by candle-light,
+he finds that the roll has been already
+called without the appearance of a
+single counsel. Such, for half the
+year&mdash;the other half being varied by
+a baking&mdash;are the joys which morning
+brings to the member of the Scottish
+bar. Few, we think, in their senses
+would be inclined to sing them, nor,
+indeed, to do our author justice, does
+he attempt it. His notions of morning
+occupations are very different.
+Let us see what sort of employment
+he advises in an apostrophe, which,
+though ostensibly addressed to Sleep,
+(a goddess with two mothers, for he
+calls her "Daughter of Jove and
+Night, by Lethe born,") must, we
+presume, have been intended for the
+edification of his fellow-mortals.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i10">"Nor then, thy knees<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Vex with long orisons. The morning task,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The morning meal, or healthful morning walk<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Demand attention next. Thy hungry feed,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Among thy stall, if lowing herds be thine;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Drain the vex'd udders, set the pail apart<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">For the wean'd kid; the doggish sentinel<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Supply, nor let him miss the usual hand<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">He loves. Then, having seen all full and glad,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Body and soul with food thyself sustain.<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">If wedded bliss be yours, the fruitful vine<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Greet lovingly, and greet the olive shoots,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The gifts of God!"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Here is a pretty fellow! What!
+First breakfast, then a walk, then the
+byre, the ewe-bught, the pig-stye,
+and the kennel, and after all that,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span>
+without wiping the gowkspittle of
+the tares from your jacket, or the
+stickiness of Cato's soss from your
+fingers, you would sit down to a
+second breakfast, like a great snorting
+gormandizer, and never say good-morning
+to your wife and children
+until you have finished your third
+roll, and washed down that monstrous
+quantity of fried ham with your fifth
+basin of bohea! But no&mdash;we turn
+over a couple of pages, and find that
+we have done our friend injustice.
+He is a poet, and, according to his
+idea of that race, they subsist entirely
+upon porridge or on sowens.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i2">"But what becomes the rustic, little suits<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The poet and the high Æonian fire&mdash;&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">His toils I mean; sacred the morning prime<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Is still to song, and sacred still the grove;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">No fields he boasts, no herds to grace his stalls,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The muse has made him poor and happy too,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">She robs him of much care and some dull coin,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Stints him in gay attire and costly books,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">But gives a wealth and luxury all her own,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2"><i>And, on a little pulse, like gods they diet.</i>"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Our theory is, that this man is a
+medical student. We have a high
+regard for the healing faculty; nor do
+we think that, amongst its ranks,
+there is to be found more than the
+ordinary proportion of blockheads.
+But the smattering of diversified
+knowledge which the young acolytes
+are sure to pick up in the classes, is
+apt to go to their heads, and to lead
+them into literary and other extravagances,
+which their more sober
+judgment would condemn. They are
+seldom able, however, to disguise
+their actual calling; and even their
+most powerful efforts are tinctured
+with the flavour of rhubarb or of
+senna. This youth has been educated
+in obstetrics.</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i0">"Three months scarce had thrice increased<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Ere the world with thee was blest."<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>He is an adept in the mysteries of
+gestation&mdash;an enthusiast so far in his
+profession, and cannot even contemplate
+the approach of morning without
+the feelings of a genuine Howdie.
+Mark his exordium&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i4">"The splendid fault, solicitude of fame,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Which spurs so many, me not moves at all<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To sing, but grateful sense of favours obtain'd<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">By many a green-spread tree and leafy hill:<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The <span class="smcap">MORNING</span> calls, escaped from dewy sleep<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And Tithon's bed to celebrate her charms,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">What sounds awake, what airs salute the dawn!<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">"That virgin darkness, loveliest imp of time,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Is, to an amorous vision, nightly wed,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And made the mother of a shining boy,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">By mortals hight the day, let others tell,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">In livelier strains, and to the Lydian flute<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Suit the warm verse; but be it ours to wait<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">In the birth-chamber, and receive the babe,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">All smiling, from the fair maternal side,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">By pleasant musings only well repaid."<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>It is a great pity that one so highly
+gifted should ever have been tempted
+to forsake the muse for any mere
+mundane occupation. But in spite of
+his modest request that sundry celestial
+spirits&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i0">"Will to a worthier give the bays to Phœbus dear,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And crown <span class="smcap">my Wordsworth</span> with the branch <i>I must not wear</i>"&mdash;<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>we are not altogether without hopes
+that he will reconsider the matter,
+avoid too hard work, which, in his
+own elegant language, might make
+him</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i0">"Wan as nun who takes the vows,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Or primrose pale, or <i>lips of cows</i>!"&mdash;<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>and not only delight us occasionally
+with a few Miltonic parodies as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span>
+delectable as these, but be persuaded
+in time to assume the laureat's wreath.
+As for the pretext that he is getting
+into practice&mdash;whether legal or medical&mdash;that
+is all fudge. He informs us
+that "the following pages were written,
+during the author's leisure hours,
+some years ago, before the superior
+claims of professional occupations interfered
+to make such pursuits unlawful,
+and would probably have remained
+unpublished, but for the
+accident of a talented friend's perusal."
+Moreover, he says that "his
+conscience will not reproach him with
+the hours which the preparation of
+these poems for the press has filched
+from graver business&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i0">'The tedious forms, the solemn prate,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The pert dispute, the dull debate.'"<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>We assure him that it need not do
+so. No man who has glanced at this
+volume will accuse him of knowing
+the difference between a process of
+Ranking and Sale and a Declarator of
+Legitimacy; and he may comfort himself
+with the conviction that his literary
+pursuits are quite as lawful at
+the present time as they were some
+years ago. No importunate solicitor
+will ever interfere to divert him from
+them. The man who cannot compass
+an ordinary distich will never
+shine in minutes of debate; nor have
+we the slightest expectation that a
+three-guinea fee&mdash;even were he entitled
+to receive it&mdash;would ever supply
+the place of that unflinching principle
+of honour, which he thus modestly,
+and not unprophetically acknowledges
+to be the mainspring of his inspiration&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i0">"'Tis this which strings, in time, my feeble harp,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And yet shall ravish long eternal years!"<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>The following imprecation, which
+we find in "Morning," inspires us with
+something like hope of the continuance
+of his favours:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i0">"When I forget the dear enraptured lay,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">May this right hand its wonted skill forego,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And never, never touch the lyre again!"<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>We dare not say Amen to such a
+wish. On the contrary, in the name
+of the whole Outer-House, we demand
+a supplementary canto. Let him submit
+it to the perusal of his "talented
+friend," and we dare answer for it
+that the publishers will make no objection
+to stand sponsors for a new
+volume on the same terms as before.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span></p>
+<h2>ELINOR TRAVIS.</h2>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">A Tale in Three Chapters.</span><br /><br />
+
+<span class="smcap">Chapter the Second.</span></h4>
+
+
+<p>So far have I spoken of what I saw
+and witnessed. Much of what follows
+came to me, years afterwards,
+authenticated by the chief performer
+in the eventful drama which I write,
+and by others no less worthy of belief.
+After what has been already
+narrated, it will not be supposed that
+I suffered the life of my friend to pass
+away unnoticed. We corresponded,
+but fitfully, and at long intervals.
+Here and there we met, often strangely
+and by accident, and I became now
+the depositary of his heart's dearest secrets,
+now the reluctant adviser, and
+now the bold and earnest remonstrant.
+Our intimacy, however, ceased abruptly
+and unhappily a year or two
+subsequently to his marriage. Sinclair,
+it will be seen, then went
+abroad, and I returned to my duty at
+the university. I recur to the memoranda
+of his history which lie before
+me, and proceed with my text.</p>
+
+<p>It would appear that General Travis
+overtook the fugitives, but, as good
+or ill fortune would have it, not until
+the knot was tied, and his presence
+profited nothing. I have been told
+that the desperate father, at one period
+of the chase, was within an easy
+stage of the runaways, and, had he
+been so disposed, might have laid
+hands on the delinquents without
+ruinously bribing the postilions, who
+prudently husbanded their strength
+in full expectation of additional largess.
+But, at the very moment of
+victory, as it were, the general unfortunately
+was seized with illness, and
+compelled to pass a day and night
+under the hands of a village doctor
+in a roadside inn. He was very angry
+and rebellious, you may be sure, and
+oftener than once asserted with an
+oath&mdash;so that there could be no doubt
+whatever of his sincerity&mdash;that he
+would give the world (if he had it) to
+be allowed to proceed; at the same
+time that he unreasonably accused
+the practitioner, whom he had never
+seen before, of conspiring with his enemies
+to bring his gray hairs with sorrow
+to the grave. The worthy apothecary,
+guilty of nothing but the venial
+offence of making the most of a visitation
+of Providence, merely shook his
+head dolefully at every exclamation of
+his patient, hinted at gastric fever, and
+rubbed his palms, intimating by that act
+that so he proposed to wash his hands
+of all responsibility. Whereupon the
+general prudently gave in, held out
+his massive fist, was prescribed for,
+went to bed and put out his candle,
+just two minutes after he had put out
+the basket of physic which had been
+sent to prolong his stay in the inn for
+at least a week to come.</p>
+
+<p>The interview between the disconsolate
+parent and the youthful offenders
+is adverted to in the letter which
+I received from Rupert Sinclair in
+London early in the honeymoon. It
+is many years since it was written:
+the paper is discoloured, and the ink
+fading. It is the effusion of a fond
+and enthusiastic youth; but it looks
+mournful and dried up, more like the
+decaying writing on the rolls of a
+mummy than the ardent outpourings
+of a recent passion. Alack for the
+mutability of life! I have no apologies
+to make for giving the letter as
+it stands. It speaks for itself: its
+publication cannot harm the dead.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Dearest Walter</span>&mdash;Congratulate
+me! wish me joy! But no greater
+joy than I experience at this hour,
+with the sunny and smiling heaven
+above, and in the possession of a treasure
+of which no man living can rob
+me: of which I am prouder than
+Alexander could have been of all his
+conquered worlds. She is mine! I
+have ventured much for the prize;
+yet little&mdash;for I feel I could have
+parted with every thing in life for her
+who is to me&mdash;life, every thing. She
+is mine! Oh the comprehensiveness
+of that one little word! Mine whilst
+existence lasts&mdash;mine to cherish and
+uphold&mdash;mine for earth and heaven!
+We walked this morning to the placid<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span>
+lake which lies hidden in the heart of
+the mountains, to which we have retreated
+for a season away from the envious
+eyes of men. The waters were
+as calm as at the dawn of the first sabbath!
+The sky that overarched us
+looked down upon them in unutterable
+love. The slightest breath that
+crept amongst the trees was audible.
+Her arm was upon mine. Nature
+had attuned my soul to the surrounding
+harmony&mdash;the gentlest pressure
+of her confiding hand oppressed me
+with joy and moved me to tears.
+Laugh at me if you will. You answer
+to all this&mdash;that I dream. Be it so:&mdash;That
+I must soon awake. It is possible.
+Nay, I grant you that this
+foretaste of heaven, now vouchsafed
+to me, must pass away and leave behind
+it only the remembrance of this
+golden epoch. Still the remembrance
+is mine, the undying memory of a vision
+unparalleled by all other dreams
+of life.</p>
+
+<p>"I have written to my father, but he
+replies not. He has no sympathy for
+attachments such as mine, and cannot
+understand the bitterness of life
+caused by a blighted hope. But he
+will relent. He has a noble nature,
+and will take no delight in my unhappiness.
+My mother's influence is
+unbounded. She loves me, and will
+plead my cause with him, when the
+first paroxysm of anger has passed
+away, and has left him open to her
+sway. I will take my Elinor to her;
+her innocence and beauty would melt
+a stubborn heart to pity. Shall it
+not prevail with her whose heart is
+ours already by the ties of holiest
+nature? Believe me, I have no fear
+of Lord Railton's lasting anger.</p>
+
+<p>"The general reached us the day
+after we were married. Happily for
+me that he arrived not before. Elinor,
+as I have told you often, reveres her
+father, and has a chivalric sense of
+filial obligations. Had he commanded
+her to return to his roof whilst the
+right to command remained with him,
+she would have deemed it her paramount
+duty to obey him. His rage
+was terrible when we met; I had
+never seen a man so plunged in grief
+before. He accused me of treachery&mdash;of
+having betrayed his confidence&mdash;and
+taken advantage of his daughter's
+simplicity and warm affection. The
+world, he said, would reproach him
+for an act which he would have moved
+heaven and earth to prevent, and the
+reputation of the family would be
+blasted by the conduct of one, who,
+but for his own base deed, should
+have remained for ever a stranger to
+it. What could I reply to this? For
+my dear Elinor's sake, I bore his cruel
+words, and answered not. Her gentle
+spirit has already prevailed. He quitted
+us this morning reconciled to our
+union, and resolved to stand by us
+in all extremities. There was no
+resisting the appeal of beauty such as
+hers. The old man wept like a child
+upon her neck as he forgave and blest
+her. Urgent business carries the
+general abroad for a season, but he
+returns to England shortly, to make
+arrangements for the future. Meanwhile,
+in obedience to his earnest request,
+I shall seek an interview with my
+father, and in person entreat his forgiveness
+and aid. My plans are unsettled,
+and necessarily depend upon
+the conduct of Lord Railton. Let me
+hear from you, dearest Wilson. Once
+more wish me joy. I ask no better fate
+for you than happiness such as mine.</p>
+
+<p class="author">
+"Your faithful and devoted<br />
+"<span class="smcap">Rupert Sinclair</span>."<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>The honeymoon over, Rupert Sinclair
+repaired to his father's house.
+Since his marriage he had received no
+tidings of his parents: he had written
+to his father and mother, but from
+neither came one syllable of acknowledgment
+or reply. It was strange,
+but he relied with unshaken confidence
+upon his power over the fond
+mother's heart, and upon the magic
+influence of that loveliness which he
+himself had found resistless and invincible.
+The blissful dream was a
+short one; he was about to be roused
+from it. Elinor and he were in town:
+upon the morning of his visit to Grosvenor
+Square, they sat together in
+their hotel and weaved their bright
+and airy plans in syllables more unsubstantial
+than the gossamer.</p>
+
+<p>"You will love my mother, my
+dearest Elinor," said Sinclair. "The
+great world, in which she acts no unimportant
+part, has not spoiled her
+affections. She is indulgent and fond
+almost to a fault."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall love her for your sake,
+Rupert," answered the lovely wife.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span>
+"How like she is!" she exclaimed,
+looking at a miniature which she wore
+around her neck, and then comparing
+it with the living countenance that
+beamed upon her. "Yet," she continued
+with a sigh, "she owes me no
+return of love."</p>
+
+<p>"And wherefore?"</p>
+
+<p>"Have I not stolen her most cherished
+treasure?"</p>
+
+<p>"Have you not added to her treasures?
+She will rejoice in her new-found
+daughter. I know her well.
+She will not even suffer my father to
+frown upon us. When he would be
+most stern, she will lead you to him,
+and melt him into tenderness and
+pardon."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope, dear Rupert, that it may
+be so. I would my father were with
+us!"</p>
+
+<p>"Lord Railton will be a father to
+you till his return. Trust me for it.
+You shall find a happy home with
+him, until arrangements are made for
+our settlement here or elsewhere."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, elsewhere, dear Rupert, if it
+be possible! Let us go abroad; I was
+never happy in London, and strange
+to say, never felt at home in England.
+Yet London was my birth-place."</p>
+
+<p>"You love blue sky, dearest!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and happy people. Men
+and women who are not mere slaves
+to form and fashion: who breathe
+free air and imbibe a sense of freedom.
+Oh Venice! dear Venice!&mdash;we shall go
+to Venice, shall we not? It is the
+land of enchantment, dearest Rupert,
+there is nothing like it in the world&mdash;the
+land of love and of romance."</p>
+
+<p>"You shall visit it, sweetest, and
+abide there if you wish it. To me all
+spots are alike that find you happy
+and at my side. When you are tired
+of Venice, you shall lead me whithersoever
+you will."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you always say so?"</p>
+
+<p>"Always. But that our departure
+may not be delayed, let us attend to
+the pressing business of the hour.
+All our movements depend upon my
+father's sanction. Once reconciled to
+him, and the world is before us, to
+minister, sweet Elinor, to your every
+wish."</p>
+
+<p>"What if he should punish you for
+my offence?"</p>
+
+<p>"For your offence, dear girl! and
+what is that? Think not of it. I
+go to remove your fears and seal our
+happiness!"</p>
+
+<p>With these and similar words of
+confidence and hope, the youth departed
+on his errand. Not without some
+misgiving and apprehension, however,
+did he present himself at that door
+which heretofore had flown open at
+his approach, always offering to his
+view the forms of obsequious lackeys,
+only too willing to anticipate his
+pleasure. The establishment of Lord
+Railton in a striking manner represented
+the sentiments and feelings of
+the noble proprietor. There was not
+a servant in the house who did not
+know, and that most accurately, the
+opinions, public and private, of "my
+lord," and the relative regard he had
+for all who approached his noble person,
+and who, moreover, did not give
+evidence of this knowledge in his conduct
+towards mankind. A stranger
+might have formed a just opinion of
+the influence of a visitor by simply remarking
+the bearing of Mister Brown
+the butler, as he ushered that visitor
+into the sublime presence. Smiles of
+welcome&mdash;a sweet relaxation of the
+features&mdash;greeted "the favoured
+guest;" cold rigidity, withering politeness,
+if not the stern expression of rebuke
+itself, were the undisguised acknowledgments
+of one who was "a
+bore" in his lordship's study, and
+consequently "a rejected" in the
+steward's room. During the boyhood
+of Rupert Sinclair, and whilst his
+mamma was known to be affectionately
+disposed to spoil her offspring
+by every kind of cruel indulgence, the
+regard entertained for the young scion,
+from Mister Brown downwards, was
+beautiful to contemplate. If he appeared
+in the hall, one sickening and
+hollow smile pervaded the cheeks of
+every individual; the tongue that was
+still wet with slander and abuse, became,
+as if by magic, sugary with
+choice phrases; and not a soul of all
+the lying crew, but sought to surpass
+the rest by the profuseness of its
+palpable and unmeaning flattery.
+Rupert Sinclair, worldly wise though
+he was not, would have been stolid
+indeed had he not gathered from the
+porter's air something of the reception
+that awaited him from his offended
+sire, when the wide portal opened to
+receive the unforgiven prodigal.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"His lordship?"&mdash;&mdash;began Rupert
+inquiringly.</p>
+
+<p>"Not at home, sir," said the flunkey,
+with all imaginable coolness interrupting
+him.</p>
+
+<p>"Lady Railton?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not at home, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"She is in town?"</p>
+
+<p>"In town, sir?&mdash;yes, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"I will wait," said Sinclair, moving
+towards the inner hall.</p>
+
+<p>He had not spoken before the porter
+pulled with all his might at a bell-wire
+that communicated with the
+steward's room. As though the signals
+were preconcerted, Mister Brown
+was in the hall in no time, and confronting
+the intruder upon the thresh-hold
+of the sanctuary. "I beg your
+pardon, Mr Sinclair," said Mister
+Brown, half respectfully, half confidentially.
+"Lord Railton is par<i>tic</i>ularly
+engaged this morning, and has
+given orders to that effect. It is the
+painfulest thing to communicate, but
+I am but an agent."</p>
+
+<p>Rupert coloured up, and hesitated
+for a moment.</p>
+
+<p>"I must see Lady Railton, then?"
+he continued hastily.</p>
+
+<p>"Her ladyship is ill, sir&mdash;really
+very ill. She is not suffered to see
+any body. My lord has forbidden any
+one to approach her but her maid. I
+hope no offence, but I heard Doctor
+Bennett tell her ladyship that it was
+of the highest consequence to keep
+Mr Sinclair away for the present."</p>
+
+<p>"Is she really so ill, sir?" asked
+Rupert, turning pale, and with a
+quivering lip.</p>
+
+<p>Mister Brown drew his handkerchief
+from his pocket, and applied it
+to his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"She is indeed, sir," said that hoary
+hypocrite; "we have had a dreadful
+time of it. I thought his lordship
+would have blown his brains out.
+My lady was given over for a week.
+For my own part, I may say that duty
+and feeling have struggled in my
+bosom till I am quite worn out, and
+it's quite impossible for me to say who
+will be laid up next."</p>
+
+<p>"I <i>must</i> see my father, Mr Brown,"
+said Sinclair, advancing a step or two,
+to the great discomfort of the butler,
+who was evidently sadly perplexed
+by the conflicting emotions of his
+mind; for whilst he acknowledged
+Lord Railton for his master, he respected
+Mr Sinclair as his heir, and
+felt how important it was to obey his
+present lord without declining to serve
+the youth whom he hoped to make
+his future lord. "I <i>must</i> see him.
+Go to him, I beg of you, and tell him
+I am here."</p>
+
+<p>So saying, Mr Sinclair advanced a
+few steps further, and found himself
+unhindered in the dining-room&mdash;moreover,
+to his surprise and agitation, in
+the presence of his father. Mister
+Brown vanished. To behold his
+parent, to fall on his knees before
+him, and to grasp his hand, was the
+work of a moment. Lord Railton
+recoiled as though a serpent, and not
+his child, had wound about him. He
+was livid with rage, and an unnatural
+hate was settled in his cold, yet
+piercing eye.</p>
+
+<p>"Your pardon, father!" cried the
+youth.</p>
+
+<p>"Never, so help me"&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, do not say it, father!" exclaimed
+the son, interrupting him before
+the awful word was spoken; "for
+heaven's sake, do not call that name
+to witness such a fearful sentence&mdash;do
+not drive me to distraction!"</p>
+
+<p>"You have driven me mad; you
+have blasted every hope of mine.
+You have been a traitor and a shame
+to the name you bear, and of which
+I would it were in my power to deprive
+you as easily as it is to attach
+to it the curse with which you shall
+receive from me your title and your
+inheritance. Begone! I never knew
+what it was to hate till now."</p>
+
+<p>Rupert arose and burst into tears.
+His father looked at him unmoved
+except by scorn.</p>
+
+<p>"You have not seen her," exclaimed
+Rupert, when the first burst of
+grief had passed away; "you do not
+know the value of the child whom you
+reject."</p>
+
+<p>"No, but I have heard. The <i>world</i>
+has heard of our disgrace. Mark me,
+you are no longer child of mine. I
+disown and discard you. I will enter
+into no particulars. From this moment
+I will hold no further intercourse
+with you. At my death you will obtain
+my name, and all that the law
+allows you. Until my death, you
+will receive from my man of business
+more than a sufficient sum for your<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span>
+support. Let me not hear from you
+again. I shall struggle to forget you
+and your ingratitude. Neither in
+health nor sickness, neither by letter
+nor in person, let me know any thing
+of you or yours. You have forsaken
+your natural ties for new associations.
+They have made you a traitor to your
+blood&mdash;let them make the most of the
+adoption."</p>
+
+<p>"Father, you cannot mean it!"
+cried Rupert in an agony of sorrow.</p>
+
+<p>"Father!" said the old lord, repeating
+the word; "in virtue of what
+filial act do you claim such a kindred
+with me? Call that man father whose
+bankrupt fortune and reputation have
+had such marvellous power to wean
+you from your duty. Mark me,
+Sinclair&mdash;you were the first to violate
+the tie between us, I will be the last
+to restore or reunite it. Leave me. I
+cannot bear to look upon you."</p>
+
+<p>"My mother!" inquired Sinclair,
+in a voice that dared not rise above a
+whisper.</p>
+
+<p>"Name not that poor broken-hearted
+woman," replied Lord Railton:
+"spare me and her the pang of that
+inquiry. You have killed her."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no, no, impossible!" ejaculated
+Sinclair. "Let me see her, and
+obtain her forgiveness, if I am driven
+afterwards from your door."</p>
+
+<p>"She lies upon a bed of sickness,
+placed there by yourself. She will
+never rise again. Your wife must be
+fair indeed, if her beauty can atone for
+such a murder."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you are unjust, most cruel
+and unjust!"</p>
+
+<p>"You have taught us such injustice
+and cruelty as we practise. Begone,
+sir! As long as we live, we must
+not meet again. If you remain in
+England, I shall go abroad. If you
+travel, I remain in England. The
+sea shall be between us. I reproach
+myself with nothing. I denied you
+nothing. I knew my duty towards
+you, and performed it. Your mother
+lived only for your happiness. We
+have been cursed and disappointed.
+I forget you from this hour. Had I
+received intelligence this morning of
+your death, it would have given me no
+pain, evoked no sorrow. You are dead
+to me. Come not again across this
+threshold and I will endeavour to forget
+that I was not always childless."</p>
+
+<p>And so saying, Lord Railton put an
+end to the interview by quitting the
+apartment. Grief, in the bosom of
+Rupert, had already given place to
+offended pride and resentment&mdash;such
+resentment, at least, as his mild nature
+understood. Whatever might have
+been his offence, he felt that it did not,
+could not deserve the vindictive hatred
+which burned no less in his father's
+countenance than in his terrible
+denunciations. What! was it a crime
+to link one's fate with virtuous innocence
+and beauty, such as hers who
+called him husband? If it was a fault
+to carve one's own way to happiness,
+did it deserve a harsher condemnation
+than that apportioned to the felon?
+The image of Elinor rose for the protection
+of the youth, and armed him
+with courage for the trial of that hour.
+He came a suppliant; but he returned
+in triumph: he came acknowledging
+his offence and suing for forgiveness;
+he returned justified and self-acquitted.
+Deprived of love and friendship
+at the hearth and home of his
+youth, he appreciated at even more
+than their value the joys that had been
+created for him in the palace of his
+own bright home, where a divinity
+presided as queen. The punishment
+he received for her dear sake, rendered
+her, if that were possible, the object
+still more of his passionate regard.
+He would have made any sacrifice to
+appease the anger of his father and
+the offended pride of his mother&mdash;he
+did not believe in the dangerous illness
+of the latter&mdash;but repulsed like a dog
+from their side, he deemed himself
+absolved from further trials of their
+tenderness, additional exercise of his
+own forbearance and filial duty.</p>
+
+<p>It was during the day of his visit to
+Grosvenor Square that Sinclair was
+honoured with a return visit from the
+attorney of Lord Railton. That gentleman
+had received instructions that
+very morning to pay to the order of
+Mr Rupert Sinclair the sum of one
+thousand pounds per annum, in quarterly
+payments of two hundred and
+fifty pounds each: "But really," as
+the legal gentleman said to Rupert,
+upon breaking the matter to him,
+"he could not reconcile it to his sense
+of duty, and to the esteem which it
+was natural for him to entertain towards
+every member of Lord Railton's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span>
+family&mdash;to perform his very unthankful
+office without using all his
+humble efforts to bring about a reconciliation,
+which in every respect was
+so very desirable. God forbid that
+business should ever prevent him from
+doing his duty as a Christian."</p>
+
+<p>It need hardly be said that Mr
+Crawly, the attorney in question, was
+too keen a judge of things in general
+to throw dirt in the face of the rising
+sun, simply because he had worshipped
+the setting luminary a few hours
+before. Like all who depended more
+or less upon the estates of the Railton
+family for their support, it was of the
+highest consequence to maintain a
+good understanding with either party.
+If Lord Railton fed Mr Crawly now,
+Rupert Sinclair was expected to feed
+by and by Crawly's son and heir, who
+was preparing himself for the paternal
+stool by a short round of folly and
+extravagance at the university. Who
+could tell? Lord Railton might die
+to-morrow&mdash;he had had a squeak or
+two&mdash;and Crawly had been called to
+make his will: or he might forgive his
+son&mdash;or twenty things might happen
+to remove present differences, and restore
+the divided interest to its first
+integrity. Crawly had boasted to his
+relations and friends for the first
+twenty years of his official career, that
+he had never made one enemy; and
+when he set up his carriage in the
+prime of life, he invented his own arms
+and crest, and assumed for his motto
+the words, "always agreeable."</p>
+
+<p>"It really is, my dear Sinclair,"
+said Crawly, "a thousand pities that
+we cannot bring about a more satisfactory
+state of things; but I do hope
+that time will do wonders. Some excuses
+must be made for Lord Railton.
+Remember his age."</p>
+
+<p>[He had said the same thing to
+Lord Railton in the morning: "Some
+excuses must be made for Mr Sinclair,
+my lord. Remember his <i>youth</i>!"]</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot but think, Mr Crawly,"
+answered Rupert, "that I have been
+treated with unmerited harshness."</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot say, Mr Sinclair&mdash;I do
+not think it would become me to reply&mdash;that you
+have been treated handsomely."</p>
+
+<p>[Crawly, Crawly! you spoke those
+words in Grosvenor Square!]</p>
+
+<p>"I accept the allowance, sir, and
+will make the most of it. You may
+assure my father that I shall not prefer
+any further claims upon his bounty,
+or force myself again into his presence."</p>
+
+<p>"As for bounty, my dear Mr Sinclair,
+you must permit me to state
+that the expression is hardly a correct
+one. The property of his lordship
+descends to you, and you are perfectly
+justified in spending freely what is
+your own."</p>
+
+<p>["Mr Crawly," said Lord Railton,
+in Grosvenor Square that morning,
+foaming with rage, "I will deprive
+him of every shilling that is not his
+own. I have been economical for his
+sake; I will be extravagant to spite
+him."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>My lord</i>," replied Crawly, "<i>you
+are perfectly justified in spending freely
+what is your own</i>."]</p>
+
+<p>"May I take the liberty, Mr Sinclair,"
+said the lawyer after a pause,
+"to inquire what your present views
+may be?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am undecided, sir. I know not
+whether I shall remain here or go
+abroad. My father's reception of me
+has staggered and confounded me.
+I would have consulted his wishes had
+he received me as his son. I have
+now to satisfy only my own convenience."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall pay your annuity, Mr
+Sinclair, into your banker's regularly
+every quarter-day. The first payment
+will be made in advance. I
+need not assure you, I trust, that I
+act in this most painful business rather
+as a mediator and a friend than
+a hired agent. There may be a time
+when an additional advance may be
+both convenient and acceptable. I
+have known you long, Mr Rupert. I
+know you to be a man of honour. I
+have only to add, that at such times
+you will confer a favour upon me
+by making me your banker, and commanding
+my purse."</p>
+
+<p>I wonder if this was the reason why
+Mr Crawly suggested to Lord Railton
+the propriety of grinding Mr Sinclair
+down to as small a sum as possible.
+If so, if it were merely to give himself
+the opportunity of acting like a
+second father to the castaway, the
+recommendation cannot be too highly
+applauded.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, sir; I shall not trouble<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span>
+you. I know my income, and I shall
+take care to keep my ambition within
+its bounds. I have had but few
+desires, I have now fewer than ever.
+A humble cottage and contentment
+are to be prized far beyond a palace
+and its harassing cares. I do not want
+the world to administer to my happiness.
+I am the happiest of men at
+home. To have that home invaded
+by the vulgar pleasures of life, would
+be to rob me of its charm!"</p>
+
+<p>Now nothing could have been more
+satisfactory than this sentiment, had
+it but been responded to by her upon
+whom not only the annual expenses
+of Mr Rupert Sinclair's household depended,
+but his every movement, wish,
+and thought. Unfortunately for the
+domestic husband, the wife understood
+the bliss of love in a cottage
+no more than a nightingale may be
+supposed to appreciate the advantages
+of imprisonment in a cage
+of gold. She was born, and had
+been educated, in the world. It
+was the scene of her triumphs, the
+home of her affections. She had
+played no unimportant part in it;
+her sway had been acknowledged, her
+beauty had gained its victory <i>there</i>.
+<i>Home!</i> she had never known any
+other, and what right had Sinclair to
+suppose that she was adapted for a
+narrower? He had met her in dissipation,
+but had he won her from it?
+Hardly; since a few days only had intervened
+between the hour of their
+meeting, and the still more luckless
+hour of their union. Was it to be
+imagined, could it in fairness be expected,
+that this young creature, all life
+all fascination and vanity, with her
+heart attuned to the joys of fashion,
+with the object of her life attained&mdash;with
+power and position now, and
+wealth and rank to come, would
+forego all the advantages within her
+reach, all the influence that she felt,
+and all the pleasure that it was simply
+to ask for, in order to obtain "Love
+in a cottage?" Rupert Sinclair!
+pull down the thatch, and build some
+marble hall for the fairy you have
+caught&mdash;not chained!</p>
+
+<p>Within six months of his marriage,
+the Honourable Rupert Sinclair was
+living at the rate of&mdash;not one&mdash;but
+five thousand a-year. Persuaded by
+his wife, (who learnt any thing but
+quiet submission from the tyranny of
+Lord Railton, and whose determination
+to go abroad was relinquished
+the moment she discovered her absence
+from England would be agreeable
+to her husband's family,) Rupert
+had taken a mansion in town, and
+Mrs Rupert Sinclair was the admired
+of all admirers, a leader of fashion,
+and the proclaimed beauty of her day.
+Rupert had been dragged into the
+vortex, with no power to hold back,
+even had he been willing to interfere
+with those delights which gained him
+a smile of approbation, and expressions
+of gratitude, cheaply purchased
+at any cost or sacrifice of his. True
+he was fearfully in debt; true Mr
+Crawly had been summoned oftener
+than once to the rescue; true that
+wily gentleman had advanced heavy
+sums of money, taking particular care,
+however, to be amply secured by
+legal documents, and more than amply
+repaid by the exaction of illegal interest.
+It was perhaps natural for
+Sinclair to believe, as debts accumulated
+upon debts, that the hour of his
+estrangement from his parents was
+drawing rapidly to a close, and
+that, although his way of living could
+not but aggrieve and offend his stern
+and angry father, yet it was impossible
+nature could suffer him much
+longer to withhold his paternal and
+forgiving hand. Mental reasoning of
+this character is the last resource of
+the culpable and the self-deluded.
+Lord Railton, faithful to his threat,
+went abroad; Lady Railton was
+sufficiently recovered to accompany
+him; and both quitted England without
+deigning to notice the spend-thrifts,
+whose extravagance and need
+were soon the common talk of scandalmongers,
+dissatisfied tradesmen,
+and spiteful serving-men. Yet there
+was no flinching on the part of
+Rupert. A cloud of anxiety might
+sit temporarily on his brow, a sigh
+now and then escape him; but he uttered
+no remonstrance, and took no
+pains to stem the tide of folly and
+prodigality that flowed unceasingly
+within his walls. His love for Elinor
+had increased rather than diminished
+since their marriage. He was proud
+of the homage of mankind, and knew
+her worthy of the highest. Why
+should he seek to restrain the innocent<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>
+pleasures of a woman for whose
+gratification and happiness he lived?
+Why curtail the joys in which she had
+participated almost from infancy? why
+prevent her from crowning a scene,
+for the adornment of which she was
+created and eminently fitted?</p>
+
+<p>And where was General Travis
+during this brief season of intoxication
+and wanton waste? At Calais, whither
+his liabilities had banished him, and
+were likely to detain him for some
+time to come. There was no doubt
+of his ruin. He lived with his melancholy-looking
+wife and younger
+daughter, upon a pittance secured upon
+the life of the former, but hardly
+sufficient to support them in decency.
+Yet they maintained, even in their
+reverses, a style that to a degree reflected
+on the scene of their exile
+the brilliancy of their brighter years.
+Could it be that the substance of
+poor Rupert Sinclair was ministering
+here also to the vices of this unhappy
+family? I fear there is no
+doubt of it. The general was
+as huge a braggart as ever. He
+insisted upon drawing a line midway
+between the highest and the lowest
+of the swindling fraternity to which
+he belonged, and by whom he was
+surrounded, and suffered intercourse
+to exist only with the favoured members
+of the upper class. He was
+prating for ever of his son-in-law,
+his connexions, his influence with the
+ministry through the potent Lord
+Railton, and was most lavish of his
+promises of preferment to any credulous
+individual whom he could persuade
+to favour him with the eternal
+loan of a five-pound note. General
+Travis had, not unaccountably perhaps,
+acquired much power over the
+mind of Sinclair. Expelled from his
+natural counsellors, who, in their best
+days, had been any thing but faithful
+advisers,&mdash;harassed and tormented
+by growing cares, it is not to be
+wondered at, that he should seek
+counsel and aid from one whom he
+believed to be a thorough man of the
+world&mdash;who was bound to him by the
+closest ties, and of whose integrity and
+honour he had not the remotest suspicion.
+It was General Travis who
+instructed Sinclair in the recondite
+science of raising money&mdash;and of staving
+off the attacks of tradesmen with
+the weapons of generous usurers:
+who taught him that still more marvellous
+art of civilized life, of living
+upon one thousand a-year more sumptuously
+than your neighbour with
+ten; and who day after day persuaded
+him, by arguments which I
+cannot attempt to recite, that by forestalling
+his inheritance in his youth,
+he would not materially affect the
+property which must accrue to him
+in his age. It may be that the arguments
+would have been more severely
+tested had they come from any other
+than Elinor's father&mdash;had they not
+been employed to increase the comforts
+and desires of Elinor herself. But
+whether this be so or not, it is certain
+that Rupert Sinclair, for a long time,
+was a helpless victim in the hands of
+a bold and ruthless destroyer.</p>
+
+<p>Chance, I have hinted at the beginning
+of this chapter, brought Rupert
+and myself together at singular times
+and places, and made me an actor in
+his history whether I would or not.
+Since his first letter to me, I had heard
+from him but once; <i>of</i> him, alas! I
+had heard too much. He was in the
+height of his giddy career, when I
+passed through London for the first
+time since his marriage, and resolved
+to pay him a visit. I arrived late in
+the evening, and I had but a few hours
+at my command, for early in the morning
+I was to start for France by the
+Calais packet. When I reached my
+hotel, I sent my card to the residence
+of my friend, who instantly invited
+me to his too hospitable roof. There
+was a gay and brilliant assembly in
+his house that evening, and, as usual,
+Elinor outshone the multitude in
+beauty and animation. She received
+me cordially, and kindly held out her
+snow-white hand at my approach, and
+greeted me with a smile of fascination
+that robbed me of whatever displeasure
+I had brought with me on account
+of her proceedings. How could
+I reproach Sinclair for submitting to
+the spell that governed him, when it
+was impossible for me&mdash;a stranger,
+and one certainly not prepossessed in
+her favor&mdash;to resist it?</p>
+
+<p>Sinclair was much altered in appearance.
+He looked jaded and unhappy.
+There was nothing in his
+countenance harmonizing with the
+scene around him. He seldom spoke,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span>
+and to all my questions he returned
+evasive answers, seeking rather to direct
+his discourse to matters in which
+neither of us found a personal interest,
+than to his own affairs, which at the
+time had far more interest for me than
+my own.</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad you are here to-night,
+Wilson," said Rupert, as we sat together.
+"To-morrow I leave town for
+a few days, and we should not have
+met had you arrived a day later."</p>
+
+<p>"I am off to France myself to-night
+for a week or more, and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>As I spoke, I saw the colour in
+Sinclair's cheek rapidly changing. He
+was evidently surprised and chagrined
+by the intelligence.</p>
+
+<p>"Can I serve you," said I at once,
+taking advantage of my opportunity,
+"by remaining in town?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, I thank you. What
+route do you take?"</p>
+
+<p>"By packet to Calais, and from
+Calais to Paris by the formidable
+diligence. Can I help you at the seat
+of politeness and art?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I thank you," replied Sinclair,
+changing colour again. "You
+are aware that my father is in Paris?"</p>
+
+<p>"So I have heard. It is said that
+his lordship"&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Do not speak of it," he said,
+mildly interrupting me. "Whatever
+may happen to me, I cannot but think
+that the blame must rest ultimately
+there."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you fear evil, then?" I eagerly
+inquired.</p>
+
+<p>Mr Crawly came up at this moment,
+with his lady upon his arm, and
+Crawly, junior, lounging in his immediate
+rear. The latter was an Adonis
+in his way&mdash;got up with a perfect
+contempt of expense and all propriety.
+Crawly beckoned to Sinclair, who at
+once quitted my side and walked over
+to him, whilst I was left in possession
+of Mrs Crawly and the hopeful. I
+escaped as soon as I could, and seeing
+no more of Sinclair, took my departure
+at a comparatively early hour.</p>
+
+<p>Three nights after this, I was roused
+from sleep in my bed at the Hotel
+Louis Seize, (a comfortable hotel in
+those days, bordering on the marketplace
+in Calais,) by a murmuring
+sound which at first I believed to be
+nothing more than a portion of an unsatisfactory
+dream in which I had
+once again found myself with Rupert
+and his lady in London. Satisfying
+myself that the dream and the sound
+were distinct, I was already again
+midway between the lands of life and
+death, when the tones of a voice
+roused me almost like a cannon-shot
+from my couch, and caused me seriously
+to inquire whether I was sleeping
+or waking, dreaming or acting.
+I could have sworn that the voice I
+had heard belonged to Rupert Sinclair.
+I jumped from my bed, and
+struck a light. It was twelve o'clock
+by my watch. For a few seconds all
+was as silent as the grave; then I
+heard most distinctly a step along the
+passage, into which my bed-room
+conducted&mdash;the sound of a door opening,
+closing, and immediately a heavy
+tread in the adjoining room. Two
+chairs were then drawn close to a
+table; upon the latter a rough-voiced
+man knocked with his fist, and exclaimed
+at the same moment&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"There are the papers, then!"</p>
+
+<p>Surely I had heard that voice before.
+To whom could it belong?
+Whilst I still puzzled my brains to remember,
+another voice replied. It
+was impossible to mistake <i>that</i>. Most
+assuredly it was Rupert Sinclair's.</p>
+
+<p>"I see them!" it said; every syllable
+bringing fresh perspiration on
+my brow.</p>
+
+<p>How came he here? what was
+his business? and with whom? A
+thin partition merely divided my bed-room
+from that in which the speakers
+were. Had I been inclined to close
+my ears against their words, it would
+have been difficult. Anxious, and even
+eager, to obtain knowledge of the
+movements of my friend, I made no
+scruple of listening most attentively
+to every word. Who knew but he
+was in the hands of sharpers, and
+might I not have been providentially
+sent to his rescue? At all events I
+listened, and not a syllable did I suffer
+to escape me.</p>
+
+<p>"I know, my dear young friend,"
+began the rougher voice&mdash;whose but
+General Travis's?&mdash;"that you are
+anxious to do what is best for us all.
+Your interest, you know, is my daughter's,
+and my daughter's is, of course,
+mine. We are all in one boat."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Yes, undoubtedly," said Rupert.</p>
+
+<p>"These debts are very large," continued
+the general.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," replied Sinclair; "and some
+of them must be discharged forthwith.
+Crawly is impatient and angry, and
+accuses me of having used him ill."</p>
+
+<p>"Crawly is a villain," said the general
+hurriedly; "he has made a
+fortune out of you, and now wishes to
+back out. The interest alone that he
+has exacted has been enough to ruin
+you."</p>
+
+<p>"Your messenger, you say, failed
+to see my father?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. His lordship closed his
+doors upon him, and took no notice
+of his letter, in which he asked that
+some amicable arrangement might be
+made with respect to the property
+that must evidently come to you."</p>
+
+<p>There succeeded to this a few sentences
+in an under tone from either
+party, which I could not make out.</p>
+
+<p>"Then what is to be done?" murmured
+Sinclair again in a tone of entreaty.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't be advised by me, my
+friend," said the general in a subdued
+voice, which I strained my ears to
+catch; "God forbid that you should
+reproach me hereafter for advice which
+I tender solely with a view to your
+peace of mind and comfort. Heaven
+knows you have had little peace of
+late!"</p>
+
+<p>Rupert sighed heavily.</p>
+
+<p>"I have for the last week been
+turning the matter over and over seriously.
+As I said before, I can have
+no object but your well-doing, and&mdash;naturally&mdash;my
+child's&mdash;my child's,
+Sinclair&mdash;your loving, and I know,
+beloved wife."</p>
+
+<p>"I believe it," said Rupert.</p>
+
+<p>"Is any one aware of your visit
+here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not a creature."</p>
+
+<p>"Crawly?"</p>
+
+<p>"Was with me the very night I
+started, but he does not suspect. He
+believes that I am now in England."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, my dear friend, I don't
+think I ought to say what"&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>As ill luck would have it, I coughed.
+The general ceased upon the instant,
+and opened his door hastily. I blew
+out my light, and held my breath.</p>
+
+<p>"What was that?" asked the
+general in a whisper.</p>
+
+<p>Both listened for a few seconds,
+and then the general proceeded, still
+whispering.</p>
+
+<p>"There was a man in London
+whom I found in my reverses faithful
+and considerate; an honest man in a
+world of dishonesty and knavery. He
+is well to do in life, and he has visited
+me here. Nay, he is here now&mdash;has
+been here some days; is in this very
+hotel."</p>
+
+<p>"What of him?" asked Rupert.</p>
+
+<p>"We are as brothers, and I have
+entrusted him with the history of
+your affairs. He is willing to assist
+and relieve you; and he can do it, for
+he has a mint of money."</p>
+
+<p>"I must borrow no more, sir,"
+eagerly interposed Sinclair. "My
+liabilities are even now greater than
+I can bear. My income will not pay
+the interest of the money that has
+been advanced."</p>
+
+<p>"And therefore comes my friend in
+the very nick of time to save you. I
+agree with you that it would be ridiculous
+to think of further loans. Your
+only plan now is to sell out and out.
+This you may do advantageously,
+relieve yourself of every incumbrance,
+and retain sufficient for the future, if
+you will be but moderately careful,
+and invest your capital with caution."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you mean?" inquired
+my friend.</p>
+
+<p>The general whispered lower than
+ever, as though ashamed that even
+the bare walls should witness his
+heartless proposition. I gathered his
+suggestion from the quick and anxious
+answer.</p>
+
+<p>"What!" exclaimed Sinclair, "sell
+my inheritance, part with my birth-right?"</p>
+
+<p>"No! neither sell nor part with it&mdash;but
+forestall and enjoy it."</p>
+
+<p>I heard no more. There came a
+gentle knock at the door of the room
+in which Rupert and his father-in-law
+were speaking; the door softly opened,
+and another visitor arrived. Sinclair's
+name was mentioned by way
+of introduction; then the stranger's,
+which escaped me; and shortly afterwards
+the whole party quitted the
+apartment, as it seemed, maintaining a
+dead silence&mdash;for, listen as eagerly as
+I would, not a syllable could I gather.
+Repose was impossible that night.
+After keeping my position for about<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span>
+half an hour, I hastily dressed, and
+sallied forth in quest of information.
+I descended, and inquired of the first
+servant whom I could summon, the
+names of the English gentlemen who
+were then staying in the house. My
+answer was very unsatisfactory.</p>
+
+<p>"There was Milor Anglais," said
+the man who was the great referee
+of the house in all matters pertaining
+to the English tongue, "friend of
+Mons. le General; the gentleman
+as come to-morrow; Monsieur Jones
+who vos arrive yesterday; Monsieur
+Smith, his ami, and Monsieur Sir
+John Alderman, Esquire, vith his
+madame and petite famille. There
+vos none more."</p>
+
+<p>With this imperfect information, I
+returned to my couch, not to sleep,
+but to form some plan that would
+save my unhappy friend from the
+fangs of the sharks who were about
+to sacrifice him to their rapacity.
+He stood upon the very verge of destruction.
+There could be no doubt
+of it. How to get sight of him&mdash;how
+to warn him of his danger&mdash;how
+to help him out of the difficulties
+into which extravagance and wickedness
+had brought him? These were
+some of the questions that crowded
+upon my disturbed mind during the
+whole of the anxious night&mdash;questions
+that easily came&mdash;were less easily
+dismissed, and still less easily answered
+with comfort to myself, or
+with prospect of salvation to my
+friend.</p>
+
+<p>The first individual I saw, upon
+leaving my apartment on the following
+morning, was General Travis
+himself. He was walking hastily
+down-stairs, evidently about to quit
+the hotel. I called his name. He
+started more like the thief "who fears
+each bush an officer," than the traveller
+"who fears each bush a thief,"
+and turned his restless eye upon me.
+At first he pretended not to know me&mdash;then
+he bowed, and continued his
+way.</p>
+
+<p>"One moment, general," said I,
+stopping him. "I have a word to say
+to you."</p>
+
+<p>"I am somewhat pressed for time
+this morning&mdash;but a moment is easily
+spared," replied the general very collectedly.
+He followed me up-stairs,
+and entered my room. I closed the
+door.</p>
+
+<p>"You have seen my friend lately?"
+I asked in nervous haste.</p>
+
+<p>"Your friend?" rejoined General
+Travis. "To whom have I the honour
+to speak?"</p>
+
+<p>His effrontery was amusing. I
+looked at him hard&mdash;but his countenance
+in no way betrayed him.</p>
+
+<p>"My name is Wilson," said I;
+"that of my friend, Rupert Sinclair."</p>
+
+<p>"O&mdash;h! I remember!" exclaimed
+the cunning master, with all the affectation
+of extreme surprise. "And
+how did you leave Sinclair&mdash;gay,
+giddy, and happy as ever?"</p>
+
+<p>I gazed upon the man with a view
+to shame him into blushing. I was
+grievously disappointed. He returned
+me gaze for gaze, and looked unconscious
+innocence itself. I resolved to
+bring our business to a crisis without
+further parley.</p>
+
+<p>"General Travis," I began, "I
+was last night, I will not say the
+unwilling, but certainly the unintentional
+listener to the plan propounded
+by you to my inexperienced friend,
+your son-in-law, of whose presence
+in this town you seem so lamentably
+ignorant."</p>
+
+<p>The general <i>did</i> change colour now.
+He was about to speak, when I stopped
+him.</p>
+
+<p>"Hear me!" I continued aloud
+and sternly. "I know the man with
+whom I have to deal. It is but fair
+that we should be on equal terms. I
+go this day to London to denounce
+your conspiracy, and to prevent its
+success. Your scheme for beggaring
+your children, and enriching yourself,
+clever as it is, is killed in the bud.
+Attempt to carry it out, and the law
+shall reach you even here."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Mr"&mdash;&mdash;interposed
+the general.</p>
+
+<p>"Let us have no argument," I
+proceeded in the same loud tone;
+"my business is to prevent the
+havoc you would bring about, and
+rest assured I will. Make no new
+attempts upon the credulity of your
+victim, and you are safe. Take another
+step in the nefarious business,
+and I solemnly vow to heaven that I
+will not leave you till I have exacted
+a fearful penalty for your crime."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"You really, Mr Wilson, do"&mdash;&mdash;stammered
+the general, with increasing
+awkwardness at every word.</p>
+
+<p>"Where is Mr Sinclair now?" I
+vehemently asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Gone," replied the general.</p>
+
+<p>"Whither?"</p>
+
+<p>"To England."</p>
+
+<p>"Satisfy me of the truth of this&mdash;give
+me your solemn promise to urge
+him no more to the commission of an
+act which insures his ruin, and I leave
+you. Refuse me, and I will expose
+your designs, and brand you to the
+world as the unnatural and cruel destroyer
+I have found you."</p>
+
+<p>The general manifestly believed me
+to be in possession of more than I
+knew. He fairly quailed beneath my
+impetuosity and anger. I had expected
+resistance and battle. I met
+with mean capitulation and fear. He
+shuffled out apologies&mdash;entreated me
+to believe that he was actuated only
+by the sincerest wishes for his children's
+welfare&mdash;indeed, how could it
+be otherwise?&mdash;and assured me that
+although he might have been mistaken
+in the plans he had formed for Mr
+Sinclair's extrication, his motives were
+unquestioned, and as pure as could be.
+Still I might see these things with different
+eyes, and a better remedy might
+suggest itself to me. For his part, he
+should be glad to listen to it, and to
+recommend it to Sinclair's attention.
+At all events, he was prepared to engage
+to proceed no further with the
+transaction of which I had obtained
+knowledge, and all he asked in return
+was, that I should not wait upon Lord
+Railton, and acquaint him with what
+had transpired. To communicate the
+matter to his lordship, would be to
+shut out finally and for ever the last
+hopes of the unhappy children.</p>
+
+<p>My promise was given, as soon as
+I learned for certain that Rupert had
+set sail for London by the packet that
+quitted Calais harbour at an early
+hour that morning. My own business
+urged me to proceed forthwith to
+Paris, but I could not be easy until I
+had secured the fulfilment of General
+Travis's engagement by another interview
+with Rupert. Accordingly, I
+returned to England. My task with
+Sinclair was an easy one. He had
+already had the good sense to discover
+that to part with all that he had in the
+world for a sum that must be dissipated
+in a few years at the most,
+would be an act of madness which no
+amount of pressing difficulty could
+warrant. Moreover, the sum of money
+that was offered by the gentleman
+whose honesty and generosity had
+been so highly lauded by the general,
+had been so shamefully small, that
+Rupert retreated with horror from
+the abyss towards which he had so
+incautiously advanced. I received a
+full assurance from the harassed man
+that he would suffer any extremity
+rather than listen again to similar
+propositions, and then I recommenced
+my journey with an easier conscience.
+So far, a tremendous blow had been
+averted. But what would happen
+next&mdash;what scheme the general would
+next suggest&mdash;what measures the
+very critical condition of Sinclair's
+affairs would make absolutely necessary&mdash;it
+was impossible to guess&mdash;to
+foresee, or to think of without deep
+anxiety and great alarm.</p>
+
+<p>Six months elapsed, and Rupert
+Sinclair was still rapidly descending.
+With increased and increasing liabilities,
+there was more profuseness and
+greater recklessness. No one knew
+better than Rupert himself the folly
+and even sinfulness of his mode of
+life, yet any body would have found
+it easier than himself to put a stop to
+it. He was absorbed in the existence
+of his wife. As I have already said,
+her life was his&mdash;her wishes, her
+thoughts, and aims. She could not
+desire, and he not gratify; she could
+not ask to be a queen amidst the
+throng in which she moved, and he
+not place her on the throne at any sacrifice,
+however costly; at any risk,
+however desperate. This was the
+secret of his misery. And then from
+day to day, he lived bankrupt-like, on
+hope. Something would happen. He
+had faith in the love of his mother, in
+the natural goodness of a father's
+heart. Time would heal the wound
+that had been inflicted; and incline
+them to look with commiseration on
+youthful errors easy to repair.</p>
+
+<p>A glimmering of promise stole forth
+at this crisis of the history. The critical
+position of the ministry for the
+time being, had brought Lord Railton
+and his wife back to England; and I
+resolved, in my eagerness to serve my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span>
+unhappy pupil, to see her ladyship,
+and to make an attempt at reconciliation,
+even if it should be repulsed
+with the insult I had met with at her
+husband's hands. I could not suffer
+Sinclair to sink, so long as one effort
+might save him. I had heard that,
+cold and selfish as Lady Railton was,
+love for her child had been a redeeming
+point in her character from the
+moment of his birth. Feeling surely
+was not dead within her! Could I but
+gain an interview, would it not be easy
+to recall in her heart natural emotions,
+which, though deadened, might never
+be entirely hushed, and to extract
+sympathy from a bosom already inclined
+to pity by love? The attempt
+was a bold one&mdash;but the prize, in the
+event of success, was not small; and
+surely worth a venture. I took courage,
+and was not wholly disappointed.</p>
+
+<p>His lordship, I had heard upon
+inquiry, was generally absent from
+home during the forenoon. One
+morning, at ten o'clock precisely, I
+presented myself at Grosvenor Square,
+and sent my card to her ladyship. I
+was admitted at once. In an elegantly
+furnished boudoir, surrounded
+by all the luxuries that money could
+furnish, or the pampered sense demand,
+I beheld Lady Railton, for the
+first time since the marriage of her
+son. She sat behind an open screen,
+through which she spoke to me, with
+her eyes bent to the table on which
+her arms rested. She had been writing
+at the moment of my announcement;
+and though excited by my
+presence, her countenance betrayed
+more satisfaction than displeasure at
+my visit. A visible change had taken
+place in her. She was much thinner
+than when I saw her last; her eyes
+were sunken, and her cheek was very
+pale; she was evidently suffering
+from the shock which I had occasioned
+her, for her thin lips were tightly
+pressed together, and quivering at the
+corners. I felt deep pity for the slave
+of fashion; but gathered courage also
+from the pleasing exhibition of sensibility
+in one whom God had made a
+mother to save her from heartlessness.</p>
+
+<p>"Shut the door, Mr Wilson," said
+Lady Railton in an under tone, "and
+pray be seated."</p>
+
+<p>I complied with her request.</p>
+
+<p>"You have been somewhat tardy,
+methinks, in finding your way hither,"
+proceeded her ladyship.</p>
+
+<p>I informed her of my visit to Lord
+Railton, and its disagreeable termination.
+She had not heard of it.</p>
+
+<p>"Lord Railton," she continued,
+"has requested me to hold no intercourse
+with my son, and his lordship's
+requests have ever been commands to
+me. I have not disobeyed him. But
+I have looked for you. I made no
+promise to deny admittance to you.
+You were his friend. When did you
+see him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very lately, madam," I answered.</p>
+
+<p>"He is in great difficulty and
+trouble&mdash;is he not?"</p>
+
+<p>I shook my head.</p>
+
+<p>Kind nature pleaded for poor Rupert.
+The mother attempted to speak&mdash;once&mdash;twice:
+her lips trembled:
+she could not: a flood of tears saved
+her from choking.</p>
+
+<p>"He is well?" she asked at length.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," I answered, "but for his
+trials&mdash;which are severe indeed."</p>
+
+<p>"What can be done?" inquired
+Lady Railton.</p>
+
+<p>"To bring him peace of mind&mdash;to
+repair the mischief that has happened&mdash;to
+secure prudence for the future&mdash;to
+save him from utter ruin, I know
+no remedy save reconciliation with
+his parents."</p>
+
+<p>Lady Railton sighed deeply, and
+exclaimed&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Impossible!"</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed!" said I, as if surprised.</p>
+
+<p>"Lord Railton is inexorable. He
+has listened to my appeals unmoved:
+he will listen to them no longer. Unhappy Rupert!"</p>
+
+<p>"Unhappy indeed!" said I.</p>
+
+<p>"His wife is very fair, they say?"</p>
+
+<p>"Lovely, madam!"</p>
+
+<p>"But wilful and extravagant?"</p>
+
+<p>"Wayward, perhaps, but young.
+Oh Lady Railton, do not revenge too
+harshly upon a spoiled child of nature
+and the world, the sins of the world's
+committing. Mrs Sinclair has a warm
+and affectionate heart; she is devoted
+to her husband. Your ladyship's
+friendship and advice would at once
+render her all you could hope to find
+in the wife of your son. Permit me
+to say that the absence of your countenance<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span>
+has alone been sufficient to"&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Alas! you urge in vain. I dare
+not see them!"</p>
+
+<p>"It is a hard saying, madam," I
+rejoined: "may you not live to repent
+it!"</p>
+
+<p>Lady Railton rose from her seat,
+came from behind the screen, and
+paced her small chamber with perturbation.
+She suddenly stopped before
+a cabinet&mdash;a drawer of which she unlocked,
+and produced from it a pocket-book.</p>
+
+<p>"Take this, Mr Wilson," she said
+in a hurried and faltering voice. "I
+dare not see him&mdash;must not correspond
+with him. I am his mother, and I
+feel bitterly, most bitterly for him.
+But I am Lord Railton's wife, and I
+know my duty. He has disgraced us&mdash;irreparably,
+irrecoverably. You
+cannot understand how deep the stain
+is which our name has suffered; you
+cannot calculate the wrong inflicted
+on my husband. Reconciliation is
+hopeless!"</p>
+
+<p>"And this pocket-book, madam?"
+I coldly asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Contains an order on my banker
+for three thousand pounds&mdash;all that I
+have been able to hoard up for my
+unhappy boy since he deserted us.
+The sum, I know, is trifling, compared
+with his exigencies. But what
+can I do? His own conduct has
+rendered me helpless."</p>
+
+<p>Poor Lady Railton, to do her
+justice, suffered much from the struggle
+between maternal feeling and her
+mistaken sense of duty. Her eyes filled
+with tears again, and she sat before
+me sobbing bitterly.</p>
+
+<p>"Let me entreat your ladyship,"
+I exclaimed with animation, "to
+make one effort for the redemption of
+the children whom you may lose for
+ever by the stern course you now
+adopt. Your influence with Lord
+Railton is naturally and deservedly
+very great. I cannot bring myself to
+believe that he will be insensible to
+your appeals, if you will but urge
+them with the earnestness and tenderness
+which so well become you. I
+an satisfied that the difficulties of Mr
+Sinclair would cease at once, and his
+happiness as well as your own be
+secured, if he could find parents and
+advisers in those to whom he has a
+right to look for advice and aid.
+Whatever his extravagance may have
+been, whatever his youthful follies, I
+do implore your ladyship to bear in
+mind, that not he alone is answerable
+for them, but they also in part who
+deserted him in the hour of his greatest
+need. You may save him now&mdash;when
+I next meet your ladyship, the
+time will have passed away."</p>
+
+<p>"Spare me this anguish," said her
+ladyship with assumed calmness.
+"I repeat&mdash;it is impossible. The
+hour may come when it shall be permitted
+me to satisfy the promptings
+of my heart. Till that hour arrives,
+it is but torture to be reminded of my
+inability and weakness."</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon me, Lady Railton&mdash;I have
+done."</p>
+
+<p>I was about to rise, when her ladyship
+checked me.</p>
+
+<p>"In that pocket-book, Mr Wilson,"
+she continued, "you will find a correspondence
+respecting the sale of
+Sinclair's commission."</p>
+
+<p>"His commission!" said I with
+surprise, for I had not heard of his
+desire to sell out before.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. He now awaits a purchaser
+of his commission to be gazetted out.
+I have prevented the sale hitherto.
+Assure him&mdash;not from me, but from
+yourself, that however slender is the
+hope now of his father's ultimate forgiveness,
+he cuts it off entirely by
+that act. Let the commission be
+withdrawn at once from the Horse-guards;
+the draft that accompanies
+the correspondence will make up to
+him the sum he loses.</p>
+
+<p>"Am I to present it as a gift from
+your ladyship?"</p>
+
+<p>"No&mdash;yes&mdash;as you will; but let him
+not write or communicate with me in
+any way. I have engaged to hold no
+intercourse with him, and I cannot
+disobey the injunctions of Lord Railton."
+I rose; her ladyship gave me
+her hand with an expression of good
+will, and then suffered me to depart
+without another word.</p>
+
+<p>Things were really mending. In
+Lady Railton we had unquestionably
+a friend, time and opportunity serving.
+It was of the highest consequence
+to be assured of that. With
+her upon our side, I had no fear of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span>
+eventual peace and harmony, provided
+measures could be taken for present
+difficulties; whilst, without her, every
+effort would have been purposeless, and
+even worse. Nor was this our only
+gleam of sunshine. When I returned
+to Rupert, the glad messenger of good
+tidings, I found that another friend
+had been sent by Providence to the
+rescue. Amongst the many high-born
+and eminent individuals whom the
+beauty and genius of Elinor had attracted
+to the gay habitation of Rupert
+Sinclair, was one who enjoyed, in an
+especial degree, the favour of his sovereign,
+and who was intimately connected
+by ties of blood and friendship
+with the commander-in-chief of his
+majesty's forces. The Earl of Minden
+had little to recommend him beyond
+his influence with the court and
+the powers that were. He belonged
+to an old family, of which he was the
+last lineal representative; was master
+of unbounded wealth, but was selfish,
+grasping, and mean to the last
+degree. He had a small body, but
+still smaller mind. Generation after
+generation, the head of the family to
+which he belonged, had held high
+office in the state, and had helped to
+govern the country without genius for
+statesmanship, or the ordinary ability
+of their humble business men. Office
+came to them as a matter of right,
+and custom had induced a people,
+slow to interfere with prescription, to
+regard the Earls of Minden as divinely
+appointed rulers, whom it
+would be sacrilege to depose. By
+marriage, the Earl of Minden was
+connected with the chief families of
+England: he had represented his king
+and country at the principal courts of
+Europe, where his magnificence and
+prodigality&mdash;for meanness itself may
+be lavish&mdash;had gained for him, as a
+matter of course, inordinate admiration
+and regard. Powerful with the
+ministry&mdash;the owner of four boroughs&mdash;the
+acknowledged friend, and even
+associate of royalty&mdash;what commoner
+did not feel honoured by his patronage?&mdash;what
+noble not gratified by his
+esteem? Lord Minden had but few of
+the weaknesses common to mankind.
+Proud and self-sufficient, he acknowledged
+no supremacy but that of woman.
+The only graceful infirmity of
+which his contemporaries could accuse
+his lordship, and to which posterity
+might point, was the infirmity of the
+best and bravest&mdash;that of a facile
+heart in the affairs of love.</p>
+
+<p>Lord Minden, charmed by the
+bewitching grace of Elinor Sinclair,
+had, as it were, gladly resigned himself
+to its sweet influence. He was
+never happier, after what were deemed
+the fatigues of office, than in the brilliant
+assembly which she could summon
+at her bidding; never so gay as
+when listening at her side to the arch
+sallies which drew smiles of approval
+from lips that seldom cared to relax.
+The overbearing peer was content
+to play the humblest part in the scene
+of which she was the heroine, and to
+which she imparted a life and spirit
+that were sought in vain elsewhere.
+The intervention of Lady Railton had
+been already superseded by the generosity
+of one far more influential.
+The Earl of Minden himself had taken
+Rupert under his all-powerful wing.
+Not only was the commission restored,
+but promises of advancement were
+made, and the most flattering assurances
+of friendship and regard liberally
+offered. Lady Railton's draft, at
+her own request, was applied to the
+payment of a pressing debt. I contrived
+to make her acquainted with
+the new and incalculable acquisition
+that had been made. The information
+had all the effect I could desire; her
+ladyship, dazzled by the brilliancy of
+the prospect, and eager to make as
+much of it as she could, to my great
+astonishment sent for me, and actually
+opened negotiations for an interview
+between herself and her so
+recently discarded son. Oh world!
+world!</p>
+
+<p>Before these negotiations, however,
+could lead to any satisfactory result,
+a new colour was given to the state
+of things, by some incidents of a most
+disagreeable and painful character.
+I was sitting in my room one morning,
+conning in my mind the most advisable
+means to adopt for the presentation
+of Sinclair at the parental abode,
+when a modest knock at my door announced
+a visitor of humble rank.
+My request to "walk in" was timidly
+responded to by a very old friend, in
+the shape of John Humphrys, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span>
+valet of Sinclair, and the oldest servant
+in his establishment. John had nursed
+his master on his knee, having
+been himself nursed in the house of
+Lord Railton's father, whose coachman
+had acknowledged John for his
+son. John had never been married,
+but he loved his master as faithfully
+as though he had been his own child,
+and had resigned as good a situation
+as any in the kingdom to follow the
+fortunes of the exile, whatever they
+might be. With this unbounded
+reverence for Rupert, Humphrys regarded
+Rupert's former instructor in
+the light of a demigod.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, John, is it you?" said I.
+"Step in, old friend, and be seated."</p>
+
+<p>John obeyed awkwardly, twirled
+his hat about, coughed and hemmed,
+but said nothing.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Humphrys, what news?"
+I continued, to give him confidence.</p>
+
+<p>Humphrys shook his head despondingly.</p>
+
+<p>I grew alarmed. "Any thing
+amiss?" I exclaimed. "Mr Sinclair
+ill, or"&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"All well&mdash;in health, sir," stammered
+John&mdash;"all well there. I&mdash;I
+am going, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Going!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir," said Humphrys in a
+whisper, and getting up to close the
+door. "My heart's broke."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't desert your master now,
+John," said I encouragingly. "You
+have weathered the storm hitherto.
+Things are mending. Take my word
+for it, we shall be in smooth water
+presently."</p>
+
+<p>Humphrys shook his head again.</p>
+
+<p>"Never, sir!" said he with emphasis,
+"as sure as my name's John."</p>
+
+<p>"Explain yourself, Humphrys.
+What is it you have learned?"</p>
+
+<p>"Too much, sir. I can bear it no
+longer. It is the common talk of the
+servants! I would have stayed with
+him for a crust till death, but I cannot
+hear him so spoken of."</p>
+
+<p>"You frighten me. Go on."</p>
+
+<p>"I ask your forgiveness, Mr Wilson,"
+proceeded Humphrys, mumbling
+on, "but there are strange things
+said, and I didn't believe them at first,&mdash;and
+I was ready to knock the man
+down that hinted them to me&mdash;and I
+would have done it,&mdash;but I have seen,
+sir&mdash;with my own eyes&mdash;I wish I
+had been blind!" suddenly and passionately
+exclaimed the good fellow,
+his eyes overflowing with honest tears.</p>
+
+<p>"Man, man!" said I hastily and
+vexed. "You talk in riddles. What
+is it you drive at?"</p>
+
+<p>"Can't you guess, sir?" he answered
+meaningly.</p>
+
+<p>"Guess?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir,&mdash;Mrs Sinclair!"</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs Sinclair?"</p>
+
+<p>"And Lord Minden."</p>
+
+<p>"Lord Minden! For God sake"&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Hush, sir!" said John, putting
+his finger to his lips. "I wouldn't
+have any body overhear us for the
+world. But it's true, it's true, as I am
+a living man."</p>
+
+<p>"It is a lie!" I cried&mdash;"an infamous
+and slanderous lie! Some tale of a
+discharged and disappointed servant&mdash;a
+base conspiracy to destroy a good
+man's character. For shame, John
+Humphrys&mdash;for shame!"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't wonder at you, sir," continued
+Humphrys. "They were my
+own words; and, until I was satisfied
+with my own eyes of the truth of
+what I had heard, I wouldn't have
+believed an angel from heaven. God
+knows, Mr Wilson, it is too true. We
+have lived to see terrible things,
+sir."</p>
+
+<p>I entreated Humphrys to be still
+more explicit, and he was so. His
+communication went to show that the
+interference of Lord Minden in the
+affairs of his master was far from being
+disinterested, and that the price to be
+exacted for the preferment was much
+too great to make preferment or even
+life desirable to Rupert Sinclair. If
+I was horrorstruck at this announcement,
+how shall I describe my feelings
+when he further stated, with a serious
+and touching earnestness, that, as he
+hoped for salvation hereafter, he
+firmly believed that Rupert Sinclair
+was a party to his own dishonour. I
+was about to strike the fellow to the
+earth for his audacity; but I reflected
+for a moment, and was relieved of a
+load of oppression. I could have
+laughed outright, so overjoyed did I
+at once become, with the sudden upsetting
+of this tremendous fabrication.
+Sinclair a party to his own dishonour!
+Any thing short of that might have
+found me credulous. That accusation
+would have destroyed the unimpeached<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span>
+evidence of saints. I recovered
+myself and spoke.</p>
+
+<p>"You are an honest man, John
+Humphrys," said I, "a good servant,
+and faithful, I believe. But go your
+ways, and let not the wicked impose
+upon you more. Your tale is too
+good by half. Tell your informants,
+that, if they look for success, they
+must be less ambitious: if they desire
+to bring conviction to their listeners,
+they must not prove so much.
+And beware"&mdash;I proceeded in a more
+serious tone&mdash;"how you give currency
+to the slander you have brought
+to me. You love your master. Show
+your fidelity by treating this calumny
+with the scorn it merits."</p>
+
+<p>"Sir," answered Humphrys, "if I
+were to be called from this world to-night,
+I could not retract the words
+I have spoken. I have not hinted to
+another what, alas! I know to be true.
+You may be sure I have no desire to
+circulate Mr Sinclair's infamy. I
+shall leave his service, for with him I
+can no longer live,&mdash;and you will soon
+learn whether or not I have uttered
+the truth. Oh dear! oh dear!" he
+added, with a sigh of despair,&mdash;"what
+will the world say?"</p>
+
+<p>I dismissed John Humphrys, and
+turned to my own affairs. It was
+neither prudent nor becoming to listen
+further to the revelations of such a
+person; I would not even permit him
+to explain to me how he had arrived
+at the convictions which no doubt he
+honestly entertained. It was sufficient
+to hear the charges he brought
+against poor Rupert, to be convinced
+that the man was grossly deceived;
+that he had been cruelly imposed upon
+by vicious and vindictive men. But,
+could I be otherwise than deeply aggrieved
+by the rumour which had
+arisen, and which was not likely to
+lose on the lips of those who would be
+too eager to give it currency? It was
+a new and unexpected element in the
+complicated misfortunes of Lord Railton's
+house. <i>Unexpected?</i> What,
+Walter Wilson, and had not suspicions
+crossed your mind before, of the probability
+of such slander? Had you
+not many times angrily repulsed intruding
+thoughts that savoured of uncharitableness
+towards the volatile
+and beauteous wife? Had not prejudice
+before her marriage rendered you
+cruel; and experience since&mdash;did it not
+tend, if not to foster cruelty, to sustain
+alarm? <i>But Rupert a party to his
+own dishonour!</i> Monstrous! Ridiculous!
+Absurd!</p>
+
+<p>Either the perseverance of Lady
+Railton, or the magic power of Lord
+Minden's name, had achieved a miracle.
+The stony and stubborn heart of Lord
+Railton was mollified. True, he hesitated
+to forgive his son; true, he
+would not see him; but he graciously
+submitted to be spoken to on his son's
+affairs, and even went so far as to admit
+me to an audience, in order that
+I might explain, as well as I knew
+them, the difficulties under which Mr
+Rupert Sinclair at present laboured.
+The doors of Lord Railton's house
+opened wide on the auspicious morning.
+The sun shone brilliantly in
+Grosvenor Square. The porter was a
+living smile from head to foot. The
+under butler all blandness and honied
+words. He rubbed his hands when
+he received me, bowed patronisingly
+and preceded me to his lordship's
+study with the air of one who knew
+which way the wind was, and that it
+was blowing pleasantly. There was a
+frozen air about the house when I had
+visited his lordship before&mdash;now it was
+summer-like and warm. Then every
+thing seemed bound with iron clasps,&mdash;men's
+mouths, and hearts, and
+minds; and even doors and windows.
+Now, every thing looked free and open,
+pleasant, hospitable, inviting. Could
+it be that I had changed,&mdash;or was it
+only that Lord Railton's note was
+different, and that the universal heart
+of that great house had pitched itself
+to the prevailing key?</p>
+
+<p>No word of apology was offered for
+former rudeness. His lordship, as
+before, presented me with his finger,
+and then proceeded to our business.
+He had heard, he said, of Lord Minden's
+kind interference on behalf of
+his son, who was indeed most unworthy
+of his lordship's favourable notice;
+nay, he had been spoken to by Lord
+Minden himself, and desirous as he
+was at all times to comply with the
+wishes of any member of His Majesty's
+government, he could not but feel,
+that when their wishes pointed to the
+advancement of his own flesh and
+blood, there was additional reason for
+listening, to all they had to urge. For<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span>
+his part, if Lord Minden should feel
+justified in extending his patronage to
+Mr Sinclair, he, Lord Railton, on his
+side, should deem it a matter of grave
+consideration, whether it would not be
+advisable to extricate the object of
+Lord Minden's favor from the liabilities
+which he had thoughtlessly incurred.
+Not that Mr Sinclair must look
+for pardon&mdash;or reconciliation&mdash;yet;
+that is to say, until Lord Minden
+should be satisfied that his protégé
+had deserved the gracious favour of
+His Majesty, and had shown himself
+worthy of the condescension, &amp;c. &amp;c.
+&amp;c.</p>
+
+<p>The upshot of the long harangue was,
+that as soon as Lord Minden should aid
+in promoting Sinclair, Lord Railton
+would be ready to pay his debts&mdash;and
+to receive terms for peace, provided
+the patronage of the commander-in-chief
+continued to rest upon the fortunate
+scapegrace, and His Majesty
+thought him still a fit object for the
+exercise of his royal favour. Translated
+into honest English, Lord Railton's
+proposition was neither more nor
+less than this,&mdash;"I will forgive my
+son, as soon as circumstances render
+my forgiveness not worth a button
+to him. I will withhold it so long as
+it is necessary to save him from ruin,
+and to restore him to tranquillity."
+A right worldly proposition too!</p>
+
+<p>Lord Railton requested, as a preliminary
+step, to be informed of the
+exact state of his son's affairs; and I,
+as mediator, undertook to lay it before
+his lordship. I quitted the mansion
+in Grosvenor Square to procure at
+once the necessary documents from
+Sinclair. Approaching the house of
+the latter, I perceived standing before
+the door two horses and a groom. I
+advanced, knocked, and was informed
+that groom and horses were the
+property of the Earl of Minden,
+who was then with Mrs Sinclair, and
+that Mr Sinclair himself was from
+home. I had no right to feel uncomfortable
+at this announcement, yet
+uncomfortable I was, in spite of myself.
+"When does Mr Sinclair return?"
+I asked.</p>
+
+<p>The two lackeys who listened to
+my question exchanged an almost
+imperceptible smile, and replied, that
+"they could not tell." That smile
+passed like a dagger to my heart.</p>
+
+<p>I hesitated for a moment&mdash;left my
+card&mdash;and then withdrew.</p>
+
+<p>I had not proceeded to the corner
+of the street before I turned round
+instinctively, and without a thought.
+To my joy I perceived Rupert making
+his way from the other extremity of
+the street to his own door. I moved
+to meet him. He came nearer and
+nearer&mdash;approached within sight of
+the horses and groom&mdash;and then
+turned back. What did it mean?
+Why did he not go home? I grew
+giddy with coming apprehensions.
+Whilst I stood motionless on the path,
+I felt a touch upon my shoulder. I
+perceived John Humphrys.</p>
+
+<p>"Here, sir," said the man, "you
+have seen with your own eyes what I
+have seen every day for the last
+month. As soon as Lord Minden arrives,
+Mr Sinclair goes out, and never
+returns until he takes his departure.
+If he should by chance return whilst
+his lordship's horse is standing there,
+he walks away, and does not think
+of coming back until"&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"It is a lie! a dream!" I exclaimed,
+almost bewildered. "It cannot be!"</p>
+
+<p>"I wish to say nothing, sir," proceeded
+Humphrys. "You have seen,
+you have seen!"</p>
+
+<p>"I have! I have!" I cried, coming
+to myself. "I wash my hands of
+him and his. Father of Heaven! can
+such wickedness exist&mdash;and in <i>him</i>, in
+<i>him</i>? But I have done with him for
+ever!"</p>
+
+<p>And so saying, I fled maniac-like
+from the accursed spot, and vowed in
+my excitement and indignation to return
+no more. I kept my word.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span></p>
+<h2>MORE ROGUES IN OUTLINE.</h2>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+<h3><span class="smcap">The Sick Antiquary.</span></h3>
+
+<div class="cpoem3">
+<span class="i0">"Aspettar e non venire,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Star in letto e non dormire.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Son' due cose da morire."<br /></span>
+<br />
+
+<span class="i2"><i>Italian Proverb.</i><br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Three</span> years are passed since we
+last visited Herr Ascherson, and we
+once more find ourselves, with considerably
+improved tact and knowledge,
+both as to virtuosi and virtu,
+ringing at the well-known bell! On
+the door being unbarred to us, we are
+sorry to hear that he is now a great
+invalid, and confined to bed. "I
+hope we don't disturb you, Mr Ascherson,"
+said we, as a half-witted slattern
+of fifty opened the door of
+the sick man's room, and discovered
+to us something alarmingly
+like Cheops redivivus, reclining on a
+Codrus-looking couch, which was too
+short to receive his whole body save
+diagonally, in which position he accordingly
+lay. Upon hearing these
+words, the much-swathed object suddenly
+draws itself up in bed; and
+after looking keenly to make us out
+in the dusk, (as if he suspected a visit
+of cajoling rather than condolence.) his
+eye lost its anxious look, and his features
+gradually expanded, when he saw
+at a glance that we were come, not to
+cheat, but to cheer him. The first
+words he uttered were&mdash;"<i>Ja, ja</i>; dat
+is mein nobil freund the Doctor;" and
+then, falling back, he resigned himself
+to his pains, like a man who has been
+long trained to suffer. We ask after
+his health. The poor invalid shakes
+his head, and tells us, groaning, that
+he was "sehr krank, very ill indeed;
+had much dolors but no slipp;" apologising
+also for having sent for some
+10 pi. which we owed him, and which
+"it was need," so he told us, "to pay
+his medicine mit." Really concerned
+to see one whom we had so recently
+known under worldly circumstances
+so unlike the present, so suffering,
+so poor, and so solitary, we told him
+that we had been intending to call on
+him that very day for that very
+purpose&mdash;observing, by way of consoling
+his feelings, that it was not to
+be expected "that a man who had
+laid out so much money of the <i>present</i>
+currency to procure fine specimens
+of one that was out of date,
+could be quite so well off in ready
+cash as those whose money was all
+in hard coin at their bankers. "<i>Ja,
+ja</i>," it was even so; and then, his
+pains remitting for a moment, he proceeded
+to explain, for our satisfaction,
+how he had become so short of the
+needful supplies. "Tis three monate
+seyne mein freund Vinhler went to
+Paris&mdash;(an honest and heart-good
+man, Mr Vinhler)&mdash;to whom this
+commission I consign:&mdash;'See you give
+a careful <i>eye-blink</i> to this 9000 ducats,
+which you must take mit you to
+Paris. There in the house of Furet
+you shall <i>become</i> some moneys, which
+you shall send to me directly; and
+mit these ducats you shall also pay
+their consignment.' Well, it was a
+simple <i>direct</i>, als any childer might
+do. So Vinhler takes my money,
+gets to Paris, calls and <i>pays</i> Mr Furet,
+and writes that he will be back in
+<i>Neapoli</i> in a week. So I stay! Drei
+monate I stay, and no Mr Vinhler
+come! Then lastly, when I hav begin
+to <i>scold myself</i>, two days seyne,
+comes <i>eine briefe</i>, and says, 'I hav been
+stopt here for three weeks by what I
+then foresaw not when I did write you
+lastly. I am promised to marry Herr
+Furet's daughter, and we mak the
+marriage in eine monate. I am sorry
+for the delay about your monete, but
+shall bring them mit Mrs Vinhler and
+myself to Neapoli, when we arrive!"
+So, while he is happy mit his Julia in
+Paris, I cannot <i>become</i> my Julias
+that I hav bought; and I hav lost
+much by this man's delay. Ah! (continued
+he,) <i>whenever</i> he had felt mein
+dolors," (the poor man had now
+wrought himself up into a painful excitement,)
+"my no slipp, this <i>unendlich</i>
+irritation, this torment to pay the
+Doctor, for no gute&mdash;my loss of practice,
+my loss of friends, my physique<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span>
+so bad, <i>mein eine samkeit</i> so dull&mdash;he
+should surely have sent me that <i>cassetta</i>
+of coins to make me a little more
+gay." Being obliged to quit Naples
+suddenly, we left him in the midst of
+his pains, which had been wholly unrelieved
+by our medication; fretting
+more and more daily at the non-arrival
+of his friend; with nobody to
+<i>visit</i> him but the needy Leech, who,
+having asked himself&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i0">"And will my patient <i>pay</i>?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And <i>can</i> he swallow draughts until his dying day?"<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>thinks no further <i>self</i>-interrogatory
+needful; with none to <i>inquire</i> after
+him, save only the peasants, whose
+findings he is too ill to look at, and
+too poor to purchase; and Death's
+grim <i>auctioneer, who undertakes</i> for the
+district; and who, when he has made
+the daily inquiry at his door, not to
+lose further time, begins to ply his
+small hammer, and is tap-tap-tapping
+away for somebody else, till <i>wanted</i>.
+Oh! who would change places with
+a sick antiquary, whose <i>conscience</i>,
+though he sleeps, is awake to torment
+him, and whose dreams, if he
+dream, are of rifled tombs, profaned
+temples, Charon and his boat!</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i0">"Nocte, brevem si forte indulsit cura soporem,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Et toto versato toro, jam membra quiescunt,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Continuo <i>templum et violati numinis aras</i>,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Et quod præcipuis mentem sudoribus urget,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Se <i>vidit</i> in somnis!"<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+<h3><span class="smcap">Old Ignazio.</span></h3>
+
+<div class="cpoem4">
+<span class="i0">"Oh dear! what can the matter be?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Oh dear! what shall I do?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Nobody coming to Jockey, and<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Nobody coming to <i>Jew</i>!"<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>What quondam collector at Rome
+but must recollect that snuffy and
+gruffy old fellow, Ignazio Vesconali,
+who lives at the bottom of <i>Scalirata</i>,
+and has grown old with the Piazza
+itself! Go down at any hour of the
+day, and there he was sure to be,
+either blinking away through his blue
+goggle glasses, with his cap on, at his
+door, or at a little shabby table fumbling
+over curiosities; or creeping
+over to the coffee-house opposite, to
+toddle back again, with his cotton
+pocket-handkerchief, his snuff-box,
+and his key in hand, to re-arrange his
+treasures, and utter lamentations that
+nobody any longer comes to buy.
+On such occasions we have sometimes
+entered; and after a "<i>buon giorno</i>,"
+and a remark on the weather, (which,
+if you abused it, however injuriously,
+always secured you his assent; for
+he quarrels now even with the calendar,)
+he expected you to <i>hope</i> he had
+sold something lately, to afford him
+an opportunity to say, "<i>Ma ché, ma
+niente</i>;" and then you had to sit and
+listen while he told you all his grievances&mdash;how
+once "a dozen English
+noblemen had stood <i>all of a row there</i>,"
+and he showed you where, in his shop,
+fighting for his wares, and buying
+them almost quicker than he could
+register the purchases they made;
+and how sometimes he could sell 500
+scudi worth of property before breakfast,
+and get an appetite by doing so!
+No! there was not a man of note in
+England, that had not some day or
+other been <i>booked</i> by him. All <i>their</i>
+kindness, no doubt&mdash;and then they
+came not to tease poor Ignazio,
+but to buy of him. Now a different
+set of customers dropt in one
+by one to look at his gems, and to
+find nothing good enough for them;
+some tumbling over his antiques, and
+offering a scudo for his best onyxes;
+"<i>uno scudo, Santissima Maria Virgine!</i>"
+others adventuring a whole
+paul! a price for his best Consular
+coins!&mdash;<i>ah! gli avari!</i> The earth too,
+once so bountiful, was now as avaricious
+of parting with her treasures as
+the English themselves. The fields had
+ceased to yield their former supplies;
+and the peasants about Rome would
+scarce stoop to picking up rubbish,
+for which, however, they always
+wanted Ignazio's money. "Ah, poor<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span>
+old man!&mdash;<i>che vecchio?</i> old man forsooth!
+say rather an old dotard, who
+is unfit to buy, to bargain, or to
+live!" And then he would ventriloquize
+once more to himself. "Ah,
+poor Ignazio! ah, poor old man! your
+day is indeed gone by." Such appeals
+were irresistible. So, whenever we
+had a few scudi to spare, (and it was
+not quite discreet to go into his shop
+without,) we used to beg to see some
+of his boxes of engraved stones; and
+having pored for a time over wares
+that had been examined by the most
+cunning eyes in Rome, would find
+one of better workmanship, and stop
+to inquire its price. "<i>Quanto</i>, Signor
+Ignazio?" and while Signor Ignazio
+was recollecting himself, we glanced
+on from one to the other, (the great
+rule in bargaining being never to appear
+to know what you are bargaining
+for!) "<i>Per cinque scudi vi lo do.</i>"
+Viewed thus in the light of a donation,
+we would think it too high, and
+tell him so. "Take it for four, then&mdash;<i>pigliate
+lo per quattro</i>;" and at this
+fresh concession he would grunt a
+little, like a tame seal in a water-tub!
+Still we would hesitate, and dare to
+offer two. "For every body else, he
+had said <i>impossible</i>,&mdash;for us we were
+<i>padronissimi</i> to take it, as the old
+man's gift, on our own terms." So
+we would put it up, and then, elated
+at our <i>bargain</i>, and at his respect for
+us, we would remove another "<i>intaglio</i>"
+from the box; and this time,
+naming our own price, say with perfect
+nonchalance, "<i>due scudi</i>." The
+old fellow would then fumble it up
+in his snuffy old gloves, and bring it
+near his snuffy old nose; and having
+wiped his snuffy old magnifier, would
+bend his blue goggle glasses over it&mdash;and
+having <i>screamed</i>&mdash;"<i>Che! due
+scudi?</i> what do you mean by two scudi?
+A stone of this beauty! a living head
+of Medusa&mdash;a front face, too&mdash;for two
+scudi! The serpents in the hair were
+worth more money&mdash;one-half of such
+a head, were the stone in <i>two</i>, would
+be worth more money." And then
+would come in the antistrophe as before&mdash;"<i>Ah,
+povero Ignazio! povero
+vecchio!</i>"&mdash;and we would be shocked,
+and declare with compunction that we
+had no intention to cheat him; and
+he, already "<i>persuasissimo</i> of that,"
+would beg us to say no more, but to
+put it into our pocket for <i>three</i>. After
+these preliminaries were settled and
+paid for, we would be contented to
+hear him once more recount the tale
+of his younger days, when he had the
+antiquity business all to himself; when
+he married his first wife; had dealings
+with Demidoff; and knew all
+that were worth knowing in Rome&mdash;both
+buyers and sellers. "Old age,
+Signor, is preparing me fast to give
+up both my business and my life!
+Buy, buy, now's your time, <i>eccomi</i>!
+an old man who wants to sell off
+every thing! name your prices! Don't
+be afraid, you may offer me any thing
+<i>now</i>." "Three scudi?" "Impossible I
+should let you have it for that. It cost
+me five; but never mind! there's the
+mask at three scudi. Take it! Any
+thing else?" "This intaglio?" "You
+are a capital judge, or you would not
+have thus picked out my <i>best</i> intaglio&mdash;will
+no colonnati suit?" "No."
+"Will you be pleased if I prove my
+friendship for you by sacrificing it at
+fifteen?" No! "There, take it as our
+third gift for twelve; but, oh that I
+should have lived to sell it for that,
+<i>even to you</i>! But you will come and
+see me again; I know you will, <i>Dottore
+mio!</i> And sure you might contrive
+to spend a few more <i>fees</i> with
+me than you do, and be all the richer
+for it into the bargain&mdash;what fine opportunities
+<i>you</i> must have of selling
+things to your patients, especially to
+the <i>donne</i>! I wish I was a doctor,
+that I might carry on my business for
+a year or two longer!"</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+<h3><span class="smcap">Signor Dedomenicis.</span></h3>
+
+<p>"I have a hundred questions to ask,"
+said we, turning into Dedomenicis'
+curiosity-shop, and casting a furtive
+glance behind his old armour and
+arras hangings, to see that there was
+no other confidant to whom we might
+be betraying our ignorance. "<i>Dunque</i>&mdash;well
+then, one at a time; <i>è
+s'accommodi</i>&mdash;make yourself at
+home," said the old dealer, pushing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span>
+us a chair, and looking humanely
+communicative, as he adjusted to his
+temples a huge pair of spectacles, and
+stood at our side ready to be interrogated.</p>
+
+<p>An old dealer, like a young beauty,
+when you are together, expects something
+flattering to be said about his
+eyes, so "we wished ours were as
+good as his." He said, "they were
+younger." "But what was the use of
+young eyes, or of any eyes," said we,
+disparaging our own, "that could not
+make out the wholesomeness of a coin,
+nor distinguish the patina of antiquity
+from vulgar verdigris?"</p>
+
+<p>Dedomenicis' <i>cough</i> convinced us
+that this sentiment of ours was not
+very far from what he himself believed
+to be the truth, only he was too polite
+to <i>say</i> so.</p>
+
+<p>"There!" said we, "look at these
+bronze bargains of ours, these two
+<i>counterfeit</i> coins, which have not been
+a week in our possession, and which
+C&mdash;&mdash; has already declared to be
+false! Oh! would <i>you</i> not have
+deemed it a happier lot to put up with
+a blameless blindness, and all its evils,
+rather than, having eyes in your head,
+to have disgraced them by such a
+purchase?" Dedomenicis glances one
+glance at the false Emperors, and then
+passes a sentence which banishes them
+for ever from the society of the Cæsars;
+while he <i>wonders</i> how we could have
+hoped to buy a real Piscennius and a
+Pertinax in the same adventure, and
+both so well preserved too?</p>
+
+<p>"Were we ignorant of the prices
+usually set upon the heads of all those
+emperors who had enjoyed but a few
+weeks' reign?" Did not every body,
+for instance, know that the African
+Gordians, both father and son, were,
+in <i>bronze</i>, worth their weight in gold?
+that a Vitellius in bronze was cheap
+at six pounds? and that he might be
+considered fortunate indeed who could
+convert his spare ten-pound notes
+into as many Pertinax penny-pieces,
+or come into the possession of a half-penny
+or a second module, as it is
+called, of Pescennius Niger, at the
+same price? Did not every body
+know that Domitia was coy at £20,
+and stood out for £25? That Matidia,
+Mariana, and Plotina smiled upon
+none who would not give £40 to possess
+them, and that Annia Faustina
+was become a priceless piece? Had
+we been so long returned to Rome
+and not yet heard of the Matidia now
+in the keeping of our gallant countryman,
+General A&mdash;&mdash;, who was
+jealous (at least so B&mdash;&mdash; had told
+him) of showing her even to his best
+friends, lest she should prove too much
+for their virtue to withstand, and
+slept with her, and could not snore
+securely unless she was by his side?
+Well, he had paid £40 for her at
+Thomas's sale in London, and Rollin,
+on seeing her in Paris, would have
+gladly detained her there for £50, but
+the general was not to be bribed;
+"so you see, <i>dottore mio</i>, it costs a
+good deal to collect coins even in the
+baser metal." "So it would appear,
+indeed, Dedomenicis; and the next
+time a Pertinax in bronze turns up,
+we will most <i>pertinaciously</i> refuse to
+bid for him; or if another Pescennius
+should ever again cross our path, we
+will mutter 'Hic <i>Niger</i> est,' and remember
+to have nothing to do with
+him."</p>
+
+<p>"And I think," said the old fellow,
+slily taking off his spectacles, and
+placing them on the table,&mdash;"I think
+you will not lose much if you adhere
+to your present intention."</p>
+
+<p>"And yet it is annoying not to
+know the difference between the works
+of those <i>Paduan</i> brothers, of a recent
+century, and such as really belong to
+the old Roman mint;" saying which
+we began to study them afresh, as a
+policeman would do to a rogue, whom
+he expected to meet again. "Is this
+knowledge, dear Dedomenicis, to be
+acquired 'per càrita?' let us not waste
+our time, if it be not." "<i>Lei lo sapra!</i>
+it will come in good time. <i>Pazienza!</i>
+be patient! you know our proverb&mdash;'time
+and straw ripen medlars,' and
+your judgment will mature in time,
+<i>just as the medlars do</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Crude as an unripe medlar though
+our judgment certainly then <i>was</i>, still
+the prospect of its <i>mellowing into unsoundness
+at last</i> was by no means
+consolatory; and so we told him,
+pocketing our false coins, and going
+home to consult the memorandum of
+their price,&mdash;here it is! <i>Eccola!</i> as it
+was most ingeniously registered by us
+at the time&mdash;"Nov. 7, 1840&mdash;Bought<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span>
+to-day of a peasant on his way from
+Ricci to Rome, two <i>beautiful coins</i>, a
+Pertinax and a Pescennius Niger, in
+<i>perfect preservation</i>! only paid £5 for
+the two!! the <i>simple</i> contadino, who
+can't read the epigraphes, asks whether
+they are not Nero's!!"<a name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a></p>
+
+<p>A ring at the bell, and our courier
+has announced Signor Dedomenicis.
+"By all means, show him in then,"&mdash;for
+he had come, a year later, to see
+coins we had picked up during our
+summer trip to Sicily. "There," said
+we gaily, and to put him in a good
+humour at once, (for the remark
+showed we had made ourselves master
+of his physiognomy),&mdash;"there, Dedomenicis,
+is a Ptolemy Evergetes,
+who was, to judge by his coins, your
+very prototype&mdash;it is your nose&mdash;your
+chin&mdash;your"&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Suppose you make it mine altogether
+then," said he slily; but we
+"prized it too much, on this very
+account, to part with it!" After
+which we go to the nearest cabinet in
+the room&mdash;unlock the door, take out
+drawer No. 1, marked Sicilian, and
+<i>rare</i>; and in the pride of our young
+beginnings, and little knowing what
+we were to bring upon ourselves in
+so doing,&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i0">"Midst hopes, and fears that kindle hopes.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">A pleasing anxious throng;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And shrewd suspicions often lull'd,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But now returning strong,"&mdash;<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>we hand over the tray to Dedomenicis,
+whose running commentary, as soon
+as he had brought it into the field of
+his spectacles, was really appalling;
+and he plied it as destructively as a Sikh
+battery, or a Perkins's steam gun.</p>
+
+<p>Prepared to see him take out the
+first coin in the row, to subject it to
+his magnifier, to turn it round, now
+on this side, now on that, and then
+to pause, ere he could decide upon it,
+little could we have supposed that in
+a second his battery was to commence
+fire; and that in less than a minute,
+he would have passed a summary sentence
+upon every coin of the lot.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>One&mdash;two&mdash;three.</i>"&mdash;Thus it began;
+"<i>roba commune</i>&mdash;common as
+blackberries; (four, five, six,) <i>niente
+di buono</i>&mdash;good for what you can get
+for them; (seven, eight, nine,) <i>Idem</i>;
+(ten, eleven, twelve,) <i>Idem</i>; thirteen,
+<i>not</i> of Messina, as it pretended to be;
+and here had sold us a <i>Neapolitan cat</i>
+in place of a <i>Sicilian hare</i>!" "<i>Come!</i>
+a cat?" (for we called to mind what
+each of puss's <i>nine</i> lives had cost us,
+and determined to die game for it),
+"<i>that</i> coin a <i>counterfeit</i>?" "Sī&mdash;Sīg-nō-rĕ!"
+in that sort of sing-song
+gamut twang in which one Roman
+answers another's incredulity&mdash;"<i>anzi
+falsīssimo</i>," with a most provoking
+lengthening out of the second syllable
+of that most provoking superlative;
+he knew all about its fabrication; the
+<i>gentleman</i> who made these coins was
+an acquaintance&mdash;not a <i>friend</i> of his;
+the original coin being in request, and
+somewhat expensive, he had contrived
+to get up a new issue of the Messina
+Hare,<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> which was much in vogue,
+and seemed, like Gay's Hare, to court
+an extensive acquaintance, and many
+friends. "That <i>Himera</i><a name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> hen is of a brood
+that never lays golden eggs, and the
+sooner you can get rid of her the better.
+Time was when such poultry fetched
+its price; now, thanks to the prolific
+process of our modern hatchings, we
+see her as often in the market as widgeon,
+snipe, or plovers. <i>That's</i> a fine
+lion; 'tis a pity you've no lioness to
+match him; but one such real <i>Rhegium
+leone</i> is worth a host of counterfeits,&mdash;'<i>unus,
+sane, at Leo</i>'. As to your
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span>
+Ptolemies' eagles here, at least they
+are well preserved, and that always
+should give a coin some claim to a
+place in a <i>beginner's</i> collection; though
+to us dealers, who see many of them,
+these eagles at last become somewhat
+uninteresting and vulgar birds. What
+a collection is here of Hieros<a name="FNanchor_57_57" id="FNanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> on
+horseback, all in good plight too!
+Well, I might have bought <i>in</i> or <i>out</i> of
+these ranks myself; but <i>I</i> should not,
+I think, like you, have purchased the
+whole troop&mdash;of course you paid but
+little for them." "Yes," said we
+timidly, "not overmuch, not more
+than they were worth perhaps, six
+pauls a-piece," and we coughed nervously,
+and expected him to speak encouragingly;
+but he said nothing, and
+proceeded with his scrutiny of our box.
+"<i>Per Bacco!</i> What a quantity of cuttlefish!
+Methinks Syracuse has rather
+overdone you with her <i>Lobigo</i>, but
+<i>that</i> at least is genuine, for 'tis too
+cheap to make money of by imitation.
+This of <i>Naxos</i> will do. <i>This</i> of Tarentum,
+<i>va bene!</i> this of <i>Locri, corresponde</i>."
+A faint "bravo!" escapes
+him on taking up an Athenian Tetradrachm,
+with the <i>Archer's</i> name on
+the field; but he takes no note, has
+no "winged words" to throw away
+upon our winged horses, though every
+nag of them, we know, came from
+Corinth or from Argos.</p>
+
+<p>The bearded corn of Metapontus,
+with Ceres or Mars on the reverse:
+Arion on his dolphin&mdash;that beautiful,
+most beautiful of coins&mdash;were, together
+with sundry others, all too
+common for his antiquarian eye to
+take pleasure in; he sought something
+less frequently presented to it, and at
+last he found it in a Croton coin with
+a rare reverse, which, "would we
+sell him, he would take at twenty
+dollars, and pay us in <i>living</i> silver."
+A bow told him we were not disposed
+to part with it. And now he comes
+to what we consider to be our finest
+piece,&mdash;our Lipari bronze! And on it
+is a fat <i>dolphin</i> sporting on a <i>green</i>
+sea. Dedomenicis' manner is vastly
+discouraging, and we are prepared for
+new disappointment, yet we could
+have sworn that <i>that</i> coin was genuine.
+But if false, as he believes it to be,
+why then not have done with it? why
+put it down to take it up <i>again</i>? why
+ask whether <i>we</i> don't repute it false,
+when he knows we know nothing of
+the matter? And why <i>mouse</i> it so
+closely under his keen eye, and look
+round the rim of it, and examine the
+face of it, and appear as if he would
+penetrate into its very soul,<a name="FNanchor_58_58" id="FNanchor_58_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> and get
+at its history? Oh! 'tis all right, then;
+if "he may be mistaken," doubtless
+he <i>is</i> so: and this is confirmed by his
+now proposing&mdash;thinking an exchange
+no robbery, of course&mdash;to exchange
+it for us. Ingenuous man! who hadst
+twice invoked the saints and the
+Madonna in our behalf when thou
+heardest the price we paid for our
+unlucky Hare; and when thou knewest
+how C&mdash;&mdash; had beguiled us into
+taking, and paying for a <i>Roman</i>, the
+price of an <i>Etruscan</i> "As;" and now
+thou wouldst have robbed us of our
+best coin, have deprived us of the
+very <i>Delphin classic</i> of our collection;
+it won't do! Our Messenian hare is
+welcome, but, old æruscator, we cannot
+let you swim away on our dolphin;
+and we rise to <i>replace him</i> in our
+<i>monetaro</i> accordingly.</p>
+
+<p>A third interview with Dedomenicis
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span>
+is recorded in our entry-book of
+such matters.&mdash;"Here are the coins,
+Signor, which you gave me to clean
+last week: they are ten in number,
+for which you owe me as many
+pauls.&mdash;<i>Eccole!</i>" "Ah," said we,
+"you have not made much of them,
+I fear." "Look and see," was the
+laconic reply. By which time we
+had taken up the first, and were
+pleased to find that an Augustus,
+whose lineaments we could hardly
+recognise, when we gave him to Dedomenicis
+to <i>scale</i>, had come back to
+us perfectly restored. "Why, Dedomenicis,"
+said we, "this is a restitution
+better than Trajan's, of this very
+Emperor's coinage; for that, after all,
+was but the <i>imitation</i> of an old mint;
+but yours the <i>restoration</i> of the old
+one itself. Henceforth I prefer <i>Dedomenicis'
+restituit</i> to <i>Trajan's restituit</i>."
+"Well, then, when you have looked
+over the others, you will, I dare say,
+pay these and them at the same rate,
+as if they had been the issues of that
+Emperor."<a name="FNanchor_59_59" id="FNanchor_59_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> We were indeed surprised
+at what we saw, so much had
+all our coins gained by the process to
+which Dedomenicis had subjected
+them. The second we took up represented
+the <i>Ostian harbour</i>, (Portus
+Ostiensis.) We had given it to him
+with a <i>foul bottom</i>&mdash;it was restored to
+us with its basin cleared out, and
+with all its shipping, just as it used to
+look in the days of Nero; in another,
+the whole arena of the Colosseum had
+been disencumbered; in another,
+Antonine's column shone bright from
+top to bottom; here we saw <i>Honos et
+Virtus</i> (honour and military prowess)
+again taking the field; here the scales
+of Justice once more appeared, and
+librated freely in her hand; here
+Hope resumed her green trefoil; Pudicity
+<i>un</i>veils her face; and there sat
+Fecundity on a curule seat, with all
+her family about her; lastly, there
+were those three scandalous sisters of
+Caligula&mdash;the Misses <i>Money</i> (Moneta,)<a name="FNanchor_60_60" id="FNanchor_60_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a>&mdash;standing
+together with their
+arms intertwined, and their names at
+their backs. All these ten restitutions
+cost only ten pauls! "And how did
+you manage to clean then so well,
+Dedomenicis?" "<i>Col tempo ed il
+temperino</i>,"&mdash;with time and a penknife:
+"<i>Ma ci vuo il genio</i>,"&mdash;you
+must have a talent for it.</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+<h3><span class="smcap">Scaling a Coin.</span></h3>
+
+<p>"<i>Ci vuo il genio</i>,"&mdash;he was right;
+and think you 'tis so easy or simple
+a thing to clean a coin? to unmask
+an empress, pertinacious in
+her disguise, or to <i>scrape</i> acquaintance
+with emperors? Try it;&mdash;not
+that you will succeed; but that
+the difficulties which you are thus
+made to encounter in the attempt,
+will dispose you the more readily to
+do justice to the skill of those who
+succeed in this delicate process, which,
+like the finer operations of surgery,
+requires at once precision and address,
+great nicety in the handling of your
+instrument; while the importance attached
+to the operation itself makes
+the successful performance of it not a
+little desirable. The penknife, guided
+by a <i>dexterous</i> hand, may light upon
+a discovery that has been buried for
+ages; and a pin's point may make
+revelations sufficient to adjust some
+obscure point in history. Who knows
+what face may now lie hid (<i>facies
+dicatur an ulcus?</i>) under some obscure
+coating of paste? What an it be a
+Vitellius; what if a Pertinax should
+reveal himself? or suppose, when you
+have removed the foul <i>larvæ</i>, you <i>undermine</i>
+a Matidia! a Plotina!! an
+Annia Faustina!!! and your fortune
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span>
+is made! 'Tis a lottery, we admit.
+But the very principle of the excitement&mdash;the
+charm is, that you know
+not what <i>may</i> turn up; for a less
+chance, you may possibly have
+bought a "Terno" in a Frankfort
+lottery, the chance of an estate on the
+Moselle! But there are small prizes
+to be picked up occasionally&mdash;and
+here's a case in point:&mdash;"I was one
+day sauntering," said our friend
+C&mdash;&mdash;, "by the tomb of Cecilia
+Metella, when a peasant came up with
+a handful of very dirty-looking coins,
+so firmly encrusted with mortar, that
+it seemed absurd to attempt its removal.
+Having nothing particular
+to do, and liking the wild quiet of the
+spot, I gave some 'baiocchi' to the
+man; and taking my seat on a bit of
+the old aqueduct, I opened my penknife,
+and began to scrape away. At
+first I saw the <i>trace</i> of a letter; and
+digging round it, I at length disinterred
+a large M&mdash;&mdash;a Roman M! It
+was probably Maximin, or his son
+Maximus, that I then had under my
+thumb; but it <i>might</i> be a Marinus,
+in which case it was a valuable coin;
+so I wrought on with renewed vigour,
+and presently an <i>L</i> was in the <i>field</i>.
+A better prospect this than the last;
+for if it turned out to be an Æmilianus,
+I should have made a good morning's
+work of it&mdash;and it was so! Little by
+little, line by line, grain by grain, I
+opened the field, till <i>C. Julius Æmilianus,
+Pontif: Max: in a full epigraphe,
+shone forth with the imperial</i>
+head in full relief, all in a bright
+emerald patina. I have seen several
+Æmilianuses, but none like that;
+and it cost me only a penny."</p>
+
+<p>Now, touching the difficulties in your
+way&mdash;should you still fancy them to
+be imaginary&mdash;take any dirty coin
+<i>nigra moneta sordibus</i>, and try to clean
+it; oil it, and scrub it as you may;
+pick into, poke at, finally, waste your
+whole morning over it, till your back
+aches, and your penknife is blunted;
+you will have to confess at last that
+your labour has been lost! Your only
+chance, then, is the fire; and if the
+<i>actual cautery</i> fails, there is no longer
+any hope. As in learning to scale properly,
+you must come to sacrifice <i>a
+great many coins</i> before you can hope
+to succeed, <i>fiat experimentum in corpore
+vili</i>&mdash;begin with those that are
+worthless. Never mind scratching a
+Faustina's face; set no store by Nero;
+you may, if you like, mutilate as
+many <i>Domitians</i> as that emperor mutilated
+flies. For why?&mdash;they cost
+nothing; unless, indeed, there were
+something to be gained by <i>reversing</i>
+the picture. But this only while
+learning, and to learn; for when you
+<i>know</i> how to clean a coin properly,
+you will hardly waste your time in
+adding new Trajans to the ten thousands
+already in existence; nor whet
+your curiosity or steel upon an empress,
+known to be as common in
+bronze as she was wont to be in the
+flesh! When you have a really valuable
+coin, on which your pains will
+not be thrown away, your mode of
+procedure is, first to scrape, with extreme
+caution, on some small spot by
+the margin, till you have taken your
+proper soundings, and come down to
+the <i>patina</i>. Your next step must be,
+to ascertain whether that patina is
+hard, or soft and friable; in which
+latter case you will have to use all
+diligence not to poke your penknife
+in Crispina's eyeball, nor to wound
+her husband, with a few days' beard
+upon his chin. No <i>healing process</i>
+can help you here to undo your clumsy
+surgery and want of skill. He will
+remain <i>cicatrised</i>, and she <i>lippa</i> for
+life. Each separate feature requires
+renewed care. When your minute
+manipulations have brought out the
+eyeball <i>unspecked</i>, then comes the
+nose; and to remove the closely sticking
+plaster from its side, and expose
+uninjured the curling nostril underneath,
+requires more than Taliacotian
+sleight of hand to manage properly.
+You must not trifle with Faustina's
+<i>hair</i>, nor with Philip's <i>beard</i>. The
+"<i>flava coma</i>," which we do not consider
+as ornamental at any time, looks
+far worse in <i>brass</i> than in <i>golden</i>
+tresses. You must be an aurist when
+you come to the ear. Deal with the
+ear, and remember that it has its
+<i>portio mollis</i> as you gently probe your
+way into its tube. Need we insist
+upon the necessity of respecting a
+lady's <i>lips</i>? and yet you will wound
+them, unless you are careful. And
+when all is done, you may find that
+your coin is no sooner cleaned, than<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span>
+it is seized with the <i>smallpox</i>,<a name="FNanchor_61_61" id="FNanchor_61_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> which
+will become <i>confluent</i> and spread, unless
+properly instructed. You have
+probed each cicatrix to the bottom,
+and filled the minute holes with <i>ink</i>.
+Thus you will see that patience, tact,
+and care are all required in scaling a
+coin; or, as Dedomenicis said, <i>ci vuo il
+genio</i>!</p>
+
+<p>The collecting coins is a pleasant
+way of learning the chronology of the
+royal families of antiquity; and if
+you are culpably negligent in their
+arrangement, the first dealer who
+sees your cabinet takes care to apprize
+you of your mistakes, and will
+generally rate you soundly as he does
+so. The first time Dedomenicis visited
+our collection of the Roman emperors,
+he was in a great taking on detecting
+(which he did not fail to do at a
+glance) various anachronisms in our
+arrangement. "By all that should
+be, if here is not Agrippina the wife of
+Germanicus, and Claudius's Agrippina,
+in next-door neighbourhood! the two
+Faustinas (<i>che scandalo, dottore mio!</i>)
+lying side by side with <i>strange husbands</i>!
+Philip junior deposing his own
+father&mdash;<i>ci avevano questa consuetudine</i>,
+so let that pass; but here is a more
+serious affair. Pray separate all these
+Julias a little, my dear sir, <i>caro lei</i>,
+(looking at us very reproachfully;)
+here, in this one tray, you have mixed,
+introduced, and confounded together
+all the Julias of the Roman empire!
+Julia, the daughter of Titus, alone in
+her right place beside her first consort
+Domitian. But Julia Pia and Julia
+Domna are but the <i>aliases</i> of the
+same empress, the wife of Septimius
+Severus; and here you have placed
+by mistake Julia Paula, the wife of
+Eliogabalus, after Julia Mammæa,
+who you <i>must</i> remember married
+Maximin. Pray attend to these
+things; and whenever your series is
+deficient, leave vacant spaces in your
+trays to mark the deficiencies. Don't
+crowd your emperors thus together,
+when time has separated them in
+history," &amp;c. &amp;c. &amp;c. We promised
+faithfully to attend to these hints;
+but it was all to no purpose, for in
+one week our friends, to whom we
+used to show our collection properly
+arranged, would again involve our
+chronology in inextricable confusion,
+especially certain dear young ladies of
+our acquaintance, who, by no means
+showing the same respect for old Time
+that old Time continued to demonstrate
+towards them, would make
+light of whole centuries; and we have
+known them so regardless of all dates,
+except perhaps their own, as to bring
+up a Constantine or Maxentius, and
+to place them under the very nose of
+Augustus!</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>THE LAST RECOLLECTIONS OF NAPOLEON.<a name="FNanchor_62_62" id="FNanchor_62_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a></h2>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">There</span> are few things more striking
+than the analogy in civil and physical
+changes of the world. There have
+been in the history of man periods as
+distinctive as in the history of nations.
+From these periods society and nations
+have alike assumed new aspects,
+and the world has commenced a new
+career. The fall of the Roman Empire
+was the demarcation between the old
+world and the new. It was the moral
+deluge, out of which a new condition
+of man, new laws, new forms of religion,
+new styles of thought, almost a
+totally new configuration of human
+society, were to arise. A new settlement
+of the civil world took place:
+power absorbed by one race of mankind
+was to be divided among various
+races; and the development of principles
+of government and society,
+hitherto unknown, was to be scarcely
+less memorable, less unexpected, or
+less productive, than that voyage by
+which Columbus doubled the space of
+the habitable globe.</p>
+
+<p>The Reformation was another
+mighty change. It introduced civil
+liberty into the empire of tyranny,
+religion into the realm of superstition,
+and science into the depths of national
+ignorance. The French Revolution
+was the last, and not the least powerful
+change within human experience.
+Its purpose is, like its operation, still
+dubious. Whether it came simply for
+wrath, or simply for restoration&mdash;whether,
+like the earthquake of Lisbon,
+it came only to destroy, and leave
+its ruins visible for a century to come;
+to clear the ground of incumbrances
+too massive for the hand of man, and
+open the soil for exertions nobler than
+the old, must be left to time to interpret.
+But there can be no question,
+that the most prominent agency, the
+most powerful influence, and the most
+dazzling lustre, of a period in which
+all the stronger impulses of our being
+were in the wildest activity, centred
+in the character of one man, and that
+man&mdash;Napoleon.</p>
+
+<p>It is evidently a law of Providence,
+that all the great changes of society
+shall be the work of individual minds.
+Yet when we recollect the difficulty of
+effecting any general change, embracing
+the infinite varieties of human
+interests, caprices, passions, and purposes,
+nothing could seem more improbable.
+But it has always been the
+course of things. Without Charlemagne,
+the little principalities of Gothic Europe
+would never have been systematised
+into an empire;&mdash;without Luther,
+what could have been the progress of
+the Reformation?&mdash;without Napoleon,
+the French Revolution would have
+burnt itself out, vanished into air, or
+sunk into ashes. He alone collected
+its materials, combined them into a
+new and powerful shape, crowned this
+being of his own formation with the
+imperial robe, erected it in the centre
+of Europe, and called the nations to
+bow down before a new idol, like the
+gods of the Indian known only by its
+mysterious frown, the startling splendour
+of its diadem, and the swords
+and serpents grasped in its hands.</p>
+
+<p>That the character of Napoleon was
+a singular compound of the highest
+intellectual powers with the lowest
+moral qualities, is evidently the true
+description of this extraordinary
+being. This combination alone accounts
+for the rapidity, the splendour
+of his career, and the sudden and terrible
+completeness of his fall. Nothing
+less than pre-eminent capacity could
+have shot him up through the clouds
+and tempests of the Revolution into
+the highest place of power. A mixture
+of this force of mind and desperate
+selfishness of heart could alone have
+suggested and sustained the system
+of the Imperial wars, policy, and ambition;
+and the discovery of his utter
+faithlessness could alone have rendered
+all thrones hopeless of binding
+him by the common bonds of sovereign
+to sovereign, and compelled them to
+find their only security for the peace
+of Europe in consigning him to a
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>
+dungeon. He was the only instance
+in modern history of a monarch dethroned
+by a universal conviction;
+warred against by mankind, as the
+sole object of the war; delivered over
+into captivity by the unanimous judgment
+of nations; and held in the same
+unrelaxing and judicial fetters until
+he died.</p>
+
+<p>It is another striking feature of this
+catastrophe, that the whole family of
+Napoleon sank along with him. They
+neither possessed his faculties, nor
+were guilty of his offences. But as
+they had risen solely by him, they
+perished entirely with him. Future
+history will continually hover over this
+period of our annals, as the one which
+most resembles some of those fabrications
+of the Oriental genius, in which
+human events are continually under
+the guidance of spirits of the air; in
+which fantastic palaces are erected by
+a spell, and the treasures of the earth
+developed by the wave of a wand&mdash;in
+which the mendicant of this hour is
+exalted into the prince of the next;
+and while the wonder still glitters before
+the eye, another sign of the necromancer
+dissolves the whole pageant
+into air again. Human recollection has
+no record of so much power, so widely
+distributed, and apparently so fixed
+above all the ordinary casualties of the
+world, so instantly and so irretrievably
+overthrown. The kings of earth are
+not undone at a blow; kingdoms do
+not change their rulers without a
+struggle. Great passions and great
+havoc have always preceded and followed
+the fall of monarchies. But
+the four diadems of the Napoleon race
+fell from their wearers' brows with
+scarcely a touch from the hand of
+man. The surrender of the crown by
+Napoleon extinguished the crowns
+actually ruling over millions, and virtually
+influencing the whole Continent.
+They were extinguished, too, at the
+moment when the Imperial crown disappeared.
+It had no sooner been
+crushed at Waterloo, than they all fell
+into fragments, of themselves;&mdash;the
+whole dynasty went down with Napoleon
+into the dungeon, and not one of
+them has since returned to the world.</p>
+
+<p>The name of General Count Montholon
+is well known to this country,
+as that of a brave officer, who, after
+acquiring distinguished rank in the
+French army by his sword, followed
+Napoleon to St Helena; remained with
+him during his captivity; and upon
+his death was made the depositary of
+his papers, and his executor. But
+his own language, in a letter dated
+from the Castle of Ham in June
+1844, gives the best account of his
+authority and his proceedings.</p>
+
+<p>"A soldier of the Republic, a brigadier-general
+at twenty years of age,
+and minister-plenipotentiary in Germany
+in 1812 and 1813, I could, like
+others, have left memoirs concerning
+the things which I saw; but the whole
+is effaced from my mind in presence
+of a single thing, a single event, and a
+single man. The thing is Waterloo;
+the event, the fall of the Empire; and
+the man, Napoleon."</p>
+
+<p>He then proceeds to tell us, that he
+shared the St Helena captivity for six
+years; that for forty-two nights he
+watched the dying bed of the ex-monarch;
+and that, by Napoleon's express
+desire, he closed his eyes. But to
+those duties of private friendship were
+affixed official services, which looked
+much more like tyranny than the tribute
+of personal regard, and which we
+should think must have worn out the
+patience, and tried the constitution, of
+the most devoted follower of this extraordinary
+captive.</p>
+
+<p>Napoleon, though apparently contemptuous
+of the opinions of mankind,
+evidently felt the strongest anxiety
+to make out a favourable statement
+for himself. And all his hours, except
+the few devoted to exercise on
+horseback and to sleep, and to his
+meals, were employed in completing
+the narrative which was to clear up
+his character to mankind.</p>
+
+<p>During the last years passed in St
+Helena, Napoleon sent for the Count
+every night at eleven o'clock, and continued
+dictating to him until six in
+the morning, when he went into the
+bath, dismissing the count with&mdash;"Come,
+my son, go and repose, and
+come to me again at nine o'clock. We
+shall have breakfast, and resume the
+labours of the night." At nine, he
+returned, and remained with him till
+one, when Napoleon went to bed.
+Between four and five, he sent for the
+count again, who dined with him
+every day, and at nine o'clock left
+him, to return at eleven.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The world little knew the drudgery
+to which these unfortunate followers
+of the Ex-Emperor were thus exposed,
+and they must all have rejoiced at any
+termination of a toil so remorseless
+and so uncheering.</p>
+
+<p>Napoleon was fond of the Turkish
+doctrine of fatality. Whether so acute
+a mind was capable of believing a doctrine
+so palpably contradicted by the
+common circumstances of life, and so
+utterly repugnant to reason, can
+scarcely be a question; but with him,
+as with the Turks, it was a capital
+doctrine for the mighty machine
+which he called an army. But the
+count seems to have been a true believer.
+He, too, pronounces, that
+"destiny is written," and regards
+himself as being under the peculiar
+influence of a malignant star, or, in his
+own words: "In fact, without having
+sought it, my destiny brought me into
+contact with the Emperor in the Elysée
+Bourbon, conducted me, without
+my knowing it, to the shores of Boulogne,
+where honour imposed upon me
+the necessity of not abandoning the
+nephew of the Emperor in presence
+of the dangers by which he was surrounded.
+Irrevocably bound to the
+misfortunes of a family, I am now
+perishing in Ham; the captivity commenced
+in St Helena."</p>
+
+<p>Of Count Montholon, it must be
+acknowledged, that he was unstained
+by either the vices or the violences
+which scandalized Europe so frequently
+in the leaders of the French
+armies. He appears to have been at
+all times a man of honourable habits,
+as he certainly is of striking intelligence.
+But we have no faith in his
+doctrine of the star, and think that he
+would have acted much more wisely
+if he had left the stars to take care of
+themselves, avoided the blunder of
+mistaking the nephew of Napoleon for
+a hero and a genius, and stayed quietly
+in London, instead of risking himself
+with an invasion of valets to take the
+diadem off the most sagacious head in
+Europe.</p>
+
+<p>The narrative commences with the
+return of Napoleon to Paris after his
+renown, his throne, and his dynasty
+were alike crushed by the British
+charge at Waterloo. He reached
+Paris at six in the morning of the 21st.
+It is now clear that the greatest blunder
+of this extraordinary man was his
+flight from the army. If he had remained
+at its head, let its shattered
+condition be what it might, he would
+have been powerful, have awed the
+growing hostility of the capital, and
+have probably been able to make peace
+alike for himself and his nation. But
+by hurrying to Paris, all was lost: he
+stripped himself of his strength; he
+threw himself on the mercy of his enemies;
+and palpably capitulated to the
+men who, but the day before, were
+trembling under the fear of his vengeance.</p>
+
+<p>Nobleness of heart is essential to all
+true renown; and perhaps it is not
+less essential to all real security. Napoleon,
+with talents which it is perfectly
+childish to question, though the
+attempt has been made since the close
+of his brilliant career, wanted this
+nobleness of heart, and through its want
+ultimately perished. Of the bravery
+of him who fought the splendid campaigns
+of Italy, and of the political
+sagacity of him who raised himself
+from being a subaltern of artillery to a
+sovereign of sovereigns, there can be no
+doubt. But his selfishness was so excessive
+that it occasionally made both
+contemptible, and gave his conduct
+alike the appearance of cowardice, and
+the appearance of infatuation. His
+flight from Egypt, leaving his army
+to be massacred or captured, disgraced
+him in the face of Europe. His flight
+from Russia, leaving the remnant of
+his legions to be destroyed, was a new
+scandal; but hitherto no evil had been
+produced by this gross regard of
+self. The penalty, however, must be
+paid. His flight from the army in
+Belgian, leaving it without counsel
+or direction, to be crushed by a victorious
+enemy, was the third instance
+of that ignoble preference of his own
+objects which had characterised and
+stained his Egyptian and Russian career.
+But retribution was now come,
+and he was to be undone. The slaughter
+of Waterloo had been tremendous, but
+it was not final. The loss of the French
+army had been computed at forty
+thousand men, killed, wounded, and
+dispersed. He had come into the
+field with seventy-two thousand men,
+independent of Grouchy. He had
+thus thirty thousand remaining. Grouchy's
+force of thirty thousand was still<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span>
+untouched, and was able to make its
+way to Paris. In addition to these
+sixty thousand, strong garrisons had
+been left in all the fortresses, which he
+might without difficulty have gathered
+upon his retreat. The Parisian national
+guard would have augmented this
+force, probably, on the whole, to one
+hundred thousand men. It is true
+that the allied Russian and Austrian
+forces were on the frontier. But
+they had not yet moved, and could
+not prevent the march of those reinforcements.
+Thus, without reckoning
+the provincial militia of France,
+or calculating on a <i>levée en masse</i>,
+Napoleon within a fortnight might
+have been at the head of one hundred
+and fifty thousand men, while the
+pursuing army could not have mustered
+half the number. He would thus
+have had time for negotiation; and
+time with him was every thing. Or
+let the event be what it might, the
+common sense of the Allies would have
+led them to avoid a direct collision
+with so powerful a force fighting on
+its own ground under the walls of the
+capital, and knowing that the only
+alternatives were complete triumph
+or total ruin.</p>
+
+<p>Count Montholon makes a remark
+on the facility with which courtiers
+make their escape from a falling throne,
+which has been so often exemplified
+in history. But it was never more
+strikingly exemplified than in the
+double overthrow of Napoleon. "At
+Fontainbleau, in 1814," says the Count,
+"when I hastened to offer to carry him
+off with the troops under my command,
+I found no one in those vast
+corridors, formerly too small for the
+crowd of courtiers, except the Duke
+of Bassano and two aides-de-camp."
+His whole court, down to his Mameluke
+and valet, had run off to Paris, to
+look for pay and place under the Bourbons.
+In a similar case in the next
+year, at the Elysée Bourbon, he found
+but two counts and an equerry. It
+was perfectly plain to all the world
+but Napoleon himself that his fate
+was decided.</p>
+
+<p>There certainly seems to have been
+something in his conduct at this period
+that can scarcely be accounted
+for but by infatuation. His first act,
+the desertion of his army, was degrading
+to his honour, but his conduct
+on his arrival was not less degrading
+to his sagacity. Even his brother
+Lucien said that he was blinded with
+the smoke of Waterloo. He seems
+to have utterly lost that distinct view
+and fierce decision which formerly
+characterised all his conduct. It was
+no more the cannon-shot or the thunder-clap,
+it was the wavering of a
+mind suddenly perplexed by the difficulties
+which he would once have
+solved by a sentence and overwhelmed
+by resistance&mdash;which he
+would have once swept away like a
+swarm of flies. The leader of armies
+was crushed by a conspiracy of clerks,
+and the sovereign of the Continent
+was sent to the dungeon by cabal of
+his own slaves.</p>
+
+<p>While Napoleon was thus lingering
+in the Elysée Bourbon, the two chambers
+of the Legislature were busily
+employed between terror and intrigue.
+The time was delicate, for the Bourbons
+and the Allies were approaching.
+But, on the other hand, the fortunes of
+Napoleon might change; tardiness in
+recognising the Bourbons might be
+fatal to their hopes of place, but the
+precipitancy of abandoning Napoleon
+might bring their heads under the
+knife of the guillotine. All public
+life is experimental, and there never
+was a time when the experiment was
+of a more tremulous description.</p>
+
+<p>At length they began to act; and
+the first precaution of the Chamber
+of Deputies was to secure their own
+existence. Old Lafayette moved a
+resolution, that the man should be regarded
+as a traitor to the country
+who made any attempt to dissolve the
+Chamber. This was an obvious declaration
+against the authority of the
+Empire. The next motion was, that
+General Beker should be appointed
+commandant of the guard ordered to
+protect the Legislature. This was a
+provision against the mob of Paris.
+The Legislature was now safe on
+its two prominent perils. In the
+mean time, Napoleon had made another
+capital blunder. He had held
+a council of the ministers, to which he
+proposed the question, whether he
+should proceed in person to the Chamber
+of Deputies, and demand supplies,
+or send his brothers and ministers to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span>
+make the communication. Three of
+the ministers approved of his going in
+person, but the majority disapproved
+of it&mdash;on the plea of its being a dangerous
+experiment, in the excited
+state of the public passions. If Napoleon
+had declined this counsel,
+which arose from either pusillanimity
+or perfidy, it is perfectly possible that
+he might have silenced all opposition.
+The known attachment of the troops,
+the superstition connected with his
+fortunes, the presence of the man
+whom they all so lately worshipped,
+as the Indians worship the serpent
+for the poison of its fang, might have
+produced a complete revulsion. Napoleon,
+too, was singularly eloquent&mdash;his
+language had a romantic splendour
+which captivates the artificial taste of
+the nation; and with an imperial
+figure before them, surrounded with
+more powerful incidents than the
+drama could ever offer, and threatening
+a fifth act which might involve
+the fate of France and Europe, the
+day might have finished by a new
+burst of national enthusiasm, and the
+restoration of Napoleon to the throne,
+with all his enemies in the Legislature
+chained to its footstool.</p>
+
+<p>But he sent his brother Joseph to
+the Chamber of Peers, and received
+the answer to his mission next
+morning, in a proposal which was
+equivalent to a demand for his abdication.</p>
+
+<p>A council of ministers was again
+held on this proposal. The same
+three who had voted for his presence
+in the Chamber, now voted for his
+rejection of the proposal. The majority,
+however, were against them. Napoleon
+yielded to the majority. He had
+lost his opportunity&mdash;and in politics
+opportunity is every thing. He had
+now nothing more to lose. He drew
+up an acknowledgment of his abdication;
+but appended to it the condition
+of proclaiming his son, Napoleon Second,
+emperor of the French. This
+was an artifice, but it was unworthy
+even of the art of Napoleon. He
+must have been conscious that the
+Allies would have regarded this appointment
+as a trick to ensure his
+own restoration. His son was yet
+a child; a regent must have been appointed;
+Napoleon would have naturally
+been that regent; and in six
+months, or on the first retreat of the
+Allies, he would as naturally have reappointed
+himself emperor. The trick
+was too shallow for his sagacity, and
+it was impossible to hope that it could
+have been suffered by the Allies. Yet
+it passed the Chamber, and Napoleon
+Second was acknowledged within the
+walls. But the acknowledgment was
+laughed at without them; the Allies
+did not condescend to notice it; and
+the Allies proceeded to their work of
+restoration as if he had never existed.
+In fact, the dynasty was at an end; a
+provisional government was appointed,
+with Fouché at its head, and the
+name of Napoleon was pronounced no
+more.</p>
+
+<p>Count Montholon gives a brief but
+striking description of the confusion,
+dismay, and despair, into which Waterloo
+had thrown the Bonapartists.
+He had hurried to the Elysée a few
+hours after the arrival of Bonaparte
+from the field. He met the Duke of
+Vicenza coming out, with a countenance
+of dejection, and asked him what
+was going on. "All is lost," was the
+answer. "You arrived to-day, as you
+did at Fontainbleau, only to see the
+emperor resign his crown. The leaders
+of the Chambers desire his abdication.
+They will have it; and in a
+week Louis XVIII. will be in Paris.
+At night on the 19th, a short note in
+pencil was left with my Swiss, announcing
+the destruction of the army.
+The same notice was given to Carnot.
+The last telegraphic dispatch had
+brought news of victory; we both
+hastened to the Duke of Otranto; he
+assured us with all his cadaverous
+coldness that he knew nothing. He
+knew all, however, I am well assured.
+Events succeeded each other with the
+rapidity of lightning; there is no longer
+any possible illusion. All is lost, and
+the Bourbons will be here in a week."</p>
+
+<p>The Count remained forty-eight
+hours at the palace. The fallen Emperor
+had now made up his mind to
+go to America, and the Count promised
+to accompany him. A couple
+of regiments, formed of the workmen
+of the Faubourg St Germain, marching
+by the palace, now demanded that
+Napoleon should put himself at their
+head, and take vengeance on his enemies.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span>
+But he well knew the figure
+which the volunteers of the mob would
+make in front of the bayonets which
+had crushed his guard at Waterloo,
+and he declined the honour of this
+new command. A few courtiers, who
+adhered to him still, continued to talk
+of his putting himself at the head of
+the national force. But Waterloo had
+effectually cured him of the passion
+for soldiership, and he constantly appealed
+to his unwillingness to shed
+the blood of Frenchmen. It was at
+least evident that he intended to
+tempt the field no more, but after
+being the cause of shedding the blood
+of two millions of the people, his reserve
+was romantic.</p>
+
+<p>The Count was sent to dismiss the
+volunteers, and they having performed
+their act of heroism, and offered to
+challenge the whole British army,
+were content with the glory of the
+threat, and heroically marched home
+to their shops.</p>
+
+<p>But Montholon, on returning again,
+addressed Napoleon on the feasibility
+of attacking Wellington and Blucher
+with the battalions of the Messrs
+Calicot, upon which the Ex-Emperor
+made the following solemn speech:
+"To put into action the brute force of
+the masses, would without doubt save
+Paris, and ensure me the crown,
+without having recourse to the horrors
+of a civil war. But this would
+be also to risk the shedding of rivers
+of fresh blood. What is the compressive
+force which would be sufficiently
+strong to regulate the outburst
+of so much passion, hatred, and
+vengeance? No, I never can forget
+one thing, that I have been brought
+from Cannes to Paris in the midst of
+cries for blood, 'Down with the
+priests!' 'Down with the nobles!'
+I would rather have the regrets of
+France than possess its crown."</p>
+
+<p>There is no country in the world,
+where Napoleon's own phrase, that
+from the sublime to the ridiculous is
+but a step, is more perpetually and
+practically realised than in France.
+Here was a man utterly ruined,
+without a soldier on the face of the
+earth, all but a prisoner, abandoned
+by every human being who could be
+of the slightest service to him, beaten
+in the field, beaten on his own ground,
+and now utterly separated from his
+remaining troops, and with a hundred
+thousand of the victors rushing after
+him, hour by hour, to Paris. Yet he
+talks as if he had the world still at
+his disposal, applauds his own magnanimity
+in declining the impossible
+combat, vaunts his own philosophy
+in standing still, when he could neither
+advance nor retreat, and gives
+himself credit as a philanthropist,
+when he was on the very point of being
+handed over to the enemy as a
+prisoner. Some unaccountable tricks
+of a lower description now began to
+be played on the goods and chattels
+of the Elysée Bourbon. A case containing
+snuff-boxes adorned with
+portraits set in diamonds, was laid
+by Bertrand on the mantel-piece.
+He accidentally turned to converse
+with General Montholon at the window.
+Only one person entered the
+room. The Count does not give his
+name,&mdash;he was evidently a person of
+rank. On turning to the mantel-piece
+again, the case was gone.</p>
+
+<p>One of the ministers had brought
+some negotiable paper to the amount
+of several millions of francs into the
+Emperor's chamber. The packet was
+placed under one of the cushions of
+the sofa. Only one person, and that
+one a man of rank who had served
+in Italy, entered the chamber. Napoleon
+went to look for the money,
+calculated a moment, and a million
+and a half of francs, or about £60,000
+sterling, had been taken in the interim.
+Those were times for thievery,
+and the plunderers of Europe were
+now on the alert, to make spoil of
+each other. The Allies were still advancing,
+but they were not yet in
+sight; and the mob of Paris, who had
+been at first delighted to find that the
+war was at an end, having nothing
+else to do, and thinking that, as Wellington
+and Blucher had not arrived
+within a week, they would not arrive
+within a century, began to clamour
+<i>Vive l'Empereur!</i> Fouché and the
+provisional government began to feel
+alarm, and it was determined to keep
+Napoleon out of sight of the mob.
+Accordingly they ordered him to be
+taken to Malmaison; and on the 25th,
+towards nightfall, Napoleon submissively
+quitted the Elysée, and went
+to Malmaison. At Malmaison he
+remained for the greater part of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span>
+time, in evident fear of being put to
+death, and in fact a prisoner.&mdash;Such
+was the fate of the most powerful
+sovereign that Europe had seen since
+Charlemagne. Such was the humiliation
+of the conqueror, who, but seven
+years before, had summoned the
+continental sovereigns to bow down to
+his footstool at Erfurth; and who
+wrote to Talma the actor these words
+of supreme arrogance&mdash;"Come to
+Erfurth, and you shall play before a
+pit-full of kings."</p>
+
+<p>From this period, day by day, a
+succession of measures was adopted
+by the government to tighten his
+chain. He was ordered to set out for
+the coast, nominally with the intention
+of giving him a passage to America.
+But we must doubt that intention.
+Fouché, the head of the government,
+had now thrown off the mask which
+he had worn so many years. And it
+was impossible for him to expect
+forgiveness, in case of any future
+return of Napoleon to power. But
+Napoleon, in America, would have
+been at all times within one-and-twenty
+days of Paris. And the
+mere probability of his return would
+have been enough to make many a
+pillow sleepless in Paris. We are
+to recollect also, that the English
+ministry must have been perfectly
+aware of the arrest of Napoleon; that
+St Helena had been already mentioned
+as a place of security for his person;
+and that if it was essential to the
+safety of Europe,&mdash;a matter about
+which Fouché probably cared but
+little; it was not less essential to the
+safety of Fouché's own neck,&mdash;a matter
+about which he always cared very
+much, that the Ex-Emperor should
+never set foot in France again.</p>
+
+<p>The result was, an order from the
+minister at war, Davoust, Prince of
+Eckmuhl, couched in the following
+terms. We give it as a document of
+history.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"General, I have the honour to
+transmit to you the subjoined decree,
+which the commission of government
+desires you to notify to the Emperor
+Napoleon: at the same time informing
+his majesty, that the circumstances
+are become imperative, and that it is
+necessary for him immediately to decide
+on setting out for the Isle of Aix.
+This decree has been passed as much
+for the safety of his person as for the
+interest of the state, which ought always
+to be dear to him. Should the
+Emperor not adopt the above mentioned
+resolution, on your notification
+of this decree, it will then be your
+duty to <i>exercise the strictest surveillance</i>,
+both with a view of preventing his
+majesty from leaving Malmaion, and
+of guarding against any attempt upon
+his life. You will station guards at
+all the approaches to Malmaison. I
+have written to the inspector-general
+of the gendarmerie, and to the commandant
+of Paris, to place such of
+the gendarmerie and troops as you
+may require at your disposal.</p>
+
+<p>"I repeat to you, general, that this
+decree has been adopted solely for the
+good of the state, and the personal
+safety of the Emperor. Its prompt execution
+is indispensable, as the future
+fate of his majesty and his family depends
+upon it. It is unnecessary to say
+to you, general, that all your measures
+should be taken with the greatest
+possible secresy.</p>
+
+<div class="author">
+(Signed)    "<span class="smcap">Prince of Eckmuhl</span>,<br />
+Marshal and Minister of War."<br />
+</div></div>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>Those documents, which have now
+appeared, we believe, for the first time
+authentically, will be of importance
+to the historian, and of still higher
+importance to the moralist. Who could
+have once believed that the most fiery
+of soldiers, the most subtle of statesmen
+and the proudest of sovereigns,
+would ever be the subject of a rescript
+like the following? It begins with an
+absolute command that "Napoleon
+Bonaparte" (it has already dropped
+the emperor) "shall remain in the
+roads of the Isle of Aix till the arrival of
+passports." It then proceeds:&mdash;"It is
+of importance to the well-being of
+the state, which should not be indifferent
+to him, that he should remain
+till his fate, and that of his family,
+have been definitively regulated.
+French honour is interested in such
+an issue; but in the mean time every
+precaution should be taken for the
+personal safety of Napoleon, and that
+he must not be allowed to leave the
+place of his present sojourn.</p>
+
+<div class="author">
+(Signed) "<span class="smcap">The Duke of Otranto.<br />
+"The Prince of Eckmuhl.</span>"<br />
+</div></div>
+
+<p>A similar document was issued to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span>
+General Beker, signed by Carnot
+and Caulaincourt. Count Montholon
+remarks, with sufficient justice, on the
+signature of Caulaincourt to this paper,
+that the Emperor would have been
+extremely astonished to see that name
+subscribed to a letter in which he was
+called Napoleon&mdash;if any thing could
+have astonished the former exile of
+Elba, and the future exile of St
+Helena.</p>
+
+<p>This must have been a period of
+the deepest anxiety to the imperial
+prisoner. He evidently regarded his
+life as unsafe; thought that he discovered
+in the project of his journey
+a determination to throw him either
+into the hands of assassins or of the
+French king, and formally announced
+his refusal to leave Malmaison "until
+informed of his fate by the Duke of
+Wellington." He was now reduced
+to the lowest ebb. He acknowledged
+himself powerless, hopeless, and
+utterly dependent on the will of his
+conqueror. The bitterness of heart
+which dictated such words must have
+been beyond all description. He was
+now abandoned by the few who had
+followed him from the Elysée.</p>
+
+<p>But time was pressing; Wellington
+was advancing with rapid steps, and
+there was a possibility that he might
+capture Napoleon at Malmaison.
+Troops were sent to burn the neighbouring
+bridge, and precautions were
+taken to prevent the catastrophe. A
+division of the army coming from the
+Vendée halted before the palace, and
+insisted on seeing Napoleon, and on
+being led by him to battle. This was
+rodomontade, with the advanced
+troops of the whole army now within
+sight of Paris. But it was enough to
+betray him into the absurdity of proposing
+to try another chance for his
+crown. Beker was dispatched to
+Paris to try the effect of this communication.
+Fouché gave for answer,
+the simple fact that the Prussians
+were advancing on Versailles. The
+sitting of the provisional government
+would have been worth the hand of a
+great painter. Fouché, after sharply
+rebuking the general for bringing in
+his proposal from Malmaison, made
+him sit down at his side, while he
+wrote a peremptory and decided refusal.
+Carnot was walking gloomily
+up and down the room. Caulaincourt,
+Baron Quinette, and General Grenier,
+sat silently around the table. Not a
+word was uttered except by the Duke
+of Otranto. The general received his
+dispatch and departed. On passing
+through the anterooms, he found
+them filled with generals and high
+civil officers, who all expressed but
+one opinion on the necessity of getting
+rid of Napoleon. "Let him set off, let
+him go," was the universal cry. "We
+can undertake nothing for either his
+personal good or Paris." There was
+now no alternative. Napoleon must
+either remain and fall into the hands
+of Louis XVIII., who had already
+proclaimed him a traitor and an outlaw,
+or he must try to make his escape
+by sea. On the 29th of June, at five
+o'clock in the evening, he entered the
+carriage which was to convey him to
+the coast, leaving Paris behind, to
+which he was never to return alive,
+but to which his remains have returned
+in a posthumous triumph
+twenty-six years after, on the 15th of
+September 1840.</p>
+
+<p>On his arrival at Rochfort, all the
+talent of the French for projects was
+immediately in full exercise. Never
+were there so many castles in the air
+built in so short a time. Proposals
+were made to smuggle the prisoner to
+the United States in a Danish merchant
+vessel, in which, in case of
+search, he was to be barrelled in a
+hogshead perforated with breathing
+holes.</p>
+
+<p>Another project was, to put him on
+board a kind of fishing-boat manned
+by midshipmen, and thus escape the
+English. A third project proposed,
+that the two French frigates anchored
+under the guns of the Isle of Aix
+should put to sea together; that one
+of them should run alongside Captain
+Maitland's ship, and attack her fiercely,
+with the hope of distracting her attention,
+even with the certainty of
+being destroyed, while the other
+frigate made her escape with Napoleon
+on board. This is what the French
+would call a <i>grande pensée</i>, and quite
+as heroic as any thing in a melodrama
+of the Porte St Martin. But the
+captain of the leading frigate declined
+the distinction, and evidently thought
+it not necessary that he and his crew
+should be blown out of the water, as
+they certainly would have been if<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span>
+they came in contact with the Bellerophon;
+so this third project perished.</p>
+
+<p>After a few days of this busy foolery,
+the prisoner, startled by new reports
+of the success of the Allies every
+where, and too sagacious not to feel
+that the hands of the French king
+might be the most dangerous into
+which the murderer of the Duc
+D'Enghien could fall; looking with
+evident contempt upon the foolish
+projects for his escape, and conscious
+that his day was done, resolved to
+throw himself into the hands of Captain
+Maitland, the commander of the
+Bellerophon, then anchored in Basque
+roads. On the night of the 10th,
+Savary and Las Cases were sent on
+board the English ship, to inquire
+whether the captain would allow a
+French or neutral ship, or the frigates
+with Napoleon on board, to pass free?
+Captain Maitland simply answered,
+that he had received no orders except
+those ordinarily given in case of
+war; but that he should attack the
+frigates if they attempted to pass;
+that if a neutral flag came in his way,
+he would order it to be searched as
+usual. But that, in consequence of
+the peculiar nature of the case, he
+would communicate with the admiral
+in command.</p>
+
+<p>A circumstance occurred on this
+occasion, which brought M. Las Cases
+into no small disrepute afterwards.
+The captain hospitably asked Las
+Cases and Savary to lunch with him,
+and, while at table, inquired whether
+they understood English. He was
+answered that they did not; and the
+captain, though of course relying upon
+the answer, made his observations in
+English to his officers, while he addressed
+the Frenchman in his own
+tongue. It was afterwards ascertained
+that Las Cases, who had been an
+emigrant for some years in England,
+understood English perfectly. Nothing
+could therefore be more pitiful
+than his conduct in suffering the captain
+to believe that he was ignorant
+on the subject, and thus obtain a confidence
+to which he had no right. The
+circumstance, as Count Montholon
+says,&mdash;"was afterwards made a bitter
+reproach against Las Cases; the
+English charging him with a violation
+of honour; because, as they affirmed,
+he had positively declared that he was
+unacquainted with their language,
+when the question was put to him at
+the commencement of the conference.
+This, however," says Count Montholon,
+"is not correct." And how does
+he show that it is not correct? "The
+question," says he, "was put collectively,
+that is, to both alike, and Savary
+alone answered in the negative."
+Of course the answer was understood
+collectively, and comprised M. Las
+Cases as well as M. Savary. In
+short, the conduct was contemptible,
+and the excuse not much better. Las
+Cases, of course, should not have
+allowed any other person's word to be
+taken, when it led to a delusion. It
+is <i>possible</i> that Savary was unacquainted
+with his companion's knowledge
+of English,&mdash;though when we
+recollect that Savary was minister of
+police, and that Las Cases was about
+the court of Napoleon, it is difficult
+to conceive his ignorance on the subject.
+But in all instances, there could
+be no apology for his fellow-Frenchman's
+sitting to hear conversations
+of which he was supposed, on the
+credit of Savary's word, and his own
+silence, to comprehend nothing.</p>
+
+<p>It happily turns out, however, that
+all this <i>dexterity</i> had only the effect of
+blinding the parties themselves.</p>
+
+<p>"This mystification and piece of
+diplomatic chicanery"&mdash;we use the
+language of the volume&mdash;"proved,
+in fact, rather detrimental than useful;
+for, no doubt, the information
+thus gained by <i>surprise</i> from Captain
+Maitland and his officers, contributed
+to induce the Emperor to decide on
+surrendering himself to the English."
+The captain was too honourable a
+man to think of practising any chicane
+on the subject; but if the two <i>employés</i>
+overreached themselves, so
+much the better.</p>
+
+<p>But events now thickened. On
+the 12th, the Paris journals arrived,
+announcing the entrance of the Allies
+into Paris, and the establishment of
+Louis XVIII. in the Tuileries! All
+was renewed confusion, consternation,
+and projects. On the next day Joseph
+Bonaparte came to the Isle of Aix, to
+propose the escape of his fallen brother
+in a merchant vessel from Bordeaux,
+for America, and remain in his place.
+This offer was generous, but it could<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span>
+scarcely be accepted by any human
+being, and it was refused. But delay
+was becoming doubly hazardous. It
+was perfectly possible that the first
+measure of the new government would
+be an order for his seizure, and the
+next, for his execution. On that
+evening he decided to accept the offer
+of the <i>chasse-marées</i>, to go on board
+before morning, and trust to the young
+midshipmen and chance for his passage
+across the Atlantic.</p>
+
+<p>We know no history more instructive
+than these "last days" of a fugitive
+Emperor. That he might have
+escaped a week before, is certain, for
+the harbour was not then blockaded;
+that he might have made his way
+among the channels of that very difficult
+and obstructed coast even after
+the blockade, is possible; that he
+might have found his way, by a hundred
+roads, out of France, or reached
+the remnant of his armies, is clear, for
+all his brothers escaped by land. But
+that he still hesitated&mdash;and alone hesitated;
+that this man&mdash;the most memorable
+for decision, famed for promptitude,
+for the discovery of the true point
+of danger, daring to the height of rashness,
+when daring was demanded&mdash;should
+have paused at the very instant
+when his fate seemed to be in his own
+hand, more resembles a preternatural
+loss of faculty than the course of
+nature. His whole conduct on the
+shore of France is to be equalled only
+by his conduct among the ashes of
+Moscow,&mdash;it was infatuation.</p>
+
+<p>Again the man of decision hesitated;
+and at four in the morning General
+Lallemand and Las Cases were sent
+on board the Bellerophon under the
+pretext of waiting for the admiral's
+answer, but in reality to ascertain
+whether the captain would express
+<i>officially</i> any pledge or opinion relative
+to Napoleon's favourable reception
+in England; which Las Cases
+had conceived him to express in his
+conversation with his officers, and of
+which this M. Las Cases was supposed
+not to have understood a syllable.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Maitland's answer was distinct
+and simple. It was, "that he
+had yet received no information, but
+hourly expected it; that he was authorized
+to receive Napoleon on board,
+and convey him to England, where,
+according to his own opinion, he
+would receive all the attention and
+respect to which he could lay any
+claim." But, to prevent all presumptions
+on the subject, adding&mdash;"I am
+anxious that it should be well understood,
+that I am expressing only my
+personal opinion on this subject, and
+have in no respect spoken in the name
+of the government, having received <i>no</i>
+instructions from either the admiralty
+or the admiral."</p>
+
+<p>It is almost painful to contemplate
+these scenes. What agonies must
+have passed through the heart of such
+a man, so humbled! What inevitable
+contrasts of the throne with the dungeon!
+What sense of shame in the
+humiliation which thus placed him at
+the disposal of his own few followers!
+What sleepless anxiety in those midnight
+consultations, in those exposures
+to public shame, in this sense of utter
+ruin, in this terrible despair! If some
+great painter shall hereafter rise to
+vindicate the pencil by showing its
+power of delineating the deepest passions
+of our nature, or some still
+greater poet shall come to revive the
+day of Shakspeare, and exhibit the
+tortures of a greater Macbeth, fallen
+from the highest elevation of human
+things into a depth of self-reproach
+and self-abasement to which all the
+powers of human language might be
+pale,&mdash;what a subject for them were
+here!</p>
+
+<p>The theatrical habits of the French
+are singularly unfortunate for a nation
+which assumes to take an influential
+rank in the world. They deprive
+them of that capacity for coping
+with real things which is essential to
+all substantial greatness. With them
+the business of the world must be all
+melodrame, and the most commonplace,
+or the most serious actions of
+life, must be connected with scene-shifting,
+trap-doors, and the mimic
+thunders of the stage. Napoleon was
+now in a condition the most deeply
+calculated to force these stern realities
+of life on the mind. Yet even with
+him all was to be dramatic; he was
+to throw himself on the clemency of
+his conqueror, like one of the heroes
+of Corneille. England was to stand
+in admiration of his magnanimous devotedness.
+The sovereign was to receive
+him with astonishment and open
+arms, and, after an embrace of royal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span>
+enthusiasm, he was to be placed in
+secure splendour, cheered by the acclamations
+of a people hastening to
+do him homage. In this false and
+high-coloured view of things, he wrote
+the famous and absurd note, in which
+he pronounced himself another Themistocles,
+come to sit by the hearth
+of the British people. A manlier, because
+a more rational view of things,
+would have told him that a war, expressly
+begun with a determination to
+overthrow his dynasty, could not be
+suffered to conclude by giving him
+the power of again disturbing the
+world&mdash;that his utter faithlessness
+prohibited the possibility of relying
+on his pledges&mdash;the security of
+the Bourbon throne absolutely demanded
+his being finally disabled
+from disturbing its authority&mdash;England
+owed it to her allies to prevent
+a repetition of the numberless
+calamities which his reign had inflicted
+upon Europe, and owed it to
+herself to prevent all necessity for the
+havoc of a new Waterloo.</p>
+
+<p>The national passion for a <i>coup de
+théâtre</i> rendered all this knowledge of
+no avail, and he flung himself at the
+feet of the Prince Regent, with the
+flattering phraseology of claiming protection
+"from the most powerful, the
+most constant, and the most generous
+of his enemies."</p>
+
+<p>The step was now taken. On the
+15th of July, at daybreak, he left the
+Isle of Aix, and entered one of the
+boats which was to convey him on
+board the Bellerophon. He had still
+a parting pang to undergo. As he
+looked round the shore, a white flag
+was flying on all the ships and batteries.
+All the rest of this curious
+narrative has been already given to
+the world. We have no desire to repeat
+the details.</p>
+
+<p>Count Montholon, in his fondness
+for excitement, here states that a
+privy council was held on the question,
+whether the terms of the Congress
+of Vienna prevented England
+from giving up Napoleon to the vengeance
+of Louis XVIII., adding that
+"the dispatches of the Duke of Wellington
+urged them to adopt bloody
+and terrible determinations." This
+we utterly disbelieve; and, if we required
+additional reasons for our disbelief,
+it would be in the Count's telling
+us that the energetic opposition of
+the Duke of Sussex alone prevented
+the delivery of the prisoner&mdash;there not
+being perhaps any prince, or any individual
+of England, less likely to
+have weight in the councils of the
+existing government.</p>
+
+<p>Without presuming to trace the
+steps of Providence, it is natural and
+not unwise to follow them in those
+leading transactions which give
+character to their times, or which
+complete events decisive of the fates
+of eminent men or nations. One of
+the most characteristic and abhorred
+acts of the entire life of the French
+Emperor, was his imprisonment of the
+English who were travelling in his
+country at the commencement of his
+reign. The act was the most treacherous
+within human record&mdash;it was
+perfidy on the largest scale. Europe had
+been often scandalised by breaches of
+political faith, but the agents and the
+sufferers were sovereigns and nations.
+But in this instance the blow fell upon
+individuals with the most sudden
+treachery, the most causeless tyranny,
+and the most sweeping ruin. Twelve
+thousand individuals, travelling under
+the protection of the imperial
+laws, wholly incapable of being regarded
+by those laws as prisoners,
+and relying on the good faith of the
+government, were seized as felons,
+put under duress, separated from their
+families in England, suddenly deprived
+of their means of existence, stopt
+in the progress of their professions,
+plundered of their property, and kept
+under the most vigilant surveillance
+for eleven years.</p>
+
+<p>The retribution now fell, and that
+retribution exactly in the form of the
+crime by which it was drawn down.
+We give a few extracts of the document
+by which Napoleon protested
+against his detention, as a most complete,
+though unconscious indictment
+against his own act eleven years before.</p>
+
+<p>Protest at sea, on board the Bellerophon,
+August 1815&mdash;"In the face
+of God and man, I solemnly protest
+against the injury which has been
+committed upon me, by the violation
+of my most sacred rights, in forcibly
+disposing of <i>my person and liberty</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"I came freely on board the Bellerophon,
+and <i>am not a prisoner</i>,&mdash;I am
+the <i>guest of England</i>.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I presented myself in good faith,
+and came to place myself under the
+protection of the laws of England.
+As soon as I set my foot on board the
+Bellerophon, I felt myself on the soil
+of the British people. If the orders
+issued by the government to receive
+myself and my suite were merely intended
+as a snare, then they have
+<i>forfeited their bond</i>. If such an act
+were really done, it would be in vain
+for England in future to speak of her
+faith, her laws, and her liberty.</p>
+
+<p>"She pretended to offer <i>the hand
+of hospitality</i> to an enemy, <i>and when
+he had trusted to her fidelity</i>, she immolated
+him."</p>
+
+<p>If the <i>detenus</i> at Verdun, and
+scattered through the various fortresses
+of France, had drawn up a
+petition against the desperate act
+which had consigned them to captivity,
+they might have anticipated the
+language with which Napoleon went
+to the dungeon, that was never to
+send him back again amongst mankind.</p>
+
+<p>There was but one preliminary to
+his departure now to take place. It
+was the execution of an order from
+the Government to examine the baggage
+in the strictest manner, and to
+require the surrender of all money or
+jewels of value in the possession of
+Napoleon and his suite. Necessary
+as this act was, for the prevention of
+bribery, and attempts to escape from
+St Helena, not for any undue seizure
+of private property, for a most ample
+allowance was already appointed by
+the government for the expenses of
+the prisoner, this duty seems to have
+been most imperfectly performed. As
+the Count tells us, "the grand-marshal,
+gave up 4000 Napoleons, as constituting
+the Emperor's chest. We kept
+secret about 400,000 francs in gold&mdash;from
+three to four hundred thousand
+francs in valuables and diamonds,
+and letters of credit for more than
+four million of francs." Whether this
+immense sum was overlooked by the
+extraordinary negligence of those
+whose duty it was to fulfil the orders
+of government, or whether their
+search was baffled, the narrative does
+not disclose. But there can be no
+question that the suite were bound to
+deliver up all that they possessed;
+and that there can be as little question
+that with such sums of money at his
+disposal, Napoleon's subsequent complaints
+of poverty were ridiculous,
+and that the subsequent sale of his
+plate to supply his table was merely
+for the purpose of exciting a clamour,
+and was charlatanish and contemptible.</p>
+
+<p>We pass rapidly over the details of
+the voyage. Napoleon spent a considerable
+part of his time on the
+quarter-deck, took opportunities of
+conversing affably with the officers,
+and even with the crew. On one
+occasion, after some conversation
+with the master, he invited him to
+dine at the admiral's table. The
+master declined the invitation, as a
+sin against naval etiquette. "Oh!
+in that case," said Napoleon, "you
+must come and dine in my own
+cabin." The admiral, however, had
+the good sense to tell Napoleon, that
+any one invited by him to the honour
+of sitting at his table, was, by that
+circumstance alone, placed above all
+rule of etiquette, and that the master
+should be welcome to dinner next
+day. This conduct, of course, made
+him very popular on board; but the
+chief interest of these important volumes
+is in the conversations which
+he held from time to time with the
+officers, and especially in the long
+details of his military and imperial
+career, which he dictated at St Helena,
+and which make the true novelty and
+value of the work. In one of those conversations
+which he had with them,
+he referred emphatically to his own
+efforts to make France a great naval
+power. "Unfortunately," said he,
+"I found nobody who understood me.
+During the expedition to Egypt, I
+cast my eyes on Decrés. I reckoned
+on him for understanding and executing
+my projects in regard to the navy.
+I was mistaken; his passion was to
+form a police, and to find out, by
+means of the smugglers, every web
+which your ministers, or the intriguers
+of Hartwell, were weaving against
+me. He had no enlarged ideas; always
+the spirit of locality and insignificant
+detail&mdash;paralysing my views."
+He then proceeded to state the hopeless
+condition of the French navy
+when he assumed the throne. The
+navy of Louis XVI. was no longer
+in existence; the Republic possessed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span>
+but four ships of the line; the taking
+of Toulon, the battle of the river
+Jenes in 1793&mdash;of Rochefort in 1794,
+and finally, the battle of Aboukir, had
+given the death-blow to the navy.
+"Well, notwithstanding the disaster
+of Trafalgar, which I owe entirely to
+the disobedience of Admiral Villeneuve,
+I left to France one hundred
+ships of the line, and 80,000 sailors
+and marines, and all this in a reign of
+ten years." The truth is, that the
+attempt to make the French navy was
+one of the pre-eminent blunders of
+Napoleon. France is naturally a
+great military power, but her people
+are not maritime. England is not
+naturally a great military power, but
+her people are maritime. France has
+an immense land frontier which can
+be defended only by a land force.
+England has no land frontier at all.
+The sea is her only frontier, and it,
+of course, can be defended only by a
+fleet. A fleet is not a necessary of
+existence to France. A fleet is a
+necessary of existence to England.
+It is therefore self-evident that France
+only wastes her power in dividing it
+between her fleet and her army; and
+may be a great power, without having a
+ship; while England is compelled to
+concentrate her strength upon her fleet,
+and without her fleet must be undone.
+Thus the law of existence, which is
+equivalent to a law of nature, gives
+the naval superiority to England.
+There are symptoms in France at the
+present day, of falling into Napoleon's
+blunder, and of imagining the possibility
+of her becoming the naval rival
+of England. That she may build
+ships is perfectly possible, and that
+she may crowd them with a naval
+conscription is equally possible. But
+the first collision will show her the
+utter folly of contending with her
+partial strength against the power on
+which England rests her defence&mdash;a
+struggle between a species of volunteer
+and adventurous aggression, and
+the stern and desperate defence in
+which the safety of a nation is
+supremely involved.</p>
+
+<p>On crossing the Line, the triumph
+of Neptune was celebrated in the
+usual grotesque style. The Deity of
+the Sea requested permission to make
+acquaintance with Napoleon, who received
+him graciously, and presented
+him with five hundred Napoleons for
+himself and the crew, upon which he
+was rewarded with three cheers, and
+"Long live the Emperor Napoleon!"</p>
+
+<p>On the 16th of October 1815, the
+Northumberland cast anchor in the
+roads at St Helena. The Count remarks
+that the 17th, the day on which he
+disembarked, reminded him of a disastrous
+day. It was the anniversary
+of the last day of the battle of Leipsig.
+If distance from all the habitable parts
+of the globe were to be the merits of
+Napoleon's prison, nothing could have
+been more appropriate than the island
+of St Helena. It was two thousand
+leagues from Europe, twelve hundred
+leagues from the Cape, and nine hundred
+from any continent. A volcanic
+rock in the centre of the ocean.</p>
+
+<p>In the month of April, the frigate
+Phaeton anchored in the roads, having
+the new governor, Sir Hudson
+Lowe, with his family, on board. Sir
+Hudson is now where neither praise
+nor blame can reach him, but the
+choice was unfortunate in the very
+point for which probably he had been
+chosen;&mdash;he had been colonel of the
+Corsican regiment in our service,
+had served much in the Mediterranean,
+and had already been (as far as we
+remember) the object of Napoleon's
+bitterness in some of his Italian
+manifestoes. There can be no doubt
+that the mildest of governors would
+have been no favourite with the prisoner
+of Longwood. But in the present
+instance Napoleon's blood boiled
+at the idea of being placed under the
+jurisdiction of the colonel of the Corsican
+rangers; and he, accordingly,
+took every opportunity of exhibiting
+his indignation&mdash;a sort of feeling which,
+in a foreigner, and especially one of
+southern blood, always amounts to
+fury.</p>
+
+<p>We pass over a multitude of minor
+circumstances, though all characteristic,
+and all invaluable to the historian
+of the next century; but which
+would retard the more interesting
+conversations of the extraordinary
+captive. On the communication of
+the convention signed at Paris in
+August 1815, declaring him the prisoner
+of the four allied powers, and
+the announcement of the commissioners
+under whose charge he was to be
+placed, Napoleon burst out into a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span>
+passionate remonstrance, which, however,
+he addressed only to the people
+around him. On those occasions he
+always adopted that abrupt and decisive
+style which in a Frenchman
+passes for oracular.</p>
+
+<p>"The expenses of my captivity
+will certainly exceed ten millions of
+francs a-year. It has not been the
+will of fate that my work should finish
+by effecting the social reorganisation
+of Europe." He then ran into his
+old boasting of his probable triumph
+in his great collision with the British
+army. "At Waterloo I ought to
+have been victorious&mdash;the chances
+were a hundred to one in my favour;
+but Ney, the bravest of the brave,
+at the head of 42,000 Frenchmen,
+suffered himself to be delayed a whole
+day by some thousands of Nassau
+troops. Had it not been for this inexplicable
+inactivity, the English
+army would have been taken <i>flagrante
+delicto</i>, and annihilated without striking
+a blow. Grouchy, with 40,000 men,
+suffered Bulow and Blucher to escape
+from him; and finally, a heavy fall of
+rain had made the ground so soft that
+it was impossible to commence the
+attack at daybreak. Had I been
+able to commence early, Wellington's
+army would have been trodden down
+in the defiles of the forest before the
+Prussians could have had time to arrive.
+It was lost without resource.
+The defeat of Wellington's army would
+have been peace, the repose of Europe,
+the recognition of the interests
+of the masses and of the democracy."</p>
+
+<p>Napoleon was always fluent on this
+subject; but the only true matter of
+surprise is, that so clever a personage
+should have talked such nonsense.
+In the first place, he must have known
+that Ney with his 40,000 men had
+been soundly beaten by about half
+that number, and was thus unable to
+move a step beyond Quatre-Bras.
+In the next, that Grouchy, instead of
+suffering the Prussians to escape him,
+was gallantly fought by their rear-guard,
+was unable to make any impression
+whatever on them, and if he
+had not made his escape in the night,
+would unquestionably have been
+crushed to pieces the next day; and
+thirdly, as to the English armies being
+saved by the rain, the Duke of Wellington
+fought the French from eleven
+in the forenoon till seven in the evening
+without being driven an inch from
+the ground. If the French could not
+beat him in eight hours, they could
+not beat him in as many days. It
+was not until seven in the evening
+that the Prussian guns were heard
+coming into the field. Even then
+they were a mile and a half from
+Wellington's position. The British
+then charged, swept the French before
+them, Napoleon himself running
+away amongst the foremost, leaving
+40,000 of his troops on the field or in
+the hands of the enemy. It would
+have been much wiser to have said
+not a syllable upon the battle, or
+much manlier to have acknowledged
+that he was more thoroughly beaten
+than he had ever seen an army beaten
+before; and that with 72,000 French
+veterans in the field, he had been
+routed and ruined by 25,000 British,
+three-fourths of whom had never fired
+a shot before in their lives.</p>
+
+<p>We have from time to time some
+curious acknowledgments of the political
+treacheries which formed the actual
+system of Napoleon's government,
+whether consular or imperial. On
+dictating a note relative to St Domingo
+to Count Montholon, he elucidated
+this policy in the most unequivocal
+manner. It will be remembered
+that, on the peace of Amiens, he had
+sent out a powerful fleet and an army
+of thirty thousand men to the West
+Indies. It will also be remembered,
+that in reply to the remonstrance of
+the British government, who naturally
+looked on so formidable an armament
+with considerable suspicion, the First
+Consul disclaimed in the most solemn
+manner all sinister views, pronounced,
+with every appearance of sincerity,
+that his sole object was the subjection
+of a French island then in revolt, and
+when this object was effected his whole
+purpose would be accomplished. But
+in St Helena, where candour cost nothing,
+he amply acknowledged the
+treachery. "I had two plans," said
+he, "for St Domingo. The first was
+that of acknowledging the power of
+the blacks, making Toussaint L'Ouverture
+governor, and, in fact, making
+St Domingo a West Indian vice-royalty.
+This plan was my favourite,
+and why? The French flag would
+acquire a great development of power<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span>
+in the American waters, and a variety
+of expeditions might have been undertaken
+against Jamaica and all the
+Antilles, and against South America,
+with an army of thirty thousand
+blacks trained and disciplined by
+French officers."</p>
+
+<p>We are to remember that at this
+time he was at peace with both England
+and Spain, whose territories he
+was thus about to dismember; for we
+cannot believe that the affairs of St
+Domingo were suffered greatly to occupy
+his mind. In the busy days from
+Marengo to the loss of Egypt, and the
+conclusion of peace, he had intended
+to have raised an universal negro insurrection
+in our islands. Upon the
+colours of his negro army he was to
+have inscribed "Brave blacks, remember
+that France alone recognises
+your liberty"&mdash;which would have been,
+in fact, a manifesto, calling upon all
+the negroes of the West Indies to revolt
+without delay. But the negroes
+of St Domingo, having formed plans of
+liberty for themselves, dispatched one
+of their colonels with a demand of independence.
+The chance, therefore,
+of invading Jamaica through their
+means was extinguished at once, and
+France was punished by the loss of
+her greatest colony for ever.</p>
+
+<p>In a conversation with Colonel
+Wilks, the ex-governor, on taking
+his leave, he told him that India had
+been constantly an object of his policy&mdash;that
+he had constantly assailed it
+by negotiations, and would have
+reached it by arms, had he been able
+to come to an understanding with the
+Emperor of Russia on the partition of
+Turkey. He then talked of his constant
+wish for peace&mdash;a declaration
+which the colonel probably received
+with a smile; and next disclosed a
+transaction, which, on any other authority,
+would have been incredible,
+but which amounted to perhaps the
+boldest and broadest piece of bribery
+ever attempted with a distinguished
+minister.</p>
+
+<p>While the French army was still
+on the right bank of the Elbe, the
+offer of the Austrian mediation was
+brought by Prince Metternich, demanding,
+as a preliminary, the abandonment
+of the great German fortresses
+which still remained in French
+hands.</p>
+
+<p>"I said to Metternich with indignation,"
+are the words of this singular
+conference&mdash;"Is it my father-in-law
+who entertains such a project? Is it
+he who sends you to me? How much
+has England <i>given you</i>, to induce you
+to play this game against me? Have
+I not done enough for your fortune?
+It is of no consequence&mdash;be <i>frank</i>&mdash;what
+is it <i>you wish</i>? If <i>twenty millions</i>
+will not satisfy you, say <i>what
+you wish</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>He adds, that on this scandalous
+offer of corruption, Metternich's sudden
+sullenness and total silence recalled
+him to a sense of what he had just
+expressed, and that thenceforth he
+had found this great minister wholly
+impracticable. Who can wonder that
+he did so, or that the offer was regarded
+as the deepest injury by a man
+of honour? But Napoleon's conception
+of the matter, to the last, was
+evidently not that he had committed
+an act of bribery, but that he had
+"mistaken his man." "It was," as
+Fouché observed, "<i>worse</i> than a crime,
+it was a <i>blunder</i>."</p>
+
+<p>One of the absurdities of the crowd
+who collected anecdotes of Napoleon,
+was a perpetual affectation of surprise
+that he should not have terminated
+his imprisonment by his own
+hand. He was conscious of the imputation,
+and it seems to have formed
+the occasional subject of his thoughts.
+But his powerful understanding soon
+saw through the sophistry of that
+species of dramatic heroism, by which
+a man escapes "with a bare bodkin"
+all the duties and responsibilities of
+his being.</p>
+
+<p>"I have always regarded it," said
+he, "as a maxim, that a man exhibits
+more real courage by supporting
+calamities, and resisting misfortunes,
+than by putting an end to his
+life. Self-destruction is the act of
+a gambler who has lost all, or that of
+a ruined spendthrift, and proves nothing
+but a want of courage."</p>
+
+<p>The attempts to prove that Napoleon
+wanted personal intrepidity were
+at all times childish. His whole
+career in his Italian campaigns was
+one of personal exposure, and from
+the period when he rose into civil
+eminence, he had other responsibilities
+than those of the mere general. His
+life was no longer his own; it was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span>
+the keystone of the government.
+Whether as consul or as emperor, his
+fall would have brought down along
+with it the whole fabric on which the
+fate of so many others immediately
+depended. It is, however, certain, that
+his courage was not chivalric, that no
+gallant fit of glory ever tempted him
+beyond the necessary degree of peril,
+and that he calculated the gain and
+loss of personal enterprise with too
+nice a view as to the balance of honour
+and advantage. A man of higher mind&mdash;an
+emperor who had not forgot
+that he was a general, would never
+have deserted his perishing army in
+Poland; an emperor who had not
+forgot that he was a soldier, would
+never have sent his Imperial guard,
+shouting, to massacre, and stayed
+himself behind. But to expect this
+devotion of courage is to expect a
+spirit which Napoleon never exhibited;
+and which is singular among
+the military exploits of the south.
+Napoleon might have commanded at
+Platea, but he would never have died
+at Thermopylæ.</p>
+
+<p>In days like ours, which begin to
+familiarize men with the chances of
+political convulsion, it may be well
+worth while to listen to the conceptions
+of one who better knew the nature
+of the French Revolution than
+perhaps any among the great actors
+of the time. Napoleon was sitting
+by his fireside, in St Helena, on the
+3d of September:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"To-day," said he, "is the anniversary
+of a hideous remembrance,
+the St Bartholomew of the French
+Revolution&mdash;a bloody stain, which was
+the act of the Commune of Paris, a
+rival power of the Legislature, which
+built its strength upon the <i>dregs of
+the passions of the people</i>. * *</p>
+
+<p>We must acknowledge, that there has
+been no political change without a fit
+of popular vengeance, as soon as, <i>for
+any cause whatever</i>, the mass of the
+people <i>enter into action</i>. * *</p>
+
+<p>General rule:&mdash;<i>No social revolution
+without terror!</i> Every revolution is in
+principle a <i>revolt</i>, which time and
+success ennoble and render legal; but
+of which terror has been one of the
+<i>inevitable phases</i>. How, indeed, can
+we understand, that one could say to
+those who possess fortune and public
+situations, 'Begone, and leave us your
+fortunes and your situations,' without
+first intimidating them, and rendering
+any defence impossible? The Reign of
+Terror began, in fact, on the night of
+the 4th of August, when privileges,
+nobility, tithes, the remains of the
+feudal system, and the fortunes of the
+clergy, were done away with, and <i>all
+those remains of the old monarchy</i> were
+thrown to the people. Then only did
+the people understand the Revolution,
+because they gained something,
+and wished to keep it, even at the
+expense of blood."</p></div>
+
+<p>This language is memorable. It
+ought to be a lesson to England.
+Napoleon here pronounces, that the
+great stimulant of political revolution
+is public robbery. Privileges may be
+the pretence, but the real object is
+plunder; and the progress of reason
+may be alleged as the instrument,
+but the true weapon is terror. In
+England, we are preparing the way
+for a total change. The groundwork
+of a revolution is laid from hour to
+hour; the Aristocracy, the Church,
+the landed proprietors, are made objects
+of popular libel, only preparatory
+to their being made objects of
+popular assault. The League has not
+yet taken upon it the office of the
+Commune of Paris, nor have the
+nobles, the clergy, and the bankers,
+been massacred in the prisons; but
+when once the popular passions are
+kindled by the hopes of national plunder,
+the revolution will have begun,
+and then farewell to the constitution.
+The habits of England, we willingly
+allow, are opposed to public cruelty;
+and in the worst excesses, the
+France of 1793 would probably leave
+us behind. But the principle in every
+nation is the same&mdash;the possessors of
+property will resist, the plunderers of
+property will fight; conflicting banners
+will be raised, and, after desperate
+struggles, the multitude will be
+the masters of the land.</p>
+
+<p>There can be nothing more evident,
+than that some of the leaders in these
+new movements contemplate the overthrow
+of the monarchy. There may
+be mere dupes in their ranks, the
+spirit of money-making may be the
+temper of others; but there are darker
+minds among them which scarcely
+condescend to conceal their intentions.
+The presidentship of a British republic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span>
+would be not without its charms for
+the demagogue; and the bloody revolution
+of 1641, might rapidly find its
+still more sanguinary counterpart in
+the revolution of the nineteenth century.
+We have the history in the
+annals of France, and the commentator
+is the "child and champion of
+Jacobinism"&mdash;Napoleon.</p>
+
+<p>His impression that revolution always
+fixed its especial object in plunder,
+found another authority in one
+of the peculiar agents of public disturbance.
+"Barrère," said Napoleon,
+"affirmed, and truly, <i>Le peuple bat
+monnaie sur la place Louis XV.</i>"
+("The people coin money in the
+square of Louis XV.")&mdash;alluding to
+the guillotine, which enriched the
+treasury by the death of the nobles,
+whose wealth became the property of
+the nation.</p>
+
+<p>He proceeded, with equal decision
+and truth: "A revolution is always,
+whatever some may think, one of the
+greatest misfortunes with which the
+Divine anger can punish a nation. It
+is the scourge of the generation which
+brings it about; and for a long course
+of years, even a century, it is the misfortune
+of all, though it may be the
+advantage of individuals."</p>
+
+<p>Napoleon spent the chief portion of
+his time in dictating the recollections of
+his government, and general defences
+of his conduct. Those dictations were
+sometimes written down by Montholon,
+and sometimes by Las Cases. But
+in November 1816, an order was
+issued for the arrest of Las Cases,
+and his dismissal from the island, in
+consequence of his attempting to send,
+without the knowledge of the governor,
+a letter to Prince Lucien, sowed
+up in the clothes of a mulatto. This
+arrest made a prodigious noise among
+the household of Napoleon, and was
+turned to good advantage in England,
+as an instance of the cruelty of his
+treatment. Yet it seems perfectly
+probable that the whole was a trick
+of the Ex-emperor himself, and a mere
+contrivance for the purpose of sending
+to Europe Las Cases as an agent in
+his service.</p>
+
+<p>The security of Napoleon's imprisonment
+was essential to the peace of
+Europe; and no precaution could be
+justly regarded as severe, which prevented
+an outbreak so hazardous to
+the quiet of the world. Among those
+precautions, was the strictest prohibition
+of carrying on any correspondence
+with Europe, except through the
+hands of the governor. The whole
+household were distinctly pledged to
+the observance of this order, and any
+infraction of it was to be punished
+by instant arrest and deportation
+from the island.</p>
+
+<p>An order had been sent from England
+to reduce the number of the
+household by four domestics; and it
+seems not improbable that Napoleon's
+craft was suddenly awakened to the
+prospect of establishing a confidential
+intercourse with the faction whom he
+had left behind. But the four domestics
+were obviously inadequate to this
+object, and some person of higher
+condition was necessary. Las Cases
+some time before had attempted to
+send a letter to Europe by the mulatto.
+The fellow had been detected,
+and was threatened with a flogging if
+he repeated the experiment; yet it
+was to this same mulatto that Las
+Cases committed another letter, which
+the mulatto immediately carried to
+the governor, and Las Cases was
+arrested in consequence. Napoleon
+was instantly indignant, and vented his
+rage against the cruelty of the arrest,
+at the same time expressing his
+scorn at the clumsiness of Las Cases
+in delivering his letter to so awkward
+a messenger. But, whatever might
+be his pretended wonder at the want
+of dexterity in the Count, it was
+exceeded by his indignation at the
+conduct of the governor. "Longwood,"
+he writes in a long and formal
+protest against his detention, "is
+wrapped in a veil which he would
+fain make impenetrable, in order to
+hide <i>criminal</i> conduct. This peculiar
+care to conceal matters gives room to
+suspect the most <i>odious intentions</i>."
+This was obviously a hint that the
+governor's purpose was to put him
+secretly to death: a hint which neither
+Napoleon nor any other human being
+could have believed.</p>
+
+<p>But in alluding to the arrest of the
+Count, he touches closely on the acknowledgment
+of the intrigue.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"I looked through the window,"
+he said, "and saw them taking you
+away. A numerous staff pranced
+about you. I imagined I saw some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span>
+South Sea Islanders dancing round
+the prisoners whom they were about
+to devour!" After this Italian extravaganza,
+he returns to his object.
+"Your services were necessary to me.
+You alone could read, speak, and
+understand English. Nevertheless, I
+request you, and in case of need, command
+you, to require the governor <i>to
+send you to the Continent</i>. He <i>cannot
+refuse</i>, because he has no power over
+you, except through the voluntary
+document which you signed. It would
+be great <i>consolation to me</i> to know
+that you were on your way to more
+happy countries."</p></div>
+
+<p>This letter was carried by Bertrand
+to the governor for Las Cases, and
+"the wished-for effect was produced
+on Sir Hudson Lowe, as soon as he
+saw the terms in which the Emperor
+expressed his regret." We are fairly
+entitled to doubt the sincerity of the
+wish; for on Sir Hudson's offering to
+let Las Cases remain at Longwood, a
+new obstacle instantly arose,&mdash;the
+Count declared that "to remain was
+utterly impossible;" his honour was
+touched; he absolutely must go; or,
+as Count Montholon describes this
+happy punctilio,&mdash;"Unfortunately,
+Las Cases, influenced by extreme
+susceptibility of honour, thought himself
+<i>bound to refuse</i> the governor's
+offer. He felt himself too deeply
+outraged by the insult; he explained
+this to the grand-marshal, and we
+were obliged to renounce the hope of
+seeing him again." Then came the
+finale of this diplomatic farce. "It
+was in vain that the Emperor sent
+Bertrand and Gourgaud to persuade
+him to renounce his determination;
+<i>he was resolved to leave the island</i>;
+and on the 29th of December 1816,
+he quitted St Helena."</p>
+
+<p>We have but little doubt that the
+whole was a mystification. The gross
+folly of sending a secret dispatch by
+the same man of colour who had
+been detected by the governor, and
+threatened with punishment for the
+attempt to convey a letter; the bustle
+made on the subject at Longwood;
+the refusal of Las Cases to comply
+with Napoleon's request to remain,
+which, if it had been sincere, would
+have been equivalent to a command;
+and the conduct of Las Cases immediately
+on his arrival Europe, his
+publications and activity, amply show
+the object of his return. But a simple
+arrangement on the governor's part
+disconcerted the whole contrivance.
+Instead of transmitting Las Cases to
+Europe, Sir Hudson Lowe sent him
+to the Cape; where he was further
+detained, until permission was sent
+from England for his voyage to Europe.
+On his arrival, Napoleon's
+days were already numbered, and all
+dexterity was in vain. We have adverted
+to this transaction chiefly for
+the credit which it reflects on the
+governor. It shows his vigilance to
+have been constantly necessary; it
+also shows him to have been willing
+to regard Napoleon's convenience
+when it was possible; and it further
+shows that he was not destitute of
+the sagacity which was so fully required
+in dealing with the <i>coterie</i> at
+Longwood.</p>
+
+<p>Napoleon's habits of dictating his
+memoirs must have been formidable
+toil to his secretaries. He sometimes
+dictated for twelve or fourteen hours,
+with scarcely an intermission. He
+spoke rapidly, and it was necessary
+to follow him as rapidly as he spoke,
+and never to make him repeat the last
+word. His first dictation was a mere
+revival of his recollections, without
+any order. The copy of his first dictation
+served as notes to the second,
+and the copy of this second became
+the subject of his personal revision;
+but he, unfortunately for his transcribers,
+made his corrections almost
+always in pencil, as he thus avoided
+staining his fingers&mdash;no woman being
+more careful in preserving the delicacy
+of her hands.</p>
+
+<p>Those dictations must be regarded
+as the studied defences of Napoleon
+against the heavy charges laid against
+his government.</p>
+
+<p>We have now given a general glance
+at the career of the French Emperor,
+as exhibited to us in these Recollections.
+He strikingly showed, in
+all the details of his government,
+the characteristics of his own nature.
+Impetuous, daring, and contemptuous
+of the feelings of mankind,
+from the first hour of his public
+life, his government was, like himself,
+the model of fierceness, violence, and
+disregard of human laws. Whatever
+was to him an object of ambition, was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span>
+instantly in his grasp; whatever he
+seized was made the instrument of a
+fresh seizure; and whatever he possessed
+he mastered in the fullest spirit
+of tyranny. He was to be supreme;
+the world was to be composed of <i>his</i>
+soldiery, his serfs, courtiers, and
+tools. The earth was to be only
+an incalculable population of French
+slaves. There was to be but one man
+free upon the globe, and that man
+Napoleon.</p>
+
+<p>We find, in this romance of power,
+the romance of his education. It has
+been often said, that he was Oriental
+in all his habits. His plan of supremacy
+bore all the stamp of Orientalism&mdash;the
+solitary pomp, the inflexible
+will, the unshared power, and the inexorable
+revenge. The throne of the
+empire was as isolated as the seraglio.
+It was surrounded by all the strength
+of terror and craft, more formidable
+than battlements and bastions. Its
+interior was as mysterious as its exterior
+was magnificent; no man was
+suffered to approach it but as soldier
+or slave; its will was heard only by
+the roaring of cannon; the overthrow
+of a minister, the proclamation of a
+war, or the announcement of a dynasty
+crushed and a kingdom overrun, were
+the only notices to Europe of the
+doings within that central place of
+power.</p>
+
+<p>But, with all the genius of Napoleon,
+he overlooked the true principles
+of supremacy. All power must
+be pyramidal to be secure. The base
+must not only be broad, but the gradations
+of the pile must be regular to
+the summit. With Napoleon the
+pyramid was inverted&mdash;it touched the
+earth but in one point; and the very
+magnitude of the mass resting upon
+his single fortune, exposed it to overthrow
+at the first change of circumstances.</p>
+
+<p>Still, he was an extraordinary being.
+No man of Europe has played so memorable
+a part on the great theatre
+of national events for the last thousand
+years. The French Revolution
+had been the palpable work of Providence,
+for the punishment of a long
+career of kingly guilt, consummated
+by an unparalleled act of perfidy, the
+partition of Poland. The passions of
+men had been made the means of
+punishing the vices of government.
+When the cup was full, Napoleon
+was sent to force it upon the startled
+lips of Prussia, Austria, and Russia.
+The three conspirators were crushed
+in bloody encounters&mdash;the capitals of
+the three were captured&mdash;the provinces
+of the three were plundered&mdash;and
+the military pride of the three was
+humiliated by contemptuous and bitter
+conditions of peace.</p>
+
+<p>But, when the destined work was
+done, the means were required no
+more. When the victims were broken
+on the wheel, the wheel and the
+executioner were alike hurried from
+the sight of man. The empire of
+France was extinguished by the same
+sovereign law which had permitted
+its existence. The man who had
+guided the empire in its track of devastation&mdash;the
+soul of all its strength,
+of its ambition, and its evil&mdash;was
+swept away. And as if for the final
+moral of human arrogance, France
+was subjected to a deeper humiliation
+than had been known in the annals
+of national reverses since the fall of
+Rome; and the ruler of France was
+plunged into a depth of defeat, a bitterness
+of degradation, an irreparable
+ruin, of which the civilized world
+possesses no example. His army
+destroyed in Russia by the hand of
+Him who rules the storm&mdash;the last
+forces of his empire massacred in Belgium&mdash;his
+crown struck off by the
+British sword&mdash;his liberty fettered by
+British chains&mdash;the remnant of his
+years worn away in a British dungeon,
+and his whole dynasty flung
+along with him into the political tomb,
+were only the incidents of the great
+judicial process of our age. The
+world has been suffered to return to
+peace; while the sepulchre of this
+man of boundless but brief grandeur
+has been suffered to stand in the
+midst of that nation which most requires
+the great lesson&mdash;that ambition
+always pays for its splendour by
+its calamities; that the strength of a
+nation is in the justice of its councils;
+and that he "who uses the sword
+shall perish by the sword!"<br /><br /></p>
+
+
+<div class="center"><i>Edinburgh: Printed by Ballantyne and Hughes, Paul's Work.</i><br /><br /></div>
+
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a>
+<i>Peru. Reiseskizzen aus den Jahren 1838-1842.</i> <i>Von</i> <span class="smcap">J. J. von Tschudi</span>.
+St Gall: 1846.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a>
+<i>Untersuchungen über die Fauna Peruana.</i> St Gall: 1846.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a>
+An Historical and Descriptive Narrative of Twenty Years' Residence in South
+America. Containing Travels in Arauco, Chili, Peru, and Columbia; with an account
+of the Revolution, its rise, progress, and results; by W. B. <span class="smcap">Stevenson</span>.
+London: 1825.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a>
+Europeans are apt to attach the idea of some particular colour to the word
+Creole. It is a vulgar error. Creole (Spanish, Criollo) is derived from <i>criar</i>, to
+breed or produce, and is applied to native Americans descended from 'Old World'
+parents. Thus there are black Creoles as well as white, and a horse or a dog may
+be a Creole as well as a man, so long as the European or African blood is preserved
+unmixed.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a>
+The day and the event strangely coincide with the passage in Schiller's
+"Wilhelm Tell"&mdash;
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 7em;">"'s ist Simon und Judä</span><br />
+"Da rast der See und will sein Opfer haben."<br /></p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a>
+Marlborough to Mr Secretary Boyle, 17th December 1708. <i>Disp.</i> iv. 362.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a>
+<i>Disp.</i> iv. 315, 323, 345. Marlborough to Duke de Mole, 10th Dec. 1708. <i>Ibid.</i>
+346. <span class="smcap">Coxe</span>, iv. 278.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a>
+Marlborough to Mr Secretary Boyle, 3d January 1709, <i>Disp.</i> iv. 389.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a>
+"'Can I do more than I do now?' said the King. 'I make treaties, but the
+Emperor breaks his word with me, as well as Holland, every moment. Besides
+it is impossible, without great inconvenience, <i>to give more than three battalions</i>;
+and he is a wretch who would advise me otherwise.' I said he was a wretch
+who should advise him not to do it. He replied, 'You speak very boldly, and
+may perhaps repent it, if your arguments are not conclusive.'"&mdash;General Grumbkow
+to Marlborough, March 9, 1709. <span class="smcap">Coxe</span>, iv. 341.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a>
+King of Prussia to Marlborough, March 9, 1709. <span class="smcap">Coxe</span>, iv. 346.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a>
+In communicating the thanks of the House of Lords, the Chancellor said,</p>
+<p>
+"I shall not be thought to exceed my present commission, if, being thus led to
+contemplate the mighty things which your Grace has done for us, I cannot but
+conclude with acknowledging, with all gratitude, the providence of God in raising
+you up to be an instrument of so much good, in so critical a juncture, when it was
+so much wanted." <span class="smcap">Coxe</span>, iv. 375.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a>
+<span class="smcap">Coxe</span>, iv. 352, 366, 377.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a>
+"M. de Torcy has offered so much, that I have no doubt it will end in a good
+peace." Marlborough to Godolphin, 19th May 1707.
+</p><p>
+"Every thing goes on so well here, that there is no doubt of its ending in a
+good peace. Government have in readiness the sideboard of plate, and the chairs
+of state and canopy; and I beg it may be made so as to form part of a bed when
+I am done with it here, <i>which I hope may be by the end of this summer</i>, so that I
+may enjoy your dear society in quiet, which is the greatest satisfaction I am capable
+of having." Marlborough to the Duchess, 19th May 1709. <span class="smcap">Coxe</span>, iv. 393.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a>
+<i>Mémoire, M. de Torcy</i>, ii. 104-111.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a>
+<span class="smcap">Swift's</span> <i>Conduct of the Allies</i>, 72; <span class="smcap">Coxe</span>, iv. 395-415.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a>
+"I have as much mistrust for the sincerity of France as any body living can
+have; but I will own to you, that in my opinion, if France had delivered the towns
+promised by the plenipotentiaries, and demolished Dunkirk and the other towns
+mentioned, they must have been at our discretion; so that if they had played tricks,
+so much the worse for themselves." Marlborough to Lord Godolphin, June 10,
+1709. <span class="smcap">Coxe</span>, iv. 405.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a>
+<span class="smcap">Coxe</span>, iv. 401.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a>
+<i>Ibid.</i> v. i. 5.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a>
+<i>Mém. de Villars</i>, ii. 63. Marlborough to Godolphin, June 27, 1709. <span class="smcap">Coxe</span>,
+iv. 5, 6.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a>
+Marlborough to Mr Secretary Boyle, 27th June 1709. <i>Disp.</i> iv. 520. <span class="smcap">Coxe</span>,
+v. 7, 8.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a>
+Marlborough to Lord Galway, 4th July 1709; and to the Queen, 29th July
+1709. <i>Disp.</i> iv. 530 and 556. <span class="smcap">Coxe</span>, v. 8, 13. Marlborough's private letters to
+the Duchess at this period, as indeed throughout all his campaigns, prove how he
+was tired of the war, and how ardently he sighed for repose at Blenheim. "The
+taking of the citadel of Tournay will, I fear, cost us more men and time than that
+of the town; but that which gives me the greatest prospect for the happiness of
+being with you, is, that certainly the misery of France increases, which must
+bring us a peace. The misery of the poor people we see is such, that one must be
+a brute not to pity them. May you be ever happy, and I enjoy some few years of
+quiet with you, is what I daily pray for." Marlborough to the Duchess, July 30,
+1709. <span class="smcap">Coxe</span>, v. 12.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a>
+<span class="smcap">Dumont's</span> <i>Military History</i>, ii. 104. <span class="smcap">Coxe</span>, v. 15, 16.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a>
+A very striking incident occurred in the siege, which shows to what a height
+the heroic spirit with which the troops were animated had risen. An officer commanding
+a detachment, was sent by Lord Albemarle to occupy a certain lunette
+which had been captured from the enemy; and though it was concealed from the
+men, the commander told the officer he had every reason to believe the post was
+undermined, and that the party would be blown up. Knowing this, he proceeded
+with perfect calmness to the place of his destination; and when provisions and
+wine were served out to the men, he desired them to fill their calashes, and said,
+"Here is a health to those who die the death of the brave." The mine in effect
+was immediately after sprung; but fortunately the explosion failed, and his comrades
+survived to relate their commander's noble conduct.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a>
+Marlborough to Mr Secretary Boyle, 31st August and 3d September 1709.
+<i>Disp.</i> iv. 585, 588. <span class="smcap">Coxe</span>, v. 14, 18. <span class="smcap">Dumont's</span> <i>Military History</i>, ii. 103.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a>
+Mackenzie's brigade, which joined Wellington's army after the battle of Talavera,
+marched sixty-two English miles in twenty-six hours. <span class="smcap">Napier</span>, ii. 412.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a>
+<span class="smcap">Coxe</span>, v. 20, 25. Marlborough to Mr Secretary Boyle, 7th September 1709.
+<i>Disp.</i> iv. 590.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a>
+A similar incident occurred in the British service, when Sir Henry, now Lord
+Hardinge, and Governor-general of India, served as second in command to Sir
+Hugh Gough, his senior in military rank, but subordinate in station, at the glorious
+battles of Ferozepore and Sobraon, with the Sikhs. How identical is the noble
+and heroic spirit in all ages and countries! It forms a freemasonry throughout
+the world.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a>
+<span class="smcap">Coxe</span>, v. 24, 25. <i>Disp.</i> iv. 588, 595.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a>
+Marlborough to Mr Secretary Boyle, 7th and 11th September 1709. <i>Disp.</i>
+iv. 591, 592. <span class="smcap">Coxe</span>, v. 25, 26.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a>
+<i>Mém. de Villars</i>, ii. 167, 184. <span class="smcap">Coxe</span>, v. 26, 28.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a>
+<span class="smcap">Coxe</span>, v. 29, 30. The author has passed over the ground, and can attest the
+accuracy of the description here given.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a>
+Viz. Artagnan, Maréchal de Montesquieu; De Guiche, Maréchal de Grammont;
+Puysegur, Montmorenci, Coigny, Broglio, Chaulnes, Nangis, Isenghien,
+Duras, Houdancourt, and Sanneterre. The monarchy never sent forth a nobler
+array.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a>
+<span class="smcap">Coxe</span>, v. 32. <i>Mém. de Villars</i>, ii, 280.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a>
+<span class="smcap">Coxe</span>, v. 34, 37; <span class="smcap">Dumont's</span> <i>Military History</i>, ii. 381-7.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a>
+Marlborough's General Orders, Sept. 10, 1709.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a>
+<span class="smcap">Coxe</span>, v. 40, 44.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a>
+<span class="smcap">Lediard</span>, <i>Life of Marlborough</i>, ii. 172, 180. <span class="smcap">Coxe</span>, v. 45, 47.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a>
+The regiments of Tullibardine and Hepburn were almost all Atholl Highlanders.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a>
+<span class="smcap">Coxe</span>, v. 54, 63; <i>Disp.</i> v. 592, Marlborough to Mr Secretary Boyle, Sept.
+11, 1709, and to Mr Wauchope, same date, v. 598.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a>
+"The Eugenes and Marlboroughs ought to be well satisfied with us during
+that day; since till then they had not met with resistance worthy of them. They
+may now say with justice that nothing can stand before them; and indeed what
+shall be able to stay the rapid progress of these heroes, if an army of one hundred
+thousand men of the best troops, strongly posted between two woods, trebly
+entrenched, and performing their duty as well as any brave men could do, were
+not able to stop them one day? Will you not then own with me that they surpass
+all the heroes of former ages?"&mdash;<i>Letter of a French Officer who fought at Malplaquet</i>;
+<span class="smcap">Coxe</span>, v. 65.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a>
+At Waterloo, there were sixty-nine thousand six hundred and eighty-six
+men in Wellington's army, and the loss was twenty-two thousand four hundred
+and sixty-nine, or one in three nearly; at Malplaquet, it was one in five; at Talavera,
+one in four&mdash;five thousand being killed and wounded out of nineteen thousand
+eight hundred engaged.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Siborne's</span> <i>Waterloo</i>, ii. 352 and 519.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a>
+Marlborough to Marshal Villars, 13th September 1709, and to Mr Secretary
+Boyle, 16th September 1709; <i>Disp.</i> v. 596, 599.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Coxe</span>, v. 64.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a>
+Marlborough to Mr Secretary Boyle, October 21, 1709. <i>Disp.</i> v. 617, 621.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a>
+"Be assured that Mrs Masham and Mr Harley will, underhand, do every thing
+that can make the business uneasy, particularly to you the Lord Treasurer, and
+me, for they know well that if we were removed every thing would be in their
+power. This is what they labour for, believing it would make them both great
+and happy; but I am very well persuaded it would be their destruction." <i>Marlborough
+to Godolphin</i>, Nov. 1, 1709; <span class="smcap">Coxe</span>, v. 105.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a>
+<span class="smcap">Coxe</span>, v. 105, 111.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a>
+<span class="smcap">Coxe</span>, v. 115, 116.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a>
+<span class="smcap">Swift</span>, <i>Mem. on Queen's Change of Ministry in 1710</i>, p. 37. <span class="smcap">Coxe</span>, v. 117-118.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a>
+<span class="smcap">Coxe</span>, v. 124, 133.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a>
+Duchess of Marlborough to Maynwaring, January 18, 1710. <span class="smcap">Coxe</span>, v. 134</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a>
+Marlborough to Queen Anne, January 19, 1710.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a>
+"On Wednesday sennight I waited upon the Queen, in order to represent the
+mischief of such recommendations in the army, and before I came away I expressed
+all the concern for her change to me, that is natural to a man that has
+served her so faithfully for many years, which made no impression, nor was her
+Majesty pleased to take so much notice of me as to ask my Lord Treasurer where
+I was upon her missing me at Council. I have had several letters from him since
+I came here, and I cannot find that her Majesty has ever thought me worth naming;
+when my Lord Treasurer once endeavoured to show her the mischief that
+would happen, she made him no answer but a bow." Marlborough to Lord
+Somers, January 21, 1710.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a>
+"If this unfortunate king had been so well advised as to have made peace
+the beginning of this summer, he might in a great measure have influenced the
+peace between France and the Allies, and made other kingdoms happy. I am extremely
+touched with the misfortunes of this young king. His continued successes,
+and the contempt he had of his enemies, have been his ruin." Marlborough
+to Godolphin, August 26, 1709. <i>Disp.</i> v. 510.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a>
+<i>The Earl of Gowrie</i>; a Tragedy. By the Rev. <span class="smcap">James White</span>. London: 1845.
+</p><p>
+<i>The King of the Commons</i>; a Drama. By the Same. 1846.
+</p><p>
+<i>A Book of Highland Minstrelsy.</i> By Mrs <span class="smcap">D. Ogilvy</span>. Illustrated by <span class="smcap">R. R.
+M'Ian</span>. London: 1846.
+</p><p>
+<i>Morning, and other Poems.</i> By a Member of the Scotch Bar. London: 1846.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a>
+It is worth noting, because one does not see why it is so, that the only imperial
+<i>birbone</i> of the lot universally known and execrated at Rome is <i>Nero</i>. One is
+much better able to understand (with Capri in front of one's windows) why a like
+exclusive and unenviable popularity at Naples attaches to <i>Tiberius</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a>
+The <i>hare</i> was first introduced into Sicily by Anaxilaus of Rhegium, and was
+adopted by the Messenians on their coins, as was also the <i>chariot</i>, in commemoration
+of his victory in the <i>mule</i> races at Olympia.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a>
+On the urbic coins of Aquinum, Suessa, and Tiano, which are generally of
+bronze, the <i>cock</i> figures on one side, the subject on the other varying; on those
+of Himera (a silver currency,) chanticleer is always confronted on the reverse by
+Dame Partlett.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a>
+Hiero the Second, tyrant of Syracuse, who flourished 216 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>, and was contemporary
+with Archimedes. The face is one expressive of refinement, and the
+coin of a very fine style of art, as indeed are all those that ever issued from the
+old and original mint of Sicily; but alas! there are now many small and illicit
+mints to which the travelling public that buys coins, is, without always knowing
+it, vastly more indebted. "Roba Siciliana"&mdash;Sicilian trash, exclaims the indignant
+Neapolitan, when you show him a modern forgery by which you have been
+duped. "Sciochezza di Napoli" retorts the dealer at Messina or Palermo, vindicating
+at once his own honour, which seems aspersed, and that of his Trinacrian
+associates. To reconcile these two statements, which are both true, the reader
+has only to be informed that there are mints every where, and coiners as cunning
+at Pozzuoli as at Palermo.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> By the word <i>anima</i>, or <i>soul</i> of a coin, numismatists designate the interior of
+the metal, as opposed to its superficies or <i>field</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59_59" id="Footnote_59_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> The <i>restitution</i> of the coinage of one Emperor by his successor, consisting of
+a smaller issue of pieces than the original from which it is taken, has become comparatively
+scarce; hence such <i>restitutions</i> fetch a much <i>higher price</i> than those of
+the earlier currency, and Dedomenicis's remark was not without its meaning.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_60_60" id="Footnote_60_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> Moneta, one of the many epithets or <i>aliases</i> of Juno, borrowed by the
+Emperor Caligula for his three sisters, Agrippina, Drusilla, and Livilla, who are
+represented standing in a row, each with her cornucopia and scales, and her name
+behind her back.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_61_61" id="Footnote_61_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a>
+"<i>La petite verole</i>" is the name employed by French numismatists to designate
+this <i>disease</i>. They could not have hit upon a happier. A finely characteristic
+specimen of it is to be seen at present in the bronze impersonation of George
+IV. which stands on the Steym at Brighton, where the whole face looking seaward
+has become <i>balafré</i> and pock-marked. It is strange that under the epithet
+of <i>pustular</i>, as applied to <i>silver</i>, the ancients appear to have meant the purest
+and most refined quality of that metal, when it is the alloy mixed with the bronze
+that makes it pustular.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_62_62" id="Footnote_62_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a>
+<i>History of the Captivity of Napoleon at St. Helena.</i> By <span class="smcap">General Count
+Montholon</span>. 2 vols. London: Colburn.</p></div>
+
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume
+60, No. 369, July 1846, by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE, JULY 1846 ***
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+</body>
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 60,
+No. 369, July 1846, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 60, No. 369, July 1846
+
+Author: Various
+
+Release Date: April 27, 2011 [EBook #35984]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE, JULY 1846 ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Brendan OConnor, JoAnn Greenwood, Jonathan
+Ingram and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
+generously made available by The Internet Library of Early
+Journals.)
+
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+
+
+
+
+                BLACKWOOD'S
+
+                 Edinburgh
+
+                 MAGAZINE.
+
+
+                 VOL. LX.
+
+            JULY-DECEMBER, 1846.
+
+
+              [Illustration]
+
+
+    WILLIAM BLACKWOOD & SONS, EDINBURGH
+                    AND
+       37, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON.
+
+
+                   1846
+
+
+TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: A few obvious misprints have been corrected, but in
+general the originally erratic spelling, punctuation and typesetting
+conventions have been retained. Accents in foreign language poetry and
+phrases are inconsistent in the original, and have not been
+standardized. In "English Hexameters" letter: [=x] is x with a macron,
+[)x] is x with a breve. Readers interested in this article are strongly
+encouraged to refer to the UTF8 or HTML versions.
+
+
+BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.
+
+
+No. CCCLXIX. JULY, 1846. VOL. LX
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+    PERU,                                               1
+
+    LETTERS ON ENGLISH HEXAMETERS. LETTER I.,          19
+
+    MARLBOROUGH'S DISPATCHES. 1708-1709,               22
+
+    THE AMERICANS AND THE ABORIGINES. PART THE LAST,   45
+
+    THE DEATH OF ZUMALACARREGUI,                       56
+
+    NEW SCOTTISH PLAYS AND POEMS,                      62
+
+    ELINOR TRAVIS. CHAPTER THE SECOND,                 83
+
+    MORE ROGUES IN OUTLINE,                           101
+
+    THE LAST RECOLLECTIONS OF NAPOLEON,               110
+
+
+EDINBURGH:
+
+WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, 45, GEORGE STREET;
+
+AND 37, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON.
+
+_To whom all Communications (post paid) must be addressed._
+
+SOLD BY ALL THE BOOKSELLERS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.
+
+
+PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE AND HUGHES, EDINBURGH.
+
+
+
+
+PERU.[1]
+
+
+A clever book of travels, over ground comparatively untrodden, is in
+these days a welcome rarity. No dearth is there of vapid narratives by
+deluded persons, who, having leisure to travel, think they must also
+have wit to write: with these we have long been surfeited, and
+heartily grateful do we feel to the man who strikes out a new track,
+follows it observantly, and gives to the world, in pleasant and
+instructive form, the result of his observations. Such a traveller we
+have had the good fortune to meet with, and now present to our
+readers.
+
+We take it that no portion of the globe's surface, of equal extent,
+and comprising an equal number of civilized, or at least
+semi-civilized, states, is less known to the mass of Europeans than
+the continent of South America. Too distant and dangerous for the
+silken tourist, to whom steam-boats and dressing-cases are
+indispensable, it does not possess, in a political point of view, that
+kind of importance which might induce governments to stimulate its
+exploration. As a nest of mushroom republics, continually fighting
+with each other and revolutionizing themselves--a land where
+throat-cutting is a popular pastime, and earthquakes, fevers more or
+less yellow, and vermin rather more than less venomous, are amongst
+the indigenous comforts of the soil--it is notorious, and has been
+pretty generally avoided. Braving these dangers and disagreeables, a
+German of high reputation as a naturalist and man of letters, has
+devoted four years of a life valuable to science to a residence and
+travels in the most interesting district of South America; the ancient
+empire of the Incas, the scene of the conquests and cruelties of
+Francisco Pizarro.
+
+"The scientific results of my travels," says Dr Tschudi in his brief
+preface, "are recorded partly in my _Investigation of the Fauna
+Peruana_[2] and partly in appropriate periodicals: the following
+volumes are an attempt to satisfy the claim which an enlightened
+public may justly make on the man who visits a country in reality but
+little known."
+
+We congratulate the doctor on the good success of his attempt. The
+public, whether of Germany or of any other country into whose language
+his book may be translated, will be difficult indeed if they desire a
+better account of Peru than he has given them.
+
+Bound for the port of Callao, the ship Edmond, in which Dr Tschudi
+sailed from Havre-de-Grace, was driven by storms to the coast of
+Chili, and first cast anchor in the bay of San Carlos, on the island
+of Chiloe. Although by no means devoid of interest, we shall pass over
+his account of that island, which is thinly peopled, of small
+fertility, and cursed with an execrable climate; and accompany him to
+Valparaiso, his next halting place. There he found much bustle and
+movement. Chili was at war with the confederation of Peru and Bolivia,
+and an expedition was fitting out in all haste. Sundry decrees of the
+Peruvian Protector, Santa Cruz, had excited the ire of the Chilians,
+especially one diminishing the harbour dues on vessels arriving direct
+from Europe and discharging their cargoes in a Peruvian port. This had
+damaged the commerce of Chili; and already one army under General
+Blanco had been landed on the Peruvian coast to revenge the injury. It
+had signally failed in its object. Outmanoeuvred and surrounded, it was
+taken prisoner to a man. On this occasion the behaviour of Santa Cruz
+was generous almost to quixotism. He sent back the soldiers to their
+country, and actually paid for the cavalry horses, which he kept. The
+Chilian government showed little gratitude for this chivalrous
+conduct. The treaty of peace concluded by Blanco was not ratified; but
+a second armament, far more powerful than the first, was got ready and
+shipped from Valparaiso during Dr Tschudi's stay in that port. His
+account of the Chilian army and navy is not very favourable. His ship
+had hardly anchored when several officers of the land forces came on
+board, and inquired if there were any swords to be sold, as they and
+their comrades were for the most part totally unprovided with such
+weapons. Swords formed no part of the cargo of the Edmond, but one of
+the ship's company, acquainted, perhaps, from previous experience,
+with the wants of these South American warriors, had brought out an
+assortment as a private spec., and amongst them was a sort of
+falchion, about five feet long, which had belonged to a cuirassier of
+Napoleon's guard. The officer who bought this weapon was a puny
+half-cast lad, who could hardly lift it with both hands, but who
+nevertheless opined that, in case of a charge, it would play the devil
+amongst the Peruvians. "Ten months later," says Dr Tschudi, "I met
+this hero on the march, amongst the mountains of Peru. He had girded
+on a little dirk, scarce larger than a toothpick, and behind him came
+a strapping negro, laden with the falchion. I could not help inquiring
+whether the latter arm had done much mischief in the then recent
+battle of Yungay, and he was honest enough to confess that he had not
+used it, finding it rather too heavy." The Chilian fleet, twenty-seven
+transports and nine men-of-war, was, with one or two exceptions, in
+bad condition; short of guns and hands, and manned in great part by
+sailors who had run from English, French, or North American ships. The
+officers were nearly all English. The shipment of the horses was
+conducted in the most clumsy manner: many were strangled in hoisting
+them up, others fell out of the slings and were drowned, and those
+that were embarked were so badly cared for, that each morning previous
+to the sailing of the fleet, their carcasses were thrown overboard by
+dozens. The Chilian troops had no stomach for the campaign, and, in
+great part, had to be embarked by force. "I stood on the landing
+place," writes the doctor, "when the Santiago battalion went on board.
+Ill uniformed, and bound two and two with cords, the soldiers were
+actually driven into the boats." With such an army, what besides
+defeat and disaster could be expected? But treachery and discord were
+at work in Peru, and success awaited the reluctant invaders.
+
+With unpardonable imprudence the captain of the Edmond had manifested
+an intention of selling his ship to the Peruvians to be converted into
+a man-of-war. A Yankee captain was suspected of a similar design; and
+the consequence was an embargo laid upon all ships in the port of
+Valparaiso, until such time as the Chilian army might be supposed to
+have reached its destination and struck the first blow. A delay of
+five-and-forty days was the consequence, particularly wearisome to Dr
+Tschudi, as he was unable to absent himself for more than twenty-four
+hours from the town, lest the embargo should be suddenly raised and
+the ship sail without him. He found few resources in Valparaiso, whose
+population, especially the numerous foreigners, have their time fully
+occupied by commercial pursuits. The town itself, closely built and
+dirty, is divided by _quebradas_ or ravines into three parts,
+extending along the side of a hill, and designated by the sailors as
+foretop, maintop, and mizentop. These quebradas, close to whose edge
+run the badly lighted streets, are particularly dangerous in the
+winter nights; and many a sailor, on shore for a "spree," finds his
+grave in them. The police is good, better probably than any other
+South American town; and although assassinations occasionally occur,
+the perpetrators rarely escape. One curious institution is the
+travelling house of correction, which consists of waggons, not unlike
+those in which menagerie keepers convey their beasts. Each of these
+contains sleeping accommodation for eight or ten criminals. Behind
+stands a sentry, and in front of some of them is a sort of kitchen.
+The prisoners draw the waggons themselves; and as they for the most
+part work upon the roads, often at some distance from the city, there
+is an evident gain thus in their conveying their dwelling with them.
+The plan answers well in a country where there is, properly speaking,
+no winter.
+
+A common article of sale on the Valparaiso market is live condors,
+which are taken in traps. A fine specimen is worth a dollar and a
+half. In one court-yard, Dr Tschudi saw eight of them, fettered after
+a peculiar fashion. A long narrow strip of untanned leather was run
+through their nostrils, tied tight, and the other end fastened to a
+post fixed in the ground. This allowed the birds liberty to move about
+in a tolerably large circle, but as soon as they attempted to fly,
+they were brought down by the head. Their voracity is prodigious. One
+of them ate eighteen pounds of meat in the course of a day, without at
+all impairing his appetite for the next morning's breakfast. Dr
+Tschudi measured one, and found it fourteen English feet from tip to
+tip of the wings.
+
+Most joyfully did our traveller hail the arrival of the long-looked
+for permission to sail. With a favouring breeze from the east, the
+Edmond soon made the islands of Juan Fernandez, and Dr Tschudi was
+indulging in pleasant recollections of Alexander Selkirk, Defoe, and
+Robinson Crusoe, when the cry "a man overboard" startled him from his
+reverie. Over went the hen-coops and empty casks; the ship was brought
+to, and a boat lowered. It was high time, for a shark had approached
+the swimmer, who defended himself with remarkable courage and presence
+of mind, striking out with his fists at his voracious pursuer. So
+unequal a combat could not last long, and the lookers-on thought him
+lost, for the shark had already seized his leg, when the boat came up;
+a rain of blows from oars and boat-hooks forced the monster to let go
+his hold, and the sailor was snatched, it might truly be said, from
+the jaws of death. His wounds, though deep, were not dangerous, and in
+a few weeks he was convalescent. Without other incident worthy of
+note, Dr Tschudi arrived in the bay of Callao. There the first news he
+heard was that the Chilians had effected a landing, taken Lima by
+storm, and were then besieging Callao. This magnificent fort, the last
+place in South America that had held out for the Spaniards, and which
+General Rodil defended for nearly eighteen months against the
+patriots, had since been in great measure dismantled, and
+three-fourths of the guns sold. Those that remained were now
+wretchedly served by the Peruvians, whilst the fire of the besiegers,
+on the other hand, did considerable damage. The siege, however, was
+pushed nothing like so vigorously as it had been by the patriots. Both
+the land and sea forces were too small. To the latter the Peruvians
+had unfortunately no fleet to oppose. Several men-of-war had been
+treacherously taken from them by the Chilians in time of peace, and
+the only two remaining were sunk upon the approach of the enemy.
+
+"One Sunday afternoon," says Dr Tschudi, "the Chilian brig-of-war,
+Colocolo, sailed close in under the walls of the fort, and threw in a
+few balls. The batteries immediately returned the fire with every gun
+they could bring to bear; but all their shots went too high, and fell
+amongst the merchantmen and other neutral vessels. Meanwhile the
+Colocolo sailed to and fro in derision of the batteries. At last the
+French commodore, seeing the danger of the merchant ships, sent a boat
+to the fort, menacing them with a broadside if they did not instantly
+cease firing. This the garrison were compelled to do, and to submit
+patiently to the insults of the Chilians. Another instance of the
+great prejudice which the vicinity of neutral shipping may be to
+besieged or besiegers, was witnessed on the night of the 5th November
+1820, in the bay of Callao, when Lord Cochrane and Captain Guise, with
+a hundred and fifty men, boarded the Spanish forty-four gun corvette
+Esmeralda. Between the Esmeralda and the fort lay a North American
+frigate, the Macedonia, which completely hindered the castle from
+covering the corvette with its guns. So enraged were the garrison at
+this, that the next morning an officer of the Macedonia was murdered
+with his whole boat's crew, the very instant they set foot on shore."
+
+We shall not accompany Dr Tschudi through his "fragment of the modern
+history of Peru;" for although lucid and interesting, it might become
+less so in the compressed form which we should necessarily have to
+adopt. We find at one time six self-styled presidents of Peru--each
+with his share of partizans, more or less numerous, and with a force
+at his command varying from one to five thousand men--oppressing the
+people, levying contributions, shooting and banishing the adherents of
+his five rivals. Let us examine the probable causes of such a state of
+things, of the revolutions and rebellions which have now lasted for
+twenty years--since the birth of the republic, in fact--and which must
+finally, if a check be not put to them, bring about the depopulation
+and total ruin of Peru. These causes Dr Tschudi finds in the want of
+honour and common honesty exhibited by the majority of the Peruvian
+officers. With the army all the revolutions have begun. As soon as an
+officer reaches the rank of colonel, and if he can only reckon upon
+the adherence of some fifteen hundred or two thousand soldiers, he
+begins to think of deposing the president and ruling in his stead. In
+so doing, he is actuated by avarice rather than by ambition. During
+their short-lived power these dictators levy enormous contributions,
+of which they pocket the greater part, and let the soldiers want.
+After a while they abandon the helm of government, either voluntarily
+or by compulsion, and take with them their ill-gotten wealth. When the
+chiefs set such examples, it cannot be wondered at if, amongst their
+inferiors, insubordination and mutiny are the order of the day. These,
+however, are most prevalent amongst the subaltern officers, scarcely
+ever originating with the soldiers, although their treatment, we are
+informed, is inhumanly cruel, and their privations and sufferings of
+the severest. There appears to be a great similarity in character
+between the Peruvian infantry and the Spanish troops of the present
+day; although the former are not of Spanish descent, but consist
+chiefly of Indians from the interior and mountainous districts of
+Peru. Dr Tschudi describes them as obedient, willing, and courageous;
+unparalleled in their endurance of hunger and fatigue, capable of
+sustaining for several days together marches of fourteen or sixteen
+leagues. The officers, however, must be good, or the men are useless
+in the field. If not well led, they throw away their arms and run, and
+there is no possibility of rallying them. Moreover, no retrograde
+movement must be made, although it be merely as a manoeuvre--the
+Indians looking upon it as a signal for flight. The cavalry, for the
+most part well mounted, is worthless. It consists of negroes--a race
+rarely remarkable for courage. As cruel as they are cowardly, a
+defeated foe meets with barbarous treatment at their hands.
+
+With every Peruvian army march nearly as many women as it comprises
+men. Unpalatable as such a following would be to European commanders,
+it is encouraged and deemed indispensable by Peruvian generals. The
+Indian women, as enduring and hardy as their husbands, set out two or
+three hours before the troops, and precede them by about the same
+time at the halting place. They immediately collect wood for fires,
+and prepare the rations, which they carry with them, for their
+husbands, sons, and brothers. Without them, in the more desolate and
+mountainous districts, the soldiers would sometimes risk starvation.
+They are no impediment to the rapid march of a column, which they, on
+the contrary, accelerate, by saving the men trouble, and affording
+them more time for repose. During a battle they remain in the vicinity
+of the troops, but far enough off not to impede their movements; the
+fight over, they seek out the wounded and take care of them. The lot
+of these poor women, who go by the name of _rabonas_, is any thing but
+an enviable one; for besides their many privations and hardships, they
+meet with much ill usage at the hands of the soldiery, to which,
+however, they submit with incredible patience.
+
+The manner in which most of the officers treat the soldiers is
+perfectly inhuman, and the slightest offences meet with terrible
+chastisement. Every officer has a right, at least in war time, to
+inflict, without a court-martial, any punishment he pleases. Some of
+the chiefs are celebrated for the refinement of their cruelties; and
+many soldiers prefer death to serving under them. During General
+Gamarra's campaign against the Bolivians in 1842, several score of
+soldiers sprang one day from the bridge of Oroya, to seek death in the
+torrent that flows beneath it. With the scornful cry of "_Adios,
+capitan!_" they took the fatal leap, and the next instant lay mangled
+and expiring upon the rocks through which the stream forces its way.
+"I myself have witnessed," continues Dr Tschudi, "how soldiers who on
+the march were unable to keep up with the column, were shot dead upon
+the spot. On the road from Tarma to Jauja, a distance of nine leagues,
+I passed seven Indians who had thus lost their lives. It is true that
+the commandant of that battalion, an officer whose sword was as yet
+unstained with any blood save that of his own men, was accustomed to
+call out when he saw a soldier straggling from fatigue--'_pegale un
+tiro!_' Shoot him down! And the order was forthwith obeyed." When the
+troops reach the halting-place, and the _rabonas_ learn the fate of
+their sons or husbands, they mournfully retrace their weary footsteps,
+and amidst tears and lamentations dig a last resting place for these
+victims of military tyranny.
+
+The sick are scarcely better treated. When they can no longer drag
+themselves along, they are placed upon mules, and, through the
+severest cold or most burning heat, are driven after the army. When
+they die, which is most frequently the case, they are dropped at the
+next village, to be buried by the alcalde.
+
+"The major of a squadron of light cavalry," says our traveller, "once
+asked me, during my stay at Tarma in the year 1842, to take charge for
+a few days of his sick men. Of one hundred and twenty soldiers
+composing the squadron, sixty-eight lay huddled together in a damp
+dark hole, ill of the scarlet fever. Fourteen more were suffering from
+the effects of punishment. What a horrible sight they presented! Their
+backs were nearly bare of flesh and covered with the most frightful
+wounds. A mutiny had taken place, and the major had shot six men, and
+caused eighteen others to receive from one hundred to three hundred
+lashes, with broad thongs of tapir hide--a punishment so severe, that
+some of them died under its infliction. The survivors were compelled
+immediately to mount their horses and follow the squadron. For nine
+days they rode on in the most terrible agony, and during that time had
+to cross the Cordilleras. Several of them refused to have their wounds
+dressed; and it was necessary to use force to compel them. One man
+implored me with tears to do nothing to improve his state, for that he
+longed to die. Before they were nearly cured, a march was ordered, and
+they again had to mount and ride. The consequences of this barbarity
+were easy to foresee. Before another eight days had elapsed, the
+squadron was scarcely sixty men strong."
+
+Turn we from such horrors to a more pleasing theme. "Could I suppose,"
+says Dr Tschudi, "that my readers are acquainted with the excellent
+description of Lima which Stevenson gives in his Travels in South
+America,[3] I would willingly abstain from any detail of the houses,
+churches, squares, and streets of that capital. But as that esteemed
+work was published twenty years ago, and is now almost entirely
+forgotten, I may venture, without danger of repeating things
+universally known, to give a sketch of the city of Lima." And
+accordingly, the doctor devotes his fifth chapter to an account of the
+capital of Peru--an account over which we shall pass lightly, for the
+double reason, that our readers may be better acquainted with
+Stevenson's work than Dr Tschudi's countrymen can be supposed to be,
+and because, if we linger wherever we are tempted so to do in this
+very pleasant book, our paper will run out beyond any reasonable
+length. We must glance at the cathedral founded by Pizarro, and which
+took ninety years in building. Its magnificence and riches are
+scarcely to be surpassed by those of any other existing church. The
+high altar boasts of seven silver pillars of the Ionic order, twelve
+feet high, and a foot and a-half thick; the shrine is seven and a-half
+feet high, carved in gold, and studded with countless diamonds and
+emeralds; the silver candlesticks weigh one hundred and twelve pounds
+each. In connection with the convent of San Pedro, a curious anecdote
+is told. It belonged to the Jesuits, and was their "Colegio Maximo;"
+it was known to possess immense wealth, for the richest plantations
+and finest houses belonged to the order. In the year 1773, the king of
+Spain, supported by the famous bull of the 21st June of that year,
+"Dominus ac redemptor noster," sent orders to his South American
+viceroys to arrest all the Jesuits in one night, ship them off to
+Spain, and confiscate their wealth. The greatest secresy was observed,
+and no one but the viceroy, and those in his entire confidence, was
+supposed to know any thing of the plan. But the same ship which
+conveyed to the viceroy the king's instructions in his own
+handwriting, brought to the vicar-general of the Jesuits in Lima the
+needful instructions from the general of the order at Madrid, to whom
+his Majesty's designs had become known. In all silence, and with every
+precaution the needful preparations were made; at ten o'clock on the
+appointed night, the viceroy summoned his council, and communicated to
+them the royal commands. No one was allowed to leave the room till the
+blow had been struck. At midnight trusty officers were sent to arrest
+the Jesuits, of whose names the viceroy had a list. It was expected
+that they would be surprised in their sleep. The patrole knocked at
+the door of the San Pedro convent, which was immediately opened. The
+commanding officer asked to see the vicar-general, and was forthwith
+conducted into the principal hall, where he found the whole of the
+order assembled, waiting for him, and ready to depart. Each man had
+his portmanteau packed with whatever was necessary for a long voyage.
+In all the other convents of Jesuits similar preparations had been
+made. The astonishment and vexation of the viceroy may be imagined. He
+immediately sent off the whole fraternity to Callao, where ships were
+ready to receive them. Inventories were then taken, and search made
+for the Jesuits' money. But great was the surprise of the searchers
+when instead of the millions which the order was known to possess, but
+a few thousand dollars were to be discovered. All the keys, including
+that of the strong box, were found, duly ticketed, in the
+vicar-general's room. The Jesuits could hardly have taken a better
+revenge for the treachery that had been used with their order.
+
+It was supposed that the money was buried, partly in the plantations,
+and partly in the convent of San Pedro. An old negro, in the service
+of the convent, told how he and one of his comrades had been employed
+during several nights in carrying, with bandaged eyes, heavy sacks of
+money into the vaults beneath the building. Two Jesuits accompanied
+them, and helped them to load and unload their burdens. The researches
+hitherto made have been but superficial and imperfect; and Dr Tschudi
+opines, with some naivete, that the hidden hoard may yet be
+discovered. We cannot partake his opinion. The cunning Jesuits who
+concealed the treasure will have found means to recover it.
+
+Lima was the principal seat of the Inquisition upon the west coast of
+South America, and in severity the tribunal was but little surpassed
+by that of Madrid itself. The building in which it was held still
+exists, but was gutted by the populace when the institution was
+abolished by the Cortes, and few traces of its internal arrangements
+and murderous engines are now to be seen. More visible ones are yet to
+be noticed in the persons of some unfortunate Limenos. "A Spaniard,"
+Dr Tschudi tells us, "whose limbs were frightfully distorted, told me,
+in reply to my inquiries, that he had fallen into a machine which had
+thus mangled him. A few days before his death, however, he confided to
+me that in his twenty-fourth year he had been brought before the
+tribunal of the Holy Inquisition, and by the most horrible tortures
+had been compelled to confess a crime of which he was not guilty. I
+still shudder when I remember his crushed and twisted limbs, at the
+thoughts of the agonies which the unhappy wretch must have endured."
+
+Now and then, however, the most holy ruffians of the Inquisition met
+their match, as the following anecdote serves to show. The Viceroy,
+Castel-Fuerte, once expressed, in presence of his confessor, certain
+opinions regarding religion which the good monk did not find very
+catholic, and which he accordingly, as in duty bound, reported to the
+Inquisitors. The latter, confident of their omnipotence, joyfully
+seized this opportunity to increase its _prestige_, by proving that
+their power extended even to the punishment of a viceroy. But
+Castel-Fuerte was not Philip of Spain. At the appointed hour, he
+repaired to the Inquisition at the head of his body-guard and of a
+company of infantry, with two pieces of artillery, which he caused to
+be pointed at the building. Entering the terrible hall, he strode up
+to the table, drew out his watch, and laid it before him. "Senores,"
+said he, "I am ready to discuss this affair, but for one hour only. If
+I am not back by that time, my officers have orders to level this
+building with the ground." Astounded at his boldness, the Inquisitors
+consulted together for a few moments, and then, with eager politeness,
+complimented the resolute Castel-Fuerte out of the house.
+
+Lima was founded by Pizarro in the year 1534, on the 6th of January,
+known amongst Roman Catholics as the Day of the Three Kings. From this
+latter circumstance it has frequently been called the City of the
+Kings. Like some tropical flower, urged into premature bloom and
+luxuriance by too rich a soil and too ardent a sun, its decay has been
+proportionably rapid, and the capital of Peru is already but the ghost
+of its former self. Some idea of its rapid growth may be formed from
+the circumstance that a wall built in 1585, only fifty years after its
+foundation, includes, with the exception of a small portion of the
+northern extremity and the suburb of San Lazaro, the whole of a city
+capable of containing one hundred thousand inhabitants, and measuring
+ten English miles in circumference. The dates of foundation of the
+principal public buildings further confirm the fact of Lima's rapid
+arrival at the size as well as the rank of a metropolis. The number of
+inhabitants, which in 1810 was estimated at eighty-seven thousand, in
+1842 was reduced to fifty-three thousand. It must be observed,
+however, that the manner of taking the census is loose and imperfect,
+and these numbers may need rectification. At the same time, there can
+be no doubt that the population has long been, and still is, daily
+diminishing. Of this diminution the causes are various, and may easily
+be traced to the physical and political state of the country. Terrible
+earthquakes have buried thousands of persons beneath the ruins of
+their dwellings; the struggle for independence also swept away its
+thousands; and banishment and emigration may further account for the
+decrease. Epidemics, the natural consequence of an imperfect police,
+and an utter neglect of cleanliness, frequently rage in the city and
+its environs; and Dr Tschudi proves, by interesting tables and
+statements, that the average excess of deaths over births has been,
+since the year 1826, no less than five hundred and fifty annually.
+Without entering into all the causes to which this may be attributed,
+he pronounces the criminal, but, in Lima, too common, practice of
+causing abortion to be one of the most prominent. So large a yearly
+decrease menaces the Peruvian capital with a speedy depopulation, and
+already whole streets and quarters of the city are desolate,--the
+houses falling in,--the gardens run to waste. To the country, not less
+than to the town, many of the above facts are applicable; and the once
+rich and flourishing region, that extends from the third to the
+twenty-second degree of southern latitude, and which, at the time of
+its conquest by Pizarro, contained an enormous population, now
+possesses but one million four hundred thousand inhabitants.
+
+One can really hardly grieve over the possible extinction of a race
+which, according to Dr Tschudi's showing, is in most respects so
+utterly worthless and undeserving of sympathy. We refer now more
+especially to the white Creoles,[4] who constitute about a third, or
+rather more, of the population of Lima, where there are comparatively
+few Indians of pure blood, but, on the other hand, a large number of
+half-casts of every shade, and about five thousand negroes, chiefly
+slaves. These white Creoles, with few exceptions the descendants of
+Spaniards, seem to have clung to, and improved upon, the vices of
+their progenitors, without inheriting their good qualities. Both
+physically and morally they have greatly degenerated. Weak, indolent,
+and effeminate, a ten hours' ride seems to them an exploit worthy of
+registration in the archives of the country. Sworn foes of any kind of
+trouble, if their circumstances compel them to choose an occupation,
+they set up some retail shop, which gives them little trouble, and
+allows them abundance of leisure to gossip with their neighbours and
+smoke their cigar. The richer class pass their time in complete
+idleness,--lounging in the streets, visiting their acquaintances, and
+occasionally taking a lazy ride to their plantations near the city.
+The afternoon is got rid of in the cafe, the gaming-house, or the
+cock-pit--cock-fighting being a darling diversion with the Creoles.
+Their education is defective, and the majority of them are ignorant
+beyond belief. Dr Tschudi tells us of a Peruvian minister of war who
+knew neither the population nor the area of his country, and who
+obstinately maintained that Portugal was the eastern boundary of Peru,
+and could be reached by land. Another Peruvian, high in place, was
+heard to give an exact account of how Frederick the Great had driven
+Napoleon out of Russia. There have been some brilliant exceptions to
+this general darkness, but the list of them is very brief, and may be
+comprised in a few lines. In their habits the Creoles are dirty,
+especially at table; and the disgusting custom of spitting is carried
+to an extent that would make even a Yankee stare. Their principal good
+qualities are abstinence from strong drinks, hospitality to strangers,
+and benevolence to the poor.
+
+The ladies of Lima, we learn, are in most respects far superior to the
+men. Tall and well made, with regular features, magnificent eyes and
+hair, beautiful teeth, and exquisitely small feet, they are spoken of
+by Dr Tschudi in terms almost of enthusiasm. Their dress is very
+original; one usual part of it being a silk petticoat, made so narrow
+at the ankles as to prevent rapid walking, and to render their kneeling
+down in church and getting up again a matter of some difficulty.
+During the revolution, when Lima was held alternately by the Spaniards
+and the Patriots, a party of the former, in order to ascertain the real
+sentiments of the Limenos, disguised themselves as Patriots, and
+approached the city. As soon as their coming was known, a crowd went
+out to meet them, and in the throng were many women with these narrow
+_sayas_. When sufficiently near, the disguised Spaniards drew their
+swords, and cut right and left amongst the defenceless mob. The men
+saved themselves by flight, but the women, impeded by their absurd
+petticoats, were for the most part sabred.
+
+The Limenas are good mothers, but bad housekeepers. Most ladies have
+an unnecessarily numerous establishment of servants and slaves, each
+of whom does just what he pleases, and is rarely at hand when wanted.
+Smoking is pretty general amongst Peruvian women, but is on the
+decline rather than the increase. They are passionately fond of music,
+and most of them sing and play the guitar or piano, although, for want
+of good instruction, their performance is usually but middling. Many
+of them are skilled in needle-work; but they rarely occupy themselves
+in that manner--never in company or of an evening. "Happy city!"
+exclaims Dr Tschudi, thinking doubtless of his own fair countrywomen
+and their eternal knitting needles, "where stocking making is unknown
+in the social circle!" We do not find, however, that the doctor
+supports his assertion of the moral superiority of the Creole ladies
+over their _worser_ halves, by any very strong proofs. That assertion,
+on the contrary, is followed by the startling admissions, that they
+are confirmed gluttons, and ruin their husbands by their love of
+dress; that they gamble considerably, and intrigue not a few, favoured
+in this latter respect by a certain convenient veil of thick silk,
+called a _manto_, which entirely conceals their face, having only a
+small triangular loop-hole, "through which a great fiery eye flashes
+upon you." We fear that these "flashes," frequently repeated, have a
+little dazzled our learned traveller, and induced him to look
+leniently on the sins of the lovely Limenas. We do not otherwise know
+how to reconcile the evidence with the eulogium.
+
+Ardent politicians, and endowed with a degree of courage not often
+found in their sex, these Peruvian dames have frequently played a
+prominent part in revolutions, and by their manoeuvres have even
+brought about changes of government. Conspicuous amongst them was Dona
+Francisca Subyaga, wife of the former president, Gamarra. When, in
+1834, her cowardly and undecided husband was driven out of Lima by the
+populace, and stood lamenting and irresolute what to do, Dona
+Francisca snatched his sword from his side, put herself at the head of
+the troops, and commanded an orderly retreat, the only means by which
+to save herself and the remainder of the army. A bystander having
+ventured to utter some insolent remark, she rode up to him, and
+threatened that when she returned to Lima she would make a pair of
+riding-gloves out of his skin. She died in exile a few months later,
+or else, when her husband went back to Peru four years afterwards, at
+the head of a Chilian army, she would have been likely enough to keep
+her word.
+
+So much for the Limenas, although Dr Tschudi gives us a great deal
+more information concerning them; and very amusing this part of his
+book is, reminding us considerably of Madame Calderon's delightful
+gossip about Mexico. "Lima," says the Spanish proverb, "is a heaven to
+women, a purgatory to husbands, and a hell to jackasses." The latter
+unfortunate beasts being infamously used by the negroes, who,
+especially the liberated ones, are the most cruel and vicious race in
+Peru. In this latter category must be included the Zambos and Chinos,
+half-casts between negroes and mulattos, and negroes and Indians. We
+turn a few pages and come to the carnival; during which, judging from
+the account before us, we should imagine that Lima became a hell not
+only to ill-treated donkeys, but to man woman, and child. The chief
+sport of that festive season consists in sprinkling people with water,
+concerning the purity of which the sprinklers are by no means
+fastidious. From nearly every balcony, liquids of the most various
+and unsavoury description are rained down upon the passers by; at the
+street corners stand negroes, who seize upon all who are not of their
+own cast, and roll them in the gutter, unless they prefer paying a
+certain ransom, in which case they get off with a trifling baptism of
+dirty water. Troops of young men force their way into the houses of
+their acquaintances and attack the ladies. First they sprinkle them
+with scented water, but when that is expended, the pump, and even
+worse, is had recourse to, and the sport becomes brutality. The
+ladies, with their clothes dripping wet, are chased from room to room,
+become heated, and are frequently rendered dangerously ill. Diseases
+of the lungs, and other rheumatic complaints, are the invariable
+consequences of the carnival, to whose barbarous celebration many fall
+victims. Besides this, every year murders occur out of revenge for
+this brutal treatment. One favourite trick is to fill a sack with
+fragments of glass and earthenware, and fasten it to the balcony by a
+cord, the length of which is so calculated, that when let down the
+sack hangs at about seven feet from the ground. The sack is kept on
+the balcony till somebody passes, and is then suddenly thrown out,
+but, thanks to the cord, remains at a safe distance above the heads of
+those below. Although it is tolerably well known that in most streets
+there is at least one of these infernal machines; yet the sudden shock
+and alarm are so great, that persons have been known to fall down
+senseless on the spot. Horses are thus made to shy violently, and
+frequently throw their riders. The practice is each year forbidden by
+the police, but the prohibition is disregarded.
+
+Heaven preserve us from a Lima carnival! If compelled to choose we
+should infinitely prefer a campaign against the Chilians, which, we
+apprehend, must be mere barrack-yard duty comparatively. No wonder
+that the city is becoming depopulated, when the fairer portion of its
+inhabitants are annually subjected to such inhuman treatment. In some
+respects the Peruvians appear to be perfect barbarians. Their
+favourite diversions are of the most cruel order; cock-fighting and
+bull-fights--but bull-fights, compared to which, those still in vogue
+in Spain are humane exhibitions. Peru is the only country in South
+America where this last amusement is kept up as a matter of regular
+occurrence. Bull-fighting in Spain may be considered cruel, but in
+Peru it becomes a mere torturing of beasts, without honour or credit
+to the men opposed to them, who are all negroes and zambos, the very
+dregs of the populace. There seems a total want of national character
+about the Peruvians. They are bad copies of the Spaniards, whose
+failings they imitate and out-herod till they become odious vices. Add
+to what has been already shown of their cruel and sensual
+propensities, the fact that their habitations, with the exception of
+the two rooms in which visits are received, bear more resemblance, for
+cleanliness and order, to stables than to human dwellings, and it will
+be acknowledged that not a little of the savage seems to have rubbed
+off upon the Peruvian.
+
+Ice is a necessary of life in Lima, and is brought from the
+Cordilleras, a distance of twenty-eight leagues. So essential in that
+ardent climate is this refreshment, that the lack of it for a few days
+is sufficient to cause a notable ferment among the people; and in all
+revolutions, therefore, the leaders cautiously abstain from applying
+the mules used for its carriage, to any other purpose. The Indians hew
+the ice out of the glaciers in lumps of six arrobas (150 pounds) each,
+and lower it from the mountains by ropes. Other Indians receive and
+carry it a couple of leagues to a depot, where it is packed upon
+mules. Two lumps form a mule load, and thirty of these loads are sent
+daily to Lima, where, by means of frequent relays, they arrive in
+eighteen or twenty hours. During the journey the ice loses about the
+third of its weight, and what remains is just sufficient to supply the
+city for a day. It is chiefly used in making ices, composed for the
+most part of milk or pine-apple juice.
+
+The want of good roads, and, in many directions, of any roads at all,
+renders carriage travelling in the neighbourhood of Lima exceedingly
+difficult and expensive. Only southwards from the city is it possible,
+at an enormous cost, to get to a distance of forty leagues. Sixty or
+eighty horses are driven by the side of the carriage, and every half
+hour fresh ones are harnessed, as the only means of getting the
+vehicle through the sand, which is more than a foot deep. A Peruvian,
+who was accustomed to send his wife every year on a visit to his
+plantation, at thirty-two leagues from Lima, told Dr Tschudi that the
+journey there and back cost him fourteen hundred dollars, or somewhere
+about three hundred pounds sterling. In former days, during the
+brilliant period of the Spanish domination, enormous sums were
+frequently given for carriages and mules; and the shoes of the latter,
+and tires of the wheels, were often of silver instead of iron. Even at
+the present day the Peruvians expend large sums upon the equipments of
+their horses, especially upon the stirrups, which are ponderous boxes
+carved in wood, and lavishly decorated with silver. A friend of Dr
+Tschudi's, a priest from the Sierra, had a pair made, the silver about
+which weighed forty pounds! The saddle and bridle were proportionably
+magnificent, and the value of the silver employed in the whole
+equipment was more than 1500 dollars. Spurs are of enormous size.
+According to the old usage they should contain three marks--a pound
+and a half--of silver, and be richly chased and ornamented. The rowels
+are one and a half to two inches in circumference. Besides the saddle,
+bridle, and stirrups above described, the unfortunate Peruvian horses
+are oppressed with sheepskin shabrack, saddle-bags, and various other
+appliances. "At first," says our traveller, "the Peruvian
+horse-trappings appear to a stranger both unwieldy and unserviceable;
+but he soon becomes convinced of their suitableness, and even finds
+them handsome." _We_ should not, nor, we dare be sworn, do the horses,
+whose many good qualities certainly deserve a lighter load and better
+treatment than they appear to get. Dr Tschudi speaks highly of their
+endurance and speed, although their usual pace is an amble, at which,
+however, they will outstrip many horses at full gallop. One variety of
+this favourite pace, the _paso portante_, in which the two feet on the
+same side of the body are thrown forward at the same time, is
+particularly curious, and peculiar to the Peruvian horse. The giraffe
+is the only other animal that employs it. In Peru a horse is valued
+according to the goodness of his amble. Beauty of form is a secondary
+consideration, and the finest trotters are thought nothing of, but are
+sold cheap for carriage work. It is considered a serious defect, and
+greatly depreciates a horse's value, if he has the habit of flapping
+or lashing himself with his tail when spurred, or at any other time.
+As this habit is found incurable, the sinews of the tail are sometimes
+cut through, which, by crippling it, hinders the obnoxious flapping.
+
+The breaking of a Peruvian horse occupies two years. The
+horse-breakers are, for the most part, free negroes, of powerful
+build, and they understand their business perfectly, only that they
+ill-treat the animals too much, and thereby render them shy. They
+teach them all sorts of ambles and manege tricks, one of the latter
+consisting in the horse pirouetting upon his hind legs. This they do
+when at full gallop, on the slightest signal of the rider. A
+well-known Limeno, says Dr Tschudi, rode at full speed up to the city
+wall, which is scarcely nine feet broad, leaped upon it, and made his
+horse repeatedly perform this _volte_, the fore feet of the beast each
+time describing the arc of a circle beyond the edge of the wall. He
+performed this feat with every one of his horses. Further on in the
+book, the doctor relates an incident that occurred to himself, proving
+the more valuable qualities of these horses, their strength, courage,
+and endurance. "I had occasion to go from Huacho to Lima," he says,
+"and wished to accomplish this journey without halting. The distance
+is twenty-eight leagues, (at least eighty-four miles,) and I left
+Huacho at two in the afternoon, accompanied by a negro guide. At one
+in the morning we reached the river Pasamayo, which had been greatly
+swoln by the recent rains, and thundered along with a fearful uproar.
+Several travellers were bivouacked upon the shore, waiting for
+daylight, and perhaps for the subsiding of the waters. My negro
+shrugged his shoulders, and said he had never seen the river so high;
+and the travellers agreed with him, and denied the possibility of
+crossing. But I had no time to lose, and made up my mind to risk the
+passage on my good horse, who had often served me in similar dilemmas.
+I cautiously entered the stream, which, at each step, became deeper
+and stronger. My horse soon lost his footing, and, in spite of his
+violent efforts, was swept down by the force of the current, until we
+were both dashed against a rock in the middle of the river. Just then
+the moon became clouded, and I could no longer distinguish the group
+of trees on the opposite shore, which I had fixed upon to land at.
+Luckily my horse had again found a footing; I turned his head, and
+plunging into deep water, the noble beast swam back, with incredible
+strength, to the bank whence we had come. After some search I found a
+more favourable place, and my negro and I succeeded in crossing. Three
+travellers, who were anxious to do the same, but did not dare venture
+alone, called to us for assistance. I sent back the negro on my own
+horse, and one by one he brought them over. Seven times did the good
+steed achieve the dangerous passage, and then carried me without a
+halt to Lima, where we arrived at the hour of noon."
+
+Such horses as these are indeed valuable in a country where carriage
+roads there are none, or next to none. The mules, whose price varies
+according to their qualities, from 100 to 1000 dollars, also perform,
+in spite of indifferent usage, scanty care, and frequently poor
+nourishment, journeys of great length over the arid sandy plains of
+Peru. They are also amblers, and often as swift as the horses. Dr
+Tschudi tells us of a priest at Piura, who, when he had to read mass
+at a sea-port town, fourteen leagues from his residence, mounted, at
+six in the morning, a splendid mule belonging to him, and reached his
+destination at nine o'clock. At four in the afternoon he set off on
+his return, and was home by seven or half-past. The whole of the road,
+which led across a sandflat, was gone over at an amble. The priest
+refused enormous sums for this beast, which he would on no account
+sell. At last Salaverry, then president of Peru, heard of the mule's
+extraordinary swiftness, and sent an aide-de-camp to buy it. The
+officer met with a refusal; but no sooner had he turned his back, than
+the priest, who knew Salaverry's despotic and violent character, cut
+off his mule's ears and tail. As he had foreseen, so it happened. The
+next morning a sergeant made his appearance, bearing positive orders
+to take away the animal in dispute, with or without the owner's
+sanction. This was done; but when Salaverry saw the cropped condition
+of poor _mulo_, he swore all the oaths in the language, and sent him
+back again. The priest had attained his end, for he valued the beast
+less for his beauty than for his more solid qualities.
+
+The Peruvian _cuisine_ has, not unnaturally, a considerable similarity
+with the Spanish. The puchero or olla is the basis of the dinner, and
+of red pepper, capsicums, and other stimulating condiments, abundant
+use is made. The Limenos have some extraordinary notions respecting
+eating and drinking. They consider that every sort of food is either
+heating or cooling, and is opposed to something else. The union in the
+stomach of two of these contrary substances is attended, according to
+their belief, with the most dangerous consequences, and may even cause
+death. A Limeno, who has eaten rice at dinner, omits the customary
+glass of water after the sweetmeats, because the two things _se
+oponen_, are opposites. To so absurd an extent is this carried, that
+servants who have eaten rice refuse to wash afterwards, and the
+washer-women never eat it. "I have been asked innumerable times," says
+Dr Tschudi, "by persons who had been ordered a foot-bath at night,
+whether they might venture to take it, for that they had eaten rice at
+dinner!"
+
+The market at Lima was formerly held upon the Plaza Mayor, and was
+renowned for the great abundance and variety of the fruits,
+vegetables, and flowers brought thither for sale. But it is now on the
+Plazuela de la Inquisicion, and its glory has in great measure
+departed. Along the sides of the gutters sit the fish and sausage
+sellers, who may be seen washing their wares in the filthy stream
+before them. The butchers exhibit good meat, but only beef and mutton,
+the slaughtering of young beasts being forbidden by law. On the flower
+market are sold Lima nosegays--_pucheros de flores_, as they are
+called. They are composed of a few specimens of the smaller tropical
+fruits, esteemed either for fragrance or beauty, laid upon a banana
+leaf, and tastefully intermingled with flowers. The whole is sprinkled
+with lavender water and other scents, and is very pretty to look at,
+but yields an overpoweringly strong perfume. The price depends on the
+rarity of the flowers employed, and some of these pucheros cost seven
+or eight dollars. They rank amongst the most acceptable presents that
+can be offered to a Peruvian lady.
+
+"The city of earthquakes," would be a far more appropriate name for
+Lima, than the city of the kings. On an average of years,
+five-and-forty shocks are annually felt, most of which occur in the
+latter half of October, in November, December, January, May, and June.
+January is the worst month, during which, in many years, scarcely a
+day passes without convulsions of this kind. The terrible earthquakes
+that play such havoc with the city, come at intervals of forty to
+sixty years. Since the west coast of South America is known to
+Europeans, the following are the dates:--1586, 1630, 1687, 1713, 1746,
+1806; always two in a century. It is greatly to be feared that ten
+more years will not elapse without Lima being visited by another of
+these awful calamities. Dr Tschudi gives a brief account of the
+earthquake of 1746. It was on the 28th of October, St Simon and St
+Jude's day, that at 31 minutes past 10 P.M., the earth shook with a
+fearful bellowing noise, and in an instant the whole of Lima was a
+heap of ruins. Noise, earthquake, and destruction were all the affair
+of _one_ moment. The few buildings whose strength resisted the first
+shock, were thrown down by a regular horizontal motion of the earth,
+which succeeded it and lasted four minutes. Out of more than three
+thousand houses only twenty-one remained uninjured. Nearly all the
+public buildings were overthrown. At the port of Callao the
+destruction was even more complete; for scarcely was the earthquake
+over, when the sea arose with a mighty rushing sound, and swallowed up
+both town and inhabitants. In an instant five thousand human beings
+became the prey of the waters.[5] The Spanish corvette San Fermin,
+which lay at anchor in the harbour, was hurled far over the walls of
+the fortress, and stranded at more than five hundred yards from the
+shore. A cross marks the place where she struck. Three heavily laden
+merchantmen met the same fate, and nineteen other vessels foundered.
+The town had disappeared, and travellers have related how, even now,
+when the sky is bright and the sea still, the houses and churches may
+be dimly seen through the transparent waters. Such a tale as this is
+scarce worth refuting, seeing that the houses were overturned by the
+earthquake before they were overwhelmed by the sea, whose action must
+long since have destroyed their every vestige. But the old sailors
+along that coast love to tell how on certain days the people are seen
+sitting at the doors of their houses, and standing about in the
+streets, and how, in the silent watches of the night, a cock has been
+heard to crow from out of the depths of the sea.
+
+Meteors frequently appear as forerunners of the earthquakes, amongst
+whose consequences may be reckoned the sudden sterilizing of districts
+previously fruitful, but which, after one of these convulsions of
+nature, refuse for many years to put forth vegetation. No frequency of
+repetition diminishes the alarm and horror occasioned by the shocks.
+The inhabitants of Lima, although accustomed from their earliest
+childhood to the constant recurrence of such phenomena, spring from
+their beds at the first quivering of the earth, and with cries of
+"misericordia!" rush out of their houses. The European, who knows
+nothing of earthquakes but the name, almost wishes for the arrival of
+one, and is sometimes inclined to laugh at the terror of the
+Peruvians; but when he has once felt a shock, any disposition to make
+merry on the subject disappears, and his dread of its recurrence is
+even greater than that of the natives. The deeply unpleasant
+impression left by an earthquake, is in Lima heightened by the
+_plegarias_ or general prayers that succeed it. The shock has no
+sooner been felt, than a signal is given from the cathedral, and
+during ten minutes all the bells in the town toll with long, measured
+strokes to call the inhabitants to their devotions.
+
+A pleasant country to live in! Those who may feel tempted by the
+doctor's commendation of the fascinating Limenas--the delightful,
+although not very healthy, climate--the luscious fruits, and gorgeous
+flowers, and manifold wonders of Peru--to gird up their loins and
+betake themselves thither, will perhaps think twice of it when they
+learn that an earthquake might, and probably would, be their welcome.
+Descriptions of tropical countries remind us of those pictures of
+Italian festivals, where nymph-like damsels and Antinoeus-looking
+youths are gracefully dancing round grape-laden cars; whilst some fine
+old Belisarius of a grandpapa, white bearded and benignant, sits upon
+the shaft and smiles upon his descendants. One sees the graceful
+forms, the classic features, the bursting grapes, and the bright
+sunshine; all of which, like enough, are depicted to the life, but one
+sees nothing of the filth, and nastiness, and crawling vermin, that
+would awfully shock us in the originals of the picture. Not that we
+mean to accuse Dr Tschudi of painting Peru in rose-colour, or
+remaining silent as to its defects. He is a conscientious traveller,
+and gives us things as he finds them. Besides the great nuisance of
+the earthquakes, and the lesser one of dirt, already adverted to;
+besides the armies of fleas, which render even the Lima theatre almost
+unvisitable--not mild European fleas, but sanguinary Spanish-American
+ones; besides the malaria in the swamps, the _piques_, _chinches_,
+mosquitos, and other insect tormentors, he favours us with some
+agreeable details touching the highwaymen who infest the whole coast
+of Peru, but especially the neighbourhood of Lima and Truxillo. They
+are usually runaway slaves, _simarrones_, as they are called, or else
+free negroes, zambos, and mulattos. Now and then Indians are found
+amongst them, who make themselves conspicuous by their cold-blooded
+cruelties, and occasionally even a white man takes to this infamous
+trade. In 1839 a North American, who had served on board of a
+man-of-war, was shot for highway robbery. Shooting, it must be
+observed, appears to be the usual way of inflicting capital punishment
+in Peru. These banditti, well mounted and armed, are very bold and
+numerous, and most of them belong to an extensive and well organised
+band, which has branches in various directions. Sometimes they
+approach the city in parties of thirty or forty men, and plunder all
+travellers who leave it. They prefer attacking foreigners, and usually
+spare the richer and more influential Peruvians, which may be one
+cause that stronger measures are not adopted against them. Shortly
+before Dr Tschudi's departure from Lima, they attacked the feeble
+escort of a sum of one hundred thousand dollars, which were on their
+way to the mines of Cerro de Pasco, and carried off the money. The
+silver bars sent from the mines to the city they allow to pass
+unmolested, as being too heavy and cumbersome. The unfortunate
+peasants who come in from the mountains on jackasses, with eggs and
+other produce, are marked for their particular prey, on account of the
+money which they usually carry with them to make purchases in the
+town. If no dollars are found on them, they are killed or terribly
+maltreated. We pass over some stories of the cruelties exercised by
+these bandits. Here is one of another sort. "One night that I found
+myself at Chancay," says the doctor, "an Indian told me the following
+anecdote: About half a mile from the village, he said, he had been met
+by a negro, who approached him with carbine cocked, and ordered him to
+halt. The Indian drew a large pistol, and said to the robber, 'You may
+thank heaven that this is not loaded, or it would be all over with
+you.' Laughing scornfully, the negro rode up and seized the Indian,
+who then pulled the trigger of his pistol and shot him dead on the
+spot."
+
+When attacked by the police or military, the robbers display desperate
+courage in their defence. Sometimes they take shelter in the bush or
+thicket, to which, if the space of ground it covers be not too
+extensive, the pursuers set fire on all sides; so that the bandits
+have no choice but to perish or yield themselves prisoners. In the
+latter case their trial is very short, and after they have been left
+shut up with a priest for the space of twelve hours, they are brought
+out and shot. They are allowed to choose their place of execution, and
+must carry thither a small bench or stool upon which they sit down.
+Four soldiers stand at a distance of three paces; two aim at the head
+and two at the heart. A few years ago a Zambo of great daring was
+sentenced to death for robbery, and he demanded to be shot upon the
+Plaza de la Inquisicion. He sat down upon his bench--the soldiers
+levelled and fired. When the smoke of the discharge blew away, the
+Zambo had disappeared. He had watched each movement of the soldiers,
+and at the very moment that they laid finger on trigger, had thrown
+himself on one side and taken refuge amidst the crowd, some of whom
+favoured his escape. In time of war a corps is formed composed chiefly
+of these banditti, and of men who have made themselves in some way
+obnoxious to the laws. They go by the name of Montoneros, and are
+found very useful as spies, skirmishers, despatch-bearers, &c., but
+are generally more remarkable for cruelty than courage. They wear no
+uniform; and sometimes they have not even shoes, but strap their spurs
+on their naked heels. In the year 1838, the Anglo-Peruvian general,
+Miller, commanded a thousand of these montoneros who were in the
+service of Santa Cruz. When war is at an end, these wild troops
+disband themselves, and for the most part return to their former
+occupation.
+
+Abandoning Lima and its environs, Dr Tschudi takes us with him on a
+visit to the various towns and villages along the coast, proceeding
+first north and then south of the capital. In a coasting voyage to the
+port of Huacho, he has the honour to reckon amongst his fellow
+passengers, Lord Cochrane's friend, the celebrated Padre Requena, then
+cura of that town. Of this ecclesiastic, of whom he, after his
+arrival, saw a good deal, he draws a picture which may be taken as a
+general type of the Peruvian priesthood, and is by no means creditable
+to them. Requena's chief passion is coursing, and his greatest
+annoyance, during Dr Tschudi's stay in Huacho, was, that ill health,
+brought on by his excesses, prevented him from indulging it. He had
+several magnificent horses, and a numerous pack of greyhounds, some of
+which latter had cost him one hundred and fifty and two hundred
+dollars a-piece. His seraglio was almost as well stocked as his
+kennel, and the number of children who called him _tio_, or _uncle_,
+the usual term in Peru in such cases, was quite prodigious. He took
+great pride in talking of his friendship with Lord Cochrane. He died a
+few weeks after his return to Huacho, and delayed so long to send for
+a confessor that the Indians at last surrounded the house with
+frightful menaces, and sent in a priest to render him the last offices
+of the church. He had great difficulty in making up his mind to death,
+or, as he expressed it, to a separation from his greyhounds and
+horses. At almost the last moment, when his hands began to grow cold,
+he made his negro put on them a pair of buckskin gloves.
+
+This respectable priest was by no means singular in his love of the
+chase, of which frequent examples are to be found in Peru. On reaching
+Quipico, the most easterly plantation in the beautiful valley of
+Huaura, Dr. Tschudi had scarcely entered the courtyard when he was
+surrounded by upwards of fifty greyhounds, whilst from every quarter
+others came springing towards him. They were the remains of a pack
+that had belonged to one Castilla, recently the owner of the
+plantation, and whose usual establishment consisted of two to three
+hundred of these dogs, with which he every day went coursing. The
+strictest discipline was kept up amongst this lightfooted multitude.
+At stated hours a bell summoned them to their meals, and in the kennel
+stood a gibbet, as a warning to the lazy or perverse. One day, when
+Castilla was out hunting, an Indian came up, with an ordinary-looking
+crossbred dog. In spite of his looks this dog out-stripped the whole
+pack, and pulled down the roebuck. Castilla immediately purchased him
+at the enormous price of three hundred and fifty dollars. A few days
+afterwards he again went out with his best hounds and his new
+acquisition. The leashes were slipped, and the greyhounds went off
+like the wind, but the crossbreed remained quietly by the horses. The
+same afternoon he was hung up to the gallows, an example to his
+fellows.
+
+The whole extent of the Peruvian coast, from its northern to its
+southern extremity, presents nearly the same aspect; vast deserts of
+sand, varied by fruitful valleys, with their villages and plantations;
+seaport towns there where nature or commerce has encouraged their
+foundation; alternate insupportable heat and damp fog; scarcity of
+men; crumbling monuments of a period of riches and greatness. In the
+sandy plains it is no unusual occurrence for travellers to lose their
+way and perish for thirst. In that fervent and unhealthy climate,
+human strength rapidly gives way before want of food and water. In the
+year 1823 a transport carrying a regiment of dragoons, three hundred
+and twenty strong, stranded on the coast near Pisco. The soldiers got
+on shore, and wandered for thirty-six hours through the sand-waste,
+out of which they were unable to find their way. At the end of that
+time they were met by a number of horsemen with water and food, who
+had been sent out from Pisco to seek them, but already one hundred and
+fifty of the unfortunates had died of thirst and weariness, and fifty
+more expired upon the following day. Forty-eight hours' wandering in
+those arid deserts, deprived of food and drink, is certain death to
+the strongest man. Rivers are scarce, and even where the bed of a
+stream is found, it is in many instances dry during the greater part
+of the year. The traveller's danger is increased by the shifting
+nature of the sand, which the wind raises in enormous clouds, and in
+columns eighty to one hundred feet high. The _medanos_ are another
+strange phenomenon of these dangerous wilds. They are sandhills in the
+form of a crescent, ten to twenty feet high, and with a sharp crest.
+Their base is moveable, and when impelled by a tolerably strong wind,
+they wander rapidly over the desert; the smaller ones, more easily
+propelled, preceding the large. The latter, however, after a time,
+prevent the current of air from reaching the former--take the wind out
+of their sails, it may be said--and then run over and crush them,
+themselves breaking up at the same time. In a few hours, what was
+previously a level, is often covered with ranges of hillocks,
+hindering a view of the horizon, and bewildering the most experienced
+wanderers through these perilous regions. In November the summer
+begins. The scorching rays of the sun break through the grey covering
+of the heavens, and threaten to consume, by their intensity, the
+entire vegetable and animal creation. Not a plant finds nourishment,
+nor a beast food upon the parched and glowing soil; no bird or insect
+floats upon the sultry air. Only in the upper regions is seen the
+majestic condor, flying towards the ocean. All life and movement is
+now confined to the coast. Troops of vultures assemble around the
+stranded carcases of sea monsters; otters and seals bask beneath the
+cliffs; variegated lizards scamper over the sand-heaps, and busy crabs
+and sea-spiders dig into the damp shore. In May the scene changes. A
+thin veil of mist spreads over sea and coast, gradually thickening,
+until in October the sun again dispels it. At the beginning and end of
+this winter, as it is called, the fog generally rises at nine or ten
+in the morning, and is again dissipated at three in the afternoon. It
+is thickest in August and September, when, for weeks together, it does
+not lift. It never changes into rain, but only into a fine penetrating
+mist, called the _garua_. On many parts of the Peruvian coast, it
+never rains, excepting after a very violent earthquake, and even then
+not always. The usual height of the fog from the ground is seven or
+eight hundred feet. It never exceeds a height of twelve hundred feet,
+nor is found at all beyond a few miles from the coast, at which
+distance it is replaced by violent rains. The boundary line between
+rain and fog may be determined with almost mathematical accuracy. Dr
+Tschudi visited two plantations, one about six leagues from Lima, the
+other in the neighbourhood of Huacho, one half of which was annually
+watered by the _garuas_, and the other half by rain. A wall was built
+upon the line where one mode of irrigation ceased and the other began.
+
+The province of Yca, whose soil is sandy, and to all appearance
+incapable of producing any description of vegetation, is devoted to
+the culture of the vine, which perfectly succeeds there. The young
+plants are set half a foot deep in the sand, and left to themselves;
+they speedily put forth leaves, and yield a luxuriant crop of grapes,
+remarkable for flavour and juiciness. These are mostly used for
+brandy, with which the whole of Peru and great part of Chili are
+supplied from the valley of Yca. It is of excellent quality,
+especially a sort made from muscatel grapes, and called _aguardiente
+de Italia_. Very little wine is made, except by one planter, Don
+Domingo Elias, who has attempted it after the European fashion. The
+result has been a wine resembling Madeira and Teneriffe, only much
+more fiery, and containing a larger proportion of alcohol. The brandy
+was formerly conveyed to the coast in huge earthen _botijas_, capable
+of containing one hundred and fifty to one hundred and seventy-five
+pounds weight of the liquor; but these were continually broken,
+chiefly by the thirsty mules across which they were slung like
+panniers, and who, when rushing in crowds to the watering-places,
+invariably smashed a number of them against each other. To remedy this
+the brandy-growers have adopted the use of goat-skins; and the manner
+in which, upon many plantations, these are prepared, is as frightful a
+piece of barbarity as can well be imagined. A negro hangs up the goat,
+alive, by the horns, makes a circular cut through the skin of the
+neck, and strips the hide from the agonized beast, which is only
+killed when completely flayed. The pretext for this execrable cruelty
+is, that the skin comes off more easily, and is found more durable. It
+is to be hoped that the planters will have sufficient humanity
+speedily to do away with so horrible a practice.
+
+The negro carnival, which Dr Tschudi witnessed at Yca, appears to us,
+of the two, a more civilized performance than the Creole carnival at
+Lima. In various of the streets large arches, tastefully decorated
+with ribands, are erected; the negresses and zambas dance beneath
+then; whilst the allotted task of the men is to gallop through without
+being stopped. If the women succeed in checking the horse, and pulling
+the rider out of the saddle, the latter has to pay a fine, and gets
+laughed at to boot. It is difficult to know which to admire most; the
+speed of the horses, the skill of the riders, or the daring of the
+women, who throw themselves upon the horse as he comes on at full
+gallop. As the horsemen approach, they are pelted with unripe oranges,
+which, thrown by a strong-armed zamba, are capable of inflicting
+tolerably hard knocks. Dr Tschudi saw one negro who, during a whole
+hour, galloped backwards and forwards without being stopped, and
+concluded by giving an extraordinary proof of muscular strength. At
+the very moment that he passed under the arch, he stooped forward over
+his horse's neck, caught up a negress under each arm, and rode off
+with them!
+
+Opposite to the ports of Pisco and Chincha, lie a number of small
+islands, noted for their large deposits of guano, or _huanu_, as Dr
+Tschudi corrects the orthography of the word. The doctor gives some
+very interesting particulars concerning this efficacious manure,
+which, although but recently adopted in Europe, appears to have been
+used in Peru as far back as the time of the first Incas. The Peruvians
+use it chiefly for the maize and potato fields; their manner of
+employing it is peculiar, and but little known in Europe. A few weeks
+after the seeds have begun to germinate, a small hole is made beside
+each plant, filled with huanu and covered up with earth. Twelve or
+fifteen hours later the whole field is laid under water, and left so
+for a few hours. The effect of the process is incredibly rapid. In a
+very few days the plants attain double their previous height. When the
+operation is repeated, but with a smaller quantity of the huanu, the
+farmer may reckon upon a crop at least threefold that which he would
+obtain from an unmanured soil. Of the white huanu, which is much
+stronger than the dark-coloured, less must be used, and the field must
+be watered sooner, and for a longer time, or the roots will be
+destroyed. When the land is tolerably good, seven hundred and fifty to
+nine hundred pounds of huanu are reckoned sufficient for a surface of
+fourteen thousand square feet; with poor soil a thousand to twelve
+hundred pounds are required.
+
+The waters that wash the coast of Peru swarm with fish, upon many of
+which nature has amused herself in bestowing the most singular and
+anomalous forms. For a period of six weeks, Dr Tschudi took up his
+abode at the port of Huacho, with a view to increase his
+ichthyological collection. Every morning at five o'clock he rode down
+to the beach to await the return of the fishermen from their nocturnal
+expeditions. From as far as they could distinguish him, the Indians
+would hold up to his notice some strange and newly captured variety of
+the finny race. He succeeded in getting together many hundred
+specimens of about a hundred and twenty species of sea and river fish;
+but ill luck attended this valuable collection. Through the negligence
+of the people at the port of Callao, a cask of brandy, in which the
+fish were preserved, was left for months upon the mole in the burning
+sun, till its contents were completely spoiled. A second cask, in
+spite of the most careful packing, arrived in Europe, after a fifteen
+months' voyage, in a similar condition. This, however, was not the
+only instance, during the doctor's stay in Peru, of the fruits of
+great industry, and trouble, and heavy expense, being snatched from
+him by untoward accidents. But nothing seems to have discouraged a man
+actuated by a sincere love of science and thirst for information, and
+possessed, as is made manifest by many parts of his modest and
+unegotistical narrative, of great determination and perseverance.
+Steadily he continued his researches, in defiance of difficulties and
+sufferings that would have driven ordinary men over and over again on
+board the first ship sailing for Europe.
+
+We have as yet scarcely referred to those portions of the volume
+dedicated to natural history, although the doctor rarely dismisses a
+province or district without giving a brief but interesting account of
+its most remarkable animals, fruits, and plants. His description of
+some of these is very curious. Amongst others, he tells us of a small
+bird called the _cheucau_, (Pteroptochus rubecula Kittl,) in connexion
+with which the people of Chiloe, of which island it is a native,
+entertain a host of superstitious fancies, foretelling good or bad
+luck according to the various modulations of its song. "I was one
+day," says the doctor, "out shooting with an Indian guide, when we
+came upon one of these birds, sitting on a bush and piping out a
+shrill _huit-huit-ru_. I had already taken aim at it, when my
+companion seized my arm, and begged me not to shoot it, for that it
+was singing its unlucky note. Wishing to obtain a specimen, I
+disregarded his entreaty and fired. I had leaned my gun against a
+tree, and was examining the little bird, when a vicious mule,
+irritated probably by the report, came charging down upon us, so that
+we had only just time to run behind a hedge in order to escape his
+attack. Before we could find means to drive the enraged animal away,
+he had thrown down my gun, bitten it furiously, and stamped on it with
+his fore-feet. The Indian gravely said that it would be well if no
+worse came of it, for that he had told me the bird was whistling bad
+luck." There is another bird, about the size of a starling, which
+passes its time, and finds its food, upon the backs of the cattle, and
+chiefly of horses and jackasses, picking out the insects which there
+abound. The beasts seem to feel that he is doing them a service, and
+allow him to walk unmolested over their backs and heads. Of the beasts
+of prey, the ounce is the most dangerous and bloodthirsty. It attains
+a very large size, and Dr Tschudi saw the carcass of one that measured
+eight feet and three inches from the nose to the extremity of the
+tail. The tail was two feet and eight inches long. It had been killed
+after a two days' hunt, during which, three negroes had been
+dangerously wounded by it. Of Peruvian fruits, the most delicious is
+the chirimoya. It is of a round form, sometimes heart-shaped or
+pyramidal, its rind thick and tough, of a green colour streaked with
+black. The inside is snow-white, soft and juicy, with black pips or
+seeds. Near Lima, they are small and of inferior quality, sometimes
+not larger than a man's fist; but in the interior, and especially in
+the province of Huanuco, they attain their full perfection, and often
+weigh fourteen or sixteen pounds. Their smell is most fragrant, and
+their delicious flavour, Dr Tschudi says, he can compare to nothing,
+for it is incomparable.
+
+We perceive, on glancing over what we have written, that we have
+occupied ourselves chiefly with the lighter portions of this book,
+and, by so doing, may have given the reader an erroneous idea of its
+value. Although, as already mentioned, the more important and
+scientific results of Dr Tschudi's travels are to be found in others
+of his works, the one before us must not be set down as a mere amusing
+and ephemeral production. It contains a great deal of curious
+information, and will be found useful as a book of reference by all
+who are interested in the commerce, natural history, and general
+statistics of Peru.
+
+Notwithstanding our endeavours to "go a-head," we have got no further
+than the conclusion of the first volume. In the second, which is also
+the final one, the doctor abandons the coast and the city, and
+penetrates into what may be termed the Peruvian back-woods, amongst
+the snow-covered Cordilleras and aboriginal forests, the silver mines
+and Indians. Of what he there saw and heard we shall give an account
+in our next Number.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] _Peru. Reiseskizzen aus den Jahren 1838-1842._ _Von_ J. J. VON
+TSCHUDI. St Gall: 1846.
+
+[2] _Untersuchungen ueber die Fauna Peruana._ St Gall: 1846.
+
+[3] An Historical and Descriptive Narrative of Twenty Years' Residence
+in South America. Containing Travels in Arauco, Chili, Peru, and
+Columbia; with an account of the Revolution, its rise, progress, and
+results; by W. B. STEVENSON. London: 1825.
+
+[4] Europeans are apt to attach the idea of some particular colour to
+the word Creole. It is a vulgar error. Creole (Spanish, Criollo) is
+derived from _criar_, to breed or produce, and is applied to native
+Americans descended from 'Old World' parents. Thus there are black
+Creoles as well as white, and a horse or a dog may be a Creole as well
+as a man, so long as the European or African blood is preserved
+unmixed.
+
+[5] The day and the event strangely coincide with the passage in
+Schiller's "Wilhelm Tell"--
+
+                    "'s ist Simon und Judae
+    Da rast der See und will sein Opfer haben."
+
+
+
+
+LETTERS ON ENGLISH HEXAMETERS.
+
+LETTER I.
+
+
+DEAR MR EDITOR--I perceive, by your having requested a second specimen
+of N.N.T.'s English hexameters, that you feel an interest in the
+question, whether that form of verse can be successfully employed in
+our language. Certainly the trial has never yet been made under any
+moderate advantages. Sidney, and the other Elizabethans, in their
+attempts, hampered themselves with Latin rules of the value of
+syllables, which the English ear refuses to recognise, and which drive
+them into intolerable harshness of expression and pronunciation.
+Stanihurst's _Virgil_ is so laboriously ridiculous in phraseology,
+that every thing belonging to it is involved in the ridicule.
+Southey's _Vision_ is a poem so offensive in its scheme, that no
+measure could have made it acceptable. Yet the beginning of that poem
+is, as you, Mr Editor, have remarked, a very happy specimen of this
+kind of verse; and would, I think, by a common English reader, be
+admired, independently of classical rules and classical recollections.
+Now, if we can reach this point, and at the same time give a good
+English imitation of the Epic mode of narration in Homer, we shall
+have a better image of Homer in our language than we yet possess. Your
+contributor appears to me to have advanced a good way towards the
+execution of this kind of work; and I should be glad if he, or you,
+would allow me, as a reader of English hexameters, to offer a few
+remarks on his first book of the _Iliad_, with a view to point out
+what appear to me the dangers and difficulties of the task. I do not
+say any thing of my general admiration of N.N.T.'s version, for mere
+praise you would hardly think worth its room.
+
+I should be glad to discuss with you, Mr Editor, the objections which
+are usually made to English hexameters. There is one of these
+objections which I will say a few words about at present. It proceeds
+upon a misapprehension, now, I hope, pretty generally rectified; I
+mean the objection that we cannot have hexameters, "because we have so
+few spondees the language." Southey says we have but one, _Egypt_; and
+gives this as a reason why the spondees of classical hexameters are
+replaced by trochees in German and English. As to Southey's example,
+_Egypt_ is no more a spondee than _precept_ or _rescript_; but the
+fact is, that we have in English spondees in abundance; and these
+spondees have tended more than any thing else to spoil our hexameters.
+The universal English feeling of rhythm rejects a spondee at the end
+of the verse; and if the syllables there placed are such as would, in
+the natural course of pronunciation, form a spondee, we nevertheless
+force upon them a trochaic character. This may be worth proving. Read,
+then, the following lines of Sidney:--
+
+  "But yet well do I find each man most wise in his _own case_."
+
+  "And yet neither of [=u]s great [=o]r blest deemeth his _own self_."
+
+  "Shall such morning dews be an ease to heat of a _love's fire_?"
+
+  "Tush, tush, said Nat[=u]re, this is all but a trifle; a _man's self_
+   Gives haps or mishaps, ev'n as he ord'reth his heart."
+
+Now, here you have four endings which are naturally spondees; but the
+verse compels you to pronounce them as trochees--_[=o]wn c[)a]se_,
+_[=o]wn s[)e]lf_, _l[=o]ve's f[)i]re_, _m[=a]n's s[)e]lf_. If you still
+doubt whether the last foot of English hexameters is necessarily a
+trochee, consider this:--that if you make them rhyme, you must use
+double rhymes, in order that the rhyme may include the strong syllable.
+Thus take any of the examples given in _Maga_ for April last:--
+
+  "See, O citizens! here old Ennius's image pre_sented_.
+   Honour me not with your tears; by none let my death be la_mented_."
+
+The ear would not be satisfied with a rhyme of one syllable such as
+this--
+
+  "But yet well do I find each man most wise in his own _case_:
+   Wisely let each resolve, and meet the event with a calm _face_."
+
+Now, so long as men retain the notion that the most perfect English
+hexameters are those which have spondees in the classical places, they
+are led to admit such verses as those just quoted; and this being
+done, the common reader, and indeed every reader, is compelled to do
+some violence to the language in reading. This, more than any thing
+else, has made an English hexameter frequently sound forced and
+unnatural. N.N.T. has a few such in his first _Iliad_.
+
+  "Pressed on the silvery hilt as he spake was the weight of his
+      _right hand_."
+
+  "Two generations complete of the blood of articulate _mankind_."
+
+  "Over the split wood then did the old man burn them, and _black wine_
+   Pour'd."
+
+These forms of English hexameter are to be avoided, if you would
+commend the verse to the common ear. And we may exclude them with a
+good conscience. Their forced and uneasy movement does not arise from
+any imperfection in our English spondees; but from the spondee in
+these cases being so perfect, that it cannot without some violence be
+made a trochee, which the English verse requires. I do not think you
+will find this bad trick in Southey. His habitual feeling of English
+rhythm preserved him from it.
+
+But there is another blemish, which Southey, forgetting his classical
+rhythm too much, for it ought to have guided his English practice, has
+often incurred. It is, the writing lines without a _caesura_, so that
+they divide themselves into half lines. Such as these:--
+
+  "Washington, said the monarch, | well hast thou spoken and truly."
+
+  "Evil they sow, and sorrow | will they reap for their harvest."
+
+  "That its tribute of honour, | poor though it was, was witholden."
+
+  "Pure it was and diaphanous. | It had no visible lustre."
+
+N.N.T. has a few of these. One is the last line I quoted from him.
+
+The essential point in English hexameters, especially while they are
+imperfectly naturalized, is, that the rhythm should be _unforced_.
+Without this, they will always repel and offend the English reader.
+And hence, though our rhythm is to be constructed by stress, and not
+by Latin rules of long and short, still, if it do not destroy it mars
+the verse, to have, for short syllables, those which have long vowels,
+clustered consonants, or special emphasis.
+
+Such are the dactyls at the beginning of these lines of Southey:--
+
+  "Th[=o]u, t[=o]o, d[)i]dst act with upright heart as befitted a
+        sovereign."
+
+  "H[=e]aven [)i]n th[)e]se things fulfilled its wise though inscrutable
+        purpose."
+
+  "He[=a]r, He[)a]v'n! [)y]e angels hear! souls of the good and the
+        wicked."
+
+Except you prefer to read it thus--
+
+      "Hear, Heav'n! y[=e] [)a]ng[)e]ls hear!"
+
+which is no better. Perhaps the worst of Southey's lines in this way
+is this--
+
+    "Fl[=o]w'd th[)e] l[)i]ght [=u]ncr[=e][=a]t[)e]d; l[)i]ght all
+          sufficing, eternal."
+
+And as examples of weak syllables harshly made strong, take these--
+
+  "Fabius, [=A]trides, and Solon and Epamininondas."
+
+  "Here, then, [=a]t the gate of Heaven we are met! said the Spirit."
+
+  "Th[=e] desire of my heart hath been alway the good of my people."
+
+N.N.T. has some examples of this. As a slight one, I notice at the end
+of a line, _h[=a]rv[)e]stl[)e]ss ocean_. And these, which are spoiled
+by the violation of emphasis:--
+
+  "Tr[=u]ly _[)I]_ came not, for one, out of hate for the spearmen of
+          Troja."
+
+  "Mightier even than you, yet am[=o]ng _th[)e]m_ [)I] never was slighted."
+
+Here we have an emphatic _I_ and an emphatic _them_ which are made
+short in the rhythm.
+
+N.N.T. has one dactyl which I can hardly suppose was intended--
+
+  "Under his ch[=a]st[)i]s[)i]ng hand."
+
+It appears to me that we shall never bring the lovers of English
+poetry to like our hexameters, except we can make the verses so that
+they _read themselves_. This the good ones among them do. N.N.T. has
+whole passages which run off without any violence or distortion.
+
+But the phraseology of English hexameters requires great care, as well
+as the rhythm, and especially in such a work as the translation of
+Homer. The measure has the great advantage of freeing us from the
+habitual chain of "poetical diction." But we must take care that we
+are not led, by this freedom, either into a modern prose style, or
+into mean colloquialities; or in translating, into phrases which,
+though expressive and lively, do not agree with the tone of the poem.
+The style must be homely, but dignified, like that of our translation
+of the Old Testament. Perhaps you will allow me, for the sake of
+example, to notice some of N.N.T.'s expressions:--
+
+  "Try not the engine of craft: to _come over me_ thus is _beyond thee_."
+
+  "This the _suggestion_, _forsooth_, that thyself being safe with thy
+      booty,
+   I shall _sit down_ without mine."
+
+The phrase to "_come over me_" is colloquial, and too low even for a
+letter. "Your _suggestion_" is a phrase for a letter, not for an epic
+poem. "_Forsooth_" would be good in construing, but not in a poem.
+Again, is this passage serious English:--
+
+  "Opposite rose Agamemnon in wrath, but before he could _open_?"
+
+I could notice other blemishes of style, as they seem to me; and,
+indeed, I could the more easily find them, on account of the very
+severe standard of good English, serious and dignified, yet plain and
+idiomatic, which I think the case requires. Every phrase should be the
+very best that can be found both for meaning and tone. I know that
+this requirement is difficult; but I think the thing may be done; and
+I do not see why N.N.T. should not do it, and thus give us a better
+English Homer than we have yet.
+
+If you can find room for me, I have a few more words to say on this
+same matter of English hexameters another day. It appears to me that
+there are still very erroneous notions current upon the subject. In
+the mean time I subscribe myself your obedient
+
+            M. L.
+
+
+
+
+MARLBOROUGH'S DISPATCHES.
+
+1708-1709.
+
+
+The fall of the external walls of Lille did not terminate the struggle
+for that important fortress. Marshal Boufflers still held the citadel,
+a stronghold in itself equal to most fortresses of the first order. No
+sooner, however, were the Allies in possession of the town, than the
+attack on the citadel commenced with all the vigour which the
+exhausted state of the magazines would furnish. Detached parties were
+sent into France, which levied contributions to a great extent, and
+both replenished the stores of the Allies and depressed the spirits of
+the French, by making them feel, in a manner not to be misunderstood,
+that the war had at length approached their own doors. To divert, if
+possible, Marlborough from his enterprise, the Elector of Bavaria, who
+had recently returned from the Rhine, was detached by Vendome, with
+fifteen thousand men against Brussels; while he himself remained in
+his intrenched camp on the Scheldt, which barred the road from Lille
+to that city, at once stopping the communication, and ready to profit
+by any advantage afforded by the measures which the English general
+might make for its relief. The governor of Brussels, M. Paschal, who
+had seven thousand men under his orders, rejected the summons to
+surrender, and prepared for a vigorous defence; and meanwhile
+Marlborough prepared for its relief, by one of those brilliant strokes
+which, in so peculiar a manner, characterize his campaigns.
+
+Giving out that he was going to separate his army into
+winter-quarters, he dispatched the field artillery towards Menin, and
+he himself set out with his staff in rather an ostentatious way for
+Courtray. But no sooner had he lulled the vigilance of the enemy by
+these steps, than, wheeling suddenly round, he advanced with the bulk
+of his forces towards the Scheldt, and directed them against that part
+of the French general's lines where he knew them to be weakest. The
+army, upon seeing these movements, anticipated the bloodiest battle,
+on the day following, they had yet had during the war. But the skill
+of the English general rendered resistance hopeless, and gained his
+object with wonderfully little loss. The passage of the river was
+rapidly effected at three points; the French corps stationed at
+Oudenarde, vigorously assailed and driven back on Grammont with the
+loss of twelve hundred men, so as to leave the road uncovered, and
+restore the communication with Brussels. Having thus cleared the way
+of the enemy, Marlborough sent back Eugene to resume the siege of the
+citadel of Lille; while he himself, with the greater part of his
+forces, proceeded on to Brussels, which he entered in triumph on the
+29th November. The Elector of Bavaria was too happy to escape, leaving
+his guns and wounded behind; and the citadel of Lille, despairing now
+of succour, capitulated on the 11th December. Thus was this memorable
+campaign terminated by the capture of the strongest frontier fortress
+of France, under the eyes of its best general and most powerful
+army.[6]
+
+But Marlborough, like the hero in antiquity, deemed nothing done while
+any thing remained to do. Though his troops were exhausted by marching
+and fighting almost without intermission for five months, and he
+himself was labouring under severe illness in consequence of his
+fatigues, he resolved in the depth of winter to make an attempt for
+the recovery of Ghent, the loss of which in the early part of the
+campaign had been the subject of deep mortification. The enemy, after
+the citadel of Lille capitulated, having naturally broken up their
+army into cantonments, under the belief that the campaign was
+concluded, he suddenly collected his forces, and drew round Ghent on
+the 18th December. Eugene formed the covering force with the corps
+lately employed in the reduction of Lille. The garrison was very
+strong, consisting of no less than thirty battalions and nineteen
+squadrons, mustering eighteen thousand combatants.[7] The governor had
+been instructed by Vendome to defend this important stronghold to the
+last extremity; but he was inadequately supplied with provisions and
+forage, and this event signally belied the expectations formed of his
+resistance. The approaches were vigorously pushed. On the 24th the
+trenches were opened; on the 25th a sortie was repulsed; on the 28th
+December, the fire began with great vigour from the breaching and
+mortar batteries; and at noon, the governor sent a flag of truce,
+offering to capitulate if not relieved before the 2d January. This was
+agreed to; and on the latter day, as no friendly force approached, the
+garrison surrendered the gates and marched out, in such strength that
+they were defiling incessantly from ten in the morning till seven at
+night! Bruges immediately followed the example; the garrison
+capitulated, and the town again hoisted the Austrian flag. The minor
+forts of Plassendall and Leffinghen were immediately evacuated by the
+enemy. With such expedition were these important operations conducted,
+that before Vendome could even assemble a force adequate to interrupt
+the besiegers' operations, both towns were taken, and the French were
+entirely dispossessed of all the important strongholds they had gained
+in the early part of the campaign in the heart of Brabant. Having
+closed his labours with these glorious successes, Marlborough put the
+army into now secure winter-quarters on the Flemish frontiers, and
+himself repaired to the Hague to resume the eternal contest with the
+timidity and selfishness of his Dutch allies.[8]
+
+Such was the memorable campaign of 1708--one of the most glorious in
+the military annals of England, and the one in which the extraordinary
+capacity of the British general perhaps shone forth with the brightest
+lustre. The vigour and talent of Vendome, joined to the secret
+communication which he had with those disaffected to the Austrian
+government in Ghent and Bruges, procured for him, in the commencement
+of the campaign, a great, and what, if opposed by less ability, might
+have proved a decisive advantage. By the acquisition of these towns,
+he gained the immense advantage of obtaining the entire command of the
+water communication of Brabant, and establishing himself in a solid
+manner in the heart of the enemy's territory. The entire expulsion of
+the Allies from Austrian Flanders seemed the unavoidable result of
+such a success, by so enterprising a general at the head of a hundred
+thousand combatants. But Marlborough was not discouraged; on the
+contrary, he built on the enemy's early successes a course of
+manoeuvres, which in the end wrested all his conquests from him, and
+inflicted a series of disasters greater than could possibly have been
+anticipated from a campaign of unbroken success. Boldly assuming the
+lead, he struck such a blow at Oudenarde as resounded from one end of
+Europe to the other, struck a terror into the enemy which they never
+recovered for the remainder of the campaign, paralysed Vendome in the
+midst of his success, and reduced him from a vigorous offensive to a
+painful defensive struggle. While the cabinet of Versailles were
+dreaming of expelling the Allies from Flanders, and detaching Holland,
+partly by intrigue, partly by force of arms, from the coalition, he
+boldly entered the territory of the Grand Monarque, and laid siege to
+its chief frontier fortress, under the eyes of its greatest army and
+best general. In vain was the water communication of the Netherlands
+interrupted by the enemy's possession of Ghent and Bruges; with
+incredible activity he got together, and with matchless skill
+conducted to the besiegers' lines before Lille, a huge convoy eighteen
+miles long, drawn by sixteen thousand horses, in the very teeth of
+Vendome at the head of an hundred and twenty thousand men. Lille
+captured, Ghent and Bruges recovered, the allied standards solidly
+planted on the walls of the strongest fortress of France, terminated
+a campaign in which the British, over-matched and surrounded by
+lukewarm or disaffected friends, had wellnigh lost at the outset by
+foreign treachery all the fruits of the victory of Ramilies.
+
+The glorious termination of this campaign, and, above all, the
+addition made to the immediate security of Holland by the recovery of
+Ghent and Bruges, sensibly augmented Marlborough's influence at the
+Hague, and at length overcame the timidity and vacillation of the
+Dutch government. When the English general repaired there in the
+beginning of 1709, he quickly overawed the adherents of France,
+regained his wonted influence over the mind of the Pensionary
+Heinsius, and at length succeeded in persuading the government and the
+States to augment their forces by six thousand men. This, though by no
+means so great an accession of numbers as was required to meet the
+vast efforts which France was making, was still a considerable
+addition; and by the influence of Prince Eugene, who was well aware
+that the principal effort of the enemy in the next campaign would be
+made in the Netherlands, he obtained a promise that the Imperial
+troops should winter there, and be recruited, so as to compensate
+their losses in the preceding campaign. Great difficulties were
+experienced with the court of Turin, which had conceived the most
+extravagant hopes from the project of an invasion of France on the
+side both of Lyons and Franche Comte, and for this purpose required a
+large subsidy in money, and the aid of fifty thousand men under Prince
+Eugene on the Upper Rhine. Marlborough was too well aware, by
+experience, of the little reliance to be placed on any military
+operations in which the Emperor and the Italian powers were to be
+placed in co-operation, to be sanguine of success from this design;
+but as it was material to keep the court of Turin in good-humour, he
+gave the proposal the most respectful attention, and sent General
+Palmer on a special mission to the Duke of Savoy, to arrange the plan
+of the proposed irruption into the Lyonnois. With the cabinet of
+Berlin the difficulties were greater than ever, and in fact had become
+so urgent, that nothing but the presence of the English General, or an
+immediate agent from him, could prevent Prussia from seceding
+altogether from the alliance. General Grumbkow was sent there
+accordingly in March, and found the king in such ill-humour at the
+repeated disappointments he had experienced from the Emperor and the
+Dutch, that he declared he could only spare _three battalions_ for the
+approaching campaign.[9] By great exertions, however, and the aid of
+Marlborough's letters and influence, the king was at length prevailed
+on to continue his present troops in the Low Countries, and increase
+them by fourteen squadrons of horse.[10]
+
+But it was not on the Continent only that open enemies or lukewarm and
+treacherous friends were striving to arrest the course of
+Marlborough's victories. His difficulties at home, both with his own
+party and his opponents, were hourly increasing; and it was already
+foreseen, that they had become so formidable that they would cause, at
+no very remote period, his fall. Though he was publicly thanked, as
+well he might, by both houses of parliament, when he came to London on
+1st March 1709, yet he received no mark of favour from the Queen, and
+was treated with studied coldness at court.[11] Envy, the inseparable
+attendant on exalted merit--ingratitude, the usual result of
+irrequitable services, had completely alienated the Queen from him.
+Mrs Masham omitted nothing which could alienate her royal mistress
+from so formidable a rival; and it was hard to say whether she was
+most cordially aided in her efforts by the open Opposition, or the
+half Tory-Whigs who formed the administration. Both Godolphin and the
+Duke speedily found that they were tolerated in office merely: while,
+in order to weaken their influence with the people, every effort was
+made to depreciate even the glorious victories which had shed such
+imperishable lustre over the British cause. Deeply mortified by this
+ingratitude, Marlborough gladly embraced an offer which was made to
+him by the government, in order to remove him from court, to conduct
+the negotiation now pending at the Hague with Louis XIV. for the
+conclusion of a general peace.[12]
+
+The pride of the French monarch was now so much humbled that he sent
+the President Rouille to Holland, with public instructions to offer
+terms to the Allies, and private directions to do every thing possible
+to sow dissension among them, and, if possible, detach Holland from
+the alliance. His proposals were to give up Spain, the Indies, and the
+Milanese to King Charles; and cede the Italian islands, reserving
+Naples and Sicily for his grandson. In the Netherlands and Germany, he
+offered to restore matters to the state they were at the peace of
+Ryswick; and though he was very reluctant to give up Lille, he offered
+to cede Menin in its place. These terms being communicated to the
+court of London, they returned an answer insisting that the whole
+Spanish monarchy should be restored to the house of Austria, the title
+of Queen Anne to the Crown of England, and the Protestant succession
+acknowledged, the Pretender removed, the harbour of Dunkirk destroyed,
+and an adequate barrier secured for the Dutch. In their ideas upon
+this barrier, however, they went much beyond what Marlborough was
+disposed to sanction, and therefore he maintained a prudent reserve on
+the subject. As the French plenipotentiary could not agree to these
+terms, Marlborough returned to England, and Lord Townsend was
+associated with him as plenipotentiary. They were instructed to insist
+that Furmes, Ipres, Menin, Lille, Tournay, Conde, Valenciennes, and
+Maubeuge, should be given up to form a barrier, and that Newfoundland
+and Hudson's Bay should be restored. Alarmed at the exaction of such
+rigorous terms, Louis sent M. de Torcy, who made large concessions;
+and Marlborough, who was seriously desirous of bringing the war to a
+conclusion, exerted all his influence with the States to induce them
+to accept the barrier offered. He so far succeeded, that on the very
+day after his return to the Hague, he wrote both to Lord Godolphin and
+the Duchess of Marlborough, that he had prevailed on the Dutch
+commissioners to accede to the principal articles, and that he had no
+doubt the negotiation would terminate in an honourable peace.[13]
+
+These flattering prospects, however, were soon overcast. The Dutch
+renewed their demand of having their barrier strengthened _at the
+expense of Austria_, and insisted that the Flemish fortresses of
+Dendermonde and Ghent, forming part of the _Imperial_ dominions,
+should be included in it. To this both Eugene and Marlborough
+objected, and the Dutch, in spite, refused to stipulate for the
+demolition of Dunkirk. So violent an altercation took place on the
+subject between the Pensionary Heinsius and Marlborough, that it had
+wellnigh produced a schism in the grand alliance. M. de Torcy at first
+endeavoured to mitigate the demands of the Dutch government; but
+finding them altogether immovable, he addressed himself privately to
+Marlborough, offering him enormous bribes if he could procure more
+favourable terms for France. The offers were 2,000,000 livres
+(L80,000) if he could secure Naples and Sicily, or even Naples alone,
+for the grandson of the King of France; and 4,000,000 livres
+(L160,000) if, in addition to this, he could save Strasburg, Dunkirk,
+and Landau, for France. Marlborough turned away from the disgraceful
+proposal with coldness and contempt;[14] but enforced in the most
+earnest manner on the French king, the prudence and even necessity of
+yielding to the proffered terms, if he would save his country from
+dismemberment, and himself from ruin. His efforts, however, to bring
+matters to an accommodation with France proved ineffectual; and after
+some weeks longer spent in proposals and counter-proposals, the
+ultimatum of the Allies was finally delivered to the French
+plenipotentiary by the Pensionary of Holland.[15]
+
+By this ultimatum, Charles was to be acknowledged King of Spain and
+the Indies, and the whole Spanish monarchy was to be ceded by France.
+All the conquests of Louis in the Low Countries were to be given up;
+the Duke of Anjou was to surrender Spain and Sicily in two months, and
+if not delivered, Louis was to concur with the Allies for his
+expulsion. The barrier towns, so eagerly coveted by the Dutch, were to
+be given up to them. Namur, Menin, Charleroi, Luxembourg, Conde,
+Tournay, Maubeuge, Nieuport, Fismes, and Ipres, were to be put into
+the possession of the Allies. De Torcy objected to the articles
+regarding the cession of the whole Spanish monarchy in two months;
+though he declared his willingness to go to Paris, in order to
+persuade the French monarch to comply with them, and actually set off
+for that purpose. On the way to the French capital, however, he was
+met by a messenger from the French king, who rejected the proposals.
+"If I must continue the war," said Louis, with a spirit worthy his
+race, "it is better to contend with my enemies than my own family." So
+confidently had it been believed, both at the Hague and in London,
+that peace was not only probable, but actually concluded, that letters
+of congratulation poured in on the duke from all quarters, celebrating
+his dexterity and address in negotiation not less than his prowess in
+arms. So confident, indeed, was Marlborough that peace would be
+concluded, that he was grievously disappointed by the rupture of the
+negotiations; and never ceased to strive, during the whole summer, to
+smooth away difficulties, and bring the Allies to such terms as the
+French king would accept. He was overruled, however, by the ministry
+at home, who concluded the celebrated barrier treaty with the Dutch,
+which Marlborough refused to sign, and was accordingly signed by
+Townsend alone, without his concurrence! And it is now decisively
+proved by the publication of his private correspondence with Lord
+Godolphin, that he disapproved of the severe articles insisted upon by
+the Allies and his own cabinet; and that, if he had had the
+uncontrolled management of the negotiation, it would have been brought
+to a favourable issue on terms highly advantageous to England, and
+which would have prevented the treaty of Utrecht from forming a stain
+on its annals.[16]
+
+The rigorous terms demanded, however, by the Allied cabinets, and the
+resolute conduct of the King of France in rejecting them, had an
+important effect upon the war, and called for more vigorous efforts on
+the part of the confederates than they had yet put forth, or were even
+now disposed to make. Louis made a touching appeal to the patriotic
+spirit of his people, in an eloquent circular which he addressed to
+the prelates and nobles of his realm. He there set forth the great
+sacrifices which he had offered to make to secure a general peace;
+showed how willing he had been to divest himself of all his conquests,
+abandon all his dreams of ambition; and concluded by observing, that
+he was now compelled to continue the contest, because the Allies
+insisted upon his descending to the humiliation of joining his arms to
+theirs to dispossess his own grandson. The appeal was not made in vain
+to the spirit of a gallant nobility, and the patriotism of a brave
+people. It kindled a spark of general enthusiasm and loyalty: all
+ranks and parties vied with each other in contributing their property
+and personal service for the maintenance of the war; and the campaign
+which opened under such disastrous auspices, was commenced with a
+degree of energy and unanimity on the part of the French people which
+had never hitherto been evinced in the course of the contest.[17] As
+afterwards, in the wars of the Revolution, too, the misfortunes of the
+state tended to the increase of its military forces. The stoppage of
+commerce, and shock to credit, threw numbers out of employment; and
+starving multitudes crowded to the frontier, to find that subsistence
+amidst the dangers of war which they could no longer find in the
+occupations of peace.
+
+Skilfully availing themselves of this burst of patriotic fervour, the
+ministers of Louis were enabled to open the campaign with greater
+forces than they had yet accumulated since the beginning of the war.
+The principal effort was made in Flanders, where the chief danger was
+to be apprehended, and the enemy's most powerful army and greatest
+general were to be faced. Fifty-one battalions and forty-nine
+squadrons were drawn from the Rhine to Flanders; and this great
+reinforcement, joined to the crowds of recruits whom the public
+distress impelled to his standards, enabled the renowned Marshal
+Villars, who had received the command of the French, to take the field
+at the head of 112,000 men. With this imposing force, he took a
+position, strong both by nature and art, extending from Douay to the
+Lye; the right resting on the canal of Douay, the centre covered by
+the village of La Bassie, the left supported by Bethune and its
+circumjacent marshes. The whole line was strengthened by redoubts and
+partial inundations. Marlborough was at the head of 110,000 men, and
+although his force was composed of a heterogeneous mixture of the
+troops of different nations, yet, like the _colluvies omnium gentium_
+which followed the standards of Hannibal, it was held together by the
+firm bond of military success, and inspired with unbounded confidence,
+founded on experience, in the resources and capacity of its chief.
+Events of the greatest and most interesting kind could not but be
+anticipated, when two armies of such magnitude, headed by such
+leaders, were brought into collision; and the patriotic ardour of the
+French nation, now roused to the uttermost, was matched against the
+military strength of the confederates, matured by so long and
+brilliant a series of victories.[18]
+
+Though relying with confidence on the skill and intrepidity of his
+troops, Marlborough, according to his usual system, resolved if
+possible to circumvent the enemy by manoeuvring, and reserve his hard
+blows for the time when success was to be won in no other way. His
+design was to begin the campaign with a general battle, or the
+reduction of Tournay, which lay on the direct road from Brussels by
+Mons to Paris, and would break through, in the most important part,
+the barrier fortresses. To prepare for either event, and divert the
+enemy's attention, strong demonstrations were made against Villars'
+intrenched position, and if it had been practicable, it would have
+been attacked; but after a close reconnoitre, both generals deemed it
+too hazardous an enterprise, and it was resolved to besiege the
+fortress. On the 23d June, the right under Eugene crossed the lower
+Dyle below Lille; while the left, with whom were the whole English and
+Dutch contingents, crossed the upper Dyle, and Marlborough fixed his
+headquarters at the castle of Looz. So threatening were the masses
+which the Allies now accumulated in his front, that Villars never
+doubted he was about to be attacked; and in consequence he
+strengthened his position to the utmost of his power, called in all
+his detachments, and drew considerable reinforcements from the
+garrisons of Tournay and other fortresses in his vicinity. Having thus
+fixed his antagonist's attention, and concentrated his force in his
+intrenched lines between Douay and Bethune, Marlborough suddenly moved
+off to the left, in the direction of Tournay. This was done, however,
+with every imaginable precaution to impose upon the enemy. They
+decamped at nightfall on the 27th in dead silence, and advanced part
+of the night straight towards the French lines; but at two in the
+morning, the troops were suddenly halted, wheeled to the left, and
+marched in two columns, by Pont a Bovines and Pont a Tressins, towards
+Tournay. So expeditiously was the change in the line of march managed,
+and so complete the surprise, that by seven in the morning the troops
+were drawn round Tournay, and the investment complete, while a half of
+the garrison was still absent in the lines of Marshal Villars, and it
+was thereby rendered incapable of making any effectual defence.
+Meanwhile, that commander was so deceived, that he was congratulating
+himself that the enemy had "fixed on the siege of Tournay, which
+should occupy them the whole remainder of the campaign; when it is
+evident their design had been, after defeating me, to thunder against
+Aire la Venant with their heavy artillery, penetrate as far as
+Boulogne, and after laying all Picardy under contribution, push on
+even to Paris."[19]
+
+Tournay is an old town, the ancient walls of which are of wide
+circuit; but it had a series of advanced works erected by Vauban, and
+its citadel, a regular pentagon, was considered by the great Conde as
+one of the most perfect specimens of modern fortification in
+existence. So little did the governor expect their approach, that many
+of the officers were absent, and a detachment of the garrison, sent
+out to forage, was made prisoners by General Lumley, who commanded the
+investing corps. The fortifications, however, were in the best state,
+and the magazines well stored with ammunition and military stores. It
+was the ancient capital of the Nervii, so celebrated for their valour
+in the wars with Caesar; and an inscription on its walls testified that
+Louis XIV., after taking it in four days, had assisted in the
+construction of the additional works which would render it
+impregnable. The attempt to take such a place with a force no greater
+than that with which Villars had at hand to interrupt the operations,
+would have been an enterprise of the utmost temerity, and probably
+terminated in disaster, had it not been for the admirable skill with
+which the attention of the enemy had been fixed on another quarter,
+and the siege commenced with half its garrison absent, and what was
+there, imperfectly supplied with provisions.[20]
+
+The heavy artillery and siege equipage required to be brought up the
+Scheldt from Ghent, which in the outset occasioned some delay in the
+operations. Marlborough commanded the attacking, Eugene the covering
+forces. By the 6th, however, the approaches were commenced; on the
+10th, the battering train arrived and the trenches armed; repeated
+sallies of the enemy to interrupt the operations were repulsed, and
+several of the outworks carried, between that time and the 21st, on
+which last occasion the besiegers succeeded in establishing themselves
+in the covered ways. The breaching batteries continued to thunder with
+terrible effect upon the walls; and on the 27th, a strong horn-work,
+called of the Seven Fountains, was carried, and the Allies were
+masters of nearly the whole line of the counterscarp. Meanwhile,
+Villars made no serious movement to interrupt the besiegers,
+contenting himself with making demonstrations between the Scarfe and
+the Scheldt to alarm the covering forces. Eugene, however, narrowly
+watched all his proceedings; and in truth the French marshal, far from
+really intending to disquiet the Allies in their operations, was
+busied with an immense army of pioneers and labourers in constructing
+a new set of lines from Douay along the Scarfe to the Scheldt near
+Conde, in order to arrest the progress of the Allies in the direction
+they had now taken. Seeing no prospect of being relieved, the governor
+on the 29th surrendered the town, and retired with the remains of the
+garrison, still four thousand strong, into the citadel.[21]
+
+On the surrender of the town, no time was lost in prosecuting
+operations against the citadel, and the line of circumvallation was
+traced out that very evening. But this undertaking proved more
+difficult than had been expected, and several weeks elapsed before any
+material progress was made in the operations, during which Villars
+made good use of his time in completing his new lines to cover
+Valenciennes and Conde. The garrison of the citadel, though unequal to
+the defence of the town of Tournay, was quite adequate to that of the
+citadel: and the vast mines with which the whole outworks and glacis
+were perforated, rendered the approaches in the highest degree
+perilous and difficult. The governor, M. De Surville, proposed, on the
+5th August, to capitulate in a month if not relieved; and to this
+proposition, Marlborough and Eugene with praiseworthy humanity at once
+acceded: but the King of France refused to ratify the terms proposed,
+unless the suspension of arms was made general to the whole
+Netherlands, to which the allied general would not accede. The
+military operations consequently went on, and soon acquired a degree
+of horror hitherto unparalleled even in that long and bloody contest.
+The art of countermining, and of counteracting the danger of mines
+exploding, was then very imperfectly understood, though that of
+besieging above ground had been brought to the very highest degree of
+perfection. The soldiers, in consequence, entertained a great and
+almost superstitious dread of the perils of that subterraneous
+warfare, where prowess and courage were alike unavailing, and the
+bravest, equally as the most pusillanimous, were liable to be at any
+moment blown into the air, or smothered under ground, by the
+explosions of an unseen, and therefore appalling, enemy. The Allies
+were inferior in regular sappers and miners to the besieged, who were
+singularly well supplied with that important arm of the service. The
+ordinary soldiers, how brave soever in the field, evinced a repugnance
+at engaging in this novel and terrific species of warfare: and it was
+only by personally visiting the trenches in the very hottest of the
+fire, and offering high rewards to the soldiers who would enter into
+the mines, that men could be got who would venture on the perilous
+service.[22]
+
+It was not surprising that even the bravest of the allied troops were
+appalled at the new and extraordinary dangers which now awaited them,
+for they were truly of the most formidable description. What rendered
+them peculiarly so, was, that the perils in a peculiar manner affected
+the bold and the forward. The first to mount a breach, to effect a
+lodgement in a horn-work, to penetrate into a mine, was sure to
+perish. First a hollow rumbling noise was heard, which froze the
+bravest hearts with horror: a violent rush as of a subterraneous
+cataract succeeded; and immediately the earth heaved, and whole
+companies, and even battalions, were destroyed with a frightful
+explosion. On the 15th August a sally by M. De Surville was bravely
+repulsed, and the besiegers, pursuing their advantage, effected a
+lodgement in the outwork: but immediately a mine was sprung, and a
+hundred and fifty men were blown into the air. In the night between
+the 16th and 17th, a long and furious conflict took place below ground
+and in utter darkness, between the contending parties, which at length
+terminated to the advantage of the besiegers.[23] On the 23d a mine
+was discovered, sixty feet long by twenty broad, which would have
+blown up a whole battalion of Hanoverian troops placed above it; but
+while the Allies were in the mine, congratulating themselves on the
+discovery, a mine below it was suddenly sprung, and all within the
+upper one buried in the ruins. On the night of the 25th, three hundred
+men, posted in a large mine discovered to the Allies by an inhabitant
+of Tournay, were crushed by the explosion of another mine directly
+below it; and on the same night, one hundred men posted in the town
+ditch were suddenly buried under a bastion blown out upon them. Great
+was the dismay which these dreadful and unheard-of disasters produced
+among the allied troops. But at length the resolution and energy of
+Marlborough and Eugene triumphed over every obstacle. Early on the
+morning of the 31st August the white flag was displayed, and a
+conference took place between the two commanders in the house of the
+Earl of Albemarle; but the governor having refused to accede to the
+terms demanded--that he should surrender prisoners of war--the fire
+recommenced, and a tremendous discharge from all the batteries took
+place for the next three days. This compelled the brave De Surville to
+submit; and Marlborough, in consideration of his gallant defence,
+permitted the garrison to march out with the honours of war, and
+return to France, on condition of not serving again till exchanged. On
+September 3d the gates were surrendered; and the entire command of
+this strong fortress and rich city, which entirely covered Spanish
+Flanders, was obtained by the Allies.[24]
+
+No sooner was Tournay taken than the allied generals turned their
+eyes to Mons, the next great fortress on the road to Paris, and which,
+with Valenciennes, constituted the only remaining strongholds that lay
+on that line between them and Paris. So anxious was Marlborough to
+hasten operations against this important town, that on the very day on
+which the white flag was displayed from the citadel of Tournay, he
+dispatched Lord Orkney with all the grenadiers of the army, and twenty
+squadrons, to surprise Ghislain, and secure the passage of the Haine.
+On the 3d, the Prince of Hesse-Cassel was dispatched after him with
+4000 foot and 60 squadrons. Lord Orkney, on arriving on the banks of
+the Haine, found the passage so strongly guarded that he did not deem
+it prudent to alarm the enemy by attempting to force them. The Prince
+of Hesse-Cassel, however, was more fortunate. He marched with such
+extraordinary diligence, that he got over forty-nine English miles in
+fifty-six successive hours; a rapidity of advance, for such a
+distance, that had never been surpassed at that, though it has been
+outdone in later times.[25] By this means he reached the Haine on the
+other side of Mons, and surprised the passage near Obourg, at two in
+the morning of the 6th, and at noon he entered the French lines of the
+Trouille without opposition, the enemy retiring with precipitation as
+he advanced. He immediately extended his forces over the valley of the
+Trouille, fixed his headquarters at the abbey of Belian, and with his
+right occupied in strength the important plateau of Jemappes, which
+intercepted the communication between Mons and Valenciennes. It was on
+this height that the famous battle was fought between the French
+Republicans under Dumourier in 1792: another proof among the many
+which history affords how frequently the crisis of war, at long
+distances of time from each other, takes place in the same place. By
+this decisive movement Marlborough gained an immense advantage;--Mons
+was now passed and _invested on the side of France_; and the
+formidable lines, thirty leagues in length, on which Marshal Villars
+had been labouring with such assiduity during the two preceding
+months, were turned and rendered of no avail.[26]
+
+While the Prince of Hesse-Cassel, with the advanced guard of the army,
+gained this brilliant success, Marlborough was rapidly following with
+the main body in the same direction. The force besieging Tournay
+crossed the Scheldt at the bridge of that town, and joined the
+covering force under Eugene. From thence they advanced to Sirant,
+where they were joined by Lord Orkney with his detachment, which had
+failed in passing the Haine. On the 6th, having learned of the success
+of the Prince of Hesse-Cassel, who had turned the enemy's lines, and
+got between Mons and France, the allied generals pushed on with the
+utmost expedition, and leaving their army to form the investment of
+Mons, joined the prince in the abbey of Belian. Both commanders
+bestowed on him the highest compliments for the advantages he had
+gained; but he replied, "The French have deprived me of the glory due
+to such a compliment, since they have not even waited my arrival." In
+truth, such had been the celerity and skill of his dispositions, that
+they had rendered resistance hopeless, and achieved success without
+the necessity of striking a blow. Meanwhile Marshal Boufflers, hearing
+a battle was imminent, arrived in the camp as a volunteer, to serve
+under Villars, his junior in military service; a noble example of
+disinterested patriotism, which, not less than the justly popular
+character of that distinguished general, raised the enthusiasm of the
+French soldiers to the very highest pitch.[27] Every thing announced
+a more sanguinary and important conflict between the renowned
+commanders and gallant armies now arrayed on the opposite sides, than
+had yet taken place since the commencement of the war.[28]
+
+During these rapid and vigorous movements, which entirely turned and
+broke through his much-vaunted lines of defence, Villars remained with
+the great body of his forces in a state of inactivity. Aware he was to
+be attacked, but ignorant where the blow was first likely to fall, he
+judged, and probably rightly, that it would be hazardous to weaken his
+lines at any one point by accumulating forces at another. No sooner,
+however, did he receive intelligence of the march of the Prince of
+Hesse-Cassel, than he broke up from the lines of Douay, and hastily
+collecting his forces, advanced towards that adventurous commander. At
+two in the morning of the 4th, he arrived in front of him with his
+cavalry; but conceiving the whole allied army was before him, he did
+not venture to make an attack at a time when his great superiority of
+force would have enabled him to do it with every chance of success.
+The movement of Villars, however, and general _feux-de-joie_ which
+resounded through the French lines on the arrival of Marshal
+Boufflers, warned the allied leaders that a general battle was at
+hand; and orders were in consequence given to the whole army to
+advance at four o'clock on the afternoon of the 7th. A detachment of
+Eugene's troops was left to watch Mons, the garrison of which
+consisted only of eleven weak battalions and a regiment of horse, not
+mustering above five thousand combatants; and the whole remainder of
+the allied army, ninety thousand strong, pressed forward in dense
+masses into the level and marshy plain in the middle of which Mons is
+situated. They advanced in different columns, headed by Marlborough
+and Eugene; and never was a more magnificent spectacle presented, than
+when they emerged from the woods upon the plain, and ascended in the
+finest order, with their whole cavalry and artillery, as well as
+infantry, the undulating ground which lies to the south of that town.
+They arrived at night, and bivouacked on the heights of Quaregnon,
+near Genly, and thence on to the village of Quevy, in a line not three
+miles in length, and only five distant from the enemy; so that it was
+evident a general battle would take place on the following day, unless
+Villars was prepared to abandon Mons to its fate.[29]
+
+The French marshal, however, had no intention of declining the combat.
+His army was entirely fresh, and in the finest order; it had engaged
+in no previous operations; whereas a bloody siege, and subsequent
+fatiguing marches in bad weather, had sensibly weakened the strength,
+though they had not depressed the spirits, of the allied soldiers. The
+vast efforts of the French government, joined to the multitude of
+recruits whom the public distress had impelled into the army, had in
+an extraordinary degree recruited his ranks. After making provision
+for all the garrisons and detached posts with which he was charged, he
+could bring into the field no less than a hundred and thirty
+battalions, and two hundred and sixty squadrons; and as they had all
+been raised to their full complement, they mustered sixty-five
+thousand infantry, and twenty-six thousand horse, with eighty guns; in
+all, with the artillery, ninety-five thousand combatants. This vast
+array had the advantage of being almost entirely of one nation,
+speaking one language, and animated with one spirit; while the allied
+force was a motley array of many different faces and nations of men,
+held together by no other bond but the strong one of military success
+and confidence in their chief. Both armies were of nearly equal
+strength, under the command of the ablest and most intrepid commanders
+of their day; the soldiers of both had acted long together, and
+acquired confidence in each other; and both contained that
+intermixture of the fire of young, with the caution of veteran troops,
+which is of the happiest augury for military success. It was hard to
+say, between such antagonists, to which side the scales of victory
+would incline.[30]
+
+The face of the country occupied by the French army, and which was to
+be the theatre of the great battle which was approaching, is an
+irregular plateau, interspersed by woods and intersected by streams,
+and elevated from a hundred and fifty to two hundred feet above the
+meadows of the Trouille. Mons and Bavay, the villages of Quevrain and
+Giory, formed the angular points of this broken surface. Extensive
+woods on all the principal eminences both give diversity and beauty to
+the landscape, and, in a military point of view, added much to the
+strength of the position as defensible ground against an enemy. Near
+MALPLAQUET, on the west of the ridge, is a small heath, and
+immediately to the south of it the ground descends by a rapid slope to
+the Hon, which finds its way by a circuitous route by the rear of the
+French position to the Trouille, which it joins near Conde. The
+streams from Malplaquet to the northward all flow by a gentle slope
+through steep wooded banks to the Trouille, into which they fall near
+Mons. The woods on the plateau are the remains of a great natural
+forest which formerly covered the whole of these uplands, and out of
+which the clearings round the villages and hamlets which now exist,
+have been cut by the hands of laborious industry. Two woods near the
+summit level of the ground are of great extent, and deserve particular
+notice. The first, called the wood of Louviere, stretches from
+Longueville in a north-easterly direction to Cauchie; the second,
+named the wood Taisniere, of still larger size, extends from the
+Chaussee de Bois to the village of Bouson. Between these woods are two
+openings, or Trouees as they are called in the country--the Trouee de
+la Louviere, and the Trouee d'Aulnoet. Generally speaking, the ground
+occupied by the French, and which was to be the theatre of the battle,
+may be described as a rough and woody natural barrier, stretching
+across the high plateau which separates the Haine and the Trouille,
+and pervious only by the two openings of Louviere and Aulnoet, both of
+which are in a very great degree susceptible of defence.[31]
+
+The allied army consisted of one hundred and thirty-nine battalions,
+and two hundred and fifty-three squadrons, with one hundred and five
+guns; mustering ninety-three thousand combatants. The two armies,
+therefore, were as nearly as possible equal in point of military
+strength--a slight numerical superiority on the part of the French
+being compensated by a superiority of twenty-five guns on that of the
+Allies. Among the French nobles present at the battle, were no less
+than twelve who were afterwards marshals of France.[32] The son of
+James II., under the name of the Chevalier of St George, who combined
+the graces of youth with the hereditary valour of his race, was there;
+St Hilaire and Folard, whose works afterwards threw such light on
+military science, were to be found in its ranks. The Garde-du-corps,
+Mousquetaires gris, Grenadiers _a cheval_, French, Swiss, and Bavarian
+guards, as well as the Irish brigade, stood among the combatants. The
+reverses of Louis had called forth the flower of the nobility, as well
+as the last reserves of the monarchy.[33]
+
+Early on the morning of the 9th, Marlborough and Eugene were on the
+look-out at the Mill of Sart, with a strong escort, consisting of
+thirty squadrons of horse. From the reports brought in, it was soon
+ascertained that the whole enemy's army was in march towards the plain
+of Malplaquet, on the west of the plateau, and that Villars himself
+was occupying the woods of Lasniere and Taisniere. His headquarters
+were at Blaugnies, in the rear of the centre. The two armies were now
+only a league and a half separate, and Marlborough and Eugene were
+clear for immediately attacking the enemy, before they could add to
+the natural strength of their position by intrenchnents. But the Dutch
+deputies, Hooft and Goslinga, interfered, as they had done on a
+similar occasion between Wavre and Waterloo, and so far modified this
+resolution as to induce a council of war, summoned on the occasion, to
+determine not to fight till the troops from Tournay were within reach,
+and St Ghislain, which commanded a passage over the Haine, was taken.
+This was done next day, the fort being carried by escalade, and its
+garrison of two hundred men made prisoners; and on the day following,
+all the reserves from Tournay came up. But these advantages, which in
+themselves were not inconsiderable, were dearly purchased by the time
+which Villars gained for strengthening his position. Instead of
+pushing on to attack the allies, as Marlborough and Eugene had
+expected, to raise the siege of Mons, that able commander employed
+himself with the utmost skill and vigour in throwing up intrenchments
+in every part of his position. The nature of the ground singularly
+favoured his efforts. The heights he occupied, plentifully
+interspersed with woods and eminences, formed a concave semicircle,
+the artillery from which enfiladed on all sides the little plain of
+Malplaquet, so as to render it literally, in Dumont's words, "une
+trouee d'enfer." Around this semicircle, redoubts, palisades, abattis,
+and stockades, were disposed with such skill and judgment, that,
+literally speaking, there was not a single inequality of ground, (and
+there were many,) which was not turned to good account. The two
+_trouees_ or openings, in particular, already mentioned, by which it
+was foreseen the Allies would endeavour to force an entrance, were so
+enfiladed by cross batteries as to be wellnigh unassailable. Twenty
+pieces of artillery were placed on a redoubt situated on an eminence
+near the centre of the field; the remainder were arranged along the
+field-works constructed along the lines. Half the army laboured at
+these works without a moment's intermission during the whole of the
+9th and 10th, while the other were under arms, ready to repel any
+attack which might be hazarded. With such vigour were the operations
+conducted, that by the night of the 10th, the position was deemed
+impregnable.[34]
+
+During these two days, which were passed in inactivity, awaiting the
+coming up of the reinforcements from Tournay, which the council of war
+had deemed indispensable to the commencement of operations,
+Marlborough and Eugene had repeatedly reconnoitred the enemy's
+position, and were fully aware of its growing strength. Despairing of
+openly forcing such formidable lines, defended by so numerous and
+gallant an army, they resolved to combine their first attack with a
+powerful demonstration in rear. With this view, the rear-guard, which
+was coming up from Tournay under General Withers, of nineteen
+battalions and ten squadrons, received orders not to join the main
+body of the army, but, stopping short at St Ghislain, to cross the
+Haine there, and, traversing the wood of Blangris by a country road,
+assail the extreme left of the enemy at the farm of La Folie, when the
+combat was seriously engaged in front. Forty battalions of Eugene's
+army, under Baron Schulemberg, were to attack the wood of Taisniere,
+supported by forty pieces of cannon, so placed that their shot reached
+every part of the wood. To distract the enemy's attention, other
+attacks were directed along the whole line; but the main effort was to
+be made by Eugene's corps on the wood of Taisniere; and it was from
+the co-operation of the attack of Schulemberg on its flank, that
+decisive success was expected.[35] All the corps had reached their
+respective points of destination on the evening of the 10th.
+Schulemberg was near La Folie; Eugene was grouped, in four lines, in
+front of Taisniere; and the men lay down to sleep, anxiously awaiting
+the dawn of the eventful morrow.[36]
+
+At three in the morning of the 11th, divine service was performed,
+with the utmost decorum, at the head of every regiment, and listened
+to by the soldiers, after the example of their chief, with the most
+devout attention. The awful nature of the occasion, the momentous
+interests at stake, the uncertainty who might survive to the close of
+the day, the protracted struggle now to be brought to a decisive
+issue, had banished all lighter feelings, and impressed a noble
+character on that impressive solemnity. A thick fog overspread the
+field, under cover of which the troops marched, with the utmost
+regularity, to their appointed stations: the guns were brought forward
+to the grand battery in the centre, which was protected on either side
+by an _epaulement_ to prevent an enfilade. No sooner did the French
+outposts give notice that the Allies were preparing for an attack,
+than the whole army stood to their arms, and all the working parties,
+who were still toiling in the trenches, cast aside their tools, and
+joyfully resumed their places in the ranks. Never, since the
+commencement of the war, had the spirit of the French soldier been so
+high, or so enthusiastic a feeling infused into every bosom. With
+confidence they looked forward to regaining the laurels, under their
+beloved commander, Marshal Villars, which had been withered in eight
+successive campaigns, and arresting the flood of conquest which
+threatened to overwhelm their country. No sooner did he mount on
+horseback at seven, than loud cries of "Vive le Roi!" "Vive le
+Marechal de Villars!" burst from their ranks. He himself took the
+command of the left, giving the post of honour on the right, in
+courtesy, to Marshal Boufflers. On the allied side, enthusiasm was not
+so loudly expressed, but confidence was not the less strongly felt.
+They relied with reason on the tried and splendid abilities of their
+chiefs, on their own experienced constancy and success in the field.
+They had the confidence of veteran soldiers, who had long fought and
+conquered together. In allusion to the numerous field-works before
+them, and which almost concealed the enemy's ranks from their view,
+the sarcastic expression passed through the ranks, "We are again about
+to make war on moles." The fog still lingered on the ground, so as to
+prevent the gunners seeing to take aim; but at half-past seven it
+cleared up; the sun broke forth with uncommon brilliancy, and
+immediately the fire commenced with the utmost vigour from the
+artillery on both sides.[37]
+
+For about half an hour the cannon continued to thunder, so as to reach
+every part of the field of battle with their balls, when Marlborough
+moved forward his troops in echelon, the right in front, in order to
+commence his projected attack on the French centre and left. The
+Dutch, who were on the left, agreeably to the orders they had
+received, halted when within range of grape, and a violent cannonade
+was merely exchanged on both sides; but Count Lottum, who commanded
+the centre of twenty battalions, continued to press on, regardless of
+the storm of shot and grape with which he was assailed, and when well
+into the enemy's line, he brought up his left shoulders, and in three
+lines attacked the right of the wood of Taisniere. Schulemberg, at the
+same time, with his forty battalions to the right of Lottum, advanced
+against the wood of Taisniere in front; while Lord Orkney, with his
+fifteen battalions, as Lottum's men inclined to the right, marched
+straight forward to the ground they had occupied, and attacked the
+intrenchment before him in the opening. Eugene, who was with
+Schulemberg's men, advanced without firing a shot, though suffering
+dreadfully from the grape of the batteries, till within pistol-shot of
+the batteries. They were there, however, received by so terrible a
+discharge of all arms from the intrenchments--the French soldiers
+laying their pieces deliberately over the parapet, and taking aim
+within twenty yards of their opponents--that they recoiled above two
+hundred yards, and were only brought back to the charge by the heroic
+efforts of Eugene, who exposed his person in the very front of the
+line. Meanwhile, three battalions brought up from the blockade of Mons
+stole unperceived, amidst the tumult in front, into the south-eastern
+angle of the wood of Taisniere, and were making some progress, when
+they were met by three battalions of French troops, and a vehement
+fire of musketry soon rang in the recesses of the wood.
+
+Meanwhile, Marlborough in person led on D'Auvergne's cavalry in
+support of Lottum's men, who speedily were engaged in a most terrific
+conflict. They bore without flinching the fire of the French brigade
+_du Roi_, and, crossing a ravine and small morass, rushed with fixed
+bayonets, and the most determined resolution, right against the
+intrenchment. So vehement was the onset, so impetuous the rush, that
+some of the leading files actually reached the summit of the parapet,
+and those behind pushing vehemently on, the redoubt was carried amidst
+deafening cheers. But Villars was directly in rear of that work; and
+he immediately led up in person a brigade in the finest order, which
+expelled the assailants at the point of the bayonet, and regained the
+work. Marlborough upon this charged at the head of D'Auvergne's
+cavalry; and that gallant body of men, three thousand strong, dashed
+forward, entered the intrenchments, which were, at the same time,
+surmounted by some of Lottum's battalions. While this desperate
+conflict was going on in front and flank of the wood, Withers, with
+his corps brought up from Tournay, was silently, and with great
+caution, entering the wood on the side of La Folie, and had already
+made considerable progress before any great efforts were made to expel
+them. The advance of this corps in his rear rendered it impossible for
+Villars any longer to maintain the advanced line of works in the front
+of the wood; it was therefore abandoned, but slowly, and in admirable
+order--the troops retiring through the trees to the second line of
+works in their rear, which they prepared to defend to the last
+extremity.
+
+While this bloody conflict was raging in and around the wood of
+Taisniere, the half-hour during which the Prince of Orange had been
+directed to suspend his attack had elapsed, and that gallant chief,
+impatient of inactivity when the battle was raging with such fury on
+his right, resolved to move forward in good earnest. The Scotch
+brigade, led on by the Marquis of Tullibardine, headed the column on
+the left; to their right were the Dutch, under Spaar and Oxenstiern;
+while the Prince of Hesse-Cassel, with twenty-one squadrons, was in
+reserve to support and follow the infantry into the works, when an
+opening was made. On the word "march" being given, the troops of these
+various nations, with rival courage, advanced to the attack. The
+Scotch Highlanders, headed by the gallant Tullibardine,[38] rushed
+impetuously forward to the attack, despite a tremendous fire of grape
+and musketry which issued from the works, and succeeded in reaching
+the top of the intrenchment. But before they could deploy, they were
+charged by the French infantry in close order, and driven out.
+Tullibardine met a glorious death in the redoubt he had won. Equally
+gallant was the assault, and unpropitious the result, of the Prince of
+Orange's attack on the right towards the French centre. There, too,
+by a vehement rush the intrenchment was carried; but the troops which
+surmounted it had no sooner penetrated in than they were attacked by
+Boufflers, at the head of fresh troops in close order in front, while
+a powerful battery opened with grape on their flank. This double
+attack proved irresistible; the assailants were pushed out of the
+works with dreadful slaughter. Spaar lay dead on the spot; Hamilton
+was carried off wounded. Seeing his men recoil, the Prince of Orange
+seized a standard, and advancing alone to the slope of the
+intrenchment, said aloud, "Follow me, my friends; here is your post."
+But it was all in vain. Boufflers' men from the French second line had
+now closed up with the first, which lined the works, and a dense mass
+of bayonets, six deep, bristled at their summit behind the embrasures
+of the guns. A dreadful rolling fire issued from them; their position
+could be marked by the ceaseless line of flame, even through the
+volumes of smoke which enveloped them on all sides; and at length,
+after displaying the most heroic valour, the Prince of Orange was
+obliged to draw off his men, with the loss of three thousand killed,
+and twice that number wounded. Instantly the brigade of Navarre issued
+with loud shouts out of the intrenchments. Several Dutch battalions
+were driven back, and some colours, with an advanced battery, fell
+into the enemy's hands. Boufflers supported this sally by his
+grenadiers _a cheval_; but the Prince of Hesse-Cassel came up with his
+well-appointed squadron on the other side, and, after a short
+struggle, drove the French back into their works.
+
+Hearing that matters were in this precarious state on the left,
+Marlborough galloped from the right centre, accompanied by his staff,
+where Lotturn's infantry and D'Auvergne's horse had gained such
+important advantages. Matters erelong became so alarming, that Eugene
+also followed in the same direction. On his way along the rear of the
+line, the English general had a painful proof of the enthusiastic
+spirit with which his troops were animated, by seeing numbers of the
+wounded Dutch and Hanoverians, whose hurts had just been bound up by
+the surgeons, again hastening to the front, to join their comrades,
+though some, faint from the loss of blood, yet tottered under the
+weight of their muskets. The reserves were hastily directed to the
+menaced front, and by their aid the combat was in some degree restored
+in that quarter; while Marlborough and Eugene laboured to persuade the
+Prince of Orange, who was burning with anxiety at all hazards to renew
+the attack, that his operations were only intended as a feint, and
+that the real effort was to be made on the right, where considerable
+progress had already been made. Order was hardly restored in this
+quarter, when intelligence arrived from the right that the enemy were
+assuming the initiative in the wood of Taisniere, and were pressing
+hard both upon the troops at La Folie and in front of the wood. In
+fact, Villars, alarmed at the progress of the enemy on his left in the
+wood, had drawn considerable reinforcements from his centre, and sent
+them to the threatened quarter. Marlborough instantly saw the
+advantage which this weakening of the enemy's centre was likely to
+give him. While he hastened back, therefore, with all imaginable
+expedition to the right, to arrest the progress of the enemy in that
+quarter, he directed Lord Orkney to advance, supported by a powerful
+body of horse on each flank, directly in at the opening between the
+two woods, and if possible force the enemy's intrenchments in the
+centre, now stripped of their principal defenders.
+
+These dispositions, adopted on the spur of the moment, and instantly
+acted upon, proved entirely successful. Eugene galloped to the extreme
+right, and renewed the attack with Schulemberg's men, while Withers
+again pressed on the rear of the wood near La Folie. So vigorous was
+the onset, that the Allies gained ground on both sides of the wood,
+and Villars hastening up with the French guards to restore the combat
+near La Folie, received a wound in the knee, when gallantly heading a
+charge of bayonets, which obliged him to quit the field. In the
+centre, still more decisive advantages were gained. Lord Orkney there
+made the attack with such vigour, that the intrenchments, now not
+adequately manned, were at once carried; and the horse, following
+rapidly on the traces of the foot soldiers, broke through at several
+openings made by the artillery, and spread themselves over the plain,
+cutting down in every direction. The grand battery of forty cannon in
+the allied centre received orders to advance. In the twinkling of an
+eye the guns were limbered up, and moving on at a quick trot. They
+soon passed the intrenchments in the centre, and facing to the right
+and left, opened a tremendous fire of canister and grape on the dense
+masses of the French cavalry which there stood in the rear of the
+infantry, who were almost all in front among the works. These noble
+troops, however, bore up gallantly against the storm, and even charged
+the allied horse before they had time to form within the lines; but
+they were unable to make any impression, and retired from the attack
+sorely shattered by the allied artillery.
+
+The battle was now gained. Villars' position, how strong and gallantly
+defended soever, was no longer tenable. Pierced through in the centre,
+with a formidable enemy's battery thundering on either side, in the
+very heart of his line, on the reserve squadrons, turned and menaced
+with rout on the left, it was no longer possible to keep the field.
+Boufflers, upon whom, in the absence of Villars in consequence of his
+wound, the direction of affairs had devolved, accordingly prepared for
+a retreat; and he conducted it with consummate skill, as well as the
+most undaunted firmness. Collecting a body of two thousand chosen
+horse yet fresh, consisting of the _elite_ of the horse-guards and
+garde-du-corps, he charged the allied horse which had penetrated into
+the centre, and was by this time much blown by its severe fatigues in
+the preceding part of the day. It was accordingly worsted and put to
+flight; but all the efforts of this noble body of horsemen were
+shattered against Orkney's infantry, which, posted on the reverse of
+the works they had won, poured in, when charged, so close and
+destructive a fire, as stretched half of the gallant cavaliers on the
+plain, and forced the remainder to a precipitate retreat. Still the
+indefatigable Boufflers made another effort. Drawing a large body of
+infantry from the works on his extreme right, which had been little
+engaged, he marched them to the left, and reforming his squadrons
+again, advanced to the charge. But Marlborough no sooner saw this,
+than he charged the garde-du-corps with a body of English horse which
+he himself led on, and drove them back, while the infantry staggered
+and reeled like a sinking ship under the terrific fire of the allied
+guns, which had penetrated the centre. At the same time the Prince of
+Orange and the Prince of Hesse-Cassel, perceiving that the
+intrenchments before them were stript of great part of their
+defenders, renewed the attack; in ten minutes these works were
+carried; a tremendous shout, heard along the whole line, announced
+that the whole left of the position had fallen into the hands of the
+Allies.
+
+In these desperate circumstances, Boufflers and his brave troops did
+all that skill or courage could suggest to arrest the progress of the
+victors, and withdraw from the field without any additional losses.
+Forming his troops into three great masses, with the cavalry which had
+suffered least in rear, he slowly, and in perfect regularity,
+commenced his retreat. The Allies had suffered so much, and were so
+completely exhausted by the fatigue of this bloody and protracted
+battle, that they gave them very little molestation. Contenting
+themselves with pursuing as far as the heath of Malplaquet, and the
+level ground around Taisniere, they halted, and the men lay down to
+sleep. Meanwhile the French, in the best order, but in deep dejection,
+continued their retreat still in three columns; and after crossing the
+Hon in their rear, reunited below Quesnoy and Valenciennes, about
+twelve miles from the field of battle.[39]
+
+Such was the desperate battle of Malplaquet, the most bloody and
+obstinately contested which had yet occurred in the war, and in which
+it is hard to say to which of the gallant antagonists the palm of
+valour and heroism is to be given. The victory was unquestionably
+gained by the Allies, since they forced the enemy's position, drove
+them to a considerable distance from the field of battle, and hindered
+the siege of Mons, the object for which both parties fought, from
+being raised. The valour they displayed had extorted the admiration of
+their gallant and generous enemies.[40] On the other hand, these
+advantages had been purchased at an enormous sacrifice, and never
+since the commencement of the contest had the scales hung so even
+between the contending parties. The Allies lost, killed in the
+infantry alone, five thousand five hundred and forty-four; wounded and
+missing, twelve thousand seven hundred and six; in all eighteen
+thousand two hundred and fifty, of whom two hundred and eighty-six
+were officers killed, and seven hundred and sixty-two wounded.
+Including the casualties in the cavalry and artillery, their total
+loss was not less than twenty thousand men, or nearly a fifth of the
+number engaged. The French loss, though they were worsted in the
+fight, was less considerable; it did not exceed fourteen thousand
+men--an unusual circumstance with a beaten army, but easily accounted
+for, if the formidable nature of the intrenchments which the Allies
+had to storm in the first part of the action, is taken into
+consideration. In proportion to the numbers engaged, the loss to the
+victors was not, however, nearly so great as at Waterloo.[41] Few
+prisoners, not above five hundred, were made on the field; but the
+woods and intrenchments were filled with wounded French, whom
+Marlborough, with characteristic humanity, proposed to Villars to
+remove to the French headquarters, on condition of their being
+considered prisoners of war--an offer which that general thankfully
+accepted. A solemn thanksgiving was read in all the regiments of the
+army two days after the battle, after which the soldiers of both
+armies joined in removing the wounded French on two hundred waggons to
+the French camp. Thus, after the conclusion of one of the bloodiest
+fights recorded in modern history, the first acts of the victors were
+in raising the voice of thanksgiving, and doing deeds of mercy.[42]
+
+No sooner were these pious cares concluded, than the Allies resumed
+the investment of Mons: Marlborough, with the English and Dutch,
+having his headquarters at Belian, and Eugene, with the Germans, at
+Quaregnon. The Prince of Orange, with thirty battalions and as many
+squadrons, was intrusted with the blockade. Great efforts were
+immediately made to get the necessary siege equipage and stores up
+from Brussels; but the heavy rains of autumn set in with such
+severity, that it was not till the 25th September that the trenches
+could be opened. Boufflers, though at no great distance, did not
+venture to disturb the operations. On 9th October, a lodgement was
+effected in the covered way; on the 17th, the outworks were stormed;
+and on the 26th, the place surrendered with its garrison, still three
+thousand five hundred strong. By this important success, the conquest
+of Brabant was finished; the burden and expense of the war removed
+from the Dutch provinces; the barrier which they had so long sought
+after was rendered nearly complete; and the defences of France were so
+far laid bare, that by the reduction of Valenciennes and Quesnoy, in
+the next campaign, no fortified place would remain between the Allies
+and Paris. Having achieved this important success, the allied generals
+put their army into winter-quarters at Ghent, Bruges, Brussels, and on
+the Meuse; while fifty battalions of the French, with one hundred
+squadrons, were quartered, under the command of the Duke of Berwick,
+in the neighbourhood of Maubeuge, and the remainder of their great
+army in and around Valenciennes and Quesnoy.[43]
+
+During the progress of this short but brilliant campaign, Marlborough
+was more than ever annoyed and disheartened by the evident and
+increasing decline of his influence at home. Harley and Mrs Masham
+contrived to thwart him in every way in their power; and scarcely
+disguised their desire to make the situation of the Duke and Godolphin
+so uncomfortable, that out of spleen they might resign; in which case,
+the entire direction of affairs would have fallen into their
+hands.[44] Influenced by these new favourites, the Queen became cold
+and resentful to the Duchess of Marlborough, to whom she had formerly
+been so much attached; and the Duke, perceiving this, strongly advised
+her to abstain from any correspondence with her Majesty, as more
+likely to increase than diminish the estrangement so rapidly growing
+between them. The Duchess, however, was herself of too irritable a
+temper to follow this sage advice; reproaches, explanations, and
+renewed complaints ensued on both sides; and as usual in such cases,
+where excessive fondness has been succeeded by coldness, all attempts
+to repair the breach only had the effect of widening it. Numerous
+events at court, trifles in themselves, but "confirmation strong" to
+the jealous, served to show in what direction the wind was setting.
+The Duchess took the strong and injudicious step of intruding herself
+on the Queen, and asking what crime she had committed to produce so
+great an estrangement between them. This drew from her Majesty a
+letter, exculpating her from any fault, but ascribing their alienation
+to a discordance in political opinion, adding, "I do not think it a
+crime in any one not to be of my mind, or blamable, because you cannot
+see with my eyes, or hear with my ears." While this relieved
+Marlborough from the dread of a personal quarrel between the Duchess
+and Royalty, it only aggravated the precarious nature of his
+situation, by showing that the split was owing to the wider and more
+irremediable division on political subjects.[45]
+
+Encouraged by this powerful support at court, Harley now openly
+pursued his design of effecting the downfall of Marlborough, and his
+removal from office, and the command of the armies. The whole campaign
+which had terminated so gloriously, was criticised in the most unjust
+and malignant spirit. The siege of Tournay was useless and expensive;
+the battle of Malplaquet an unnecessary carnage. It was even
+insinuated the Duke had purposely exposed the officers to slaughter,
+that he might obtain a profit by the sale of their commissions. The
+preliminaries first agreed to at the Hague were too favourable to
+France; when Louis rejected them, the rupture of the negotiations
+rested with Marlborough. In a word, there was nothing done by the
+English general, successful or unsuccessful, pacific or warlike, which
+was not made the subject of loud condemnation, and unmeasured
+invective. Harley even corresponded with the disaffected party in
+Holland, in order to induce them to cut short the Duke's career of
+victory by clamouring for a general peace. Louis was represented as
+invincible, and rising stronger from every defeat: the prolongation of
+the war was entirely owing to the selfish interests and ambition of
+the allied chief. These and similar accusations, loudly re-echoed by
+all the Tories, and sedulously poured into the royal ear by Harley and
+Mrs Masham, made such an impression on the Queen, that she did not
+offer the smallest congratulation to the Duchess on the victory of
+Malplaquet, nor express the least satisfaction at the Duke's escape
+from the innumerable dangers which he had incurred.[46]
+
+An ill-timed and injudicious step of Marlborough at this juncture, one
+of the few which can be imputed to him in his whole public career,
+inflamed the jealousy of the Queen and the Tories at him. Perceiving
+the decline of his influence at court, and anticipating his dismissal
+from the command of the army at no distant period, he solicited from
+the Queen a patent constituting him Captain-general for life. In vain
+he was assured by the Lord Chancellor that such an appointment was
+wholly unprecedented in English history; he persisted in laying the
+petition before the Queen, by whom it was of course refused. Piqued at
+this disappointment, he wrote an acrimonious letter to her Majesty, in
+which he reproached her with the neglect of his public services, and
+bitterly complained of the neglect of the Duchess, and transfer of the
+royal favour to Mrs Masham. So deeply did Marlborough feel this
+disappointment, that on leaving the Hague to return to England, he
+said publicly to the deputies of the States--"I am grieved that I am
+obliged to return to England, where my services to your republic will
+be turned to my disgrace."[47]
+
+Marlborough was received in the most flattering manner by the people,
+on landing on 15th November, and he was greeted by the thanks of both
+Houses of Parliament for his great and glorious services. The Queen
+declared in her speech from the throne, that this campaign had been at
+least as glorious as any which had preceded it; and the Chancellor, in
+communicating the thanks of the House of Lords, added--"This high
+eulogium must be looked upon as added to, and standing upon the
+foundation already laid in the records of this House, for preserving
+your memory fresh to all future times; so that your Grace has also the
+satisfaction of seeing this everlasting monument of your glory rise
+every year much higher." Such was the impulse communicated to both
+Houses by the presence of the Duke, and the recollection of his
+glorious services, that liberal supplies for carrying on the war were
+granted by both Houses. The Commons voted L6,000,000 for the service
+of the ensuing year, and on the earnest representation of Marlborough,
+an addition was made to the military forces.
+
+But in the midst of all these flattering appearances, the hand of
+destruction was already impending over the British hero. It was mainly
+raised by the very greatness and inappreciable nature of his services.
+Envy, the invariable attendant on exalted merit, had already singled
+him out as her victim: jealousy, the prevailing weakness of little
+minds, had prepared his ruin. The Queen had become uneasy at the
+greatness of her subject. There had even been a talk of the Duke of
+Argyll arresting him in her name, when in command of the army. Anne
+lent a ready ear to the representations of her flatterers, and
+especially Mrs Masham, that she was enthralled by a single family;
+that Marlborough was the real sovereign of England, and that the
+crown was overshadowed by the field-marshal's baton. Godolphin,
+violently libelled in a sermon by Dr Sacheverell, at St Saviour's,
+Southwark, the Doctor was impeached before the House of Lords for the
+offence. The government of the Tower, usually bestowed on the
+recommendation of the commander-in-chief, was, to mortify Marlborough,
+bestowed without consulting him on Lord Rivers. At length matters came
+to such a pass, and the ascendency of Mrs Masham was so evident, while
+her influence was exercised in so undisguised a manner to humiliate
+him, that he prepared the draft of a letter of resignation of his
+commands to her Majesty, in which, after enumerating his services, and
+the abuse which Mrs Masham continued to heap on him and his relations,
+he concluded with saying--"I hope your Majesty will either dismiss her
+or myself."[48]
+
+Sunderland and several of the Whig leaders warmly approved of this
+vigorous step; but Godolphin, who foresaw the total ruin of the
+ministry and himself, in the resignation of the general, had influence
+enough to prevent its being sent. Instead of doing so, that nobleman
+had a long private audience with her Majesty on the subject; in which,
+notwithstanding the warmest professions on her part, and the strong
+sense she entertained of his great and lasting services, it was not
+difficult to perceive that a reserve as to future intentions was
+manifested, which indicated a loss of confidence. Marlborough declared
+he would be governed in the whole matter by the advice and opinion of
+his friends; but strongly expressed his own opinion, "that all must be
+undone if this poison continues about the Queen."[49] Such, however,
+was the agony of apprehension of Godolphin at the effects of the
+duke's resignation, that he persuaded him to adopt a middle course,
+the usual resource of second-rate men in critical circumstances, but
+generally the most hazardous that can be adopted. This plan was to
+write a warm remonstrance to the Queen, but without making Mrs
+Masham's removal a condition of his remaining in office. In this
+letter, after many invectives against Mrs Masham, and a full
+enumeration of his grievances, he concludes with these words--"This is
+only one of many mortifications that I have met with, and as I may not
+have many opportunities of writing to you, let me beg of your Majesty
+to reflect what your own people and the rest of the world must think,
+who have been witnesses of the love, zeal, and duty with which I have
+served you, when they shall see that, after all I have done, it has
+not been able to protect me against the malice of a bed-chamber
+woman.[50] But your Majesty may be assured that my zeal for you and my
+country is so great, that in my retirement I shall daily pray for your
+prosperity, and that those who serve you as faithfully as I have done,
+may never feel the hard return I have met with."
+
+These expressions, how just soever in themselves, and natural in one
+whose great services had been requited as Marlborough's had been, were
+not likely to make a favourable impression on the royal mind, and,
+accordingly, at a private audience which he had soon after of the
+Queen, he was received in the coldest manner.[51] He retired in
+consequence to Blenheim, determined to resign all his commands,
+unless Mrs Masham was removed from the royal presence. Matters seemed
+so near a rupture, that the Queen personally applied to several of the
+Tories, and even Jacobites, who had long kept aloof from court, to
+support her in opposition to the address expected from both Houses of
+Parliament on the duke's resignation. Godolphin and Somers, however,
+did their utmost to bend the firm general; and they so far succeeded
+in opposition to his better judgment, and the decided opinions of the
+Duchess, as to induce him to continue in office without requiring the
+removal of Mrs Masham from court. The Queen, delighted at this victory
+over so formidable an opponent, received him at his next audience in
+the most flattering manner, and with a degree of apparent regard which
+she had scarcely ever evinced to him in the days of his highest
+favour. But in the midst of these deceitful appearances his ruin was
+secretly resolved on; and in order to accelerate his departure from
+court, the Queen inserted in her reply to the address of the Commons
+at the close of the Session of Parliament, a statement of her
+resolution to send him immediately to Holland, as "I shall always
+esteem him the chief instrument of my glory, and of my people's
+happiness." He embarked accordingly, and landed at the Brill on March
+18th, in appearance possessing the same credit and authority as
+before, but in reality thwarted and opposed by a jealous and ambitious
+faction at home, which restrained his most important measures, and
+prevented him from effecting any thing in future on a level with his
+former glorious achievements.
+
+The year 1709 was signalized by the decisive victory of the Czar Peter
+over Charles XII. at Pultowa, who was totally routed and irretrievably
+ruined by the Muscovite forces, commanded by the Czar in person on
+that disastrous day. This overthrow was one of the most momentous
+which has occurred in modern times. Not only was a great and dreaded
+conqueror at once overturned, and erelong reduced to captivity; but a
+new balance of power was established in the north which has never
+since been shaken. Sweden was reduced to her natural rank as a
+third-rate power from which she had been only raised by the
+extraordinary valour and military talents of a series of warlike
+sovereigns, who had succeeded in rendering the Scandinavian warriors,
+like the Macedonians of old, a race of heroes. Russia, by the same
+event, acquired the entire ascendency over the other Baltic powers,
+and obtained that preponderance which she has ever since maintained in
+the affairs of Europe. Marlborough sympathised warmly with the
+misfortunes of the heroic sovereign, for whose genius and gallantry he
+had conceived the highest admiration. But he was too sagacious not to
+see that his disasters, like those of Napoleon afterwards in the same
+regions, were entirely the result of his own imprudence; and that if
+he had judiciously taken advantage of the terror of his name, and the
+success of his arms, in the outset of his invasion, he might have
+gained all the objects for which he contended without incurring any
+serious evil.[52]
+
+Peter the Great, who gained this astonishing and decisive success, was
+one of the most remarkable men who ever appeared on the theatre of
+public affairs. He was nothing by halves. For good or for evil he was
+gigantic. Vigour seems to have been the great characteristic of his
+mind; but it was often fearfully disfigured by passion, and not
+unfrequently misled by the example of more advanced states. To elevate
+Russia to an exalted place among nations, and give her the influence
+which her vast extent and physical resources seemed to render within
+her reach, was throughout life the great object of his ambition; and
+he succeeded in it to an extent which naturally acquired for him the
+unbounded admiration of mankind. His overthrow of the Strelitzes, long
+the Praetorian guards and terror of the czars of Muscovy, was effected
+with a vigour and stained by a cruelty similar to that with which
+Sultan Mahommed a century after destroyed the Janissaries at
+Constantinople. The sight of a young and despotic sovereign leaving
+the glittering toys and real enjoyments of royalty to labour in the
+dockyards of Saardem with his own hands, and instruct his subjects in
+shipbuilding by first teaching himself, was too striking and
+remarkable not to excite universal attention. And when the result of
+this was seen: when the Czar was found introducing among his subjects
+the military discipline, naval architecture, nautical skill, or any of
+the arts and warlike institutions of Europe, and in consequence long
+resisting and at length destroying the terrible conqueror who had so
+long been the terror of Northern Europe, the astonishment of men knew
+no bounds. He was at once the Solon and Scipio of modern times: and
+literary servility, vying with great and disinterested admiration,
+extolled him as one of the greatest heroes and benefactors of his
+species who had ever appeared among men.
+
+But time, the great dispeller of illusions, and whose mighty arm no
+individual greatness, how great soever, can long withstand, has begun
+to abate much from this colossal reputation. His temper was violent in
+the extreme; frequent acts of hideous cruelty, and occasional
+oppression, signalized his reign. More than any other man, he did evil
+that good may come of it. He compelled his people, as he thought, to
+civilisation, though, in seeking to cross the stream, hundreds of
+thousands perished in the waves. "Peter the Great," says Mackintosh,
+"did not civilize Russia: that undertaking was beyond his genius,
+great as it was; he only gave the Russians the art of civilized war."
+The truth was, he attempted what was altogether impracticable. No one
+man can at once civilize a nation: he can only put it in the way of
+civilisation. To complete the fabric must be the work of continued
+effort and sustained industry during many successive generations. That
+Peter failed in rendering his people on a level with the other nations
+of Europe in refinement and industry, is no reproach to him. It was
+impossible to do so in less than several centuries. The real
+particular in which he erred was, that he departed from the national
+spirit, that he tore up the national institutions, violated in
+numerous instances the strongest national feelings. He clothed his
+court and capital in European dress; but men do not put off old
+feelings with the costume of their fathers. Peter's civilisation
+extended no further than the surface. He succeeded in inducing an
+extraordinary degree of discipline in his army, and the appearance of
+considerable refinement among his courtiers. But it is easier to
+remodel an army than change a nation; and the celebrated _bon-mot_ of
+Diderot, that the Russians were "rotten before they were ripe," is but
+a happy expression, indicating how much easier it is to introduce the
+vices than the virtues of civilisation among an unlettered people. To
+this day the civilisation of Russia has never descended below the
+higher ranks; and the efforts of the real patriotic czars who have
+since wielded the Muscovite sceptre, Alexander and Nicholas, have been
+mainly directed to get out of the fictitious career into which Peter
+turned the people, and revive with the old institutions the true
+spirit and inherent aspirations of the nation. The immense success
+with which their efforts have been attended, and the gradual, though
+still slow descent of civilisation and improvement through the great
+body of the people, prove the wisdom of the principles on which they
+have proceeded. Possibly Russia is yet destined to afford another
+illustration of the truth of Montesquieu's maxim, that no nation ever
+yet rose to durable greatness but through institutions in harmony with
+its spirit. And in charity let us hope that the words of Peter on his
+death-bed have been realized: "I trust that, in respect of the good I
+have striven to do my people, God will pardon my sins."
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[6] Marlborough to Mr Secretary Boyle, 17th December 1708. _Disp._ iv.
+362.
+
+[7] _Disp._ iv. 315, 323, 345. Marlborough to Duke de Mole, 10th Dec.
+1708. _Ibid._ 346. COXE, iv. 278.
+
+[8] Marlborough to Mr Secretary Boyle, 3d January 1709, _Disp._ iv.
+389.
+
+[9] "'Can I do more than I do now?' said the King. 'I make treaties,
+but the Emperor breaks his word with me, as well as Holland, every
+moment. Besides it is impossible, without great inconvenience, _to
+give more than three battalions_; and he is a wretch who would advise
+me otherwise.' I said he was a wretch who should advise him not to do
+it. He replied, 'You speak very boldly, and may perhaps repent it, if
+your arguments are not conclusive.'"--General Grumbkow to Marlborough,
+March 9, 1709. COXE, iv. 341.
+
+[10] King of Prussia to Marlborough, March 9, 1709. COXE, iv. 346.
+
+[11] In communicating the thanks of the House of Lords, the Chancellor
+said,
+
+"I shall not be thought to exceed my present commission, if, being
+thus led to contemplate the mighty things which your Grace has done
+for us, I cannot but conclude with acknowledging, with all gratitude,
+the providence of God in raising you up to be an instrument of so much
+good, in so critical a juncture, when it was so much wanted." COXE,
+iv. 375.
+
+[12] COXE, iv. 352, 366, 377.
+
+[13] "M. de Torcy has offered so much, that I have no doubt it will
+end in a good peace." Marlborough to Godolphin, 19th May 1707.
+
+"Every thing goes on so well here, that there is no doubt of its
+ending in a good peace. Government have in readiness the sideboard of
+plate, and the chairs of state and canopy; and I beg it may be made so
+as to form part of a bed when I am done with it here, _which I hope
+may be by the end of this summer_, so that I may enjoy your dear
+society in quiet, which is the greatest satisfaction I am capable of
+having." Marlborough to the Duchess, 19th May 1709. COXE, iv. 393.
+
+[14] _Memoire, M. de Torcy_, ii. 104-111.
+
+[15] SWIFT'S _Conduct of the Allies_, 72; COXE, iv. 395-415.
+
+[16] "I have as much mistrust for the sincerity of France as any body
+living can have; but I will own to you, that in my opinion, if France
+had delivered the towns promised by the plenipotentiaries, and
+demolished Dunkirk and the other towns mentioned, they must have been
+at our discretion; so that if they had played tricks, so much the
+worse for themselves." Marlborough to Lord Godolphin, June 10, 1709.
+COXE, iv. 405.
+
+[17] COXE, iv. 401.
+
+[18] _Ibid._ v. i. 5.
+
+[19] _Mem. de Villars_, ii. 63. Marlborough to Godolphin, June 27,
+1709. COXE, iv. 5, 6.
+
+[20] Marlborough to Mr Secretary Boyle, 27th June 1709. _Disp._ iv.
+520. COXE, v. 7, 8.
+
+[21] Marlborough to Lord Galway, 4th July 1709; and to the Queen, 29th
+July 1709. _Disp._ iv. 530 and 556. COXE, v. 8, 13. Marlborough's
+private letters to the Duchess at this period, as indeed throughout
+all his campaigns, prove how he was tired of the war, and how ardently
+he sighed for repose at Blenheim. "The taking of the citadel of
+Tournay will, I fear, cost us more men and time than that of the town;
+but that which gives me the greatest prospect for the happiness of
+being with you, is, that certainly the misery of France increases,
+which must bring us a peace. The misery of the poor people we see is
+such, that one must be a brute not to pity them. May you be ever
+happy, and I enjoy some few years of quiet with you, is what I daily
+pray for." Marlborough to the Duchess, July 30, 1709. COXE, v. 12.
+
+[22] DUMONT'S _Military History_, ii. 104. COXE, v. 15, 16.
+
+[23] A very striking incident occurred in the siege, which shows to
+what a height the heroic spirit with which the troops were animated
+had risen. An officer commanding a detachment, was sent by Lord
+Albemarle to occupy a certain lunette which had been captured from the
+enemy; and though it was concealed from the men, the commander told
+the officer he had every reason to believe the post was undermined,
+and that the party would be blown up. Knowing this, he proceeded with
+perfect calmness to the place of his destination; and when provisions
+and wine were served out to the men, he desired them to fill their
+calashes, and said, "Here is a health to those who die the death of
+the brave." The mine in effect was immediately after sprung; but
+fortunately the explosion failed, and his comrades survived to relate
+their commander's noble conduct.
+
+[24] Marlborough to Mr Secretary Boyle, 31st August and 3d September
+1709. _Disp._ iv. 585, 588. COXE, v. 14, 18. DUMONT'S _Military
+History_, ii. 103.
+
+[25] Mackenzie's brigade, which joined Wellington's army after the
+battle of Talavera, marched sixty-two English miles in twenty-six
+hours. NAPIER, ii. 412.
+
+[26] COXE, v. 20, 25. Marlborough to Mr Secretary Boyle, 7th September
+1709. _Disp._ iv. 590.
+
+[27] A similar incident occurred in the British service, when Sir
+Henry, now Lord Hardinge, and Governor-general of India, served as
+second in command to Sir Hugh Gough, his senior in military rank, but
+subordinate in station, at the glorious battles of Ferozepore and
+Sobraon, with the Sikhs. How identical is the noble and heroic spirit
+in all ages and countries! It forms a freemasonry throughout the
+world.
+
+[28] COXE, v. 24, 25. _Disp._ iv. 588, 595.
+
+[29] Marlborough to Mr Secretary Boyle, 7th and 11th September 1709.
+_Disp._ iv. 591, 592. COXE, v. 25, 26.
+
+[30] _Mem. de Villars_, ii. 167, 184. COXE, v. 26, 28.
+
+[31] COXE, v. 29, 30. The author has passed over the ground, and can
+attest the accuracy of the description here given.
+
+[32] Viz. Artagnan, Marechal de Montesquieu; De Guiche, Marechal de
+Grammont; Puysegur, Montmorenci, Coigny, Broglio, Chaulnes, Nangis,
+Isenghien, Duras, Houdancourt, and Sanneterre. The monarchy never sent
+forth a nobler array.
+
+[33] COXE, v. 32. _Mem. de Villars_, ii, 280.
+
+[34] COXE, v. 34, 37; DUMONT'S _Military History_, ii. 381-7.
+
+[35] Marlborough's General Orders, Sept. 10, 1709.
+
+[36] COXE, v. 40, 44.
+
+[37] LEDIARD, _Life of Marlborough_, ii. 172, 180. COXE, v. 45, 47.
+
+[38] The regiments of Tullibardine and Hepburn were almost all Atholl
+Highlanders.
+
+[39] COXE, v. 54, 63; _Disp._ v. 592, Marlborough to Mr Secretary
+Boyle, Sept. 11, 1709, and to Mr Wauchope, same date, v. 598.
+
+[40] "The Eugenes and Marlboroughs ought to be well satisfied with us
+during that day; since till then they had not met with resistance
+worthy of them. They may now say with justice that nothing can stand
+before them; and indeed what shall be able to stay the rapid progress
+of these heroes, if an army of one hundred thousand men of the best
+troops, strongly posted between two woods, trebly entrenched, and
+performing their duty as well as any brave men could do, were not able
+to stop them one day? Will you not then own with me that they surpass
+all the heroes of former ages?"--_Letter of a French Officer who
+fought at Malplaquet_; COXE, v. 65.
+
+[41] At Waterloo, there were sixty-nine thousand six hundred and
+eighty-six men in Wellington's army, and the loss was twenty-two
+thousand four hundred and sixty-nine, or one in three nearly; at
+Malplaquet, it was one in five; at Talavera, one in four--five
+thousand being killed and wounded out of nineteen thousand eight
+hundred engaged.--SIBORNE'S _Waterloo_, ii. 352 and 519.
+
+[42] Marlborough to Marshal Villars, 13th September 1709, and to Mr
+Secretary Boyle, 16th September 1709; _Disp._ v. 596, 599.--COXE, v.
+64.
+
+[43] Marlborough to Mr Secretary Boyle, October 21, 1709. _Disp._ v.
+617, 621.
+
+[44] "Be assured that Mrs Masham and Mr Harley will, underhand, do
+every thing that can make the business uneasy, particularly to you the
+Lord Treasurer, and me, for they know well that if we were removed
+every thing would be in their power. This is what they labour for,
+believing it would make them both great and happy; but I am very well
+persuaded it would be their destruction." _Marlborough to Godolphin_,
+Nov. 1, 1709; COXE, v. 105.
+
+[45] COXE, v. 105, 111.
+
+[46] COXE, v. 115, 116.
+
+[47] SWIFT, _Mem. on Queen's Change of Ministry in 1710_, p. 37. COXE,
+v. 117-118.
+
+[48] COXE, v. 124, 133.
+
+[49] Duchess of Marlborough to Maynwaring, January 18, 1710. COXE, v.
+134
+
+[50] Marlborough to Queen Anne, January 19, 1710.
+
+[51] "On Wednesday sennight I waited upon the Queen, in order to
+represent the mischief of such recommendations in the army, and before
+I came away I expressed all the concern for her change to me, that is
+natural to a man that has served her so faithfully for many years,
+which made no impression, nor was her Majesty pleased to take so much
+notice of me as to ask my Lord Treasurer where I was upon her missing
+me at Council. I have had several letters from him since I came here,
+and I cannot find that her Majesty has ever thought me worth naming;
+when my Lord Treasurer once endeavoured to show her the mischief that
+would happen, she made him no answer but a bow." Marlborough to Lord
+Somers, January 21, 1710.
+
+[52] "If this unfortunate king had been so well advised as to have
+made peace the beginning of this summer, he might in a great measure
+have influenced the peace between France and the Allies, and made
+other kingdoms happy. I am extremely touched with the misfortunes of
+this young king. His continued successes, and the contempt he had of
+his enemies, have been his ruin." Marlborough to Godolphin, August 26,
+1709. _Disp._ v. 510.
+
+
+
+
+THE AMERICANS AND THE ABORIGINES.
+
+A TALE OF THE SHORT WAR.
+
+
+PART THE LAST.
+
+
+It may be present to the memory of some of our readers, that when the
+British troops, under Sir Edward Pakenham, menaced New Orleans, the
+constitution of Louisiana was temporarily and arbitrarily suspended by
+General Jackson, commanding the American forces in the south, with a
+view to greater unity in the defensive operations. This suspension
+excited great indignation amongst the Louisianians, who viewed it as a
+direct attack upon their liberties, unjustified by circumstances.
+Meetings were called, and the general's conduct was made the subject
+of vehement censure. When the news of the peace between England and
+the United States, concluded in Europe before the fight of New Orleans
+took place, arrived, judicial proceedings were instituted against
+Jackson; he was found guilty of a violation of the Habeas Corpus act,
+and condemned to a fine of two thousand dollars. This fine the
+Louisianian Creoles were anxious to pay for him; but he preferred
+paying it himself, and did so with a good grace, thereby augmenting
+the popularity he had acquired by his victories over the Creek
+Indians, and by the still more important repulse of Pakenham's
+ill-planned and worse-fated expedition. In the book which forms the
+subject of the present article, this historical incident has been
+introduced, rather, however, to illustrate American character and
+feelings, than in connexion with the main plot of the tale. Captain
+Percy, a young officer of regulars, brings the announcement of the
+suspension of the Louisianian constitution to a town on the
+Mississippi, then the headquarters of the militia, who, at the moment
+of his arrival, are assembled on parade. The general commanding reads
+the despatch with grave dissatisfaction, and communicates its contents
+to his officers. The news has already got wind through some passengers
+by the steam-boat which brought the despatch-bearer, and discontent is
+rife amongst the militia. The parade is dismissed, the troops
+disperse, and the officers are about to return to their quarters, when
+they are detained by the following incident:--
+
+From the opposite shore of the river, two boats had some time
+previously pushed off; one of them seeming at first uncertain what
+direction to take. It had turned first up, then down stream, but had
+at last pulled obliquely across the river towards the bayou or creek,
+on the shore of which the little town was situated. It was manned by
+sailors, judging from their shirts of blue and red flannel; but there
+were also other persons on board, differently dressed, one of whom
+reconnoitred the shore of the bayou with a telescope. It was the
+strange appearance of these persons that now attracted the attention
+of the officers. They were about twelve in number; some of them had
+their heads bound up, others had their arms in slings; several had
+great plasters upon their faces. They were of foreign aspect, and,
+judging from the style of their brown, yellow, and black
+physiognomies, of no very respectable class. As if wishing to escape
+observation, they sat with their backs to the bayou. At a word from
+General Billow, an officer stepped down to meet them.
+
+The boat was close to shore, but as soon as the suspicious-looking
+strangers perceived the approach of the militia officer, it was turned
+into the creek and shot rapidly up it. Suddenly it was brought to
+land; one of the better dressed of the men stepped out and approached
+the captain of regulars, who just then came out of the guard-house.
+With a military salute he handed him a paper, saluted again, and
+returned to his companions in the boat. After a short time the whole
+party ascended the bank of the bayou, and walked off in the direction
+of the town. The captain looked alternately at the men and at the
+paper, and then approached the group of officers.
+
+"What do those people want?" inquired General Billow.
+
+The officer handed him the paper.
+
+"Read it yourself, general. I can hardly believe my eyes. A passport
+for Armand, Marceau, Bernardin, Cordon, &c., planters from
+Nacogdoches, delivered by the Mexican authorities, and countersigned
+by the general-in-chief.
+
+"Have you inquired their destination?"
+
+Captain Percy shrugged his shoulders. "New Orleans. Any thing further,
+the man tells me, is known to the general-in-chief. A most suspicious
+rabble, and who seem quite at home here."
+
+"Ah, Mister Billow and Barrow, how goes it? Glad to see you. You look
+magnificent in your scarfs and plumes."
+
+This boisterous greeting, uttered in a rough, good-humoured voice,
+proceeded from our friend Squire Copeland, who had just landed from
+the second boat with his companions and horses, and having given the
+latter to a negro to hold, now stepped into the circle of officers,
+his broad-brimmed quaker-looking hat decorated with the magnificent
+bunch of feathers, for which his daughters had laid the tenants of the
+poultry-yard under such severe contribution.
+
+"Gentlemen," said he, half seriously and half laughing, "you see Major
+Copeland before you. To-morrow my battalion will be here."
+
+"You are welcome, major," said the general and other officers, with a
+gravity that seemed intended as a slight check on the loquacity of
+their new brother in arms.
+
+"And these men," continued the major, who either did not or would not
+understand the hint, "you might perhaps take for my aides-de-camp.
+This one, Dick Gloom, is our county constable; and as to the other,"
+he pointed to the Englishman, "I myself hardly know what to call him."
+
+"I will help you then," interrupted Hodges, impatient at this singular
+introduction. "I am an Englishman, midshipman of his Majesty's frigate
+Thunderer, from which I have, by mishap, been separated. I demand a
+prompt investigation of the fact, and report to your headquarters."
+
+The general glanced slightly at the overhasty speaker, and then at the
+written examination which the squire handed to him.
+
+"This is your department, Captain Percy," said he; "be pleased to do
+the needful."
+
+The officer looked over the paper, and called an orderly.
+
+"Let this young man be kept in strict confinement. A sentinel with
+loaded musket before his door, and no one to have access to him."
+
+"I really do not know which is the most suspicious," said the general;
+"this spy, as he is called, or the queer customers who have just
+walked away."
+
+Squire Copeland had heard with some discontent the quick decided
+orders given by the captain of regulars.
+
+"All that might be spared," said he. "He's as nice a lad as ever I
+saw. I was sitting yesterday at breakfast, when a parcel of my
+fellows, who are half horse, half alligator, and a trifle beyond, came
+tumbling into the house as if they would have pulled it down. Didn't
+know what it meant, till Joe Drum and Sam Shad brought the younker
+before me, and wanted to make him out a spy. I had half a mind to
+treat the thing as nonsense; but as we sat at table he let out
+something about Tokeah; and when the women spoke of Rosa--you know who
+I mean, Colonel Parker; Rosa, whom I've so often told you of--he got
+as red as any turkey-cock. Thinks I to myself, 'tisn't all right;
+better take him with you. You know Tokeah, the Indian, who gave us so
+much trouble some fifteen years ago?"
+
+"Tokeah, the chief of the Oconees?"
+
+"The same," continued the squire. "I chanced to mention his name, and
+the lad blurted out, 'Tokeah! Do you know him?' and when Mistress
+Copeland spoke of Rosa"----
+
+"But, my dear major, this circumstance is very important, and I see no
+mention of it in your report," said the general reprovingly.
+
+"I daresay not," replied the loquacious justice of peace; "he'd hardly
+be such a fool as to put that down. I had my head and hands so full
+that I asked him just to draw up an account of the matter himself."
+
+The officers looked at each other.
+
+"Upon my word, squire," said the general, "you take the duties of your
+office pretty easily. Who ever heard of setting a spy to take down his
+own examination, and a foreigner too? How could you so expose yourself
+and us?"
+
+The squire scratched himself behind the ear. "Damn it, you're right!"
+said he.
+
+During this dialogue, the officers had approached one of the five
+taverns, composing nearly a third part of the infant town, towards
+which the ill-looking strangers had betaken themselves. The latter
+seemed very anxious to reach the house first, but owing to the
+tardiness of some of their party, who walked with difficulty, they
+were presently overtaken by the prisoner and his escort. When the
+foremost of them caught a sight of the Englishman's face, he started
+and hastily turned away. Hodges sprang on one side, stared him full in
+the face, and was on the point of rushing upon him, when one of his
+guards roughly seized his arm and pointed forwards.
+
+"Stop!" cried the midshipman, "I know that man."
+
+"Maybe," replied the orderly dryly, "Forward!"
+
+"Let me go!" exclaimed Hodges, "It is the pirate."
+
+"Pirate?" repeated the soldier, who had again laid hold of his
+prisoner. "If you cut any more such capers, I'll take you to prison in
+a way that your bones will remember for a week to come. This young man
+says," added he to the officers, who just then came up, "that yonder
+fellow is a pirate."
+
+"Obey your orders," was the sole reply of the general; and again the
+orderly pushed his prisoner onwards.
+
+"And you?" said the militia general, turning to the foreigners--"Who
+may you be?"
+
+One of the strangers, half of whose face was bound up with a black
+silk bandage, whilst of the other half, which was covered with a large
+plaster, only a grey eye was visible, now stepped forward, and bowed
+with an air of easy confidence.
+
+"I believe I have the honour to address officers of militia, preparing
+for the approaching conflict. If, as I hope, you go down stream
+to-morrow, we shall have the pleasure of accompanying you."
+
+"Very kind," replied the general.
+
+"Not bashful," added the squire.
+
+"We also are come," continued the stranger in the same free and easy
+tone, "to lay our humble offering upon the altar of the land of
+liberty, the happy asylum of the persecuted and oppressed. Who would
+not risk his best blood for the greatest of earth's blessings?"
+
+"You are very liberal with your best blood," replied the general
+dryly. "How is it that, being already wounded, you come so far to seek
+fresh wounds in a foreign service?"
+
+"Our wounds were received from a party of Osages who attacked us on
+the road, and paid dearly for their temerity. We are not quite
+strangers here; we have for many years had connexions in New Orleans,
+and some of the produce of our plantations will follow us in a few
+days."
+
+"And this gentleman," said Colonel Parker, who, after staring for some
+time at one of the adventurers, now seized him by the collar, and in
+spite of his struggles dragged him forward: "does he also come to make
+an offering upon liberty's altar?"
+
+With a blow of his hand he knocked off the man's cap, and with it a
+bandage covering part of his face.
+
+"By jingo! dat our Pompey, what run from Massa John in New Orlean,"
+tittered the colonel's black servant, who stood a little on one side
+with the horses.
+
+"Pompey not know massa. Pompey free Mexican. Noding to massa,"
+screamed the runaway slave.
+
+"You'll soon learn to know me," said the colonel. "Orderly, take this
+man to jail, and clap irons on his neck and ankles."
+
+"You will remain here," said the general in a tone of command to the
+spokesman of the party, who had looked on with an appearance of
+perfect indifference during the detection and arrest of his black
+confederate.
+
+"It will be at your peril if you detain us," was the reply. "We are
+ordered to repair to headquarters as speedily as possible."
+
+"The surgeon will examine you, and if you are really wounded, you
+will be at liberty to fix your temporary abode in the town. If not,
+the prison will be your lodging."
+
+"Sir!" said the man with an assumption of haughtiness.
+
+"Say no more about it," replied the general coldly--"the
+commander-in-chief shall be informed of your arrival, and you will
+wait his orders here."
+
+The stranger stepped forward, as if he would have expostulated, but
+the general turned his back upon him, and walked away. A party of
+militia now took charge of the gang, and conducted them to the
+guard-house.
+
+This scarred and ill-looking crew are Lafitte and the remnant of his
+band, come, according to a private understanding with General Jackson,
+to serve the American artillery against the British, (an historical
+fact.) Their bandages and plasters being found to cover real wounds,
+they are allowed to quarter themselves at the _estaminet_ of the Garde
+Imperiale, kept by a Spaniard called Benito, once a member of
+Lafitte's band, but now settled in Louisiana, married, and,
+comparatively speaking, an honest man. Benito is greatly alarmed at
+the sight of his former captain and comrades, and still more so when
+they insist upon his aiding them that very night to rescue Pompey the
+negro, lest he should betray their real character to the militia
+officers. Lafitte promises to have the runaway slave conveyed across
+the Mississippi; but as this would require the absence, for at least
+three hours, of several of the pirates, who, although at liberty, are
+kept under a species of surveillance, the real intention is to make
+away with the unfortunate Pompey as soon as the boat is at a certain
+distance from land. The negro is confined in a large building used as
+a cotton store, built of boards, and in a dilapidated condition; the
+militia on guard leave their post to listen to the proceedings of a
+meeting then holding for the discussion of General Jackson's
+unconstitutional conduct, and, profiting by their absence, Benito and
+four of the pirates, Mexican Spaniards, contrive the escape of a
+prisoner whom they believe to be Pompey. In the darkness they mistake
+their man, and bring away Hodges, who is confined in the same
+building. This occurs at midnight. The meeting, which absorbs the
+attention of the militia, is not yet over, when the four pirates,
+Benito, and the rescued prisoner, arrive at the junction of the creek
+and the Mississippi, and, unmooring a boat, prepare to embark.
+
+At this moment a second boat became visible, gliding gently down the
+bayou towards the stream.
+
+"_Que diablo!_" muttered the Mexicans. "What is that?"
+
+The boat drew near; a man was in it.
+
+"Who is that?" whispered the pirates, and then one of them sprang
+suddenly into the strange skiff, whence the clanking of chains was
+heard to proceed. The Mexican stared the unwelcome witness hard in the
+face.
+
+"Ah, massa Miguel!" cried the new-comer with a grin: "Pompey not stop
+in jail. Pompey not love the ninetail."
+
+"The devil!" exclaimed the Mexican--"it is Pompey. Who is the other
+then? We are seven instead of six. What does all this mean?"
+
+"Santiago!" cried the pirates: "Who is he?" they whispered,
+surrounding the seventh, and, as it seemed, superfluous member of
+their society.
+
+"No Spanish. Speak English," was the reply.
+
+"Santa Virgen! How came you here?"
+
+"You ought to know, since you brought me."
+
+The men stepped back, and whispered to each other in Spanish. "Come,
+then!" said one of them at last.
+
+"Not a step till I know who you are, and where you go."
+
+"Fool! Who we are matters little to you, and where we go, as little.
+Any place is better for you than this. Stop here and I would not give
+a real for your neck."
+
+"Leave him! Leave him!" muttered the others.
+
+"Be off, and back again quickly," whispered the tavern-keeper, "or you
+are all lost."
+
+"Stop!" cried the Englishman. "I will go with you."
+
+The negro had already jumped into the Mexicans' boat, and, with the
+heedlessness of his race, had left his own adrift.
+
+"Ingles!" said one of the pirates, "sit you here." And he showed him
+his place in the bow of the boat next to a young Mexican. "And Pompey
+in the middle, and now let's be off."
+
+"Stop!" cried Hodges. "Had we not better divide ourselves between the
+two boats?"
+
+"Ah, massa never rowed across the Sippi," tittered the lazy negro.
+"Massa not get over in six hours, and come to land at Point Coupe."
+
+"Hush, Pompey," muttered his neighbour, and the boat, impelled by six
+pair of hands, darted swiftly out into the stream.
+
+"Ah, Massa Manuel, let Pompey file off him chains," grumbled the
+black. "Pompey been in upper jail--been cunning," laughed he to
+himself; "took file and helped himself out. Massa Parker stare when he
+see Pompey gone."
+
+"Hold your tongue, doctor," commanded a voice from the hinder part of
+the boat, "and let your chains be till you get across."
+
+The negro shook his head discontentedly. "Massa Felipe wouldn't like
+to be in the collars," said he; but nevertheless he put away his file,
+and whilst with one hand he managed the oar, with the other he held
+the chain connecting the ankle irons with the collar, and which had
+been filed in too close to the latter. This collar consisted of a ring
+two inches broad, and as thick as a man's finger, encircling the neck,
+and from which three long hooks rose up over the crown of the head.
+With a sort of childish wonder he weighed the chain in his hand,
+staring at it the while, and then let it fall into the bottom of the
+boat, which now advanced towards the middle of the stream.
+
+"Poor Lolli!" said the negro after a short silence--"she be sad not to
+see Pompey. She live in St John's, behind the cathedral."
+
+"Pompey!" cried the Mexican who sat forward on the same bench with
+Hodges, "your cursed chain is rubbing the skin off my ankles."
+
+"Sit still, Pompey," said the negro's neighbour. "I'll take it out of
+the way."
+
+"Ah! massa hurt poor Pompey," cried the black to his next man, who had
+wound the chain round his feet, and now gave it so sudden a pull that
+the negro let go his oar and fell back in the boat. The young
+Englishman became suddenly attentive to what passed.
+
+"What are you about?" cried he; "what are you doing to the poor
+negro?"
+
+"Gor-a-mighty's sake, massa, not joke so with poor Pompey," groaned
+the negro. "Massa strangle poor nigger."
+
+"It's nothing at all, Pompey; think of your fat Lolli behind the
+cathedral, and don't forget the way to Nacogdoches," said the man on
+the sternmost bench, who had taken the chain from his comrade, passed
+it through the neck-iron, and, violently pulling it, drew the unhappy
+negro up into a heap.
+
+"Massa, Massa, Ma----!" gasped the negro, whose breath was leaving
+him.
+
+The whole had been the work of a moment, and the stifled groans and
+sobs of the agonized slave were nearly drowned by the rush of the
+waters and splash of the oar-strokes.
+
+"The devil!" cried the Englishman, "what is all this?"
+
+At that moment the board on which he sat was lifted, his fellow-rower
+threw himself against him with all his force, and nearly succeeded in
+precipitating him into the stream. Hodges staggered, but managed to
+regain his balance, and turning quickly upon his treacherous
+neighbour, dealt him a blow with his fist that knocked him overboard.
+
+"_Buen viage a los infiernos!_" cried the other Mexicans with a burst
+of hellish laughter, hearing the splash, but misapprehending its
+cause.
+
+"Go to hell yourself!" shouted the Englishman, grasping his oar, and
+dealing the man in front of him a blow that stretched him by the side
+of the negro.
+
+"Santa Virgen! who is that?" cried the two sternmost pirates.
+
+"The Englishman!" exclaimed one of them, pressing forwards towards
+Hodges, but stumbling over the men at the bottom of the boat, which
+now rocked violently from the furious struggle going on within it.
+
+"Ma---- Ma----!" groaned the negro again, now seemingly in the death
+agony--His eyes stood out from their sockets, and glittered like
+stars in the darkness; his tongue hung from his mouth, swollen and
+convulsed.
+
+"By the living God! if you don't unfasten the negro, I'll knock you
+all into the river."
+
+"_Maldito Ingles! Picaro gojo!_"
+
+"Let him go! Let him go! Holy Virgin!" yelled the three Mexicans, as
+one of them who had approached the Englishman was knocked bellowing
+into his place by a furious blow of the oar. "It's the devil himself!"
+cried the pirates, and one of them pushed the negro towards Hodges.
+
+"Stand back!" cried the midshipman, "and take off his neck-iron. If
+you strangle him, you are all dead men."
+
+One of the Mexicans laid hold of the negro, who was coiled up like a
+ball, and drew the chain out of the collar. The poor slave's limbs
+fell back, dead and powerless as pieces of wood. A gasping, rattling
+noise in his throat alone denoted that life was still in him.
+
+"Stand back!" repeated Hodges, stooping down, and endeavouring, by
+vigorous friction with a blanket, to restore the negro to
+consciousness. During this life-and-death struggle, the boat, left at
+the mercy of the waters, had been borne swiftly away by the stream,
+and was now floating amongst a number of the enormous trees which the
+Mississippi carries down by thousands to the sea. The Mexicans resumed
+their places, and with their utmost strength began to pull up-stream.
+Not far from the frail skiff, beneath the mantle of fog covering the
+river, a huge tree-trunk was seen coming directly towards the
+boat--Hodges had barely time to bid the Mexicans be careful, when it
+shot by them. As it did so, a strange, unnatural cry saluted their
+ears, and straining his eyes through the darkness, the young
+Englishman saw a head and a hand appearing above one of the limbs of
+the forest giant.
+
+"_Misericordia!_" cried the voice--"_Socorro! Por Dios!_"
+
+It was the Mexican whom Hodges had knocked into the water, and who, by
+means of the tree, had saved himself from drowning.
+
+"Turn the boat!" cried Hodges, "your countryman is still alive."
+
+"_Es verdad!_" exclaimed the desperadoes, and the boat was
+turned--Meanwhile the negro had come gradually to himself, and now
+crouched down at the feet of his deliverer. He peered over the gunwale
+at the half-drowned Mexican.
+
+"Gor-a-mighty, Massa!" cried he, seizing the Englishman's oar--"dat
+Miguel--trike him dead, Massa; Miguel very bad mans."
+
+"Keep still, Pompey!" answered Hodges, pulling with might and main to
+the assistance of the Mexican. The boat shot alongside the floating
+tree, and the half-drowned wretch had just sufficient strength left to
+extend his hand, which the Englishman grasped.
+
+"Take care, Massa! the pirates will kill us both," cried the negro.
+
+At that moment the boat received a violent shock, a wave dashed over
+it, and threw the Mexican on the gunwale, across which he lay more
+dead than alive.
+
+"Lay hold of him!" said Hodges to the negro.
+
+"Ah, Pompey not such dam' fool--Pompey lub Massa too much. The others
+don't row. Look, Massa, they only wait to kill Massa."
+
+"Hark ye!" cried Hodges to the Mexicans, at the same time giving the
+nearest to him a blow with his oar--"the first who leaves off
+rowing--you understand me?"
+
+The boat rocked on the huge sheet of water, in the midst of the
+floating trees, menaced each moment with destruction from the latter,
+or with being swallowed up by the troubled and impetuous stream; the
+Mexicans cowered upon their benches--thirst of blood, and rage,
+suppressed only by fear, gleaming in their black, rolling eyes and
+ferocious countenances. The negro now twisted the boat rope round the
+body of the rescued man, who, still groaning and imploring mercy, was
+dragged on board.
+
+"Ah, Massa! Miguel good swimmer; bath not hurt him, Massa," mumbled
+the restless black: "Massa not forget to take his oar with him out of
+the boat."
+
+"And Pompey not forget to handle his own a little more diligently,"
+was the reply of Hodges.
+
+For a time the negro obeyed the injunction, and then looked at the
+young Englishman, who appeared to listen attentively to some distant
+sound.
+
+"Massa never fear, militiaman sleep well--only Sippi's noise. Pompey
+know the road, Massa Parker not catch him."
+
+A quarter of an hour passed away, and the strength of the rowers began
+to diminish under their continued and laborious efforts.
+
+"Massa soon see land--out of the current already," cried the negro.
+
+Another quarter of an hour elapsed, and they reached the shore; Hodges
+jumped out of the boat, and was followed by the negro, still loaded
+with his fetters. The Mexicans sprang after them.
+
+"Stop by your boat!" cried Hodges in a threatening tone. Instead of an
+answer, a knife, thrown by a sure and practised hand, struck him on
+the breast. The deerskin vest with which Canondah had equipped him,
+proved his protection. The weapon stuck in it, and remained hanging
+there.
+
+"Vile assassins!" cried Hodges, who now broke off the flat part of his
+oar, and grasping the other half, was about to rush upon the bandits,
+when the negro threw his arms round him.
+
+"Massa not be a fool! pirates have more knives, and be glad if he go
+near them. Kill him then easy."
+
+"You are right, Pompey," said Hodges, half laughing, half angry, at
+the negro, who was showing his white teeth in an agony of fear and
+anxiety. "The dogs are not worth the killing."
+
+For a moment the three assassins stood undecided; then yelling out a
+"Buen viage a los infiernos," got into their boat and speedily
+disappeared in the fog and darkness.
+
+Hodges is pursued and recaptured, but Tokeah and Rosa, who, with their
+companions, are brought in by a party of militia, and the latter of
+whom is joyfully recognised and welcomed by the worthy Squire
+Copeland, clear him of the charge of spying, and he remains a prisoner
+of war. The troops take their departure for New Orleans, and the
+Indians are detained at the town, whence, however, Tokeah and El Sol
+depart in the night-time, and continue their journey. The old chief
+accomplishes his object, disinters his father's bones, and returns to
+fetch Rosa, and proceed with her to his new home in the country of the
+Comanches. Meanwhile the action of New Orleans has been fought, and he
+finds, to his grief and astonishment, that Lafitte, whose life he had
+spared in the expectation of his meeting punishment at the hands of
+the Americans, has actually been fighting in their ranks, and has
+received, as a reward for his services, a free pardon, coupled,
+however, with an injunction to quit the territory of the United
+States. Through an advertisement in an old newspaper, traces have been
+discovered of Rosa's father, who, as the reader is given to
+understand, is a Mexican of high rank. She had been stolen by a tribe
+of Indians with whom Tokeah was at war, and from whose hands he
+rescued her. Tokeah has an interview with General Jackson, who
+cautions him against the further indulgence of his inveterate
+hostility to the Americans, and permits him to depart. Rosa now goes
+to take leave of the old chief, who is as yet unaware that she is not
+to accompany him.
+
+When Rosa, Squire Copeland, and Hodges entered the estaminet of the
+Garde Imperiale, they found the two chiefs and their followers seated
+in their usual manner upon the floor of the room, which had no other
+occupants. El Sol rose at their entrance, and, advancing a few steps,
+took Rosa's hand and conducted her to a chair. She did not sit down,
+but ran to the Miko and affectionately embraced him. The old chief
+gazed at her with a cold and inquiring look.
+
+"Miko," said the squire, "Miss Rosa has come to take leave of you, and
+to thank you for the kindness you have shown her. You yourself shall
+fix the sum that will compensate you for your expenses on her
+account."
+
+"Tokeah," replied the Indian, misunderstanding Major Copeland's words,
+and taking a leather bag from his wampum belt, "will willingly pay
+what the white chief claims for food and drink given to the White
+Rose."
+
+"You are mistaken," replied the squire; "payment is due to you.
+Strictly speaking, the amount should be fixed by a jury, but you have
+only to ask, and any reasonable sum shall be paid at once."
+
+"The white chief," said the Indian, "may take whatever he pleases."
+
+"I tell you it is I, and not you, who have to pay," returned the
+squire.
+
+"Has my daughter bid farewell to her foster-father?" said the Indian
+to Rosa, who had listened to this dialogue with some uneasiness. "Rosa
+must leave the wigwam of the white men; the Miko's path is a long one,
+and his spirit is weary of the palefaces."
+
+"And must the Miko go?" said Rosa. "Oh! father of my Canondah! remain
+here; the white men will love thee as a brother."
+
+The Indian looked at her with astonishment.
+
+"What means the White Rose?" said he,--"the palefaces love Tokeah? Has
+the White Rose----?" He paused, and surveyed her gloomily and
+suspiciously. "Tokeah," continued he, at last, "is very weary of the
+white men; he will be gone."
+
+"Miko," said Rosa, timidly--for it was evident that the chief was
+still in error as to the motive of her visit--"Rosa has come to beg
+you to remain a while with the white men; but if you must go, she
+will"----
+
+"The Miko is the father of his people," interrupted Tokeah; "they call
+him; he must go, and the Rose of the Oconees shall also be the Rose of
+the Comanches, the squaw of a great chief."
+
+The young girl blushed, and stepped back.
+
+"Miko," said she, "you are the beloved father of my dear Canondah; you
+saved my life and maintained me, and I thank you heartily; but, Miko,
+I cannot, I must not, do as you wish. I no longer belong to you, but
+to my father, my long-lost father."
+
+"Rosa speaks truth--she belongs to her father," said the Miko, not yet
+undeceived; "my daughter's feet are weak, but she shall sit in a canoe
+till she reaches the wigwams of the Pawnees, and they have many
+horses."
+
+"By G--!" cried the squire, "here is a mistake; the Indian thinks to
+take Rosa with him. My dear boy," continued he to Hodges, "run as
+quick as you can to Colonel Parker, and bring a party of men. Bayonets
+are the only things these savages respect. Rosa, say no more to him,
+he is getting wild."
+
+A change had taken place in the Indian, although it was one which only
+a keen observer could detect. He began to have an inkling that Rosa
+was to be taken from him, and his gloomy inanimate physiognomy
+betrayed a restless agitation, which alarmed the major.
+
+"The White Rose," resumed Tokeah, after a while, "is a dutiful
+daughter. She will cook her father's venison."
+
+"That would I willingly do for the father of my Canondah," said the
+young girl; "but a higher duty calls me. Father of my Canondah! Rosa
+has come to take leave of thee."
+
+The Indian listened attentively.
+
+"Miko," continued the maiden, "the father who gave me life, is found.
+Rosa must hasten to him who for fourteen years has wept and sought
+her."
+
+"Tokeah gave Rosa her life; he saved her from the tomahawk of
+Milimach; he paid with skins for the milk she drank."
+
+"But Rosa has another father who is nearer to her, whom the Great
+Spirit bestowed upon her; to him must she go. I _must_ leave you,
+Miko," said she, with increased firmness of manner.
+
+Upon the countenance of the Indian all the bad passions of his nature
+were legible. The scales had at last fallen from his eyes; but even
+now his cold and terrible calmness did not desert him, although the
+violence of the storm raging within showed itself in the play of his
+features and the variation of his complexion.
+
+"Miko," said the squire, who foresaw an approaching outburst of
+fury--"Miko, you heard the words of the great warrior of the
+palefaces?"
+
+The Indian took no notice of the caution; his whole frame was agitated
+by a feverish trembling; his hand sought his scalping-knife; and he
+cast so terrible a look at Rosa, that the horrorstruck squire sprang
+to her side. To Major Copeland's astonishment, the young girl had
+regained all her courage, and there was even a certain dignity in her
+manner.
+
+"Miko," said she, extending her arms, "I must leave you."
+
+"What says my daughter?" demanded the Indian--who even yet seemed
+unable to believe his ears--his voice assuming so shrill and unnatural
+a tone, that the tavern-keeper and his wife rushed terrified into the
+room. "Tokeah is not her father? she will not follow the Miko?"
+
+"She cannot," answered Rosa firmly.
+
+"And Rosa," continued the Indian, in the same piercing accents, "will
+leave the Miko; will let him wander alone on his far and weary path?"
+
+The words were scarcely uttered, when, by a sudden and unexpected
+movement, Tokeah sprang to his feet, caught Rosa in his arms, and with
+a like rapidity retreating to the side door of the room, came in such
+violent contact with it, that its glass panes were shivered into a
+thousand pieces.
+
+"And does the white snake think," he exclaimed, with flashing eyes,
+"that the Miko is a fool?" He held the maiden in his left arm, whilst
+his right raised the glittering scalping-knife. "Does the white snake
+think," continued the raging Indian, with a shrill laugh of scorn,
+whilst the foam gathered round his mouth, "that the Miko fed and
+cherished her, and gave skins for her, that she might return to the
+white men, the venomous palefaces, whom he spits upon?" And he spat
+with loathing upon the ground.
+
+"By the God who made you, hold! Hurt the child, and you are a dead
+man!" cried the squire, who seized a stool and endeavoured to force
+his way to Rosa, but was repulsed by the Comanches and Oconees.
+
+"Therefore did the white snake accompany me!" yelled Tokeah. "Does my
+son know," cried he to El Sol, "that the White Rose has betrayed her
+father--betrayed him for the palefaces? Will the white snake follow
+her father?" screamed the frantic savage.
+
+"I cannot," was the reply. "The voice of my white father calls me."
+
+An expression of intense hatred came over the features of the Indian,
+as he gazed at the beautiful creature who lay half-fainting on his
+arm.
+
+"Tokeah will leave the White Rose with her friends," said he, with a
+low deadly laugh, drawing back his hand and aiming the knife at her
+bosom.
+
+"Gracious God! he is killing her!" cried the major, breaking furiously
+through the opposing Indians. But at this critical moment the young
+Comanche was beforehand with him. With a bound he interposed himself
+between the chief's armed hand and intended victim, tore Rosa from the
+grasp of Tokeah, and hurled him back against the door with such force
+that it flew into fragments.
+
+"Tokeah is indeed a wild cat!" cried he with indignant disgust. "He
+forgets that he is a chief amongst his people, and brings shame upon
+the name of the Red men. El Sol is ashamed of such a father."
+
+These words, spoken in the Pawnee dialect, had an indescribable effect
+upon the old savage. He had partly raised himself after his fall, but
+now again sank down as if lifeless. Just then several file of militia
+entered the room with bayonets fixed.
+
+"Shall we take the Indian to prison?" said Lieutenant Parker.
+
+The major stood speechless, both his arms clasped round Rosa.
+
+"Lieutenant Parker," said he, "support Rosa for a moment: the Almighty
+himself has protected her, and it beseems not us to take vengeance."
+He approached the old Indian, who still lay upon the floor, lifted him
+up, and placed him against the wall. "Tokeah," he said, "according to
+our laws your life is forfeited, and the halter the least you deserve;
+nevertheless, begone, and that instantly. You will find your
+punishment without receiving it at our hands."
+
+"He was my father, my unhappy father!" exclaimed Rosa, and tottering
+to the Indian, she threw her arms around him. "Father of my Canondah,"
+cried she, "Rosa would never leave you, but the voice of her own
+father calls. Forgive her who has been a daughter to you!"
+
+The Indian remained mute. She gazed at him for a while with tearful
+eyes; then turned to El Sol, and bowing her head modestly and
+respectfully, took leave of him, and left the house with her
+companions.
+
+The young chief of the Comanches remained as in a dream, till the
+major, with Rosa and the militia, were already far from the estaminet.
+Suddenly he came bounding after them, and placing himself before Rosa,
+took her hands, pressed them to his breast, and bowed his head so
+mournfully, that the witnesses of the scene stood silent, sympathizing
+with his evident affliction.
+
+"El Sol," whispered he, in a scarcely audible tone, "has seen Rosa: he
+will never forget her."
+
+And without raising his eyes to her face, he turned away.
+
+"As I live," exclaimed the squire, with some emotion, "the noble
+savage weeps!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+An hour subsequently to this scene, the party of Indians left the
+bayou in a canoe, and ascended the Mississippi. Upon reaching the
+mouth of the Red River, they turned into it, and continued their route
+up-stream. On the tenth day from that of their departure, they found
+themselves upon the elevated plain where the western district of
+Arkansas and Louisiana joins the Mexican territory. To their front
+were the snowy summits of the Ozark range, beyond which are immense
+steppes extending towards the Rocky Mountains. The sun sank behind the
+snow-capped peaks, as the Indians landed at the western extremity of
+the long table-rock, which there stretches like a wall along the left
+bank of the Red River. Leaving their canoe, they approached a hill, or
+rather a mass of rock, that rises not far from the shore in the barren
+salt steppe, and in whose side exists a cave or grotto, resembling, by
+its regularity of form, an artificial archway. Here, upon the
+imaginary boundary line separating the hunting grounds of the Pawnees
+of the Toyask tribe from those of the Cousas and Osages, they took up
+their quarters for the night. El Sol ordered a fire to be made; for
+Tokeah, who had just left the warm climate of Louisiana, shivered with
+cold. Their frugal meal dispatched, the Miko and his Oconees stretched
+themselves upon the ground and slept. El Sol still listened to a
+legend related by one of the Comanches, when he was startled by a
+distant noise. In an instant the three warriors were upon their feet,
+their heads stretched out in the direction of the breeze which had
+conveyed the sound to their ears.
+
+"The dogs!" murmured the young Comanche; "they bay after a foe in
+whose power it once was to crush them."
+
+The Oconees were roused from their slumber, and the party hurried to
+the place where they had left the canoe. The Miko and his warriors got
+in and descended the stream; whilst El Sol and the two Comanches crept
+noiselessly along the water's edge in the same direction. After
+proceeding for about half a mile, the canoe stopped, and the young
+chief and his followers entered it, previously breaking the bushes
+growing upon the shore, so as to leave unmistakable marks of their
+passage. They continued their progress down the river to the end of
+the table-rock, and then, leaving the old man in the boat, El Sol and
+the four warriors again landed, and glided away in the direction of
+their recently abandoned bivouac. In its vicinity were stationed a
+troop of twenty horses. Of the Indians to whom these belonged, ten
+remained mounted, whilst the remainder searched the cave, and followed
+the trail left by its late occupants. Crouching and crawling upon the
+ground, the better to distinguish the footmarks dimly visible in the
+moonlight, it might almost have been doubted whether their dark forms
+were those of men, or of some strange amphibious animals who had
+stolen out of the depths of the river for a midnight prowl upon the
+shore.
+
+His ear against the rock, and motionless as a statue, El Sol observed
+each movement of the foe. Suddenly, when the Indians who followed the
+trail were at some distance from the cave, he made a sign to his
+companions, and, with a noiseless swiftness that defied detection, the
+five warriors approached the horses. A slight undulation of the plain
+was all that now separated them from their enemy. El Sol listened,
+gazed upwards at the moon's silver disk, just then emerging from
+behind a snow-charged cloud, raised himself upon his knee, and taking
+a long and steady aim, nodded to his warriors. The next instant five
+savages, pierced by as many bullets, fell from their horses to the
+ground; a terrible yell shattered the stillness of the night; and with
+lightning swiftness El Sol sprang upon the terrified survivors, who,
+answering his war-whoop by cries of terror, fled in confusion from the
+place. It needed all the surprising rapidity and dexterity of the
+young chief and his followers to secure six of the half-wild horses,
+whose bridles, so swift and well-calculated had been the movements of
+the Comanches, might be said to fall from the hands of their slain
+riders into those of the assailants. The remaining steeds reared in
+extreme terror, and then, with neigh and snort, dashed madly across
+the wide waste of the steppe.
+
+Springing upon the backs of the captured animals, the Comanches
+galloped to the shore. Scarcely had they entered the canoe, astern of
+which the horses were made to swim, when the bullets and arrows of the
+pursuing foe whistled around them.
+
+"Will my son promise the Miko to be a good father to the Oconees?"
+said the old chief in a hollow voice, as they pulled out of range of
+the fire.
+
+"A father and a brother," answered the Comanche. "But why does my
+father ask? He will dwell long and happily with his children."
+
+"Will El Sol swear it by the Great Spirit?" repeated the old man,
+earnestly, but in a fainter voice.
+
+"He will," replied the young chief.
+
+"Will he swear to bury Tokeah and his father's bones in the grave of
+the warriors of the Comanches?"
+
+"He will," said El Sol.
+
+"So shall the white men not scoff at his ashes nor at those of his
+father," groaned the Miko. "But it is the will of the Great Spirit
+that Tokeah should not see the hunting-grounds of the Comanches; he is
+doomed to die in the land of the palefaces."
+
+A rattling in his throat interrupted the old man; he murmured a few
+broken words in the ears of his Oconees, who broke out into a wild
+howl of lamentation. Still clasping to his breast the coffin
+containing his father's bones, he sank back in the boat in the agonies
+of death. El Sol raised him in his arms, but life had already fled. A
+bullet had struck him between the shoulders, and inflicted a mortal
+wound. In silent grief the young chief threw himself upon the corpse,
+and long after the boat had reached the opposite shore, he lay there,
+unmindful of all but his sorrow. Roused at length by the whispers of
+his companions, to a sense of the danger of longer delay, he laid the
+body across a horse, and himself mounting the same animal, took the
+road to the village of the Pawnees. There, upon the following day, to
+the wild and mournful music of the death-song, the little party made
+its sorrowful entrance.
+
+At this point the narrative ceases. We turn the page, expecting at
+least another chapter, or some notice of Rosa's restoration to her
+father, and subsequent marriage with Hodges, which the previous
+portion of the novel certainly led us to anticipate. But our author,
+with his usual eccentric disregard of the established routine of
+romance writers, contents himself with a postscript, consisting of an
+advertisement extracted from the Opelousas county paper, and dated
+March 1816, announcing the marriage of the amiable and accomplished
+Miss Mary Copeland, daughter of the Honourable John Copeland, of James
+county, to Mr James Hodges, formerly of H.B.M. Navy, and now of
+Hodges' Seat in the same state. The reader is left to complete the
+denouement for himself, if he so pleases, and to conjecture that
+Rosa's father, a Mexican grandee, takes back his daughter to her
+native country, and that the incipient attachment between her and the
+young Englishman is mutually forgotten.
+
+We here finally conclude our extracts from the already published work
+of our German American friend--extracts comprising, as we believe, the
+cream of the twenty volumes, or thereabouts, which he has given to the
+world. The incognito behind which this clever and original writer has
+so long shrouded himself, is at length abandoned; and to a new edition
+of his works, now in course of publication, stands prefixed the name
+of Charles Sealsfield.
+
+
+
+
+THE DEATH OF ZUMALACARREGUI.
+
+BY COLONEL LORD HOWDEN, K.ST.F., K.C.S.
+
+
+     "Ac sane, quod difficilimum, et praelio strenuus erat et bonus
+     in consilio; quorum alterum ex providentia timorem, alterum
+     ex audacia temeritatem, adferre plerumque solet. In Jugurtha
+     tantus dolus, tantaque peritia locorum et militiae erat, ut
+     absens aut praesens perniciosior esset in incerto
+     haberetur."--SALLUST.
+
+
+The siege of Bilbao was undertaken against the will, and strongly
+expressed counsel of Zumalacarregui. He was not only aware of the risk
+of the enterprise, with the insufficient means at his disposal for
+attempting it, but he had other plans. His plans, however, were
+undervalued, and his counsels were slighted, at the court of the
+Pretender. The little empty politicians there, were dazzled by the
+idea of possessing an important town, not deeming it their business to
+calculate the means by which it was to be obtained; the incompetent
+military advisers who directed from afar, thought that this bold
+attempt, proceeding from them, would contrast in bright relief with
+the hitherto wary and waiting policy of the commander-in-chief; and
+the wish, not an unnatural one, of the wandering prince, to find
+himself for once in comfortable quarters, was not the least among the
+motives which decided the operation. Though at this moment the
+Christino army was in a state of great discouragement from a long
+series of advantages that had been gained by the Carlists, the funds
+of the latter were entirely exhausted; and the idea of a forced loan
+upon the rich inhabitants of Bilbao was too seducing to be coldly
+examined by those little acquainted with the real difficulties of the
+war. Zumalacarregui wished to attack Victoria, and, profiting by the
+prestige of his late successes, to throw himself on the fertile and
+virgin ground of the Castiles. This was doubtlessly the right course,
+but the project was overruled.
+
+Independently of what thus gave rise to these ambitious aspirations,
+there was a personal feeling which had long been busy, either in
+attempting new and unexpected combinations on the part of the
+Camarilla, or in mutilating or rendering ineffectual those that had
+been imagined by Zumalacarregui. There was no passion, bold or mean,
+no jealousy, no intrigues, vegetating ever so rankly or rifely in the
+oldest and largest court of Europe, which did not flourish in that of
+Don Carlos.
+
+There was not a Christino general more disliked by the hangers-on of
+Don Carlos than Zumalacarregui. They feared him, they respected him,
+but they hated him.
+
+When the Pretender first made his appearance in Navarre,
+Zumalacarregui was in his favourite retreat of the Amescuas. He was
+far from insensible to the advantage which the presence of the chief
+actor in the drama might produce, if his personal bearing should be
+such as to create an enthusiasm for his cause, and if those who
+accompanied him should bring each his personal contingent of
+enlightened advice and honest activity. But with all these hopes,
+Zumalacarregui was not without his fears; his sagacity foresaw what
+his experience soon confirmed, that the royal chief was worse than a
+nullity, and that the royal suite were actively in the way. Lord Bacon
+says, "it is the solecism of princes to think to command the end, and
+yet not to endure the means." Dr Carlos was always commanding the end,
+while his general was left to find the means as best he could. A large
+portion of his small army was absorbed in protecting the prince, and
+could rarely be counted on in a combined movement; and the
+non-combatants, under every denomination of title and rank, drew more
+rations for their consumption than would have sufficed for the support
+of a large body of soldiers.
+
+Zumalacarregui, personally, was never very enthusiastic in the cause.
+It is true that his feelings had always had a tendency to absolutism,
+or rather he entertained the conviction that a strong government was
+necessary to the happiness of Spain, and that the greater the unity of
+that government, the greater was its chance of stability, and its
+power of favourable action; but when he left Pamplona to put himself
+at the head of the insurgent Navarrese, he was influenced far more by
+pique against the existing state of things, than by enthusiasm for
+the new one which he sought to establish. He had been treated both
+brutally and unjustly by Quesada, at that time inspector of infantry;
+and, with his active spirit, a condemnation to inactivity was the
+severest sentence that could be passed upon him. Rest to his unquiet
+bosom was a hell from which he was determined to emerge; and,
+confident in his powers, he seized the first opportunity which enabled
+him to bring them into action.
+
+The meeting between Zumalacarregui and the prince was respectful, but
+not warm; the first was unaccustomed to have any feelings, the second
+was unaccustomed to conceal those he had. The new importation had
+brought no new ideas, no plans, no accession of science; above all,
+_no money_; at least no more than was to be applied to its own wants.
+Don Carlos was evidently under the constraint that a strong mind
+imposes on a weak one. He saw that the servant was the master, as much
+in commanding intellect as in actual power. They were both
+uncomfortable; Zumalacarregui neither flattered the prince, nor his
+chances of success; he laid before him his difficulties, almost
+insuperable in his own opinion--for let it be known as a fact, _that
+he always in his heart despaired of the ultimate upshot of the war_.
+In conversational phrase, he had made himself thoroughly disagreeable;
+for he had spoken calmly, coldly, truly--and the hopes of an immediate
+march to Madrid had been rudely shaken. Zumalacarregui left the
+prince's headquarters with a discouragement and a contempt which he
+was at no pains to conceal. From that moment he was an object, often
+of admiration, but never of affection; and it was evident that the
+effort to esteem him was too painful to ensure a continuance of
+confidence.
+
+Among those who consider Zumalacarregui solely as the able chief of a
+devoted army, putting aside all the circumstances of political
+partisanship, there can be little difference of opinion, if that
+opinion be fairly formed and honestly given. By those who remark upon
+the comparatively small number of his troops, and the relatively
+confined scale of his operations, and who therefore refuse him the
+name of a great general, it must be remembered, that if this principle
+of applying reputation be pushed further in its expression--if
+military praise and appreciation are to be awarded strictly according
+to the size of the theatre and the magnitude of the numbers, and not
+according to the spirit which moves over the one, and directs the
+others--by such geometrical logic, our own great hero would be deemed
+immeasurably inferior to the French emperor.
+
+Zumalacarregui possessed great courage, but he made no show of it. It
+would have been more brilliant if he had had more vanity; and the
+exposure of his person was always subservient to some object of
+utility. He had a comprehensive view of military movements, but he
+never forgot the peculiar nature of his warfare; and he never
+ambitiously allowed himself to be carried away by plans or manoeuvres
+beyond the exigencies of his position. As an administrator in forming
+reserves, in procuring supplies, in discovering resources, in bringing
+raw battalions to a state of rough efficiency in the shortest possible
+time, he was unrivalled; yet his mind was not cramped by detail, and
+when he descended to minute matters, it was because they were really
+important. He was severe and inflexible, even taciturn and morose; yet
+he was extremely loved by his troops. At the time that he was
+commander-in-chief, commissary-general and treasurer, and that all the
+sums of money, raised or sent, passed through his hands without a
+check or a receipt, there never was a breath raised against the purity
+of his moral character. These certainly are the elements out of which
+great generals are made; and it is not irrational to think that, under
+other circumstances, the same man, this Navarrese Guerrillero, far
+superior as such to the brave but improvident Mina, or the active but
+dull Jauregui, might have expanded into a European hero, and have left
+a less perishable name.
+
+When the siege of Bilbao was decided on, Zumalacarregui threw his
+objections to the winds, and set about it with his constitutional
+ardour. He arrived before it with fourteen battalions, and a miserable
+battering-train, composed of two twelve-pounders, one six-pounder, two
+brass four-pounders, two howitzers and a mortar, and with a great
+penury of corresponding ammunition. The town was garrisoned by a force
+of four thousand men, well armed, without counting the national guard,
+and was protected by forty pieces of artillery, mostly of large
+calibre, mounted on different forts thrown up in favourable positions.
+But what was of chief advantage to the besieged, and what almost
+rendered success hopeless, was the free communication from without
+kept up by French and English vessels of war stationed in the Nervion,
+a river that runs alongside the town, and joins the sea at some seven
+or eight miles' distance.
+
+Zumalacarregui fixed his headquarters at a spot called Puente Nuevo,
+in a small straggling village, just at this side of the town of
+Bilbao, and under one of its most fashionable and frequented walks.
+Eraso had begun the investiture of the place a few days previously,
+and both these chiefs lodged in a small inn named the Three Sisters.
+Puente Nuevo was completely commanded by an eminence called the Morro,
+just outside the gates of Bilbao; but the garrison, either from
+motives of prudence or others, gave the Carlists no inconvenience from
+that point.
+
+At a short distance to the right of the Durango road, and on a height
+immediately over the town of Bilbao, is a church, called Our Lady of
+Begona; and not far from it is a house, which, from its comparative
+size and solidity, and from its commanding view of the country around,
+goes by the name of the Palace. On the second day of the siege, two
+serious misfortunes befell the besiegers: eighty of the best muskets
+they possessed were piled in the portico of the church of Begona, and
+were all entirely destroyed by a grenade that took them horizontally,
+killing the two sentinels that were mounting guard over them. The same
+evening the two largest of the guns, already half-worn out, burst from
+continued firing, just as something like an impression appeared on the
+spot it was proposed to breach.
+
+Don Carlos, during this time, was at Durango, a distance of five or
+six hours. Zumalacarregui, seeing the hopelessness of the operation,
+and, above all, the discouragement of the men, sent an express to the
+prince to say, "that he would be obliged infallibly to raise the siege
+and retire, unless some means were immediately taken to raise the
+drooping spirits of his army; that they were without clothes, without
+food, and almost without ammunition; that it was absolutely necessary
+that a sum of money should be procured and sent to him, which would
+enable him to pay the troops a part of what was due to them; and that
+then, as the means of prolonging a siege was out of the question, he
+would endeavour to carry out his majesty's wishes, and try to take the
+place by assault."
+
+Cruz-Mayor, the lead of the Camarilla, loved to humiliate
+Zumalacarregui, and no answer was returned to this letter; but
+Zumalacarregui was not idle, nor did he allow inaction to dispirit
+still more the minds of his men. He even attempted an assault, which
+failed, with the loss of all those who were ordered on this service.
+Unfortunately for the attacking column, lots were drawn for the troops
+that were to compose it; and they fell upon a regiment of Navarrese,
+entirely ignorant of the localities, who, getting confused in
+cross-paths and lanes at the foot of the walls, were cut off to a man.
+It was thought that the result of this attack might have been
+otherwise had it been undertaken by the Biscayan companies, who knew
+every inch of the ground. The hour, too, was ill judged, for it was at
+the beginning of nightfall, when it was just dark enough to embarrass
+those who were attempting the assault, without being sufficiently so
+to induce the inhabitants and national guards to retire from the
+walls.
+
+On the 15th June 1835, Zumalacarregui proceeded to the palace of
+Begona, not far from the church of the same name, as the best spot for
+observing the repairs made, and the additional means of defence raised
+by the enemy during the night. He passed through the middle room on
+the first story, and, throwing open the window, went out on the iron
+balcony overlooking the town. The balls were flying so thick and fast
+that he desired all those who accompanied him to remain within; but,
+notwithstanding their supplications, he himself remained leaning on
+the railing of the balcony, his knees nearly touching the ground. The
+telescope which he used, showing the marksmen in the enemy's works
+that he was probably a personage of importance, occasioned a general
+discharge from the nearest battery. It was now exactly eight o'clock
+in the morning, and a ball from this discharge struck Zumalacarregui
+in the upper and anterior part of the right leg, on the inner side,
+about two inches below the knee. From the position in which he was
+struck, the ball took a downwards direction, and, as no part of the
+intricate machinery of the knee was injured, there was every reason to
+suppose that no serious consequences could ensue.
+
+Either from the extreme pain of the wound, or the shock given to the
+nervous system, Zumalacarregui fainted. His secretary, Zaratiegui, and
+the rest of his staff, picked him up in a state of insensibility, and
+placed him on a chair. The surgeon, Grediaga, a man of considerable
+acquirements, who was then practising in the sacristy of the church of
+Begona, which had been converted into an hospital, was immediately
+sent for, as well as a young English surgeon of the name of Burgess,
+belonging to a small body of cavalry called the "Holy Squadron," or
+the "Squadron of Legitimacy."
+
+This young man, a person of great respectability, and well informed in
+his profession, has been since as grossly as ridiculously accused of
+having been bought by the English government to hasten the end of
+Zumalacarregui, if ever his services enabled him to do so; and it is
+still said, and believed by many, that the death of the general was
+owing to poison put into the bandages with which Mr Burgess first
+dressed the wound. In a country like Spain, where there is much
+ignorance and deep prejudice, it does not suffice to laugh to scorn
+accusations of any sort: it is better to meet them seriously, and
+disprove them by a fact. _Mr Burgess never dressed Zumalacarregui's
+leg at all._ He spoke no Spanish, and while he was endeavouring to
+make himself understood and to learn what had happened, Grediaga
+arrived and put on the first application.
+
+On being asked whither he should be carried, Zumalacarregui
+immediately said to Cegama, a town three days' journey off, situated
+in a solitary neighbourhood, and entirely unprovided with any thing
+like comfort, medicines, or professional assistance. The surprise of
+all was manifest, but the general was too accustomed to be obeyed not
+to be so in this instance. He was placed upon an old sofa from which
+the legs were sawed, and which was carried by eight guides of Navarre,
+with twenty-four others as a reserve. Neither he nor the chief of his
+staff and secretary, Zaratiegui, had a single peseta in their pockets,
+and he received from Mendigana, the paymaster-general, twenty ounces
+of gold, as a part of the pay that was due to him.
+
+The reason which induced Zumalacarregui to go to Cegama, was indeed a
+strange one, and a fatal one. It was one he never expressed, but which
+prompted this revelation from the very instant that he received his
+wound. There lived in this district a quack of the very lowest
+capacity, of the name of Petriquillo--a man entirely unimbued with the
+slightest tincture of medical science, but whose chance cures of
+gunshot wounds during the time of the Army of the Faith in 1822, had
+astonished and taken possession of the mind of Zumalacarregui. He even
+refused to allow the ball to be extracted at a moment when the
+operation presented no danger, and his only anxiety was to put himself
+into the hands of this ignorant adventurer.
+
+When the party arrived at Durango, Don Carlos sent word that he would
+next morning pay a visit to his wounded chief; the frame of mind of
+the latter may be collected from an exclamation he made on the road,
+heard by all, and commented on by many--"Truly this is a happy day for
+the court of the king!"
+
+As announced, Don Carlos came, and the following remarkable
+conversation took place:--"Well, Thomas, how could'st thou do so
+foolish a thing as to get wounded?" (The Spanish royal family always
+use the second person singular.) "Sir, I exposed myself, because it
+was my duty to do so--besides, I have lived long enough, _and I am
+firmly convinced that we shall all have to die in your majesty's
+service_." "Well, but where do'st thou intend going?" "To Cegama,
+sir." "No, don't go there, it is a long way off: stay here, I'll have
+thee taken care of." "Sir, I have said I would go to Cegama, and to
+Cegama will I go: your majesty knows me well enough to be convinced
+that what I say, I do." "Oh yes! Thomas, that is certain--well, go
+with God, and take care of thyself."
+
+After this interview, Zumalacarregui instantly set off, as if it was a
+relief to him to get out of the atmosphere of the court. Between
+Durango and Bergara he was met by the quack Petriquillo and the cura
+Zabala. Besides the above-mentioned Grediaga, Don Carlos had desired
+two other nominal physicians, Gelos and Voloqui, to accompany the
+general; but these two men were, in fact, as ignorant, and as rash,
+and as opinionated as Petriquillo himself. Petriquillo took off the
+dressing from the wound; he made two men rub the patient for four
+hours from the hip to the ankle, with an unctuous substance known only
+to himself. He then put on a bandage dipped in some medicament of his
+own composition. Zumalacarregui suffered extremely during the night.
+
+Next morning a violent fever manifested itself. Mr Burgess, frightened
+at this treatment, returned to Bilbao, and Zumalacarregui continued
+his journey, arriving at Cegama on the evening of the 17th.
+
+The surgeon Grediaga still continued, not his services, but his
+useless advice. As the fever increased, he recommended quiet, diet,
+and blood-letting. Petriquillo objected to venesection or leeches; he
+administered food in large quantities, to support the general's
+strength, and kept the room full of company to keep up the general's
+spirits.
+
+Five days passed in this way with this treatment, or rather absence of
+treatment, only diversified by various attempts to extract the ball,
+though the leg, by the progress of the fever, and the continued
+application of the knife and probe, was swollen to twice its size, and
+was in a state of the highest exacerbation.
+
+In the middle of the night of the 23d, a great idea struck Gelos and
+Petriquillo, the former was sleeping in the same room with Grediaga,
+and, fearful lest the latter should prevent its accomplishment, rose
+stealthily at one o'clock in the morning, proceeded with Petriquillo
+to the room of the general, and they there together _did_ extract the
+ball.
+
+At daylight, the joy in the house was extreme; the ball was passed
+through the hands of every inhabitant in Cegama, and was then
+dispatched in a box to Don Carlos. Petriquillo and Gelos announced,
+that in fifteen days the general would be at the head of his army
+before Bilbao.
+
+At six o'clock, Zumalacarregui began to complain of insupportable
+thirst, and of pains all through the body; shortly afterwards, general
+shiverings came on, with convulsions at times. During an interval
+between these, he received the last consolations of religion; for
+though far from being a bigot, or even a devotee, Zumalacarregui
+respected, and practised reverentially, the religion of his country.
+At eleven o'clock in the morning of the 24th of June 1835, he expired.
+
+On examining the body, it was found that two cuts had been made
+completely through the calf of the leg in order to get at the ball:
+Their length was about three inches, and their depth was as great as
+it could be; for they reached the bone. The whole of the integuments
+had been divided by Petriquillo, and the sheets of the bed were one
+mass of blood.
+
+About three hours before the general's death, Petriquillo, unseen,
+went into the stable, saddled his mule, and departed.
+
+As the dead chief never possessed the uniform of a general, his body
+was laid out in borrowed garments belonging to the attorney of the
+place. It was dressed in a black coat and black pantaloons, with a
+white waistcoat, and over the shoulder was put the riband of the fifth
+class of St Ferdinand, without the star, for he never had one.
+Zumalacarregui had troubled himself little about external decorations;
+and his ordinary dress, a black sheep-skin jacket, red overalls, and a
+flat scarlet boyna, or cap of the country, which he thought
+sufficiently good for his body when living, was deemed unworthy of him
+when he became dust. It was an apt type of what had preceded, and what
+was to follow: the rude neglected warrior during life--the Duke, the
+_King's friend_, the grandee of Spain after death.
+
+One word about the cruelty of Zumalacarregui. He _was_ cruel, and what
+is about to be said is a reason, but it is not put forth as either an
+excuse or a justification. His cruelty proceeded from no innate or
+idiosyncratic ferocity. In a less cruel atmosphere he would have
+breathed a milder spirit. There is an indifference to life in all
+Spaniards, which, on one side, prompts great deeds, and, on the other,
+readily ripens into inhumanity. They care little about their own
+lives, and speedily learn to care still less about the lives of
+others. In this melancholy warfare there was cruelty on all sides;
+and, from the execution of Santos Ladron, there followed a series of
+bloody atonements, each producing each, which strewed the highways
+with as many bodies as had fallen in the field.
+
+Though the temptation of straying into any thing like a biography has
+been studiously avoided, there is one anecdote so curious, and not
+only so explanatory of what has just been said, but so illustrative of
+the character of both the man and the country, that it will hardly be
+deemed out of place.
+
+A young grandee of Spain, the Count of Via-Manuel, had been taken
+prisoner. Zumalacarregui was anxious to save his life, though the
+circumstance of his rank seemed to make his death the more certain, as
+being a fitter expiation for many executions which had lately taken
+place on the Christino side. Zumalacarregui addressed a letter to
+Rodil, the commander-in-chief of that army, saying that he was anxious
+to exchange his prisoner for a subaltern officer, and some soldiers
+that had been lately seized sick in a farm-house, and that he awaited
+the answer. The distance between the armies was short, and, some hours
+after, Via-Manuel requested permission to see the general and learn
+his fate. Zumalacarregui received him in the room when he was just
+going to dinner, and, in that oriental style so interwoven in the
+whole web of Spanish customs, offered him a part of the repast that
+was before him. In ordinary times, this is but a courteous form, and
+it is rarely accepted; but Via-Manuel, thinking perhaps of the Arab's
+salt in this Moorish compliment, accepted the invitation, and sat down
+at the table. They eat, and at the end of dinner an orderly entered
+and gave a letter to the general. It was from Rodil, and contained
+only these words--"The rebels were shot this morning." Zumalacarregui,
+without saying a word, handed the paper to Via-Manuel, rose from
+table, and went out of the room. The unfortunate count was that night
+placed, according to custom, in the chapel of the village, and was
+shot next morning.
+
+This happened in Lecumberri, which was entered shortly afterwards by
+the troops of the Queen. On leaving it the following day, two Carlist
+officers were pinioned and shot through the back, on the very spot
+where Via-Manuel fell. Such was the frightful mode of reciprocal
+expiation carried on on both sides; but the writer of this notice has,
+at least, among those painful recollections, the consolation of
+reflecting, that in this, as in other instances more fortunate, he did
+all in his power to save the victims.
+
+This little sketch has swelled beyond its intended bulk, but when
+those who love Spain have passed the Pyrenees, it is difficult not to
+linger there, even on paper. Amid dangers and difficulties, and even
+the horrors of civil war, Spain has an attraction which it would be as
+difficult to explain to those who do not feel it, as to describe the
+sound of a trumpet to a deaf man. To those who have passed their early
+years there, Spain is like the shining decoration in a play, which
+still continues haunting the slumbers of the child that has seen one
+for the first time.
+
+After the death of Zumalacarregui, Don Carlos took command of the
+army, with Moreno for chief of his staff, but the latter exercised all
+real authority. The Pretender was utterly deficient of every thing
+like military talent, and from the day of Zumalacarregui's death, his
+cause was not only hopeless, but felt to be so by the queen's party,
+who shortly regained the large portion of occupied territory which
+they had recently lost.
+
+Zumalacarregui, from the 1st May 1835 to the 11th of June of that
+year, had made upwards of three thousand soldiers and a hundred
+officers prisoners. He left for all inheritance to his wife and
+daughters something less than forty pounds and four horses.
+
+
+
+
+NEW SCOTTISH PLAYS AND POEMS.[53]
+
+
+We suspect that in this railway age poetry is at a greater discount
+than ever. The reason is obvious. Not only the public, who are the
+readers, but even the poets themselves, have been largely infected by
+the current mania of speculation. Had the possession of capital been
+requisite for a participation in any of the thousand defunct schemes
+which have caused so unprecedented an emigration to the breezy shores
+of Boulogne, our poetical friends might have claimed for their
+vocation the credit of a rare morality. But unfortunately, the
+national gaming-table was open to men of every class. Peer and
+peasant, count and costermonger, millionaire and bankrupt, were alike
+entitled to figure as allottees, or even as committee-men, for the
+simple subscription of their signatures; and amidst the rush and
+squeeze of the crowd, who thronged towards the portal of Plutus, we
+were less surprised than pained to observe some of the most venerated
+votaries of Apollo. We shall not affect to disguise the purpose for
+which we were there ourselves. But much may be permitted to the
+prosaic writer which is forbidden to the canonized bard. Ours is a pen
+of all work--equally ready to concoct a prospectus, or to expose a
+literary charlatan. We are intensely fond of lucre, and expect, some
+day or another, to be in possession of the moiety of a plum. We have
+therefore no vain scruples regarding the sanctity of our calling, but
+carry our genius like a hooded falcon upon our wrist, ready to let it
+fly at any manner of game which may arise. We, however, deny in
+absolute terms the right of a poet to any such general license. He has
+no business whatever to trespass one foot beyond the limits his own
+domain. He ought to be thoroughly ignorant of the existence of bulls
+and bears, stags and ducks, and the rest of the zoology of the
+Exchange. Consols should be to him a mystery more impenetrable than
+the Sibylline verses, and the state of the stocks as unaccountable as
+the policy of Sir Robert Peel. The mischief, however, is done, and we
+fear it is irremediable. The example of the Poet-Laureate may indeed
+serve as a kind of excuse for the minor professors of the art. His
+well-known attempt to _bear_ the Kendal and Windermere line, by a
+series of ferocious sonnets, is still fresh in the memory of the
+public, and we trust the veteran has, long ere this, realized a
+handsome profit. We ourselves made a little money out of the Perth and
+Inverness, by means of an indignant tirade against the desecration of
+the Pass of Killiecrankie; and we should, to a certainty, have made
+more, had not the Parliamentary Committee been weak enough to believe
+us, and, in consequence, to reject the bill. Yet it may be long before
+the literary market can recover its healthy tone--ere sonnets once
+more resume their ancient ascendency, and circulate from hand to hand
+in the character of intellectual scrip.
+
+We suspect that very few of the poets backed out of the scrape in
+time. Their sanguine and enthusiastic temperament led them to hold, at
+all risks and hazards; and they did not, as a body, take warning from
+the symptoms of a declining market. An amiable friend of ours who
+belongs to the Young England party, and who has issued a couple of
+duodecimos in laudation of Bishop Bonner, found himself at the period
+of the crash in possession of two thousand Caithness and Land's End
+scrip, utterly unsaleable at any discount, though a fortnight before
+they were quoted at fifteen premium. He meditates, as we are
+informed, a speedy retirement to the penal solitudes of La Trappe, as
+there now seems to be little hope that Louis Philippe will provide a
+proper refuge for chivalrous misfortune by resuscitating the Order of
+Malta. The weaver-poet of Camlachie has gone into the Gazette in
+consequence of an unfortunate speculation in Caledonians. His lyre is
+as silent as his shuttle; and we fear that in his hours of despondency
+he is becoming by far too much addicted to drink. A clever young
+dramatist confessed to us some time ago that he found himself utterly
+"goosed;" and the last hope of the school of Byron has been forced to
+deny himself the luxury of inverted collars, as his uncompromising
+laundress peremptorily refused to accept of payment in characteristic
+Cemetery shares.
+
+In the gross, this state of things seems deplorable enough; and yet,
+when we analyse it, there is still some room for comfort. Never, since
+we first had the honour of wielding the critical lash--for the Crutch
+is a sacred instrument--in the broad amphitheatre of letters, do we
+recollect a year less fertile in the product of verse than the
+present. Our young friends are not possessed with the same supreme and
+sublime contempt of gold which formed so disinterested a feature of
+the poets of the by-gone age. They have become corrupted by the
+manufacturing and utilitarian tenets of the day; and--we shudder to
+record it--divers of them are violent free-traders. They have all
+fallen into the snare of the man Broker; and at the very outset of
+life, in the heyday and spring of their existence, they can count both
+sides of a shilling with the acuteness of a born Pennsylvanian. Hence
+it is, we presume, that they have attained to a knowledge of the
+fact--long ago notorious among the Trade--that poetry will not pay.
+They look upon genius through the glasses of Adam Smith, weigh the
+probability of an adequate demand before they venture on the
+production of a supply, and cut short the inchoate canto upon
+principles of Political Economy. In a few years, we fear, poetry will
+be no longer extant, save for the commercial purposes of the
+advertisements of Messrs Moses and Hyam; unless, indeed, some Welsh or
+Highland railway company should take the matter up, and double their
+dividends by bribing a first-rate poet to produce another _Lady of the
+Lake_. Hence the sparseness of our library table, which renders our
+old vocation comparatively a sinecure, and leaves us, without the
+necessity of immolation, to the undisturbed enjoyment of our chair.
+
+We might indeed, were we savagely inclined, discover some Volscians
+worth our fluttering in the ranks of Young England, or the more sombre
+group of poetical Oxonian divines. But we look with a kindly eye upon
+the eccentricities of the one school, and we listen to the drowsy
+strains of the other with no more active demonstration of disapproval
+than a yawn. We have high hope of George Sydney Smythe, Lord John
+Manners, and others, who have already produced some things of evident
+promise--not mere beaten tinsel, such as the resuscitated Cockneys are
+again beginning to vend in the literary market--but verses of true and
+genuine originality. Could we but ensure them against the vitiating
+effects of politics, it were a light hazard to predict for either of
+the above gentlemen a far higher reputation than has been achieved by
+the united efforts of the whole canorous crew which constituted the
+Melbourne administration. We must indeed except Mr Macaulay, a better
+poet than a politician, but--the brilliant ballad-writer being
+removed--what soul could have been contented to fatten upon the spongy
+lyrics of a Spring Rice, or the intolerable tragedies of a Russell!
+What food to sweeten the tedium of a solitary imprisonment for life!
+
+As for the Oxford school, we fairly confess that its votaries are
+beyond our comprehension. Amiable they are, no doubt, although ascetic
+in principle; but they are likewise insufferably tedious. We have
+attempted at various times, and during different states of the
+barometer, to make ourselves master of the compositions of Mr Williams
+and his principal followers. We failed. After skimming over a page or
+two of mellifluous blank verse, we began to experience a strange
+sensation, as if a bee were humming through the room. At each
+evolution of the imaginary insect, our eyes felt heavier and heavier.
+We made a strong effort to rally ourselves at the description of a
+crystalline stream, meandering, as we rather think, somewhere through
+the confines of Paradise; but the hue of the water gradually changed.
+It became dark and treacly, purled with a somniferous sound, as though
+the channel had been filled with living laudanum; and in three minutes
+more we were unconscious of the existence of the income-tax, and as
+relieved from the load of worldly cares as though we had joined
+company with the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus.
+
+Surely we have a right to expect something better from Oxford than
+this. The old nurse of learning must bestir herself once more,
+forswear morphia, and teach her pupils to strike a manlier chord, else
+men will cease to believe in the ancient magic of her name. What we
+want is, power, energy, pathos--not mere vapid sentiment, so
+diligently distilled that scarce a flavour of the original material is
+left to enable us to discover its origin. If poetry be a copy or a
+reflex of life, let it show out lifelike and true; if it be the
+representation of a dream, at all events let us have the vision, as in
+the mirror of Agrippa, well defined, though around its edges rest the
+clouds of impenetrable mystery. Above all things, let us have meaning,
+not vague allegorical phrases--power if not passion--sense if not
+sublimity. If the classics cannot teach us these, let us go back to
+the earlier ballads, and see how our fathers wrote without the aid of
+metaphysical jargon.
+
+Our present purpose is to deal with Scottish writers, and fortunately
+we have material at hand. Last month we were in London, engaged in
+divers matters connected with the state of the nation and our own
+private emolument, which latter pursuit we as seldom as possible
+neglect. The cares of a railway witness, in which capacity we had the
+honour to act, are but few. A bountiful table was spread for us, not
+in the wilderness, but in an excellent hotel in St James's; breakfast,
+luncheon, dinner, and supper, followed one another with praiseworthy
+regularity; the matutinal soda-water was only succeeded by the iced
+hock and champagne of the vespers, and a beneficent Fairy of seventeen
+stone, in the guise of a Writer to Her Majesty's Signet, was courteous
+enough not only to defray the whole of the attending expenses, but to
+furnish us with certain sums of gold, which we disseminated at our own
+proper pleasure. In return for the attentions of our legal Barmecide,
+we submitted to ensconce ourselves for a couple of days in a hot room
+somewhere about the Cloisters, in the course of which sederunt we held
+an animated conversation with several gentlemen in wigs, for the
+edification--as we were given to understand--of five other gentlemen
+in hats, who sat yawning behind a green table. We take this
+opportunity of tendering our acknowledgments to the eminent and
+raucous Queen's Counsel who was kind enough to conduct our
+cross-examination, and who so delicately insinuated his doubts as to
+the veracity and candour of our replies. As his knowledge of the
+localities about Braemar--the district then under question--was about
+equal to his cognizance of the natural history of Kamschatka, we felt
+the compliment deeply; and should we ever have the pleasure of
+encountering our beetle-browed acquaintance during a vacation ramble
+on the skirts of Schehallion, we pledge ourselves that he shall carry
+back with him to Lincoln's Inn some lasting tokens of our regard. In
+the mean time we sincerely hope he has recovered from that distressing
+fit of huskiness which rendered his immediate vicinity by no means a
+seat of comfort to his solicitor.
+
+As a matter of course, we relieved the monotony of our duties by
+divers modes of relaxation. Greenwich--in the glory of its whitebait,
+its undeniable Thames flounders, its dear little ducklings enshrined
+in their asparagus nest, and its flagons, wherein the cider cup shows
+sparklingly through the light blue _Borage_--was not unfrequented by
+us in the course of the sultry afternoon. At Richmond, likewise, we
+battened sybaritically; and more than once essayed to resuscitate our
+appetite, and awake within us the dormant sense of poetry, by a stroll
+along the breezy heath of Hampstead, preparatory to a dive into the
+Saracen, where, doubtless, in the days of yore, Leigh Hunt, Keats, and
+Hazlitt used to make wild work among the eggs and spinach. Our
+attendance at the theatres, however, was a matter of rarity. We have
+no fancy to undergo martyrdom by means of a slow stewing, when the
+sole palm we can win, in exchange for the sudorific pangs, is the
+enjoyment of some such shabby-genteel comedy as _The Beggar on
+Horseback_, or a travestie like that of the _Birds_ of Aristophanes,
+the only peculiarity of which is its utter want of meaning. As a
+general rule, we prefer the spectacles on the Surrey side, to those
+exhibited in the Metropolitan or Westminster districts. There, the
+nautical drama still flourishes in its pristine force. The old British
+tar, in ringlets, pumps, and oil-skin castor, still hitches up his
+trousers with appropriate oath; revolves the unfailing bolus of
+pigtail in his cheek--swims to shore across a tempestuous sea of
+canvass, with a pistol in each hand and a cutlass in his teeth, from
+the wreck of the foundering frigate--and sets foot once more on the
+British soil, just in time to deliver Pretty Poll of Portsmouth, his
+affianced bride, (who has a passion for short petticoats and crimson
+stockings,) from the persecutions of that bebuttoned pirate with the
+whiskers, who carries more pistols in his girdle than the scalps of an
+Indian chief, and whose fall, after a terrific combat with
+basket-hilts and shower of fiery sparkles, brings down the curtain at
+the close of the third act amidst roars of unmitigated joy. Also we
+delight to see, at never-failing Astley's, the revived glories of
+British prowess--Wellington, in the midst of his staff, smiling
+benignantly upon the facetious pleasantries of a Fitzroy
+Somerset--Sergeant M'Craw of the Forty-Second, delighting the _elite_
+of Brussels by his performance of the reel of Tullochgorum at the
+Duchess of Richmond's ball--the charge of the Scots Greys--the single
+combat between Marshal Ney and the infuriated Life-guardsman Shaw--and
+the final retreat of Napoleon amidst a volley of Roman candles, and
+the flames of an arseniated Hougomont. Nor is our gratification less
+to discern, after the subsiding of the shower of saw-dust so
+gracefully scattered by that groom in the doeskin integuments, the
+stately form of Widdicomb, cased in martial apparel, advancing towards
+the centre of the wing, and commanding--with imperious gestures, and
+some slight flagellation in return for dubious compliment--the
+double-jointed clown to assist the Signora Cavalcanti to her seat upon
+the celebrated Arabian. How lovely looks the lady, as she vaults to
+her feet upon the breadth of the yielding saddle! With what inimitable
+grace does she whirl these tiny banners around her head, as winningly
+as a Titania performing the sword exercise! How coyly does she dispose
+her garments and floating drapery to hide the too maddening symmetry
+of her limbs! Gods!--She is transformed all at once into an
+Amazon--the fawn-like timidity of her first demeanour is gone. Bold
+and beautiful flushes her cheek with animated crimson--her full
+voluptuous lip is more compressed and firm--the deep passion of the
+huntress sparkles in her lustrous eye! Widdicomb becomes excited--he
+moves with quicker step around the periphery of his central
+circle--incessant is the smacking of his whip--not this time directed
+against Mr Merryman, who at his ease is enjoying a swim upon the
+saw-dust--and lo! the grooms rush in, six bars are elevated in a
+trice, and over them all bounds the volatile Signora like a panther,
+nor pauses until, with airy somersets, she has passed twice through
+the purgatory of the blazing hoop, and then, drooping and exhausted,
+sinks like a Sabine into the arms of the herculean Master, who--a
+second Romulus--bears away his lovely burden to the stables, amidst
+such a whirlwind of applause as Kemble might have been proud to earn!
+
+"So," in the language of Tennyson--
+
+  "So we triumph'd, ere our passion sweeping through us left us dry,
+  Left us with the palsied heart, and left us with the jaundiced eye."
+
+"Dryness," however, according to our creed and practice, is not
+altogether unappeasable, and by the help of Barclay, Perkins, and
+Company, we succeeded in mitigating its rage. But we confess to the
+other miseries of the palsied heart and jaundiced eye, so soon as we
+were informed by the above-mentioned scribe, that our bill had been
+thrown out upon committee, and that, if we tarried longer in London,
+it must be upon our own proper charges. We had been so used for the
+last twelve months to voyage, and to subsist at the expense of
+joint-stock companies--so habituated to dine with provisional
+committees, and to hold sweet supper consultations in the society of
+salaried surveyors--that a reference to our private resources appeared
+a matter of serious hardship. However, there was no help for it. Some
+mean and unreasonable share-holders were already growling about a
+return of some portion of the deposits, and even, to the infinite
+disgust of the directors, hinted at a taxation of accounts. The
+murmurs of these slaves of Mammon broke up our little Eden. The Irish
+egg-merchant, who had been fed for three weeks upon turtle to induce
+him to give testimony touching the importation of eerocks--the tollman
+from Strathspey, who nightly meandered to the Coal-hole, in company
+with the intoxicated distiller--the three clerks who did the dirty
+work of the committee-room, and were therefore, with wise precaution,
+stinted in their allowance of beer--the northern bailie, who stuck
+strenuously to toddy, and the maritime provost, who affected the
+vintage of the Rhine--the raw uncouth surveyor from Dingwall, who,
+guiltless of straps, and rejoicing in a superfluity of rig-and-fur
+over a pair of monstrous brogues, displayed his native symmetry every
+afternoon in Regent Street, and reciprocated the gaze of the wondering
+milliners with a coarse guffaw, and the exhibition of his enormous
+teeth;--All these worthies vanished from the house in a single day,
+like spirits at the crowing of the cock, and returned to their native
+hills in a state of comparative demoralization. For our own part, we
+packed our portmanteau in gloomy silence, and meditated a speedy
+retreat to the distant solitudes of Loch Awe.
+
+We were eating, as we thought, our last muffin, when our eye was
+accidentally caught by an advertisement in the _Times_, purporting
+that a new play was to be immediately produced at the Princess's
+theatre, and that its title was _The King of the Commons_. A spasm of
+delight shot through us. We were aware, some time before, that a dear
+friend, and distinguished fellow-labourer of ours, whose contributions
+have always been of sweetest savour in the nostrils of fastidious
+Christopher, had turned his attention to dramatic poetry, and was
+resolved, for once at least, to launch an experimental shallop upon
+the stage. Nor did we doubt that this was the enunciation of his
+attempt. We divined it at once from the subject, so akin to his genius
+and deep national feelings--we knew the fervour of his love to
+Scotland, and his earnest desire to illustrate some page of her varied
+annals--and we resolved accordingly to postpone our departure, and be
+present at the success or discomfiture of our bold and adventurous
+brother.
+
+The first night of a new play is always attended with some agreeable
+excitement. If the author is a known man upon the boards--a veteran of
+some six comedies, all of which have found their way into the
+provinces, and are usually selected by the leading Star on the
+occasion of his or her benefit--the general audiences are desirous to
+ascertain whether his new effort is equal in point of merit to the
+rest. The critics, most of whom have failed in their own proper
+persons, are by no means indisposed to detect the occurrence of
+blemishes--friends hope that it may succeed, and unsuccessful rivals
+devoutly trust it may be damned. If the author is unknown, and if no
+very flagrant efforts have been made to pre-puff his performance, he
+has at all events the chance of an impartial hearing. Let the play go
+on smoothly to the middle; let no very glaring absurdities appear; let
+the actors really exert themselves, and display any thing like
+interest or talent in their business, and young Sophocles is generally
+sure of a favourable verdict. Our dear friends, the public, are always
+well disposed towards a winning man. One cheer elicits another, and
+applause, once commenced, goes on at a multiplied ratio. No doubt, the
+case may be reversed, and the sound of a solitary catcall from the pit
+awake the slumbering serpents, and become the signal for universal
+sibilation.
+
+The danger is, that an unknown author, unpuffed, may be ruined for
+want of an audience. We have no great faith in the panacea of free
+tickets, issued by the lessee for the simple purpose of getting up a
+house. The worth of a production is usually estimated by its current
+value, and we doubt if a favourable bias can be produced in the minds
+of any, by means of gratuitous pasteboard. Puffing, again, often
+defeats its own object. It creates doubt in the anticipations of some,
+jealousy in those of others and is also apt to create a _prestige_
+which the result may not justify. When we are told, on the authority
+of newspaper paragraphs, that _Bianca Franconi, or the Seven Bloody
+Poignards of Parma_, is to take the town by storm,--that nothing equal
+to it in merit has been produced since the days of Shakspeare,--that
+the critic who had the privilege of attending the first rehearsal,
+emerged from the theatre with his blood in a state of congelation,
+owing to the sepulchral tones and vehement gestures of Mr Charles
+Kean, who represents the part of Giacomo degli Assassinazioni, the
+Demon Host of the Abruzzi;--when we listen to this preliminary
+flourish of trumpets, we are apt to screw our imaginations a peg too
+high, and may chance to derive less rapture than we had anticipated
+from the many scenes of murder which garnish the _denouement_ of the
+drama.
+
+A greater virtue than fidelity is not in the celestial catalogue. We
+should at all times be ready to accompany a friend, either in a
+triumphal ovation or in a melancholy march to the scaffold,--to place
+the laurel on his head, or the funereal handkerchief in his hand. It
+was an exuberance of this feeling which determined us to be present at
+the first representation of _The King of the Commons_; and being
+firmly convinced of the truth of the adage, that there is safety in a
+multitude of councillors, we sent round the fiery cross to such of our
+fellow-contributors as were then in London, requesting them to favour
+us with their company to an early dinner at the Parthenon, as a proper
+preliminary to the more serious business of the evening.
+
+Some half-dozen of the younger hands responded punctually to our call.
+They came dropping in in high glee, with a rather mischievous
+expression of countenance, as though they anticipated fun; nor had
+they been five minutes in the room, before we discovered, to our
+unspeakable consternation, that every man was furnished, either with a
+catcall or a railway whistle! Here was a proper business! We knew very
+well that the articles which our dramatic friend contributes to Maga,
+have found more favour in the eyes of the public than the lucubrations
+of all the rest of us put together, and yet we had been foolish enough
+to assume, that, after the manner of the brethren, we had been
+convoking a literary Lodge. In fact, we had made no allowance for that
+indescribable delight which prompts you irresistibly, and without
+thought of succour, to cram your horse at the ditch into which, six
+seconds before, the friend of your bosom has been pitched from the
+back of his runaway mare, and wherein he is now lying with his head
+fixed inextricably in the mud, and his legs demonstrating in the air a
+series of spasmodic mathematical propositions. Not that, in the
+slightest degree, the dispositions of the lads were evil. If the play
+turned out well, we knew that they would be found cheering with the
+most uproarious, and probably raving for the next week about the
+merits of their fortunate compeer;--but if, on the contrary, it should
+happen that our brother had overestimated his powers, little doubt
+existed in our mind, that each contributor would exert himself on his
+peculiar instrument as vigorously as Herr Koenig, on the
+cornet-a-piston, nor seek to excuse himself afterwards on any more
+elaborate plea, than the right of every Briton to participate in a
+popular amusement.
+
+The dinner went off well. We were, however, cautious to confine each
+man to his solitary pint, lest their spirits should prove too
+exuberant at the moment of the rising of the curtain. Coffee over, we
+wended our way to the theatre, where we arrived just in time to hear
+the expiring crash of the overture. The first glimpse of the
+well-filled house assured us that there was no fear of the play
+falling still-born for want of an adequate audience. Boxes, pit, and
+gallery were equally crammed. We took our seat in the midst of the
+band of catcallers and whistlemen, and proceeded to the inspection of
+the bill as diligently as though it were an exponent of the piece. It
+must be confessed that our friend has not been very fortunate in the
+selection of his names. Early associations with the neighbourhood of
+Mid-Calder, a region abounding in cacophonous localities, seem to have
+led him a little astray. Adam Weir, Portioner in Laichmont, is a name
+which may be found figuring in the _Cloud of Witnesses_, or in that
+very silly book, Mr Simpson's _Traditions of the Covenanters_. It
+might sound admirably in a tale of the "hill-folk," but we totally
+repudiate and deny the propriety of enrolling Sir Adam Weir of
+Laichmont in the list of King James's Bannerets. Buckie of Drumshorlan
+likewise, though he may turn out on further acquaintance to be a
+fellow of infinite fancy, appears to us in print the _eidolon_ of a
+Bathgate carter. Madeleine we acknowledge to be a pretty name, but it
+loses its effect in conjunction with a curt patronymic. However, these
+are minor matters. It may be allowable to us, who drew our first trout
+from the Linnhouse Water, to notice them, but English ears may not be
+so fastidious. Tomkins, to the Chinese, is probably a name as terrible
+in sound as Wellington.
+
+But see!--the curtain rises, and displays an interior in Holyrood.
+James White--you are a lucky fellow! That mechanist is worth his
+weight in gold; for, what with stained windows and draperies and
+pilasters, he has contrived to transform our old gloomy palace, where
+solemnity sits guardian at the portal, into as gay a habitation as
+ever was decked out for a southern potentate. Francesco and
+Bernardo--that is, Buckie and Mungo Small--have some preliminary talk,
+for which we care not; when suddenly the folding-doors fly open, and
+enter James the Fifth of Scotland, surrounded by his nobles.
+
+Unquestionably the greatest of living British actors, Macready, has
+never wanted honours. This night he has them to the full, if deafening
+applause can testify the public goodwill; and of a truth he deserves
+them all, and more, were it but for that king-like bearing. There is
+no mock majesty in his aspect. Admirably has he appreciated the
+chivalrous character of James, who in many points seems to have borne
+a strong resemblance to the English Richard--as gallant and fearless,
+as hasty and bountiful--more trusting perhaps, but yet not more
+deceived. There is now a cloud on the royal brow. Some of the nobles
+have delayed, upon various pretexts, to send their vassals to the
+general muster on the Borough Muir, preparatory to an inroad upon
+England, and James cannot urge them on. Somerville and some others,
+who have no mind for the war, are pleading their excuse, greatly to
+the indignation of the King, who considers the honour of Scotland more
+bound up with the enterprise than his own.
+
+  "I was the proudest king--too proud perhaps--
+  I thought I was but foremost in a band
+  Of men, of brothers, of true-hearted Scots;
+  But pshaw!--it shall not move me."
+
+He thus reproaches his nobles, who would fain instigate him to peace,
+but who on this occasion, as on many others, were opposed to the
+opinions, not only of the clergy, but of the people.
+
+                                "What! to hear
+    His threats, and worse than threats--his patronage?
+    As if we stoop'd our sovran crown, or held it
+    As vassal from the greatest king alive!
+    No; we are poor--I know we are poor, my lords;
+    Our realm is but a niggard in its soil,
+    And the fat fields of England wave their crops
+    In richer dalliance with the autumn winds
+    Than our bleak plains;--but from our rugged dells
+    Springs a far richer harvest--gallant hearts,
+    Stout hands, and courage that would think foul scorn
+    To quail before the face of mortal man.
+    We are our people's king. For you, my lords,
+    Leave me to face the enemy alone!
+    I care not for your silken company.
+    I'll to my stalwart men--I'll name my name,
+    And bid them follow James. They'll follow me--
+    Fear not--they'll follow!"
+
+After some more such dialogue, the nobles promise obedience and
+retire, leaving James convinced of their lukewarmness, though
+unsuspicious of their treason, and more determined than ever to trust
+implicitly to the devotion of the people.
+
+  "Will they be traitors still? and play the game
+   Was play'd at Lauder Bridge? and leave their king
+   Unshielded to the scorn and laugh of England?
+   I will not think so meanly of them yet!
+   _They are not forward, as their fathers were
+   Who died at Flodden, as the brave should die,
+   With sword in hand, defiance in their hearts,
+   And a whole land to weep and honour them._
+   If they desert me--well, I can but die,
+   And better die than live a powerless king!"
+
+Some good passages had occurred before, but this was the first
+palpable hit in the play. The word Flodden came home like a
+cannon-shot to the heart of every Scotsman in the house, and a yell
+arose from the pit, as though the general body of bordering surveyors
+who packed it, were ready for another insurrection.
+
+Buckie of Drumshorlan, who, it seems, is a notorious reiver, or, as he
+phrases it--"an outcast--a poor Scottish Ishmaelite,"--a fact,
+however, unknown to the king, whom he had rescued from the waters
+while attempting to cross the Avon in a spate--now comes forward, and
+gives information against Sir Adam Weir of Laichmont, as an agent of
+the English court, and a corrupter of the treacherous nobility. James
+determines to expiscate the matter in person; and accordingly, in the
+next scene, we are transported to a wood near Laichmont, where
+Madeleine Weir, the grandchild of the knight, and Malcolm Young, her
+cousin, are apparently bird-nesting, but in reality, though they know
+it not, making love. For poor Malcolm is an orphan, dependent entirely
+on Sir Adam, who will not let him become a soldier, but has condemned
+him to holy orders. It is, in short, the story--nearly as old as the
+world--of disappointed hope and love; though Madeleine, with a sweet
+innocence which we suspect is rarely to be found save on the stage,
+seems unconscious of the true state of her feelings with reference to
+her early playmate. Their _tete-a-tete_ is interrupted by the entrance
+of King James, of course in disguise, and now beset by sundry ruffians
+who have left their mark on the royal costard; and Malcolm, like a
+tight St Andrews student, springs to the rescue. This effects the
+introduction of the King to the house of Laichmont, where we find Sir
+Adam--a hoary, calculating traitor--in great anxiety to find a
+messenger to communicate an English dispatch to the disaffected lords
+of Scotland. We pass over his colloquy with his neighbour, Laird
+Small--an elderly idiot, whose son Mungo holds the post of usher at
+Holyrood, and who now agrees with Sir Adam to unite the two estates by
+a marriage between the said Mungo and Madeleine. This scene, which is
+pure dramatic business, is pleasantly enough conducted, although in
+point of probability, and considering the ambition of the knight, he
+might have looked for a better match for his daughter than a coxcomb
+of an usher, heir though he was of some plashy acres in the
+rush-covered confines of Mid-Calder. We have observed, however, that
+love of district is as deep a passion in the human mind as love of
+country; and the intense yearning of the Switzer for his clear
+Lucerne, may not transcend the tide of parochial patriotism which
+swells the bosom of the native of the Kirk of Shotts.
+
+In the second act, Sir Adam somewhat incautiously selects James
+himself as the messenger to the nobles; and here we cannot altogether
+acquit our friend from the charge of great improbability. That blemish
+excepted, the scene is a good one, especially in the part where James,
+with the true vanity of a poet, becomes ruffled at the account of the
+common criticism on his verses. In the next scene, James extracts the
+secret of his love from Malcolm--a character which, by the way, was
+admirably performed by Mr Leigh Murray--and the whole mystery of the
+sadness of her cousin is revealed to the agitated Madeleine. We have
+an idea that dramatic love-scenes must be very ticklish in
+composition; at least of this we are aware, that in real life they are
+peculiarly perplexing. We never felt so like a booby as when we first
+attempted a proposal; and, to our shame be it said, we experienced far
+less pain from the positive refusal of Jemima, than from the
+consciousness that, at that moment, we must have appeared
+inexpressibly absurd. And so it is, we apprehend, with the great
+majority of lovers. They keep beating about the bush for months, and
+never seem absolutely to know what they would be at. The great
+majority of marriages are the result of accident. We have known
+several proposals follow the overturning of a chaise. A sharp race
+from the pursuit of an infuriated bull--the collision of a
+steam-boat--even a good rattling thunder-storm, will bring to a proper
+understanding parties who, under ordinary circumstances, and with no
+such pretty casualties, might have dawdled out years of unprofitable
+courtship, and finally separated for ever in consequence of some
+imaginary coldness, for which neither one nor the other of them could
+have assigned a plausible reason. Now, within the limits of a five-act
+play, there is no space for dawdling. The flirtation must always be of
+the warmest, and the engagement consequent thereon. A friend to whom
+your hero can tell his story, is of immense advantage in the drama,
+more especially when the young gentleman, as in this case, is under
+difficulties, and the young lady playfully concealed behind a
+whinbush, for no other purpose than that of learning the cause of his
+secret sorrow. Let us see how our friend manages this.
+
+    "JAMES.--You know not--but--enough! Poor Malcolm Young!
+  Tell me what weighs so heavy on your heart.
+
+    MADELEINE. (_behind._)--Now I shall hear what makes poor Malcolm sad.
+
+    MALCOLM.--Sir,'tis but three weeks since that I came home--
+  Home! no, I dare not call it home,--came here,--
+  After long tarrying at St Andrew's schools,
+  By order of my kinsman, at the last,
+  A month since,--'tis one little month ago----
+
+    JAMES.--Go on, go on!
+
+    MADELEINE.--Now comes the hidden grief.
+
+    MALCOLM.--He forced me by deceitful messages
+  To vow me to the priesthood, when my soul
+  Long'd more for neighing steeds than psalteries.
+  Oh, what a happy fortune had been mine
+  To draw the sword 'neath gallant James's eye,
+  And rouge it to the hilt in English blood!
+
+    JAMES.--God bless you, boy!--your hand again--your hand!
+  Would you have served the king?
+
+    MALCOLM.--Ay! died for him!
+
+    JAMES.--And he'd have cherish'd you, believe me, boy,
+  And held you to his heart, and trusted you--
+  And you'd ha' been true brothers;--for a love
+  Like yours is what poor James has need of most.
+  Is this your grief?
+
+    MALCOLM.--Alas, my grief lies deeper!
+  I might have bent me to my cruel fate
+  With prayers that our brave king find Scots as true,
+  And worthier of his praise than Malcolm Young.
+  When I came back, I had not been a day
+  'Mid well-known scenes in the remember'd rooms,
+  Till to my heart, my soul, the dreadful truth
+  Was open'd like a gulf; and I--fool! fool!
+  To be so dull, so blind--I knew too late
+  That I was wretched--miserable--doom'd,
+  Like Tantalus, to more than hellish pains--
+  To feel--yet not to dare to speak, or think;
+  To love--and be a priest!
+
+    MADELEINE.--To love! to love!
+  How strange this is!
+
+    JAMES.--How found you this, poor friend?
+
+    MALCOLM.--By throbbings at the heart, when I but heard
+  Her whisper'd name; thoughts buried long ago
+  'Neath childish memories--we were children both--
+  Rose up like armed phantoms from their grave,
+  Waving me from them with their mailed hands!
+  I saw her with the light of womanhood
+  Spread o'er the childish charms I loved so well--
+  I heard her voice sweet with the trustful tones
+  She spoke with long ago, yet richer grown
+  With the full burden of her ripen'd thoughts.
+
+    MADELEINE.--My head goes round--my heart will burst!
+
+    MALCOLM.--I saw
+  A world lie open--and an envious spell
+  Fencing it from me; day by day, I felt
+  Grief and the blackness of unsunn'd despair
+  Closing all round me.
+
+    JAMES.--And the maiden's name?
+
+    MALCOLM.--Was Madeleine Weir."
+
+Obedient to dramatic rule, Madeleine faints away at the discovery; and
+the good-natured king, without however discovering himself, determines
+to secure the happiness of the youthful couple.
+
+This brings us to the third act, where the accusing Buckie again makes
+his appearance, and denounces Sir Adam Weir, not only as a traitor,
+but as a plunderer of his own kin. He avers the existence of a nephew,
+who, were a multiplepoinding instituted, would be found to have good
+right to a considerable slice of Laichmont, not to mention divers
+other dividends; and he pledges himself to compear at Holyrood on an
+early day, at the peril of his head, to prove the truth of his
+allegations. With reference to the correspondence with the nobility,
+James speaks thus:--
+
+              "Your words are strong
+  As if they sprang from truth. I came to prove
+  Sir Adam Weir; through him to reach the hearts
+  Of higher men. _The saddest heart alive
+  Would be as careless as a lark's in June
+  Compared to mine, if what my fear portends
+  Proves true._ Sir Adam Weir has wealth in store--
+  Is crafty, politic, and is of weight--
+  The words are his--with certain of our lords.
+
+    BUCKIE.--I told you so. I know he has deep dealings
+  With----
+
+    JAMES.--Name them not; from their own lips I'll hear
+  Their guilt; no other tongue shall blot the fame
+  Of James's nobles. If it should be so;
+  If the two men I've trusted from my youth--
+  If Hume--If Seton--let the rest go hang!
+  But Seton, my old playmate!--if he's false,
+  Then break, weak heart! farewell, my life and crown!----
+  I pray you meet me here within an hour
+  This very night; I shall have need of you.
+  And as you speak as one brave man should speak
+  To another man, albeit he is a king,
+  I will put trust in you; and, ere the morn,
+  You shall impeach Sir Adam in our court:
+  And woe betide the guilty! Say no more;
+  I meet you here again."
+
+Sir Adam Weir delivers the important packet to the king to be conveyed
+to the traitors, and James immediately hands it over to Buckie, with a
+strict charge that it shall be produced that evening in the court at
+Holyrood. His majesty having no further business at Laichmont, departs
+in hot haste for Edinburgh.
+
+It is now full time for old Sir Adam to exercise his parental
+authority over Madeleine in the matter of her nuptials with Mungo
+Small, who has at last arrived at Laichmont. The aged reprobate having
+already sold his king and country, cannot be expected to have any
+remorse about trafficking with his own flesh and blood; and
+accordingly he shows himself, in this interview, quite as great a
+brute as the elder Capulet. Nay, to our apprehension, he is
+considerably worse; for he not only threatens the meek-eyed Madeleine
+with starvation, but extends his threats of vengeance to the
+unoffending Malcolm in case of her refusal to wed with the gentle
+County Mungo. Madeleine is no Juliet, but a good Scots lassie--brought
+up, we hope, in proper knowledge of her breviary, if not of her
+catechism, and quite incapable of applying to the Friar Laurence of
+Mid-Calder for an ounce of deceptive morphia. She has a hankering for
+St Ninian's and the holy vocation of a nun.
+
+    "MADELEINE--I'll hie me to the monastery door,
+  And ask the meek-eyed nuns to take me in;
+  And it shall be my grave; and the thick walls
+  Shall keep me from the world; and in my heart
+  I'll cherish him, and think on all his looks,
+  Since we were children--all his gentle tones;
+  And when my weary breast shall heave no more,
+  I'll lay me down and die, and name his name
+  With my last breath. I would we both were dead
+  For we shall then be happy; but on earth
+  No happiness for me--no hope, no hope!"
+
+But Madeleine is not yet to get off quite so easily. Young Master
+Small is introduced to ensnare her with his manifold accomplishments,
+and certainly he does exhibit himself as a nincompoop of the first
+water. With all respect and affection for our brother, we hold this
+character to be a failure. There is, we maintain, a vast difference
+between vanity, however preposterous, and sheer undaunted drivel,
+which latter article constitutes the staple of Master Mungo's
+conversation. Not but what a driveller may be a fair character for a
+play, but then he ought to drivel with some kind of consistency and
+likelihood. Far are we from denying that there are many fools to be
+found in Scotland; we even consider it a kind of patriotism to claim
+our just quota of national idiocy. Our main objection to Mungo is,
+that he represents, so far as we have seen, no section of the Scottish
+Bauldy. If he resembles any thing, it is a Cockney of the Tittlebat
+Titmouse breed, or one of those absurd blockheads in the plays of Mr
+Sheridan Knowles who do the comic business, wear cock's feathers in
+their hats, and are perpetually inquiring after news. There is a dash
+of solemnity, a ludicrous assumption of priggism, about the Scottish
+fool which Mr White has entirely evaded. Ass though he be, the
+northern dunderhead is neither a man-milliner nor a flunky; and yet
+Mungo Small is an arrant compound of the two. We put it to the public
+if the following scene is facetious:--
+
+    "MUNGO.--She curtseys with an air; though, for my part,
+  I like the Spanish swale, as thus, (_curtseys,_) low, low;
+  Not the French dip, as thus, (_curtseys,_) dip, dip.
+  Which think you best?
+
+    MADELEINE.--Sir! did you speak to me?
+
+    MUNGO.--Did I? 'pon honour--yes, I think I did:
+  Some like the Austrian bend, (_curtseys,_) d'ye like it so?
+  Our girls, the Hamiltons, have got it pat;
+  No sooner do I say, 'Sweet Lady Jane,'
+  And draw my feather so, and place my hand
+  Here on my heart, 'Fair Lady Jane, how are ye?'
+  But up she goes, and bend, (_curtseys;_) but if an ass,
+  Some fribble she don't like, comes near her, lo!
+  A swale! (_curtseys,_) 'tis very like this gentlewoman.
+  I hope there's no one near you you don't like?
+  For if there is, 'fore gad! an 'twere my father,
+  I'd cut him into slices like cold ham,
+  As thin as that.
+
+    LAIRD.--Gadso! pray gad it ain't;
+  I hope it ain't his father--he would do it!
+  He's such a youth!"
+
+Fancy such a capon as this holding office at the court of James the
+Fifth!
+
+The mock account of the tournament which follows, would be pleasant
+reading were it not for the total incongruity of the narrator with the
+scene which he describes. The actor who performed this part was
+evidently quite at home in the representation of the smallest Cockney
+characters. He brought out Mungo as the most pitiful little reptile
+that ever waddled across the stage, and in consequence the audience,
+for the first and only time, exhibited some symptoms of
+disapprobation. What had gone before was really so good--the
+performers had so ably seconded the efforts of the author--the
+interest excited by the general business of the play was so
+great--that this declension, which might otherwise have been
+overlooked, was felt to be a positive grievance. Our chosen band of
+contributors had hitherto behaved with great decorum. They had cheered
+lustily at the proper places, pocketed their whistles, and although
+the house was remarkably warm, not a man of them had emerged between
+the acts for the sake of customary refreshment. All at once, in the
+middle of the tournament scene, the shrill sharp squeak of a catcall
+greeted on our ear, and turning rapidly round, we detected a Political
+Economist in the act of commencing a concerto. It was all we could do
+to wring the instrument from the villain's hand. We threatened to make
+a report of his contumacious conduct to head-quarters, and menaced him
+with the wrath of Christopher; but his sole reply to our remonstrance
+was something like a grumbled defiance; and very glad were we when the
+offending Mungo disappeared, and a pretty scene between Madeleine and
+Malcolm, made the audience forget the ill-omened pleasantries of the
+Cockney.
+
+The fourth act is remarkably good. Of all the Scottish nobles, Lord
+Seton and Hume have ever been the dearest to James; his belief in
+their enduring faith and constancy has enabled him to bear up against
+the coldness and disaffection of the others; but the time has now
+arrived when his confidence in the honour of at least one of them is
+destined to be shaken. One of the bishops--Mr White does not specify
+his diocese--accuses Lord Seton of holding correspondence with the
+leader of the English host. The charge is not believed--nay, hardly
+entertained--until Seton himself being sent for, to some extent admits
+the fact of having received a messenger.
+
+    "BISHOP.--And he sent a message back to Dacre,
+  And gave the envoy passage and safe conduct.
+
+    JAMES.--Is all this true?--Oh, Seton, say the word,
+  One little word--tell me it is not true!
+
+    SETON.--My liege,'tis true.
+
+    JAMES.--Then by the name we bear
+  You die!--a traitor's death! Sirrah! the guard.
+  I will not look again on where he stands.
+  Let him be taken hence--and let the axe
+  Rid me of----Seton! is it so in truth,
+  That you've deceived me--join'd my enemies?
+  You--you--my friend--my playmate!--is it so?
+  Sir, will you tell me wherein I have fail'd
+  In friendship to the man who was my friend?
+  I thought I loved you--that in all my heart
+  Dwelt not a thought that wrong'd you.
+
+    SETON.--You have heard
+  What my accuser says, and you condemn me--
+  I say no word to save a forfeit life--
+  A life is not worth having, when't has lost
+  All that gave value to it--my sovereign's trust!
+
+    JAMES (_to the_ BISHOP.)--You see this man, sir--he's the selfsame age
+  That I am. We were children both together--
+  We grew--we read in the same book--my lord,
+  You must remember that?--how we were never
+  Separate from each other; well, this man
+  Lived with me, year by year; he counsell'd me'
+  Cheer'd me, sustained me--he was as myself--
+  _The very throne, that is to other kings
+  A desolate island rising in the sea--
+  A pinnacle of power, in solitude,
+  Grew to a seat of pleasance in his trust._
+  The sea that chafed all round it with its waves
+  This man bridged over with his love, and made it
+  A highway for our subjects' happiness--
+  And now! for a few pieces of red gold
+  He leaves me. Oh, he might have coin'd my life
+  Into base ingots--stript me of it all--
+  If he had left me faith in one true heart,
+  And I should ne'er have grudged him the exchange.
+  Go, now. We speak your doom--you die the death!
+  God pardon you! I dare not pardon you--
+  Farewell.
+
+    SETON.--I ask no pardon, sir, from you.
+  May you find pardon--ay, in your own heart
+  For what you do this day!
+
+    BISHOP.--Be firm, my liege.
+
+    JAMES.--Away, away, old man!--You do not know--
+  You cannot know, what this thing costs me."
+
+After all, it turns out that Seton is perfectly innocent--that the
+message he has dispatched to English Lord Dacre is one of scorn and
+defiance--and that the old Cacofogo of the church, who might have
+belonged to The Club, has been rather too hasty in his inferences.
+Macready--great throughout the whole scene--outshone himself in the
+reconciliation which follows; and we believe our friend the Political
+Economist was alone in his minority when he muttered, with
+characteristic adherence to matter of fact--"Why the plague didn't
+that fellow Seton clear himself at once, and save us the whole of the
+bother?" We return for a moment to Laichmont, where there is a regular
+flare-up between old Sir Adam and Malcolm, the latter pitching it into
+the senior in superior style. An officer from the court arrives, and
+the whole family party are ordered off _instanter_ to Holyrood.
+
+The last act shows us King James vigilant, and yet calm, in the midst
+of the corrupted barons. It is some weeks since the latter have seen a
+glimpse of an English rouleau, and their fingers are now itching
+extremely for an instalment. They are dismissed for the moment, and
+the king begins to perform his royal functions and redeem his
+promises, by procuring from the Cardinal-Legate letters of dismission
+from the church in favour of Malcolm Young. The court is then
+convoked, and Buckie--public prosecutor throughout--appears with a
+pair of wolf's jaws upon his head, which we hold to be a singular and
+somewhat inconvenient substitute for a wig. The indictment is twofold.
+The first charge is against Sir Adam for falsehood, fraud, and wilful
+imposition; in consequence of which, his nephew, described as a lad of
+considerable early promise, has been compelled to betake himself to
+the king's highway, in the reputable capacity of a cutpurse. This
+missing youth turns out to be identical with the cateran of
+Drumshorlan. The second charge is more serious. It relates to the
+public treachery of Weir; in proof of which, Buckie produces the
+packet containing the dispatches to the Lords. All is confusion and
+dismay.
+
+    "SOMERVILLE.--'Tis some foolishness,
+  I'll take the charge.
+
+    JAMES.--Bring me the packet, lord!
+  Here, Maxwell! break the seal--but your hand shakes.
+  Hume! lay it open. (HUME _opens the packet_.) Blessings on you, Hume!
+  Oh, what a thing is truth! Here, give it me!
+  Now, by my soul, this is a happy time!
+  I hold a score of heads within my hands--
+  Heads--noble heads--right honourable heads--
+  Stand where you are! ay, coroneted heads--
+  Nay, whisper not! What think you that I am?
+  A dolt--a madman? As I live by bread,
+  I'll show you what I am! You thought me blind,
+  You called me heedless James, and hoodwink'd James--
+  You'll find me watchful James, and vengeful James!
+
+      (HUME _marches in the Guard, with Headsman;
+        They stand beside the Lords, who form a group_.)
+
+  One little word, and it will conjure up
+  The fiend to tear you. One motion of this hand--
+  One turning of the leaf--Who stirs a foot
+  Is a dead man! _If I but turn the leaf,
+  Shame sits like a foul vulture on a corse,
+  And flaps its wings on the dishonor'd names
+  Of knights and nobles._
+
+      (_A pause; the_ LORDS _look at each other_.)
+
+            Nay, blench not, good my lords;
+  I mean not _you_; the idle words I say
+  Can have no sting for you! You are true men--
+  True to your king! You'll show your truth, my lords,
+  In battle; pah! we'll teach those Englishmen
+  We are not the base things they take us for;
+  They'll see James and his nobles side by side--
+  (_Aside._) If they desert me now, then farewell all!
+  (_Aloud._) There!--(_gives the packet back to Somerville_)
+  I know nothing!"
+
+After this act of magnanimity, our readers will readily believe that
+all the other personages in the drama are properly disposed of--that
+pardon and reconciliation is the order of the day--and that the lovers
+are duly united. So ends one of the most successful dramas which has
+been produced for a long time upon the stage. Our own judgment might
+possibly have been swayed by partiality--not so that of the thousands
+who have since witnessed its repeated and successful representation.
+Were we to venture upon any broad criticism, after a careful perusal
+of this play, and of _The Earl of Gowrie_, we should be inclined to
+say that Mr White sins rather upon the side of reserve, than that of
+abandonment. We think he might well afford to give a freer rein to his
+genius--to scatter before us more of the flowers of poesy--to elevate
+the tone of his language and the breadth of his imagery, more
+especially in the principal scenes. It may be--and we almost believe
+it--that he entertains a theory contrary to ours--that his effort
+throughout has been to avoid all exaggeration, and to imitate, as
+nearly as the vehicle of verse will allow, not only the transactions,
+but the dialogue of actual life. But, is this theory, after all,
+substantially correct? A play, according to our ideas, is not intended
+to be a mere daguerreotype of what has passed or is passing around us;
+it is also essentially a poem, and never can be damaged by any of the
+arts which the greatest masters in all times have used for the
+composition of their poetry. Much must be said in a play, which in
+real life would find no utterance; for passion, in most of its phases,
+does not usually speak aloud; and therefore it is that we not only
+forgive, but actually require some exaggeration on the stage, in order
+to bring out more clearly the thoughts which in truth would have
+remained unspoken. In the matter of ornament, much must be left to the
+discretion and the skill of the author. We are as averse as any man
+can be to overflowing diction--to a smothering of thoughts in
+verbiage--to images which distract the mind by their over-importance
+to the subject. But the dramatic author, if he carefully considers the
+past annals of his craft, can hardly fail to remark that no play has
+ever yet achieved a permanent reputation, unless, in addition to
+general equable excellence, it contains some scenes or passages of
+more than common beauty and power, into the composition of which the
+highest species of poetry enters--where the imagination is allowed its
+unchecked flight, and the fancy its utmost range. Thus it was, at all
+events, that Shakespeare wrote; and if our theory should be by any
+deemed erroneous, we are contented to take shelter under his mighty
+name, and appeal to his practice, artless as it may have been--as the
+highest authority of the world.
+
+But, after all, we are content to take the play as we find it. Of _The
+Earl of Gowrie_, Mr White's earlier production, we have left ourselves
+in this article little room to speak. In some points it is of a higher
+and more ambitious caste than the other--written with more apparent
+freedom; and some of the characters--Logan of Restalrig for
+example--are powerfully conceived. It is not, however, so well adapted
+for the stage as the other drama. James the Sixth, according to our
+author's portraiture, is a far less personable individual than his
+grandsire; and the quaint mixture of Scots and Latin with which his
+speeches are decorated, would sound strangely and uncouthly in modern
+ears, even could a competent actor be found. We would much rather see
+this play performed by an amateur section of the Parliament House,
+than brought out on the boards of Drury Lane. If the Lords Ordinary
+stood upon their dignity and refused participation in the jinks, we
+think we could still cull from the ranks of the senior bar, a fitting
+representative for the gentle King Jamie. We have Logans and Gowries
+in abundance, and should the representation ever take place, we shall
+count upon the attendance of Mr White, who shall have free permission
+for that evening to use the catcall to his heart's content.
+
+Not less pleased are we with the delightful book of Highland
+Minstrelsy from the pen of Mrs David Ogilvy, and so characteristically
+illustrated by our friend R. R. M'Ian, which now claims our attention.
+We are glad to find, in one young writer at least, a return to a
+better and a simpler style than that which has been lately
+prevalent--a strong national feeling not warped or perverted by
+prejudice, and a true veneration for all that is great and glorious in
+the past. These poems are, as the authoress informs us in her preface,
+intended to bear upon "the traditions, the sentiments, and the customs
+of a romantic people"--they are rather sketches of the Highlanders,
+than illustrations drawn from history--they are well conceived, and
+clearly and delicately executed.
+
+Indeed, notwithstanding the mighty harvest which Sir Walter Scott has
+reaped, there is a wide field still open to those who comprehend the
+national character. It is, however, one into which no stranger may
+hope to enter with the slightest prospect of success. A more
+lamentable failure than that committed by Mr Serjeant Talfourd in his
+attempt to found a tragedy upon the woful massacre of Glencoe--a
+grosser jumble of nonsense about ancestry and chieftainship--was, we
+verily believe, never yet perpetrated. At the distance of six years,
+we can vividly remember the tingling of our fingers for the pen when
+we first detected the Serjeant upon his northern poaching expedition;
+nor assuredly should he have escaped without exposure, had not the
+memory of _Ion_ been still fresh, and many graceful services to
+literature pled strongly within us in his behalf. But our authoress,
+if not born, has been bred in the heart of the mountains--she knows,
+we are sure, every rood of great Strath-Tay from Balloch to the
+roaring Tummel--she has seen the deep pass of Killiecrankie alike in
+sunshine and storm, and sweet must have been the walks of her
+childhood in the silent woods of Tullymet. It is among such scenes as
+these--in the midst of a brave, honest and an affectionate
+people--that she has received her earliest poetical impulse, and
+gratefully has she repaid that inspiration with the present tribute of
+her muse.
+
+We hardly know to which of her ballads we should give precedence. Our
+favourite--it may be from association, or from the working of Jacobite
+sympathies of which we never shall be ashamed--is the first in order,
+and accordingly we give it without comment:--
+
+
+  "THE EXILE AT CULLODEN.
+
+  "There was tempest on the waters, there was darkness on the earth,
+  When a single Danish schooner struggled up the Moray Firth.
+  Looming large, the Ross-shire mountains frown'd unfriendly on its track,
+  Shriek'd the wind along their gorges, like a sufferer on the rack;
+  And the utmost deeps were shaken by the stunning thunder-peal;--
+  'Twas a sturdy hand, I trow ye, that was needed at the wheel.
+
+  "Though the billows flew about them, till the mast was hid in spray,
+  Though the timbers strain'd beneath them, still they bore upon their way,
+  Till they reach'd a fisher-village where the vessel they could moor--
+  Every head was on its pillow when they landed on the shore;
+  And a man of noble presence bade the crew "Wait here for me.
+  I will come back in the morning, when the sun has left the sea."
+
+  "He was yet in manly vigour, though his lips were ashen white,
+  On his brow were early furrows, in his eyes a clouded light;
+  Firm his step withal and hasty, through the blinding mist so sure,
+  That he found himself by dawning on a wide and lonesome muir,
+  Mark'd by dykes and undulations, barren both of house and wood,
+  And he knew the purple ridges--'twas Culloden where he stood.
+
+  "He had known it well aforetime--not, as now, so drear and quiet;
+  When astir with battle's horror,--reeling with destruction's riot;
+  Now so peacefully unconscious that the orphan'd and exiled
+  Was unmann'd to see its calmness, weeping weakly as a child;
+  And a thought arose of madness, and his hand was on his sword--
+  But he crush'd the coward impulse, and he spake the bitter word;--
+
+  "'I am here, O sons of Scotland--ye who perish'd for your king!
+  In the misty wreaths before me I can see your tartans swing--
+  I can hear your slogan, comrades, who to Saxon never knelt;
+  Oh! that I had died among ye, with the fortunes of the Celt!
+
+  "'There he rode, our princely warrior, and his features wore the same
+  Pallid cast of deep foreboding as the First one of his name;
+  Ay, as gloomy as his sunset, though no Scot his life betray'd;
+  Better plunge in bloody glory, than go down in shame and shade.
+
+  "'Stormy hills, did ye protect him, that o'erlook Culloden's plain,
+  Dabbled with the heather blossoms red as life-drops of the slain?
+  Did ye hide your hunted children from the vengeance of the foe?
+  Did ye rally back the flying for one last despairing blow?
+  No! the kingdom is the Saxon's, and the humbled clans obey,
+  And our bones must rot in exile who disdain usurper's sway.
+
+  "'He is sunk in wine's oblivion for whom Highland blood was shed,
+  Whom the wretched cateran shelter'd, with a price upon his head,
+  Beaten down like hounds by scourging, crouching from their master's
+    sight;
+  And I tread my native mountains, as a robber, in the night;
+  Spite of tempest, spite of danger, hostile man and hostile sea,
+  Gory field of sad Culloden, I have come to gaze on thee!'
+
+  "So he pluck'd a tuft of heather that was blooming at his foot,
+  That was nourish'd by dead kinsmen, and their bones were at its root;
+  With a sigh he took the blossom, and he strode unto the strand,
+  Where his Danish crew awaited with a motley fisher band;
+  Brief the parley, swift his sailing, with the tide, and ne'er again
+  Saw the Moray Firth the stranger or the schooner of the Dane."
+
+"Eilan Mohr" and the "Vow of Ian Lom," the renowned Seannachie of the
+Highlands, are both fine poems, but rather too long for extract; and
+as we do not doubt that this volume will erelong be found in the
+boudoir and drawing-room of many of our fair countrywomen, we have
+less hesitation in leaving them to a more leisurely perusal.
+
+The young authoress will, we trust, forgive us if we tender one word
+of advice before parting with her on the heights of Urrard--a spot
+which was once--and we hope will be again--the home of more worth,
+beauty, and excellence, than is often to be found within the circle of
+a single family. She ought to be very cautious in her attempts to
+write in the Scottish dialect. Few, even of those who have habitually
+heard it spoken from their childhood, can discern the almost
+indefinable line which exists between the older and purer phraseology,
+and that which is more corrupt. The very spelling of the words is a
+matter of considerable difficulty, and when not correctly written, the
+effect is any thing but pleasing. With this hint and another extract
+we shall return the volume to better keeping than our own, with our
+sincere approval of its contents, and our admiration for the genius of
+the writer.
+
+
+    "THE OLD HOUSE OF URRARD.
+
+  "Dost fear the grim brown twilight?
+    Dost care to walk alone,
+  When the firs upon the hill-top
+    With human voices moan?
+  When the river twineth restless
+    Through deep and jagged linn,
+  Like one who cannot sleep o' nights
+    For evil thoughts within?
+  When the hooting owls grow silent,
+    The ghostly sounds to hark,
+  In the ancient house of Urrard,
+    When the night is still and dark.
+
+  "There are graves about old Urrard,
+    Huge mounds by rock and tree;
+  And they who lie beneath them
+    Died fighting by Dundee.
+  Far down along the valley,
+    And up along the hill,
+  The fight of Killicrankie
+    Has left a story still.
+  But thickest show the traces
+    And thickest throng the sprites,
+  In the woods about old Urrard,
+    On the gloomy winter nights.
+
+  "In the garden of old Urrard,
+    Among the bosky yews,
+  A turfen hillock riseth
+    Where latest lie the dews;
+  Here sank the warrior stricken
+    By charmed silver ball,
+  And all the hope of victory
+    Fell with him in his fall.
+  Last stay of exiled Stuart,
+    Last heir of chivalrie,
+  In the garden of old Urrard
+    He died, the brave Dundee!
+
+  "In the ancient house of Urrard,
+    There's many a hiding den;
+  The very walls are hollow,
+    To cover dying men;
+  For not e'en lady's chamber
+    Barr'd out the fierce affray;
+  And couch and damask curtain
+    Were stain'd with blood that day
+  And there's a secret passage,
+    Whence sword, and skull, and bone,
+  Were brought to light in Urrard,
+    When years had pass'd and gone.
+
+  "If thou sleep alone in Urrard,
+    Perchance in midnight gloom
+  Thou'lt hear behind the wainscot
+    Of that old haunted room,
+  A fleshless hand that knocketh,
+    A wail that cries on thee;
+  And rattling limbs that struggle
+    To break out and be free.
+  It is a thought of horror!--
+    I would not sleep alone
+  In the haunted rooms of Urrard,
+    Where evil deeds were done.
+
+  "Amidst the dust of garrets
+    That stretch along the roof,
+  Stand chests of ancient garments
+    Of gold and silken woof.
+  When men are lock'd in slumber,
+    The rustling sounds are heard
+  Of dainty ladies' dresses,
+    Of laugh and whisper'd word,
+  Of waving wind of feathers,
+    And steps of dancing feet,
+  In the haunted halls of Urrard,
+    When the winds of winter beat."
+
+We cannot altogether dismiss the book without bearing testimony to the
+merits of M'Ian, a rising artist and thorough Highlander, already
+favourably known to the public by his Sketches of the Clans, and other
+admirable works. Few pictures have ever affected us more than his
+Highland prisoner, exhibited last year in the Royal Academy, into
+which he has thrown a far deeper feeling, both of poetry and romance,
+than is at the command of many of his brethren, whose names are more
+widely bruited than his own. We send him across the Border our cordial
+greeting, and our best wishes for his continued success and
+prosperity.
+
+And here we should have concluded this article in peace and amity with
+all men--haunted by no other thoughts save those of sweet
+recollection--and as innocent of blood as our terrier pup, who, we are
+gratified to observe, is at this moment vainly attempting to enlarge a
+casual fracture in our slipper. But our eye has accidentally lighted
+upon a fugitive volume, half smothered beneath a heap of share-lists;
+and mindful of our duty, however painful, we drag forth the impostor
+to his doom. _Morning and other Poems, by a Member of the Scotch Bar!_
+Why, the very name of the book is enough to betray its spurious
+origin. The unfortunate person who has rashly attempted to give
+currency to his verses by assuming a high and honourable position, to
+which, we believe from the bottom of our soul, he has not the remotest
+pretension--has not even taken the pains to ascertain the corporate
+name of the body with which he claims affiliation, and bungles even in
+the title-page. With the members of the SCOTTISH BAR we have some
+acquaintance--nay, we think that--from habitual attendance at the
+Parliament House, being unfortunately implicated in a law-plea as
+interminable as that of Peebles against Plainstanes--we know almost
+every one of them by headmark, from the Pet of the Stove, whose
+snuff-box is as open as his heart, to the saturnine gentleman who is
+never seen beyond the precincts of the First Division. We acquit every
+one of them of participation in this dreary drivel.
+
+It may be that the gods have not made all of them poetical--and, for
+the sake of the judges, we opine that it is better so--yet some rank
+amongst our dearest and most choice contributors; nor, we believe, is
+there one out of the whole genuine fraternity of educated and
+accomplished gentlemen who could not, if required, versify a summons,
+or turn out a Lay of the Multiplepoinding, equal, if not superior, to
+Schiller's Song of the Bell. It is rather too much that the literary
+character of the bar of Scotland is to be jeopardied by the dulness of
+the author of _Morning and other Poems_. Why has he not the courage,
+instead of sheltering himself under a legal denomination common to
+some three hundred gentlemen, to place his own name upon the
+title-page, and stand or fall by the bantlings of his own creation?
+Does he think, forsooth, that it is beneath the dignity of a barrister
+to publish verses, or to hold at any time a brief in the court of
+Apollo? If so, why does he attempt to thrust forward his vocation so
+wantonly? But he knows that it is no disgrace. The literary reputation
+of the bar is so high, that he actually assumes the title for the
+sake of obtaining a hearing, and yet merges his own individuality, so
+that he may be enabled to slink away in silence and obscurity from the
+ridicule which is sure to overwhelm him.
+
+Morning, and other Poems! It was impossible for the author to have
+stumbled upon a more unfortunate subject in support of his
+pretensions. Of all imaginable themes, that of morning is least likely
+to inspire with enthusiasm the soul of a Scottish barrister. Few are
+the associations of delight which that word awakens in his mind. It
+recalls to him the memory of many a winter, throughout which he has
+been roused from his comfortable nap at half-past seven, by the shrill
+unquellable voice of Girzy, herself malignant and sullen as the
+bespoken warning of the watchman. He recollects the misery of shaving
+with tepid water and a blunt razor by the light of a feeble dip--the
+fireless study--the disordered papers--the hasty and uncomfortable
+breakfast, and the bolting of the slippery eggs. Blash comes a sheet,
+half hail half slush, against the window--the wind is howling without
+like a hurricane, and threatens to carry off that poor shivering
+lamplighter, whose matutinal duty it is to extinguish the few
+straggling remnants of gas now waning sickly and dim, in the dawn of a
+bad December morning. What would he not give if this were a Monday
+when he might remain in peace at home! But there is no help for it. He
+is down for three early motions on the roll of the most punctual
+Ordinary that ever cursed a persecuted bar; so he buttons his
+trot-cosey around him, and, without taking leave of the wife of his
+bosom--who, like a sensible woman as she is, never thinks of moving
+until ten--he dashes out, ankle-deep in mud and melting snow, works
+his way up a continuous hill of a mile and a half in length, with a
+snell wind smiting him in the face, his nose bluemigating like a plum,
+and his linen as thoroughly damped as though it had been drawn through
+the wash-tub. Just as he begins to discern through the haze the
+steeple of Knox's kirk, nine strokes upon the bell warn him that his
+watch is too slow. He rushes on through gutter and dub, and arrives in
+the robing-room simultaneously with ten other brethren, who are all
+clamorously demanding their wigs and gowns from the two distracted
+functionaries. Accomodated at last, he hurries up the stairs, and
+when, through the yellow haze of the house, he has groped his way to
+the den where early AEacus is dispensing judgment by candle-light, he
+finds that the roll has been already called without the appearance of
+a single counsel. Such, for half the year--the other half being varied
+by a baking--are the joys which morning brings to the member of the
+Scottish bar. Few, we think, in their senses would be inclined to sing
+them, nor, indeed, to do our author justice, does he attempt it. His
+notions of morning occupations are very different. Let us see what
+sort of employment he advises in an apostrophe, which, though
+ostensibly addressed to Sleep, (a goddess with two mothers, for he
+calls her "Daughter of Jove and Night, by Lethe born,") must, we
+presume, have been intended for the edification of his fellow-mortals.
+
+                  "Nor then, thy knees
+    Vex with long orisons. The morning task,
+    The morning meal, or healthful morning walk
+    Demand attention next. Thy hungry feed,
+    Among thy stall, if lowing herds be thine;
+    Drain the vex'd udders, set the pail apart
+    For the wean'd kid; the doggish sentinel
+    Supply, nor let him miss the usual hand
+    He loves. Then, having seen all full and glad,
+    Body and soul with food thyself sustain.
+    If wedded bliss be yours, the fruitful vine
+    Greet lovingly, and greet the olive shoots,
+    The gifts of God!"
+
+Here is a pretty fellow! What! First breakfast, then a walk, then the
+byre, the ewe-bught, the pig-stye, and the kennel, and after all
+that, without wiping the gowkspittle of the tares from your jacket,
+or the stickiness of Cato's soss from your fingers, you would sit down
+to a second breakfast, like a great snorting gormandizer, and never
+say good-morning to your wife and children until you have finished
+your third roll, and washed down that monstrous quantity of fried ham
+with your fifth basin of bohea! But no--we turn over a couple of
+pages, and find that we have done our friend injustice. He is a poet,
+and, according to his idea of that race, they subsist entirely upon
+porridge or on sowens.
+
+    "But what becomes the rustic, little suits
+    The poet and the high AEonian fire----
+    His toils I mean; sacred the morning prime
+    Is still to song, and sacred still the grove;
+    No fields he boasts, no herds to grace his stalls,
+    The muse has made him poor and happy too,
+    She robs him of much care and some dull coin,
+    Stints him in gay attire and costly books,
+    But gives a wealth and luxury all her own,
+    _And, on a little pulse, like gods they diet._"
+
+Our theory is, that this man is a medical student. We have a high
+regard for the healing faculty; nor do we think that, amongst its
+ranks, there is to be found more than the ordinary proportion of
+blockheads. But the smattering of diversified knowledge which the
+young acolytes are sure to pick up in the classes, is apt to go to
+their heads, and to lead them into literary and other extravagances,
+which their more sober judgment would condemn. They are seldom able,
+however, to disguise their actual calling; and even their most
+powerful efforts are tinctured with the flavour of rhubarb or of
+senna. This youth has been educated in obstetrics.
+
+    "Three months scarce had thrice increased
+    Ere the world with thee was blest."
+
+He is an adept in the mysteries of gestation--an enthusiast so far in
+his profession, and cannot even contemplate the approach of morning
+without the feelings of a genuine Howdie. Mark his exordium--
+
+      "The splendid fault, solicitude of fame,
+    Which spurs so many, me not moves at all
+    To sing, but grateful sense of favours obtain'd
+    By many a green-spread tree and leafy hill:
+    The MORNING calls, escaped from dewy sleep
+    And Tithon's bed to celebrate her charms,
+    What sounds awake, what airs salute the dawn!
+      "That virgin darkness, loveliest imp of time,
+    Is, to an amorous vision, nightly wed,
+    And made the mother of a shining boy,
+    By mortals hight the day, let others tell,
+    In livelier strains, and to the Lydian flute
+    Suit the warm verse; but be it ours to wait
+    In the birth-chamber, and receive the babe,
+    All smiling, from the fair maternal side,
+    By pleasant musings only well repaid."
+
+It is a great pity that one so highly gifted should ever have been
+tempted to forsake the muse for any mere mundane occupation. But in
+spite of his modest request that sundry celestial spirits--
+
+    "Will to a worthier give the bays to Phoebus dear,
+    And crown MY WORDSWORTH with the branch _I must not wear_"--
+
+we are not altogether without hopes that he will reconsider the
+matter, avoid too hard work, which, in his own elegant language, might
+make him
+
+    "Wan as nun who takes the vows,
+    Or primrose pale, or _lips of cows_!"--
+
+and not only delight us occasionally with a few Miltonic parodies as
+delectable as these, but be persuaded in time to assume the laureat's
+wreath. As for the pretext that he is getting into practice--whether
+legal or medical--that is all fudge. He informs us that "the following
+pages were written, during the author's leisure hours, some years ago,
+before the superior claims of professional occupations interfered to
+make such pursuits unlawful, and would probably have remained
+unpublished, but for the accident of a talented friend's perusal."
+Moreover, he says that "his conscience will not reproach him with the
+hours which the preparation of these poems for the press has filched
+from graver business--
+
+    'The tedious forms, the solemn prate,
+    The pert dispute, the dull debate.'"
+
+We assure him that it need not do so. No man who has glanced at this
+volume will accuse him of knowing the difference between a process of
+Ranking and Sale and a Declarator of Legitimacy; and he may comfort
+himself with the conviction that his literary pursuits are quite as
+lawful at the present time as they were some years ago. No importunate
+solicitor will ever interfere to divert him from them. The man who
+cannot compass an ordinary distich will never shine in minutes of
+debate; nor have we the slightest expectation that a three-guinea
+fee--even were he entitled to receive it--would ever supply the place
+of that unflinching principle of honour, which he thus modestly, and
+not unprophetically acknowledges to be the mainspring of his
+inspiration--
+
+    "'Tis this which strings, in time, my feeble harp,
+    And yet shall ravish long eternal years!"
+
+The following imprecation, which we find in "Morning," inspires us
+with something like hope of the continuance of his favours:--
+
+    "When I forget the dear enraptured lay,
+    May this right hand its wonted skill forego,
+    And never, never touch the lyre again!"
+
+We dare not say Amen to such a wish. On the contrary, in the name of
+the whole Outer-House, we demand a supplementary canto. Let him submit
+it to the perusal of his "talented friend," and we dare answer for it
+that the publishers will make no objection to stand sponsors for a new
+volume on the same terms as before.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[53] _The Earl of Gowrie_; a Tragedy. By the Rev. JAMES WHITE. London:
+1845.
+
+_The King of the Commons_; a Drama. By the Same. 1846.
+
+_A Book of Highland Minstrelsy._ By Mrs D. OGILVY. Illustrated by R.
+R. M'IAN. London: 1846.
+
+_Morning, and other Poems._ By a Member of the Scotch Bar. London:
+1846.
+
+
+
+
+ELINOR TRAVIS.
+
+A TALE IN THREE CHAPTERS.
+
+CHAPTER THE SECOND.
+
+
+So far have I spoken of what I saw and witnessed. Much of what follows
+came to me, years afterwards, authenticated by the chief performer in
+the eventful drama which I write, and by others no less worthy of
+belief. After what has been already narrated, it will not be supposed
+that I suffered the life of my friend to pass away unnoticed. We
+corresponded, but fitfully, and at long intervals. Here and there we
+met, often strangely and by accident, and I became now the depositary
+of his heart's dearest secrets, now the reluctant adviser, and now the
+bold and earnest remonstrant. Our intimacy, however, ceased abruptly
+and unhappily a year or two subsequently to his marriage. Sinclair, it
+will be seen, then went abroad, and I returned to my duty at the
+university. I recur to the memoranda of his history which lie before
+me, and proceed with my text.
+
+It would appear that General Travis overtook the fugitives, but, as
+good or ill fortune would have it, not until the knot was tied, and
+his presence profited nothing. I have been told that the desperate
+father, at one period of the chase, was within an easy stage of the
+runaways, and, had he been so disposed, might have laid hands on the
+delinquents without ruinously bribing the postilions, who prudently
+husbanded their strength in full expectation of additional largess.
+But, at the very moment of victory, as it were, the general
+unfortunately was seized with illness, and compelled to pass a day and
+night under the hands of a village doctor in a roadside inn. He was
+very angry and rebellious, you may be sure, and oftener than once
+asserted with an oath--so that there could be no doubt whatever of his
+sincerity--that he would give the world (if he had it) to be allowed
+to proceed; at the same time that he unreasonably accused the
+practitioner, whom he had never seen before, of conspiring with his
+enemies to bring his gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. The worthy
+apothecary, guilty of nothing but the venial offence of making the
+most of a visitation of Providence, merely shook his head dolefully at
+every exclamation of his patient, hinted at gastric fever, and rubbed
+his palms, intimating by that act that so he proposed to wash his
+hands of all responsibility. Whereupon the general prudently gave in,
+held out his massive fist, was prescribed for, went to bed and put out
+his candle, just two minutes after he had put out the basket of physic
+which had been sent to prolong his stay in the inn for at least a week
+to come.
+
+The interview between the disconsolate parent and the youthful
+offenders is adverted to in the letter which I received from Rupert
+Sinclair in London early in the honeymoon. It is many years since it
+was written: the paper is discoloured, and the ink fading. It is the
+effusion of a fond and enthusiastic youth; but it looks mournful and
+dried up, more like the decaying writing on the rolls of a mummy than
+the ardent outpourings of a recent passion. Alack for the mutability
+of life! I have no apologies to make for giving the letter as it
+stands. It speaks for itself: its publication cannot harm the dead.
+
+    "DEAREST WALTER--Congratulate me! wish me joy! But no greater
+    joy than I experience at this hour, with the sunny and smiling
+    heaven above, and in the possession of a treasure of which no
+    man living can rob me: of which I am prouder than Alexander
+    could have been of all his conquered worlds. She is mine! I
+    have ventured much for the prize; yet little--for I feel I
+    could have parted with every thing in life for her who is to
+    me--life, every thing. She is mine! Oh the comprehensiveness
+    of that one little word! Mine whilst existence lasts--mine to
+    cherish and uphold--mine for earth and heaven! We walked this
+    morning to the placid lake which lies hidden in the heart of
+    the mountains, to which we have retreated for a season away
+    from the envious eyes of men. The waters were as calm as at
+    the dawn of the first sabbath! The sky that overarched us
+    looked down upon them in unutterable love. The slightest
+    breath that crept amongst the trees was audible. Her arm was
+    upon mine. Nature had attuned my soul to the surrounding
+    harmony--the gentlest pressure of her confiding hand oppressed
+    me with joy and moved me to tears. Laugh at me if you will.
+    You answer to all this--that I dream. Be it so:--That I must
+    soon awake. It is possible. Nay, I grant you that this
+    foretaste of heaven, now vouchsafed to me, must pass away and
+    leave behind it only the remembrance of this golden epoch.
+    Still the remembrance is mine, the undying memory of a vision
+    unparalleled by all other dreams of life.
+
+    "I have written to my father, but he replies not. He has no
+    sympathy for attachments such as mine, and cannot understand
+    the bitterness of life caused by a blighted hope. But he will
+    relent. He has a noble nature, and will take no delight in my
+    unhappiness. My mother's influence is unbounded. She loves me,
+    and will plead my cause with him, when the first paroxysm of
+    anger has passed away, and has left him open to her sway. I
+    will take my Elinor to her; her innocence and beauty would
+    melt a stubborn heart to pity. Shall it not prevail with her
+    whose heart is ours already by the ties of holiest nature?
+    Believe me, I have no fear of Lord Railton's lasting anger.
+
+    "The general reached us the day after we were married. Happily
+    for me that he arrived not before. Elinor, as I have told you
+    often, reveres her father, and has a chivalric sense of filial
+    obligations. Had he commanded her to return to his roof whilst
+    the right to command remained with him, she would have deemed
+    it her paramount duty to obey him. His rage was terrible when
+    we met; I had never seen a man so plunged in grief before. He
+    accused me of treachery--of having betrayed his
+    confidence--and taken advantage of his daughter's simplicity
+    and warm affection. The world, he said, would reproach him for
+    an act which he would have moved heaven and earth to prevent,
+    and the reputation of the family would be blasted by the
+    conduct of one, who, but for his own base deed, should have
+    remained for ever a stranger to it. What could I reply to
+    this? For my dear Elinor's sake, I bore his cruel words, and
+    answered not. Her gentle spirit has already prevailed. He
+    quitted us this morning reconciled to our union, and resolved
+    to stand by us in all extremities. There was no resisting the
+    appeal of beauty such as hers. The old man wept like a child
+    upon her neck as he forgave and blest her. Urgent business
+    carries the general abroad for a season, but he returns to
+    England shortly, to make arrangements for the future.
+    Meanwhile, in obedience to his earnest request, I shall seek
+    an interview with my father, and in person entreat his
+    forgiveness and aid. My plans are unsettled, and necessarily
+    depend upon the conduct of Lord Railton. Let me hear from you,
+    dearest Wilson. Once more wish me joy. I ask no better fate
+    for you than happiness such as mine.
+
+        "Your faithful and devoted
+
+            "RUPERT SINCLAIR."
+
+The honeymoon over, Rupert Sinclair repaired to his father's house.
+Since his marriage he had received no tidings of his parents: he had
+written to his father and mother, but from neither came one syllable
+of acknowledgment or reply. It was strange, but he relied with
+unshaken confidence upon his power over the fond mother's heart, and
+upon the magic influence of that loveliness which he himself had found
+resistless and invincible. The blissful dream was a short one; he was
+about to be roused from it. Elinor and he were in town: upon the
+morning of his visit to Grosvenor Square, they sat together in their
+hotel and weaved their bright and airy plans in syllables more
+unsubstantial than the gossamer.
+
+"You will love my mother, my dearest Elinor," said Sinclair. "The
+great world, in which she acts no unimportant part, has not spoiled
+her affections. She is indulgent and fond almost to a fault."
+
+"I shall love her for your sake, Rupert," answered the lovely wife.
+"How like she is!" she exclaimed, looking at a miniature which she
+wore around her neck, and then comparing it with the living
+countenance that beamed upon her. "Yet," she continued with a sigh,
+"she owes me no return of love."
+
+"And wherefore?"
+
+"Have I not stolen her most cherished treasure?"
+
+"Have you not added to her treasures? She will rejoice in her
+new-found daughter. I know her well. She will not even suffer my
+father to frown upon us. When he would be most stern, she will lead
+you to him, and melt him into tenderness and pardon."
+
+"I hope, dear Rupert, that it may be so. I would my father were with
+us!"
+
+"Lord Railton will be a father to you till his return. Trust me for
+it. You shall find a happy home with him, until arrangements are made
+for our settlement here or elsewhere."
+
+"Oh, elsewhere, dear Rupert, if it be possible! Let us go abroad; I
+was never happy in London, and strange to say, never felt at home in
+England. Yet London was my birth-place."
+
+"You love blue sky, dearest!"
+
+"Yes, and happy people. Men and women who are not mere slaves to form
+and fashion: who breathe free air and imbibe a sense of freedom. Oh
+Venice! dear Venice!--we shall go to Venice, shall we not? It is the
+land of enchantment, dearest Rupert, there is nothing like it in the
+world--the land of love and of romance."
+
+"You shall visit it, sweetest, and abide there if you wish it. To me
+all spots are alike that find you happy and at my side. When you are
+tired of Venice, you shall lead me whithersoever you will."
+
+"Will you always say so?"
+
+"Always. But that our departure may not be delayed, let us attend to
+the pressing business of the hour. All our movements depend upon my
+father's sanction. Once reconciled to him, and the world is before us,
+to minister, sweet Elinor, to your every wish."
+
+"What if he should punish you for my offence?"
+
+"For your offence, dear girl! and what is that? Think not of it. I go
+to remove your fears and seal our happiness!"
+
+With these and similar words of confidence and hope, the youth
+departed on his errand. Not without some misgiving and apprehension,
+however, did he present himself at that door which heretofore had
+flown open at his approach, always offering to his view the forms of
+obsequious lackeys, only too willing to anticipate his pleasure. The
+establishment of Lord Railton in a striking manner represented the
+sentiments and feelings of the noble proprietor. There was not a
+servant in the house who did not know, and that most accurately, the
+opinions, public and private, of "my lord," and the relative regard he
+had for all who approached his noble person, and who, moreover, did
+not give evidence of this knowledge in his conduct towards mankind. A
+stranger might have formed a just opinion of the influence of a
+visitor by simply remarking the bearing of Mister Brown the butler, as
+he ushered that visitor into the sublime presence. Smiles of
+welcome--a sweet relaxation of the features--greeted "the favoured
+guest;" cold rigidity, withering politeness, if not the stern
+expression of rebuke itself, were the undisguised acknowledgments of
+one who was "a bore" in his lordship's study, and consequently "a
+rejected" in the steward's room. During the boyhood of Rupert
+Sinclair, and whilst his mamma was known to be affectionately disposed
+to spoil her offspring by every kind of cruel indulgence, the regard
+entertained for the young scion, from Mister Brown downwards, was
+beautiful to contemplate. If he appeared in the hall, one sickening
+and hollow smile pervaded the cheeks of every individual; the tongue
+that was still wet with slander and abuse, became, as if by magic,
+sugary with choice phrases; and not a soul of all the lying crew, but
+sought to surpass the rest by the profuseness of its palpable and
+unmeaning flattery. Rupert Sinclair, worldly wise though he was not,
+would have been stolid indeed had he not gathered from the porter's
+air something of the reception that awaited him from his offended
+sire, when the wide portal opened to receive the unforgiven prodigal.
+
+"His lordship?"----began Rupert inquiringly.
+
+"Not at home, sir," said the flunkey, with all imaginable coolness
+interrupting him.
+
+"Lady Railton?"
+
+"Not at home, sir."
+
+"She is in town?"
+
+"In town, sir?--yes, sir."
+
+"I will wait," said Sinclair, moving towards the inner hall.
+
+He had not spoken before the porter pulled with all his might at a
+bell-wire that communicated with the steward's room. As though the
+signals were preconcerted, Mister Brown was in the hall in no time,
+and confronting the intruder upon the thresh-hold of the sanctuary. "I
+beg your pardon, Mr Sinclair," said Mister Brown, half respectfully,
+half confidentially. "Lord Railton is par_tic_ularly engaged this
+morning, and has given orders to that effect. It is the painfulest
+thing to communicate, but I am but an agent."
+
+Rupert coloured up, and hesitated for a moment.
+
+"I must see Lady Railton, then?" he continued hastily.
+
+"Her ladyship is ill, sir--really very ill. She is not suffered to see
+any body. My lord has forbidden any one to approach her but her maid.
+I hope no offence, but I heard Doctor Bennett tell her ladyship that
+it was of the highest consequence to keep Mr Sinclair away for the
+present."
+
+"Is she really so ill, sir?" asked Rupert, turning pale, and with a
+quivering lip.
+
+Mister Brown drew his handkerchief from his pocket, and applied it to
+his eyes.
+
+"She is indeed, sir," said that hoary hypocrite; "we have had a
+dreadful time of it. I thought his lordship would have blown his
+brains out. My lady was given over for a week. For my own part, I may
+say that duty and feeling have struggled in my bosom till I am quite
+worn out, and it's quite impossible for me to say who will be laid up
+next."
+
+"I _must_ see my father, Mr Brown," said Sinclair, advancing a step or
+two, to the great discomfort of the butler, who was evidently sadly
+perplexed by the conflicting emotions of his mind; for whilst he
+acknowledged Lord Railton for his master, he respected Mr Sinclair as
+his heir, and felt how important it was to obey his present lord
+without declining to serve the youth whom he hoped to make his future
+lord. "I _must_ see him. Go to him, I beg of you, and tell him I am
+here."
+
+So saying, Mr Sinclair advanced a few steps further, and found himself
+unhindered in the dining-room--moreover, to his surprise and
+agitation, in the presence of his father. Mister Brown vanished. To
+behold his parent, to fall on his knees before him, and to grasp his
+hand, was the work of a moment. Lord Railton recoiled as though a
+serpent, and not his child, had wound about him. He was livid with
+rage, and an unnatural hate was settled in his cold, yet piercing eye.
+
+"Your pardon, father!" cried the youth.
+
+"Never, so help me"----
+
+"Oh, do not say it, father!" exclaimed the son, interrupting him
+before the awful word was spoken; "for heaven's sake, do not call that
+name to witness such a fearful sentence--do not drive me to
+distraction!"
+
+"You have driven me mad; you have blasted every hope of mine. You have
+been a traitor and a shame to the name you bear, and of which I would
+it were in my power to deprive you as easily as it is to attach to it
+the curse with which you shall receive from me your title and your
+inheritance. Begone! I never knew what it was to hate till now."
+
+Rupert arose and burst into tears. His father looked at him unmoved
+except by scorn.
+
+"You have not seen her," exclaimed Rupert, when the first burst of
+grief had passed away; "you do not know the value of the child whom
+you reject."
+
+"No, but I have heard. The _world_ has heard of our disgrace. Mark me,
+you are no longer child of mine. I disown and discard you. I will
+enter into no particulars. From this moment I will hold no further
+intercourse with you. At my death you will obtain my name, and all
+that the law allows you. Until my death, you will receive from my man
+of business more than a sufficient sum for your support. Let me not
+hear from you again. I shall struggle to forget you and your
+ingratitude. Neither in health nor sickness, neither by letter nor in
+person, let me know any thing of you or yours. You have forsaken your
+natural ties for new associations. They have made you a traitor to
+your blood--let them make the most of the adoption."
+
+"Father, you cannot mean it!" cried Rupert in an agony of sorrow.
+
+"Father!" said the old lord, repeating the word; "in virtue of what
+filial act do you claim such a kindred with me? Call that man father
+whose bankrupt fortune and reputation have had such marvellous power
+to wean you from your duty. Mark me, Sinclair--you were the first to
+violate the tie between us, I will be the last to restore or reunite
+it. Leave me. I cannot bear to look upon you."
+
+"My mother!" inquired Sinclair, in a voice that dared not rise above a
+whisper.
+
+"Name not that poor broken-hearted woman," replied Lord Railton:
+"spare me and her the pang of that inquiry. You have killed her."
+
+"Oh, no, no, impossible!" ejaculated Sinclair. "Let me see her, and
+obtain her forgiveness, if I am driven afterwards from your door."
+
+"She lies upon a bed of sickness, placed there by yourself. She will
+never rise again. Your wife must be fair indeed, if her beauty can
+atone for such a murder."
+
+"Oh, you are unjust, most cruel and unjust!"
+
+"You have taught us such injustice and cruelty as we practise. Begone,
+sir! As long as we live, we must not meet again. If you remain in
+England, I shall go abroad. If you travel, I remain in England. The
+sea shall be between us. I reproach myself with nothing. I denied you
+nothing. I knew my duty towards you, and performed it. Your mother
+lived only for your happiness. We have been cursed and disappointed. I
+forget you from this hour. Had I received intelligence this morning of
+your death, it would have given me no pain, evoked no sorrow. You are
+dead to me. Come not again across this threshold and I will endeavour
+to forget that I was not always childless."
+
+And so saying, Lord Railton put an end to the interview by quitting
+the apartment. Grief, in the bosom of Rupert, had already given place
+to offended pride and resentment--such resentment, at least, as his
+mild nature understood. Whatever might have been his offence, he felt
+that it did not, could not deserve the vindictive hatred which burned
+no less in his father's countenance than in his terrible
+denunciations. What! was it a crime to link one's fate with virtuous
+innocence and beauty, such as hers who called him husband? If it was a
+fault to carve one's own way to happiness, did it deserve a harsher
+condemnation than that apportioned to the felon? The image of Elinor
+rose for the protection of the youth, and armed him with courage for
+the trial of that hour. He came a suppliant; but he returned in
+triumph: he came acknowledging his offence and suing for forgiveness;
+he returned justified and self-acquitted. Deprived of love and
+friendship at the hearth and home of his youth, he appreciated at even
+more than their value the joys that had been created for him in the
+palace of his own bright home, where a divinity presided as queen. The
+punishment he received for her dear sake, rendered her, if that were
+possible, the object still more of his passionate regard. He would
+have made any sacrifice to appease the anger of his father and the
+offended pride of his mother--he did not believe in the dangerous
+illness of the latter--but repulsed like a dog from their side, he
+deemed himself absolved from further trials of their tenderness,
+additional exercise of his own forbearance and filial duty.
+
+It was during the day of his visit to Grosvenor Square that Sinclair
+was honoured with a return visit from the attorney of Lord Railton.
+That gentleman had received instructions that very morning to pay to
+the order of Mr Rupert Sinclair the sum of one thousand pounds per
+annum, in quarterly payments of two hundred and fifty pounds each:
+"But really," as the legal gentleman said to Rupert, upon breaking the
+matter to him, "he could not reconcile it to his sense of duty, and to
+the esteem which it was natural for him to entertain towards every
+member of Lord Railton's family--to perform his very unthankful
+office without using all his humble efforts to bring about a
+reconciliation, which in every respect was so very desirable. God
+forbid that business should ever prevent him from doing his duty as a
+Christian."
+
+It need hardly be said that Mr Crawly, the attorney in question, was
+too keen a judge of things in general to throw dirt in the face of the
+rising sun, simply because he had worshipped the setting luminary a
+few hours before. Like all who depended more or less upon the estates
+of the Railton family for their support, it was of the highest
+consequence to maintain a good understanding with either party. If
+Lord Railton fed Mr Crawly now, Rupert Sinclair was expected to feed
+by and by Crawly's son and heir, who was preparing himself for the
+paternal stool by a short round of folly and extravagance at the
+university. Who could tell? Lord Railton might die to-morrow--he had
+had a squeak or two--and Crawly had been called to make his will: or
+he might forgive his son--or twenty things might happen to remove
+present differences, and restore the divided interest to its first
+integrity. Crawly had boasted to his relations and friends for the
+first twenty years of his official career, that he had never made one
+enemy; and when he set up his carriage in the prime of life, he
+invented his own arms and crest, and assumed for his motto the words,
+"always agreeable."
+
+"It really is, my dear Sinclair," said Crawly, "a thousand pities that
+we cannot bring about a more satisfactory state of things; but I do
+hope that time will do wonders. Some excuses must be made for Lord
+Railton. Remember his age."
+
+[He had said the same thing to Lord Railton in the morning: "Some
+excuses must be made for Mr Sinclair, my lord. Remember his _youth_!"]
+
+"I cannot but think, Mr Crawly," answered Rupert, "that I have been
+treated with unmerited harshness."
+
+"I cannot say, Mr Sinclair--I do not think it would become me to
+reply--that you have been treated handsomely."
+
+[Crawly, Crawly! you spoke those words in Grosvenor Square!]
+
+"I accept the allowance, sir, and will make the most of it. You may
+assure my father that I shall not prefer any further claims upon his
+bounty, or force myself again into his presence."
+
+"As for bounty, my dear Mr Sinclair, you must permit me to state that
+the expression is hardly a correct one. The property of his lordship
+descends to you, and you are perfectly justified in spending freely
+what is your own."
+
+["Mr Crawly," said Lord Railton, in Grosvenor Square that morning,
+foaming with rage, "I will deprive him of every shilling that is not
+his own. I have been economical for his sake; I will be extravagant to
+spite him."
+
+"_My lord_," replied Crawly, "_you are perfectly justified in spending
+freely what is your own_."]
+
+"May I take the liberty, Mr Sinclair," said the lawyer after a pause,
+"to inquire what your present views may be?"
+
+"I am undecided, sir. I know not whether I shall remain here or go
+abroad. My father's reception of me has staggered and confounded me. I
+would have consulted his wishes had he received me as his son. I have
+now to satisfy only my own convenience."
+
+"I shall pay your annuity, Mr Sinclair, into your banker's regularly
+every quarter-day. The first payment will be made in advance. I need
+not assure you, I trust, that I act in this most painful business
+rather as a mediator and a friend than a hired agent. There may be a
+time when an additional advance may be both convenient and acceptable.
+I have known you long, Mr Rupert. I know you to be a man of honour. I
+have only to add, that at such times you will confer a favour upon me
+by making me your banker, and commanding my purse."
+
+I wonder if this was the reason why Mr Crawly suggested to Lord
+Railton the propriety of grinding Mr Sinclair down to as small a sum
+as possible. If so, if it were merely to give himself the opportunity
+of acting like a second father to the castaway, the recommendation
+cannot be too highly applauded.
+
+"Thank you, sir; I shall not trouble you. I know my income, and I
+shall take care to keep my ambition within its bounds. I have had but
+few desires, I have now fewer than ever. A humble cottage and
+contentment are to be prized far beyond a palace and its harassing
+cares. I do not want the world to administer to my happiness. I am the
+happiest of men at home. To have that home invaded by the vulgar
+pleasures of life, would be to rob me of its charm!"
+
+Now nothing could have been more satisfactory than this sentiment, had
+it but been responded to by her upon whom not only the annual expenses
+of Mr Rupert Sinclair's household depended, but his every movement,
+wish, and thought. Unfortunately for the domestic husband, the wife
+understood the bliss of love in a cottage no more than a nightingale
+may be supposed to appreciate the advantages of imprisonment in a cage
+of gold. She was born, and had been educated, in the world. It was the
+scene of her triumphs, the home of her affections. She had played no
+unimportant part in it; her sway had been acknowledged, her beauty had
+gained its victory _there_. _Home!_ she had never known any other, and
+what right had Sinclair to suppose that she was adapted for a
+narrower? He had met her in dissipation, but had he won her from it?
+Hardly; since a few days only had intervened between the hour of their
+meeting, and the still more luckless hour of their union. Was it to be
+imagined, could it in fairness be expected, that this young creature,
+all life all fascination and vanity, with her heart attuned to the
+joys of fashion, with the object of her life attained--with power and
+position now, and wealth and rank to come, would forego all the
+advantages within her reach, all the influence that she felt, and all
+the pleasure that it was simply to ask for, in order to obtain "Love
+in a cottage?" Rupert Sinclair! pull down the thatch, and build some
+marble hall for the fairy you have caught--not chained!
+
+Within six months of his marriage, the Honourable Rupert Sinclair was
+living at the rate of--not one--but five thousand a-year. Persuaded by
+his wife, (who learnt any thing but quiet submission from the tyranny
+of Lord Railton, and whose determination to go abroad was relinquished
+the moment she discovered her absence from England would be agreeable
+to her husband's family,) Rupert had taken a mansion in town, and Mrs
+Rupert Sinclair was the admired of all admirers, a leader of fashion,
+and the proclaimed beauty of her day. Rupert had been dragged into the
+vortex, with no power to hold back, even had he been willing to
+interfere with those delights which gained him a smile of approbation,
+and expressions of gratitude, cheaply purchased at any cost or
+sacrifice of his. True he was fearfully in debt; true Mr Crawly had
+been summoned oftener than once to the rescue; true that wily
+gentleman had advanced heavy sums of money, taking particular care,
+however, to be amply secured by legal documents, and more than amply
+repaid by the exaction of illegal interest. It was perhaps natural for
+Sinclair to believe, as debts accumulated upon debts, that the hour of
+his estrangement from his parents was drawing rapidly to a close, and
+that, although his way of living could not but aggrieve and offend his
+stern and angry father, yet it was impossible nature could suffer him
+much longer to withhold his paternal and forgiving hand. Mental
+reasoning of this character is the last resource of the culpable and
+the self-deluded. Lord Railton, faithful to his threat, went abroad;
+Lady Railton was sufficiently recovered to accompany him; and both
+quitted England without deigning to notice the spend-thrifts, whose
+extravagance and need were soon the common talk of scandalmongers,
+dissatisfied tradesmen, and spiteful serving-men. Yet there was no
+flinching on the part of Rupert. A cloud of anxiety might sit
+temporarily on his brow, a sigh now and then escape him; but he
+uttered no remonstrance, and took no pains to stem the tide of folly
+and prodigality that flowed unceasingly within his walls. His love for
+Elinor had increased rather than diminished since their marriage. He
+was proud of the homage of mankind, and knew her worthy of the
+highest. Why should he seek to restrain the innocent pleasures of a
+woman for whose gratification and happiness he lived? Why curtail the
+joys in which she had participated almost from infancy? why prevent
+her from crowning a scene, for the adornment of which she was created
+and eminently fitted?
+
+And where was General Travis during this brief season of intoxication
+and wanton waste? At Calais, whither his liabilities had banished him,
+and were likely to detain him for some time to come. There was no
+doubt of his ruin. He lived with his melancholy-looking wife and
+younger daughter, upon a pittance secured upon the life of the former,
+but hardly sufficient to support them in decency. Yet they maintained,
+even in their reverses, a style that to a degree reflected on the
+scene of their exile the brilliancy of their brighter years. Could it
+be that the substance of poor Rupert Sinclair was ministering here
+also to the vices of this unhappy family? I fear there is no doubt of
+it. The general was as huge a braggart as ever. He insisted upon
+drawing a line midway between the highest and the lowest of the
+swindling fraternity to which he belonged, and by whom he was
+surrounded, and suffered intercourse to exist only with the favoured
+members of the upper class. He was prating for ever of his son-in-law,
+his connexions, his influence with the ministry through the potent
+Lord Railton, and was most lavish of his promises of preferment to any
+credulous individual whom he could persuade to favour him with the
+eternal loan of a five-pound note. General Travis had, not
+unaccountably perhaps, acquired much power over the mind of Sinclair.
+Expelled from his natural counsellors, who, in their best days, had
+been any thing but faithful advisers,--harassed and tormented by
+growing cares, it is not to be wondered at, that he should seek
+counsel and aid from one whom he believed to be a thorough man of the
+world--who was bound to him by the closest ties, and of whose
+integrity and honour he had not the remotest suspicion. It was General
+Travis who instructed Sinclair in the recondite science of raising
+money--and of staving off the attacks of tradesmen with the weapons of
+generous usurers: who taught him that still more marvellous art of
+civilized life, of living upon one thousand a-year more sumptuously
+than your neighbour with ten; and who day after day persuaded him, by
+arguments which I cannot attempt to recite, that by forestalling his
+inheritance in his youth, he would not materially affect the property
+which must accrue to him in his age. It may be that the arguments
+would have been more severely tested had they come from any other than
+Elinor's father--had they not been employed to increase the comforts
+and desires of Elinor herself. But whether this be so or not, it is
+certain that Rupert Sinclair, for a long time, was a helpless victim
+in the hands of a bold and ruthless destroyer.
+
+Chance, I have hinted at the beginning of this chapter, brought Rupert
+and myself together at singular times and places, and made me an actor
+in his history whether I would or not. Since his first letter to me, I
+had heard from him but once; _of_ him, alas! I had heard too much. He
+was in the height of his giddy career, when I passed through London
+for the first time since his marriage, and resolved to pay him a
+visit. I arrived late in the evening, and I had but a few hours at my
+command, for early in the morning I was to start for France by the
+Calais packet. When I reached my hotel, I sent my card to the
+residence of my friend, who instantly invited me to his too hospitable
+roof. There was a gay and brilliant assembly in his house that
+evening, and, as usual, Elinor outshone the multitude in beauty and
+animation. She received me cordially, and kindly held out her
+snow-white hand at my approach, and greeted me with a smile of
+fascination that robbed me of whatever displeasure I had brought with
+me on account of her proceedings. How could I reproach Sinclair for
+submitting to the spell that governed him, when it was impossible for
+me--a stranger, and one certainly not prepossessed in her favor--to
+resist it?
+
+Sinclair was much altered in appearance. He looked jaded and unhappy.
+There was nothing in his countenance harmonizing with the scene around
+him. He seldom spoke, and to all my questions he returned evasive
+answers, seeking rather to direct his discourse to matters in which
+neither of us found a personal interest, than to his own affairs,
+which at the time had far more interest for me than my own.
+
+"I am glad you are here to-night, Wilson," said Rupert, as we sat
+together. "To-morrow I leave town for a few days, and we should not
+have met had you arrived a day later."
+
+"I am off to France myself to-night for a week or more, and----"
+
+As I spoke, I saw the colour in Sinclair's cheek rapidly changing. He
+was evidently surprised and chagrined by the intelligence.
+
+"Can I serve you," said I at once, taking advantage of my opportunity,
+"by remaining in town?"
+
+"No, no, I thank you. What route do you take?"
+
+"By packet to Calais, and from Calais to Paris by the formidable
+diligence. Can I help you at the seat of politeness and art?"
+
+"No, I thank you," replied Sinclair, changing colour again. "You are
+aware that my father is in Paris?"
+
+"So I have heard. It is said that his lordship"----
+
+"Do not speak of it," he said, mildly interrupting me. "Whatever may
+happen to me, I cannot but think that the blame must rest ultimately
+there."
+
+"Do you fear evil, then?" I eagerly inquired.
+
+Mr Crawly came up at this moment, with his lady upon his arm, and
+Crawly, junior, lounging in his immediate rear. The latter was an
+Adonis in his way--got up with a perfect contempt of expense and all
+propriety. Crawly beckoned to Sinclair, who at once quitted my side
+and walked over to him, whilst I was left in possession of Mrs Crawly
+and the hopeful. I escaped as soon as I could, and seeing no more of
+Sinclair, took my departure at a comparatively early hour.
+
+Three nights after this, I was roused from sleep in my bed at the
+Hotel Louis Seize, (a comfortable hotel in those days, bordering on
+the marketplace in Calais,) by a murmuring sound which at first I
+believed to be nothing more than a portion of an unsatisfactory dream
+in which I had once again found myself with Rupert and his lady in
+London. Satisfying myself that the dream and the sound were distinct,
+I was already again midway between the lands of life and death, when
+the tones of a voice roused me almost like a cannon-shot from my
+couch, and caused me seriously to inquire whether I was sleeping or
+waking, dreaming or acting. I could have sworn that the voice I had
+heard belonged to Rupert Sinclair. I jumped from my bed, and struck a
+light. It was twelve o'clock by my watch. For a few seconds all was as
+silent as the grave; then I heard most distinctly a step along the
+passage, into which my bed-room conducted--the sound of a door
+opening, closing, and immediately a heavy tread in the adjoining room.
+Two chairs were then drawn close to a table; upon the latter a
+rough-voiced man knocked with his fist, and exclaimed at the same
+moment--
+
+"There are the papers, then!"
+
+Surely I had heard that voice before. To whom could it belong? Whilst
+I still puzzled my brains to remember, another voice replied. It was
+impossible to mistake _that_. Most assuredly it was Rupert Sinclair's.
+
+"I see them!" it said; every syllable bringing fresh perspiration on
+my brow.
+
+How came he here? what was his business? and with whom? A thin
+partition merely divided my bed-room from that in which the speakers
+were. Had I been inclined to close my ears against their words, it
+would have been difficult. Anxious, and even eager, to obtain
+knowledge of the movements of my friend, I made no scruple of
+listening most attentively to every word. Who knew but he was in the
+hands of sharpers, and might I not have been providentially sent to
+his rescue? At all events I listened, and not a syllable did I suffer
+to escape me.
+
+"I know, my dear young friend," began the rougher voice--whose but
+General Travis's?--"that you are anxious to do what is best for us
+all. Your interest, you know, is my daughter's, and my daughter's is,
+of course, mine. We are all in one boat."
+
+"Yes, undoubtedly," said Rupert.
+
+"These debts are very large," continued the general.
+
+"Yes," replied Sinclair; "and some of them must be discharged
+forthwith. Crawly is impatient and angry, and accuses me of having
+used him ill."
+
+"Crawly is a villain," said the general hurriedly; "he has made a
+fortune out of you, and now wishes to back out. The interest alone
+that he has exacted has been enough to ruin you."
+
+"Your messenger, you say, failed to see my father?"
+
+"Yes. His lordship closed his doors upon him, and took no notice of
+his letter, in which he asked that some amicable arrangement might be
+made with respect to the property that must evidently come to you."
+
+There succeeded to this a few sentences in an under tone from either
+party, which I could not make out.
+
+"Then what is to be done?" murmured Sinclair again in a tone of
+entreaty.
+
+"Don't be advised by me, my friend," said the general in a subdued
+voice, which I strained my ears to catch; "God forbid that you should
+reproach me hereafter for advice which I tender solely with a view to
+your peace of mind and comfort. Heaven knows you have had little peace
+of late!"
+
+Rupert sighed heavily.
+
+"I have for the last week been turning the matter over and over
+seriously. As I said before, I can have no object but your well-doing,
+and--naturally--my child's--my child's, Sinclair--your loving, and I
+know, beloved wife."
+
+"I believe it," said Rupert.
+
+"Is any one aware of your visit here?"
+
+"Not a creature."
+
+"Crawly?"
+
+"Was with me the very night I started, but he does not suspect. He
+believes that I am now in England."
+
+"Now, my dear friend, I don't think I ought to say what"--
+
+As ill luck would have it, I coughed. The general ceased upon the
+instant, and opened his door hastily. I blew out my light, and held my
+breath.
+
+"What was that?" asked the general in a whisper.
+
+Both listened for a few seconds, and then the general proceeded, still
+whispering.
+
+"There was a man in London whom I found in my reverses faithful and
+considerate; an honest man in a world of dishonesty and knavery. He is
+well to do in life, and he has visited me here. Nay, he is here
+now--has been here some days; is in this very hotel."
+
+"What of him?" asked Rupert.
+
+"We are as brothers, and I have entrusted him with the history of your
+affairs. He is willing to assist and relieve you; and he can do it,
+for he has a mint of money."
+
+"I must borrow no more, sir," eagerly interposed Sinclair. "My
+liabilities are even now greater than I can bear. My income will not
+pay the interest of the money that has been advanced."
+
+"And therefore comes my friend in the very nick of time to save you. I
+agree with you that it would be ridiculous to think of further loans.
+Your only plan now is to sell out and out. This you may do
+advantageously, relieve yourself of every incumbrance, and retain
+sufficient for the future, if you will be but moderately careful, and
+invest your capital with caution."
+
+"How do you mean?" inquired my friend.
+
+The general whispered lower than ever, as though ashamed that even the
+bare walls should witness his heartless proposition. I gathered his
+suggestion from the quick and anxious answer.
+
+"What!" exclaimed Sinclair, "sell my inheritance, part with my
+birth-right?"
+
+"No! neither sell nor part with it--but forestall and enjoy it."
+
+I heard no more. There came a gentle knock at the door of the room in
+which Rupert and his father-in-law were speaking; the door softly
+opened, and another visitor arrived. Sinclair's name was mentioned by
+way of introduction; then the stranger's, which escaped me; and
+shortly afterwards the whole party quitted the apartment, as it
+seemed, maintaining a dead silence--for, listen as eagerly as I would,
+not a syllable could I gather. Repose was impossible that night. After
+keeping my position for about half an hour, I hastily dressed, and
+sallied forth in quest of information. I descended, and inquired of
+the first servant whom I could summon, the names of the English
+gentlemen who were then staying in the house. My answer was very
+unsatisfactory.
+
+"There was Milor Anglais," said the man who was the great referee of
+the house in all matters pertaining to the English tongue, "friend of
+Mons. le General; the gentleman as come to-morrow; Monsieur Jones who
+vos arrive yesterday; Monsieur Smith, his ami, and Monsieur Sir John
+Alderman, Esquire, vith his madame and petite famille. There vos none
+more."
+
+With this imperfect information, I returned to my couch, not to sleep,
+but to form some plan that would save my unhappy friend from the fangs
+of the sharks who were about to sacrifice him to their rapacity. He
+stood upon the very verge of destruction. There could be no doubt of
+it. How to get sight of him--how to warn him of his danger--how to
+help him out of the difficulties into which extravagance and
+wickedness had brought him? These were some of the questions that
+crowded upon my disturbed mind during the whole of the anxious
+night--questions that easily came--were less easily dismissed, and
+still less easily answered with comfort to myself, or with prospect of
+salvation to my friend.
+
+The first individual I saw, upon leaving my apartment on the following
+morning, was General Travis himself. He was walking hastily
+down-stairs, evidently about to quit the hotel. I called his name. He
+started more like the thief "who fears each bush an officer," than the
+traveller "who fears each bush a thief," and turned his restless eye
+upon me. At first he pretended not to know me--then he bowed, and
+continued his way.
+
+"One moment, general," said I, stopping him. "I have a word to say to
+you."
+
+"I am somewhat pressed for time this morning--but a moment is easily
+spared," replied the general very collectedly. He followed me
+up-stairs, and entered my room. I closed the door.
+
+"You have seen my friend lately?" I asked in nervous haste.
+
+"Your friend?" rejoined General Travis. "To whom have I the honour to
+speak?"
+
+His effrontery was amusing. I looked at him hard--but his countenance
+in no way betrayed him.
+
+"My name is Wilson," said I; "that of my friend, Rupert Sinclair."
+
+"O--h! I remember!" exclaimed the cunning master, with all the
+affectation of extreme surprise. "And how did you leave Sinclair--gay,
+giddy, and happy as ever?"
+
+I gazed upon the man with a view to shame him into blushing. I was
+grievously disappointed. He returned me gaze for gaze, and looked
+unconscious innocence itself. I resolved to bring our business to a
+crisis without further parley.
+
+"General Travis," I began, "I was last night, I will not say the
+unwilling, but certainly the unintentional listener to the plan
+propounded by you to my inexperienced friend, your son-in-law, of
+whose presence in this town you seem so lamentably ignorant."
+
+The general _did_ change colour now. He was about to speak, when I
+stopped him.
+
+"Hear me!" I continued aloud and sternly. "I know the man with whom I
+have to deal. It is but fair that we should be on equal terms. I go
+this day to London to denounce your conspiracy, and to prevent its
+success. Your scheme for beggaring your children, and enriching
+yourself, clever as it is, is killed in the bud. Attempt to carry it
+out, and the law shall reach you even here."
+
+"My dear Mr"----interposed the general.
+
+"Let us have no argument," I proceeded in the same loud tone; "my
+business is to prevent the havoc you would bring about, and rest
+assured I will. Make no new attempts upon the credulity of your
+victim, and you are safe. Take another step in the nefarious business,
+and I solemnly vow to heaven that I will not leave you till I have
+exacted a fearful penalty for your crime."
+
+"You really, Mr Wilson, do"----stammered the general, with increasing
+awkwardness at every word.
+
+"Where is Mr Sinclair now?" I vehemently asked.
+
+"Gone," replied the general.
+
+"Whither?"
+
+"To England."
+
+"Satisfy me of the truth of this--give me your solemn promise to urge
+him no more to the commission of an act which insures his ruin, and I
+leave you. Refuse me, and I will expose your designs, and brand you to
+the world as the unnatural and cruel destroyer I have found you."
+
+The general manifestly believed me to be in possession of more than I
+knew. He fairly quailed beneath my impetuosity and anger. I had
+expected resistance and battle. I met with mean capitulation and fear.
+He shuffled out apologies--entreated me to believe that he was
+actuated only by the sincerest wishes for his children's
+welfare--indeed, how could it be otherwise?--and assured me that
+although he might have been mistaken in the plans he had formed for Mr
+Sinclair's extrication, his motives were unquestioned, and as pure as
+could be. Still I might see these things with different eyes, and a
+better remedy might suggest itself to me. For his part, he should be
+glad to listen to it, and to recommend it to Sinclair's attention. At
+all events, he was prepared to engage to proceed no further with the
+transaction of which I had obtained knowledge, and all he asked in
+return was, that I should not wait upon Lord Railton, and acquaint him
+with what had transpired. To communicate the matter to his lordship,
+would be to shut out finally and for ever the last hopes of the
+unhappy children.
+
+My promise was given, as soon as I learned for certain that Rupert had
+set sail for London by the packet that quitted Calais harbour at an
+early hour that morning. My own business urged me to proceed forthwith
+to Paris, but I could not be easy until I had secured the fulfilment
+of General Travis's engagement by another interview with Rupert.
+Accordingly, I returned to England. My task with Sinclair was an easy
+one. He had already had the good sense to discover that to part with
+all that he had in the world for a sum that must be dissipated in a
+few years at the most, would be an act of madness which no amount of
+pressing difficulty could warrant. Moreover, the sum of money that was
+offered by the gentleman whose honesty and generosity had been so
+highly lauded by the general, had been so shamefully small, that
+Rupert retreated with horror from the abyss towards which he had so
+incautiously advanced. I received a full assurance from the harassed
+man that he would suffer any extremity rather than listen again to
+similar propositions, and then I recommenced my journey with an easier
+conscience. So far, a tremendous blow had been averted. But what would
+happen next--what scheme the general would next suggest--what measures
+the very critical condition of Sinclair's affairs would make
+absolutely necessary--it was impossible to guess--to foresee, or to
+think of without deep anxiety and great alarm.
+
+Six months elapsed, and Rupert Sinclair was still rapidly descending.
+With increased and increasing liabilities, there was more profuseness
+and greater recklessness. No one knew better than Rupert himself the
+folly and even sinfulness of his mode of life, yet any body would have
+found it easier than himself to put a stop to it. He was absorbed in
+the existence of his wife. As I have already said, her life was
+his--her wishes, her thoughts, and aims. She could not desire, and he
+not gratify; she could not ask to be a queen amidst the throng in
+which she moved, and he not place her on the throne at any sacrifice,
+however costly; at any risk, however desperate. This was the secret of
+his misery. And then from day to day, he lived bankrupt-like, on hope.
+Something would happen. He had faith in the love of his mother, in the
+natural goodness of a father's heart. Time would heal the wound that
+had been inflicted; and incline them to look with commiseration on
+youthful errors easy to repair.
+
+A glimmering of promise stole forth at this crisis of the history. The
+critical position of the ministry for the time being, had brought Lord
+Railton and his wife back to England; and I resolved, in my eagerness
+to serve my unhappy pupil, to see her ladyship, and to make an
+attempt at reconciliation, even if it should be repulsed with the
+insult I had met with at her husband's hands. I could not suffer
+Sinclair to sink, so long as one effort might save him. I had heard
+that, cold and selfish as Lady Railton was, love for her child had
+been a redeeming point in her character from the moment of his birth.
+Feeling surely was not dead within her! Could I but gain an interview,
+would it not be easy to recall in her heart natural emotions, which,
+though deadened, might never be entirely hushed, and to extract
+sympathy from a bosom already inclined to pity by love? The attempt
+was a bold one--but the prize, in the event of success, was not small;
+and surely worth a venture. I took courage, and was not wholly
+disappointed.
+
+His lordship, I had heard upon inquiry, was generally absent from home
+during the forenoon. One morning, at ten o'clock precisely, I
+presented myself at Grosvenor Square, and sent my card to her
+ladyship. I was admitted at once. In an elegantly furnished boudoir,
+surrounded by all the luxuries that money could furnish, or the
+pampered sense demand, I beheld Lady Railton, for the first time since
+the marriage of her son. She sat behind an open screen, through which
+she spoke to me, with her eyes bent to the table on which her arms
+rested. She had been writing at the moment of my announcement; and
+though excited by my presence, her countenance betrayed more
+satisfaction than displeasure at my visit. A visible change had taken
+place in her. She was much thinner than when I saw her last; her eyes
+were sunken, and her cheek was very pale; she was evidently suffering
+from the shock which I had occasioned her, for her thin lips were
+tightly pressed together, and quivering at the corners. I felt deep
+pity for the slave of fashion; but gathered courage also from the
+pleasing exhibition of sensibility in one whom God had made a mother
+to save her from heartlessness.
+
+"Shut the door, Mr Wilson," said Lady Railton in an under tone, "and
+pray be seated."
+
+I complied with her request.
+
+"You have been somewhat tardy, methinks, in finding your way hither,"
+proceeded her ladyship.
+
+I informed her of my visit to Lord Railton, and its disagreeable
+termination. She had not heard of it.
+
+"Lord Railton," she continued, "has requested me to hold no
+intercourse with my son, and his lordship's requests have ever been
+commands to me. I have not disobeyed him. But I have looked for you. I
+made no promise to deny admittance to you. You were his friend. When
+did you see him?"
+
+"Very lately, madam," I answered.
+
+"He is in great difficulty and trouble--is he not?"
+
+I shook my head.
+
+Kind nature pleaded for poor Rupert. The mother attempted to
+speak--once--twice: her lips trembled: she could not: a flood of tears
+saved her from choking.
+
+"He is well?" she asked at length.
+
+"Well," I answered, "but for his trials--which are severe indeed."
+
+"What can be done?" inquired Lady Railton.
+
+"To bring him peace of mind--to repair the mischief that has
+happened--to secure prudence for the future--to save him from utter
+ruin, I know no remedy save reconciliation with his parents."
+
+Lady Railton sighed deeply, and exclaimed--
+
+"Impossible!"
+
+"Indeed!" said I, as if surprised.
+
+"Lord Railton is inexorable. He has listened to my appeals unmoved: he
+will listen to them no longer. Unhappy Rupert!"
+
+"Unhappy indeed!" said I.
+
+"His wife is very fair, they say?"
+
+"Lovely, madam!"
+
+"But wilful and extravagant?"
+
+"Wayward, perhaps, but young. Oh Lady Railton, do not revenge too
+harshly upon a spoiled child of nature and the world, the sins of the
+world's committing. Mrs Sinclair has a warm and affectionate heart;
+she is devoted to her husband. Your ladyship's friendship and advice
+would at once render her all you could hope to find in the wife of
+your son. Permit me to say that the absence of your countenance has
+alone been sufficient to"----
+
+"Alas! you urge in vain. I dare not see them!"
+
+"It is a hard saying, madam," I rejoined: "may you not live to repent
+it!"
+
+Lady Railton rose from her seat, came from behind the screen, and
+paced her small chamber with perturbation. She suddenly stopped before
+a cabinet--a drawer of which she unlocked, and produced from it a
+pocket-book.
+
+"Take this, Mr Wilson," she said in a hurried and faltering voice. "I
+dare not see him--must not correspond with him. I am his mother, and I
+feel bitterly, most bitterly for him. But I am Lord Railton's wife,
+and I know my duty. He has disgraced us--irreparably, irrecoverably.
+You cannot understand how deep the stain is which our name has
+suffered; you cannot calculate the wrong inflicted on my husband.
+Reconciliation is hopeless!"
+
+"And this pocket-book, madam?" I coldly asked.
+
+"Contains an order on my banker for three thousand pounds--all that I
+have been able to hoard up for my unhappy boy since he deserted us.
+The sum, I know, is trifling, compared with his exigencies. But what
+can I do? His own conduct has rendered me helpless."
+
+Poor Lady Railton, to do her justice, suffered much from the struggle
+between maternal feeling and her mistaken sense of duty. Her eyes
+filled with tears again, and she sat before me sobbing bitterly.
+
+"Let me entreat your ladyship," I exclaimed with animation, "to make
+one effort for the redemption of the children whom you may lose for
+ever by the stern course you now adopt. Your influence with Lord
+Railton is naturally and deservedly very great. I cannot bring myself
+to believe that he will be insensible to your appeals, if you will but
+urge them with the earnestness and tenderness which so well become
+you. I an satisfied that the difficulties of Mr Sinclair would cease
+at once, and his happiness as well as your own be secured, if he could
+find parents and advisers in those to whom he has a right to look for
+advice and aid. Whatever his extravagance may have been, whatever his
+youthful follies, I do implore your ladyship to bear in mind, that not
+he alone is answerable for them, but they also in part who deserted
+him in the hour of his greatest need. You may save him now--when I
+next meet your ladyship, the time will have passed away."
+
+"Spare me this anguish," said her ladyship with assumed calmness. "I
+repeat--it is impossible. The hour may come when it shall be permitted
+me to satisfy the promptings of my heart. Till that hour arrives, it
+is but torture to be reminded of my inability and weakness."
+
+"Pardon me, Lady Railton--I have done."
+
+I was about to rise, when her ladyship checked me.
+
+"In that pocket-book, Mr Wilson," she continued, "you will find a
+correspondence respecting the sale of Sinclair's commission."
+
+"His commission!" said I with surprise, for I had not heard of his
+desire to sell out before.
+
+"Yes. He now awaits a purchaser of his commission to be gazetted out.
+I have prevented the sale hitherto. Assure him--not from me, but from
+yourself, that however slender is the hope now of his father's
+ultimate forgiveness, he cuts it off entirely by that act. Let the
+commission be withdrawn at once from the Horse-guards; the draft that
+accompanies the correspondence will make up to him the sum he loses.
+
+"Am I to present it as a gift from your ladyship?"
+
+"No--yes--as you will; but let him not write or communicate with me in
+any way. I have engaged to hold no intercourse with him, and I cannot
+disobey the injunctions of Lord Railton." I rose; her ladyship gave me
+her hand with an expression of good will, and then suffered me to
+depart without another word.
+
+Things were really mending. In Lady Railton we had unquestionably a
+friend, time and opportunity serving. It was of the highest consequence
+to be assured of that. With her upon our side, I had no fear of
+eventual peace and harmony, provided measures could be taken for
+present difficulties; whilst, without her, every effort would have been
+purposeless, and even worse. Nor was this our only gleam of sunshine.
+When I returned to Rupert, the glad messenger of good tidings, I found
+that another friend had been sent by Providence to the rescue. Amongst
+the many high-born and eminent individuals whom the beauty and genius
+of Elinor had attracted to the gay habitation of Rupert Sinclair, was
+one who enjoyed, in an especial degree, the favour of his sovereign,
+and who was intimately connected by ties of blood and friendship with
+the commander-in-chief of his majesty's forces. The Earl of Minden had
+little to recommend him beyond his influence with the court and the
+powers that were. He belonged to an old family, of which he was the
+last lineal representative; was master of unbounded wealth, but was
+selfish, grasping, and mean to the last degree. He had a small body,
+but still smaller mind. Generation after generation, the head of the
+family to which he belonged, had held high office in the state, and had
+helped to govern the country without genius for statesmanship, or the
+ordinary ability of their humble business men. Office came to them as a
+matter of right, and custom had induced a people, slow to interfere
+with prescription, to regard the Earls of Minden as divinely appointed
+rulers, whom it would be sacrilege to depose. By marriage, the Earl of
+Minden was connected with the chief families of England: he had
+represented his king and country at the principal courts of Europe,
+where his magnificence and prodigality--for meanness itself may be
+lavish--had gained for him, as a matter of course, inordinate
+admiration and regard. Powerful with the ministry--the owner of four
+boroughs--the acknowledged friend, and even associate of royalty--what
+commoner did not feel honoured by his patronage?--what noble not
+gratified by his esteem? Lord Minden had but few of the weaknesses
+common to mankind. Proud and self-sufficient, he acknowledged no
+supremacy but that of woman. The only graceful infirmity of which his
+contemporaries could accuse his lordship, and to which posterity might
+point, was the infirmity of the best and bravest--that of a facile
+heart in the affairs of love.
+
+Lord Minden, charmed by the bewitching grace of Elinor Sinclair, had,
+as it were, gladly resigned himself to its sweet influence. He was
+never happier, after what were deemed the fatigues of office, than in
+the brilliant assembly which she could summon at her bidding; never so
+gay as when listening at her side to the arch sallies which drew
+smiles of approval from lips that seldom cared to relax. The
+overbearing peer was content to play the humblest part in the scene of
+which she was the heroine, and to which she imparted a life and spirit
+that were sought in vain elsewhere. The intervention of Lady Railton
+had been already superseded by the generosity of one far more
+influential. The Earl of Minden himself had taken Rupert under his
+all-powerful wing. Not only was the commission restored, but promises
+of advancement were made, and the most flattering assurances of
+friendship and regard liberally offered. Lady Railton's draft, at her
+own request, was applied to the payment of a pressing debt. I
+contrived to make her acquainted with the new and incalculable
+acquisition that had been made. The information had all the effect I
+could desire; her ladyship, dazzled by the brilliancy of the prospect,
+and eager to make as much of it as she could, to my great astonishment
+sent for me, and actually opened negotiations for an interview between
+herself and her so recently discarded son. Oh world! world!
+
+Before these negotiations, however, could lead to any satisfactory
+result, a new colour was given to the state of things, by some
+incidents of a most disagreeable and painful character. I was sitting
+in my room one morning, conning in my mind the most advisable means to
+adopt for the presentation of Sinclair at the parental abode, when a
+modest knock at my door announced a visitor of humble rank. My request
+to "walk in" was timidly responded to by a very old friend, in the
+shape of John Humphrys, the valet of Sinclair, and the oldest servant
+in his establishment. John had nursed his master on his knee, having
+been himself nursed in the house of Lord Railton's father, whose
+coachman had acknowledged John for his son. John had never been
+married, but he loved his master as faithfully as though he had been
+his own child, and had resigned as good a situation as any in the
+kingdom to follow the fortunes of the exile, whatever they might be.
+With this unbounded reverence for Rupert, Humphrys regarded Rupert's
+former instructor in the light of a demigod.
+
+"Ah, John, is it you?" said I. "Step in, old friend, and be seated."
+
+John obeyed awkwardly, twirled his hat about, coughed and hemmed, but
+said nothing.
+
+"Well, Humphrys, what news?" I continued, to give him confidence.
+
+Humphrys shook his head despondingly.
+
+I grew alarmed. "Any thing amiss?" I exclaimed. "Mr Sinclair ill,
+or"----
+
+"All well--in health, sir," stammered John--"all well there. I--I am
+going, sir."
+
+"Going!"
+
+"Yes, sir," said Humphrys in a whisper, and getting up to close the
+door. "My heart's broke."
+
+"Don't desert your master now, John," said I encouragingly. "You have
+weathered the storm hitherto. Things are mending. Take my word for it,
+we shall be in smooth water presently."
+
+Humphrys shook his head again.
+
+"Never, sir!" said he with emphasis, "as sure as my name's John."
+
+"Explain yourself, Humphrys. What is it you have learned?"
+
+"Too much, sir. I can bear it no longer. It is the common talk of the
+servants! I would have stayed with him for a crust till death, but I
+cannot hear him so spoken of."
+
+"You frighten me. Go on."
+
+"I ask your forgiveness, Mr Wilson," proceeded Humphrys, mumbling on,
+"but there are strange things said, and I didn't believe them at
+first,--and I was ready to knock the man down that hinted them to
+me--and I would have done it,--but I have seen, sir--with my own
+eyes--I wish I had been blind!" suddenly and passionately exclaimed
+the good fellow, his eyes overflowing with honest tears.
+
+"Man, man!" said I hastily and vexed. "You talk in riddles. What is it
+you drive at?"
+
+"Can't you guess, sir?" he answered meaningly.
+
+"Guess?"
+
+"Yes, sir,--Mrs Sinclair!"
+
+"Mrs Sinclair?"
+
+"And Lord Minden."
+
+"Lord Minden! For God sake"--
+
+"Hush, sir!" said John, putting his finger to his lips. "I wouldn't
+have any body overhear us for the world. But it's true, it's true, as
+I am a living man."
+
+"It is a lie!" I cried--"an infamous and slanderous lie! Some tale of
+a discharged and disappointed servant--a base conspiracy to destroy a
+good man's character. For shame, John Humphrys--for shame!"
+
+"I don't wonder at you, sir," continued Humphrys. "They were my own
+words; and, until I was satisfied with my own eyes of the truth of
+what I had heard, I wouldn't have believed an angel from heaven. God
+knows, Mr Wilson, it is too true. We have lived to see terrible
+things, sir."
+
+I entreated Humphrys to be still more explicit, and he was so. His
+communication went to show that the interference of Lord Minden in the
+affairs of his master was far from being disinterested, and that the
+price to be exacted for the preferment was much too great to make
+preferment or even life desirable to Rupert Sinclair. If I was
+horrorstruck at this announcement, how shall I describe my feelings
+when he further stated, with a serious and touching earnestness, that,
+as he hoped for salvation hereafter, he firmly believed that Rupert
+Sinclair was a party to his own dishonour. I was about to strike the
+fellow to the earth for his audacity; but I reflected for a moment,
+and was relieved of a load of oppression. I could have laughed
+outright, so overjoyed did I at once become, with the sudden upsetting
+of this tremendous fabrication. Sinclair a party to his own dishonour!
+Any thing short of that might have found me credulous. That accusation
+would have destroyed the unimpeached evidence of saints. I recovered
+myself and spoke.
+
+"You are an honest man, John Humphrys," said I, "a good servant, and
+faithful, I believe. But go your ways, and let not the wicked impose
+upon you more. Your tale is too good by half. Tell your informants,
+that, if they look for success, they must be less ambitious: if they
+desire to bring conviction to their listeners, they must not prove so
+much. And beware"--I proceeded in a more serious tone--"how you give
+currency to the slander you have brought to me. You love your master.
+Show your fidelity by treating this calumny with the scorn it merits."
+
+"Sir," answered Humphrys, "if I were to be called from this world
+to-night, I could not retract the words I have spoken. I have not
+hinted to another what, alas! I know to be true. You may be sure I
+have no desire to circulate Mr Sinclair's infamy. I shall leave his
+service, for with him I can no longer live,--and you will soon learn
+whether or not I have uttered the truth. Oh dear! oh dear!" he added,
+with a sigh of despair,--"what will the world say?"
+
+I dismissed John Humphrys, and turned to my own affairs. It was
+neither prudent nor becoming to listen further to the revelations of
+such a person; I would not even permit him to explain to me how he had
+arrived at the convictions which no doubt he honestly entertained. It
+was sufficient to hear the charges he brought against poor Rupert, to
+be convinced that the man was grossly deceived; that he had been
+cruelly imposed upon by vicious and vindictive men. But, could I be
+otherwise than deeply aggrieved by the rumour which had arisen, and
+which was not likely to lose on the lips of those who would be too
+eager to give it currency? It was a new and unexpected element in the
+complicated misfortunes of Lord Railton's house. _Unexpected?_ What,
+Walter Wilson, and had not suspicions crossed your mind before, of the
+probability of such slander? Had you not many times angrily repulsed
+intruding thoughts that savoured of uncharitableness towards the
+volatile and beauteous wife? Had not prejudice before her marriage
+rendered you cruel; and experience since--did it not tend, if not to
+foster cruelty, to sustain alarm? _But Rupert a party to his own
+dishonour!_ Monstrous! Ridiculous! Absurd!
+
+Either the perseverance of Lady Railton, or the magic power of Lord
+Minden's name, had achieved a miracle. The stony and stubborn heart of
+Lord Railton was mollified. True, he hesitated to forgive his son;
+true, he would not see him; but he graciously submitted to be spoken
+to on his son's affairs, and even went so far as to admit me to an
+audience, in order that I might explain, as well as I knew them, the
+difficulties under which Mr Rupert Sinclair at present laboured. The
+doors of Lord Railton's house opened wide on the auspicious morning.
+The sun shone brilliantly in Grosvenor Square. The porter was a living
+smile from head to foot. The under butler all blandness and honied
+words. He rubbed his hands when he received me, bowed patronisingly
+and preceded me to his lordship's study with the air of one who knew
+which way the wind was, and that it was blowing pleasantly. There was
+a frozen air about the house when I had visited his lordship
+before--now it was summer-like and warm. Then every thing seemed bound
+with iron clasps,--men's mouths, and hearts, and minds; and even doors
+and windows. Now, every thing looked free and open, pleasant,
+hospitable, inviting. Could it be that I had changed,--or was it only
+that Lord Railton's note was different, and that the universal heart
+of that great house had pitched itself to the prevailing key?
+
+No word of apology was offered for former rudeness. His lordship, as
+before, presented me with his finger, and then proceeded to our
+business. He had heard, he said, of Lord Minden's kind interference on
+behalf of his son, who was indeed most unworthy of his lordship's
+favourable notice; nay, he had been spoken to by Lord Minden himself,
+and desirous as he was at all times to comply with the wishes of any
+member of His Majesty's government, he could not but feel, that when
+their wishes pointed to the advancement of his own flesh and blood,
+there was additional reason for listening, to all they had to urge.
+For his part, if Lord Minden should feel justified in extending his
+patronage to Mr Sinclair, he, Lord Railton, on his side, should deem
+it a matter of grave consideration, whether it would not be advisable
+to extricate the object of Lord Minden's favor from the liabilities
+which he had thoughtlessly incurred. Not that Mr Sinclair must look
+for pardon--or reconciliation--yet; that is to say, until Lord Minden
+should be satisfied that his protege had deserved the gracious favour
+of His Majesty, and had shown himself worthy of the condescension, &c.
+&c. &c.
+
+The upshot of the long harangue was, that as soon as Lord Minden
+should aid in promoting Sinclair, Lord Railton would be ready to pay
+his debts--and to receive terms for peace, provided the patronage of
+the commander-in-chief continued to rest upon the fortunate
+scapegrace, and His Majesty thought him still a fit object for the
+exercise of his royal favour. Translated into honest English, Lord
+Railton's proposition was neither more nor less than this,--"I will
+forgive my son, as soon as circumstances render my forgiveness not
+worth a button to him. I will withhold it so long as it is necessary
+to save him from ruin, and to restore him to tranquillity." A right
+worldly proposition too!
+
+Lord Railton requested, as a preliminary step, to be informed of the
+exact state of his son's affairs; and I, as mediator, undertook to lay
+it before his lordship. I quitted the mansion in Grosvenor Square to
+procure at once the necessary documents from Sinclair. Approaching the
+house of the latter, I perceived standing before the door two horses
+and a groom. I advanced, knocked, and was informed that groom and
+horses were the property of the Earl of Minden, who was then with Mrs
+Sinclair, and that Mr Sinclair himself was from home. I had no right
+to feel uncomfortable at this announcement, yet uncomfortable I was,
+in spite of myself. "When does Mr Sinclair return?" I asked.
+
+The two lackeys who listened to my question exchanged an almost
+imperceptible smile, and replied, that "they could not tell." That
+smile passed like a dagger to my heart.
+
+I hesitated for a moment--left my card--and then withdrew.
+
+I had not proceeded to the corner of the street before I turned round
+instinctively, and without a thought. To my joy I perceived Rupert
+making his way from the other extremity of the street to his own door.
+I moved to meet him. He came nearer and nearer--approached within
+sight of the horses and groom--and then turned back. What did it mean?
+Why did he not go home? I grew giddy with coming apprehensions. Whilst
+I stood motionless on the path, I felt a touch upon my shoulder. I
+perceived John Humphrys.
+
+"Here, sir," said the man, "you have seen with your own eyes what I
+have seen every day for the last month. As soon as Lord Minden
+arrives, Mr Sinclair goes out, and never returns until he takes his
+departure. If he should by chance return whilst his lordship's horse
+is standing there, he walks away, and does not think of coming back
+until"----
+
+"It is a lie! a dream!" I exclaimed, almost bewildered. "It cannot
+be!"
+
+"I wish to say nothing, sir," proceeded Humphrys. "You have seen, you
+have seen!"
+
+"I have! I have!" I cried, coming to myself. "I wash my hands of him
+and his. Father of Heaven! can such wickedness exist--and in _him_, in
+_him_? But I have done with him for ever!"
+
+And so saying, I fled maniac-like from the accursed spot, and vowed in
+my excitement and indignation to return no more. I kept my word.
+
+
+
+
+MORE ROGUES IN OUTLINE.
+
+
+THE SICK ANTIQUARY.
+
+  "Aspettar e non venire,
+  Star in letto e non dormire.
+  Son' due cose da morire."
+
+        _Italian Proverb._
+
+Three years are passed since we last visited Herr Ascherson, and we
+once more find ourselves, with considerably improved tact and
+knowledge, both as to virtuosi and virtu, ringing at the well-known
+bell! On the door being unbarred to us, we are sorry to hear that he
+is now a great invalid, and confined to bed. "I hope we don't disturb
+you, Mr Ascherson," said we, as a half-witted slattern of fifty opened
+the door of the sick man's room, and discovered to us something
+alarmingly like Cheops redivivus, reclining on a Codrus-looking couch,
+which was too short to receive his whole body save diagonally, in
+which position he accordingly lay. Upon hearing these words, the
+much-swathed object suddenly draws itself up in bed; and after looking
+keenly to make us out in the dusk, (as if he suspected a visit of
+cajoling rather than condolence.) his eye lost its anxious look, and
+his features gradually expanded, when he saw at a glance that we were
+come, not to cheat, but to cheer him. The first words he uttered
+were--"_Ja, ja_; dat is mein nobil freund the Doctor;" and then,
+falling back, he resigned himself to his pains, like a man who has
+been long trained to suffer. We ask after his health. The poor invalid
+shakes his head, and tells us, groaning, that he was "sehr krank, very
+ill indeed; had much dolors but no slipp;" apologising also for having
+sent for some 10 pi. which we owed him, and which "it was need," so he
+told us, "to pay his medicine mit." Really concerned to see one whom
+we had so recently known under worldly circumstances so unlike the
+present, so suffering, so poor, and so solitary, we told him that we
+had been intending to call on him that very day for that very
+purpose--observing, by way of consoling his feelings, that it was not
+to be expected "that a man who had laid out so much money of the
+_present_ currency to procure fine specimens of one that was out of
+date, could be quite so well off in ready cash as those whose money
+was all in hard coin at their bankers. "_Ja, ja_," it was even so; and
+then, his pains remitting for a moment, he proceeded to explain, for
+our satisfaction, how he had become so short of the needful supplies.
+"Tis three monate seyne mein freund Vinhler went to Paris--(an honest
+and heart-good man, Mr Vinhler)--to whom this commission I
+consign:--'See you give a careful _eye-blink_ to this 9000 ducats,
+which you must take mit you to Paris. There in the house of Furet you
+shall _become_ some moneys, which you shall send to me directly; and
+mit these ducats you shall also pay their consignment.' Well, it was a
+simple _direct_, als any childer might do. So Vinhler takes my money,
+gets to Paris, calls and _pays_ Mr Furet, and writes that he will be
+back in _Neapoli_ in a week. So I stay! Drei monate I stay, and no Mr
+Vinhler come! Then lastly, when I hav begin to _scold myself_, two
+days seyne, comes _eine briefe_, and says, 'I hav been stopt here for
+three weeks by what I then foresaw not when I did write you lastly. I
+am promised to marry Herr Furet's daughter, and we mak the marriage in
+eine monate. I am sorry for the delay about your monete, but shall
+bring them mit Mrs Vinhler and myself to Neapoli, when we arrive!" So,
+while he is happy mit his Julia in Paris, I cannot _become_ my Julias
+that I hav bought; and I hav lost much by this man's delay. Ah!
+(continued he,) _whenever_ he had felt mein dolors," (the poor man had
+now wrought himself up into a painful excitement,) "my no slipp, this
+_unendlich_ irritation, this torment to pay the Doctor, for no
+gute--my loss of practice, my loss of friends, my physique so bad,
+_mein eine samkeit_ so dull--he should surely have sent me that
+_cassetta_ of coins to make me a little more gay." Being obliged to
+quit Naples suddenly, we left him in the midst of his pains, which had
+been wholly unrelieved by our medication; fretting more and more daily
+at the non-arrival of his friend; with nobody to _visit_ him but the
+needy Leech, who, having asked himself--
+
+    "And will my patient _pay_?
+    And _can_ he swallow draughts until his dying day?"
+
+thinks no further _self_-interrogatory needful; with none to _inquire_
+after him, save only the peasants, whose findings he is too ill to
+look at, and too poor to purchase; and Death's grim _auctioneer, who
+undertakes_ for the district; and who, when he has made the daily
+inquiry at his door, not to lose further time, begins to ply his small
+hammer, and is tap-tap-tapping away for somebody else, till _wanted_.
+Oh! who would change places with a sick antiquary, whose _conscience_,
+though he sleeps, is awake to torment him, and whose dreams, if he
+dream, are of rifled tombs, profaned temples, Charon and his boat!
+
+    "Nocte, brevem si forte indulsit cura soporem,
+    Et toto versato toro, jam membra quiescunt,
+    Continuo _templum et violati numinis aras_,
+    Et quod praecipuis mentem sudoribus urget,
+    Se _vidit_ in somnis!"
+
+
+OLD IGNAZIO.
+
+  "Oh dear! what can the matter be?
+  Oh dear! what shall I do?
+  Nobody coming to Jockey, and
+  Nobody coming to _Jew_!"
+
+What quondam collector at Rome but must recollect that snuffy and
+gruffy old fellow, Ignazio Vesconali, who lives at the bottom of
+_Scalirata_, and has grown old with the Piazza itself! Go down at any
+hour of the day, and there he was sure to be, either blinking away
+through his blue goggle glasses, with his cap on, at his door, or at a
+little shabby table fumbling over curiosities; or creeping over to the
+coffee-house opposite, to toddle back again, with his cotton
+pocket-handkerchief, his snuff-box, and his key in hand, to re-arrange
+his treasures, and utter lamentations that nobody any longer comes to
+buy. On such occasions we have sometimes entered; and after a "_buon
+giorno_," and a remark on the weather, (which, if you abused it,
+however injuriously, always secured you his assent; for he quarrels now
+even with the calendar,) he expected you to _hope_ he had sold
+something lately, to afford him an opportunity to say, "_Ma che, ma
+niente_;" and then you had to sit and listen while he told you all his
+grievances--how once "a dozen English noblemen had stood _all of a row
+there_," and he showed you where, in his shop, fighting for his wares,
+and buying them almost quicker than he could register the purchases
+they made; and how sometimes he could sell 500 scudi worth of property
+before breakfast, and get an appetite by doing so! No! there was not a
+man of note in England, that had not some day or other been _booked_ by
+him. All _their_ kindness, no doubt--and then they came not to tease
+poor Ignazio, but to buy of him. Now a different set of customers dropt
+in one by one to look at his gems, and to find nothing good enough for
+them; some tumbling over his antiques, and offering a scudo for his
+best onyxes; "_uno scudo, Santissima Maria Virgine!_" others
+adventuring a whole paul! a price for his best Consular coins!--_ah!
+gli avari!_ The earth too, once so bountiful, was now as avaricious of
+parting with her treasures as the English themselves. The fields had
+ceased to yield their former supplies; and the peasants about Rome
+would scarce stoop to picking up rubbish, for which, however, they
+always wanted Ignazio's money. "Ah, poor old man!--_che vecchio?_ old
+man forsooth! say rather an old dotard, who is unfit to buy, to
+bargain, or to live!" And then he would ventriloquize once more to
+himself. "Ah, poor Ignazio! ah, poor old man! your day is indeed gone
+by." Such appeals were irresistible. So, whenever we had a few scudi to
+spare, (and it was not quite discreet to go into his shop without,) we
+used to beg to see some of his boxes of engraved stones; and having
+pored for a time over wares that had been examined by the most cunning
+eyes in Rome, would find one of better workmanship, and stop to inquire
+its price. "_Quanto_, Signor Ignazio?" and while Signor Ignazio was
+recollecting himself, we glanced on from one to the other, (the great
+rule in bargaining being never to appear to know what you are
+bargaining for!) "_Per cinque scudi vi lo do._" Viewed thus in the
+light of a donation, we would think it too high, and tell him so. "Take
+it for four, then--_pigliate lo per quattro_;" and at this fresh
+concession he would grunt a little, like a tame seal in a water-tub!
+Still we would hesitate, and dare to offer two. "For every body else,
+he had said _impossible_,--for us we were _padronissimi_ to take it, as
+the old man's gift, on our own terms." So we would put it up, and then,
+elated at our _bargain_, and at his respect for us, we would remove
+another "_intaglio_" from the box; and this time, naming our own price,
+say with perfect nonchalance, "_due scudi_." The old fellow would then
+fumble it up in his snuffy old gloves, and bring it near his snuffy old
+nose; and having wiped his snuffy old magnifier, would bend his blue
+goggle glasses over it--and having _screamed_--"_Che! due scudi?_ what
+do you mean by two scudi? A stone of this beauty! a living head of
+Medusa--a front face, too--for two scudi! The serpents in the hair were
+worth more money--one-half of such a head, were the stone in _two_,
+would be worth more money." And then would come in the antistrophe as
+before--"_Ah, povero Ignazio! povero vecchio!_"--and we would be
+shocked, and declare with compunction that we had no intention to cheat
+him; and he, already "_persuasissimo_ of that," would beg us to say no
+more, but to put it into our pocket for _three_. After these
+preliminaries were settled and paid for, we would be contented to hear
+him once more recount the tale of his younger days, when he had the
+antiquity business all to himself; when he married his first wife; had
+dealings with Demidoff; and knew all that were worth knowing in
+Rome--both buyers and sellers. "Old age, Signor, is preparing me fast
+to give up both my business and my life! Buy, buy, now's your time,
+_eccomi_! an old man who wants to sell off every thing! name your
+prices! Don't be afraid, you may offer me any thing _now_." "Three
+scudi?" "Impossible I should let you have it for that. It cost me five;
+but never mind! there's the mask at three scudi. Take it! Any thing
+else?" "This intaglio?" "You are a capital judge, or you would not have
+thus picked out my _best_ intaglio--will no colonnati suit?" "No."
+"Will you be pleased if I prove my friendship for you by sacrificing it
+at fifteen?" No! "There, take it as our third gift for twelve; but, oh
+that I should have lived to sell it for that, _even to you_! But you
+will come and see me again; I know you will, _Dottore mio!_ And sure
+you might contrive to spend a few more _fees_ with me than you do, and
+be all the richer for it into the bargain--what fine opportunities
+_you_ must have of selling things to your patients, especially to the
+_donne_! I wish I was a doctor, that I might carry on my business for a
+year or two longer!"
+
+
+SIGNOR DEDOMENICIS.
+
+"I have a hundred questions to ask," said we, turning into
+Dedomenicis' curiosity-shop, and casting a furtive glance behind his
+old armour and arras hangings, to see that there was no other
+confidant to whom we might be betraying our ignorance. "_Dunque_--well
+then, one at a time; _e s'accommodi_--make yourself at home," said the
+old dealer, pushing us a chair, and looking humanely communicative,
+as he adjusted to his temples a huge pair of spectacles, and stood at
+our side ready to be interrogated.
+
+An old dealer, like a young beauty, when you are together, expects
+something flattering to be said about his eyes, so "we wished ours
+were as good as his." He said, "they were younger." "But what was the
+use of young eyes, or of any eyes," said we, disparaging our own,
+"that could not make out the wholesomeness of a coin, nor distinguish
+the patina of antiquity from vulgar verdigris?"
+
+Dedomenicis' _cough_ convinced us that this sentiment of ours was not
+very far from what he himself believed to be the truth, only he was
+too polite to _say_ so.
+
+"There!" said we, "look at these bronze bargains of ours, these two
+_counterfeit_ coins, which have not been a week in our possession, and
+which C---- has already declared to be false! Oh! would _you_ not have
+deemed it a happier lot to put up with a blameless blindness, and all
+its evils, rather than, having eyes in your head, to have disgraced
+them by such a purchase?" Dedomenicis glances one glance at the false
+Emperors, and then passes a sentence which banishes them for ever from
+the society of the Caesars; while he _wonders_ how we could have hoped
+to buy a real Piscennius and a Pertinax in the same adventure, and
+both so well preserved too?
+
+"Were we ignorant of the prices usually set upon the heads of all
+those emperors who had enjoyed but a few weeks' reign?" Did not every
+body, for instance, know that the African Gordians, both father and
+son, were, in _bronze_, worth their weight in gold? that a Vitellius
+in bronze was cheap at six pounds? and that he might be considered
+fortunate indeed who could convert his spare ten-pound notes into as
+many Pertinax penny-pieces, or come into the possession of a
+half-penny or a second module, as it is called, of Pescennius Niger,
+at the same price? Did not every body know that Domitia was coy at
+L20, and stood out for L25? That Matidia, Mariana, and Plotina smiled
+upon none who would not give L40 to possess them, and that Annia
+Faustina was become a priceless piece? Had we been so long returned to
+Rome and not yet heard of the Matidia now in the keeping of our
+gallant countryman, General A----, who was jealous (at least so B----
+had told him) of showing her even to his best friends, lest she should
+prove too much for their virtue to withstand, and slept with her, and
+could not snore securely unless she was by his side? Well, he had paid
+L40 for her at Thomas's sale in London, and Rollin, on seeing her in
+Paris, would have gladly detained her there for L50, but the general
+was not to be bribed; "so you see, _dottore mio_, it costs a good deal
+to collect coins even in the baser metal." "So it would appear,
+indeed, Dedomenicis; and the next time a Pertinax in bronze turns up,
+we will most _pertinaciously_ refuse to bid for him; or if another
+Pescennius should ever again cross our path, we will mutter 'Hic
+_Niger_ est,' and remember to have nothing to do with him."
+
+"And I think," said the old fellow, slily taking off his spectacles,
+and placing them on the table,--"I think you will not lose much if you
+adhere to your present intention."
+
+"And yet it is annoying not to know the difference between the works
+of those _Paduan_ brothers, of a recent century, and such as really
+belong to the old Roman mint;" saying which we began to study them
+afresh, as a policeman would do to a rogue, whom he expected to meet
+again. "Is this knowledge, dear Dedomenicis, to be acquired 'per
+carita?' let us not waste our time, if it be not." "_Lei lo sapra!_ it
+will come in good time. _Pazienza!_ be patient! you know our
+proverb--'time and straw ripen medlars,' and your judgment will mature
+in time, _just as the medlars do_."
+
+Crude as an unripe medlar though our judgment certainly then _was_,
+still the prospect of its _mellowing into unsoundness at last_ was by
+no means consolatory; and so we told him, pocketing our false coins,
+and going home to consult the memorandum of their price,--here it is!
+_Eccola!_ as it was most ingeniously registered by us at the
+time--"Nov. 7, 1840--Bought to-day of a peasant on his way from Ricci
+to Rome, two _beautiful coins_, a Pertinax and a Pescennius Niger, in
+_perfect preservation_! only paid L5 for the two!! the _simple_
+contadino, who can't read the epigraphes, asks whether they are not
+Nero's!!"[54]
+
+A ring at the bell, and our courier has announced Signor Dedomenicis.
+"By all means, show him in then,"--for he had come, a year later, to
+see coins we had picked up during our summer trip to Sicily. "There,"
+said we gaily, and to put him in a good humour at once, (for the remark
+showed we had made ourselves master of his physiognomy),--"there,
+Dedomenicis, is a Ptolemy Evergetes, who was, to judge by his coins,
+your very prototype--it is your nose--your chin--your"----
+
+"Suppose you make it mine altogether then," said he slily; but we
+"prized it too much, on this very account, to part with it!" After
+which we go to the nearest cabinet in the room--unlock the door, take
+out drawer No. 1, marked Sicilian, and _rare_; and in the pride of our
+young beginnings, and little knowing what we were to bring upon
+ourselves in so doing,--
+
+    "Midst hopes, and fears that kindle hopes.
+    A pleasing anxious throng;
+    And shrewd suspicions often lull'd,
+    But now returning strong,"--
+
+we hand over the tray to Dedomenicis, whose running commentary, as
+soon as he had brought it into the field of his spectacles, was really
+appalling; and he plied it as destructively as a Sikh battery, or a
+Perkins's steam gun.
+
+Prepared to see him take out the first coin in the row, to subject it
+to his magnifier, to turn it round, now on this side, now on that, and
+then to pause, ere he could decide upon it, little could we have
+supposed that in a second his battery was to commence fire; and that
+in less than a minute, he would have passed a summary sentence upon
+every coin of the lot.
+
+"_One--two--three._"--Thus it began; "_roba commune_--common as
+blackberries; (four, five, six,) _niente di buono_--good for what you
+can get for them; (seven, eight, nine,) _Idem_; (ten, eleven, twelve,)
+_Idem_; thirteen, _not_ of Messina, as it pretended to be; and here
+had sold us a _Neapolitan cat_ in place of a _Sicilian hare_!"
+"_Come!_ a cat?" (for we called to mind what each of puss's _nine_
+lives had cost us, and determined to die game for it), "_that_ coin a
+_counterfeit_?" "Si--Sig-no-re!" in that sort of sing-song gamut twang
+in which one Roman answers another's incredulity--"_anzi falsissimo_,"
+with a most provoking lengthening out of the second syllable of that
+most provoking superlative; he knew all about its fabrication; the
+_gentleman_ who made these coins was an acquaintance--not a _friend_
+of his; the original coin being in request, and somewhat expensive, he
+had contrived to get up a new issue of the Messina Hare,[55] which was
+much in vogue, and seemed, like Gay's Hare, to court an extensive
+acquaintance, and many friends. "That _Himera_[56] hen is of a brood
+that never lays golden eggs, and the sooner you can get rid of her the
+better. Time was when such poultry fetched its price; now, thanks to
+the prolific process of our modern hatchings, we see her as often in
+the market as widgeon, snipe, or plovers. _That's_ a fine lion; 'tis
+a pity you've no lioness to match him; but one such real _Rhegium
+leone_ is worth a host of counterfeits,--'_unus, sane, at Leo_'. As to
+your Ptolemies' eagles here, at least they are well preserved, and
+that always should give a coin some claim to a place in a _beginner's_
+collection; though to us dealers, who see many of them, these eagles
+at last become somewhat uninteresting and vulgar birds. What a
+collection is here of Hieros[57] on horseback, all in good plight too!
+Well, I might have bought _in_ or _out_ of these ranks myself; but _I_
+should not, I think, like you, have purchased the whole troop--of
+course you paid but little for them." "Yes," said we timidly, "not
+overmuch, not more than they were worth perhaps, six pauls a-piece,"
+and we coughed nervously, and expected him to speak encouragingly; but
+he said nothing, and proceeded with his scrutiny of our box. "_Per
+Bacco!_ What a quantity of cuttlefish! Methinks Syracuse has rather
+overdone you with her _Lobigo_, but _that_ at least is genuine, for
+'tis too cheap to make money of by imitation. This of _Naxos_ will do.
+_This_ of Tarentum, _va bene!_ this of _Locri, corresponde_." A faint
+"bravo!" escapes him on taking up an Athenian Tetradrachm, with the
+_Archer's_ name on the field; but he takes no note, has no "winged
+words" to throw away upon our winged horses, though every nag of them,
+we know, came from Corinth or from Argos.
+
+The bearded corn of Metapontus, with Ceres or Mars on the reverse:
+Arion on his dolphin--that beautiful, most beautiful of coins--were,
+together with sundry others, all too common for his antiquarian eye to
+take pleasure in; he sought something less frequently presented to it,
+and at last he found it in a Croton coin with a rare reverse, which,
+"would we sell him, he would take at twenty dollars, and pay us in
+_living_ silver." A bow told him we were not disposed to part with it.
+And now he comes to what we consider to be our finest piece,--our
+Lipari bronze! And on it is a fat _dolphin_ sporting on a _green_ sea.
+Dedomenicis' manner is vastly discouraging, and we are prepared for
+new disappointment, yet we could have sworn that _that_ coin was
+genuine. But if false, as he believes it to be, why then not have done
+with it? why put it down to take it up _again_? why ask whether _we_
+don't repute it false, when he knows we know nothing of the matter?
+And why _mouse_ it so closely under his keen eye, and look round the
+rim of it, and examine the face of it, and appear as if he would
+penetrate into its very soul,[58] and get at its history? Oh! 'tis all
+right, then; if "he may be mistaken," doubtless he _is_ so: and this
+is confirmed by his now proposing--thinking an exchange no robbery, of
+course--to exchange it for us. Ingenuous man! who hadst twice invoked
+the saints and the Madonna in our behalf when thou heardest the price
+we paid for our unlucky Hare; and when thou knewest how C---- had
+beguiled us into taking, and paying for a _Roman_, the price of an
+_Etruscan_ "As;" and now thou wouldst have robbed us of our best coin,
+have deprived us of the very _Delphin classic_ of our collection; it
+won't do! Our Messenian hare is welcome, but, old aeruscator, we cannot
+let you swim away on our dolphin; and we rise to _replace him_ in our
+_monetaro_ accordingly.
+
+A third interview with Dedomenicis is recorded in our entry-book of
+such matters.--"Here are the coins, Signor, which you gave me to clean
+last week: they are ten in number, for which you owe me as many
+pauls.--_Eccole!_" "Ah," said we, "you have not made much of them, I
+fear." "Look and see," was the laconic reply. By which time we had
+taken up the first, and were pleased to find that an Augustus, whose
+lineaments we could hardly recognise, when we gave him to Dedomenicis
+to _scale_, had come back to us perfectly restored. "Why,
+Dedomenicis," said we, "this is a restitution better than Trajan's, of
+this very Emperor's coinage; for that, after all, was but the
+_imitation_ of an old mint; but yours the _restoration_ of the old one
+itself. Henceforth I prefer _Dedomenicis' restituit_ to _Trajan's
+restituit_." "Well, then, when you have looked over the others, you
+will, I dare say, pay these and them at the same rate, as if they had
+been the issues of that Emperor."[59] We were indeed surprised at what
+we saw, so much had all our coins gained by the process to which
+Dedomenicis had subjected them. The second we took up represented the
+_Ostian harbour_, (Portus Ostiensis.) We had given it to him with a
+_foul bottom_--it was restored to us with its basin cleared out, and
+with all its shipping, just as it used to look in the days of Nero; in
+another, the whole arena of the Colosseum had been disencumbered; in
+another, Antonine's column shone bright from top to bottom; here we
+saw _Honos et Virtus_ (honour and military prowess) again taking the
+field; here the scales of Justice once more appeared, and librated
+freely in her hand; here Hope resumed her green trefoil; Pudicity
+_un_veils her face; and there sat Fecundity on a curule seat, with all
+her family about her; lastly, there were those three scandalous
+sisters of Caligula--the Misses _Money_ (Moneta,)[60]--standing
+together with their arms intertwined, and their names at their backs.
+All these ten restitutions cost only ten pauls! "And how did you
+manage to clean then so well, Dedomenicis?" "_Col tempo ed il
+temperino_,"--with time and a penknife: "_Ma ci vuo il genio_,"--you
+must have a talent for it.
+
+
+SCALING A COIN.
+
+"_Ci vuo il genio_,"--he was right; and think you 'tis so easy or
+simple a thing to clean a coin? to unmask an empress, pertinacious in
+her disguise, or to _scrape_ acquaintance with emperors? Try it;--not
+that you will succeed; but that the difficulties which you are thus
+made to encounter in the attempt, will dispose you the more readily to
+do justice to the skill of those who succeed in this delicate process,
+which, like the finer operations of surgery, requires at once
+precision and address, great nicety in the handling of your
+instrument; while the importance attached to the operation itself
+makes the successful performance of it not a little desirable. The
+penknife, guided by a _dexterous_ hand, may light upon a discovery
+that has been buried for ages; and a pin's point may make revelations
+sufficient to adjust some obscure point in history. Who knows what
+face may now lie hid (_facies dicatur an ulcus?_) under some obscure
+coating of paste? What an it be a Vitellius; what if a Pertinax should
+reveal himself? or suppose, when you have removed the foul _larvae_,
+you _undermine_ a Matidia! a Plotina!! an Annia Faustina!!! and your
+fortune is made! 'Tis a lottery, we admit. But the very principle of
+the excitement--the charm is, that you know not what _may_ turn up;
+for a less chance, you may possibly have bought a "Terno" in a
+Frankfort lottery, the chance of an estate on the Moselle! But there
+are small prizes to be picked up occasionally--and here's a case in
+point:--"I was one day sauntering," said our friend C----, "by the
+tomb of Cecilia Metella, when a peasant came up with a handful of very
+dirty-looking coins, so firmly encrusted with mortar, that it seemed
+absurd to attempt its removal. Having nothing particular to do, and
+liking the wild quiet of the spot, I gave some 'baiocchi' to the man;
+and taking my seat on a bit of the old aqueduct, I opened my penknife,
+and began to scrape away. At first I saw the _trace_ of a letter; and
+digging round it, I at length disinterred a large M----a Roman M! It
+was probably Maximin, or his son Maximus, that I then had under my
+thumb; but it _might_ be a Marinus, in which case it was a valuable
+coin; so I wrought on with renewed vigour, and presently an _L_ was in
+the _field_. A better prospect this than the last; for if it turned
+out to be an AEmilianus, I should have made a good morning's work of
+it--and it was so! Little by little, line by line, grain by grain, I
+opened the field, till _C. Julius AEmilianus, Pontif: Max: in a full
+epigraphe, shone forth with the imperial_ head in full relief, all in
+a bright emerald patina. I have seen several AEmilianuses, but none
+like that; and it cost me only a penny."
+
+Now, touching the difficulties in your way--should you still fancy
+them to be imaginary--take any dirty coin _nigra moneta sordibus_, and
+try to clean it; oil it, and scrub it as you may; pick into, poke at,
+finally, waste your whole morning over it, till your back aches, and
+your penknife is blunted; you will have to confess at last that your
+labour has been lost! Your only chance, then, is the fire; and if the
+_actual cautery_ fails, there is no longer any hope. As in learning to
+scale properly, you must come to sacrifice _a great many coins_ before
+you can hope to succeed, _fiat experimentum in corpore vili_--begin
+with those that are worthless. Never mind scratching a Faustina's
+face; set no store by Nero; you may, if you like, mutilate as many
+_Domitians_ as that emperor mutilated flies. For why?--they cost
+nothing; unless, indeed, there were something to be gained by
+_reversing_ the picture. But this only while learning, and to learn;
+for when you _know_ how to clean a coin properly, you will hardly
+waste your time in adding new Trajans to the ten thousands already in
+existence; nor whet your curiosity or steel upon an empress, known to
+be as common in bronze as she was wont to be in the flesh! When you
+have a really valuable coin, on which your pains will not be thrown
+away, your mode of procedure is, first to scrape, with extreme
+caution, on some small spot by the margin, till you have taken your
+proper soundings, and come down to the _patina_. Your next step must
+be, to ascertain whether that patina is hard, or soft and friable; in
+which latter case you will have to use all diligence not to poke your
+penknife in Crispina's eyeball, nor to wound her husband, with a few
+days' beard upon his chin. No _healing process_ can help you here to
+undo your clumsy surgery and want of skill. He will remain
+_cicatrised_, and she _lippa_ for life. Each separate feature requires
+renewed care. When your minute manipulations have brought out the
+eyeball _unspecked_, then comes the nose; and to remove the closely
+sticking plaster from its side, and expose uninjured the curling
+nostril underneath, requires more than Taliacotian sleight of hand to
+manage properly. You must not trifle with Faustina's _hair_, nor with
+Philip's _beard_. The "_flava coma_," which we do not consider as
+ornamental at any time, looks far worse in _brass_ than in _golden_
+tresses. You must be an aurist when you come to the ear. Deal with the
+ear, and remember that it has its _portio mollis_ as you gently probe
+your way into its tube. Need we insist upon the necessity of
+respecting a lady's _lips_? and yet you will wound them, unless you
+are careful. And when all is done, you may find that your coin is no
+sooner cleaned, than it is seized with the _smallpox_,[61] which will
+become _confluent_ and spread, unless properly instructed. You have
+probed each cicatrix to the bottom, and filled the minute holes with
+_ink_. Thus you will see that patience, tact, and care are all
+required in scaling a coin; or, as Dedomenicis said, _ci vuo il
+genio_!
+
+The collecting coins is a pleasant way of learning the chronology of
+the royal families of antiquity; and if you are culpably negligent in
+their arrangement, the first dealer who sees your cabinet takes care
+to apprize you of your mistakes, and will generally rate you soundly
+as he does so. The first time Dedomenicis visited our collection of
+the Roman emperors, he was in a great taking on detecting (which he
+did not fail to do at a glance) various anachronisms in our
+arrangement. "By all that should be, if here is not Agrippina the wife
+of Germanicus, and Claudius's Agrippina, in next-door neighbourhood!
+the two Faustinas (_che scandalo, dottore mio!_) lying side by side
+with _strange husbands_! Philip junior deposing his own father--_ci
+avevano questa consuetudine_, so let that pass; but here is a more
+serious affair. Pray separate all these Julias a little, my dear sir,
+_caro lei_, (looking at us very reproachfully;) here, in this one
+tray, you have mixed, introduced, and confounded together all the
+Julias of the Roman empire! Julia, the daughter of Titus, alone in her
+right place beside her first consort Domitian. But Julia Pia and Julia
+Domna are but the _aliases_ of the same empress, the wife of Septimius
+Severus; and here you have placed by mistake Julia Paula, the wife of
+Eliogabalus, after Julia Mammaea, who you _must_ remember married
+Maximin. Pray attend to these things; and whenever your series is
+deficient, leave vacant spaces in your trays to mark the deficiencies.
+Don't crowd your emperors thus together, when time has separated them
+in history," &c. &c. &c. We promised faithfully to attend to these
+hints; but it was all to no purpose, for in one week our friends, to
+whom we used to show our collection properly arranged, would again
+involve our chronology in inextricable confusion, especially certain
+dear young ladies of our acquaintance, who, by no means showing the
+same respect for old Time that old Time continued to demonstrate
+towards them, would make light of whole centuries; and we have known
+them so regardless of all dates, except perhaps their own, as to bring
+up a Constantine or Maxentius, and to place them under the very nose
+of Augustus!
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[54] It is worth noting, because one does not see why it is so, that
+the only imperial _birbone_ of the lot universally known and execrated
+at Rome is _Nero_. One is much better able to understand (with Capri
+in front of one's windows) why a like exclusive and unenviable
+popularity at Naples attaches to _Tiberius_.
+
+[55] The _hare_ was first introduced into Sicily by Anaxilaus of
+Rhegium, and was adopted by the Messenians on their coins, as was also
+the _chariot_, in commemoration of his victory in the _mule_ races at
+Olympia.
+
+[56] On the urbic coins of Aquinum, Suessa, and Tiano, which are
+generally of bronze, the _cock_ figures on one side, the subject on
+the other varying; on those of Himera (a silver currency,) chanticleer
+is always confronted on the reverse by Dame Partlett.
+
+[57] Hiero the Second, tyrant of Syracuse, who flourished 216 B.C.,
+and was contemporary with Archimedes. The face is one expressive of
+refinement, and the coin of a very fine style of art, as indeed are
+all those that ever issued from the old and original mint of Sicily;
+but alas! there are now many small and illicit mints to which the
+travelling public that buys coins, is, without always knowing it,
+vastly more indebted. "Roba Siciliana"--Sicilian trash, exclaims the
+indignant Neapolitan, when you show him a modern forgery by which you
+have been duped. "Sciochezza di Napoli" retorts the dealer at Messina
+or Palermo, vindicating at once his own honour, which seems aspersed,
+and that of his Trinacrian associates. To reconcile these two
+statements, which are both true, the reader has only to be informed
+that there are mints every where, and coiners as cunning at Pozzuoli
+as at Palermo.
+
+[58] By the word _anima_, or _soul_ of a coin, numismatists designate
+the interior of the metal, as opposed to its superficies or _field_.
+
+[59] The _restitution_ of the coinage of one Emperor by his successor,
+consisting of a smaller issue of pieces than the original from which
+it is taken, has become comparatively scarce; hence such
+_restitutions_ fetch a much _higher price_ than those of the earlier
+currency, and Dedomenicis's remark was not without its meaning.
+
+[60] Moneta, one of the many epithets or _aliases_ of Juno, borrowed
+by the Emperor Caligula for his three sisters, Agrippina, Drusilla,
+and Livilla, who are represented standing in a row, each with her
+cornucopia and scales, and her name behind her back.
+
+[61] "_La petite verole_" is the name employed by French numismatists
+to designate this _disease_. They could not have hit upon a happier. A
+finely characteristic specimen of it is to be seen at present in the
+bronze impersonation of George IV. which stands on the Steym at
+Brighton, where the whole face looking seaward has become _balafre_
+and pock-marked. It is strange that under the epithet of _pustular_,
+as applied to _silver_, the ancients appear to have meant the purest
+and most refined quality of that metal, when it is the alloy mixed
+with the bronze that makes it pustular.
+
+
+
+
+THE LAST RECOLLECTIONS OF NAPOLEON.[62]
+
+
+There are few things more striking than the analogy in civil and
+physical changes of the world. There have been in the history of man
+periods as distinctive as in the history of nations. From these
+periods society and nations have alike assumed new aspects, and the
+world has commenced a new career. The fall of the Roman Empire was the
+demarcation between the old world and the new. It was the moral
+deluge, out of which a new condition of man, new laws, new forms of
+religion, new styles of thought, almost a totally new configuration of
+human society, were to arise. A new settlement of the civil world took
+place: power absorbed by one race of mankind was to be divided among
+various races; and the development of principles of government and
+society, hitherto unknown, was to be scarcely less memorable, less
+unexpected, or less productive, than that voyage by which Columbus
+doubled the space of the habitable globe.
+
+The Reformation was another mighty change. It introduced civil liberty
+into the empire of tyranny, religion into the realm of superstition,
+and science into the depths of national ignorance. The French
+Revolution was the last, and not the least powerful change within
+human experience. Its purpose is, like its operation, still dubious.
+Whether it came simply for wrath, or simply for restoration--whether,
+like the earthquake of Lisbon, it came only to destroy, and leave its
+ruins visible for a century to come; to clear the ground of
+incumbrances too massive for the hand of man, and open the soil for
+exertions nobler than the old, must be left to time to interpret. But
+there can be no question, that the most prominent agency, the most
+powerful influence, and the most dazzling lustre, of a period in which
+all the stronger impulses of our being were in the wildest activity,
+centred in the character of one man, and that man--Napoleon.
+
+It is evidently a law of Providence, that all the great changes of
+society shall be the work of individual minds. Yet when we recollect
+the difficulty of effecting any general change, embracing the infinite
+varieties of human interests, caprices, passions, and purposes,
+nothing could seem more improbable. But it has always been the course
+of things. Without Charlemagne, the little principalities of Gothic
+Europe would never have been systematised into an empire;--without
+Luther, what could have been the progress of the Reformation?--without
+Napoleon, the French Revolution would have burnt itself out, vanished
+into air, or sunk into ashes. He alone collected its materials,
+combined them into a new and powerful shape, crowned this being of his
+own formation with the imperial robe, erected it in the centre of
+Europe, and called the nations to bow down before a new idol, like the
+gods of the Indian known only by its mysterious frown, the startling
+splendour of its diadem, and the swords and serpents grasped in its
+hands.
+
+That the character of Napoleon was a singular compound of the highest
+intellectual powers with the lowest moral qualities, is evidently the
+true description of this extraordinary being. This combination alone
+accounts for the rapidity, the splendour of his career, and the sudden
+and terrible completeness of his fall. Nothing less than pre-eminent
+capacity could have shot him up through the clouds and tempests of the
+Revolution into the highest place of power. A mixture of this force of
+mind and desperate selfishness of heart could alone have suggested and
+sustained the system of the Imperial wars, policy, and ambition; and
+the discovery of his utter faithlessness could alone have rendered all
+thrones hopeless of binding him by the common bonds of sovereign to
+sovereign, and compelled them to find their only security for the
+peace of Europe in consigning him to a dungeon. He was the only
+instance in modern history of a monarch dethroned by a universal
+conviction; warred against by mankind, as the sole object of the war;
+delivered over into captivity by the unanimous judgment of nations;
+and held in the same unrelaxing and judicial fetters until he died.
+
+It is another striking feature of this catastrophe, that the whole
+family of Napoleon sank along with him. They neither possessed his
+faculties, nor were guilty of his offences. But as they had risen
+solely by him, they perished entirely with him. Future history will
+continually hover over this period of our annals, as the one which
+most resembles some of those fabrications of the Oriental genius, in
+which human events are continually under the guidance of spirits of
+the air; in which fantastic palaces are erected by a spell, and the
+treasures of the earth developed by the wave of a wand--in which the
+mendicant of this hour is exalted into the prince of the next; and
+while the wonder still glitters before the eye, another sign of the
+necromancer dissolves the whole pageant into air again. Human
+recollection has no record of so much power, so widely distributed,
+and apparently so fixed above all the ordinary casualties of the
+world, so instantly and so irretrievably overthrown. The kings of
+earth are not undone at a blow; kingdoms do not change their rulers
+without a struggle. Great passions and great havoc have always
+preceded and followed the fall of monarchies. But the four diadems of
+the Napoleon race fell from their wearers' brows with scarcely a touch
+from the hand of man. The surrender of the crown by Napoleon
+extinguished the crowns actually ruling over millions, and virtually
+influencing the whole Continent. They were extinguished, too, at the
+moment when the Imperial crown disappeared. It had no sooner been
+crushed at Waterloo, than they all fell into fragments, of
+themselves;--the whole dynasty went down with Napoleon into the
+dungeon, and not one of them has since returned to the world.
+
+The name of General Count Montholon is well known to this country, as
+that of a brave officer, who, after acquiring distinguished rank in
+the French army by his sword, followed Napoleon to St Helena; remained
+with him during his captivity; and upon his death was made the
+depositary of his papers, and his executor. But his own language, in a
+letter dated from the Castle of Ham in June 1844, gives the best
+account of his authority and his proceedings.
+
+"A soldier of the Republic, a brigadier-general at twenty years of
+age, and minister-plenipotentiary in Germany in 1812 and 1813, I
+could, like others, have left memoirs concerning the things which I
+saw; but the whole is effaced from my mind in presence of a single
+thing, a single event, and a single man. The thing is Waterloo; the
+event, the fall of the Empire; and the man, Napoleon."
+
+He then proceeds to tell us, that he shared the St Helena captivity
+for six years; that for forty-two nights he watched the dying bed of
+the ex-monarch; and that, by Napoleon's express desire, he closed his
+eyes. But to those duties of private friendship were affixed official
+services, which looked much more like tyranny than the tribute of
+personal regard, and which we should think must have worn out the
+patience, and tried the constitution, of the most devoted follower of
+this extraordinary captive.
+
+Napoleon, though apparently contemptuous of the opinions of mankind,
+evidently felt the strongest anxiety to make out a favourable
+statement for himself. And all his hours, except the few devoted to
+exercise on horseback and to sleep, and to his meals, were employed in
+completing the narrative which was to clear up his character to
+mankind.
+
+During the last years passed in St Helena, Napoleon sent for the Count
+every night at eleven o'clock, and continued dictating to him until
+six in the morning, when he went into the bath, dismissing the count
+with--"Come, my son, go and repose, and come to me again at nine
+o'clock. We shall have breakfast, and resume the labours of the
+night." At nine, he returned, and remained with him till one, when
+Napoleon went to bed. Between four and five, he sent for the count
+again, who dined with him every day, and at nine o'clock left him, to
+return at eleven.
+
+The world little knew the drudgery to which these unfortunate
+followers of the Ex-Emperor were thus exposed, and they must all have
+rejoiced at any termination of a toil so remorseless and so
+uncheering.
+
+Napoleon was fond of the Turkish doctrine of fatality. Whether so
+acute a mind was capable of believing a doctrine so palpably
+contradicted by the common circumstances of life, and so utterly
+repugnant to reason, can scarcely be a question; but with him, as with
+the Turks, it was a capital doctrine for the mighty machine which he
+called an army. But the count seems to have been a true believer. He,
+too, pronounces, that "destiny is written," and regards himself as
+being under the peculiar influence of a malignant star, or, in his own
+words: "In fact, without having sought it, my destiny brought me into
+contact with the Emperor in the Elysee Bourbon, conducted me, without
+my knowing it, to the shores of Boulogne, where honour imposed upon me
+the necessity of not abandoning the nephew of the Emperor in presence
+of the dangers by which he was surrounded. Irrevocably bound to the
+misfortunes of a family, I am now perishing in Ham; the captivity
+commenced in St Helena."
+
+Of Count Montholon, it must be acknowledged, that he was unstained by
+either the vices or the violences which scandalized Europe so
+frequently in the leaders of the French armies. He appears to have
+been at all times a man of honourable habits, as he certainly is of
+striking intelligence. But we have no faith in his doctrine of the
+star, and think that he would have acted much more wisely if he had
+left the stars to take care of themselves, avoided the blunder of
+mistaking the nephew of Napoleon for a hero and a genius, and stayed
+quietly in London, instead of risking himself with an invasion of
+valets to take the diadem off the most sagacious head in Europe.
+
+The narrative commences with the return of Napoleon to Paris after his
+renown, his throne, and his dynasty were alike crushed by the British
+charge at Waterloo. He reached Paris at six in the morning of the
+21st. It is now clear that the greatest blunder of this extraordinary
+man was his flight from the army. If he had remained at its head, let
+its shattered condition be what it might, he would have been powerful,
+have awed the growing hostility of the capital, and have probably been
+able to make peace alike for himself and his nation. But by hurrying
+to Paris, all was lost: he stripped himself of his strength; he threw
+himself on the mercy of his enemies; and palpably capitulated to the
+men who, but the day before, were trembling under the fear of his
+vengeance.
+
+Nobleness of heart is essential to all true renown; and perhaps it is
+not less essential to all real security. Napoleon, with talents which
+it is perfectly childish to question, though the attempt has been made
+since the close of his brilliant career, wanted this nobleness of
+heart, and through its want ultimately perished. Of the bravery of him
+who fought the splendid campaigns of Italy, and of the political
+sagacity of him who raised himself from being a subaltern of artillery
+to a sovereign of sovereigns, there can be no doubt. But his
+selfishness was so excessive that it occasionally made both
+contemptible, and gave his conduct alike the appearance of cowardice,
+and the appearance of infatuation. His flight from Egypt, leaving his
+army to be massacred or captured, disgraced him in the face of Europe.
+His flight from Russia, leaving the remnant of his legions to be
+destroyed, was a new scandal; but hitherto no evil had been produced
+by this gross regard of self. The penalty, however, must be paid. His
+flight from the army in Belgian, leaving it without counsel or
+direction, to be crushed by a victorious enemy, was the third instance
+of that ignoble preference of his own objects which had characterised
+and stained his Egyptian and Russian career. But retribution was now
+come, and he was to be undone. The slaughter of Waterloo had been
+tremendous, but it was not final. The loss of the French army had been
+computed at forty thousand men, killed, wounded, and dispersed. He had
+come into the field with seventy-two thousand men, independent of
+Grouchy. He had thus thirty thousand remaining. Grouchy's force of
+thirty thousand was still untouched, and was able to make its way to
+Paris. In addition to these sixty thousand, strong garrisons had been
+left in all the fortresses, which he might without difficulty have
+gathered upon his retreat. The Parisian national guard would have
+augmented this force, probably, on the whole, to one hundred thousand
+men. It is true that the allied Russian and Austrian forces were on
+the frontier. But they had not yet moved, and could not prevent the
+march of those reinforcements. Thus, without reckoning the provincial
+militia of France, or calculating on a _levee en masse_, Napoleon
+within a fortnight might have been at the head of one hundred and
+fifty thousand men, while the pursuing army could not have mustered
+half the number. He would thus have had time for negotiation; and time
+with him was every thing. Or let the event be what it might, the
+common sense of the Allies would have led them to avoid a direct
+collision with so powerful a force fighting on its own ground under
+the walls of the capital, and knowing that the only alternatives were
+complete triumph or total ruin.
+
+Count Montholon makes a remark on the facility with which courtiers
+make their escape from a falling throne, which has been so often
+exemplified in history. But it was never more strikingly exemplified
+than in the double overthrow of Napoleon. "At Fontainbleau, in 1814,"
+says the Count, "when I hastened to offer to carry him off with the
+troops under my command, I found no one in those vast corridors,
+formerly too small for the crowd of courtiers, except the Duke of
+Bassano and two aides-de-camp." His whole court, down to his Mameluke
+and valet, had run off to Paris, to look for pay and place under the
+Bourbons. In a similar case in the next year, at the Elysee Bourbon,
+he found but two counts and an equerry. It was perfectly plain to all
+the world but Napoleon himself that his fate was decided.
+
+There certainly seems to have been something in his conduct at this
+period that can scarcely be accounted for but by infatuation. His
+first act, the desertion of his army, was degrading to his honour, but
+his conduct on his arrival was not less degrading to his sagacity.
+Even his brother Lucien said that he was blinded with the smoke of
+Waterloo. He seems to have utterly lost that distinct view and fierce
+decision which formerly characterised all his conduct. It was no more
+the cannon-shot or the thunder-clap, it was the wavering of a mind
+suddenly perplexed by the difficulties which he would once have solved
+by a sentence and overwhelmed by resistance--which he would have once
+swept away like a swarm of flies. The leader of armies was crushed by
+a conspiracy of clerks, and the sovereign of the Continent was sent to
+the dungeon by cabal of his own slaves.
+
+While Napoleon was thus lingering in the Elysee Bourbon, the two
+chambers of the Legislature were busily employed between terror and
+intrigue. The time was delicate, for the Bourbons and the Allies were
+approaching. But, on the other hand, the fortunes of Napoleon might
+change; tardiness in recognising the Bourbons might be fatal to their
+hopes of place, but the precipitancy of abandoning Napoleon might
+bring their heads under the knife of the guillotine. All public life
+is experimental, and there never was a time when the experiment was of
+a more tremulous description.
+
+At length they began to act; and the first precaution of the Chamber
+of Deputies was to secure their own existence. Old Lafayette moved a
+resolution, that the man should be regarded as a traitor to the
+country who made any attempt to dissolve the Chamber. This was an
+obvious declaration against the authority of the Empire. The next
+motion was, that General Beker should be appointed commandant of the
+guard ordered to protect the Legislature. This was a provision against
+the mob of Paris. The Legislature was now safe on its two prominent
+perils. In the mean time, Napoleon had made another capital blunder.
+He had held a council of the ministers, to which he proposed the
+question, whether he should proceed in person to the Chamber of
+Deputies, and demand supplies, or send his brothers and ministers to
+make the communication. Three of the ministers approved of his going
+in person, but the majority disapproved of it--on the plea of its
+being a dangerous experiment, in the excited state of the public
+passions. If Napoleon had declined this counsel, which arose from
+either pusillanimity or perfidy, it is perfectly possible that he
+might have silenced all opposition. The known attachment of the
+troops, the superstition connected with his fortunes, the presence of
+the man whom they all so lately worshipped, as the Indians worship the
+serpent for the poison of its fang, might have produced a complete
+revulsion. Napoleon, too, was singularly eloquent--his language had a
+romantic splendour which captivates the artificial taste of the
+nation; and with an imperial figure before them, surrounded with more
+powerful incidents than the drama could ever offer, and threatening a
+fifth act which might involve the fate of France and Europe, the day
+might have finished by a new burst of national enthusiasm, and the
+restoration of Napoleon to the throne, with all his enemies in the
+Legislature chained to its footstool.
+
+But he sent his brother Joseph to the Chamber of Peers, and received
+the answer to his mission next morning, in a proposal which was
+equivalent to a demand for his abdication.
+
+A council of ministers was again held on this proposal. The same three
+who had voted for his presence in the Chamber, now voted for his
+rejection of the proposal. The majority, however, were against them.
+Napoleon yielded to the majority. He had lost his opportunity--and in
+politics opportunity is every thing. He had now nothing more to lose.
+He drew up an acknowledgment of his abdication; but appended to it the
+condition of proclaiming his son, Napoleon Second, emperor of the
+French. This was an artifice, but it was unworthy even of the art of
+Napoleon. He must have been conscious that the Allies would have
+regarded this appointment as a trick to ensure his own restoration.
+His son was yet a child; a regent must have been appointed; Napoleon
+would have naturally been that regent; and in six months, or on the
+first retreat of the Allies, he would as naturally have reappointed
+himself emperor. The trick was too shallow for his sagacity, and it
+was impossible to hope that it could have been suffered by the Allies.
+Yet it passed the Chamber, and Napoleon Second was acknowledged within
+the walls. But the acknowledgment was laughed at without them; the
+Allies did not condescend to notice it; and the Allies proceeded to
+their work of restoration as if he had never existed. In fact, the
+dynasty was at an end; a provisional government was appointed, with
+Fouche at its head, and the name of Napoleon was pronounced no more.
+
+Count Montholon gives a brief but striking description of the
+confusion, dismay, and despair, into which Waterloo had thrown the
+Bonapartists. He had hurried to the Elysee a few hours after the
+arrival of Bonaparte from the field. He met the Duke of Vicenza coming
+out, with a countenance of dejection, and asked him what was going on.
+"All is lost," was the answer. "You arrived to-day, as you did at
+Fontainbleau, only to see the emperor resign his crown. The leaders of
+the Chambers desire his abdication. They will have it; and in a week
+Louis XVIII. will be in Paris. At night on the 19th, a short note in
+pencil was left with my Swiss, announcing the destruction of the army.
+The same notice was given to Carnot. The last telegraphic dispatch had
+brought news of victory; we both hastened to the Duke of Otranto; he
+assured us with all his cadaverous coldness that he knew nothing. He
+knew all, however, I am well assured. Events succeeded each other with
+the rapidity of lightning; there is no longer any possible illusion.
+All is lost, and the Bourbons will be here in a week."
+
+The Count remained forty-eight hours at the palace. The fallen Emperor
+had now made up his mind to go to America, and the Count promised to
+accompany him. A couple of regiments, formed of the workmen of the
+Faubourg St Germain, marching by the palace, now demanded that
+Napoleon should put himself at their head, and take vengeance on his
+enemies. But he well knew the figure which the volunteers of the mob
+would make in front of the bayonets which had crushed his guard at
+Waterloo, and he declined the honour of this new command. A few
+courtiers, who adhered to him still, continued to talk of his putting
+himself at the head of the national force. But Waterloo had
+effectually cured him of the passion for soldiership, and he
+constantly appealed to his unwillingness to shed the blood of
+Frenchmen. It was at least evident that he intended to tempt the field
+no more, but after being the cause of shedding the blood of two
+millions of the people, his reserve was romantic.
+
+The Count was sent to dismiss the volunteers, and they having
+performed their act of heroism, and offered to challenge the whole
+British army, were content with the glory of the threat, and
+heroically marched home to their shops.
+
+But Montholon, on returning again, addressed Napoleon on the
+feasibility of attacking Wellington and Blucher with the battalions of
+the Messrs Calicot, upon which the Ex-Emperor made the following
+solemn speech: "To put into action the brute force of the masses,
+would without doubt save Paris, and ensure me the crown, without
+having recourse to the horrors of a civil war. But this would be also
+to risk the shedding of rivers of fresh blood. What is the compressive
+force which would be sufficiently strong to regulate the outburst of
+so much passion, hatred, and vengeance? No, I never can forget one
+thing, that I have been brought from Cannes to Paris in the midst of
+cries for blood, 'Down with the priests!' 'Down with the nobles!' I
+would rather have the regrets of France than possess its crown."
+
+There is no country in the world, where Napoleon's own phrase, that
+from the sublime to the ridiculous is but a step, is more perpetually
+and practically realised than in France. Here was a man utterly
+ruined, without a soldier on the face of the earth, all but a
+prisoner, abandoned by every human being who could be of the slightest
+service to him, beaten in the field, beaten on his own ground, and now
+utterly separated from his remaining troops, and with a hundred
+thousand of the victors rushing after him, hour by hour, to Paris. Yet
+he talks as if he had the world still at his disposal, applauds his
+own magnanimity in declining the impossible combat, vaunts his own
+philosophy in standing still, when he could neither advance nor
+retreat, and gives himself credit as a philanthropist, when he was on
+the very point of being handed over to the enemy as a prisoner. Some
+unaccountable tricks of a lower description now began to be played on
+the goods and chattels of the Elysee Bourbon. A case containing
+snuff-boxes adorned with portraits set in diamonds, was laid by
+Bertrand on the mantel-piece. He accidentally turned to converse with
+General Montholon at the window. Only one person entered the room. The
+Count does not give his name,--he was evidently a person of rank. On
+turning to the mantel-piece again, the case was gone.
+
+One of the ministers had brought some negotiable paper to the amount
+of several millions of francs into the Emperor's chamber. The packet
+was placed under one of the cushions of the sofa. Only one person, and
+that one a man of rank who had served in Italy, entered the chamber.
+Napoleon went to look for the money, calculated a moment, and a
+million and a half of francs, or about L60,000 sterling, had been
+taken in the interim. Those were times for thievery, and the
+plunderers of Europe were now on the alert, to make spoil of each
+other. The Allies were still advancing, but they were not yet in
+sight; and the mob of Paris, who had been at first delighted to find
+that the war was at an end, having nothing else to do, and thinking
+that, as Wellington and Blucher had not arrived within a week, they
+would not arrive within a century, began to clamour _Vive l'Empereur!_
+Fouche and the provisional government began to feel alarm, and it was
+determined to keep Napoleon out of sight of the mob. Accordingly they
+ordered him to be taken to Malmaison; and on the 25th, towards
+nightfall, Napoleon submissively quitted the Elysee, and went to
+Malmaison. At Malmaison he remained for the greater part of the time,
+in evident fear of being put to death, and in fact a prisoner.--Such
+was the fate of the most powerful sovereign that Europe had seen since
+Charlemagne. Such was the humiliation of the conqueror, who, but seven
+years before, had summoned the continental sovereigns to bow down to
+his footstool at Erfurth; and who wrote to Talma the actor these words
+of supreme arrogance--"Come to Erfurth, and you shall play before a
+pit-full of kings."
+
+From this period, day by day, a succession of measures was adopted by
+the government to tighten his chain. He was ordered to set out for the
+coast, nominally with the intention of giving him a passage to
+America. But we must doubt that intention. Fouche, the head of the
+government, had now thrown off the mask which he had worn so many
+years. And it was impossible for him to expect forgiveness, in case of
+any future return of Napoleon to power. But Napoleon, in America,
+would have been at all times within one-and-twenty days of Paris. And
+the mere probability of his return would have been enough to make many
+a pillow sleepless in Paris. We are to recollect also, that the
+English ministry must have been perfectly aware of the arrest of
+Napoleon; that St Helena had been already mentioned as a place of
+security for his person; and that if it was essential to the safety of
+Europe,--a matter about which Fouche probably cared but little; it was
+not less essential to the safety of Fouche's own neck,--a matter about
+which he always cared very much, that the Ex-Emperor should never set
+foot in France again.
+
+The result was, an order from the minister at war, Davoust, Prince of
+Eckmuhl, couched in the following terms. We give it as a document of
+history.
+
+     "General, I have the honour to transmit to you the subjoined
+     decree, which the commission of government desires you to
+     notify to the Emperor Napoleon: at the same time informing
+     his majesty, that the circumstances are become imperative,
+     and that it is necessary for him immediately to decide on
+     setting out for the Isle of Aix. This decree has been passed
+     as much for the safety of his person as for the interest of
+     the state, which ought always to be dear to him. Should the
+     Emperor not adopt the above mentioned resolution, on your
+     notification of this decree, it will then be your duty to
+     _exercise the strictest surveillance_, both with a view of
+     preventing his majesty from leaving Malmaion, and of guarding
+     against any attempt upon his life. You will station guards at
+     all the approaches to Malmaison. I have written to the
+     inspector-general of the gendarmerie, and to the commandant
+     of Paris, to place such of the gendarmerie and troops as you
+     may require at your disposal.
+
+     "I repeat to you, general, that this decree has been adopted
+     solely for the good of the state, and the personal safety of
+     the Emperor. Its prompt execution is indispensable, as the
+     future fate of his majesty and his family depends upon it. It
+     is unnecessary to say to you, general, that all your measures
+     should be taken with the greatest possible secresy.
+
+            (Signed) "PRINCE OF ECKMUHL,
+                Marshal and Minister of War."
+
+     Those documents, which have now appeared, we believe, for the
+     first time authentically, will be of importance to the
+     historian, and of still higher importance to the moralist.
+     Who could have once believed that the most fiery of soldiers,
+     the most subtle of statesmen and the proudest of sovereigns,
+     would ever be the subject of a rescript like the following?
+     It begins with an absolute command that "Napoleon Bonaparte"
+     (it has already dropped the emperor) "shall remain in the
+     roads of the Isle of Aix till the arrival of passports." It
+     then proceeds:--"It is of importance to the well-being of the
+     state, which should not be indifferent to him, that he should
+     remain till his fate, and that of his family, have been
+     definitively regulated. French honour is interested in such
+     an issue; but in the mean time every precaution should be
+     taken for the personal safety of Napoleon, and that he must
+     not be allowed to leave the place of his present sojourn.
+
+            (Signed) "THE DUKE OF OTRANTO.
+                THE PRINCE OF ECKMUHL."
+
+A similar document was issued to General Beker, signed by Carnot and
+Caulaincourt. Count Montholon remarks, with sufficient justice, on the
+signature of Caulaincourt to this paper, that the Emperor would have
+been extremely astonished to see that name subscribed to a letter in
+which he was called Napoleon--if any thing could have astonished the
+former exile of Elba, and the future exile of St Helena.
+
+This must have been a period of the deepest anxiety to the imperial
+prisoner. He evidently regarded his life as unsafe; thought that he
+discovered in the project of his journey a determination to throw him
+either into the hands of assassins or of the French king, and formally
+announced his refusal to leave Malmaison "until informed of his fate
+by the Duke of Wellington." He was now reduced to the lowest ebb. He
+acknowledged himself powerless, hopeless, and utterly dependent on the
+will of his conqueror. The bitterness of heart which dictated such
+words must have been beyond all description. He was now abandoned by
+the few who had followed him from the Elysee.
+
+But time was pressing; Wellington was advancing with rapid steps, and
+there was a possibility that he might capture Napoleon at Malmaison.
+Troops were sent to burn the neighbouring bridge, and precautions were
+taken to prevent the catastrophe. A division of the army coming from
+the Vendee halted before the palace, and insisted on seeing Napoleon,
+and on being led by him to battle. This was rodomontade, with the
+advanced troops of the whole army now within sight of Paris. But it
+was enough to betray him into the absurdity of proposing to try
+another chance for his crown. Beker was dispatched to Paris to try the
+effect of this communication. Fouche gave for answer, the simple fact
+that the Prussians were advancing on Versailles. The sitting of the
+provisional government would have been worth the hand of a great
+painter. Fouche, after sharply rebuking the general for bringing in
+his proposal from Malmaison, made him sit down at his side, while he
+wrote a peremptory and decided refusal. Carnot was walking gloomily up
+and down the room. Caulaincourt, Baron Quinette, and General Grenier,
+sat silently around the table. Not a word was uttered except by the
+Duke of Otranto. The general received his dispatch and departed. On
+passing through the anterooms, he found them filled with generals and
+high civil officers, who all expressed but one opinion on the
+necessity of getting rid of Napoleon. "Let him set off, let him go,"
+was the universal cry. "We can undertake nothing for either his
+personal good or Paris." There was now no alternative. Napoleon must
+either remain and fall into the hands of Louis XVIII., who had already
+proclaimed him a traitor and an outlaw, or he must try to make his
+escape by sea. On the 29th of June, at five o'clock in the evening, he
+entered the carriage which was to convey him to the coast, leaving
+Paris behind, to which he was never to return alive, but to which his
+remains have returned in a posthumous triumph twenty-six years after,
+on the 15th of September 1840.
+
+On his arrival at Rochfort, all the talent of the French for projects
+was immediately in full exercise. Never were there so many castles in
+the air built in so short a time. Proposals were made to smuggle the
+prisoner to the United States in a Danish merchant vessel, in which,
+in case of search, he was to be barrelled in a hogshead perforated
+with breathing holes.
+
+Another project was, to put him on board a kind of fishing-boat manned
+by midshipmen, and thus escape the English. A third project proposed,
+that the two French frigates anchored under the guns of the Isle of
+Aix should put to sea together; that one of them should run alongside
+Captain Maitland's ship, and attack her fiercely, with the hope of
+distracting her attention, even with the certainty of being destroyed,
+while the other frigate made her escape with Napoleon on board. This
+is what the French would call a _grande pensee_, and quite as heroic
+as any thing in a melodrama of the Porte St Martin. But the captain of
+the leading frigate declined the distinction, and evidently thought it
+not necessary that he and his crew should be blown out of the water,
+as they certainly would have been if they came in contact with the
+Bellerophon; so this third project perished.
+
+After a few days of this busy foolery, the prisoner, startled by new
+reports of the success of the Allies every where, and too sagacious
+not to feel that the hands of the French king might be the most
+dangerous into which the murderer of the Duc D'Enghien could fall;
+looking with evident contempt upon the foolish projects for his
+escape, and conscious that his day was done, resolved to throw himself
+into the hands of Captain Maitland, the commander of the Bellerophon,
+then anchored in Basque roads. On the night of the 10th, Savary and
+Las Cases were sent on board the English ship, to inquire whether the
+captain would allow a French or neutral ship, or the frigates with
+Napoleon on board, to pass free? Captain Maitland simply answered,
+that he had received no orders except those ordinarily given in case
+of war; but that he should attack the frigates if they attempted to
+pass; that if a neutral flag came in his way, he would order it to be
+searched as usual. But that, in consequence of the peculiar nature of
+the case, he would communicate with the admiral in command.
+
+A circumstance occurred on this occasion, which brought M. Las Cases
+into no small disrepute afterwards. The captain hospitably asked Las
+Cases and Savary to lunch with him, and, while at table, inquired
+whether they understood English. He was answered that they did not;
+and the captain, though of course relying upon the answer, made his
+observations in English to his officers, while he addressed the
+Frenchman in his own tongue. It was afterwards ascertained that Las
+Cases, who had been an emigrant for some years in England, understood
+English perfectly. Nothing could therefore be more pitiful than his
+conduct in suffering the captain to believe that he was ignorant on
+the subject, and thus obtain a confidence to which he had no right.
+The circumstance, as Count Montholon says,--"was afterwards made a
+bitter reproach against Las Cases; the English charging him with a
+violation of honour; because, as they affirmed, he had positively
+declared that he was unacquainted with their language, when the
+question was put to him at the commencement of the conference. This,
+however," says Count Montholon, "is not correct." And how does he show
+that it is not correct? "The question," says he, "was put
+collectively, that is, to both alike, and Savary alone answered in the
+negative." Of course the answer was understood collectively, and
+comprised M. Las Cases as well as M. Savary. In short, the conduct was
+contemptible, and the excuse not much better. Las Cases, of course,
+should not have allowed any other person's word to be taken, when it
+led to a delusion. It is _possible_ that Savary was unacquainted with
+his companion's knowledge of English,--though when we recollect that
+Savary was minister of police, and that Las Cases was about the court
+of Napoleon, it is difficult to conceive his ignorance on the subject.
+But in all instances, there could be no apology for his
+fellow-Frenchman's sitting to hear conversations of which he was
+supposed, on the credit of Savary's word, and his own silence, to
+comprehend nothing.
+
+It happily turns out, however, that all this _dexterity_ had only the
+effect of blinding the parties themselves.
+
+"This mystification and piece of diplomatic chicanery"--we use the
+language of the volume--"proved, in fact, rather detrimental than
+useful; for, no doubt, the information thus gained by _surprise_ from
+Captain Maitland and his officers, contributed to induce the Emperor
+to decide on surrendering himself to the English." The captain was too
+honourable a man to think of practising any chicane on the subject;
+but if the two _employes_ overreached themselves, so much the better.
+
+But events now thickened. On the 12th, the Paris journals arrived,
+announcing the entrance of the Allies into Paris, and the
+establishment of Louis XVIII. in the Tuileries! All was renewed
+confusion, consternation, and projects. On the next day Joseph
+Bonaparte came to the Isle of Aix, to propose the escape of his fallen
+brother in a merchant vessel from Bordeaux, for America, and remain in
+his place. This offer was generous, but it could scarcely be accepted
+by any human being, and it was refused. But delay was becoming doubly
+hazardous. It was perfectly possible that the first measure of the new
+government would be an order for his seizure, and the next, for his
+execution. On that evening he decided to accept the offer of the
+_chasse-marees_, to go on board before morning, and trust to the young
+midshipmen and chance for his passage across the Atlantic.
+
+We know no history more instructive than these "last days" of a
+fugitive Emperor. That he might have escaped a week before, is
+certain, for the harbour was not then blockaded; that he might have
+made his way among the channels of that very difficult and obstructed
+coast even after the blockade, is possible; that he might have found
+his way, by a hundred roads, out of France, or reached the remnant of
+his armies, is clear, for all his brothers escaped by land. But that
+he still hesitated--and alone hesitated; that this man--the most
+memorable for decision, famed for promptitude, for the discovery of
+the true point of danger, daring to the height of rashness, when
+daring was demanded--should have paused at the very instant when his
+fate seemed to be in his own hand, more resembles a preternatural loss
+of faculty than the course of nature. His whole conduct on the shore
+of France is to be equalled only by his conduct among the ashes of
+Moscow,--it was infatuation.
+
+Again the man of decision hesitated; and at four in the morning
+General Lallemand and Las Cases were sent on board the Bellerophon
+under the pretext of waiting for the admiral's answer, but in reality
+to ascertain whether the captain would express _officially_ any pledge
+or opinion relative to Napoleon's favourable reception in England;
+which Las Cases had conceived him to express in his conversation with
+his officers, and of which this M. Las Cases was supposed not to have
+understood a syllable.
+
+Captain Maitland's answer was distinct and simple. It was, "that he
+had yet received no information, but hourly expected it; that he was
+authorized to receive Napoleon on board, and convey him to England,
+where, according to his own opinion, he would receive all the
+attention and respect to which he could lay any claim." But, to
+prevent all presumptions on the subject, adding--"I am anxious that it
+should be well understood, that I am expressing only my personal
+opinion on this subject, and have in no respect spoken in the name of
+the government, having received _no_ instructions from either the
+admiralty or the admiral."
+
+It is almost painful to contemplate these scenes. What agonies must
+have passed through the heart of such a man, so humbled! What
+inevitable contrasts of the throne with the dungeon! What sense of
+shame in the humiliation which thus placed him at the disposal of his
+own few followers! What sleepless anxiety in those midnight
+consultations, in those exposures to public shame, in this sense of
+utter ruin, in this terrible despair! If some great painter shall
+hereafter rise to vindicate the pencil by showing its power of
+delineating the deepest passions of our nature, or some still greater
+poet shall come to revive the day of Shakspeare, and exhibit the
+tortures of a greater Macbeth, fallen from the highest elevation of
+human things into a depth of self-reproach and self-abasement to which
+all the powers of human language might be pale,--what a subject for
+them were here!
+
+The theatrical habits of the French are singularly unfortunate for a
+nation which assumes to take an influential rank in the world. They
+deprive them of that capacity for coping with real things which is
+essential to all substantial greatness. With them the business of the
+world must be all melodrame, and the most commonplace, or the most
+serious actions of life, must be connected with scene-shifting,
+trap-doors, and the mimic thunders of the stage. Napoleon was now in a
+condition the most deeply calculated to force these stern realities of
+life on the mind. Yet even with him all was to be dramatic; he was to
+throw himself on the clemency of his conqueror, like one of the heroes
+of Corneille. England was to stand in admiration of his magnanimous
+devotedness. The sovereign was to receive him with astonishment and
+open arms, and, after an embrace of royal enthusiasm, he was to be
+placed in secure splendour, cheered by the acclamations of a people
+hastening to do him homage. In this false and high-coloured view of
+things, he wrote the famous and absurd note, in which he pronounced
+himself another Themistocles, come to sit by the hearth of the British
+people. A manlier, because a more rational view of things, would have
+told him that a war, expressly begun with a determination to overthrow
+his dynasty, could not be suffered to conclude by giving him the power
+of again disturbing the world--that his utter faithlessness prohibited
+the possibility of relying on his pledges--the security of the Bourbon
+throne absolutely demanded his being finally disabled from disturbing
+its authority--England owed it to her allies to prevent a repetition
+of the numberless calamities which his reign had inflicted upon
+Europe, and owed it to herself to prevent all necessity for the havoc
+of a new Waterloo.
+
+The national passion for a _coup de theatre_ rendered all this
+knowledge of no avail, and he flung himself at the feet of the Prince
+Regent, with the flattering phraseology of claiming protection "from
+the most powerful, the most constant, and the most generous of his
+enemies."
+
+The step was now taken. On the 15th of July, at daybreak, he left the
+Isle of Aix, and entered one of the boats which was to convey him on
+board the Bellerophon. He had still a parting pang to undergo. As he
+looked round the shore, a white flag was flying on all the ships and
+batteries. All the rest of this curious narrative has been already
+given to the world. We have no desire to repeat the details.
+
+Count Montholon, in his fondness for excitement, here states that a
+privy council was held on the question, whether the terms of the
+Congress of Vienna prevented England from giving up Napoleon to the
+vengeance of Louis XVIII., adding that "the dispatches of the Duke of
+Wellington urged them to adopt bloody and terrible determinations."
+This we utterly disbelieve; and, if we required additional reasons for
+our disbelief, it would be in the Count's telling us that the
+energetic opposition of the Duke of Sussex alone prevented the
+delivery of the prisoner--there not being perhaps any prince, or any
+individual of England, less likely to have weight in the councils of
+the existing government.
+
+Without presuming to trace the steps of Providence, it is natural and
+not unwise to follow them in those leading transactions which give
+character to their times, or which complete events decisive of the
+fates of eminent men or nations. One of the most characteristic and
+abhorred acts of the entire life of the French Emperor, was his
+imprisonment of the English who were travelling in his country at the
+commencement of his reign. The act was the most treacherous within
+human record--it was perfidy on the largest scale. Europe had been
+often scandalised by breaches of political faith, but the agents and
+the sufferers were sovereigns and nations. But in this instance the
+blow fell upon individuals with the most sudden treachery, the most
+causeless tyranny, and the most sweeping ruin. Twelve thousand
+individuals, travelling under the protection of the imperial laws,
+wholly incapable of being regarded by those laws as prisoners, and
+relying on the good faith of the government, were seized as felons,
+put under duress, separated from their families in England, suddenly
+deprived of their means of existence, stopt in the progress of their
+professions, plundered of their property, and kept under the most
+vigilant surveillance for eleven years.
+
+The retribution now fell, and that retribution exactly in the form of
+the crime by which it was drawn down. We give a few extracts of the
+document by which Napoleon protested against his detention, as a most
+complete, though unconscious indictment against his own act eleven
+years before.
+
+Protest at sea, on board the Bellerophon, August 1815--"In the face of
+God and man, I solemnly protest against the injury which has been
+committed upon me, by the violation of my most sacred rights, in
+forcibly disposing of _my person and liberty_.
+
+"I came freely on board the Bellerophon, and _am not a prisoner_,--I
+am the _guest of England_.
+
+"I presented myself in good faith, and came to place myself under the
+protection of the laws of England. As soon as I set my foot on board
+the Bellerophon, I felt myself on the soil of the British people. If
+the orders issued by the government to receive myself and my suite
+were merely intended as a snare, then they have _forfeited their
+bond_. If such an act were really done, it would be in vain for
+England in future to speak of her faith, her laws, and her liberty.
+
+"She pretended to offer _the hand of hospitality_ to an enemy, _and
+when he had trusted to her fidelity_, she immolated him."
+
+If the _detenus_ at Verdun, and scattered through the various
+fortresses of France, had drawn up a petition against the desperate
+act which had consigned them to captivity, they might have anticipated
+the language with which Napoleon went to the dungeon, that was never
+to send him back again amongst mankind.
+
+There was but one preliminary to his departure now to take place. It
+was the execution of an order from the Government to examine the
+baggage in the strictest manner, and to require the surrender of all
+money or jewels of value in the possession of Napoleon and his suite.
+Necessary as this act was, for the prevention of bribery, and attempts
+to escape from St Helena, not for any undue seizure of private
+property, for a most ample allowance was already appointed by the
+government for the expenses of the prisoner, this duty seems to have
+been most imperfectly performed. As the Count tells us, "the
+grand-marshal, gave up 4000 Napoleons, as constituting the Emperor's
+chest. We kept secret about 400,000 francs in gold--from three to four
+hundred thousand francs in valuables and diamonds, and letters of
+credit for more than four million of francs." Whether this immense sum
+was overlooked by the extraordinary negligence of those whose duty it
+was to fulfil the orders of government, or whether their search was
+baffled, the narrative does not disclose. But there can be no question
+that the suite were bound to deliver up all that they possessed; and
+that there can be as little question that with such sums of money at
+his disposal, Napoleon's subsequent complaints of poverty were
+ridiculous, and that the subsequent sale of his plate to supply his
+table was merely for the purpose of exciting a clamour, and was
+charlatanish and contemptible.
+
+We pass rapidly over the details of the voyage. Napoleon spent a
+considerable part of his time on the quarter-deck, took opportunities
+of conversing affably with the officers, and even with the crew. On one
+occasion, after some conversation with the master, he invited him to
+dine at the admiral's table. The master declined the invitation, as a
+sin against naval etiquette. "Oh! in that case," said Napoleon, "you
+must come and dine in my own cabin." The admiral, however, had the good
+sense to tell Napoleon, that any one invited by him to the honour of
+sitting at his table, was, by that circumstance alone, placed above all
+rule of etiquette, and that the master should be welcome to dinner next
+day. This conduct, of course, made him very popular on board; but the
+chief interest of these important volumes is in the conversations which
+he held from time to time with the officers, and especially in the long
+details of his military and imperial career, which he dictated at St
+Helena, and which make the true novelty and value of the work. In one
+of those conversations which he had with them, he referred emphatically
+to his own efforts to make France a great naval power. "Unfortunately,"
+said he, "I found nobody who understood me. During the expedition to
+Egypt, I cast my eyes on Decres. I reckoned on him for understanding
+and executing my projects in regard to the navy. I was mistaken; his
+passion was to form a police, and to find out, by means of the
+smugglers, every web which your ministers, or the intriguers of
+Hartwell, were weaving against me. He had no enlarged ideas; always the
+spirit of locality and insignificant detail--paralysing my views." He
+then proceeded to state the hopeless condition of the French navy when
+he assumed the throne. The navy of Louis XVI. was no longer in
+existence; the Republic possessed but four ships of the line; the
+taking of Toulon, the battle of the river Jenes in 1793--of Rochefort
+in 1794, and finally, the battle of Aboukir, had given the death-blow
+to the navy. "Well, notwithstanding the disaster of Trafalgar, which I
+owe entirely to the disobedience of Admiral Villeneuve, I left to
+France one hundred ships of the line, and 80,000 sailors and marines,
+and all this in a reign of ten years." The truth is, that the attempt
+to make the French navy was one of the pre-eminent blunders of
+Napoleon. France is naturally a great military power, but her people
+are not maritime. England is not naturally a great military power, but
+her people are maritime. France has an immense land frontier which can
+be defended only by a land force. England has no land frontier at all.
+The sea is her only frontier, and it, of course, can be defended only
+by a fleet. A fleet is not a necessary of existence to France. A fleet
+is a necessary of existence to England. It is therefore self-evident
+that France only wastes her power in dividing it between her fleet and
+her army; and may be a great power, without having a ship; while
+England is compelled to concentrate her strength upon her fleet, and
+without her fleet must be undone. Thus the law of existence, which is
+equivalent to a law of nature, gives the naval superiority to England.
+There are symptoms in France at the present day, of falling into
+Napoleon's blunder, and of imagining the possibility of her becoming
+the naval rival of England. That she may build ships is perfectly
+possible, and that she may crowd them with a naval conscription is
+equally possible. But the first collision will show her the utter folly
+of contending with her partial strength against the power on which
+England rests her defence--a struggle between a species of volunteer
+and adventurous aggression, and the stern and desperate defence in
+which the safety of a nation is supremely involved.
+
+On crossing the Line, the triumph of Neptune was celebrated in the
+usual grotesque style. The Deity of the Sea requested permission to
+make acquaintance with Napoleon, who received him graciously, and
+presented him with five hundred Napoleons for himself and the crew,
+upon which he was rewarded with three cheers, and "Long live the
+Emperor Napoleon!"
+
+On the 16th of October 1815, the Northumberland cast anchor in the
+roads at St Helena. The Count remarks that the 17th, the day on which
+he disembarked, reminded him of a disastrous day. It was the
+anniversary of the last day of the battle of Leipsig. If distance from
+all the habitable parts of the globe were to be the merits of
+Napoleon's prison, nothing could have been more appropriate than the
+island of St Helena. It was two thousand leagues from Europe, twelve
+hundred leagues from the Cape, and nine hundred from any continent. A
+volcanic rock in the centre of the ocean.
+
+In the month of April, the frigate Phaeton anchored in the roads,
+having the new governor, Sir Hudson Lowe, with his family, on board.
+Sir Hudson is now where neither praise nor blame can reach him, but
+the choice was unfortunate in the very point for which probably he had
+been chosen;--he had been colonel of the Corsican regiment in our
+service, had served much in the Mediterranean, and had already been
+(as far as we remember) the object of Napoleon's bitterness in some of
+his Italian manifestoes. There can be no doubt that the mildest of
+governors would have been no favourite with the prisoner of Longwood.
+But in the present instance Napoleon's blood boiled at the idea of
+being placed under the jurisdiction of the colonel of the Corsican
+rangers; and he, accordingly, took every opportunity of exhibiting his
+indignation--a sort of feeling which, in a foreigner, and especially
+one of southern blood, always amounts to fury.
+
+We pass over a multitude of minor circumstances, though all
+characteristic, and all invaluable to the historian of the next
+century; but which would retard the more interesting conversations of
+the extraordinary captive. On the communication of the convention
+signed at Paris in August 1815, declaring him the prisoner of the four
+allied powers, and the announcement of the commissioners under whose
+charge he was to be placed, Napoleon burst out into a passionate
+remonstrance, which, however, he addressed only to the people around
+him. On those occasions he always adopted that abrupt and decisive
+style which in a Frenchman passes for oracular.
+
+"The expenses of my captivity will certainly exceed ten millions of
+francs a-year. It has not been the will of fate that my work should
+finish by effecting the social reorganisation of Europe." He then ran
+into his old boasting of his probable triumph in his great collision
+with the British army. "At Waterloo I ought to have been
+victorious--the chances were a hundred to one in my favour; but Ney,
+the bravest of the brave, at the head of 42,000 Frenchmen, suffered
+himself to be delayed a whole day by some thousands of Nassau troops.
+Had it not been for this inexplicable inactivity, the English army
+would have been taken _flagrante delicto_, and annihilated without
+striking a blow. Grouchy, with 40,000 men, suffered Bulow and Blucher
+to escape from him; and finally, a heavy fall of rain had made the
+ground so soft that it was impossible to commence the attack at
+daybreak. Had I been able to commence early, Wellington's army would
+have been trodden down in the defiles of the forest before the
+Prussians could have had time to arrive. It was lost without resource.
+The defeat of Wellington's army would have been peace, the repose of
+Europe, the recognition of the interests of the masses and of the
+democracy."
+
+Napoleon was always fluent on this subject; but the only true matter
+of surprise is, that so clever a personage should have talked such
+nonsense. In the first place, he must have known that Ney with his
+40,000 men had been soundly beaten by about half that number, and was
+thus unable to move a step beyond Quatre-Bras. In the next, that
+Grouchy, instead of suffering the Prussians to escape him, was
+gallantly fought by their rear-guard, was unable to make any
+impression whatever on them, and if he had not made his escape in the
+night, would unquestionably have been crushed to pieces the next day;
+and thirdly, as to the English armies being saved by the rain, the
+Duke of Wellington fought the French from eleven in the forenoon till
+seven in the evening without being driven an inch from the ground. If
+the French could not beat him in eight hours, they could not beat him
+in as many days. It was not until seven in the evening that the
+Prussian guns were heard coming into the field. Even then they were a
+mile and a half from Wellington's position. The British then charged,
+swept the French before them, Napoleon himself running away amongst
+the foremost, leaving 40,000 of his troops on the field or in the
+hands of the enemy. It would have been much wiser to have said not a
+syllable upon the battle, or much manlier to have acknowledged that he
+was more thoroughly beaten than he had ever seen an army beaten
+before; and that with 72,000 French veterans in the field, he had been
+routed and ruined by 25,000 British, three-fourths of whom had never
+fired a shot before in their lives.
+
+We have from time to time some curious acknowledgments of the
+political treacheries which formed the actual system of Napoleon's
+government, whether consular or imperial. On dictating a note relative
+to St Domingo to Count Montholon, he elucidated this policy in the
+most unequivocal manner. It will be remembered that, on the peace of
+Amiens, he had sent out a powerful fleet and an army of thirty
+thousand men to the West Indies. It will also be remembered, that in
+reply to the remonstrance of the British government, who naturally
+looked on so formidable an armament with considerable suspicion, the
+First Consul disclaimed in the most solemn manner all sinister views,
+pronounced, with every appearance of sincerity, that his sole object
+was the subjection of a French island then in revolt, and when this
+object was effected his whole purpose would be accomplished. But in St
+Helena, where candour cost nothing, he amply acknowledged the
+treachery. "I had two plans," said he, "for St Domingo. The first was
+that of acknowledging the power of the blacks, making Toussaint
+L'Ouverture governor, and, in fact, making St Domingo a West Indian
+vice-royalty. This plan was my favourite, and why? The French flag
+would acquire a great development of power in the American waters,
+and a variety of expeditions might have been undertaken against
+Jamaica and all the Antilles, and against South America, with an army
+of thirty thousand blacks trained and disciplined by French officers."
+
+We are to remember that at this time he was at peace with both England
+and Spain, whose territories he was thus about to dismember; for we
+cannot believe that the affairs of St Domingo were suffered greatly to
+occupy his mind. In the busy days from Marengo to the loss of Egypt,
+and the conclusion of peace, he had intended to have raised an
+universal negro insurrection in our islands. Upon the colours of his
+negro army he was to have inscribed "Brave blacks, remember that
+France alone recognises your liberty"--which would have been, in fact,
+a manifesto, calling upon all the negroes of the West Indies to revolt
+without delay. But the negroes of St Domingo, having formed plans of
+liberty for themselves, dispatched one of their colonels with a demand
+of independence. The chance, therefore, of invading Jamaica through
+their means was extinguished at once, and France was punished by the
+loss of her greatest colony for ever.
+
+In a conversation with Colonel Wilks, the ex-governor, on taking his
+leave, he told him that India had been constantly an object of his
+policy--that he had constantly assailed it by negotiations, and would
+have reached it by arms, had he been able to come to an understanding
+with the Emperor of Russia on the partition of Turkey. He then talked
+of his constant wish for peace--a declaration which the colonel
+probably received with a smile; and next disclosed a transaction,
+which, on any other authority, would have been incredible, but which
+amounted to perhaps the boldest and broadest piece of bribery ever
+attempted with a distinguished minister.
+
+While the French army was still on the right bank of the Elbe, the
+offer of the Austrian mediation was brought by Prince Metternich,
+demanding, as a preliminary, the abandonment of the great German
+fortresses which still remained in French hands.
+
+"I said to Metternich with indignation," are the words of this
+singular conference--"Is it my father-in-law who entertains such a
+project? Is it he who sends you to me? How much has England _given
+you_, to induce you to play this game against me? Have I not done
+enough for your fortune? It is of no consequence--be _frank_--what is
+it _you wish_? If _twenty millions_ will not satisfy you, say _what
+you wish_?"
+
+He adds, that on this scandalous offer of corruption, Metternich's
+sudden sullenness and total silence recalled him to a sense of what he
+had just expressed, and that thenceforth he had found this great
+minister wholly impracticable. Who can wonder that he did so, or that
+the offer was regarded as the deepest injury by a man of honour? But
+Napoleon's conception of the matter, to the last, was evidently not
+that he had committed an act of bribery, but that he had "mistaken his
+man." "It was," as Fouche observed, "_worse_ than a crime, it was a
+_blunder_."
+
+One of the absurdities of the crowd who collected anecdotes of
+Napoleon, was a perpetual affectation of surprise that he should not
+have terminated his imprisonment by his own hand. He was conscious of
+the imputation, and it seems to have formed the occasional subject of
+his thoughts. But his powerful understanding soon saw through the
+sophistry of that species of dramatic heroism, by which a man escapes
+"with a bare bodkin" all the duties and responsibilities of his being.
+
+"I have always regarded it," said he, "as a maxim, that a man exhibits
+more real courage by supporting calamities, and resisting misfortunes,
+than by putting an end to his life. Self-destruction is the act of a
+gambler who has lost all, or that of a ruined spendthrift, and proves
+nothing but a want of courage."
+
+The attempts to prove that Napoleon wanted personal intrepidity were
+at all times childish. His whole career in his Italian campaigns was
+one of personal exposure, and from the period when he rose into civil
+eminence, he had other responsibilities than those of the mere
+general. His life was no longer his own; it was the keystone of the
+government. Whether as consul or as emperor, his fall would have
+brought down along with it the whole fabric on which the fate of so
+many others immediately depended. It is, however, certain, that his
+courage was not chivalric, that no gallant fit of glory ever tempted
+him beyond the necessary degree of peril, and that he calculated the
+gain and loss of personal enterprise with too nice a view as to the
+balance of honour and advantage. A man of higher mind--an emperor who
+had not forgot that he was a general, would never have deserted his
+perishing army in Poland; an emperor who had not forgot that he was a
+soldier, would never have sent his Imperial guard, shouting, to
+massacre, and stayed himself behind. But to expect this devotion of
+courage is to expect a spirit which Napoleon never exhibited; and
+which is singular among the military exploits of the south. Napoleon
+might have commanded at Platea, but he would never have died at
+Thermopylae.
+
+In days like ours, which begin to familiarize men with the chances of
+political convulsion, it may be well worth while to listen to the
+conceptions of one who better knew the nature of the French Revolution
+than perhaps any among the great actors of the time. Napoleon was
+sitting by his fireside, in St Helena, on the 3d of September:--
+
+     "To-day," said he, "is the anniversary of a hideous
+     remembrance, the St Bartholomew of the French Revolution--a
+     bloody stain, which was the act of the Commune of Paris, a
+     rival power of the Legislature, which built its strength upon
+     the _dregs of the passions of the people_. * *
+
+     We must acknowledge, that there has been no political change
+     without a fit of popular vengeance, as soon as, _for any
+     cause whatever_, the mass of the people _enter into action_.
+     * *
+
+     General rule:--_No social revolution without terror!_ Every
+     revolution is in principle a _revolt_, which time and success
+     ennoble and render legal; but of which terror has been one of
+     the _inevitable phases_. How, indeed, can we understand, that
+     one could say to those who possess fortune and public
+     situations, 'Begone, and leave us your fortunes and your
+     situations,' without first intimidating them, and rendering
+     any defence impossible? The Reign of Terror began, in fact,
+     on the night of the 4th of August, when privileges, nobility,
+     tithes, the remains of the feudal system, and the fortunes of
+     the clergy, were done away with, and _all those remains of
+     the old monarchy_ were thrown to the people. Then only did
+     the people understand the Revolution, because they gained
+     something, and wished to keep it, even at the expense of
+     blood."
+
+This language is memorable. It ought to be a lesson to England.
+Napoleon here pronounces, that the great stimulant of political
+revolution is public robbery. Privileges may be the pretence, but the
+real object is plunder; and the progress of reason may be alleged as
+the instrument, but the true weapon is terror. In England, we are
+preparing the way for a total change. The groundwork of a revolution
+is laid from hour to hour; the Aristocracy, the Church, the landed
+proprietors, are made objects of popular libel, only preparatory to
+their being made objects of popular assault. The League has not yet
+taken upon it the office of the Commune of Paris, nor have the nobles,
+the clergy, and the bankers, been massacred in the prisons; but when
+once the popular passions are kindled by the hopes of national
+plunder, the revolution will have begun, and then farewell to the
+constitution. The habits of England, we willingly allow, are opposed
+to public cruelty; and in the worst excesses, the France of 1793 would
+probably leave us behind. But the principle in every nation is the
+same--the possessors of property will resist, the plunderers of
+property will fight; conflicting banners will be raised, and, after
+desperate struggles, the multitude will be the masters of the land.
+
+There can be nothing more evident, than that some of the leaders in
+these new movements contemplate the overthrow of the monarchy. There
+may be mere dupes in their ranks, the spirit of money-making may be
+the temper of others; but there are darker minds among them which
+scarcely condescend to conceal their intentions. The presidentship of
+a British republic would be not without its charms for the demagogue;
+and the bloody revolution of 1641, might rapidly find its still more
+sanguinary counterpart in the revolution of the nineteenth century. We
+have the history in the annals of France, and the commentator is the
+"child and champion of Jacobinism"--Napoleon.
+
+His impression that revolution always fixed its especial object in
+plunder, found another authority in one of the peculiar agents of
+public disturbance. "Barrere," said Napoleon, "affirmed, and truly,
+_Le peuple bat monnaie sur la place Louis XV._" ("The people coin
+money in the square of Louis XV.")--alluding to the guillotine, which
+enriched the treasury by the death of the nobles, whose wealth became
+the property of the nation.
+
+He proceeded, with equal decision and truth: "A revolution is always,
+whatever some may think, one of the greatest misfortunes with which
+the Divine anger can punish a nation. It is the scourge of the
+generation which brings it about; and for a long course of years, even
+a century, it is the misfortune of all, though it may be the advantage
+of individuals."
+
+Napoleon spent the chief portion of his time in dictating the
+recollections of his government, and general defences of his conduct.
+Those dictations were sometimes written down by Montholon, and
+sometimes by Las Cases. But in November 1816, an order was issued for
+the arrest of Las Cases, and his dismissal from the island, in
+consequence of his attempting to send, without the knowledge of the
+governor, a letter to Prince Lucien, sowed up in the clothes of a
+mulatto. This arrest made a prodigious noise among the household of
+Napoleon, and was turned to good advantage in England, as an instance
+of the cruelty of his treatment. Yet it seems perfectly probable that
+the whole was a trick of the Ex-emperor himself, and a mere
+contrivance for the purpose of sending to Europe Las Cases as an agent
+in his service.
+
+The security of Napoleon's imprisonment was essential to the peace of
+Europe; and no precaution could be justly regarded as severe, which
+prevented an outbreak so hazardous to the quiet of the world. Among
+those precautions, was the strictest prohibition of carrying on any
+correspondence with Europe, except through the hands of the governor.
+The whole household were distinctly pledged to the observance of this
+order, and any infraction of it was to be punished by instant arrest
+and deportation from the island.
+
+An order had been sent from England to reduce the number of the
+household by four domestics; and it seems not improbable that
+Napoleon's craft was suddenly awakened to the prospect of establishing
+a confidential intercourse with the faction whom he had left behind.
+But the four domestics were obviously inadequate to this object, and
+some person of higher condition was necessary. Las Cases some time
+before had attempted to send a letter to Europe by the mulatto. The
+fellow had been detected, and was threatened with a flogging if he
+repeated the experiment; yet it was to this same mulatto that Las
+Cases committed another letter, which the mulatto immediately carried
+to the governor, and Las Cases was arrested in consequence. Napoleon
+was instantly indignant, and vented his rage against the cruelty of
+the arrest, at the same time expressing his scorn at the clumsiness of
+Las Cases in delivering his letter to so awkward a messenger. But,
+whatever might be his pretended wonder at the want of dexterity in the
+Count, it was exceeded by his indignation at the conduct of the
+governor. "Longwood," he writes in a long and formal protest against
+his detention, "is wrapped in a veil which he would fain make
+impenetrable, in order to hide _criminal_ conduct. This peculiar care
+to conceal matters gives room to suspect the most _odious
+intentions_." This was obviously a hint that the governor's purpose
+was to put him secretly to death: a hint which neither Napoleon nor
+any other human being could have believed.
+
+But in alluding to the arrest of the Count, he touches closely on the
+acknowledgment of the intrigue.
+
+     "I looked through the window," he said, "and saw them taking
+     you away. A numerous staff pranced about you. I imagined I
+     saw some South Sea Islanders dancing round the prisoners
+     whom they were about to devour!" After this Italian
+     extravaganza, he returns to his object. "Your services were
+     necessary to me. You alone could read, speak, and understand
+     English. Nevertheless, I request you, and in case of need,
+     command you, to require the governor _to send you to the
+     Continent_. He _cannot refuse_, because he has no power over
+     you, except through the voluntary document which you signed.
+     It would be great _consolation to me_ to know that you were
+     on your way to more happy countries."
+
+This letter was carried by Bertrand to the governor for Las Cases, and
+"the wished-for effect was produced on Sir Hudson Lowe, as soon as he
+saw the terms in which the Emperor expressed his regret." We are
+fairly entitled to doubt the sincerity of the wish; for on Sir
+Hudson's offering to let Las Cases remain at Longwood, a new obstacle
+instantly arose,--the Count declared that "to remain was utterly
+impossible;" his honour was touched; he absolutely must go; or, as
+Count Montholon describes this happy punctilio,--"Unfortunately, Las
+Cases, influenced by extreme susceptibility of honour, thought himself
+_bound to refuse_ the governor's offer. He felt himself too deeply
+outraged by the insult; he explained this to the grand-marshal, and we
+were obliged to renounce the hope of seeing him again." Then came the
+finale of this diplomatic farce. "It was in vain that the Emperor sent
+Bertrand and Gourgaud to persuade him to renounce his determination;
+_he was resolved to leave the island_; and on the 29th of December
+1816, he quitted St Helena."
+
+We have but little doubt that the whole was a mystification. The gross
+folly of sending a secret dispatch by the same man of colour who had
+been detected by the governor, and threatened with punishment for the
+attempt to convey a letter; the bustle made on the subject at
+Longwood; the refusal of Las Cases to comply with Napoleon's request
+to remain, which, if it had been sincere, would have been equivalent
+to a command; and the conduct of Las Cases immediately on his arrival
+Europe, his publications and activity, amply show the object of his
+return. But a simple arrangement on the governor's part disconcerted
+the whole contrivance. Instead of transmitting Las Cases to Europe,
+Sir Hudson Lowe sent him to the Cape; where he was further detained,
+until permission was sent from England for his voyage to Europe. On
+his arrival, Napoleon's days were already numbered, and all dexterity
+was in vain. We have adverted to this transaction chiefly for the
+credit which it reflects on the governor. It shows his vigilance to
+have been constantly necessary; it also shows him to have been willing
+to regard Napoleon's convenience when it was possible; and it further
+shows that he was not destitute of the sagacity which was so fully
+required in dealing with the _coterie_ at Longwood.
+
+Napoleon's habits of dictating his memoirs must have been formidable
+toil to his secretaries. He sometimes dictated for twelve or fourteen
+hours, with scarcely an intermission. He spoke rapidly, and it was
+necessary to follow him as rapidly as he spoke, and never to make him
+repeat the last word. His first dictation was a mere revival of his
+recollections, without any order. The copy of his first dictation
+served as notes to the second, and the copy of this second became the
+subject of his personal revision; but he, unfortunately for his
+transcribers, made his corrections almost always in pencil, as he thus
+avoided staining his fingers--no woman being more careful in
+preserving the delicacy of her hands.
+
+Those dictations must be regarded as the studied defences of Napoleon
+against the heavy charges laid against his government.
+
+We have now given a general glance at the career of the French
+Emperor, as exhibited to us in these Recollections. He strikingly
+showed, in all the details of his government, the characteristics of
+his own nature. Impetuous, daring, and contemptuous of the feelings of
+mankind, from the first hour of his public life, his government was,
+like himself, the model of fierceness, violence, and disregard of
+human laws. Whatever was to him an object of ambition, was instantly
+in his grasp; whatever he seized was made the instrument of a fresh
+seizure; and whatever he possessed he mastered in the fullest spirit
+of tyranny. He was to be supreme; the world was to be composed of
+_his_ soldiery, his serfs, courtiers, and tools. The earth was to be
+only an incalculable population of French slaves. There was to be but
+one man free upon the globe, and that man Napoleon.
+
+We find, in this romance of power, the romance of his education. It
+has been often said, that he was Oriental in all his habits. His plan
+of supremacy bore all the stamp of Orientalism--the solitary pomp, the
+inflexible will, the unshared power, and the inexorable revenge. The
+throne of the empire was as isolated as the seraglio. It was
+surrounded by all the strength of terror and craft, more formidable
+than battlements and bastions. Its interior was as mysterious as its
+exterior was magnificent; no man was suffered to approach it but as
+soldier or slave; its will was heard only by the roaring of cannon;
+the overthrow of a minister, the proclamation of a war, or the
+announcement of a dynasty crushed and a kingdom overrun, were the only
+notices to Europe of the doings within that central place of power.
+
+But, with all the genius of Napoleon, he overlooked the true
+principles of supremacy. All power must be pyramidal to be secure. The
+base must not only be broad, but the gradations of the pile must be
+regular to the summit. With Napoleon the pyramid was inverted--it
+touched the earth but in one point; and the very magnitude of the mass
+resting upon his single fortune, exposed it to overthrow at the first
+change of circumstances.
+
+Still, he was an extraordinary being. No man of Europe has played so
+memorable a part on the great theatre of national events for the last
+thousand years. The French Revolution had been the palpable work of
+Providence, for the punishment of a long career of kingly guilt,
+consummated by an unparalleled act of perfidy, the partition of
+Poland. The passions of men had been made the means of punishing the
+vices of government. When the cup was full, Napoleon was sent to force
+it upon the startled lips of Prussia, Austria, and Russia. The three
+conspirators were crushed in bloody encounters--the capitals of the
+three were captured--the provinces of the three were plundered--and
+the military pride of the three was humiliated by contemptuous and
+bitter conditions of peace.
+
+But, when the destined work was done, the means were required no more.
+When the victims were broken on the wheel, the wheel and the
+executioner were alike hurried from the sight of man. The empire of
+France was extinguished by the same sovereign law which had permitted
+its existence. The man who had guided the empire in its track of
+devastation--the soul of all its strength, of its ambition, and its
+evil--was swept away. And as if for the final moral of human
+arrogance, France was subjected to a deeper humiliation than had been
+known in the annals of national reverses since the fall of Rome; and
+the ruler of France was plunged into a depth of defeat, a bitterness
+of degradation, an irreparable ruin, of which the civilized world
+possesses no example. His army destroyed in Russia by the hand of Him
+who rules the storm--the last forces of his empire massacred in
+Belgium--his crown struck off by the British sword--his liberty
+fettered by British chains--the remnant of his years worn away in a
+British dungeon, and his whole dynasty flung along with him into the
+political tomb, were only the incidents of the great judicial process
+of our age. The world has been suffered to return to peace; while the
+sepulchre of this man of boundless but brief grandeur has been
+suffered to stand in the midst of that nation which most requires the
+great lesson--that ambition always pays for its splendour by its
+calamities; that the strength of a nation is in the justice of its
+councils; and that he "who uses the sword shall perish by the sword!"
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[62] _History of the Captivity of Napoleon at St. Helena._ By GENERAL
+COUNT MONTHOLON. 2 vols. London: Colburn.
+
+
+
+
+_Edinburgh: Printed by Ballantyne and Hughes, Paul's Work._
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume
+60, No. 369, July 1846, by Various
+
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