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diff --git a/36405.txt b/36405.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1607ce8 --- /dev/null +++ b/36405.txt @@ -0,0 +1,15128 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The International Monthly, Volume 4, No. 2, +September, 1851, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The International Monthly, Volume 4, No. 2, September, 1851 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: June 12, 2011 [EBook #36405] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INTERNATIONAL MONTHLY, SEPT. 1851 *** + + + + +Produced by Joshua Hutchinson, Josephine Paolucci and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by Cornell University Digital Collections.) + + + + + + + + +THE INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE + +Of Literature, Art, and Science. + +Vol. IV. NEW-YORK, SEPTEMBER 1, 1851. No. II. + + + + +INSTITUTIONS FOR SAILORS, IN NEW-YORK. + + +[Illustration: HEALTH-OFFICER BOARDING AN IMMIGRANT SHIP, QUARANTINE, +STATEN ISLAND.] + +The maritime commerce of New-York has increased so rapidly that it has +continually outgrown the space appropriated for its accommodation, so +that the docks, wharves, warehouses, and landings, have been found +wholly inadequate to the reception of the business which has poured in +upon them. But the benevolent institutions of the "Empire City," +designed to meliorate the condition of sea-faring men, have been fully +equal to the exigencies of this improvident class of laborers, and are +among the noblest and best conducted of the many charitable +institutions in this great and growing metropolis of the New World. +Commerce is the life and soul of New-York, and the most selfish +motives should lead to the establishment of suitable retreats and +hospitals for the benefit of the class of men without whose labors its +wheels could not revolve; but it is not to those who are most +benefited by the labors of seamen that they are indebted for the +existence of safe havens of retreat, where they may cast anchor in +repose, where they can no longer follow their dangerous and +storm-tost business. Seamen are the only class who have asylums +provided expressly for their use, either in sickness or old age. The +nation provides no hospital like that of Greenwich, where the tars who +are disabled in the public service find a home and an honorable +support, but it lays a capitation tax on all the seamen in the navy +for the creation of a fund, out of which the Naval Asylum, the +Wallabout Hospital, &c., for the disabled, invalid, and superannuated +of the navy have, at their own cost, not altogether disagreeable +homes. New-York, however, from the munificence of private individuals +and the creation of a fund from a tax on seamen, can boast of +excellent institutions for the ample and comfortable accommodation of +all the sick and infirm sailors who have earned a right of admission +by sailing from this port. In this respect there is no other city in +the world that can equal New-York. + +The quarantine ground of the port of New-York, which is on the +north-eastern point of Staten Island, five and a half miles from the +Battery, is admirably located for the purposes of purification, and +liberally endowed with all the necessary means for the cure of the +sick and the prevention of the spread of disease. The ground +appropriated for the purposes of a lazaretto has a frontage on the bay +of about fourteen hundred feet, and extends back twelve hundred feet. +It is inclosed by a high brick wall, and includes suitable hospitals +for the accommodation of the sick, houses for the resident physician, +and offices for the numerous persons employed about the grounds. The +largest hospital, appropriated for fever patients, is that nearest the +water. It is constructed of brick, is three stories high, and one +hundred and thirty-six feet long by twenty-eight feet wide. The +building on the rising ground next above this is intended for +convalescents. It is built of brick, three stories high, fifty feet +long, and forty-five feet high, with two wings sixty-six by twenty-six +feet each. Higher up, beyond this, is the small-pox hospital, which +generally has the largest number of patients. It is but two stories, +eighty feet long and twenty-eight feet wide; like the other hospitals, +it is built of brick, and has open galleries on the outside, in front, +and rear. The quarantine hospitals, although forming no unimportant +part of the maritime institutions of New-York, do not properly come +under the head of those denominated benevolent, as they are merely +sanitary and for the purpose of preventing the spread of contagious +diseases. + +[Illustration: THE SEAMEN'S RETREAT.] + +The Seamen's Retreat is also on Staten Island, a mile below the +quarantine ground, built upon a natural terrace, about one hundred +feet above the water, and fronting the Narrows. The location is one of +exceeding beauty, being surrounded by sylvan scenery of unsurpassed +loveliness, and commanding a prospect of great extent, which embraces +the city, the shore of New Jersey, the Palisades, Long Island, and the +highlands of Neversink and Sandy Hook. The Hospital is a noble +building, constructed of rough granite, three stories high, and +surrounded by piazzas, upon which the patients may inhale the pure +air, and beguile their confinement by watching the ever-changing +panorama presented by the bay, with its countless ships and steamers. +The Retreat is intended solely for sick but not disabled seamen. It is +supported by a fund derived from a state capitation tax, levied upon +all seamen sailing from this port, and is the only establishment of +the kind in the United States, or, we believe, in the world. Seamen +are the only class who are compelled by the law of the state to +contribute to a fund to form a provision for them in case of sickness. +The income for the support of the Retreat is ample, and the most +liberal provision is allowed for all whose necessities compel them to +seek admission. On the grounds are houses for the residence of the +physician and keeper. + +[Illustration: SAILOR'S SNUG HARBOR.] + +This noble Charity is situated on the north side of Staten Island, +about three miles from the Quarantine, and commands a magnificent +view, with the city in the distance. It is surrounded with elegant +villas, pretty cottages, and well cultivated farms, and is in the +midst of the loveliest rural scenery that the neighborhood of New-York +can boast of. The grounds belonging to the institution comprise about +one hundred and sixty acres of land, which is inclosed by a handsome +iron fence that cost, a few years since, thirty-five thousand dollars. +The principal building is constructed of brick and faced with white +marble, with a marble portico. The corner-stone was laid in 1831, and +the institution opened for the reception of its inmates in 1833. The +centre building is sixty-five by one hundred feet, with two wings +fifty-one by one hundred feet, connected with the main building by +corridors. There are two handsome houses for the residences of the +governor of the institution, and the physician, and numerous offices +and outhouses. + +This noble institution owes its existence to Captain James Randall, +who, in the year 1801, bequeathed a piece of land in the upper part of +the city, for the foundation of a retreat for worn-out seamen, who had +sailed from the port of New-York; it was called most appropriately the +SNUG HARBOR, and many a poor mariner has since found safe moorings +there, when no longer able to follow his perilous calling. The +benevolent-hearted sailor who founded this noble charity could hardly +have dreamed that the small property which he bequeathed for that +purpose, could ever increase to the magnificent sum which it is now +valued at. The income from the estate in the year 1806 was but a +little more than four thousand dollars; it is now thirty-seven +thousand dollars, and will be, next year, when the leases of the +property have to be renewed, at least sixty thousand dollars a year, +an income abundantly large to support even in luxurious comfort the +worn-out tars who may be compelled by misfortune to seek this +magnificent asylum. The trustees of the Snug Harbor are about to build +extensive additions to the present accommodations for it inmates, and +among the new buildings will be a hospital for the insane. There is no +chapel attached to the Snug Harbor, but there is a regular chaplain +who performs religious services every Sunday in the large hall in the +centre building. + +In front of the principal edifice a plain monument of white marble has +been erected by the trustees in memory of Captain Randall, the founder +of the institution, which is chiefly remarkable for the omission, in +the inscription, of any information respecting the birth or death of +the person in whose honor it was erected. + +[Illustration: THE SAILOR'S HOME.] + +It is somewhat remarkable that New-York has originated every system +for bettering the temporal and spiritual condition of seamen, that now +exists, and furnished the models of the various institutions for the +benefit of sea-faring men which have been successfully copied in other +maritime cities of the new and the old world. It was here that the +first chapel was built for the exclusive use of sailors and their +families, the Mariner's chapel in Roosevelt-street; and it was here, +too, that the first Home was erected for the residence, while on +shore, of homeless sailors. The corner-stone of the Home in +Cherry-street was laid with appropriate ceremonies on the 14th of +October, 1841, just twenty-two years from the day on which the +corner-stone of the Mariner's chapel was laid in Roosevelt-street. The +building is a well constructed house of brick with a granite basement, +plain and substantial, without any pretensions to architectural +ornamentation. It is six stories high, fifty feet front, and one +hundred and sixty feet deep. It contains one hundred and thirty +sleeping-rooms, a dining-room one hundred by twenty-five feet, and a +spacious reading-room, in which are a well selected library, and a +museum of natural curiosities; there are also suitable apartments for +the overseer and officers. About five hundred boarders can be +accommodated in the Home, but it is not often filled. The Sailor's +Home was built by the Seaman's Friend Society, and is intended to +furnish sailors with a comfortable and orderly home, where they will +not be subject to the rapacities of unprincipled landlords, nor the +temptations which usually beset this useful but improvident class of +men when they are on shore. + +[Illustration: U.S. MARINE HOSPITAL, BROOKLYN.] + +The Marine Hospital at the Wallabout, Brooklyn, near the Navy Yard, +belongs to the government of the United States, and is intended for +the use of the sailors and officers of the navy, and none others. It +was built from a fund called the hospital fund, which is created by a +payment of twenty cents a month by all the officers and seamen of the +navy. The Hospital stands on high ground, on one of the healthiest and +pleasantest spots in the vicinity of New-York, commands a superb view +of the East River as it sweeps toward the Sound, and overlooks both +Brooklyn and New-York. The buildings constituting the Hospital are two +fine large airy edifices constructed of white marble, with galleries +and piazzas, and surrounded by well-kept grounds which abound with +choice fruit trees, and every requisite for the health and comfort of +the invalids. The patients remain there only while under treatment for +disease. Our government has no asylum for the support of the sailors +or soldiers who lose their health or limbs in its service, like the +hospitals of Greenwich and Chelsea, and, in this respect at least, we +are behind the government of Great Britain, which makes ample and +generous provision for all classes and grades of public servants. + +As New-York was the first maritime city that built a chapel expressly +for seamen, so it was the first to build a floating church, for +although there had been previously in London and Liverpool old hulks +fitted up as chapels, and moored in the docks for the use of sailors, +there had never been an actual church edifice put afloat before the +FLOATING CHURCH OF OUR SAVIOUR, which now lies moored at the foot of +Pike-street, in the East River. This novel edifice was finished and +consecrated in February, 1844. It is under the charge of the Young +Men's Church Missionary Society of the City of New-York, by whom it +was built, and has been under the pastoral care of the Rev. B. C. C. +Parker, of the Episcopal church, from its consecration to the present +time. It is seventy feet long, and thirty feet wide, and will +comfortably seat five hundred persons. It has an end gallery, in which +is an organ. A beautiful baptismal font of white marble, in the shape +of a capstan, surmounted by a seashell, chiselled from the same block +with the shaft--the gift of St. Mark's church in the Bowery, +New-York--stands in front of the chancel rail. The top of the +communion-table is a marble slab, and the Ten Commandments are placed +on the panels on each side in the recess over it. An anchor in gold, +painted on the back-ground between these panels, rests upon the Bible +and prayer-book. The roof, at the apex, is twenty-six feet high, and +eleven feet at the eaves. The edifice is built on a broad deck, +seventy-six by thirty-six feet, covering two boats of eighty tons +each, placed ten feet apart. The spire contains a bell, and the top of +the flag-staff is about seventy feet from the deck. Divine service is +regularly performed on Sundays, commencing in the morning at half-past +ten, and in the afternoon at three o'clock. Both the boats on which +the edifice rests are well coppered, and protected from injury by +booms placed around them. + +[Illustration: THE FLOATING CHURCH OF OUR SAVIOUR.] + +A similar floating church has been built and moored near +Rector-street, in the North River, near which is another floating +chapel, formed of an old hulk, after the manner of the first floating +chapels in London. In addition to these houses of worship for seamen, +there is a large and handsome church for sailors near the "Home," in +Cherry-street, under the charge of the Baptists, and a small seamen's +chapel in Brooklyn, near the Catharine Ferry. To complete this system +of benevolent enterprises for the benefit of sailors, there is a +Seaman's Savings Bank in Wall-street, a very handsome structure of +brown free-stone, in the third story of which are the offices of the +Seaman's Friend Society. + +In Franklin Square, which, at the time of Washington's last visit to +New-York, bore about the same relation to the heart of the city that +Union Square and Grammercy Park now do, being the Ultima Thule of +fashion, and the very focus of gentility and aristocracy, there is the +Sailor's Home for colored seamen, which has been most respectably +conducted on the principle of the "Home" in Cherry-street, and under +the supervision of, although not belonging to, the Seaman's Friend +Society. The Colored Home consists of two respectable three-story +brick buildings, and is next door to the old Walton House, which is +the last remnant of ante-revolutionary splendor remaining in the +commercial metropolis of the Union, which once abounded in stately old +mansions full of historical mementoes of the days when we acknowledged +to kingly authority. + +The principle of compelling men, when they have means, to lay up a +trifle against the exigencies of a rainy day, has worked well, as we +have seen, when applied to the most improvident of all the laboring +classes, and we are not sure but the same principle applied to other +classes would not prove equally beneficial. If the law should require +every author, or merchant, or broker, or editor, to pay a monthly +stipend to provide houses of refuge for the needy of their class, it +would be only carrying out the principle of government which has been +applied to seamen, and might save many a poor wretch from committing +suicide to avoid the fate of a pauper. + +[Illustration: A CUB OF THE BARN-YARD] + + + + +RURAL LIFE IN VIRGINIA: THE "SWALLOW BARN." + + +We remember no book of its class altogether more delightful than the +"Swallow Barn" of JOHN P. KENNEDY. In Irving's "Bracebridge Hall" we +have exquisite sketches of English homes, such sketches as could be +drawn only by that graceful and genial humorist, but Bracebridge Hall +is not in our own country, and we scarcely feel "at our own" in it, as +we do in every scene to which we are introduced by the author of +"Swallow Barn," the best painter of manners who has ever tried his +hand at their delineation in America. The love of nature, the fine +appreciation of a country life, the delicate and quiet humor, and +hearty joy in every one's enjoyment, which those who know Mr. Kennedy +personally will recognize as principal elements of his own character, +are reflected in the pages of the book, and with its other good +qualities make it one of the most charming compositions in the +literature of the present time. + +Mr. Putnam in a few days will publish a new edition of "Swallow Barn," +profusely illustrated by Mr. Strother, an artist who seems perfectly +at home in the Old Dominion, as if--which may be the case--all his +life had been spent there. Some of these we shall transfer to our own +pages, but first we copy in full Mr. Kennedy's "Word in Advance to the +Reader": + + "Swallow Barn was written twenty years ago, and was + published in a small edition, which was soon exhausted. From + that date it has disappeared from the bookstores, being + carelessly consigned by the author to that oblivion which is + common to books and men--out of sight, out of mind. Upon a + recent reviewal of it, after an interval sufficiently long + to obliterate the partialities with which one is apt to + regard his own productions, I have thought it was worthy of + more attention than I had bestowed upon it, and was, at + least, entitled to the benefit of a second edition. In + truth, its republication has been so often advised by + friends, and its original reception was so prosperous, that + I have almost felt it to be a duty once more to set it + afloat upon the waters, for the behoof of that good-natured + company of idle readers who are always ready to embark on a + pleasure excursion in any light craft that offers. I have, + therefore, taken these volumes in hand, and given them a + somewhat critical revisal. Twenty years work sufficient + change upon the mind of an author to render him, perhaps + more than others, a fastidious critic of his own book. If + the physiologists are right, he is not the same person after + that lapse of time; and all that his present and former self + may claim in common, are those properties which belong to + his mental consciousness, of which his aspiration after fame + is one. The present self may, therefore, be expected to + examine more rigorously the work of that former and younger + person, for whom he is held responsible. This weighty + consideration will be sufficient to account for the few + differences which may be found between this and the first + edition. Some quaintness of the vocabulary has been got rid + of--some dialogue has been stript of its redundancy--some + few thoughts have been added--and others retrenched. I shall + be happy to think that the reader will agree with me that + these are improvements:--I mean the reader who may happen to + belong to that small and choice corps who read these volumes + long ago--a little troop of friends of both sexes, to whom I + have reason to be grateful for that modicum of good opinion + which cheered my first authorship. Health and joy to them + all--as many as are now alive! I owe them a thanksgiving for + their early benevolence. + + "Swallow Barn exhibits a picture of country life in + Virginia, as it existed in the first quarter of the present + century. Between that period and the present day, time and + what is called "the progress," have made many innovations + there, as they have done every where else. The Old Dominion + is losing somewhat of the raciness of her once peculiar, + and--speaking in reference to the locality described in + these volumes--insulated cast of manners. The mellow, bland, + and sunny luxuriance of her home society--its good + fellowship, its hearty and constitutional + _companionableness_, the thriftless gayety of the people, + their dogged but amiable invincibility of opinion, and that + overflowing hospitality which knew no ebb--these traits, + though far from being impaired, are modified at the present + day by circumstances which have been gradually attaining a + marked influence over social life as well as political + relation. An observer cannot fail to note that the manners + of our country have been tending towards a uniformity which + is visibly effacing all local differences. The old states, + especially, are losing their original distinctive habits and + modes of life, and in the same degree, I fear, are losing + their exclusive American character. A traveller may detect + but few sectional or provincial varieties in the general + observances and customs of society, in comparison with what + were observable in the past generations, and the pride, or + rather the vanity, of the present day is leading us into a + very notable assimilation with foreign usages. The country + now apes the city in what is supposed to be the elegancies + of life, and the city is inclined to value and adopt the + fashions it is able to import across the Atlantic, and thus + the whole surface of society is exhibiting the traces of a + process by which it is likely to be rubbed down, in time, to + one level, and varnished with the same gloss. It may thus + finally arrive at a comfortable insipidity of character + which may not be willingly reckoned as altogether a due + compensation for the loss of that rough but pleasant flavor + which belonged to it in its earlier era. There is much good + sense in that opinion which ascribes a wholesome influence + to those homebred customs, which are said to strengthen + local attachments and expand them into love of country. What + belonged to us as characteristically American, seems already + to be dissolving into a mixture which affects us + unpleasantly as a plain and cosmopolitan substitute for the + old warmth and salient vivacity of our ancestors. We no + longer present in our pictures of domestic life so much as + an earnest lover of our nationality might desire of what + abroad is called the "red bird's wing"--something which + belongs to us and to no one else. The fruitfulness of modern + invention in the arts of life, the general fusion of thought + through the medium of an extra-territorial literature, which + from its easy domestication among us is scarcely regarded as + foreign, the convenience and comfort of European customs + which have been incorporated into our scheme of living,--all + these, aided and diffused by our extraordinary facilities of + travel and circulation, have made sad work, even in the + present generation, with those old _nationalisms_ that were + so agreeable to the contemplation of an admirer of the + picturesque in character and manners. + +[Illustration: THE "SWALLOW BARN."] + + "Looking myself somewhat hopelessly upon this onward gliding + of the stream, I am not willing to allow these sketches of + mine entirely to pass away. They have already begun to + assume the tints of a relic of the past, and may, in another + generation, become archaeological, and sink into the chapter + of antiquities. Presenting, as I make bold to say, a + faithful picture of the people, the modes of life, and the + scenery of a region full of attraction, and exhibiting the + lights and shades of its society with the truthfulness of a + painter who has studied his subject on the spot, they may + reasonably claim their accuracy of delineation to be set off + as an extenuation for any want of skill or defect of finish + which a fair criticism may charge against the artist. Like + some sign-post painters, I profess to make a strong + likeness, even if it should be thought to be _hard_,--and + what better workmen might call a daub,--as to which I must + leave my reader to judge for himself when he has read this + book. The outward public award on this point was kind, and + bestowed quite as much praise as I could have desired--much + more than I expected--when the former edition appeared. But + "the progress" has brought out many competitors since that + day, and has, perhaps, rendered the public taste more + scrupulous. A book then was not so perilous an offering as + it is now in the great swarm of authorships. We run more + risk, just now, of being left alone--unread--untalked + of--though not, happily, unpuffed by newspapers, who are + favorites with the publisher, and owe him courtesies. + + "I wish it to be noted that Swallow Barn is not a novel. I + confess this in advance, although I may lose by it. It was + begun on the plan of a series of detached sketches linked + together by the hooks and eyes of a traveller's notes; and + although the narrative does run into some by-paths of + personal adventure, it has still preserved its desultory, + sketchy character to the last. It is, therefore, utterly + unartistic in plot and structure, and may be described as + variously and interchangeably partaking of the complexion of + a book of travels, a diary, a collection of letters, a + drama, and a history,--and this, serial or compact, as the + reader may choose to compute it. Our old friend Polonius had + nearly hit it in his rigmarole of 'pastoral-comical, + tragical-comical-historical-pastoral'--which, saving 'the + tragical,' may well make up my schedule: and so I leave it + to the 'censure' of my new reader." + +[Illustration: VIRGINIA MILL-BOYS RACING.] + +Here the history of the book is admirably told. The work itself, so +full of truthful and effective pictures, offers numerous passages for +quotation, but though we have nothing better to give our readers, we +shall limit our extracts to a few scenes illustrated by Mr. Strother's +pencil. We present first the old barn itself. + + "Beyond the bridge, at some distance, stands a prominent + object in the perspective of this picture,--the most + venerable appendage to the establishment--a huge barn with + an immense roof hanging almost to the ground, and thatched a + foot thick with sunburnt straw, which reaches below the + eaves in ragged flakes. It has a singularly drowsy and + decrepit aspect. The yard around it is strewed knee-deep + with litter, from the midst of which arises a long rack + resembling a chevaux de frise, which is ordinarily filled + with fodder. This is the customary lounge of half a score of + oxen and as many cows, who sustain an imperturbable + companionship with a sickly wagon, whose parched tongue and + drooping swingle-trees, as it stands in the sun, give it a + most forlorn and invalid character; whilst some sociable + carts under the sheds, with their shafts perched against the + walls, suggest the idea of a set of gossiping cronies taking + their ease in a tavern porch. Now and then a clownish + hobble-de-hoy colt, with long fetlocks and disordered mane, + and a thousand burs in his tail, stalks through this + company. But as it is forbidden ground to all his tribe, he + is likely very soon to encounter a shower of corn-cobs from + some of the negro men; upon which contingency he makes a + rapid retreat across the bars which imperfectly guard the + entrance to the yard, and with an uncouth display of his + heels bounds towards the brook, where he stops and looks + back with a saucy defiance; and after affecting to drink for + a moment, gallops away with a braggart whinny to the + fields." + +The life led by the young negroes on the plantations of Virginia is +generally easy, and of course utterly free from the cares which beset +their youthful masters, compelled to pore over "miserable books." + + "There is a numerous herd of little negroes about the + estate; and these sometimes afford us a new diversion. A few + mornings since we encountered a horde of them, who were + darting about the bushes like untamed monkeys. They are + afraid of me because I am a stranger, and take to their + heels as soon as they see me. If I ever chance to get near + enough to speak to one of them, he stares at me with a + suspicious gaze, and, after a moment, makes off at full + speed, very much frightened, towards the cabins at some + distance from the house. They are almost all clad in a long + coarse shirt which reaches below the knee, without any other + garment. But one of the group we met on the morning I speak + of, was oddly decked in a pair of ragged trowsers, + conspicuous for their ample dimensions in the seat. These + had evidently belonged to some grown-up person, but were cut + short in the legs to make them fit the wearer. A piece of + twine across the shoulder of this grotesque imp, served for + suspenders, and kept his habiliments from falling about his + feet. Ned ordered this crew to prepare for a foot-race, and + proposed a reward of a piece of money to the winner. They + were to run from a given point, about a hundred paces + distant, to the margin of the brook. Our whole suite of dogs + were in attendance, and seemed to understand our pastime. At + the word, away went the bevy, accompanied by every dog of + the pack, the negroes shouting and the dogs yelling in + unison. The shirts ran with prodigious speed, their speed + exposing their bare, black, and meager shanks to the scandal + of all beholders; and the strange baboon in trowsers + struggled close in their rear, with ludicrous earnestness, + holding up his redundant and troublesome apparel with his + hand. In a moment they reached the brook with unchecked + speed, and, as the banks were muddy, and the dogs had become + entangled with the racers in their path, two or three were + precipitated into the water. This only increased the + merriment, and they continued the contest in this new + element by floundering, kicking, and splashing about, like a + brood of ducks in their first descent upon a pool. These + young negroes have wonderfully flat noses, and the most + oddly disproportioned mouths, which were now opened to their + full dimensions, so as to display their white teeth in + striking contrast with their complexions. They are a strange + pack of antic and careless animals, and furnish the + liveliest picture that is to be found in nature of that race + of swart fairies, which, in the old time, were supposed to + play their pranks in the forest at moonlight. Ned stood by, + enjoying this scene like an amateur--encouraging the negroes + in their gambols, and hallooing to the dogs, that by a + kindred instinct entered tumultuously into the sport and + kept up the confusion. It was difficult to decide the + contest. So the money was thrown into the air, and as it + fell to ground, there was another rush, in which the hero of + the trowsers succeeded in getting the small coin from the + ground in his teeth, somewhat to the prejudice of his + finery. + +[Illustration: DRILLING THE NEGRO BOYS.] + + "Rip asserts a special pre-eminence over these young serfs, + and has drilled them into a kind of local militia. He + sometimes has them all marshalled in the yard, and + entertains us with a review. They have an old watering-pot + for a drum, and a dingy pocket handkerchief for a standard, + under which they are arrayed in military order, and parade + over the grounds with a riotous clamor." + +[Illustration: TREADING OUT WHEAT.] + +The farmers of Virginia are scarcely as far advanced in the +application of science as the more active-minded Yankees, and among +the ancient customs which still obtain among them is that of treading +out grain with cattle. At Swallow Barn the operation is described: + + "Within the farm-yard a party of negroes were engaged in + treading out grain. About a dozen horses were kept at full + trot around a circle of some ten or fifteen paces diameter, + which was strewed with wheat in the sheaf. These were + managed by some five or six little blacks, who rode like + monkey caricaturists of the games of the circus, and who + mingled with the labors of the place that comic air of + deviltry which communicated to the whole employment + something of the complexion of a pastime." + +We hope this edition of _Swallow Barn_ will be so well received that +the author will give us all his other works in the same attractive +style. _Horse-shoe Robinson_, _Rob of the Bowl_, _Quodlibet_, and all +the rest, except the _Life of Wirt_, are now out of print, and all +have been greeted on their first appearance with an approval that +should satisfy a more ambitious writer than Mr. Kennedy. + +[Illustration] + + + + +GEORGE H. BOKER. + +[Illustration] + + +Mr. Boker is one of the youngest of American authors. He is a native +of Philadelphia, and was born, we believe, in the year 1824. After the +usual preparatory studies in the city of his birth, he entered the +college at Princeton, New Jersey, of which he is a graduate. In +addition to the collegiate course, however, he devoted much time to +the study of Anglo-Saxon, and to the perusal of the early masters of +English literature, whose influence is discernible in all his earlier +poems. Soon after leaving college he made a visit to France and +England, but was obliged to return after having been but a short time +abroad, owing to the critical state of his health. He was at that time +suffering under a pulmonary disease which threatened to be fatal, but +all symptoms of which, fortunately, have since disappeared. On his +return he took up his residence in Philadelphia, which continues to be +his home. Three or four years since he was married to an accomplished +lady of that city. + +Mr. Boker first appeared as an author at the commencement of the year +1848, when a volume of his poems, under the title of _The Lesson of +Life_, was published in Philadelphia. The publication of a volume was +no light ordeal to a young poet whose name was unknown, and who, we +believe, had never before seen himself in print. The lack of +self-observation and self-criticism, which can only be acquired when +the author's thoughts have taken the matter-of-fact garb of type, +would of itself be sufficient to obscure much real promise. In spite +of these disadvantages, the book contained much that gave the reader +the impression of a mind of genuine and original power. We remember +being puzzled at its seeming incongruity, the bold, mature, and +masculine character of its thought being so strikingly at variance +with its frequent crudities of expression. It seemed to us the work of +a man in the prime of life, whose poetic feeling had taken a sudden +growth, and moved somewhat unskilfully in the unaccustomed trammels of +words, rather than the first essay of a brain glowing with the fresh +inspiration of youth. + +No one saw the author's imperfections sooner than himself; and before +the year had closed, his tragedy of _Calaynos_ was published--a work +so far in advance of what he had hitherto accomplished, so full, not +only of promise for the future, but of actual performance, that it +took his most confident friends by surprise. To write a five act +tragedy is also a bold undertaking; but there is an old French proverb +which, says, "if you would shoot lions, don't begin by aiming at +hares," and we believe there are fewer failures from attempting too +much than from being content with too little. The success of +_Calaynos_ showed that the author had not aimed beyond his reach. The +book attracted considerable attention, and its merits as a vigorous +and original play, were very generally recognized. Although written +with no view to its representation on the stage, it did not escape the +notice of actors and managers, and a copy happening to fall into the +hands of Mr. Phelps, a distinguished English tragedian, it was first +performed under his direction at the Theatre Royal, Saddler's Wells, +Mr. Phelps himself taking the part of Calaynos. Its success as an +acting play was most decided, and after keeping the stage at Saddler's +Wells twenty or thirty nights, it went the round of the provinces. It +has already been performed more than a hundred times in different +parts of Great Britain. + +_Calaynos_ gives evidence of true dramatic genius. The characters are +distinct and clearly drawn, and their individualities carefully +preserved through all the movements of the plot, which is natural and +naturally developed. The passion on which the action hinges, is the +prejudice of blood between the Spanish and Moorish families of Spain. +The interest of the plot, while it never loses sight of the hero, is +shared in the first three acts by the other personages of the story, +but concentrates at the close on Calaynos, whose outbursts of love and +grief and revenge are drawn with striking power and eloquence. The +play is enlivened with many humorous passages, wherein the author +shows his mastery of this element, so necessary to the complete +dramatist. + +Mr. Boker's next publication was the tragedy of _Anne Boleyn_, which +appeared in February, 1850. In this work he touched on more familiar +ground, and in some instances, in his treatment of historical +characters, came in conflict with the opinions or prejudices of the +critics. The necessity of adhering to history in the arrangement of +the plot and selection of the dramatis personae, imposed some restraint +on the author's mind, and hence, while _Anne Boleyn_ exhibits a calmer +and more secure strength, and a riper artistic knowledge than +_Calaynos_, it lacks the fire and passionate fervor of some passages +of the latter. We should not forget, however, that the Thames has a +colder and sadder sun than the Guadalquiver. Objections have been made +to Mr. Boker's King Henry, especially to his complaint of the torments +of his conscience, and his moralizing over Norris's ingratitude. But +those who cavil at these points seem to forget that however vile and +heartless King Henry appears to them, he is a very different man to +himself. The author's idea--and it is true to human nature--evidently +is, that a criminal is not always guilty to his own mind. This marked +insensibility of King Henry to his own false and corrupt nature is a +subtle stroke of art. + +The language of the tragedy is strong, terse, and full of point, +approaching the sturdy Saxon idiom of the early English dramatists. We +might quote many passages in support of our opinion, as, for instance, +the scene between the Queen and her brother, Lord Rochford; between +the Queen and King Henry; Wyatt and Rochford, and King Henry and Jane +Seymour. Two or three brief extracts we cannot avoid giving. Wyatt and +Rochford are in "The Safety," the thieves' quarter of London--the St. +Giles of that day. Wyatt speaks: + + "I oft have thought the watchful eye of God + Upon this place ne'er rested; or that hell + Had raised so black a smoke of densest sin + That the All-Beautiful, appalled, shrunk back + From its fierce ugliness. I tell you, friend, + When the great treason, which shall surely come + To burst in shards law-bound society, + Gives the first shudder, ere it grinds to dust + Thrones, ranks, and fortunes, and most cunning law-- + When the great temple of our social state + Staggers and throbs, and totters back to chaos-- + Let men look here, here in this fiery mass + Of aged crime and primal ignorance, + For the hot heart of all the mystery!-- + Here, on this howling sea, let fall the scourge, + Or pour the oil of mercy! + + _Rochford._ Pour the oil-- + In God's name, pour the blessed oil! The scourge, + Bloody and fierce, has fallen for ages past + Upon the foreward crests within its reach; + Yet made no more impression on the mass + Than Persia's whips upon the Hellespont!" + +Wyatt's soliloquy on beholding Queen Anne led forth to execution is +full of a rare and subtle beauty, both of thought and expression: + + "O Anne, Anne! + The world may banish all regard for thee, + Mewing thy fame in frigid chronicles, + But every memory that haunts my mind + Shall cluster round thee still. _I'll hide thy name + Under the coverture of even lines, + I'll hint it darkly in familiar songs_, + I'll mix each melancholy thought of thee + Through all my numbers: _so that heedless men + Shall hold my love for thee within their hearts, + Not knowing of the treasure_." + +The last scene, preceding the death of Anne Boleyn, is simple and +almost homely in its entire want of poetic imagery; yet nothing could +be more profoundly touching, and--in the highest sense of the +word--tragic. The same tears which blur for us the lines of Browning's +_Blot on the 'Scutcheon_, and the last words of Shelley's _Beatrice +Cenci_, suffuse our eyes at this parting address of Anne Boleyn to her +maidens, beside her on the scaffold: + + "And ye, my damsels, + Who whilst I lived did ever show yourselves + So diligent in service, and are now + To be here present in my latest hour + Of mortal agony--as in good times + Ye were most trustworthy, even so in this, + My miserable death, ye leave me not. + As a poor recompense for your rich love, + I pray you to take comfort for my loss-- + And yet forget me not. To the king's grace, + And to the happier one whom you may serve + In place of me, be faithful as to me. + Learn from this scene, the triumph of my fate, + To hold your honors far above your lives. + When you are praying to the martyred Christ, + Remember me who, as my weakness could, + Faltered afar behind His shining steps, + And died for truth, forgiving all mankind. + The Lord have pity on my helpless soul!" + +Since the publication of _Anne Boleyn_, Mr. Boker has written two +plays, _The Betrothal_, and _All the World a Mask_, both of which have +been produced on the stage in Philadelphia with the most entire +success. _Calaynos_ was also played for a number of nights, Mr. +Murdoch taking the principal part. _The Betrothal_ was performed in +New-York and Baltimore, with equal success. It is admirably adapted +for an acting play. The plot is not tragic, though the closing scenes +have a tragic air. The dialogue is more varied than in _Anne Boleyn_ +or _Calaynos_--now sparkling and full of point, now pithy, shrewd, and +pregnant with worldly wisdom, and now tender, graceful, and poetic. +_All the World a Mask_ is a comedy of modern life. We have not seen it +represented, and it has not yet been published; yet no one familiar +with the fine healthy humor displayed in portions of _Calaynos_ and +_The Betrothal_ can doubt the author's ability to sustain himself +through a five-act comedy. + +In addition to these plays, Mr. Boker has published from time to time, +in the literary magazines, lyrics and ballads that would of themselves +entitle him to rank among our most worthy poets. It is rare that a +dramatic author possesses lyric genius, and _vice versa_, yet the true +lyric inspiration is no less perceptible in Mr. Boker's _Song of the +Earth_ and _Vision of the Goblet_, than the true dramatic faculty in +his _Anne Boleyn_. + +There is a fresh, manly strength in his poetry, which may sometimes +jar the melody a little, but never allows his verse to flag. The life +which informs it was inhaled in the open air; it is sincere and +earnest, and touched with that fine enthusiasm which is the +heart's-blood of lyric poetry. Take, for instance, this glorious +Bacchic, from the _Vision of the Goblet_: + + "Joy! joy! with Bacchus and his satyr train, + In triumph throbs our merry Grecian earth; + Joy! joy! the golden time has come again, + A god shall bless the vine's illustrious birth! + Io, io, Bacche! + + "O breezes, speed across the mellow lands, + And breathe his coming to the joyous vine; + Let all the vineyards wave their leafy hands + Upon the hills to greet this pomp divine! + Io, io, Bacche! + + "O peaceful triumph, victory without tear, + Or human cry, or drop of conquered blood! + Save dew-beads bright, that on the vine appear, + The choral shouts, the trampled grape's red flood! + Io, io, Bacche! + + "Shout, Hellas, shout! the lord of joy is come, + Bearing the mortal Lethe in his hands, + To wake the wailing lips of Sorrow dumb, + To bind sad Memory's eyes with rosy bands: + Io, io, Bacche!" + +In the _Song of the Earth_, which shows a higher exercise of the +poetic faculty than any thing else Mr. Boker has written, he has +enriched the language with a new form of versification. Except in this +poem, we do not remember ever to have seen _dactylic_ blank verse +attempted in the English language. The majestic and resonant harmonies +of the measure are strikingly adapted to the poet's theme. The +concluding _Chorus of Stars_, rebuking the Earth for her pride as the +dwelling-place of the human soul, is a splendid effort of the +imagination. We know not where to find surpassed the sounding sweep of +the rhythm in the final lines: + + "Heir of eternity, Mother of Souls, + Let not thy knowledge betray thee to folly! + Knowledge is proud, self-sufficient, and lone, + Trusting, unguided, its steps in the darkness. + Thine is the wisdom that mankind may win, + Gleaned in the pathway between joy and sorrow; + Ours is the wisdom that hallows the child + Fresh from the touch of his awful Creator, + Dropped like a star on thy shadowy realm, + Falling in splendor, but falling to darken. + Ours is the simple religion of Faith, + Trusting alone in the God who o'errules us; + Thine are the complex misgivings of Doubt, + Wrested to form by imperious Reason. + _Knowledge is restless, imperfect, and sad; + Faith is serene, and completed, and joyful._ + Bow in humility, bow thy proud forehead, + Circle thy form with a mantle of clouds, + _Hide from the glittering cohorts of evening, + Wheeling in purity, singing in chorus: + Howl in the depths of thy lone, barren mountains, + Restlessly moan on the deserts of ocean, + Wail o'er thy fall in the desolate forests, + Lost star of Paradise, straying alone!_" + +In the flush of youth, fortunate in all the relations of life, and +with a fame already secured, there is perhaps no American author to +whom the future promises more than to Mr. Boker. He has that faithful +reverence for his art which makes harmless the breath of praise, more +dangerous to the poet than that of censure, and there are yet many +years before him ere his mind attains its full scope and stature. That +all these promises may be fulfilled, to his own honor and that of +American literature, is the earnest hope of + + BAYARD TAYLOR. + + + + +HERR FLEISCHMANN + +ON THE INDUSTRIAL AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE AMERICANS. + + +In the careful watch we keep of French, German, and other foreign +literatures, for what will instruct or entertain the readers of the +_International_, we are always sharp-sighted for any thing said of us +or our institutions, whether it be in sympathy or in antipathy. So, +for a recent number, we translated from the _Revue des Deux Mondes_ a +very clever paper on our American Female Poets, and on other occasions +have reviewed or done into English a great many compositions which +evinced the feeling of continental Europe in regard to our character +and movements. We shall continue in this habit, as there is scarcely +any thing ever more amusing than "what the world says" of our +concerns, even when it is in the least amiable temper. + +Among the most interesting works published of late months in Germany, +is FLEISCHMANN'S _Erwerbszweige der Vereinigten Staaten +Nord-America's_, (or Branches of Industry in the United States.) The +reader who anticipates from this title a mere mass of statistics +relative to the industrial condition of our own country will find +himself agreeably disappointed. Statistics are indeed there--lists of +figures and relative annual arrays of products, sufficient to satisfy +any one that Mr. Fleischmann has turned the several years during which +he was connected with the Patent Office at Washington to good account. +But in addition to this there is a mass of information and +observation, which, though nearly connected with the subject, was yet +hardly to be expected. It is doubtful whether the social and domestic +peculiarities of others or of ourselves be most attractive, but to +those who prefer the latter, and who have lived as many do under the +impression that our own habits and ways of life present little that is +marked or distinctive, this work will be found not only interesting, +but even amusing. For among those practising branches of industry, he +not only includes blacksmiths, coopers, architects, planters, and +pin-makers, but also clergymen, actors, circus-riders, model-artists, +midwives, and boarding-house keepers! The main object of the work +being to inform his countrymen who propose emigration, of the true +state of the most available branches of industry in this country, and +prevent on their part undue anticipation or disappointment, even these +items cannot be deemed out of place. Cherishing an enthusiastic +admiration of our country, and better informed in all probability in +the branches of which he treats than any foreigner who has before +ventured upon the subject, it is not astonishing that he should have +produced a work which not only fully answers the object intended, but +in a faithful translation would doubtless be extensively read by our +own countrymen. + +The reader will find in this book many _little_ traits of our domestic +life, which, commonplace though they be, are not unattractive when +thus reflected back on us, mirror-like, from another land. Take for +example the following account of confectioners: + + "All men are more or less fond of sweet food and dainties, + and the wealthier a people may be, and consequently in more + fit condition to add such luxuries to the necessaries of + life, the greater will be its consumption of sugar. If we + compare the sugar consumption of England with that of + Germany, we find the first consumes a far greater quantity + per head than the latter. + + "And in this respect the Americans are in no wise behind the + English, since they not only at least twice a day drink + either tea or coffee, which they abundantly sweeten, + enjoying therewith vast quantities of preserved fruits, and + every variety of cakes, but they have universally a + remarkable appetite for sweets, which from childhood up is + nourished with all sorts of confectionery. And this appetite + is very generally retained even to an advanced age, so that + all the _cents_ of the children, and many of the dollars of + those more advanced in life, go to the _candy-shops_ and + _confectioneries_. Add to this the numerous balls, + marriages, and other festive occasions, particularly the + parties in private houses, at which pyramids, temples, and + other architectural and artistic works, founded on rocks of + candied sugar, and bonsbons, are never wanting, we can + readily imagine that in this country the confectioner's + trade is a flourishing and brilliant business. + + "The Americans are, as is well known, universally a + remarkably hospitable people, not only frequently + entertaining guests in their homes, but also holding it as + an established point of _bon ton_, to give one or two + parties annually, to which _all_ their friends are invited. + The evening is then spent with music and dancing, concluded + with an extremely elegant (_hochst elegant_) supper, at + which the gentlemen wisely stick to the more substantial + viands and champagne, but where abundance of sugar-work for + the ladies is never wanting. + + "And since no family will be surpassed by another, the most + incredible extravagance not infrequently results from this + unfortunate spirit of rivalry. Confectionery is often + brought for a certain party expressly from France, fresh + fruits from the West Indies, and the stairways and rooms are + adorned with the most exquisite flowers which Europe can + yield, while the guests are served on costly porcelain and + massive plate. In a word, the greatest imaginable expense is + lavished on these festive occasions, which prevail in every + class of society, and in none--be their degree what it + may--are sugared sweets wanting: the poorer confining + themselves, it is true, to such dainties as are the + production of the country, excepting indeed a few bottles of + champagne, which latter is absolutely indispensable. + + "I have deemed it necessary to touch upon these + extravagances of American life, that I might show that while + on the one hand an expert confectioner may readily find + employment during the season, on the other that mere skill + and industry are by no means sufficient of themselves to + support an establishment grounded on credit. + + "Nearly all the small shopkeepers, fruit-dealers, and + bar-keepers, sell candy and sugar-cakes, which they either + prepare themselves or obtain from confectioners who not only + carry on a wholesale business, _but even send large + quantities of their products to the country dealers_. In + Philadelphia, warm cakes are carried about for sale in the + streets,[1] the bearers thereof announcing their presence by + the sound of a bell. French confectioners have already done + much in this country toward improving the public taste, and + excellent _bonsbons a la francaise_ are now actually + manufactured here, though we must admit that in the country + there is a great consumption of confectionery and cakes by + no means of a very good quality. In these regions a taste + for '_horses_' (which are of cake greatly resembling + gingerbread and made in the form of a horse) universally + predominates, and not only children but even adults select + these as a favorite dainty. It is no unusual spectacle to + behold in the northern states an entire court--judge, jury, + and lawyers--regaling themselves during an important trial + on horse-cakes!" + +Whether Herr Fleischmann received this legal anecdote on hearsay, or +whether his German soul was actually startled by stumbling upon such +an extraordinary legal spectacle, we will not here inquire. In Germany +the favorite dainty in this line is a _pretzel_, or carnival cake, in +the form of a two-headed serpent, which antiquaries declare to be of +oriental origin, and to conceal divers horrific mysteries of deeply +metaphysical import. From the solemnity of tone with which Herr +Fleischmann imparts this horse-cake story, we are half inclined to +suspect that he inferred that a great ethical mystery, in some way +connected with the administration of justice in America, might thus be +conveyed. + +Under the head of spirit distilleries our author enters into a _naif_ +and enthusiastic defence of good brandy, but still highly approves of +the American custom of substituting coffee for grog in merchant +vessels, on which he remarks that it is not allowed to soldiers or +sailors to bring spirits into the forts or ships. "But they are so +extravagantly fond of liquor as to invent every imaginable method of +evading the regulation. I have been told," he says, "by persons of the +highest credibility that during the night whisky is not unfrequently +brought to the vicinity of military stations, and that the sentinels, +after filling the barrels of their muskets therewith, bring it into +the 'watch-room,' and divide the _loading_ with their comrades." + +After remarking the melancholy fact, which the strictest examination +would, we fear confirm, in a still higher degree, that the +sewing-girls employed in our umbrella factories, tailor +establishments, &c., are very inadequately paid, he makes a statement +which is, however, glaringly false, that among these poor girls +corruption of manners prevails to a degree unknown in any country of +Europe, save indeed "merry England." Without being familiar with such +statistics, we are on the contrary firmly convinced that though +females in these employments are _not_ so well paid even as in +Germany, there is no country on the face of the earth--most certainly +not in Bavaria, Austria, or Prussia, where the standard of morals is +in this respect so high as in our own. There are a thousand +correlative facts in the state of society in our country which confirm +our assertion. This opinion of our author's is, however, slightly at +variance, as far as appearance is concerned, with a part of the +following good advice to the more beautiful portion of his fair young +countrywomen, who propose repairing to this country for the sake of +catching husbands: + + "And I deem this a fit place to give them a warning, which I + have before often repeated, namely, that these lovely + beings, when they forsake their homes, also leave behind + them their fantastic national dress. In this country long + dresses are worn--and not merely frocks which barely reach + the knee, as is usual in several parts of Germany. The same + may be applied to their head-dresses, which are not + unfrequently so eccentric as to give their wearers the + appearance of having escaped from a lunatic asylum. On which + account, I beg my _ladies_, or any women who design + emigrating to this land of equality, to buy themselves + French bonnets,[2] or a similar style of head covering, but + in no instance to run bareheaded about the streets, which is + here remarkably unpopular, since neither widow, wife, nor + maiden, ever appears in the public way without hat or + bonnet. And I moreover beg of them, on their first arrival + in the populous cities, to restrain their manifestations of + affection to the house, where walls are the only witnesses, + _and not to permit their lovers, fiancees, or husbands, to + clasp them about the waist, and lead them in this close + embrace about the streets_, since this would be for + Americans a scandalous spectacle. I will not assert that the + American is incapable of tender feeling, but he at least + observes decency in the public streets, and _apropos_ of + this, I would further remark, that in this country the wife + or maiden invariably walks by the side of her male + companion, and never follows after him in _Indian + file_--that is, like geese returning from pasture." + +In his chapter on hat-makers, we are informed that neither French, +Germans, nor English, can in this country compete with the Americans +in the manufacture of hats; and that he was informed by a very +intelligent manufacturer that the work of Germans by no means suited +our market, and further, that within a few years past the use of caps +has increased at least two thirds, though these are by no means so +well adapted to carry papers, &c., as hats, in which Americans are +accustomed to convey their archives. + +Of boarding-houses: + + "These extremely convenient establishments, in which + lodging, food, and all things requisite, are provided, may + be found in all the cities in the United States; but we + first learn to duly appreciate their value, when, on + returning to Germany, we find ourselves obliged either to + lodge in a hotel, or for a short stay in a place hire and + perhaps furnish rooms for ourselves. + + "These communistic institutions, where one person or family + takes care of several, give the _boarder_ all the + conveniences of a hotel, united to the advantages of + dwelling in a private family. He has opportunities of + entering such society as is adapted to his habits and + tastes, in addition to which he has what may be termed a + _chez soi_--he feels that he is 'in house.'[3] + + "Such boarding-houses are generally kept by widows or old + maids, and even ladies of the highest families take refuge + in this branch of industry, to maintain respectably + themselves and families. + + "Fashionable houses of this sort are splendidly furnished, + and supplied with excellent dishes and attendance. In these + the price is naturally high, since for a room, without fuel, + from six to twelve dollars a week is generally paid. Rooms + in the upper part of the house are of course cheaper. The + parlor is common to all the persons in the house--they meet + there, before and after meals, pass the evening with + reading, music, &c., receive visits, and live in all + respects as if at home. + + "The Americans are of a very accommodating + disposition--particularly the men, who, from a regard for + the lady of the house, are easily contented. The ladies, on + the contrary, very frequently indulge in little feuds, + produced by the _ennui_ resulting from a want of domestic + employment, and living in common; but all are on the whole + very circumspect, are careful to live _in Christian love and + unity_ with one another, and never offend external + propriety. + + "It is not requisite in America to take a license from the + police to establish a boarding-house, unless a bar-room be + therewith connected. The person undertaking such an + enterprise rents a house, makes it known in newspapers or + among friends, or simply placards on the door + 'Boarding'--and the establishment is opened without further + ceremony. Particular introductions and recommendations are + requisite to be received in a boarding-house of higher + rank." + +There is even yet a lingering prejudice prevailing in this country in +favor of certain musical instruments of European manufacture, which +this work is well adapted to dissipate, since the author appears to be +in this particular an excellent judge. Take for example his chapter on +pianos: + + "The favorite musical instrument of the American ladies is + the piano, and in every family with the slightest + pretensions to education or refinement a piano may certainly + be found, upon which, of an evening, the young 'Miss' plays + to her parents the pieces which she has learned, or + accompanies them with her voice. If the stranger will walk + of an evening through the streets of an American city, he + can hear in almost every house a piano and the song of + youthful voices, often very agreeable, though the latter are + not unfrequently wanting in proper culture. Many of these + amateurs have beyond doubt remarkable talent, and would in + their art attain to a high degree of perfection if they had + better opportunities to hear the best music, to study more + industriously, and practice more than they do, but their + domestic audiences are unfortunately easily pleased, in + consequence of which their knowledge seldom extends beyond + well known opera pieces and favorite popular airs. + + "A few years since, pianos were generally imported from + Germany, England, and France, but it was soon found that + their construction and material were by no means adapted to + withstand the changes of the American climate; and it was + also found that the enormous profit cleared by the + importers, might quite as well be retained in this country, + and there are consequently, at present, in Boston, New-York, + Philadelphia, and even Baltimore, excellent and extensive + 'piano forte manufactories,' in which every portion of these + instruments is constructed. For this purpose the best + varieties of wood known are used, such as mahogany and + rosewood, which, however, in America are obtainable at cheap + rates. The cases are of the most solid construction + possible, and the legs massive, (by which especially the + firmest duration is insured) all constructed of the + above-mentioned material, which is quickly and accurately + cut into the requisite form by a machine.... By means of + these and other improvements, but particularly by means of + the material, are the American pianos not only far more + durable than the imported, but also infinitely less subject + to loss of tone. + + "The American pianos are invariably of a table form, in + order to adapt them to small rooms. Their tone is sweet and + rich, and has been pronounced clear, full and pleasing, by + the best European performers. The pianos of Stottart + (Stoddard) and Nunns, in New-York, of Laud and Mayer, in + Philadelphia, and especially of Chickering, in Boston, enjoy + a high reputation. This latter enterprising individual + spares no expense to secure the best improvements, and apply + them to his instruments. Other excellent manufactories also + abound, among which are many German proprietors, who, + however, all follow the American style of construction. + + "Previous to the year 1847, about sixty-four patents for + improvements in pianos were taken out.... The average price + of a splendid 'Chickering,' of 7-1/2 octaves, is from $350 + to $400. I have purchased of Stoddard in New-York an + excellent and handsome instrument for $250; since which time + (A. D. 1848) the price for the same has sunk fifty dollars. + Instruments of a lighter construction may be bought for one + hundred and fifty dollars; nor will it be long ere the best + pianos may be had for a price ranging from $180 to $200. + There are in America men whose exclusive business it is to + tune pianos, for which they generally receive one dollar.... + + "While on the subject of music, I may be permitted to speak + of an outcast class of minstrels, namely, the harp girls; + who, after having wandered through Germany, or even England, + or having been turned out of the same, find their way to the + United States. Especially in New Orleans are they at home, + and there sing, in the coffee-houses and bar-rooms, most + blackguard (_zotenhaften lieder_) songs, in the English + language, learned either _at home or in England_--partly to + the delight and partly to the disgust of the mixed companies + there assembled. Germany can in truth take but little pride + in such representatives of her nationality. She is already + too little appreciated in America to render it necessary + that such females should still further degrade her--females, + for whom the American (who invariably holds in high respect + the sex) entertains an unconquerable disgust. Apropos of + those, I may mention the so-called 'broom girls,' who sell a + sort of little brooms or fly-brushes, singing therewith + fearful songs; and finally, the innumerable organ and + tambourine players, who frequently have with them a child + which dances like an ape to the sound of their horrible + music." + +From the practical and common-sense-like manner in which the subject +is treated, the following chapter on boarding-schools will probably +prove interesting to every American reader: + + "Would not any one imagine that a nation like the German, + which is universally recognized as the best educated and + most erudite, which has written and effected so much for the + cause of education, would naturally be the one to supply the + world with accomplished teachers? Is there in the civilized + world another nation where so many men have made it the + entire business of a life, passed in the most zealous and + deeply grounded studies of all languages, living and dead, + or who have so fully succeeded in teaching even foreigners + their own language? Certainly not. 'Whence comes it then,' + any one may reasonably inquire, 'that these learned men, who + appear to be, in every respect, so peculiarly adapted to + teach, have not long since conducted the education of the + whole world? Or why is it, that in North America at least, + where a widely spread German element throws open so vast a + field to their exertions, they have not the direction of + every private school?' + + "Incomprehensible as this may appear at a first glance, it + is still explicable in a few words. The American seeks, for + the education of his children, _practical men, who are not + only adapted to and skilled in their vocation, but also + familiar with the world--its progress and requirements_--men + not only capable of teaching their pupils the rules of + grammar and syntax, but who are also qualified to impart the + peculiarities and precepts of life in the world at + large--men of prepossessing manner and appearance, and whose + habits are adapted to the requirements of refined society. + This it is, in a few words, that the American requires. And + now, I ask--how many old and young teachers are there in + Germany thus qualified? + + "I here speak, of course, in a general way; for I well know + that there are in Germany many teachers and learned men, who + could more than fulfil all of these requirements of the + American parent, but their number is unfortunately limited; + and I deem it important that I speak freely and fully on + this subject, since many a learned German, whose + acquirements and scientific knowledge would insure him an + independent and respectable station at home, nevertheless + frequently finds himself compelled by the pressure of + circumstances to seek America, in the hope of there opening + a school, or at least finding employment as teacher, and + there too frequently, in addition to the bitterest + disappointment, discovers too late that he is fit for no + other practical employment which will yield him his daily + bread. + + "As a proof, however, that most of these so called + pedagogues must in America be necessarily deceived in their + expectations, I take the liberty of adding yet a few words. + + "The American requires before all, as far as the moral + qualifications of the teacher are concerned, a firm + religious tendency--a requirement for which the scion of + 'Young Germany,' fresh from his university career, has but + little taste; since his recollections of that life are yet + too fresh upon him to admit of a willing submission to such + rules,--and I advise any one who proposes to follow such a + course to become a farmer's man, rather than a hypocrite or + sham-saint.... + + "If we proceed in our examination of private schools in + America, we find that the majority are for the education of + girls. Upon which the question arises--Are German ladies + generally adapted to the superintendence of such + establishments?--a question which I must either answer with + No, or modify with the admission that if there be any + schools managed by German ladies, I am ignorant of their + existence. The cause for the negative being essentially the + same as with the male scholars. + + "No man can better appreciate the worth of German women than + myself. I acknowledge perfectly their virtues and + excellencies--their domestic sphere is their world, + inhabited by their children and ruled by their husbands, + whose faithful, true-hearted, modest, obedient companions + they are. To be independent and free is not in their nature; + they are not so adapted either by origin or manner of life; + nor does their education embrace any thing cosmopolitan. + Born and brought up in a province, or court city, they have + never cast a glance beyond its limits or boundaries, or + those of the nearest town, and all that lies beyond is to + them unknown and uninteresting. Thus they generally lead, + according to ancient custom, (_nach altem brauch_) an + almost vegetable life; and nothing save the dictates of + fashion can ever disturb in the slightest degree the + equanimity of their quiet souls. They do not in the least + interest themselves in the progress of industry, literature, + science, or politics, even in Germany--much less for that of + foreign countries; but are content with learning in which + section of the place they inhabit this or that necessary + article may be best or most cheaply purchased; what late + foreign romance is current in the circulating library; and + what are the latest changes in bonnets, caps, chemisettes, + or dresses, in the kingdom of fashion--whose sovereign they + all obey. In politics they rest under the perpetual + conviction that all goes on in the old way, and pass their + leisure hours in coteries and parties, where knittings + exclude all _spirituelle_ entertainment. In the lower grades + of the middle class, they grow up with an unchangeable + feeling of social inferiority, and shudder at every free + glance into life, as if guilty of unheard of arrogance and + presumption. + + "And how is it possible that a woman who has grown up in + such social relations should, despite the fullest possession + of all imaginable virtues and acquirements, be capable of + teaching high-minded and independent girls? The American + maiden regards most household employments as work requiring + but little intelligence, and for which even negroes are as + well qualified. She believes that she can better occupy the + time necessary to the acquisition of subordinate + acquirements, and prefers reading, music, and art, to + knitting stockings, and similar soul-killing business. She + recognizes, moreover, no distinction in rank, but strives to + acquire as many accomplishments and as refined manners as + any other person. In short, she strives to become _a lady_, + and regards it as no extraordinary assumption, particularly + when education or natural advantages adapt her thereto, to + consider herself quite as good as any other woman in the + republic. Nor does she forget that the time will come when, + as mother, the first development of her child's mind will + become a duty, and she remembers also that he will be a + republican whose sphere of action is without limit, if his + ability correspond only to the effort. Moreover, the + American maidens are materially very _wide awake_, (_sehr + auf gewecht_,) particularly in the large cities, where they + enjoy excellent opportunities for instruction, and are + proportionally highly educated. + + "The American woman or girl highly esteems the _elegant_ and + _noble_, striving ever to form herself after this pattern, + on which account French female teachers are universally + preferred, even when very imperfectly qualified. The + revolutions in France have driven forth many well educated + persons to America, who have been compelled to seek by + teaching a livelihood. Louis Philippe himself was once among + the number. In addition to the fact that no nation surpasses + the French in personal accomplishments, they have for + Americans the further recommendation that their nation has + played an important part in modern history. The American is + impressed in favor of France, because she aided him in + freeing his country from the yoke of England; and this + inclination manifests itself continually in language. + + "And when the American boy glances over his school-books, he + sees France represented in pictures as the _polite_ nation, + and reads in history that she aided his country in the war + of freedom, and that Lafayette was the _friend_ of + Washington; while the same work represents the German as a + merely agricultural race, portrayed in the caricature of an + Altenburger peasant and his wife, in their fantastic + national dress. From the same book he also learns that a + German prince sold his subjects for so many pounds per head + to aid England to subdue his country. Such contrasts cannot + but awake in the child's mind deeply-rooted prejudices, far + from favorable to the German race. + + "And since there has been for years an emigration to America + of Germans who were very generally poor and + uneducated--people speaking a revolting dialect, employed in + the lowest offices, and not unfrequently much resembling the + pictures in the geographies, the prejudice formed in early + youth has been thus strengthened, that the Germans are a + rough, uncultivated race, industrious and domestic, it is + true, but yet very little improved by civilization--of all + which the native Pennsylvania Germans afford unfortunately + striking examples. The well-educated American, of course, + knows better how to appreciate the true value of the + Germans; he is aware of the value of their contributions to + literature, science, art, and music; only in politics, and + in the practical application of knowledge, he places (and + not without justice) but little confidence in them. + + "But the personal appearance and bearing of many Germans, + who are in themselves truly worthy of respect, often induce + the well-educated and refined American to place in the back + ground their otherwise estimable qualities. There is often + something rough and harsh about the German, and his domestic + habits are not invariably in unison with his erudition and + excellent education, but frequently destroy the good + impression which the latter might produce; moreover, their + '_geselliges Leben_,' (social jovial life) as Germans term + it, with its accompaniments of pipe and mug, are in the + highest degree revolting to an American. And further, it is + taken ill of the German that he considers that regard for + the sex, entertained by the American, as carried somewhat + too far, and allows himself to form on this point a too + hasty, and not seldom unfavorable judgment, without seeking + to examine more accurately this domestic characteristic. + Many Germans find it impossible to enter into the spirit of + American life, customs, and manners, while on religious + subjects it appears impossible for either to adopt the same + views: so that there is apparently almost no point in common + between them." + +After stating that many educated Germans might succeed as teachers in +this country, could they dispense with national peculiarities, and a +description of the manner of establishing schools, in which he pays a +high compliment to the general appearance of such institutions in our +country, he adds: + + "The superintendent of such an establishment must entirely + renounce all visits to bar-rooms and coffee-houses. He must + learn to impart to his system of instruction the elements of + novelty and attractiveness, and especially learn to make + friends of the children. It is utterly impossible in this + country to manage a school by the mere force of power and + authority, and the teacher attempting this, soon experiences + a revolution by which indeed he is not exactly _driven + forth_, but left _alone_ on his _cathedra_." + +With this extract we close, regretting that we have been obliged to +leave untranslated many more practical and not less interesting items. +We consider the entire work as the best possible answer which can be +given to the question, '_Why has America done so little for England's +fair?_' No one who contemplates in it the immense range of our +manufactories--our incredible combinations of excellence and +cheapness, and the almost superhuman rapidity of our progress in every +branch of industrial and social life, will entertain for an instant +the slightest regret that we have not done more to increase the +profits of John Bull's raree-show. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Muffins?--_International._ + +[2] _Pariser-tracht_--French dress--is the epithet usually applied in +Germany to our ordinary style of costume, in contradistinction to the +_Bauern-tracht_, or peasant's costume, which is so frequently seen among +German immigrants. + +[3] _Zu hause_--at house, at home. In this sentence the reader finds a +striking exemplification of the saying, that neither in French nor German +is there a word for _home_. + + + + +IN THE HAREM. + +WRITTEN FOR THE INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE + +BY R. H. STODDARD. + + + The scent of burning sandal-wood + Perfumes the air in vain; + A sweeter odor fills my sense, + A fiercer fire my brain! + + O press your burning lips to mine!-- + For mine will never part, + Until my heart has rifled all + The sweetness of your heart! + + The lutes are playing on the lawn, + The moon is shining bright, + But we like stars are melting now + In clouds of soft delight! + + + + +TO THE CICADA. + +WRITTEN FOR THE INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE + +BY H. J. CRATE. + + + Cicada sits upon a sprig, + And makes his song resound; + For he is happy when a twig + Lifts him above the ground. + + And so am I, when lifted up + On hopes delusive wing; + I laugh, and quaff the flowing cup, + I love, I write, I sing! + + Should clouds or cares obscure our sky, + And all be gloom around, + My merry little friend and I + Soon tumble to the ground. + + + + +TRICKS ON TRAVELLERS AT WATERLOO. + + +M. Leon Gozlan, one of the most esteemed magazinists in France, has +lately paid a flying visit to the scene of his country's most glorious +disasters, Waterloo, and has given a characteristic account of what he +saw and heard there. We quote a part of it, in which he describes a +knavish practice of which great numbers are every year made victims. +M. Gozlan has just passed through the Brussels _faubourg_ Louisa, and +is oppressed with most melancholy reflections, when his coachman +addresses him-- + + "Sir," exclaimed my conductor, suddenly interrupting my + meditations, "excuse me if I am troublesome, but before + arriving at Mont-Saint-Jean I wish to warn you of a knavish + trade you have probably never heard of at Paris." + + "A knavish trade unknown at Paris?" I replied, + incredulously; "that is rather surprising. But come, tell me + what is this new species of industry." + + "You can easily suppose," pursued my loquacious coachman, + "that after the battle of Waterloo there remained on the + field a large quantity of cannon-balls, buttons, small brass + eagles, and broken weapons. Well, for the last thirty-four + years, the country people have been carrying on a famous + business in these articles." + + "It seems to me, however, my friend," I observed, "that a + sale continued for so long a period, must have left very + little to be disposed of at present." + + "True, sir; and this is precisely what I would guard you + against. Those who obtain a subsistence by such means, + purchase the goods new at a manufactory, in shares, and then + bury in different parts of the field, and for a wide space + around, pieces of imperial brass eagles, thousands of metal + buttons, and heaps of iron balls. This crop is allowed to + rest in the earth until summer, for few strangers visit + Waterloo in winter; and when the fine weather arrives, they + dig up their relics, to which a sojourn of eight months in a + damp soil gives an appearance of age, deceiving the keenest + observer, and awakening the admiration of pilgrims." + + "But this is a shameful deceit." + + "True again, sir; but the country is very poor about here; + and after all, perhaps," added the philosophic driver, "no + great harm is done. This year the harvest of brass eagles + has been very fair." + + We entered the forest of Soignies by a narrow and naturally + covered alley, the two sides crowned with the most luxuriant + foliage. Poplars, elms, and plane-trees appeared to be + striving which should attain the highest elevation. One + peculiarity I could not avoid remarking in the midst of this + solemn and beautiful abode of nature, and that was the + perfect stillness prevailing around. The air itself seemed + without palpitation, and during a ride of nearly two hours + through this sylvan gallery, not even the note of a bird + broke on the solitude. A forest without feathered songsters + appeared unnatural, and the only possible reason that could + be imagined for such a circumstance might be, that since the + formidable day of Waterloo, they had quitted these shades, + never to return, frightened away by the roar of the cannon + and the dismal noise of war. What melancholy is impressed + upon the beautiful forest of Soignies! I cannot overcome the + idea, that since Providence destined it should become the + mute spectator of the great event in its vicinity, it has + retained the mysterious memory in the folding of its leaves + and the depths of its shades. Destiny designs the theatre + for grand actions. An army of one hundred thousand men + perished there. Such was the irrevocable decree. + + "Do you think," I inquired of the coachman, wishing to + change the current of my thoughts, "there are persons so + unscrupulous as to speculate on the curiosity of tourists to + Waterloo in the manner you have described?" + + "Ah, sir," he replied, "I have not told you half the tricks + they practice on the credulous. It would indeed fatigue you + if I mentioned all of them, but if you will permit me, I + will relate an instance I witnessed myself one day. I was + conducting from Waterloo to Brussels a French artist and a + Prussian tourist. The Prussian supported on his knee some + object very carefully enveloped in a handkerchief, and which + he seemed to value greatly. When we had arrived about midway + on the road, he inquired of the Frenchman whether he had + brought away with him any souvenir of his pilgrimage to + Waterloo. + + "'In good faith no,' replied the other; and yet I was on the + point of making a certain acquisition, but the exorbitant + price demanded prevented me: one hundred francs, besides the + trouble of carrying off such an article.' + + "'What could it have been?' demanded the Prussian, + curiously. + + "'You must not feel offended if I tell you,' returned the + artist; 'it was the skull of a Prussian colonel, a + magnificent one! And what rendered it more valuable, it was + pierced by three holes, made by the balls of Waterloo. One + was in the forehead, the others were through the temples. I + should have had no objection to secure this, if I could have + afforded it, and have had a lamp made of the skull of a + Prussian officer killed by the French. And you, sir?' he + continued, looking at the packet carried by his + fellow-traveller, 'pray what luck have you had?' + + "'I,' replied the Prussian, with an uneasy movement, and + looking greatly confused, 'I am astonished at the wonderful + resemblance of what has happened to both of us, for I + purchased this morning the skull of a French colonel killed + by a Prussian at Waterloo.' + + "'You, sir?' + + "'Y--e--s,' stammered the Prussian, 'and I thought of having + it made into a cup to drink the health of Blucher at each + anniversary of our victory.' + + "'And is the skull pierced by three bullets?' demanded the + Frenchman, his suspicions becoming awakened. + + "With a look of consternation the Prussian hastily unrolled + the handkerchief, and examined the contents. The skull bore + the same marks indicated by his travelling companion! It was + the identical relic that was French when offered to an + Englishman or Prussian, and had become Prussian or English + when offered to a Frenchman. + + "This, sir," added Jehu, smacking his whip, "you will admit, + is worse than selling false brass buttons and the Emperor's + eagles." + + + + +STUDIES OF AMERICAN LITERATURE, + +BY PHILARETE CHASLES. + + +We have frequently been interested by the clever contributions of M. +PHILARETE CHASLES to the _Revue des Deux Mondes_. They are chiefly on +English and American literature, and among them are specimens of acute +and genial criticism. M. Chasles has just published in Paris a +collection of these papers, and we translate for _The International_ a +reviewal of it which appears in a late number of the French journal, +the _Illustration_. Says the writer, M. Hipolyte Babou: + +Books are becoming scarce. To be sure, volume upon volume is published +every day, but a book that is a book is a _rara avis_, and if any one +should inquire whose fault it is, we reply that it is the fault of the +press, constantly requiring the first-fruits of a writer's +meditations. The journalist has displaced the author. The fugitive +page rules the great world of literature. Wit, talent, genius, +science, have not time to consolidate their thoughts, before they are +disseminated. They are like the folds of the birchen bark, thrown off +as soon as formed, to give place to new ones. And these in their turn +fall, and are scattered. But, when we wish it, we can collect our +literary leaves. How many handsome volumes are made up of weekly and +monthly pages! The binder runs his needle through a collection, and +the book is made. + +What kind of book? Ah, truly, it is not the venerable work of past +days, which took ten years to print and bring to perfection, +establishing at once a literary fame. It is simply a series of +articles written by steam, printed by steam, and some bright morning +bound up under a common title. But what is the story and the +attraction of such works? Bless you! there is no story. The attraction +is in the style (when there is any) and in the variety of subjects, +which generally produces a variety of impressions. + +For an ordinary reader, to whom continued attention produces headache, +there is nothing more agreeable than those album-pages, or fragments +of mosaic. Thinking and serious minds turn rather towards works of +consecutive reflection, or whose details contribute to the beauty of +some whole. Variety is the wind to the weather-cock; and unity is the +inflexible pivot which every weather-cock requires to keep it from +being blown away. Thoughtful minds prefer unity above every thing. And +yet they are only heavier weather-cocks, which turn round with a +grating. + +Nervous and discursive reader! logical and phlegmatic reader! here is +a book which will suit you both. M. Philarete Chasles has just +published expressly for you his _Studies upon the Literature and +Manners of the Anglo-Americans in the Nineteenth Century_. It is a +work by compartments, any of them interesting to the superficial +reader, and forming at the same time a perfect whole. + +Under the influence of a spirit of order, which professors by their +vocation are very apt to possess in an eminent degree, the author has +composed his work, not of articles written for journals, but by +detailing articles a work whose plan he had before considered. The +general design, to which he is obedient, is clearly developed, page by +page, in his curious studies upon the Anglo-Americans. + +It is a vile term--that of Anglo-American--a pedantic term--and rather +surprising from the pen of Chasles. For, professor as he is, he +despises pedantry as the plague. There is nothing doctoral in his +literary costume; and if he has any pretension, it resembles in no +particular the grave assumptions of the cathedrants of the university. +It would be a mortification to him to belong to the school of the +Sorbonne. He is a member of the free family of the College of France, +where individual genius has triumphed more than once over the sterile +routine of tradition. + +Before filling the chair of professor, the author of _Etudes_ had +written much in journals and reviews. He writes still, and is always +welcome to the public. For, it may be remarked without malice, he has +always had a larger audience of readers than of listeners. And that it +is so is rather complimentary than otherwise. How is it, indeed, that +the intellectual humorist succeeds better as an author than as a +teacher? What does he need to insure, if he wishes it, the +enthusiastic admiration of the young public whom he instructs? Has he +not at command those vivid flashings of the imagination which, by an +electric sympathy, might bring down about him thunders of applause? Is +he fearful that his gesture and his voice would not become his +thought? Does he disdain to have recourse, hap-hazard, to the little +artifices of eloquence? It is very easy to gain popularity by a +juggle, when it cannot be done by the force of true oratory. Be +enthusiastic of your merits. Mingle with the swellings of poetry a +certain dogmatism of opinion--call to your aid assurance, impudence, +and all the insipidities of the _style printanier_--fire, as it were, +pistol-shots into the audience, and continue the fire by a brilliant +musketry of little fulminating phrases--the victory is yours, unless +you are essentially an ass. For youth--verdant youth--will always be +carried away by the expression, true or false, of feeling. + +M. Philarete Chasles is said to want in some degree that great +constituent of humanity--passion. He is one of those refined and +delicate writers who employ all their genius to ridicule the mind, and +all their reason to drive to shipwreck upon the beautiful waters of +poesie the most charming flotillas of the imagination. He belongs to +the breed of sharp raillers, whose skepticism points an epigram. In a +word, there is no reverse side for his admiration on any question--a +habit of judging quite common among many writers, genuine and +charlatan. + +But this is not saying that the author of _Etudes_ does not feel +deeply the irresistible attraction of the beau ideal; or that we are +treating of one of those representatives of pompous and stupid +criticism, who are so justly despised by the poets. Certainly not. On +the contrary, M. Chasles combines a vigorous hate of ornate folly and +vulgarity with a profound disgust towards tame or extravagant +conventionalism. The academic style has no fascination for him. He +likes elbow-room in the discussion of art, and if he finds himself +confined by the close-fitting coat of the professor, he rips it +asunder, stretching out his arms in a fit of restlessness. A +protective literature regards him among its most resolute adversaries. +No custom-houses in literature for him, and particularly no excisemen, +who, under pretext of contraband, drive their brutal gauge-rods into +the free productions of human intelligence. + +M. Philarete Chasles is a literary disciple of Cobden. He would not +only lower the barriers between province and province, but wholly +abolish them between nation and nation. His imagination carries him as +a balloon beyond the tops of custom-houses; and after visiting the +shores of England and America, he returns to France with some curious +samples of foreign literature. By this come-and-go policy of +importation and exportation, he has created, or at least developed, a +noble spirit of commerce, which may be termed international criticism. + +This commerce is particularly useful for us who are always ready to +proclaim ourselves in every thing and to every one the first nation of +the globe. It is an auspicious time therefore to become acquainted +with the weaknesses of our character without losing its force. The +glory of the past obliges us to think of the glory of the future, +which can be easily lost to us if ambition does not come in time to +animate our courage. To deny that there are rivals is no way to +conquer them. It is a great deal better to study them attentively, and +to consider beforehand the perils of the combat. We are indeed the +heroes of genius, but if we misapprehend the tactics, we say it +frankly, we shall be beaten. + +The author of the _Etudes_ wishes to spare us such a humiliation, by +telling us of the enemy as he is; and in this sense his work is truly +patriotic, and cannot be unacceptable to any. + +Many writers have instituted a relation between us and the Latins and +Greeks. M. Chasles thinks that to remember the glorious dead of the +south is to engender contempt for the living. It is not then towards +the south that he directs his attention. The Saxon race, beyond the +British Sea and the Atlantic, preoccupies him. The nations in +progress are those most hopeful for new and immortal productions of +the muse. The rest of the world is given to an incurable imitation. +And M. Chasles is right in bringing us into the presence of the +English and the Americans. He is sufficiently conversant with their +language to fulfil the delicate functions of interpreter. + +I know writers who, on account of studying foreign literature, so bear +the imprints of it in their works, that one would say in reading them, +that he had before him French translations of Italian or German, or +English, or Spanish. The literary temperament of M. Chasles, however, +is not changed, notwithstanding his migrations. The author of _Etudes_ +thinks in French, writes in French, and what is more, in French +inherited from a Gaul. He preserves in his mind the brightness of his +native sky, whether he wanders in the fogs of London, or is becoming a +victim of ennui among the vapors of New-York. His pen seems to strike +out sparks as he writes. He is active and bold, strong and light, +independent and courteous. Nothing stops him. He runs oftener than he +walks, and leaps over an obstacle that he may not lose time in going +round it. Indeed, every thing is accomplished well by the intelligence +that judges as it travels. Reflection itself is rapid, and logic +hastens the step and smooths the way. A light and tripping foot +belongs especially to criticism. If it raises a little brilliant dust +in the road, it is no matter, it soon falls again. M. Chasles has no +taste for old truths; he prefers much some kind of paradox which is +now a truth and now a lie. It is for this reason that foreigners +reproach him with being superficial. Very well! let him be so. He is a +true Frenchman, for he touches only the flower of ideas, and, for a +Frenchman, the flower and the surface are all one. + +It is not just, however, to regard this reproach as wholly merited, +although (originating beyond the British Sea) it is reproduced among +us by those would-be grave men who are dull writers. M. Chasles often +allies lightness of expression with great profundity of thought. His +style cuts as a blade of steel. He has eloquence, gayety, irony, +caprice, and all in a perfect measure. No style resembles less the +childish dashes of persons of wit, and who possess nothing else--who +play the mountebank by a hundred tricks to astonish the gaping +crowd--a light style, if you please, but empty as it is light. + +The _Etudes_ of M. Chasles are not of that superficial character +adopted by many. The admiration of ninnies is not his desire. The +object that he pursues continues ever a serious one, although a +thousand graces ornament the way. He has vivacity without losing +precision--two characteristics of good writing seldom found together. +If he indulges in digressions, they are not perceptible until the +reappearance of his subject shows us how gracefully he has departed +from it. He passes rapidly over what is known, while with an especial +care he dwells on what is unknown. Thus, in the history of American +literature he does not amuse himself long with the popular names of +Fenimore Cooper and Franklin. What could he say new respecting these +two great ornaments of American science and literature? His instinct +of observation and criticism suggested to him the works less known of +Gouverneur Morris and Hermann Melville. Between these two writers, of +whom one was the contemporary of Washington, and the other still +living in some corner of Massachusetts, are ranged according to their +date the productions of the writers of the great American nation. + +Gouverneur Morris was of a noble spirit. His _Memoires_ represent to +us, with a full and attractive fidelity, the opinion which the young +and tranquil republic of the United States entertained at the close of +the eighteenth century, of the men and the events of our French +Revolution. He was far from misunderstanding the abuses of our ancient +society, but he deplored that it was necessary for violence to abolish +them. A sensible and polished observer, he criticised them without +passion, and with a benevolent irony. Let us hear him tell of a +conversation he had, at Madame de la Suze's, with one of the most +brilliant leaders of the gay world that had just perished. In a few +lines, he presents an admirable sketch of the personage: + + 'The rest of our party were playing at cards, and quite + absorbed in the game, when M. de Boufflers, in want of + something better to do, spoke to me of America. The + carelessness with which he heard me proved that he did not + pay the least attention to what he had asked me. + + --"But how could you defend your country from invasion + without fleets and armies?" + + "Nothing could be more difficult," replied Morris, "than to + subjugate a nation composed of kings, and who, if looked + upon contemptuously, would respond: '_I am a man; are you + any thing more?_'" + + "Very well," said M. de Boufflers. "But how would you like + it, if I should say to one of those citizen-kings: Monsieur, + the king, make me a pair of boots!" + + "My compatriot," said Morris, "would not hesitate to reply: + 'With great pleasure, sir. It is my duty and my vocation to + make boots, and I could wish that every one would do his + duty in this world."' + +M. de Boufflers looked up to the ceiling as if in search of a solution +of this enigma, and Morris contemplated him, as much surprised as if, +in the forests of the New World, he had heard a humming-bird reason of +the affairs of the Republic. And it was thus with all that class of +men--the same elegance--the same luxury--the same prattle--the same +heedlessness. All these courtiers of the last hour resembled precisely +M. de Boufflers. The same day, indeed, of the taking of the Bastile, +Morris traced two lines upon the tablettes: + + "It is very well that the court should appear to believe + that all is tranquil; but to-morrow, perhaps, when the + citadelle is in flames, they will agree that there has been + some noise in Paris." + +Some time before, the grave and gentle American had met Madame de +Stael at Madame de Tesse's; the daughter of Necker conversed with him +in another style than that of M. de Boufflers. However, quite serious +as Corinne certainly was, the dignity of the compatriot of Washington +surprised and diverted her. + + "Monsieur," she said, after a moment's conversation, "you + have a very imposing air." + + "I know it, Madame," replied Morris. + +The English literature constantly serves M. Chasles, to bring into +relief the character of American literature. And thus, he opposes the +peaceful inspirations of the work-girls of Lowell with the passionate +dithyrambics of Ebenezer Elliott, the blacksmith of Sheffield--a +chapter full of just remarks upon what Chasles calls the poetry of +vengeance. + +The girls of Lowell--the Lucindas, the Alleghanias, the Tancredas, the +Velledas--who, after a day's labor, pass into the street in silken +dresses, with gold watches shining at their zone, and their beautiful +faces shaded by parasols--those Massachusetts weavers, who have even +instituted an academy among themselves--do not in their innocent +verses, invoke the vengeful muses. They know nothing of that terrible +Nemesis, with cheeks hollow and ghastly, armed hands, and eyes red +with poverty and weeping, to whom the poor workers of British +factories send up the cry of famine and despair. If the female +operatives of Lowell read the work of M. Philarete Chasles, they will +find there an encouragement to cultivate the smiling thoughts of +poetry. He, no more than George Sand, notwithstanding her sympathies +for the working classes, either loves or encourages the irritable +singers of social sufferings. + + "What," he exclaims, "has become of the glorious Apollo of + the Greek? Where is the sunny ideal of the hellenistic + heavens? Where the sacred sorrows of Christian perfection? + Poetry is no more a garden of roses; it is a wild field of + thorns, wherein he who walks leaves tracks of blood. At the + entrance of this Parnassus stands Poverty, whom Virgil + places _in faucibus orci_. Her complaints are in the midst + of curses. She holds in her hand a skull, with strings of + iron, and she sweeps them as a lyre with golden chords. + Behind her are Crabbe, the Juvenal of the hospitals; + Ebenezer Elliott, the singer of hunger; Cooper, the poet of + suicide, and the author of _Ernest_, followed by a miserable + train of children, whom manufacturers have famished, and + young women whom excessive labor has demoralized and + prostituted in the morning of their life. Mournful choir, to + which these poets worthily respond." + +It is not very pleasant, to be sure, for a reader to pass from some +agreeable representation to a frightful array of evils. The spectacle +but too true of social infirmities troubles the sleep of the happy, +and awakes with a start the drowsy hate of the unhappy. But there is +no reason why he who suffers, should not utter his complaint. The +Bible itself is not a stranger to vehement protestations against the +apparent injustice of destiny. When Job arose from the ashes, surely +it was not to sing to the passers-by some touching idylle in the style +of Ruth and Naomi. He accused heaven and life, he cursed his friends, +and his mother, without troubling himself to know whether his sorrows +reached the lovers' palm-groves, or disturbed the wooings of the +daughters of Idumea. The Sheffield blacksmith, among flaming furnaces, +cannot sing the voluptuous sweets of existence. He strikes the anvil +with a ring, and exclaims in a rough voice, amid smoke and fire: + + "Accursed be the muse of necessity and suffering! Who wishes + her acquaintance? The poor, so despised! Write not their + frightful history. Pride and vanity despise your labors. Who + is he, I pray you, that artizan who uses the pen? What right + has he to do so? Absurd rhymer, let him retire and pare his + nails--and renounce a species of industry for which he was + never made. You are accustomed only to oaths, and you are + only a rough worker in poetry." + +M. Chasles does not deny the right of artizans to employ the pen. +Ignoble or noble--a serf or a lord--whether he is called Burns, or +Chasles of Orleans--whether he is a porter, a laborer, or even a +drunkard, from the moment that there is seen upon his brow the radiant +sign of genius, he is known. To wonder that an artizan is a poet, is +to think it marvellous that beauty should bloom upon the cheek of a +village maid. The gift is natural, and not acquired; and the mechanic +who writes either prose or poetry must be judged with as much severity +as if he were a king. It is not astonishing, therefore, that the +author of the _Etudes_ judges severely the blacksmith of Sheffield. +But the latter seems to have anticipated the severity of the critic, +when he says with an accent of the most mournful bitterness: + + "Do not read me, ye who love elegance and grace. Alight not, + ye butterflies, among thorns--nor upon rocks burning in the + sun and beaten by the rains--you may tarnish the gauze of + your beautiful wings. But you who honor truth, follow me. I + will bring you wild flowers, gathered from the precipice, + amid howling tempests." + +While we inhale the perfume of the _flowers of the heath_, we can +honor truth, without being _foolish flies_, and without renouncing the +love of the _elegant and graceful_. Not less did M. Chasles write to +the _Journal des Debats_, a little before the revolution, in those +generous words which we are happy to see again in his book: + + "It is for you, politicians, to find a remedy for the evils + of society. The interests of the masses are in your + hands--those who have not enough to eat, and too much work. + The verses of famished workmen, which we cannot sing, we + weep over. The muse of Cooper, of Elliott, and of Crabbe, + is not a muse, but a fury. You are reminded, that in + accumulating wealth in one direction, you are increasing + poverty in another; and that the poverty which complains at + first avenges itself afterward." + +I do not know whether these words were prophetic, but I see in them a +noble sentiment, unfortunately too rare among those who love elegance +and grace. Let us be elegant, if we can; gracious, if we know how. +But, besides those desirable qualities of the old French society, let +us show in the light of heaven that living active charity which only +can strengthen by purifying the existence of the new order of society. +The grandchildren of Boufflers, we expose ourselves no more to +ridicule in saying: "Monsieur le roi, faite-moi une paire de +souliers." The king will make the shoes if it is his vocation. The +grandchildren of Boufflers should do their duty--that is to say: +contribute with all their mind to find out, according to the +expression of Chasles, efficacious remedies for social evils. When +workmen are more happy, they will write less poetry, or at least they +will write more calmly. See the American spinners of Lowell. Ah! +Lucinda or Tancreda has never lifted up her voice to heaven with the +despair of Elliott. An amorous complaint suffices her; a sonnet, or a +love-sigh, breathed by the light of the stars, consoles her for the +labors of the day. American society works first; when it has conquered +an independence, it sings. All Americans do not accept the saying of +one of their journalists: "Political and practical life is sufficient +for man. Imagination is a peril--arts a misfortune." So far from +proscribing the arts and imagination, Cooper, Irving, Audubon, and +many others are among those who have magnified the literature of their +country. But the greater part, with that fruitful wisdom which +characterizes them, applaud the advice of Channing: + + "I made a resolution of presenting a gift to my country in + the form of an epic. But I had prudence enough to postpone + it until I should have a fortune. I then commenced to make + my business known, after which I retired into solitude with + my imagination." + +In Europe it is just the contrary. We ask the imagination to make our +business known, and we retire into solitude with our fortune or our +poverty. Which course avails the more for our glory? Which for our +repose? + +The conclusion of the work of M. Chasles is, that our literature, our +manners, our nationality even, will some day disappear before the +rising glory of the great Western Republic, but I can declare without +emotion that I have no fear of my country. America offers us examples; +we also have some to offer her. The future of the United States is +developed day by day in a manner that astonishes Europe. But +notwithstanding the _patriotes de clocher_, and French _humanitaires_ +who suppress the very word native country, I believe in the higher +destinies of France. + + + + +A PHANTASY. + +WRITTEN FOR THE INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE + +BY R. H. STODDARD. + + "Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean." + + + The light of the summer noon + Bursts in a flood through the blind; + But few are the rays of joy + That shine in my darkened mind. + + My heart is stirred to a storm, + And its passions intense and proud + Feed on themselves, like fires + Pent in a thunder-cloud! + + I think of the days of youth, + And the fountains of love defiled, + Till I hide my face in my hands, + And weep like a little child! + + + + +THE TIMES OF CHARLEMAGNE. + + +Sir Francis Palgrave's _History of Normandy and of England_, of which +the first volume has just appeared in London, is unquestionably a very +important work, illustrating a period of which comparatively little +has been known, and of which a knowledge is eminently necessary to the +student of British institutions and manners. The subject has been +partially handled by French authors--by Thierry, Guizot, Michelet, and +in a desultory manner by M. Barante--but not one of these has shown +the very intimate relation that exists between the history of Normandy +and of England. That intermixture of the histories of the countries +may indeed be inferred from old English works, such as Camden, +Fortescue, Hale, Britton, Bracton, Fleta, Spelman, Somner, Chief Baron +Gilbert, Daines Barrington, and others, and from labors of Bede, +William of Malmesbury, Geoffry of Monmouth, and all the older +chroniclers. But not one of these writers, in all their varied labors, +has undertaken to show how the histories of the two countries act and +re-act on each other, or how, represented in the popular mind by the +epithets Norman and Saxon, French and English, they have been for a +thousand years or more running against each other a perpetual race of +rivalry and emulation. A worthy Picard lawyer indeed, of the name of +Gaillard, who abandoned the law for literature about a century ago, +wrote a work called _The Rivalry between France and England_, in +eleven volumes; but who, in 1851, unless specially dedicated to +historical studies, would read a French history on the subject of the +rivalry between the two nations, written between 1771 and 1777, +especially when it extends to eleven volumes? Independently of this, +any French history on such subject is sure to be tinged with +prejudice, passion, and vanity. It is true that the judicious Sharon +Turner, in his _History of the Anglo-Saxons_, Henry Wheaton, in his +_History of the Northmen_, and M. Capefigue, give us more or less +insight into Norman history; but none of these authors attempt to show +the general relations of mediaeval history, or that absolute need of +uniting Norman to English history, which it is the chief aim of Sir +Francis Palgrave to demonstrate. As deputy keeper of the public +records of England, this learned historian has had the best possible +opportunities of investigation, and he tells us in his preface that +he has devoted to the work a full quarter of a century. + +The style of Sir Francis Palgrave is generally heavy, and his work +will therefore be more prized by students than by the mere lovers of +literature. His manner and spirit and the character of his performance +may be most satisfactorily exhibited in a few specimen paragraphs, +however, and we proceed to quote, first, from an introductory +dissertation, some remarks on the arts, architecture, and civilization +of Rome. He says: + + "Roman taste gave the fashion to the garment, Roman skill + the models for the instruments of war. We have been told to + seek in the forests of Germany the origin of the feudal + system and the conception of the Gothic aisle. We shall + discover neither there. Architecture is the costume of + society, and throughout European Christendom that costume + was patterned from Rome. Unapt and unskilful pupils, she + taught the Ostrogothic workman to plan the palace of + Theodoric; the Frank, to decorate the hall of Charlemagne; + the Lombard, to vault the duomo; the Norman, to design the + cathedral. Above all, Rome imparted to our European + civilization her luxury, her grandeur, her richness, her + splendor, her exaltation of human reason, her spirit of free + inquiry, her ready mutability, her unwearied activity, her + expansive and devouring energy, her hardness of heart, her + intellectual pride, her fierceness, her insatiate cruelty, + that unrelenting cruelty which expels all other races out of + the very pale of humanity; whilst our direction of thought, + our literature, our languages, concur in uniting the + dominions, kingdoms, states, principalities, and powers, + composing our civilized commonwealth in the Old Continent + and the New, with the terrible people through whom that + civilized commonwealth wields the thunderbolts of the + dreadful monarchy, diverse from all others which preceded + amongst mankind." + +The following is our author's view of the real and the ideal +Charlemagne:-- + + "It seems Charlemagne's fate that he should always be in + danger of shading into a mythic monarch--not a man of flesh + and blood, but a personified theory. Turpin's Carolus + Magnus, the Charlemagne of Roncesvalles; Ariosto's _Sacra + Corona_, surrounded by Palatines and Doze-Piers, are + scarcely more unlike the real rough, tough, shaggy, old + monarch, than the conventional portraitures by which his + real features have been supplanted. + + "It is an insuperable source of fallacy in human observation + as well as in human judgment, that we never can sufficiently + disjoin our own individuality from our estimates of moral + nature. Admiring ourselves in others, we ascribe to those + whom we love or admire the qualities we value in ourselves. + We each see the landscape through our own stripe of the + rainbow. A favorite hero by long-established prescription, + few historical characters have been more disguised by fond + adornment than Charlemagne. Each generation or school has + endeavored to exhibit him as a normal model of excellence: + Courtly Mezeray invests the son of Pepin with the taste of + Louis Quatorze; the polished Abbe Velly bestows upon the + Frankish emperor the abstract perfection of a dramatic hero; + Boulainvilliers, the champion of the noblesse, worships the + founder of hereditary feudality; Mably discovers in the + capitulars the maxims of popular liberty; Montesquieu, the + perfect philosophy of legislation. But, generally speaking, + Charlemagne's historical aspect is derived from his + patronage of literature. This notion of his literary + character colors his political character, so that in the + assumption of the imperial authority, we are fain to + consider him as a true romanticist--such as in our own days + we have seen upon the throne--seeking to appease hungry + desires by playing with poetic fancies, to satisfy hard + nature with pleasant words, to give substance and body to a + dream. + + "All these prestiges will vanish if we render to Charlemagne + his well deserved encomium:--he was a great warrior, a great + statesman, fitted for his own age. It is a very ambiguous + praise to say that a man is in advance of his age; if so, he + is out of his place; he lives in a foreign country. Equally + so, if he lives in the past. No innovator so bold, so + reckless, and so crude, as he who makes the attempt (which + never succeeds) to effect a resurrection of antiquity." + +The practical character of Charlemagne is thus sketched:-- + + "We may put by the book, and study Charlemagne's + achievements on the borders of the Rhine; better than in the + book may the traveller see Charlemagne's genuine character + pictured upon the lovely unfolding landscape: the huge + domminsters, the fortresses of religion; the yellow sunny + rocks studded with the vine; the mulberry and the peach, + ripening in the ruddy orchards; the succulent potherbs and + worts which stock the Bauer's garden,--these are the + monuments and memorials of Charlemagne's mind. The first + health pledged when the flask is opened at Johannisberg + should be the monarchs name who gave the song-inspiring + vintage. Charlemagne's superiority and ability consisted + chiefly in seeking and seizing the immediate advantages, + whatever they might be which he could confer upon others or + obtain for himself. He was a man of forethought, ready + contrivance, and useful talent. He would employ every + expedient, grasp every opportunity, and provide for each day + as it was passing by. + + "The educational movement resulting from Charlemagne's + genius was practical. Two main objects had he therein upon + his conscience and his mind. The first, was the support of + the Christian Faith; his seven liberal sciences circled + round theology, the centre of the intellectual system. No + argument was needed as to the obligation of uniting sacred + and secular learning, because the idea of disuniting them + never was entertained. His other object in patronizing + learning and instruction was the benefit of the State. He + sought to train good men of business; judges well qualified, + ready penmen in his chancery; and this sage desire expanded + into a wide instructional field. Charlemagne's exertions for + promoting the study of the Greek language--his Greek + professorships at Osnaburgh or Saltzburgh--have been + praised, doubted, discussed, as something very paradoxical; + whereas, his motives were plain, and his machinery simple. + Greek was, to all intents and purposes, the current language + of an opulent and powerful nation, required for the + transaction of public affairs. A close parallel, + necessitated by the same causes, exists in the capital of + Charlemagne's successors. The Oriental Academy at Vienna is + constituted to afford a supply of individuals qualified for + the diplomatic intercourse, arising out of the vicinity and + relations of the Austrian and Ottoman dominions, without any + reference to the promotion of philology. We find the same at + home. If the Persian language be taught at Haileybury, it is + to fit the future Writer of his Indian office. He may study + Ferduzi or Hafiz, if he pleases, but the cultivation of + literature is not the intent with which the learning is + bestowed." + +Here is the manner in which Sir Francis Palgrave contrasts and +compares the two emperors, Charlemagne and Napoleon:-- + + "Napoleon sought the creation of an anti-christian imperial + pontificate--the caliphate of positive civilization; his + aspiration was the establishment of absolute dominion, + corporeal and intellectual; mastery over body and soul; + faith respected only as an influential and venerable + delusion; the aiding powers of religion accepted until she + should be chilled out, and the unfed flame expire, and + positive philosophy complete her task of emancipating the + matured intellect from the remaining swathing bands which + had been needful during the infancy of human society. And + the theories of Charlemagne and Napoleon, though + irreconcileably antagonistic, in their conception, would, + were either fully developed, become identical in their + result, notwithstanding their contrarieties. They start in + opposite directions, but, circling round their courses, + would--were it permitted that they should persevere + continuously and consistently--meet at the same point of + convergence, and attain the same end. + + "Moreover, the territorial empires of Napoleon and + Charlemagne had their organically fatal characteristics in + common. Each founder attempted to accomplish political + impossibilities--to conjoin communities unsusceptible of + amalgamation; to harmonize the discordant elements which + could only be kept together by external force, whilst their + internal forces sprung them asunder--a unity without + internal union. But even as the wonderful agencies revealed + to modern chemistry effect, in a short hour, the progresses + which nature silently elaborates during a long growth of + time, so in like manner did the energies of civilization + effect in three years that dissolution for which, in the + analogous precedent, seven generations were required." + + + + +THE DECORATIVE ARTS IN AMERICA. + + +The growth of the fine arts, commonly so called, in this country, has +been a fruitful subject of congratulatory observation in the last +dozen years. The opera in that time has gained a permanent home here, +and our sculptors and painters have gone out into the old fields of +art, and claimed equality with their masters--an equality which Italy, +Germany, France, and even England, slowly and reluctantly in some +cases, but in the presence of the works of Powers, Crawford, +Greenough, Leutze, and others, have, at length, confessed. In +painting, as everybody knows, with few exceptions our best works have +never been seen abroad, and the advance of design here is therefore to +be studied only in our own exhibitions, hung with the productions of +Durand, Huntington, Eliott, and the crowd of young painters coming +forward every season to claim the approval of the people. The general +taste keeps pace with every achievement. We hear that the Art-Union +was never visited so much as this year; and private galleries, and +those of every dealer in works of art, are thronged. The existence in +our principal cities, under the control of men of cultivation, of +stores for the sale of works in the fine arts, is a fact eminently +significant. That of Williams & Stevens, in Broadway, for example, +could be sustained only by a community in which there is a refinement +of taste such as a few years ago could be found only in limited +circles in this country. Beginning with efforts to introduce the +finest forms and combinations in looking-glass and picture frames, the +proprietors of this establishment have made it a great market-house +for artists, and the display upon its walls and in its windows is +frequently more attractive to the connoisseur than the exhibitions of +the Academies or the Art-Unions. And it is astonishing how many of the +best works of the European engravers--works which may justly be called +copies of the master-pieces of contemporary foreign art--are sold +here, to adorn houses from which the tawdry ornaments in vogue a few +years ago have been discarded. The same observations may be made in +regard to furniture. The graceful styles and high finish to be seen at +many of our stores, and in our recently furnished houses, illustrate a +progress in elegance, luxury, and taste, not dreamed of by the last +generation. And in all these things it is observable that the advance +is in cheapness as well as in beauty. In this respect indeed we have +scarcely kept pace with the French and English, but the cost at which +a man of taste and a little tact can now furnish a house, so that it +shall illustrate not only his own refinement but the condition of the +best civilization of the time, is astonishingly small, compared with +what it was a few years ago. The fine engraving, with its appropriate +frame, to be bought for thirty dollars, is to be much preferred before +the portrait or indeed before any painting whatever that is +purchasable for a hundred dollars; and though silver is unquestionably +silver, the imitation table furniture, of the most classical shapes, +that is sold now for a fifth of the cost of the coinable metal, looks +quite as well upon a salver. The arts by which beauty is made familiar +in the homes of all classes of people are of all arts most deserving +of encouragement, and it is among the happiest of omens that they are +receiving so much attention--far more attention now than they have +ever before received in America. We shall hereafter attempt a more +particular exhibition of this subject. + + + + +A VISIT TO THE LATE DR. JOHN LINGARD. + +WRITTEN FOR THE INTERNATIONAL MONTHLY MAGAZINE + +BY REV. J. C. RICHMOND. + + +Noticing in the journals some brief but very just remarks upon the +character of the eminent Roman Catholic historian of England, who died +July 17th, at the good old age of more than four-score years, I am +induced to think that an account of a visit which I had the honor to +make this celebrated scholar, may not be altogether without interest +for your readers. + +March 12, 1850, having a leisure day at Lancaster, and having already +visited John of Gaunt's castle, in company with several of those +genial spirits who afford me an unusually delightful social +remembrance of the dingy buildings and narrow crooked streets of that +famous old town, one of them happened to mention the name of Dr. +Lingard. I instantly inquired after him with interest, and, observing +my enthusiasm, Mr. T. J---- proposed a drive to his residence at +Hornby, a village some twelve or thirteen miles distant. I of course +gladly acceded to the proposal, and we were soon on our way, with a +fleet horse, over the absolutely perfect English turnpike road--for +the roads in England are always passable, and not "_improved_," like +some of those around New-York, in so continued a manner as to be +useless. + +After a fine rural drive, crossing the river Loon, and through +Lonsdale, we came within sight of an old church and castle. I took the +church to be that of the historian, but found, to my surprise, that +the famous old sage was placed in entire seclusion, and ministered to +a very few, and those very poor, sheep, in a little chapel, or room, +under his own roof. In this remote and by no means picturesque +village, at an antiquated house, we knocked, and were told by the aged +domestic that the venerable historian had been very feeble of late, +and had gone out, on this fine day in the spring, for a walk. After +many inquiries among the villagers, by whom he was as well known as +beloved, I proposed to take the line of the new railway, and, after +quite a walk, met a feeble old man, with a scholar's face, a bright +twinkling black eye, supporting his steps on a staff, and wrapped up +with all the care which an aged and faithful housekeeper could bestow +upon a long-tried and most indulgent master. I pronounced his name, +and gave him my own; stated that I was a presbyter in the holy (though +not Roman) Catholic church, that I had long admired his integrity and +faithfulness as an historian, and that it was by no means the least of +my happy days in England that I was now permitted to speak to him face +to face. The kind and gentle old man seemed truly astonished that any +one who had come so far, and seen so much, should care for seeing +_him_, and rewarded my enthusiasm with a hearty grasp of the hand that +had wielded so admired a pen. We then walked on together towards his +house, and you will not blame me for saying, that I was proud to offer +the support of my arm to this fine octogenarian, who had not suffered +the spirit of the priest to becloud the candor of the historian. We +conversed with the greatest freedom upon our points of difference, and +he repeated to me, personally, _his entire disbelief in the fable of +the nag's head ordination_. He seemed to be only _historically_ aware +of a disruption between us, for the benevolence of his heart would +acknowledge no actual difference. + +I cannot refrain from quoting a somewhat amusing illustration of his +infinite and childlike simplicity of character, combined with an utter +ignorance of those rudiments of modern science which would be much +more familiar to our district school-boys than to many men educated in +those classic homes of ancient learning, the English universities. +Some posts had been set in the ground, and were bound together, for +strength, by iron wires; and the venerable sage said, "I suppose this +is the Electric Telegraph." I was obliged to insist with a kind of +explanatory and playful pertinacity, that this supposition must be +incorrect, because electricity could not be conducted, unless the +wires were at least continued _through_ the thick posts, instead of +being wound _around_ them. At his house, we found the study not very +well supplied with books, for the aged scholar had now almost ceased +to peruse these. At my request he wrote out very slowly, but in a +wonderfully distinct hand for eighty, his own name and the date, "John +Lingard, Hornby, March 12, 1850;" and voluntarily added a Latin +punning inscription, which he had made the evening before, which he +humorously proposed to have engraved upon the new Menai bridge. In +this he had spoken of the _builder of the bridge_, the celebrated +Stephens, as _Pontifex Maximus_. I need not say that I shall preserve +these papers among the most precious of my English mementos. I was +sorry I could have no hopes that the branch which he gave me from the +tree that he had transplanted with his own hands from the battle-field +of Cannae to the quiet of his garden at Hornby, would ever flourish in +America. After many hospitable invitations, which other engagements +obliged us to decline, and many modest expressions of the gratitude +which he seemed deeply to feel for the pains that I had taken to come +so far to visit him, we bade farewell to the candid priest, who began, +as he told me, an essay to defend his Church against the aspersions of +Hume, and had ended by producing a voluminous as well as luminous +history. + +[For another part of this magazine we have compiled a more full and +accurate account of the life of the deceased scholar than has hitherto +appeared in this country. See _Recent Deaths_, _post_, 285-6.] + + + + +PRIVATE LIFE OF JOHN C. CALHOUN. + +ADDRESSED TO HER BROTHER, AND COMMUNICATED TO THE INTERNATIONAL +MAGAZINE, + +BY MISS M. BATES. + + +The funeral rites of the lamented Calhoun have been performed. So +deeply has the mournful pageant impressed me, so vividly have memories +of the past been recalled, that I am incapable of thinking or writing +on any other theme. My heart prompts me to garner up my recollections +of this illustrious statesman. I can better preserve these invaluable +memories by committing them to paper, and as you enjoyed but one brief +interview with Mr. Calhoun, these pages shall be addressed to you. + +An eloquent member of the House of Representatives, from your state, +has compared this southern luminary to that remarkable constellation +the Southern Cross. A few years since, in sailing to a West Indian +island, I had a perilous voyage, but have ever felt that the sight of +that Southern Cross, which had long haunted my imagination, almost +repaid me for its excitement and suffering. And thus do I regard an +acquaintance with this intellectual star as one great compensation for +a separation from my early home. It would have been a loss not to have +seen that poetic group, which greets the traveller as he sails +southward, but how much greater the loss, never to have beheld that +unique luminary which has set to rise no more upon our visible +horizon. + +Mr. Calhoun's public character is so well known to you that I shall +speak of him principally in his private relations, and shall refer to +his opinions only as expressed in conversation--for it was in the +repose of his happy home, in the tranquillity of domestic life, and in +the freedom of social intercourse, that I knew him. + +While the clarion-notes of his fame resound among the distant hills +and valleys of our land, while those who in political strife crossed +lances with this champion of the south nobly acknowledge his valor and +his honor, while Carolina chants a requiem for her departed dead, may +not one who knows his moral elevation, and who has witnessed his +domestic virtues, have the consolation of adding an unaffected tribute +to his memory? While his devoted constituents, with impressive symbols +and mournful pageants, perform funereal rites, erect for him the +costly marble, weave for him the brilliant chaplet, be it mine to +scatter over his honored tomb simple but ever green leaflets. While in +glowing colors the orator portrays him on his peerless career in the +political arena, be it mine to delineate the daily beauty of his life. + +In Mr. Calhoun were united the simple habits of the Spartan lawgiver, +the inflexible principles of the Roman senator, the courteous bearing +and indulgent kindness of the American host, husband, and father. This +was indeed a rare union. Life with him was solemn and earnest, and yet +all about him was cheerful. I never heard him utter a jest; there was +an unvarying dignity and gravity in his manner; and yet the playful +child regarded him fearlessly and lovingly. Few men indulge their +families in as free, confidential, and familiar intercourse as did +this great statesman. Indeed, to those who had an opportunity of +observing him in his own house, it was evident that his cheerful and +happy home had attractions for him superior to those which any other +place could offer. Here was a retreat from the cares, the observation, +and the homage of the world. In few homes could the transient visitor +feel more at ease than did the guest at Fort Hill. Those who knew Mr. +Calhoun only by his senatorial speeches may suppose that his heart and +mind were all engrossed in the nation's councils, but there were +moments when his courtesy, his minute kindnesses, made you forget the +statesman. The choicest fruits were selected for his guest; and I +remember seeing him at his daughter's wedding take the ornaments from +a cake and send them to a little child. Many such graceful attentions, +offered in an unostentatious manner to all about him, illustrated the +kindness and noble simplicity of his nature. His family could not but +exult in his intellectual greatness, his rare endowments, and his +lofty career, yet they seemed to lose sight of all these in their love +for him. I had once the pleasure of travelling with his eldest son, +who related to me many interesting facts and traits of his life. He +said he had never heard him speak impatiently to any member of his +family. He mentioned that as he was leaving that morning for his home +in Alabama, a younger brother said, "Come soon again, and see us, +brother A----, for do you not see that father is growing old, and is +not father the dearest, best old man in the world!" + +Like Cincinnatus, he enjoyed rural life and occupation. It was his +habit, when at home, to go over his grounds every day. I remember his +returning one morning from a walk about his plantation, delighted with +the fine specimens of corn and rice which he brought in for us to +admire. That morning--the trifling incident shows his consideration +and kindness of feeling, as well as his tact and power of +adaptation--seeing an article of needlework in the hands of sister +A----, who was then a stranger there, he examined it, spoke of the +beauty of the coloring, the variety of the shade, and by thus showing +an interest in her, at once made her at ease in his presence. + +His eldest daughter always accompanied him to Washington, and in the +absence of his wife, who was often detained by family cares at Fort +Hill, this daughter was his solace amid arduous duties, and his +confidant in perplexing cases. Like the gifted De Stael, she loved her +father with enthusiastic devotion. Richly endowed by nature, improved +by constant companionship with the great man, her mind was in harmony +with his, and he took pleasure in counselling with her. She said, "Of +course, I do not understand as he does, for I am comparatively a +stranger to the world, yet he likes my unsophisticated opinion, and I +frankly tell him my views on any subject about which he inquires of +me." + +Between himself and his younger daughter there was a peculiar and most +tender union. As by the state of her health she was deprived of many +enjoyments, her indulgent parents endeavored to compensate for every +loss by their affection and devotion. As reading was her favorite +occupation, she was allowed to go to the letter-bag when it came from +the office, and select the papers she preferred. On one occasion, she +had taken two papers, containing news of importance, which her father +was anxious to see, but he would allow no one to disturb her until she +had finished their perusal. + +In his social as well as in his domestic relations he was +irreproachable. No shadow rested on his pure fame, no blot on his +escutcheon. In his business transactions he was punctual and +scrupulously exact. He was honorable as well as honest. Young men who +were reared in his vicinity, with their eyes ever on him, say that in +all respects, in small as well as in great things, his conduct was so +exemplary that he might well be esteemed a model. + +His profound love for his own family, his cordial interest in his +friends, his kindness and justice in every transaction, were not small +virtues in such a personage. + +He was anti-Byronic. I never heard him ridicule or satirize a human +being. Indeed, he might have been thought deficient in a sense of the +ludicrous, had he not by the unvarying propriety of his own conduct +proved his exquisite perception of its opposites. When he differed in +opinion from those with whom he conversed, he seemed to endeavor by a +respectful manner, to compensate for the disagreement. He employed +reason rather than contradiction, and so earnestly would he urge an +opinion and so fully present an argument, that his opponent could not +avoid feeling complimented rather than mortified. He paid a tribute to +the understandings of others by the force of his own reasoning, and by +his readiness to admit every argument which he could, although +advanced in opposition to one he himself had just expressed. + +On one occasion I declined taking a glass of wine at his table. He +kindly said, "I think you carry that a little too far. It is well to +give up every thing intoxicating, but not these light wines." I +replied that wine was renounced by many, for the sake of consistency, +and for the benefit of those who could not afford wine. He +acknowledged the correctness of the principle, adding, "I do not know +how temperance societies can take any other ground," and then defined +his views of temperance, entered on a course of interesting argument, +and stated facts and statistics. Of course, were all men like Mr. +Calhoun temperance societies would be superfluous. Perhaps he could +not be aware of the temptations which assail many men--he was so +purely intellectual, so free from self-indulgence. Materiality with +him was held subject to his higher nature. He did not even indulge +himself in a cigar. Few spent as little time and exhausted as little +energy in mere amusements. Domestic and social enjoyments were his +pleasures--kind and benevolent acts were his recreations. + +He always seemed willing to converse on any subject which was +interesting to those about him. Returning one evening from Fort Hill, +I remarked to a friend, "I have never been more convinced of Mr. +Calhoun's genius than to-day, while he talked to us of a flower." His +versatile conversation evinced his universal knowledge, his quick +perception, and his faculty of adaptation. A shower one day compelled +him to take shelter in the shed of a blacksmith, who was charmed by +his familiar conversation and the knowledge he exhibited of the +mechanic arts. A naval officer was once asked, after a visit to Fort +Hill, how he liked Mr. Calhoun. "Not at all," says he--"I never like a +man who knows more about my profession than I do myself." A clergyman +wished to converse with him on subjects of a religious nature, and +after the interview remarked that he was astonished to find him better +informed than himself on those very points wherein he had expected to +give him information. I have understood that Mr. Calhoun avoided an +expression of opinion with regard to different sects and creeds, or +what is called religious controversy; and once, when urged to give his +views in relation to a disputed point, he replied, "That is a subject +to which I have never given my attention." + +Mr. Calhoun was unostentatious and ever averse to display. He did not +appear to talk for the sake of exhibition, but from the overflowing of +his earnest nature. Whether in the Senate or in conversation with a +single listener, his language was choice, his style fervid, his manner +impressive. Never can I forget his gentle earnestness when endeavoring +to explain his views on some controverted subject, and observing that +my mind could hardly keep pace with his rapid reasoning, he would +occasionally pause and say, in his kind manner, "Do you see?" + +He did not seek to know the opinion of others with regard to himself. +Anonymous letters he never read, and his daughters and nieces often +snatched from the flames letters of adulation as well as censure which +he had not read. Although he respected the opinions of his +fellow-men, he did not seek office or worldly honor. A few years +since, one to whom he ever spoke freely, remarked to him that some +believed that he was making efforts to obtain the presidency. At that +moment he had taken off his glasses, and was wiping them, and thus he +replied: "M----, I think when a man is too old to see clearly through +his glasses, he is too old to think of the presidency." And recently +he said to her, "They may impute what motives they please to me, but I +do not seek office." So much did he respect his country, that he might +have been gratified by the free gift of the people; so much did he +love his country, that he might have rejoiced at an opportunity to +serve it, but would he have swerved one iota from his convictions to +secure a kingdom? Who that knew him believes it? + +It has been said by that brilliant satirist Horace Walpole, that every +man has his price. I never did believe so evil a thing; I have been +too conversant with the great and good to believe this libel; and I +doubt not there are others beside Mr. Calhoun who value truth and +honor above all price or office. + +Highly as our great statesman regarded appreciation, yet he could +endure to be misrepresented. While his glorious eye would light with +more brilliant lustre at the greeting of friendship or the earnest +expression of confidence, he rose superior to abuse or censure. I +believe it was ever thus while in health. The last winter, dying in +the Senate chamber, his feeble frame could ill repel the piercing +shafts of his antagonists. The ebbing currents in his pulses were +accelerated. He could not desert his post, though the contest raged +fiercely, but his great soul was wounded. He loved his country, he +loved the Union, and it was a great grief to him in his last hours to +be misunderstood and misrepresented. Still, he was consoled by the +thought that in the end he would be appreciated. Some one remarked to +him that he was a very unpopular man. He replied, "I am, among +politicians, but not among the people, and you will know this when I +am dead." + +Though Mr. Calhoun acknowledged, in his own winning way, the +involuntary tributes of friendship and admiration, he courteously +declined, whenever he could with propriety, public testimonies of +homage which were offered to him. His wife shared with him this +unostentatious spirit, preferring the voice of friendship to the +acclamations of the multitude. I have heard some of his family say +that they coveted nothing, not even the presidency, for him. They, +with many of us who knew him, felt that even the first gift of a great +nation could not add one gem to his crown--that crown of genius and +virtue, whose glorious beauty no mortal power could illumine with new +effulgence. + +His sincerity was perfect. What he thought he said. He was no +diplomatist. Some of his theories might seem paradoxical, but a +paradox is not necessarily a contradiction. He has been accused of +inconsistency. Those who thus accuse him do him grievous wrong. + +Nothing is more inconsistent than to persist in a uniform belief when +changing circumstances demand its modification. How absurd to preserve +a law which in the progress of society has become null and obsolete! +for instance, granting to a criminal "the benefit of clergy." +"Nothing," says a distinguished English writer, "is so revolutionary +as to attempt to keep all things fixed, when, by the very laws of +nature, all things are perpetually changing. Nothing is more arrogant +than for a fallible being to refuse to open his mind to conviction." +When Mr. Calhoun altered his opinion, consistency itself required the +change. + +However some of his political sentiments might have differed from +those of many of the great and good of the age, he was sincere in +them, and believed what he asserted with all the earnestness of an +enthusiastic nature, with all the faith of a close and independent +thinker, and with all the confidence of one who draws his conclusions +from general principles and not from individual facts. Time will test +the truth of his convictions. It has been said that he was sectional +in his feelings, but surely his heart was large enough to embrace the +whole country. It has often been said that he wished to sever the +Union, but he loved the Union, nor could he brook the thought of +disunion if by any means unity could be preserved. Because he foresaw +and frankly said that certain effects must result from certain causes, +does this prove that he desired these effects? In his very last speech +he speaks of disunion as a "great disaster." But he was not a man to +cry "peace, peace, when there was no peace." Although like Cassandra +he might not be believed, he would raise his warning voice; he was not +a man to hide himself when a hydra had sprung up which threatened to +devastate our fair and fertile land from its northern borders to its +southern shores. And while he called on the south for union, did he +not warn the conservative party at the north that this monster was not +to be tampered with? And did he not call on them to unite, and arise +in their strength, and destroy it? + +And how could he, with his wise philosophy, his knowledge of human +nature, and universal benevolence, view with indifference that +unreflecting and wild (or should I not say _savage_) philanthropy, +which in order to sustain abstract principles loses sight of the +happiness and welfare of every class of human beings? How often did he +entreat that discussion on those subjects, beyond the right of +legislation, should be prevented, that angry words and ungenerous +recrimination should cease! Did he not foresee that such discussions +would serve to develop every element of evil in all the sections of +the country--a country with such capacities for good? Did he unwisely +fear that the ancient fable of Cadmus would be realized--that +dragon-teeth, recklessly scattered, would spring up armed? And did he +not know that the southern heart could not remain insensible to +reproach and aggression? + + "Non obtusa adeo gestamus pectora Poeni: + Nec tam aversus equos Tyria Sol jungit, ab urbe." + +And, ah, how earnestly did he plead for peace, and truth, and justice! +As far as I understood him, he wished to benefit by his policy in +affairs both the south and the north. I remember, in speaking to me of +free trade, he expressed the opinion that the course he recommended +would benefit the north as well as the south. This he did not merely +assert, but sustained with frequent argument. In his conversation +there was a remarkable blending of fact and theory, of a knowledge of +the past and an insight into the future. + +Mr. Calhoun was a philanthropist in the most liberal sense of the +word. He desired for man the utmost happiness, the greatest good, and +the highest elevation. If he differed from lovers of the race in other +parts of the world, with regard to the means of obtaining these +results, it was not because he failed to study the subject; not +because he lacked opportunities of observation and of obtaining facts; +nor because he indulged in selfish prejudices. From every quarter he +gleaned accessible information, and with conscientious earnestness he +brought his wonderful powers of generalization to bear on the subject +of human happiness and advancement--his pure unselfish heart aiding +his powerful mind. + +The good of the least of God's creatures was not beneath his regard; +but he did not believe that the least was equal to the greatest; he +did not think the happiness or elevation of any class could be secured +by a sentiment so unphilosophical. The attempt to reduce all to a +level, to put all minds in uniform, to give all the same employment, +he viewed as chimerical. He said that in every civilized society there +must be division of labor, and he believed the slaves at the south +more happy, more free from suffering and crime, than any corresponding +class in any country. He had no aristocratic pride, but he desired for +himself and others the highest possible elevation. He respected the +artisan, the mechanic, and agriculturist, and considered each of these +occupations as affording scope for native talent. He believed the +African to be most happy and useful under the guidance of an +Anglo-Saxon; he is averse to hard labor and responsible effort; he +likes personal service, and identifies himself with those he serves. + +Mr. Calhoun spoke of the great inconsistency of English denunciations +of American slavery, and said that to every man, woman, and child in +England, two hundred and fifty persons were tributary. Although +colonial possessions and individual possessions are by many regarded +as different, he considered them involved in the same general +principle. In considering the rights of man the great question is not, +Has a master a right to hold a slave? but, Has one human being a right +to hold another subordinate? The rights of man may be invaded, and the +idol Liberty cast down, by those who are loudest in their +philanthropic denunciations respecting slavery. Is there as much +cruelty in holding slaves, even under the most unfavorable +circumstances, as in selling into bondage a whole nation?[4] Let the +brave chiefs of the Rohillas answer from the battle-field. Let cries +reply from the burning cities of Rohilcund. Let the princesses of Oude +speak from their prisons. + +Close observation, prompted by a kindly heart, had brought Mr. Calhoun +to the opinion that the Africans in this country were happier in +existing circumstances than they would be in any other; that they were +improving in their condition, and that any attempt to change it, at +least at present, would not only be an evil to the country but fraught +with suffering to them. A state of freedom, so called, would be to +them a state of care and disaster. To abolish slavery now would be to +abolish the slave. The race would share the doom of the Indians. +Although here nominally slaves, as a general thing they enjoy more +freedom than any where else; for is not that freedom, where one is +happiest and best, and where there is a correspondence between the +situation and the desires, the condition and the capacities? May we +not say with the angel Abdiel: + + "Unjustly thou depravest it with the name + Of servitude, to serve whom God ordains, + Or Nature. God and Nature bid the same, + When he who rules is worthiest, and excels + Them whom he governs. This is servitude, + To serve the unwise." + +Mr. Calhoun found the local attachment of the slaves so strong, their +relation to their owners so satisfying to their natures, and the +southern climate so congenial to them, that he did not believe any +change of place or state would benefit them. + +These, as nearly as I can recollect, were his opinions on the subject +of slavery, and were expressed to me in several conversations. +Sentiments similar to these are entertained by many high-minded and +benevolent slave-holders. That this institution, like every other, is +liable to abuse, is admitted, but every planter must answer, not for +the institution--for which he is no more accountable than for the fall +of Adam--but for his individual discharge of duty. If, through his +selfishness, or indolence, or false indulgence, or severity, his +servants suffer, then to his Master in heaven he must give account. +But those who obey the divine mandate, "Give unto your servants that +which is just and equal," need not fear. In the endeavor to perform +their duty in the responsible sphere in which they were placed by no +act of their own, they can repose even in the midst of the wild storm +which threatens devastation to our fertile land; they can look away +from the judgment of the world, nor will they, even if all the powers +of earth bid them, adopt a policy which will ruin themselves, their +children, and the dependent race in their midst; they will not cast a +people they are bound to protect on the tender mercies of the cruel. +In their conservative measures they are, and must be, supported at the +north, by men of liberal and philosophical minds, of extended views, +and benevolent hearts. But I have said far more on this subject than I +intended, and will add only that those who do not, from personal +observation, know this institution in its best estate, cannot easily +understand the softened features it often wears, nor the high virtues +exhibited by the master, and the confiding, dependent attachment of +the servant. Often is the southern planter as a patriarch in olden +times. Those who are striving to sever his household know not what +they do. + +Well may we who live in these troubled times exclaim with Madame +Roland, the martyr of the false principles of her murderers, "O +Liberte! O Liberte! que de crimes on commet en ton nom!" This she +said, turning to the statue of liberty beside the scaffold. Liberty +unrestrained degenerates into license. There may be political freedom +without social liberty. Says Lamartine, speaking of the inhabitants of +Malta, "Ils sont esclaves de la loi immuable de la force que Dieu leur +fait; nous sommes esclaves des lois variables et capricieuses que nous +nous faisons." + +A few years' residence on this soil might teach even a Wilberforce to +turn in his philanthropy to other and wider fields of action. + +Of Mr. Calhoun's character as a master much might be said, for all who +knew him admit that it was exemplary. But we need not multiply +examples to prove his unaffected goodness, and I will repeat only a +circumstance or two, which, by way of illustrating some subjects +discussed, he incidentally mentioned to me. One related to a free +negro, formerly a slave in Carolina, but then living in one of our +northern cities, who came to him in Washington, begging him to +intercede for his return to Carolina. He represented his condition as +deplorable, said that he could not support himself and family by his +trade, (he was a shoemaker,) and that not being able to obtain +sufficient food or fuel in that cold climate, they were almost frozen. +"When I told him," said Mr. Calhoun, "that I would do all I could for +him, he seized both my hands in his and expressed fervent gratitude." +At another time, speaking of a family whom his son designed to take to +Alabama, he told me that the mother of the family came to him and said +she would prefer to stay with her master and mistress on the +plantation, even if all her children went with master A. Mr. Calhoun +added, "I could not think of her remaining without either of her +children; and as she chose to stay, we retained her youngest son, a +boy of twelve years." + +Mr. Calhoun required very little of any one, doing more for others +than he asked of them. He seemed to act upon the principle that the +strong should bear the burthens of the weak. In sickness he feared to +give trouble, and unless his friends insisted, would have little done +for him. "Energetic as he was," said a near relative, "he would lie +patiently all day, asking for nothing." His sensibility was of the +most unselfish nature. Some months before his death, and after he left +Fort Hill the last time, he said he felt that death was near, much +nearer than he was willing to have his family know, and added that he +wished to give all the time he could spare from public duty to +preparation for death. While suffering from increasing illness at +Washington, still, as he hoped to return again to his family, he was +unwilling, though they anxiously awaited his summons, that they should +be alarmed, saying he could not bear to see their grief. No doubt his +conscientious spirit felt that his country at that critical moment +demanded his best energies, and that he should be unnerved by the +presence of his nearest friends; and loving his own family as he did, +and so beloved as he was by them, he serenely awaited the approach of +the king of Terrors, and suffered his last sorrow far from his home, +cheered only by one watcher from his household. + +There was a beautiful adaptation in his bearing--a just appreciation +of what was due to others, and a nice sense of propriety. I have had +opportunities to compare his manners with those of other great men. +His kind and unaffected interest was expressed in a way peculiarly +dignified and refined. Some men appear to think they atone for a low +estimate of our sex by flattery. Not so with Mr. Calhoun. He paid the +highest compliment which could be paid to woman, by recognizing in her +a soul--a soul capable of understanding and appreciating. Of his +desire for her improvement and elevation he gave substantial proofs. +Although Fort Hill was five miles from the female academy he never +suffered an examination to pass without honoring it with his presence. +He came not for the sake of form, but he exhibited an interest in the +exercises, and was heard to comment upon them afterwards in a manner +which showed that he had given them attention. He never reminded you +that his hours were more precious than yours. The question may be +asked how could he, amid his great and stern duties, find time for +attention to those things from which so many men excuse themselves on +the plea of business. But he wasted no time, and by gathering up its +fragments, he had enough and to spare. I have before said that his +kind acts were his recreations. + +Were I asked wherein lay the charm which won the hearts of all who +came within his circle, I could not at once reply. It was perhaps his +perfect _abandon_, his sincerity, his confidential manner, his +childlike simplicity, in union with his majestic intelligence, and his +self-renunciation--the crowning virtue of his life: these imparted the +vivid enjoyment and the delightful repose which his friends felt in +his presence. It was often not so much what he said as his manner of +saying it, that was so impressive. Never can I forget an incident +which occurred at the time when a war with England, on account of +Oregon, seemed impending. He arrived in Charleston during the +excitement on that subject. He was asked in the drawing-room if he +thought there would be a war. He waived an answer, saying that for +some time he had been absent from home and had received no official +documents; but as he passed with us from the drawing-room to the +street door, he said to me in his rapid, earnest manner, "I anticipate +a severe seven months' campaign. I have never known our country in +such a state." War has a terror for me, and I said, "Oh, Mr. Calhoun, +do not let a war arise. Do all you can to prevent it." He replied, "I +will do all, in honor, I can do," and paused. A thousand thoughts +seemed to pass over his face, his soul was in his eyes, and bending a +little forward, as if bowed by a sense of his responsibility and +insufficiency, he added, speaking slowly and with emphasis and with +the deepest solemnity, as if questioning with himself, "_But what can +one man do?_" I see him now. No painting or sculpture could remind me +so truly of him as does my faithful memory. But I will not dwell on +the subject, for I fear I can never by words convey to the mind of +another the impression which I received of his sincerity, and of his +devotion to his country and to the cause of humanity. How he redeemed +his pledge to do all that he, in honor, could do, his efforts in the +settlement of the Oregon question truly show. When next I saw him I +told him how much I was delighted with his Oregon speech. In his +kindest manner he replied, "I am glad I can say any thing to please +you." + +The last time I saw Mr. Calhoun, you, my brother, were with me. You +remember that his kind wife took us to his room, and that you remarked +the cheerfulness and affability with which he received us, although +his feeble health had obliged him to refuse almost every one that day. +We shall see him no more, but his memory will linger with us. + +To you I would commend him as an example. Read his letter to a young +law-student. As you are so soon to enter the profession of law, such a +model as Mr. Calhoun may be studied with advantage. While I would +never wish any one to lose his own individuality, or to descend to +imitation, I believe that one gifted mind leaves its impress on +another; while I would not deify or canonize a mortal, I would render +homage to one who united such moral attainments to so rare a +combination of intellectual gifts; while it is degrading to ourselves +and injurious to others to lavish unmerited and extravagant praise, it +is a loss not to appreciate a character like his, for it ennobles our +own nature to contemplate the true and the beautiful. + +Although it is said that our country is in danger from its ideas of +equality, and its want of reverence and esteem for age, and wisdom, +and office, and talents, and attainments, and virtues--and this +feature of the American character is so strongly impressed that Mar +Yohannah, the Nestorian bishop, said in my presence, in his peculiar +English, "Yes, I know this nation glory in its republicanism, but I am +afraid it will become republican to God"--yet it is a cheering omen +when a man like Mr. Calhoun is so beloved and reverenced. I think +every one who was favored with a personal acquaintance with him will +admit that I have not been guilty of exaggeration, and "will delight +to do him honor." + +The question naturally arises, to what are we to ascribe the formation +of such a character? There must have been causes for such effects. +Whence came his temperance, his self-denial, his incorruptible +integrity, his fidelity in every duty, his love for mankind, his +indefatigable efforts for the good of others, and his superiority to +those things which the natural heart most craves? Mr. Calhoun's +childhood was spent among the glorious works of nature, and was +sheltered from the temptations which abound in promiscuous society. He +was the son of pious parents, and by them he was taught the Bible, and +from that source undoubtedly his native gifts were perfected. I have +understood that from early life he was an advocate for the doctrines +of the Bible, as understood by orthodox Christians. I have been told +by relatives of his who were on the most intimate terms with him, that +for some time before his death his mind had seemed to be much occupied +with religious subjects, and that he too often expressed confidence in +the providence of God to leave any doubt as to his trust in Him. An +eminent clergyman, now deceased, said in conversation with another, +that he had often conversed with Mr. Calhoun on the subject of +religion, and had no doubt as to his piety. I have remarked his +reverential air in church, and have known him apparently much +disturbed by any inattention in others. He never united with any +church, and it is my opinion, formed not without some reason, that he +was prevented, not by disregard to any Christian ordinances, but from +personal and conscientious scruples with respect to his +qualifications. He was a man who weighed every thing with mathematical +precision. + +Although open as day on topics of general interest, he was reserved in +respect to himself. I do not recollect ever to have heard him speak +egotistically, for his mind seemed always engrossed by some great +thought, and he appears, even at the close of life, to lose all +personal solicitudes in his anxiety for his country. In one of his +last letters he says, "But I must close. This may be my last +communication to you. My end is probably near, perhaps very near. +Before I reach it, I have but one serious wish to gratify--it is to +see my country quieted under some arrangement (alas, I know not what!) +that will be satisfactory to all and safe to the south." His country's +peace, and quietness, and safety, he did not see; he perished in the +storm; and there are many who knew and loved him who cherish the hope +that he is removed to a higher sphere of action--that his noble spirit +has meekly entered into the presence of its author, and that in the +starry courts above he will receive an inheritance "incorruptible, +undefiled, and that fadeth not away." + +When I saw the elaborate preparations which were made here in +Charleston for his funeral, knowing his simple tastes and habits, and +his benevolence, I was at first pained, and I thought he would not +have sanctioned so much display. I feared too that solemnity would be +lost in pageantry. But it was not so. There was nothing to jar upon +the feelings of the most sensitive. All was in perfect and mournful +harmony. Silently and reverently his sorrowing countrymen bore his +remains from the steamer where they had reposed, under a canopy +wearing its thirty stars, and when the hearse, so funereal with +mournful drapery and sable plumes, entered the grounds of the citadel, +deep silence brooded over the vast multitude; noiselessly were heads +uncovered, banners dropped--not a sound but that of the tramp of +horses was heard; statue-like was that phalanx, with every eye +uplifted, to the sacred sarcophagus. If there was too much of show, it +was redeemed by the spirit that prompted it: the symbols, significant +and expressive, as they were, faintly shadowed forth the deep and +universal grief; the mournful pageantry, the tolling bell, the muffled +drum, the closed and shrouded stores and houses, gave external signs +of wo, but more impressive and affecting was the peaceful sadness +which brooded over the metropolis while it awaited the relics of the +patriot, and the deep silence which pervaded the vast procession that +followed to the City Hall, the subdued bearing of the crowd who +resorted thither, and the solemnity expressed on every face--for these +told that the great heart of the city and commonwealth wept in hushed +and sincere sorrow over "the mighty fallen in the midst of the +battle." + +One day and night the illustrious dead reposed in state in the draped +and darkened Hall. An entrance was formed by the arching palmetto, +that classic tree, under whose branches Dudon the crusader was placed, +when slain in Palestine. On that tree--"altissima palma"--his comrades +placed his trophies. With a spirit as sad as that of the crusaders +when under the verdant foliage of the palm they mourned the noble +Dudon, did those who loved our champion pass beneath that arch, dark +with funereal gloom. The sarcophagus was within a magnificent +catafalque; the canopy rested on Corinthian columns; the bier was +apparently supported by six urns, while three pearl-colored eagles +surmounted the canopy, holding in their beaks the swinging crape. +Invisible lamps cast moonlight beams over the radiated upper surface +of the canopy. Through the day numbers resorted to this hallowed spot, +and at night vigils were held where the dead reposed. When morning +came the chosen guards carried the remains of the great leader to the +church. The funeral car was not allowed to bear these sacred remains +to the tomb, but they were borne by sons of the state, with uncovered +heads. Well might those who saw all these things feel that Carolina +would never be wanting to herself. The body was placed upon the bier, +surrounded by significant offerings, pure flowers and laurel-wreaths. +A velvet pall, revealing in silver lines the arms of the state, the +palmetto, covered the sarcophagus. Above it was a coronet woven of +laurel-leaves, like that which crowned Tasso. Then, in that church, +where columns, arches, and galleries were shrouded in the drapery of +wo, the funeral rites were performed--the mighty dead was placed in +his narrow tomb. + +Peerless statesman, illustrious counsellor, devoted patriot, generous +friend, indulgent husband and father, thy humble, noble heart is still +in death; thy life was yielded up at the post of duty; thou hast +perished like a sentinel on guard, a watchman in his tower. "Thou wast +slain in thy high places." Clouds gathered thick and fast about thy +country's horizon, and even thy eagle eye failed in its mournful gaze +to penetrate the gloom which hides its future from mortal eye. Thy +work is finished--peacefully rest with thine own! Thy memory is +enshrined in the hearts of those for whom thy heart ceased its +beating. Thy grave is with us-- + + "Yet spirit immortal, the tomb cannot bind thee, + For like thine own eagle that soared to the sun, + Thou springest from bondage, and leavest behind thee + A name which before thee few mortals have won." + +In reviewing the character of Mr. Calhoun, we find a rare combination +of mental and moral qualities--a union of contrasts. He had genius +with common sense, the power of generalization with the habit of +abstraction, rapidity of thought with application and industry. His +mind was suggestive and logical, imaginative and practical. His noble +ideal was embodied in his daily life. He was at once discursive and +profound; he could soar like the eagle, or hover on unwearied wings +around a minute circle. He meekly bore his lofty endowments; his +childlike simplicity imparted a charm to his transcendent intellect; +he united dignity with humility, sincerity with courtesy, decision +with gentleness, stern inflexibility with winning urbanity, and keen +sensibility with perfect self-command. He was indulgent to others, +denying to himself; he was energetic in health, and patient in +sickness; he combined strict temperance with social habits; he was +reserved in communicating his personal feelings, but his heart was +open on subjects of general interest; he prized the regard of his +fellow-beings, but was superior to worldly pomps and flatteries; he +honored his peers, but was not swayed by their opinions. Equal to the +greatest, he did not despise the least of men. He did not neglect one +duty to perform another. In the Senate he was altogether a senator, in +private and domestic life he was as though he had never entered the +halls of the nation, and had never borne an illustrious part in the +councils of his country. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[4] _Vide_ Macaulay's article on Warren Hastings, in the Edinburgh Review. + + + + +STYLES OF PHILOSOPHIES. + +WRITTEN FOR THE INTERNATIONAL MONTHLY MAGAZINE + +BY REV. J. R. MORELL, + +Translator of Fourier "On the Passions," &c. + + +The history of literatures, like that of nations, has presented its +varieties as well as its curiosities, and both alike furnish similar +though not identical features. + +1st. Families and clans are traceable equally in each development, and +the movements both of literatures and races have displayed a +corresponding monotony and eccentricity, convergence and divergence, +in proportion as they have progressed along the beaten track of +opinion or performed outpost duty as the corps of guides. + +2d. Not only is this family likeness obvious in the general +characteristics of ethnography and authorship, but the laws of lineage +and the hereditary transmission of qualities are as strongly marked in +one case as in the other. Letters as well as races have their +hereditary sceptres and coronets; but whereas, in the latter case the +fleshly heir of the great of other days may chance to be unworthy of +his sires, the spiritual sonship of the patrician writer is +stereotyped upon each line and lineament of his nature. + +3d. Nor is the connection between words and peoples confined to a law +of analogy running through them both, but they have reacted upon and +moulded each other in a manner curious to relate, and races and +letters have mutually made and unmade each other. + +4th. The Indo-Germanic people have left monuments of their sinewy +energy in the psycho-physical characteristics of affiliated races and +tongues, and individual family likenesses may be readily traced +between groups of thinkers and dreamers on the banks of the Ganges, in +the Academy, and at Weimar. Again the mystical semitic world, groaning +beneath the weight of an overwrought ideal, and lacking the ballast of +science and patient thought, has ever and anon given birth to +prodigies and monsters of cabalistic or Gnostic extravagance. + +5th. To follow the currents of peoples and tongues, the great +subdivisions of the Teutonic and Romance tribes and literatures, their +virtues and vices have stamped its present physical and moral +character on the face of modern Europe. The Teutonic, representing +strength and depth in word and work, has been the stronghold of +emancipation in life and thought, yet tinctured with the savageness +and chaos of unpolished and disordered nature. The Romance, fettered +by the rhythm of Latinity, has yet possessed that voluptuous wealth of +the ideal and that graceful tracery of thought and wit which have been +denied to the other. The antagonism of the Catholic and Protestant +mind is the result of this contrast, which has, moreover, been +pictured in the tertian fevers of French revolution and in the +mystical skepticism of modern Germany. + +As certain races, so also certain families of writers, have in thought +transcended the bounds of the existing and actual, and thrown out from +their brain an ideal past, present, or future, beyond the horizon, and +free from the flaws of their experience. Thus, whilst the followers of +Tao-tse were in China seeking for the drug of immortality, the Greek +and Roman poets and historians were dreaming of a golden age that cast +its radiance over the past, or of that fabled Atlantis and those sweet +Islands of the Blest in the far west--dreams and fables that have been +somewhat justified by modern discovery. Again sacred voices mingled +with these aspirations, and the semitic bards and seers pronounced in +their oracles an Eden for the past and a millenium for the future of +man. + +Nor were these views confined to the old world, for the followers of +Columbus found, among the cannibals of the gulf, the traditions of a +fountain of eternal youth, and later travellers were regaled with +gorgeous stories of El Dorado and his empire--traditions and stories +that seemed to point, however obscurely, to the Sitzbath and +Californian riches. + +There has likewise been a class of writers broad-cast through the +nations who have sought to mend the present and make the future by +holding the mirror to contemporaneous deformity, or painting the +perspective of an earthly elysium with the rainbow tints of hope. +Negatively or positively, directly or indirectly, these men had, in +common, faith in the regeneration of humanity. Utopias are the +familiar homes of such minds, either because they have a cast in their +eyes, or because they are more clairvoyants than the vulgar herd. In +the spring-time of our race, a Plato reflected on the poetical +extravagancies of his day, and refracted the rays of golden fancy in +the enchanted land of his Republic. The Hebrew seers in like manner, +whilst they apply no measured castigations to the money-changers who +converted the temple of God into a den of thieves, love to soar in +sublimest rhapsody above the valley of dry bones and the shadow of +death cast around them, and to indulge in visions of a vernal future, +when earth should smile in the sunshine of infinite love, when the +wolf should dwell with the lamb and the leopard lie down with the kid, +and a little child should lead them. Affiliated members of this +extensive and venerable company of cynics and seers have ever and anon +in the current of ages lifted a frowning brow above the troubled +waters round about them, and with the same breath that swept like a +tempest over the wintry waste, their cradle and their home, have given +utterance to strains of harmony that told of summer skies to come. +Tracing the tides of the children of men in their eccentric ebbings +and floodings, a little crew of rovers may be ever seen ploughing the +world of waters, true to their principle of keeping aloof from the +gulf-stream. Europe has been the chief nursery of these rovers, whose +voices, though few and far between, have risen above the storms of +evil passions howling about them, and have echoed through the ages. +Thus a Rabelais could laugh the knell of monkery, and with his stentor +voice, rich booming from the classic world of Nature, that had slept +during the dark ages, could crack the babel of spiritual usurpation, +and restore the balance of power between the seen and the unseen. A +Cervantes in like manner could, in the fulness of time, inflict +death-wounds with a stroke of his pen on a superannuated chivalry, and +thus, by negatively giving a _coup de grace_ to the past, pave the way +for an age of prose. Later in the day a Swift appears, in the heart of +a rotten age, himself infected with the leprosy, yet he smites the +idols of his time, of Stuart progeny, Lust and Lucre, and converts his +fables into a house of correction for a nation's vices. The Tale of a +Tub contains a stream of lustral water, and Gulliver is no mean adept +at the photographic art. The Dean hath taught us how the "positive" +fictions of a madman's brain may indirectly be a school to the nations +at all times and in all seasons. + +Poesy has mixed its plaintive strains in the lamentations and oracles +of insane or inspired reformers, and the aberration or illumination of +a kindred spirit breaks forth in the wizard words of a prophet or a +bard. Some favored scions of the royal priesthood and chosen +generation of whom we speak seem to mingle these various and +heterogeneous ingredients, the cynic's lash with the seer's lamp, +mathematical squares and compasses with the conjurations of the +diviner. Their proportions, both harmonious and deformed, bespeak +their consanguinity with an extensive family, whose branches are +scattered through broad lands, and are not confined to a single +variety of the human race, though the quality and quantity of their +_esprit de corps_ may be especially predicated of the Caucasian race. + +There are sovereign natures that bespeak the choice blood of rival and +remote races mingling in their veins, and which may claim kinsmanship +in opposite and conflicting clans of teachers. We have Indo-Germanic +minds, whose massive substance is relieved by the arabesque of the +Semitic style of thought, and which, though stamped with the +characteristic mould of their parentage, fling aside much of its +speciality, and stand forth as magnates in the universal aristocracy +of humanity. + +An example of a rich nature cast in this mould has been presented of +late years in France, in the person of Charles Fourier. Though +indelibly French, he is still more human, and though Teutonic elements +enter largely as component parts of his frame, and the Romance genius +has cast its sunshine tints over his canvas, yet has he bravely shaken +off the chains of generic and specific modes of thought and sight, and +the priestly hieroglyphs and geometry of Egypt are seen to blend with +Persian dualism and the prophetic wand of Hebrew seers in his pages. +Nay, the mantle of Mohammed might seem to have fallen on his capacious +shoulders, to judge from the strangely glorious flights of his fancy, +and the tangible solids of his elysium. Thus the nations would appear +to have converged towards and centred in this brain, and to have +dropped in their pearls or their paste, as the case might be. +Exaggerating the mathematical precision of French thought, it is yet +tempered in a manner somewhat uncommon, by the most wholesale +picture-writing on which man ever yet ventured. The flaming +double-edged critic's sword is sometimes changed in his hands, after a +manner wonderful to relate, into an Esculapian staff, which farther +suffers a frequent conversion into Mercurian caduceus and Bacchanile +Thyrsus, and at another time assumes the proportions of Midas's wand. +Never was such a many-faced Janus seen in the flesh as this man, who +exceeds Proteus and Hindoo avatars in multiplicity combined with +unity. + +The bitter laugh still curls our lips, elicited by his merciless +satire, when the tears of pity come coursing down our cheeks, as he +touches with magic finger the most godlike fibres of the soul. +Luxuriance, bordering on levity, follows fast a sense of justice and +of truth, that might have put a Brutus and an Aristides to the blush. +National contrasts, harmonies, and deformities, all seem reflected in +this representative man. + +Yet it would be a very partial view that represented Fourier as +nothing better than an expletive particle added to the genealogical +list of idea-mongers, or a mosaic of valuable relics in earth's +cabinet of curiosities. Though his pen inflicts wounds both broad and +deep, yet a balm is ever at hand. Not satisfied with performing +amputations for the good of the body corporate, he is a professor of +the healing art, and affects to have discovered an elixir that shall +wipe away all tears, by causing pain and sorrow to flee away. I do not +profess to judge of the merits of the case, but one feature +distinguishes Fourier from critics, reformers, and prophets, who are +gathered to their fathers. He is a _scientific_ explorer, and the +plans that he has designed for the future structure of humanity, from +the high order of architecture and mechanics which they exhibit, +discriminate him from the vulgar herd as an originator, and place him +in the category either of eminent scientific adventurers or inventors. +Daring and caution shake hands at every page, and seem exhausted by +his pen. The Archimedian lever found a resting-place in his brain, and +sundry of his thoughts seem not inapt to upheave the world. + +If Laplace deserves credit as the creator of a Mechanique Celeste, +Fourier has equal claims to gratitude as the first and only propounder +of a rigidly scientific system of mental mechanics. Though Pythagoras +might smile complacently at his harmonies and sacred numbers, and +Plato clap his hands on seeing so worthy a disciple of his Republic, +yet the fiery Frenchman is but too apt to run counter to the past, and +give a slap in the face to the wisdom of the fore-world. Though hope +and faith ever brighten his pages, we could wish at times for a larger +infusion of charity, to neutralize the gall in which his pen was +dipped. Yet he nobly vindicates his claim as a reformer by the lash he +applies with no measured hand to injustice, falseness, and hypocrisy, +under whatever guise they may appear. + + + + +REMINISCENCES OF PARIS, FROM 1817 TO 1848. + + +On the original publication of this work, in German, at Berlin, we +gave in the _International_ some account of it; and we avail ourselves +of the notice in the _Athenaeum_ of an English translation of it which +has just appeared in London, to give some of its best passages. In the +capital of a nation which, above all others, has been wont to project +its gravest interests into the circles of fashion and gayety, the +period included between 1817 and 1848 must have been rich indeed in +matter for observation of all kinds, by the foreigner admitted to its +saloons. With Waterloo at one end of the line, and the overthrow of +Louis Philippe at the other, what a world of change lies +between!--what unexpected turns of fortune, each throwing some new +tint on the chameleon-play of social existence! We may not expect a +lady's eye to see more than its outward features. But these alone, in +such a scene and period, are themselves enough to give some permanent +historical value, as well as a present attraction to the survey, if +only taken with common feminine intelligence. + +It is true that the retrospect is not actually so rich as the above +dates would imply.--Connected notices of what might be seen in +Parisian circles do not extend beyond the first seven years of the +period in question. Afterwards, there is nearly a total hiatus, except +in the two departments of music and painting--anecdotes of which are +continued almost to the close of the Orleans dynasty. Of the persons +and events which otherwise filled the scene from 1828 downwards, the +_Reminiscences_ are wholly silent, or only introduce one or two +figures by anticipation while dwelling on the period of the +Restoration. The volume ends, indeed, with a story, in which some of +the very latest exhibitions of somnambulism serve to introduce a +Spanish romance, founded, it may be, on a basis of fact, but evidently +dressed up for effect by one not well enough acquainted with the Spain +of this century to give to the composition a probable air. But here +the display in the Parisian saloon is merely an occasional overture to +the melo-drama that follows; and we learn next to nothing of the new +faces and new fashions which the writer may have seen during the +second half of the term included in her title. What is now published, +therefore, can only be taken as a fragment--destined, perhaps, to be +further completed at some future time. + +The work appears anonymously; and it might be uncourteous to pry into +the condition of the writer, beyond what it has pleased herself to +reveal. This is to the effect that she came to Paris, unmarried, and +hardly out of her teens, from some part of Germany, in the second year +of the Restoration, and, at first, was chiefly conversant with the +circles of the _haute finance_. We afterwards hear of her marriage, of +journeyings and absences, and see her in contact with various circles, +but, above all, with painters and musicians; intimate also with +Henriette, the daughter of the celebrated Jewish philosopher, +Mendelssohn. She left Paris, she further says, before the explosion of +1848. More of her personal history she does not tell--and we shall not +take the liberty of guessing. + +Her notes are penned without any attempt at order; and make no +pretence to dive far beneath the surface of what she saw in the world. +They contain such light, lady-like reflections as one may fancy taken +down without effort from the kaleidoscope of Paris life, in its balls, +_soirees_, and promenades; and such anecdotes of notable things and +persons as were current in ordinary company--many of which are well +known, having been already reported by others. Here and there a +graphic trait, or a remark above the level of commonplace, gives token +of more lively intelligence, but the general character of the +reminiscence is merely gossipping--just on the ordinary level of such +observations and ideas as prevail in the common talk of the saloons. +It is only when she touches on the fine arts, especially on music, +that the lady displays decidedly clever notions of her own. Gleanings +of this easy kind, from any lesser field than Paris, might hardly have +been worth preserving; here, the abundance of matter is so great, that +even the most careless hand returns from that strange harvest with +some gatherings of value. + +Among these we shall dip here and there, without attempting more order +in selection than the author herself has observed in arranging her +notes. Each may be read by and for itself without any disadvantage +whatever. + +In no respect, perhaps, does the Paris of to-day differ more from that +of thirty years since than in the article of domestic comfort. After +praising Madame Thuret, one of the financial _lionnes_ of the +Restoration, for her attention to neatness, the lady adds:-- + + In Paris generally there was a marked contrast to this; as + well as to the Parisian cleanliness of present times. In + those days, even the dwellings of people of competent means, + there was not a trace of comfort. I have a lively + recollection of what happened when one of the younger + partners of M. Thuret gave a ball soon after his marriage. + Although the youth was rich, and had married a wealthy young + lady, the young couple, according to the Parisian custom of + the time, lived with their parents; who, rich as they were, + desiring to be richer still, had let out their splendid + hotel up to the fourth story. In this fourth story the whole + family lived together. After the Parisian finery, I was not + less struck with the Parisian filth of those days; and, in + truth, I should vainly try to paint my amazement on finding + myself compelled, while ascending the staircase, which was + actually plastered with dirt, to hold up my dress as high as + possible in order to appear tolerably clean in the + ball-room. + +But if modern Paris has improved in this respect, it has, on the other +hand, we are told, lost far more in the chapter of manners. The +generation born during the first Revolution still preserved some of +the older style of social bearing; but, in the present descendants, we +may now vainly seek for any of the graces that once gave to France her +European credit for politeness. + +The French, after lording it over the capitals of Europe for so many +years, were impatient to the last degree of the retribution which the +allied armies brought to their own doors in 1816. Even a returning +_emigre_ could not restrain his rage on finding that-- + + foreigners held the fortresses, and that he had to submit + his passport for a _vise_ to Prussian, Russian, or English + authorities; and he lost all command of himself at the idea + of the prostration of the _grande gloire Francaise_.... The + same wrath at the occupation of France by foreign troops--an + occupation which lasted for hardly three years--whereas the + French had ravaged Germany for full twenty, from the siege + of Mentz to the battle of Leipsic, was then felt in Paris by + all classes. Every little theatre on the Boulevards played + some piece referring to it in all the _refrains_ urging the + foreigners to be off at once; all the print-shops were full + of caricatures of the English and Russians. The German + soldiers, by-the-by, were, without exception, called + Prussians. At that time there was less hatred expressed + towards the Russians; in the theatres even the people would + point with curiosity to Lostopchin, the author of the + conflagration at Moscow. The hatred of the Russians grew + much more decided under Nicholas. Alexander, on the + contrary, was personally popular. Strictly speaking, the + Prussians were detested; while the English, on the contrary, + served as a perpetual butt for ridicule and wit. Their + language, gestures, dress, afforded a complete series of + dramas and caricatures. + +This soreness of France under a very light application of her own +Continental system, brings to mind an anecdote from the papers of the +time, which is worth preserving:-- + + When the Prussian army entered Paris, one of its officers + made particular interest to be quartered in a certain hotel + in the Faubourg St Germain, the residence of a widow lady of + rank. On taking possession of his billet, the Colonel at + once haughtily refused the apartments offered him; and, + after a survey of the premises, insisted on having the best + suite on the first floor, then occupied by the lady of the + house herself. She protested and entreated in vain--the + Colonel was harsh and peremptory,--the lady had to abandon + her sitting-room, boudoir, and bed-room, and content herself + with the chambers intended for the officer. From these, + however, she was as rudely dislodged on the next day, the + Colonel demanding them for his orderly, and the lady had at + last to creep into a servant's garret. This was not all. On + first taking possession of his rooms the officer had + summoned the _maitre d'hotel_, and commanded a rich dinner + of twelve covers for the entertainment of a party of his + comrades. They came--the cellar had to yield its choicest + wines; the house was filled with bacchanalian uproar. The + orgy was repeated both on the next day and on the next + following. On the morning afterwards the officer presented + himself before the lady of the house. "You are perhaps + somewhat annoyed by my proceedings in your hotel?" + "Certainly," was the reply, "I think I have cause to + complain of the manner in which the law of the strongest has + been used here, in defiance of the commonest regard due to + my sex and age. I have been roughly expelled from every + habitable room in my own house, and thrust into a garret; my + servants have been maltreated; with my plate and provisions + and the best of my cellar, you have forced them to wait on + the riotous feasting of your comrades. I have appealed to + your generosity, to your courtesy, but in vain. I protest + against such conduct. It is unworthy of a soldier." "Madam," + replied the Prussian, "what you say is perfectly true. Such + conduct is brutal and unbecoming. I have the honor to inform + you that what you have justly complained of for the last + three days is but a faint copy of the manner in which your + son daily behaved himself in my mother's house in Berlin + _for more than six months_ after the Battle of Jena. From me + you shall have no further annoyance. I shall now retire to + an inn. The hotel is entirely at your own disposal." The + lady blushed, and was silent. + +We can hardly choose amiss among the portrait sketches. Here is the +Princess of Chimay, once celebrated as the fair Spanish Cabarus--or +Madame Tallien of the "18th Brumaire." After giving up a name which +she had no legal right to bear, she married the Count Caraman before +he succeeded to a princely title. In 1818, this heroine-- + + was some forty years old. Her age was partly open to + positive proof, as in '94 she was known to have just reached + her twentieth year--it was partly shown by a fulness of + person, rather tending to corpulence, which betrayed the + retreat of her younger bloom; but still you would rarely + find another beauty so well preserved, or a general + appearance equally imposing. Tall, full, gorgeous, she + reminded you of the historical beauties of antiquity. Such a + figure you might imagine as an Ariadne, Dido, or Cleopatra. + With a perfect bust, arms, and shoulders; white as an + animated statue, regular features, beaming eyes, pearly + teeth, hair raven black--hearing, speech, motion, still + ravishingly perfect. Her costume, too, had a certain Grecian + character. + +Among the painters, Gerard was the lady's chosen intimate. When she +first knew him, he had already been long famous and rich; but he seems +to have taken pleasure in recalling the struggles of his early career. +It was, in many respects, a strange one:-- + + His father was a Frenchman, who belonged to the domestic + establishment of the Cardinal de Bernis, then ambassador at + Rome. His mother, whose name was Tortoni, was the daughter + of a plain Roman citizen. In 1782, Gerard's parents, with + their three boys, of whom Francois, the eldest, was now + twelve, returned to France, where the father died in 1789. A + year afterwards the widow went back with her children to her + own country, but had to return to France once more, for the + preservation of a small income important in her narrow + circumstances. On this occasion, besides her sons, she came + back with her little brother Tortoni and his infant sister, + some years younger than her eldest son Francois. Thus there + was in the house an aunt younger than her nephew. + +The family found it hard enough to live at all in Paris: and when +Francois's great talent for drawing revealed itself, the household +means were further pinched to provide him with paper and pencils. +Under all obstacles, however, his powers soon grew evident: he got at +last an introduction to David, and became his pupil:-- + + Gerard was created the perfect opposite, both physically and + morally, of David. David was tall, with distorted features, + rough, furious, cruel. Gerard was small, with a pleasing, + regular physiognomy, delicate, soft, generous.... He would + often tell how he was forced in those days (during the reign + of terror) to deceive his master David, in order to preserve + his own life. David, who in his zeal for reforming the world + had become one of the most active members of the Committee + of Safety, was incessantly busied in providing that bloody + tribunal with familiars. Every one belonging to him, who + desired his own preservation, was forced either to adopt + republicanism in David's sense, or to evade it by some kind + of deception. Gerard, although in perfect health, escaped + the honor designed him by feigning sickness; and went about + in public on crutches, which, however, he threw down the + instant he knew himself safe from observation. Gerard's + mother had died in 1792. Her brother, the painter's uncle, + now a grown youth, took up the queer fancy of showing the + Parisians the excellent manner in which the Romans are + skilled in making confectioner's ices. The success of the + _Cafe Tortoni_, on the _Boulevard des Italiens_, has now + been for some fifty years known to all Europe. One of the + children (Gerard) was dead, the youngest provided for + elsewhere; and thus, after his mother's death, the young + painter of two-and-twenty was left alone with his aunt, + Mlle. Tortoni, who was but two years his junior. She became + his wife. When relating the above, she would add, with + _naivete_, "At that time my nephew was in a manner forced to + marry me, unless he chose to turn me out into the street. We + were poor, but contented. Gerard's talent, as yet little + known, and destitute of suitable means for its exercise, + supported us, however, barely; and I continued to sew, darn, + cook, carry water, and cut wood for our little household, as + I had been wont to do before, when assisting his mother, my + sister. In those days there was no marrying in the church, + no priest, no banns. A few days after the death of my + sister, we appeared in our poor work-a-day clothes, before + the _maire_. He joined our hands, and then we became a + couple." + +Some months were passed in this obscure poverty, until calmer times +prevailed in Paris. Isabey had somehow become aware of the young +painter's talent, and now urged him to exhibit a picture at the first +Exhibition. Gerard produced the sketch of his _Belisaire_;[5] but +declared he had no means to paint it on a grand scale. Isabey hereupon +assisted him; and, after the picture was finished and exhibited with +success, procured him a purchaser, at the price of 100 Louis d'or. + + "On the receipt of this sum," Madame Gerard went on, "we + were nearly losing our wits for joy. We were ravished, like + mere children, by the glitter of the shining gold, which we + kept again and again rolling through our fingers. We, who + until now could not even afford to buy a common candlestick, + so that we had to cut a hole in our poor wooden table to + stick the rushlight in,--we now had a hundred louis!" By + degrees Gerard advanced to a high European name; but those + only who knew him personally could have any idea of his + amiable, refined nature, of his pleasant conversation, of + the various acquirements and highly intellectual + peculiarities of this eminent man, who took up with equal + clearness many of the most dissimilar sciences. You forgot + time with him, or gladly gave him up the whole night, as he + seldom made his appearance in company at his own house + before ten. + +Before leaving the grim figure of the old Revolution for more modern +sketches, we must correct the lady's statement of its victims, in +which she quite exceeds the utmost latitude of feminine gossip. "_Two +millions of heads_" she assigns as the food of the devouring +guillotine--a number transcendent, even for lady rhetoric. It is some +_five hundred_ times more than the largest estimate of those even who +have done their best to aggravate the tale of its horrors. The +Convention, when grown Anti-Jacobin, and anxious, of course, to +justify its destruction of Robespierre and his fellows, it published +lists of the sufferers, could not bring the number of the guillotined +up to a full _two_ thousand. Montgaillard, who complains that the +returns were incomplete, may be taken as the author of the most +extreme calculation on this subject: he does not get beyond a total of +_four_ thousand victims, including those who perished by _fusillades_ +and _noyades_. Even an anonymous lady cannot be suffered to pass with +such a terrific exaggeration unquestioned. In 1823, she was present at +an opening of the Chambers by "Louis the Desired," now grown fatter, +it seems, than was desirable for such an operation. Indeed-- + + he could no longer walk; on this account the session was + held in the Louvre; and the manner in which he suddenly + pushed out on his low rolling chair, from beneath a curtain, + which was quickly drawn back, as it is done on the stage, + and as rapidly closed again, had an effect at once painful + and ludicrous. Both these feelings were increased by the + shrill piping treble which came squeaking forth from this + unlucky corpulent body.... His brother, the Comte d'Artois, + afterwards Charles the Tenth, was tall and thin, and had + retained to his advanced age that habit of shuffling about + with his legs, which teachers and governors had vainly tried + to cure him of while young. He could not keep his body still + for a single instant. His protruded head, his mouth always + open, would of themselves have seemed to indicate mere + stupidity rather than cunning, had not this impression been + contradicted, partly by the vivacity of his eyes, and partly + by his too notorious habit of intriguing. This idiotic air + of poking forward the head, with the mouth always open--but + aggravated by quite lifeless and almost totally closed + eyes--was apparent in a still higher degree in his eldest + son, the Duke of Angouleme. In the face of his wife there + were still visible some traces, if not of a former beauty, + at least of something characteristic and noble. In spite of + her withered, lean figure, her gait was firm and majestic; + but the terrorists of the Revolution had heaped misery of + every kind in double and three-fold measure on this unhappy + daughter of Louis the Sixteenth, and their cannibal severity + had broken her heart for ever.... The Duchess of Berri, a + Neapolitan princess, wife of the youngest son of the Count + d'Artois, was young, but had been ill-treated by nature in + her outward appearance. She was short, thin, with hair + blonde almost to whiteness, and a kind of reddish fairness + of complexion. In her irregular features, in her eyes which + all but squinted, no kind of expression could be + detected--not even that of frivolity, which she was accused + of.... To both these ladies the rigorously-prescribed + court-dress, as worn in open day, without candlelight, was + very unbecoming. It consisted of a short white satin dress, + called _jupe_, which means a dress without a train; the + front breadth richly embroidered with gold, with a cut-out + body, and short sleeves, leaving the neck and arms + bare,--the effect of which was absolutely pitiable on the + superannuated, yellow, and withered Duchess of Angouleme. + Around the waist a golden ceinture held up a colored velvet + skirt, with an enormous train, but no body. In front, this + kind of outer dress, called _manteau de cour_, was open, and + trimmed all round with broad lace. The head was decorated, + or rather disfigured, by a thick upright plume of tall white + ostrich feathers, to which were attached behind two long + ends of blonde lace, called _barbes_, which hung down the + back. On the forehead a closely-fitting jewelled diadem was + worn, and diamond ornaments on the neck and arms, according + to the usual fashion. + +From such court scarecrows let us turn to keep a last corner for a +figure of more modern and genial appearance--though this, too, was +saddening, and is now, like the rest, grown a mere shadow. The lady +saw much of the musician Chopin after 1832, and speaks of him with +warm affection, and with a fine feeling of his genius:-- + + He was a delicate, graceful figure, in the highest degree + attractive--the whole man a mere breath--rather a spiritual + than a bodily substance,--all harmony, like his playing. His + way of speaking, too, was like the character of his + art--soft, fluctuating, murmuring. The son of a French + father and of a Polish mother, in him the Romance and + Sclavonic dialects were combined, as it were, in one perfect + harmony. He seemed, indeed, hardly to touch the piano; you + might have fancied he would do quite as well without as with + the instrument: you thought no more of the mechanism,--but + listened to flute-like murmurs, and dreamed of hearing + AEolian harps stirred by the ethereal breathings of the wind; + and with all this--in his whole wide sphere of talents given + to him alone--always obliging, modest, unexacting! He was no + pianoforte player of the modern sort: he had fashioned his + art quite alone in his own way, and it was something + indescribable. In private rooms as well as in concerts, he + would steal quietly, unaffectedly, to the piano; was content + with any kind of seat; showed at once, by his simple dress + and natural demeanor, that he abhorred every kind of grimace + and quackery; and began, without any prelude, his + performance. How feeling it was--how full of soul!... When I + first knew him, though far from strong, he still enjoyed + good health; he was very gay, even satirical, but always + with moderation and good taste. He possessed an + inconceivable comic gift of mimicry, and in private circles + of friends he diffused the utmost cheerfulness both by his + genius and his good spirits.... Halle has now the best + tradition of his manner. + +We pause, not for want of matter, but for want of room. Besides its +lively sketches, the book contains some materials of a tragic +interest--to which we may return. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[5] It is now, or was not long since, at Munich, in the Leuchtenburg +Gallery. + + + + +THE LAST JOSEPH IN EGYPT. + + +A writer in the July number of _Bentley's Miscellany_ describes some +official experiences in Egypt during the reign of Mehemet Ali, and +among various curious incidents has the following of Boghos Bey, the +prime minister of the Pacha, who then played a no inconsiderable part +on the stage of European diplomacy, more particularly as relating to +the, at that period, all-engrossing "Eastern Question." + +"By birth an Armenian, in early life Boghos Bey was dragoman or +interpreter to Mr. Wherry, then English consul at Smyrna; but he gave +up that appointment, to accompany, in a similar capacity, the Turkish +army, which, during the occupation of Egypt by the French, was sent to +co-operate at Alexandria with Sir Ralph Abercrombie's British force. +At the close of the war, on the expulsion of the French, he remained +in Egypt, where he attached himself to the rising fortunes of Mehemet +Ali, with whom he successively occupied the post of interpreter, +secretary, and finally that of prime minister, when his master--from +the Albanian adventurer--became the self-elected successor of the +Pharaohs and Ptolomies. + +"On one occasion, Boghos having got into disgrace, Mehemet Ali ordered +his prime minister to be placed in a sack and thrown into the Nile. It +was supposed that this cruel sentence had been duly carried into +effect. However, the British consul in Egypt at that time, managed to +get something else smuggled into the sack, whilst he smuggled old +Boghos into his own residence, where the latter long remained +concealed, until, on one occasion, the financial accounts got so +entangled, that Mehemet Ali expressed to the British consul his regret +that Boghos Bey was no longer there to unravel the complicated web of +difficulties in which he found himself entangled: whereupon old Boghos +was produced, pardoned, reinstated in his office, acquired more +influence than ever, and was, at the time referred to, the very +'Joseph' of the land." + + + + +THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA: BY THE AUTHOR OF "SAM SLICK." + + +Mr. Justice Haliburton obtained some notoriety and a certain degree of +popularity by his broad caricatures of common life in New England. +These books did not display very eminent ability even for the rather +low and mean field in which the author found congenial occupation, but +the old jokes transplanted into our republican soil had a seeming +freshness in the eyes of buyers of cheap books, and they were +profitable to paper-makers and printers, until the patience of the +public could tolerate no more of their monotonous vulgarity. Judge +Haliburton has since essayed a more serious vein, and being wholly +without originality, has fallen into the old track of depreciation, +sneering, and vituperation, in the expectation that any form of attack +upon the people of the United States would sell, at least in England. +The unfortunate gentleman was mistaken, as the following very kind +reviewal of his book, which we transfer to _The International_ from +_The Athenaeum_ of July 26, will show. + + "THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. _By the Author of 'Sam Slick,' &c._ + This is a vulgar and violent political pamphlet, which will + fill no small part of the admirers of 'Sam Slick' with alarm + and astonishment. The 'English in America' are in these two + volumes set forth principally as a parcel of uncouth, + disingenuous, and repulsive Puritans, who emigrated to + America in the early part of the seventeenth century for the + sake of an easier indulgence in disloyalty and schism. + Confining himself almost wholly to the events which took + place in the colony of Massachusetts, Judge Haliburton has + thought it worth while to write a book, half declamation and + half treatise, against Democracy and Dissent,--which seem to + him to be the two giant evils that oppress mankind. It is no + part of our function to discuss the abstract merits of + either of these questions; but it is perfectly within our + province to point out the errors and faults of those writers + who imagine that they can serve a party purpose by making a + convenient and derogatory use of literature. + + "In the first place, then, we say that the volumes before us + are essentially unfair. The 'English in America' have not + really and truly been _such_ English as are there + described,--nor has their career been such as is there + narrated,--nor generally are the actual facts of the case + logically and impartially stated in these volumes. Judge + Haliburton colors and distorts almost every event and + circumstance to which he refers; and there is a coarseness + and rancor in the manner in which he speaks of nearly all + persons and parties who differ from him in opinion, which + has surprised and shocked us. There was no occasion whatever + for all this vehemence. In the first place, the facts + connected with the early history of the British settlements + in America are too well known to permit any attempt at + systematic and unscrupulous disparagement of the early + Puritan colonists to be in any important degree successful. + In the next place, the questions which Judge Haliburton + professes to consider have been for all practical purposes + discussed and decided long ago. In the last place, we are + quite sure that no writer on questions of colonial policy + could more effectually cut himself off from all sympathy and + influence than by the adoption of an excited and menacing + tone. + + "We find in the introductory chapter to these volumes a + statement to the effect that one of the chief objects in + writing them has been to inform Englishmen that Democracy + did not appear for the first time in America during the War + of Independence; and that the peculiar form of religion that + prevailed at an early period in the New England States + exerted a very powerful influence over their politics and + modes of government. Surely there is nothing new in all + this. There is no great discovery here which required for + its introduction the expenditure of so much labor and + vehemence. We had imagined that the great orations of Burke + on Conciliation with America had exhausted long ago not only + all the facts but most of the philosophy which is contained + in the general view now revived by the author of 'Sam + Slick.' There are a sentence or two in one of the most + famous passages of perhaps the greatest of these orations + which seem to anticipate the present volumes most + completely. 'All Protestantism,' said Burke more than + seventy years ago, 'even the most cold and passive, is a + sort of dissent. But the religion most prevalent in our + northern colonies is a refinement on the principle of + resistance; it is the dissidence of dissent, and the + Protestantism of the Protestant religion. This religion, + under a variety of denominations, agreeing in nothing but in + the communication of the spirit of liberty, is predominant + in most of the northern provinces; where the Church of + England, notwithstanding its legal rights, is in reality no + more than a sort of private sect, not composing, most + probably, the tenth of the people. The colonists left + England when this spirit was high, and in the emigrants was + the highest of all; and even that stream of foreigners which + has been constantly flowing into these colonies has for the + greatest part been composed of dissenters from the + establishments of their several countries, and have brought + with them a temper and character far from alien to that of + the people with whom they mixed.' The speech of Burke in + which these sentences occur ought surely to have passed for + something in the estimation of Judge Haliburton before he + committed himself to the task of writing this book. + + "We are quite sensible that as far as the mere composition + is concerned there is very great merit in its publication. + The style is vigorous and lively--and not unfrequently the + animation rises into eloquence. The narrative parts of the + volumes are in general exceedingly well written; and we must + not omit to say, that during those short intervals when the + author permits himself to lose sight of his extreme opinions + he rarely fails to delight the reader with a page or two + distinguished by acute observation and good sense. + + "Still, the faults of the book are of the most serious kind. + It is incomplete in plan: for it is neither a regular + narrative, nor a treatise, nor a commentary, nor a history, + nor an article for a review--but something of all five. As + we have said, it is written in a tone highly excited and + partial; and it has the misfortune to appear before the + world as the exponent of seemingly a new, but in reality of + an old and familiar, doctrine, by employing examples and + reasonings of which very few people indeed will not be able + to detect at once either the sophistry or the + incompleteness. + + "We forbear to enter into any general discussion on the + well-worn topics of the Pilgrim Fathers and the Puritan + settlements. The verdict of an impartial age has been long + ago pronounced on these questions: and we may well deplore + the unsound judgment of any writer of the deserved eminence + of Judge Haliburton who gratuitously brings upon himself an + imputation of outrageous eccentricity by attempting to + unsettle, on his own single authority, conclusions so well + and so long established.... + + "There is a great deal said in these volumes in + disparagement of the early New Englanders. They are + stigmatized as turbulent, schismatic, dishonest, + revolutionary, bigoted, cruel, and so on. These are old + charges, which have been several times placed in their true + light; and it is needless again to undertake a defence and + to enter into explanations which are familiar to most + educated persons. We are not the indiscriminate admirers of + the policy pursued by the first colonists of Massachusetts + Bay; but the course which they adopted, the communities + which they built up, and the form of liberty which they + introduced into the New World can be adequately understood + only when surveyed from a comprehensive and impartial point + of view. It is at best a shallow criticism which contents + itself with the discovery that the settlers were religious + zealots, and had no particular respect for either kings or + bishops. + + ... "We close these volumes. We regret that the author has + been so ill-advised as to publish them at all. They are well + written, as we have said--and in some respects possess great + merit; but truth compels us to add, that they are very + unworthy of the author and of the great questions they + profess to elucidate and discuss." + + + + +A FEW QUESTIONS FROM A WORN-OUT LORGNETTE. + +WRITTEN FOR THE INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE + +BY A. OAKEY HALL. + + +I trust I am not _now_ impertinent, however much so I may have been +heretofore. I have seen and observed a great deal. My observations +have engendered experiences. My experiences have some point to them. +And altogether, I think I am entitled to ask a few questions of those +whom I have sometimes overlooked, but now address myself to most +immediately. I am proud to say that I never belonged to but one +mistress. I was of too much value to be exchanged, lost, lightly +parted with, or--I feel prouder as I say it--_sold_. Moreover, I was a +_gage d'amour_. That fascinating Dr. ----! + +But though curious, I will be discreet. This sole mistress of mine +gave me plenty to do. Many thanks to her for it, since it has given me +an insight into much that is wonderful. I am certain she preferred +opera to the drama. I saw more of the stage at the first, and more of +the audience at the last. I have found much in both to puzzle me. Some +things I have solved. As for that which remains, I had hoped to +determine for myself, but an unlucky fall from a nail has spoiled my +sight. I have been now two months imprisoned in an _escrutoire_. +Others must answer my questions. + +In the first place, I want to know why theatres and opera houses have +such curious odors when empty? I have often perceived this fact when +our carriage came announced the last of all. And why are the lights +turned out when the audience have half-way reached the front doors? +What becomes of the bills which are left behind? Do the rag-pickers +ever break in? Where do the musicians go to through that little door +in the stage? And why does the kettle drummer always glance around the +house upon entering with such an air of satisfaction? As if any one +cared for _him_! Why does the leader always stop to take a pinch of +snuff, while the audience are breathing in their boots and gaiters to +catch the first note of the new opera? Why does the fat man with the +violoncello always saw upon two strings, and leave the two in the +middle to such a contemptuous silence and exile? Why do the +front-bench people get up ten minutes before the performances are +over, and rush from the house as if the floor was on fire, while the +galleries make twice as much noise by crying "hush!" and always stay +to hear the speech (if there is any), although they have not paid as +much by half as they who ran away? Why does the lover, rushing upon +the stage to the embrace of his mistress, stop half way to bow to the +ladies in the boxes? And why doesn't the aforesaid mistress box his +ears for his impoliteness? And why did she say, just before he came, +"Here comes my Alonzo! Hark! I hear his step," when every door upon +the stage was shut, and nothing was heard but the confused trampling +behind her, which might have been the galloping of donkeys? And why +did this same lady wait for him by the side of a rosewood table, +covered with satin damask, and ornamented with a Wellington +inkstand--and she dressed in a robe of shot-silk, with laces and +feathers--while he was dressed as a valiant knight of the sixteenth +century should be? And now I think of it, why did _Mr. Anderson_, in +the play of "Gisippus," visit the Roman centurion in a brick house, +entered through a mahogany door, with a brass plate upon it? Why do +the peasantry of Europe always dress with the most expensive ribbons +about their legs and arms when they come out to dance at the wedding, +or to drink from pewter mugs to the health of the bride? And why do +they stand like mutes at a funeral, whilst two people in their midst +are plotting some horrible murder? Why do the Italian banditti wear +such steeple-crowned hats when they creep through small holes, or +kneel for concealment behind rocks which only cover their foreheads? +Why do the soldiers in _Fra Diavolo_ stand and sing, "We must away, +'tis duty calls," while they sit at a table drinking punch, and seem +in no more hurry to go than if they were paid for drinking? Why do the +chamois-hunters in "Amilie" continue so urgent about going to the +mountains away, after the prey, before the dawning of the day, when it +is evident from the very nature of things that they couldn't be spared +for such a severe service on any contingency? + +Why does the lover always sing tenor in an opera? What connection is +there between villany and a bass voice? What's the necessity of a +_prima donna_ singing towards the ceiling when she addresses a chorus +behind her? By what right does the head man in the chorus do all the +gesticulating, while his fellows stand like militia-men? Who ever saw +an excited basso bid a "minion away," without trying to throw his fist +behind him? Why does Ernani's mistress wear such splendid diamonds, +and not sell them to give him release from persecution? I have seen a +sentimental young lady swear to share the poverty and disgrace of her +lover, when she was fool enough to lay aside most precious jewels and +dresses, which would have purchased affluence, and then robe herself +in calico! Now, why did he permit _that_? + +Why do stage heroines venture out into the woods in November in white +silk dresses? Are there never any snakes about? And why are theatrical +forests always green in the middle of winter? What kind of +thermometers do managers have? Why is it that three or four stout men, +with loaded pistols, allow themselves to be beaten off the stage by a +slim man with a small stick? In my opinion--and I don't care who hears +it--Richard the Third (whom I understand to be a natural son of one +Shakespeare) was a great numskull to allow Richmond to beat him with +the two dozen lanky-looking scoundrels who come in during the last +scene! + +Why do the fairies shake so convulsively when they soar through the +air over the stage? Are stage-fairies all over the world such unequal +highflyers? Who made gaiter-boots for Juno and her attendant +goddesses, in the many classical plays I have witnessed? Did the +Egyptians and Persians know how to make cotton-cloth a yard wide--I +have measured their costumes too often behind the footlights not to +know the exact measurement. + +Why do people always cough in the theatre after a severe storm of +thunder and lightning, and hold their handkerchiefs to their noses at +such times? Why does the moon, in every opera wherein she condescends +to show herself, stand still for half an hour immediately over a +chimney? What is the necessity of a man dying for love, and singing +himself to death like a swan, when he has strength enough of body and +mind to pick up three or four pounds of _bouquets_? And why does he +give them up to the spasmodic lady in white muslin, whom he has been +abusing for half an hour, and declaring, in most emphatic terms, that +they part from that time forward for ever? What wonderful +hair-invigorator do some actors use in order to grow themselves a fine +pair of bushy whiskers in fifteen minutes? How is it possible for a +noble lord to have travelled over thousands of miles, to have +encountered unheard-of perils, in order to return and marry the +miller's maid, and yet to preserve, through years of absence, the same +trousers, vest, coat, and hat, in which he first won her affections? +Mentioning hats, why does the rich landholder, in modern comedy, +sometimes go without a hat, when all his servants talk to him with +_their_ hats upon their heads? Is there any forcible, necessary, or +(to put it stronger) _absolute_, connection between a queen in +distress and large quantities of pearls strung about the hair? + +These are but a twentieth part of the inquiries which crowd into my +questioning-box. I know they are disjointed,--as I soon shall be. But +I will see what can be done for me, as things here stand, before I +venture to again pile "whys" upon "wherefores." + + + + +FRAGMENTS: + +FROM "THE STORY OF A SOUL," AN UNPUBLISHED POEM, WRITTEN FOR THE +INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE + +BY H. W. PARKER. + + +A TOUR DE FORCE. + + I felt myself alone--alone as one + Who leapt in joy from starry rock to rock + Across creations stream, and joyed to know + Himself alone in starry solitudes, + Communing with his soul and God; and clomb + The heights of glory, there amazed to see + The wilderness of worlds, and feel the want + Of other hearts to share excess of bliss. + Alone!--it startled me with such a fear-- + A daring fear, as only spirits can have. + At once I would be every where--on all + The peopled globes where'er myself had been; + My lonely being would I spread through all. + I thought, with the velocity of thought + Which disembodied souls alone may know-- + I thought, I willed, myself in thousand places + In quick and successive instants, quick as one; + And so around again, and still around, + Without an interval. Soon as a flash, + A thousand selves were scattered o'er the deep + Of distant space; and, urging on my soul, + Around and on, with energy immortal, + And swifter still, at last I seemed to grow + Ubiquitous--a multipresence dread, + A loneliness enlarged, more awful yet-- + Until, in thought's extreme rapidity, + The distant selves were blended into one, + And space was gone! The universe was lost + In me--in nothingness. + Soon it returned + And stood resplendent; space again became + A mode of thought, as thought resumed its calm, + And motion ceased with will. I found myself + Far off in outer coasts of light.... + + +MEMORY. + + .... The vision changed; for still + The cherub Fancy sports beyond the grave, + Led by the hand of Reason. Once again, + My memory rose, a painted canvas, framed + In golden mouldings of immortal joy. + But now the perfect copy of a life, + With all the colors glorified, began + To melt in slow dissolving views of truth. + From out the crowded scene of mortal deeds, + A group enraged, colossal in its shapes: + Self--a dead giant, hideous and deformed, + Lay, slain with lightning, while, upon his head, + Stood holy Love, her eyes upturned to Heaven, + Her hands extended o'er the kneeling forms + Of Faith and Hope.... + + +MUSIC. + + Nor were the splendors silent all. To spirits + 'Tis ever one to see, to hear, to feel-- + The music of the spheres is therefore truth, + And, now, no more I heard the noise confused + Of humming stars and murmuring moons, in tones + Discordant; but as in the focal point + Of whispering rooms, so here I found at last + The centre where the perfect chords combine-- + Where the full harmonies of rolling worlds + Are poring evermore in billowy seas + Of sounds, that break in thundered syllables + Unutterable to men. A naked soul + Within the central court of space, to me + The trill of myriad stars, the heavy boom + Of giant suns that slowly came and went, + The whistlings, sweet and far, of lesser orbs, + And the low thunder of more distant deeps, + Ever commingling, grew to eloquence + No mortal brain may bear. The universe + Had found a voice.... + + +HEAVEN. + + "Look to thy God." I flamed at Him with will intense, + And soon a sea of light and love arose + And bathed my soul, and filled the empty space + With overflowing glory. All was heaven; + And all the joy, the splendor, I had known + In space, to this was but the prelude harsh + Of brazen instruments, before the song + Of some incarnate seraph, breathes and rolls + A flood of fulness o'er a tranced world. + Enough to say, whate'er we wish of scene, + Society, occupation, pleasure-- + Whenever wished, is ours; and this is Heaven; + This is the prize of earthly self-denial. + Freedom, the boundless freedom of the pure-- + This the reward of holy self-restraint. + + + + +A STORY WITHOUT A NAME.[6] + +WRITTEN FOR THE INTERNATIONAL MONTHLY MAGAZINE + +BY G. P. R. JAMES, ESQ. + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + + +We must now turn once more to Sir Philip Hastings as he sat in his +lonely room in prison. Books had been allowed him, paper, pen, and +ink, and all that could aid to pass the time; but Sir Philip had +matter for study in his own mind, and the books had remained unopened +for several days. Hour after hour, since his interview with Secretary +Vernon, and day after day he had paced that room to and fro, till the +sound of his incessant footfall was a burthen to those below. His hair +had grown very white, the wrinkles on his brow had deepened and become +many, and his head was bowed as if age had pressed it down. As he +walked, his eye beneath his shaggy eyebrow was generally bent upon the +floor, but when any accidental circumstance caused him to raise it--a +distant sound from without, or some thought passing through his own +mind--there was that curious gleam in it which I have mentioned when +describing him in boyhood, but now heightened and rendered somewhat +more wild and mysterious. At those moments the expression of his eyes +amounted almost to fierceness, and yet there was something grand, and +fixed, and calm about the brow which seemed to contradict the +impatient, irritable look. + +At the moment I now speak of there was an open letter on the table, +written in his daughter's hand, and after having walked up and down +for more than one hour, he sat down as if to answer it. We must look +over his shoulder and see what he writes, as it may in some degree +tend to show the state of his mind, although it was never sent. + +"MY CHILD" (it was so he addressed the dear girl who had once been the +joy of his heart): "The news which has been communicated to you by +Marlow has been communicated also to me, but has given small relief. +The world is a prison, and it is not very satisfactory to leave one +dungeon to go into a larger. + +"Nevertheless, I am desirous of returning to my own house. Your mother +is very ill, with nobody to attend upon her but yourself--at least no +kindred. This situation does not please me. Can I be satisfied that +she will be well and properly cared for? Will a daughter who has +betrayed her father show more piety towards a mother? Who is there +that man can trust?" + +He was going on in the same strain, and his thoughts becoming more +excited, his language more stern and bitter every moment, when +suddenly he paused, read over the lines he had written with a +gleaming eye, and then bent his head, and fell into thought. No one +can tell, no pen can describe the bitter agony of his heart at that +moment. Had he yielded to the impulse--had he spoken ever so +vehemently and fiercely, it would have been happier for him and for +all. But men will see without knowing it in passing through the world, +conventional notions which they adopt as principles. They fancy them +original thoughts, springing from their own convictions, when in +reality they are bents--biases given to their minds by the minds of +other men. The result is very frequently painful, even where the +tendency of the views received is good. Thus a shrub forced out of its +natural direction may take a more graceful or beautiful form, but +there is ever a danger that the flow of the sap may be stopped, or +some of the branches injured by the process. + +"No," said Sir Philip Hastings, at length, with a false sense of +dignity thus acquired, "no, it is beneath me to reproach her. Punish +her I might, and perhaps I ought; for the deed itself is an offence to +society and to human nature more than to me. To punish her would have +been a duty, even if my own heart's blood had flowed at the same time, +in those ancient days of purer laws and higher principles; but I will +not reproach without punishing. I will be silent. I will say nothing. +I will leave her to her own conscience," and tearing the letter he had +commenced to atoms, he resumed his bitter walk about the room. + +It is a terrible and dangerous thing to go on pondering for long +solitary hours on any one subject of deep interest. It is dangerous +even in the open air, under the broad, ever-varying sky, with the +birds upon the bough, and the breeze amongst the trees, and a thousand +objects in bright nature to breathe harmonies to the human heart. It +is dangerous in the midst of crowds and gay scenes of active life so +to shut the spirit up with one solitary idea, which, like the fabled +dragon's egg, is hatched into a monster by long looking at it. But +within the walls of a prison, with nothing to divert the attention, +with nothing to solicit or compel the mind even occasionally to seek +some other course, with no object in external nature, with the +companionship of no fellow being, to appeal to our senses or to awake +our sympathies, the result is almost invariable. An innocent man--a +man who has no one strong passion, or dark, all-absorbing subject of +contemplation, but who seeks for and receives every mode of relief +from the monotony of life that circumstances can afford, may endure +perfect solitude for years and live sane, but whoever condemns a +criminal--a man loaded with a great offence--to solitary confinement, +condemns him to insanity--a punishment far more cruel than death or +the rack. Hour after hour again, day after day, Sir Philip Hastings +continued to beat the floor of the prison with untiring feet. At the +end of the third day, however, he received formal notice that he would +be brought into court on the following morning, that the indictment +against him would be read, and that the attorney-general would enter a +_nolle prosequi_. Some of these forms were perhaps unnecessary, but it +was the object of the government at that time to make as strong an +impression on the public mind as possible without any unnecessary +effusion of blood. + +The effect upon the mind of Sir Philip Hastings, however, was not +salutary. The presence of the judges, the crowd in the court, the act +of standing in the prisoners' dock, even the brief speech of the +lawyer commending the lenity and moderation of government, while he +moved the recording of the _nolle prosequi_, all irritated and excited +the prisoner. His irritation was shown in his own peculiar way, +however; a smile, bitter and contemptuous curled his lip. His eye +seemed to search out those who gazed at him most and stare them down, +and when he was at length set at liberty, he turned away from the dock +and walked out of the court without saying a word to any one. The +governor of the jail followed him, asking civilly if he would not +return to his house for a moment, take some refreshment, and arrange +for the removal of his baggage. It seemed as if Sir Philip answered at +all with a great effort; but in the end he replied laconically, "No, I +will send." + +Two hours after he did send, and towards evening set out in a hired +carriage for his own house. He slept a night upon the road, and the +following day reached the Court towards evening. By that time, +however, a strange change had come over him. Pursuing the course of +those thoughts which I have faintly displayed, he had waged war with +his own mind--he had struggled to banish all traces of anger and +indignation from his thoughts--in short, fearing from the sensations +experienced within, that he would do or say something contrary to the +rigid rule he had imposed upon himself, he had striven to lay out a +scheme of conduct which would guard against such a result. The end of +this self-tutoring was satisfactory to him. He had fancied he had +conquered himself, but he was very much mistaken. It was only the +outer man he had subdued, but not the inner. + +When the carriage drew up at his own door, and Sir Philip alighted, +Emily flew out to meet him. She threw her arms around his neck and +kissed his cheek, and her heart beat with joy and affection. + +For an instant Sir Philip remained grave and stern, did not repel her, +but did not return her embrace. The next instant, however, his whole +manner changed. A sort of cunning double-meaning look came into his +eyes. He smiled, which was very unusual with him, assumed a sort of +sportiveness, which was not natural, called her "dainty Mistress +Emily," and asked after the health of "his good wife." + +His coldness and his sternness might not have shocked Emily at all, +but his apparent levity pained and struck her with terror. A cold sort +of shudder passed over her, and unclasping her arms from his neck, she +replied, "I grieve to say mamma is very ill, and although the news of +your safety cheered her much, she has since made no progress, but +rather fallen back." + +"Doubtless the news cheered you too very much, my sweet lady," said +Sir Philip in an affected tone, and without waiting for reply, he +walked on and ascended to his wife's room. + +Emily returned to the drawing-room and fell into one of her profound +fits of meditation; but this time they were all sad and tending to +sadness. There Sir Philip found her when he came down an hour after. +She had not moved, she had not ordered lights, although the sun was +down and the twilight somewhat murky. She did not move when he +entered, but remained with her head leaning on her hand, and her eyes +fixed on the table near which she sat. Sir Philip gazed at her +gloomily, and said to himself, "Her heart smites her. Ha, ha, +beautiful deceitful thing. Have you put the canker worm in your own +bosom? Great crimes deserve great punishments. God of heaven! keep me +from such thoughts. No, no, I will never avenge myself on the plea of +avenging society. My own cause must not mingle with such +vindications." + +"Emily," he said in a loud voice, which startled her suddenly from her +reverie, "Emily, your mother is very ill." + +"Worse? worse?" cried Emily with a look of eager alarm; "I will fly to +her at once. Oh, sir, send for the surgeon." + +"Stay," said Sir Philip, "she is no worse than when you left her, +except insomuch as a dying person becomes much worse every minute. +Your mother wishes much to see Mrs. Hazleton, who has not been with +her for two days, she says. Sit down and write that lady a note asking +her to come here to-morrow, and I will send it by a groom." + +Emily obeyed, though with infinite reluctance; for she had remarked +that the visits of Mrs. Hazleton always left her mother neither +improved in temper nor in health. + +The groom was dispatched, and returned with a reply from Mrs. Hazleton +to the effect that she would be there early on the following day. +During his absence, Sir Philip had been but little with his daughter. +Hardly had the note been written when he retired to his own small +room, and there remained shut up during the greater part of the +evening. Emily quietly stole into her mother's room soon after her +father left her, fearing not a little that Lady Hastings might have +remarked the strange change which had come upon her husband during his +absence. But such was not the case. She found her mother calmer and +gentler than she had been during the last week or ten days. Her +husband's liberation, and the certainty that all charge against him +was at an end, had afforded her great satisfaction; and although she +was still evidently very ill, yet she conversed cheerfully with her +daughter for nearly an hour. + +"As I found you had not told your father the hopes that Mr. Marlow +held out when he went away, I spoke to him on the subject," she said. +"He is a strange cynic, my good husband, and seemed to care very +little about the matter. He doubt's Marlow's success too, I think, but +all that he said was, that if it pleased me, that was enough for him. +Mrs. Hazleton will be delighted to hear the news." + +Emily doubted the fact, but she did not express her doubt, merely +telling her mother she had written to Mrs. Hazleton, and that the +servant had been sent with the note. + +"She has not been over for two days," said Lady Hastings. "I cannot +think what has kept her away." + +"Some accidental circumstance, I dare say," said Emily, "but there can +be no doubt she will be here to-morrow early." + +They neither of them knew that on the preceding night but one Mrs. +Hazleton had received a visit from John Ayliffe, which, +notwithstanding all her self-command and assumed indifference, had +disturbed her greatly. + +Mrs. Hazleton nevertheless was, as Emily anticipated, very early at +the house of Sir Philip Hastings. She first made a point of seeing +that gentleman himself; and though her manner was, as usual, calm and +lady-like, yet every word and every look expressed the greatest +satisfaction at seeing him once more in his home and at liberty. To +Emily also she was all tenderness and sweetness; but Emily, on her +part, shrunk from her with a feeling of dread and suspicion that she +could not repress, and hardly could conceal. She had not indeed read +any of the papers which Marlow had left with her, for he had not told +her to read them; but he had directed her thoughts aright, and had led +her to conclusions in regard to Mrs. Hazleton which were very painful, +but no less just. + +That lady remarked a change in Emily's manner--she had seen something +of it before;--but it now struck her more forcibly, and though she +took no notice of it whatever, it was not a thing to be forgotten or +forgiven; for to those who are engaged in doing ill there cannot be a +greater offence than to be suspected, and Mrs. Hazleton was convinced +that Emily did suspect her. + +After a brief interview with father and daughter, their fair guest +glided quietly up to the room of Lady Hastings, and seated herself by +her bed-side. She took the sick lady's hand in hers--that white, +emaciated hand, once so beautiful and rosy-tipped, and said how +delighted she was to see her looking a great deal better. + +"Do you think so really?" said Lady Hastings; "I feel dreadfully weak +and exhausted, dear Mrs. Hazleton, and sometimes think I shall never +recover." + +"Oh don't say so," replied Mrs. Hazleton; "your husband's return has +evidently done you great good: the chief part of your malady has been +mental. Anxiety of mind is often the cause of severe sickness, which +passes away as soon as it is removed. One great source of uneasiness +is now gone, and the only other that remains--I mean this unfortunate +engagement of dear Emily to Mr. Marlow--may doubtless, with a little +firmness and decision upon your part, be remedied also." + +Mrs. Hazleton was very skillful in forcing the subject with which she +wished to deal, into a conversation to which it had no reference; and +having thus introduced the topic on which she loved to dwell, she went +on to handle it with her usual skill, suggesting every thing that +could irritate the invalid against Marlow, and render the idea of his +marriage with Emily obnoxious in her eyes. + +Even when Lady Hastings, moved by some feelings of gratitude and +satisfaction by the intelligence of Marlow's efforts to recover her +husband's property, communicated the hopes she entertained to her +visitor, Mrs. Hazleton contrived to turn the very expectations to +Marlow's disadvantage, saying, "If such should indeed be the result, +this engagement will be still more unfortunate. With such vast +property as dear Emily will then possess, with her beauty, with her +accomplishments, with her graces, the hand of a prince would be hardly +too much to expect for her; and to see her throw herself away upon a +mere country gentleman--a Mr. Marlow--all very well in his way, but a +nobody, is indeed sad; and I would certainly prevent it, if I were +you, while I had power." + +"But how can I prevent it?" asked Lady Hastings; "my husband and Emily +are both resolute in such things. I have no power, dear Mrs. +Hastings." + +"You are mistaken, my sweet friend," replied her companion; "the power +will indeed soon go from you if these hopes which have been held out +do not prove fallacious. You are mistress of this house--of this very +fine property. If I understand rightly, neither your husband nor your +daughter have at present any thing but what they derive from you. This +position may soon be altered if your husband be reinstated in the +Hastings estates." + +"But you would not, Mrs. Hazleton, surely you would not have me use +such power ungenerously?" said Lady Hastings. + +Mrs. Hazleton saw that she had gone a little too far--or rather +perhaps that she had suggested that which was repugnant to the +character of her hearer's mind; for in regard to money matters no one +was ever more generous or careless of self than Lady Hastings. What +was her's was her husband's and her child's--she knew no +difference--she made no distinction. + +It took Mrs. Hazleton some time to undo what she had done, but she +found the means at length. She touched the weak point, the failing of +character. A little stratagem, a slight device to win her own way by +an indirect method, was quite within the limits of Lady Hastings' +principles; and after dwelling some time upon a recapitulation of all +the objections against the marriage with Marlow, which could suggest +themselves to an ambitious mind, she quietly and in an easy suggestive +tone, sketched out a plan, which both to herself and her hearer, +seemed certain of success. + +Lady Hastings caught at the plan eagerly, and determined to follow it +in all the details, which will be seen hereafter. + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + +"I feel very ill indeed this morning," said Lady Hastings, addressing +her maid about eleven o'clock. "I feel as if I were dying. Call my +husband and my daughter to me." + +"Lord, my lady," said the maid, "had I not better send for the doctor +too? You do not look as if you were dying at all. You look a good deal +better, I think, my lady." + +"Do I?" said Lady Hastings in a hesitating tone. But she did not want +the doctor to be sent for immediately, and repeated her order to call +her husband and her daughter. + +Emily was with her in an instant, but Sir Philip Hastings was some +where absent in the grounds, and nearly half an hour elapsed before he +was found. When he entered he gazed in his wife's face with some +surprise--more surprise indeed than alarm; for he knew that she was +nervous and hypondriacal, and as the maid had said, she did not look +as if she were dying at all. There was no sharpening of the +features--no falling in of the temples--none of that pale ashy color, +or rather that leaden grayness, which precedes dissolution. He sat +down, however, by her bed-side, gazing at her with an inquiring look, +while Emily stood on the other side of the bed, and the maid at the +end; and after speaking a few kind but somewhat rambling words, he was +sending for some restoratives, saying "I think, my dear, you alarm +yourself without cause." + +"I do not indeed, Philip," replied Lady Hastings. "I am sure I shall +die, and that before very long--but do not send for any thing. I would +rather not take it. It will do me more good a great deal to speak what +I have upon my mind--what is weighing me down--what is killing me." + +"I am sorry to hear there is any thing," said Sir Philip, whose +thoughts, intensely busy with other things, were not yet fully +recalled to the scene before him. + +"Oh, Philip, how can you say so?" said Lady Hastings, "when you know +there is. You need not go," she continued, speaking to the maid, who +was drawing back as if to quit the room, "I wish to speak to my +husband and my daughter before some one who will remember what I say." + +Sir Philip however quietly rose, opened the door, and motioned to the +girl to quit the room, for such public exhibitions were quite contrary +to his notions of domestic economy. "Now, my dear," he said, "what is +it you wish to tell me? If there be any thing that you wish done, I +will do it if it is in my power." + +"It is in your power, Philip," replied Lady Hastings; "you know and +Emily knows quite well that her engagement to Mr. Marlow was against +my consent, and I must say the greatest shock I ever received in my +life. I have never been well since, and every day I see more and more +reason to object. It is in the power of either of you, or both, to +relieve my mind in this respect--to break off this unhappy engagement, +and at least to let me die in peace, with the thought that my daughter +has not cast herself away. It is in your power, Philip, to--" + +"Stay a moment," said her husband, "it is not in my power." + +"Why, are you not her father?" asked Lady Hastings, interrupting him. +"Are you not her lawful guardian? Have you not the disposal of her +hand?" + +"It is not in my power," repeated Sir Philip coldly, "to break my +plighted word, to violate my honor, or to live under a load of shame +and dishonor." + +"Why in such a matter as this," said Lady Hastings, "there is no such +disgrace. You can very well say you have thought better of it." + +"In which case I should tell a lie," said Sir Philip dryly. + +"It is a thing done every day," argued Lady Hastings. + +"I am not a man to do any thing because there are others who do it +every day," answered her husband. "Men lie, and cheat, and swindle, +and steal, and betray their friends, and relations, and parents, but I +can find no reason therein for doing the same. It is not in my power, +I repeat. I cannot be a scoundrel, whatever other men may be, and +violate my plighted word, or withdraw from my most solemn engagements. +Moreover, when Marlow heard of the misfortunes which have befallen us, +and learned that Emily would not have one-fourth part of that which +she had at one time a right to expect, he showed no inclination to +withdraw from his word, even when there was a good excuse, and I will +never withdraw from mine, so help me God." + +Thus speaking he turned his eyes towards the ground again and fell +into a deep reverie. + +While this conversation had been passing, Emily had sunk upon her +knees, trembling in every limb, and hid her face in the coverings of +the bed. To her, Lady Hastings now turned. Whether it was that remorse +and some degree of shame affected her, when she saw the terrible +agitation of her child, I cannot tell, but she paused for a moment as +if in hesitation. + +She spoke at length, saying "Emily, my child, to you I must appeal, as +your father is so obdurate." + +Emily made no answer, however, but remained weeping, and Lady Hastings +becoming somewhat irritated, went on in a sharper tone. "What! will +not my own child listen to the voice of a dying mother?" she asked +rather petulantly than sorrowfully, although she tried hard to make +her tone gravely reproachful; "will she not pay any attention to her +mother's last request? + +"Oh, my mother," answered Emily, raising her head, and speaking more +vehemently than was customary with her, "ask me any thing that is +just; ask me any thing that is reasonable; but do not ask me to do +what is wrong and what is unjust. I have made a promise--do not ask me +to break it. There is no circumstance changed which could give even an +excuse for such a breach of faith. Marlow has only shown himself more +true, more faithful, more sincere. Should I be more false, more +faithless, more ungenerous than he thought me? Oh no! it is +impossible--quite impossible," and she hid her streaming eyes in the +bed-clothes again, clasping her hands tightly together over her +forehead. + +Her father, with his arms crossed upon his chest, had kept his eyes +fixed upon her while she spoke with a look of doubt and inquiry. Well +might he doubt--well might he doubt his own suspicions. There was a +truth, a candor, a straightforwardness, in that glowing face which +gave the contradiction, plain and clear, to every foul, dishonest +charge which had been fabricated against his child. It was impossible +in fact that she could have so spoken and so looked, unless she had so +felt. The best actress that ever lived could not have performed that +part. There would have been something too much or too little, +something approaching the exaggerated or the tame. With Emily there +was nothing. What she said seemed but the sudden outburst of her +heart, pressed for a reply; and as soon as it was spoken she sunk down +again in silence, weeping bitterly under the conflict of two strong +but equally amiable feelings. + +For a moment the sight seemed to rouse Sir Philip Hastings. "She +should not, if she would," he said; "voluntarily, and knowing what she +did, she consented to the promise I have made, and she neither can nor +shall retract. To Marlow, indeed, I may have a few words to say, and +he shall once more have the opportunity of acting as he pleases; but +Emily is bound as well as myself, and by that bond we must abide." + +"What have you to say to Marlow?" asked Lady Hastings in a tone of +commonplace curiosity, which did not at all indicate a sense of that +terrible situation in which she assumed she was placed. + +"That matters not," answered Sir Philip. "It will rest between him and +me at his return. How he may act I know not--what he may think I know +not; but he shall be a partaker of my thoughts and the master of his +own actions. Do not let us pursue this painful subject further. If you +feel yourself ill, my love, let us send for further medical help. I do +hope and believe that you are not so ill as you imagine; but if you +are so there is more need that the physician should be here, and that +we should quit topics too painful for discussion, where discussion is +altogether useless." + +"Well, then, mark me," said Lady Hastings with an air of assumed +melancholy dignity, which being quite unnatural to her, bordered +somewhat on the burlesque; "mark me, Philip--mark me, Emily! your +wife, your mother, makes it her last dying request--her last dying +injunction, that you break off this marriage. You may or you may not +give me the consolation on this sick bed of knowing that my request +will be complied with; but I do not think that either of you will be +careless, will be remorseless enough to carry out this engagement +after I am gone. I will not threaten, Emily--I will not even attempt +to take away from you the wealth for which this young man doubtless +seeks you--I will not attempt to deter you by bequeathing you my curse +if you do not comply with my injunctions; but I tell you, if you do +not make me this promise before I die, you have embittered your +mother's last moments, and--" + +"Oh, forbear, forbear," cried Emily, starting up. "For God's sake, +dear mother, forbear," and clasping her hands wildly over her eyes, +she rushed frantically out of the room. + +Sir Philip Hastings remained for nearly half an hour longer, and then +descended the stairs and passed through the drawing-room. Emily was +seated there with her handkerchief upon her eyes, and her whole frame +heaving from the agonized sobs which rose from her bosom. Sir Philip +paused and gazed at her for a moment or two, but Emily did not say a +word, and seemed indeed totally unconscious of his presence. Some +movements of compassion, some feeling of sympathy, some doubts of his +preconceptions might pass through the bosom of Sir Philip Hastings; +but the dark seeds of suspicion had been sown in his bosom--had +germinated, grown up, and strengthened--had received confirmation +strong and strange, and he murmured to himself as he stood and gazed +at her, "Is it anger or sorrow? Is it passion or pain? All this is +strange enough. I do not understand it. Her resolution is taken, and +taken rightly. Why should she grieve? Why should she be thus moved, +when she knows she is doing that which is just, and honest, and +faithful?" + +He measured a cloud by an ell wand. He gauged her heart, her +sensibilities, her mind, by the rigid metre of his own, and he found +that the one could not comprehend the other. Turning hastily away +after he had finished his contemplation, without proffering one word +of consolation or support, he walked away into his library, and +ringing a bell, ordered his horse to be saddled directly. While that +was being done, he wrote a hasty note to Mr. Short, the surgeon, and +when the horse was brought round gave it to a groom to deliver. Then +mounting on horseback, he rode away at a quick pace, without having +taken any further notice of his daughter. + +Emily remained for about half an hour after his departure, exactly in +the same position in which he had left her. She noticed nothing that +was passing around her; she heard not a horse stop at the door; and +when her own maid entered the room and said,--"Doctor Short has come, +ma'am, and is with my lady. Sir Philip sent Peter for him; but Peter +luckily met him just down beyond the park gates;" Emily hardly seemed +to hear her. + +A few minutes after, Mr. Short descended quietly from the room of Lady +Hastings, and looked into the drawing-room as he passed. Seeing the +beautiful girl seated there in that attitude of despondency, he +approached her quietly, saying, "Do not, my dear mistress Emily, +suffer yourself to be alarmed without cause. I see no reason for the +least apprehension. My good lady, your mother is nervous and excited, +but there are no very dangerous symptoms about her--certainly none +that should cause immediate alarm; and I think upon the whole, that +the disease is more mental than corporeal." + +Emily had raised her eyes when he had just begun to speak, and she +shook her head mournfully at his last, words, saying, "I can do +nothing to remedy it, Mr. Short--I would at any personal sacrifice, +but this involves more--I can do nothing." + +"But I have done my best," said Mr. Short with a kindly smile; for he +was an old and confidential friend of the whole family, and upon Emily +herself had attended from her childhood, during all the little +sicknesses of early life. "I asked your excellent mother what had so +much excited her, and she told me all that has passed this morning. I +think, my dear young lady, I have quieted her a good deal." + +"How? how?" exclaimed Emily eagerly. "Oh tell me how, Mr. Short, and I +will bless you!" + +The good old surgeon seated himself beside her and took her hand in +his. "I have only time to speak two words," he said, "but I think they +will give you comfort. Your mother explained to me that there had been +a little discussion this morning when she thought herself +dying--though that was all nonsense--and it must have been very +painful to you, my dear Mistress Emily. She told me what it was about +too, and seemed half sorry already for what she had said. So, as I +guessed how matters went--for I know that the dear lady is fond of +titles and rank, and all that, and saw she had a great deal mistaken +Mr. Marlow's position--I just ventured to tell her that he is the heir +of the old Earl of Launceston--that is to say, if the Earl does not +marry again, and he is seventy-three, with a wife still living. She +had never heard any thing about it, and it seemed to comfort her +amazingly. Nevertheless she is in a sad nervous state, and somewhat +weak. I do not altogether like that cough she has either; and so, my +dear young lady, I will send her over a draught to-night, of which you +must give her a tablespoonful every three hours. Give it to her with +your own hands; for it is rather strong, and servants are apt to make +mistakes. But I think if you go to her now, you will find her in a +very different humor from that which she was in this morning. Good +bye, good bye. Don't be cast down, Mistress Emily. All will go well +yet." + + +CHAPTER XL. + +From the house of Sir Philip Hastings Mr. Short rode quickly on to the +cottage of Mistress Best, which he had visited once before in the +morning. The case of John Ayliffe, however, was becoming more and more +urgent every moment, and at each visit the surgeon saw a change in the +countenance of the young man which indicated that a greater change +still was coming. He had had a choice of evils to deal with; for +during the first day after the accident there had been so much fever +that he had feared to give any thing to sustain the young man's +strength. But long indulgence in stimulating liquors had had its usual +effect in weakening the powers of the constitution, and rendering it +liable to give way suddenly even where the corporeal powers seemed at +their height. Wine had become to John Ayliffe what water is to most +men, and he could not bear up without it. Exhaustion had succeeded +rapidly to the temporary excitement of fever, and mortification had +begun to show itself on the injured limb. Wine had become necessary, +and it was administered in frequent and large doses; but as a +stimulant it had lost its effect upon the unhappy young man, and when +the surgeon returned to the cottage on this occasion, he saw not only +that all hope was at an end, but that the end could not be very far +distant. + +Good Mr. Dixwell was seated by John Ayliffe's side, and looked up to +the surgeon with an anxious eye. Mr. Short felt his patient's pulse +with a very grave face. It was rapid, but exceedingly feeble--went on +for twenty or thirty beats as fast as it could go--then stopped +altogether for an instant or two, and then began to beat again as +quickly as before. + +Mr. Short poured out a tumbler full of port wine, raised John Ayliffe +a little, and made him drink it down. After a few minutes he felt his +pulse again, and found it somewhat stronger. The sick man looked +earnestly in his face as if he wished to ask some question; but he +remained silent for several minutes. + +At length he said, "Tell me the truth, Short. Am not I dying?" + +The surgeon hesitated, but Mr. Dixwell raised his eyes, saying, "Tell +him the truth, tell him the truth, my good friend. He is better +prepared to bear it than he was yesterday." + +"I fear you are sinking, Sir John," said the surgeon. + +"I do not feel so much pain in my leg," said the young man. + +"That is because mortification has set in," replied Mr. Short. + +"Then there is no hope," said John Ayliffe. + +The surgeon was silent; and after a moment John Ayliffe said, "God's +will be done." + +Mr. Dixwell pressed his hand kindly with tears in his eyes; for they +were the Christian words he had longed to hear, but hardly hoped for. + +There was a long and somewhat sad pause, and then the dying man once +more turned his look upon the surgeon, asking, "How long do you think +it will be?" + +"Three or four hours," replied Mr. Short. "By stimulants, as long as +you can take them, it may be protracted a little longer, but not +much." + +"Every moment is of consequence," said the clergyman. "There is much +preparation still needful--much to be acknowledged and repented +of--much to be atoned for. What can be done, my good friend to +protract the time?" + +"Give small quantities of wine very frequently," answered the surgeon, +"and perhaps some aqua vitae--but very little--very little, or you may +hurry the catastrophe." + +"Well, well," said John Ayliffe, "you can come again, but perhaps by +that time I shall be gone. You will find money enough in my pockets, +Short, to pay your bill--there is plenty there, and mind you send the +rest to my mother." + +The surgeon stared, and said to himself, "he is wandering;" but John +Ayliffe immediately added, "Don't let that rascal Shanks have it, but +send it to my mother;" and saying "Very well, Sir John," he took his +leave and departed. + +"And now, my dear young friend," said Mr. Dixwell, the moment the +surgeon was gone, "there is no time to be lost. You have the power of +making full atonement for the great offence you have committed to one +of your fellow creatures. If you sincerely repent, as I trust you do, +Christ has made atonement for your offences towards God. But you must +show your penitence by letting your last acts in this life be just and +right. Let me go to Sir Philip Hastings." + +"I would rather see his daughter, or his wife," said John Ayliffe: "he +is so stern, and hard, and gloomy. He will never speak comfort or +forgiveness." + +"You are mistaken--I can assure you, you are mistaken," answered the +clergyman. "I will take upon me to promise that he shall not say one +hard word, and grant you full forgiveness." + +"Well, well," said the young man, "if it must be he, so be it--but +mind to have pen and ink to write it all down--that pen won't write. +You know you tried it this morning." + +"I will bring one with me," said Mr. Dixwell, rising eager to be gone +on his good errand; but John Ayliffe stopped him, saying, "Stay, +stay--remember you are not to tell him any thing about it till he is +quite away from his own house. I don't choose to have all the people +talking of it, and perhaps coming down to stare at me." + +Mr. Dixwell was willing to make any terms in order to have what he +wished accomplished, and giving Mrs. Best directions to let the +patient have some port wine every half hour, he hurried away to the +Court. + +On inquiring for Sir Philip, the servant said that his master had +ridden out. + +"Do you know where he is gone, and how long he will be absent?" asked +Mr. Dixwell. + +"He is gone, I believe, to call at Doctor Juke's, to consult about my +lady," replied the man; "and as that is hard upon twenty miles, he +can't be back for two or three hours." + +"That is most unfortunate," exclaimed the clergyman. "Is your lady +up?" + +The servant replied in the negative, adding the information that she +was very ill. + +"Then I must see Mistress Emily," said Mr. Dixwell, walking into the +house. "Call her to me as quickly as you can." + +The man obeyed, and Emily was with the clergyman in a few moments, +while the servant remained in the hall looking out through the open +door. + +After remaining in conversation with Mr. Dixwell for a few minutes, +Emily hurried back to her room, and came down again dressed for +walking. She and Mr. Dixwell went out together, and the servant saw +them take their way down the road in the direction of Jenny Best's +cottage: but when they had gone a couple of hundred yards, the +clergyman turned off towards his own house, walking at a very quick +pace, while Emily proceeded slowly on her way. + +When at a short distance from the cottage, the beautiful girl stopped, +and waited till she was rejoined by Mr. Dixwell, who came up very +soon, out of breath at the quickness of his pace. "I have ordered the +wine down directly," he said, "and I trust we shall be able to keep +him up till he has told his story his own way. Now, my dear young +lady, follow me;" and walking on he entered the cottage. + +Emily was a good deal agitated. Every memory connected with John +Ayliffe was painful to her. It seemed as if nothing but misfortune, +sorrow, and anxiety, had attended her ever since she first saw him, +and all connected themselves more or less with him. The strange sort +of mysterious feeling of sympathy which she had experienced when first +she beheld him, and which had seemed explained to her when she learned +their near relationship, had given place day by day to stronger and +stronger personal dislike, and she could not now even come to visit +him on his death-bed with the clergyman without feeling a mixture of +repugnance and dread which she struggled with not very successfully. + +They passed, however, through the outer into the inner room where +Mistress Best was sitting with the dying man, reading to him the New +Testament. But as soon as Mr. Dixwell, who had led the way, entered, +the good woman stopped, and John Ayliffe turned his head faintly +towards the door. + +"Ah, this is very kind of you," he said when he saw Emily, "I can tell +you all better than any one else." + +"Sir Philip is absent," said Mr. Dixwell, "and will not be home for +several hours." + +"Hours!" repeated John Ayliffe. "My time is reduced to minutes!" + +Emily approached quietly, and Mrs. Best quitted the room and shut the +door. Mr. Dixwell drew the table nearer to the bed, spread some +writing paper which he had brought with him upon it, and dipped a pen +in the ink, as a hint that no time was to be lost in proceeding. + +"Well, well," said John Ayliffe with a sigh, "I won't delay, though it +is very hard to have to tell such a story. Mistress Emily, I have done +you and your family great wrong and great harm, and I am very, very +sorry for it, especially for what I have done against you." + +"Then I forgive you from all my heart," cried Emily, who had been +inexpressibly shocked at the terrible change which the young man's +appearance presented. She had never seen death, nor was aware of the +terrible shadow which the dark banner of the great Conqueror often +casts before it. + +"Thank you, thank you," replied John Ayliffe; "but you must not +suppose, Mistress Emily, that all the evil I have done was out of my +own head. Others prompted me to a great deal; although I was ready +enough to follow their guidance, I must confess. The two principal +persons were Shanks the lawyer, and Mrs. Hazleton--Oh, that woman is, +I believe, the devil incarnate." + +"Hush, hush," said Mr. Dixwell, "I cannot put such words as those +down, nor should you speak them. You had better begin in order too, +and tell all from the commencement, but calmly and in a Christian +spirit, remembering that this is your own confession, and not an +accusation of others." + +"Well, I will try," said the young man faintly, lifting his hand from +the bed-clothes, as if to put it to his head in the act of thought. +But he was too weak, and he fell back again, and fixing his eyes on a +spot in the wall opposite the foot of the bed, he continued in a sort +of dreamy commemorative way as follows: "I loved you--yes, I loved you +very much--I feel it now more than ever--I loved you more than you +ever knew--more than I myself knew then. (Emily bent her head and hid +her eyes with her hands.) It was not," he proceeded to say, "that you +were more beautiful than any of the rest--although that was true +too--but there was somehow a look about you, an air when you moved, a +manner when you spoke, that made it seem as if you were of a different +race from the rest--something higher, brighter, better, and as if your +nobler nature shone out like a gleam on all you did--I cannot help +thinking that if you could have loved me in return, mine would have +been a different fate, a different end, a different and brighter hope +even now--" + +"You are wandering from the subject, my friend," said Mr. Dixwell. +"Time is short." + +"I am not altogether wandering," said John Ayliffe, "but I feel faint. +Give me some more wine." When he had got it, he continued thus: "I +found you could not love me--I said in my heart that you would not +love me; and my love turned into hate--at least I thought so--and I +determined you should rue the day that you had refused me. Long before +that, however, Shanks the lawyer had put it into my head that I could +take your father's property and title from him, and I resolved some +day to try, little knowing all that it would lead me into step by +step. I had heard my mother say a hundred times that she had been as +good as married to your uncle who was drowned, and that if right had +been done I ought to have had the property. So I set to work with +Shanks to see what could be done. Sometimes he led, sometimes I led; +for he was a coward, and wanted to do all by cunning, and I was bold +enough, and thought every thing was to be done by daring. We had both +of us got dipped so deep in there was no going back. I tore one leaf +out of the parish register myself, to make it seem that your +grandfather had caused the record of my mother's marriage to be +destroyed--but that was no marriage at all--they never were +married--and that's the truth. I did a great number of other very evil +things, and then suddenly Mrs. Hazleton came in to help us; and +whenever there was any thing particularly shrewd and keen to be +devised, especially if there was a spice of malice in it towards Sir +Philip or yourself, Mrs. Hazleton planned it for us--not telling us +exactly to do this thing or that, but asking if it could not be done, +or if it would be very wrong to do it. But I'll tell you them all in +order--all that we did." + +He went on to relate a great many particulars with which the reader is +already acquainted. He told the whole villainous schemes which had +been concocted between himself, the attorney, and Mrs. Hazleton, and +which had been in part, or as a whole, executed to the ruin of Sir +Philip Hastings' fortune and peace. The good clergyman took down his +words with a rapid hand, as he spoke, though it was somewhat +difficult; for the voice became more and more faint and low. + +"There is no use in trying now," said John Ayliffe in conclusion, +"when I am going before God who has seen and known it all. There is no +use in trying to conceal any thing. I was as ready to do evil as they +were to prompt me, and I did it with a willing heart, though sometimes +I was a little frightened at what I was doing, especially in the night +when I could not sleep. I am sorry enough for it now--I repent from my +whole heart; and now tell me--tell me, can you forgive me?" + +"As far as I am concerned, I forgive you entirely," said Emily, with +the tears in her eyes, "and I trust that your repentance will be fully +accepted. As to my father, I am sure that he will forgive you also, +and I think I may take upon myself to say, that he will either come or +send to you this night to express his forgiveness." + +"No, no, no," said the young man with a great effort. "He must not +come--he must not send. I have made the atonement that he (pointing to +Mr. Dixwell) required, and I have but one favor to ask. Pray, pray +grant it to me. It is but this. That you will not tell any one of this +confession so long as I am still living. He has got it all down. It +can't be needed for a few hours, and in a few, a very few, I shall be +gone. Mr. Dixwell will tell you when it is all over. Then tell what +you like; but I would rather not die with more shame upon my head if I +can help it." + +The good clergyman was about to reason with him upon the differences +between healthful shame, and real shame, and false shame, but Emily +gently interposed, saying, "It does not matter, my dear sir; a few +hours can make no difference." + +Then rising, she once more repeated the words of forgiveness, and +added, "I will now go and pray for you, my poor cousin--I will pray +that your repentance may be sincere and true--that it may be accepted +for Christ's sake, and that God may comfort you and support you even +at the very last." + +Mr. Dixwell rose too, and telling John Ayliffe that he would return in +a few minutes, accompanied Emily back towards her house. They parted, +however, at the gates of the garden; and while Emily threaded her way +through innumerable gravelled walks, the clergyman went back to the +cottage, and once more resumed his place by the side of the dying man. + + +CHAPTER XLI. + +Sir Philip Hastings returned to his own house earlier than had been +expected, bringing with him the physician he had gone to seek, and +whom--contrary to the ordinary course of events--he had found at once. +They both went up to Lady Hastings's room where the physician, +according to the usual practice of medical men in consultation, +approved of all that his predecessor had done, yet ordered some +insignificant changes in the medicines in order to prove that he had +not come there for nothing. He took the same view of the case that Mr. +Short had taken, declaring that there was no immediate danger; but at +the same time he inquired particularly how that lady rested in the +night, whether she started in her sleep, was long watchful, and +whether she breathed freely during slumber. + +The maid's account was not very distinct in regard to several of these +points; but she acknowledged that it was her young lady who usually +sat up with Lady Hastings till three or four o'clock in the morning. + +Sir Philip immediately directed Emily to be summoned, but the maid +informed him she had gone out about an hour and a half before, and had +not then returned. + +When the physician took his leave and departed, Sir Philip summoned +the butler to his presence, and inquired, with an eager yet gloomy +tone, if he knew where Mistress Emily had gone. + +"I really do not, Sir Philip," replied the man. "She went out with Mr. +Dixwell, but they parted a little way down the road, and my young lady +went on as if she were going to farmer Wallop's or Jenny Best's." + +At the latter name Sir Philip started as if a serpent had stung him, +and he waved to the man to quit the room. As soon as he was alone he +commenced pacing up and down in more agitation than he usually +displayed, and once or twice words broke from him which gave some +indications of what was passing in his mind. + +"Too clear, too clear," he said, and then after a pause exclaimed, +holding up his hands; "so young, and so deceitful! Marlow must be told +of this, and then must act as he thinks fit--it were better she were +dead--far better! What is the cold, dull corruption of the grave, the +mere rotting of the flesh, and the mouldering of the bones, to this +corruption of the spirit, this foul dissolution of the whole moral +nature?" + +He then began to pace up and down more vehemently than before, fixing +his eyes upon the ground, and seeming to think profoundly, with a +quivering lip and knitted brow. "Hard, hard task for a father," he +said--"God of heaven that I should ever dream of such a thing!--yet it +might be a duty. What can Marlow be doing during this long unexplained +absence? France--can he have discovered all this and quitted her, +seeking, in charity, to make the breach as little painful as possible? +Perhaps, after all," he continued, after a few moments' thought, "the +man may have been mistaken when he told me that he believed that this +young scoundrel was lying ill of a fall at this woman's cottage; yet +at the best it was bad enough to quit a sick mother's bed-side for +long hours, when I too was absent. Can she have done it to show her +spleen at this foolish opposition to her marriage?" + +There is no character so difficult to deal with--there is none which +is such a constant hell to its possessor--as that of a moody man. Sir +Philip had been moody, as I have endeavored to show, from his very +earliest years; but all the evils of that sort of disposition had +increased upon him rapidly during the latter part of his life. +Unaware, like all the rest of mankind, of the faults of his own +character, he had rather encouraged than struggled against its many +great defects. Because he was stern and harsh, he fancied himself +just, and forgot that it is not enough for justice to judge rightly of +that which is placed clearly and truly before it, and did not +remember, or at all events apply the principle, that an accurate +search for truth, and an unprejudiced suspension of opinion till truth +has been obtained, are necessary steps to justice. Suspicion--always a +part and parcel of the character of the moody man--had of late years +obtained a strong hold upon him, and unfortunately it had so happened +that event after event had occurred to turn his suspicion against his +own guiltless child. The very lights and shades of her character, +which he could in no degree comprehend, from his own nature being +destitute of all such impulsiveness, had not only puzzled him, but +laid the foundation of doubts. Then the little incident which I have +related in a preceding part of this work, regarding the Italian +singing-master--Emily's resolute but unexplained determination to take +no more lessons from that man, had set his moody mind to ponder and to +doubt still more. The too successful schemes and suggestions of Mrs. +Hazleton had given point and vigor to his suspicions, and the betrayal +of his private conversation to the government had seemed a climax to +the whole, so that he almost believed his fair sweet child a fiend +concealed beneath the form of an angel. + +It was in vain that he asked himself, What could be her motives? He +had an answer ready, that her motives had always been a mystery to +him, even in her lightest acts. "There are some people," he thought, +"who act without motives--in whom the devil himself seems to have +implanted an impulse to do evil without any cause or object, for the +mere pleasure of doing wrong." + +On the present occasion he had accidentally heard from the farmer, who +was the next neighbor of Jenny Best, that he was quite certain Sir +John Hastings, as he called him, was lying ill from a fall at that +good woman's cottage. His horse had been found at a great distance on +a wild common, with the bridle broken, and every appearance of having +fallen over in rearing. Blood and other marks of an accident had been +discovered on the road. Mr. Short, the surgeon, was seen to pay +several visits every day to the old woman's house, and yet maintained +the most profound secrecy in regard to his patient. The farmer argued +that the surgeon would not be so attentive unless that patient was a +person of some importance, and it was clear he was not one of Jenny +Best's own family, for every member of it had been well and active +after the surgeon's visits had been commenced. + +All these considerations, together with the absence of John Ayliffe +from his residence, had led the good farmer to a right conclusion, and +he had stated the fact broadly to Sir Philip Hastings. + +Sir Philip, on his part, had made no particular inquiries, for the +very name of John Ayliffe was hateful to him; but when he heard that +his daughter had gone forth alone to that very cottage, and had +remained there for a considerable time in the same place with the man +whom he abhorred, and remembered that the tale which had been boldly +put forth of her having visited him in secret, the very blood, as it +flowed through his heart, seemed turned into fire, and his brain +reeled with anguish and indignation. + +Presently the hall door was heard to open, and there was a light step +in the passage. Sir Philip darted forth from his room, and met his +daughter coming in with a sad and anxious face, and as he thought with +traces of tears upon her eyelids. + +"Where have you been?" asked her father in a stern low tone. + +"I have been to Jenny Best's down the lane, my father," replied Emily, +startled by his look and manner, but still speaking the plain truth, +as she always did. "Is my mother worse?" + +Without a word of reply Sir Philip turned away into his room again and +closed the door. + +Alarmed by her father's demeanor, Emily hurried up at once to Lady +Hastings's room, but found her certainly more cheerful and apparently +better. + +The assurance given by the physician that there was no immediate +danger, nor any very unfavorable symptom, had been in a certain degree +a relief to Lady Hastings herself; for, although she had undoubtedly +been acting a part when in the morning she had declared herself dying, +yet, as very often happens with those who deceive, she had so far +partially deceived herself as to believe that she was in reality very +ill. She was surprised at Emily's sudden appearance and alarmed look, +but her daughter did not think it right to tell her the strange +demeanor of Sir Philip, but sitting down as calmly as she could by her +mother's side, talked to her for several minutes on indifferent +subjects. It was evident to Emily that, although her father's tone was +so harsh, her mother viewed her more kindly than in the morning, and +the information which had been given her by the surgeon accounted for +the change. The conduct of Sir Philip, however, seemed not to be +explained, and Emily could hardly prevent herself from falling into +one of those reveries which have often been mentioned before. She +struggled against the tendency, however, for some time, till at length +she was relieved by the announcement that Mistress Hazleton was below, +but when Lady Hastings gave her maid directions to bring her friend +up, Emily could refrain no longer from uttering at least one word of +warning. + +"Give me two minutes more, dear mamma," she said, in a low voice. "I +have something very particular to say to you--let Mrs. Hazleton wait +but for two minutes." + +"Well," said Lady Hastings, languidly; and then turning to the maid +she added, "Tell dear Mrs. Hazleton that I will receive her in five +minutes, and when I ring my bell, bring her up." + +As soon as the maid had retired Emily sank upon her knees by her +mother's bed-side, and kissed her hand, saying, "I have one great +favor to ask, dear mother, and I beseech you to grant it." + +"Well, my child," answered Lady Hastings, thinking she was going to +petition for a recall of her injunction against the marriage with +Marlow, "I have but one object in life, my dear Emily, and that is +your happiness. I am willing to make any sacrifice of personal +feelings for that object. What is it you desire?" + +"It is merely this," replied Emily, "that you would not put any trust +or confidence whatever in Mrs. Hazleton. That you would doubt her +representations, and confide nothing to her, for a short time at +least." + +Lady Hastings looked perfectly aghast. "What do yon mean, Emily?" she +said. "What can you mean? Put no trust in Mrs. Hazleton, my oldest and +dearest friend?" + +"She is not your friend," replied Emily, earnestly, "nor my friend, +nor my father's friend, but the enemy of every one in this house. I +have long had doubts--Marlow changed those doubts into suspicions, +and this day I have accidentally received proof positive of her cruel +machinations against my father, yourself, and me. This justifies me in +speaking as I now do, otherwise I should have remained silent still." + +"But explain, explain, my child," said Lady Hastings. "What has she +done? What are these proofs you talk of? I cannot comprehend at all +unless you explain." + +"There would be no time, even if I were not bound by a promise," +replied Emily; "but all I ask is that you suspend all trust and +confidence in Mrs. Hazleton for one short day--perhaps it may be +sooner; but I promise you that at the end of that time, if not before, +good Mr. Dixwell shall explain every thing to you, and place in your +hands a paper which will render all Mrs. Hazleton's conduct for the +last two years perfectly clear and distinct." + +"But do tell me something, at least, Emily," urged her mother. "I hate +to wait in suspense. You used to be very fond of Mrs. Hazleton and she +of you. When did these suspicions of her first begin, and how?" + +"Do you not remember a visit I made to her some time ago," replied +Emily, "when I remained with her for several days? Then I first +learned to doubt her. She then plotted and contrived to induce me to +do what would have been the most repugnant to your feelings and my +father's, as well as to my own. But moreover she came into my room one +night walking in her sleep, and all her bitter hatred showed itself +then." + +"Good gracious! What did she say? What did she do?" exclaimed Lady +Hastings, now thoroughly forgetting herself in the curiosity Emily's +words excited. + +Her daughter related all that had occurred on the occasion of Mrs. +Hazleton's sleeping visit to her room, and repeated her words as +nearly as she could recollect them. + +"But why, my dearest child, did you not tell us all this before?" +asked Lady Hastings. + +"Because the words were spoken in sleep," answered Emily, "and excited +at the time but a vague doubt. Sleep is full of delusions; and though +I thought the dream must be a strange one which could prompt such +feelings, yet still it might all be a troublous dream. It was not till +afterwards, when I saw cause to believe that Mrs. Hazleton wished to +influence me in a way which I thought wrong, that I began to suspect +the words that had come unconsciously from the depths of her secret +heart. Since then suspicion has increased every day, and now has +ripened into certainty. I tell you, dear mother, that good Mr. +Dixwell, whom you know and can trust, has the information as well as +myself. But we are both bound to be silent as to the particulars for +some hours more. I could not let Mrs. Hazleton be with you again, +however--remembering, as I do, that seldom has she crossed this +threshold or we crossed hers, without some evil befalling us--and not +say as much as I have said, to give you the only hint in my power of +facts which, if you knew them fully, you could judge of much better +than myself. Believe me, dear mother, that as soon as I am +permitted--and a very few hours will set me free--I will fly at once +to tell you all, and leave you and my father to decide and act as your +own good judgment shall direct." + +"You had better tell me first, Emily," replied Lady Hastings; "a woman +can always best understand the secrets of a woman's heart. I wish you +had not made any promise of secrecy; but as you have, so it must be. +Has Marlow had any share in this discovery?" she added, with some +slight jealousy of his influence over her daughter's mind. + +"Not in the least with that which I have made to-day," replied Emily; +"but I need not at all conceal from you that he has long suspected +Mrs. Hazleton of evil feelings and evil acts towards our whole family; +and that he believes that he has discovered almost to a certainty that +Mrs. Hazleton aided greatly in all the wrong and injury that has been +done my father. The object of his going to France was solely to trace +out the whole threads of the intrigue, and he went, not doubting in +the least that he should succeed in restoring to my parents all that +has been unjustly taken from them. That such a restoration must take +place, I now know; but what he has learned or what he has done I +cannot tell you, for I am not aware. I am sure, however, that if he +brings all he hopes about, it will be his greatest joy to have aided +to right you even in a small degree." + +"I do believe he is a very excellent and amiable young man," said Lady +Hastings thoughtfully. + +She seemed as if she were on the point of saying something farther on +the subject of Marlow's merits; but then checked herself, and added, +"But now indeed, Emily, I think I ought to send for Mrs. Hazleton." + +"But you promise me, dear mother," urged Emily eagerly, "that you will +put no faith in any thing she tells you, and will not confide in her +in any way till you have heard the whole?" + +"That I certainly will take care to avoid, my dear," replied Lady +Hastings. "After what you have told me, it would be madness to put any +confidence in her--especially when a few short hours will reveal all. +You are sure, Emily, that it will not be longer!" + +"Perfectly certain, my dear mother," answered her daughter. "I would +not have promised to refrain from speaking, had I not been certain +that the time for such painful concealment must be very short." + +"Well, then, my dear child, ring the bell," said Lady Hastings. "I +will be very guarded merely on your assurances, for I am sure that you +are always candid and sincere whatever your poor father may think." + +Emily rung the bell, and retired to her own room, repeating +mournfully to herself, "whatever my poor father may think!--Well, +well," she added, "the time will soon come when he will be undeceived, +and do his child justice. Alas, that it should ever have been +otherwise!" + +She found relief in tears; and while she wept in solitude Lady +Hastings prepared to receive Mrs. Hazleton with cold dignity. She had +fully resolved when Emily left her to be as silent as possible in +regard to every thing that had occurred that day, not to allude +directly or indirectly to the warning which had been given her, and to +leave Mrs. Hazleton to attribute her unwonted reserve to caprice or +any thing else she pleased. But the resolutions of Lady Hastings were +very fragile commodities when she fell into the hands of artful people +who knew her character, and one was then approaching not easily +frustrated in her designs. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[6] Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1850, by G. P. R. +James, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for +the Southern District of New-York. + +Continued from page 41. + + + + +NEWSPAPER POETS: CHARLES WELDON. + + +Some of the best poetry in America makes its appearance in the +newspapers, without pretension, and often without the names of its +authors. It is enough for them to write, and publish, whoever will may +take the fame. This indifference to public opinion does not arise from +any want of autorial vanity perhaps, but in most cases from that +modesty which an acquaintance with and self-measurement by the best +standards never fails to produce in sincere lovers of art. + +Recently a series of noticeable poems has from time to time appeared +in the _Tribune_, without any name or clue to their authorship except +the enigmatical initials O. O. They are by Mr. Charles Weldon; he is +still a young man, and the poems below, we have been told, are the +first that he wrote. Their niceties of rhythm in many cases would +reflect credit on the recognized masters of the poetic art. In this +respect they are remarkable; but perhaps their greatest charm is a +certain kind of subtle but masculine thought. They embody what most +men feel, but lack words to express; strange facts of impression and +consciousness, half-formed philosophies, and those glimpses of truth +which are revealed to the mind in certain moods, as stray rays of the +moon on a cloudy night. In this respect they resemble the best pieces +of Emerson, who seems to be a favorite with Mr. Weldon. In others they +remind us of the simplicity of "In Memoriam." By this we intend a +compliment rather than a charge of imitation. Mr. Weldon's thoughts +are too peculiar to come from any one but himself, and too original to +be cast in other moulds. We shall watch his progress with interest, +and are mistaken if he does not do something worthy to be long +remembered. + + Mysterious interpreter, + Dear Aid that God has given to me! + Instruct me, for I meanly err; + Inform me, for I dimly see. + + I know thee not: How can I know?-- + I sought thee long, and lately found, + Wearing the sable weeds of wo, + A figure cast upon the ground. + + _Thou_ wert that figure. Face to face + We have not stood: I dare not see + Thy features. We did once embrace, + And all my being went to thee. + + Henceforward never more apart + We wander. All thy steps are mine. + Thou hast my brain: thou hast my heart: + Thou hast my soul. And I am thine. + + ...*...*...*...* + + The Sun has his appointed place, + He never rests, and never tires; + And ever in serenest space + Burn the celestial, upper fires. + + They shine into the soul of man-- + Good works of God, but not the best-- + And he adores them as he can, + Cherishing a supremer guest. + + He does not know the alphabet + Of angel-language, who aspires + Against the sky his tube to set, + And spell them into worlds, those fires. + + ...*...*...*...* + + The Petrel, bird of storms, is found + Five hundred leagues from any ground: + He dwells upon the ocean-wave; + He screams above the sailor's grave. + + How many tens of centuries + Ere mankind built their theories, + Skimming the foamy tracks of whales, + Did he outride the stoutest gales, + + Upon three thousand miles of sea + From land to land perpetually + Rolling; and not a wave could stay, + From day to night, from night to day, + + Without an anthem? Where are gone + The anthem, and the sea-bird's moan? + Where is the splendor of the morn + That rose on seas, ere man was born? + + Where are the roses of the years, + Ere Mother Eve knew mother's cares? + Where is the clang of Tubal-Cain's + First brass, and where are Jubal's strains? + + Where is the rainbow Noah saw + And heard a law, or thought a law? + The rainbow fades, the beauty lives; + The creature falls, the race survives. + + ...*...*...*...* + + They tell us that the brain is mind, + Or the mind enters through the brain, + Even as light that is confined + And colored by the window pane. + + The act is fashioned by the head, + And thus man does or cannot do; + Through the red glass the light is red. + Through the blue glass the light is blue. + + They do not urge their world-machine + To sounder progress, nor explain + The difficulties that were seen + And felt before--pray what _is_ brain? + + All undiscoverable, how + Can they resolve the Whence or Why + Man grew to being in the Now, + Or what is his Futurity. + + ...*...*...*...* + + Down the world's steep, dread abysmal, + Icy as Spitzbergen's coast, + Through the night hours, long and dismal, + Ghost is calling unto ghost; + Crushed is every fairer promise, + And the good is taken from us; + Sorrow adds to former sorrow, + And, with every new to-morrow, + Some expected joy is lost. + + But I will not shrink nor murmur. + Though a spectre leads me on; + Now I set my footsteps firmer, + Face me now, thou skeleton! + Trance me with thy fleshless eyeholes-- + But I move to other viols + Than the rattling of thy bones, + As we tread the crazy stones, + For I see the risen sun. + + With my face behind my shadow + Thrown before the risen sun, + Life I follow o'er the meadow, + And an angel thrusts me on. + Every little flower below me + Seems to see me, seems to know me; + Every bird and cloud above me + Seems (or do I dream?) to love me, + While the Angel thrusts me on. + + Where the turf is softest, greenest, + Does that Angel thrust me on; + Where the landscape lies serenest + In the journey of the sun. + I shall pass through golden portals + With him, to the wise Immortals, + And behold the saints and sages + Who outshone their several ages, + For an Angel thrust them on. + + ...*...*...*...* + + The poem of the Universe + Nor rhythm has, nor rhyme; + Some god recites the wondrous song, + A stanza at a time. + + Great deeds he is foredoomed to do, + With Freedom's flag unfurled, + Who hears the echo of that song, + As it goes down the world. + + Great words he is compelled to speak, + Who understands the song; + He rises up like fifty men-- + Fifty good men and strong. + + A stanza for each century! + Now, heed it, all who can, + Who hears it, he, and only he, + Is the elected man. + + ...*...*...*...* + + The frost upon the window pane + Makes crystal pictures in the night; + The Earth, old mother, wears again + Her garment of the shining white. + We fly across the frozen snow + With bounding blood that will not pause. + Oh Heaven! we are far below-- + Oh Earth! above thee, with thy laws. + + The happy horses toss their bells; + The sleigh goes on into the far + And far away. (A whisper tells + Of flight to where the angels are.) + Glide forward. As a star that slips + Through space, we know a large desire; + And though our steeds are urged by whips, + We haste as they were urged by fire. + + Dash forward, Let us know no rest-- + But on, and on, and ever on, + Until the palace of the West + We enter, with the sinking sun. + And forward still, until the East + Releases the aspiring day; + And forward till the hours have ceased, + Oh Earth! now art thou far away. + + ...*...*...*...* + + The mountains truly have a glorious roughness; + I do not hear the pyramids are smooth; + The ocean grandly foams into abruptness; + Does God peal thunder down a well-oiled groove? + Thou, with a poet's roughness, friend, would'st quarrel; + Staggering o'er the ridges of ploughed speech, + You move uneasily. Well, the apparel + Of verse is trivial. Try the sense to reach. + + + + +THE COUNT MONTE-LEONE: OR, THE SPY IN SOCIETY.[7] + +TRANSLATED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL MONTHLY MAGAZINE FROM THE FRENCH OF +H. DE ST. GEORGES. + + +XX.--THE GOOD AND THE BAD ANGEL. + +The Count of Monte-Leone was cast down on receiving from the minister +an order to leave France. So many interests bound him to his country; +not that he cherished still the hope of being loved by Aminta, and of +one day giving her his name. His ruin had dissipated all his bright +dreams of future happiness. But he resided in the same place as the +marquise; he breathed the same air that she breathed. To live near her +thus, without seeing her, without telling her of that love which +consumed his soul, was indeed cruel--it was a bitter sorrow to him +every hour and every moment. But to remove himself from her and France +was to die. And then, his political work--that work, his life and +glory--that work which he loved because it avenged him of kings in +avenging his father, the victim of a king--in which he believed he saw +the regeneration of the world--that great work, in fine, of which the +confidence of almost all the _Ventes_ of Europe rendered him in some +way the master and arbiter--it was necessary to renounce at the very +moment of accomplishment. He must abandon his associates, his +brothers, who relied in the hour of danger on his devotion and energy, +and on the firm and bold will with which he had often controlled +chance, and by which he had produced safety from apparent shipwreck. +Had the Count been denounced? was the plan for the completion of which +he and his friends toiled known? He told Taddeo, Von Apsbery, and +d'Harcourt, of the order he had received, and they had consulted about +it. Their plans, as it will be seen, though difficult, were +susceptible of penetration. The house of the false Matheus as yet +appeared unsuspected, and that was a great point. It was the holy ark +in which were deposited the archives of the association, and the names +of the agents, and if it were violated, all was lost. The expulsion +from France of the Count might be the signal of the persecutions about +to be begun against Carbonarism. At once, by means of a spontaneity +which was one of the characteristics of the association, all the +_Vente_ of Paris were informed of the measures adopted against Count +Monte-Leone. The mighty serpent then coiled up its innumerable rings +and then its federal union apparently ceased in the whole capital. The +orders were transmitted, received, and executed the very night after +the decree of the minister had been signified to Monte-Leone. The +friends during the night could not fancy why the order had been given. +Monte-Leone seemed, as it were, struck by a new idea and said: +"Perhaps it has no political motive, but has been dictated by private +vengeance." He then paused, for he saw Taddeo's eyes fixed on him. He +continued--"I have a few hours left to ascertain it, and will do so, +not for my own sake, for whatever motive it may have, it will not +trouble me less, but for your sake, my friends, who will remain here +to defend the breach and to receive the enemy's attack." + +It was then resolved that up to the time of Monte-Leone's departure, +he should not again visit Matheus's house, nor receive the adieus of +his friends even at his hotel. All this took place on the night after +the interview of the stranger and M. H----, and on the day Louis +XVIII. received the visit of the Prince de Maulear. In relation to +private revenge the Count could think of no one except the beautiful +and passionate Duchess of Palma, who had loved him so devotedly that +she wished even to die for him. This passionate woman he had driven to +despair. For some time, though, calmness and resignation seemed to +occupy her once desolate heart. The Count rarely visited her, but +occasionally went to her hotel. Every time he did so, he found her +more reasonable and calm. The Duchess evidently avoided all allusion +to their old relations. She inquired calmly after his affairs, his +pleasures, and his friends. When her mind recurred to the past, as a +skiff drifts towards the river it has left, an effort of will was +required again to push it into the wide stream of worldliness and +indifference. The Count, however, was a delicate and acute observer, +and sounded the abyss of her mind through the flowers which grew +across its brink. The Count then went to his hotel at the _Champs +Elysees_, to clear up his suspicions, and to ascertain if his +expulsion had not been caused by the Duchess of Palma. Monte-Leone was +ushered in and found her with a few visitors. The features of the +Duchess evidently became flushed at the sound of Monte-Leone's name. +This, however, was but a flash of light in the dark, and the pale and +beautiful face of La Felina soon became cold and passionless. "I +expected you, Signor," said she, "when I learned from the Duke the +unpleasant event which has occurred. I did not think you would leave +the city without seeing me." + +"Signora," said the Count, "you were right. But you are mistaken in +calling the terrible blow, the almost humiliating attack to which I +have been subjected, a disagreeable event." + +"Certainly," said La Felina, "it is a catastrophe, and I can +understand how severe it must be. We will talk of it by and by, +however, when we are _alone_." + +The last words of the Duchess were a dismissal to those in the room, +and a few moments after they left. When the ambassadress had seen the +last visitor leave, she rang the bell by her side. A footman came, to +whom she said, "Remember I am at home to no one, not even to the Duke, +if he take it into his head to ask for me. Now," said she to the +Count, who was surprised at the precautions she had taken, "we are now +alone, and can talk together safely. You tell me you are ordered to +leave France?" + +"At once, without the assignment of any reason." + +"Have you not seen the Minister and asked an explanation?" + +"I did not think it dignified to do so. Besides, my legal protector in +France, the Duke of Palma, the Neapolitan ambassador, alone can defend +me. I am, too, unwilling to ask justice, even, far less a favor, from +his excellency." + +"You are right," said the Duchess. "You would not have been +successful, for at the instance of the Duke himself have you been +ordered away." + +The reply of the Duchess was clear and precise. The Count had every +reason to suspect she had participated in the affair, but wished to be +sure of it. + +"And has not the Duchess discovered why the Duke has done so?" + +"Certainly," said La Felina. "The Duke has little confidence in me, +not deigning to initiate me in the mysteries of diplomacy. This is not +the case, though, with the secretaries. Now," said she kindly, "you +must know that nothing which relates to you is uninteresting and I +therefore sought to discover why such a stern course had been +adopted." + +"Indeed." + +"Your Neapolitan enemies, or perhaps your _friends_, have caused this. +The court of Naples had, by means of the Duke of Palma, pointed you +out to that of France as maintaining communications with Italy, which +endangered the peace of the country. You are accused of being engaged +in a plot to control from Paris the insurrectionary movements of the +two Sicilies. You may," said she, "be innocent of those crimes, but +you have left terrible recollections behind you in Naples, and your +name will long continue a standard of revolt and sedition." + +"The court of Naples," said the Count, "does me honor by believing me +thus powerful and formidable. I do not see, however, the use of +bringing so dangerous a person to Italy." + +The Duchess said, "At home, it will be able to watch you more closely +than at a distance. I trust, however, we will be able to defeat their +plans and keep you here." + +"What say you?" said the Count. + +"I say that I am willing to abandon many schemes, but will not be +diverted from being useful to you--from defending you against your +enemies--nor cease to be what I once was, a secret providence, an AEgis +against danger. You know I learned this long ago, and am happy to be +again able to assume the part." + +The Count did not know what to think, and his face expressed doubt and +incredulity. + +"Well, well," said she bitterly, "you suspect, you doubt me, and do +not think me generous enough to return good for evil. So be it; judge +me by my actions rather than my words. The former will soon convince +you of my devotion." + +"What devotion, Signora, do you speak of?" said the Count with +curiosity. + +"Plainly speaking, of the most sublime of all devotion--of making you +happy at the expense of myself. I wish to retain you here in France, +where the happiness of which I speak exists, to keep you by her who +loves you and by whom you are loved." + +"What say you?" said the Count, "would you do so?" + +"I will try," said Felina. "I have been forced to adopt strange and +extreme means," added she, with a smile. "You know serious cases +require violent remedies, and I had no choice." + +"Felina," said the Count, with emotion, "I have just committed an +offence against you, for which I blush, and which my frankness alone +can excuse. When you were busy in my behalf I fancied you the cause of +my troubles." + +"That is very natural, and I am not at all surprised," said the +Duchess. "People in this world are not apt to repay evil with good. I, +however, do not wish to appear to you to be better than I am. Perhaps +I am less deserving than you think. Time, it is said, cures the +greatest mortifications, and dissipates the deepest passions. Three +months ago I did not think it possible that I could have acted thus on +your behalf. Then I was but a poor despised woman, passionate and +deserted. Now I am your friend, sincere and devoted." + +"You are an angel," said the Count, with a deep transport of +gratitude. + +"An angel," said the Duchess. "Then there are only good angels. But," +continued she, as if she were unwilling to suffer the Count to think +on what she had said, "let us descend from heaven, where you give me +so excellent a resting place, to earth. Speak to me of your plans and +of her you love." + +"Of her I love!" said the Count, with hesitation. + +"Certainly; have not all your old hopes returned? Has not the death of +the Marquis revived your old passion?" + +"Felina," said the Count, "should I talk to you of such matters?" + +"Why not? am I not the first to mention them? You must, from my +_sang-froid_, see that I can now listen to your confessions and hear +all your tender sentiments. The French proverb says: _'Il n'y a que le +premier pas qui coute_;'[8] I have already taken that. Treat me as a +sister, but as a sister you love, and let me at least have the +satisfaction of knowing that my self-denial has made you happy." + +"Happy!" said the Count, relapsing into sad thoughts, "may I always be +happy, as you seem to wish me! I do not know that I may not hope some +day for her to share my fate. She once refused my hand. I do not know +but that her heart at last listens to mine; but that which Count +Monte-Leone, amid all his luxury, once could offer, the poor and +exiled Italian does not now propose." + +"Really," said Felina, "I am predestined to make you happy. By a +single word I am about to dissipate the clouds around you, and light +up your brow and heart with joy." + +"That is impossible," said the Count. "I henceforth have nothing, and +have lost even hope." + +"The present," said the Duchess, "is less sombre than you think it. +You are yet rich, almost as you ever were." + +The features of the Count expressed the greatest astonishment. + +"Listen to me," said the Duchess. "Yesterday one of my Neapolitan +friends came to see me. He spoke of you, and I did not conceal the +interest with which you had inspired me. He told me he had a +confidential letter for Count Monte-Leone from his banker, Antonio +Lamberti. The man is not so bad as he is thought to be; for, forced to +give way before the burden of his obligations, he only pretended to +fail. United by friendship, and especially by political opinions, with +you, he has saved your fortune, and will send you the income until he +can arrange his affairs and send you the capital." + +"Can this be true?" said the Count, beside himself. + +"All this can be effected only on certain conditions, that you will +answer the letter of Lamberti, which now should be at your hotel." + +Monte-Leone could not repress his joy. "Rich," said he; "yet rich! +Fortune has now its value for _her_ sake." + +Scarcely had he uttered the last word when the face of the Duchess +changed its expression. Her eyes glared with madness, and a mortal +pallor covered her face. + +"Excuse me," said the Count, as he saw this change. This was however +but a flash, and by her powerful self-control Mme. de Palma became +calm and smiling. She said "convalescents sometimes have relapses. +Time is indispensable for a radical cure. The storm has passed, and +the old nature reappears but for a moment, and gives place to the new +but true friend, who rejoices with you at your unanticipated good +fortune. It will secure your happiness." + +"My friend," added she, reaching out her hand to Monte-Leone, "you +must be impatient to ascertain if what I have said is true. Go home, +and you will find my prediction correct." + +"Felina," said the Count, "if your hopes are not realized, if you be +not again my good star, I shall not be less grateful to you." + +"Gratitude is cold, indeed," said Felina. "I ask your friendship." + +"It is all yours," said the Count. + +"Well, go now," said the Duchess, with a smile. + +She was right, for when he reached his hotel, his old and faithful +Giacomo, who, since his master's misfortune, had discharged his +servants, and now performed all his functions, with the addition of +those of valet, factotum, and cook, was busy with preparations for the +departure of Monte-Leone. The old man gave him a letter, saying that +it had been brought during his absence. The Count opened it, and read +as follows: + +"COUNT MONTE-LEONE: You will lose nothing by Antonio Lamberti. He is +not a person to destroy one of our great association. You will find +within a check for fifty thousand livres, drawn in your favor by one +of the first houses in Naples, on the house of Casimer Perier of +Paris. This is the interest at five per cent. on the million deposited +by you with Antonio Lamberti. Every year the same sum will be paid +down, and before six months you will receive security for your +principal. One condition only is interposed on the return of your +fortune. This is indispensable--that you maintain the most profound +secrecy in relation to your new resources, and attribute them to any +other than the real cause. The least indiscretion on your part will +awake attention in relation to means employed to save from the wreck +of Antonio Lamberti your own fortune." + +This letter was signed, _A Brother of the Venta of Castel-a-Mare_. + +Count Monte-Leone, though master of himself in adversity, could not +repress his joy as he read this saving letter. As he had said at the +house of La Felina, it was not for himself but for another that he +rejoiced at this return of prosperity. + +"A fine time, indeed, to be laughing," said Giacomo, ill-tempered as +possible, "when we are being driven from the country as if we were +spotted with plague. Only think, a Monte-Leone expelled, when his +ancestor, Andrea Monte-Leone, Viceroy of Sicily, received royal honors +in every town he passed through. You, however, have no shame. No, +Signor," added he, as he saw Monte-Leone smiling. "Had I been in your +place, I would have picked a quarrel and killed the damned minister +who has forced us to resume our wandering gipsy life. Besides we are +ruined gipsies. At my age to begin my wanderings, to be badly lodged, +badly fed, like the servant of a pedler. If I were only twenty I would +undertake a game of dagger-play with my minister." + +"That is very fine, Giacomo," said Monte-Leone, "but the dagger is not +the fashion in France. As for your apprehensions of the future, you +may get rid of them by leaving me." + +The wrath of the old man disappeared at these words of his master, and +great tears streamed down his furrowed cheeks. + +"Leave you! I leave you, when you are lost and ruined, Count?" said +the good man. "Your father would not have spoken thus to me." + +"Come, come, old boy, you know well enough I cannot get on without +you. If you did not scold me every day, if you did not bark +everlastingly at me, like those old servants to whom age gives +impunity--if I did not hear every morning and night your magisterial +reprimands, I would have fancied I missed some luxury. Be easy, +however, Giacomo. You saw me happy just now because my sky began to +grow bright, because our fortune is about to change, because we are +nearer good fortune than you thought." + +Full of these happy ideas, and anxious to take advantage of the few +hours yet under his control, in case his departure should be enforced, +the Count went to the hotel of the Prince. His heart beat violently +when he was shown into the saloon of the Marquise, and he was glad +that her not being in the room enabled him to repress his agitation. +Aminta came in soon after. When Monte-Leone was announced, she felt +almost as he had done. + +She spoke first, but with a voice full of agitation. "We had almost +despaired of seeing you, Count, for the Prince told me you were about +to go. You have however neglected us for so long a time that we knew +not whether we might expect you to bid us adieu." + +The fact was, that since the news of his ruin the Count had not called +to see Aminta. He felt that every interview made his departure more +painful and the wreck of his hopes more terrible. + +"Madame," said he, without replying immediately to her kind reproach, +"you are not mistaken, for an exile comes to bid you farewell. That +exile, however, will bear away a perpetual memory of your kindness." + +"You will see _our_ country," said the Marquise, with an effort. + +"I shall see my country, but not that which made it dear to me." + +"You will find many friends there," said the Marquise, becoming more +and more troubled. + +"Friends are like swallows, Signora, they love the summer, but leave +when winter comes." + +"You must have thought the Prince and myself were like them," said +Aminta, "and that winter was come. You have not been for a long time +to see us." + +"Ah, Signora, had I known--had I guessed--such a sympathy would have +made me wish for misfortune." + +"No, Count, not so. It should, however, aid you to bear it." + +"There are misfortunes," said the Count, "which often disturb the +strongest mind and destroy the greatest courage." + +"Ah, Signor, should the loss of a fortune cause such regret?" + +"But what if the loss of fortune," continued the Count, "involved that +of the only blessing dreamed of--if this loss deprived you even of the +right to be happy--then, Signora, do you understand, what would be the +effect of such a loss?" + +The future fate of the Count was thus exhibited to Aminta. She saw at +once that this noble and energetic man, born to command, must be +proscribed, wandering, and wretched. The idea was too much for her +heart, already crushed by the idea of a separation which became every +moment more painful to her, and she therefore formed in her mind a +generous resolution. + +"Signor," said she, "there are hearts which are attracted rather than +alienated by misfortune, and sentiments which they would conceal from +the happy, they confess to those who suffer." + +Monte-Leone, perfectly overcome, fell at the Marquise's feet. He was +about to confess the unexpected good fortune which had befallen him. +He, however, forgot all, and covered the hand which the Marquise +abandoned to him with kisses. The Prince de Maulear entered, and +appeared surprised but not offended by what he saw. "Do not disturb +yourself, dear Count,--I know the meaning of all that, and expected +it. But if, however, you are making an exhibition of your despair and +misery, you have lost your time; for you will not go. The King places +a high estimate on you, and will not forget you. He told me so." + + +XXI.--THE SECRET PANEL. + +Three hours after the revelation made to M. H---- by his mysterious +visitor in the cabinet of the chief of the political police, a man +about fifty years of age rang at the door of a room on the second +story of a furnished house in Jacob-street. He looked like a +substantial citizen with a property of fifty thousand francs--or an +income of 2,500 francs at five per cent. The mulberry frock of this +man, over a vest of yellow silk, spotted with snuff, and a cravat of +white mousseline, with gloves of sea-green, and pantaloons of brown +cloth twisted like a cork-screw around his legs, an ivory-headed cane, +and all the _et cetera_, might appropriately belong to a shopkeeper, +retired from business, living in some _thebaide_ of the streets +d'Enfer or Vaugirard, and sustaining their intellects by the leaders +of "The White Flag" of Martainville, and by witnessing once a year +some chef-d'oeuvre of Picard at the Odeon. + +We will make no conjectures about the social position of this +gentleman,--he will hereafter explain himself. Almost before the bell +he rang had ceased to sound, the door was opened by another person. +The latter was tall, dark and athletic, so that we would really have +taken him for the lover of Mlle. Celestine Crepineau, had he worn the +magnificent moustache and voluminous whiskers of the bear-hunter, +which the lady admired so much. His costume, too, was different from +that of the Spaniard. He wore a blue frock over his chest, at the +bottom hole of which was a bit of red ribbon, not a little discolored. + +"Ah! M. Morisseau," said the inmate of the room, "you are welcome, but +late. The dinner is cold. And," added he in a low tone, "the dinner of +_a brigand of the Loire_, as they call such fragments of the imperial +guard as myself, must be hot, it being too small to eat in any other +way." + +"I think it always excellent, Monsieur _Rhinoceros_," said Morisseau. + +"Permit me," said the brigand of the Loire,--for so the man called +himself--"My name is not Rhinoceros. A certain African animal has that +beautiful name, as I have often told you during the many games of +_dominoes_ we have played together at the _Cafe Lemblin_, whither you +are attracted by my company. My name is _Rinoccio--Paolo Rinoccio_, +born in Corsica, as my foreign accent tells you. I am the countryman +of _him_." He made a military salute. "I served ten years beneath the +Eagles. You, too, adore our Emperor. Each Buonapartist has a hand for +his brother," continued he, shaking that of Morisseau. "Already +thinking alike, eight days ago, over M. Lemblin's cognac, we swore +eternal friendship. You, therefore, deigned to visit the warrior in +his tent, in Jacob-street, to share the bread and soup of the soldier, +and drink to the return of _him_ of Austerlitz." + +"M. Rhinoceros,--no, no, Rhino,--damn the name," said the Corsican's +guest, "it is indeed an honor for me to sit at the table of so brave a +man--for that reason, I accepted your invitation." + +"Sit down, then, and let us drink to the health of the little +corporal." + +As he spoke he filled two glasses and emptied his own. M. Morisseau +simply moistened his lips. "The Emperor," he said, on receiving his +part of the soup, "the Emperor, M. Rhino, was my god." + +"And that of France," said the Corsican. + +"He was my god and my best customer; I had the honor to be his +furrier." + +"His what?" + +"His furrier. I furnished his majesty's robes--not only his own, but +those of all the kings he made. You know the Emperor used to make a +king a year, and he used to insist that all his brothers and friends +should reign only in my robes. I had the honor, therefore, of wrapping +up the august forms of Kings Louis, Joseph, Jerome, Bernadotte and +Murat, without particularizing the sovereign princes, grand dukes, and +grand judges, who to please _him_ dealt with me." + +"To _his_ health," said the Corsican, and he emptied the second glass. +"You never served, Monsieur Morisseau?" + +"Yes," said the furrier, "I marched beneath the imperial eagles. I +belonged to the glorious army of the _Sambre_ and _Meuse_. I even now +suffer in my _femur_." + +"From a ball?" + +"No, from the rheumatism, contracted during a forced march during the +winter of '93. Having been surprised during the night by the enemy, I +had not time to dress myself comfortably, and was compelled to march +fifteen leagues barefooted, and in my drawers. That, by the bye, was +the usual uniform of our army. Those who were best dressed only wore +shoes and pantaloons. To dress thus, though, something more than our +pay was necessary, which we never got." + +"You were then discharged?" + +"Yes, for my rheumatism became very severe. But for it I might now be +a general. I asked a pension as having been wounded in service. It +was, however, refused me--a great injustice." + +"The soup is gone. It is a very indigestible food, and we must +therefore attack the enemy in his strong-holds. Two glasses of vin de +Beaume will settle him." + +"But," said Morisseau, as he saw his host filling up his glass, "my +head is very weak, and I have not gotten drunk since I left the +service." + +"So be it, dear Morisseau. I will go for the second service, which the +restorateur leaves in the kitchen. Excuse my having no servant, but +two old soldiers like us can do without attendants." + +Rinoccio went into the next room. When Morisseau was alone he took a +little vial from his pocket, opened it, and poured a few drops into +the Corsican's glass, the third portion of the contents of which he +had swallowed. Scarcely had he replaced the vial when the Corsican +entered, having a plate on which were two large pork chops, with a +gravy of _cornichons_. "The second entry will make a man drink like a +fish," said the Corsican. + +"Let us drink, then," said Morisseau, knocking his glass against his +host's. + +"Let us drink," said the latter; and Morisseau's eyes glared as he saw +him bear the glass to his lips. His joy, however, was short. "Let us +drink something better than this," said the Corsican, who, as he +spoke, threw away the contents of his glass. "I have some champagne +given me by my General, one of the old guard, and I shall never find a +more suitable occasion to uncork it." He took from a shelf near the +table a long wire-fastened bottle, covered with a venerable dust. + +Morisseau was not yet in despair, for he relied for an opportunity to +use his vial on the third service. Paolo dexterously uncorked the +bottle, and poured out a glass of perfumed wine to the imperial +furrier, who, when he had knocked his glass against the Corsican's, +drank it down, while the latter, just when he got it to his mouth, saw +a fragment of cork on its brim. He took it out with his knife, lifted +up the glass, and said: "To the Emperor. May he whom the enemies call +the Corsican Ogre, soon eat up the Prussians, Austrians, and beggarly +Cossacks. May he cut them into cat's-meat. May he cut off the _ailles +de Pigeon_ of all the _Voltigeurs de Louis XVI._ restored by the +Bourbons. May he--" + +Rinoccio paused in his speech, for his guest looked pale and +disturbed, and seemed about to go to sleep. + +"_Per Bacco!_" said M. Morisseau, at once speaking the purest Italian, +"what did that devil give me to drink?" + +"Probably," said the Corsican, in the same tongue, "what you would +have given me, had I not taken care to empty in the fireplace the +glass into which you had poured some narcotic or other." + +"Christ!" said the furrier, "the beggar saw me!" + +"Perfectly, Signor Pignana." + +"He knows me," said the false furrier, attempting to rise. + +The Corsican, however, pushed him back, and Pignana sank stupidly on +his seat. + +"Curse you, Stenio, you shall pay for this!..." + +"Ah, ah," said the Corsican, "so two played at the same game. Funny! +and we were both good actors. I do not ask you," continued he, +ironically, "why you came hither, and why you consented to share my +frugal meal, for I know already, and will tell you. You met me in +Paris, my presence annoyed you and your friends, and I know why. You +watched and pursued me to find where I lived, and you succeeded. You +joined me at the Cafe Lemblin, and we neither seemed to recognize each +other. I asked you to dine, and you accepted my invitation, for with +the drug you have you intended to put me to sleep, and expected then +to be able to examine all my plans. You would have failed, Signor +Pignana, for I do not live in this house. I took this room only for +your especial benefit, and intend to give it up to-morrow. Do not, +therefore, be disturbed, my good fellow; but go to sleep, and digest +your dinner." + +"But I will not go to sleep," said Signor Pignana, attempting again to +rise, "I will not go to sleep here, in the house of a man I think +capable of any thing." + +"Not exactly that," said the Corsican, "but I am capable of much." + +"What do you wish to do with me?" said Pignana, articulating with +great pain, for his tongue began to grow heavy and his ideas confused. + +"That you must not know; but do not be afraid, your life and health +being dear to me. I would not deprive the Carbonari of so skilful an +agent, who is so daring and prudent as you are. Lest, however, you +should be uneasy and your sleep be troubled, I will tell you what I +mean, and you will yourself admire my plan." + +Half stupid with sleep and terror, Pignana glared at Stenio Salvatori. + +"Here," said he, lifting up Pignana from the floor and placing him on +a kind of sofa, "lie there, and then you can both sleep better and +hear me more at your ease. You will for twelve hours have the most +pleasant dreams imaginable. A glass will make you sleep twelve +hours--a bottle for eternity." Pignana made a gesture expressive of +the greatest terror. "Do not be so uneasy," said Stenio, "and remember +you have had only a glass. To-morrow, at six o'clock, you will wake +up, with a slight headache, but in other respects perfectly well. Then +the master of the house will come to ask after you. If you are +generous, you will give him something to drink your health. Otherwise +you will thank him and go, for all has been paid for. You see I do +things genteelly, and know how to receive my friends. You will then +leave this house, and go about your usual business, and will never +mention this matter." + +"Eh? who will prevent me?" muttered Pignana. + +"Oh, you will take care not to do so. For if you own that you have +been duped, your confederates will think you a fool, and dismiss you +without wages. Now this would be bad--just on the eve of their +success. If you tell them how long you have slept, they will think you +an idiot, for I never saw any one take to champagne so kindly as you +did just now, my dear Pignana. Now, adieu, for I must go. Be still," +said he, pushing Pignana down with all his strength. "No, no, do not +take the trouble to go with me--you are too kind. Go to sleep, go to +sleep, go to sleep, my dear fellow." He left the room, and sleep took +possession of its prey. Pignana felt his ideas grow gradually more +confused, and his real life pass away. A few minutes after Stenio's +departure, M. Pignana was sound asleep. Stenio then slowly opened the +door of the room, and glided like a shadow over the floor to the +sleeper, into whose pockets he placed his hand. "Nothing here--not +here. The devil, can it be that it is not about him!" A smile of +triumph, however, soon appeared on his lips, for he had found what he +wanted. He discovered a kind of pocket in the waistcoat of the false +tradesman, and felt in it. "Here it is!" said he. Pignana moved. +Stenio paused, and then took from the sleeper's pocket a door-key. He +then left, and did not return.... + +While the events recorded above were transpiring, about eight o'clock +on the evening, in Jacob-street, Mlle. Celestine Crepineau waited as +Desdemona might have done for Othello, singing the melancholy romance +of "The Willow." This was to console her for the prolonged absence of +the bear-hunter, who had not been during the whole day in her lodge. +The finger of Celestine furtively wiped away the tears which dripped +down her long aquiline nose. Hope now and then arose in her heart, but +that hope was betrayed. A man with a stern voice asked for Dr. +Matheus, and went to his room. Seven times hope was enkindled in her +heart only to be disappointed. She became angry, and as she could not +confess to that passion in relation to the bear-hunter, and must have +some pretext, she vented her temper on the Doctor's visitors. "How +soon will this be over?" said she. "All Paris has come this evening to +see my handsome lodger. What brings all these _savans_ hither? They +will keep me awake until late hours, and then Mr. Nunez will say +maliciously in the morning, 'Your eyes, Mlle. Celestine, are very +heavy this morning. What have you been dreaming?' Then he will take +liberties altogether inconvenient to a person of my sex." + +The seven blows on the knocker had announced the union of eight +persons, including Von Apsberg, in the ground-floor parlor, the +apartment through which the unfortunate Pignana used to go and come. +Two of the Doctor's friends were d'Harcourt and Taddeo Rovero. The +others we will tell by and by. + +"Gentlemen," said Von Apsberg, when they were in council, "our meeting +should, as usual, be presided over by Count Monte-Leone. Since, +however, the order of expulsion, of which he was notified and which +almost immediately was revoked, for some unknown reason, it seemed +best that he should not be present. Monte-Leone is the head of the +great brotherhood of Carbonarism. We therefore propose to render a +succinct account of its situation in Europe, and particularly in +France. Its position is peculiar, and we cannot deny that its +existence is threatened on all sides. Secret and shrewd spies have +penetrated in Germany the secret labors of our three societies, _The +Tugenbund_ at Berlin, _The Burschenschaft_ and _The Teutonia_ at +Vienna and Leipsic. Their chiefs, Johan and Plischer, have been +arrested." + +"Death to spies!" said Matheus's seven hearers. + +"This is not all," continued Matheus. "The plans of Count Labisbel +have failed in Spain, and the Italian _vente_ have been discovered by +a shrewd police. The prisons of Naples, Venice, and Milan are already +filled with our brethren." + +There was consternation on every face. + +"We are assured," said Matheus, "that the informations on which these +arrests have been made have come from Paris. Now, this information +could only have been obtained from our secret papers, as we alone in +France correspond with the supreme venta of Europe. To these papers +none have access but four brothers, Monte-Leone, Rovero, d'Harcourt, +and myself. We inform you of these facts in obedience to our articles +of association, that you may place us four on trial." + +These words were uttered with deep excitement. The three persons +present of the four mentioned by Von Apsberg sat still, and the others +rose. + +"On my honor and conscience," said General A----, "I declare that such +an idea is unworthy of you and us." The banker F----, Count de Ch----, +a Peer of France, Ober the merchant, the lawyer B----, and professor +C----, said the same. They then gave their hands affectionately to the +three friends, who acknowledged their salute. + +"Let the denunciation come whence it may, our brothers yet are victims +of it. They suffer for us," said Taddeo, "and we will act for them." + +"Yes," said Von Apsberg, "we will act, and decidedly, for time presses +us, and we must anticipate our enemies unless we would be anticipated. +Let all opinions centre, then, without hesitation, on the one +principle which is the basis and keystone of Carbonarism, viz., '_That +might is not right--that the kings of Europe reign either by virtue of +a convention or by virtue of arms. The Bourbons in France reign by +virtue of the allied sovereigns. We therefore declare that the +Carbonari have associated to restore to all the nations of the +continent, and to France especially, the free exercise of the right to +choose the government which suits them best. We all swear to maintain +this principle!_" + +"We swear," said the Carbonari. + +"Gentlemen," said Von Apsberg, "the time of action will be fixed by +Count Monte-Leone at a meeting to take place January 25th, 1820, in +the masonic lodge of _The Friends of Truth_. Until then let each one +individually contribute to do all he can towards the reconstruction of +our new edifice from the ruins of the old." + +"I take charge of the army," said General A----, "the regiments in +garrison at Befort are ours, and the others will follow their +example." + +"I take charge of the colleges," said professor C----. + +The lawyer B---- said, "We have many friends in the bar." + +Count Ch---- said, "And in the chamber of peers." + +The banker F---- added, "There will be no scarcity of money." + +The last who spoke was the merchant Ober, who said, "The influence of +trade is on our side." + +Von Apsberg said, "We will not meet again till the twenty-fifth of +January, 1820. The supreme _vente_, composed of the Count, Rovero, the +Viscount, and myself, will communicate only with the five central +_ventas_ of Paris, the representative of which you are. Be active, +then, in the _ventas_ which depend on you, members of which are +ignorant of your identity. Make yourself known to but one member of +each venta, and communicate with Count Monte-Leone only in that +brilliant society to which the high position of him and of yourselves +gives access, and where the government will least suspect the +existence of treason. Confide the rolls of our ventas, and of our new +associates to him alone, for it is his duty to deposit them among our +archives. Now, brethren of right and duty, confide alone in +Monte-Leone, the soul of honor and of prudence. To all others, silence +or death." + +"Silence or death," repeated his seven associates, and their voices +sounded like the chorus of a solemn hymn.... + +A few minutes after the room was deserted. The Carbonari had gone, and +Matheus returned to his laboratory. The door of the library was then +opened gently, and two men were seen concealed behind the secret +panel. They were H----, the chief of the political police, and the +bear-hunter, the brigand of the Loire, or Stenio Salvatori. + +"I have them," said M. H----. + +"Not yet," said Stenio, "but thanks to our associate, Count +Monte-Leone, by whose aid I have brought you hither...." + +The door was shut without noise.... + +The next day, when he awoke, Pignana found the key of the room in his +pocket. + + +BOOK II. + + +PART II.--I. CLOUDS IN THE HORIZON. + +A month had rolled by since the Carbonari had met at the house of Von +Apsberg. They were as prudent as possible. There was no meeting of the +members of this vast society, yet such were the advantages of its +mechanism, that communication and intercourse was never interrupted +for a day. All action emanated from the high _venta_, which was known +only to the presidents of the seven central ventas, through whom its +instructions were communicated by means of _agents_ to the secondary +ventas; a few men where thus enabled to discipline ten thousand. Count +Monte-Leone was the soul of all this enterprise, and on him all the +threads of this huge net united. The Count, the invisible providence +of this invisible world, alone could give it external life and utter +the _fiat lux_ of eternity. More pleasant and delightful ideas had +possession of the Count. The future occupied him with a force and +intensity he thought most contradictory to his political duties. Since +Aminta had unveiled her heart to him, she had, as it were, returned to +her usual bearing. The life of Monte-Leone, though, was entirely +changed. The happiness he had long desired was about to dawn on him. +In a few months he would be the husband of that Aminta he had so much +loved and so regretted. The Count was received almost as a son by the +Prince, and as a husband by Aminta. Taddeo looked on him entirely as a +brother, and began to realize the happiest dream of his life--the +marriage he had so desired. Gladly availing himself of the liberty +accorded him, of coming familiarly to the hotel of the Prince de +Maulear, the Count was perfectly happy. He passed the whole day there, +and when night came mingled most unwillingly with society. The order +of expulsion which he had received, and which had been so mysteriously +revoked, added to the interest which had been entertained for him by +all Paris. The opposition was especially attentive to him, for he was +esteemed a decided enemy of the French Government, and of all +monarchies. This ostracism which he had escaped, attracted the +attention to him, for which the people of Paris were already prepared, +by the history of his Neapolitan adventures. In 1850 he would have +been called the lion of the day, and the greatest curiosity would have +been paid to all his adventures. So great was the attention excited by +the account of Monte-Leone's loss of fortune, that people were +surprised to see him resume his usual mode of life, keep possession of +his hotel, indulge in the same expenses of carriages, attendants, etc. +He altered nothing, not even the luxury of his house, from what had +been its condition before the papers and he himself had announced that +the failure of Lamberti made him entirely poor, and forced him to sell +his diamonds and other personal property to be able to live, as +cheaply as possible. + +The Count, who had been forced to conceal the manner in which his +property had been restored, told his friends, Taddeo, d'Harcourt and +Von Apsberg, that certain important funds had been recovered from the +general wreck; and they, delighted with his good fortune, did not fail +to congratulate him. The world was more curious; the enemies of the +Count especially, who were ultra-monarchists, were numerous, active, +and malicious. They wrote to Naples, and ascertained that the ruin of +Monte-Leone was total, acquiring also certainty that he had no funds +in any European bank, and no property. They therefore made an outcry +of astonishment when they saw all the external appearance of opulence +in the possession of one they knew without the means of so splendid +and imposing an establishment. The Count knew nothing of this, and +continued his old life. It is, all know, true that rumors of this kind +reach their object last of all, when they are calculated to be +injurious. + +One of the dominant ideas which actuated us in the preparation of this +history, we can here dwell upon, and we ask leave to do so briefly. +There exists in French society, polished and elegant as it is, a +hideous monster known to all, though no one disturbs it. Its ravages +are great; almost incalculable. It saps reputations, poisons, +dishonors, and defiles the splendor of the most estimable fame. This +minotaurus, which devours so many innocent persons, is especially +fearful, because its blows are terrible. It presents itself under the +mildest and gentlest forms, and is received every where in the city. +We find it in our rooms, in the interior of our families, in the +palaces of the opulent, and the garrets of the poor. It has no name, +being a mere figure of speech, a very word. It is composed of but one +phrase, and is called--THEY SAY. "Do you know such a one?" is often +asked, and the person is pointed out. + +"_No_; but they say his morals are very bad. He has had strange +adventures, and his family is very unhappy." + +"Are you sure?" + +"No, I know nothing about it. But they say so." + +"This young woman, so beautiful, so brilliant, so much admired--Do you +know her?" + +"No. _They say_ that it is not difficult to please her, and that more +than one has done so." + +"But she appears so decent, so reserved." + +"Certainly; but _they say_----" + +"Do not trust that gentleman who has such credit and is thought so +rich. Be on your guard--" + +"Bah! his fortune is immense: see what an establishment he has." + +"Yes! But _they say_ he is very much involved." + +"Do you know the fact?" + +"Not I. _They say_ though--" + +This _they say_ is heard in every relation of life. It is deadly +mortal, and not to be grasped. It goes hither and thither, strikes and +kills manly honor, female virtue, without either sex being ever +conscious of the injury done. Each as he reads these lines will +remember cases illustrating the truth of what we say. The Count +suffered from the influence of the evil we mention; and as all were +ignorant whence his fortune came, each one adopted a thousand +conjectures and suspicions, which, as is always the case, were most +malicious. This is the way of the world. Now the consequences of this +_they say_ are plain. By its means they had dared to attack a +reputation which hitherto had been considered unassailable. This _they +say_ came in the end. The Marquise de Maulear was the only person who +knew whence came the resources of Monte-Leone; and after he had +confided to her, the charming woman had said, "It was very wrong in +you not to tell me previously of your good fortune. For instance, when +I thought you a fugitive and ruined, I suffered you to read my heart. +Had you told me this before, you would not have seen within it." + +"Do not make me regret my misery which procured me such exquisite +pleasure as knowing that you loved me." + +In the long and pleasant conversations of the Count and Marquise, he +was frequently embarrassed in relation to the duties imposed on him as +chief of the _Carbonari_. Aminta never dared to speak to him in +relation to that subject, though she was more anxious about it. On +this point alone the Count was impenetrable, avoiding with care all +that related to his political plans, and giving the Marquise no +information about them. + +One day Aminta, the Prince de Maulear, the Countess of Grandmesnil, +and Taddeo, were in the drawing-room. The Countess did not love the +young Marquise, whom she looked on as the indirect cause of her +nephew's death. Neither did she love the Count, whose attentions to +Aminta were by no means to her taste. The old lady was aware of +Monte-Leone's opinions, and lost no opportunity to open all her +batteries on liberals, jacobins and foreigners, who sought to make +France the receptacle of the trouble and contests of which it had +already drank so deeply. The Countess said-- + +"You know the news, brother?" The Prince de Maulear was then playing a +game of chess with Monte-Leone. "We have now, thank God and M. Angles, +one miserable Jacobin the less to deal with." + +"Check to your king!" said the Prince to Monte-Leone. + +"To be sure," said she, following out the tenor of her own thoughts, +"it would be check to the King, if the opinions of those persons were +to triumph. M. Angles, however, watches over them and us." + +For an instant the Count neglected his game. He as well as Taddeo +heard what she had said, and both seemed anxious to hear her out. + +"May I venture to inquire, Countess," said the Count, holding his +piece in his hand, and hesitating to place it on the board, "who is +the terrible Jacobin from whom the world is delivered?" + +"One of the most dangerous alive, Count," said the old lady, with an +air of triumph. "The man, it is said, had his connections established +through the whole army." + +"Check to your king," said the Prince, who was weary of the delay. + +"True," said the Count, with visible abstraction; and he played his +game so badly that the Prince won it without difficulty. The latter +said: + +"Check-mate--victory--victory!" + +"Yes, brother," said the Countess, "a great victory. For the Jacobin +is a general. General B----, one of those vile Buonapartists, to whom, +at a time like this, a regiment should never have been trusted." + +The Count and Taddeo grew pale when they heard the General's name. He +was one of the seven chiefs of ventas at the house of Von Apsberg. + +"Why was the General arrested?" said the Prince. + +"Oh, some plot. The Jacobins and Buonapartists are always at that +business. The details are not yet known. It is certain, however, that +he was arrested this morning at his hotel. I heard so at the Duchess +de Feltre's, whom I visited to-day." + +"Strange!" said the Prince; "on the day before yesterday he gave a +ball. Were you not there, Count?" said he to Monte-Leone. + +"Yes," said the Count; "I was one of the last to leave. It was then +two o'clock in the morning." + +"At noon his generalship was in the Conciergerie. A bad business for +him, for the government has decided to use the greatest severity +against all conspirators. Happily, the police is very expert, and it +is said of every three conspirators one is a spy. A thing very +satisfactory to society, but decidedly unfortunate for the plotters." + +"I think," said the Count, indignantly, "that the conspirators are +calumniated. They are bound by such oaths, and are so devoted to their +opinions, that there can be but few traitors among them." + +"My dear Count," said the Prince, "the spirit of Monte-Leone of Castle +del Uovo is yet visible, and you do not seem to have recovered from +your old disease. When you speak of conspirators you seem to defend +your friends. I hope, however, for your sake, and for the sake of +those who love you," said he, pointing to Aminta, "that you have +renounced for ever your old enterprises. His Majesty, Louis XVIII., +the other day spoke highly of you, relying much on your devotion, and +he cannot have to do with an ingrate." + +"Ah!" said Taddeo, with stupefaction, as he looked at his associate, +"the King of France relies on the devotion of Monte-Leone!" + +"I know not why," said the Count, not a little moved by this _brevet_ +of royalism. "I confess, though, that I shall be surprised to give any +chagrin or uneasiness to my friends." + +These words were in a manner wrung from the Count by the paleness and +agitation of Aminta since the commencement of the conversation. This +new declaration increased Taddeo's surprise. + +"Well, well," said the Prince, "there is pardon for every sin. We +know, and we look on you as a wandering sheep returned to the fold. +See, however, what are the consequences of a bad reputation. An +insurrection breaks out in Italy, and you are at once thought to be +its accomplice in France. You are about to be expelled from the +country and treated as an enemy, when we acquire a certainty. What do +I say? when the King of France and his ministers swear by you alone!" + +This series of praises in relation to his royalty evidently increased +the bad humor of the Count, as well as the astonishment of Taddeo. +Monte-Leone was about to reply, even though he destroyed his influence +with the Prince and Marquise. He was about to repel the fanciful +compliments to his loyalty, when the Countess of Grandmesnil folded up +her work. This was the usual signal for dispersion, and all were about +to leave, when the Marquise said to Monte-Leone, "Count, will you +remain here a few moments? I wish to speak to you of the charity in +which you were kind enough to unite with me." + +The Count went anxiously to Aminta's side. + +The Prince said, with a smile, "No one ever refuses to speak with a +pretty woman. That is even the weak side of our ministers. Talk, +then, with my daughter-in-law, and neither the Countess nor I will +trouble you." He then took the Countess's arm, and led her from the +room. Taddeo remained, for his interest with the Count was too grave +to permit him to leave thus. Aminta said but a few words to +Monte-Leone. The deep emotion of the young woman, however, gave them a +serious character. "Listen," said she. "I do not know what is about to +happen, but your agitation, and that of Taddeo, when the Countess +spoke of General B----, did not escape me. A painful presentiment +assures me that you are involved in some secret plot, and that new +dangers menace you. In the name of all that is dear to you, in the +name of your love to me, I conjure you to abandon those ideas, or I +shall die of terror and despair." She then, without speaking a word +more, kissed her brother, and retired. The Count stood as if he were +struck with a thunderbolt. Taddeo took his hand, and said, "Come, +come," wresting the Count from the painful thoughts Aminta had called +up. "Come, the arrest of General B---- may ruin all." They entered +Monte-Leone's carriage, and drove to the Duke d'Harcourt. They hoped +to find the Vicomte, and take him to Matheus, for the opinion of each +of the four was necessary in considering the best means of warding off +the peril which menaced the association. D'Harcourt was in, but +Monte-Leone and Taddeo had not expected the spectacle which awaited +them. The Vicomte had one of those sudden attacks, forerunners of the +cruel disease which had devastated his family. The pleasures of the +winter, in which the imprudent young man madly indulged, and perhaps +also the cares and anxieties of his political relations, the nocturnal +ventas he was often obliged to attend, had severely shaken his already +feeble health, and caused a cough, every utterance of which sounded to +his father like a funeral knell. The Count and Taddeo found him in +bed. Von Apsberg was by his side, and opposite the doctor was the +charming Marie, glancing alternately from the doctor to the patient. +The Duke leaned on the fireplace, and gently scolded Rene for his +folly and imprudence. The arrival of the two friends produced a +cessation to this, but the Duke continued: "Come, gentlemen, and +assist me to produce some effect on your friend; for, unassisted, even +I cannot. Tell him that such an exposure of his life, in folly and +dissipation, is a double crime, when his health is so dear to an old +man who has no other son." Tears came into the Duke's eyes as he +spoke, which Marie kissed away. + +"Now, Rene," said she, "you see how unhappy you make us all. Promise, +then, to be more reasonable." + +"Father," said Rene, giving the Duke his hand, "I will promise you to +do the impossible thing, to be prudent. Besides, you have a powerful +auxiliary in my friend Monte-Leone, who has committed not a few +follies in his time. He has however begun a new life, and will soon be +entirely converted by Hymen." + +"What," said Marie, "is the Count about to be married?" + +"Mademoiselle," said the Count, "your brother is indiscreet, and you +can never take half that he says as literal." + +"Then," said Marie, "you are in love--that is about the half of his +statement." And Marie blushed. + +Von Apsberg said, as he remarked the embarrassment of the young girl, +"Our patient needs the warmth and mildness of the south. Magnetism +with the Vicomte will be powerless, and he must avoid cold and +dampness. He must also be prudent, and that is the greatest +difficulty. I however rely on his promise and his devotion to us. +Adieu, Messieurs," said he, bowing to Taddeo and Monte-Leone. "Do not +make him talk, or suffer him to sit up too long." The Duke left, +accompanied by Marie, whose last look seemed to recommend her brother +to the doctor. Perhaps, though, this glance had another signification, +for the eyes of young women mean a great deal. As soon as the four +associates were alone, the Count told Matheus of the arrest. + +Von Apsberg thought: "The General cannot be in danger. Only one +evidence of his participation could have been found, and that +Monte-Leone gave me on the day before yesterday. I am sure I placed it +in the secret drawer of my laboratory, the key of which I alone keep." + +"What proof do you mean?" asked d'Harcourt, whose memory was troubled +by illness. + +"A proof," said Monte-Leone, "which would be overwhelming in the case +of the General and a number of our brethren--the roll of the venta +over which he presides. This roll he has signed. He gave it to me at +two in the morning of the day before yesterday, and I gave it to Von +Apsberg on the next day." + +"Then it matters not. Though the General has been arrested, the +mystery of ventas has not been penetrated. I am assured that skilful +and incessant espionage hovers around us, and the time for action +should be no longer delayed." + +"But," said the Count, to whom this idea recalled what the Marquise +had said, "we should not raise a flag we cannot defend. The forces the +General controlled are indispensable to our success." + +"To replace soldiers," said Von Apsberg, "we shall have opinion on our +side. Our various ventas will be valiant soldiers, and will be +encouraged when they see themselves so much more numerous than they +expect." + +"Do not let us be hasty," said Monte-Leone. "The six chiefs of the +principal ventas, like the brave General, must give me the lists of +ventas, and only when we are sure of their number will we act." + +His three friends then adopted Monte-Leone's opinion, and they +separated, mutually recommending prudence to each other. There +remained, however, a species of surprise, and an injurious impression +in relation to Monte-Leone's hesitation. He had usually been the most +decided of the four. + +When Von Apsberg returned home, he went to his laboratory, and opened +the bureau in which the papers of the association were kept. He +satisfied himself that the lists of the various ventas were safe. He +breathed freely and slept soundly, without any trouble on account of +the arrest of the General. On the next day, however, a letter, hastily +written with a pencil, was brought him by a man who at once +disappeared. It was from General A----, and was as follows: + +"The list of our associates, certified by myself, is in the possession +of the prefect of police. I saw it myself, and I am ruined." + +Von Apsberg uttered a cry of terror. He was utterly confounded. + + +II.--THEY SAY. + +The arrest of General A---- produced a double effect in Paris. The +city began to have confidence in the vigilant police, which sought for +and arrested the enemies of order every where and in every rank, while +the chiefs of the great association of Carbonarism trembled when they +saw the government on the track of their plans and projects. They then +asked on all sides what could have been the motive of the +incarceration of the General, and how they had discovered the +criminal, or rather the criminals, for the principal associates of the +_venta_ over which the General presided, were arrested after their +chief. Still other arrests were subsequently made. Nothing, however, +transpired, either in relation to the offence of which the General was +accused, or the secret means by which the police had acquired +information of them. The police acted prudently and with great skill, +for the General and his associates were but a small part of an immense +plot. Time and secret service alone would give the government a clue +to follow all the secret labyrinths of this vast plot, which menaced +France and Europe. A conspiracy and military plot was talked of, and +the trial of the affair was understood to be postponed until time +should throw more light on the matter. The authorities were not in a +hurry, they needed other aims, and waited patiently to procure them. +Thus passed a month; and as in Paris every thing is soon forgotten, +people paid no attention to General A---- and his imprisonment. Public +attention, however, was reattracted to this mysterious affair. The +entertainments, concerts, and receptions of the court, made the city +joyous. The gold of countless visitors from foreign nations gave +activity to commerce, and there was an universal spirit of rivalry in +luxury and opulence. Then the Duchess de Berri gave those charming +balls, of which those who were admitted even now talk of. + +The mystery of the note written to Von Apsberg by General A----, in +which he assured him he had seen the list of the venta, he had himself +certified to in the hands of the prefect of police, remained +impenetrable to the supreme _venta_, for Von Apsberg had the list the +Count had given him. The General was in close confinement, and no +intercourse could be had with him. The six other chiefs of the ventas +were ignorant of this incident of the arrest of their confederate. The +four brothers of the central venta had resolved not to suffer the +circumstance to transpire, because the Count fancied this circumstance +would chill their zeal, and make them uneasy about the new lists. On +these lists, as we have said, the decision of the time of action was +made to depend, as it would reveal to the four chiefs the exact number +of their confederates in Paris. According to the statutes of +carbonarism, the signatures of the brethren were sacred engagements, +which made it indispensable for them to give their aid to the +undertaking when the hour and day should be appointed. The lists were, +then, a kind of declaration of war against the government, in which +they must either conquer or die. This is the prudence of all bad +causes. Persons thus involved have no confidence that their associates +will keep their oaths, and put remorse and repentance out of the +question by allowing no alternative between ruin and safety. The +Vicomte d'Harcourt, but slightly recovered from his indisposition, +seldom left his father's house, and participated but slightly in the +pleasures of the season. Taddeo, whose devotion to the Neapolitan +ambassadress constantly increased, visited her every day, and went +nowhere else. Though aware that she was constantly anxious to speak of +the Count, he did not despair of being able some day to touch her +heart. So great were his attentions, that in society he was looked on +as the _cicisbeo_ of the Duchess. The Duke of Palma, devoted to his +opera-loves, seemed not at all offended at the frequent visits of +Taddeo Rovero, whose attentions did not at all shock his Italian +ideas. Von Apsberg lived more retired than ever, and rarely left his +laboratory except when he went to the Duke d'Harcourt's. There the +intelligent doctor was kindly received by all the family, Marie +included, and his fair patient's health seemed visibly to improve, as +those flowers which have been too long neglected always do when +attended to by a skilful horticulturist. Monte-Leone devoted to the +society of Paris, of which he was passionately fond, all the hours +which he passed away from the Marquise. This, however, was a duty, for +there only could he meet the Carbonari who belonged to the upper +class without giving rise to suspicion. The trial of General A---- was +soon to take place, and the preparations for it had already been +begun. Revelations or anxious inquiries might destroy the association. +Concert was required to avoid this, and Count Monte-Leone gave this +information to MM. C----, the lawyer B----, the baron de Ch----, the +banker F----, and the rich merchant Ober, who was perhaps from his +extended commercial relations, the most important of the Carbonari. + +A great dinner was given by the banker F---- to enable the chiefs to +confer with Monte-Leone. But in addition to these personages, and in +order that public attention should not be fixed on them alone, F---- +had invited the _elite_ of the capital, several peers of France, some +illustrious soldiers, many deputies, and several women famous for +their rank and beauty. Insensibly conversation assumed a political +tone, as at that time every thing did. Monte-Leone, whom the abuses of +the French government and the _camarilla_ of the Tuilleries made most +indignant, gave vent to his opinions and complained bitterly of the +acts of the ministry. He compassionated the people, whose liberties +were being swept away, and reprobated the censorship of the liberty of +the press and of freedom of speech--the only resource of the oppressed +and the only means of reaching the oppressors. The master of the +house, M. F----, agreed with the Count in the liberal opinions he had +expressed. Led on by the example, B---- and C---- testified their +sympathy with what the Count had said, and their wish to see a change +in the fortune of a country where the institutions satisfied neither +the wants nor the rights of the oppressed. This discussion, which had +been provoked by the Count, was so bold and so decided that many of +the guests looked on with terror, fearing they would be compromised by +the expression of such revolutionary ideas. Just then many of the +guests of M. F----, taking him aside from the table, asked anxiously +if he was satisfied of the discretion of all the persons present, and +also of their honor. M. F---- energetically repelled such fears, +saying: "The people whom I receive are not all friends of the +government. Nothing, however, said here will be repeated, for the +minister of police has no representative at my table." The words of +their host in a degree satisfied some of the most timid. It was then +said openly that amid the most eminent persons met with in society +were found individuals in the secret pay of M. Angles, and that many +ruined and extravagant nobleman did not hesitate to exist in this +manner. People said that in the drawing-room of M. F---- Monte-Leone +had determined to defy the government, and they looked on his conduct +under existing circumstances as most imprudent. + +During the evening, and when all were engaged, the chiefs of _ventas_ +took occasion, one by one, to isolate themselves from company and gave +the Count the rolls. It was then agreed, also, that the last of these +documents being complete, notice should be given without delay, and +during the trial of the General, of the day for the commencement of +the insurrectionary movement by which Carbonarism was to be revealed +to France and to Europe. The terrible plan, however, was foiled by +various events which attacked the society unexpectedly. + +Four days after the dinner of M. F----, he, the lawyer B----, the +baron Ch----, who had taken so decided a part in the discussion +provoked by Monte-Leone, and who, on that very evening, had given him +the fatal lists of his associates, were arrested. The first was taken +in his office, the second just as he left his cabinet, and the third +on his way to the opera. The capital was amazed at this news. All the +other guests of F---- began to examine their consciences, and sought +to recall whether or not they had given utterance to any governmental +heresy at the fatal dinner, and whether they had not uttered something +rash. They were doubtful if any opinion at all might not expose them +to the resentment and vigilance of an adroit and secret police. It +seemed beyond a doubt that the remarks of the persons who had been +arrested had provoked this rigorous action, and that some ear in the +pay of the police had heard their dangerous conversation, and noted +the violent expression of their opinions. The conduct of all the +guests was then passed in review, and the public and private life of +each examined. Their domestic history and life were inquired into, and +their weak points, habits, errors, and tastes, were scrutinized. + +No rank, family, sex, or social position, was neglected, and not even +intrigues, life, nor money, were considered sufficient to shield the +informer. All were anxious to tear away the mask from the common +enemy, to crush the serpent, who, sliding stealthily into society, +gnawed its very heart and lacerated that bosom which sheltered it. + +The arrest of General A---- then recurred to the memory of all. This +event had taken place after a ball which the General had given. It was +after an entertainment given by F---- that he, too, had lost his +liberty. On this occasion two other important men had shared the fate +of the rich banker, and, like him, they had both been energetic, +violent, and pitiless denouncers of a ministry which defied public +opinion and outraged the nation. People then remembered that Count +Monte-Leone had provoked the conversation--that he had gone farther +than any one else on the dangerous ground--and that his daring had +surpassed that of the master of the house and his guests. All expected +he would be arrested also. This fear was especially well founded, as +Monte-Leone concealed neither his liberal opinions nor his +revolutionary doctrines, and in fact every thing in his previous +conduct pointed him out as one of the persons to whom the attention of +the police would especially be directed. People were, therefore, +amazed to see Monte-Leone preserve his liberty, and that one of the +four speakers who had been most imprudent enjoyed entire impunity. +Astonishment, however, was not all, for strange reports were soon +circulated, and rumors were heard in every direction. The impunity of +the Count became the universal subject of conversation. His private +life was taken in hand, and his whole career, as it were, extended on +the anatomical table of moral anatomy. The scalpel of public opinion, +it is well known, pitilessly dissects every subject it wishes +thoroughly to understand. The THEY SAY, that terrible creature to +which we have already referred, began to play its part. It was heard +every where. "THEY SAY Count Monte-Leone cannot be a stranger to what +is passing. He was seen to talk to General A---- on the night of the +ball for a long time." + +"What! Count Monte-Leone?--a man of his rank?" + +"Ah, these Italian noblemen are all suspicious." + +"He--a liberal--a revolutionist!" + +"Listen to me. People often change their opinions in this world, +especially when fortune disappears, and want of money and care +supervene. _They say_ he is completely ruined, yet he is still very +luxurious in his mode of life." + +"True--that is strange." + +"Oh, no, not at all. _They say_ the strong box of the police enables +him to maintain his style." + +"That may be." + +"_They say_, also, that the order to leave France given by the +minister was but a trick to divert suspicion and keep him here +usefully." + +"Do you think so? Then he is a villain, and should be avoided. He is +a----" + +"Oh, I know nothing of it--but _they say_ so." + +_They_ did say so, but when that awful rumor was first pronounced +_they_ did not. These words were produced by the terror which the +events of the day produced on the mind of every friend, even of the +three imprisoned Carbonari. Perhaps some malevolent spirit +disseminated them. This rumor was circulated from house to house, like +a drop of oil, which though first scarcely perceptible, sullies the +fairest fabrics utterly. A trifling fault is thus made to do the part +of an atrocious crime. At first the rumor was whispered. It then grew +bolder, and finally fortified itself by a thousand corroborations +furnished by chance or gossip. Every person who detailed it added to +its incidents and arguments. Within one month after the dinner all +Paris heard of the terrible offence against society attributed to +Count Monte-Leone. As is always the case, however, the three friends +of the Count were the last to hear of this slander. Every one who was +aware of their intimacy took care not to speak to them of the rumor, +for no one wished to involve himself by repeating a story entirely +unsubstantiated, and the origin of which was unknown. The consequence +was that the three persons who could have refuted the calumny were +entirely ignorant of the stigma attached to their friend. Monte-Leone +had no more suspicion than his friends had in relation to the horrible +fable. + +The other chiefs of the principal ventas, who might have told him what +was said, terrified at the fate of their associates, lived apart, +refused to see any one, and thus heard none of the imputations against +the high-priest of Carbonarism. Then commenced a series of mistakes, +surprises, and mortifications, in which Monte-Leone would see no +insult. His life, however, became an enigma, the explanation of which +he could not divine. Certain rooms under various pretexts were closed +to him. Often persons who once had been most anxious to secure his +attendance at their entertainments pretended to forget him. The world +did not dare, however, to brave an enemy whose secret power it was +ignorant of, but it exhibited a certain coldness and oblivion which +deeply wounded him. His most intimate acquaintances avoided him with +studied care, and when they accepted his hand did so with a marked +expression of annoyance. An immense void existed around him. His hotel +was a solitude, and the houses of others were shut to him. The Count +at first thought he found a motive for this in the apprehension all +entertained of his affiliation with some secret association. When he +saw that the police paid no attention to him, he was compelled to seek +some other reason for his public proscription. What this cause was he +did not divine and could not ask, for a position of this kind is such +that an honorable man thinks it beneath him to ask for an explanation +of merely natural occurrences. Wounded, disgusted, and grieved by the +strange existence created for him, Monte-Leone felt himself at once a +prey to the distrust which ostracism of this kind creates in the bosom +of all who are subject to it. The world thought that by avoiding +society Count Monte-Leone confessed the justice of its allegations. He +became every day more attentive to the charming woman he adored, and +who only waited the time when the proprieties of society would permit +her to make him her husband. In her affection he found a consolation +for all the external chagrin which annoyed him, for a mute terror had +taken possession of the Carbonari since the occurrence of the many +arrests, the motives of which were as yet wrapped in such impenetrable +mystery. An event which was altogether unexpected made his position +yet more complicated. He was one evening in one of the few houses to +which he was yet invited. This was the house of M. L----, where the +Marquis de Maulear had lost such immense sums to the Englishman who +subsequently ruined him. M. L----, either more prudent or circumspect +than others, had not listened to the reports which were circulated +about Monte-Leone, and had invited him to his magnificent hotel in the +Rue d'Antin. + +Monte-Leone had avoided the crowd, and walked down the long avenue of +exotic flowers and camelias, then almost unknown in Paris. He came +upon a boudoir where several men were speaking. The Count was about to +go back, when his name struck on his ear. "Yes, gentlemen," said one +of the speakers, in a most indignant tone, "you may well be astonished +at my presence here, while my family is in tears, and my prospects +blasted and made desperate. Only eight days since I came to Paris, and +am here to find Count Monte-Leone, my challenge to whom, to deliver +which I have sought him every where, should be as solemn as the +vengeance I will exact." + +No sooner had the Count heard these words than he rushed into the +boudoir, and stood face to face with the speaker, who was a young man +of twenty-eight or thirty, wearing the uniform of the royal navy. His +countenance was mild and noble, but bore an expression of perfect fury +when he saw Monte-Leone. + +"Monsieur," said the Count, "you will not have to look farther for the +person of whom you have dared to speak thus. I am thankful that I am +here to spare you farther trouble in looking for me, though why you do +so I cannot conceive." + +"He was listening to us," said the young man to his friends, in a tone +of the deepest contempt. "Well, after all, that is right enough." + +"Chance," said the Count, resuming his _sang-froid_ and control over +himself, which he always maintained in such emergencies, "led me +within sound of your voice. You and I also should be glad that this is +the case, for it seems to me a ball is a bad place for such an +explanation as you seem to wish." + +"All places are good," said the naval officer, in a most insolent +tone, "to tell you what I think of you. To repeat to you the epithet +you have overheard, and which I am willing yet again to declare to all +in these rooms." + +"Sir," said Monte-Leone, with the same calmness, "will you tell me +first to whom I speak?" + +"My name is A----, and I am a lieutenant of the royal navy. My father +is the person whom your infamous denunciations have caused to be +imprisoned in the Conciergerie!" + +"What!" said the Count, "are you the son of General A----?" + +"What influences me I cannot and will not tell you; for then it would +be out of the question for me to meet you." + +"Gentlemen," said the Count, speaking to those who witnessed this +scene, to which the attention of many others had now been called, +"this young man is mad. I, more than any person, have pitied his +father, and I wish to give General A---- a new proof of my sympathy, +by granting his son a delay until to-morrow, to enable him to repair +the incredible injury he has done me. Here is my card," said he, +placing it on a table, "and I shall wait until to-morrow for an +explanation of the unintelligible conduct of Lieutenant A----." + +As soon as the Count had finished he left the boudoir, and the +Lieutenant's friends kept possession of him, taking him out of the +hotel. On the next day Monte-Leone received the following note: + +"COUNT--Instead of making an apology to you, I maintain all I said. +You are a coward and a scoundrel, and you know why. I repeat, that if +my voice articulated or my hand traced, why I speak thus, it would be +impossible for me to kill you and avenge myself. Do not therefore ask +me to make an explanation of what you know perfectly well. If you are +unmoved by what I now say, and if I do not bring you out, I will have +recourse to other means. I will await you and your witnesses to-day at +two o'clock, at the _bois de Bologne_, behind Longchamp. I have +selected this hour in order that I might previously see my father. + +"GUSTAVE A----, + +"Lieutenant, Royal Navy." + +"All hell is let loose against me," said the Count, as he perused this +letter. "Why can I not penetrate the awful mystery which enshrouds +me!" + +Taking a pen, he wrote the following words, which he gave to the +bearer of the challenge: + +"I will be at the _bois de Bologne_ at two o'clock." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[7] Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1850, by Stringer +& Townsend, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United +States for the Southern District of New-York. + +Continued from page 54. + +[8] _Anglice._ Only the first step is troublesome.--TR. + + + + +From Fraser's Magazine. + +POULAILLER, THE ROBBER. + + +Cartouche had been arrested, tried, condemned, and executed, some +seven or eight years, and no longer occupied the attention of the good +people of Paris, to whom his almost melodramatic life and death had +afforded a most interesting and enduring topic. They were languishing, +like the Athenians of old, for something new, when there arose a rumor +that another robber, more dexterous, more audacious, more +extraordinary, ay, and more cruel than Cartouche, was roaming about +the streets of their city. What was his name? whence did he come? were +questions in the mouth of every one, as each of his numerous daring +acts was made public,--questions which no one could answer. + +In vain was every arm of the police put in requisition--crime after +crime was committed with impunity, and terror reigned supreme. + +At last the criminal himself disdained concealment, and all +Paris--nay, a considerable portion of Europe--trembled at the name of +POULAILLER. + +He appeared about the year 1730, and astonished the world by deeds, +some of them so shocking, and at the same time so wonderful, that they +gave some color to the belief of many that he was aided by +supernatural agency. + +This belief was supported by a history of the circumstances attending +his birth. + +There lived in a village on the coast of Brittany a man, poor but of +good repute, and well beloved by his neighbors,--an intrepid mariner, +but poor as Job himself when his friends came to comfort him. A robust +and well-knit frame, combined with a fine frank countenance, well +bronzed by the sea-breezes, was looked on favorably by all, and by +none more than by the young lasses whose furtive glances rested with +pleasure on the manly form and gallant bearing of Jacques Poulailler. + +His strength was prodigious, and his temerity upon the ocean +incredible. + +Such qualities are appreciated in every country; and among the +beauties of the village, one remarkable for her superiority in wealth, +as well as natural gifts, was attracted by them, and Jacques +Poulailler had the good fortune to find favor in the eyes of her who +was known in her little world as _La belle Isabeau Colomblet_. + +At no great distance from this maritime village, on the crest of a +rock lashed by the waves, which at high tides was perfectly insulated, +dwelt a personage of whose origin every one was ignorant. The building +where he had established himself had long been of evil fame throughout +the country, and was only known as _La Tour Maudite_. The firesides +resounded with tales of terror enacted in this lonely and ominous +theatre. Fiends, in the olden time had made it their abode, as was +currently reported and believed. From that time, it was asserted that +no human being could dwell there without having previously entered +into a compact with the evil one. The isolation of the place, the +continued agitation of the waves at its base, the howlings of the wind +around its frowning battlements, the traces of the thunderbolts that +from time to time had blackened and almost charred its walls, the +absence of bush or tree, or any thing in the shape of blossom or +verdure--for neither wall-flower nor even moss would grow there--had +produced their effect on the superstitious spirit of the neighbors, +and the accursed place had remained untenanted by any thing earthly +for forty or fifty years. + +One gloomy day, however, a man was seen prowling about the vicinity. +He came and went over the sands, and, just as a storm was rising, he +threw himself into a boat, gained the offing, and disappeared. + +Every one believed that he was lost; but next morning there he was. +Surprised at this, the neighbors began to inquire who he could be; and +at last learned that he had bought the tower of the proprietor, and +had come to dwell there. This was all the information that their +restless curiosity could obtain. Whence did he come, and what had he +done? In vain were these questions asked. All were querists, and none +found a respondent. Two or three years elapsed before his name +transpired. At last it was discovered, nobody knew how, that his name +was Roussart. + +He appeared to be a man above six feet in height, strongly built, and +apparently about thirty years of age. His countenance was all but +handsome, and very expressive. His conduct was orderly, and without +reproach, and, proving himself to be an experienced fisherman, he +became of importance in that country. + +No one was more weatherwise than Roussart, and no one turned his +foreknowledge to such good account. He had been seen frequently to +keep the sea in such fearful tempests, that all agreed that he must +have been food for fishes if he had not entered into some agreement +with Satan. When the stoutest hearts quailed, and ordinary men +considered it suicidal to venture out, Roussart was to be seen braving +the tumult of winds and waves, and always returned to the harbor safe +and sound. + +People began to talk about this, and shook their heads ominously. +Little cared Roussart for their words or gestures; but he was the only +one in the commune who never went to church. The cure at last gave out +that he was excommunicated; and from that time his neighbors broke off +all communication with him. + +Things had arrived at this point, when it was rumored that the gallant +fisherman, Jacques Poulailler, had touched the heart of _La belle +Isabeau_. Soon their approaching marriage became the topic of the +village; and, finally, one Sunday, after mass, the bans were first +published by the vicar. The lads of the village, congregated on the +shore, were congratulating Poulailler on the auspicious event, when +Roussart suddenly appeared among them. + +His presence was a surprise. He had always avoided the village +meetings as much as others had sought them; and this sudden change in +his habits gave a new impulse to curiosity. + +The stranger appeared to seek some one with his eyes, and presently +walked straight up to the happy Jacques, who, intoxicated with joy, +was giving and receiving innumerable shakes of the hand. + +"Master Poulailler," said Roussart, "you are going to be married, +then?" + +"That seems sure," replied Poulailler. + +"Not more sure than that your first-born will belong to the evil one. +I, Roussart, tell you so." + +With that he turned on his heel, and regained his isolated dwelling, +leaving his auditors amazed by his abrupt and extraordinary +announcement, and poor Jacques more affected by it than any one else. + +From that moment Roussart showed himself no more in the neighborhood, +and soon disappeared altogether, without leaving a trace to indicate +what had become of him. + +Most country people are superstitious,--the Bretons eminently so, and +Jacques Poulailler never forgot the sinister prophecy of Roussart. His +comrades were not more oblivious; and when, a year after his marriage, +his first-born came into the world, a universal cry saluted the infant +boy as devoted to Satan. _Donne au diable_ were the words added to the +child's name whenever it was mentioned. It is not recorded whether or +no he was born with teeth, but the gossips remarked that during the +ceremony of baptism the new-born babe gave vent to the most fearful +howlings. He writhed, he kicked, his little face exhibited the most +horrible contortions; but as soon as they carried him out of the +church, he burst out into laughter as unearthly as it was unnatural. + +After these evil omens every body expected that the little Pierre +Poulailler would be ugly and ill-formed. Not a bit of it--on the +contrary, he was comely, active, and bold. His fine fresh complexion +and well-furnished mouth were set off by his brilliant black eyes and +hair, which curled naturally all over his head. But he was a sad +rogue, and something more. If an oyster-bed, a warren, or an orchard +was robbed, Pierre Poulailler was sure to be the boy accused. In vain +did his father do all that parent could to reform him--he was +incorrigible. + +Monsieur le cure had some difficulty to bring him to his first +communion. The master of the village exhausted his catalogue of +corrections--and the catalogue was not very short--without succeeding +in inculcating the first notions of the Christian faith and the +doctrine of the cross. "What is the good of it?" would the urchin say. +"Am not I devoted to the devil, and will not that be sufficient to +make my way?" + +At ten years of age Pierre was put on board a merchant-ship, as +cabin-boy. At twelve he robbed his captain, and escaped to England +with the spoil. In London he contrived to pass for the natural son of +a French Duke; but his numerous frauds forced him again to seek his +native land, where, in his sixteenth year, he enlisted as a drummer in +the regiment of Champagne, commanded by the Count de Varicleres. +Before he had completed his eighteenth year he deserted, joined a +troop of fortune-telling gipsies, whom he left to try his fortune with +a regular pilferer, and finally, engaged himself to a rope-dancer. He +played comedy, sold orvietan with the success of Doctor Dulcamara +himself, and in a word, passed through all the degrees which lead to +downright robbery. + +Once his good angel seemed to prevail. He left his disreputable +companions and entered the army honorably. For a short time there were +hopes of him; it was thought that he would amend his life, and his +superiors were satisfied with his conduct. But the choicest weapon in +the armory of him to whom he had been devoted was directed against +him. A _vivandiere_--the prettiest and most piquante of her +tribe--raised a flame in his heart that burnt away all other +considerations; but he might still have continued in a comparatively +respectable course, if the sergeant-major had not stood forward as his +rival. The coquette had in her heart a preference for Pierre; and the +sergeant, taking advantage of his rank, insulted his subordinate so +grossly that he was repaid by a blow. The sergeant's blood was up, and +as he rushed to attack Pierre, the soldier, drawing his sabre, +dangerously wounded his superior officer, who, after lingering a few +days, went the way of all flesh. Pierre would have tasted the tender +mercies of the provost-marshal; but fortunately the regiment was lying +near the frontier, which our hero contrived to cross, and then +declared war against society at large. + +The varied knowledge and acquirements of the youth--his courage, true +as steel, and always equal to the occasion--the prudence and foresight +with which he meditated a _coup de main_--the inconceivable rapidity +of his execution--his delicate and disinterested conduct towards his +comrades--all contributed to render him famous, in the _famosus_ +sense, if you will, and to raise him to the first place. + +Germany was the scene of his first exploits. The world had condemned +him to death, and he condemned the world to subscribe to his living. + +At this period, he had posted himself in ambush on the crest of a +hill, whence his eye could command a great extent of country; and +certainly the elegance of his mien, his graceful bearing, and the +splendor of his arms, might well excuse those who did not take him for +what he really was. He was on the hillside when two beautiful young +women appeared in sight. He lost no time in joining them; and, as +youth is communicative, soon learnt, in answer to his questions, that, +tired of remaining in the carriage, they had determined to ascend the +hill on foot. + +"You are before the carriage, then, mademoiselle?" + +"Yes, sir; cannot you hear the whip of the postillions?" + +The conversation soon became animated, and every moment made a deeper +inroad into the heart of our handsome brigand: but every moment also +made the situation more critical. On the other side of the hill was +the whole band, ranged in order of battle, and ready to pounce upon +the travellers. Having ascertained the place of abode of his fair +companions, and promised to avail himself of the first opportunity to +pay his compliments to them there, he bade them politely adieu; and +having gained a path cut through the living rock, known but to few, +descended with the agility of a chamois to his party, whom he implored +not to attack the carriage which was approaching. + +But, if Poulailler had his reasons for this chivalrous conduct, his +band were actuated by no such motives, and they demurred to his +prayer. He at once conquered their hesitation by bidding them name the +value that they put on their expected booty, purchased the safety of +the travellers by the sum named, and the two fair daughters of the +Baron von Kirbergen went on their way full of the praises of the +handsome stranger whose acquaintance they had made, and in blissful +ignorance of the peril they had passed. + +That very day, Poulailler left his lieutenant in the temporary command +of the band, mounted his most beautiful horse, followed his beloved to +the castle of her father, and introduced himself as the Count Petrucci +of Sienna, whom he had lately robbed, and whose papers he had taken +care to retain with an eye to future business. + +His assumed name, backed by his credentials, secured for him a +favorable reception, and he well knew how to improve the occasion. An +accomplished rider, and bold in the chase, he won the good opinion of +the Baron; while his musical and conversational talent made him the +pet of the drawing-room. The young and charming Wilhelmina surrendered +her heart to the gay and amiable cavalier; and all went merrily, till +one fine morning Fortune, whose wheel is never stationary, sent the +true count to the castle. It was no case of the two Sosias, for no two +persons could well be more unlike; and as soon as the real personage +saw his representative, he recognized him as the robber who had stolen +his purse as well as his name. + +Here was a pretty business. Most adventurers would have thrown up the +game as desperate; but our hero, with a front worthy of Fathom +himself, boldly proclaimed the last visitor to be an impostor, and +argued the case so ably, and with such well-simulated indignation at +the audacity of the newcomer, that the Baron was staggered, and +despatched messengers to the partners of a mercantile house at +Florence, to whom the true Petrucci was well known. + +To wait for the result of the inquiry would have been a folly of which +Poulailler was not likely to be guilty; so he made a moonlight +flitting of it that very night--but not alone. Poor Wilhelmina had +cast in her lot with her lover for good or for evil, and fled with +him. + +The confusion that reigned in the best of all possible castles, the +next morning, may be conceived; but we must leave the Baron +blaspheming, and the Baroness in hysterics, to follow the fugitives, +who gained France in safety, and were soon lost in the labyrinths of +Paris. + +There he was soon joined by his band, to the great loss and terror of +the honest people of the good city. Every day, M. Herault, the +lieutenant of police, was saluted by new cases of robbery and +violence, which his ablest officers could neither prevent nor punish. +The organization of the band was so complete, and the head so ably +directed the hands, that neither life nor property was considered safe +from one moment to another. Nor were accounts of the generosity of the +chief occasionally wanting to add to his fame. + +One night, as Poulailler was traversing the roofs with the agility of +a cat, for the purpose of entering a house whose usual inmates were +gone into the country, he passed the window of a garret whence issued +a melancholy concert of sobs and moans. He stopped, and approached the +apartment of a helpless family, without resources, without bread, and +suffering the pangs of hunger. Touched by their distress, and +remembering his own similar sufferings before Fortune favored him, he +was about to throw his purse among them, when the door of the chamber +opened violently, and a man, apparently beside himself, rushed in with +a handful of gold, which he cast upon the floor. + +"There," cried he, in a voice broken by emotion, "there, +take--buy--eat; but it will cost you dear. I pay for it with my honor +and peace of mind. Baffled in all my attempts to procure food for you +honestly, I was on my despairing return, when I beheld, at a short +distance from me, a tall but slight-made man, who walked hurriedly, +but yet with an air as if he expected some one. Ah! thought I, this is +some lover; and yielding to the temptation of the fiend, I seized him +by the collar. The poor creature was terrified, and, begging for +mercy, put into my hands this watch, two gold snuff-boxes, and those +Louis, and fled. There they are; they will cost me my life. I shall +never survive this infamy." + +The starving wife re-echoed these sentiments; and even the hungry +children joined in the lamentations of the miserable father. + +All this touched Pierre to the quick. To the great terror of the +family, he entered the room, and stood in the midst. + +"Be comforted," said he to the astonished husband; "you have robbed a +robber. The infamous coward who gave up to you this plunder is one of +Poulailler's sentinels. Keep it; it is yours." + +"But who are you?" cried the husband and wife;--"who are you, and by +what right is it that you thus dispose of the goods of another?" + +"By the right of a chief over his subalterns. I am Poulailler." + +The poor family fell on their knees, and asked what they could do for +him. + +"Give me a light," said Pierre, "that I may get down into the street +without breaking my neck." + +This reminds one of the answer which Rousseau gave to the Duc de +Praslin, whose Danish dog, as it was running before the carriage, had +upset the peripatetic philosopher. + +"What can I do for you?" said the Duke to the fallen author of _La +Nouvelle Heloise_, whose person he did not know. + +"You can tie up your dog," replied Jean-Jacques, gathering himself up, +and walking away. + +Poulailler having done his best to render a worthy family happy, went +his way, to inflict condign punishment on the poltroon who had so +readily given up the purse and the watches. + +The adventures of this accomplished robber were so numerous and +marvellous, that it is rather difficult to make a selection. One +evening, at the _bal de l'Opera_, he made the acquaintance of a +charming woman, who, at first, all indignation, was at length induced +to listen to his proposal, that he should see her home; and promised +to admit him, "if Monseigneur should not be there." + +"But who is this Monseigneur?" inquired Pierre. + +"Don't ask," replied the fair lady. + +"Who is he, fairest?" + +"Well, how curious you are; you make me tell all my secrets. If you +must know, he is a prince of the church, out of whose revenues he +supports me; and I cannot but show my gratitude to him." + +"Certainly not; he seems to have claims which ought to be attended +to." + +By this time they had arrived at an elegantly furnished house, which +they entered, the lady having ascertained that the coast was clear; +and Poulailler had just installed himself, when up drove a +carriage--Monseigneur in person. + +The beauty, in a state of distraction, threw herself at the feet of +her spark, and implored him to pass into a back cabinet. Poulailler +obeyed, and had hardly reached his hiding-place, when he beheld, +through the glazed door, Monseigneur, who had gone to his Semele in +all his apostolical magnificence. A large and splendid cross of +diamonds, perfect in water, shot dazzling rays from his breast, where +it was suspended by a chain of cat's-eyes, of great price, set in +gold; the button and loop of his hat blazed with other precious +stones; and his fingers sparkled with rings, whose brilliants were +even greater and more beautiful than those that formed the +constellation of his cross. + +It is very seldom that the human heart, however capacious, has room +for two grand passions in activity at the same time. In this instance, +Poulailler no sooner beheld the rich and tempting sight, than he found +that the god of Love was shaking his wings and flying from his bosom, +and that the demon of Cupidity was taking the place of the more +disinterested deity. He rushed from his hiding-place, and presented +himself to the astonished prelate with a poinard in one hand and a +pistol in the other, both of which he held to the sacred breast in the +presence of the distracted lady. The bishop had not learnt to be +careless of life, and had sufficient self-possession in his terror not +to move, lest he should compromise his safety, while Poulailler +proceeded to strip him with a dexterity that practice had rendered +perfect. Diamonds, precious stones, gold, coined and ornamental, +rings, watch, snuff-box, and purse, were transferred from the priest +to the robber with marvellous celerity; then turning to the lady, he +made her open the casket which contained the price of her favors, and +left the house with the plunder and such a laugh as those only revel +in who win. + +The lieutenant of police began to take the tremendous success of our +hero to heart, and in his despair at the increasing audacity of the +robber, caused it to be spread amongst his spies, archers, and +sergeants, that he who should bring Poulailler before him should be +rewarded with one hundred pistoles, in addition to a place of two +thousand livres a year. + +M. Herault was seated comfortably at his breakfast, when the Count de +Villeneuve was announced. This name was--perhaps is--principally borne +by two celebrated families of Provence and Languedoc. M. Herault +instantly rose and passed into his cabinet, where he beheld a +personage of good mien, dressed to perfection, with as much luxury as +taste, who in the best manner requested a private interview. Orders +were immediately issued that no one should venture to approach till +the bell was rung; and a valet was placed as sentinel in an adjoining +gallery to prevent the possibility of interruption. + +"Well, Monsieur le Comte, what is your business with me?" + +"Oh, a trifle;--merely a thousand pistoles, which I am about to take +myself from your strong box, in lieu of the one hundred pistoles, and +the snug place, which you have promised to him who would gratify you +by Poulailler's presence. I am Poulailler, who will dispatch you to +the police of the other world with this poisoned dagger, if you raise +your voice or attempt to defend yourself. Nay, stir not--a scratch is +mortal." + +Having delivered himself of this address, the audacious personage drew +from his pocket some fine but strong whip-cord, well hackled and +twisted, and proceeded to bind the lieutenant of police hand and foot, +finishing by making him fast to the lock of the door. Then the robber +proceeded to open the lieutenant's secretaire, the drawers of which he +well rummaged, and having filled his pockets with the gold which he +found there, turned to the discomfited lieutenant with a profound bow, +and after a request that he would not take the trouble to show him +out, quietly took his departure. + +There are some situations so confounding, that they paralyze the +faculties for a time; and the magistrate was so overcome by his +misfortune, that, instead of calling for aid, as he might have done +when the robber left him, he set to work with his teeth, in vain +endeavors to disengage himself from the bonds which held him fast. An +hour elapsed before any one ventured to disturb M. Herault, who was +found in a rage to be imagined, but not described, at this daring act. +The loss was the least part of the annoyance. A cloud of epigrams flew +about, and the streets resounded with the songs celebrating +Poulailler's triumph and the defeat of the unfortunate magistrate, who +dared not for some time to go into society, where he was sure to find +a laugh at his expense. + +But ready as the good people of Paris were with their ridicule, _they_ +were by no means at their ease. The depredations of Poulailler +increased with his audacity, and people were afraid to venture into +the streets after nightfall. As soon as the last rays of the setting +sun fell on the Boulevards, the busy crowds began to depart; and when +that day-star sank below the horizon, they were deserted. Nobody felt +safe. + +The Hotel de Brienne was guarded like a fortress, but difficulty +seemed to give additional zest to Poulailler. Into this hotel he was +determined to penetrate, and into it he got. While the carriage of the +Princess of Lorraine was waiting at the Opera, he contrived to fix +leathern bands, with screws, under the outside of the bottom of the +body, while his associates were treating the coachman and footman at a +_cabaret_, slipped under the carriage in the confusion of the +surrounding crowd when it drew up to the door of the theatre, and, +depending on the strength of his powerful wrists, held on underneath, +and was carried into the hotel under the very nose of the Swiss +Cerberus. + +When the stable-servants were all safe in their beds, Poulailler +quitted his painful hiding-place, where the power of his muscles and +sinews had been so severely tested, and mounted into the hay-loft, +where he remained concealed three nights and four days, sustaining +himself on cakes of chocolate. No one loved good cheer better than he, +or indulged more in the pleasures of the table; but he made himself a +slave to nothing, save the inordinate desire of other men's goods, and +patiently contented himself with what would keep body and soul +together till he was enabled to make his grand _coup_. + +At last, Madame de Brienne went in all her glory to the Princess de +Marsan's ball, and nearly all the domestics took advantage of the +absence of their mistress to leave the hotel in pursuit of their own +pleasures. Poulailler then descended from the hay-loft, made his way +to the noble dame's cabinet, forced her secretaire, and possessed +himself of two thousand Louis d'or and a port-folio, which he +doubtless wished to examine at his ease; for, two days afterwards, he +sent it back, (finding it furnished with such securities only as he +could not negotiate with safety,) and a polite note signed with his +name, in which he begged the Princess graciously to receive the +restitution, and to accept the excuses of one who, had he not been +sorely pressed for the moderate sum which he had ventured to take, +would never have thought of depriving the illustrious lady of it; +adding, that when he was in cash, he should be delighted to lend her +double the amount, should her occasions require it. + +This impudent missive was lauded as a marvel of good taste at +Versailles, where, for a whole week, every one talked of the +consummate cleverness and exquisite gallantry of the _Chevalier_ de +Poulailler. + +This title of honor stuck, and his fame seemed to inspire him with +additional ardor and address. His affairs having led him to Cambray, +he happened to have for a travelling companion the Dean of a +well-known noble Belgian chapter. The conversation rolled on the +notorieties of the day, and Poulailler was a more interesting theme +than the weather. But our chevalier was destined to listen to +observations that did not much flatter his self-esteem, for the Dean, +so far from allowing him any merit whatever as a brigand, +characterized him as an infamous and miserable cutpurse, adding, that +at his first and approaching visit to Paris, he would make it his +business to see the lieutenant of police, and reproach him with the +small pains he took to lay so vile a scoundrel by the heels. + +The journey passed off without the occurrence of any thing remarkable; +but about a month after this colloquy M. Herault received a letter, +informing him that on the previous evening, M. de Potter, +_chanoine-doyen_ of the noble chapter of Brussels, had been robbed and +murdered by Poulailler, who, clad in the habits of his victim, and +furnished with his papers, would enter the barrier St. Martin. This +letter purported to have been written by one of his accomplices, who +had come to the determination of denouncing him in the hope of +obtaining pardon. + +The horror of M. Herault at the death of this dignified ecclesiastic, +who was personally unknown to him, was, if the truth must be told, +merged in the delight which that magistrate felt in the near prospect +of avenging society and himself on this daring criminal. A cloud of +police officers hovered in ambush at each of the barriers, and +especially at that which bore the name of the saint who divided his +cloak with the poor pilgrim, with directions to seize and bring into +the presence of M. Herault a man habited as an ecclesiastic, and with +the papers of the Dean of the Brussels chapter. Towards evening the +Lille coach arrived, was surrounded and escorted to the hotel des +Messageries, and at the moment when the passengers descended, the +officers pounced upon the personage whose appearance and vestments +corresponded with their instructions. + +The resistance made by this personage only sharpened the zeal of the +officers who seized him, and, in spite of his remonstrances and cries, +carried him to the hotel of the police, where M. Herault was prepared +with the proofs of Poulailler's crimes. Two worthy citizens of +Brussels were there, anxious to see the murderer of their friend, the +worthy ecclesiastic, whose loss they so much deplored: but what was +their joy, and, it must be added, the disappointment of M. Herault, +when the supposed criminal turned out to be no other than the good +Dean de Potter himself, safe and sound, but not a little indignant at +the outrage which he had sustained. Though a man of peace, his ire so +far ruffled a generally calm temper, that he could not help asking M. +Herault whether Poulailler (from whom a second letter now arrived, +laughing at their beards) or he, M. Herault, was the chief director of +the police? + +William of Deloraine, good at need-- + + By wily turns, by desperate bounds, + Had baffled Percy's best bloodhounds. + Five times outlawed had he been, + By England's king and Scotland's queen. + +But he was never taken, and had no occasion for his + + ----neck-verse at Hairibee, + +even if he could have read it. Poulailler was arrested no less than +five times, and five times did he break his bonds. Like Jack Sheppard +and Claude du Val, he owed his escape in most instances to the frail +fair ones, who would have dared any thing in favor of their favorite, +and who, in Jack's case, joined on one occasion without jealousy in a +successful effort to save him. + +Poulailler was quite as much the pet of the petticoats as either of +these hempen heroes. With a fine person and accomplished manners, he +came, saw, and overcame, in more instances than that of the fair +daughter of the Baron von Kirbergen; but, unlike John Sheppard or +Claude Du Val, Poulailler was cruel. Villains as they were, John and +Claude behaved well, after their fashion, to those whom they robbed, +and to the unhappy women with whom they associated. In their case, the +"ladies" did their utmost to save them, and men were not wanting who +endeavored to obtain a remission of their sentence. But Poulailler +owed his fall to a woman whom he had ruined, ill-treated, and scorned. +The ruin and ill-treatment she bore, as the women, poor things, will +bear such atrocities; but the scorn roused all the fury which the +poets, Latin and English, have written of; and his cruelties were so +flagrant, that he could find no man to say, "God bless him." + +Wilhelmina von Kirbergen had twice narrowly escaped from a violent +death. Poulailler, in his capricious wrath, once stabbed her with such +murderous will, that she lay a long time on the verge of the grave, +and then recovered to have the strength of her constitution tried by +the strength of a poison which he had administered to her in +insufficient quantities. Henry the Eighth forwarded his wives, when he +was tired of them, to the other world by form of what was in his time +English law; but when Poulailler "felt the fulness of satiety," he got +rid of his mistresses by a much more summary process. But it was not +till this accomplished scoundrel openly left Wilhelmina for a younger +and more beautiful woman, that she, who had given up station, family, +and friends, to link herself with his degrading life, abandoned +herself to revenge. + +She wrote to him whom she had loved so long and truly, to implore that +they might once more meet before they parted in peace for ever. +Poulailler, too happy to be freed on such terms, accepted her +invitation, and was received so warmly that he half repented his +villainous conduct, and felt a return of his youthful affection. A +splendid supper gave zest to their animated conversation; but towards +the end of it, Poulailler observed a sudden change in his companion, +who manifested evident symptoms of suffering. Poulailler anxiously +inquired the cause. + +"Not much," said she; "a mere trifle--I have poisoned myself, that I +may not survive you." + +"Quoi, coquine! m'aurais-tu fait aussi avaler le boucon?" cried the +terrified robber. + +"That would not have sufficiently avenged me. Your death would have +been too easy. No, my friend, you will leave this place safe and well; +but it will be to finish the night at the Conciergerie; and, +to-morrow, as they have only to prove your identity, you will finish +your career on the wheel in the Place de Greve." + +So saying, she clapped her hands, and, in an instant, before he had +time to move, the Philistines were upon him. Archers and other +officers swarmed from the hangings, door, and windows. For a few +moments, surrounded as he was, his indomitable courage seemed to +render the issue doubtful; but what could one man do against a host +armed to the teeth? He was overpowered, notwithstanding his brave and +vigorous resistance. + +His death, however, was not so speedy as his wretched mistress +prophesied that it would be. The love of life prevailed, and in the +hope of gaining time which he might turn to account in effecting his +escape, he promised to make revelations of importance to the state. +The authorities soon found out that he was trifling with them, and the +_procureur-general_, after having caused him to be submitted to the +most excruciating torture, left him to be broken on the wheel alive. +He was executed with all the accursed refinement of barbarity which +disgraced the times; and his tormenters, at last, put the finishing +stroke to his prolonged agonies, by throwing him alive into the fire +that blazed at his feet. + +Nothing can justify such penal atrocities. If any thing could, +Poulailler, it must be admitted, had wrought hard to bring down upon +himself the whole sharpness of the law of retaliation. Upwards of one +hundred and fifty persons had been murdered by him and his band. +Resistance seemed to rouse in him and them the fury of devils. Nor was +it only on such occasions that his murderous propensities were +glutted. + +At the village of St. Martin, he caused the father, the mother, two +brothers, a newly-married sister, her husband, and four relations, or +friends, to be butchered in cold blood. + +One of his band was detected in an attempt to betray him. Poulailler +had him led to a cellar. The traitor was placed upright in an angle of +the wall, gagged, and there they built him in alive. Poulailler, with +his own hand, wrote the sentence and epitaph of the wretch on the soft +plaster; and there it was found some years afterward, when the cellar +in which this diabolical act of vengeance was perpetrated passed into +the hands of a new proprietor. + +It was current in the country where Poulailler first saw the light, +and where his father, mother, brethren, and sisters, still lived an +honorable life, embittered only by the horrible celebrity of their +relation, that, on the night which followed the day of Pierre's +execution, the isolated tower, which had been uninhabited since its +last occupant had so mysteriously disappeared, seemed all on fire, +every window remaining illuminated by the glowing element till morning +dawned. During this fearful nocturnal spectacle, it was affirmed that +infernal howlings and harrowing cries proceeded from the apparently +burning mass, and some peasants declared that they heard Pierre +Poulailler's name shouted from the midst of the flames in a voice of +thunder. + +The dawn showed the lonely tower unscathed by fire; but a fearful +tempest arose, and raged with ceaseless fury for thrice twenty-four +hours. The violence of the hurricane was such, that it was impossible +during that time for any vessel to keep the sea; and when at length +the storm subsided, the coast was covered with pieces of wreck, while +the waves continued for many days to give up their dead at the base of +the rock, from whose crest frowned _La Tour Maudite_. + + + + +From Hogg's Instructor. + +THE LATE D. M. MOIR. + +BY GEORGE GILFILLAN. + + +Pleasant and joyous was the circle wont to assemble now and then (not +_every_ night, as the public then fondly dreamed) in Ambrose's, some +twenty-five years ago: not a constellation in all our bright sky, at +present, half so brilliant. There sat John Wilson, "lord of the +lion-heart and eagle-eye," his hair somewhat thicker, and his eye +rather brighter, and his complexion as fresh, and his talk as +powerful, as now. There Lockhart appeared, with his sharp face, +_adunco naso_, keen poignant talk, and absence of all enthusiasm. +There Maginn rollicked and roared, little expecting that he was ever +destined to stand a bankrupt and ruined man over Bunyan's dust, and +cry, "Sleep on, thou Prince of Dreamers!" There De Quincey bowed and +smiled, while interposing his mild but terrible and unanswerable +"buts," and winding the subtle way of his talk through all subjects, +human, infernal, and divine. There appeared the tall military form of +old Syme, alias Timothy Tickler, with his pithy monosyllables, and +determined _nil admirari_ bearing. There the Ettrick Shepherd told his +interminable stories, and drank his interminable tumblers. There sat +sometimes, though seldom, a young man of erect port, mild gray eye, +high head, rich quivering lips, and air of simple dignity, often +forgetting to fill or empty his glass, but never forgetting to look +reverently to the "Professor," curiously and admiringly to De Quincey, +and affectionately to all: it was Thomas Aird. There occasionally +might be seen Macnish of Glasgow, with his broad fun; Doubleday of +Newcastle, then a rising litterateur; Leitch, the ventriloquist, (not +professionally so, and yet not much inferior, we believe, to the +famous Duncan Macmillan); and even a stray Cockney or two who did not +belong to the Cockney school. There, too, the "Director-general of the +Fine Arts," old Bridges, (uncle to our talented friend, William +Bridges, Esq. of London,) was often a guest, with his keen black eye, +finely-formed features, rough, ready talk, and a certain smack audible +on his lips when he spoke of a beautiful picture, a "leading article" +in "Maga," or of some of the queer adventures (_quorum pars fuit_) of +Christopher North. And there, last, not least, was frequently seen the +fine fair-haired head of Delta, the elegant poet, the amiable man, and +the author of one of the quaintest and most delightful of our Scottish +tales, "Mansie Wauch." + +That brilliant circle was dissolved long ere we knew any of its +members. We question if it was ever equalled, except thrice: once by +the Scriblerus Club, composed of Swift, Pope, Arbuthnot, Gay, and +Bolingbroke; again by the "Literary Club," with its Johnson, Burke, +Garrick, Beauclerk, Gibbon, and Fox: and more recently by the +"Round-table," with its Hazlitt, Hunt, Lamb, and their minor +companions. It is now, we need not say, entirely dissolved, although +most of its members are yet alive, and although its doings and sayings +have been of late imitated in certain symposia, reminding us, in +comparison with the past, of the shadowy feasts of the dead beside +real human entertainments. The "nights" of the North are diviner than +the "days." + +From this constellation, we mean, at present, to cut out one "bright, +particular star," and to discourse of him. This is Delta, the +delightful. We have not the happiness of Dr. Moir's acquaintance, nor +did we ever see him, save once. It was at the great Edinburgh +Philosophic Feed of 1846, when Macaulay, Whately, and other lions, +young and old, roared, on the whole, rather feebly, and in vulgar +falsetto, over their liberal provender. Delta, too, was a speaker, and +his speech had two merits, at least, modesty and brevity, and +contrasted thus well with Whately's egotistical rigmarole, Macaulay's +labored paradox, and Maclagan's inane bluster. He was, we understood +afterwards, in poor health at the time, and did not do justice to +himself. But we have been long familiar with his poems in "Blackwood" +and the "Dumfries Herald," to which he occasionally contributed. We +remember well when, next to a paper by North, or a poem by Aird, we +looked eagerly for one by Delta in each new number of "Ebony;" and we +now cheerfully proceed to say a few words about his true and exquisite +genius. + +We may call Delta the male Mrs. Hemans. Like her, he loved principally +the tender, the soft, and the beautiful. Like her, he excelled in +fugitive verses, and seldom attempted, and still more seldom +succeeded, in the long or the labored poem. Like her, he tried a great +variety of styles and measures. Like her, he ever sought to interweave +a sweet and strong moral with his strains, and to bend them all in by +a graceful curve around the Cross. But, unlike her, his tone was +uniformly glad and genial, and he exhibited none of that morbid +melancholy which lies often like a dark funeral edge around her most +beautiful poems: and this, because he was a _masculine_ shape of the +same elegant genus. + +Delta's principal powers were cultured sensibility, fine fancy, good +taste, and an easy, graceful style and versification. He sympathized +with all the "outward forms of sky and earth, with all that was +lovely, and pure, and of a good report" in the heart and the history +of humanity, and particularly with Scottish scenery, and Scottish +character and manners. His poetry was less a distinct power or vein, +than the general result and radiance of all his faculties. These +exhaled out of them a fine genial enthusiasm, which expressed itself +in song. We do not think, with Carlyle, that it is the same with _all_ +high poets. _He_ says--"Poetry, except in such cases as that of Keats, +where the whole consists in a weak-eyed maudlin sensibility, and a +certain vague tunefulness of nature, is no separate faculty, no organ +which can be superadded to the rest, or disjoined from them, but +rather the result of their general harmony and completion." Now, 1st, +Carlyle is here grossly unjust to Keats. Had the author of Hyperion +nothing but maudlin sensibility? If ever man was devoured, body and +soul, by that passion for, and perception of, the beauty and glory of +the universe, which is the essence of poetry, it was poor Keats. He +was poetry incarnate--the wine of the gods poured into a frail earthy +vessel, which split around it. Nor has Burns, of whom Carlyle is here +writing, left any thing to be compared, in ideal qualities, in depth, +and massiveness, and almost Miltonic magnificence, with the +descriptions of Saturn, and the Palace of the Sun, and the Senate of +the Gods in "Hyperion." Burns was the finest lyrist of his or any age; +but Keats, had he lived, would have been one of the first of _epic_ +poets. 2dly, We do not very well comprehend what Carlyle means by the +words "no organ, which can be superadded to, or disjoined from the +rest." If he means that no culture can add, or want of it take away, +poetic faculty, he is clearly right. But, if he means that nature +never confers a poetic vein distinct from, and superior to, the +surrounding faculties of the man, we must remind him of certain +stubborn facts. Gay and Fontaine were "fable-trees," Goldsmith was an +"inspired idiot." Godwin's powerful philosophic and descriptive genius +seemed scarcely connected with the man; he had to _write_ himself +_into_ it, and his friends could hardly believe him the author of his +own works! Even Byron was but a common man, except at his desk, or "on +his stool" as he himself called it. He had to "_call_" his evil spirit +from the vasty deep, and to lash himself very often into inspiration +by a whip of "Gin-_twist_." And James Hogg was little else than a +_haverer_, till he sat down to write poetry, when the "faery queen" +herself seemed to be speaking from within him. Nay, 3dly, we are +convinced that many men, of extraordinary powers otherwise, have in +them a vein of poetry as distinct from the rest as the bag of honey in +the bee is from his sting, his antennae, and his wings, and which +requires some special circumstance or excitement to develop it. Thus +it was, we think, with Burke, Burns, and Carlyle himself. All these +had poetry in them, and have expressed it; but any of them might have +_avoided_, in a great measure, its expression, and might have solely +shone in other spheres. For example, Burke has written several works +full, indeed, of talent, but without a single gleam of that real +imagination which other of his writings display. What a contrast +between his "Thoughts on the Present Discontents," or his "Essay on +the Sublime and Beautiful," (an essay containing not one sublime, and +not two beautiful sentences in it all,) and the "rare and regal" +rhetorical and poetic glories of his "Essay on the French Revolution," +or his "Letters on a Regicide Peace!" Burns might have been a +philosopher of the Dugald Stewart school, as acute and artificially +eloquent as any of them, had he gone to Edinburgh College instead of +going to Irvine School. Carlyle might have been a prime-minister of a +somewhat original and salvage sort, had it been so ordered. None of +the three were so essentially poetical, that all their thoughts were +"twin-born with poetry," and rushed into the reflection of metaphor, +as the morning beams into the embrace and reflection of the lake. All +were _stung_ into poetry: Burke by political zeal and personal +disappointment, Burns by love, and Carlyle by that white central heat +of dissatisfaction with the world and the things of the world, which +his temperament has compelled him to express, but which his Scottish +common sense has taught him the wisdom of expressing in earnest +masquerade and systematic metaphor. But, 4thly, there is a class of +poets who have possessed more than the full complement of human +faculties, who have added to these extensive accomplishments and +acquirements, and yet who have been so constituted, that imaginative +utterance has been as essential to their thoughts as language itself. +Such were Dante, Milton, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley, &c., and such +are Wilson, Bailey, Aird, and Yendys. These are "nothing, if not +poetical." All their powers and acquisitions turn instinctively toward +poetic expression, whether in verse or prose. And near them, although +on a somewhat lower plane, stood Delta. + +Poetry, with Delta, was rather the natural outflow of his whole soul +and culture combined, than an art or science. His poetry was founded +on feelings, not on principles. Indeed, we fancy that little true +poetry, in any age, has been systematic. It is generally the work of +sudden enthusiasm, wild and rapid ecstasy acting upon a nature +_prefitted_ for receiving the afflatus, whether by gift or by +accomplishment, or by both united. Even the most thoroughly furnished +have been as dependent on moods and happy hours as the least. The wind +of inspiration bloweth where it listeth. Witness Milton and Coleridge, +both of whom were masters of the theory of their art, nay, who had +studied it scientifically, and with a profound knowledge of cognate +sciences, and yet both of whom could only build up the lofty rhyme at +certain seasons, and in certain circumstances, and who frequently +perpetrated sheer dulness and drivel. The poetry of Homer, of +Eschylus, of Lucretius, of Byron, of Shelley, of Festus--in short, the +most of powerful poetry--has owed a vast deal more to excitement and +enthusiasm than to study or elaborate culture. The rhapsodists were +the first, have been the best, and shall be the last of the poets. And +with what principles of poetic art were the bards of Israel +conversant? And what systems of psychology or aesthetics had Shakspeare +studied? And in what college were trained the framers of the +ballad-poetry of the world--the lovers who soothed with song their +burning hearts--the shepherds who sang amid their green +wildernesses--the ploughmen who modulated to verse the motion of their +steers--the kings of the early time who shouted war-poetry from their +chariots--the Berserkars whose long hair curled and shook as though +life were in it, to the music of their wild melodies--and the "men of +sturt and strife," the rough Macpherson-like heroes, whose spirits +sprang away from the midst of flood and flame, from the gallows or the +scaffold, on whirlwinds of extempore music and poetry? Poetry, with +them, was the irresistible expression of passion and of imagination, +and hence its power; and to nothing still, but the same rod, can its +living waters flow amain. Certain fantastic fribbles of the present +day may talk of "principles of art," and "principles of +versification," and the necessity of studying poetry as a science, and +may exhaust the resources of midnight darkness in expressing their +bedrivelled notions; but _our_ principle is this--"Give us a gifted +intellect, and warm true heart, and stir these with the fiery rod of +passion and enthusiasm, and the result will be genuine, and high, and +lasting poetry, as certainly as that light follows the sun." + +It may, perhaps, be objected, besides, that Delta has left no large or +great poem. Now, here we trace the presence of another prevalent +fallacy. Largeness is frequently confounded with greatness. But, +because Milton's Paradise Lost is both large and great, it does not +follow that every great poem must be large, any more than that every +large poem must be great. Pollok's Course of Time is a large and a +clever, but scarcely a great poem. Hamlet and Faust may be read each +in an hour, and yet both are great poems. Heraud's Judgment of the +Flood is a vast folio in size, but a very second-rate poem in +substance. Thomas Aird's Devil's Dream covers only four pages, yet who +ever read it without the impression "this is a great effort of +genius." Lalla Rookh was originally a quarto, but, although brilliant +in the extreme, it can hardly be called a poem at all. Burns's Vision +of Liberty contains, in the space of thirty-two lines, we hesitate not +to say, all the elements of a great poem. Although Delta's poems be +not large, it is not a necessary corollary that they are inferior +productions. And if none of them, perhaps, fill up the whole measure +of the term "great," many of them are beautiful, all are genuine, and +some, such as Casa Wappy, are exquisite. + +Health is one eminent quality in this pleasing writer. Free +originally from morbid tendencies, he has nursed and cherished this +happy tone of mind by perusing chiefly healthy authors. He has acted +on the principle that the whole should be kept from the sick. He has +dipped but sparingly into the pages of Byron and Shelley, whereas +Wordsworth, Wilson, Southey, and Scott, are the gods of his idolatry. +Scott is transcendently clear. Indeed, we think that he gives to him, +_as a poet_, a place beyond his just deserts. His ease, simplicity, +romantic interest, and Border fire, have blinded him to his faults, +his fatal facility of verse, his looseness of construction, and his +sad want of deep thought and original sentiment. To name him beside or +above Wordsworth, the great consecrated bard of his period, is +certainly a heresy of no small order. One or two of Wordsworth's +little poems, or of his sonnets, are, we venture to say, in genuine +poetical depth and beauty, superior to Scott's _five_ larger poems put +together. _They_ are long, lively, rambling, shallow, and blue, +glittering streams. Wordsworth's ballads are deep and clear as those +mountain pools over which bends the rowan, and on which smiles the +autumn sky, as on the fittest reflector of its own bright profundity +and solemn clearness. + +Well did Christopher North characterize Delta as the poet of the +spring. He was the darling of that darling season. In all his poetry +there leaped and frolicked "vernal delight and joy." He had in some of +his verses admirably, and on purpose, expressed the many feelings or +images which then throng around the heart, like a cluster of bees +settling at once upon flower--the sense of absolute newness, blended +with a faint, rich thrill of recollection--the fresh bubbling out of +the blood from the heart-springs--the return of the reveries of +childhood or youth--the intolerance of the fireside--the thirst after +nature renewed within the soul--the strange glory shed upon the earth, +all red and bare though it yet be--the attention excited by every +thing, "even by the noise of the fly upon the sunny wall, or the +slightest murmur of creeping waters"--the springing up of the sun from +his winter declinature--the softer and warmer lustre of the stars--and +the new emphasis with which men pronounce the words "hope" and "love." +To crown a spring evening, there sometimes appears in the west the +planet Venus, bright yellow-green, shivering as with ecstasy in the +orange or purple sky, and rounding off the whole scene into the +perfection of beauty. The Scottish poet of spring did not forget this +element of its glory, but sung a hymn to that fair star of morn and +eve worthy of its serene, yet tremulous splendor. + +Delta was eminently a national writer. He did not gad abroad in search +of the sublime or strange, but cultivated the art of staying at home. +The scenery of his own neighborhood, the traditions or the histories +of his own country, the skies and stars of Scotland, the wild or +beautiful legends which glimmer through the mist of its past--these +were "the haunt and the main region of his song," and hence, in part, +the sweetness and the strength of his strains. Indeed, it is +remarkable that nearly all our Scottish poets have been national and +descriptive. Scotland has produced no real epic, few powerful +tragedies, few meditative poems of a high rank, but what a mass of +poetry describing its own scenery and manners, and recording its own +traditions. King James the Sixth, Gawin Douglas, Davie Lyndsay, +Ramsay, Fergusson, Ross of the "Faithful Shepherdess," Burns, Beattie, +Sir Walter Scott, Wilson, Aird, Delta, and twenty more, have been all +more or less national in their subject, or language, or both. We +attribute this, in a great measure, to the extreme peculiarity of +Scottish manners, _as they were_, and to the extreme and romantic +beauty of Scottish scenery. The poetic minds, in a tame country like +England, are thrown out upon foreign topics, or thrown in upon +themselves; whereas, in Scotland, they are arrested and detained +within the circle of their own manners and mountains. "Paint _us_ +first," the hills seem to cry aloud. A reason, too, why we have had +few good tragedies or meditative poems, may be found in our national +narrowness of creed, and in our strong prejudice against dramatic +entertainments. As it is, we have only Douglas, and three or four good +plays of Miss Baillie's, to balance Shakspeare, Ben Jonson, and all +that galaxy--not to speak of the multitudes who have followed--and +only the "Grave," the "Minstrel," and the "Course of Time," to compare +with the works of George Herbert, Giles Fletcher, Quarles, Milton, +Young, Cowper, and Wordsworth. + +We find in Delta little meditative power or tendency. His muse had no +"speculation" in her eye. Whether from caution, or from want of the +peculiar faculty, he never approached those awful abysses of thought +which are now attracting so many poets--attracting them, partly from a +desire to look down into their darkness, and partly from a passion for +those strange and shivering flowers which grow around their sides. +Leigh Hunt, in his late autobiography, when speaking of Blanco White, +seems to blame all religious speculation, as alike hopeless and +useless. But, in the present day, unless there be religious +speculation, there can, with men of mind, be little religion--no +creed--nor even an approximation toward one. Would Mr. Hunt destroy +that link, which in every age has bound us to the infinite and +eternal? Would he bring us back to mere brute worship, and brute +belief? Because we cannot at present form an infallible creed, should +we beware of seeking to form a creed at all? Because we cannot see all +the stars, must we never raise our eyes, or our telescopes, to the +midnight heavens? Because HE has been able to reach no consistent and +influential faith, ought all men to abandon the task? So far from +agreeing with this dogmatic denunciation, we hold that it argues on +the part of its author--revered and beloved though he be--a certain +shallowness and levity of spirit--that its tendency is to crush a +principle of aspiration in the human mind, which may be likened to an +outspringing angel pinion, and that it indirectly questions the use +and the truth of all revelation. We honor, we must say, Blanco White, +in his noble struggles, and in his divine despair, more than Leigh +Hunt, in his denial that such struggles are wiser than a maniac's +trying to leap to the sun, and in the ignoble conceptions of man's +position and destiny which his words imply. And, notwithstanding his +chilling criticism, so unlike his wont, we believe still, with +Coleridge, that not Wordsworth, nor Milton, have written a sonnet, +embodying a thought so new and magnificent, in language so sweet and +musical, and perfectly fitted to the thought, like the silvery new +moon sheathed in a transparent fleecy cloud, as that of Blanco White's +beginning with "Mysterious Night." + +Delta, we have already said, gained reputation, in prose, as well as +in verse. His _Mansie Wauch, Tailor in Dalkeith_, is one of the most +delightful books in the language. It is partly, it is true, imitated +from Galt; but, while not inferior to him in humor, it has infused a +far deeper vein of poetry into the conception of common Scottish life. +Honor to thee, honest Mansie! Thou art worth twenty Alton Lockes, the +metaphysical tailor (certainly one of the absurdest creations, and +surrounded by the most asinine story of the age, although redeemed by +some glorious scenes, and _one_ character, Sandy Mackay, who is just +Thomas Carlyle _humanized_). But better than thee still, is thy +'prentice, Mungo Glen, with decline in his lungs, poetry in his heart, +and on his lips one of the sweetest laments in the language! Many +years have elapsed since we read thy life, but our laughter at thy +adventures, and our tears at the death of thy poor 'prentice, seem as +fresh as those of yesterday! + +Why did Delta only open, and never dig out, this new and rich vein? He +alone seemed adequate to follow, however far off, in the steps of the +Great Wizard. Aird seemed to have exhausted his tale-writing faculty, +exquisite as it was. Wilson's tales, with all their power, lack +repose; they are too troubled, tearful, monotonous, and tempestuous. +Galt, Miss Ferrier, the authoress of the Odd Volume, Macnish, &c., are +dead.... + +We had not the pleasure of hearing Delta's recent lectures. They were, +chatty, conversational, lively, full of information, although neither +very eloquent, nor very profound. He knew too well the position in +which he stood, and the provender which his audience required! Nor, we +confess, did we expect to meet in them with a comprehensive or final +vidimus of the poetry of the last fifty years. His Edinburgh eye has +been too much dazzled and overpowered by the near orbs of Walter Scott +and Wilson, to do justice to remoter luminaries. Nor was criticism +exactly Delta's forte. He had not enough of subtility--perhaps not +enough of profound native instinct--and, perhaps, _some_ will think, +not enough of bad blood. But his criticism must, we doubt not, be +always sincere in feeling, candid in spirit, and manly in language. +Still, we repeat, that his power and mission were in the description +of the woods and streams, the feelings and customs, the beauties and +peculiarities, of 'dear Auld Scotland.' + +It may, perhaps, be necessary to add, that the name Delta was applied to +Dr. Moir, from his signature in "Black wood," which was always [Symbol: +Delta]; that he was a physician in Musselburgh, and the author of some +excellent treaties on subjects connected with his own profession; and that +while an accomplished litterateur and beautiful poet, he never neglected +his peculiar duties, but stood as high in the medical as in the literary +world. + + + + +From Fraser's Magazine. + +THE DESERTED MANSION. + + +A few years ago, a picture appeared in the Exhibition of the Royal +Academy, which peculiarly impressed my imagination; it represented an +ancient ruinous dwelling, surrounded by dilapidated gardens, set in +sombre woods. The venerable trees, the moat filled with nettles and +rubbish, the broken fences, green stagnant waters, the gabled, +turreted, many-windowed, mouldering mansion, a perfect medley of +chaotic architecture. The _visible silence_, the spirit of supreme +desolation brooding over the precincts, filled my mind with +involuntary sadness; while fancy conjured up strange, wild tales of +other days, in connection with the scene. I could not shake off the +belief that reality was portrayed on the canvas; and writing an +account of the various pictures to a friend who resided in the +country, I dwelt on this particular one, and my singular impressions +respecting it. When I next received a letter from my friend, she +remarked how unaccountable my fancies were; fancies which were, +however, based on the foundation of truth. + +She went on to say, that reading my letter to Mrs. L----, an +octogenarian in wonderful preservation, that lady informed her of the +locality of my deserted mansion, and also of its history; the picture +being actually painted for Mrs. L----'s son; and the tale attached to +it, which my friend eventually gave me in the old lady's own words, +was as follows: + +"Fifty years ago, the mansion of St. Elan's Wood was reckoned ancient, +but it was a healthful, vigorous age, interesting and picturesque. +Then, emerald turf lined the sides of the moat, and blooming flowers +clustered within its sloping shelter; white drapery fluttered within +the quaint latticed windows, and delicate climbers festooned them +without; terraced walks and thick hollow hedges were in trim order, +fountains sparkled in the sunshine, and blushing roses bent over and +kissed the clear rejoicing waters. + +"Fifty years ago, joyous laughter resounded amid the greenwood glades, +and buoyant footsteps pressed the greensward; for the master of St. +Elan's had brought home a bride, and friends and relatives hastened +thither to offer congratulations, and to share the hospitalities of +the festive season. + +"Lady St. Elan was a very young wife; a soft-eyed, timid creature; her +mother had died during her daughter's infancy, and her father (an +officer of high rank in the army) being abroad, a lady whom we shall +call Sabina, by whom she had been educated, accompanied her beloved +pupil, now Lady St. Elan, to this new home. The death of Lady St. +Elan's father, and the birth of a daughter, eventually mingled +rejoicing and mourning together, while great anxiety was felt for the +young mother, whose recovery was extremely tedious. The visits of +eminent physicians, who were sent for from great distances, evinced +the fears which were still entertained, even when the invalid roamed +once more in the pleasant garden and woods around. Alas! it was not +for the poor lady's bodily health they feared; the hereditary mental +malady of her family on the maternal side, but which had slumbered for +two generations, again darkly shadowed forth its dread approaches. +Slight, indeed, had been the warning as yet, subtle the demonstrations +of the deadly enemy, but enough to alarm the watchful husband, who was +well acquainted with the facts. But the alarm passed away, the +physicians came no more, and apparent health and strength, both mental +and physical, were fully restored to the patient, while the sweet babe +really deserved the epithets lavished on it by the delighted mother of +the 'divinest baby in the world.' + +"During the temporary absence of her husband, on affairs of urgent +business, Lady St. Elan requested Sabina to share her chamber at +night, on the plea of timidity and loneliness; this wish was +cheerfully complied with, and two or three days passed pleasantly +away. + +"St. Elan was expected to return home on the following morning, and +when the friends retired to rest on the previous night, Sabina +withdrew the window curtains, to gaze upon the glorious landscape +which stretched far away, all bathed in silver radiance, and she soon +fell into a tranquil slumber, communing with holy thoughts and +prayerful aspirations. She was suddenly awakened by a curious kind of +sound in the room, accompanied by a half-stifled jeering laugh. She +knew not how long sleep had lulled her in oblivion, but when Sabina +turned round to see from whence the sound proceeded, imagine her +horror and dismay at beholding Lady St. Elan standing near the door, +sharpening a large knife on her slipper, looking wildly round now and +then, muttering and jibing. + +"'Not sharp enough yet--not sharp enough yet,' she exclaimed, intently +pursuing her occupation. + +"Sabina felt instinctively, that this was no practical _joke_; she +knew instinctively the dread reality--by the maniac's eye--by the tone +of voice--and she sprang from the bed, darting towards the door. It +was locked. Lady St. Elan looked cunningly up, muttering-- + +"'So you thought I was so silly, did you? But I double-locked it, and +threw the key out of the window; and perhaps you may spy out in the +moonshine you're so fond of admiring,' pointing to an open casement, +at an immense height from the ground--for this apartment was at the +summit of a turret, commanding an extensive view, chosen for that +reason, as well as for its seclusion and repose, being so far distant +from the rest of the household. + +"Sabina was not afflicted with weak nerves, and as the full danger of +her position flashed across her mind, she remembered to have heard +that the human eye possesses extraordinary power to quell and keep in +abeyance all unruly passions thus terrifically displayed. She was also +aware, that in a contest where mere bodily energy was concerned, her +powers must prove utterly inadequate and unavailing, when brought into +competition with those of the unfortunate lady during a continuance of +the paroxysm. Sabina feigned a calmness which she was far from feeling +at that trying moment, and though her voice trembled, yet she said +cheerfully, and with a careless air-- + +"'I think your knife will soon be sharp enough, Lady St. Elan; what do +you want it for?' + +"'What do I want it for?' mimicked the mad woman; 'why what should I +want it for, Sabina, but to cut your throat with?' + +"'Well, that is an odd fancy,' exclaimed Sabina, endeavoring not to +scream or to faint: 'but you had better sit down, for the knife is not +sharp enough for that job--there--there's a chair. Now give me your +attention while you sharpen, and I'll sit opposite to you; for I have +had such an extraordinary dream, and I want you to listen to it.' + +"The lady looked maliciously sly, as much as to say, 'You shall not +cheat me, if I _do_ listen.' But she sat down, and Sabina opposite to +her, who began pouring forth a farrago of nonsense, which she +pretended to have dreamt. Lady St. Elan had always been much addicted +to perusing works of romantic fiction, and this taste for the +marvellous was, probably, the means of saving Sabina's life, who, +during that long and awful night, never flagged for one moment, +continuing her repetition of marvels in the _Arabian Night's_ style. +The maniac sat perfectly still, with the knife in one hand, the +slipper in the other, and her large eyes intently fixed on the +narrator. Oh, those weary, weary hours! When, at length, repeated +signals and knocks were heard at the chamber-door, as the morning sun +arose, Sabina had presence of mind not to notice them, as her terrible +companion appeared not to do so; but she continued her sing-song, +monotonous strain, until the barrier was fairly burst open, and St. +Elan himself, who had just returned, alarmed at the portentous murmurs +within, and accompanied by several domestics, came to the rescue. + +"Had Sabina moved, or screamed for help, or appeared to recognize the +aid which was at hand, ere it could have reached her, the knife might +have been sheathed in her heart. This knife was a foreign one of +quaint workmanship, usually hanging up in St. Elan's dressing-room; +and the premeditation evinced in thus secreting it was a mystery not +to be solved. Sabina's hair which was black as the raven's wing, when +she retired to rest on that fearful night, had changed to the +similitude of extreme age when they found her in the morning. Lady St. +Elan never recovered this sudden and total overthrow of reason, but +died--alas! it was rumored, by her own hand--within two years +afterwards. The infant heiress was entrusted to the guidance of her +mother's friend and governess; she became an orphan at an early age, +and on completing her twenty-first year was uncontrolled mistress of +the fortune and estates of her ancestors. + +"But long ere that period arrived, a serious question had arisen in +Sabina's mind respecting the duty and expediency of informing Mary St. +Elan what her true position was, and gently imparting the sad +knowledge of that visitation overshadowing the destinies of her race. +It was true that in her individual case the catastrophe might be +warded off, while, on the other hand, there was lurking, threatening +danger; but a high religious principle seemed to demand a sacrifice, +or self-immolation, in order to prevent the possibility of a +perpetuation of the direful malady. + +"Sabina felt assured that were her noble-hearted pupil once to learn +the facts, there would be no hesitation on her part in strictly +adhering to the prescribed line of right; it was a bitter task for +Sabina to undertake, but she did not shrink from performing it when +her resolution became matured, and her scruples settled into decision, +formed on the solid basis of duty to God and man. Sabina afterwards +learnt that the sacrifice demanded of Mary St. Elan was far more +heroic than she had contemplated; and when that sweet young creature +devoted herself to a life of celibacy, Sabina did not know, that +engrossed by 'first love,' of which so much has been said and sung, +Mary St. Elan bade adieu to life's hope and happiness. + +"With a woman's delicate perception and depth of pity, Sabina gained +that knowledge; and with honor unspeakable she silently read the +treasured secrets of the gentle heart thus fatally wounded--the evil +from which she had sedulously striven to guard her pupil, had not been +successfully averted--Mary St. Elan had already given away her +guileless heart. But her sorrows were not doomed to last; for soon +after that period when the law pronounced her free from control +respecting her worldly affairs, the last of the St. Elans passed +peacefully away to a better world, bequeathing the mansion house and +estate of St. Elan's Wood to Sabina and her heirs. In Sabina's +estimation, however, this munificent gift was the 'price of blood:' as +but for _her_ instrumentality, the fatal knowledge would not have been +imparted; but for _her_ the ancestral woods and pleasant home might +have descended to children's children in the St. Elan's +line,--tainted, indeed, and doomed; but now the race was extinct. + +"There were many persons who laughed at Sabina's sensitive feelings on +this subject, which they could not understand; and even well-meaning, +pious folk, thought that she carried her strict notions, too far. Yet +Sabina remained immovable; nor would she ever consent that the wealth +thus left should be enjoyed by her or hers. + +"Thus the deserted mansion still remains unclaimed, though it will not +be long ere it is appropriated to the useful and beneficent purpose +specified in Mary St. Elan's will--namely, failing Sabina and her +issue, to be converted into a lunatic asylum--a kind of lunatic +alms-house for decayed gentlewomen, who, with the requisite +qualifications, will here find refuge from the double storms of life +assailing them, poor souls! both from within and without." + +"But what became of Sabina, and what interest has your son in this +picture?" asked my friend of old Mrs. L----, as that venerable lady +concluded her narration; "for if none live to claim the property, why +does it still remain thus?" + +"Your justifiable curiosity shall be gratified, my dear," responded +the kindly dame. "Look at my hair--it did not turn white from age: I +retired to rest one night with glossy braids, black as the raven's +wing, and they found me in the morning as you now behold me! Yes, it +is even so; and you no longer wonder that Sabina's son desired to +possess this identical painting; my pilgrimage is drawing towards its +close--protracted as it has been beyond the allotted age of man--but, +according to the tenor of the afore-named will, the mansion and estate +of St. Elan must remain as they now stand until I am no more; while +the accumulated funds will amply endow the excellent charity. Were my +son less honorable or scrupulous, he might, of course, claim the +property on my decease; but respect for his mother's memory, with firm +adherence to her principles, will keep him, with God's blessing, from +yielding to temptation. He is not a rich man, but with proud humility +he may gaze on this memorial picture, and hand it down to posterity +with the traditionary lore attached; and may none of our descendants +ever lament the use which will be made, nor covet the possession, of +this deserted mansion." + + + + +From Hogg's Instructor. + +ILLUSTRATIONS OF MOTIVES. + + +Certain it is, that in the universe there can be but one infallible +Judge of motives. None but its Maker can see into the secret springs, +and clearly comprehend the motions, of the mind. Nevertheless, "the +will for the deed" is an old understanding among mankind, in virtue of +that inward life whose world and workings they know to extend so far +beyond the visible. It is, indeed, the privilege, and in some sense a +necessity of human reason, to inquire after, at least, obvious +motives, since the smallest acquaintance with character or history +cannot be formed without taking them into account. Thus, in the +biographies of notable men, in the histories of nations, and in the +gossip which constitutes the current history of most neighborhoods, +and is relished alike by the denizens of court and hamlet, nobody is +satisfied with knowing merely what was done, for the demand invariably +follows, Why they did it? That query is often necessary to legal, and +always to moral justice. It must be, so to speak, a most mechanical +and surface life, whose daily doings the beholder can fully explain, +independent of any reference to inward feelings, unuttered memories, +or concealed hopes. How many deeds and whole courses of action, +chameleon-like, utterly change their complexions, according to the +light of attributed motives! Through that medium, the patriot of one +party becomes the heartless and designing knave of another; and the +fanatical revolutionists of their own generation turn to fearless +reformers with the next. Many an act, on the details of which most +historians are agreed, is held up by one to the world's praise, and by +another to universal censure. Henri Quatre, says the first, conformed +to Catholicism rather than continue a civil war in his kingdom; while +a second remarks of the same monarch, that he sacrificed his faith for +a crown. When Frederick-William of Prussia was just at the hottest of +that persecution of his celebrated son, for which, together with his +love of tall soldiers, he is best known to the world, the grand +dispute amongst his favorite guards at Potsdam was, whether the kicks, +cuffs, and imprisonments, which the old king bestowed so liberally on +his heir-apparent, were intended to prevent young Fritz turning an +infidel, or arose from his father's fears that he might be a greater +man than himself! On no subject are mankind more apt to differ, +probably because there are few on which observation affords so much +inferential and so little direct evidence. + +Approaching the innermost circles of private life, we find that the +views entertained of motives exercise a still greater influence in +determining our estimation of kindred, friends, or lovers. Volpone, in +Ben Jonson's play, even had he been capable of it, could have no cause +for gratitude to his numerous friends for all their gifts and +attentions, knowing so perfectly as he did, that they came but in +expectation of a legacy; and many a well-portioned dame has seen cause +for applying to her most attentive suitor those lines of a homely +Scottish song-- + + "My lad is sae muckle in love wi' my siller, + He canna hae love to spare for me." + +There is a strange difference of opinion existing at times between the +principals and the spectators of these particular affairs. Few, it has +been said, can penetrate the motives of others in matters regarding +themselves. Yet most people are wonderfully sharp-sighted where their +neighbors are concerned; and the world--as every one of us is apt to +call that fraction of society in which we live, and move, and have our +associations--though generally not over charitable, is rarely wrong in +its conclusions. + +He was a keen observer of life who remarked that the rapid changes to +which most of human friendships and enmities are liable, could be no +matter of surprise to one who took note of the motives from which they +generally originate. Poor and unsubstantial enough these doubtless +are, in many a case. There have been friendships that owed their +growth solely to showers of flattery, and bitter enmities have +spontaneously sprung up in the soil of envy. It was said of Goldsmith, +that he could never hear a brother poet, or, indeed, any citizen of +the world of letters, praised, without entertaining a temporary +aversion to that individual, and a similar effect was always produced +by the smallest sign of increasing literary consequence. A report that +M---- had been taken particular notice of by such a nobleman of those +patronizing times, or that his works had been admired in some segment +of the fashionable circle, was sufficient to make the author of the +"Deserted Village" find all manner of faults with him and his, till +time, or his habitual good nature, wiped the circumstance out of +Goldsmith's remembrance. + +This reminds one of Madame de Montespan, a belle of that order which +reigned most triumphantly at the court of Louis XIV., who never could +forgive her rival, even when disgraced and dead, because she had once +got a ride in the royal carriage. It is curious that the learned and +the fair, far as their general pursuits, and visibilities, too, are +known to be apart, should, according to common report, approximate so +nearly in their motives to enmity or friendship. George Colman used to +say, that, if one had any interest in getting up a quarrel between +either two fine ladies or two literary men, he had nothing to do but +to praise the one energetically to the other, and the higher his +enthusiasm rose, the fiercer would be the war. + +It was asserted of both the elder and younger Scaliger, that they +never applauded any scholar with all their might, but one who was +manifestly inferior to themselves; and of Madame de Maintenon, that +she never honored any one with her special friendship who was not, in +some considerable point, beneath her. There is still a large class of +characters, in all whose attachments a something to despise seems the +indispensable ingredient. The perpetual triumph of being always "king +of the company" has a binding attraction for such minds. It confers a +kind of dictatorship to have the advantage of one's friends. Nothing +else can explain the amount of patronage and befriending generally +lavished on the most worthless members of families or societies; and +the half-grudge, half-surveillance, which, under the covert of mere +mouth-honor, often surrounds great or successful abilities. + +A strange motive to enmity is illustrated in the life of General +Loudoun, one of the Scotch Jacobites, who, on the defeat of his party, +entered the Austrian service, and rose to the rank of field-marshal in +the wars of Maria Theresa. He had taken the town of Seidlitz from the +Prussians. It was a great stroke in favor of the empress queen, and +might have been rewarded with a coronet, but, in his haste to send her +majesty the intelligence, Loudoun transmitted it through her husband, +the Emperor Francis, who had a private interest in the matter, having +long carried on a speculation of his own in victualling not only his +wife's troops, but those of her Prussian enemy. King Maria, as she was +styled by her Hungarian subjects, had also some special reasons for +allowing him to have neither hand nor voice in her concerns--a fact +which the marshal had never learned, or forgotten; and her majesty was +so indignant at receiving the news through such a channel, that, +though she struck a medal to commemorate the taking of Seidlitz, +Loudoun was rewarded only with her peculiar aversion throughout the +remaining seventeen years of her reign, for which the good wishes of +that imperial speculator in forage and flour afforded but poor +consolation. + +Of all the important steps of human life, that by which two are made +one appears to be taken from the greatest variety of motives. +Doubtless, from the beginning it was not so; but manifold and +heterogeneous are those which have been alleged for it in the +civilized world. Goethe said he married to attain popular +respectability. Wilkes, once called the Patriot, when sueing his wife, +who chanced to have been an heiress, for the remains of her property, +declared that he had wedded at twenty-two, solely to please his +friends; and Wycherly the poet, in his very last days, worshipped and +endowed with all his worldly goods, as the English service hath it, a +girl whom poverty had made unscrupulous, in order to be revenged on +his relations. + +Princes of old were in the habit of marrying to cement treaties, which +were generally broken as soon after as possible; and simple citizens +are still addicted to the same method of amending their fortunes and +families. There was an original motive to double blessedness set forth +in the advice of a veteran sportsman in one of the border counties. +His niece was the heiress of broad lands, which happened to adjoin an +estate belonging to a younger brother of the turf; and the senior +gentleman, when dilating to her on the exploits they had performed +together by wood and wold, wound up with the following sage +counsel--"Maria, take my advice, and marry young Beechwood, and you'll +see this county hunted in style." + +The numbers who, by their own account, have wedded to benefit society, +in one shape or another, would furnish a strong argument against the +accredited selfishness of mankind, could they only be believed. The +general good of their country was the standing excuse of classic +times, and philosophers have occasionally reproduced it in our own. +Most people seem to think some apology necessary, but none are so +ingenious in showing cause why they should enter the holy state, as +those with whom it is the second experiment. The pleas of the widowed +for casting off their weeds are generally prudent, and often +singularly commendable. Domestic policy or parental affection supply +the greater part of them; and the want of protectors and step-mothers +felt by families of all sizes is truly marvellous, considering the +usual consequences of their instalment. + +It is to be admired, as the speakers of old English would say, for +what noble things men will give themselves credit in the way of +motives, and how little resemblance their actions bear to them. +Montaigne was accustomed to tell of a servant belonging to the +Archbishop of Paris, who, being detected in privately selling his +master's best wine, insisted that it was done out of pure love to his +grace, lest the sight of so large a stock in his cellar might tempt +him to drink more than was commendable for a bishop. A guardian care +of their neighbors' well-being, somewhat similar, is declared by all +the disturbers of our daily paths. Tale-bearers and remarkers, of +every variety, have the best interests of their friends at heart; and +what troublesome things some people can do from a sense of duty is +matter of universal experience. Great public criminals, tyrants, and +persecutors in old times, and the abusers of power in all ages, have, +especially in the fall of their authority, laid claim to most exalted +motives. Patriotism, philanthropy, and religion itself, have been +quoted as their inspirers. The ill-famed Judge Jeffries said, his +judicial crimes were perpetrated to maintain the majesty of the law. +Robespierre affirmed that he had lived in defence of virtue and his +country. But perhaps the most charitable interpretation that ever man +gave to the motives of another, is to be found in the funeral sermon +of Frederick, Prince of Wales, and father of George III. The preacher, +after several judicious remarks on the virtues of the royal deceased, +concludes, "That in the extreme to which these were carried, they +appeared like vices; for so great was his generosity, that he ruined +half the tradesmen in London; and so extraordinary his condescension, +that he kept all sorts of bad company." + +It is strange, that while motives abstractly virtuous have produced +large additions to the sum of mortal ills, little of private, and +still less of public, good has sprung, even casually, from those that +are evil in themselves. "If either the accounts of history, or the +daily reports of life, are to be at all credited," said one who had +learned and thought much on this subject, "the greatest amount of +crime and folly has been committed from motives of religion and love, +as men, for the most part, know them; while those of avarice, revenge, +and fear, have originated the most extraordinary actions and important +events." + +The sins of revenge have usually a leaven of what Bacon calls "wild +justice" in them. Those of avarice are, from their very nature, +notorious; but perhaps no motive has ever prompted men to such varied +and singular actions as that of fear. The working of fear was +singularly exhibited in the conduct of a certain Marquis of +Montferrat, who lived at the period of the famous Italian wars, waged +between Charles V. of Germany and Francis I. of France. The marquis +was an Alpine feudatory of the former, and served him long and +faithfully, till a German astrologer of high repute in those days +assured him, from the stars, that the emperor would be eventually +overthrown, and all his partisans utterly ruined. To avoid his +probable share in that prediction, the marquis turned traitor to his +friend and sovereign, for Charles had trusted him beyond most men; but +the next year, the emperor was completely victorious, by both sea and +land. The marquis had fallen, fighting in vain for Francis, and his +fief was bestowed on a loyal vassal of the emperor. + +Divines and philosophers have had many controversies concerning +motives. A great dispute on this subject is said to have engaged the +learned of Alexandria, about the accession of the emperor Julian, +whom, says a biographer, "some of his subjects named the Apostate, and +some the Philosopher." The controversy occupied not only the Christian +Platonists, for whose numbers that city was so celebrated, but also +the Pagan wisdom, then shedding its last rays under favor of the new +emperor. Yet neither Christians nor Pagans could entirely agree with +each other, and such a division of opinion had never been heard, even +in Alexandria. Things were in this state, says the tradition, when +there arrived in the capital of Egypt a Persian, whose fame had long +preceded him. He had been one of the Magi, at the base of the +Caucasus, till the Parthians laid waste his country, when he left it, +and travelled over the world in search of knowledge, and, in both east +and west, they called him Kosro the Wise. Scarce was the distinguished +stranger fairly within their gates when the chiefs of the parties +determined to hear his opinion on matter; and a deputation, consisting +of a Christian bishop, a Jewish rabbi, a Platonist teacher, and a +priest of Isis, waited on the Persian one morning, when he sat in the +portico of a long-deserted temple, which some forgotten Egyptian had +built to Time, the instructor. The rabbi and the priest were for +actions. The Platonist and the bishop were motive men, but in the +manner of those times, for even philosophy has its fashions, the four +had agreed that each should propose a question to Kosro, as his own +wisdom dictated. Accordingly, after some preparatory compliments, +touching the extent of his fame and travels, the Platonist, who was +always notable for circumlocution, opened the business by inquiring +what he considered the chief movers of mankind. + +"Gain and vanity," replied Kosro. + +"Which is strongest?" interposed the rabbi, in whom the faculty of +beating about in argument was scarcely less developed. + +"Gain was the first," said the Persian. "Its worship succeeded the +reign of Ormuz, which western poets call the golden age, and I know +not when it was; but, in later ages, vanity has become the most +powerful, for every where I have seen men do that for glory which they +would not do for gain; and many even sacrifice gain to glory, as they +think it." + +"But, wise Kosro," demanded the priest, impatient with what he +considered a needless digression, "tell us your opinion--Should men be +judged by their motives or their actions?" + +"Motives," said Kosro, "are the province of divine, and actions of +human, judgment. Nevertheless, because of the relation between them it +is well to take note of the former when they become visible in our +light, yet not to search too narrowly after them, but take deeds for +their value; seeing, first, that the inward labyrinth is beyond our +exploring; secondly, that most men act from mingled motives; and, +thirdly, that if, after the thought of a western poet, there were a +crystal pane set in each man's bosom, it would mightily change the +estimation of many." + +And the bishop made answer--"Kosro, thou hast seen the truth; man must +at times perceive, but God alone can judge of, motives." + + + + +From Sharpe's London Journal. + +THE LAST DAYS OF THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER. + +FROM THE FRENCH OF ALEX. DUMAS, BY MISS STRICKLAND. + + +The knowledge of an extensively organized conspiracy embittered the +last years of the Emperor Alexander, and increased his constitutional +melancholy. His attachment to Tzarsko Zelo made him linger longer at +his summer palace than was prudent in a man subject to erysipelas. The +wound in his leg reopened with very unfavorable symptoms, and he was +compelled to leave his favorite residence in a closed litter for St. +Petersburgh; and the skill and firmness of Mr. Wyllie, his Scotch +surgeon, alone saved the diseased limb from amputation. As soon as he +was cured, he returned again to Tzarsko Zelo, where the spring found +him as usual alone, without a court or chamberlain, only giving +audience to his ministers twice a-week. His existence resembled rather +that of an anchorite weeping for the sins of his youth, than that of a +great Emperor who makes the happiness of his people. + +He regulated his time in the following manner:--in summer he rose at +five, and in winter at six o'clock every morning, and as soon as the +duties of the toilette were ended, entered his cabinet, in which the +greatest order was observed. He found there a cambric handkerchief +folded, and a packet of new pens. He only used these pens in signing +his name, and never made use of them again. As soon as he concluded +this business, he descended into the garden, where, notwithstanding +the report of a conspiracy which had existed two years against his +life and government, he walked alone with no other guards than the +sentinels always stationed before the palace of Alexander. At five he +returned, to dine alone, and after his solitary meal was lulled to +sleep by the melancholy airs played by the military band of the guard +regiment on duty. The selection of the music was always made by +himself, and he seemed to sink to repose, and to awake, with the same +sombre dispositions and feelings which had been his companions +throughout the day. + +His empress Elizabeth lived like her consort, in profound solitude, +watching over him like an invisible angel. Time had not extinguished +in her heart the profound passion with which the youthful Czarowitz +had inspired her at first sight, and which she had preserved in her +heart, pure and inviolate. His numerous and public infidelities could +not stifle this holy and beautiful attachment, which formed at once +the happiness and misery of a delicate and sensitive woman. + +At this period of her life, the Empress at five-and-forty retained her +fine shape and noble carriage, while her countenance showed the +remains of considerable beauty, more impaired by sorrow than time. +Calumny itself had never dared to aim her envenomed shafts at one so +eminently chaste and good. Her presence demanded the respect due to +virtue, still more than the homage proper to her elevated rank. She +resembled indeed more an angel exiled from heaven, than the imperial +consort of a Prince who ruled a large portion of the earth. + +In the summer of 1825, the last he was destined to see, the physicians +of the Emperor unanimously recommended a journey to the Crimea, as the +best medicine he could take. Alexander appeared perfectly indifferent +to a measure which regarded his individual benefit, but the Empress, +deeply interested in any event likely to restore her husband's health, +asked and obtained permission to accompany him. The necessary +preparations for this long absence overwhelmed the Emperor with +business, and for a fortnight he rose earlier, and went to bed later, +than was customary to him. + +In the month of June, no visible alteration was observed in his +appearance, and he quitted St. Petersburgh, after a service had been +chanted, to bring down a blessing from above on his journey. He was +accompanied by the Empress, his faithful coachman, Ivan, and some +officers belonging to the staff of General Diebitch. He stopped at +Warsaw a few days, in order to celebrate the birthday of his brother, +the Grand-Duke Constantine, and arrived at Tangaroff in the end of +August 1825. Both the illustrious travellers found their health +benefitted by the change of scene and climate. Alexander took a great +liking to Tangaroff, a small town on the borders of the sea of Azof, +comprizing a thousand ill-built houses, of which a sixth-part alone +are of brick and stone, while the remainder resemble wooden cages +covered with dirt. The streets are large, but then they have no +pavement, and are alternately loaded with dust, or inundated with mud. +The dust rises in clouds, which conceals alike man and beast under a +thick veil, and penetrates every where the carefully closed jalousies +with which the houses are guarded, and covers the garments of their +inhabitants. The food, the water, are loaded with it; and the last +cannot be drunk till previously boiled with salt of tartar, which +precipitates it; a precaution absolutely necessary to free it from +this disagreeable and dangerous deposit. + +The Emperor took possession of the governor's house, where he +sometimes slept and took his meals. His abode there in the daytime +rarely exceeded two hours. The rest of his time was passed in +wandering about the country on foot, in the hot dust or wet mud. No +weather put any stop to his outdoor exercise, and no advice from his +medical attendant nor warning from the natives of Tangaroff, could +prevail upon him to take the slightest precaution against the fatal +autumnal fever of the country. His principal occupation was, planning +and planting a great public garden, in which undertaking he was +assisted by an Englishman whom he had brought with him to St. +Petersburgh for that purpose. He frequently slept on the spot on a +camp-bed, with his head resting upon a leather pillow. + +If general report may be credited, planting gardens was not the +principal object that engrossed the Russian Emperor's attention. He +was said to be employed in framing a new Constitution for Russia, and +unable to contend at St. Petersburgh with the prejudices of the +aristocracy, had retired to this small city, for the purpose of +conferring this benefit upon his enslaved country. + +However this might be, the Emperor did not stay long at a time at +Tangaroff, where his Empress, unable to share with him the fatigues of +his long journeys, permanently resided, during his frequent absences +from his head quarters. Alexander, in fact, made rapid excursions to +the country about the Don, and was sometimes at Tcherkask, sometimes +at Donetz. He was on the eve of departure for Astracan, when Count +Woronzoff in person came to announce to his sovereign the existence of +the mysterious conspiracy which had haunted him in St. Petersburgh, +and which extended to the Crimea, where his personal presence could +alone appease the general discontent. + +The prospect of traversing three hundred leagues appeared a trifle to +Alexander, whom rapid journeys alone diverted from his oppressive +melancholy. He announced to the Empress his departure, which he only +delayed till the return of a messenger he had sent to Alapka. The +expected courier brought new details of the conspiracy, which aimed at +the life, as well as the government of Alexander. This discovery +agitated him terribly. He rested his aching head on his hands, gave a +deep groan, and exclaimed, "Oh, my father, my father!" Though it was +then midnight, he caused Count Diebitch to be roused from sleep and +summoned into his presence. The general, who lodged in the next house, +found his master in a dreadfully excited state, now traversing the +apartment with hasty strides, now throwing himself upon the bed with +deep sighs and convulsive starts. He at length became calm, and +discussed the intelligence conveyed in the dispatches of Count +Woronzoff. He then dictated two, one addressed to the Viceroy of +Poland, the other to the Grand-Duke Nicholas. + +With these documents all traces of his terrible agitation disappeared. +He was quite calm, and his countenance betrayed nothing of the emotion +that had harassed him the preceding night. + +Count Woronzoff, notwithstanding his apparent calmness, found him +difficult to please, and unusually irritable, for Alexander was +constitutionally sweet-tempered and patient. He did not delay his +journey on account of this internal disquietude, but gave orders for +his departure from Tangaroff, which he fixed for the following day. + +His ill-humor increased during the journey; he complained of the +badness of the roads and the slowness of the horses. He had never been +known to grumble before. His irritation became more apparent when Sir +James Wyllie, his confidential medical attendant, recommended him to +take some precaution against the frozen winds of the autumn; for he +threw away with a gesture of impatience the cloak and pelisse he +offered, and braved the danger he had been entreated to avoid. His +imprudence soon produced consequences. That evening he caught cold, +and coughed incessantly, and the following day, on his arrival at +Orieloff, an intermittent fever appeared, which soon after, aggravated +by the obstinacy of the invalid, turned to the intermittent fever +common to Tangaroff and its environs in the autumn. + +The Emperor, whose increasing malady gave him a presage of his +approaching death, expressed a wish to return to the Empress, and once +more took the route to Tangaroff; contrary to the prayers of Sir James +Wyllie, he chose to perform a part of the journey on horseback, but +the failure of his strength finally forced him to re-enter his +carriage. He entered Tangaroff on the fifth of November, and swooned +the moment he came into the governor's house. The Empress, who was +suffering with a complaint of the heart, forgot her malady, while +watching over her dying husband. Change of place only increased the +fatal fever which preyed upon his frame, which seemed to gather +strength from day to day. On the eight, Wyllie called in Dr. +Stephiegen, and on the thirteenth they endeavored to counteract the +affection of the brain, and wished to bleed the imperial patient. He +would not submit to the operation, and demanded iced water, which they +refused. Their denial irritated him, and he rejected every thing they +offered him, with displeasure. These learned men were unwise, to +deprive the suffering prince of the water, a safe and harmless +beverage in such fevers. In fact, nature herself sometimes, in +inspiring the wish, provides the remedy. The Emperor on the afternoon +of that day wrote and sealed a letter, when perceiving the taper +remained burning, he told his attendant to extinguish it, in words +that plainly expressed his feelings in regard to the dangerous nature +of his malady. "Put out that light, my friend, or the people will take +it for a bier candle, and will suppose I am already dead." + +On the fourteenth of November, the physicians again urged their +refractory patient to take the medicines they prescribed, and were +seconded by the prayers of the Empress. He repulsed them with some +haughtiness, but quickly repenting of his hastiness of temper, which +in fact was one of the symptoms of the disease, he said, "Attend to +me, Stephiegen, and you too, Sir Andrew Wyllie. I have much pleasure +in seeing you, but you plague me so often about your medicine, that +really I must give up your company if you will talk of nothing else." +He however was at last induced to take a dose of calomel. + +In the evening, the fever had made such fearful progress that it +appeared necessary to call in a priest. Sir Andrew Wyllie, at the +instance of the Empress, entered the chamber of the dying prince, and +approaching his bed, with tears in his eyes advised him "to call in +the aid of the Most High, and not to refuse the assistance of religion +as he had already done that of medicine." + +The Emperor instantly gave his consent. Upon the fifteenth, at five +o'clock in the morning, a humble village priest approached the +imperial bed to receive the confession of his expiring sovereign.--"My +father, God must be merciful to kings," were the first words the +Emperor addressed to the minister of religion; "indeed they require it +so much more than other men." In this sentence all the trials and +temptations of the despotic ruler of a great people--his territorial +ambition, his jealousy, his political ruses, his distrusts and +over-confidences, seem to be briefly comprehended. Then, apparently +perceiving some timidity in the spiritual confessor his destiny had +provided for him, he added, "My father, treat me like an erring man, +not as an Emperor." The priest drew near the bed, received the +confession of his august penitent, and administered to him the last +sacraments. Then having been informed of the Emperor's pertinacity in +rejecting medicine, he urged him to give up this fatal obstinacy, +remarking, "that he feared God would consider it absolutely suicidal." +His admonitions made a deep impression upon the mind of the prince, +who recalled Sir Andrew Wyllie, and, giving him his hand, bade him do +what he pleased with him. Wyllie took advantage of this absolute +surrender, to apply twenty leeches to the head of the Emperor; but the +application was too late, the burning fever continually increased, and +the sufferer was given over. The intelligence filled the dying chamber +with weeping domestics, who tenderly loved their master. + +The Empress still occupied her place by the bed-side, which she had +never quitted but once, in order to allow her dying husband to unbosom +himself in private to his confessor. She returned to the post assigned +her by conjugal tenderness directly the priest had quitted it. + +Two hours after he had made his peace with God, Alexander experienced +more severe pain than he had yet felt. "Kings," said he, "suffer more +than others." He had called one of his attendants to listen to this +remark with the air of one communicating a secret. He stopped, and +then, as if recalling something he had forgotten, said in a whisper, +"they have committed an infamous action." What did he mean by these +words? Was he suspicious that his days had been shortened by poison? +or did he allude, with the last accents he uttered, to the barbarous +assassination of the Emperor Paul? Eternity can alone reveal the +secret thoughts of Alexander I. of Russia. + +During the night, the dying prince lost consciousness. At two o'clock +in the morning, Count Diebitch came to the Empress, to inform her that +an old man, named Alexandrowitz, had saved many Tartars in the same +malady. A ray of hope entered the heart of the imperial consort at +this information, and Sir Andrew Wyllie ordered him to be sent for in +haste. This interval was passed by the Empress in prayer, yet she +still kept her eyes fixed upon those of her husband, watching with +intense attention the beams of life and light fading in their +unconscious gaze. At nine in the morning, the old man was brought into +the imperial chamber almost by force. The rank of the patient, +perhaps, inspiring him with some fear respecting the consequences that +might follow his prescriptions, caused his extreme unwillingness. He +approached the bed, looked at his dying sovereign, and shook his head. +He was questioned respecting this doubtful sign. "It is too late to +give him medicine; besides, those I have cured were not sick of the +same malady." + +With these words of the peasant physician, the last hopes of the +Empress vanished; but if pure and ardent prayers could have prevailed +with God, Alexander would have been saved. + +On the sixteenth of November, according to the usual method of +measuring time, but on the first of December, if we follow the Russian +calendar, at fifty minutes after ten in the morning, Alexander +Paulowitz, Emperor of all the Russias, expired. The Empress, bending +over him, felt the departure of his last breath. She uttered a bitter +cry, sank upon her knees, and prayed. After some minutes passed in +communion with heaven, she rose, closed the eyes of her deceased lord, +composed his features, kissed his cold and livid hands, and once more +knelt and prayed. The physicians entreated her to leave the chamber of +death, and the pious Empress consented to withdraw to her own.[9] + +The body of the Emperor lay in state, on a platform raised in an +apartment of the house where he died. The presence-chamber was hung +with black, and the bier was covered with cloth of gold. A great many +wax tapers lighted up the gloomy scene. A priest at the head of the +bier prayed continually for the repose of his deceased sovereign's +soul. Two sentinels with drawn swords watched day and night beside the +dead, two were stationed at the doors, and two stood on each step +leading to the bier. Every person received at the door a lighted +taper, which he held while he remained in the apartment. The Empress +was present during these masses, but she always fainted at the +conclusion of the service. Crowds of people united their prayers to +hers, for the Emperor was adored by the common people. The corpse of +Alexander I. lay in state twenty-one days before it was removed to the +Greek monastery of St. Alexander, where it was to rest before its +departure for interment in St. Petersburgh. + +Upon the 25th December, the remains of the Emperor were placed on a +funeral car drawn by eight horses, covered to the ground with black +cloth ornamented with the escutcheons of the empire. The bier rested +on an elevated dais, carpeted with cloth of gold; over the bier was +laid a flag of silver tissue, charged with the heraldic insignia +proper to the imperial house. The imperial crown was placed under the +dais. Four major-generals held the cords which supported the diadem. +The persons composing the household of the Emperor and Empress +followed the bier dressed in long black mantles, bearing in their +hands lighted torches. The Cossacks of the Don every minute discharged +their light artillery, while the sullen booming of the cannon added to +the solemnity of the imposing scene. + +Upon its arrival at the church, the body was transferred to a +catafalco covered with red cloth, surmounted by the imperial arms in +gold, displayed on crimson-velvet. Two steps led up to the platform on +which the catafalco was placed. Four columns supported the dais upon +which the imperial crown, the sceptre, and the globe, rested. + +The catafalco was surrounded by curtains of crimson velvet and cloth +of gold, and four massy candelabra, at the four corners of the +platform, bore wax tapers sufficient to dispel the darkness, but not +to banish the gloom pervading the church, which was hung with black +embroidered with white crosses. The Empress made an attempt to assist +at this funeral service, but her feelings overpowered her, and she was +borne back to the palace in a swoon; but as soon as she came to +herself she entered the private chapel, and repeated there the same +prayers then reciting in the church of St. Alexander. + +While the remains of the Emperor Alexander were on their way to their +last home, the report of his dangerous state, which had been forwarded +officially to the Grand-Duke Nicholas, was contradicted by another +document, which bore date of the 29th of November, announcing that +considerable amendment had taken place in the Emperor's health, who +had recovered from a swoon of eight hours' duration, and had not only +appeared collected, but declared himself improved in health. + +Whether this was a political ruse of the conspirators or the new +Emperor remains quite uncertain; however, a solemn _Te Deum_ was +ordered to be celebrated in the cathedral of Casan, at which the +Empress Mother and the Grand-Dukes Nicholas and Michael were present. +The joyful crowds assembled at this service scarcely left the imperial +family and their suite a free space for the exercise of their +devotions. Towards the end of the _Te Deum_, while the sweet voices of +the choir were rising in harmonious concert to heaven, some official +person informed the Grand-Duke Nicholas that a courier from Tangaroff +had arrived with the last dispatch, which he refused to deliver into +any hand but his own. Nicholas was conducted into the sacristy, and +with one glance at the messenger divined the nature of the document of +which he was the bearer. The letter he presented was sealed with +black. Nicholas recognized the handwriting of the Empress Consort, +and, hastily opening it, read these words: + +"Our angel is in heaven; I still exist on earth, but I hope soon to be +re-united to him." + +The bishop was summoned into the sacristy by the new Emperor, who gave +him the letter, with directions to break the fatal tidings it +contained to the Empress Mother with the tenderest care. He then +returned to his place by the side of his august parent, who alone, of +the thousands assembled there, had perceived his absence. + +An instant after, the venerable bishop re-entered the choir, and +silenced the notes of praise and exultation with a motion of his hand. +Every voice became mute, and the stillness of death reigned throughout +the sacred edifice. In the midst of the general astonishment and +attention he walked slowly to the altar, took up the massy silver +crucifix which decorated it, and throwing over that symbol of earthly +sorrow and divine hope a black veil, he approached the Empress Mother, +and gave her the crucifix in mourning to kiss. + +The Empress uttered a cry, and fell with her face on the +pavement;--she comprehended at once that her eldest son was dead. + +The Empress Elizabeth soon realized the sorrowful hope she had +expressed. Four months after the death of her consort she died on the +way from Tangaroff, at Beloff, and soon rejoined him she had +pathetically termed "_her_ angel in heaven." + +The historical career of the Emperor Alexander is well known to every +reader, but the minor matters of every-day life mark the man, while +public details properly denote the sovereign. + +The faults of Alexander are comprised in his infidelity to a +beautiful, accomplished, and affectionate wife. He respected her even +while wounding her delicate feelings by his criminal attachments to +other women. After many years of mental pain, the injured Elizabeth +gave him the choice of giving her up, or banishing an imperious +mistress, by whom the Emperor had a numerous family. + +Alexander could not resolve to separate for ever from his amiable and +virtuous consort,--he made the sacrifice she required of him. + +His gallantry sometimes placed him in unprincely situations, and +brought him in contact with persons immeasurably beneath him. He once +fell in love with a tailor's wife at Warsaw, and not being well +acquainted with the character of the pretty grisette, construed her +acceptance of the visit he proposed making her, into approbation of +his suit. The fair Pole was too simple, and had been too virtuously +brought up, to comprehend his intentions. Her husband was absent, so +she thought it would not be proper to receive the imperial visit +alone; she made, therefore, a re-union of her own and her husband's +relations--rich people of the bourgeoisie class--and when the emperor +entered her saloon, he found himself in company with thirty or forty +persons, to whom he was immediately introduced by his fair and +innocent hostess. The astonished sovereign was obliged to make himself +agreeable to the party, none of whom appeared to have divined his +criminal intentions. He made no further attempt to corrupt the +innocence of this beautiful woman, whose simplicity formed the +safeguard of her virtue. + +A severe trial separated him for ever from his last mistress, who had +borne him a daughter; this child was the idol of his heart, and to +form her mind was the pleasure of his life. At eighteen the young lady +eclipsed every woman in his empire by her dazzling beauty and graceful +manners. Suddenly she was seized with an infectious fever, for which +no physician in St. Petersburgh could find a remedy. Her mother, +selfish and timid, deserted the sick chamber of the suffering girl, +over whom the bitter tears of a father were vainly shed, while he kept +incessant vigils over one whom he would have saved from the power of +the grave at the expense of his life and empire. The dying daughter +asked incessantly for her mother, upon whose bosom she desired to +breathe her last sigh; but neither the passionate entreaties nor the +commands of her imperial lover could induce the unnatural parent to +risk her health by granting the interview for which her poor child +craved, and she expired in the arms of her father, without the +consolation of bidding her mother a last adieu. + +Some days after the death of his natural daughter, the Emperor +Alexander entered the house of an English officer to whom he was much +attached. He was in deep mourning and appeared very unhappy. "I have +just followed to the grave," said he, "as a private person the remains +of my poor child, and I cannot yet forgive the unnatural woman who +deserted the death-bed of her daughter. Besides, my sin, which I never +repented of, has found me out, and the vengeance of God has fallen +upon its fruits. Yes, I deserted the best and most amiable of wives, +the object of my first affection, for women who neither possessed her +beauty nor merit. I have preferred to the Empress even this unnatural +mother, whom I now regard with loathing and horror. My wife shall +never again have cause to reproach my broken faith." + +Devotion and his strict adherence to his promise balmed the wound, +which, however, only death could heal. To the secret agony which +through life had haunted the bosom of the son was added that of the +father, and the return of Alexander to the paths of virtue and +religion originated in the loss of this beloved daughter, smitten, he +considered, for his sins. + +The friendship of this prince for Madam Krudener had nothing criminal +in its nature, though it furnished a theme for scandal to those who +are apt to doubt the purity of Platonic attachments between +individuals of opposite sexes. + +In regard to this Emperor's political career, full of ambition and +stratagem, we can only re-echo his dying words to his confessor:--"God +must be merciful to kings?" His career, however varied by losses on +the field or humiliated by treaties, ended triumphantly with the +laurels of war and the olives of peace, and he bore to his far +northern empire the keys of Paris as a trophy of his arms. His +moderation demands the praise of posterity, and excited the admiration +of the French nation at large.[10] His immoral conduct as a man and a +husband was afterwards effaced by his sincere repentance, and he died +in the arms of the most faithful and affectionate of wives, who could +not long survive her irreparable loss. His death was deeply lamented +by his subjects, who, if they did not enrol his name among the +greatest of their rulers, never have hesitated to denote him as the +best and most merciful sovereign who ever sat upon the Russian throne. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[9] The autopsy exhibited the same appearance generally discovered in those +subjects whose death has been caused by the fever of the country: the brain +was watery, the veins of the head were gorged, and the liver was soft. No +signs of poison were discovered; the death of the Emperor was in the course +of nature. + +[10] The French authorities would have removed the trophies of Napoleon's +victories, and the commemoration of the Russian share in the disastrous +days of Jena and Austerlitz. The Emperor Alexander magnanimously replied, +"No, let them remain: it is sufficient that I have passed over the bridge +with my army!" A noble and generous reply. Few princes have effaced public +wrongs so completely, or used their opportunity of making reprisals so +mercifully. (See Chateaubriand's Autobiography.) + + + + +FALLEN GENIUS. + +BY MISS ALICE CAREY. + + + No tears for him!--he saw by faith sublime + Through the wan shimmer of life's wasted flame, + Across the green hills of the future time, + The golden breaking of the morn of fame. + + Faded by the diviner life, and worn, + The dust has fallen away, and ye but see + The ruins of the house wherein were borne + The birth-pangs of an immortality. + + His great life from the wondrous life to be, + Clasped the bright splendors that no sorrow mars, + As some pale, shifting column of the sea, + Mirrors the awful beauty of the stars. + + What was Love's lily pressure, what the light + Of its pleased smile, that a chance breath may chill? + His soul was mated with the winds of night, + And wandered through the universe at will. + + Oft in his heart its stormy passion woke, + Yet from its bent his soul no more was stirred, + Than is the broad green bosom of the oak + By the light flutter of the summer bird. + + His loves were of forbidden realms, unwrought + In poet's rhyme, the music of his themes, + Hovering about the watch-fires of his thought, + On the dim borders of the land of dreams. + + For while his hand with daring energy + Fed the slow fire that, burning, must consume, + The ravishing joys of unheard harmony + Beat like a living pulse within the tomb. + + Pillars of fire that wander through life's night, + Children of genius! ye are doomed to be, + In the embrace of your far-reaching light, + Locking the radiance of eternity. + + + + +From the London Times. + +COPENHAGEN. + + +A more stately city than Copenhagen can scarcely be imagined. The +streets, wide and long, filled with spacious and lofty houses of +unspotted whiteness, and built with great regularity, remind one +somewhat of Bath, but that the ground is level; many of them +all but equal, in breadth, to the Irishman's test of street +architecture--Sackville-street, Dublin. But large squares break up +their continuous lines, and the eye rests on fine statues, noble +palaces, and splendid buildings devoted to the arts, to amusement, to +justice, or to the purposes of religion in every quarter of the city. +Copenhagen is but a creation of the last century, and, after a little +time spent there, a large portion of it gives the idea that it was +built all of a sudden, by some Danish Grissell and Peto, according to +contract. Surrounded by a deep foss, by ramparts and intrenchments, +defended by formidable forts and batteries, filled with the halls of +kings, with churches, museums, and castles, it combines the appearance +of a new cut made by the royal commissioners through some old London +rookery, with the air of an old feudal town. The moat prohibits any +considerable extension. Seen under a bright cold sky, the blanched +fronts of the houses, the white walls of the public edifices, the +regularity of the streets, conveyed an impression of cleanliness, +which could only be destroyed when one happened to look down at his +feet, or ceased to keep guard over his nose. The paving is of the +style which may be called Titanic, and was never intended for any foot +garb less defensive than a _sabot_ or a _caliga_. The drainage is +superficial,--that is, all the liquid refuse of the city runs, or +rather walks very leisurely, along grooves in the pavement aforesaid, +which are covered over by boards in various stages of decomposition. +In summer, the city must be worse than Berlin (which, by the by, it +very much resembles in many respects). In spring time, after rain, my +own experience tells me it suggests forcible reminiscences of the +antique odors of Fleet Ditch. One thing which soon strikes the +stranger is the apparent want of shops. But they are to be found by +those who want them. Nearly every trader carries on his business very +modestly in his front parlor, and makes a moderate display of his +stock in the ordinary window, so that the illusory and enchanting +department of trade is quite gone. A Danish gentleman can walk out +with his wife without the least fear that he will fall a victim to "a +stupendous sacrifice," or be immolated on the altar of "an imperative +necessity to clear out in a week." + +Moving through these streets is a quiet, soberly-attired population. +Bigger than most foreigners, and with great roundness of muscle and +size of bone, your Dane wants the dapper air of the Frenchman, or the +solemnity of the Spaniard, while he is not so bearded or so dirty as +the German. But then he smokes prodigiously, dresses moderately in the +English style, is addicted to jewelry in excess, and has a habit of +plodding along, straight in the middle of the road, with his head +down, which must be a matter of considerable annoyance to the native +cabman. He is, however, amazingly polite. He not only takes off his +hat to every one he knows, but gives any lady-acquaintance the trouble +of recognizing him, by bowing to her before she has made up her mind +whether the individual is known or not. Another of his peculiarities +is, that he always has a dog. I should say, more correctly, there is +always a dog following him,--for I have seen an animal, which seemed +to be bound by the closest ties to a particular gentleman, placidly +leave him at the corner of a street, and set off on an independent +walk by itself. These dogs are, in fact, a feature of the place by +themselves. In number they can only be excelled by the canine +scavengers of Cairo or Constantinople, and in mongrelness and ugliness +by no place in the world--not even in Tuum before the potato rot. They +get up little extemporary hunts through the squares, the trail being +generally the remnant of an old rat, carried away by the foremost, and +dash between your legs from unexpected apertures in walls and houses, +so as to cause very unpleasant consequences to the nervous or feeble +sojourner. On seeking for an explanation of their great abundance, I +was informed that they were kept to kill rats. But this is a mere +delusion. These dogs are far too wise to lose their health by keeping +late hours in pursuit of vermin. No, they retire as soon as darkness +sets in, and with darkness, out come the rats in the most perfect +security. Such rats! they are as big as kittens, and their squeaking +under the wooden planks of the gutters as you walk home is perfectly +amazing. The celebrated dog Billy would have died in a week of violent +exercise in any one street in Copenhagen, giving him his usual +allowance of murder. I must say that, in the matters of paving, dogs, +rats, sewers, water, and lights, Copenhagen is rather behind the rest +of the world. As to the lights, they are sparely placed, and as yet +gas is not used. With a laudable economy, the oil-wicks are +extinguished when the moon shines, and the result is, that sometimes +an envious cloud leaves the whole city in Cimmerian darkness for the +rest of the night, in consequence of five minutes' moonshine in the +early part, as, once put out, they are not again relumed. + +In the crowd you meet many pale, sorrow-stricken women in mourning, +and now and then a poor soldier limps before you, with recent bandages +on his stump, or hobbles along limpingly, with perhaps a sabre-cut +across the face, or an empty coat-sleeve dangling from his shoulder; +and then you remember all the horrors the late war must have caused +Denmark, when, out of her small population, 90,000 men were under arms +in the field. It can scarcely atone for this sight to meet dashing +hussars, with their red coats and sheepskin calpacks; heavy dragoons +in light-blue and dark-green; jagers in smart frocks of olive-green, +decorated with stars and ribands, and swaggering along in all the +pride of having smelt powder and done their duty. They are numerous +enough, indeed every third man is a soldier; but one of these sad +widows or orphans is an antidote to the glories of these fine heroes, +scarcely less powerful than that of the spectacle of their mutilated +and mangled comrades. This war has roused the national spirit of +Denmark; it has caused her to make a powerful effort to shake off all +connection with Germany, or dependence on her Germanic subjects, but +it has cost her L5,000,000 of money, and it has left many a home +desolate for ever. + + + + +From Household Words. + +THE SHADOW OF LUCY HUTCHINSON. + + +There are some books that leave upon the mind a strange impression, +one of the most delightful reading can produce--a haunting of the +memory, it may be, by one form or by several, strangely real, having a +positive personal presence and identity, yet always preserving an +immaterial existence, and occupying a "removed ground," from which +they never stir to mingle with the realities of recollection. These +shadows hold their place apart, as some rare dreams do, claiming from +us an indescribable tenderness. + +The "Memoirs of Colonel Hutchinson" is such a book. In many passages +it is tedious--a record of petty strategies of partisan warfare--and, +more dreary still, of factious jealousies and polemical hatreds. The +absolute truth of the book is fatal, in one direction to our +hero-worship. The leaders of the Great Rebellion, in such minute +details, appear as mere schemers, as rival agents at a borough +election; and the most fervent in professions of religious zeal are as +bitter in their revenges as the heroes of a hundred scalps; but there +arises out of the book, and is evermore associated with it, the calm +quiet shadow of a woman of exquisite purity, of wondrous constancy, of +untiring affection--Lucy Hutchinson, its writer. + +John Hutchinson is at Richmond, lodging at the house of his +music-master. He is twenty-two years of age. The village is full of +"good company," for the young Princes are being educated in the +palace, and many "ingenious persons entertained themselves at that +place." The music-master's house is the resort of the king's +musicians; "and divers of the gentlemen and ladies that were affected +with music came thither to hear." There was a little girl "tabled" in +the same house with John Hutchinson, who was taking lessons of the +lutanist--a charming child, full of vivacity and intelligence. She +told John she had an elder sister--a studious and retiring person--who +was gone with her mother, Lady Apsley, into Wiltshire--and Lucy was +going to be married, she thought. The little girl ever talked of +Lucy--and the gentlemen talked of Lucy--and one day a song was sung +which Lucy had written--and John and the vivacious child walked, +another day, to Lady Apsley's house, and there, in a closet, were +Lucy's Latin books. Mr. Hutchinson grew in love with Lucy's image; and +when the talk was more rife that she was about to be married--and some +said that she was indeed married--he became unhappy--and "began to +believe there was some magic in the place, which enchanted men out of +their right senses; but the sick heart could not be chid nor advised +into health." At length Lucy and her mother came home; and Lucy was +not married. Then John and Lucy wandered by the pleasant banks of the +Thames, in that spring-time of 1638, and a "mutual friendship" grew up +between them. Lucy now talked to him of her early life; how she had +been born in the Tower of London, of which her late father, Sir John +Apsley, was the governor; how her mother was the benefactress of the +prisoners, and delighted to mitigate the hard fortune of the noble and +the learned, and especially Sir Walter Raleigh, by every needful help +to his studies and amusements; how she herself grew serious amongst +these scenes, and delighted in nothing but reading, and would never +practise her lute or harpsichords, and absolutely hated her needle. +John was of a like serious temper. Their fate was determined. + +The spring is far advanced into summer. On a certain day the friends +on both sides meet to conclude the terms of the marriage. Lucy is not +to be seen. She has taken the small-pox. She is very near death. At +length John is permitted to speak to his betrothed. Tremblingly and +mournfully she comes into his presence. She is "the most deformed +person that could be seen." Who could tell the result in words so +touching as Lucy's own? "He was nothing troubled at it, but married +her as soon as she was able to quit the chamber, when the priest and +all that saw her were affrighted to look on her. But God recompensed +his justice and constancy by restoring her; though she was longer than +ordinary before she recovered to be as well as before." + +They were married on the 3d of July, 1638. + +In the autumn of 1641, John and Lucy Hutchinson are living in their +own house of Owthorpe, in Nottinghamshire. They have two sons. They +are "peaceful and happy." John has dedicated two years since his +marriage to the study of "school divinity." He has convinced himself +of "the great point of predestination." This faith has not, as his +wife records, produced a "carelessness of life in him," but "a more +strict and holy walking." He applies himself, in his house at +Owthorpe, "to understand the things then in dispute" between the King +and Parliament. He is satisfied of the righteousness of the +Parliament's cause; but he then "contents himself with praying for +peace." In another year the King has set up his standard in +Nottingham; the battle of Edgehill has been fought; all hope of peace +is at an end. John Hutchinson is forced out of his quiet habitation by +the suspicions of his royalist neighbors. He is marked as a Roundhead. +Lucy does not like the name. "It was very ill applied to Mr. +Hutchinson, who having naturally a very fine thick-set head of hair, +kept it clean and handsome, so that it was a great ornament to him; +although the godly of those days, when he embraced their party, would +not allow him to be religious because his hair is not in their cut." +The divinity student now becomes a lieutenant-colonel. He raises a +company of "very honest godly men." The Earl of Chesterfield is +plundering the houses of the Puritans in the vale of Belvoir, near +Owthorpe; and the young colonel has apprehensions for the safety of +his family. In the depth of winter, a troop of horse arrive one night +at the lonely house where Lucy and her children abide. They are +hastily summoned to prepare for an instant journey. They are to ride +to Nottingham before sunrise, for the soldiers are not strong enough +to march in the day. Lucy is henceforth to be the companion of her +husband in his perilous office--his friend, his comforter--a +ministering angel amongst the fierce and dangerous spirits, whom he +sways by a remarkable union of courage and gentleness. + +Let us look at the shadow of Lucy Hutchinson. She tranquilly sits in +one of the upper chambers of the old and ruinous castle of which her +husband is appointed governor. It is a summer evening of 1643. In that +tower, built upon the top of the rock, tradition says that Queen +Isabel received her paramour Mortimer; and at the base of the rock are +still shown Mortimer's Well, and Mortimer's Hole, as Lady Hutchinson +saw them two centuries ago. She looks out of the narrow windows by +which her chamber is lighted. There is the Trent, peacefully flowing +on one side, amid flat meadows. On the other is the town of +Nottingham. The governor has made the ruinous castle a strong +fortress, with which he can defy the Cavaliers should they occupy the +town beneath. Opposite the towers is the old church of St. Nicholas, +whose steeple commands the platform of the castle. The Governor has +sent away his horse, and many of his foot, to guard the roads by which +the enemy could approach Nottingham. There is no appearance of danger. +The reveille is beat. Those who have been watching all night lounge +into the town. It is in the possession of the Cavaliers. The scene is +changed. The din of ordnance rouses Lucy from her calm gaze upon the +windings of the Trent. For five days and nights there is firing +without intermission. Within the walls of the castle there are not +more than eighty men. The musketeers on St. Nicholas steeple pick off +the cannoniers at their guns. + +Now and then, as the assailants are beaten from the walls, they leave +a wounded man behind, and he is dragged into the castle. On the sixth +day, after that terrible period of watchfulness, relief arrives. The +Cavaliers are driven from the town with much slaughter, and the castle +is filled with prisoners. Lucy has been idle during those six days of +peril. There was a task to be performed,--a fitting one for woman's +tenderness. Within the castle was a dungeon called the Lion's Den, +into which the prisoners were cast; and as they were brought up from +the town, two of the fanatical ministers of the garrison reviled and +maltreated them. Lucy reads the commands of her Master after another +fashion. As the prisoners are carried bleeding to the Lion's Den, she +implores that they should be brought in to her, and she binds up and +dresses their wounds. And now the two ministers mutter--and their +souls abhor to see this favor done to the enemies of God--and they +teach the soldiers to mutter. But Lucy says, "I have done nothing but +my duty. These are our enemies, but they are our fellow-creatures. Am +I to be upbraided for these poor humanities?" And then she breathes a +thanksgiving to Heaven that her mother had taught her this humble +surgery. There is a tear in John's eye as he gazes on this scene. That +night the Cavalier officers sup with him, rather as guests than as +prisoners. + +In the vale of Belvoir, about seven miles from Belvoir Castle, is the +little village of Owthorpe. When Colonel Hutchinson returned to the +house of his fathers, after the war was ended, he found it plundered +of all its movables--a mere ruin. In a few years it is a fit dwelling +for Lucy to enjoy a lifelong rest, after the terrible storms of her +early married days. There is no accusing spirit to disturb their +repose. John looks back upon that solemn moment when he signed the +warrant for the great tragedy enacted before Whitehall without +remorse. He had prayed for "an enlightened conscience," and he had +carried out his most serious convictions. He took no part in the +despotic acts that followed the destruction of the monarchy. He had no +affection for the fanatics who held religion to be incompatible with +innocent pleasures and tasteful pursuits. At Owthorpe, then, he lived +the true life of an English gentleman. He built--he planted--he +adorned his house with works of art--he was the first magistrate--the +benefactor of the poor. The earnest man who daily expounded the +Scriptures to his household was no ascetic. There was hospitality +within those walls--with music and revelry. The Puritans looked +gloomily and suspiciously upon the dwellers at Owthorpe. The Cavaliers +could not forgive the soldier who had held Nottingham Castle against +all assaults. + +The Restoration comes. The royalist connexions of Lucy Hutchinson have +a long struggle to save her husband's life; but he is finally included +in the Act of Oblivion. He is once more at Owthorpe, without the +compromise of his principles. He has done with political strife for +ever. + +On the 31st of October 1663, there is a coach waiting before the hall +of Owthorpe. That hall is filled with tenants and laborers. Their +benefactor cheerfully bids them farewell; but his wife and children +are weeping bitterly. That coach is soon on its way to London with the +husband and wife, and their eldest son and daughter. At the end of the +fourth day's journey, at the gates of that fortress within which she +had been born, Lucy Hutchinson is parted from him whose good and evil +fortunes she had shared for a quarter of a century. + +About a mile from Deal stands Sandown Castle. In 1664, Colonel +Hutchinson is a prisoner within its walls. It was a ruinous place, not +weatherproof. The tide washed the dilapidated fortress; the windows +were unglazed; cold, and damp, and dreary was the room where the proud +heart bore up against physical evils. For even here there was +happiness. Lucy is not permitted to share his prison; but she may +visit him daily. In the town of Deal abides that faithful wife. She is +with him at the first hour of the morning; she remains till the latest +of night. In sunshine or in storm, she is pacing along that rugged +beach, to console and be consoled. + +Eleven months have thus passed, when Lucy is persuaded by her husband +to go to Owthorpe to see her children. + +"When the time of her departure came, she left with a very sad and +ill-presaging heart." In a few weeks John Hutchinson is laid in the +family vault in that Vale of Belvoir. + +Lucy Hutchinson sits in holy resignation in the old sacred home. She +has a task to work out. She has to tell her husband's history, for the +instruction of her children:--"I that am under a command not to grieve +at the common rate of desolate women, while I am studying which way to +moderate my woe, and, if it were possible, to augment my love, can, +for the present, find out none more just to your dear father, nor +consolatory to myself, than the preservation of his memory." + +So rests her shadow, ever, in our poor remembrance. + + + + +From Eliza Cook's Journal. + +THE WIVES OF SOUTHEY, COLERIDGE, AND LOVELL. + + +Southey, Coleridge, and Lovell, three poets, married three sisters, +the Misses Fricker of Bristol. They were all alike poor when they +married. Southey's aunt shut her door in his face when she found he +was resolved on marrying in such circumstances; and he, postponing +entry upon the married life, though he had contracted the +responsibility of husband, parted from his wife at the church door, +and set out on a six months' visit to Portugal, preparatory to +entering on the study of the legal profession. Southey committed his +maiden wife to the care of Mr. Cottle's sisters during his absence. +"Should I perish by shipwreck," he wrote from Falmouth to Mr. Cottle, +"or by any other casualty, I have relations whose prejudice will yield +to the anguish of affection, and who will love, cherish, and give all +possible consolation to my widow." With these words Southey set sail +for Portugal, and his wife, who had persuaded him to go, and cried +when he was going, though she would not then have permitted him to +stay, meekly retired to her place of refuge, wearing her wedding-ring +round her neck. + +Southey returned to England, and commenced the study of the law, but +after a year's drudgery gave it up. His wife joined him in a second +visit to Portugal, and on his return he commenced the laborious +literary career which he pursued till his death. He enjoyed on the +whole a happy married life; took pleasure in his home and his family; +loving his children and his wife Edith dearly. This is one of his own +pictures:--"Glance into the little room where sits the gray-haired +man, 'working hard and getting little--a bare maintenance, and hardly +that; writing poems and history for posterity with his whole heart and +soul; one daily progressing in learning, not so learned as he is +poor, not so poor as proud, not so proud as happy.'" Great men have +invited him to London, and he is now answering the invitation. The +thought of the journey plagues him. "Oh dear, oh dear!" he writes, +"there is such a comfort in one's old coat and old shoes, one's own +chair and own fireside, one's own writing-desk and own library--with a +little girl climbing up to my neck and saying, 'Don't go to London, +papa, you must stay with Edith'--and a little boy whom I have taught +to speak the language of cats, dogs, cuckoos, jackasses, &c., before +he can articulate a word of his own--there is such a comfort in all +these things, that _transportation_ to London seems a heavier +punishment than any sins of mine deserve." But a sad calamity fell +upon him in his old age. His dear Edith was suddenly bereft of reason. +"Forty years," he writes to Grosvenor Bedford from York, "has she been +the life of my life--and I have left her this day in a lunatic +asylum." In the same letter he expresses the resignation of a +Christian and the confident courage of a man. "God, who has visited me +with this affliction," he says, "has given me strength to bear it, and +will, _I know_, support me to the end, whatever that may be. To-morrow +I return to my poor children. I have much to be thankful for under +this visitation. For the first time in my life (he was sixty years +old) I am so far beforehand with the world that my means are provided +for the whole of next year, and that I can meet this expenditure, +considerable in itself, without any difficulty." + +Mrs. Southey, after two years' absence, returned to Keswick, the +family home, and closed her pitiable existence there. Southey was now +a broken-down man. "There is no one," he mournfully writes, "to +partake with me the recollections of the best and happiest portion of +my life; and for that reason, were there no other, such recollections +must henceforth be purely painful, except when I collect them with the +prospects of futurity." Two years after, however, Southey married +again: the marriage was one of respect on the part of Caroline Bowles, +the gifted authoress, who was his choice, and probably of convenience +and friendship on the part of Southey. We have heard that the union +greatly tended to his comfort, and that his wife tenderly soothed and +cheered his declining years. + +Southey, in addition to maintaining his own wife and family at Keswick +by his literary labors, had the families of his two sisters-in-law +occasionally thrown upon his hands. He was not two-and-twenty when Mr. +Lovell, who married his wife's sister, fell ill of fever, died, and +left his widow and child without the slightest provision. Robert +Southey took mother and child at once to his humble hearth, and there +the former found happiness until his death. Coleridge, not +sufficiently instructed by a genius to which his contemporaries did +homage, in a wayward and unpardonable mood withdrew himself from the +consolations of home; and in their hour of desertion his wife and +children were saved half the knowledge of their hardships by finding a +second husband and another father in the sanctuary provided for them +by Robert Southey. + +Coleridge was unpunctual, unbusiness-like, improvident, and dreamy, to +the full extent to which poets are said proverbially to be. When he +married--his pantisocratic Owenite scheme having just been exploded, +and his lectures at Bristol having proved a failure--he retired with +Sara Fricker, his wife, to a cottage at Clevedon, near Bristol. Though +the cottage was a poor one, consisting of little more than four bare +walls, for which he paid only L5 annual rental, he and his wife made +it pretty snug with the aid of the funds supplied by their constant +friend, Mr. Cottle, the Bristol bookseller. Coleridge decorated this +cottage with all the graces that his imagination and fancy could throw +around it. It is alluded to in many of his poems:-- + + "Low was our pretty cot! our tallest rose + Peep'd at the chamber window. We could hear + At silent noon, and eve, and early morn, + The sea's faint murmur. In the open air + Our myrtles blossom'd, and across the porch + Thick jasmines twin'd: the little landscape round + Was green and woody, and refreshed the eye. + It was a spot which you might aptly call + The valley of seclusion." + +But his loved young wife was not forgotten; for again he sings:-- + + "My pensive Sara! thy soft cheek reclin'd + Thus on mine arm, most soothing sweet it is + To sit beside our cot--our cot o'ergrown + With white-flowered jasmine, and the broad leav'd myrtle + (Meet emblems they of innocence and love!) + And watch the clouds, that late were rich with light, + Slow saddening round, and mark the star of eve, + Serenely brilliant (such should wisdom be!) + Shine opposite." + +Here their first child was born--Hartley, the dreamer--on whom the +happy parent shed tears of joy:-- + + "But when I saw it on its mother's arm, + And hanging at her bosom (she the while + Bent o'er its features with a tearful smile,) + Then I was thrill'd and melted, and most warm + Impress'd a father's kiss; and all beguil'd + Of dark remembrance and presageful fear, + I seem'd to see an angel's form appear-- + 'Twas even thine, beloved woman mild! + So for the mother's sake the child was dear, + And dearer was the mother for the child." + +But writing poetry, reading Hartley and Condillac, would not make the +poet's pot boil at all briskly, and so he had to go a little nearer to +the world, and went back to Bristol. Coleridge, however, wanted +application, and could scarcely be induced to work, even though the +prospect of liberal remuneration was offered to him. Hence, a few +years after marriage, in July, 1796, we find him thus groaning in the +spirit to a friend: "It is my duty and business to thank God for all +his dispensations, and to believe them the best possible; but, indeed, +I think I should have been more thankful if He had made me a +journeyman shoemaker, instead of an author, by trade. I have left my +friends, I have left plenty," &c. "So I am forced to write for bread! +with the nights of poetic enthusiasm, when every minute I am hearing a +groan from my wife--groans, and complaints, and sickness! The present +hour I am in a quickset of embarrassments, and whichever way I turn, a +thorn runs into me! The future is a cloud and thick darkness! Poverty, +perhaps, and the thin faces of them that want bread looking up to me," +&c. This was not the kind of spirit to make a wife happy--very +different indeed from the manly, courageous, and self-helping +Southey--and the poor wife suffered much. Whatever Coleridge touched +failed: his fourpenny paper, the _Watchman_, was an abortion; and the +verses he wrote for a London paper did little for him. He next +preached for a short time among the Unitarians, deriving a very +precarious living from that source; when at length the Messrs. +Wedgwood, struck by his great talents, granted him an annuity of L150 +to enable him to devote himself to study. Then he went to Germany, +leaving his wife and little family to the hospitality of Southey; and +returned and settled down to the precarious life of a writer for the +newspapers: his eloquent conversation producing unbounded admiration, +but very little "grist." He was often distressed for money, wasting +what he had by indulgence in opium, to which he was at one time a +fearful victim. The great and unquestionable genius of Coleridge was +expended chiefly on projections. He was a man who was capable of +greatly adorning the literature of his time, and of creating an +altogether new era in its history; but he could not or would not work, +and his life was passed in dreamy idleness, in self-inflicted poverty, +often in poignant misery, in gloomy regrets, and in unfulfilled +designs. We fear the life of Mrs. Coleridge was not a happy one, good +and affectionate though she was as a wife and mother. + + + + +MY NOVEL: OR, VARIETIES IN ENGLISH LIFE.[11] + +BY PISISTRATUS CAXTON. + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +Leonard and Helen settled themselves in two little chambers in a small +lane. The neighborhood was dull enough--the accommodation humble; but +their landlady had a smile. That was the reason, perhaps, why Helen +chose the lodgings; a smile is not always found on the face of a +landlady when the lodger is poor. And out of their windows they caught +sight of a green tree, an elm, that grew up fair and tall in a +carpenter's yard at the rear. That tree was like another smile to the +place. They saw the birds come and go to its shelter; and they even +heard, when a breeze arose, the pleasant murmur of its boughs. + +Leonard went the same evening to Captain Digby's old lodgings, but he +could learn there no intelligence of friends or protectors for Helen. +The people were rude and sturdy, and said that the Captain still owed +them L1 17s. The claim, however, seemed very disputable; and was +stoutly denied by Helen. The next morning Leonard set off in search of +Dr. Morgan. He thought his best plan was to inquire the address of the +Doctor at the nearest chemist's, and the chemist civilly looked into +the _Court Guide_, and referred him to a house in Bulstrode-street, +Manchester Square. To this street Leonard contrived to find his way, +much marvelling at the meanness of London. Screwstone seemed to him +the handsomest town of the two. + +A shabby man-servant opened the door, and Leonard remarked that the +narrow passage was choked with boxes, trunks, and various articles of +furniture. He was shown into a small room, containing a very large +round table, whereon were sundry works on homoeopathy, Parry's +_Cymbrian Plutarch_, Davies' _Celtic Researches_, and a Sunday +newspaper. An engraved portrait of the illustrious Hahnemann occupied +the place of honor over the chimneypiece. In a few minutes the door to +an inner room opened, and Dr. Morgan appeared, and said politely, +"Come in, sir." + +The Doctor seated himself at a desk, looked hastily at Leonard, and +then at a great chronometer lying on the table. "My time's short, +sir--going abroad; and now that I am going, patients flock to me. Too +late. London will repent its apathy. Let it!" + +The Doctor paused majestically, and, not remarking on Leonard's face +the consternation he had anticipated, he repeated peevishly--"I am +going abroad, sir, but I will make a synopsis of your case, and leave +it to my successor. Hum! Hair chestnut; eyes--what color? Look this +way--blue,--dark blue. Hem! Constitution nervous. What are the +symptoms?" + +"Sir," began Leonard, "a little girl--" + +_Dr. Morgan_, (impatiently)--"Little girl! Never mind the history of +your sufferings; stick to the symptoms--stick to the symptoms." + +_Leonard._--"You mistake me, Doctor; I have nothing the matter with +me. A little girl--" + +_Dr. Morgan._--"Girl again! I understand it! it is she who is ill. +Shall I go to her? she must describe her own symptoms--I can't judge +from your talk. You'll be telling me she has consumption, or +dyspepsia, or some such disease that don't exist: mere allopathic +inventions--symptoms, sir, symptoms." + +_Leonard_, (forcing his way)--"You attended her poor father, Captain +Digby, when he was taken ill in the coach with you. He is dead, and +his child is an orphan." + +_Dr. Morgan_, (fumbling in his medical pocket-book.)--"Orphan! +nothing for orphans, especially if inconsolable, like _aconite_ and +_chamomilla_."[12] + +With some difficulty Leonard succeeded in bringing Helen to the +recollection of the homoeopathist, stating how he came in charge of +her, and why he sought Dr. Morgan. + +The Doctor was much moved. + +"But really," said he after a pause, "I don't see how I can help the +poor child. I know nothing of her relations. This Lord Les--whatever +his name is--I know of no lords in London. I knew lords, and physicked +them too, when I was a blundering allopathist. There was the Earl of +Lansmere--has had many a blue pill from me, sinner that I was. His son +was wiser; never would take physic. Very clever boy was Lord +L'Estrange--I don't know if he was as good as he was clever--" + +"Lord L'Estrange!--that name begins with Les--" + +"Stuff! He's always abroad--shows his sense. I'm going abroad too. No +development for science in this horrid city; full of prejudices, sir, +and given up to the most barbarous allopathical and phlebotomical +propensities. I am going to the land of Hahnemann, sir--sold my +good-will, lease, and furniture, and have bought in on the Rhine. +Natural life there, sir--homoeopathy needs nature; dine at one +o'clock, get up at four--tea little known, and science appreciated. +But I forget. Cott! what can I do for the orphan?" + +"Well, sir," said Leonard rising, "Heaven will give me strength to +support her." + +The doctor looked at the young man attentively. "And yet," said he in +a gentler voice, "you, young man, are, by your account, a perfect +stranger to her, or were so when you undertook to bring her to London. +You have a good heart--always keep it. Very healthy thing, sir, a good +heart--that is, when not carried to excess. But you have friends of +your own in town?" + +_Leonard._--"Not yet, sir; I hope to make them." + +_Doctor._--"Bless me, you do? How? I can't make any." + +Leonard colored and hung his head. He longed to say "Authors find +friends in their readers--I am going to be an author." But he felt +that the reply would savor of presumption, and held his tongue. + +The Doctor continued to examine him, and with friendly interest. "You +say you walked up to London--was that from choice or economy?" + +_Leonard._--"Both, sir." + +_Doctor._--"Sit down again and let us talk. I can give you a quarter +of an hour, and I'll see if I can help either of you, provided you +tell all the symptoms--I mean all the particulars." + +Then with that peculiar adroitness which belongs to experience in the +medical profession, Dr. Morgan, who was really an acute and able man, +proceeded to put his questions, and soon extracted from Leonard the +boy's history and hopes. But when the Doctor, in admiration at a +simplicity which contrasted so evident an intelligence, finally asked +him his name and connections, and Leonard told them, the +homoeopathist actually started. "Leonard Fairfield, grandson of my +old friend, John Avenel of Lansmere! I must shake you by the hand. +Brought up by Mrs. Fairfield!--Ah, now I look, strong family +likeness--very strong!" + +The tears stood in the Doctor's eyes. "Poor Nora!" said he. + +"Nora! Did you know my aunt?" + +"Your aunt! Ah--ah! yes--yes! Poor Norah!--she died almost in these +arms--so young, so beautiful. I remember it as of yesterday." + +The Doctor brushed his hand across his eyes, and swallowed a globule; +and, before the boy knew what he was about, had in his benevolence +thrust another between Leonard's quivering lips. + +A knock was heard at the door. + +"Ha! that's my great patient," cried the Doctor, recovering his +self-possession--"must see him. A chronic case--excellent +patient--tic, sir, tic. Puzzling and interesting. If I could take that +tic with me, I should ask nothing more from Heaven. Call again on +Monday; I may have something to tell you then as to yourself. The +little girl can't stay with you--wrong and nonsensical. I will see +after her. Leave me your address--write it here. I think I know a lady +who will take charge of her. Good-bye. Monday next, ten o'clock." + +With this, the Doctor thrust out Leonard, and ushered in his grand +patient, whom he was very anxious to take with him to the banks of the +Rhine. + +Leonard had now only to discover the nobleman whose name had been so +vaguely uttered by poor Captain Digby. He had again recourse to the +_Court Guide_; and finding the address of two or three lords the first +syllables of whose titles seemed similar to that repeated to him, and +all living pretty near to each other, in the regions of May Fair, he +ascertained his way to that quarter, and, exercising his mother-wit, +inquired at the neighboring shops as to the personal appearance of +these noblemen. Out of consideration for his rusticity, he got very +civil and clear answers; but none of the lords in question +corresponded with the description given by Helen. One was old, another +was exceedingly corpulent, a third was bed-ridden--none of them was +known to keep a great dog. It is needless to say that the name of +L'Estrange (no habitant of London) was not in the _Court Guide_. And +Dr. Morgan's assertion that that person was always abroad, unluckily +dismissed from Leonard's mind the name the homoeopathist had so +casually mentioned. But Helen was not disappointed when her young +protector returned late in the day and told her of his ill success. +Poor child! she was so pleased in her heart not to be separated from +her new brother; and Leonard was touched to how she had contrived, in +his absence, to give a certain comfort and cheerful grace to the bare +room devoted to himself. She had arranged his few books and papers so +neatly, near the window, in sight of the one green elm. She had coaxed +the smiling landlady out of one or two extra articles of furniture, +especially a walnut-tree bureau, and some odds and ends of +ribbon--with which last she had looped up the curtains. Even the old +rush-bottom chairs had a strange air of elegance, from the mode in +which they were placed. The fairies had given sweet Helen the art that +adorns a home, and brings out a smile from the dingiest corner of hut +and attic. + +Leonard wondered and praised. He kissed his blushing ministrant +gratefully, and they sat down in joy to their abstemious meal, when +suddenly his face was overclouded--there shot through him the +remembrance of Dr. Morgan's words--"The little girl can't stay with +you--wrong and nonsensical. I think I know a lady who will take charge +of her." + +"Ah," cried Leonard, sorrowfully, "how could I forget?" And he told +Helen what grieved him. Helen at first exclaimed that she would not +go. Leonard, rejoiced, then began to talk as usual of his great +prospects; and, hastily finishing his meal, as if there were no time +to lose, sat down at once to his papers. Then Helen contemplated him +sadly, as he bent over his delighted work. And when, lifting his +radiant eyes from his MS. he exclaimed, "No, no, you shall _not_ go. +_This_ must succeed, and we shall live together in some pretty +cottage, where we can see more than one tree"--_then_ Helen sighed, +and did not answer this time, "No, I will not go." + +Shortly after she stole from the room, and into her own; and there, +kneeling down, she prayed, and her prayer was somewhat this--"Guard me +against my own selfish heart. May I never be a burden to him who has +shielded me." + +Perhaps, as the Creator looks down on this world, whose wondrous +beauty beams on us more and more, in proportion as our science would +take it from poetry into law--perhaps He beholds nothing so beautiful +as the pure heart of a simple loving child. + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +Leonard went out the next day with his precious MSS. He had read +sufficient of modern literature to know the names of the principal +London publishers; and to these he took his way with a bold step, +though a beating heart. + +That day he was out longer than the last; and when he returned, and +came into the little room, Helen uttered a cry, for she scarcely +recognised him. There was on his face so deep, so concentrated a +despondency. He sat down listlessly, and did not kiss her this time, +as she stole towards him. He felt so humbled. He was a king deposed. +_He_ take charge of another life! He! + +She coaxed him at last into communicating his day's chronicle. The +reader beforehand knows too well what it must be, to need detailed +repetition. Most of the publishers had absolutely refused to look at +his MSS.; one or two had good-naturedly glanced over and returned them +at once, with a civil word or two of flat rejection. One publisher +alone--himself a man of letters, and who in youth had gone through the +same bitter process of dis-illusion that now awaited the village +genius--volunteered some kindly though stern explanation and counsel +to the unhappy boy. This gentleman read a portion of Leonard's +principal poem with attention, and even with frank admiration. He +could appreciate the rare promise that it manifested. He sympathized +with the boy's history, and even with his hopes; and then he said, in +bidding him farewell-- + +"If I publish this poem for you, speaking as a trader, I shall be a +considerable loser. Did I publish all that I admire, out of sympathy +with the author, I should be a ruined man. But suppose that, impressed +as I really am with the evidence of no common poetic gifts in this +MS., I publish it, not as a trader, but a lover of literature, I shall +in reality, I fear, render you a great disservice, and perhaps unfit +your whole life for the exertions on which you must rely for +independence." + +"How, sir?" cried Leonard--"Not that I would ask you to injure +yourself for me," he added with proud tears in his eyes. + +"How, my young friend? I will explain. There is enough talent in these +verses to induce very flattering reviews in some of the literary +journals. You will read these, find yourself proclaimed a poet, will +cry 'I am on the road to fame.' You will come to me, 'And my poem, how +does it sell?' I shall point to some groaning shelf, and say, 'not +twenty copies!' The journals may praise, but the public will not buy +it. 'But you will have got a name,' you say. Yes, a name as a poet +just sufficiently known to make every man in practical business +disinclined to give fair trial to your talents in a single department +of positive life;--none like to employ poets;--a name that will not +put a penny in your purse--worse still, that will operate as a barrier +against every escape into the ways whereby men get to fortune. But, +having once tasted praise, you will continue to sigh for it: you will +perhaps never again get a publisher to bring forth a poem, but you +will hanker round the purlieus of the muses, scribble for periodicals, +fall at last into a bookseller's drudge. Profits will be so precarious +and uncertain, that to avoid debt may be impossible; then, you who now +seem so ingenuous and so proud, will sink deeper still into the +literary mendicant--begging, borrowing--" + +"Never--never--never!" cried Leonard, veiling his face with his hands. + +"Such would have been my career," continued the publisher. "But I +luckily had a rich relative, a trader, whose calling I despised as a +boy, who kindly forgave my folly, bound me as an apprentice, and here +I am; and now I can afford to write books as well as sell them. + +"Young man, you must have respectable relations--go by their advice +and counsel; cling fast to some positive calling. Be any thing in this +city rather than poet by profession." + +"And how, sir, have there ever been poets? Had _they_ other callings?" + +"Read their biography, and then envy them!" + +Leonard was silent a moment; but, lifting his head, answered loud and +quickly,--"I _have_ read their biography. True, their lot +poverty--perhaps hunger. Sir, I envy them!" + +"Poverty and hunger are small evils," answered the bookseller, with a +grave kind smile. "There are worse,--debt and degradation, +and--despair." + +"No, sir, no--you exaggerate; these last are not the lot of all +poets." + +"Right, for most of our greatest poets had some private means of their +own. And for others, why, all who have put into a lottery have not +drawn blanks. But who could advise another man to set his whole hope +of fortune on the chance of a prize in a lottery? And such a lottery!" +groaned the publisher, glancing towards sheets and reams of dead +authors lying like lead upon his shelves. + +Leonard clutched his MSS. to his heart, and hurried away. + +"Yes," he muttered, as Helen clung to him and tried to console--"yes, +you were right: London is very vast, very strong, and very cruel;" and +his head sank lower and lower yet upon his bosom. + +The door was flung widely open, and in, unannounced, walked Dr Morgan. + +The child turned to him, and at the sight of his face she remembered +her father; and the tears that, for Leonard's sake, she had been +trying to suppress, found way. + +The good Doctor soon gained all the confidence of these two young +hearts. And, after listening to Leonard's story of his paradise lost +in a day, he patted him on the shoulder and said, "Well, you will call +on me on Monday, and we will see. Meanwhile, borrow these of me,"--and +he tried to slip three sovereigns into the boy's hand. Leonard was +indignant. The bookseller's warning flashed on him. Mendicancy! Oh no, +he had not yet come to that! He was almost rude and savage in his +rejection; and the Doctor did not like him the less for it. + +"You are an obstinate mule," said the homoeopathist, reluctantly +putting up his sovereigns. "Will you work at something practical and +prosy, and let the poetry rest awhile?" + +"Yes," said Leonard doggedly, "I will work." + +"Very well, then. I know an honest bookseller, and he shall give you +some employment; and meanwhile, at all events, you will be among +books, and that will be some comfort." + +Leonard's eyes brightened--"A great comfort, sir." He pressed the hand +he had before put aside to his grateful heart. + +"But," resumed the Doctor seriously, "you really feel a strong +predisposition to make verses?" + +"I did, sir." + +"Very bad symptom indeed, and must be stopped before a relapse! Here, +I have cured three prophets and ten poets with this novel specific." + +While thus speaking, he had got out his book and a globule. "_Agaricus +muscarius_ dissolved in a tumbler of distilled water--tea-spoonful +whenever the fit comes on. Sir, it would have cured Milton himself." + +"And now for you, my child," turning to Helen--"I have found a lady +who will be very kind to you. Not a menial situation. She wants some +one to read to her and tend on her--she is old and has no children. +She wants a companion, and prefers a girl of your age to one older. +Will this suit you?" + +Leonard walked away. + +Helen got close to the Doctor's ear, and whispered, "No, I cannot +leave _him_ now--he is so sad." + +"Cott!" grunted the Doctor, "you two must have been reading _Paul and +Virginia_. If I could but stay in England, I would try what _ignatia_ +would do in this case--interesting experiment! Listen to me--little +girl; and go out of the room, you, sir." + +Leonard, averting his face, obeyed. Helen made an involuntary step +after him--the Doctor detained and drew her on his knee. + +"What is your Christian name?--I forget." + +"Helen." + +"Helen, listen. In a year or two you will be a young woman, and it +would be very wrong then to live alone with that young man. Meanwhile, +you have no right to cripple all his energies. He must not have you +leaning on his right arm--you would weigh it down. I am going away, +and when I am gone there will be no one to help you, if you reject the +friend I offer you. Do as I tell you, for a little girl so peculiarly +susceptible (a thorough _pulsatilla_ constitution) cannot be +obstinate and egotistical." + +"Let me see him cared for and happy, sir," said she firmly, "and I +will go where you wish." + +"He shall be so; and to-morrow, while he is out, I will come and fetch +you. Nothing so painful as leave-taking--shakes the nervous system, +and is a mere waste of the animal economy." + +Helen sobbed aloud; then, writhing from the Doctor, she exclaimed, +"But he may know where I am? We may see each other sometimes? Ah, sir, +it was at my father's grave that we first met, and I think Heaven sent +him to me. Do not part us for ever." + +"I should have a heart of stone if I did," cried the Doctor +vehemently, "and Miss Starke shall let him come and visit you once a +week. I'll give her something to make her. She is naturally +indifferent to others. I will alter her whole constitution, and melt +her into sympathy--with _rhododendron_ and _arsenic_!" + + +CHAPTER XV. + +Before he went, the Doctor wrote a line to Mr. Prickett, bookseller, +Holborn, and told Leonard to take it, the next morning, as addressed. +"I will call on Prickett myself to-night, and prepare him for your +visit. And I hope and trust you will only have to stay there a few +days." + +He then turned the conversation, to communicate his plans for Helen. +Miss Starke lived at Highgate--a worthy woman, stiff and prim, as old +maids sometimes are. But just the place for a little girl like Helen, +and Leonard should certainly be allowed to call and see her. + +Leonard listened and made no opposition; now that his day-dream was +dispelled, he had no right to pretend to be Helen's protector. He +could have bade her share his wealth and his fame; his penury and his +drudgery--no. + +It was a very sorrowful evening--that between the adventurer and the +child. They sat up late, till their candle had burned down to the +socket; neither did they talk much; but his hand clasped hers all the +time, and her head pillowed itself on his shoulder. I fear, when they +parted, it was not for sleep. + +And when Leonard went forth the next morning, Helen stood at the +street door, watching him depart--slowly, slowly. No doubt, in that +humble lane there were many sad hearts; but no heart so heavy as that +of the still quiet child, when the form she had watched was to be seen +no more, and, still standing on the desolate threshold, she gazed into +space--and all was vacant. + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +Mr. Prickett was a believer in homoeopathy, and declared, to the +indignation of all the apothecaries round Holborn, that he had been +cured of a chronic rheumatism by Dr. Morgan. The good Doctor had, as +he promised, seen Mr. Prickett when he left Leonard, and asked him as +a favor to find some light occupation for the boy, that would serve as +an excuse for a modest weekly salary. "It will not be for long," said +the Doctor; "his relations are respectable and well off. I will write +to his grandparents, and in a few days I hope to relieve you of the +charge. Of course, if you don't want him, I will repay what he costs +meanwhile." + +Mr. Prickett, thus prepared for Leonard, received him very graciously, +and, after a few questions, said Leonard was just the person he wanted +to assist him in cataloguing his books, and offered him most +handsomely L1 a-week for the task. + +Plunged at once into a world of books vaster than he had ever before +won admission to, that old divine dream of knowledge, out of which +poetry had sprung, returned to the village student at the very sight +of the venerable volumes. The collection of Mr. Prickett was, however, +in reality by no means large; but it comprised not only the ordinary +standard works, but several curious and rare ones. And Leonard paused +in making the catalogue, and took many a hasty snatch of the contents +of each tome, as it passed through his hands. The bookseller, who was +an enthusiast for old books, was pleased to see a kindred feeling +(which his shop-boy had never exhibited) in his new assistant; and he +talked about rare editions and scarce copies, and initiated Leonard in +many of the mysteries of the bibliographist. + +Nothing could be more dark and dingy than the shop. There was a booth +outside, containing cheap books and odd volumes, round which there was +always an attentive group; within, a gas-lamp burned night and day. + +But time passed quickly to Leonard. He missed not the green fields, he +forgot his disappointments, he ceased to remember even Helen. O +strange passion of knowledge! nothing like thee for strength and +devotion. + +Mr. Prickett was a bachelor, and asked Leonard to dine with him on a +cold shoulder of mutton. During dinner the shop-boy kept the shop, and +Mr. Prickett was really pleasant as well as loquacious. He took a +liking to Leonard--and Leonard told him his adventures with the +publishers, at which Mr. Prickett rubbed his hands and laughed as at a +capital joke. "Oh give up poetry, and stick to a shop," cried he; +"and, to cure you for ever of the mad whim to be an author, I'll just +lend you the _Life and Works of Chatterton_. You may take it home with +you and read before you go to bed. You'll come back quite a new man +to-morrow." + +Not till night, when the shop was closed, did Leonard return to his +lodging. And when he entered the room, he was struck to the soul by +the silence, by the void. Helen was gone! + +There was a rose-tree in its pot on the table at which he wrote, and +by it a scrap of paper, on which was written-- + +"Dear, dear Brother Leonard, God bless you. I will let you know when +we can meet again. Take care of this rose, Brother, and don't forget +poor + + HELEN." + +Over the word "forget" there was a big round blistered spot that +nearly effaced the word. + +Leonard leant his face on his hands, and for the first time in his +life he felt what solitude really is. He could not stay long in the +room. He walked out again, and wandered objectless to and fro the +streets. He passed that stiller and humbler neighborhood, he mixed +with the throng that swarmed in the more populous thoroughfares. +Hundreds and thousands passed him by, and still--still such solitude. + +He came back, lighted his candle, and resolutely drew forth the +"Chatterton" which the bookseller had lent him. It was an old +edition in one thick volume. It had evidently belonged to some +contemporary of the Poet's--apparently an inhabitant of +Bristol--some one who had gathered up many anecdotes respecting +Chatterton's habits, and who appeared even to have seen him, nay, been +in his company; for the book was interleaved, and the leaves covered with +notes and remarks in a stiff clear hand--all evincing personal knowledge +of the mournful immortal dead. At first,Leonard read with an effort; then +the strange and fierce spell of that dread life seized upon him--seized +with pain, and gloom, and terror--this boy dying by his own hand, about +the age Leonard had attained himself. This wondrous boy, of a genius beyond +all comparison--the greatest that ever yet was developed and extinguished +at the age of eighteen--self-taught--self-struggling--self-immolated. +Nothing in literature like that life and that death! + +With intense interest Leonard perused the tale of the brilliant +imposture, which had been so harshly and so absurdly construed into +the crime of a forgery, and which was (if not wholly innocent) so akin +to the literary devices always in other cases viewed with indulgence, +and exhibiting, in this, intellectual qualities in themselves so +amazing--such patience, such forethought, such labor, such courage, +such ingenuity--the qualities that, well directed, make men great, not +only in books, but action. And, turning from the history of the +imposture to the poems themselves, the young reader bent before their +beauty, literally awed and breathless. How had this strange Bristol +boy tamed and mastered his rude and motley materials into a music that +comprehended every tune and key, from the simplest to the sublimest? +He turned back to the biography--he read on--he saw the proud, daring, +mournful spirit, alone in the Great City like himself. He followed its +dismal career, he saw it falling with bruised and soiled wings into +the mire. He turned again to the later works, wrung forth as tasks for +bread,--the satires without moral grandeur, the politics without +honest faith. He shuddered and sickened as he read. True, even here +his poet mind appreciated (what perhaps only poets can) the divine +fire that burned fitfully through that meaner and more sordid fuel--he +still traced in those crude, hasty, bitter offerings to dire +Necessity, the hand of the young giant who had built up the stately +verse of Rowley. But, alas! how different from that "mighty line." How +all serenity and joy had fled from these later exercises of art +degraded into journey-work. Then rapidly came on the catastrophe--the +closed doors--the poison--the suicide--the manuscripts torn by the +hands of despairing wrath, and strewed round the corpse upon the +funeral floors. It was terrible! The spectre of the Titan boy, (as +described in the notes written on the margin,) with his haughty brow, +his cynic smile, his lustrous eyes, haunted all the night the baffled +and solitary child of song. + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +It will often happen that what ought to turn the human mind from some +peculiar tendency produces the opposite effect. One would think that +the perusal in the newspaper of some crime and capital punishment +would warn away all who had ever meditated the crime, or dreaded the +chance of detection. Yet it is well known to us that many a criminal +is made by pondering over the fate of some predecessor in guilt. There +is a fascination in the Dark and Forbidden, which, strange to say, is +only lost in fiction. No man is more inclined to murder his nephews, +or stifle his wife, after reading Richard the Third or Othello. It is +the _reality_ that is necessary to constitute the danger of contagion. +Now, it was this reality in the fate, and life, and crowning suicide +of Chatterton, that forced itself upon Leonard's thoughts, and sat +there like a visible evil thing, gathering evil like cloud around it. +There was much in the dead poet's character, his trials, and his doom, +that stood out to Leonard like a bold and colossal shadow of himself +and his fate. Alas! the bookseller, in one respect, had said truly. +Leonard came back to him the next day a new man, and it seemed even to +himself as if he had lost a good angel in losing Helen. "Oh that she +had been by my side," thought he. "Oh that I could have felt the touch +of her confiding hand--that, looking up from the scathed and dreary +ruin of this life, that had sublimely lifted itself from the plain, +and sought to tower aloft from a deluge, her mild look had spoken to +me of innocent, humble, unaspiring childhood! Ah! If indeed I were +still necessary to her--still the sole guardian and protector--then +could I say to myself, 'Thou must not despair and die! Thou hast her +to live and to strive for.' But no, no! Only this vast and terrible +London--the solitude of the dreary garret, and those lustrous eyes +glaring alike through the throng and through the solitude." + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +On the following Monday, Dr. Morgan's shabby man-servant opened the +door to a young man in whom he did not at first remember a former +visitor. A few days before, embrowned with healthful travel--serene +light in his eye, simple trust in his careless lip--Leonard Fairfield +had stood at that threshold. Now again he stood there pale and +haggard, with a cheek already hollowed into those deep anxious lines +that speak of working thoughts and sleepless nights; and a settled +sullen gloom resting heavily on his whole aspect. + +"I call by appointment," said the boy testily, as the servant stood +irresolute. The man gave way. "Master is just called out to a patient; +please to wait, sir;" and he showed him into the little parlor. In a +few moments two other patients were admitted. These were women, and +they began talking very loud. They disturbed Leonard's unsocial +thoughts. He saw that the door into the Doctor's receiving-room was +half open, and, ignorant of the etiquette which holds such +_penetralia_ as sacred, he walked in to escape from the gossips. He +threw himself into the Doctor's own well-worn chair, and muttered to +himself, "Why did he tell me to come? What new can he think of for me? +And if a favor, should I take it? He has given me the means of bread +by work: that is all I have a right to ask from him, from any man--all +I should accept." + +While thus soliloquizing, his eye fell on a letter lying open on the +table. He started. He recognized the handwriting--the same as the +letter which had enclosed L50 to his mother--the letter of his +grandparents. He saw his own name: he saw something more--words that +made his heart stand still, and his blood seem like ice in his veins. +As he thus stood aghast, a hand was laid on the letter, and a voice, +in an angry growl, muttered, "How dare you come into my room, and be +reading my letters? Er--r--r!" + +Leonard placed his own hand on the Doctor's firmly, and said in a +fierce tone, "This letter relates to me--belongs to me--crushes me. I +have seen enough to know that. I demand to read all--learn all." + +The Doctor looked round, and seeing the door into the waiting-room +still open, kicked it to with his foot, and then said, under his +breath, "What have you read? Tell me the truth." + +"Two lines only, and I am called--I am called"--Leonard's frame shook +from head to foot, and the veins on his forehead swelled like cords. +He could not complete the sentence. It seemed as if an ocean was +rolling up through his brain, and roaring in his ears. The Doctor saw, +at a glance, that there was physical danger in his state, and hastily +and soothingly answered,--"Sit down, sit down--calm yourself--you +shall know all--read all--drink this water;" and he poured into a +tumbler of the pure liquid a drop or two from a tiny phial. + +Leonard obeyed mechanically, for indeed he was no longer able to +stand. He closed his eyes, and for a minute or two life seemed to pass +from him; then he recovered, and saw the good Doctor's gaze fixed on +him with great compassion. He silently stretched forth his hand +towards the letter. "Wait a few moments," said the physician +judiciously, "and hear me meanwhile. It is very unfortunate you should +have seen a letter never meant for your eye, and containing allusions +to a secret you were never to have known. But, if I tell you more, +will you promise me, on your word of honor, that you will hold the +confidence sacred from Mrs. Fairfield, the Avenels--from all? I myself +am pledged to conceal a secret, which I can only share with you on the +same condition." + +"There is nothing," announced Leonard indistinctly, and with a bitter +smile on his lip,--"nothing, it seems, that I should be proud to boast +of. Yes, I promise--the letter, the letter!" + +The Doctor placed it in Leonard's right hand, and quietly slipped to +the wrist of the left his forefinger and thumb, as physicians are said +to do when a victim is stretched on the rack. "Pulse decreasing," he +muttered; "wonderful thing, _Aconite_!" Meanwhile Leonard read as +follows, faults in spelling and all:-- + + +"Dr. MORGAN--Sir: I received your favur duly, and am glad to hear that +the pore boy is safe and Well. But he has been behaving ill, and +ungrateful to my good son Richard, who is a credit to the whole +Family, and has made himself a Gentleman, and Was very kind and good +to the boy, not knowing who and What he is--God forbid! I don't want +never to see him again--the boy. Pore John was ill and Restless for +days afterwards.--John is a pore cretur now, and has had paralytiks. +And he Talked of nothing but Nora--the boy's eyes were so like his +Mother's. I cannot, cannot see the Child of Shame. He can't cum +here--for our Lord's sake, sir, don't ask it--he can't, so Respectable +as we've always been!--and such disgrace! Base born--base born. Keep +him where he is, bind him prentis, I'll pay anything for That. You +says, sir, he's clever, and quick at learning; so did Parson Dale, and +wanted him to go to Collidge, and make a Figur--then all would cum +out. It would be my death, sir; I could not sleep in my grave, sir. +Nora that we were all so proud of. Sinful creturs that we are! Nora's +good name that we've saved now, gone, gone. And Richard, who is so +grand, and who was so fond of pore, pore Nora! He would not hold up +his Head again. Don't let him make a Figur in the world--let him be a +tradesman, as we were afore him--any trade he Takes to--and not cross +us no more while he lives. Then I shall pray for him, and wish him +happy. And have not we had enuff of bringing up children to be above +their birth? Nora, that I used to say was like the first lady o' the +land--oh, but we were rightly punished! So now, sir, I leave all to +you, and will pay all you want for the boy. And be Sure that the +secret's kep. For we have never heard from the father, and, at least, +no one knows that Nora has a living son but I and my daughter Jane, +and Parson Dale and you--and you Two are good Gentlemen--and Jane will +keep her word, and I am old, and shall be in my grave Soon, but I hope +it won't be while pore John needs me. What could he do without me? And +if _that_ got wind, it would kill me straght, sir. Pore John is a +helpless cretur, God bless him. So no more from your servant in all +dooty, + + "M. AVENEL." + +Leonard laid down this letter very calmly, and, except by a slight +heaving at his breast, and a death-like whiteness of his lips, the +emotions he felt were undetected. And it is a proof how much exquisite +goodness there was in his heart that the first words he spoke were, +"Thank Heaven!" + +The Doctor did not expect that thanksgiving, and he was so startled +that he exclaimed, "For what?" + +"I have nothing to pity or excuse in the woman I knew and honored as a +mother. I am not her son--her--" + +He stopped short. + +"No; but don't be hard on your true mother--poor Nora!" + +Leonard staggered, and then burst into a sudden paroxysm of tears. + +"Oh, my own mother!--my dead mother! Thou for whom I felt so +mysterious a love--thou, from whom I took this poet soul--pardon me, +pardon me! Hard on thee! Would that thou wert living yet, that I might +comfort thee! What thou must have suffered!" + +These words were sobbed forth in broken gasps from the depth of his +heart. Then he caught up the letter again, and his thoughts were +changed as his eyes fell upon the writer's shame and fear, as it were, +of his very existence. All his native haughtiness returned to him. His +crest rose, his tears dried.--"Tell her," he said, with a stern +unfaltering voice--"tell Mrs. Avenel that she is obeyed--that I will +never seek her roof, never cross her path, never disgrace her wealthy +son. But tell her, also, that I will choose my own way in life--that I +will not take from her a bribe for concealment. Tell her that I am +nameless, and will yet make a name." + +A name! Was this but an idle boast, or was it one of those flashes of +conviction which are never belied, lighting up our future for one +lurid instant, and then fading into darkness? + +"I do not doubt it, my prave poy," said Dr. Morgan, growing +exceedingly Welsh in his excitement; "and perhaps you may find a +father, who--" + +"Father--who is he--what is he? He lives then! But he has deserted +me--he must have betrayed her? I need him not. The law gives me no +father." + +The last words were said with a return of bitter anguish; then in a +calmer tone, he resumed, "But I should know who he is--as another one +whose path I may not cross." + +Dr. Morgan looked embarrassed, and paused in deliberation. "Nay," said +he at length, "as you know so much, it is surely best that you should +know all." + +The Doctor then proceeded to detail, with some circumlocution, what we +will here repeat from his account more succinctly. + +Nora Avenel, while yet very young, left her native village, or rather +the house of Lady Lansmere, by whom she had been educated and brought +up, in order to accept the place of governess or companion in London. +One evening she suddenly presented herself at her father's house, and +at the first sight of her mother's face she fell down insensible. She +was carried to bed. Dr. Morgan (then the chief medical practitioner of +the town) was sent for. That night Leonard came into the world, and +his mother died. She never recovered her senses, never spoke +intelligibly from the time she entered the house. "And never therefore +named your father," said Dr. Morgan. "We know not who he was." + +"And how," cried Leonard, fiercely,--"how have they dared to slander +this dead mother? How knew they that I--was--was--was not the child of +wedlock?" + +"There was no wedding-ring on Nora's finger--never any rumor of her +marriage--her strange and sudden appearance at her father's house--her +emotions on entrance, so unlike those natural to a wife returning to a +parent's home: these are all the evidence against her. But Mr. Avenel +deemed them strong, and so did I. You have a right to think we judged +too harshly--perhaps we did." + +"And no inquiries were ever made?" said Leonard mournfully, and after +long silence--"no inquiries to learn who was the father of the +motherless child?" + +"Inquiries!--Mrs. Avenel would have died first. Your grandmother's +nature is very rigid. Had she come from princes, from Cadwallader +himself," said the Welshman, "she could not more have shrunk from the +thought of dishonor. Even over her dead child, the child she had loved +the best, she thought but how to save that child's name and memory +from suspicion. There was luckily no servant in the house, only Mark +Fairfield and his wife (Nora's sister): they had arrived the same day +on a visit. + +"Mrs. Fairfield was nursing her own infant, two or three months old; +she took charge of you; Nora was buried, and the secret kept. None out +of the family knew of it, but myself and the curate of the town--Mr. +Dale. The day after your birth, Mrs. Fairfield, to prevent discovery, +moved to a village at some distance. There her child died; and when +she returned to Hazeldean, where her husband was settled, you passed +as the son she had lost. Mark, I know, was a father to you, for he had +loved Nora; they had been children together." + +"And she came to London--London is strong and cruel," muttered +Leonard. "She was friendless and deceived. I see all--I desire to know +no more. This father, he must indeed have been like those whom I have +read of in books. To love, to wrong her--_that_ I can conceive; but +then to leave, to abandon; no visit to her grave--no remorse--no +search for his own child. Well, well; Mrs. Avenel was right. Let us +think of _him_ no more." + +The man-servant knocked at the door, and then put in his head. "Sir, +the ladies are getting very impatient, and say they'll go." + +"Sir," said Leonard, with a strange calm return to the things about +him, "I ask your pardon for taking up your time so long. I go now. I +will never mention to my moth--I mean to Mrs. Fairfield--what I have +learned, nor to any one. I will work my way somehow. If Mr. Prickett +will keep me, I will stay with him at present; but I repeat, I cannot +take Mrs. Avenel's money and be bound apprentice. Sir, you have been +good and patient with me--Heaven reward you." + +The Doctor was too moved to answer. He wrung Leonard's hand, and in +another minute the door closed upon the nameless boy. He stood alone +in the streets of London; and the sun flashed on him, red and +menacing, like the eye of a foe! + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +Leonard did not appear at the shop of Mr. Prickett that day. Needless +it is to say where he wandered--what he suffered--what thought--what +felt. All within was storm. Late at night he returned to his solitary +lodging. On his table, neglected since the morning, was Helen's +rose-tree. It looked parched and fading. His heart smote him: he +watered the poor plant--perhaps with his tears. + +Meanwhile Dr. Morgan, after some debate with himself whether or not to +apprise Mrs. Avenel of Leonard's discovery and message, resolved to +spare her an uneasiness and alarm that might be dangerous to her +health, and unnecessary in itself. He replied shortly, that she need +not fear Leonard's coming to her house--that he was disinclined to +bind himself an apprentice, but that he was provided for at present; +and in a few weeks, when Dr. Morgan heard more of him through the +tradesman by whom he was employed, the Doctor would write to her from +Germany. He then went to Mr. Prickett's--told the willing bookseller +to keep the young man for the present--to be kind to him, watch over +his habits and conduct, and report to the Doctor in his new home, on +the Rhine, what avocation he thought Leonard would be best suited for, +and most inclined to adopt. The charitable Welshman divided with the +bookseller the salary given to Leonard, and left a quarter of his +moity in advance. It is true that he knew he should be repaid on +applying to Mrs. Avenel; but, being a man of independent spirit +himself, he so sympathized with Leonard's present feelings, that he +felt as if he should degrade the boy did he maintain him, even +secretly, out of Mrs. Avenel's money--money intended not to raise, but +keep him down in life. At the worst, it was a sum the doctor could +afford, and he had brought the boy into the world. + +Having thus, as he thought, safely provided for his two young charges, +Helen and Leonard, the Doctor then gave himself up to his final +preparations for departure. He left a short note for Leonard with Mr. +Prickett, containing some brief advice, some kind cheering; a +postscript to the effect that he had not communicated to Mrs. Avenel +the information Leonard had acquired, and that it were best to leave +her in that ignorance; and six small powders to be dissolved in water, +and a tea-spoonful every fourth hour--"Sovereign against rage and +sombre thoughts," wrote the Doctor. By the evening of the next day Dr. +Morgan, accompanied by his pet patient with the chronic tic, whom he +had talked into exile, was on the steamboat on his way to Ostend. + +Leonard resumed his life at Mr. Prickett's; but the change in him did +not escape the bookseller. All his ingenious simplicity had deserted +him. He was very distant, and very taciturn; he seemed to have grown +much older. I shall not attempt to analyze metaphysically this change. +By the help of such words as Leonard may himself occasionally let +fall, the reader will dive into the boy's heart, and see how there the +change had worked, and is working still. The happy dreamy +peasant-genius, gazing on glory with inebriate, undazzled eyes, is no +more. It is a man, suddenly cut off from the old household holy +ties--conscious of great powers, and confronted on all sides by +barriers of iron--alone with hard reality, and scornful London; and if +he catches a glimpse of the lost Helicon, he sees, where he saw the +muse, a pale melancholy spirit veiling its face in shame--the ghost of +the mournful mother, whose child has no name, not even the humblest, +among the family of men. + +On the second evening after Dr. Morgan's departure, as Leonard was +just about to leave the shop, a customer stepped in with a book in +his hand which he had snatched from the shop-boy, who was removing the +volumes for the night from the booth without. + +"Mr. Prickett, Mr. Prickett!" said the customer, "I am ashamed of you. +You presume to put upon this work, in two volumes, the sum of eight +shillings." + +Mr. Prickett stepped forth from the Cimmerian gloom of some recess, +and cried, "What! Mr. Burley, is that you? But for your voice I should +not have known you." + +"Man is like a book, Mr. Prickett; the commonalty only look to his +binding. I am better bound, it is very true." + +Leonard glanced towards the speaker, who now stood under the gas-lamp, +and thought he recognized his face. He looked again; yes, it was the +perch-fisher whom he had met on the banks of the Brent, and who had +warned him of the lost fish and the broken line. + +_Mr. Burley_ (continuing).--"But 'The Art of Thinking,'--you charge +eight shillings for 'The Art of Thinking?'" + +_Mr. Prickett._--"Cheap enough, Mr. Burley. A very clean copy." + +_Mr. Burley._--"Usurer! I sold it to you for three shillings. It is +more than 150 per cent. you propose to gain from my 'Art of +Thinking.'" + +_Mr. Prickett_, (stuttering and taken aback.)--"_You_ sold it to me! +Ah! now I remember. But it was more than three shillings I gave. You +forget--two glasses of brandy and water." + +_Mr. Burley._--"Hospitality, sir, is not to be priced. If you sell +your hospitality, you are not worthy to possess my 'Art of Thinking.' +I resume it. There are three shillings, and a shilling more for +interest. No--on second thoughts, instead of that shilling, I will +return your hospitality; and the first time you come my way you shall +have two glasses of brandy and water." + +Mr. Prickett did not look pleased, but he made no objection; and Mr. +Burley put the book into his pocket, and turned to examine the +shelves. He bought an old jest-book, a stray volume of the Comedies of +Destouches--paid for them--put them also into his pocket, and was +sauntering out, when he perceived Leonard, who was now standing at the +doorway. + +"Hem! who is that?" he asked, whispering to Mr. Prickett. + +"A young assistant of mine, and very clever." + +Mr. Burley scanned Leonard from top to toe. + +"We have met before, sir. But you look as if you had returned to the +Brent, and had been fishing for my perch." + +"Possibly, sir," answered Leonard. "But my line is tough, and is not +yet broken, though the fish drags it amongst the weeds, and buries +itself in the mud." + +He lifted his hat, bowed slightly, and walked on. + +"He _is_ clever," said Mr. Burley to the bookseller: "he understands +allegory." + +_Mr. Prickett._--"Poor youth! He came to town with the idea of turning +author: you know what _that_ is, Mr. Burley." + +_Mr. Burley_, (with an air of superb dignity.)--"Bibliopole, yes! An +author is a being between gods and men, who ought to be lodged in a +palace, and entertained at the public charge on ortolans and tokay. He +should be kept lapped in down, and curtained with silken awnings from +the cares of life--have nothing to do but to write books upon tables +of cedar, and fish for perch from a gilded galley. And that's what +will come to pass when the ages lose their barbarism, and know their +benefactors. Meanwhile, sir, I invite you to my rooms, and will regale +you upon brandy and water as long as I can pay for it; and when I +cannot, you shall regale me." + +Mr. Prickett muttered, "A very bad bargain, indeed," as Mr. Burley, +with his chin in the air, stepped into the street. + + +CHAPTER XX. + +At first Leonard had always returned home through the crowded +thoroughfares--the contact of numbers had animated his spirits. But +the last two days, since the discovery of his birth, he had taken his +way down the comparatively unpeopled path of the New Road. He had just +gained that part of this outskirt in which the statuaries and +tomb-makers exhibit their gloomy wares--furniture alike for gardens +and for graves--and, pausing, contemplated a column, on which was +placed an urn half covered with a funeral mantle, when his shoulder +was lightly tapped, and, turning quickly, he saw Mr. Burley standing +behind him. + +"Excuse me, sir, but you understand perch-fishing; and since we find +ourselves on the same road, I should like to be better acquainted with +you. I hear you once wished to be an author. I am one." + +Leonard had never before, to his knowledge, seen an author, and a +mournful smile passed his lips as he surveyed the perch-fisher. Mr. +Burley was indeed very differently attired since the first interview +by the brooklet. He looked less like an author, but more perhaps like +a perch-fisher. He had a new white hat, stuck on one side of his +head--a new green overcoat--new gray trousers, and new boots. In his +hand was a whalebone stick, with a silver handle. Nothing could be +more fragrant, devil-me-carish, and to use a slang word, _tigrish_, +than his whole air. Yet, vulgar as was his costume, he did not himself +seem vulgar, but rather eccentric, lawless, something out of the pale +of convention. His face looked more pale and more puffed than before, +the tip of his nose redder; but the spark in his eye was of livelier +light, and there was self-enjoyment in the corners of his sensual +humorous lip. + +"You are an author, sir," repeated Leonard. "Well, and what is the +report of your calling? Yonder column props an urn. The column is +tall, and the urn is graceful. But it looks out of place by the +roadside: what say you?" + +_Mr. Burley._--"It would look better in the churchyard." + +_Leonard._--"So I was thinking. And you are an author!" + +_Mr. Burley._--"Ah, I said you had a quick sense of allegory. And so +you think an author looks better in a churchyard, when you see him but +as a muffled urn under the moonshine, than standing beneath the +gas-lamp, in a white hat, and with a red tip to his nose. +Abstractedly, you are right. But, with your leave, the author would +rather be where he is. Let us walk on." The two men felt an interest +in each other, and they walked some yards in silence. + +"To return to the urn," said Mr. Burley, "you think of fame and +churchyards. Natural enough, before illusion dies; but I think of the +moment, of existence--and I laugh at fame. Fame, sir--not worth a +glass of cold without! And as for a glass of warm, with sugar--and +five shillings in one's pocket to spend as one pleases--what is there +in Westminster Abbey to compare with it?" + +"Talk on, sir--I should like to hear you talk. Let me listen and hold +my tongue." Leonard pulled his hat over his brows, and gave up his +moody, questioning, turbulent mind to his new acquaintance. + +And John Burley talked on. A dangerous and a fascinating talk it +was--the talk of a great intellect fallen. A serpent trailing its +length on the ground, and showing bright, shifting, glorious hues as +it grovelled. A serpent, yet without the serpent's guile. If John +Burley deceived and tempted, he meant it not--he crawled and glittered +alike honestly. No dove could be more simple. + +Laughing at fame, he yet dwelt with an elegant enthusiasm on the joy +of composition. "What do I care what men without are to say and think +of the words that gush forth on my page?" cried he. "If you think of +the public, of urns, and laurels, while you write, you are no genius; +you are not fit to be an author. I write because it rejoices me, +because it is my nature. Written, I care no more what becomes of it +than the lark for the effect that the song has on the peasant it wakes +to the plough. The poet, like the lark, sings 'from his watch-tower in +the skies.' Is this true?" + +"Yes, very true." + +"What can rob us of this joy! The bookseller will not buy, the public +will not read. Let them sleep at the foot of the ladder of the +angels--we climb it all the same. And then one settles down into such +good-tempered Lucianic contempt for men. One wants so little from +them, when one knows what one's self is worth, and what they are. They +are just worth the coin one can extract from them in order to live. +Our life--_that_ is worth so much to us. And then their joys, so +vulgar to them, we can make them golden and kingly. Do you suppose +Burns drinking at the ale-house, with his boors around him, was +drinking, like them, only beer and whisky? No, he was drinking +nectar--he was imbibing his own ambrosial thoughts--shaking with the +laughter of the gods. The coarse human liquid was just needed to +unlock his spirit from the clay--take it from jerkin and corduroys, +and wrap it in the 'singing-robes' that floated wide in the skies: the +beer or the whisky was needed but for that, and then it changed at +once into the drink of Hebe. But come, you have not known this +life--you have not seen it. Come, give me this night. I have moneys +about me--I will fling them abroad as liberally as Alexander himself, +when he left to his share but hope. Come!" + +"Whither?" + +"To my throne. On that throne last sate Edmund Kean--mighty mime. I am +his successor. We will see whether in truth these wild sons of genius, +who are cited but 'to point a moral and adorn a tale,' were objects of +compassion. Sober-suited cits to lament over a Savage and a Morland--a +Porson and a Burns!--" + +"Or a Chatterton," said Leonard, gloomily. + +"Chatterton was an impostor in all things; he feigned excesses that he +never knew. _He_ a bacchanalian--a royster! He!--No. We will talk of +him. Come!" + +Leonard went. + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +The Room! And the smoke-reek, and the gas-glare of it. The whitewash +of the walls, and the prints thereon of the actors in their +mime-robes, and stage postures; actors as far back as their own lost +Augustan era, when the stage was a real living influence on the +manners and the age. There was Betterton in wig and gown--as Cato, +moralising on the soul's eternity, and halting between Plato and the +dagger. There was Woodward as "The Fine Gentleman," with the +inimitable rakehell air in which the heroes of Wycherly and Congreve +and Farquhar live again. There was jovial Quin as Falstaff, with round +buckler and "fair round belly." There was Colley Cibber in +brocade--taking snuff as with "his Lord," the thumb and forefinger +raised in air--and looking at you for applause. There was Macklin as +Shylock, with knife in hand; and Kemble, in the solemn weeds of the +Dane; and Kean in the place of honor over the chimneypiece. + +When we are suddenly taken from practical life, with its real workday +men, and presented to the portraits of those sole heroes of a +World--Phantastic and Phantasmal, in the garments wherein they did +"strut and fret their hour upon the stage," verily there is something +in the sight that moves an inner sense within ourselves--for all of us +have an inner sense of some existence, apart from the one that wears +away our days: an existence that, afar from St. James's and St. +Giles's, the Law Courts and Exchange, goes its way in terror or mirth, +in smiles or in tears, through a vague magic land of the poets. There, +see those actors! They are the men who lived it--to whom our world was +the false one, to whom the Imaginary was the Actual. And did +Shakspeare himself, in his life, ever hearken to the applause that +thundered round the Personators of his airy images? Vague children of +the most transient of the arts, fleet shadows of running waters, +though thrown down from the steadfast stars, were ye not happier than +we who live in the Real? How strange you must feel in the great +circuit that ye now take through eternity! No prompt-books, no lamps, +no acting Congreve and Shakspeare there! For what parts in the skies +have your studies on the earth fitted you? Your ultimate destinies are +very puzzling. Hail to your effigies, and pass we on! + +There, too, on the whitewashed walls, were admitted the portraits of +ruder rivals in the arena of fame--yet they, too, had known an +applause warmer than his age gave to Shakespeare; the champions of the +ring--Cribb, and Molyneux, and Dutch Sam. Interspersed with these was +an old print of Newmarket in the early part of the last century, and +sundry engravings from Hogarth. But poets, oh! they were there, too: +poets who might be supposed to have been sufficiently good fellows to +be at home with such companions. Shakspeare, of course, with his +placid forehead; Ben Jonson, with his heavy scowl; Burns and Byron +cheek by jowl. But the strangest of all these heterogeneous specimens +of graphic art was a full-length print of William Pitt!--William Pitt, +the austere and imperious. What the deuce did he do there amongst +prize-fighters, and actors, and poets? It seemed an insult to his +grand memory. Nevertheless there he was, very erect, and with a look +of ineffable disgust in his upturned nostrils. The portraits on the +sordid walls were very like the crambo in the minds of ordinary +men--very like the motley pictures of the FAMOUS hung up in your +parlour, O my Public! Actors and prize-fighters, poets and statesmen, +all without congruity and fitness, all whom you have been to see or to +hear for a moment, and whose names have stared out in your newspapers, +O my Public! + +And the company? Indescribable! Comedians from small theatres, out of +employ: pale haggard-looking boys, probably the sons of worthy +traders, trying their best to break their fathers' hearts; here and +there the marked features of a Jew. Now and then you might see the +curious puzzled face of some greenhorn about town, or perhaps a +Cantab; and men of grave age, and gray-haired, were there, and amongst +them a wondrous proportion of carbuncled faces and bottle noses. And +when John Burley entered there was a shout, that made William Pitt +shake in his frame. Such stamping and hallooing, and such hurrahs for +"Burly John." And the gentleman who had filled the great high leathern +chair in his absence gave it up to John Burley; and Leonard, with his +grave observant eye, and lip half sad and half scornful, placed +himself by the side of his introducer. There was a nameless expectant +stir through the assembly, as when some great singer advances to the +lamps, and begins "_Di tanti palpiti_." Time flies. Look at the Dutch +clock over the door. Half-an-hour! John Burley begins to warm. A yet +quicker light begins to break from his eye; his voice has a mellow +luscious roll in it. + +"He will be grand to-night," whispered a thin man who looked like a +tailor, seated on the other side of Leonard. + +Time flies--an hour! Look again at the Dutch clock, John Burley _is_ +grand, he is in his zenith, at his culminating point. What magnificent +drollery!--what luxuriant humor! How the Rabelais shakes in his easy +chair! Under the rush and the roar of this fun, (what word else shall +describe it,) the man's intellect is as clear as a gold sand under a +river. Such wit, and such truth, and, at times, such a flood of quick +eloquence. All now are listeners, silent, save in applause. And +Leonard listened too. Not, as he would some nights ago, in innocent +unquestioning delight. No; his mind has passed through great sorrow, +great passion, and it comes out unsettled, inquiring, eager, brooding +over joy itself as over a problem. And the drink circulates, and faces +change; and there are gabbling and babbling; and Burley's head sinks +in his bosom, and he is silent. And up starts a wild, dissolute, +bacchanalian glee for seven voices. And the smoke-reek grows denser +and thicker, and the gas-light looks dizzy through the haze. And John +Burley's eyes reel. + +Look again at the Dutch clock. Two hours have gone. John Burley has +broken out again from his silence, his voice thick and husky, and his +laugh cracked; and he talks, O ye gods! such rubbish and ribaldry; and +the listeners roar aloud, and think it finer than before. And Leonard, +who had hitherto been measuring himself, in his mind, against the +giant, and saying inly, "He soars out of my reach," finds the giant +shrink smaller and smaller, and saith to himself, "He is but of man's +common standard after all." + +Look again at the Dutch clock. Three hour have passed. Is John Burley +now of man's common standard? Man himself seems to have vanished from +the scene; his soul stolen from him, his form gone away with the fumes +of the smoke, and the nauseous steam from that fiery bowl. And +Leonard looked round, and saw but the swine of Circe--some on the +floor, some staggering against the walls, some hugging each other on +the tables, some fighting, some bawling, some weeping. The divine +spark had fled from the human face; the beast is everywhere growing +more and more out of the thing that had been man. And John Burley, +still unconquered, but clean lost to his senses, fancies himself a +preacher, and drawls forth the most lugubrious sermon upon the brevity +of life that mortal ever heard, accompanied with unctuous sobs; and +now and then, in the midst of balderdash, gleams out a gorgeous +sentence, that Jeremy Taylor might have envied; drivelling away again +into a cadence below the rhetoric of a Muggletonian. And the waiters +choked up the doorway, listening and laughing, and prepared to call +cabs and coaches; and suddenly some one turned off the gas light, and +all was dark as pitch--howls and laughter as of the damned, ringing +through the Pandemonium. Out from the black atmosphere stept the +boy-poet; and the still stars rushed on his sight, as they looked over +the grimy roof-tops. + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +Well, Leonard, this is the first time thou hast shown that thou hast +in thee the iron out of which true manhood is forged and shaped. Thou +hast _the power to resist_. Forth, unebriate, unpolluted, he came from +the orgy, as yon star above him came from the cloud. + +He had a latch key to his lodging. He let himself in, and walked +noiselessly up the creaking wooden stair. It was dawn. He passed on to +his window, and threw it open. The green elm-tree from the carpenter's +yard looked as fresh and fair as if rooted in solitudes, leagues away +from the smoke of Babylon. + +--"Nature, Nature!" murmured Leonard, "I hear thy voice now. This +stills--this strengthens. But the struggle is very dread. Here, +despair of life--there, faith in life. Nature thinks of neither, and +lives serenely on." + +By-and-by a bird slid softly from the heart of the tree, and dropped +on the ground below out of sight. But Leonard heard its carol. It +awoke its companions--wings began to glance in the air, and the clouds +grew red toward the east. + +Leonard sighed and left the window. On the table, near Helen's +rose-tree, which bent over wistfully, lay a letter. He had not +observed it before. It was in Helen's hand. He took it to the light, +and read it by the pure healthful gleams of morn:-- + +"Oh, my dear brother Leonard, will this find you well, and (more happy +I dare not say, but) less sad than when we parted? I write kneeling, +so that it seems to me as if I wrote and prayed at the same time. You +may come and see me to-morrow evening, Leonard. Do come, do--we shall +walk together in this pretty garden; and there is an arbor all covered +with jessamine and honeysuckle, from which we can look down on London. +I have looked from it so many times--so many--trying if I can guess +the roofs in our poor little street; and fancying that I do see the +dear elm-tree. Miss Starke is very kind to me; and I think, after I +have seen you, that I shall be happy here--that is, if you are happy. +Your own grateful sister, + + "HELEN. + + "Ivy Lodge. + +"P. S.--Any one will direct you to our house; it lies to the left, +near the top of the hill, a little way down a lane that is overhung on +one side with chestnut trees and lilies. I shall be watching for you +at the gate." + +Leonard's brow softened, he looked again like his former self. Up from +the dark sea at his heart smiled the meek face of a child, and the +waves lay still as at the charm of a spirit. + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +"And what is Mr. Burley, and what has he written?" asked Leonard of +Mr. Prickett when he returned to the shop. Let us reply to that +question in our own words, for we know more about Mr. Burley than Mr. +Prickett does. + +John Burley was the only son of a poor clergyman, in a village near +Ealing, who had scraped and saved and pinched, to send his son to an +excellent provincial school in a northern country, and thence to +college. At the latter, during his first year, young Burley was +remarked by the undergraduates for his thick shoes and coarse linen, +and remarkable to the authorities for his assiduity and learning. The +highest hopes were entertained of him by the tutors and examiners. At +the beginning of the second year his high animal spirits, before kept +down by study, broke out. Reading had become easy to him. He knocked +off his tasks with a facile stroke, as it were. He gave up his leisure +hours to symposia by no means Socratical. He fell into an idle +hard-drinking set. He got into all kinds of scrapes. The authorities +were at first kind and forbearing in their admonitions, for they +respected his abilities, and still hoped he might become an honor to +the university. But at last he went drunk into a formal examination, +and sent in papers after the manner of Aristophanes, containing +capital jokes upon the Dons and Bigwigs themselves. The offence was +the greater, and seemed the more premeditated, for being clothed in +Greek. John Burley was expelled. He went home to his father's a +miserable man, for with all his follies he had a good heart. Removed +from ill example, his life for a year was blameless. He got admitted +as usher into the school in which he had received instruction as a +pupil. This school was in a large town. John Burley became member of +a club formed among the tradesmen, and spent three evenings a week +there. His astonishing convivial and conversational powers began to +declare themselves. He grew the oracle of the club; and from being the +most sober peaceful assembly in which grave fathers of a family ever +smoked a pipe or sipped a glass, it grew under Mr. Burley's auspices +the parent of revels as frolicking and frantic as those out of which +the old Greek Goat Song ever tipsily rose. This would not do. There +was a great riot in the streets one night, and the next morning the +usher was dismissed. Fortunately for John Burley's conscience, his +father had died before this happened--died believing in the reform of +his son. During his ushership Mr. Burley had scraped acquaintance with +the editor of the county newspaper, and given him some capital +political articles; for Burley was like Parr and Porson, a notable +politician. The editor furnished him with letters to the journalists +in London, and John came to the metropolis and got employed on a very +respectable newspaper. At college he had known Audley Egerton, though +but slightly; that gentleman was then just rising into repute in +Parliament. Burley sympathized with some questions on which Audley had +distinguished himself, and wrote a very good article thereon--an +article so good that Egerton inquired into the authorship, found out +Burley, and resolved in his own mind to provide for him whenever he +himself came into office. But Burley was a man whom it was impossible +to provide for. He soon lost his connection with the newspaper. First, +he was so irregular that he could never be depended upon. Secondly, he +had strange honest eccentric twists of thinking, that could coalesce +with the thoughts of no party in the long run. An article of his, +inadvertently admitted, had horrified all the proprietors, staff, and +readers of the paper. It was diametrically opposite to the principles +the paper advocated, and compared its pet politician to Catiline. Then +John Burley shut himself up and wrote books. He wrote two or three +books, very clever, but not at all to the popular taste--abstract and +learned, full of whims that were _caviare_ to the multitude, and +larded with Greek. Nevertheless, they obtained for him a little money, +and among literary men some reputation. + +Now Audley Egerton came into power, and got him, though with great +difficulty--for there were many prejudices against this scampish +harum-scarum son of the Muses--a place in a public office. He kept it +about a month, and then voluntarily resigned it. "My crust of bread +and liberty!" quoth John Burley, and he vanished into a garret. From +that time to the present he lived--Heaven knows how. Literature is a +business, like everything else; John Burley grew more and more +incapable of business. "He could not do task-work," he said; he wrote +when the whim seized him, or when the last penny was in his pouch, or +when he was actually in the spunging-house or the Fleet--migrations +which occurred to him, on an average, twice a year. He could generally +sell what he had positively written, but no one would engage him +beforehand. Magazines and other periodicals were very glad to have his +articles, on the condition that they were anonymous; and his style was +not necessarily detected, for he could vary it with the facility of a +practised pen. Audley Egerton continued his best supporter, for there +were certain questions on which no one wrote with such force as John +Burley--questions connected with the metaphysics of politics, such as +law reform and economical science. And Audley Egerton was the only man +John Burley put himself out of the way to serve, and for whom he would +give up a drinking-bout and do _task-work_; for John Burley was +grateful by nature, and he felt that Egerton had really tried to +befriend him. Indeed, it was true, as he had stated to Leonard by the +Brent, that, even after he had resigned his desk in the London office, +he had had the offer of an appointment in Jamaica, and a place in +India from the Minister. But probably there were other charms then +than those exercised by the one-eyed perch, that kept him to the +neighborhood of London. With all his grave faults of character and +conduct, John Burley was not without the fine qualities of a large +nature. He was most resolutely his own enemy, it is true, but he could +hardly be said to be any one else's. Even when he criticised some more +fortunate writer, he was good-humored in his very satire; he had no +bile, no envy. And as for freedom from malignant personalities, he +might have been a model to all critics. I must except politics, +however, for in these he could be rabid and savage. He had a passion +for independence, which, though pushed to excess, was not without +grandeur. No lick-platter, no parasite, no toadeater, no literary +beggar, no hunter after patronage and subscriptions; even in his +dealings with Audley Egerton, he insisted on naming the price for his +labors. He took a price, because, as the papers required by Audley +demanded much reading and detail, which was not at all to his taste, +he considered himself entitled fairly to something more than the +editor of the journal, wherein the papers appeared, was in the habit +of giving. But he assessed this extra price himself, and as he would +have done to a bookseller. And, when in debt and in prison, though he +knew a line to Egerton would have extricated him, he never wrote that +line. He would depend alone on his pen, dipped it hastily in the ink, +and scrawled himself free. The most debased point about him was +certainly the incorrigible vice of drinking, and with it the usual +concomitant of that vice--the love of low company. To be King of the +Bohemians--to dazzle by his wild humor, and sometimes to exalt, by his +fanciful eloquence, the rude gross nature that gathered round +him--this was a royalty that repaid him for all sacrifice of solid +dignity; a foolscap crown that he would not have changed for an +emperor's diadem. Indeed, to appreciate rightly the talents of John +Burley, it was necessary to hear him talk on such occasions. As a +writer, after all, he was only capable now of unequal desultory +efforts. But as a talker, in his own wild way, he was original and +matchless. And the gift of talk is one of the most dangerous gifts a +man can possess for his own sake--the applause is so immediate, and +gained with so little labor. Lower, and lower, and lower, had sunk +John Burley, not only in the opinion of all who knew his name, but in +the habitual exercise of his talents. And this seemed wilfully--from +choice. He would write for some unstamped journal of the populace, out +of the pale of the law, for pence, when he could have got pounds from +journals of high repute. He was very fond of scribbling off penny +ballads, and then standing in the street to hear them sung. He +actually once made himself the poet of an advertising tailor, and +enjoyed it excessively. But that did not last long, for John Burley +was a Pittite--not a Tory, he used to say, but a Pittite. And if you +had heard him talk of Pitt, you would never have known what to make of +that great statesman. He treated him as the German commentators do +Shakspeare, and invested him with all imaginary meanings and objects, +that would have turned the grand practical man into a sybil. Well, he +was a Pittite; the tailor a fanatic for Thelwall and Cobbett. Mr. +Burley wrote a poem, wherein Britannia appeared to the tailor, +complimented him highly on the art he exhibited in adorning the +persons of her sons; and, bestowing upon him a gigantic mantle, said +that he, and he alone, might be enabled to fit it to the shoulders of +living men. The rest of the poem was occupied in Mr. Snip's unavailing +attempts to adjust this mantle to the eminent politicians of the day, +when, just as he had sunk down in despair, Britannia reappeared to +him, and consoled him with the information that he had done all mortal +man could do, and that she had only desired to convince pigmies that +no human art could adjust to _their_ proportions the mantle of William +Pitt. _Sic itur ad astra_. She went back to the stars, mantle and all. +Mr. Snip was exceedingly indignant at this allegorical effusion, and +with wrathful shears cut the tie between himself and his poet. + +Thus, then, the reader has, we trust, a pretty good idea of John +Burley--a specimen of his genus, not very common in any age, and now +happily almost extinct, since authors of all degrees share in the +general improvement in order, economy, and sober decorum, which has +obtained in the national manners. Mr. Prickett, though entering into +less historical detail than we have done, conveyed to Leonard a +tolerably accurate notion of the man, representing him as a person of +great powers and learning, who had thoroughly thrown himself away. + +Leonard did not, however, see how much Mr. Burley himself was to be +blamed for his waste of life; he could not conceive a man of genius +voluntarily seating himself at the lowest step in the social ladder. +He rather supposed he had been thrust down there by Necessity. + +And when Mr. Prickett, concluding, said, "Well, I should think Burley +would cure you of the desire to be an author even more than +Chatterton," the young man answered gloomily, "Perhaps," and turned to +the book-shelves. + +With Mr. Prickett's consent, Leonard was released earlier than usual +from his task, and a little before sunset he took his way to Highgate. +He was fortunately directed to take the new road by the Regent's Park, +and so on through a very green and smiling country. The walk, the +freshness of the air, the songs of the birds, and, above all, when he +had got half-way, the solitude of the road, served to rouse him from +his stern and sombre meditations. And when he came into the lane +overhung with chestnut trees, and suddenly caught sight of Helen's +watchful and then brightening face, as she stood by the wicket, and +under the shadow of cool murmurous boughs, the blood rushed gayly +through his veins, and his heart beat loud and gratefully. + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +She drew him into the garden with such true childlike joy! + +Now behold them seated in the arbor--a perfect bower of sweets and +blossoms; the wilderness of roof-tops and spires stretching below, +broad and far; London seen dim and silent, as in a dream. + +She took his hat from his brows gently, and looked him in the face +with tearful penetrating eyes. + +She did not say, "You have changed."--She said, "Why, why did I leave +you?" and then turned away. + +"Never mind me, Helen. I am man, and rudely born--speak of yourself. +This lady is kind to you, then?" + +"Does she not let me see you? Oh! very kind--and look here." + +Helen pointed to fruits and cakes set out on the table. "A feast, +brother." + +And she began to press her hospitality with pretty winning ways, more +playful than was usual for her, and talking very fast, and with forced +but silvery laughter. + +By degrees she stole him from his gloom and reserve; and, though he +could not reveal to her the cause of his bitterest sorrow, he owned +that he had suffered much. He would not have owned _that_ to another +living being. And then, quickly turning from this brief confession, +with assurances that the worst was over, he sought to amuse her by +speaking of his new acquaintance with the perch-fisher. But when he +spoke of this man with a kind of reluctant admiration, mixed with +compassionate yet gloomy interest, and drew a grotesque though subdued +sketch of the wild scene in which he had been spectator, Helen grew +alarmed and grave. + +"Oh, brother, do not go there again--do not see more of this bad man." + +"Bad!--no! Hopeless and unhappy, he has stooped to stimulants and +oblivion;--but you cannot understand these things, my pretty +preacher." + +"Yes I do, Leonard. What is the difference between being good and bad? +The good do not yield to temptations, and the bad do." + +The definition was so simple and so wise that Leonard was more struck +with it than he might have been by the most elaborate sermon by Parson +Dale. + +"I have often murmured to myself since I lost you, 'Helen was my good +angel;'--say on. For my heart is dark to myself, and while you speak +light seems to dawn on it." + +This praise so confused Helen that she was long before she could obey +the command annexed to it. But, by little and little, words came to +both more frankly. And then he told her the sad tale of Chatterton, +and waited, anxious to hear her comments. + +"Well," he said, seeing that she remained silent, "how can _I_ hope, +when this mighty genius labored and despaired? What did he want, save +birth and fortune, and friends, and human justice." + +"Did he pray to God?" said Helen, drying her tears. + +Again Leonard was startled. In reading the life of Chatterton, he had +not much noted the scepticism, assumed or real, of the ill-fated +aspirer to earthly immortality. At Helen's question, that scepticism +struck him forcibly. + +"Why do you ask that, Helen?" + +"Because, when we pray often, we grow so very, very patient," answered +the child. "Perhaps, had he been patient a few months more all would +have been won by him, as it will be by you, brother; for you pray, and +you will be patient." + +Leonard bowed his head in deep thought, and this time the thought was +not gloomy. Then out from that awful life there glowed another +passage, which before he had not heeded duly, but regarded rather as +one of the darkest mysteries in the fate of Chatterton. + +At the very time the despairing poet had locked himself up in his +garret, to dismiss his soul from its earthly ordeal, his genius had +just found its way into the light of renown. Good and learned and +powerful men were preparing to serve and save him. Another year,--nay, +perchance, another month--and he might have stood acknowledged and +sublime in the foremost front of his age. + +"Oh Helen!" cried Leonard, raising his brows from which the cloud had +passed,--"Why, indeed, did you leave me?" + +Helen started in her turn as he repeated this regret, and in her turn +grew thoughtful. At length she asked him if he had written for the box +which had belonged to her father, and been left at the inn. + +And Leonard, though a little chafed at what he thought a childish +interruption to themes of graver interest, owned with self-reproach +that he had forgotten to do so. Should he not write now to order the +box to be sent to her at Miss Starke's. + +"No; let it be sent to you. Take care of it. I should like to know +that something of mine is with you; and perhaps I may not stay here +long." + +"Not stay here? That you must, my dear Helen--at least as long as Miss +Starke will keep you, and is kind. By-and-by, (added Leonard, with +something of his former sanguine tone) I may yet make my way, and we +shall have our cottage to ourselves. But--Oh Helen!--I forgot--you +wounded me; you left your money with me. I only found it in my drawers +the other day. Fie!--I have brought it back." + +"It was not mine--it is yours. We were to share together--you paid +all; and how can I want it here, too?" + +But Leonard was obstinate; and as Helen mournfully received back all +that of fortune her father had bequeathed to her, a tall female figure +stood at the entrance of the harbor, and said, that scattered all +sentiment to the winds--"Young man, it is time to go." + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +"Already!" said Helen, with faltering accents, as she crept to Miss +Starke's side, while Leonard rose and bowed. "I am very grateful to +you, Madam," said he, with the grace that comes from all refinement of +idea, "for allowing me to see Miss Helen. Do not let me abuse your +kindness." Miss Starke seemed struck with his look and manner, and +made a stiff half curtsey. + +A form more rigid than Miss Starke's it was hard to conceive. She was +like the grim white woman in the nursery ballads. Yet, apparently, +there was a good nature in allowing the stranger to enter her trim +garden, and providing for him and her little charge those fruit and +cakes which belied her aspect. "May I go with him to the gate?" +whispered Helen, as Leonard had already passed up the path. + +"You may, child; but do not loiter. And then come back, and lock up +the cakes and cherries, or Patty will get at them." + +Helen ran after Leonard. + +"Write to me, brother--write to me; and do not, do not be friends with +this man who took you to that wicked, wicked place." + +"Oh, Helen, I go from you strong enough to brave worse dangers than +that," said Leonard almost gaily. + +They kissed each other at the little wicket gate, and parted. + +Leonard walked home under the summer moonlight, and on entering his +chamber, looked first at his rose-tree. The leaves of yesterday's +flowers lay strewn round it; but the tree had put forth new buds. + +"Nature ever restores," said the young man. He paused a moment, and +added, "It is that Nature is very patient?" + +His sleep that night was not broken by the fearful dreams he had +lately known. He rose refreshed, and went his way to his day's +work--not stealing along the less crowded paths, but with a firm step, +through the throng of men. Be bold, adventurer--thou hast more to +suffer! Wilt thou sink? I look into thy heart, and I cannot answer. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[11] Continued from page 97. + +[12] It may be necessary to observe, that homoeopathy professes to deal +with our moral affections as well as our physical maladies, and has a +globule for every sorrow. + + + + +From Sharpe's Magazine. + +EGYPT UNDER ABBAS PASHA. + +BY BAYLE ST. JOHN. + + +When the late Mohammed Ali heard at length of the taking of Acre by +his troops under Ibrahim, he exclaimed, "That place," adding an +energetic but somewhat unsavory expression, "that place has cost me," +not the lives of so many thousand men, but, "so many thousand cantars +of gunpowder." These words illustrate pretty forcibly the narrow and +selfish views of that celebrated but overrated man. We do not believe, +indeed, that during the whole period of his sway in Egypt, the thought +ever crossed his mind that he was bound to govern for any other +purpose than his own personal aggrandisement, or that he was to regard +in the slightest degree the feelings, the comfort, the property or the +lives of his people. + +The system which arose from this wretchedly egotistical state of mind +was to a certain extent successful. Although great schemes of +conquest, which even a more magnanimous species of selfishness might +have carried out, were destined to end in comparative shame and +disgrace, yet a somewhat brilliant _de facto_ sovereignty was erected +and maintained to the termination of the old man's life; and he died +regretting only that he had not been allowed to march to +Constantinople. To the end of his days he was rolling in wealth, and +possessed of arbitrary power in dominions of great extent, where he +was not the less arbitrary because he was compelled to acknowledge a +superior, and to send a tribute, instead of a fleet and an army, to +the shores of the Bosphorus. The provinces which he called his own, +lay sleeping in a death-like tranquillity; and because he could ride +through the streets without a guard, his flatterers told him that he +had secured the fear, respect and love of the people. For he had many +flatterers, this ancient of days;--not merely his own minions, whose +business it was, but European gentlemen, who affected to be awe-struck +in his presence, and gathered and treasured up and repeated his wise +sayings, his profound observations, and, save the mark! his wit; but +they never could impress on any impartial hearer the belief in any of +these things. His sayings and observations were sometimes very +foolish, sometimes distinguished by respectable common-sense; and his +wit consisted in prefacing a very silly or impertinent remark with a +peculiar grunt. Whenever, therefore, his courtiers, being in a +narrative mood, began to tell how on a certain occasion the pasha +said, "Hunk!" &c., a crowd of admirers were ready to smile, and one or +two disinterested lookers-on were compelled to smile likewise, though, +perhaps, for a very different reason. + +Nothing is easier than to surround a man who has sufficient talents to +fight or wheedle himself into a position of authority with a halo of +false reputation; but it is rather more difficult to impress a +character on the civilization of a country, and, now-a-days, to found +an enduring dynasty. We shall not here recapitulate the enormous +blunders of Mohammed Ali, in political and economical questions, nor +explain how these blunders arose from a selfish desire to make what is +vulgarly called a "splash," nor waste an anathema on his crafty +cruelty and abominable tyranny. We wish merely to remind the reader +that his period of power having come to a close, little good had been +done, except, perhaps, improving the method of transacting public +business. + +Well, there were plenty of people to succeed him. The pasha had a +large family of children and grandchildren, to whom he had behaved +sometimes with indulgence, but generally with unreasoning and perverse +severity. There was scarcely a member of his family with whom he had +not had many little quarrels, and who did not avoid his presence as +they did the plague. Even the favorite Ibrahim could not bear to live +in the same city as his presumed father; and the rest would have been +little less startled by the last summons of all, than they were by an +occasional order to appear in the presence of the angry and savage old +man. One feeling, however, was pretty general amongst them,--they +regarded the pasha as a wonderfully important personage, and +themselves consequently, being his children, as little less wonderful +and important. Their hopes were in the uncertainty of life; and very +many of them, in their own minds, had arranged what they would do in +case they came to be viceroy--how they would make the money spin, and +what mighty devices they would put in practice, to emulate and surpass +the splendors of "Effendina"--"Our Lord," _par excellence_. + +It must be confessed that Abbas Pasha alone had the good sense to take +up a position of his own. Whether he was as crafty and politic as some +pretend before his elevation to power, it is difficult to decide; but +the plan, at that time generally ascribed to him, of forming what was +called a Turkish or bigoted party--a party of discontented great +folks, and fanatical Ulemas--a party which should appeal to the +religious prejudices of the good Caireens, and oppose itself to the +inroad of European adventurers and improvements,--this plan, if +distinctly formed, was certainly a very sagacious one. Let us be +frank: Europeans have done more harm than good in Egypt; that is to +say, whenever they have appeared, except as mere commercial men, +bringing the goods of their own countries, and anxious to take away +the surplus of the luxuriant crops of the valley of the Nile. As +political advisers, partly, perhaps, because men undertook to advise +who were fit only for the counting-house, partly because their own +interests were concerned, their intermeddling has been most +pernicious. Even the benefits, for some such there are, which have +been conferred by their wisdom, have been mingled with an immense +amount of misery. There is one fact which has attained an almost +mythological dignity, from its notoriety, and the admirable manner in +which it symbolises European meddling in Egypt. An English merchant, +who ought to have known the manners of the country, advised the +construction of the Mahmoudiyeh Canal. It has been most useful to +commerce; but twenty thousand people were starved or worked to death +within six weeks, in order to complete it. Fifty illustrations of the +same kind might be given; but we wish merely to have our meaning +understood, when we say that, if Abbas Pasha or his party ever +contemplated, as there is reason to suppose they did, the utter +destruction of foreign influence, the total change of a system, under +which French and English measures alternated like whig and tory +administrations, we must candidly admit they had some very good +grounds to go upon. + +The creation of the party was a long and laborious work; very likely +it was brought and kept together more by mutual discontents, ambitious +hopes, and straightforward bigotry, than by any very Machiavellian +policy. Probably Abbas Pasha really liked ram-fighting, and was a +pigeon-fancier, and did not assume these tastes, as the elder Brutus +played the fool, in order to accomplish his ends. But, however this +may be, he certainly occupied a more respectable position than his +uncle Ibrahim, whose whole ideas of the duties of government were +getting money and playing at soldiers; and than any of the other +members of this most obese and heavy-headed family. Even if it be true +that he meditated a revolt against the broken-down conqueror of Syria, +and was only withheld by fear of the European powers, this fact gives +an impression of his energy, and by no means derogates from his +character in this country. The Saids and the Ahmeds, the Ismains and +the Mustaphas, would, each and all of them, strike a blow and rid the +country of their beloved relations, if the little word _impossible_ +did not stare them in the face. As it is, they are in perpetual feud +with the head of the family, and there is no end to their bickerings, +heart-burnings, jealousies, and hatreds. Abbas is haughty and +overbearing to them; they as insolent as they may be to him. Be sure +that, on all sides, direful causes of affront have been given; but +probably Abbas has been provoked by unbecoming pretensions. What else +could be expected from a set of ignorant, debauched adventurers, who +have got a temporary footing in the country, and actually talk with +the pride of an ancient respectable line of hereditary princes of +their rights, and their expectations, and their rank, and so forth! +Abbas, of course, has not the same natural influence over this unruly +brotherhood as had the ruthless old man, and his more savage immediate +successor; and probably, in attempting to exert his rightful +authority, has been betrayed into undignified squabbles. It is certain +that many members of his family have fled or retired to +Constantinople; among others, Mohammed Ali Bey, and the notorious +Hazlet Hanem. Some remarks have been made on this subject, to the +effect that Abbas is frightening away his dutiful relations by his +violent and unreasonable conduct; but if Egypt never loses two of its +natives whom it can worse spare than these, it will be fortunate. +Without further inquiry than into their character, one would be +inclined to admire and respect the man who had quarrelled with them. +Mohammed Ali is a debauched worthless lad; and Madame Nazlet cannot +have justice done to her without details into which our pen is not at +liberty to enter. + +It is a sad thing, certainly, to view the breaking up of a large +family; but it would be a sadder thing to witness vice unpunished, and +harmony arising out of the reckless indulgence of unbridled passions. +Abbas Pasha himself, if report speaks true, has little in his private +life to plead for lenity in judging of his public character. His taste +leads him to the most trifling amusements. Just as of old, when he was +the supposed head of a kind of Conservative Turkish party, when he was +Governor of Cairo, and silently nourishing his ambitious schemes, he +spends time and money in the undignified, though not inelegant, and +certainly innocent, occupation of a pigeon-fancier. Near the new +palace which he is building (none of these Turkish princes seem to +care about living where their fathers lived before them) rises a +magnificent square tower, entirely devoted to the loyal winged +favorites of his Highness the Viceroy, who is reported to be quite +learned in this department of natural history. Another of his tastes, +for which Englishmen will have more sympathy, is for horses; and the +public will remember his bold challenge to the Jockey Club. In what +way he passes the remainder of his leisure hours we do not inquire; +but we give him, in common with his relatives, the advantage of an +excuse that has before been urged in their favor--namely, that of an +infamous education. + +Abbas Pasha has not exactly carried out the views which were +attributed to him before he reached his present elevation. He has not, +for example, done all that his fanatical anti-Frank friends could +expect in shaking off foreign influence. He began, it is true, by +getting rid, in rather a hasty and shabby manner, of many Europeans, +chiefly English, in his employ; and showed a disposition entirely to +put a stop to that enormous blunder of the Barrage. His first, and +very wise impulse, was either to destroy the works altogether, or, +abandoning them, simply allow the river to work its own majestic will. +But a clamor was raised on all sides! After throwing so many millions +of dollars into the river, why should not a few millions more be +thrown? I believe the French, who have a fondness for this undertaking +because it was suggested by or through Napoleon--(the Osiris of his +day is parent of all wonderful inventions)--I believe, I say, that +France made it almost a national question; and so this work, which +already impedes the navigation of one of the finest rivers in the +world, and which, if successful, would only achieve an object that one +quarter of the expense in the establishment of steam-engines at +various points for raising water would effectually accomplish, is +allowed to drag on slowly towards its conclusion. We must give Abbas +credit for the courageous good sense which suggested to him that the +first loss was the best; and yet we must not withhold from him some +praise for yielding to the influence of friendly persuasion, and +refraining from carrying out his own opinion, however well founded, +when he was told that, by doing so, he would incur the risk of being +accused of treason to his grandfather's fame. The old man had fondly +believed that his Barrage would join the Pyramids that look down upon +it in that restricted category of the "Wonders of the World," and +might well be supposed to lie uneasily in his grave if all the piles +which he had caused to be driven, all the mighty walls, and piers, and +arches, which he had caused to be raised with a disregard of expense +and human labor worthy of Cheops, were allowed to sink and lie +forgotten in the slimy bed of the Nile. + +This was the first point on which it appeared that Abbas Pasha was not +disposed to act up fully to his presumed plan of destroying European +influence altogether; but, on many occasions, he early showed a +disposition to temporize between his prejudices and his interest. We +cannot here enter into details of minor importance, but, coming down +to a recent period, we may mention another instance of a similar +nature. For many years before his death, Mohammed Ali had held out +hopes that he would construct, or allow to be constructed, a railway +from Cairo to Suez. This was preeminently an English project--not +likely to be unuseful to the country at large, it is true, but +calculated chiefly to promote the more expeditious and comfortable +transit of passengers to and from India. The Pasha, however, deceived +by an excess of cunning, really entertained no intention of performing +his promise. With great want of sagacity, he confounded the proposed +stations on the line of railway, which he might have held in his own +hands if he chose, with the counters which he was told had formed the +nuclei of the British power in India. He believed the English had some +sinister designs upon his country, and were engaged in all sorts of +schemes for introducing themselves into it. The same policy which made +him refuse to deepen the entrance of the port of Alexandria, lest a +British fleet might come in, made him unwilling to throw a railway +across the Desert of Suez, even if he kept the whole management in his +own hands. The recommendations, he saw, came all from one country: the +objections, nearly all, from another. France was opposed to the +railway because it had another darling Neapolitan project in +hand--namely, the cutting of the Isthmus of Suez, which was much +talked of once, but which now nobody mentions but to laugh at. The +difficulties of execution, immense as they were found to be by the +Austrian commission, were not the most decisive objections. The real +ones were contained in an answer to the very appropriate +question--_Cui bono?_ However, the railway was shelved for a time. It +has lately come again upon the tapis; and although it is now proposed +to lay down a line in the first instance between Alexandria and Cairo, +to compensate for the water communication which M. Moujel is spoiling +by his Barrage, yet there is every probability of proper extensions +and branches being made in due time. + +If, indeed, the project be really a serious one. Many say, in spite of +the official manner in which the announcement has been made, that it +is only a _ruse_, a piece of policy in order to propitiate English +influence, and that as soon as certain manoeuvres shall have been +successful or otherwise, nothing more will be said about the railway. +There is no answering for the diplomacy of Eastern courts; but this +explanation seems a little too Machiavellian. I have no doubt the +promise has been made, in part, because it is thought to be agreeable +to the English; but I can hardly imagine Abbas Pasha is so foolish as +not to know that if he coaxes Lord Palmerston with a sugar-plum, and +when his lordship opens his mouth, puts a finger in instead, Lord +Palmerston will bite pretty sharply. + +Be these things as they may, it seems admitted on all hands that Abbas +Pasha has now completely thrown overboard the party which he courted +so assiduously as heir-apparent, and is seeking foreign, especially +English, support. All this is fair enough provided he does not fall +into the old error of sacrificing the natives entirely to strangers, +as did his great predecessor, and provided he do not allow himself to +be persuaded by flatterers--and he has flatterers; what man in power +has not?--to engage in grand undertakings for the purpose of emulating +the renown of the old Pharaohs. Egypt wants neither a resuscitation of +old times, nor a hasty imitation of the new. She has to find out the +form of its own civilization: and modern improvements, as they have +been hitherto introduced, will only weigh her down into despair. + +But it is said that Abbas Pasha has no views at all about the progress +of the arts, and manufactures, and commerce; no thought of the +amelioration of the country; but that in endeavoring to gain the +good-will of Europe, he wants to serve some ambitious projects of his +own. There may be something in this. Not that it is probable he +intends to play the old game over again and throw off the yoke of +Stamboul; but there is certainly a very arduous struggle now carrying +on, both by open and underhand means, between Egypt and the Porte. +There is an infinity of points of difference between the vassal and +his lord; but the gist of the matter is, that the former wishes to +preserve all the privileges, to be treated with the same indulgence, +to be left with the same freedom of action, as his grandfather; he +wishes to remain, in fact, a vassal little more than in name, free to +indulge any arbitrary whims; whilst the latter is attempting, with +some reason,--with great reason indeed, but perhaps in too precipitate +a manner, and actuated by feelings that resemble private grudge,--to +reduce Egypt to the same subjection as the rest of the Ottoman Empire. + +The discussion is a serious one, and much may be said on both sides; +but it must be accorded at once in favor of the Porte, that the +Viceroy of Egypt is not to be considered as an independent sovereign +merely paying tribute to a superior power, but as an officer of the +Empire. Certainly, he holds a distinguished position; and his case is +an exceptional one; but very imprudent would be any who should advise +him to take the same ground as Mohammed Ali, even after his defeat and +expulsion from Syria, was allowed to assume. He has been levying +troops, and is said even to have victualled his fleet to give more +weight to his negotiations; but it is not probable he will draw the +sword when, by giving way a little, he may establish a character for +moderation, and be left undisturbed in a position sufficiently +splendid to satisfy a very respectable ambition. + +On the other hand, it is hoped that no undue heat, no petty jealousy, +no minor considerations of self-love--excited and encouraged by the +numerous runagates from Egypt, as Artin Bey and his fellows--will +finally govern the councils of Constantinople. Many missions have +passed from this country to the Porte with the object of warding off +the blows that are being aimed at the authority of Abbas Pasha. +Probably they ask too much, as is always done in such cases; but, if +reports speak true, they have been answered with an asperity which +seems calculated rather to provoke a quarrel than to lead to a +satisfactory settlement. The great question now is about the Tanzamat +promulgated by the Porte, which may be briefly described as a +well-intended attempt to introduce some kind of order into the +administration of the empire, to substitute certain rules in place of +arbitrary will, and generally to control the actions of what are +called the great men in their relations with those who, we suppose, +may be described as the little men. Such a scheme, even if imperfect +in its details and difficult to be applied, must command our +sympathies. The provinces of the Turkish empire--and Egypt is at least +as great in degree as the remainder--have been too long the sport of +caprice; and if it be the secret object of Abbas Pasha utterly to +prevent the introduction of this new system--to refuse it even a fair +trial--he will most certainly, whatever may be the effect of obstinate +passive resistance, receive no countenance or support from England. + +It is said, however, that he merely desires--and such is the purport +of his remonstrances--that certain modifications, adapted to the +peculiar situation of Egypt, shall be made. The Porte is the best +judge as to how far these modifications are compatible with the spirit +of its decree; and as the communications that have taken place have +been chiefly verbal, we will not take upon ourselves to say whether +they are even suggested by any peculiar necessity. The negotiations +are in progress; and all we can say is, that unless Abbas Pasha be +considered too dangerous a subject, and his removal be desired, it +will be better to make up by amenity of procedure for the inexorable +requirements of principle. + +There was one great grievance in Mohammed Ali's time, namely, the +existence of the _ferdeh_, or tax of one-twelfth upon income of all +kinds, down to that of the poorest fellah. This was a great outrage on +legality. It was opposed to all the constitutions of the Turkish +empire; and it was understood that, after the Syrian affair, it should +be voluntarily done away with by the Pasha. But an easy source of +revenue is not easily given up; and, in spite of all remonstrances, +the tax was maintained. There was no burden to which the people +objected more than this. They paid,--but they murmured somewhat +loudly; and even in the coffee-houses many were sometimes bold enough +to say the ferdeh was illegal. On one occasion, when Ibrahim Pasha was +in Cairo, not long before his father's death, there was the semblance +of a riot on the subject; but the stick and the halter were brought +into play, and the conviction produced that, legal or not legal, the +tax must be paid. Abbas Pasha himself for some time allowed this +copious fountain to gush into his treasury; but it now suited the +policy of the Porte to return vigorously to the charge in favor of +legality; and towards the end of last year the ferdeh was finally +abolished to the infinite delight of the whole population. The +long-wished-for event was celebrated by illuminations in Alexandria +and Cairo; and the general joy might have risen to something like +enthusiasm had not a fresh, though temporary, cause of discontent +accompanied the boon. + +This was the conscription, which nearly drove Egypt into a revolt last +winter. In old times, when soldiers were wanted, men were pounced upon +suddenly wherever they could be found, and marched off, leaving great +grief behind; but before any dangerous excitement could be got up. +This was justly considered a barbarous and inartificial method; and +when, for what purposes remains a mystery, a certain levy of men was +required, it was determined to proceed with regularity, and to make +each district furnish its quota according to the number of +inhabitants. The idea, at first sight, seems both fair and wise; and +if the people could have been got to acquiesce in the necessity of +their supplying soldiers in any proportion at all, would have worked +very well. But as nobody in Egypt wants to shoulder a musket, as +everybody has the utmost hatred and abhorrence of military service, +arising partly from constitutional want of energy, but chiefly from +the knowledge that the soldier is ill-paid[13] and ill-fed, and +rarely, if ever, returns--we never met but one old discharged +campaigner in the country--it is not surprising if the public +announcement of the intentions of Government produced the greatest +possible perturbation. The first impulse of the whole adult +population, except those who could boast of some very undoubted claim +of exemption, was to fly to the mountains; and every defile, every +cavern, every catacomb, every quarry in the Libyan and Arabian chains, +were soon tenanted by people running away from enlistment. Wherever we +went in our excursions, we became accustomed to see lines of human +beings perched like crows on the summit of seemingly inaccessible +cliffs, on the look-out for the enemy in the shape of the +Sheikh-el-Beled; for the task of catching and forwarding the +prescribed number of "strong active young men" devolved on the civil +authority, aided sometimes by that estimable rural police, the Arnaout +irregular cavalry. On many occasions we surprised these poor people in +their retreats; and once, when they mistook us for recruiters, were +assailed with slings diverted from their original purpose, namely, +that of frightening the sparrows away from the crops. Accounts reached +us at several places that blood had been shed; and the affair in +various ways rendered our journey somewhat melancholy. Now we came +upon a large town, as Geneh, seemingly deserted by its whole +population, with closed shops and silent streets; then we met a party +of recruits, chained neck and neck, going to their destination; and +anon we saw a crowd of women, driven to despair by the loss of son, or +husband, or brother, tossing up their arms, tearing their garments, +and invoking curses on their oppressors. Public opinion in all +despotic countries finds utterance through the weaker sex; they dare +to say what would perhaps bring condign punishment on the men; they +nearly made a revolt once in Cairo under Mohammed Ali, and on the +present occasion they expressed their mind pretty freely. Some of the +more noisy brought a good beating on themselves from some irascible +Sheikh; but in general their anathemas were received with a kind of +sheepish deprecating good-humor. It was difficult to ascertain how +many recruits were at last got together, but, as near as I could +gather, the number ordered was one in about every 180 souls. + +The sight of so much unhappiness naturally excited great indignation +and disgust; but not so much perhaps on reflection as the permanent +misery and ill-treatment of a great proportion of the population. +Abbas Pasha has taken the old system as he found it, and, with the +exception of the abolition of the ferdeh, has done nothing to +alleviate the condition of the fellah. It is especially on the lands +of the great men, the pashas and the beys, that these poor serfs are +worst off. Their profession is that of agricultural laborers, but it +must not be supposed that they have freedom to carry their services to +what master they will. They belong to the land as much as do the +palm-trees; and the nature of their occupation, their hours of labor, +and their pay, are regulated by their lord and master in a perfectly +arbitrary way. At Randa, opposite Sheikh Abadeh, we found a sugar +estate occupying 1,300 men, and endeavored to ascertain in as exact a +manner as possible how they were treated. We found that, in the first +place, they were, of course, forced to work, both on the land and in +the factory, at a nominal pay of twenty-five paras, or three-halfpence +a head, and that some of them were in active employment nearly +eighteen hours a day. Now it _is_ possible for a man to exist on such +wages in that part of Egypt, even with a family; and as bare existence +is considered in most countries an adequate reward for unintelligent +labor, there seemed not so much reason to complain. But then came the +question, how was the payment made? The answer in substance was, the +men are paid twenty-five paras a day, but they never get the money; +they receive what is called its value in the refuse molasses; but this +only when it can be of little service to them, when the owner of the +estate has glutted the market, and they can only sell at a loss of +forty or fifty per cent. They would be only too happy to receive +fifteen paras in hard cash; as it is, some of them necessarily eke out +their living by stealing, and others by the produce of little plots of +land, which they cultivate at night when they should be reposing after +the fatigues of the day. The women and children assist them, when the +latter are not pressed into what is called the service of the state; +that is, compelled to dig canals, and perform other light work for +which they receive neither pay nor food. Their parents bring them +food, or some charitable person flings them a morsel of coarse bread, +otherwise they would perish. + +Such is pretty nearly the state of things in the private possessions +of all the descendants of Mohammed Ali. In fairness, however, we must +remind the reader that Abbas Pasha is only answerable for acquiescing +in customs handed down. He has not established any new pernicious +regulation that we have heard of; and even if he remain perfectly +quiescent and leave things to go their own gait, King Log is better +than King Stork. The mischievous activity of Mohammed Ali is not to be +regretted; and if, by the influence of Constantinople prudently +exercised, some little check is gradually put upon the caprices and +violence of the proprietors who call themselves princes--and it is for +the interest of Abbas Pasha that this should be the case--Egypt, +though not possessed of all the happiness she wants, might not be very +discontented, and would have no reason to look back with regret on the +time of the old pasha. According to all accounts, some classes of the +agricultural laborers are gradually enriching themselves in spite of +the burdens which they bear; and, although wealth is timid to show +itself, a great amelioration in the state of the country may soon be +perceptible. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[13] Soldiers will often stop a European in a by-place and beg. They get +about twenty paras (a penny farthing) a day. + + + + +From Household Words. + +THE JEWS IN CHINA. + + +There is a quaintness in the notion of a Jewish colony surrounded by +Chinese; the fixed among the fixed. The fact that such a colony +exists, or has existed when found, ought to be especially remarked, +for to ethnologists and others it may prove a valuable opportunity for +speculation. Jews in China, what will they be like? Will the Jew stand +out from the surrounding uniformity of Chinese life, like the one tree +of the desert (for which, see Panorama of Overland Mail, and hear +lecture upon same); or will he become non-entity, like among like, +adding nothing to the first idea--silence in a calm? In the Jewish +synagogue in Kai-foung-fou, concerning which we have presently to +speak, there are Chinese inscriptions. The first placed there in 1444, +by a literary Jew, is intended to prove the close analogy between +Jewish and Chinese points of doctrine. "The author," it says, "of the +law of Yse-lo-ye (Israel) is Ha-vou-lo-han (Abraham). His law was +translated by tradition to Niche (Moses). He received his book on Mt. +Sinai. His book has fifty-four sections. The doctrine which is therein +contained is much like that of the Kings," (which are sacred volumes +of the Chinese). The author of the inscription repeats many passages +to prove that in their worship to heaven, their ceremonies, their +behavior to the old and young, their patriarchal character, their +prayers, and their mode of honoring dead ancestors, the Jews resemble +the Chinese. + +The author of a second inscription, a grand mandarin in his own time, +speaks to the same purpose. "From the time of Han," says this +gentleman, whose name is Too-tang, "from the time of Han, the Jews +fixed themselves in China; and in the twentieth year of the cycle 65, +(which is, by interpretation, 1163,) they offered to the Emperor +Hiao-tsong a tribute of cloth from India. He received them well, and +permitted them to live in Kai-foung-fou. They formed then sixty-six +families. They built a synagogue where they placed their Kings, or +Divine Scriptures." This mandarin concludes with an eulogium of Jewish +virtue, after the approved manner of epitaphs. + +The Jews emphatically cultivated agriculture, commerce, were faithful +in the armies, upright as magistrates, and rigid in observance of +their ceremonies. One only wants to wind up with the scrap, +"Affliction sore, long time they bore;" but affliction on the part of +the Chinese, at any rate, they certainly did not bear; they were more +than tolerated, they were understood; ceremony-men to ceremony-men +were ceremoniously polite to one another. The Jews and Chinese even +intermarried; on their first introduction by way of Persia to the +Chinese Empire, they had settled here and there in sundry Chinese +cities; but by the marriage with Chinese disciples of Confucius or +Mahomet, the Jewish colonies were melted down into the pure Chinese +metal; and when this history begins, nothing is known of any synagogue +in China, save the synagogue at Kai-foung-fou, which is a city in the +heart of the Flowery Land, the capital of the central province of +Honan; and for an account of which we are indebted to Father Ricci, +one of the Jesuit Missionaries. + +Father Ricci died in the year 1610, at Pekin, which was his station. +Father Ricci, at Pekin, first heard of the Jewish synagogue at +Kai-foung-fou, and the information startled him exceedingly. The young +Jew who enlightened Father Ricci on the subject told him that there +were then at Kai-foung-fou barely a dozen Jewish families, and that +for five or six hundred years they had preserved in their synagogue a +very ancient copy of the Pentateuch. The father produced a Hebrew +Bible, and the young man recognized the characters, although he could +not read them, for he knew no language but Chinese. Four years after +this, Father Ricci (whose business at Pekin would not permit him to go +gadding) had an opportunity of sending off to Kai-foung-fou a Chinese +Jesuit, with a letter written in Chinese, to the chief of the +synagogue. He explained to the rabbi his own reverence for the books +of the Old Testament, and informed him of its fulfilled predictions, +and the advent of a Messiah. The rabbi shook his head at that, saying, +"that so it could not be, because they had yet to expect the Messiah +for ten thousand years." The good natured rabbi nevertheless did +homage to Father Ricci's great abilities. He was an old man, and saw +none about him fit to guide his people; he therefore besought the +learned Jesuit to come to Kai-foung-fou, and undertake the guidance of +the synagogue, under one only condition, a true Chinese-Jewish one, +that he would pledge himself to abstinence from all forbidden meats. +However, that was very much as if Dr. Jones of Bettws-y-Coed should +offer his practice to Sir B. Brodie of London. Father Ricci had a +larger work in hand, and so he stopped at Pekin. + +In 1613, Father Aleni (such an uncommonly wise man, that the Chinese +called him the Confucius of Europe) was directed to proceed to +Kai-foung-fou and make investigation. Father Aleni, being well up in +his Hebrew, was a promising man to send on such an errand, but he +found the rabbi dead, and the Jews, though they let him see the +synagogue, would not produce their books. The particulars of nothing +having been done on this occasion are to be found related by Father +Trigaut, in choice Latin, and choicer Italian, (_de Expedit. Sinica, +lib. 1., cap. 2, p. 118_,) and by Father Samedo (_Relatione della +China, part 1., cap. 30, p. 193_.) + +A residence was established by the Jesuits in Kai-foung-fou. _Now_, +thought those who thought at all upon such matters, we shall have +something done. If we can only compare our Old Testament texts with an +ancient exemplar, that will be no small gain. A certain father Gozani +went zealously into the whole subject, entered the synagogue, copied +the inscriptions, and transmitted them to Rome. + +The Jews told Father Gozani that in a temple at Pekin was a large +volume, wherein were inscribed the sacred books of foreigners resident +in China. That volume was sought afterwards by Europeans at Pekin, but +not found. Certainly such a volume does exist among the Chinese +records. The Jews, however, told Father Gozani not only about what +existed in Pekin, but all about themselves at Kai-foung-fou. The +Father wrote a letter, dated 1704, containing what he learned in this +manner. It appears that by that application of "soft sawder" which is +or ought to be well understood by men of the world and Jesuits, the +Father gratified the Jews, so that they paid him voluntary visits. He +returned their visits by a call upon them at their synagogue, where, +he says--"I had a long conversation with them; and they showed me +their inscriptions; some of which are in Chinese, and others in their +own tongue. I saw also their _Kims_, or religious books, and they +suffered me to enter even the most secret place of their synagogue, to +which they can have no access themselves. That place is reserved for +their _Chian-Kiao_; that is to say, chief of the synagogue, who never +approaches it but with the most profound respect. + +"There were thirteen tabernacles placed upon tables, each of which was +surrounded by small curtains. The sacred _Kim_ of Moses (the +Pentateuch) was shut up in each of these tabernacles, twelve of which +represented the Twelve Tribes of Israel; and the thirteenth, Moses. +The books were written on long pieces of parchment, and folded up on +rollers. I obtained leave from the chief of the synagogue to draw the +curtains of one of these tabernacles, and to unroll one of the books, +which appeared to me to be written in a hand exceedingly neat and +distinct. One of these books had been luckily saved from the great +inundation of the river _Hoang-ho_, which overflowed the city of +Kai-foung-fou, the capital of the province. As the letters of the book +have been wetted, and on that account are almost effaced, the Jews +have been at great pains to get a dozen copies made, which they +carefully preserve in the twelve tabernacles above mentioned. + +"There are to be seen also in two other places of the synagogue, +coffers, in which are shut up with great care several other little +books, containing different divisions of the Pentateuch of Moses, +which they call _Ta-Kim_, and other parts of their law. They use these +books when they pray; they showed me some of them, which appeared to +be written in Hebrew. They were partly new and partly old, and half +torn. They, however, bestow as much attention on guarding them as if +they were gold or silver. + +"In the middle of the synagogue stands a magnificent chair, raised +very high, and ornamented with a beautiful embroidered cushion. This +is the chair of Moses, in which every Saturday, and days of great +solemnity, they place their Pentateuch, and read some portions of it. +There also may be seen a _Van-sui-pai_, or painting, on which is +inscribed the Emperor's name; but they have neither statues nor +images. This synagogue fronts the west, and when they address their +prayers to the Supreme Being, they turn towards that quarter, and +adore him under the name of _Tien_, _Cham-Tien_, _Cham-ti_, and +_Kao-van-voe-tche_; that is to say, _Creator of all things_; and +lastly, of _Van-voe-tchu-tcai, Governor of the Universe_. They told me +that they had taken these names from the Chinese books, and that they +used them to express the Supreme Being and First Cause. + +"In going out from the synagogue, I observed a hall, which I had the +curiosity to enter, but I found nothing remarkable in it, except a +great number of censers. They told me that in this hall they honored +their _Chim-gins_, or the great men of their law. The largest of these +censers, which is intended for the Patriarch Abraham, stands in the +middle of the hall, after which come those of Isaac, and Jacob, and +his twelve branches, or the Twelve Tribes of Israel; next are those of +Moses, Aaron, Joshua, Esdras, and several other illustrious persons, +both male and female. + +"After quitting this apartment, they conducted us to the Hall of +Strangers, in order to give us an entertainment. As the titles of the +books of the Old Testament were printed in Hebrew at the end of my +Bible, I showed them to _Cham-Kiao_, or chief of the synagogue; he +immediately read them, though they were badly printed, and he told me +that they were the names of their _Chin-Kim_, or Pentateuch. I then +took my Bible, and the _Cham-Kiao_ took his _Beresith_ (thus they name +the Book of Genesis); we compared the descendants of Adam, until Noah, +with the age of each, and we found the most perfect conformity between +both. We afterwards ran over the names and chronology in Genesis, +Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, which compose the +Pentateuch, or five Books of Moses. The chief of the synagogue told me +that they named these five books _Beresith_, _Veelesemoth_, _Vaiiora_, +_Vaiedabber_, and _Haddebarim_, and that they divided them into +fifty-three volumes; _viz._, Genesis into twelve, Exodus into eleven, +and the three following books into ten volumes each, which they call +_Kuen_. Some of these they opened, and presented to me to read; but it +was to no purpose, as I was unacquainted with the Hebrew language. + +"Having interrogated them respecting the titles of the other books of +the Bible, the chief of the synagogue replied, that they were in +possession of some of them, but that they wanted a great many, and of +others they had no knowledge. Some of his assistants added, that they +had lost several books in the inundation of the Hoang-ho, of which I +have spoken." + +Father Gozani has spoken of the inundation, but we have not, and so we +will do so now. Previously, however, we may call attention to the +distinct adoption of the Chinese "Hall of Ancestors" among these Jews, +and of a place for showing hospitality to strangers as an appendage to +their place of worship. It is in this way that, without violating +their own opinions, they became assimilated more completely to their +neighbors. Father Gozani also notes that their accounts of sacred +history were grossly disfigured with Talmudical legends, or other +stories of that class--a fact not to be lost sight of by the +speculator. The Jews, in the time of Father Gozani, composed seven +families--Phao, Kin, Che, Kao, The-Man, Li, Ngai--including in all +about one thousand souls. They intermarried with each other, and had +their own fashion of hair-cutting. These seven families of +Kai-foung-fou were the remains of seventy who had of old established +themselves in that capital. Now for the inundation. That event took +place in the year 1642, and it occurred as follows:--Li-cong-tse, a +rebel, with a big army, besieged the city. The inhabitants, after +defending themselves for six months, still refused to succumb, because +they expected rescue from the Emperor. The Emperor did come, a vastly +clever fellow, who determined to destroy the enemy by a great +master-stroke. "I'll drown every man-jack!" he said, and broke the +dikes that confined the Hoang-ho, or Yellow River, a league distant +from the city. Out poured the stream and drowned the besiegers, and +besieged the city in its turn, knocked down its walls, and destroyed +thirty thousand of its inmates. The Emperor, a cockney sportsman on +the largest scale, shot at the pigeon and killed the crow. It was in +this inundation that the number of the Jews was thinned; diluted by +the waters of the river, their Pentateuch was damaged and some other +portions of their scripture altogether lost. + +Before passing down from Father Gozani, we must extract his rough +picture of the Jewish synagogue, as it existed in his day. He says of +the Jews-- + +"They have no other synagogue but this, in the capital of the province +of Ho-Nan. I perceived in it no altar, nor any other furniture, but +the chair of Moses, with a censer, a long table, and large +chandeliers, in which were placed candles made of tallow. This +synagogue has some resemblance to our European churches; it is divided +into three aisles; that in the middle is occupied by the table of +incense, the chair of Moses, the painting, and the tabernacles already +mentioned, in which are preserved the thirteen copies of the +Pentateuch. These tabernacles are constructed in the form of an arch, +and the middle aisle is like the choir of the synagogue; the two +others are set apart as places of prayer, and for the adoration of the +Supreme Being. Within the building there is a passage which runs quite +round. + +"As there formerly were, and still are, among them Bachelors and +_Kien-sens_, which is a degree different from that of a Bachelor, I +took the liberty of asking them if they rendered homage to Confucius; +they replied that they honored him in the same manner as the rest of +the literati, and that they assisted them in solemn ceremonies, which +are performed in halls dedicated to their great men. They added, that +in spring and autumn they practised certain rites in honor of their +ancestors, according to the manner of Chinese, in the hall next to +their synagogue; that they did not present them the flesh of hogs, but +of other animals; that in other ceremonies they were contented with +offering them porcelain dishes filled with dainties and sweetmeats, +which they accompanied with perfumes and profound reverences or +prostrations. I asked them, likewise, if in their houses or Hall of +Ancestors, they had tablets in honor of their departed relations; they +replied that they used neither tablets, images, nor any thing else, +but only a few censers. We must, however, except their mandarins, for +whom alone they place in the Hall of Ancestors a tablet inscribed with +their name and rank." + +Father Gozani adds, that "these Jews, in their inscriptions, call +their law the Law of Israel, _Yselals-Kiao_, which they name also +_Kon-Kiao_, Ancient Law; _Tien-Kiao_, Law of God, and _Tien-Kin-Kiao_, +to signify that they abstain from blood, and cut the nerves and veins +of the animals they kill, in order that the blood may flow more easily +from them." + +This custom gives to the Jews in China, at the present day, the name +of Cut-Nerves. To the present day our story now descends; for, after +the time of Father Gozani, blank follows in the way of action. Father +Etienne, who meditated a work upon the Sacred Scriptures in reply to +the _Critici Sacri_, was eager to push on investigations. From the +letters of Father Gozani, and from those which Father Domingo and +Gambil wrote upon it, material was obtained for the memoir published +under the direction of M. L. Aime Martin, in which he remarks that the +detail would be regarded with the more curiosity, as it had been often +demanded, and as Father du Halde had contented himself with merely +promising it in his great work, "Description de la Chine." So we have +fairly got out of the past into the present, where our story thus runs +on. + +In the year 1815, the Chinese Jews endeavored unsuccessfully to +communicate with Europe by means of a Hebrew letter addressed to +London, which seems not to have been delivered. Last year the Jewish +Society of London determined, however, to communicate with them. Miss +Cooks, an energetic and devoted Jewess, placed her purse in the hands +of the Society; nothing impeded fresh research; the English bishop at +Hong Kong co-operated, Dr. Medhurst was consulted, and two Chinese +Christians were at length appointed to proceed to Kai-foung-fou. The +elder of these two was a bachelor; the younger was a student from the +Missionaries' College at Batavia; but the junior was named to head the +enterprise, because he had previously displayed zeal and ability, and +also because he could write English fluently, and would journalize in +that language. His journals, therefore, could be laid before Miss +Cooks, uninjured by translation. + +Our heroes--for so we will call the two adventurers--set out from +Shanghae, on the 15th of last November, by boat to Toing-kiang-tou. In +a car, drawn by mules, they were then jolted along, following the +track of the Hoang-ho, rising at three o'clock on winter mornings, to +save time--a proceeding which involves almost supererogatory +self-denial. Population near the Yellow River they found rare and +unhealthy. Localities which figure in the geographical charts of the +empire as principal places, or as towns of the second class, are but +huge piles of rubbish, surrounded by crumbling walls. Here and there a +gate, with its inscription half-effaced, informs the traveller that he +is entering a mighty town. + +Perseverance, and a mule car, brought the travellers to Kai-foung-fou. +They found there many Mahometans, openly exercising right of +conscience, and flying their religion on a flag displayed over their +gate. These Mahometans are, for the most part, hotel-keepers, and with +one of them our heroes lodged. Of him they began asking about +Cut-Nerves. Mine host of the Crescent said there were still some Jews +in Kai-foung-fou, and offered himself as a cicerone to their +synagogue. Thither they went. They found its outer wall in ruins; +briers and dirt filled the grand entrance; "the pillars of the +building, the inscribed marbles, the stone balustrade, before the +peristyle of the temple, the ornamental sculpture--all were cracked, +broken, and overturned." Under the wings of the synagogue, the chapels +built in honor of the patriarchs--nestled together, cold and naked, +sleeping on the bare stones, those objects of our European interest, +"the Jews in China." Poor and miserable as they are, they had begun to +sell the stones of their temple for bread, and a portion of land +within their sacred inclosure had been already sold to an adjacent +temple of the Buddhists. + +Still, there were the cylinders inclosing the sacred rolls of the Old +Testament, which, luckily, had not proved eatable. In number, these +rolls were about a dozen, each thirty feet long by three feet wide. +They are of white sheep-skin, inscribed with very small Hebrew +characters. + +For fifty years these poor Jews have been without the guidance of a +rabbi, and there is not one left who can read a word of Hebrew. In a +dozen years, probably, the last trace of the Jews in China will +expire. The travellers gave money to the mournful congregation in the +synagogue, and received leave to copy the inscriptions, about which +the Jesuits had previously informed us. Moreover, they obtained, and +have brought home, eight Hebrew manuscripts; six contain portions of +the Old Testament, namely, of Exodus, chapters 1-6, and 38-40; of +Leviticus, chapters 19, 20; of Numbers, chapters 13, 14, 15; of +Deuteronomy, chapters 11-16, and chapter 32; with portions of the +Pentateuch, the Psalms, and Prophets. The other two manuscripts are of +the Jewish Liturgy. The leaves of these manuscripts "are of a species +of card-board, on which the words, as it were, are engraved with a +point; the binding is in silk, and bears evident marks of being of +foreign origin. Two Israelitish merchants, to whom these books were +shown at Shanghae, spoke of having seen similar ones at Aken, and the +presence here and there upon the margins of Persian words, +interspersed with Hebrew annotations, seemed to indicate that the +books came originally from some western country of Asia, perhaps +Persia, or some of the high provinces of India, where Persic has from +time immemorial been the language used among people of education. +Although the annotations mentioned are numerous, and apparently +referring to different epochs, no trace of any Chinese character is to +be discovered, nor any of those marks or signs which immediately +betray Chinese origin. No date exists by which the age can be +determined." + +We hope the statement is correct which tells us that these manuscripts +are to be deposited in the British Museum. Fac-similes are at the same +time promised, printed in Hebrew, accompanied with a plan of the +synagogue, made on the spot by the Chinese travellers, and the journal +of our junior hero, written in English and Chinese. The journal in +English would not be a very ponderous affair, the entire expedition +having occupied only two months--the residence at Kai-foung-fou, five +days. We may usefully remember how the good Chinese, rising so +fearfully betimes, did justice to the generosity and zeal of their +patroness. Are there not men of might at work upon investigations for +the public, who, at their ordinary rate, might have come to abandon +this business in forty years, after eliminating fifty pounds of +blue-book? + + + + +_Authors and Books._ + + +LUDWIG FUERBACH, the last great philosopher of Young Germany, whose +doctrines have been complacently declared as "more utterly +irreconcilable with pietism or orthodox Christianity than those of any +of his predecessors," has at length published his course of lectures +"On the Existence of Religion," delivered at Heidelberg, from the +month of December 1848 to March 1849. With regard to the apparent +apathy with which he has regarded the great political events of these +latter days, and the reproach that he has taken no active part +therein--in which he forms a somewhat unfavorable contrast with Fichte +and other great thinkers of the last generation--he remarks: "It will +not appear strange that these lectures have not before been published; +for what could, at the present day, be more seasonable than a +remembrance of the year 1848? And by this souvenir I would also +remark, that these lectures have been my only public intimations of +activity during the so-called time of the Revolution. My own share in +all the political and unpolitical deeds and movements of those times, +was merely that of a critical beholder and listener, for the very +simple reason that I could take no part in aimless, and consequently +headless (silly) undertakings, having foreseen, or at least felt, from +the very beginning of the whole movement, that such would be its +result. A well-known Frenchman lately put me the question, Why I took +no active part in the revolution of 1848? I replied, Mr. +Taillandier,[14] if another revolution should break forth, and I take +an active part therein, then may you, to the terror of your +God-believing soul, be certain that this would be an overpowering +revolution, bringing with it the judgment-day of monarchy and +hierarchy. This revolution I should, alas! never survive. But I now +also take an active part in a great revolution, but one whose true +effects and results will be first developed in the course of +centuries. For you know, Mr. Taillandier, according to my +theory--which recognizes no Gods, and, consequently, no miracles in +the sphere of politics--according to my theory, of which you know and +understand nothing, though you assume to pass judgment on me instead +of studying me, if TIME and SPACE are the fundamental conditions of +all being and existence, of all thought and action, of all prosperity +and success. Not that believers in God were wanting to the parliament, +as some one humorously asserted in the Bavarian State +council-chamber--the majority, at least, were believers, and the good +Lord always sides with the majority--but because it had no +comprehension of place or time, on which account it came to such a +disgraceful and resultless end." + +This, certainly, will appear to most readers to be, despite its +bitterness, a lame and weak apology for neutrality, though we imagine +that but little good could result from the intensest activity, when +directed by such principles. Taillandier has also, in his own +unassuming way, done, for so young a man, a full share of work "in the +great revolution, whose true effects and results will be first +developed in the course of centuries." + + * * * * * + +AUGUST KOPISCH, well known as the collector and translator of +_Agrumi_--a choice selection of Italian Popular Songs--has recently +published by Ernest and Korn of Berlin, a _Description and Explanation +of the Monument to Frederic the Second_. A far more elegant work on +the same subject, with no less than twenty excellent views of the +monument, taken from as many points, appears from Decker, to which we +may add another by Kohlheim, illustrated with a selection of ancient +and modern poems relative to the memory of "Old Fritz." + + * * * * * + +We observe from a prospectus recently sent forth by the publisher, J. +G. Muller, in Gotha, that the _Janus_, a well known and ably edited +quarterly, devoted to medical literature, history, biographies, and +statistics, the publication of which was suspended in 1848, on account +of the political difficulties which then agitated Germany, is again to +make its appearance, under the editorial charge of Doctors +Bretschneider, Henschel, Hensinger, and Thierfelder, who will be aided +in their efforts by many learned correspondents and contributors in +different countries. Like most revived publications, it will be +published in a style superior to its original, and to judge from the +type and paper of the prospectus, which is given as a specimen of that +with which the work is to be issued, its appearance will be truly +exquisite. + + * * * * * + +FRANZ KUGLER the great historian and critic of Art, has made his +appearance in a small _brochure_ of thirty pages, entitled, _Three +Articles upon Theatrical Affairs_,--which, however, appears to have +met with but little admiration, if we may judge from the hard knock +which a reviewer gives it with the word--"Unpractical as the +suggestions are, which we find allied to these observations, they +would still give us no occasion for remark, had not Herr Kugler made +them a pretence for political discussion." Apropos of Kugler we may +observe that a very excellent work entitled _Denkmaler der Kunst_ +(Souvenirs of Art), consisting of very neatly engraved and very +extensive illustrations of Art in all ages and nations, intended +specially as a companion work to the Berlin professor's _History_, has +just been published for the first time in a compact form by Ebner and +Seubert of Stuttgart. Among its authors or contributors we see the +names of Dr. Ernst Guhl, Jos. Caspar, and Professor Voit of Munich. + + * * * * * + +The conclusion of the late JOHANN VON MULLER'S _History of the Swiss +Confederation_ has just appeared from the hands of MM. VULLIEMIN and +MONNARD. The work was commenced in 1786; when Von Muller died it was +brought down to the year 1489; and it has since been continued by four +other authors in succession. Robert Glutz-Blozheim took up the +narrative where Von Muller stopped, and continued it to 1516; after +his death, John Jacob Hottinger described the progress of the +reformation in the German cantons; but on coming to the part which the +French cantons took in this great movement, it was decided to employ a +native of that part of the Confederation, and the work was accordingly +given to Louis Vulliemin, who completed the history of the sixteenth +and seventeenth centuries. He was followed by E. Monnard, Professor in +the University of Bonn, who carried it as far as the second peace of +Paris, in 1815. Both he and M. Vulliemin had already translated into +French the volumes of their German predecessors. Their own volumes are +now being translated into German, and the entire performance will soon +be printed in both languages. + + * * * * * + +An interesting contribution to the religious and metaphysical history +of Germany in the last generation will be found in the _Autobiography_ +of BRETSCHNEIDER, now being published in parts, by his son-in-law +Horst. It is described as a faithful as well as interesting narrative +of the life of its deceased author and subject, who must fill a +prominent place in the history of that great theological development +of which his country has recently been the scene. He was a +rationalist, but without aiming at the rejection or annihilation of +the Christian supernaturalism. The sense of dependence on God, which +was the foundation of Schleiermacher's theory, he regarded as stupid +mysticism, and the general tendency of the more recent philosophy as +obscure, abstruse, scholastic, and useless. He was a vigorous and +unsparing controversialist, and the greater part of his writings are +of that character. + + * * * * * + +DR. WURTH, the dramatist and theatrical director, has published a play +"with choruses, dances, _and melodramas_ (_?_) entitled _The Gipsey +Queen of Hungary in the year 1849_." + + * * * * * + +Those of our Philadelphia friends, who are conversant with foreign +literature, will do well to patronise Herr CHRISTERN, who has recently +opened an establishment of French, German, and Italian works at No. +232 Chesnut-st. Mr. Christern has been for several years the +superintendant of the extensive bookstore of Kaisar, the eminent +bibliographist in Berlin. We are happy thus to recommend Herr +Christern as a scholar, well acquainted with something more than the +mere titles of his wares. + + * * * * * + +Among "divers diversities," we note that the passion for Slavonic +literature, which has received such an impetus during the last two +years, has induced HERR SIEGFRIED KAPPER to write, after ancient +Servian legends and heroic lyrics, a poem entitled _Lazar der +Serbencar_. A new edition of CLEMENS BRENTANO'S _History of the brave +Kasperl and fair Annerl_, has also been published at Berlin by the +"United Bookselling Establishment," with an illustration. +GLASSBRENNER, the humorist, (who is, however, we believe, not +identical with his Rabelaesian pen-brother BRENNGLASER,) publishes by +Simion of Berlin a third edition of his poems, while the more recent +numbers of _Die Grenzboten_, the _Monatscrift_ and the _Europa_ are +rich in a variety of articles surpassing in general interest any thing +of the kind which we have for a long time witnessed in German +periodical literature. It is to be wished that our own literati and +miscellaneous intellectual purveyors would make a far more extended +use of these German monthlies than they have hitherto done. Except the +_International_, the _Tribune_ is almost the only periodical in the +country that makes any considerable use of the German literary +journals. + + * * * * * + +IMRESI, _die Ungarischen Fluechtlinge in d. Tuerkei_, (Imresi, or the +Hungarian Refugees in Turkey), being a collection of data relative to +the history of the emigration of 1849, from the journal of an exile, +returned from Turkey, translated from the Hungarian, with additions by +VASFI, has just appeared at Leipzig. "The _data_ alluded to in this +article," remarks a German review, "principally concern the personal +history of the Hungarian exiles in Turkey. In point of time it reaches +to their departure from Widdin to Shumla. Many articles are added +drawn from newspapers and private sources, relative to their +adventures, to the fortune of those who have emigrated to America, and +to the influence of England in these matters. A certain chapter on +Turkish manners and customs, containing nothing which has not been +already better described by other writers, might as well have been +omitted." + + * * * * * + +THORWALDSEN'S _Jugend_ (or The Youth of Thorwaldsen) is the title of a +work composed from the correspondence, manuscripts and notes of the +illustrious artist, written originally in Danish by Hans Wachenhufen, +and translated by J. M. Thiele, (if we mistake not, the eminent +theologian). "The style and execution is somewhat stiff and dry, which +may, however, be partly the fault of the translator, who appears to +have deemed it his duty to condense as much as possible; and has in +consequence apparently detracted in a degree from the easy, +confidential tone with which it is inspired. Nor is the translation +entirely free from errors and provincial expressions." + + * * * * * + +Among the most exquisite works recently published in Germany we +observe a second greatly augmented and improved edition of _Alte und +neue Kinderlieder Fabeln, Sprueche und Rathseln_, or, Old and New +Songs, Fables, Sayings, and Riddles for Children, with illustrations +by W. von Kaulbach, C. v. Aeideck, G. Konig, A. Kreling, E. +Neureuther, the humorous and popular Graf. v. Poeci, L. Richter, C. H. +Schmolze, M. v. Schwind, Stauber, &c. We have been thus particular in +mentioning these names, that those who have not as yet seen the work +may form some idea of the excellence of its illustrations. The only +objection indeed which we have to find is, that the text (despite its +title) is too far subordinate to the illustrations. A work of this +description should at least have comprised _a majority_ of those songs +heard in every Germany nursery, and which are given with such _naive_ +truthfulness in _Des Knaben Wonderhorn_. In several instances these +old songs were evidently the sources whence the spirit of the +illustration was derived, which illustration is here applied to a +limited scrap of the original; as for instance, in the exquisitely +spirited and droll picture of _das bucklig's Mannlein_, or the +hump-backed dwarf, by _Schwind_, which is far more applicable to the +droll, demi, diabolical popular ballad of that name, than to the old +scrap of verse which it over-illustrates. But as an album of admirable +designs the work is unrivalled. The engraving of the mother and child +illustrating the ballad of _Schlof Kindlein_ is truly beautiful, +conceived in a spirit of naive fantasie, peculiarly applicable to the +odd yet childlike song. _Das Glocklein im Hersen_, in which Christ is +represented as opening the gate of Heaven to a child, by W. Kaulbach, +in its pious, gentle beauty, almost transcends praise. Our notice +already exceeds limit, yet we cannot leave this gem-book without +specially and further commending The Toy-dealer of Nuremberg, a +masterpiece of domestic life, by L. Richter, and _Es staig eim Herr zu +Rosse_, or A Rider mounting his Horse, by Schwind, which forcibly +recall the romantic etchings of Albert Durer. + + * * * * * + +A convention of Sclavic scholars, under the auspices of the Servian +literary society of _Matica Ilirska_, in Agram, will probably soon be +held, to consider the possibility of combining the different Sclavic +dialects into one language. This will be extremely difficult, if not +impossible, on account of the degree of cultivation which the +languages of the Sclavic stock have attained. + + * * * * * + +A translation of JOHN MILTON'S _Areopagitica_, a Speech for the +Liberty of unlicensed Printing, to the Parliament of England, in 1644, +has recently been executed by Dr. RICHARD ROePELL, Professor of History +at the University of Breslau, and published by Veit and Co. of +Berlin. + + * * * * * + +"In every revolution, good or bad, there are blind fanatics and +selfish intriguers ready to take part, and loafers and vagabonds +(_Bummler und Gamins_) willing to raise their voices." This is the +remark of a German medical critic on a recent hydropathically insane +composition, entitled _The Sin-register of the Medical Art of +Healing_. In this work the _servum pecus_ of allopathic physicians are +richly abused, partly with biblical quotations and partly with +original anathemas. Another on the same subject and in the same +curious style, is entitled, _Gustav Schwab, the noble bard of Suabia_, +by GOTTLOB WASSERMAN (or Praise-God Water-man). In this work the +anti-Sangrado author proves to his own satisfaction, that the _noble +bard_ came to his death in consequence of having been imprudently +bled, on one occasion, some six months previous to his death. + + * * * * * + +At the end of June an eighth edition of OSCAR VON REDUITZ'S +_Amaranth_, was announced, and it has already been succeeded by a +ninth. Many of the poems in this collection are in Uhland's romantic +vein, and abound in the artistic spirit. To this we may add a +_Mahrchen_ in verse, (or Child's Tale,) a beautiful fantasie of birds, +brooks, leaves, and sunshine, reminding us at times of _The Story +without an End_, at others of Sara Coleridge's _Phantasmion_. But as +it is one of those gilded fascinations which invariably charm on a +first perusal, we leave to some more accurate reader the task of +judging more critically as to its literary merit. + + * * * * * + +A translation of Shakspeare's Plays into the Swedish language by +HAGBERG, Professor of Greek in the University of Lund, is now in +course of publication. Of this twelve volumes have appeared; and +although the first edition consisted of no less than two thousand +copies, the whole have been sold off, and a second edition is in +preparation. + + * * * * * + +The lectures of NEANDER, _On Church History_, etc., are soon to +appear, in fifteen volumes, edited by Professor JULIUS MULLER, of +Halle. The Interpretation of the Gospel of St. John, will form the +first part of the work. + + * * * * * + +German books and pamphlets on the Crystal Palace and the Great +Exhibition, are already in the market, or have indeed been extant for +some time. _Der Krystall Palast im Hyde Park_, is among the last in +this line. + + * * * * * + +M. POUSSIN, recently the minister of France to this country, has in +preparation a volume for popular circulation on the comparative merits +of the French and American constitutions. + + * * * * * + +The Prussian minister VON RADOWITZ has published a second series of +his _Dialogues on Church and State_, of which the first series +appeared in 1846. + + * * * * * + +BARON DUDEVANT, husband of GEORGE SAND, the French papers lately +declared had died in an obscure apartment in Paris; but it appears, on +the contrary, that he is still living, in true baronial style, at his +chateau on the Garonne. A correspondent of the _Tribune_ says, "he +never reads his wife's romances, and that his decease was believed in +Paris, for several literary gentlemen of eminence are said to have +laid their hands and fortunes at the feet of the large-hearted woman" +who was supposed to be a widow. + + * * * * * + +AUGUSTE COMTE has just published the first volume of a new work, his +_Systeme de Politique Positive_. In his great work, _Philosophie +Positive_, he was forced by his method to proceed objectively--from +the world up to man; he now proceeds subjectively--from man to the +world. This system of Positive Polity he calls a Treatise of +Sociology, instituting the Religion of Humanity. + + * * * * * + +EMILE DE GIRARDIN announces a new pamphlet, the title of which sets +one thinking, _La Revolution Legale par la Presidence d'un Ouvrier_. +(The Revolution Legal through the Presidency of a Workman.) + + * * * * * + +LAMARTINE has published the first volume of _The History of the +Restoration of the Monarchy in France_. It is intended as a sequel to +his History of the Girondins, and this initial volume comprises the +closing days of the Empire, the last great struggle of Napoleon with +the combined armies in 1814, and the abdication at Fontainbleau. The +tone throughout is derived from the partizan feelings of the present +time. Its characteristic is an elaborate and determined depreciation +of the emperor. The author's apparent ambition is to be striking, and +he sometimes is successful: to be just or wise is scarcely in his +nature. For ourselves, we are so well acquainted with the life of +Napoleon--with the workings of that most powerful practical +intelligence that God has yet suffered to exist among mankind--that we +are not in any way affected by these efforts of a hungry rhetorician +to disparage him. In his new book, as in his _Girondins_, M. Lamartine +has not chosen to give us any authorities. What he says as to facts +may be true, but we have only his word for it; and long ago, before M. +Lamartine became a great man in affairs, we learned from his +_Pilgrimage to the Holy Land_, that his word is of very little value. +We confess an admiration for parts of his _Elvire_ and for some of his +minor poems, but it is the youthful poet we admire, not the author of +the sickly sentimentalism in his recent romantic memoirs, far less the +historian, who to get himself out of difficulties induced by early +extravagancies can play marketable tricks with the most awful shade +that moves in the twilight of men's memories about the world. + + * * * * * + +MICHELET, driven from his chair in the University, is publishing in +the _Evenement_ his new work, _Legendes de la Democratie_. The preface +is remarkable for its naivete. "This book," he says, "is the true +_Legendes d'Or_ (golden legend)--free from all alloy, and in it will +be found nothing but the truth.--Nay more, every one who reads it will +become a wiser and a better man." A happy author, to have such faith +in his book! + + * * * * * + +M. GUIZOT'S _History of the Representative Form of Government_, is +prepared from a course of lectures delivered by the author in the +reign of Louis the Eighteenth. The preface contains frequent allusions +to the politics of the day, and the eminent author refers in it to his +attempts to reconcile authority with liberty. M. Guizot's style is +clear, but destitute of warmth or ornament, and his works have +reputation chiefly for their judicial carefulness and +honesty--qualities not so common in France as to be reasonably +neglected there. + + * * * * * + +M. PROUDHON, the socialist "philosopher," has written, in the prison, +in which it has been deemed necessary to shut him up, a new work, +entitled _General Idea of Revolution in the Nineteenth Century_. Among +the topics of which it treats are the Reaction of Revolutions, the +Sufficient Reason of Revolution in the Nineteenth Century, the +Principle of Association, the Principle of Authority, Organization of +Economical Forces, and Dissolution of Government under an Economical +Organization. The elements of every revolutionary history, according +to Proudhon, are the previous regime which the revolution seeks to +abolish, and which, by the instinct of self-preservation, may become a +counter-revolution; the parties which, according to their different +prejudices and interests, endeavor to turn it to their own advantage; +and the revolution itself. + + * * * * * + +DR. BUSHNAN, of Edinburgh, under the title of _Miss Martineau and her +Master_, has published a temperate but conclusive refutation of the +_Letters on the Laws of Man's Nature and Development_, by Miss +MARTINEAU and Mr. GEORGE ATKINSON. The shallow performance in which +these persons displayed their atheism was treated by the learned with +contempt. Douglass Jerrold said the sum of their doctrine was +contained in the formula, "There is no God, and Miss Martineau is his +prophet," and those who considered the _Letters_ more seriously, for +the most part expressed surprise and pity--never any one an +apprehension that such wretched stuff could unsettle a conviction of +the feeblest, or confirm a doubt of the most skeptical. + + * * * * * + +ISAAC TAYLOR, whose "Natural History of Enthusiasm," has been much +read in this country, has in press _Wesley and Methodism_. + + * * * * * + +Not long ago it was stated that a Mr. SIMONIDES had discovered at the +foot of Mount Athos a great number of important Greek MSS. We ventured +to express some doubts on the subject, and we now perceive that Mr. +RHANGABE, Professor of Archaiology in the University of Athens, has +published a critical examination of these pretended discoveries, in +which he proves very satisfactorily that every manuscript of an +ancient work which Mr. Simonides has allowed others to examine, and +every work which he has published, has turned out to be a modern +fabrication. A more real discovery has been made by persons engaged in +removing the earth for the foundations of a house near the Acropolis. +Fragments of inscriptions, and several relics of sculpture and +architecture, have been dug up, and it is thought they prove that the +senate house, metroon, and other buildings in which the Athenian +archives were preserved, stood in the vicinity. Apropos of M. +Simonides, in a letter from Constantinople it is alleged that from the +examination of ancient manuscripts in different Greek convents, he has +discovered an indication that the original of the _Acts of the +Apostles_ is buried in an island in the Sea of Marmora, and that he +has caused an application to be made to the Turkish government for +leave to search after it, which, it is said, is opposed by the Greek +Patriarch, from fear that the discovery of the important document may +lead to new schisms in the church! + + * * * * * + +We mentioned in a recent number of the _International_ the discovery +and publication of a supposed MS. work by Origen. In the June number +of the _Quarterly_ it is carefully reviewed, and in several of the +theological journals it has received the attention due to a work of +its pretensions. We see now that the Chevalier BUNSEN has in the press +of the Longmans _Five Letters to Archdeacon Hare, on Hypolitus, +Presbyter of the Church of Rome, author of the recently discovered +book ascribed to Origen, and the bearing of this work on the leading +Questions of Ecclesiastical History and Polity_. + + * * * * * + +Dr. CROLY has just published a new volume of poems, under the title of +_Scenes from Scripture_. The greater part of them had previously +appeared in annuals, &c. C. B. CAYLEY has given to the world a new +version of the _Divine Comedy_, in the original terza rhyme; EDMUND +PEEL, a poet of Mr. Robert Montgomery's class, has published _The Fair +Island_, descriptive of the Isle of Wight; ROBERT MONTGOMERY himself +has nearly ready his some-time promised _Poetical Works_, for the +first time collected into one volume, similar to the octavo editions +of Southey, Wordsworth, &c., including some original minor poems, and +a general preface, (only the printing being in the style of +Wordsworth.) + + * * * * * + +The first of the old historians to be edited in the light of the +modern discoveries in Assyria, is _Herodotus_, to appear in a new +English version, translated from the text of Gaisford, and edited by +Rev. GEORGE RAWLINSON, assisted by Col. RAWLINSON and Sir J. G. +WILKINSON, with copious notes, illustrating the history and geography +by Herodotus, from the most recent sources of information, and +embodying the chief results, historical and ethnographical, which have +been arrived at in the progress of cuneiform and hieroglyphical +discovery. This edition will be printed for Mr. Murray in four octavo +volumes. The translation has been undertaken from a conviction of the +inadequacy of any existing version to the wants of the time. The +unfaithfulness of Beloe, and the unpleasantness of his style, render +his version insufficient in an age which dislikes affectation and +requires accuracy; while the only others which exist are at once too +close to the original to be perused with pleasure by the general +reader, and defective in respect of scholarship. + + * * * * * + +SIR JAMES STEPHEN, whose brilliant contributions to the Edinburgh +Review are familiar through Mr. Hart's Philadelphia edition, has +nearly ready _Lectures on the History of France_, and _The History of +France_, compiled, translated and abridged from the works of De +Sismondi, and of other recent French authors, and illustrated with +historical maps and chronological and other tables. + + * * * * * + +J. S. BUCKINGHAM, the author of fifty volumes of _Travels_, (of which +eight large octavos are about our own unfortunate country,) has at +length succeeded in his long contest with the East India Company for +indemnification for his losses as an oriental journalist. The bill +before parliament for restitution has been withdrawn, the court of +directors and the government having agreed to settle upon him a +pension of four hundred pounds per annum. + + * * * * * + +We perceive that the British government has bestowed a pension of five +hundred dollars a year on Mrs. JAMESON. We think of no Englishwoman +who is more deserving of such distinction. Mrs. Jameson has spent a +pretty long life in the most judicious exercise of her literary +abilities, and as a critic of art she is unquestionably superior to +any woman who has ever written on the subject. One of her most popular +works, the _Beauties of the Court of Charles the Second_, will be +issued in a splendid edition, with all the original portraits, in a +few weeks, by the Appletons of this city. + + * * * * * + +SIR WILLIAM HAMILTON has published _Critical Discussions in +Philosophy, Literature, and Education with University Reform_, chiefly +from the Edinburgh Review, but now corrected, vindicated, and +enlarged. + + * * * * * + +Several new books of _Travels_ have lately appeared or are in press in +London. Among them are _Eight Years in Palestine, Syria, and Asia +Minor, from 1842 to 1850_, by F. A. NEALE, late of the Consular +service; _A Naturalist's Sojourn in America_, by P. H. GOSSE; a +_Journal of a Boat Voyage through Rupert's Land, and along the Central +Arctic Coasts of America_, in Search of the Discovery Ships under +command of Sir John Franklin, with an Appendix on the Physical +Geography of North America, by Sir JOHN RICHARDSON, C. B., F. R. S., +&c.; the _Personal Narrative of an Englishman Domesticated in +Abyssinia_, by MANSFIELD PARKINS; _Contrasts of Foreign and English +Society_, or, records and recollections of a residence in various +parts of the Continent and of England, by Mrs. AUSTIN; _Narrative of +Travels to Nineveh, in 1850_, by Hon. FREDERICK WALPOLE, R. N. author +of "Four Years in the Pacific;" _Recollections of Manilla and the +Philippines, in 1848-50_, by ROBERT MACMICKING; _Recollections of a +Ramble from Sidney to Southampton, via Panama, the West Indies, the +United States, and Niagara_, (anonymous.) + + * * * * * + +J. J. GARTH WILKINSON has just published in London _The Human Body and +its Connection with Man, illustrated by the Principal Organs_, and it +is dedicated to Mr. Henry James of New-York, the author of _Moralism +and Christianity_. "My dear James," says the author, "this book is +indebted to you for its appearance, for without you it would neither +have been conceived nor executed. I dedicate it to you as a feeble +tribute of friendship and gratitude that would gladly seek a better +mode of expressing themselves. It may remind you of happy hours that +we have spent together, and seem to continue some of the tones of our +long correspondence. _Valeat quantum!_ It could not lay its head upon +the shelf without a last thought of affection directed to its foster +parent. That prosperity may live with you and yours, and your great +commonwealth, is the prayer of, my dear James, your faithful friend," +&c. + + * * * * * + +Of new novels the most noticeable appear to be _The Lady and the +Priest_, by Mrs. Maberly; _The Tutor's Ward_; _Clare Abbey_, by author +of "The Dicipline of Life;" _Marion Wethers_, by Miss Jewsbury; +_Castle Deloraine, or the Ruined Peer_, by Miss PRISCILLA SMITH; and +_Quakerism, or the Story of My Life_, a splenetic attack on the +society of Friends. + + * * * * * + +The recent work of Dr. GREGORY on Animal Magnetism has attracted much +attention, and from some intimations in the papers we suspect it is to +be criticised in _Letters on the Truths contained in Popular +Superstitions, with an Account of Mesmerism_, by Dr. HERBERT MAYO, +F.R.S., to be published by Blackwood. + + * * * * * + +Two new works on the _Apocalypse_ are to be added to the immense +number already printed, for New-York publishers. We not long ago +undertook to ascertain how many expositions of the great mystery had +been written in this country, and paused at the sixty-fifth +title-page. One of the forthcoming works is an ingenious composition +by the Rev. Mr. James of the western part of this state, and the other +(to be published by Mr. Dodd) is by a clergyman in Connecticut. +Longmans advertise in London _The Spiritual Exposition of the +Apocalypse_, as derived from the writings of Swedenborg, and +illustrated and confirmed by ancient and modern authorities, by the +Rev. Augustus Clissold, of Exeter College; and the Rivingtons have in +press a _Commentary on the Apocalypse_ by the Rev. ISAAC WILLIAMS, of +Trinity College. England indeed is quite as prolific of such works as +the United States. + + * * * * * + +MR. JOHN FINCHMAN, "master shipwright of her Majesty's Dockyard, at +Portsmouth," has published a _History of Naval Architecture_, which is +praised as a just exposition of the progress and supremacy of English +ship-building. Our Mr. Collins could have furnished him, as +illustrations for an additional and very interesting chapter, drawings +of the _Pacific_ and the _Baltic_, which would perhaps make the work a +"just exposition of the supremacy" of American ship-building, of which +this Mr. Finchman seems never to have been informed. + + * * * * * + +Of collections of Letters on Affairs, that to be published immediately +by Mr. Murray, under the title of the _Grenville Papers_, promises to +be among the most important. It will comprise the Private +Correspondence of Richard Grenville, Earl Temple, and his Brother, the +Right Honorable George Grenville, and their friends and +cotemporaries--formerly preserved at Stowe and now for the first time +made public, and it is given out that it will contain material for the +formation of a pretty conclusive judgment as to the authorship of +Junius. + + * * * * * + +Among books that will bear a republication, if written with even +average ability and fairness, is _The Present State of the Republic of +the Rio de la Plata_ (_Buenos Ayres_), its Geography, Resources, +Statistics, Commerce, Debt, etc. described, with the History of the +Conquest of the Country by the Spaniards, by Sir WOODBINE PARISH, +F.R.S. Formerly British Consul General and Charge d' Affaires in that +country. + + * * * * * + +LORD MAHON'S _History of England, from, the Peace of Utrecht_, volumes +5 and 6--the First Years of the American War: 1763 to 1780--was to +appear in August. + + * * * * * + +A new book has just appeared in London on the Pitcairn's Islanders. + + * * * * * + +An advertisement of the works of Archbishop WHATELEY contains +thirty-six titles. He appears to be one of the most voluminous writers +among the bishops, as well as one of the most sensible and learned. + + * * * * * + +MR. MACAULEY has at length completed two more volumes of his _History +of England_, and they will be published the coming autumn by Longmans. + + * * * * * + +The _Poems of Edith May_, from the press of E. H. Butler of +Philadelphia, will be one of the most beautiful of the illustrated +books of the season. Mr. Butler is an artist in book-making, and he +has never published anything more elegant. The lady who writes under +the pseudonym of "Edith May" is a genuine poet, and the volume will be +popular. + + * * * * * + +WILLIAM WARE, one of those delightful authors whose names are always +uttered by appreciating readers in tones of affection, has just +published (Phillips, Sampson, & Co., of Boston,) _Sketches of European +Capitals_. The work includes his views of Ancient Rome, St. Peters and +the Vatican, Florence, Naples, the Italians of Middle Italy, and +London, and in his preface he tells us that "the volume comes into +existence, like so many others now-a-days, as a convenient way of +disposing of matter previously used in the form of lectures;" and +adds, modestly, "It is a volume of light reading for the summer +roadside, and though, like the flowers of that season, perishing with +them, one may be permitted to hope that, like some of them, at least +it may exhale a not unpleasing fragrance while it lasts." Such a fate +awaits no book by the author of _Probus_ and _Zenobia_, of whom this +performance is by no means unworthy. + + * * * * * + +The HARPERS have in press _Drayton, a Tale of American Life_, in which +is traced the career of a young American from the workshop to places +of trust and honor; and a friend, who has read the manuscript, speaks +in warm terms of the frequent beauty of the style, the warmth of the +coloring, the animation of the narrative, and the general progress and +development of the story. The author is THOMAS H. SHREVE, for the last +ten or twelve years one of the editors of the _Louisville Daily +Journal_, and for twenty years well and most favorably known by +frequent and elegant contributions to western literature. _Drayton_, +we are advised, is not one of those easy pieces of writing which are +known as very hard reading, but has engaged the attention of the +author, at periods of comparative leisure, for several years past. +Within a few months it has been entirely recast and rewritten; and, if +our correspondent be not very partial in his judgment of the merits of +the work, the public will find in its patriotic and democratic pages a +mine of poetry and fine reflection. + + * * * * * + +A few words more of _American Reviews_. The subject is important; a +great periodical in which the best intelligence of the country shall +have expression, is necessary, for many purposes, and never was more +necessary than now. The _Princeton Review_, the _Christian Review_, +the _Biblical Repository_, the _Bibliotheca Sacra_, the _Methodist +Quarterly Review_, the _Church Review_, _Brownson's Quarterly Review_, +and several others, are in large degrees devoted to particular +religious interests, and though for the most part conducted with much +learning and discretion, do not altogether serve the purpose for which +an American Review of Literature and Affairs is demanded. The _North +American_, as we have before intimated, has no character; it +occasionally has good articles, but it has no principles; it is +sectional, which is pardonable, but displays neither the knowledge nor +the tact necessary to a sectional organ. The mineral riches of our +lake region, plans for connecting the Atlantic with the Pacific, the +Cuban question, our relations with other republics, the extraordinary +phenomena of Mormonism, the efforts of certain American women to unsex +themselves, and numerous other subjects of present interest in this +country, have been amply discussed in British and other European +Reviews during the last year, but not one of them has been mentioned +in the work to which, from its pretentions, readers would naturally +look for its most masterly exposition. It may be said that the _North +American_ is devoted to philosophy, learning, and literature rather +than to affairs: we have heard this defence, even in the face of its +elaborate papers on Hungary and Austria; but let us see how it +occupies such a ground: the bright and especial intellectual boast and +glory of New England is Jonathan Edwards, of whom Dr. Chalmers says +that he was "the greatest of theologians," Sir James Mackintosh that +"in power of subtle argument he was perhaps unmatched, certainly was +unsurpassed among men," Dugald Stewart that "he cannot be answered," +and Robert Hall that he was the "mightiest of mankind:" such a +character was undoubtedly worthy of its criticism, but in the half +century of its existence the _North American_ has never once noticed +him! We have an illustration much more pertinent, especially in as far +as the present editor of the _Review_ is concerned: The late Hartley +Coleridge was a man of peculiar and very interesting qualities, and it +may be admitted that he possessed considerable genius; but a pretence +that his life was as remarkable or that his abilities as displayed in +his writings were as eminent as those of Edgar A. Poe, who died about +the same time, would be simply ridiculous; yet we believe every +quarterly and nearly every monthly Review published in Great Britain +has had its article on Hartley Coleridge, while even the name of Edgar +A. Poe has never appeared in our self-styled "great national journal." +And Maria Brooks, admitted by Southey, Wordsworth, Charles Lamb, Fitz +Greene Halleck, and many other masters of literary art, to have been +the greatest poet of her sex who ever wrote in any language or in any +age, though she was born and educated in the shadow of the college in +which more than one of the editors of the _North American_ have been +professors, was never once honored with its recognition. + +We do not know that it will strike others so, but it seems to us that +John Quincy Adams, John C. Calhoun, Hugh S. Legare, R. H. Wilde, J. J. +Audubon, Mathew L. Davis, Albert Gallatin, Henry Inman, Chancellor +Kent, Dr. Judson, Dr. Jarvis, Dr. Morton, Dr. Troost, M. M. Noah, Mrs. +Osgood, and many other Americans who have recently completed variously +illustrious lives, and so come before the world for a final judgment, +are subjects quite as deserving and appropriate for the _North +American Review_, as those which it has been accustomed to pick up in +the byways of the literary world abroad; and we cannot understand why +the facts connected with our own development and destiny, facts which +engross and baffle the attention of the profoundest thinkers in the +older nations, should give place in the only Review we possess, to +such foreign, antiquated, and altogether unimportant topics as +continually occupy its pages. + + * * * * * + +MR. JAMES W. WARD, of Cincinnati, a short time ago delivered before +one of the literary institutions of Ohio, a poem on _Woman_, which has +been noticed in terms of high commendation. A correspondent who heard +it says it was devoted in about equal parts to the foibles and the +virtues of the sex, the former of which it laid bare with a most +trenchant blade, while the latter it portrayed with elegance of +diction, and an evident love for all that is pure, elevated, and +beautiful in woman's proper character. The slave of fashion, the +politician in petticoats, and the "bloomer" in br---- pettiloons, the +female "progressive," the scold, the slattern, and the butterfly, were +all held up to merited rebuke: then came "the true woman," whose +character as sister, wife, mother, friend, and "comforter," was dwelt +on long and fondly, and portrayed in the language of true poetry and +manly devotion. Mr. Ward is not much known out of the literary circles +of the West, but several of his short poems have had a wide +circulation in this country and in England. + + * * * * * + +A volume entitled _Novellettes of the Musicians_, has been published +by Cornish, Lamport, & Co., with Mrs. ELLET's name on the title-page +as its author, but most of its contents are translated from the +German, and the rest are hardly worth claiming. Yet the book +altogether is entertaining, and is handsomely executed, with several +striking portraits. + + * * * * * + +The Rev. Mr. HUNTINGTON, once a village doctor, then a congregational +minister, next an Episcopal clergyman, and now a Catholic priest, made +his mark a year or two ago in the novel of _Alice or the Mysteries_, +in which there was displayed a great deal of talent as well as a very +peculiar morality. He has just added to his works (by Putnam) a tale +called _Alban_, in which a hero somewhat like himself is conducted +through various pursuits into the faith, and by pleasantly related +vicissitudes to a good condition. The scene is in New-York and +New-Haven, and of Roman Catholic novels we know of scarcely one more +readable. Mr. Huntington perhaps gives us a reflection of his +experience in this advice addressed to one of his characters: + + "That is why I turn to literature with such predilection," + said the young man, greatly excited by Mr. De Groot's way of + talking. "Letters," resumed Mr. De Groot, after a long + glance around his endless book-shelves, "are a pursuit that + surpasses every other, in enjoyment, and nearly every other + in dignity. We must have our own literary men. We can't + afford to let other nations write our books for us. That + were worse than policy which would hire them to fight our + battles. There is a thought and there is a sentiment which + belongs to _us_, and which we are in a manner bound to + elicit. But--I am sorry to interpose so many _buts_, young + sir--you are to consider that you must live. You cannot live + by literature. It is difficult any where, but in this + country it is impossible. As pride distinguishes the + Spaniard, revenge the Italian, lust the Saxon, and + sanguinary violence (they say) the Celt, so pecuniary + injustice is our national trait, we steal the author's right + in every book we publish, native or foreign. Now, Atherton, + you can't live by a craft where people hold themselves at + liberty to _steal_ what you have produced." + + * * * * * + +We mentioned a month or two ago the intention of Mr. Russell, of +Charleston, to publish the _Poetical Writings_ of WILLIAM GILMORE +SIMMS, and we are pleased to see in the _Southern Literary Gazette_ +the announcement that they will appear in two handsome duodecimos of +from three to four hundred pages each. The publisher remarks very +justly in his advertisement that "the works of Mr. Simms recommended +themselves peculiarly to the South, as illustrating its history, its +traditions and legends, its scenery and its sentiments." In the North +they will be welcomed by the author's numerous friends, and by all +lovers of poetry, for their manly tone, imagination, and frequent +elaborate elegance. + + * * * * * + +DR. TYNG has added to the _Memoir of the late Rev. Edward +Bickersteth_, by the Rev. T. R. BIRKS, an introductory chapter, and +the work has been published in two volumes, by the Harpers. Mr. +Bickersteth was one of the most excellent and most interesting men in +the English church, and this well-written memoir will have a place +among standard religious biographies. + + * * * * * + +The _Home Book of the Picturesque_, to be published by Mr. Putnam, +will be upon the whole the most beautiful souvenir volume of the year. +The engravings are from pictures of the Bay of New York, by H. +Beckwith; the Clove, Cattskill, by Durand; the Alleghanies, North +Carolina, by Richards; Snow Scene on the Housatonic, by Gignoux; +Cattskill Scenery, by Kensett; Schroon Lake, by Cole; West Rock, New +Haven, by Church; Adirondach Mountains, by Durand; the Juniatta, +Pennsylvania, by Talbot; Cascade Bridge on the Erie Railroad, by +Talbott; the Rondout, by Huntington; Church at West Point, by Weir; +Wa-wa-yanda Lake, by Cropsey, &c., and these are illustrated with +letter-press by Miss Cooper, Fenimore Cooper, Irving, Bryant, Willis, +Bayard Taylor, Magoon, Bethune, and one or two persons quite unworthy +of the association to which the publisher admits them. The _Book of +Home Beauty_, also to be issued by Mr. Putnam, we judge from a few +proofs of Mr. Martin's pictures which we have seen, will be a much +more attractive volume than any "Book of Beauty" ever published +abroad. The text of this is all from the pen of Mrs. Kirkland. + + * * * * * + +The _Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature_, by the Rev. Dr. +KITTO, has been republished in a fine large octavo, with numerous +illustrations by Gould, Kendall & Lincoln, of Boston. We have had +frequent occasion to praise the abilities, learning, and excellent +taste of Dr. Kitto, who is one of the most attractive writers and most +judicious editors engaged in the illustration of the Scriptures. We +think the present work will become the most common of all the Bible +Dictionaries, as it probably is the best. + + * * * * * + +Mr. Redfield has reprinted in a style quite equal to that of the +original London edition, the second series of _Episodes of Insect +Life_, by ACHETA DOMESTICA. This volume relates to insect life in the +summer, and is as entertaining as a romance. We have never read a more +attractive book in natural history. + + * * * * * + +MR. POMEROY JONES, of Westmoreland, in this state, has in press at +Utica, a _History of Oneida County_, in the preparation of which he +has been engaged several years, and the professors of Hamilton College +have in preparation a Natural History of the County, embracing its +Geology, Botany, Zoology, &c. + + * * * * * + +A volume of _Poems_ by MRS. REBECCA S. NICHOLS, of Cincinnati, will, +we understand, be issued for the next holidays. Mrs. N. has some warm +admirers, and this volume is to contain her best productions. We hope +its success may equal its deserts. + + * * * * * + +The fine, thoughtful _Essays Written in the Intervals of Business_, +have been reprinted by A. D. F. Randolph, of this city. + + * * * * * + +The Rev. ISAAC LEESER, one of the Jewish ministers of Philadelphia, +whom we have long known as a scholar and man of talents, is engaged on +a new translation of the Old Testament, on the basis of the common +English version, carefully corrected and improved according to the +best Jewish authorities. It is intended by Mr. Leeser so to render the +Hebrew text that but few explanatory notes will be needed, and he +reasonably hopes that his edition will be commonly adopted by the Jews +of this country. Dr. KENRICK, the Roman Catholic Bishop of +Philadelphia, has just published (by Dunigan & Brother, New-York,) +_The Epistles and the Apocalypse_, from the Vulgate, having previously +given to the public a translation of the Gospels; and Dr. Alexander of +Princeton, and several other men of learning, have lately been +occupied with new versions of particular portions of the sacred +volume. It is well known, too, that a society, composed for the most +part of members of one of the largest and most respectable +denominations of Christians, has been established mainly for the +purpose of publishing a revised version of the Bible, but it is not +probable that this society will ever accomplish any thing more than an +increased "contempt for God's word and commandment." The specimens we +have of its scholarship might justify some merriment if they were +connected with something less venerable and sacred. + +For ourselves we are content with the Bible as it is, and cannot help +a feeling of regret that any who profess to be governed by its wisdom +are disposed to treat it with so little reverence. Undoubtedly there +are some slight verbal inaccuracies in the common version, but they +are understood, or may be easily explained in notes: we want here no +innovations, no improvements, no progress, except in the observance of +the good we understand. Nevertheless, we see with pleasure all the +studies with which really learned men illustrate their convictions of +the significance of the original. For the chief portion of mankind, in +this night in which we live, the sun does not shine with its original +splendor, but it is reflected on us by the moon, and we care not how +many thousand stars reflect it also according to their capacity. + +A new version, by which it is _not proposed to displace the common +one_, is to appear from the press of Mr. Colby, in this city, and the +high reputation of its author for learning and judgment, is a +sufficient assurance that what he does at all he will do in a very +masterly manner. The Rev. Dr. Conant, Professor of Biblical Literature +in the University of Rochester, says in a letter to his publisher: + + "It has long been a favorite object with me to furnish a + translation of the Holy Scriptures for unlearned readers, + which should accurately express the meaning of the original + by the aids of modern scholarship in the style and manner of + the early English versions. The translation is intended, + therefore, for the benefit of the common reader of the + Scriptures, to aid him in more clearly understanding them + wherever our common version is for any reason obscure. In + other words, it is to do directly by a translation what has + long been attempted by the awkward and circuitous method of + a commentary; viz. to make the Scriptures plain to the + unlearned reader. I should for many reasons regard it as + undesirable, and it certainly is impracticable, to supplant + the common version to any extent as the received version for + the church and the people, or the common English Bible and + common standard of appeal for those who use only the English + language." + +Dr. Conant will preserve as nearly as may be the manner of the old +translations, endeavoring only to combine the fidelity and exactness +of modern scholarship with the simplicity and strength of the common +version. To such an effort, by such a man, we see no objections. The +reputation most at stake is that of Dr. Conant himself, and those who +know him do not fear that that will suffer. It will at least be +interesting to mark the differences between his renderings and those +of King James's translators. + + * * * * * + +Mr. Putnam publishes for the coming holidays a new impression of the +_Memorial_, which is incomparably the most interesting literary +miscellany ever printed as a gift-book in this country. The proceeds +of the sale, it is known, are to be appropriated for the erection of a +monument to the late Mrs. Osgood, in Mount Auburn Cemetery. The book +is made up of original articles by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Chancellor +Walworth, N. P. Willis, Bishop Doane, G. P. R. James, S. G. Goodrich, +John Neal, W. G. Simms, Richard B. Kimball, George P. Morris, Dr. +Mayo, Mrs. Sigourney, Mrs. Embury, Mrs. Oakes Smith, Mrs. Hewitt, Mrs. +Lynch, and indeed all the best and most brilliant writers of the time; +and it is beautifully illustrated. + + * * * * * + +The well-known private library of the late Rev. Dr. SAMUEL FARMER +JARVIS is to be sold in this city, by Messrs. Lyman & Rawdon, about +the beginning of October. In several departments of sacred and +classical literature it is one of the finest collections in America, +and it will probably attract large numbers of buyers, especially from +among the lovers of mediaeval scholarship and theology. + + * * * * * + +MR. MITCHELL'S new book, the _Diary of a Dreamer_, is in press by +Charles Scribner, and the same publisher will issue for the holidays +an edition of the _Reveries of a Bachelor_, admirably illustrated by +Darley, who seems indeed never to have done better than in some of his +designs for it. + + * * * * * + +MR. LONGFELLOW has in the press of Ticknor, Reed and Fields, of +Boston, a new poem, entitled _The Golden Legend_. It is the longest of +his poetical works, making some 350 pages, and will soon be given to +the public. + + * * * * * + +There is this year a very remarkable number of new books illustrative +of the applications of science to mechanics. Every man seems +determined to master the learning which can be turned to account in +his vocation, and the booksellers are quite willing to aid them. We +suppose the most generally and importantly useful work of this kind +ever printed is Appleton's _Dictionary of Machinery, Mechanics, Engine +Work, and Engineering_, just completed in two very large compactly +printed and profusely illustrated octavo volumes. In this great work +are gathered the best results of the study and experiment of the +workers of the world. It is a cyclopedia of inventions, in which one +may be sure of finding described the best processes yet discovered for +doing every thing that is to be done by means of mechanics. The +benefits conferred on the country by this publication must be very +great; its general circulation would mark a new period in our physical +advancement, and to a degree influence our civilization, since there +is no country in the world in which every resource is so readily +applied to purposes of comfort and culture. If knowledge is power, as, +misquoting Lord Bacon, it is every day asserted, the truth is most +conspicuous in the range of those arts and occupations illustrated by +these incomparable volumes, which should be in the house of every man +who has already provided himself with the Bible and Shakspere. The +Appletons also publish a _Mechanics' Magazine_, edited in a very +admirable manner, and we understand it is largely sold. + +Next to the Appletons, we believe the largest publisher in this line +is Henry C. Baird, of Philadelphia, who has now in press a _Handbook +of Locomotive Engineers_, by SEPTIMUS NORRIS, of the celebrated house, +Norris & Brother, engine manufactures; _The Practical Metal Worker's +Assistant_, by M. HOLTZAPHFEL, illustrated with many engravings, and +enlarged by the addition of American matters; SCOTT's _Cotton +Spinner_, thoroughly revised by an American editor; a new edition of +Mr. OVERMAN's important book on _Iron; The Practical Model +Calculator_, for the engineer, machinest, manufacturer, &c., by Mr. +BYRNE, (to be issued in twelve semi-monthly numbers); a _Treatise on +the American Steam-Engine_, by the same author; and several other +books of this class. + + * * * * * + +The Appletons will publish in a few weeks _The Women of Early +Christianity_, one of that series of splendidly illustrated volumes +composed of _Our Saviour and his Apostles_, _The Women of the Bible, +&c._ + + * * * * * + +BRAITHWAITE'S _Retrospect of Practical Medicine_, in consequence of an +arrangement just entered into, will hereafter be published by Stringer +& Townsend, who will issue it with promptness, correctness, and +general mechanical excellence. + + * * * * * + +James Munroe & Co. of Boston are proceeding regularly with Mr. +HUDSON's excellent edition of Shakspeare, and they have lately issued +among several handsome volumes an edition of the works of George +Herbert. They have in press _The Philippics of Demosthenes_, with +notes critical and explanatory, by Professor M. J. Smead; _The Camel +Hunt_, a narrative of personal adventures, by Joseph Warren Fabius; +_Companions of my Solitude_, by the author of "Friends in Council," +&c., &c.; _The Greek Girl_, and other poems, by James W. Simmons; +_Epitaphs_, taken from Copp's Hill Burying Ground in Boston, by Thomas +Bridgman; and _Domestic Pets_, their habits and management, with +illustrative anecdotes, by Mrs. Loudon. + + * * * * * + +The second and concluding volume of the _Life of Calvin_, by Dr. +HENRY, has just been issued by Carter & Brothers, and it is quite +equal in every respect to the first volume. Such a careful history was +well-deserved of a Christian whom even Voltaire admitted to be one in +the list of the world's twenty greatest men, and it was especially +needed for the vindication of one who had in so extraordinary a degree +been a subject of partisan hatred and calumny. + + * * * * * + +DR. WILLIAM R. WILLIAMS of this city has just published a volume of +_Lectures on the Lord's Prayer_, (Gould & Lincoln, Boston,) which we +shall notice more appropriately hereafter. At present we can only +remark that it is a work of extraordinary merit, worthy of an author +whose abilities and virtues render his name illustrious. + + * * * * * + +The Rev. Dr. WAINWRIGHT has in the press of the Appletons a work +descriptive of his Travels in Egypt. It will appear in a large and +luxuriously embellished volume, some time before Christmas. + + * * * * * + +The third, fourth, and fifth volumes of the _Works of John Adams_ have +been issued by Little and Brown, and the fifth and sixth volumes of +the _Works of Alexander Hamilton_, by C. S. Francis. + + * * * * * + +Mr. FREDERIC SAUNDERS is publishing in the _New-York Recorder_ a +series of papers under the title of _Bookcraft_ which will make a +volume not unworthy of D'Israeli. + + * * * * * + +M. W. DODD has published a new edition of CRUDEN's great _Concordance +of the Bible_, a book which every body knows is perfect in its kind. + + * * * * * + +Jewett & Co. have in press the works of the Rev. LYMAN BEECHER, D.D. +which they will publish in some half-dozen octavo volumes. + + * * * * * + +The approaching Trade Sales will be the largest ever held in +New-York. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[14] Rene Taillandier, Professor of Belles Lettres at the College of +Montpellier, declared by the _Allgemeine Zeitung_ to be more familiar with +German politics and literature than any other Frenchman living. + + + + +_The Fine Arts._ + + +POWERS, in a letter to a friend in this city, says with satirical +humor, of his favorite work, "Eve is an old-fashioned body, and not so +well formed and attractive as are her granddaughters,--at least some +of them. She wears her hair in a natural and most primitive manner, +drawn back from the temples, and hanging loose behind, thus exposing +those very ugly features in women. _Her waist is quite too large for +our modern notions of beauty_, and her feet, they are so very broad +and large! And did ever one see such long toes! they have never been +wedged into form by the nice and pretty little shoes worn by her +lovely descendents. But Eve is very stiff and unyielding in her +disposition: _she will not allow her waist to be reduced by bandaging, +because she is far more comfortable as she is_, and besides, she has +_some regard for her health, which might suffer from such restraints +upon her lungs, heart, liver, &c., &c., &c._ I could never prevail +upon her to wear modern shoes, for she dreads corns, which, she says, +are neither convenient nor ornamental. But some allowance ought to be +made for these crude notions of hers,--founded as they are in the +prejudices and absurdities of _primitive_ days. Taking all these +things into consideration, I think it best that she should not be +exhibited, as it might subject me to censure, and severe criticisms, +and these, too, without pecuniary reward." + + * * * * * + +After the death of WORDSWORTH, a committee was formed among his +friends for the purpose of setting up a tablet to his memory in +Grassmere Church, where he is buried. The work intrusted to Mr. Thomas +Woolner, has been completed. Surmounted by a band of laurel leaves is +the inscription, written by Professor Keble; under which the poet's +head is sculptured in relief. The likeness to the man has received +praise from persons whose verdict is final; the intellectual likeness +to the poet will be more widely appreciated, and recognized with +cordial admiration. The meditative lines of the face, the thoughtful +forehead and eye, the compressed, sensitive mouth, are rendered with +refined intelligence. In two narrow spaces at each side of the head, +are introduced the crocus and celandine, and the snowdrop and violet, +treated with a rare union of natural beauty and sculpturesque method +and subordination. Throughout, the delicately studied execution shows +that the work has been a labor of love. + + * * * * * + +LEUTZE'S great historical picture of Washington Crossing the Delaware +before the Battle of Trenton, has been received in this city by +Messrs. Goupil & Co. and will soon be exhibited to the public. These +publishers will give us a large and fine engraving of it. + + * * * * * + +GREENOUGH'S noble group for the capitol, upon which he has been +engaged nearly twenty years, is so nearly finished that it may be +expected in the United States before the end of November. The subject +is a contrast of the Anglo-Saxon with the Indian. The group is +composed of an American Hunter, in the act of seizing an Indian who +was about to tomahawk a mother and her infant. The white man has +approached the savage from behind, and, having seized him by the arms, +and pressed him with bending knees to the ground, stands frowning +above his subjugated foe, who, with his head thrown back, gazes upward +at his conqueror with surprise and terror. At their feet a woman, +pressing a child to her bosom, sinks in alarm and agony. The effect is +very imposing, having something of the dignity and grandeur which +belong to the works of Michael Angelo. In Italy the work has much +increased Greenough's previous great reputation. + + * * * * * + +A monument is to be erected at Dresden to the composer VON WEBER. To +defray the expenses, performances are to be given at the various +theatres in Germany, and the proceeds formed into a fund for that +purpose. Large sums are expected from this source, as also from +private contributions throughout Europe. The monument is to be +surmounted by a statue of the composer, by Rietschel, who was an +intimate friend of his. It will be of bronze, eight feet high, and +placed on a pedestal of the same metal, ornamented with bas-reliefs. +The site chosen for its erection is immediately opposite the principal +entrance to the Royal Theatre of Dresden. + + * * * * * + +The distinguished painter CORNELIUS has been solicited by the Belgian +Academy of Art to send the grand cartoons on which he is employed, to +the great Belgian Exhibition. Cornelius, however, fears to risk these +drawings, the work of ten years, on a journey of such length, since +their loss could not be replaced. They already fill two large halls, +and will remain a lasting monument of the painter's genius, even if +the Cathedral, in which they are to appear as frescoes, should not be +erected during his life. + + * * * * * + +The publication of a work entitled _The Twelve Virgins of Raphael_, +has been commenced in Paris. It will be in twelve numbers, each +containing an engraving and letter-press description and history. + + * * * * * + +A sculptor of Paris has received orders from the Greek Government to +execute marble busts of Admirals de Rigny and Codington, to be placed +in the Salle where the Senate holds its sittings. + + + + +_Historical Review of the Month._ + + +THE UNITED STATES. + +The August elections, though in general not very warmly contested, +have attracted much attention. We have attempted, in the following +carefully prepared table, to exhibit the results, as well as the +character of the next Congress at large--a task somewhat difficult on +account of the diversity of parties and the frequent disregard which +has been shown for old divisions:-- + + +XXXII CONGRESS--SENATE. + +_Commenced March 4, 1851, and ends March 4, 1852._ + + _Term Expires._ + +ALABAMA. +JEREMIAH CLEMENS, 1853 +William R. King, S. R. 1855 + +ARKANSAS. +Wm. K. Sebastian, S. R., 1853 +SOLON BORLAND. 1855 + +CALIFORNIA. +WM. M. GWINN, 1855 +Elean Heydenfeldt, L. R.[A] 1857 + +CONNECTICUT. +_Truman Smith_, 1855 +A vacancy. 1857 + +DELAWARE. +_Presley Spruance_, 1855 +James A. Bayard, L. R. 1857 + +FLORIDA. +JACKSON MORTON,[B] 1855 +STEPHEN R. MALLORY.[A] 1857 + +GEORGIA. +_John McP. Berrien_, S. R.,[C] 1853 +WM. C. DAWSON.[B] 1855 + +INDIANA. +James Whitcomb, L. R., 1855 +JESSE D. BRIGHT. 1857 + +ILLINOIS. +Stephen A. Douglas, 1853 +James Shields, L. R. 1855 + +IOWA. +George W. Jones, L. R., 1853 +Augustus C. Dodge, L. R. 1855 + +KENTUCKY. +_Joseph R. Underwood,_ 1853 +_Henry Clay._ 1855 + +LOUISIANA. +SOL. W. DOWNS, 1853 +Pierre Soule, S. R. 1855 + +MAINE. +James W. Bradbury, 1853 +Hannibal Hamlin, F. S. 1857 + +MARYLAND. +_James A. Pierce,_ 1855 +_Thomas G. Pratt._ 1857 + +MASSACHUSETTS. +_John Davis_, 1853 +Charles Sumner, F. S. 1857 + +MISSISSIPPI. +HENRY S. FOOTE, 1853 +Jefferson Davis, S. R. 1857 + +MICHIGAN. +ALPHEUS FELCH, 1853 +Lewis Cass. 1857 + +MISSOURI. +David R. Atchison, S. R., 1855 +HEN. S. GEYER.[B] 1857 + +NEW HAMPSHIRE. +John P. Hale, F. S., 1853 +MOSES HARRIS, jr. 1855 + +NEW-YORK. +_William H. Seward,_ 1855 +_Hamilton Fish._ 1857 + +NEW JERSEY. +_Jacob W. Miller_, 1853 +ROBERT F. STOCKTON. 1857 + +NORTH CAROLINA. +_Willie P. Mangum,_ 1853 +_George E. Badger._ 1855 + +OHIO. +Salmon P. Chase, F. S., 1855 +_B. Franklin Wade_. 1857 + +PENNSYLVANIA. +_James Cooper_, 1853 +RICHARD BRODHEAD, jr. 1857 + +RHODE ISLAND. +_John H. Clarke_, 1853 +Charles T. Jarves, L. R. 1857 + +SOUTH CAROLINA. +R. Barnwell Rhett (Sec.), 1853 +A. P. Butler, S. R. 1855 + +TENNESSEE. +_John Bell_, 1853 +A vacancy. 1857 + +TEXAS. +Sam Houston, 1853 +Thomas J. Rusk. 1857 + +VERMONT. +_William Upham,_ 1853 +_Solomon Foote._ 1857 + +VIRGINIA. +Robert M. T. Hunter, 1853 +James M. Mason. 1857 + +WISCONSIN. +Isaac P. Walker, 1855 +Henry Dodge. 1857 + + +HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. + +ALABAMA. +1. John Bragg, S. R., +2. JAMES ABERCROMBIE,[B] +3. Sampson W. Harris, S. R., +4. WM. R. SMITH, +5. GEO. S. HOUSTON, +6. W. R. W. COBB, +7. ALEX WHITE.[B] + +ARKANSAS. +---- + +CALIFORNIA. +---- +---- + +CONNECTICUT. +1. _Charles Chapman_, +2. C. M. INGERSOLL,[B] +3. Chauncey F. Cleveland, F. S., +4. O. S. SEYMOUR.[B] + +DELAWARE. +1. George Read Riddle, L. R. + +FLORIDA. +_Edward C. Cabell, L. R._ + +GEORGIA. +1. ----, +2. ----, +3. ----, +4. ----, +5. ----, +6. ----, +7. ----, +8. ----. + +ILLINOIS. +1. Wm. H. Bissell, L. R., +2. Willis Allen, L. R., +3. O. R. Ficklin, L. R., +4. R. S. Maloney, F. S., +5. Wm. A. Richardson, L. R., +6. T. Campbell, F. S., +7. _Richard Yates_. + +INDIANA. +1. James Lockhart, +2. Cyrus L. Dunham, L. R., +3. John L. Robinson, +4. _Samuel W. Parker_, +5. Thomas H. Hendricks, L. R., +6. Willis A. Gorman, +7. John G. Davis, F. S., +8. Daniel Mace, F. S., +9. Graham N. Fitch, +10. _Samuel Brenton_. + +IOWA. +1. Lincoln Clark, L. R., +2. Bernhardt Henn, L. R. + +KENTUCKY. +1. LINN BOYD, +2. _Ben. Edward Grey, L. R._, +3. _Presley Ewing_, +4. _William T. Ward_, +5. James N. Stone (rep.), +6. _Addison White_, +7. _Humphrey Marshall_, +8. John C. Breckenridge, L. R., +9. John C. Mason, +10. Richard H. Stanton. + +LOUISIANA. +1. ----, +2. ----, +3. ----, +4. ----. + +MAINE. +1. Moses McDonald, L. R., +2. John Appleton,[A] +3. _Robert Goodenow_, +4. Charles Andrews, F. S., +5. Ephraim K. Smart, F. S., +6. _Israel Washburn, jr._, +7. THOMAS J. D. FULLER. + +MARYLAND. +1. ----, +2. ----, +3. ----, +4. ----, +5. ----, +6. ----. + +MASSACHUSETTS. +1. _William Appleton_, +2. Robert Rantoul, jr., F. S., +3. _James H. Duncan_, +4. _B. Thompson_, +5. _Charles Allen, F. S._, +6. George T. Davis, +7. John Z. Goodrich, +8. Horace Mann, F. S., +9. _Oron Fowler_, +10. _Zeno Scudder_. + +MICHIGAN. +1. _Ebenezer J. Penniman, F. S._, +2. Charles E. Stuart, L. R., +3. _James L. Conger, F. S._ + +MISSISSIPPI. +1. ----, +2. ----, +3. ----, +4. ----. + +MISSOURI. +1. _John F. Darby_, +2. _Gilchrist Porter_, +3. _John G. Miller_, +4. Willard P. Hall, Anti-Benton, +5. John S. Phelps, Benton. + +NEW HAMPSHIRE. +1. _Amos Tuck_, +2. CHARLES H. PEASLEE, +3. _Jared Perkins_, +4. Harry Hibbard, L. R. + +NEW JERSEY. +1. Nathan T. Stratten, +2. Charles D. Skelton, L. R., +3. ISAAC WILDRICK, +4. George H. Brown, +5. Rodman M. Price, L. R. + +NEW-YORK. +1. John G. Floyd, F. S., +2. _Obadiah Bowne_, +3. Emanuel B. Hart, L. R., +4. _J. H. Hobart Haws_, +5. _George Briggs_, +6. _James Brooks_, +7. Abraham P. Stevens, L. R., +8. Gilbert Dean, F. S., +9. William Murray, F. S., +10. _Marius Schoonmaker_, +11. Josiah Sutherland, F. S., +12. David L. Seymour, L. R., +13. _John L. Schoolcraft_, +14. _John H. Boyd_, +15. Joseph Russell, F. S., +16. _John Wells_, +17. Alexander H. Buel, F. S., +18. Preston King, F. S., +19. Willard Ives, F. S., +20. Timothy Jenkins, F. S., +21. William W. Snow, F. S., +22. _Henry Bennett_, +23. Leander Babcock, F. S., +24. Daniel T. Jones, F. S., +25. Thomas Y. How, Jr., F. S., +26. _Henry S. Walbridge_, +27. _William A. Sacket_, +28. _Ab. M. Schermerhorn_, +29. _Jerediah Horsford_, +30. Reuben Robie, F. S., +31. _Frederick S. Martin_, +32. _Solomon G. Haven_, +33. _Aug. P. Hascall_, +34. _Lorenzo Burrows_. + +NORTH CAROLINA. +1. _Thomas L. Clingman_,[C] +2. _Joseph P. Caldwell, L. R._, +3. _Alfred Dackery_, +4. _James T. Morehead_, +5. Abraham W. Venable, S. R., L. R., +6. John R. J. Daniel, S. R., +7. WILLIAM S. ASHE, +8. _Edward Stanley_, +9. _David Outlaw_. + +OHIO. +1. David T. Disney, L. R., +2. _Lewis D. Campbell, L. R._, +3. _Hiram Bell_, +4. _Benjamin Stanton_, +5. Alfred P. Edgerton, +6. Frederick Green, +7. _Nelson Barrere_, +8. _John L. Taylor, L. R._, +9. Edson B. Olds, L. R., +10. Charles Sweetser, +11. George H. Busby, +12. _John Welsh_, +13. James M. Gaylord, +14. _Alexander Harper_, +15. _William F. Hunter_, +16. _John Johnson, Md. L. R._, +17. Joseph Cable, L. R., +18. David K. Cartter, +19. _Eben Newton, F. S._, +20. Josh R. Giddings, F. S., +21. N. S. Townshend, F. S., L. R. + +PENNSYLVANIA. +1. Thomas B. Florence, L. R.,[A] +2. _Joseph R. Chandler_, +3. _Henry D. Moore_, L. R., +4. John Robbins, jr., L. R., +5. John McNair, +6. Thomas Ross, +7. John A. Morrison, L. R., +8. _Thaddeus Stevens_, +9. J. Glancy Jones, +10. Milo M. Dimmick, +11. _Henry M. Fuller_,[A] +12. Galusha A. Grow, F. S., +13. James Gamble, +14. _T. M. Bibighaus_, +15. William H. Kurtz, +16. J. X. McLanahan, +17. Andrew Parker, +18. John L. Dawson, +19. _Joseph H. Kuhns_, +20. _John Allison_, +21. _Thomas M. Howe_, +22. _John W. Howe_, +23. Carlton B. Curtis, L. R., +24. Alfred Gilmore, L. R. + +RHODE ISLAND. +1. _George G. King_, +2. Benj. B. Thurston, F. S. + +SOUTH CAROLINA. +1. Daniel Wallace, +2. James L. Orr, +3. Jos. A. Woodard, +4. John McQueen, +5. Armistead Burt, +6. William Aiken, +7. William F. Colcock. + +TENNESSEE. +1. Andrew Johnson, L. R., +2. _Albert G. Watkins_, L. R., +3. _Josiah M. Anderson_, L. R., +4. John H. Savage, S. R., L. R., +5. GEORGE W. JONES, L. R., +6. William H. Polk, L. R., +7. _Meredith P. Gentry_, L. R., +8. _William Cullom_, +9. Isham G. Harris, S. R., L. R., +10. Frederick P. Stanton, L. R., +11. _Christopher H. Williams_, L. R. + +TEXAS. +1. ----, +2. ----. + +VERMONT. +1. _Ahiman L. Miner_, +2. _William Hebard_, +3. _James Meacham_, +4. Thos. Bartlett, jr., F. S. + +VIRGINIA. +1. ----, +2. ----, +3. ----, +4. ----, +5. ----, +6. ----, +7. ----, +8. ----, +9. ----, +10. ----, +11. ----, +12. ----, +13. ----, +14. ----, +15. ----. + +NEBRASKA. +----. + +OREGON. +1. Joseph Lane, Ind. L. R. + +WISCONSIN. +1. Charles Durkee, F. S., +2. Ben. C. Eastman, L. R., +3. James D. Doty, Md., F. S., L. R. + +MINNESOTA. +1. H. H. Sibley, Ind. + +NEW MEXICO. +----. + +UTAH. +----. + + Democrats, in Roman; Whigs, in _italics_; "Union"-men in + SMALL-CAPITALS. + + [A] Seats contested. Whig Unionists marked with a [B]; Whig + Southern Rights with a [C]; F. S., Free Soil; L. R., Land + Reform. + + So far as heard from, the Delegations from thirteen States + are Democratic; six are Whig; four tied. Arkansas and Texas + to hear from, and elections are to be held in the six + remaining States. + + +THE ELECTIONS FOR STATE OFFICERS. + + ALABAMA.--Hon. HENRY W. COLLIER, a Southern Rights Democrat, + is re-elected Governor of this State. + + TENNESSEE.--Gen. WILLIAM B. CAMPBELL, Union Whig, is elected + Governor of this State over the late Democratic incumbent, + Gen. William Trowsdale. + + KENTUCKY.--Lazarus W. Powell (Democrat), it is reported is + elected Governor; a John B. Thompson, (Whig) Lieut. + Governor; and Rev. Robert J. Breckenridge, (Whig) + Superintendent of Public Instruction. Not much of a party + contest for the remaining State Officers. One Congressional + District (the 5th) in doubt as we go to press, the friends + of Clement S. Hill (Whig) hoping that he is elected, but + Stone has made gains enough to secure his election. + + +RECAPITULATION OF CONGRESS. + + SENATE. HOUSE. + +_States._ _Dem._ _Whig._ _Vac._ _Dem._ _Whig._ _Vac._ + +Alabama 2 0 0 5 2 0 +Arkansas 2 0 0 0 0 1 +California 2 0 0 0 0 2 +Connecticut 1 0 1 3 1 0 +Delaware 1 1 0 1 0 0 +Florida 1 1 0 0 1 0 +Georgia 0 2 0 0 0 8 +Illinois 2 0 0 6 1 0 +Indiana 2 0 0 8 2 0 +Iowa 2 0 0 2 0 0 +Kentucky 0 2 0 5 5 0 +Louisiana 2 0 0 0 0 4 +Maine 2 0 0 5 2 0 +Maryland 0 2 0 0 0 6 +Massachusetts 1 1 0 3 7 0 +Michigan 2 0 0 1 2 0 +Mississippi 2 0 0 0 0 4 +Missouri 1 1 0 2 3 0 +New Hampshire 2 0 0 2 2 0 +New Jersey 1 1 0 4 1 0 +New York 0 2 0 17 17 0 +North Carolina 0 2 0 3 6 0 +Ohio 1 1 0 11 10 0 +Pennsylvania 1 1 0 15 9 0 +Rhode Island 1 1 0 1 1 0 +South Carolina 2 0 0 7 0 0 +Tennessee 0 1 1 6 5 0 +Texas 2 0 0 0 0 2 +Vermont 0 2 0 1 3 0 +Virginia 2 0 0 0 0 15 +Wisconsin 2 0 0 3 0 0 + -- -- -- -- -- -- +Total, 39 21 2 111 80 42 + +In New-York, the Democratic party will meet in convention on the 10th +of this present month of September, to prepare for approaching +elections, and, on the following day, the United Whig party will hold +its annual convention in the same city--the State Central Committee of +both sections of it having united in a call for that purpose. + +The Convention of Virginia, which has been sitting at Richmond during +the last eight months, have at length agreed upon the form of a new +Constitution for that State, and brought its session to a close. The +Constitution has yet to be submitted to a vote of the people, but of +its acceptance no doubt appears to be entertained. It is to be voted +for on the 23d of October. + +The President of the United States, accompanied by the Secretaries of +War and Interior, has been received with much enthusiasm in various +places in eastern Virginia, through which he passed on his way to the +White Sulphur Springs. The Secretary of State has been passing a few +weeks among the lakes and mountains of New Hampshire, where he will +remain probably till October; and the Secretary of the Treasury has +been detained by ill health at his residence in Ohio. + +Reports from the various agricultural districts of the Union indicate +that the wheat harvest of 1851 will be the heaviest ever raised. In +New-York, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin, the yield is very large, +and the wheat excellent. In the Northern and Central Illinois, heavy +rains have destroyed a portion of the crop, but in the Southern +portion of the State it will be abundant. In Ohio, advices from all +quarters of the State show that the wheat crop of the present season +will be the largest ever grown in the State. In Iowa, the yield is +indifferent. Of corn there will probably be an average crop. Potatoes +in several parts of the country have suffered from the rot. + +The cholera prevails to some extent in the valley of the Mississippi, +and other parts of the Southern and Western States. Among the Sioux +Indians it has been very fatal. The treaty just formed with the Sioux +Indians, secures to the United States all the land in the entire +valley of the Minnesota, and the eastern tributaries of the Sioux, +estimated at 21,000,000 of acres. + +From Texas, we learn that there has been great excitement at Rio +Grande, in consequence of the Mexicans refusing to surrender a +fugitive slave. It is said that 2,000 slaves have made their escape +into Mexico. + +There have been several arrivals from California, and by every one +evidence has been furnished of a very unfortunate condition of +affairs. Dissatisfied with the manner in which justice is executed, or +perhaps with a view to the complete overthrow of the government, large +numbers of men have associated themselves at San Francisco and +elsewhere, and assumed all the functions of a magistracy, treating the +constituted authorities with contempt, and, in secret assemblies, +deciding questions of life and of all the highest interests of +society. By their directions, several persons accused of crimes have +been murdered, and all the officers of the law have been set at +defiance. In other respects, the news from California and other parts +of the Pacific coast is without remarkable features; the general +prosperity continues in mining, agriculture, and trade; and such is +the energy of the inhabitants of that city, that San Francisco has +nearly recovered from the effects of the disastrous fires with which +it has been visited. The arrival at New-York, on the 13th of August, +of the steamer Prometheus, in 29 days from San Francisco, by the new +route of Lake Nicaragua and the river San Juan, establishes the +practicability and advantages of this route. The shortest trip ever +made by the Panama route, it is said, was in 31 days. + + +CUBA. + +The people of the United States have been kept in a state of +excitement during a portion of the last month by reports of a +revolution in the Island of Cuba. It is not yet possible to discover +very clearly, what are the facts, but it is certain, that there were +insurrectionary movements commencing about the 4th of July, in several +parts of the Island; that they were badly planned, and inefficiently +executed, and that the whole attempt, having caused the ruin of a vast +number of persons, is at an end, and has resulted in the firmer +establishment of the Spanish authority. + + +BRITISH AMERICA. + +The Provincial Government persists in its refusal to concede the +navigation of the St. Lawrence to foreign vessels till it obtains an +equivalent from the United States. A motion against removing the +Executive Government to Quebec, until after the expiration of four +years from the time of its removal to Toronto, has been negatived the +House of Commons by a vote of 48 to 12. It is believed that the +removal will be decided on during the present season. + + +MEXICO. + +The financial embarrassments of the government and people engross the +general attention, and though it has been believed that a scheme of +administration for augmenting the revenue would be successful, yet the +country is so unsettled, and the dissatisfaction with the government +so common, and the spirit of revolution so diffused, that only +confusion and accelerated ruin can very reasonably be predicted of the +country. Insurrectionary movements by parties having in view the +recall and dictatorship of Santa Anna, have been put down in Chiapos +and Tobasco. + + +SOUTH AMERICA. + +In Buenos Ayres Rosas had been disturbed by the disaffection of +General Urquiza. Rosas was making active preparations to oppose +hostile attacks. The fortieth Anniversary of the Independence of +Venezuela was celebrated at Caraccas with great enthusiasm. Venezuela +remains perfectly tranquil. The insurrection in the Southern Provinces +of New-Grenada has not yet been quelled, and the troops of the +Government have suffered a defeat. + + +EUROPE AND ASIA. + +We are compelled to abridge our notices of foreign events to a mere +statement of dates. In ENGLAND the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill finally +passed the House of Lords on the 28th of July, and receiving the royal +signature became a law. Little other business of importance was +accomplished before the prorogation of Parliament, which took place on +the 8th of August. In FRANCE the motion for a revision of the +constitution was rejected in the Assembly at Paris on Saturday, July +19. Out of 736 members, in the Assembly, 724 were present and +voted--446 in favor of the revision and 278 against it; but as a +majority of three quarters was required to carry the motion, it +failed. On the 31st of July the Assembly elected a Committee of +Permanence, consisting of twenty-five of the most dignified of its +members, to sit during the vacation, which it was decided should last +from the 10th of August to the 4th of November. From RUSSIA we have +news of an important victory of the Turkomans over the Russian troops +in the harbor of Astrabad, and the Russians have also suffered an +extraordinary and most important defeat in the Caucasus. In ITALY +every thing is calm, but the oppressions of the ecclesiastical +government are more and more intolerable and outrageous. The Pope has +returned from his residence at Castel Gandolfo to Rome. The rebellion +in the southern provinces of CHINA appears to be still unchecked. + + + + +_Recent Deaths._ + + +The Rev. STEPHEN OLIN, D.D. president of the Wesleyan University, died +at Middletown on the 16th of August. He was a native of Vermont, and +was educated at Middlebury College. He entered the itinerant ministry +in the Methodist Episcopal Church, in 1824, uniting himself with the +South Carolina conference. His next two years were spent in +Charleston. His labors proved too severe, and in 1826 he became what +is called in the Methodist Church a supernumerary, with permission to +travel for the benefit of his health. He was a local preacher for the +same reason until 1828, but in 1829 resumed his itinerant labors. In +1832 he was again compelled to relinquish the labors the itinerancy +imposed, and was appointed by the Georgia conference a professor in +Franklin College. In 1833 he was elected president of Randolph +College, Macon, Geo., which position he held until elected President +of the Wesleyan University. In 1837 he travelled in Europe and the +East, and on his return published an account of his Travels, in two +volumes, which were very popular. + + * * * * * + +Baron de Ledeirir, the celebrated Russian botanist, died at Munich on +the 23d of July, aged sixty-five. At the early age of nineteen he was +appointed Professor of Botany in the University of Dorpat, and in 1820 +he obtained the botanical chair in the University of St. Petersburg. +In 1821 he was elected member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, and +by order of the Emperor Alexander undertook to compile the _Russian +Flora_. To collect materials for this great work he spent sixteen +years in visiting different parts of the vast Empire of Russia, and +went as far as the frontiers of China and into Siberia. In 1848 the +state of his health obliged him to take up his residence at Munich. +There he labored at his _Flora_, and had the satisfaction of +completing it two months before his death. + + * * * * * + +Edward Quillinan, son-in-law to Wordsworth, and known in the select +rather than in the wide world of letters, as a poet, a scholar, a +contributor to more than one literary publication, and the author of +one or two separate works, died in July. + + * * * * * + +Harriet Lee, the celebrated writer of the "Canterbury Tales," was the +youngest sister of Sophia Lee, the author of _The Recess_, and of many +popular dramas and novels. These ladies were daughters of John Lee, +who had been bred to the law, but became an actor of much repute at +Covent Garden Theatre, and ended his life as manager of the Bath +Theatre. Sophia Lee, the elder daughter, who was born more than one +hundred years ago (her sister Harriet, the subject of this notice, +being a few years her junior), produced, in 1780, a comedy, entitled, +"The Chapter of Accidents," which was performed with considerable +success. The profits enabled the two sisters to open a school at Bath, +which they carried on for many years with high credit and prosperity. +In 1782 Sophia Lee brought out her most popular novel, _The Recess_, +which was followed by other tales, and by _Almayda, Queen of Grenada_, +a tragedy, in which Mrs. Siddons acted. Soon after, Harriet Lee +published the first five volumes of her _Canterbury Tales_. Two of the +stories, _The Young Lady's Tale_, and the _The Clergyman's Tale_, were +written by her sister Sophia; the rest by herself. One of these +Canterbury Tales, by Harriet Lee, named _Kruitzner_, became afterwards +famous for having formed the subject and the plot of Byron's gloomy +tragedy of _Werner_. Harriet Lee's other principal works were the +_Error of Innocence_, a novel; the _Mysterious Marriage_, a play; +_Clara Lennox_, a novel; and a _New Peerage_, begun in 1787. The last +days of the sisters were passed near Bristol, where Sophia died in +1824, and Harriet on the first of August, 1851. + + * * * * * + +Dr. Julius, the author of an able work on the Prisons and Criminal Law +in the United States, died about the end of July, in London. Dr. +Julius was editor of the Berlin _Zeitungshalle_ during the revolution +of 1848, and was greatly respected for his talents and courage. Kinkel +pronounced a touching _oraison funebre_ over his grave. + + * * * * * + +Rev Azariah Smith, M.D., missionary of A.B.C.F.M. to the Armenians, +died at Aintab, Syria, in the early part of June, in the 35th year of +his age. + + * * * * * + +General Henry A. S. Dearborn, of Roxbury, died suddenly at Portland, +Me., on the twenty-ninth of July. He was a native of New-Hampshire, +and was born March 3d, 1783, and removed with his father to the county +of Kennebec in Maine in 1784. His father having been twice elected to +Congress from the Kennebec district, prior to 1801, and on the +accession of Mr. Jefferson to the Presidency, appointed Secretary of +War, his son Henry was taken to Washington, and educated at the +College of William and Mary in Virginia. In 1806 he established +himself in the profession of law, in which he continued but few years, +the excitements of public life having more attractions for him than +the quiet pursuit of that profession. He took a prominent part in the +politics, of the country, filled many important public stations, among +which was the collectorship of Boston, in which he succeeded his +father in 1812, and remained many years. He also distinguished himself +in literature, and by efforts for the promotion of public +improvements. He was a member of the Convention of Massachusetts for +revising the constitution of that state, in 1821, a member of the +Governor's Council in 1831, member of Congress in 1832, +Adjutant-General of Massachusetts in 1835, and at the time of his +death Mayor of Roxbury. He was a man of fine manners, cultivated mind, +and liberal views. While he held the office of Collector of Boston, he +improved the favorable opportunity to collect statistics relative to +the commerce of the country, and particularly that to countries +connected with the Mediterranean, which he embodied in a valuable +work, entitled _The Commerce and Navigation of the Black Sea_, in +three volumes octavo. In 1839 he published a series of letters _To the +Secretary of the State of Massachusetts, on the Internal Improvements +and the Commerce of the West_, containing extremely valuable +information on those subjects. He recently published a life of the +_Apostle Elliot_, to aid in the construction of a monument in Roxbury +to the memory of that celebrated missionary, and among his other +published writings is a _Life of Commodore Bainbridge_. He left in MS. +a work on Architecture, another on Flowers, and an extended Memoir of +his Father, embodying all his journal in his expedition through Maine +to Canada, his imprisonment in Quebec, and a vast deal of other +Revolutionary matter. He was constantly throwing off essays in various +periodicals, to promote the interests of society. Among other claims +upon public gratitude, was his untiring zeal in the cause of +horticultural and agricultural improvements. Few did more than he to +elevate this important branch of industry. As a politician he was most +prominent for his connection with the Native American party, by which +he was nominated for the Vice Presidency of the United States. + + * * * * * + +In another part of this magazine we have given a sketch of the late +Dr. MOIR, from the pen of Mr. Gilfillan. The deceased physician and +litterateur died at Dumfries, on the 6th of July, in the fifty-third +year of his age, having left his home in Musselburg, near Edinburgh, +to visit in Dumfries his friend, Mr. Aird. Of the poems of "Delta," +Professor Wilson says: "Delicacy and grace characterize his happiest +composition; some of them are beautiful, in a cheerful spirit that has +only to look on nature to be happy, and others breathe to simplest and +purest pathos." Similar praise was given him by Lord Jeffrey. We do +not think so highly of his abilities. In verse, Dr. Moir had the fatal +gift of facility, and he cultivated it at the ordinary penalty. His +poetry is not made to survive him. He was a man, however, of varied +accomplishments; and is the author, besides his considerable body of +verse, of a prose narrative, _Mansie Wauch, Tailor of Dalkieth_, a +very excellent book of _Outlines of the Ancient History of Medicine_, +being a View of the Progress of the _Healing Art among the Egyptians, +Greeks, Romans, and Arabians_, and of _Sketches of the Poetical +Literature of the past Half Century, in Six Lectures_, a work which +has the sketchy character and incompleteness common to its class. The +_Legend of Genevieve, with other Tales and Poems_, and _Domestic +Verses_, are the two poetical volumes of his which have been published +in a collected form. + + * * * * * + +General Sir Roger H. Sheaffe, Bart., died on the 17th July, at +Edinburgh, at the advanced age of 88 years. He entered the army in +1778. In 1798 he became a lieut. colonel, and the next year served in +Holland. He served in the expedition to the Baltic in 1801 under Sir +Hyde Parker and Lord Nelson. He also served in North America, and, in +1812, the Americans having invaded Upper Canada, at Queenston, when +General Brock, commanding in the province, fell in an effort to oppose +the enemy, they posted themselves on a woody height above Queenston. +Major-General Sheaffe, upon whom the command devolved, assembled some +regular troops and militia, with a few Indians, and on the same day +attacked and completely defeated the Americans, their general +delivering his sword to Major-General Sheaffe, and surrendering the +surviving troops on the field of battle, their number far exceeding +the assailants. For these brilliant services Sir Roger Sheaffe was +created a baronet of the United Kingdom. + + * * * * * + +Louis Jacques Maude Daguerre, whose name is for ever associated with +the photographic process, of which he was the discoverer, died on the +tenth of July, in Paris, in the sixty-second year of his age. He was a +man of extreme modesty and great personal worth, and was devoted to +art. He was favorably known to the world before the announcement of +his discovery of the Daguerreotype. His attempts to improve panoramic +painting, and the production of dioramic effects, were crowned with +the most eminent success. Among his pictures, which attracted much +attention at the time of their exhibition were, The Midnight Mass, +Land-slip in the Valley of Goldau, The Temple of Solomon, and The +Cathedral of Sainte Marie de Montreal. In these the alternate effects +of night and day, and storm and sunshine, were beautifully produced. +To these effects of light were added others, from the decomposition of +form, by means of which, for example, in The Midnight Mass, figures +appeared where the spectators had just beheld seats, altars, &c., and +again, as in The Valley of Goldau, in which rocks tumbling from the +mountains replaced the prospect of a smiling valley. The methods +adopted in these pictures were published at the same time with the +process of the Daguerreotype, by order of the French Government, who +awarded an annual pension of ten thousand francs to Daguerre and M. +Niepce, jr., whose father had contributed towards the discovery of the +Daguerreotype. Daguerre was led to experiments on chemical changes by +solar radiations, with the hope of being able to apply the phenomena +to the production of effects in his dioramic paintings. As the +question of the part taken by him in the process to which he has given +his name, has been discussed sometimes to his disadvantage, it appears +important that his position should be correctly determined. In 1802, +Wedgwood, of Etruria, the celebrated potter, made the first recorded +experiments in photography; and these, with some additional ones by +Sir Humphrey Davy, were published in the journals of the royal +institution. In 1814, Mr. Joseph Nicephore Niepce was engaged in +experiments to determine the possibility of fixing the images obtained +in the camera obscura; but there does not appear any evidence of +publication of any kind previously to 1827, when Niepce was in +England. He there wrote several letters to Mr. Bauer, the microscopic +observer, which are preserved and printed in Hunt's _Researches on +Light_. He also sent specimens of results obtained to the Royal +Society, and furnished some to the cabinets of the curious, a few of +which are yet in existence. These were pictures on metallic plates +covered with a fine film of resin. In 1824 Daguerre commenced his +researches, starting at that point at which Wedgwood left the process. +He soon abandoned the employment of the nitrate and chloride of +silver, and proceeded with his inquiry, using plates of metal and +glass to receive his sensitive coatings. In 1829 M. Vincent Chevalier +brought Niepce and Daguerre together, when they entered into +partnership to prosecute the subject in common. For a long time they +appear to have used the resinous surfaces only, when the contrast +between the resin and the metal plates not being sufficiently great to +give a good picture, endeavors were made to blacken that part of the +plate from which the resin was removed in the process of _heliography_ +(sun-drawing), as it was most happily called. Amongst other materials, +iodine was employed; and Daguerre certainly was the first to notice +the property possessed by the iodine coating of changing under the +influence of the sun's rays. The following letter from Niepce to +Daguerre is on this subject: + + "81, LOUP DE VARENNES, June 23, 1831. + +"_Sir, and dear Partner_: I had long expected to hear from you with +too much impatience not to receive and read with the greatest pleasure +your letters of the tenth and twenty-first of last May. I shall +confine myself in this reply to yours of the twenty-first, because, +having been engaged ever since it reached me in your experiments on +iodine, I hasten to communicate to you the results which I have +obtained. I had given my attention to similar researches previous to +our connection, but without hope of success, from the impossibility, +or nearly so, in my opinion, of fixing in any durable manner the +images received on iodine, even supposing the difficulty surmounted of +replacing the lights and shadows in their natural order. My results in +this respect have been entirely similar to those which the oxide of +silver gave me; and promptitude of operation was the sole advantage +which these substances appeared to offer. Nevertheless, last year, +after you left this, I subjected iodine to new trials, but by a +different mode of application. I informed you of the results, and your +answer, not at all encouraging, decided me to carry these experiments +no farther. It appears that you have since viewed the question under a +less desperate aspect, and I do not hesitate to reply to the appeal +which you have made. + + "J. N. NIEPCE." + +From this and other letters it is evident that Niepce had used iodine, +and abandoned it on account of the difficulty of reversing the lights +and shadows. Daguerre employed it also, and, as it appears, with far +more promise of success than any obtained by M. Niepce. On the fifth +of July, 1833, Niepce died; in 1837 Daguerre and Isodore Niepce, the +son and heir of Nicephore Niepce, entered into a definite agreement; +and in a letter written on the first November, 1837, to Daguerre, +Isodore Niepce says, "What a difference, also, between the method +which you employ and the one by which I toil on! While I require +almost a whole day to make one design, you ask only four minutes! What +an enormous advantage! It is so great, indeed, that no person, knowing +both methods, would employ the old one." From this time it is +established, that although both Niepce and Daguerre used iodine, the +latter alone employed it with any degree of success, and the discovery +of the use of mercurial vapor to produce the positive image clearly +belongs to Daguerre. In January, 1839, the Daguerreotype pictures were +first shown to the scientific and artistic public of Paris. The +sensation they created was great, and the highest hopes of its utility +were entertained. On the 15th June, M. Duchatel, Minister of the +Interior, presented a bill to the Chamber of Deputies relative to the +purchase of the process of M. Daguerre for fixing the images of the +camera. A commission appointed by the Chamber, consisting of Arago, +Etienne, Carl, Vatout, de Beaumont, Toursorer, Delessert (Francois), +Combarel de Leyval, and Vitet, made their report on the third of July, +and a special commission was appointed by the Chamber of Peers, +composed of the following peers: Barons Athalin, Besson, Gay Lussac, +the Marquis de Laplace, Vicomte Simeon, Baron Thenard, and the Comte +de Noe, who reported favorably on the thirtieth July, 1839, and +recommended unanimously that the "bill be adopted simply and without +alteration." On the nineteenth of August the secret was for the first +time publicly announced in the Institute by M. Arago, the English +patent having been completed a few days before, in open defiance and +contradiction of the statement of M. Duchatel to the Chamber of +Deputies, who used these words, "Unfortunately for the authors of this +beautiful discovery, it is impossible for them to bring their labor +into the market, and thus indemnify themselves for the sacrifices +incurred by so many attempts so long fruitless. This invention does +not admit of being secured by patent." In conclusion, the Minister of +the Interior said, "You will concur in a sentiment which has already +awakened universal sympathy; you will never suffer us to leave to +foreign nations the glory of endowing the world of science and of art +with one of the most wonderful discoveries that honor our native +land." Daguerre never did much towards the improvement of his process. +The high degree of sensibility which has been attained has been due +to the experiments of others. + +[Illustration: M. DAGUERRE.] + +Daguerre is said to have been always averse to sitting for his own +picture, and there are but few photographs of him in existence. The +one from which our engraving is copied was taken by Mr. Meade, of this +city, and first appeared in the _Daguerrean Journal_, a monthly +periodical conducted with marked ability by S. D. Humphrey and L. L. +Hill, who are distinguished for their improvements upon Daguerre's +process. We can refer to no more striking illustration of the advance +of the beautiful art which the deceased discovered, than the existence +of such a work, with more than two thousand subscribers among those +who are occupied in the production of Daguerreotypes in this country. + + * * * * * + +The Rev. John Lingard, D. D., one of the most deservedly eminent +scholars and writers of the Roman Catholic church in England, and one +of the most distinguished historians of the time, died at Hornby, in +Lancashire, on the 17th of July, at the advanced age of 81 years, and +his remains were buried at Ushaw College, Durham, with which he was +once officially connected. The deceased priest has left a reputation +that will probably survive that of any of the persons of his sect who +have been brought into notice by the recent agitations in England. His +career as a controversial writer commenced while he was a young man, +and was continued through a large portion of his laborious life. He +was an unknown priest at Newcastle-on-Tyne, when, in 1804, he issued +from the local press in that town his _History of the Anglo-Saxon +Church_, a work which constituted the first and most efficient effort +to attract popular attention to those ecclesiastical institutions of +the Saxons, which are now familiar objects of study and speculation. +In 1805 he published Catholic Loyalty Vindicated. The next year, the +bishop of Durham, in a charge to his clergy, having attacked the Roman +Catholics, Mr. Lingard answered him, in Remarks on a Charge. This +brought on a sharp controversy, in which several persons of ability +took part, and Mr. Lingard published a General Vindication of the +Remarks, with Replies to the Reverend T. Le Mesurier, G. S. Faber, and +others (1808). These two pamphlets were followed, on the same subject, +by Documents to ascertain the Sentiments of British Catholics in +former Ages (1812); a Review of certain Anti-Catholic Publications +(1813); and Strictures on Doctor Marsh's Comparative View of the +Churches of England and Rome (1815). In the last of these +publications, Mr. Lingard asserted that the church of England was +modern, compared with that of Rome; an assertion which so much +irritated the late Doctor Kipling, that he was absurd enough to +threaten the author with a process in Westminster-hall, if he did not +prove the truth of what he had stated. In 1809 Mr. Lingard published +the Antiquities of the Anglo-Saxon Church in an enlarged edition. +Doctor Lingard is principally known in foreign countries as the author +of a History of England till the Revolution of 1688, of which ten +editions have appeared and which has been translated into several +languages. Although the object of this work is the vindication of the +Roman Catholic church and clergy in England from the alleged +misrepresentations of Protestant writers, yet it is allowed to be +written in a candid and dispassionate tone. As a historian, the author +is acute and perspicuous, judicious in the selection and arrangement +of his materials, and clear and interesting in his narrative. He wrote +from original sources, which he examined with care and diligence, and +on many points gave new and more correct views of manners, events and +characters. In 1826, he published a Vindication, &c., in reply to two +articles in the Edinburgh Review (Nos. 83 and 87, written by Dr. +Allen), charging him with inaccuracy and misrepresentation. A more +favorable notice of the History appeared in No. 105 of the same +Review. + +The editions of his History, an English version of the Gospels, and +other learned publications, in pamphlet form, consumed the time +unoccupied by religious duty, or by converse with the neighbors and +friends, who continually courted his society. + +For the last forty years Dr. Lingard held the small and retired +preferment belonging to the Roman Catholic Church in the village of +Hornby, and there the historian resided, near to Hornby Castle, the +seat of his attached and constant friend, Mr. Pudsey Dawson. After a +lingering illness, he closed in this retirement his mortal career. + +Dr. Lingard's residence was a small unpretending building, with three +windows, connected with a little chapel built by himself, where, till +last autumn, he regularly officiated. A door of communication opened +into it from his house, the lower window of which lighted the room +where he usually sat, and where he wrote the History of England. His +garden consisted of a long strip, taken off a small grass field of +about half an acre in extent. Here he passed much of his time, in the +indulgence of his taste for rural occupations. + +The private virtues of Dr. Lingard were as remarkable as his public +talents. His whole habits of life were charmingly simple; his nature +was kind, his disposition most affectionate. Always they were +agreeable and profitable hours passed in his society, his mind was so +richly stored, his knowledge so varied, his fund of anecdote so +inexhaustible: a pleasantry and good humor pervaded his conversation +at all times. He never sought controversy in visits among his friends. +When questioned on the matters of his own faith, he would speak +freely; those warmly attached to the Established Church or other +creeds, widely differing from him in religious principles, never felt +restraint in his society, or anticipated any sharpness or acrimony. In +personal appearance he was rather above the middle height, and of +slender frame; and though he had reached to full four-score years, his +dark brown hair was but slightly tinged with gray: his small dark +twinkling eye was singularly expressive, and his countenance bright +and animated. The annexed portrait is from the miniature taken in +1849, by Mr. Scaife, and engraved for the last edition of the History +of England. + +It has been reported, though on doubtful authority, that very high +positions in the Roman Catholic Church were more than once offered to +Dr. Lingard. There is, it is believed, little or no truth in this; but +those who knew his simple habits, and his love of retirement, would +not be surprised at his preferring, even to the purple, his peaceful +residence in the loveliest locality of the loveliest of England's +northern valleys. + +[Illustration: REV. JOHN LINGARD, D. D.] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: MARSHAL SEBASTIANI.] + +Horace Francois della Porta Sebastiana, Marshal of France, and for +some time Minister of Foreign Affairs under Louis Phillippe, died in +Paris on the 14th of July. He was born in Corsica, in 1775, and having +entered the French service in 1792, rose rapidly through the different +ranks to that of colonel. Colonel Sebastiani took an active part in +the revolution of the 18th Brumaire, and, in 1802, the First Consul +sent him on a mission to the Levant. After having brought about a +reconciliation of the differences between the court of Sweden and the +regency of Tripoli, and compelled the Pacha to acknowledge the Italian +republic and salute its flag, he repaired to Alexandria, and had an +interview with General Stewart, in order to insist on the terms of the +treaty of Amiens for the evacuation of Alexandria. To this demand the +English general replied that he had not received any orders from his +court. M. Sebastiani went therefore to Cairo, and in conferences with +the pacha offered to open a communication with the beys; but the offer +was not accepted, the orders of the Porte being to make it a war of +extermination. He afterwards went to St. Jean d'Acre, with the object +of settling with the pacha a treaty of commerce, and found him +pacifically inclined. In November he set out on his return to France, +having accomplished all the objects of his mission. He was, after his +arrival, employed on various services, and, among the rest in a +diplomatic mission to Germany. He distinguished himself in the +campaign of 1804, was wounded at the battle of Austerlitz, and +obtained the rank of general of division. Napoleon entertained a high +opinion of his diplomatic talents, and named him, in 1806, ambassador +to the Ottoman Porte--a mission which he filled for some years, with +much ability. He established at Constantinople a printing-office for +the Turkish and Arabic languages, and by this means contributed not a +little to the French influence in that country. The English having +forced the passage of the Dardanelles, and menaced Constantinople, +Sebastiani immediately organized a plan of defence, marked out the +batteries, and prepared for the most vigorous resistance; but the +inhabitants broke out into insurrection, and he was obliged to depart +for France. He was subsequently sent to Spain, where he distinguished +himself on numerous occasions; and he served in the Russian-German war +under Murat. July 15, 1812, he was surprised by the Russians at +Drissa, but he recovered his character by his exertions at the battle +of Borodino. On the invasion of France, he had a command in Champagne, +and defended Chalons. April 10, M. Sebastiani sent to M. Talleyrand +his adhesion to the provisional government, and, June 1, received from +the king the cross of St. Louis. On the return of Napoleon, in 1815, +he was elected deputy of the lower chamber, and after the second +abdication of Napoleon was one of the commissioners to treat for peace +with the allies. In 1819 he was elected a member of the Chamber of +Deputies, by the island of Corsica. His lucid and manly eloquence was +employed to throw light over all the great questions of finance, war, +foreign politics, and domestic administration, and he evinced at once +the talents of an orator and the knowledge of a statesman. After the +revolution of 1830, General Sebastiani received the port-folio of the +marine in the Guizot ministry, and in November that of foreign affairs +under Laffitte, which he retained under Perier. He received the baton +of Marshal from Louis Phillippe, and had retired from active political +life, when, in 1847, the assassination of his daughter, the Duchess de +Praslin, by her husband, affected him so much that he never recovered +from the blow. + + + + +Ladies' Midsummer Fashions. + + +[Illustration] + +There are few changes to notice in the modes de Paris. Every thing at +this season is, of course, made in an airy style, and of very light +materiel. We copy two of the most graceful costumes in the recent +books of patterns. + +I. _Morning Dress_ of white muslin, with flounces, ornamented with +needlework. Many dresses intended for neglige morning costume in the +country consists of a skirt of checkered or striped silk, printed +muslin, or some other light material. For morning neglige a variety of +very pretty caps have appeared; they are of worked muslin, and are +trimmed with ribbon and fine Valenciennes. + +II. _Visiting Dress_ of glace or rich silk, with three flounces, +embroidered. Mantelet of a splendid black lace, lined with pink silk, +and richly trimmed with a deep fall of black lace, which also +encircles the open sleeve. Bonnets of white _paille de riz_, decorated +in the interior with red and white flounces. + +_Coiffures_ are extremely simple in form. A wreath of ivy leaves +intermixed with small clusters of jewelry, and attached at the back +with a long lappet of gold lace, fastened by noeuds of pearls and +emeralds, has a fine effect. Head-dresses of blonde are extremely +becoming, forming three points. These are fashionable for concerts, +&c. They are placed backward on the head, the points at the side being +attached with a profusion of flowers, the centre one falling over the +back comb. Another style is of a lappet of white blonde, and another +of plain pink tulle; the lappet of blonde being fastened just over the +shoulder, and a little backward, with a bunch of grapes--the pink one, +which is very wide, covering the bosom like a veil, and drooping as +low as the waist. + +Fashionable colors are of all light mixtures, such as gray, lilac, +fawn, mauve, green, and peach color--white, pink, and blue +predominating for evening toilette. + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: JAMES FENIMORE COOPER. + +From a Daguerreotype by Brady, taken for the International. 1851] + +[Illustration: OTSEGO HALL. + +Residence of MR. COOPER. Cooperstown. From a drawing by MISS COOPER.] + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The International Monthly, Volume 4, +No. 2, September, 1851, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INTERNATIONAL MONTHLY, SEPT. 1851 *** + +***** This file should be named 36405.txt or 36405.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/4/0/36405/ + +Produced by Joshua Hutchinson, Josephine Paolucci and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by Cornell University Digital Collections.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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