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diff --git a/35984-0.txt b/35984-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f2bb406 --- /dev/null +++ b/35984-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9628 @@ +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.) + + + + + + + + + + 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 *** + +***** This file should be named 35984-0.txt or 35984-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/9/8/35984/ + +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.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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