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diff --git a/36530.txt b/36530.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cdc302e --- /dev/null +++ b/36530.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9410 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 60, +No. 372, October 1846, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 60, No. 372, October 1846 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: June 27, 2011 [EBook #36530] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH *** + + + + +Produced by Brendan OConnor, JoAnn Greenwood, Jonathan +Ingram and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Library of Early +Journals.) + + + + + + + + + + BLACKWOOD'S + EDINBURGH MAGAZINE. + +No. CCCLXXII. OCTOBER, 1846. VOL. LX. + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: A few obvious misprints have been corrected, but in +general the originally erratic spelling, punctuation and typesetting +conventions have been retained. Accents in foreign language poetry are +inconsistent in the original, and have not been standardized. Hyphenated +or nonhyphenated and accented or unaccented versions of same words +retained as in original when occurring evenly, or consistently by +individual author or speaker. Otherwise changed to most frequent use. + +P. 417, Dumas & C{ie.}, "ie." appears as superscript in original. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + WILD SPORTS AND NATURAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS, 389 + + LETTERS AND IMPRESSIONS FROM PARIS, 411 + + VISIT TO THE VLADIKA OF MONTENEGRO, 428 + + ELINOR TRAVIS. CHAPTER THE LAST, 444 + + HOCHELAGA, 464 + + LETTERS ON ENGLISH HEXAMETERS. LETTER III., 477 + + THE DANCE. FROM SCHILLER, 480 + + A NEW SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY, 481 + + POEMS. BY ELIZABETH BARRETT BARRETT, 488 + + THE CONDE'S DAUGHTER, 496 + + + EDINBURGH: + WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, 45, GEORGE STREET; + AND 37, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON. + + _To whom all Communications (post paid) must be addressed._ + + SOLD BY ALL THE BOOKSELLERS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. + + PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE AND HUGHES, EDINBURGH. + + + + +BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE. + +No. CCCLXXII. OCTOBER, 1846. VOL. LX. + + + + +WILD SPORTS AND NATURAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.[1] + + +THIS year we have been a defaulter on the Moors. Not that our eye has +become more dim, our aim less sure, or our understanding weaker than of +yore; but we are no longer subject to the same keen and burning impulses +which used periodically to beset us towards the beginning of our +departed Augusts, inflaming our destructive organs, and driving us to +the heather, as the stag is said to be driven by instinct to the shores +of the sea. Somehow or other, we now take things much more coolly. We no +longer haunt the shop of Dickson--that most excellent and unassuming of +gunmakers--for weeks before the shooting-season, discussing the +comparative excellences of cartridge and plain shot, or refitting our +battered apparatus with the last ingenuities of Sykes. Our talk is not +of pointers or of setters; neither do we think it incumbent upon us to +perambulate Princes Street in a shooting-jacket, or with the dissonance +of hobnailed shoes. We can even look upon the northern steamers, +surcharged with all manner of ammunition, crammed from stem to stern +with Cockney tourists and sportsmen, carriages and cars, hampers, +havresacks, and hair trunks, steering their way from our noble frith +towards the Highlands, without the slightest wish to become one of that +gay and gallant crew. Incredible as it may appear, we actually wrote an +article upon the twelfth of August last; nor was the calm, even tenor of +our thoughts for a moment interrupted by the imaginary whirr of the +gor-cock. For the life of us, we cannot recollect what sort of a day it +was. To be sure, we were early up and at work--that is, as early as we +ever are, somewhere about ten: we wrote on steadily until dinner-time, +with no more intermission than was necessary for the discussion of a +couple of glasses of Madeira. After a slight and salubrious meal, we +again tackled to the foolscap, and by nine o'clock dismissed the +printer's devil to his den with a quarter of a ream of manuscript. We +then strolled up to our club, where, for the first time, we were +reminded of the nature of the anniversary, by the savour of roasted +grouse. So, with a kind of melancholy sigh for the impairment of our +blunted energies, we sat down to supper, and leisurely explored the +pungent pepper about the backbone of the bird of the mountain. + +But empty streets, hot sun, and dust like that of the Sahara, are +combined nuisances too formidable for the most tranquil or indolent +nature. It is not good for any one to be the last man left in town. You +become an object of suspicion to the porters--that is, the more +superannuated portion of them, for the rest are all gone to carry bags +upon the moors--who, seeing you continue from day to day sidling along +the deserted streets, begin to entertain strange doubts as to the real +probity of your character, or, at all events, as to your absolute +sanity. If you are a lawyer, and remain in town throughout August and +September, your own conscience will tell you at once that you are +nothing short of an arrant sneak. Are there not ten other months in the +year throughout which you may cobble condescendences, without emulating +the endurance of Chibert, and confining yourself in an oven, to the +manifest endangerment of your liver, for the few paltry guineas which +may occasionally come tumbling in? Will any agent of sense consider you +a better counsel, or a more estimable plodder, because you affect an +exaggerated passion for _Morrison's Decisions_, and refuse to be +divorced even for a week from your dalliance with Shaw and Dunlop? Is +that unfortunate Lord Ordinary on the Bills to be harassed day and +night, deprived of his morning drive, and deranged in his digestive +organs, on account of your unhallowed lust for fees? Is your unhappy +clerk, whose wife and children have long since been dismissed to cheap +bathing-quarters on the coast of Fife, where at this moment they are +bobbing up and down among the tangled rocks, skirling as the waves come +in, or hunting for diminutive crabs and cavies in the sea-worn pools--is +that most oppressed and martyred of all mankind to be kept, by your +relentless fiat, or rather wicked obstinacy, from participating in the +same sanatory amusements with Bill, and Harry, and Phemie, and the rest +of his curly-headed weans? Think you that the complaints of Mrs Screever +will not be heard and registered against you in heaven, as, mateless and +disconsolate, she cheapens haddocks in the market, or plucks sea-pinks +along the cliffs of hoary Anstruther or of Crail? Shame upon you! +Recollect, for the sake of others, if not for your own, that you call +yourself a gentleman and a Christian. Shut up your house from top to +bottom--fee the policeman to watch it--wafer a ticket on the window, +directing all parcels to be sent to the grocer with whom you have +deposited the key--give poor Girzy a holiday to visit her friends at +Carnwath--and be off yourself, as fast as you can, wherever your +impulses may lead you, either to the Highlands with rod and gun, or, if +you are no sportsman, to Largs, or Ardrossan, or Dunoon, pleasant places +all, where you may saunter along the shore undisturbed from morn until +dewy eve, hire a boat at a shilling the hour, and purvey your own +whitings; or haply, if you are in good luck, take a prominent part in +the proceedings of a regatta, and make nautical speeches after dinner to +the intense amusement of your audience. + +But you say you are a physician. Well, then, cannot you leave your +patients to die in peace? It is six months since you were called in to +attend that old lady, who has a large jointure and a predisposition to +jaundice. You have visited her regularly once a day--sometimes +twice--prescribed for her a whole pharmacopeia of drugs--blistered her, +bled her, leeched her--curtailed her of wholesome diet, forbidden +cordial waters, and denounced the needful cinnamon. Dare you lay your +hand on your heart and say that you think her better? Not you. Why not, +then, give the poor old woman, who is not only harmless, but an +excellent subscriber to several Tract societies, one chance more of a +slightly protracted existence? Restore to her her natural food and +adventitious comforts. Send her away to Cheltenham or Harrowgate, or +some such other vale of Avoca, where, at all events, she may get fresh +air, clean lodgings, and lots of mineral water. So shall you escape the +pangs of an awakened conscience, and your deathbed be haunted by the +thoughts of at least one homicide the less. + +What we say to one we say to all. Stockbroker! you are a good fellow in +the main, and you never meant to ruin your clients. It was not your +fault that they went so largely into Glenmutchkins, and made such +unfortunate attempts to _bear_ the Biggleswade Junction. But why should +you continue to tempt the poor devils at this flat season of the year, +and with a glutted market, into any further purchases of scrip? You know +very well, that until November, at the earliest, there is not the most +distant prospect of a rise, and you have already pocketed, believe us, +a remarkably handsome commission. Do not be in too great a hurry to kill +the goose with the golden eggs. A rest for a month or so will make them +all the keener for speculation afterwards, and nurse their appetite for +premiums. We foresee a stirring winter, if you will but take things +quietly in the interim. Assemble your brethren together--shut up the +Exchange by common consent during the dog-days--convert your lists into +wadding, and let Mammon have a momentary respite.--Writer to the Signet! +is it fair to be penning letters, each of which costs your employer +three and fourpence, when they are certain to remain unanswered? Do not +do it. This is capital time for taking infeftments, and those +instruments of sasine may well suffice to plump out the interior of a +game-bag. No better witnesses in the world than a shepherd and an +illicit distiller; and sweet will be your crowning caulker as you take +instruments of earth and stone, peat and divot, and the like, in the +hands of Angus and Donald, by the side of the spring, far up in the +solitary mountain. Therefore, again we say, be off as speedily as you +can to the moors, and leave the Deserted City to sun and dust, and the +vigilance of a perspiring Town Council. + +Example, they say, is better than precept--we might demur to the +doctrine, but we are not in a disputatious humour. For we too are bound, +though late, to the land of grouse--indeed we have already accomplished +the greater part of our journey, and are writing this article in a +pleasant burgh of the west, separated only by an arm of the sea, across +which the bright-sailed yachts are skimming, from a long range of +heathery hills, whereon we hope, if it pleases fortune, to do some +execution on the morrow. Our three pointers, Orleans, Tours, and +Bordeaux--so named after the speculation that enabled us to purchase +them--are basking in the sun on the little green beneath our window; +whilst Scrip, our terrier and constant companion, is perched upon the +sill, barking with all his might at a peripatetic miscreant of a +minstrel, who for the last half hour has been grinding Gentle Zitella to +shreds in his barrel organ. We have tried in vain to move him with +coppers dexterously shied so as to hit him if possible on the head, but +the nuisance will not abate. We must follow the example of the +Covenanters, and put an end to him at the expenditure of a silver shot. +"There, our good fellow, is a shilling for you--have the kindness to +move on a few doors further; there are some sick folks in this house. At +the end of the row you will find a family remarkably addicted to +music--the house with the green blinds--you understand us? Thank you!" +And in a few moments we hear his infernal instrument, now not +unpleasantly remote, doling out the popular air of the Glasgow Chappie, +for the edification of the intolerable Gorbalier who poisoned our +passage down the Clyde by constituting himself our Cicerone, and +explaining the method by which one might discriminate the Railway boats +from those of the Castle Company, by the peculiar ochreing of their +funnels. + +Did we intend to remain here much longer, we should be compelled in +self-defence to clear the neighbourhood. This is not so impracticable as +at first sight may appear. We have made acquaintance with a very +pleasant fellow of a Bauldy--quite a genius in his way--who has a +natural talent for the French horn. To him an old key-bugle would be an +inestimable treasure, and we doubt not that with a few instructions he +would become such a proficient as to serenade the suburb day and night. +Nor would our conscience reproach us for having made one human creature +supremely happy, even at the cost of the emigration of a few dozen +others. But fortunately we have no need to recur to any such experiment. +To-morrow we shall enact the part of Macgregor with our foot upon our +native heather; and for one evening, wherever the locality, we could not +find a more apt or pleasant companion than Mr Charles St John, whose +sporting journals are at last published in the Home and Colonial +Library. + +We make this preliminary statement the more readily, because for divers +reasons we had hardly expected to find the work so truly excellent of +its kind; and had there been any shortcomings, assuredly we should have +been foul of St John. In the first place, we entertained, and do still +entertain, the opinion that very few English sportsmen are capable of +writing a work which shall treat not only of the Wild Sports, but of the +Natural History of the Highlands. They belong to a migratory class, and +seldom exchange the comforts of their clubs for the inconveniences of +northern rustication, at least before the month of June. Now and then, +indeed, you may meet with some of them, whose passion for angling +amounts to a mania, by the side of the Tweed or the Shin, long before +the mavis has hatched her young. But these are usually elderly +grey-coated men, whose whole faculties are bent upon hackles--the +patriarchs of a far nobler school than that of Walton--magnificent +throwers of the fly--salmonicides of the first water--yet in our humble +estimation not very conversant with any other subject under heaven. +Their sporting error--rather let us call it misfortune--is that they do +not generalise. By the middle of September their occupation for the year +is over. Shortly afterwards they assemble, like swallows about to leave +our shores, on the banks of the Tweed, which river is permitted by the +mercy of the British Parliament to remain open for a short time longer. +There they angle on, kill their penultimate and ultimate fish; and +finally, at the approach of winter, retreat to warmer quarters, and +recapitulate the campaigns of the summer over port of the most generous +vintage. These are clearly not the men to indite the Wild Sports and +Natural History of the North. + +The other section of English sportsmen come later and depart a little +earlier. They are the renters of moors, crack sportsmen in every sense +of the word, who resort to Ross-shire as regularly as they afterwards +emigrate to Melton. Now, as to their slaughtering powers, we entertain +not the shadow of a doubt. Steady shots and deadly are they from their +youth upwards--trained, it may be, upon level ground, but still unerring +in their aim. If not so wiry-sinewed, and sound of wind as the +Caledonian, their pluck is undeniable, and their perseverance +praiseworthy in the extreme. Show them the birds, and they will bring +them to bag--give them a fair chance at a red-deer, and the odds are +that next minute he shall be rolling in blood upon the heather. But +this, let it be observed, is after all a mere matter of tooling. To be a +good shot is only one branch of the finished sportsman's accomplishment, +and it enters not at all into the conformation of the naturalist. We +would not give a brace of widgeons for the best description ever written +of a week's sport in the Highlands, or indeed any where else, provided +it contained nothing more than an account of the killed and wounded, +some facetious anecdotes regarding the lives of the gillies, and a +narrative of the manner in which the author encountered and overcame a +hart. Even the adventures of a night in a still will hardly make the +book go down. We want an eye accustomed to look to other things beyond +the sight of a gun-barrel--we want to know more about the quarry than +the mere fact that it was flushed, fired at, and killed. Death can come +but once to the black-cock as to the warrior, but are their lives to be +accounted as nothing? Ponto we allow to be a beautiful brute--a little +too thin-skinned, perhaps, for the moors, and apt, in case of mist, to +lapse into a state of ague--yet, notwithstanding, punctual at his +points, and cheap at twenty guineas of the current money of the realm. +Howbeit we care not for his biography. To us it is matter of the +smallest moment from what breed he is descended, by whose gamekeeper he +was broken, neither are we covetous as to statistics of the number of +his brothers and sisters uterine. It is of course gratifying to know +that our southern acquaintance approves of the sport he has met with in +a particular district; and that on the twelfth, not only the bags but +the ponies were exuberantly loaded with a superfluity of fud and +feather. Such intelligence would have been listened to most benignly had +it been accompanied by a box of game duly addressed to us at +Ambrose's--as it is, we accept the fact without any spasm of +extraordinary pleasure. + +There are, we allow, some sporting tours from which we have derived both +profit and gratification; but the locality of these is usually remote +and unexplored. We like to hear of salmon-fishing in the Naamsen, and of +forty and fifty pounders captured in its brimful rapids--of bear-skalls +in Sweden, buffalo-hunting in the prairies, or the chase of the majestic +lion in Caffreland or Morocco. Such narratives have the charm of +novelty; and if, now and then, they border a little upon the marvellous +or miraculous, we do our best to summon up faith sufficient to bolt them +all. We by no means objected to Monsieur Violet's account of the +_estampades_ in California, or of the snapping turtles in the +cane-brakes of the Red River. He was, at all events, graphic in his +descriptions; and the zoology to which he introduced us, if not genuine, +was of a gigantic and original kind. In fact, no sort of voyage or +travel is readable unless it be strewn thickly with incident and +adventure, and these of a startling character. Nobody cares now-a-days +about meteorological observations, or dates, or distances, or names of +places; we have been tired with these things from the days of Dampier +downwards. Nor need any navigator hope to draw the public attention to +his facts unless he possesses besides a deal of the talent of the +novelist. If incident does not lie in his path, he must go out of his +way to seek it--if even then it should not appear, there is an absolute +necessity for inventing it. What a book of travels in Central Africa +could we not write, if any one would be kind enough to furnish us with a +mere outline of the route, and the authentic soundings of the Niger! + +Scotland, however, is tolerably well known to the educated people of the +sister country, and her productions have ceased to be a marvel. Grouse +are common as howtowdies in the London market; and even red-deer +venison, if asked for, may be had for a price. There is no great mystery +in the staple commodity of our sports. Something, it is true, may still +be said with effect regarding deer-stalking--a branch of the art +venatory which few have the opportunity to study, and of those few a +small fraction only can attain to a high degree. Grouse are to be found +on every hill, black-game in almost every correi; few are the woods, at +the present day, unhaunted by the roe; but the red-deer--the stag of +ten--he of the branches and the tines--is, in most parts of the country +save in the great forests, a casual and a wandering visitor; and many a +summer's day you may clamber over cairn and crag, inspect every scaur +and glen, and sweep the horizon around with your telescope, without +discovering the waving of an antler, or the impress of a transitory +footprint. But this subject is soon exhausted. Scrope has done ample +justice to it, and left but a small field untrodden to any literary +successor. The _Penny Magazine_, if we mistake not, disposed several +years ago of otter-hunting, and the chase of the fox as practised in the +rocky regions; and finally, Colquhoun--he of the Moor and the Loch--with +more practical knowledge and acute observation than any of his +predecessors, reduced Highland sporting to a science, and became the +Encyclopedist of the _ferA| naturA|_ of the hills. With these authorities +already before us, it was not unnatural that we should have entertained +doubts as to the capabilities of any new writer, not native nor to the +custom born. + +Neither did the puff preliminary, which heralded the appearance of this +volume, prepossess us strongly in its favour. What mattered it to the +sensible reader whether or no "the attention of the public has already +been called to this journal by the _Quarterly Review_ of December 1845?" +The book was not published, had not an existence, until seven or eight +months after that article--a reasonably indifferent one, by the way--was +penned; and yet we are asked to take that sort of pre-Adamite notice as +a verdict in its favour! Now, we object altogether to this species of +side-winded commendation, this reviewing, or noticing, or extracting +from manuscripts before publication, more especially in the pages of a +great and influential Review. It is always injudicious, because it looks +like the work of a coterie. In the present case it was doubly unwise, +because this volume really required no adventitious aid whatever, and +certainly no artifice, to recommend it to the public favour. + +Whilst, however, we consider it our duty to say thus much, let it not be +supposed that we are detracting from the merits of the extracts +contained in that article of the _Quarterly_. On the contrary, they +impressed us at the time with a high idea of the graphic power of the +writer, and presented an agreeable contrast to the general prolixity of +the paper. It is even possible that we are inclined to underrate the +efforts of the critic on account of his having forestalled us by +printing _The Muckle Hart of Benmore_--a chapter which we should +otherwise have certainly enshrined within the columns of _Maga_.--At all +events it is now full time that we should address ourselves more +seriously to the contents of the volume. + +Mr St John, we are delighted to observe, is not a sportsman belonging to +either class which we have above attempted to describe. He is not the +man whose exploits will be selected to swell the lists of slaughtered +game in the pages of the provincial newspapers; for he has the eye and +the heart of a naturalist, and, as he tells us himself, after a pleasant +description of the wild animals which he has succeeded in +domesticating--"though naturally all men are carnivorous, and, +therefore, animals of prey, and inclined by nature to hunt and destroy +other creatures, and, although I share in this our natural instinct to a +great extent, I have far more pleasure in seeing these different animals +enjoying themselves about me, and in observing their different habits, +than I have in hunting down and destroying them." + +Most devoutly do we wish that there were many more sportsmen of the same +stamp! For ourselves, we confess to an organ of destructiveness not of +the minimum degree. We never pass a pool, and hear the sullen plunge of +the salmon, without a bitter imprecation upon our evil destiny if we +chance to have forgotten our rod; and a covey rising around us, when +unarmed, is a plea for suicide. But this feeling, as Mr St John very +properly expresses it, is mere natural instinct--part of our original +Adam, which it is utterly impossible to subdue. But give us rod or gun. +Let us rise and strike some three or four fresh-run fish, at intervals +of half-an-hour--let us play, land, and deposit them on the bank, in all +the glory of their glittering scales, and it is a hundred to one if we +shall be tempted to try another cast, although the cruives are open, the +water in rarest trim, and several hours must elapse ere the advent of +the cock-a-leekie. In like manner, we prefer a moor where the game is +sparse and wild, to one from which the birds are rising at every twenty +yards; nor care we ever to slaughter more than may suffice for our own +wants and those of our immediate friends. And why should we? There is +something not only despicable, but, in our opinion, absolutely brutal, +in the accounts which we sometimes read of wholesale massacres committed +on the moors, in sheer wanton lust for blood. Fancy a great hulking +Saxon, attended by some half-dozen gamekeepers, with a larger retinue of +gillies, sallying forth at early morning upon ground where the grouse +are lying as thick and tame as chickens in a poultry-yard--loosing four +or five dogs at a time, each of which has found his bird or his covey +before he has been freed two minutes from the couples--marching up in +succession to each stationary quadruped--kicking up the unfortunate +pouts, scarce half-grown, from the heather before his feet--banging +right and left into the middle of them, and--for the butcher shoots +well--bringing down one, and sometimes two, at each discharge. The +red-whiskered keeper behind him, who narrowly escaped transportation, a +few years ago, for a bloody and ferocious assault, hands him another +gun, ready-loaded; and so on he goes, for hour after hour, depopulating +God's creatures, of every species, without mercy, until his shoulder is +blue with the recoil, and his brow black as Cain's, with the stain of +the powder left, as he wipes away the sweat with his stiff and +discoloured hand. At evening, the pyramid is counted, and lo, there are +two hundred brace! + +Is this sporting, or is it murder? Not the first certainly, unless the +term can be appropriately applied to the hideous work of the shambles. +Indeed, between knocking down stots or grouse in this wholesale manner, +we can see very little distinction; except that, in the one case, there +is more exertion of the muscles, and in the other a clearer atmosphere +to nerve the operator to his task. Murder is a strong term, so we shall +not venture to apply it; but cruelty is a word which we may use without +compunction; and from that charge, at least, it is impossible for the +glutton of the moors to go free. + +Great humanity and utter absence of wantonness in the prosecution of his +sport, is a most pleasing characteristic of Mr St John. He well +understands the meaning of Wordsworth's noble maxim,-- + + "Never to blend our pleasure or our pride + With sorrow of the meanest thing that feels;" + +and can act upon it without cant, without cruelty, and, above all, +without hypocrisy. And truly, when we consider where he has been located +for the last few years, in a district which offers a greater variety of +game to the sportsman than any other in Great Britain, his moderation +becomes matter of legitimate praise. Here is his own description of the +locality wherein he has pitched his tent:-- + +"I have lived for several years in the northern counties of Scotland, +and during the last four or five in the province of Moray, a part of the +country peculiarly adapted for collecting facts in Natural History, and +for becoming intimate with the habits of many of our British wild birds +and quadrupeds. Having been in the habit of keeping an irregular kind of +journal, and of making notes of any incidents which have fallen under my +observation connected with the zoology of the country, I have now +endeavoured, by dint of cutting and pruning those rough sketches, to put +them into a shape calculated to amuse, and perhaps, in some slight +degree, to instruct some of my fellow-lovers of Nature. From my earliest +childhood I have been more addicted to the investigation of the habits +and manners of every kind of living animal than to any more useful +avocation, and have in consequence made myself tolerably well acquainted +with the domestic economy of most of our British _ferA| naturA|_, from the +field-mouse and wheatear, which I stalked and trapped in the plains and +downs of Wiltshire during my boyhood, to the red-deer and eagle, whose +territory I have invaded in later years on the mountains of Scotland. My +present abode in Morayshire is surrounded by as great a variety of +beautiful scenery as can be found in any district in Britain; and no +part of the country can produce a greater variety of objects of interest +either to the naturalist or to the lover of the picturesque. The rapid +and glorious Findhorn, the very perfection of a Highland river, here +passes through one of the most fertile plains in Scotland, or indeed in +the world; and though a few miles higher up it rages through the wildest +and most rugged rocks, and through the romantic and shaded glens of the +forests of Darnaway and Altyre, the stream, as if exhausted, empties +itself peaceably and quietly into the Bay of Findhorn--a salt-water loch +of some four or five miles in length, entirely shut out by different +points of land from the storms which are so frequent in the Moray Frith, +of which it forms a kind of creek. At low-water this bay becomes an +extent of wet sand, with the river Findhorn and one or two smaller +streams winding through it, till they meet in the deeper part of the +basin near the town of Findhorn, where there is always a considerable +depth of water, and a harbour for shipping. + +"From its sheltered situation and the quantity of food left on the sands +at low-water, the Bay of Findhorn is always a great resort of wild-fowl +of all kinds, from the swan to the teal, and also of innumerable waders +of every species; while occasionally a seal ventures into the mouth of +the river in pursuit of salmon. The bay is separated from the main water +of the Frith by that most extraordinary and peculiar range of country +called the Sandhills of Moray--a long, low range of hills formed of the +purest sand, with scarcely any herbage, excepting here and there patches +of bent or broom, which are inhabited by hares, rabbits, and foxes. At +the extreme point of this range is a farm of forty or fifty acres of +arable land, where the tenant endeavours to grow a scanty crop of grain +and turnips, in spite of the rabbits and the drifting sands. From the +inland side of the bay stretch the fertile plains of Moray, extending +from the Findhorn to near Elgin in a continuous flat of the richest +soil, and comprising districts of the very best partridge-shooting that +can be found in Scotland, while the streams and swamps that intersect it +afford a constant supply of wild-fowl. As we advance inland we are +sheltered by the wide-extending woods of Altyre, abounding with roe and +game; and beyond these woods again is a very extensive range of a most +excellent grouse-shooting country, reaching for many miles over a +succession of moderately-sized hills which reach as far as the Spey. + +"On the west of the Findhorn is a country beautifully dotted with woods, +principally of oak and birch, and intersected by a dark, winding burn, +full of fine trout, and the constant haunt of the otter. Between this +part of the country and the sea-coast is a continuation of the +Sandhills, interspersed with lakes, swamps, and tracts of fir-wood and +heather. On the whole, I do not know so varied or interesting a district +in Great Britain, or one so well adapted to the amusement and +instruction of a naturalist or sportsman. In the space of a morning's +walk you may be either in the most fertile or the most barren spot of +the country. In my own garden every kind of wall-fruit ripens to +perfection, and yet at the distance of only two hours' walk you may +either be in the midst of heather and grouse, or in the sandy deserts +beyond the bay, where one wonders how even the rabbits can find their +living. + +"I hope that my readers will be indulgent enough to make allowances for +the unfinished style of these sketches, and the copious use of the first +person singular, which I have found it impossible to avoid whilst +describing the adventures which I have met with in this wild country, +either when toiling up the rocky heights of our most lofty mountains, or +cruising in a boat along the shores, where rocks and caves give a chance +of finding sea-fowl and otters; at one time wandering over the desert +sand-hills of Moray, where, on windy days, the light particles of +drifting sand, driven like snow along the surface of the ground, are +perpetually changing the outline and appearance of the district; at +another, among the swamps, in pursuit of wild-ducks, or attacking fish +in the rivers, or the grouse on the heather. + +"For a naturalist, whether he be a scientific dissector and preserver of +birds, or simply a lover and observer of the habits and customs of the +different _ferA| naturA|_, large and small, this district is a very +desirable location, as there are very few birds or quadrupeds to be +found in any part of Great Britain who do not visit us during the course +of the year, or, at any rate, are to be met with in a few hours' drive. +The bays and rivers attract all the migratory water-fowl, while the +hills, woods, and corn-lands afford shelter and food to all the native +wild birds and beasts. The vicinity, too, of the coast to the wild +western countries of Europe is the cause of our being often visited by +birds which are not strictly natives, nor regular visitors, but are +driven by continued east winds from the fastnesses of the Swedish and +Norwegian forests and mountains. + +"To the collector of stuffed birds this county affords a greater variety +of specimens than any other district in the kingdom; whilst the +excellence of the climate and the variety of scenery make it inferior to +none as a residence for the unoccupied person or the sportsman. + +"Having thus described that part of the globe which at present is my +resting-place, I may as well add a few lines to enable my reader to +become acquainted with myself, and that part of my belongings which will +come into question in my descriptions of sporting, &c. To begin with +myself, I am one of the unproductive class of the genus homo, who, +having passed a few years amidst the active turmoil of cities, and in +places where people do most delight to congregate, have at last settled +down to live a busy kind of idle life. Communing much with the wild +birds and beasts of our country, a hardy constitution and much leisure +have enabled me to visit them in their own haunts, and to follow my +sporting propensities without fear of the penalties which are apt to +follow a careless exposure of one's-self to cold and heat, at all hours +of night and day. Though by habit and repute a being strongly endowed +with the organ of destructiveness, I take equal delight in collecting +round me all living animals, and watching their habits and instincts; my +abode is, in short, a miniature menagerie. My dogs learn to respect the +persons of domesticated wild animals of all kinds, and my pointers live +in amity with tame partridges and pheasants; my retrievers lounge about +amidst my wild-fowl, and my terriers and beagles strike up friendship +with the animals of different kinds, whose capture they have assisted +in, and with whose relatives they are ready to wage war to the death. A +common and well-kept truce exists with one and all. My boys, who are of +the most bird-nesting age (eight and nine years old), instead of +disturbing the numberless birds who breed in the garden and shrubberies, +in full confidence of protection and immunity from all danger of gun or +snare, strike up an acquaintance with every family of chaffinches or +blackbirds who breed in the place, visiting every nest, and watching +over the eggs and young with a most parental care." + +Why, this is the very Eden of a sportsman! Flesh, fowl, and fish of +every description in abundance, and such endless variety, that no month +of the year can pass over without affording its quota of fair and +legitimate recreation. But to a man of Mr St John's accomplishment and +observant habits, the mere prey is a matter of far less moment than the +insight which such a locality affords, into the habits and instincts of +the creatures which either permanently inhabit or casually visit our +shores. His journal is far more than a sportsman's book. It contains +shrewd and minute observations on the whole of our northern fauna--the +results of many a lonely but happy day spent in the woods, the glens, +the sand-tracts, by river and on sea. His range is wider than that which +has been taken either by White of Selborne, or by Waterton; and we are +certain that he will hold it to be no mean compliment when we say, that +in our unbiased opinion, he is not surpassed by either of them in +fidelity, and in point of picturesqueness of description, is even the +superior of both. The truth is, that Mr St John would have made a +first-rate trapper. We should not have the slightest objections to lose +ourselves in his company for several weeks in the prairies of North +America; being satisfied that we should return with a better cargo of +beaver-skins and peltry than ever fell to the lot of two adventurers in +the service of the Company of Hudson's Bay. + +It is totally impossible to follow our author through any thing like his +range of subjects, extending from the hart to the seal and otter, from +the eagle and wild swan to the ouzel. One or two specimens we shall +give, in order that you, our dear and sporting reader, may judge whether +these encomiums of ours are exaggerated or misplaced. We are, so say our +enemies, but little given to laudation, and far too ready when occasion +offers, and sometimes when it does not, to clutch hastily at the knout. +You, who know us better, and whom indeed we have partially trained up in +the wicked ways of criticism, must long ago have been aware, that if we +err at all, it is upon the safer side. But be that as it may, you will +not, we are sure, refuse to join with us in admiring the beauty of the +following description;--it is of the heronry on the Findhorn--a river of +peculiar beauty, even in this land of lake, of mountain, and of flood. + +"I observe that the herons in the heronry on the Findhorn are now busily +employed in sitting on their eggs--the heron being one of the first +birds to commence breeding in this country. A more curious and +interesting sight than the Findhorn heronry I do not know: from the top +of the high rocks on the east side of the river you look down into every +nest--the herons breeding on the opposite side of the river, which is +here very narrow. The cliffs and rocks are studded with splendid pines +and larch, and fringed with all the more lowly but not less beautiful +underwood which abounds in this country. Conspicuous amongst these are +the bird-cherry and mountain-ash, the holly, and the wild rose; while +the golden blossoms of furze and broom enliven every crevice and corner +in the rock. Opposite to you is a wood of larch and oak, on the latter +of which trees are crowded a vast number of the nests of the heron. The +foliage and small branches of the oaks that they breed on seem entirely +destroyed, leaving nothing but the naked arms and branches of the trees +on which the nests are placed. The same nests, slightly repaired, are +used year after year. Looking down at them from the high banks of the +Altyre side of the river, you can see directly into their nests, and can +become acquainted with the whole of their domestic economy. You can +plainly see the green eggs, and also the young herons, who fearlessly, +and conscious of the security they are left in, are constantly passing +backwards and forwards, and alighting on the topmost branches of the +larch or oak trees; whilst the still younger birds sit bolt upright in +the nest, snapping their beaks together with a curious sound. +Occasionally a grave-looking heron is seen balancing himself by some +incomprehensible feat of gymnastics on the very topmost twig of a +larch-tree, where he swings about in an unsteady manner, quite +unbecoming so sage-looking a bird. Occasionally a thievish jackdaw +dashes out from the cliffs opposite the heronry, and flies straight into +some unguarded nest, seizes one of the large green eggs, and flies back +to his own side of the river, the rightful owner of the eggs pursuing +the active little robber with loud cries and the most awkward attempts +at catching him. + +"The heron is a noble and picturesque-looking bird, as she sails quietly +through the air with outstretched wings and slow flight; but nothing is +more ridiculous and undignified than her appearance as she vainly chases +the jackdaw or hooded crow who is carrying off her egg, and darting +rapidly round the angles and corners of the rocks. Now and then every +heron raises its head and looks on the alert as the peregrine falcon, +with rapid and direct flight, passes their crowded dominion; but intent +on his own nest, built on the rock some little way further on, the hawk +takes no notice of his long-legged neighbours, who soon settle down +again into their attitudes of rest. The kestrel-hawk frequents the same +part of the river, and lives in amity with the wood-pigeons that breed +in every cluster of ivy which clings to the rocks. Even that bold and +fearless enemy of all the pigeon race, the sparrowhawk, frequently has +her nest within a few yards of the wood-pigeon; and you see these birds +(at all other seasons such deadly enemies) passing each other in their +way to and fro from their respective nests in perfect peace and amity. +It has seemed to me that the sparrowhawk and wood-pigeon during the +breeding season frequently enter into a mutual compact against the crows +and jackdaws, who are constantly on the look-out for the eggs of all +other birds. The hawk appears to depend on the vigilance of the +wood-pigeon to warn him of the approach of these marauders; and then the +brave little warrior sallies out, and is not satisfied till he has +driven the crow to a safe distance from the nests of himself and his +more peaceable ally. At least in no other way can I account for these +two birds so very frequently breeding not only in the same range of +rock, but within two or three yards of each other." + +Now for the wild swan. You will observe that it is now well on in +October, and that the weather is peculiarly cold. There is snow already +lying on the tops of the nearer hills--the further mountains have +assumed a coat of white, which, with additions, will last them until the +beginning of next summer; and those long black streaks which rise +upwards, and appear to us at this distance so narrow, are, in reality, +the great ravines in which two months ago we were cautiously stalking +the deer. The bay is now crowded with every kind of aquatic fowl. Day +after day strange visitants have been arriving from the north; and at +nightfall, you may hear them quacking and screaming and gabbling for +many miles along the shore. Every moonlight night the woodcock and snipe +are dropping into the thickets, panting and exhausted by their flight +from rugged Norway, a voyage during which they can find no resting-place +for the sole of their foot. In stormy weather the light-houses are beset +with flocks of birds, who, their reckoning lost, are attracted by the +blaze of the beacon, dash wildly towards it, as to some place of refuge, +and perish from the violence of the shock. As yet, however, all is calm; +and lo, in the moonlight, a great flight of birds stooping down towards +the bay!--noiselessly at first, but presently, as they begin to sweep +lower, trumpeting and calling to each other; and then, with a mighty +rustling of their pinions, and a dash as of a vessel launched into the +waters, the white wild-swans settle down into the centre of the +glittering bay! To your tents, ye sportsmen! for ball and cartridge; and +now circumvent them if you can. + +"My old garde-chasse insisted on my starting early this morning, _nolens +volens_, to certain lochs six or seven miles off, in order, as he termed +it, to take our 'satisfaction' of the swans. I must say that it was a +matter of very small satisfaction to me, the tramping off in a sleety, +rainy morning, through a most forlorn and hopeless-looking country, for +the chance, and that a bad one, of killing a wild swan or two. However, +after a weary walk, we arrived at these desolate-looking lochs: they +consist of three pieces of water, the largest about three miles in +length and one in width; the other two, which communicate with the +largest, are much smaller and narrower, indeed scarcely two gunshots in +width; for miles around them, the country is flat, and intersected with +a mixture of swamp and sandy hillocks. In one direction the sea is only +half a mile from the lochs, and in calm winter weather the wild-fowl +pass the daytime on the salt water, coming inland in the evenings to +feed. As soon as we were within sight of the lochs we saw the swans on +one of the smaller pieces of water, some standing high and dry on the +grassy islands, trimming their feathers after their long journey, and +others feeding on the grass and weeds at the bottom of the loch, which +in some parts was shallow enough to allow of their pulling up the plants +which they feed on as they swam about; while numbers of wild-ducks of +different kinds, particularly widgeons, swarmed round them and often +snatched the pieces of grass from the swans as soon as they had brought +them to the surface, to the great annoyance of the noble birds, who +endeavoured in vain to drive away these more active little depredators, +who seemed determined to profit by their labours. Our next step was to +drive the swans away from the loch they were on; it seemed a curious way +of getting a shot, but as the old man seemed confident of the success of +his plan, I very submissively acted according to his orders. As soon as +we moved them, they all made straight for the sea. 'This won't do,' was +my remark, 'Yes, it will, though; they'll no stop there long to-day with +this great wind, but will all be back before the clock _chaps_ two.' +'Faith, I should like to see any building that could contain a clock, +and where we might take shelter,' was my inward cogitation. The old man, +however, having delivered this prophecy, set to work making a small +ambuscade by the edge of the loch which the birds had just left, and +pointed it out to me as my place of refuge from one o'clock to the hour +when the birds would arrive. + +"In the mean time we moved about in order to keep ourselves warm, as a +more wintry day never disgraced the month of October. In less than half +an hour we heard the signal cries of the swans, and soon saw them in a +long undulating line fly over the low sand-hills which divided the sea +from the largest loch, where they alighted. My commander for the time +being, then explained to me, that the water in this loch was every where +too deep for the swans to reach the bottom even with their long necks, +in order to pull up the weeds on which they fed, and that at their +feeding-time, that is about two o'clock, they would, without doubt, fly +over to the smaller lochs, and probably to the same one from which we +had originally disturbed them. I was accordingly placed in my ambuscade, +leaving the keeper at some distance, to help me as opportunity +offered--a cold comfortless time of it we (_i. e._ my retriever and +myself) had. About two o'clock, however, I heard the swans rise from the +upper loch, and in a few moments they all passed high over my head, and +after taking a short survey of our loch (luckily without seeing me), +they alighted at the end of it furthest from the place where I was +ensconced, and quite out of shot, and they seemed more inclined to move +away from me than come towards me. It was very curious to watch these +wild birds as they swam about, quite unconscious of danger, and looking +like so many domestic fowls. Now came the able generalship of my keeper, +who seeing that they were inclined to feed at the other end of the loch, +began to drive them towards me, at the same time taking great care not +to alarm them enough to make them take flight. This he did by appearing +at a long distance off, and moving about without approaching the birds, +but as if he was pulling grass or engaged in some other piece of labour. +When the birds first saw him, they all collected in a cluster, and +giving a general low cry of alarm, appeared ready to take flight; this +was the ticklish moment, but soon, outwitted by his manA"uvres, they +dispersed again, and busied themselves in feeding. I observed that +frequently all their heads were under the water at once, excepting +one--but invariably _one_ bird kept his head and neck perfectly erect, +and carefully watched on every side to prevent their being taken by +surprise; when he wanted to feed, he touched any passer-by, who +immediately relieved him in his guard, and he in his turn called on some +other swan to take his place as sentinel. + +"After watching some little time, and closely watching the birds in all +their graceful movements, sometimes having a swan within half a shot of +me, but never getting two or three together, I thought of some of my +assistant's instruction which he had given me _en route_ in the morning, +and I imitated, as well as I could, the bark of a dog: immediately all +the swans collected in a body, and looked round to see where the sound +came from. I was not above forty yards from them, so, gently raising +myself on my elbow, I pulled the trigger, aiming at a forest of necks. +To my dismay, the gun did not go off, the wet or something else having +spoilt the cap. The birds were slow in rising, so without pulling the +other trigger, I put on another cap, and standing up, fired right and +left at two of the largest swans as they rose from the loch. The +cartridge told well on one, who fell dead into the water; the other flew +off after the rest of the flock, but presently turned back, and after +making two or three graceful sweeps over the body of his companion, fell +headlong, perfectly dead, almost upon her body. The rest of the birds, +after flying a short distance away, also returned, and flew for a minute +or two in a confused flock over the two dead swans, uttering their +bugle-like and harmonious cries; but finding that they were not joined +by their companions, presently fell into their usual single rank, and +went undulating off towards the sea, where I heard them for a long time +trumpeting and calling. + +"Handsome as he is, the wild swan is certainly not so graceful on the +water as a tame one. He has not the same proud and elegant arch of the +neck, nor does he put up his wings while swimming, like two snow-white +sails. On the land a wild swan when winged makes such good way, that if +he gets much start it requires good running, to overtake him." + +Confound that Regatta! What on earth had we to do on board that yacht, +racing against the Meteor, unconquered winger of the western seas? Two +days ago we could have sworn that no possible temptation could divorce +us from our unfinished article; and yet here we are with unsullied pen, +under imminent danger of bartering our reputation and plighted faith to +Ebony, for some undescribable nautical evolutions, a sack race, and the +skeleton of a ball! After all, it must be confessed that we never spent +two more pleasant days. Bright eyes, grouse-pie, and the joyousness of +happy youth, were all combined together; and if, with a fair breeze and +a sunny sky, there can be fun in a smack or a steamer, how is it +possible with such company to be dull on board of the prettiest craft +that ever cleaved her way, like a wild swan, up the windings of a +Highland loch? But we must make up for lost time. As we live, there are +Donald and Ian with the boat at the rocks! and we now remember with a +shudder that we trysted them for this morning to convey us across to the +Moors! Here is a pretty business! Let us see--the month is rapidly on +the wane--we have hardly, in sporting phrase, broken the back of this +the leading article. Shall we give up the moors, and celebrate this day +as another Eve of St John? There is a light mist lying on the opposite +hill, but in an hour or two it will be drawn up like a curtain by the +sunbeams, and then every bush of heather will be sparkling with +dewdrops, far brighter than a carcanet of diamonds. What a fine +elasticity and freshness there is in the morning air! A hundred to one +the grouse will sit like stones. Donald, my man, are there many birds on +the hill? Plenty, did you say, and a fair sprinkling of black-cock? This +breeze will carry us over in fifty minutes--will it? That settles the +question. Off with your caulker, and take down the dogs to the boat. We +shall be with you in the snapping of a copper-cap. + +This article, if finished at all, must be written with the keelavine pen +on the backs of old letters--whereof, thank heaven! we have scores +unanswered--by fits and snatches, as we repose from our labours on the +greensward; so we shall even take up our gun, and trust for inspiration +to the noble scenery around us. Is every thing in? Well, then, push off, +and for a time let us get rid of care. + +What sort of fishing have they had at the salmon-nets, Ian? Very bad, +for they're sair fashed wi' the sealghs. In that case it may be +advisable to drop a ball into our dexter barrel, in case one of these +oleaginous depredators should show his head above water. We have not +had a tussle with a phoca since, some ten years ago, we surprised one +basking on the sands of the bay of Cromarty. No, Donald, we did not kill +him. We and a dear friend, now in New Zealand, who was with us, were +armed with no better weapon than our fishing-rods, and the sealgh, after +standing two or three thumps with tolerable philosophy, fairly turned +upon us, and exhibited such tusks that we were glad to let him make his +way without further molestation to the water. The seal is indeed a +greedy fellow, and ten times worse than his fresh-water cousin the +otter, who, it seems, is considered by the poor people in the north +country as rather a benefactor than otherwise. The latter is a dainty +epicure--a _gourmand_ who despises to take more than one steak from the +sappy shoulder of the salmon; and he has usually the benevolence to +leave the fish, little the worse for his company, on some scarp or ledge +of rock, where it can be picked up and converted into savoury kipper. He +is, moreover, a sly and timid creature, without the impudence of the +seal, who will think nothing of swimming into the nets, and actually +taking out the salmon before the eyes of the fishermen. Strong must be +the twine that would hold an entangled seal. An aquatic Samson, he snaps +the meshes like thread, and laughs at the discomfiture of the tacksman, +who is dancing like a demoniac on the shore; and no wonder, for nets are +expensive, and the rent in that one is wide enough to admit a bullock. + +Mr St John--a capital sportsman, Donald--has had many an adventure with +the seals; and I shall read you what he says about them, in a clever +little book which he has published--What the deuce! We surely have not +been ass enough to forget the volume! No--here it is at the bottom of +our pocket, concealed and covered by the powder-flask:-- + +"Sometimes at high-water, and when the river is swollen, a seal comes in +pursuit of salmon into the Findhorn, notwithstanding the smallness of +the stream and its rapidity. I was one day, in November, looking for +wild-ducks near the river, when I was called to by a man who was at work +near the water, and who told me that some 'muckle beast' was playing +most extraordinary tricks in the river. He could not tell me what beast +it was, but only that it was something 'no that canny.' After waiting a +short time, the riddle was solved by the appearance of a good-sized +seal, into whose head I instantly sent a cartridge, having no balls with +me. The seal immediately plunged and splashed about in the water at a +most furious rate, and then began swimming round and round in a circle, +upon which I gave him the other barrel, also loaded with one of Eley's +cartridges, which quite settled the business, and he floated rapidly +away down the stream. I sent my retriever after him, but the dog, being +very young and not come to his full strength, was baffled by the weight +of the animal and the strength of the current, and could not land him; +indeed, he was very near getting drowned himself, in consequence of his +attempts to bring in the seal, who was still struggling. I called the +dog away, and the seal immediately sank. The next day I found him dead +on the shore of the bay, with (as the man who skinned him expressed +himself) 'twenty-three pellets of large hail in his craig.' + +"Another day, in the month of July, when shooting rabbits on the +sand-hills, a messenger came from the fishermen at the stake-nets, +asking me to come in that direction, as the 'muckle sealgh' was swimming +about, waiting for the fish to be caught in the nets, in order to +commence his devastation. + +"I accordingly went to them, and having taken my observations of the +locality and the most feasible points of attack, I got the men to row me +out to the end of the stake-net, where there was a kind of platform of +netting, on which I stretched myself, with a bullet in one barrel and a +cartridge in the other. I then directed the men to row the boat away, as +if they had left the nets. They had scarcely gone three hundred yards +from the place when I saw the seal, who had been floating, apparently +unconcerned, at some distance, swim quietly and fearlessly up to the +net. I had made a kind of breastwork of old netting before me, which +quite concealed me on the side from which he came. He approached the +net, and began examining it leisurely and carefully to see if any fish +were in it; sometimes he was under and sometimes above the water. I was +much struck by his activity while underneath, where I could most plainly +see him, particularly as he twice dived almost below my station, and the +water was clear and smooth as glass. + +"I could not get a good shot at him for some time; at last, however, he +put up his head at about fifteen or twenty yards' distance from me; and +while he was intent on watching the boat, which was hovering about +waiting to see the result of my plan of attack, I fired at him, sending +the ball through his brain. He instantly sank without a struggle, and a +perfect torrent of blood came up, making the water red for some feet +round the spot where he lay stretched out at the bottom. The men +immediately rowed up, and taking me into the boat, we managed to bring +him up with a boat-hook to the surface of the water, and then, as he was +too heavy to lift into the boat (his weight being 378 lbs.) we put a +rope round his flippers, and towed him ashore. A seal of this size is +worth some money, as, independently of the value of his skin, the +blubber (which lies under the skin, like that of a whale) produces a +large quantity of excellent oil. This seal had been for several years +the dread of the fishermen at the stake-nets, and the head man at the +place was profuse in his thanks for the destruction of a beast upon whom +he had expended a most amazing quantity of lead. He assured me that +L.100 would not repay the damage the animal had done. Scarcely any two +seals are exactly of the same colour or marked quite alike; and seals, +frequenting a particular part of the coast, become easily known and +distinguished from each other." + +But what is Scrip youffing at from the bow? A seal? No, it is a shoal of +porpoises. There they go with their great black fins above the water in +pursuit of the herring, which ought to be very plenty on this coast. +Yonder, where the gulls are screaming and diving, with here and there a +solan goose and a cormorant in the midst of the flock, must be a patch +of the smaller fry. The water is absolutely boiling as the quick-eyed +creatures dart down upon their prey; and though, on an ordinary day, you +will hardly see a single seagull in this part of the loch, for the +shores are neither steep nor rocky, yet there they are in myriads, +attracted to the spot by that unerring and inexplicable instinct which +seems to guide all wild animals to their booty, and that from distances +where neither sight nor scent could possibly avail them. This +peculiarity has not escaped the observant eye of our author. + +"How curiously quick is the instinct of birds in finding out their food. +Where peas or other favourite grain is sown, wood pigeons and tame +pigeons immediately congregate. It is not easy to ascertain from whence +the former come, but the house pigeons have often been known to arrive +in numbers on a new sown field the very morning after the grain is laid +down, although no pigeon-house, from which they could come, exists +within several miles of the place. + +"Put down a handful or two of unthrashed oat-straw in almost any +situation near the sea-coast, where there are wild-ducks, and they are +sure to find it out the first or second night after it has been left +there. + +"There are many almost incredible stories of the acuteness of the +raven's instinct in guiding it to the dead carcass of any large animal, +or even in leading it to the neighbourhood on the near approach of +death. I myself have known several instances of the raven finding out +dead bodies of animals in a very short space of time. One instance +struck me very much. I had wounded a stag on a Wednesday. The following +Friday, I was crossing the hills at some distance from the place, but in +the direction towards which the deer had gone. Two ravens passed me, +flying in a steady straight course. Soon again two more flew by, and two +others followed, all coming from different directions, but making direct +for the same point. ''Deed, sir,' said the Highlander with me, 'the +corbies have just found the staig; he will be lying dead about the head +of the muckle burn.' By tracing the course of the birds, we found that +the man's conjecture was correct, as the deer was lying within a mile of +us, and the ravens were making for its carcass. The animal had evidently +only died the day before, but the birds had already made their breakfast +upon him, and were now on their way to their evening meal. Though +occasionally we had seen a pair of ravens soaring high overhead in that +district, we never saw more than that number; but now there were some +six or seven pairs already collected, where from we knew not. When a +whale, or other large fish, is driven ashore on the coast of any of the +northern islands, the ravens collect in amazing numbers, almost +immediately coming from all directions and from all distances, led by +the unerring instinct which tells them that a feast is to be found in a +particular spot." + +We should not wonder if the ancient augurs, who, no doubt, were +consummate scoundrels, had an inkling of this extraordinary fact. If so, +it would have been obviously easy, at the simple expenditure of a few +pounds of bullock's liver, to get up any kind of ornithological +vaticination. A dead ram, dexterously hidden from the sight of the +spectators behind the Aventine, would speedily have brought birds enough +to have justified any amount of warlike expeditions to the Peloponesus; +while a defunct goat to the left of the Esquiline, would collect sooties +by scores, and forebode the death of CA|sar. We own that formerly we +ourselves were not altogether exempt from superstitious notions touching +the mission of magpies; but henceforward we shall cease to consider +them, even when they appear by threes, as bound up in some mysterious +manner with our destiny, and shall rather attribute their apparition to +the unexpected deposit of an egg. + +But here we are at the shore, and not a mile from the margin of the +moor. Ian, our fine fellow, look after the dogs; and now tell us, +Donald, as we walk along, whether there are many poachers in this +neighbourhood besides yourself? Atweel no, forbye muckle Sandy, that +whiles taks a shot at a time.--We thought so. In these quiet braes there +can be little systematic poaching. Now and then, to be sure, a hare is +killed on a moonlight night among the cabbages behind the shieling; or a +blackcock, too conspicuous of a misty morning on a corn-stook, pays the +penalty of his depredations with his life. But these little acts of +delinquency are of no earthly moment; and hard must be the heart of the +proprietor who, for such petty doings, would have recourse to the +vengeance of the law. But were you ever in Lochaber, Donald?--Oo ay, and +Badenoch too.--And are you aware that in those districts where the deer +are plenty, there exist, at the present day, gangs of organised +poachers--fellows who follow no other calling--true Sons of the Mist, +who prey upon the red-deer of the mountain without troubling the herds +of the Sassenach; and who, though perfectly well known by head-mark to +keeper and constable, are still permitted with impunity to continue +their depredations from year to year?--I never heard tell of it. + +No more have we. Notwithstanding Mr St John's usual accuracy and great +means of information, he has given, in the fifth chapter of his book, an +account of the Highland poachers which we cannot admit to be correct. In +every thinly-populated country, where there is abundance of game, +poaching must take place to a considerable extent, and indeed it is +impossible to prevent it. You never can convince the people, that the +statutory sin is a moral one; or that, in taking for their own +sustenance that which avowedly belongs to no one, they are acting in +opposition to a just or a salutary law. The question of _whence_ the +game is taken, is a subtilty too nice for their comprehension. They see +the stag running wild among the mountains, to-day on one laird's land, +and away to-morrow to another's, bearing with him, as it were, his own +transference of property; and they very naturally conclude that they +have an abstract right to attempt his capture, if they can. The +shepherd, who has thousands of acres under his sole superintendence, and +whose dwelling is situated far away on the hills, at the head, perhaps, +of some lonely stream, where no strange foot ever penetrates, is very +often, it must be confessed, a bit of a poacher. Small blame to him. He +has a gun--for the eagle, and the fox, and the raven, must be kept from +the lambs; and if, when prowling about with his weapon, in search of +vermin, he should chance to put up, as he is sure to do, a covey of +grouse, and recollecting at the moment that there is nothing in the +house beyond a peas-bannock and a diseased potato, should let fly, and +bring down a gor-cock, who will venture to assert that, under such +circumstances, he would hesitate to do the same? For every grouse so +slaughtered, the shepherd frees the country from a brace of vermin more +dangerous than fifty human poachers; for every day in the year they +breakfast, dine, and sup exclusively upon game. + +Let the shepherd, then, take his pittance from the midst of your plenty +unmolested, if he does no worse. Why should his hut be searched by some +big brute of a Yorkshire keeper, for fud or feather, when you know +that, in all essentials, the man is as honest as steel--nay, that even +in this matter of game, he is attentive to your interests, watches the +young broods, protects the nests, and will tell you, when you come up +the glen, where the finest coveys are to be found? It is, however, quite +another thing if you detect him beginning to drive a contraband trade. +Home consumption may be winked at--foreign exportation is most decidedly +an unpardonable offence. The moment you find that he has entered into a +league with the poulterer or the coachman, give warning to the offending +MelibA"us, and let him seek a livelihood elsewhere. He is no longer +safe. His instinct is depraved. He has ceased to be a creature of +impulse, and has become the slave of a corrupted traffic. He is a +noxious member of the Anti-game-law League. + +This sort of poaching we believe to be common enough in Scotland, and +there is also another kind more formidable, which, a few years ago, was +rather extensively practised. Parties of four or five strong, +able-bodied rascals, principally inmates of some of the smaller burghs +in the north, used to make their way to another district of country, +taking care, of course, that it was far enough from home to render any +chance of identification almost a nullity, and would there begin to +shoot, in absolute defiance of the keepers. Their method was not to +diverge, but to traverse the country as nearly as possible in a straight +line; so that very often they had left the lands of the most extensive +proprietors even before the alarm was given. These men neither courted +nor shunned a scuffle. They were confident in their strength of numbers, +but never abused it; nor, so far as we recollect, have any fatal results +attended this illegal practice. Be that as it may, the misdemeanour is a +very serious one, and the perpetrators of it, if discovered, would be +subjected to a severe punishment. + +But Mr St John asserts the existence of a different class of poachers, +whose exploits, if real, are a deep reproach to the vigilance of our +respected friends the Sheriffs of Inverness, Ross, and Moray, as also to +the Substitutes and their Fiscals. According to the accounts which have +reached him, and which he seems implicitly to believe, there are, at +this moment, gangs of caterans existing among the mountains, who follow +no other occupation whatever than that of poaching. This they do not +even affect to disguise. They make a good income by the sale of game, +and by breaking dogs--they take the crown of the causeway in the country +towns, where they are perfectly well known, and where the men give them +"plenty of walking-room." On such occasions, they are accompanied with a +couple of magnificent stag-hounds, and in this guise they venture +undauntedly beneath the very nose of "ta Phuscal!" The Highland poacher, +says Mr St John, "is a bold fearless fellow, shooting openly by +daylight, taking his sport in the same manner as the laird, or the +Sassenach who rents the ground." That is to say, this outlaw, who has a +sheiling or a bothy on the laird's ground--for a man cannot live in the +Highlands without a roof to shelter him--shoots as openly on these +grounds as the laird himself, or the party who has rented them for the +season! If this be the case, the breed of Highland proprietors--ay, and +of Highland keepers--must have degenerated sadly during the last few +years. The idea that any such character would be permitted by even the +tamest Dumbiedykes to continue a permanent resident upon his lands, is +perfectly preposterous. Game is not considered as a matter of such +slight import in any part of the Highlands; neither is the arm of the +law so weak, that it does not interfere with most rapid and salutary +effect. No professed poacher, we aver, dare shoot openly upon the lands +of the laird by whose tenure or sufferance he maintains a roof above his +head; and it would be a libel upon those high-minded gentlemen to +suppose, that they knowingly gave countenance to any such character, on +the tacit understanding that their property should be spared while that +of their neighbours was invaded. In less than a week after the +information was given, the ruffian would be without any covering to his +head, save that which would be afforded him by the arches of the +Inverness or Fort-William jail. + +Long tracts of country there are, comparatively unvisited--for example, +the district around Lochs Ericht and Lydoch, and the deserts towards the +head of the Spey. Yet, even there, the poacher is a marked man. The +necessity of finding a market for the produce of his spoil, lays him +open immediately to observation. If he chooses to burrow with the +badger, he may be said to have deserted his trade. He cannot by any +possibility, let him do what he will, elude the vigilance of the keeper; +and, if known, he is within the clutches of the law without the +necessity of immediate apprehension. + +The truth of the matter is, that the poachers have no longer to deal +directly with the lairds. The number of moors which are rented to +Englishmen is now very great; and it is principally from these that the +depredators reap their harvest. Accordingly, no pains are spared to +impress the Sassenach with an exaggerated idea of the lawlessness of the +Gael, in every thing relating to the game-laws and the statutes of the +excise. The right of the people to poach is asserted as a kind of +indefeasible servitude which the law winks at, because it cannot +control; and we fear that, in some cases, the keepers, who care nothing +for the new-comers, indirectly lend themselves to the delusion. The +Englishman, on arriving at the moor which he has rented, is informed +that he must either compromise with the poachers, or submit to the loss +of his game--a kind of treaty which, we believe, is pretty often made in +the manner related by Mr St John. + +"Some proprietors, or lessees of shooting-grounds, make a kind of half +compromise with the poachers, by allowing them to kill grouse as long as +they do not touch the deer; others, who are grouse-shooters, let them +kill the deer to save their birds. I have known an instance where a +prosecution was stopped by the aggrieved party being quietly made to +understand, that if it was carried on, a score of lads from the hills +would shoot over his ground for the rest of the season." + +Utterly devoid of pluck must the said aggrieved party have been! Had he +carried on the prosecution firmly, and given notice to the authorities +of the audacious and impudent threat, with the names of the parties who +conveyed it, not a trigger would have been drawn upon his ground, or a +head of game destroyed. If the lessees of shooting-grounds are idiots +enough to enter into any such compromise, they will of course find +abundance of poachers to take advantage of it. Every shepherd on the +property will take regularly to the hill; for by such an arrangement the +market is virtually thrown open, and absolute impunity is promised. But +we venture to say that there is not one instance on record where a +Highland proprietor, of Scottish birth and breeding, has condescended to +make any such terms--indeed, we should like to see the ruffian who would +venture openly to propose them. + +As to Mr St John's assertion, that "in Edinburgh there are numbers of +men who work as porters, &c., during the winter, and poach in the +Highlands during the autumn," we can assure him that he is labouring +under a total delusion. A more respectable set of men in their way than +the Edinburgh chairmen, is not to be found on the face of the civilised +globe. Not a man of those excellent creatures, who periodically play at +drafts at the corners of Hanover and Castle Street, ever went out in an +illicit manner to the moors: nor shall we except from this vindication +our old acquaintances at the Tron. Their worst vices are a strong +predilection for snuff and whisky; otherwise they are nearly faultless, +and they run beautifully in harness between the springy shafts of a +sedan. If they ever set foot upon the heather, it is in the capacity of +gillies, for which service they receive excellent wages, and capital +hands they are for looking after the comforts of the dogs. Does Mr St +John mean to insinuate that the twin stalwart tylers of the lodge +Canongate Kilwinning--whose fine features are so similar that it is +almost impossible to distinguish them--go out systematically in autumn +to the Highlands for the purpose of poaching? Why, to our own +knowledge, they are both most praiseworthy fathers of families, +exemplary husbands, well to do in the world, and, were they to die +to-morrow, there would not be a drop of black-cock's blood upon their +souls. Like testimony could we bear in favour of a hundred others, whom +you might trust with untold gold, not to speak of a wilderness of hares; +but to any one who knows them, it is unnecessary to plead further in the +cause of the caddies. + +We fear, therefore, that in this particular of Highland poaching, Mr St +John has been slightly humbugged; and we cannot help thinking, that in +this work of mystification, his prime favourite and hero, Mr Ronald, has +had no inconsiderable share. As to the feats of this handsome desperado, +as related by himself, we accept them with a mental reservation. +Notwithstanding the acknowledged fact that the Grants existed +simultaneously with the sons of Anak, we doubt extremely whether any one +individual of that clan, or of any other, could, more especially when in +bed, and fatigued with a long day's exertion, overcome five sturdy +assailants. If so, the fellow would make money by hiring a caravan, and +exhibiting himself as a peripatetic Hercules: or, if such an exhibition +should be deemed derogatory to a poaching outlaw, he might enter the +pugilistic or wrestling ring, with the certainty of walking the course. +The man who, without taking the trouble to rise out of bed, could put +two big hulking Highlanders under him, breaking the ribs of one of them, +and keeping them down with one knee, and who in that posture could +successfully foil the attack of other three, is an ugly customer, and we +venture to say that his match is not to be found within the four seas of +Great Britain. The story of his tearing down the rafter, bestowing +breakfast upon his opponents, and afterwards pitching the keeper +deliberately into the burn, is so eminently apocryphal, that we cannot +help wondering at Mr St John for honouring it with a place in his pages. + +Did you ever see a badger, Scrip? That, we suspect, is the vestibule of +one of them at which you are snuffing and scraping; but you have no +chance of getting at him, for there he is lying deep beneath the rock; +and, to say the truth, game as you are, we would rather keep you intact +from the perils of his powerful jaw. He is, we agree with Mr St John, an +ancient and respectable quadruped, by far too much maligned in this +wicked age; and--were it for no other reason than the inimitable +adaptation of his hair for shaving-brushes--we should sincerely regret +his extinction in the British isles. We like the chivalry with which our +author undertakes the defence of any libelled and persecuted animal, and +in no instance is he more happy than in his oration in favour of the +injured badger. Like Harry Bertram, he is not ashamed "of caring about a +brock." + +"Notwithstanding the persecutions and indignities that he is unjustly +doomed to suffer, I maintain that he is far more respectable in his +habits than we generally consider him to be. 'Dirty as a badger,' +'stinking as a badger,' are two sayings often repeated, but quite +inapplicable to him. As far as we can learn of the domestic economy of +this animal when in a state of nature, he is remarkable for his +cleanliness--his extensive burrows are always kept perfectly clean, and +free from all offensive smell; no filth is ever found about his abode; +every thing likely to offend his olfactory nerves is carefully removed. +I, once, in the north of Scotland, fell in with a perfect colony of +badgers; they had taken up their abode in an unfrequented range of +wooded rocks, and appeared to have been little interrupted in their +possession of them. The footpaths to and from their numerous holes were +beaten quite hard; and what is remarkable and worthy of note, they had +different small pits dug at a certain distance from their abodes, which +were evidently used as receptacles for all offensive filth; every other +part of their colony was perfectly clean. A solitary badger's hole, +which I once had dug out, during the winter season, presented a curious +picture of his domestic and military arrangements--a hard and long job +it was for two men to achieve, the passage here and there turned in a +sharp angle round some projecting corners of rock, which he evidently +makes use of when attacked, as points of defence, making a stand at any +of these angles, where a dog could not scratch to enlarge the aperture, +and fighting from behind his stone buttress. After tracing out a long +winding passage, the workmen came to two branches in the hole, each +leading to good-sized chambers: in one of these was stored a +considerable quantity of dried grass, rolled up into balls as large as a +man's fist, and evidently intended for food; in the other chamber there +was a bed of soft dry grass and leaves--the sole inhabitant was a +peculiarly large old dog-badger. Besides coarse grasses, their food +consists of various roots; amongst others, I have frequently found about +their hole the bulb of the common wild blue hyacinth. Fruit of all kinds +and esculent vegetables form his repast, and I fear that he must plead +guilty to devouring any small animal that may come in his way, alive or +dead; though not being adapted for the chase, or even for any very +skilful strategy of war, I do not suppose that he can do much in +catching an unwounded bird or beast. Eggs are his delight, and a +partridge's nest with seventeen or eighteen eggs must afford him a fine +meal, particularly if he can surprise and kill the hen-bird also; snails +and worms which he finds above ground during his nocturnal rambles, are +likewise included in his bill of fare. I was one summer evening walking +home from fishing in Loch Ness, and having occasion to fasten up some +part of my tackle, and also expecting to meet my keeper, I sat down on +the shore of the loch. I remained some time, enjoying the lovely +prospect: the perfectly clear and unruffled loch lay before me, +reflecting the northern shore in its quiet water. The opposite banks +consisted, in some parts, of bright greensward, sloping to the water's +edge, and studded with some of the most beautiful birch-trees in +Scotland; several of the trees spreading out like the oak, and with +their ragged and ancient-looking bark resembling the cork-tree of +Spain--others drooping and weeping over the edge of the water in the +most lady-like and elegant manner. Parts of the loch were edged in by +old lichen-covered rocks; while farther on a magnificent scaur of red +stone rose perpendicularly from the water's edge to a very great height. +So clearly was every object on the opposite shore reflected in the lake +below, that it was difficult, nay impossible, to distinguish where the +water ended and the land commenced--the shadow from the reality. The sun +was already set, but its rays still illuminated the sky. It is said that +from the sublime to the ridiculous there is but one step;--and I was +just then startled from my reverie by a kind of grunt close to me, and +the apparition of a small waddling grey animal, who was busily employed +in hunting about the grass and stones at the edge of the loch; presently +another, and another, appeared in a little grassy glade which ran down +to the water's edge, till at last I saw seven of them busily at work +within a few yards of me, all coming from one direction. It at first +struck me that they were some farmer's pigs taking a distant ramble, but +I shortly saw that they were badgers, come from their fastnesses rather +earlier than usual, tempted by the quiet evening, and by a heavy summer +shower that was just over, and which had brought out an infinity of +large black snails and worms, on which the badgers were feeding with +good appetite. As I was dressed in grey and sitting on a grey rock, they +did not see me, but waddled about, sometimes close to me; only now and +then as they crossed my track they showed a slight uneasiness, smelling +the ground, and grunting gently. Presently a very large one, which I +took to be the mother of the rest, stood motionless for a moment +listening with great attention, and then giving a loud grunt, which +seemed perfectly understood by the others, she scuttled away, followed +by the whole lot. I was soon joined by my attendant, whose approach they +had heard long before my less acute ears gave me warning of his coming. +In trapping other vermin in these woods, we constantly caught +badgers--sometimes several were found in the traps; I always regretted +this, as my keeper was most unwilling to spare their lives, and I fancy +seldom did so. His arguments were tolerably cogent, I must confess. When +I tried to persuade him that they were quite harmless, he answered me by +asking--'Then why, sir, have they got such teeth, if they don't live, +like a dog or fox, on flesh?--and why do they get caught so often in +traps baited with rabbits?' I could not but admit that they had most +carnivorous-looking teeth, and well adapted to act on the offensive as +well as defensive, or to crunch the bones of any young hare, rabbit, or +pheasant that came in their way." + +But now we have reached the moors, and for the next few hours we shall +follow out the Wild Sports for ourselves. Ian, let loose the dogs. + +Oh, pleasant--pleasant and cool are the waters of the mountain well! It +is now past noonday, and we shall call a halt for a while. Donald, let +us see what is in that bag. Twelve brace and a half of grouse, three +blackcock, a leash of snipes, two ditto of golden plovers, three hares, +and the mallard that we raised from the rushes. Quite enough, we think, +for any rational sportsman's recreation, howbeit we have a few hours yet +before us. Somewhere, we think, in the other bag, there should be a cold +fowl, or some such kickshaw, with, if we mistake not, a vision of beef, +and a certain pewter flask.--Thank you. Now, let us all down by the side +of the spring, and to luncheon with what appetite we may. + +Are there any deer on these hills, Ian? But seldom. Occasionally a +straggler may come over from one of the upper forests, but there are too +many sheep about; and the deer, though they will herd sometimes with +black cattle, have a rooted antipathy to the others. No sight is finer +than that of a stag surrounded by his hinds; but it is late in the year +that the spectacle becomes most imposing, and we would have given +something to have been present with Mr St John on the following +occasion:-- + +"The red deer had just commenced what is called by the Highlanders +roaring, _i. e._ uttering their loud cries of defiance to rival stags, +and of warning to their rival mistresses. + +"There had been seen, and reported to me, a particularly large and fine +antlered stag, whose branching honours I wished to transfer from the +mountain side to the walls of my own hall. Donald and myself +accordingly, one fine morning, early in October, started before daybreak +for a distant part of the mountain, where we expected to find him; and +we resolved to pass the night at a shepherd's house far up in the hills, +if we found that our chase led us too far from home to return the same +evening. + +"Long was our walk that day before we saw horn or hoof; many a likely +burn and corrie did we search in vain. The shepherds had been scouring +the hills the day before for their sheep, to divide those which were to +winter in the low ground from those which were to remain on the hills. +However, the day was fine and frosty, and we were in the midst of some +of the most magnificent scenery in Scotland; so that I, at least, was +not much distressed at our want of luck. Poor Donald, who had not the +same enjoyment in the beauty of the scene, unless it were enlivened by a +herd of deer here and there, began to grumble and lament our hard fate; +particularly as towards evening wild masses of cloud began to sweep up +the glens and along the sides of the mountain, and every now and then a +storm of cold rain and sleet added to the discomfort of our position. +There was, however, something so very desolate and wild in the scene and +the day, that, wrapt in my plaid, I stalked slowly on, enjoying the +whole thing as much as if the elements had been in better temper, and +the Goddess of Hunting propitious. + +"We came in the afternoon to a rocky burn, along the course of which was +our line of march. To the left rose an interminable-looking mountain, +over the sides of which was scattered a wilderness of grey rock and +stone, sometimes forming immense precipices, and in other places +degenerating into large tracts of loose and water-worn grey shingle, +apparently collected and heaped together by the winter floods. Great +masses of rock were scattered about, resting on their angles, and +looking as if the wind, which was blowing a perfect gale, would hurl +them down on us. + +"Amongst all this dreary waste of rock and stone, there were large +patches of bright green pasture, and rushes on the level spots, formed +by the damming up of the springs and mountain streams. + +"Stretching away to our right was a great expanse of brown heather and +swampy ground, dotted with innumerable pools of black-looking water. The +horizon on every side was shut out by the approaching masses of rain and +drift. The clouds closed round us, and the rain began to fall in +straight hard torrents; at the same time, however, completely allaying +the wind. + +"'Well, well,' said Donald, 'I just dinna ken what to do.' Even I began +to think that we might as well have remained at home; but, putting the +best face on the matter, we got under a projecting bank of the burn, and +took out our provision of oatcake and cold grouse, and having demolished +that, and made a considerable vacuum in the whisky flask, I lit my +cigar, and meditated on the vanity of human pursuits in general, and of +deer-stalking in particular, while dreamy visions of balls, operas, and +the last pair of blue eyes that I had sworn everlasting allegiance to, +passed before me. + +"Donald was employed in the more useful employment of bobbing for burn +trout with a line and hook he had produced out of his bonnet--that +wonderful blue bonnet, which, like the bag in the fairy tale, contains +any thing and every thing which is required at a moment's notice. His +bait was the worms which in a somewhat sulky mood he kicked out of +their damp homes about the edge of the burn. Presently the ring-ousel +began to whistle on the hill-side, and the cock-grouse to crow in the +valley below us. Roused by these omens of better weather, I looked out +from our shelter and saw the face of the sun struggling to show itself +through the masses of cloud, while the rain fell in larger but more +scattered drops. In a quarter of an hour the clouds were rapidly +disappearing, and the face of the hill as quickly opening to our view. +We remained under shelter a few minutes longer, when suddenly, as if by +magic, or like the lifting of the curtain at a theatre, the whole hill +was perfectly clear from clouds, and looked more bright and splendidly +beautiful than any thing I had ever seen. No symptoms were left of the +rain, excepting the drops on the heather, which shone like diamonds in +the evening sun. The masses of rock came out in every degree of light +and shade, from dazzling white to the darkest purple, streaked here and +there with the overpourings of the swollen rills and springs, which +danced and leapt from rock to rock, and from crag to crag, looking like +streams of silver. + +"'How beautiful!' was both my inward and outward exclamation. 'Deed it's +not just so dour as it was,' said Donald; 'but, the Lord guide us! look +at yon,' he continued, fixing his eye on a distant slope, at the same +time slowly winding up his line and pouching his trout, of which he had +caught a goodly number. 'Tak your perspective, sir, and look there,' he +added, pointing with his chin. I accordingly took my perspective, as he +always called my pocket-telescope, and saw a long line of deer winding +from amongst the broken granite in single file down towards us. They +kept advancing one after the other, and had a most singular appearance +as their line followed the undulations of the ground. They came slowly +on, to the number of more than sixty (all hinds, not a horn amongst +them), till they arrived at a piece of table-land four or five hundred +yards from us, when they spread about to feed, occasionally shaking off +the raindrops from their hides, much in the same manner as a dog does on +coming out of the water. + +"'They are no that canny,' said Donald. '_Nous verrons_,' said I. +'What's your wull?' was his answer; 'I'm no understanding Latin, though +my wife has a cousin who is a placed minister.' 'Why, Donald, I meant to +say that we shall soon see whether they are canny or not: a rifle-ball +is a sure remedy for all witchcraft.' Certainly there was something +rather startling in the way they all suddenly appeared as it were from +the bowels of the mountain, and the deliberate, unconcerned manner in +which they set to work feeding like so many tame cattle. + +"We had but a short distance to stalk. I kept the course of a small +stream which led through the middle of the herd; Donald followed me with +my gun. We crept up till we reckoned that we must be within an easy +shot, and then, looking most cautiously through the crevices and cuts in +the bank, I saw that we were in the very centre of the herd: many of the +deer were within twenty or thirty yards, and all feeding quietly and +unconscious of any danger. Amongst the nearest to me was a remarkably +large hind, which we had before observed as being the leader and biggest +of the herd, I made a sign to Donald that I would shoot her, and left +him to take what he liked of the flock after I fired. + +"Taking a deliberate and cool aim at her shoulder, I pulled the trigger; +but, alas! the wet had got between the cap and nipple-end. All that +followed was a harmless snap: the deer heard it, and, starting from +their food, rushed together in a confused heap, as if to give Donald a +fair chance at the entire flock, a kind of shot he rather rejoiced in. +Before I could get a dry cap on my gun, snap, snap, went both his +barrels; and when I looked up, it was but to see the whole herd quietly +trotting up the hill, out of shot, but apparently not very much +frightened, as they had not seen us, or found out exactly where the +sound came from. 'We are just twa fules, begging your honour's pardon, +and only fit to weave hose by the ingle,' said Donald. I could not +contradict him. The mischief was done; so we had nothing for it but to +wipe out our guns as well as we could, and proceed on our wandering. We +followed the probable line of the deers' march, and before night saw +them in a distant valley feeding again quite unconcernedly. + +"'Hark! what is that?' said I, as a hollow roar like an angry bull was +heard not far from us. 'Kep down, kep down,' said Donald, suiting the +action to the word, and pressing me down with his hand; 'it's just a big +staig.' All the hinds looked up, and, following the direction of their +heads, we saw an immense hart coming over the brow of the hill three +hundred yards from us. He might easily have seen us, but seemed too +intent on the hinds to think of any thing else. On the height of the +hill he halted, and, stretching out his neck and lowering his head, +bellowed again. He then rushed down the hill like a mad beast: when +half-way down he was answered from a distance by another stag. He +instantly halted, and, looking in that direction, roared repeatedly, +while we could see in the evening air, which had become cold and frosty, +his breath coming out of his nostrils like smoke. Presently he was +answered by another and another stag, and the whole distance seemed +alive with them. A more unearthly noise I never heard, as it echoed and +re-echoed through the rocky glens that surrounded us. + +"The setting sun threw a strong light on the first comer, casting a kind +of yellow glare on his horns and head, while his body was in deep shade, +giving him a most singular appearance, particularly when combined with +his hoarse and strange bellowing. As the evening closed in, their cries +became almost incessant, while here and there we heard the clash of +horns as two rival stags met and fought a few rounds together. None, +however, seemed inclined to try their strength with the large hart who +had first appeared. The last time we saw him, in the gloom of the +evening, he was rolling in a small pool of water, with several of the +hinds standing quietly round him; while the smaller stags kept passing +to and fro near the hinds, but afraid to approach too close to their +watchful rival, who was always ready to jump up and dash at any of them +who ventured within a certain distance of his seraglio. 'Donald,' I +whispered, 'I would not have lost this sight for a hundred pounds.' +'Deed no, its grand,' said he. 'In all my travels on the hill I never +saw the like.' Indeed it is very seldom that chances combine to enable a +deer-stalker to quietly look on at such a strange meeting of deer as we +had witnessed that evening. But night was coming on, and though the moon +was clear and full, we did not like to start off for the shepherd's +house, through the swamps and swollen burns among which we should have +had to pass; nor did we forget that our road would be through the valley +where all this congregation of deer were. So after consulting, we turned +off to leeward to bivouac amongst the rocks at the back of the hill, at +a sufficient distance from the deer not to disturb them by our necessary +occupation of cooking the trout, which our evening meal was to consist +of. Having hunted out some of the driest of the fir-roots which were in +abundance near us, we soon made a bright fire out of view of the deer, +and, after eating some fish, and drying our clothes pretty well, we +found a snug corner in the rocks, where, wrapped up in our plaids and +covered with heather, we arranged ourselves to sleep. + +"Several times during the night I got up and listened to the wild +bellowing of the deer: sometimes it sounded close to us, and at other +times far away. To an unaccustomed ear it might easily have passed for +the roaring of a host of much more dangerous wild beasts, so loud and +hollow did it sound. I awoke in the morning cold and stiff, but soon put +my blood into circulation by running two or three times up and down a +steep bit of the hill. As for Donald, he shook himself, took a pinch of +snuff, and was all right. The sun was not yet above the horizon, though +the tops of the mountains to the west were already brightly gilt by its +rays, and the grouse-cocks were answering each other in every +direction." + +A graphic and most true description! The same gathering of the deer, but +on a far larger scale, may be seen in the glens near the centre of +Sutherland, hard by the banks of Loch Naver. Many hundreds of them +congregate there together at the bleak season of their love; and the +bellowing of the stags may be heard miles off among the solitude of the +mountain. Nor is it altogether safe at that time to cross their path. +The hart--a dangerous brute whenever brought to bay--then appears to +lose all trace of his customary timidity, and will advance against the +intruder, be he who he may, with levelled antler and stamping hoof, as +becomes the acknowledged leader, bashaw, and champion of the herd. Also +among the Coolin hills, perhaps the wildest of all our Highland scenery, +where the dark rain-clouds of the Atlantic stretch from peak to peak of +the jagged heights--where the ghostlike silence strikes you with +unwonted awe, and the echo of your own footfall rings startlingly on the +ear from the metallic cliffs of Hyperstein. + +What is it, Ian? As we live, Orleans is pointing in yon correi, and +Bordeaux backing him like a Trojan. Soho, Tours! Now for it. Black game, +we rather think. Well roaded, dogs! Bang! An old cock. Ian, you may pick +him up. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[1] _Wild Sports and Natural History of the Highlands._ From the +Journals of CHARLES ST JOHN, Esq. Murray. London: 1846. + + + + +LETTERS AND IMPRESSIONS FROM PARIS.[2] + + +THE gay metropolis of France has not lacked chroniclers, whether +indigenous or foreign. And no wonder. The subject is inexhaustible, the +mine can never be worn out. Paris is a huge kaleidoscope, in which the +slightest movement of the hand of time produces fantastic changes and +still recurring novelties. Central in position, it is the rendezvous of +Europe. London is respected for its size, wealth, and commerce, and as +the capital of the great empire on which the sun never sets; Paris is +loved for its pleasures and pastimes, its amusements and dissipations. +The one is the money-getter's Eldorado, the other the pleasure-seeker's +paradise. The former is viewed with wonder and admiration; for size it +is a province, for population a kingdom. But Paris, the modern Babel, +with its boulevards and palaces, its five-and-twenty theatres, its gaudy +restaurants and glittering coffee-houses, its light and cheerful aspect, +so different from the soot-grimed walls of the English capital, is the +land of promise to truant gentlemen and erratic ladies, whether from the +Don or the Danube, the Rhine or the Wolga, from the frozen steppes of +the chilly north, or the orange groves of the sunny south. A library has +been written to exhibit its physiognomy; thousands of pens have laboured +to depict the peculiarities of its population, floating and stationary. + +Amongst those who have most recently attempted the task, Mr Karl +Gutzkow, a dramatist of some fame in his own land, holds a respectable +place. He has recorded in print the results of two visits to Paris, paid +in 1842 and in the present year. The self-imposed labour has been +creditably performed; much truth and sharpness of observation are +manifest in his pages, although here and there a triviality forces a +smile, a far-fetched idea or a bizarre opinion causes a start. Mr +Gutzkow partakes a fault common to many of his countrymen--a tendency to +extremes, an aptness either to trifle or to soar, now playing on the +ground with the children, then floating in the clouds with mystical +familiars, or on a winged hobbyhorse. Desultory in style, he neglects +the classification of his subject. Abruptly passing from the grave to +the light, from the solid to the frothy, he breaks off a profound +disquisition or philosophical argument to chatter about the new +vaudeville, and glides from a scandalous anecdote of an actress into the +policy of Louis Philippe. His frequent and capricious transitions are +not disagreeable, and help one pleasantly enough through the book, but a +methodical arrangement would be more favourable to the reader's memory. +As it is, we lay down the volume with a perfect jumble in our brains, +made up of the sayings, doings, qualities, and characteristics of +actors, authors, statesmen, communists, journalists, and of the various +other classes concerning whom Mr Gutzkow discourses, introducing them +just as they occur to him, or as he happened to meet with them, and in +some instances returning three or four times to the same individual. The +first part of the book, which is the most lengthy and important, is in +the form of letters, and was perhaps actually written to friends in +Germany. This would account for its desultoriness and medley of matter. +The second portion, written during or subsequently to a recent visit to +Paris, serves as an appendix, and as a rectification of what came +before. The author troubles himself little about places; he went to see +Parisians rather than to gaze at Paris, to study men rather than to +admire monuments, and has the good sense to avoid prattling about things +that have been described and discussed by more common-place writers than +himself. Well provided with introductions, he made the acquaintance of +numerous notabilities, both political and literary, and of them he +gives abundant details: an eager play-goer, his theatrical criticisms +are bold, minute, and often exceedingly happy; an observant man, his +remarks on the social condition of Paris and of France are both acute +and interesting. Let us follow him page by page through his fifth letter +or chapter, the first that relates to Paris. Those that precede contain +an account of his journey from Hanover. On his entrance into France, he +encounters various petty disagreeables, in the shape of ill-hung +vehicles, sulky conductors, bad dinners, extravagant prices, and +attempts at extortion, which stir up his bile, accustomed as he is to +the moderate charges, smiling waiters, and snug although slow +_eilwagens_ of his own country. But he has resolved neither to grumble +at trifles nor to judge hastily. A visit to France, and especially to +Paris, has long been his darling project. His greatest fear is to be +disappointed--imagination, especially that of a German, is so apt to +outrun reality. + +"Every _sou_ upon which I read 'Republique FranASec.aise,' every portrait of +the unhappy Louis upon the coarse copper money, makes such impression on +me, that I no longer think of any thing but the historical ground under +my feet; and consoled for my trifling grievances, upon a fine spring +morning I enter the great Babel through the BarriA"re St Denis. + +"I am in France, in Paris. I must reflect, in order to ascertain what +was my first thought. As a boy, I hated France and loved Paris. My +thoughts clung fast to Germany's fall and Germany's greatness; my +feelings, my fancy, ranged through the French capital, of which I had +early heard much from my father, who had twice marched thither as a +Prussian soldier and conqueror." Then come sundry reflections on the +July revolution, and its effect on Europe. "These are chains of thought +which hereafter will occupy us much. I must now think for a while of the +France that I brought with me, because the one I have found is likely to +lead me astray. Louis Philippe, Guizot, the armed peace, the peace at +all price, the chamber of peers, the attempts on the king's life, the +deputies, the _A(C)piciers_, the great men and the little intrigues, art +and science, VA(C)ry, Vefour, Musard--I am really puzzled not to forget +something of what I previously knew. A hackney-coach horse, lying dead +upon the boulevard, preoccupies me more than yonder _hA'tel des +Capucins_, where Guizot gives his dinners. A wood-pavement at the end of +the Rue Richelieu sets me a-thinking more than the bulletin of to-day's +_DA(C)bats_. They pave Paris with wood to deprive revolutions of building +materials. Barricades are not to be made out of blocks. Better that +those who cannot hear should be run over than that those who cannot see +should risk to fall from their high estate." + +Considering that, when this was written, all the wood-pavement in Paris +might have been covered with a Turkey carpet, and that up to this day +its superficies has very little increased, Mr Gutzkow's discovery has +much the appearance of a mare's nest. A better antidote to the stone +within Paris is to be found in the stone around it. The fortifications +will match the barricades. But it would be unfair to criticise too +severely the crude impressions of a novice, suddenly set down amidst the +turmoil, bustle, tumult, and fever of the French capital. From the +pavements we pass to the promenaders. + +"Pity that black should this year be the fashion for ladies' dresses. +The mourning garments clash with the freshness of spring. The heavens +are blue, the sun shines, the trees already burst into leaf, the +fountains round the obelisk throw their countless diamonds into the air. +The exhibition of pictures has just opened. Shall I go thither, and +exchange this violet-scented atmosphere for the odour of the varnish? In +Paris the exhibition comes with the violets--in Berlin with the asters. +I prefer the autumn show at Berlin to the spring exhibition in Paris; +also intrinsically, with respect to art. Our German painters have more +poetry. With us painting is lyric--here all is, or strives to be, +dramatic. Every picture seems to thrust itself forward and demand +applause. I see great effects, but little feeling. Religion is +represented by a few gigantic altar-pieces. They are the offerings of a +devotion which only thinks of the saints because new churches require +new pictures. New churches consist of stone, wood, gold, silver, an +organ, an altar-piece. These pictures of saints belong to the ministry +of public works; it is easy to see that they have been done to order. +Besides them, the gallery is full of Oriental scenes, family pictures +and portraits. The first are to inspire enthusiasm for Algiers, the +second illustrate the happiness of wedded life, the last are matrimonial +advertisements in oil colour. In the family groups, children and little +dogs are most prominent; of the male portraits the beard is the +principal part. It is useless to look for men here; one sees nothing but +hair. Everybody wears a beard _A la mode du moyen Acge--flAcneurs_, +coachmen, marquises, artisans. On all sides one is surrounded with +Vandyke and Rubens heads, poetical beards and hair, contrasting +strangely with prosaic eyes, pallid lips, and the graceless costumes of +the nineteenth century." + +After some more very negative praise of French art, Mr Gutzkow gets sick +of turpentine and confinement, and rushes out of the Louvre into the +sunshine and the Champs ElysA(C)es, where the sight of the throng of +dashing equipages, gay cavaliers, and pretty amazons, instead of causing +him to throw up his hat and bless his stars for having conducted him +into such ways of pleasantness, renders him melancholy and metaphysical. +He is moralising on the Parisian ladies, when a cloud of dust and the +clatter of cavalry give a new turn to his reflections. "Here," he +exclaims, "comes an example of earthly happiness. Louis Philippe, King +of the French, surrounded by a half squadron of his body-guard; a narrow +and scarcely perceptible window in his deep six-horse carriage; a King, +flying by, resting not, leaning back in his coach, not venturing to look +out, breathing with difficulty under the shirt of mail which, according +to popular belief, he ever wears beneath his clothes. But of this more +hereafter." Quite enough as it is, Mr Gutzkow; and you are right, being +in so gloomy a mood, to run off to the Theatre FranASec.ais, and try to +dissipate your vapours by seeing Rachel in ChimA"ne. An unfavourable +criticism of that actress, retracted at a later period, closes the +chapter. ChimA"ne is one of Rachel's worst parts, and her critic was not +in his best humour. He found her cold, and deficient in voice. +Subsequently, in Joan of Arc, she fully redeemed herself in his opinion, +although he had seen the best German actresses in Schiller's tragedy of +that name, with which the work of Soumet ill bears comparison. Here, he +acknowledges, she raised herself to an artistical elevation to which no +German actress of the present day can hope to attain. + +The next actress of whom Mr Gutzkow records his judgment, is the queen +of the vaudeville, the faded but still fascinating Dejazet. From the +classic hall of the "FranASec.ais" to the agreeable little den of iniquity +at the other end of the Palais Royal, the distance was not great, but +the transition was very violent. It was passing from a funeral to an +orgie, thus to leave PhA"dre for FrA(C)tillon, Rachel for Dejazet. "She +performed in a little piece called the _Fille de Dominique_, in which +she represents the daughter of a deceased royal comedian of the days of +MoliA"re. She comes to Paris to get admitted into the troop to which her +father belonged. She is to give proofs of her talents, and has already +done so before any one suspects it. She has been to Baron, the comedian, +and presented herself alternately as a peasant girl, a fantastical lady, +and as a young drummer of the Royal Guard. She is seen by the audience +in all these parts. Her first word, her first step, convinced me of the +great fidelity of her acting. She is no queen, no fairy, or great dame +out of Scribe's comedies, but the peasant girl, the grisette, the +heroine of the vaudeville. All about her is arch, droll, true. Her +gestures are extraordinarily correct and steady; and in spite of her +harsh counter-tenor, and of an organ in which many a wild night and +champagne debauch may be traced, she sings her couplets with clearness +of intonation, grace of execution, and not unfrequently with most +touching effect. I am at a loss fully to explain and define her very +peculiar style of acting." + +Mr Gutzkow thought that the French public had become careless of +Dejazet, even when he first saw her, now four years ago. We believe he +is mistaken, and that she is as much appreciated as ever, in spite of +her five and forty years, soon to be converted into fifty. Although +haggard from vigils and dissipation, neither on the stage nor off it +does she look her age. The good heart and joyous disposition that have +endeared her to her comrades of the buskin, have in some degree +neutralized the effects of her excesses. On his second visit to Paris, +our author finds her grown exceedingly old, and depreciates as much as +he before praised her--calls her a rouged corpse, and makes all manner +of uncivil and unsavoury comments and comparisons. He goes so far as to +style her acting in 1846, languid, feeble, and insipid. _Qui trop dit, +ne dit rien_, and this is palpable exaggeration. We perceive scarcely +any difference in Dejazet now and five years ago. Her singing voice may +be a little less sure, her eyes a trifle hollower--she may need rather +more paint to conceal the inroads of time on her _piquante_ and +_spirituelle_ physiognomy, but she preserves the same spirit and +vivacity, _verve_ and vigour. Her appearance this spring at the VariA(C)tA(C)s +theatre, in the vaudeville of _Gentil Bernard_, was a triumph of talent +over time; and crowded houses, attracted not by the excellence of the +piece, but by the perfection of the acting, proved that Dejazet is +still, which she long has been, the pet of the Parisians. She is an +extraordinary actress--so true to nature, possessed of such perfect +judgment, and grace of gesticulation. Not a movement of her hand, a turn +of her head, an inflexion of her voice, but has its signification and +produces its effect. Her performance in the picturesque and bustling +second act of _Gentil Bernard_ is faultless. The frequenters of St +James's theatre have this summer had an opportunity of appreciating it. +At Paris she was better supported. Lafont makes a very fair La Tulipe, +but not so good a one as Hoffmann. The inferior parts, also, were far +better filled on the Boulevard des Italiens, than in King Street, St +James's, where the whole weight of the protracted and not very +interesting vaudeville rested upon the shoulders of Dejazet. + +The success of Rachel has roused the ambition and raised the reputation +of the daughters of Israel, who are now quite in vogue at the Paris +theatres. Mesdemoiselles Rebecca and Worms, at the "FranASec.ais," are both +Jewesses; at the minor theatre of the "Folies Dramatiques," Judith +delights a motley audience by her able enactment of the grisette. +Instances have been known of very Christian young ladies feigning +themselves of the faith of Moses, in hope that the fraud might +facilitate their admission to the Thespian arena. + +A severe judgment is passed by Mr Gutzkow upon the present state of +musical art and representations in the French capital. The opera, he +affirms, and not without reason, is on its last legs, sustained only by +the ballet, by the beauty of the scenery and costumes. Duprez has had +his day, Madame Stolz is among the middlings, Barroilhet alone may be +reckoned a first-rate singer. Our author saw the _ElA-sir d'Amore_ given +by a company which he says would hardly be listened to in a German +provincial town. Madame Stolz was then absent on a starring expedition. +The ballet of _Paquita_ was some compensation for the poorness of the +singing. "At the 'Italiens' I heard the _Barber of Seville_, with +Lablache, Ronconi, Tagliafico, Mario, and Persiani. This opera is +considered the triumph of the Italian company; but I confess that the +magnificence of the theatre, the high charge for admission, the Ohs! and +Ahs! of the English women in the boxes, just arrived from London, and +who had never before heard good music, were all insufficient to blind me +with respect to the merits of the performance. I look upon the Italian +opera at Paris as a mystification on the very largest scale, a thorough +classic-Italian swindle. That a German company, composed of our best +opera singers, would be infinitely superior to this Italian one, appears +to me to admit of no dispute; but even at an ordinary theatre in Germany +or Italy, one hears as good singing, perhaps with the exception of +Lablache in _Bartolo_--and even he is cold and careless, devoid of +freshness, and always seems to say to the audience, 'You stupid people, +take that for your twelve francs a-seat!' The quackery of this theatre +becomes the more intelligible when we reflect that, in all Paris, there +is no other where a single note of Italian opera music can be heard, the +Italians having the monopoly of the sweet melodies of their native +country. The Grand Opera, and the Opera Comique, deal in French music +only; and the pleasure obtainable in any small German town possessing a +theatre, that, namely, of hearing _Norma_, the _Somnambula_, and other +similar operas, is nowhere to be procured except by paying extravagant +prices to these half-dozen Italians." This statement is not quite +correct. The Opera Comique, it is true, gives nothing but French music, +and poor enough it is. In this particular, the Parisians are not +difficult to satisfy. A good libretto, smart scenery, a hard-handed +_claque_, a few skilful _reclames_, and laudatory paragraphs in the +newspapers, will create an enthusiasm even for the insipid music of +Monsieur HalA(C)vy, and sustain the _Mousquetaires de la Reine_, or similar +mawkish compositions, through a whole season. But at the AcadA(C)mie +Royale, good operas are to be heard, although the singing be deficient. +Meyerbeer, Rossini, and Donizetti are not the names of Frenchmen; and +the operas of these and other foreign composers are constantly given in +the Rue Lepelletier. + +"Several German opera companies have visited Paris; have begun well, and +finished badly. And here our most brilliant singers would meet the same +fate, because they would be allowed to sing nothing but German music; +and German operas are not listened to in Paris. But if it were possible, +with only a moderately good German company, to give _Norma_, the +_Barber_, _Robert the Devil_, the _Huguenots_, and Mozart's operas, +(omitting the dialogue,) that company, supported by a good orchestra, +and performing in a decent theatre, would carry all before them, and +return to Germany laden with fame and gold. But that is the difficulty. +In France every one must stick to a speciality. From the German they +will hear nothing but German music, and the representation of other +operas is positively forbidden him." + +Without going the lengths that Mr Gutzkow does, or by any means +coinciding in his sweeping censure of the artists who now furnish forth +the Italian theatres of London and Paris, we doubt whether it is not +fashion, as much as the excellence of the music, that draws the A(C)lite of +French and English society to the Haymarket and the Salle Ventadour, and +whether a German company of equal intrinsic merit would receive adequate +patronage and encouragement in either capital, supposing even that they +were allowed their choice of operas, and had the benefit of a handsome +theatre and an able management. Certainly they would not get the +enormous salaries which, in combination with the greediness of managers, +and the manA"uvres of ticket-sellers, render the enjoyment of a good +opera, in London at least, a luxury attainable but by an exceedingly +limited class. + +Although the prices of admission to most of the Paris theatres are +moderate, they are occasionally raised by illegitimate stratagems. This +is especially the case when a new piece is performed from which much is +expected, or concerning which, by puffery or for other reasons, the +public curiosity has been greatly excited. On such occasions, the first +few representations are sometimes rendered doubly and even trebly +productive. The prices cannot be raised at the theatre itself without +express permission from the authorities, and as this is seldom granted, +another plan is resorted to. The box-office is transferred _de facto_ +from the corridor of the theatre to the open street. Whoever applies for +tickets is told that there is not one left to any part of the house. +Nothing then remains but to have recourse to the ticket-brokers, who +carry on their disreputable commerce in the streets or at the +wine-shops. In the Rue Montmartre, within a few doors of the Boulevard, +there is a _marchand de vin_, whose establishment is a grand rendezvous +of these gentry. They are the agents of the managers of the theatres. +The latter sell all the tickets to themselves a fortnight beforehand, +inscribing on the _coupons_ the names of imaginary buyers, and then +distribute them amongst the brokers, who sell them in front of the +theatre to eager theatrical amateurs, as a great favour, and as the last +obtainable tickets, at two or three times the regulation price. The +theatre pockets the profits, minus a brokerage. In this manner a first +representation at the large theatre of the Porte St Martin may be made +to yield ten thousand francs. When a theatre is out of vogue, and +filling poorly, the same system is adopted; but in the contrary sense. +The _marchands de billets_ are provided with tickets which they sell at +less than the established price. + +When De Balzac's drama, _Les ExpA(C)dients de Quinola_, was brought out at +the "Odeon," he compounded to receive the proceeds of the first three +nights, in lieu of a share of each representation whilst the piece +should run. The play had been greatly talked of, the steam had been got +up in every way, and the public was in a fever. It is customary enough +in Paris for dramatic authors, in order at once to get paid for their +labours, to barter their _droits d'auteur_ for the entire profits of the +first representations. Scribe does it at the FranASec.ais. When the tickets +are sold at the usual prices, this financial arrangement is regular +enough, and concerns nobody but author and manager. But that would not +satisfy Balzac, who is notorious for his avarice. He set the brokers to +work, and drove the prices up to the highest possible point, fifteen +francs for a stall, instead of five, a hundred francs for a box and so +forth. "Under such circumstances," says Mr Gutzkow, "it cannot be +wondered if people forgot _Eugenie Grandet_ and the _PA"re Goriot_, and +hissed his play. To-day, nearly a hundred criticisms of _Quinola_ have +appeared. It is my belief, that, instead of reading them, Balzac is +counting his five-franc pieces." The drama fell from want of merit as +well as from the indignation excited by the author's greed. Although +Balzac's books are read and admired--some of them at least--personally +he is most unpopular. He is accused, and not without reason, of +arrogance and avarice. His assumption and conceit are evident in his +works. He has sacrificed his fame to love of gold; for one good book he +has produced two that are trash; by speculating on his reputation, he +has undermined and nearly destroyed it. Moreover, he has committed the +enormous blunder of affecting to despise the press, which consequently +shows him no mercy. For a fortnight after the appearance of +_Quinola_--which, although defective as a dramatic composition, was not +without its merits--the unlucky play served as a daily laughing-stock +and whipping-post to the battalion of Parisian critics. Janin led the +way; a host of minor wasps followed in his wake, and threw themselves +with deafening hum and sharp sting against the devoted head of M. de +Balzac. He bore their aggravating assaults with great apparent +indifference, consoled for want of friends by well-lined pockets. + +At the "Ambigu Comique," Mr Gutzkow attended a performance of the +_Mousquetaires_, a melo-drama founded on Dumas's romance of _Vingt Ans +AprA"s_. Its success was prodigious; it was performed the whole of last +winter and spring, upwards of one hundred and fifty nights, always to +crowded houses. The novel was dramatised by Dumas himself, with the +assistance of one of his literary subordinates, M. Auguste Maquet. One +or two of the actors at the "Ambigu" are to form part of the troop at M. +Dumas's new theatre, now erecting, and which will open, it is said, this +autumn. It is built by a company, and Dumas has engaged to write for it +a certain number of plays yearly. The Duke of Montpensier gives it his +name. + +It will be the twenty-third theatre in Paris. Mr Gutzkow lifts up his +hands and eyes in astonishment and admiration. "And this is granted," he +says, "to that same Alexander Dumas, who, two years ago, publicly +declared, that the stage and modern literature, in France especially, +suffer from the indifference of the king!" He proceeds to compare this +good-humoured facility with the scanty amount of encouragement given to +theatricals in Prussia, with which he appears as moderately satisfied as +with various other matters in the Fatherland. In Berlin, he says, +although another theatre is sadly wanted, there is little chance of its +being conceded either to a dramatic author or to any one else. But to +follow him in his complaints, would lead us from Paris. + +It is somewhat strange that Mr Gutzkow, himself a dramatist, and who +tells us that his chief object in visiting Paris was to see the +remarkable men of France, did not make the acquaintance of M. Dumas. We +infer, at least, that he did not, for the above passing reference is all +that his book contains touching the distinguished author of _AngA"le and +Antony_, of _Monte Christo_ and the _Mousquetaires_. To numerous other +_littA(C)rateurs_, of greater and less merit, he sought and obtained +introductions, and of them gives minute and interesting details. In +Germany, as in England, Dumas is better known and more popular than any +other French novelist; but, independently of that circumstance, as a +brother dramatist, we wonder Mr Gutzkow neglected him. Perhaps, since he +blames Balzac for overproduction, and speaks with aversion to the system +of bookmaking, he eschewed the society of Dumas for a similar reason. +Balzac is believed, at any rate, to write his books himself, although +they suffer from haste; but Dumas has been openly and repeatedly accused +of having his books written for him, and of maintaining a regular +establishment of literary aide-de-camps, perpetually busied in the +fabrication of tale, novel, and romance, whose productions he copies and +signs, and then gives to the world as his own. His immense fertility has +been the origin of this charge, which may be false, although appearances +are really in favour of its truth. It seems physically impossible that +one man should accomplish the mere pen and ink work of M. Dumas's +literary labours; and even if, like Napoleon, he had the faculty of +dictating to two or three different secretaries at once, it would +scarcely account for the number of volumes he annually puts forth. From +a clever but violent pamphlet, published in Paris in the spring of 1845, +under the title of _Fabrique de Romans; Maison Alexander Dumas & C{ie.}_ +we extract the following statement, which, it cannot be denied, is +plausible enough:-- + +"It is difficult to assign limits to the fecundity of writer, and to fix +the number of lines that he shall write in a given time. Romance-writing +especially, that frivolous style, has a right to travel post, and to +scatter its volumes in profusion by the wayside. Nevertheless, time must +be taken to consider a subject, to arrange a plan, to connect the +threads of a plot, to organize the different parts of a work; otherwise +one proceeds blindfold, and finishes by getting into a blind alley, or +by meeting insurmountable obstacles. Allowing for these needful +preparations, supposing that an author takes no more repose than is +absolutely necessary, eats in haste, sleeps little, is constantly +inspired; in this hypothesis, the most skilful writer will produce +perhaps fifteen volumes a-year--FIFTEEN VOLUMES, do you hear, Monsieur +Dumas? And, even in this case, he will assuredly not write for fame; we +defy him to chasten and correct his style, or to find a moment to look +over his proofs. Ask those who work unassisted; ask our most fertile +romance-writers, George Sand, Balzac, EugA"ne Sue, FrA(C)dA(C)ric SouliA(C); they +will all tell you, that it is impossible to reach the limit we have +fixed; that they have never attained it. + +"You, M. Dumas, have published THIRTY-SIX volumes in the course of the +year 1844; and for the year 1845, you announce twice as many. + +"Well, we make the following simple calculation:--The most expert +copyist, writing twelve hours a-day, hardly achieves 3900 letters in an +hour, which gives, per diem, 46,800 letters, or sixty ordinary pages of +a romance. At that rate he can copy five octavo volumes a month, and +sixty in a year, but he must not rest an hour or lose a second. You, +Monsieur Dumas, are a penman of first-rate ability. From the 1st of +January to the 31st of December you work regularly twelve hours a-day, +you sleep little, you eat in haste, you deprive yourself of all +amusements, you hardly travel at all, you are never seen out of your +house: consequently, if we suppose that your dramatic compositions, the +bringing out of your plays, your correspondence with newspapers and +theatres, importunate visitors, a few casual articles--as, for example, +your letters in the _Democratie Pacifique_; (a series of five letters +containing a fierce attack on the ThA(C)atre FranASec.ais, and on its +administrator M. Buloz)--supposing, we say, that all these various +occupations monopolize only one half of your time, we understand that +you may have _copied_ THIRTY volumes in the course of the year 1844--but +only thirty! the six others must have been the result of your son's +labours. Now, if you are going to publish twice as much this year as you +did during the last one, how will you manage? You must either give up +sleeping, and work the twenty-four hours through, or you must teach your +manufacturers to imitate your hand-writing. There is no other plan +possible. To deliver your manuscripts to the printers as they are +delivered to you, would be to furnish proofs against yourself." + +The author of this pamphlet is himself a novelist, and allowance must be +made for his jealousy of a successful rival. But there are grounds for +his attack. M. Dumas is known to work hard: literary labour has become a +habit and necessity of his life; but he is not the man to chain himself +to the oar and renounce all the pleasures of society and of Paris, even +to swell his annual budget to the enormous sum which it is reported, and +which he has indeed acknowledged it, to reach. We have seen works +published under his name, whose perusal convinced us that he had had +little or nothing to do with their composition or execution. The +internal evidence of others was equally conclusive in fixing their _bona +fide_ authorship upon their reputed author. _Au reste_, Dumas troubles +himself very little about his assailants, but pursues the even tenor of +his way, careless of calumniators. The most important point for him is, +that his pen, or at least his name, should preserve its popularity; and +this it certainly does, notwithstanding that his enemies have more than +once raised a cry that "_le Dumas baisse sur la place_." On the +contrary, the article, whether genuine or counterfeit, was never more in +demand, both with publishers and consumers. In Paris, as Mr Gutzkow +says, every thing is a speciality; it requires half a dozen different +shops to sell the merchandise that in England would be united in one. +One establishment deals in lucifer-matches and nothing else; chips and +brimstone form its whole stock in trade: it is the _spA(C)cialitA(C) des +allumettes chimiques_. Yonder we find a spacious _magasin_ appropriated +to glove-clasps; here is another where _clysopompes_ are the sole +commodity. We were aware of this peculiarity of French shopkeeping, but +were certainly not prepared to behold, as we did on our last visit to +Paris, a shop opened upon the Place de la Bourse, exclusively for the +sale of Monsieur Dumas's productions. This, we apprehend, is the _ne +plus ultra_ of literary fertility and popularity. "Le Dumas" has become +a commercial _spA(C)cialitA(C)_. The bookseller who wishes to have upon his +shelves all the productions of the author of the _Corricolo_, must no +longer think of appropriating any part of his space to the writings of +others; or if he persists in doing so, he had better take three or four +shops, knock down the partitions, and establish a _magasin monstre_, +like those of which ambitious linendrapers have of late years set the +fashion in the ChaussA(C)e d'Antin and Rue Montmartre. Curiosity prompted +us to enter the Dumas shop and procure a list of its contents. The +number of volumes would have stocked a circulating library. We were +gratified to find--for we have always taken a strong interest in +Alexander Dumas, some of whose bettermost books we have honoured with a +notice in Maga--that several of his works were out of print. On the +other hand, five or six new romances, from two to four volumes each, +were, we were informed by the obliging Dumas-merchant, on the eve of +appearing. It was a small instalment of the illustrious author's annual +contribution to the fund of French _belles lettres_. + +In the _Galerie des Contemporains Illustres_, by M. de Lomenie, we find +the following remarks concerning M. Dumas:-- + +"He has written masses of romances, feuilletons by the hundred. In the +year 1840 alone, he published twenty-two volumes. He has even written +with one hand the history that he turned over with the other, and heaven +knows what an historian M. Dumas is! He has published _Impressions de +Voyages_, containing every thing, drama, elegy, eclogue, idyl, politics, +gastronomy, statistics, geography, history, wit--every thing excepting +truth. Never did writer more intrepidly hoax his readers, never were +readers more indulgent to an author's gasconades. Nevertheless, M. Dumas +has abused to such an extent the credulity of the public, that the +latter begin to be upon their guard against the _discoveries_ of the +traveller." + +The public, we apprehend, take M. Dumas's narratives of travels at their +just value, find them entertaining, but rely very slightly on their +authenticity. It has been pretty confidently affirmed and generally +believed, that many of his excursions were performed by the fireside; +that rambles in distant lands are accomplished by M. Dumas with his feet +on his _chenets_ in the ChaussA(C)e d'Antin, or in his country retirement +at St Germains. Nor does he, when taxed with being a stay-at-home +traveller, repel the charge with much violence of indignation. At the +recent trial at Rouen of a sprig of French journalism, a certain +Monsieur _de_ Beauvallon, (truly the noble particle was worthily +bestowed,) the accused was stated to be extraordinarily skilful with the +pistol; and in support of the assertion, a passage was quoted from a +book written by himself, in which he stated, that in order to intimidate +a bandit, he had knocked a small bird off a tree with a single ball. The +prisoner declared that this wonderful shot was to be placed to the +credit of his invention, and not to his marksmanship. "I introduced the +circumstance," said he, "in hopes of amusing the reader, and not because +it really happened. M. Dumas, who has also written his travelling +impressions, knows that such license is sometimes taken." Whereupon +Alexander, who was present in court, did most heartily and admissively +laugh. + +Apropos of that trial--and although it leads us away from Mr Gutzkow, +who makes but a brief reference to the orgies, revived from the days of +the Regency, which the evidence given upon it disclosed--M. Dumas +certainly burst upon us on that occasion in an entirely new character. +We had already inferred from some of his books, from the knowing _gusto_ +with which he describes a duel, and from his intimacy with Grisier, the +Parisian Angelo, to whom he often alludes, that he was cunning of fence +and perilous with the pistol. But we were not aware that he was looked +up to as a duelling dictionary, or prepared to find him treated by a +whole court of justice--judge, counsellors, jury, and the rest--as an +oracle in all that pertains to custom of cartel. We had reason to be +ashamed of our ignorance; of having remained till the spring of the year +1846 unacquainted with the fact that in France proficiency with the pen +and skill with the sword march _pari passu_. Upon this principle, and as +one of the greatest of penmen, M. Dumas is also the prime authority +amongst duellists. With our Gallic neighbours, it appears, a man must +not dream of writing himself down literary, unless he can fight as well +as scribble. To us peaceable votaries of letters, whose pistol practice +would scarcely enable us to hit a haystack across a poultry-yard, and +whose entire knowledge of swordsmanship is derived from witnessing an +occasional set-to at the minors between one sailor and five villains, +(sailor invariably victorious,) there was something quite startling in +the new lights that dawned upon us as to the state of hot water and +pugnacity in which our brethren beyond the Channel habitually live. When +Hannibal Caracci was challenged by a brother of the brush, whose works +he had criticised, he replied that he fought only with his pencil. The +answer was a sensible one; and we should have thought authors' squabbles +might best be settled with the goosequill. Such, it would seem, from +recent revelations, is not the opinion on the other side of Dover +Straits; in France, the aspirant to literary fame divides his time +between the study and the shooting gallery, the folio and the foil. +There, duels are plenty as blackberries; and the editor of a daily paper +wings his friend in the morning, and writes a _premier Paris_ in the +afternoon, with equal satisfaction and placidity. Not one of the men of +letters who gave their evidence upon the notable trial now referred to, +but had had his two, three, or half-dozen duels, or, at any rate, had +_fait ses preuves_, as the slang phrase goes, in one poor little +encounter. All had their cases of Devismes' pistols ready for an +emergency; all were skilled in the rapier, and talked in Bobadil vein of +the "affairs" they had had and witnessed. And greatest amongst them all, +most versed in the customs of combat, stood M. Dumas, quoting the code, +(in France there is a published code of duelling,) laying down the law, +figuring as an umpire, fixing points of honour and of the duello, as, +at a tourney of old, a veteran knight. + +Mr Gutzkow is not far wrong in qualifying the champagne orgies of the +Parisian actresses and newspaper scribes, as a resuscitation of the +_mA"urs de RA(C)gence_. It appears that these gentlemen journalists live +in a state of polished immorality and easy profligacy, not unworthy the +days of Philip of Orleans, whom M. Dumas, be it said _en passant_, has +represented in one of his books as the most amiable, excellent, and +kind-hearted of men, instead of as the base, cold-blooded, and reckless +debauchee which he notoriously was. In France, to a greater extent than +in England, the success of an actress or dancer depends upon the manner +in which the press notices her performances. Theatrical criticisms are a +more important feature in French than in English newspapers, are more +carefully done, and better paid. + +"As an artist," said Mademoiselle Lola Montes, the Spanish _bailerina_, +who formerly attracted crowds to the Porte St Martin theatre--less, +however, by the grace of her dancing, than by the brevity of her +attire--"I sought the society of journalists." + +Miss Lola is not the only lady of her cloth making her chief society of +the men on whose suffrage her reputation, as an actress, depends. In +Paris, people are apt to pin their faith on their newspaper, and, +finding that the plan saves a deal of thought, trouble, and +investigation, they see with the eyes and hear with the ears of the +editor, go to the theatres which he tells them are amusing, and read the +books that he puffs. Actresses, especially second-rate ones, thus find +themselves in the dependence of a few _coteries_ of journalists, whom +they spare no pains to conciliate. We shall not enter into the details +of the subject, but the result of the system seems to be a sort of +socialist republic of critics and actresses, having for its object a +reckless dissipation, and for its ultimate argument the duelling pistol. +"In Paris," says Mr Gutzkow, "the critics are often dilettanti, who seek +by their pen to procure admission into the boudoirs of the pretty +actresses. The theatrical critic is a _petit maA(R)tre_, the analysis of a +performance a declaration of love." And favours are bartered for +feuilletons. It does not appear, however, that these Helens of the +foot-lamps often lead to serious rivalries between the Greeks and +Trojans of the press. A pungent leading article, or a keen opposition of +interests, is far more likely to produce duels than the smiles or +caprices even of a LiA(C)venne or an Alice Ozy. In these days of extinct +chivalry, to fight for a woman is voted _perruque_ and old style; but to +fight for one's pocket is correct, and in strict conformity with the +commercial spirit of the age. A's newspaper, being ably directed, rises +in circulation and enriches its proprietors. Journalist B, whose +subscribers fall off, orders a sub-editor to pick a quarrel with A and +shoot him. The thing is done; the paper of defunct A is injured by the +loss of its manager, and that of surviving B improves. The object is +attained. "The history of the _ProcA"s Beauvallon_," we quote from Mr +Gutzkow, "so interesting as a development of the modern _Mysteries of +Paris_, arose apparently from a rivalry about women, but in reality was +to be attributed to one between newspapers. It is tragical to reflect, +that for the _Presse_ Emile de Girardin shot Carrel, and that now the +manager of the same paper is in his turn shot by a new rival, on account +of the _Globe_ or the _Epoque_. We are reminded of the poet's words: +_Das ist der Fluch der bA¶sen That!_" + +It will be remembered that De Girardin, the founder of the _Presse_, +killed Armand Carrel, the clever editor of the _National_, in a duel. +The _Presse_ was started at forty francs a-year, at a time when the +general price of newspapers was eighty francs. The experiment was bold, +but it fully succeeded. The thing was done well and thoroughly; the +paper was in all respects equal to its contemporaries; in talent it was +superior to most of them, surpassed by none. De Girardin and his +associates made a fortune, the majority of the other papers were +compelled to drop their prices, some of the inferior ones were ruined. +The innovation and its results made the bold projector a host of +enemies, and he would have found no difficulty in the world in getting +shot, had he chosen to meet a tithe of those who were anxious to fire +at him. But after his duel with Carrel he declined all encounters of the +kind, and fought his battles in the columns of the _Presse_ instead of +in the Bois de Boulogne. Had he not adopted this course he would long +ago have fallen, probably by the hand of a member of the democratic +party, who all vowed vengeance against him for the death of their idol. +As it is, he has had innumerable insults and mortifications to endure, +but he has retaliated and borne up against them with immense energy and +spirit. On one occasion he was assaulted at the opera, and received a +blow, when seated beside his wife, a lady of great beauty and talent. +The aggressor was condemned to three years' imprisonment. The _Presse_ +being a conservative paper, and a strenuous supporter of the Orleans +dynasty, the opposition and radical organs of course loudly denounced +the injustice and severity of the sentence. De Girardin was once +challenged by the editors of the _National en masse_. His reply was an +article in his next day's paper, proving that the previous character and +conduct of his challengers was such as to render it impossible for a man +of honour to meet any one of them. Mr Gutzkow made the acquaintance of +Girardin. "At the sight of the slender delicate hand which slew the +steadfast and talented editor of the _National_, I was seized with an +emotion, the expression of which might have sounded somewhat too +_German_. Girardin himself affected me; his daily struggles, his daily +contests before the tribunals, his daily letters to the _National_, his +uneasy unsatisfied ambition, his unpopularity. One may have shot a man +in a duel, but in order to remember the act with tranquillity, the +deceased should have been the challenger. One may have received a blow +in the opera house, and yet not deem it necessary, having already had +one fatal encounter, to engage in a second, but it is hard that the +giver of the blow must pass three years in prison. Such events would +drive a German to emigration and the back-woods; they impel the +Frenchman further forward into the busy crowd. Bitterness, melancholy, +nervous excitement, and morbid agitation, are unmistakeably written upon +Girardin's countenance." + +Himself a clever critic, Mr Gutzkow was anxious to make the acquaintance +of a king of the craft, the well-known Jules Janin, the feuilletonist of +the _Debats_. "Janin has lived for many years close to the Luxembourg +palace, on a fourth floor. His habitation is by no means brilliant, but +it is comfortably arranged; and when he married, shortly before I saw +him, he would not leave it. _Le Critique mariA(C)_, as they here call him, +lives in the Rue Vaugirard, rather near to the sky, but enjoying an +extensive view over the gardens, basins, statues, swans, nurses and +children, of the Luxembourg. 'I have bought a chateau for my wife,' said +he, coming down a staircase which leads from his sitting-room to his +study. 'I am married, have been married six months, am happy, too +happy--Pst, AdA"le, AdA"le!' + +"AdA"le, a pretty young Parisian, came tripping down stairs and joined us +at breakfast. Janin is better-looking than his caricature at Aubert's. +Active, notwithstanding his _embonpoint_, he is seldom many minutes +quiet. Now stroking his _jeune France_ beard, then caressing AdA"le, or +running to look out of the window, he only remains at table to write and +to eat. He showed me his apartment, his arrangements, his books, even +his bed-chamber. 'I still live in my old nest,' said he, 'but I will buy +my angel--we have been married six months, and are very happy--I will +buy my angel a little chateau. I earn a great deal of money with very +bad things. If I were to write good things, I should get no money for +them.' + +"It is impossible to write down mere prattle. Janin, like many authors, +finds intercourse with men a relief from intercourse with books. The +cleverest people willingly talk nonsense; but Janin talked, on the +contrary, a great deal of sense, only in a broken unconnected way, +running after AdA"le, threatening to throw her out of the window, or +rambling about the room with the stem of a little tree in his hand. 'Do +you see,' said he, 'I like you Germans because they like me--(this by +way of parenthesis)--do you see, I have brought up my wife for myself; +she has read nothing but my writings, and has grown tall whilst I have +grown fat. She is a good wife, without pretensions, sometimes +coquettish, a darling wife. It is not my first love, but my first +marriage. You have been to see George Sand? We do not smoke, neither I +nor my wife, so that we have no genius. _Pas vrai, AdA"le?_' + +"AdA"le played her part admirably in this matrimonial idyl. 'She does not +love me for my reputation,' said her husband, 'but for my heart. I am a +bad author, but a good fellow. Let's talk about the theatre.' + +"We did so. We spoke of Rachel, and of Janin's depreciation of that +actress, whom he had previously supported. 'It's all over with her,' +said he; 'she has left off study, she revels the night through, she +drinks grog, smokes tobacco, and intrigues by wholesale. She gives +soirA(C)es, where people appear in their shirt-sleeves. Since she has come +of age, it's all up with her. She has become dissipated. Shocking--is it +not, AdA"le?' + +"'One has seen instances of genius developing itself with dissipation.' + +"'They might stand her on her head, but would get nothing more out of +her,' replied Janin. 'Luckily the French theatre rests on a better +foundation than the tottering feet of Mamsell Rachel.--Do you know +Lewald? Has he translated me well?' + +"'You have fewer translators than imitators.' + +"'Can my style be imitated in German?' + +"'Why not? I will give you an instance.' + +"Janin was called away to receive a visitor, and was absent a +considerable time. He had some contract or bargain to settle. I took out +my tablets, drank my cup of tea, and wrote in Janin's style the +following criticism upon a performance at the Circus which then had a +great run." + +Having previously, it may be presumed, noted down the suggestive and +curious dialogue of which we have given an abbreviation. We have our +doubts as to the propriety, or rather we have no doubts as to the +impropriety and indelicacy, of thus repeating in print the familiar +conversations, and detailing the most private domestic habits of +individuals, merely on the ground of their talents or position having +rendered them objects of curiosity to the mob. Literary notoriety does +not make a man public property, or justify his visitors in dragging him +before the multitude as he is in his hours of relaxation, and of mental +and corporeal dishabille. Mr Gutzkow is unscrupulous in this respect. +Possessing either an excellent memory, or considerable skill in +clandestine stenography, he carefully sets down the sayings of all who +are imprudent enough to gossip with him, and important enough for their +gossip to be interesting. Surely he ought to have informed Messrs +Thiers, Janin, and various others, who kindly and hospitably entertained +him, that he was come amongst them to take notes, and eke to print them. +Forewarned, they would perhaps have been less confiding and +communicative. The last four years have produced many instances of this +species of indiscretion. Two prominent ones at this moment recur to +us--a prying, conceited American, and a clever but impertinent German +_prinzlein_. The latter, we have been informed, was on one occasion +called to a severe account for his tattling propensities. With respect +to Jules Janin, we are sure that Mr Gutzkow's revelations concerning his +household economy, his pretty wife, his morning pastimes and +breakfast-table _causeries_, will not in the slightest degree disturb +his peace of mind, spoil his appetite, or diminish his _embonpoint_. The +good-humoured and clever critic is proof against such trifles. Nay, as +regards initiating the public into his private affairs and most minute +actions, he himself has long since set the example. The readers of the +witty and playful feuilletons signed J. J., will not have forgotten one +that appeared on the occasion of M. Janin's marriage, having for its +subject the courtship and wedding of that gentleman. The commencement +made us smile; the continuation rendered us uneasy; and as we drew near +the close, we became positively alarmed--not knowing how far the writer +was going to take us, and feeling somewhat pained for Madame Janin, who +might be less willing than her _insouciant_ husband that such very +copious details of her commencement of matrimony should be supplied as +pasture to the populace in the columns of a widely-circulated newspaper. +Janin got a smart lashing from some of his rival feuilletonists for his +indecent and egotistical puerility. Doubtless he cared little for the +infliction. Habituated to such flagellations, his epidermis has grown +tough, and he well knows how to retaliate them. He has few friends. +Those who have felt his lash hate him; those whom he has spared envy +him. As a professed critic, he finds it easier and more piquant to +censure than to praise; and scarcely a French author, from the highest +to the lowest, but has at one time or other experienced his pitiless +dissection and cutting _persiflage_. His feuilletons were once, and +still occasionally are, distinguished and prized for their graceful +_naA-vetA(C)_ and playful elegance of style. His correctness of +appreciation, his adherence to the sound rules of criticism, his +thorough competency to judge on all the infinite variety of subjects +that he takes up, have not always been so obvious. And of late years, +his principal charm, his style, has suffered from inattention, perhaps +also from weariness; chiefly, no doubt, from his having fallen into that +commercial money-getting vein which is the bane of the literature of the +day. Still, now and then, one meets with a feuilleton in his old and +better style, delightfully graceful, and pungent and witty, concealing +want of depth by brilliancy of surface. He is a journalist, and a +journalist only; he aspires to no more; books he has not written, none +at least worth the naming--two or three indifferent novels, early +defunct. His feuilletons are especially popular in Germany--more so, +perhaps, than in France. His arch and sparkling paragraphs contrast +agreeably with the heavy solidity of German critics of the _belles +lettres_. By the bye, we must not forget Gutzkow's attempt at an +imitation of M. Janin's style. He was interrupted before he had +completed it, but favours us with the fragment. It is a notice of the +exploits of a Pyrenean dog then acting at Paris. Its author had not time +to read it to Janin, who went out to walk with his wife. "I kept my +paper to myself, exchanged another joke or two with my whimsical host, +and departed. I have written a theatrical article, than which Janin +could not write one more childish. What German newspaper will give me +twenty thousand francs a-year for articles of this kind?" One, only, +whose proprietor and editor have taken leave of their senses. The +article _A la Janin_ is childish and frivolous enough; but childishness +and frivolity would have availed the Frenchman little had he not united +with them wit and grace. His German copyist has not been equally +successful in operating that union. But to attempt in German an +imitation of Janin's style, so entirely French as it is, and only to be +achieved in that language, appears to us nearly as rational as to try to +manufacture a dancing-pump out of elephant hide. + +We grieve to hear the bad accounts of Mademoiselle Rachel's private +propensities and public prospects given by Janin, or, at least, by Mr +Gutzkow, who in another place enters into further details of the fair +tragedian's irregularities. It is difficult to imagine ChimA"ne smoking a +cigar, PhA"dre sitting over a punch-bowl, the Maid of Orleans intriguing +with a journalist, even though it be admitted that the lords of the +feuilleton are also tyrants of the stage, and toss about their +_foulards_ with a tolerable certainty of their being gratefully and +submissively picked up. We will hope, however, either that Janin was +pleased to mystify Gutzkow, thinking it perhaps very allowable to pass a +joke on the curious German who had ferreted him out in his _quatriA"me_, +or that Gutzkow has fathered upon Janin the floating reports and +calumnious inuendos of the theatrical coffee-houses. + +Mr Gutzkow went to see George Sand. This was his great ambition, his +burning desire. He is an enthusiastic admirer of her works and of her +genius. It is to be inferred from what he tells us, that he did not find +it easy to obtain an introduction. Madame Dudevant lives retired, and +likes not to be trotted out for the entertainment of the curious. She is +particularly distrustful of tourists. They have sketched her in +grotesque outline, respecting neither her mysteries nor her confidence. +But Mr Gutzkow was resolved to see the outside of her house, pending +the time that he might obtain access to its interior. So away he went to +the Rue Pigale, No. 16, chattered with the portress, peeped into the +garden, gazed at the windows which George Sand, "when exhausted with +mental labour, is wont to open to cool her bosom in the fresh air." +Considering that this was in the month of March, some time had probably +elapsed since the lady had done any thing so imprudent. From a chapter +of _Lelia_ or _Mauprat_ to an equinoctial breeze! There is a catarrh in +the mere notion of the transition. However, Mr Gutzkow viewed the matter +with a poet's eye--the window, we mean to say--and after gazing his +fill, departed, musing as he went. A fortnight later he was admitted to +see the jewel whose casket he had contemplated with so much veneration. +"I have been to see George Sand. She wrote to me: 'You will find me at +home any evening. If, however, I am engaged with a lawyer or compelled +to go out, you must not impute it to want of courtesy. I am entangled in +a lawsuit in which you will see a trait of our French usages, for which +my patriotism must needs blush. I plead against my publisher, who wants +to constrain me to write a romance according to his pleasure--that is to +say, advocating his principles. Life passes away in the saddest +necessities, and is only preserved by anxieties and sacrifices. You will +find a woman of forty years old, who has employed her whole life not in +pleasing by her amiability, but in offending by her candour. If I +displease your eyes, I shall, at any rate, preserve in your heart the +place that you have conceded me. I owe it to the love of truth, a +passion whose existence you have distinguished and felt in my literary +attempts.' + +"I went to see her in the evening. In a small room, scarce ten feet +square, she sat sewing by the fire, her daughter opposite to her. The +little apartment was sparingly lighted by a lamp with a dark shade. +There was no more light than sufficed to illumine the work with which +mother and daughter were busied. On a divan in one corner, and in dark +shadow, sat two men, who, according to French custom, were not +introduced to me. They kept silence, which increased the solemn, anxious +tension of the moment. A gentle breathing, an oppressive heat, a great +tightness about the heart. The flame of the lamp flickered dimly, in the +chimney the charcoal glowed away into white shimmering ashes, a +ghostlike ticking was the only sound heard. The ticking was in my +waistcoat pocket. It was my watch, not my heart." How intensely German +is all this overwrought emotion about nothing! Fortunately a chair was +at hand, into which the impressionable dramatist dropped himself. His +first speech was a blunder, for it sounded like a preparation. + +"'Pardon my imperfect French. I have read your works too often, and +Scribe's comedies too seldom. From you one learns the mute language of +poetry, from Scribe the language of conversation.'" + +To which compliment Aurora Dudevant merely replied: "'How do you like +Paris?' + +"'I find it as I had expected.--A lawsuit like yours is a novelty. How +does it proceed?' + +"A bitter smile for sole reply. + +"'What is understood in France by _contrainte par corps_?' + +"'Imprisonment.' + +"'Surely they will not throw a woman into prison to compel her to write +a romance. What does your publisher mean by his principles?' + +"'Those which differ from mine. He finds me too democratic.' + +"And mechanics do not buy romances, thought I. 'Does the _Revue +IndA(C)pendante_ make good progress?' + +"'Very considerable, for a young periodical.'" + +And so on for a couple of pages. But George Sand was on her guard, and +stuck to generalities. She would not allow her visitor to draw her out, +as he would gladly have done. She had been already too much gossiped +about and calumniated in print. She had an intuitive perception of the +approaching danger. She _nosed_ the intended book. Nevertheless, and +although reserved, she was very amiable; talked about the drama--when Mr +Gutzkow, remembering her unsuccessful play of _Cosima_, tried to change +the subject--inquired after _Bettina_, spoke respectfully of +Germany--of which, however, she does not profess to know any thing--and +even smoked a cigar. + +"George Sand laid aside her work, arranged the fire, and lighted one of +those innocent cigars which contain more paper than tobacco, more +coquetry than emancipation. I was now able, for the first time, to +obtain a good view of her features. She is like her portraits, but less +stout and round than they make her. She has a look of Bettina. Since +that time she has grown larger. + +"'Who translates me in Germany?' + +"'Fanny Tarnow, who styles her translations _bearbeitungen_.' + +"'Probably she omits the so-called immoral passages.' + +"She spoke this with great irony. I did not answer, but glanced at her +daughter, who cast down her eyes. The pause that ensued was of a second, +but it expressed the feelings of an age." + +Although Mr Gutzkow's visits to Paris were each but of a few weeks' +duration, and notwithstanding that he had much to do, many persons to +call upon and things to see, he now and then felt himself upon the brink +of _ennui_. This especially in the evenings, which, he says, would be +insupportable without the theatres. To foreigners they certainly would +be so, and to many Parisians. The theatre, the coffee-house, the +reading-room, the unvarying and at last wearisome lounge on the +boulevards, compose the resources of the stranger in Paris. Access to +domestic circles he finds extremely difficult, rarely obtainable. Many +imagine, on this account, that in Paris there is no such thing as +domestic life, that the quiet evenings with books, music, and +conversation, the fireside coteries so delightful in England and +Germany, are unknown in the French metropolis. If not unknown, they are, +at any rate, much rarer. "The stranger complains especially," says Mr +Gutzkow, "that his letters of introduction carry him little further than +the antechamber. He misses nothing so much as the opportunity of passing +his evenings in familiar intercourse with some family who should admit +him to their intimacy." This want is most perceptible at the season when +Mr Gutzkow was at Paris, March and April, treacherous and rainy months, +comprising Lent, during which Paris is comparatively dull, and when many +persons, either from religious scruples or from weariness of winter and +carnival gaieties, refuse parties, and cease to give their weekly or +fortnightly soirA(C)es, often more agreeable as an habitual resort than +balls and entertainments of greater pretensions. Mr Gutzkow complains +bitterly of the bad weather. The climate of Paris is certainly the +reverse of good. The heat oppressively great in summer, rain intolerably +abundant for seven or eight months of the twelve. If London has its +fogs, Paris has its deluge, and its consequences, oceans of mud, which, +in the narrow streets of the French capital, are especially obnoxious. +The Boulevards and the Rues de Rivoli and De la Paix are really the only +places where one is tolerably secure from the splashing of coach and +scavenger. + +"A rainy day," writes Mr Gutzkow, on the 22nd March; "the sky grey, the +Seine muddy, the streets filthy and slippery. You take refuge in the +passages, and in the Palais Royal. Appointments are made in the passages +and reading-rooms. Dinner at the BA"uf A la Mode, at the Grand Vatel +or Restaurant Anglais, reserving VA(C)ry, VA(C)four, the Rocher de Cancale, +for a brighter day and more cheerful mood." + +"Paris is too large in bad weather, and too small in fine. Really, when +the sun shines, Paris is very small. The fashionable part of the +Boulevards, the Rue Vivienne, the Rue Richelieu, the Palais Royal, in +all that region you are soon so much at home that your face is known to +every shopkeeper. Always the same impressions. In the daytime often +insipid; more cheerful at night, when the gas-lights gleam. The art of +false appearances is here brought to the greatest perfection. The +commonest shops are so arranged as to deceive the eye. Mirrors reflect +the wares, and give the establishment an artificial extension, by +lamplight a fantastical grandeur. You try the different _restaurants_, +dining sometimes here, sometimes there, and gradually becoming initiated +in the mysteries of the _carte_; for the most part avoiding all +complicated preparations, and confining yourself to the dishes _au +naturel_, as the surest means of not eating cat for calf. In the Palais +Royal the shops are very dear, only the dinners on the first floor are +cheap, and ennui is to be had gratis. Since so many handsome passages +have been opened through the streets, the Palais Royal has lost its +vogue. Some say that its decline began with its morality. The _Cabinets +particuliers_, formerly of such evil repute, are now the smoking rooms +of the coffeehouses. The Galerie d'Orleans is still the most frequented +part of the Palais Royal. Here the loungers pull out their watches every +five minutes; they all wait either for a friend or for dinner-time. +Meanwhile they saunter to and fro, and admire the skill of their tailors +in the range of mirrors on either side of the gallery. + +"I followed the boulevards, the other day, from the Madeleine to the +Column of July--a distance which it took me almost two hours to +accomplish. From the Portes St Denis and St Martin, the boulevards lose +their metropolitan aspect. They become more countrified and homely. The +magnificence of the shops and coffeehouses diminishes and at last +disappears. The luxurious gives way to the useful, the comfortable to +the needy. At the ChActeau d'Eau, where the boulevard turns off at a +right angle, four or five theatres stand together. Here is the road to +the PA"re la Chaise. Here fell the victims of Fieschi's infernal machine. +From one of these little houses the murderous discharge was made. From +which, I will not ask. Perhaps no one could tell me. Paris has forgotten +her revolutions. + +"Further on, the Goddess of Liberty flashes on us from the summit of the +July Column. Why in that dancer-like attitude? It may show the artist's +skill, but it is undignified, and seems to challenge the stormwind which +once already blew down Freedom's Goddess from the Pantheon. Upon the +column are engraved the names of the heroes of July. + +"What stood formerly upon this spot? Upon yonder little house I read, +'Tavern of the Bastile.' This, then, was the birthplace of French +freedom, of the freedom of the world. Upon this site, now bare, stood +the fortress-prison, whose gloomy interior beheld for centuries the +crimes of tyrants, the violence of despotism, whereof nought but dark +rumours transpired to the world without. On the 14th July 1789, came the +dawn. The Bastile was destroyed, and not one stone of it remained upon +another. It is awfully impressive to contemplate this place, now so +naked and empty, once so gloomily shadowed. + +"We enter the suburb of the workmen, the faubourg St Antoine, the former +ally and reliance of the Jacobins. Here things have a ruder and more +strongly marked aspect. It is a sort of Frankfurt Sachsenhausen. By the +Rue St Antoine we again reach the interior of the city, its most +industrious and busy quarter. I love these working-day wanderings in the +regions of labour. I prefer them to all the Sunday promenades upon the +broad pavements of luxury. True that each of these intricate and dirty +streets has its own particular and often nauseous odour. Here are the +soapboilers, yonder a slaughter-house, here again, in the Rue des +Lombards, the atmosphere is laden with the scent of spices and drugs. In +the cellars, men, with shirt-sleeves rolled up, crush brimstone and +pepper and a hundred other things in huge iron mortars; a noise and +smell which reminds me of the treacle-grinders on the Rialto at Venice. +And here, also, in these narrow alleys and dingy lanes, historical +associations linger. Yonder is the battered chapel of St MA(C)ry, where, +eight years ago, four hundred republicans, intrenched in the cloisters, +strove against the whole armed might of Paris, and were overcome only by +artillery. To-day the French Opposition takes things more easily. Its +demonstrations are dinners, as in Germany. The popping of champagne +corks causes no bloodshed. Written speeches, an article in a newspaper, +a toast to the maintenance of order, another against _tentatives +insensA(C)es_;--it will be long before such an opposition attains its end." + +Mr Gutzkow, who does not conceal his ultra-liberal opinions, seems +almost to regret the revolutionary days, and to pity Paris for the +tranquillity which a firm and judicious government has at length +succeeded in establishing within its walls. Had a republican outbreak +taken place during his abode in the French capital, one might have +expected to find him raising impromptu battalions from the eighty +thousand Germans and Alsatians, who form an important item of the +Parisian population. His doctrines will hardly gain him much favour with +the powers that be in his own country. But for that he evidently cares +little. He is one of the progress; Young Germany reckons in him a stanch +and devoted partisan. With his democratic tendencies, and in Paris, +where monuments of revolutions abound, and where a thousand names and +places recall the struggles between the people and their rulers, it is +not wonderful that his enthusiasm occasionally boils over, and that he +vents or hints opinions which maturer reflection would perhaps induce +him to repudiate. + +A visit to Michel Chevalier suggests a comparison between the different +modes of attaining to public honours and ministerial office in France +and in Germany. "Most delightful to me was the acquaintance of +Chevalier. Delightful and afflicting. Afflicting when I contrasted the +treatment of talent in Germany with that which it meets in France. +Michel Chevalier, the accomplished writer who knows how to handle so +well and agreeably the dry topics of national economy, of railways and +public works, ten years ago was a St Simonian. When the association of +Menilmontant was prosecuted by the French government, he was condemned +to a year's imprisonment. But those who persecuted him for his +principles, prized him for his talents. Instead of letting him undergo +his punishment, as would have been the case in Germany, they gave him +money and sent him to North America, commissioned to make observations +upon that country. Chevalier published, in the _Journal des Debats_, his +able letters from the United States, returned to France, became +professor at the University, and, a year ago, was made counsellor of +state." In opposition to this example, Mr Gutzkow traces the progress of +the German candidate for his office; pipes, beer, and dogs at the +university, plucked in his examination, a place in an administration, +counsellor, knight of several orders, vice-president of a province, +president of a province, minister. + +Although there are in Paris more Germans than foreigners of any other +nation, little is seen and heard of them. They do not hang together, and +form a society of their own, as do the English, and even the Spaniards +and Italians. They may be classed under the heads of political refugees, +artisans, men of science and letters, merchants and bankers. Few of them +are of sufficient rank and importance to represent their nation with +dignity, or sufficiently wealthy to make themselves talked of for their +lavish expenditure and magnificent establishments. They have not, like +the English, colonized and appropriated to themselves one of the best +quarters of Paris. Mr Gutzkow complains of the scanty kindness and +attention shown to his countrymen by the richer class of German +residents. "I was in a drawing-room," he says, "whose owner was indebted +for his fortune to a marriage with a German lady. Yet the Germans there +present were neglected both by host and hostess. The German artist or +scholar must not reckon on a Schickler or a Rothschild to introduce him +into the higher circles of Parisian life. These rich bankers are of the +same breed as the German waiters in Switzerland and Alsace, who, even +when waiting upon Germans, pretend to understand only French. Music is +the German's best passport to French society. You may be a great +scientific genius, and find no admission at the renowned soirA(C)es of the +Countess Merlin. Do but offer to take a part in one of the musical +choruses, to strengthen the bass or the tenor, and you are welcome +without name or fame, and even without varnished boots." + +We have been diffuse upon the lighter texts afforded us by Mr Gutzkow's +work, and must abstain from touching upon its graver portions. They will +repay perusal. A vein of satire, sometimes verging on bitterness, is +here and there perceptible in his pages. It forms no unpleasant +seasoning to a very palatable book. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[2] _Briefe aus Paris_, 1842. _Pariser EindrA1/4cke_, 1846. Von KARL +GUTZKOW. Frankfurt am Main, 1846. + + + + +VISIT TO THE VLADIKA OF MONTENEGRO. + + +THE people of the old Illyricum have shown a marvellous consistency of +character through all the changes that have affected the other nations +of the Roman empire. They exist now as they did of old, a hardy race of +borderers, not quite civilised, and not quite barbarous--Christian in +fact, and Turkish to a great extent in appearance. Living on the borders +of the two empires, they exhibit the national characteristics of each +_in transitu_ towards the other. Of all civilised Europe, it is perhaps +here only that the practice of carrying arms universally and commonly +prevails--a custom which we have very old historical authority for +considering as the characteristic mark of unsettled, predatory, and +barbarous manners--an opinion which will be abundantly confirmed by a +glance at the neighbouring Albanians. Any thing original is possessed of +one element of interest, especially when it has been so sturdily +preserved; and sturdy, indeed, have the Illyrians been. In spite of the +polished condition of the empire of which they form a constituent part, +and of the constant steamers up and down the Adriatic promoting +intercourse with the world, they remain much as they used to be, and so +do they seem likely to remain indefinitely. + +Perhaps the secret of their stability may be, that visitors pass all +around them, but seldom come among them. People visit the coast to look +at Spalatro for Diocletian's sake, at Pola for its magnificent +amphitheatre, and for the memory of Constantine's unhappy son, and +perhaps at Ragusa. But this is pretty well all they could do +conveniently, which is the same thing as to say, it is all that nineteen +travellers out of twenty would do. In those places where visits are paid +by prescription, the traveller would find, as is likely, nothing of +distinct nationality. Such places are like well-frequented inns, where +any body and every body is at home, and where every body influences the +manners for the time being--there will be found cafA(C)s, carriages, and +ciceroni. + +But the case is far different in the more abstruse parts of this +region--in those districts of which some have subsided into the domain +of the Turks, some remain independent, and a narrow strip only is +reserved--the wreck of the old Empire. All are defaulters in the march +of civilisation. But the independent Montenegrini retain in full force +the odour of barbaric romance. They occupy a small territory, not +noticed in many maps, shut in by the Turks on all sides, except where, +for a narrow space, they border on Austria. But they pay no sort of +subjection to either of these mighty powers. With Austria they maintain +friendly intelligence on the footing of the proudest sovereignty, and an +unqualified assertion of the right of nations. With the Turks their +relations are of a ruder and more interesting kind. + +The Montenegrini alone of Europe follow the political model of modern +Rome. Their political head is their ecclesiastical superior. The regal +and episcopal offices, conjointly held, are hereditary in collateral +succession, since the reigning prince is bound to celibacy. In the +consecration of their bishops, they pay no regard to canonical age, and +the authorities of the Greek church seem to bend to the peculiar +exigencies of the case. The reigning Vladika was consecrated at the age +of eighteen. His power is, in fact, supreme, though formally qualified +by the assessorship of a senate, who, though entitled to advise, would +outstep their bounds did they attempt to direct. Indeed, legal authority +among such a clan of barbarians can only subsist by despotism. Where +every hand is armed, and violent death a familiar object, the power that +rules must be enabled to act immediately and without appeal. To graduate +authority among them, except in the case of military command, exercised +by immediate delegation from the chief, would be to render it +contemptible. + +And such a bishop as now occupies this throne has not been seen since +the martial days of the fighting Pope Julius. The old stories of +prelates clad in armour, and fighting at the head of their troops, +astonish us, but are regarded as altogether antiquated. Yet among those +hills is exhibited a scene that may realise the wildest descriptions of +romance or history. That the people are a people of warriors, is not so +surprising when we consider their locality, their ancestry, and the +circumstances of their life. If they were merely marauders, we should be +no more struck with the singularity of their state than we are with the +vagabondism of the Albanians. A wild country, a wandering population, +and distance from executive restraints, may, in any case, bring natural +ferocity to a harvest of violence and rapine. But the Montenegrini +disclaim the name of robbers and the practice of evil. They consider +themselves to be engaged in a warfare, not only justifiable, but +meritorious, and over bloodshed they cast the veil of religious zeal. + +It seems to be a fact that their violence is for the Turks only. So far +as we could gain intelligence, they do not molest Christians; and +experience enables us to speak with pleasure of our own hospitable +reception. But against the Turks their hatred is intense, their valour +and rage unquenchable. It is not to be supposed that any Turk would be +so foolish as to attempt the passage of their territory, except under +express assurance of safe conduct; but should one do so, he would find +ineffectual the strongest escort with which the Sultan could furnish +him. The savage nature of the district must prevent the combined action +of regular troops, or of any troops unacquainted with the localities; +and from behind the crags an unseen enemy would wither the ranks of the +invader. Indeed, it would appear that the passage is not safe for a Turk +even under the assurance of a truce. A tragical _accident_ was the +subject of conversation at the time of our visit. A body of the enemy +had been surprised and cut off, notwithstanding the subsistence of a +truce. Ignorance on the part of the assaulters was the ready plea; and a +message had been dispatched to make such reparation as could be found in +apologies and restitution of effects. But the thing looked ill. A truce +must soon become notorious throughout so confined a region, and among a +people of whom, if not every one engaged personally in the field, every +one had his heart and soul there. It is to be feared that the +obligations of good faith are qualified in the case of a Mahomedan; and +however we may lament, we can hardly view with astonishment so natural a +consequence of their bloody education. "Hates any man the thing he would +not kill?"--and hatred to the Turks is the dawning idea of the +Montenegrino child, and the master-passion of the dying warrior. + +With certain saving clauses, we may compare the position of the +Montenegrini to that of the old knights of Malta. Rhodes and Malta are +hardly more isolated, and are more accessible than this mountain region. +If there be a wide difference between the gentle blood and European +dignities of the knights, and the rude estate of the mountaineers, there +is between them a brotherhood of courage, inflexibility, and devoted +opposition to Mahomet. Each company may stand forth as having discharged +a like office, distinguished by the characteristic differences of the +two branches of the church. The knights, noble, polished, and temporally +influential, defended the weak point of Western Christendom--the sea; +the Montenegrini, unpolished, ignorant, of little worldly account, but +great zeal, have done their part for Eastern Christendom, in opposing +the continental power of the Turks. The unpolished nature of their life +and actions has been in the spirit of the church to which they belong. +They have been rude but steady, and stand alone in their strength. They +have resisted not only the power of Mahomedanism on the one side, but +have also refrained from amalgamation with the western Christians, +remaining firm in that allegiance to the sec of Constantinople, which +the Sclavonians derived from their first missionaries.[3] + +There is one point of superiority in the case of these barbarians as +compared with that of the military knights. They have never been +conquered, never driven from their fastnesses. The knights defended +Rhodes with valour such as never has been surpassed; and to this day the +recollection moves the apathetic spirit of the Turks; and the monstrous +burying-grounds in the suburbs are witnesses of the slaughter of the +assailants. Yet Rhodes was evacuated, and the Order obliged to seek +another settlement. But the Montenegrini have never been conquered. They +have withstood the whole power of the mightiest sultans, in whose +territories they have been as an ever-present nest of hornets, always +ready to sally forth, losing no opportunity of destruction. These +Osmanlis, who so lately were the proudest of nations, have been +themselves baffled and defied by a handful of Christians. Their +enthusiasm, their numbers, their artillery, their commanding possession +of the lake of Scutari, all have failed to bring under their power a +handful of some hundred and fifty thousand men. The cross, once planted +in this rugged soil, has taken effectual root, and continues still to +flash confusion on the followers of Islam. It is the symbol of our faith +that is carried before the mountaineers when they go forth to battle; +and it still inspirits them, as it did those legions of the faithful who +first learned to reverence its virtue. + +We must not carry things too far. It would be absurd to claim for these +people the general merit of devotion; to suppose that as a general rule +they are actuated by the love of religion. Alas! they are undoubtedly +very ignorant of the religion for which they fight. Yet, so far as +knowledge serves them, they are religious; where error is the +consequence of ignorance, we may grieve, but should be slow to condemn. +Some are probably led to heroism by liberal devotion to the person of +the Bishop; some because they have been nursed in the idea that Turks +are their natural enemies, whom to destroy is a work of merit. But, +nevertheless, they exhibit the spectacle of a people who, proceeding on +a principle of religion, however that principle be obscured, have +instituted, and long have maintained, a crusade against the religious +fanatics who once made Europe tremble. Their spirit at least contains +the commendable elements of constancy, simplicity, and heroism. + +It was my fortune to pay a visit to this extraordinary people under +favourable circumstances. Visits to them are very rare. Sometimes a +stray soldier's yacht, from Corfu, finds its way to Cattaro; but +generally only in its course up the Adriatic. These military visitants +are commonly more intent on woodcocks than the picturesque, and game +does not particularly enrich these regions. For very many years there +has been an account of only one English visiting-party besides +ourselves. We were led thither by the happy favour of circumstance. Our +party was numerous, and certainly must have been the most distinguished +that the Vladika has had the opportunity of entertaining. It consisted +of the captain and several officers of an English man-of-war, reinforced +by the accession of a couple of volunteers from the officers of the +Austrian garrison of Cattaro. + +We were all glad to have the opportunity of satisfying our eyes on the +subject of the marvellous tales whose confused rumour had reached us. We +were not young travellers, and it was not a little that would astonish +us--but we felt that if the reality in this case were at all like the +report, we might all afford to be astonished. It was a singular thing +that so little should be known about these people almost in their +neighbourhood--for Corfu is not two hundred miles distant. But perhaps +the reason may be, that they are not to be seen beyond their own +confined region, and are easily confounded with the irregular tribes of +Albanians. + +The wonders of our visit opened upon us before reaching the land of +romance--a wonder of beauty in the nature of the entrance to Cattaro. +The Bocca di Cattaro is of the same kind as, and not much inferior to, +the Bosphorus. The man who has seen neither the one nor the other of +these fairy streams must be content to rest without the idea. The +nearest things to them, probably, would be found in the passages of the +Eastern Archipelago. The entrance from the sea is by a narrow mouth, +which seems to be nothing but a small indentation of the coast, till you +are pretty well arrived at the inner extremity. You then pass into +another canal, whose tortuous course shuts out the sight of the sea, and +puts you in the most landlocked position in which it is possible to see +a ship of war. High hills rise on either side, beautifully planted, and +verdant to the waters edge. Villages are not wanting to complete the +effect; and here and there single houses peep out beautiful in +isolation. Another turn brings into view a point of divergence in the +stream, where, on a little island, stands a simple devout-looking +chapel. It looks as though intended to call forth the pious gratitude of +the returning sailor, and help him to the expression of his thanks. The +whole length of the channel is something more than twenty miles--and all +of the same beautiful description--not seen at once, but opening +gradually as the successive bends of the stream are passed. The wind +failed us, and for a considerable distance we had to track ship, which +we were easily able to do, as there is plenty of water close to the very +edge. At the bottom of all lies Cattaro--occupying a narrow level, with +the sea before, and the frowning mountains behind. + +Our arrival set the little place quite in a commotion. Indeed, this was +but the second time that a ship of war had carried our flag up these +waters--the other visitant was, I believe, from the squadron of Sir W. +Hoste. The whole place turned out to see us, and the harbour was covered +with boat-loads of the nobility and gentry. They were like all Austrians +that I have met, exceedingly kind, and well-disposed to the English +name. We soon made acquaintances, and exchanged invitations. Their +musical souls were charmed with the performances of our really fine +band, and we were equally charmed with their pleasing hospitality. The +couple of days occupied in the interchange of agreeable civilities were +useful in the promotion of our scheme. From our friends we learned the +prescriptions of Montenegrino etiquette. An unannounced visit, in +general cases, is by them regarded as neither friendly nor courteous: an +evidence of habitual caution that we should expect among a people +against whom open violence is ineffectual, and only treachery dangerous. +Our friends provided a messenger, and we awaited his return amidst the +amenities of Cattaro. These combined so much good taste with good will, +that it was difficult to credit the stories of barbarism subsisting +within a short day's journey: stories that here, in the immediate +neighbourhood of the scene of action, became more vivid in character. + +The appearance of the country was in keeping with tales of romance. +Almost immediately behind the town rises the mountain district, very +abruptly, and affording at first view an appearance of inaccessibility. +It is not till the eye has become somewhat habituated to the search that +one perceives a means of ascent. A narrow road of marvellous +construction has been cut up the almost perpendicular mountain. But the +word _road_ would give a wrong idea of its nature. It is rather a giant +staircase, and like a staircase it appears from the anchorage. The lines +are so many, and contain such small angles, that when considered with +the height of the work, they may aptly be compared to the steps of a +ladder. It is of recent construction, and how the people used to manage +before this means of communication existed, it is difficult to say. +Probably this difficulty of intercourse has mainly tended to the +preservation of barbarism. Now, the route is open to horses, sure-footed +and carefully ridden. The highlanders occasionally resort to the town +for traffic in the coarse commodities of their manufacture. On these +occasions they have to leave their arms in a guard-house without the +gates, as indeed have all people entering the town; and a pretty +collection is to be seen in these depots, of the murderous long guns of +which the Albanians make such good use. + +It was on the evening of the second day that we first saw an accredited +representative of the tribe. A party of us had strolled out towards the +foot of the mountain, and in the repose of its shadows were speculating +on the probable adventures of the morrow. A convenient bridge over a +mountain stream afforded a seat, whence we looked wistfully up to the +heights. The contrast between the neatness of the suburb, the hum of the +town, the noisy activity of the peasantry, and the black desolation of +the mountain, engaged our admiration. This desolation was presently +relieved by the emerging into view of a descending group. One figure was +on horseback, with several footmen attending his steps. The dress of the +cavalier would have served to distinguish him as of consequence, without +the distinction of position. His dress affected a style of barbaric +magnificence that disdained the notion of regularity. The original idea +perhaps was Hungarian, to which was added, according to the fancy of the +wearer, whatever went to make up the magnificent. His appearance was +very much, but not exactly, that of a Turk--not the modernised Turk in +frock-coat and trousers, but him of the old school, who despises, or +only partially adopts, sumptuary reform. This splendid individual was +attended by several "gillies," who were genuine specimens of the tribe. +They are almost, without exception, (an observation of after +experience,) of enormous stature, swarthy, and thin. Their dark locks +give an air of wildness to their face. Their long limbs afford token of +the personal activity induced and rendered necessary by the +circumstances of their life. Their garments are scanty, and such as very +slightly impede motion. The whole party were abundantly armed, and a +brave man might confess them to be formidable. We naturally stared at +these gentry, who, at length on level ground, approached rapidly. It is +not every thing uncommon that deserves a stare, and we were accustomed +to strangeness. But we had not met any thing so striking as the wild +figures of these barbarians, thrown into relief by the appropriate +background of the mountain. The horseman reciprocated our stare, as was +fit, on the unusual meeting with the British uniform. Presently he +pulled up his animal, and, dismounting, invited our approach. The +recognition was soon complete. He introduced himself as the aide-de-camp +of his highness the Vladika of the Montenegrini, who received with +pleasure our communication, and invited our visit. The party had been +sent down as guides and honourable escort into his territory; and a led +horse that they brought for the special convenience of the captain, +completed the assurance of the gracious hospitality of the prince. Now +this was a very propitious beginning of the enterprise. We had hit upon +a time when a short truce allowed him to do the honours of his +establishment. One might go, perhaps, fifty times that way without a +similar advantage. You would hear, probably, that he was out fighting on +one of the frontiers, or laying an ambuscade, or perhaps that he had +been shot the day before. The least likely thing of all for you to hear +would be, as we did, that he was at home, would be happy to see you, and +begged the pleasure of your company to dinner. We became at once great +friends with our new acquaintance, and carried him off to dine on board. +He proved not to be one of the indigenous, a fact we might have inferred +from his comparatively diminutive stature and fair complexion. He was a +Hungarian who had taken service under the Vladika. As it is not probable +that this paper will ever find its way into those remote fastnesses, it +may be permitted to say, that he exhibited in his person one of the +evils inseparable from the independent sovereign existence of +uncivilised borderers on civilisation. In such a position they afford an +ever-present refuge to civilised malefactors. Any person of Cattaro who +offends against the laws of Austria, has before him a secure refuge, if +he can manage to obtain half-an-hour's start of the police. The _pes +claudus_ of human retribution must halt at the foot of the mountain, +whence the fugitive may insult justice. + +Of this evil we saw further instances besides that presented in the +person of our visitor. By his own account, he was a sort of Captain +Dalgetty, who had seen service as a mercenary under many masters, and +had finally come to dedicate his sword to the interests of the Vladika. +The account of some of the Austrian officers deprived him of even the +little respectability attached to such a character as this. The +gallantry of martial excellence was in him tarnished by the imputation +of tampering with the military chest; so that it was either indignant +virtue, (for which they did not give him credit,) or conscious guilt, +that had driven him to devote his laurels to the cause of an obscure +tribe. Such moral blemishes are not likely to cloud the reception of a +fugitive to this court: first, because rumour would hardly travel so +far; and next, because the arts of civilisation, and especially military +excellence, are such valuable accessions to the weal of Montenegro, that +their presence almost precludes the consideration of qualifying defects. +Our Hungarian acquaintance was, however, notwithstanding his supposed +delinquencies, and barbarous residence, a polite and courteous person. +We learned from him much concerning the people we were about to visit. +It was a sad picture of violence that he drew. Blood and rapine were the +prominent features. War was not an accidental evil--a sharp remedy for +violent disorder--but a habitual state. The end and object of their +institutions was the destruction of the Turks; scarcely coloured in his +narrative with the palliation of religious zeal. Indeed, it required +every allowance for circumstances to avoid the idea of downright +brigandage. But great, certainly, are the allowances to be made. We must +consider the many years during which the little band has been exposed to +the wrath of the Turks, when that wrath was more efficient than it is at +present. Their present bitterness of feeling must be ascribed to long +years of struggle, to many seasons of cruelty, and to the constant +stream of desperate enthusiasm. Their war has become necessarily one of +extinction; and probably there are few or none of the people to whom a +slaughtered father or brother has not bequeathed a debt of revenge. +These personal feelings are aggravated by the sense that they exist in +the midst of a people who want but the opportunity to extinguish their +name and their religion; and this feeling is maintained by bloody feats +on every available occasion. + +The conversation of our informant was all in illustration of this state +of things. Such a horse he rode when going to battle--such a sabre he +wore, and such pistols. The Vladika took such a post, and executed such +or such manA"uvres. At last we ventured to enquire--"But is this sort +of thing always going on? have you never peace by any accident?" "Oh +yes!" replied he, "we have peace sometimes--_for two or three days_." He +varied his narrative with occasional accounts of service he had seen in +Spain; showing us that he, at any rate, was not scrupulous in what cause +he shed blood, provided it was for a "consideration." + +But we were now approaching the moment when our own eyes were to be our +informants. The evening was given to an entertainment by the Austrian +officers, of whom two, as already mentioned, volunteered to join our +expedition, and the next morning assigned to the start. The sun beamed +cheerfully after several days' rain. In this spot, shut in on all sides, +except seawards, by highlands, the rains are very frequent. It cleared +up during our visit, but, with the exception of two days, rained pretty +constantly during the week of our stay at Cattaro. On the morning of our +start, however, all was bright, and any defence against the rain was +voted superfluous. Our trysting-place was on board, and true to their +time our friends appeared. They amused us much by their astonishment at +the preparation we were making for the expedition, of which a prominent +particular was the laying in of a good store of provant, as a contingent +security against deficiencies by the road. Our breakfast was proceeding +in the usual heavy style of nautical housekeeping, when the scene was +revealed to our allies. These gentlemen, who are in the habit of +considering a pipe and a cup of coffee as a very satisfactory morning +meal, could not restrain their exclamations at the sight of the beef +and mutton with which we were engaged. The A. D. C. was anxious to +explain that it was no region of famine into which we were going. We +were to dine with the Vladika, and, moreover, care had been taken to +provide a repast at a station midway on the journey. "En route, en +route," cried the impatient warrior, "we shall breakfast at twelve +o'clock; what's the use of all this set-out now?" But whatever form of +argument it might require to cry back his warlike self and myrmidons +from the Albanian cohorts, it proved no less difficult a task to check +us in this our onslaught. We assured him with our mouths full, that we +considered a meal at mid-day to be lunch; and that this our breakfast +was without prejudice to the honour we should do to his hospitable +provision by the way. The Austrians relented under the force of our +arguments and example, and, turning to, ate like men; while the +inexorable A. D. C. gazed impatiently, almost pityingly, on the scene, +as though in scorn, that men wearing arms should so delight to use +knives and forks. But at last we were mounted, and started with the +rabble of the town at our heels, and a wilder rabble performing the part +of military escort. There is no such thing as riding in Cattaro, because +the town is paved with stones smooth as glass, on which it requires care +even to walk. This is so very singular a feature of this town that it +deserves remark. The horses have to be taken without the town, and must, +in their course thither, either avoid the streets altogether, or be +carefully led. On leaving the town the ascent begins almost immediately, +and most abruptly. The very singular road, which has been cut with +immense labour, is the work of the present Emperor. There was no other +spot which we could perceive to afford the possibility of ascent, +without the use of hands as well as legs, and by the road it was no easy +matter. At the commencement almost of the ascent, and just outside the +town, we passed the last stronghold of Austria in this direction. It is +a fort in a commanding position, but dismantled, and allowed to fall +into decay. This is the last building of any pretension, or of brick, +that you see till well into the Montenegrini territory. We could not +ascertain the exact line of demarcation between the dominions of the +Emperor of Austria and him of the mountains; but probably the stoppage +of the road may serve to mark the point. The barbarians would neither be +able to execute, nor likely to desire, such a highway into their region, +whose safety consists in its inaccessibility. It is no other than a +difficult ascent, even so far as the road extends, which, though of +considerable length on account of its winding course, reaches no further +than up the face of the first hill. + +It was when abreast of this ruined fort that our guides took a formal +farewell of the city. A general discharge of musketry expressed their +salutation; which, in this favourite haunt of echo, made a formidable +din. They do this not only in compliment to those they leave, but as a +customary and necessary precaution to those they approach. We soon +turned a point which shut out the valley, and were in the wilderness +with our wild scouts. Encumbered with their long and heavy guns, they +easily kept pace with the horses, as well on occasional levels as during +the ascent. We were much struck with their vigorous activity, which +seemed to surpass that of the animals; and subsequently had occasion to +observe that even children are capable of supporting the toil of this +difficult and rapid march. The two foreigners in nation, but brothers in +adventure, whom we had adopted into our fellowship, proved to be +agreeable companions. One was an Italian, volatile and frivolous; the +other a grave German, clever and solidly informed; he had been a +professor in one of their military colleges. The Italian was up to all +sorts of fun, and ready to joke at the expense of us all. His companion +afforded some mirth by his disastrous experience on horseback. The +continual ascent which we had to pursue during the early stages of our +journey, had aided the motion of his horse's shoulder in rejecting to +the stern-quarters his saddle, till at length the poor man was almost +holding on by the tail. The figure that he cut in this position, +dressed in full military costume, (your Austrian travels in panoply,) +was finely ridiculous, and was enjoyed by the assistants, civilised and +barbarous. + +The country over which we were passing was of an extraordinary +character, when considered as the nurse of some hundred and fifty +thousand sons. It well deserves the name of bleak; for any thing more +_stepmother-like_, in the list of inhabited countries, it would be +difficult to find. In the earlier stages, we were content to think that +we were but at the beginning, and should come down to the cultivated +region. That cultivation there must be here, we knew; because the people +have to depend on themselves for supplies, and have very little money +for extra provision. But we passed on, and still saw nothing but rugged +and barren rocks--a country from which the very goats might turn in +disgust. We presently observed certain appearances, which, but for the +general utter want of verdure, we should scarcely have noticed. Here and +there, the disposition of the rocks leaves at corners of the road, or +perhaps on shelves above its level, irregular patches of more generous +soil, but scantily disposed, and of difficult access. These are improved +by indefatigable industry into corn-plots. When we consider with how +much trouble the soil must be conveyed to these places, the seed +bestowed, and the crop gathered, we feel that land must be indeed scanty +with these barbarians, who can take so much trouble for the improvement +of so little. It may be supposed that their resources are not entirely +in lands of this description. But, excepting one plain, we did not pass, +in our day's journey, what might fairly be called arable land, till we +arrived at ZettiniA(C), the capital. Like many uncivilised tribes, they +behave with much ungentleness to their women. They are not worse in this +respect than the Albanians, or perhaps than the Greeks in the remote +parts of Peloponnesus; but still they appear to lay an undue burden on +the fair sex. Much of the out-door and agricultural work seems to be +done by the women; perhaps all may be--since the constant occupations of +war, which demand the attention of their husbands, induce a contempt for +domestic labour. I would hope, for the honour of the Montenegrini, that +the labours of their weaker assistants are confined to the plain; the +detached and rocky plots must demand patience from even robust men. The +women--I speak by a short anticipation--are a patient, strong, and +laborious race. As a consequence, they are hard-featured, and harsh in +bony developments. Like the men, they are tall and active, though +perhaps ungainly in gesture. Unlike the men, they have sacrificed the +useful to the ornamental in their dress. Of this a grand feature is a +belt, composed of many folds of leather, and, of course, quite +inflexible. This awkward trapping is perhaps a foot broad. This ornament +must, in spite of custom, be very inconvenient to the wearer, as well by +its weight as by its inflexibility. It is, however, thickly embellished +with bright-coloured stones, rudely set in brass; thus we find the +Montenegrini women obeying the same instinct that leads the dames of +civilisation to suffer that they may shine. This belt is the obvious +distinction in dress between the two sexes; and when it is hidden by the +long rug, or scarf, which is common to both men and women, there remains +between them no striking difference of costume. This rug is to the +Montenegrino what the capote is to the Greek and Albanian, his companion +in all weathers--his shelter against the storm, and his bed at night. +The manufactures here are of course rude; and, in this instance, their +ingenuity has not ascended to the device of sleeves. The article is +_bona fide_ a rug, much like one of our horse-rugs, but very long and +very comfortable, enveloping, on occasion, nearly the whole person. It +is ornamented by a long and knotted fringe, and depends from the +shoulders of the natives not without graceful effect. This light +habiliment constitutes the mountaineers' house and home, rendering him +careless of weather by day, and independent of shelter by night. Be it +observed as a note of personal experience, that as a defence against +weather, this scarf is really excellent, and will resist rain to an +indefinite extent. + +As we proceeded on our road, we learned fully to comprehend the secret +of their long independence. The country is of such a nature that it may +be pronounced positively impregnable. Our thoughts fell back to the +recollection of Affghanistan, and we felt that we had an illustration of +the difficulties of that warfare. The passage is throughout a continual +defile. The road, after the first hour or so, relents somewhat of its +abruptness. But it pursues a course shut in on both sides by rocks, that +assert the power of annihilating passengers. The rocks are inaccessible +except to those familiar with the passages, perhaps except to the +aborigines, who combine the knowledge with the necessary activity. +Behind these barriers, the natives in security might sweep the defile, +from the numerous gulleys that branch from it in all directions. It is +difficult to imagine what conduct and valour could do against a deadly +and unseen enemy. It is not only here and there that the road assumes +this dangerous character; it is such throughout, with scarcely the +occasional exception of some hundred yards, till it opens into the +valley of ZettiniA(C). One of our Austrian friends was of opinion that +their regiment of Tyrolean chasseurs would be able to overrun and subdue +the territory. If such an achievement be possible, those, of course, +would be the men for the work. But it would be an unequal struggle that +mere activity would have to maintain against activity and local +knowledge. During our course, we kept close order; two of us did attempt +an episode, but were soon warned of the expediency of keeping with the +rest. A couple of minutes put us out of sight of our friends, which we +did not regain till after some little suspense. Fogs here seem ever +ready to descend; and one which at precisely the most awkward moment +enveloped us, obscured all around beyond the range of a few feet. For +our comfort, we knew that the people would be expecting visitors to +their prince, and thus be less suspicious of strangers, if haply they +should fall in with us. + +Some three hours after our start, we perceived symptoms of excitement +amongst the foremost of our band, and hastened to the eminence from +which they were gesticulating. At our feet was disclosed a plain, not +level nor extensive, but a plain by comparison. It bore rude signs of +habitation, the first we had met. There was a single log-hut, much of +the same kind as the inland Turkish guard-houses, only without the +luxury of a divan. Around this were several people eagerly looking out +for our approach. They had good notice of our coming; for as we rose +into sight, our party gave a salute of small arms. This was returned by +their brethren below, and the whole community (not an alarming number) +hastened to tender us the offices of hospitality. Our horses were +quickly cared for, seats of one kind or other were provided, and we sat +down beneath the shade of the open forest, to partake of their bounty. + +The valley was a shade less wild than the country we had passed, but +still a melancholy place for human abode. It must be regarded as merely +a sort of outpost--not professing the extent of civilisation attained by +the capital; but, with every allowance, it was a sorry place. It did +certainly afford some verdure; but probably they do not consider the +situation sufficiently central for secure pasturage. That their sheep +are excellent we can bear witness, for the repast provided consisted in +that grand Albanian dish--the sheep roasted whole. Surely there can be +nothing superior to this dish in civilised cookery. Common fragmentary +presentations of the same animal are scarcely to be considered of the +same kin--so different are the juices, the flavour, and generally, +thanks to their skill, the degree of tenderness. It happens +conveniently, that the proper mode of treating this dish is without +knives, forks, or plates. It was therefore of little moment that our +retreat afforded not these luxuries; we were strictly observant of +propriety, when with our fingers we rent asunder the morsels, and +devoured. The wine that assisted on this occasion was quite comparable +to the ordinary country wines to be met, though it must be far from +abundant. We saw here some of the children. Poor things, theirs is a +strange childhood! Edged tools are familiar to their cradles. Sharp +anguish, sudden changes, violent alarms, compose the discipline of their +infancy. I saw one of them hurt by one of the horses having trodden on +his foot, and, as he was without shoes, he must have suffered cruelly. A +woman was comforting, and doubtless tenderly sympathised with him; but +the expression of feeling was suppressed--she spoke as by stealth, +without looking at him, and he listened in the same mood, withholding +even looks of gratitude, as he did cries of pain. He was young enough, +had he been a Frank, to have cried without disgrace, but his lesson was +learnt. Suffering, he knew, was a thing too common to warrant particular +complaint, or to require particular compassion. Expressed lamentation is +the privilege of those who are accustomed to condolence. The husband, +the son, the friend, bewail themselves--the lonely slave suffers in +silence. Tears, even the bitterest of them, have their source in the +spring of joy; when this spring is dried up, when all is joyless, man +ceases to weep. + +While we partook of this entertainment, the natives were preparing a +grand demonstration in honour of our arrival. They had made noise +enough, in all conscience, with their muskets, but small arms would not +satisfy them, now that we were on their territory. They were preparing a +salute from great guns--and such guns! They were made of wood, closely +hooped together. Of these they had four, well crammed with combustibles. +We had not the least idea that they would go off without being burst +into fragments, and would have given something to dissuade our zealous +friends from the experiment. But it was in vain that we hinted our +fears--gently, of course, in deference to their self-esteem. A bold +individual kept coaxing the touch-hole with a bit of burning +charcoal--so long without effect that we began to hope the thing would +prove a failure. Most people will acknowledge it to be a nervous thing +to stand by, expecting an explosion that threatens, but will not come +off. If it be so with a sound gun, what must it have been with such +artillery as was here? Nothing less than serious injury to the life or +limbs of the operator seemed to impend. To mend matters, our Italian +friend, smitten with sudden zeal, usurped the office of bombardier; and +it is perhaps well that he did for he had the common sense to keep as +much out of the way as he could, under the circumstances. He kept well +on one side, and made a very long arm, then dropped the fiery particle +right into the touch-hole, and off went the concern, kicking right over, +but neither bursting nor wounding our friend. It required minute +inspection to satisfy ourselves that the guns had survived the effort, +and their construction partly explained the wonder--the vents are nearly +as wide-mouthed as the muzzles. + +The interest of our day increased rapidly during the latter part of our +journey. We were fairly enclosed in the country, drawing near the +capital, and felt that every step was bringing us nearer the redoubted +presence of the Vladika. The A. D. C. was curiously questioned touching +the ceremonies of our reception, and uttered many speculations as to the +mode in which the great man would present himself to us--whether _with +his tail on_, or more unceremoniously. All that we heard, raised +increased curiosity about the person of this martial bishop--one so very +boldly distinguished from his fraternity. The Greek bishops are so +singularly reverend in appearance, with flowing black robes, and +venerable beards, supporting their grave progress with a staff, and +seldom unattended by two or three deacons, that it became difficult to +imagine one of their body charging at the head of warriors, or adorned +with the profane trappings of a soldier. We kept a bright look-out as we +rode on, our cavalcade being now attended by a fresh levy from our last +halting-place. The country through which we passed was of somewhat +mitigated severity, but still bare, and occasionally dangerous. There +was a hamlet, in our course, of pretension superior to the first, as +behoved--seeing that it was much nearer the metropolis, and security. +Here was a picturesque church, a well, and a wide-spreading tree--the +last a notable object in this district, where even brushwood becomes +respectable. + +The road at length became decidedly and sustainedly better. The rocks +began to assume positions in the distance, and trotting became possible. +We learned that we were drawing near the end of our journey, and our +anxious glances ahead followed the direction of the A. D. C. At last the +cry arose--"Vladika is coming," and in high excitement we pressed +forward to the meeting. A body of horsemen were approaching at a rapid +pace, and in a cloud of dust; and no sooner were we distinctly in sight +than they set spurs to their horses, and quickly galloped near enough to +be individually scanned. We could do no less than manifest an equal +impatience for the meeting. This, to some of us, poor riders at the +best, which sailors are privileged to be, and just at that time rather +the worse for wear, was no light undertaking. In some of our cases it is +to be feared that the mists of personal apprehension dimmed this our +first view of the Vladika. The confusion incidental to the meeting of +two such bodies of horse, was aggravated by the zeal of the wretched +barbarians, who poured forth volley after volley of musketry. They +spurred and kicked their horses, which, seeing that they had probably +all at one time or an other been stolen from tip-top Turks, like noble +brutes as they were, showed pluck, and kicked in return. Happily our +animals were peaceful--more frightened by the noise than excited by the +race, and much tired with their morning's work. Had they behaved as did +those of our new friends, the narrator of this account would hardly have +been in a condition to say much of the country, for he would probably +have been run away with right through Montenegro, and have pulled up +somewhere about Herzogovinia. + +The confusion had not prevented our being struck with the one figure in +the group, that we knew must be the Vladika. He was distinguished by +position and by dress, but more decidedly by nature. His gigantic +proportions would have humbled the largest horse-guard in our three +regiments; and when he dismounted we agreed that he must be upwards of +seven feet in stockings. This was our judgment, subsequently and +deliberately. Captain ---- was of stature exceeding six feet, and +standing close alongside of Monseigneur reached about up to his +shoulders. His frame seems enormously strong and well proportioned, +except that his hand is perhaps too small for the laws of a just +symmetry. This, by the by, we afterwards perceived to be a cherished +vanity with the Vladika, who constantly wears gloves, even in the house. +His appearance bore not the least trace of the clerical; his very +moustache had a military, instead of an ecclesiastical air; and though +he wore something of a beard, it was entirely cheated of episcopal +honours. It was merely an exaggeration of the imperial. His garments +were splendid, and of the world, partly Turkish, and partly _ad +libitum_. The ordinary fez adorned his head, and his trousers were +Turkish. The other particulars were very splendid, but I suppose hardly +to be classed among the recognised fashions of any country. One might +imagine that a huge person, and enormous strength, when fortified with +supreme power among a wild tribe, would produce savageness of manner. +But the Vladika is decidedly one of nature's gentlemen. His manners are +such as men generally acquire only by long custom of the best society. +His voice had the blandest tones, and the reception that he gave us +might have beseemed the most graceful of princes. He was attended more +immediately by a youth some eighteen years of age, his destined +successor, and by another whom we learned to be his cousin. The rest of +the group were well dressed and armed, and, indeed, a respectable troop. +The Vladika himself bore no arms. + +We did not waste much time in ceremony, though during the short interval +of colloquy we must have afforded a fine subject had an artist been +leisurely observant. All dismounted and formed about the two chiefs of +our respective parties, and made mutual recognisances. The confusion was +considerable, and the continual noise of guns gave our poor beasts, who +were not proof to fire, no quiet. The men, who were now about us in +numbers sufficient to afford a fair sample of the stock, were most of +them, at a guess, upwards of six feet high--some considerably so; and a +wild set they seemed, though they looked kindly upon us. We were +formally presented by our captain to the prince, and received the +welcome of his smiles. His polite attention had provided a fresh and +fiery charger for our chief, and the two headed the cavalcade, which in +order dashed forward to the royal city. It was a grand progress that we +made through a line of the people, who turned out to watch and honour +our entry. The discharge of muskets was sustained almost uninterruptedly +throughout the line. It was not long before the city of ZettiniA(C) opened +to our view, situated in an extensive valley, quite amphitheatrical in +character. As we turned the corner of the defile leading into the +valley, a salute was opened from a tower near the palace, which mounts +some respectable guns. We rode at a great pace into the town, and dashed +into the inclosure that surrounds the palace, amidst a grand flourish of +three or four trumpets reserved for the climax. + +To a bad rider like myself it was the occupation of the first few +minutes to assure myself that I had passed unscathed through such a +scene of kicking and plunging; one's first sensation was that of +security in treading once more the solid earth. When I looked up I saw +the Vladika in separate conference with the A. D. C., and then he passed +into the building. His hospitable will was signified to us by this +functionary. The captain was invited to sojourn in the palace; we, whose +rank did not qualify for such a distinction, were to be bestowed in two +locandas; and all were bidden to dinner in the evening. Meanwhile the +localities were open to our investigation. + +One of the first curiosities was the locanda itself; curious as existing +in such a place, and expected by us to be something quite out of the +general way of such establishments. We proceeded to inspect our +quarters, and to our astonishment found two houses of a most +satisfactory kind. The rooms were neat, and perfectly clean, far +superior in this respect to many inns of much higher pretensions. An +honourable particular (almost exception) in their favour, is, that the +beds contain no vermin. This virtue will be appreciated by any one who +has travelled in Greece. The hostesses were not of the aborigines, they +were importations from Cattaro. One was a widow, tearful under the +recent stroke; the other was a talkative woman, delighted with the visit +of civilised strangers. The fare to be obtained at these places is +exceedingly good, and the solids are relieved by champagne, no less--and +excellent champagne too. We were much surprised at the discovery of +these places, so distinct from the popular rudeness, and puzzled to +conceive who were the guests to support the establishments. Besides +these two we did not observe any cafA(C)s or wine-shops, so probably they +flourish the rather that their custom, such as it is, is subject but to +one division. The good-will of the landladies was not the least +admirable part of their economy. Though our numbers might have alarmed +them, they with the best grace made up beds for us on the floor, and +supplied us with such helps to the toilette as occurred. + +We soon were scattered over the place, each to collect some contribution +to the general fund of observation. But one object, conspicuous, and +portentous of horrid barbarism, attracted us all at first. It was the +round white tower from which the salute had been fired at our entrance. +A solitary hillock rises in the plain, on the top of which, clearly +defined, stands this tower. We had heard something of a custom among the +Montenegrini of cutting off, and exposing the heads of vanquished +enemies; but the story was one of so many coloured with blood, that it +made no distinct impression. As we had ridden into the plain, this tower +had attracted our observation, and we had perceived its walls to be +garnished with some things that, in the distance, looked like large +drum-sticks--that is to say, we saw poles each with some thing round at +its end. These things we were told were human heads, and our eyes were +now to behold the fact. And we did, indeed, look upon this spectacle, +such as Europe, except in these wilds, would abhor. There were heads of +all ages, and of all dates, and of many expressions; but from all +streamed the single lock that marks the follower of Mahomet. Some were +entire in feature, and looked even placid--others were advanced in +decomposition. Of some only fragments remained, the exterior bones +having fallen away, and left only a few teeth grinning through impaled +jaws. The ground beneath was strewed with fragments of humanity, and the +air was tainted with the breath of decomposition. It was truly a savage +sight, unworthy of Christians; and, doubtless, such an exhibition tends +to maintain the thirst of blood in which it originated. This hillock is +a good point of view for the survey of the place. It looks immediately +upon the palace, and over it upon the town. Near it stand the church and +monastery; and that monastery affords the only specimen of a priest in +priest's garments that I saw here. The palace is really a commodious, +well-built house, of considerable extent. Its site occupies three sides +of a parallelogram, and it is completely enclosed by a wall, furnished +at the four angles of its square with towers. The part of this inclosure +that is towards the front of the palace is kept clear, as a sort of +parade. In its centre are some dismounted guns of small calibre. On the +opposite side of the building are the royal kitchen gardens; neither +large nor well-looking. The interior of the building is superior to its +outside pretence. The rooms into which we were more immediately +introduced, may be supposed to be kept as show-rooms. At any rate they +were worthy of such appliance--lofty, well built, and highly picturesque +in their appointments. But I went also into some of the more remote +parts of the building, the room, for instance, of the A. D. C., and that +was equally unexceptionable. It is to be presumed that they gave our +captain one of their best bedrooms--and it might have been a best +bedroom in London or Paris. Indeed, in so civilized fashion was the +place furnished, that it heightened, by contrast, the horrors of the +scene outside. Barren rocks, savage caverns, naked barbarian, should +have been associated with the spectacle on the white tower. It was +caricaturing refinement to practise it in such a neighbourhood; the +transition was too abrupt from the urbanities within to the bloody +spectacle that met you if you put your head out of the window. + +The City of ZettiniA(C)--it has a double title to the name, from its bishop +and its prince--consists of little more than two rows of houses, not +disposed in a street, but angularly. Besides these there are a few +scattered buildings. The palace, the monastery, and church, are at the +upper end of the plain. The valley is level to a considerable extent, +and not without cultivation. It has no artificial fortification, being +abundantly protected by nature. The hills that shut in the valley +terminate somewhat abruptly, and impart an air of seclusion. The houses +are far more comfortable than might be expected. The occupations of the +people, so nearly entirely warlike, are not among the higher branches of +domestic economy. What industry they exhibit at home is only by favour +of occasional leisure, and at intervals. Yet they are not without their +manufactures, rude though they be. Specimens were exhibited to us of +their doings in the way of coarse cloth. They manufacture the cloth of +which their large scarfs or rugs are made, and fashion the same stuff +into large bags for provisions; a useful article to those who are so +constantly on the march. We also procured one of the large girdles worn +by their women, to astonish therewith the eyes of ladies, as, indeed, +they might well astonish any body. They brought to us, also, some of the +elaborately wrought pipe-bowls peculiar to them. They are ornamented +with fine studs of brass, in a manner really ingenious; and so highly +esteemed that a single bowl costs more than a couple of beautiful +Turkish sticks elsewhere. These articles are the sum of our experience +in their manufactures. + +The monastery and church are of considerable antiquity, and contrast +pleasingly with the general fierceness. It cannot be said that the +priests generally exhibit much of the reverential in their appearance. +They follow the example of their warlike chief, being mostly clad in gay +colours, and armed to the teeth. But in the monastery we found one +reverend in aspect. He kindly exhibited to us the treasures of the +sanctuary. They may claim at least one mark of primitive institution, +which is poverty. Their shrine displays no show of silver and gold, yet +it is not without valued treasure. A precious relic exists in the +defunct body of the late Vladika, to which they seem to attach the full +measure of credence prescribed in such cases. He is exhibited in his +robes, and preserves a marvellously lifelike appearance. According to +their account, he has conferred signal benefit on them since his +departure, and well merited his canonisation. His claims ought to be +unusual, since, in his instance, the salutary rule which requires the +lapse of a considerable interval between death and canonisation, that +the frailties of the man may be forgotten in the memory of the saint, +has been superseded. The part of the monastery which we inspected, +little more than the gallery however, was kept quite clean--an obvious +departure from the mode of Oriental monasteries generally, than which +few things can be more piggish. + +The Vladika pays great attention to education, both for his people and +himself. It is much to his praise that he has acquired the ready use of +the French language, which he speaks fluently and well. He entertains +masters in different subjects, with whom he daily studies. His tutor in +Italian is a runaway Austrian, whose previous bad character does not +prevent his honourable entertainment. For his people he has a school +well attended, and taught by an intelligent master. It was not easy to +proceed to actual examination when we had no common language; but it was +pleasing to find here a school, and apparent studiousness. They not only +read books, but print them; and a specimen of their typography was among +the memorials of our visit that we carried away with us; unhappily we +could not guess at its subject. The Vladika is a great reader, though +his books must be procured with difficulty. He reads, too, the +ubiquitous _Galignani_, and thus keeps himself _au fait_ to the doings +of the world. We were astonished at the extent and particularity of his +information, when dinner afforded opportunity for small talk. This was +the grand occasion to which we looked forward as opportune to personal +conclusions; his conversation and his _cuisine_ would both afford +_indicia_ of his social grade. + +But when this time arrived, it found us under considerable +self-reproach. We had found our host to be a much more polished person +than we had expected. In this calculation we had perhaps, only +vindicated our John Bullism, which assigns to semi-barbarism all the +world beyond the sound of Bow Bells, and of which feeling, be it +observed, the exhibition so often renders John Bull ridiculous. The +Austrian officers had come in proper uniform; the English had brought +with them only undress coats, without epaulettes or swords, thinking +such measure of ceremony would be quite satisfactory. We now found that +the intelligence of the Vladika, and the usage of his reception, +demanded a more observant respect. But this same intelligence accepted, +and even suggested, our excuses, and, in spite of deficiencies we were +welcomed with gracious smiles. The strange mixture of the respectable +with the disrespectable, was, however, maintained in our eyes to the +last. The messenger sent to summon us to the banquet could hardly be +esteemed worthy of so honourable an office. "See that man," said the +grave Austrian to me, "he is a scamp of the first water--a deserter from +my regiment, a man of education, and an officer reduced for misconduct +to the ranks--one who, for numerous acts of misbehaviour and dishonesty, +was repeatedly punished. He at last deserted, fled over the border, and +now beards me to my face." He nevertheless proved a good herald, and led +us to an excellent and most welcome dinner. + +The table was perfectly well spread, somewhat in the modern style, which +eschews the exhibition of dishes, and presents fruits and flowers. Some +lighter provision was there, in the shape of plates of sliced sausages +and so forth, but the dishes of resistance were in reserve. There was an +unexceptionable array of plate, and crockery, and _neatness_. The +dining-room was worthy of the occasion. It is a large and lofty +apartment, containing little more furniture than a few convenient +couches and chairs. The walls are profusely ornamented with arms of +various kinds, hung round tastefully, so that it has the air of a tent +or guard-room. There is a small apartment leading into it, which +contains a really valuable and curious collection of arms, trophies of +victory, and associated with strange legends. It contains many guns, +with beautifully inlaid stocks, and several rare and valuable swords of +the most costly kind, such as you might seek in vain in the Bezenstein +of Constantinople. Among others was one assumed to be the sword of +Scanderbeg: strange if the sword, once so fatal to the Turks in +political rebellion, should be pursuing its work no less truculently now +in religious strife! Our host was seated, waiting our arrival, having +adapted his dress to the civilities of life, by rejecting his hussar +pelisse, and assuming another vest: he still retained his kid gloves. +The waiters were a most formidable group, and such as could hardly have +been expected to condescend to a servile office. They were chosen from +among his body guard, and were conspicuous for their stature. They wore, +even in this hour of security and presumed relaxation, their weighty +cuirasses, formed of steel plates that shone brilliantly. Their presence +must secure the Vladika against the treachery to which the banquets of +the great have been sometimes exposed. + +One little trait of the ecclesiastic peeped out in the disposition of +the table, which showed that our host had not quite lost the _esprit du +corps_: a clergyman who was of our party, and who had been introduced as +a churchman, was placed in the second place of honour after our captain. +The party generally arranged themselves at will, and throughout the +affair, though there was all due observance, we were not oppressed with +ceremony. The dinner went off like most dinners, and our host did the +honours with unexceptionable grace. The cookery was in the Turkish +style, both as to composition and quantity--and we all voted his wines +very good. Champagne flowed abundantly, and unexpectedly. The Vladika +talked in a gentle manner of the most ungentle subject. War was the +subject on which he descanted with pleasure and judgment, and on which +those who sat near him endeavoured to draw him out. But he also proved +himself conversant with several subjects, and inquisitive on European +affairs. His hostility to the Turks was obviously a matter of deep +reality--his hatred was evident in the description which he gave of them +as bad, wicked men, who observed no faith, and with whom terms were +impossible. The Albanians especially were marked by his animadversions. +Our clergyman nearly produced an explosion by an ill-timed remark. As he +listened open-mouthed to the right reverend lecturer on war, he was +betrayed into an expression of his sense of the incongruity. The brow of +the Bishop was for a moment darkened, and his lip curled in contempt, of +which, perhaps, the social blunder was not undeserving. "And would not +you fight," said he, "if you were attacked by pirates?" The wrath of +such a man was to be deprecated. It would have been awkward to see the +head of our companion decorating the fatal white tower, and a nod to one +of the martial waiters would have done the business. We changed the +subject, and asked what was the Montenegro flag? "The cross," said he, +"as befits; what else should Christians carry against infidels?" We +ventured to inquire whether he, on occasion, wore the robes, and +executed the office of bishop, as we had seen a portrait of him in the +episcopal robes. "Very seldom," he told us: "and that only of +necessity." He excused the practice of exposing the heads on the tower +by the plea of necessity. It was necessary for the people, who were +accustomed to the spectacle, and whose zeal demanded and was enlivened +by the visible incentive. He gave us the account of a visit paid to him +by the only lady who has penetrated thus far. He was at the time in the +field, engaged in active operations against the enemy, and the lady, for +the sake of an interview, ventured even within range of the Turkish +battery. He expressed his astonishment that a lady should venture into +such a scene, and asked her what could have induced her so to peril her +life. "Curiosity," said the lady: "I am an Englishwoman;" and this fact +of her nationality seems quite to have satisfied him. She farther won +his admiration by partaking of lunch coolly, under only partial shelter +from the surrounding danger. + +The most picturesque part of our day's experience was the evening +assembly. Between the lights we sallied forth, headed by the chief, to +look about us. For our amusement he made the people exhibit their +prowess in jumping, which was something marvellous. The wonder was +enhanced by the comparison of Frank activity which our Italian friend +insisted on affording. But Bacchus, who inspirited to the attempt, could +not invigorate to the execution; and the good-natured barbarians were +amused at the puny effort which set off their own achievements. After +showing us the neighbouring lands, the Vladika conducted us back to the +palace, where we were promised the spectacle of a Montenegro soirA(C)e. It +seems that custom has established a public reception of evenings, and +that any person may at this time attend without invitation. The whole +thing put one in mind of Donald Bean Lean's cavern, or rather, perhaps, +of Ali Baba. The picturesque ornaments of the walls waxed romantic in +the lamp-light; and costumes of many sorts were moving about, or grouped +in the chamber. We were invited to play at different games that were +going on, but preferred to remain quiet in corners, where we enjoyed +pipes and coffee, and observed the group. Among the servants was a +Greek, for whom it might have been supposed that his own country would +have been sufficiently lawless. The body-guard who, during dinner, had +acted as servants, were now gentlemen; and very splendid gentlemen they +made. The universal passion of gaming is not without a place here; it +occupied the greater part of the company. The Vladika sat smoking, +overlooking the noisy group, and talking with our captain. There were +some who did not lay aside their arms even in this hour and place--one +big fellow was pointed out to me who would not stir from one room to +another unarmed; so ever present to his fancy was the idea of the Turks. + +Our host throughout the evening maintained the character of a hospitable +and dignified entertainer; comporting himself with that due admixture of +conscious dignity and affability, which seems necessary to the courtesy +of princes. He occasionally addressed himself to one or other of us, and +always seemed to answer with pleasure the questions that we ventured to +put to him. It was with reluctance that we took our leave. The night +passed comfortably at our several locandas, and not one of us had to +speak in the morning of those wretched vermin that plague the +Mediterranean. A capital breakfast put us in condition for an early +start, and the hospitable spirit of the Vladika was manifested in the +refusal of the landladies to produce any bill. With difficulty we +managed to press on them a present. The Vladika, attended by his former +suite, accompanied our departure, which was honoured with the ceremonies +that had marked our entrance. He did not leave us till arrived at the +spot where the day before we had met him. + +As we halted here, and dismounted for a moment, the Vladika took from an +attendant a specimen of their guns, with inlaid stocks, and with +graceful action presented it to the captain as a memorial of his visit. + +The whole party remounted. The Vladika waved to us his parting salute. +"Farewell, gentlemen; remember Montenegro!" + +FOOTNOTE: + +[3] Methodius and Cyril, who were sent missionaries to the Sclavonians +in the ninth century. + + + + +ELINOR TRAVIS. + +A TALE IN THREE CHAPTERS. + +CHAPTER THE LAST. + + +I RESOLVED to seek Rupert Sinclair no more, and I kept my word with +cruel fidelity. But what could I do? Had I not seen him with my own +eyes--had I not passed within a few feet of him, and beheld him, to my +indignation and bitter regret, avoiding his house, sneaking basely from +it, and retreating into the next street, because that house contained +his wife and her paramour? Yes--_paramour!_ I disbelieved the world no +longer. There could be no doubt of the fact. True, it was +incomprehensible--as incomprehensible as terrible! Rupert Sinclair, +pure, sensitive, high-minded, and incorrupt, was incapable of any act +branded by dishonour, and yet no amount of dishonour could be greater +than that attached to the conduct which I had heard of and then +witnessed. So it was--a frightful anomaly! a hideous discrepancy! Such +as we hear of from time to time, and are found within the experience of +every man, unhinging his belief, giving the lie to virtue, staggering +the fixed notions of the confiding young, and confirming the dark +conclusions of cold and incredulous age. + +I hated London. The very air impure with the weight of the wickedness +which I knew it to contain; and I resolved to quit the scene without +delay. As for the mansion in Grosvenor Square, and its aristocratic +inhabitants, I had never visited then with my own free will, or for my +own profit and advantage: I forsook them without a sigh. For Rupert's +sake I had submitted to insult from the overbearing lackeys of Railton +House, and suffered the arrogance of the proud and imbecile lord +himself. Much more I could have borne gladly and cheerfully to have +secured his happiness, and to have felt that he was still as pure as I +had known him in his youth. + +To say that my suspicions were confirmed by public rumour, is to say +nothing. The visits of Lord Minden were soon spoken of with a sneer and +a grin by every one who could derive the smallest satisfaction from the +follies and misfortunes of one who had borne himself too loftily in his +prosperity to be spared in the hour of his trial. The fact, promulgated, +spread like wildfire. The once fashionable and envied abode became +deserted. There was a blot upon the door, which, like the plague-cross, +scared even the most reckless and the boldest. The ambitious father lost +sight of his ambition in the degradation that threatened his high name; +and the half-conscientious, half-worldly mother forgot the instincts of +her nature in the tingling consciousness of what the world would say. +Rupert was left alone with the wife of his choice, the woman for whom he +had sacrificed all--fortune, station, reputation--and for whom he was +yet ready to lay down his life. Cruel fascination! fearful sorcery! + +London was no place for such a man. Urged as much by the battling +emotions of his own mind as by the intreaties of his wife, he determined +to leave it for ever. And in truth the time had arrived. Inextricably +involved, he could no longer remain with safety within reach of the +strong arm of the law. His debts stared him in the face at every turn; +creditors were clamorous and threatening; the horrible fact had been +conveyed from the lips of serving-men to the ears of hungry tradesmen, +who saw in the announcement nothing but peril to the accounts which they +had been so anxious to run up, and now were equally sedulous in keeping +down. It had always been known that Rupert Sinclair was not a rich man; +it soon was understood that he was also a forsaken one. One morning +three disreputable ill-looking characters were seen walking before the +house of Mr Sinclair. When they first approached it, there was a sort of +distant respect in their air very foreign to their looks and dress, +which might indeed have been the result of their mysterious occupation, +and no real respect at all. As they proceeded in their promenade, became +familiar with the place, and attracted observation, their confidence +increased, their respect retreated, and their natural hideous vulgarity +shone forth. They whistled, laughed, made merry with the gentleman out +of livery next door, and established a confidential communication with +the housemaid over the way. Shortly one separated from the rest--turned +into the mews at the corner of the street, and immediately returned with +a bench that he had borrowed at a public-house. His companions hailed +him with a cheer--the bench was placed before the door of Sinclair's +house; the worthies sat and smoked, sang ribald songs, and uttered +filthy jokes. A crowd collected, and the tale was told. Rupert had fled +the country; the followers of a sheriff's officer had barricadoed his +once splendid home, and, Cerberus-like, were guarding the entrance into +wretchedness and gloom. + +Heaven knows! there was little feeling in Lord Railton. Some, as I have +already intimated, still existed in the bosom of his wife, whom +providence had made mother to save her from an all-engrossing +selfishness; but to do the old lord justice, he was shaken to the heart +by the accumulated misfortunes of his child--not that he regarded those +misfortunes in any other light than as bringing discredit on himself, +and blasting the good name which it had been the boast of his life to +uphold and keep clear of all attaint. But this bastard sympathy was +sufficient to unman and crush him. He avoided the society of men, and +disconnected himself from all public business. Twenty years seemed added +to his life when he walked abroad with his head turned towards the +earth, as though it were ashamed to confront the public gaze; the +furrows of eighty winters were suddenly ploughed into a cheek that no +harsh instrument had ever before impaired or visited. In his maturity he +was called upon to pay the penalty of a life spent in royal and +luxurious ease. He had borne no burden in his youth. It came upon him +like an avalanche in the hour of his decline. It is not the strong mind +that gives way in the fiery contest of life; the weakest vessel has the +least resistance. About six months after Rupert had quitted England, +slight eccentricities in the conduct of Lord Railton attracted the +notice of his lordship's medical attendant, who communicated his +suspicions to Lady Railton, and frightened her beyond all expression +with hints at lunacy. Change of air and scene were recommended--a visit +to Paris--to the German baths--any where away from England and the scene +of trouble. The unhappy Lady Railton made her preparations in a day. +Before any body had time to suspect the cause of the removal, the family +was off, and the house in Grosvenor Square shut up. + +They travelled to Wiesbaden, two servants only accompanied them, and a +physician who had charge of his lordship, and towards whom her ladyship +was far less patronising and condescending than she had been to the +tutor of her son. If misfortune had not elevated her character, it had +somewhat chastened her spirit, and taught her the dependency of man upon +his fellow man, in spite of the flimsy barriers set up by vanity and +pride. Lord Railton was already an altered man when he reached the +capital of Nassau. The separation from every object that could give him +pain had at once dispelled the clouds that pressed upon his mind; and +the cheerful excitement of the journey given vigour and elasticity to +his spirit. He enjoyed life again; and his faculties, mental and +physical, were restored to him uninjured. Lady Railton would have wept +with joy had she been another woman. As it was, she rejoiced amazingly. + +The first day in Wiesbaden was an eventful one. Dinner was ordered, and +his lordship was dressing, whilst Lady Railton amused herself in the +charming gardens of the hotel at which they stopped. Another visitor was +there--a lady younger than herself, but far more beautiful, and +apparently of equal rank. One look proclaimed the stranger for a +countrywoman, a second was sufficient for an introduction. + +"This is a lovely spot," said Lady Railton, whose generally silent +tongue was easily betrayed into activity on this auspicious morning. + +"Do you think so?" answered the stranger, laughing as she spoke; "you +are a new comer, and the loveliness of the spot is not yet darkened by +the ugliness of the creatures who thrive upon it. Wait awhile." + +"You have been here some time?" continued Lady Railton, inquiringly. + +"_Ja wohl!_" replied the other, mimicking the accent of the German. + +"And the loveliness has disappeared?" + +"_Ja wohl!_" repeated the other with a shrug. + +"You speak their language, I perceive?" said Lady Railton. + +"I can say '_Ja wohl_,' '_Brod_,' and '_Guten morgen_'--not another +syllable. I was entrapped into those; but not another step will I +advance. I take my stand at '_Guten morgen_.'" + +Lady Railton smiled. + +"'Tis not a sweet language, I believe," she continued. + +"As sweet as the people, believe me, who are the uncleanest race in +Christendom. You will say so when you have passed three months at +Wiesbaden." + +"I have no hope of so prolonged a stay--rather, you would have me say +'no fear.'" + +"Oh! pray remain and judge for yourself. Begin with his Highness the +Duke, who dines every day with his subjects at the _table-d'hA'te_ of +this hotel, and end with that extraordinary domestic animal, half little +boy half old man, who fidgets like a gnome about him at the table. Enter +into what they call the gaieties of this horrid place--eat their +food--drink their wine--look at the gambling--talk to their greasy +aristocracy--listen to their growl--contemplate the universal dirt, and +form your own conclusions." + +"I presume you are about to quit this happy valley!" + +The lovely stranger shook her head. + +"Ah no! Fate and--worse than fate!--a self-willed husband!" + +"I perceive. He likes Germany, and you"---- + +"Submit!" said the other, finishing the sentence with the gentlest sigh +of resignation. + +"You have amusements here?" + +"Oh, a mine of them! We are the fiercest gamesters in the world; we eat +like giants; we smoke like furnaces, and dance like bears." + +The ladies had reached the open window of the _saal_ that led into the +garden. They stopped. The dinner of one was about to be served up; the +husband of the other was waiting to accompany her to the public gardens. +They bowed and parted. A concert was held at the hotel that evening. The +chief singers of the opera at Berlin, passing through the town, had +signified their benign intention to enlighten the worthy denizens of +Nassau, on the subject of "high art" in music. The applications for +admission were immense. The chief seats were reserved by mine host, "as +in private duty bound," for the visitors at his hotel; and the chiefest, +as politeness and interest dictated, for the rich and titled foreigners: +every Englishman being rich and noble in a continental inn. + +The young physician recommended his lordship by all means to visit the +concert. He had recommended nothing but enjoyment since they quitted +London. His lordship's case was one, he said, requiring amusement; he +might have added that his own case was another--requiring, further, a +noble lord to pay for it. Lord Railton obeyed his medical adviser always +when he suggested nothing disagreeable. Lady Railton was not sorry to +have a view of German life, and to meet again her gay and fascinating +beauty of the morning. + +The hall was crowded; and at an early hour of the evening the lovely +stranger was established in the seat reserved for her amidst "the +favoured guests." Her husband was with her, a tall pale man, troubled +with grief or sickness, very young, very handsome, but the converse of +his wife, who looked as blooming as a summer's morn, as brilliant and as +happy. Not the faintest shadow of a smile swept across his pallid face. +Laughter beamed eternally from her eyes, and was enthroned in dimples on +her cheek. He was silent and reserved, always communing with himself, +and utterly regardless of the doings of the world about him. _She_ had +eyes, ears, tongue, thought, feeling, sympathy only for the busy +multitude, and seemed to care to commune with herself as little--as with +her husband. A movement in the neighbourhood announced the arrival of +fresh comers. Lord Railton appeared somewhat flustered and agitated by +suddenly finding himself in a great company, and all the more nervous +from a suspicion that he was regarded as insane by every one he passed: +then came the young physician, as if from a bandbox, with a white +cravat, white gloves, white waistcoat, white face, and a black suit of +clothes, supporting his lordship, smiling upon him obsequiously, and +giving him professional encouragement and approval: and lastly stalked +her ladyship herself with the airs and graces of a fashionable duchess, +fresh as imported, and looking down upon mankind with touching +superciliousness and most amiable contempt. She caught sight of her +friend of the morning on her passage, and they exchanged bland looks of +recognition. + +The youthful husband had taken no notice of the fresh arrival. Absorbed +by his peculiar cares, whatever they might be, he sat perfectly still, +unmoved by the preparations of the actors and the busy hum of the +spectators. His head was bent towards the earth, to which he seemed fast +travelling, and which, to all appearances, would prove a happier home +for him than that he found upon its surface. Two or three songs had been +given with wonderful effect. Every one had been encored, and _bouquets_ +had already been thrown to the _prima donna_ of the Berlin opera. Never +had Wiesbaden known such delight. Mine host, who stood at the entrance +of the _saal_, perspiring with mingled pride and agitation, contemplated +the scene with a joy that knew no bounds. He was very happy. Like Sir +Giles Overreach, he was "joy all over." The young physician had just put +an eye-glass to an eye that had some difficulty in screwing it on, with +the intention of killing a young and pretty vocalist with one +irresistible glance, when he felt his arm clenched by his patient with a +passionate vigour that not only seriously damaged his intentions with +respect to the young singer, but fairly threw him from his equilibrium. +He turned round, and saw the unhappy nobleman, as he believed, in an +epileptic fit. His eyes were fixed--his lip trembling--his whole frame +quivering. His hand still grasped the arm of the physician, and grasped +it the firmer the more the practitioner struggled for release. There was +a shudder, a cry--the old man fell--and would have dropped to the floor +had he not been caught by the expert and much alarmed physician. A scene +ensued. The singer stopped, the audience rose--the fainting man was +raised and carried out. The noise had attracted the notice of one who +needed an extraordinary provocation to rouse him from his accustomed +lethargy. As the invalid passed him, the husband of the merry beauty +cast one glance towards his deathlike countenance. It was enough. No, +not enough. Another directed to the unhappy lady who followed the +stricken lord, was far more terrible, more poignant and acute. It sent a +thousand daggers to his heart, every one wounding, hacking, killing. He +sunk upon his seat, and covered his streaming eyes with wan and +bloodless hands. + +"Rupert!" said Elinor, whispering in his ear, "you are ill--let us go." + +"Elinor, it's he, it's he!" he stammered in the same voice. + +"Who?" + +"My father!" + +"And that lady?" + +"My mother!" + +"Good heaven! Lady Railton!" + +"I have killed him," continued Rupert. "I have killed him!" + +Before the confusion consequent upon the removal of Lord Railton had +subsided, Elinor, with presence of mind, rose from her seat, and +implored her husband to do the like. He obeyed, hardly knowing what he +did, and followed her instinctively. Like a woman possessed, she ran +from the scene, and did not stop until she reached her own apartments. +Rupert kept at her side, not daring to look up. When he arrived at his +room, he was not aware that he had passed his parents in his +progress--that the eyes of his wife and his mother had again +encountered, and that the sternest scowl of the latter had been met by +the most indignant scorn of the former. To this pass had arrived the +pleasant acquaintance established three hours before in the hotel +garden. + +Whilst Elinor Sinclair slept that melancholy night, Rupert watched at +his father's door. He believed him to be mortally ill, and he accused +himself in his sorrow of the fearful crime of parricide. He had made +frequent inquiries, and to all one answer had been returned. The noble +lord was still unconscious: her ladyship could not be seen. It was not +until the dawn of morning that a more favourable bulletin was issued, +and his lordship pronounced once more sensible and out of danger. Rupert +withdrew--not to rest, but to write a few hurried lines to his +mother--begging one interview, and conjuring her to concede it, even if +she afterwards resolved to see him no more. The interview was granted. + +It led to no good result. Another opportunity for reconciliation and +peace came only to be rejected. It availed little that Providence +provided the elements of happiness, whilst obstinacy and wilful pride +refused to combine them for any useful end. Lady Railton loved her son +with the fondness of a mother. Life, too, had charms for so worldly a +soul as hers; yet the son could be sacrificed, and life itself parted +with, ere the lofty spirit bend, and vindictive hatred give place to +meek and gentle mercy. The meeting was very painful. Lady Railton wept +bitter tears as she beheld the wreck that stood before her--the +care-worn remains of a form that was once so fair to look at--so +grateful to admire; but she stood inflexible. She might have asked every +thing of her son which he might honourably part with, and still her +desires have fallen short of the sacrifices he was prepared to offer for +the misery he had caused. She had but ONE request to make--it was the +condition of her pardon--but it was also the test of his integrity and +manhood. + +_He must part with the woman he had made his wife!_ + +The evening of the day found Rupert Sinclair and his wife on the road +from Wiesbaden, and his parents still sojourners at the hotel. + +Rupert had not told Elinor of the sum that had been asked for the +forgiveness of a mother he loved--the friendship of a father at whose +bed-side nature and duty summoned him with appeals so difficult to +resist. He would not grieve her joyous spirit by the sad announcement. +He had paid the price of affection, not cheerfully--not +triumphantly--but with a breaking and a tortured heart. He knew the +treasure to be costly: he would have secured it had it been twice as +dear. They arrived at Frankfort. + +"And whither now?" asked Elinor, almost as soon as they alighted. + +"Here for the present, dearest," answered Rupert. "To-morrow whither you +will." + +"Thank heaven for a safe deliverance from the Duke of Nassau!" exclaimed +the wife. "Well, Rupert, say no more that I am mistress of your actions. +I have begged for months to be released from that dungeon, but +ineffectually. This morning a syllable from the lips of another has +moved you to do what was refused to my long prayers." + +Rupert answered not. + +"To-morrow, then, to Paris?" coaxingly inquired the wife. + +A shadow passed across the countenance of the husband. + +"Wherefore to Paris?" he answered. "The world is wide enough. Choose an +abiding-place and a home any where but in Paris." + +"And why not there?" said Elinor, with vexation. "Any where but where I +wish. It is always so--it has always been so." + +"No, Elinor," said Rupert calmly--"not always. You do us both +injustice." + +"I have no pleasure," she continued, "amongst these dull and +addle-headed people--who smoke and eat themselves into a heaviness +that's insupportable. But Paris is too gay for your grave spirit, +Rupert; and to sacrifice your comfort to my happiness would be more than +I have any right to hope for or to ask." + +Sinclair answered not again. Reproach had never yet escaped his lips: +it was not suffered to pass now. How little knew the wife of the +sacrifices which had already been wrung from that fond and faithful +bosom: and which it was still disposed to make, could it but have +secured the happiness of one or both! + +Is it necessary to add, that within a week the restless and wandering +pair found themselves in the giddy capital of France! Sinclair, as in +every thing, gave way before the well-directed and irresistible attacks +of one whose wishes, on ordinary occasions, he was too eager to +forestall. His strong objections to a residence in Paris were as nothing +against the opposition of the wife resolved to gain her point and +vanquish. Paris was odious to him on many grounds. It was paradise to a +woman created for pleasure--alive and herself only when absorbed in the +mad pursuit of pleasure. Sinclair regarded a sojourn in Paris as fatal +to the repose which he yearned to secure: his wife looked upon it as a +guarantee for the joyous excitement which her temperament rendered +essential to existence. General Travis was in Paris; so was the Earl of +Minden; so were many other stanch allies and friends of the lady, who +had so suddenly found herself deprived of friends and supporters in the +very height of her dominion and triumph. Sinclair had no desire to meet +with any of these firm adherents; but, on the contrary, much reason to +avoid them. He made one ineffectual struggle, and as usual--submitted to +direction. + +If the lady had passed intoxicating days in London, she led madder ones +in France. Again she became the heroine and queen of a brilliant circle, +the admired of all admirers, the mistress of a hundred willing and too +obedient slaves. Nothing could surpass the witchery of her power: +nothing exceed the art by which she raised herself to a proud eminence, +and secured her footing. The arch smile, the clever volubility, the +melting eye, the lovely cheek, the incomparable form, all united to +claim and to compel the admiration which few were slow to render. Elinor +had been slighted in England: she revenged herself in France. She had +been deserted--forsaken by her own: she was the more intent upon the +glowing praise and worship of the stranger. Crowds flocked around her, +confessing her supremacy: and whilst women envied and men admired, +Rupert Sinclair shrunk from publicity with a heart that was near to +breaking--and a soul oppressed beyond the power of relief. + +A gleam of sunshine stole upon Rupert Sinclair in the midst of his gloom +and disappointment. Elinor gave promise of becoming a mother. He had +prayed for this event; for he looked to it as the only means of +restoring to him affections estranged and openly transferred to an +unfeeling world. The volatile and inconsiderate spirit, which no +expostulation or entreaties of his might tame, would surely be subdued +by the new and tender ties so powerful always in riveting woman's heart +to duty. His own character altered as the hour approached which must +confer upon him a new delight as well as an additional anxiety. He +became a more cheerful and a happier man: his brow relaxed; his face no +longer bore upon it the expression of a settled sorrow and an abiding +disappointment. He walked more erect, less shy, grew more active, less +contemplative and reserved. Months passed away, quickly, if not +altogether happily, and Elinor Sinclair gave birth to a daughter. + +Rupert had not judged correctly. However pleasing may be the sacred +influence of a child upon the disposition and conduct of a mother in the +majority of instances, it was entirely wanting here. Love of +distinction, of conquest, of admiration, had left no room in the bosom +of Elinor Sinclair for the love of offspring, which Rupert fondly hoped +would save his partner from utter worldliness, and himself from final +wretchedness. To receive the child from heaven, and to make it over for +its earliest nourishment and care to strange cold hands, were almost one +and the same act. The pains of nature were not assuaged by the mother's +rejoicings: the pride of the father found no response in the heart of +his partner. The bitter trial of the season past--returning strength +vouchsafed--and the presence of the stranger was almost forgotten in +the brilliancy of the scene to which the mother returned with a +whettened appetite and a keener relish. + +Far different the father! The fountain of love which welled in his +devoted breast met with no check as it poured forth freely and +generously towards the innocent and lovely stranger, that had come like +a promise and a hope to his heart. Here he might feast his eyes without +a pang: here bestow the full warmth of his affection, without the fear +of repulse or the torture of doubt. His home became a temple--one small +but darling room an altar--his daughter, a divinity. He eschewed the +glittering assemblies in which his wife still dazzled most, and grew +into a hermit at the cradle of his child. It was a fond and passionate +love that he indulged there--one that absorbed and sustained his +being--that gave him energy when his soul was spent, and administered +consolation in the bitterest hour of his sad loneliness--the bitterest +he had known as yet. + +I have said that Lord Minden was in Paris when Sinclair and his wife +arrived there. The visits of this nobleman to the house of Rupert in +London, and the strange conduct of Rupert himself in connexion with +those visits, had helped largely to drive the unfortunate pair from +their native country. Still those visits were renewed in the French +capital, and the conduct of Sinclair lost none of its singularity. The +Parisians were not so scandalized as their neighbours across the water +by the marked attentions of his lordship to this unrivalled beauty. +Nobody could be blind to the conduct of Lord Minden, yet nobody seemed +distressed or felt morally injured by the constant contemplation of it. +If the husband thought proper to approve, it was surely no man's +business to be vexed or angry. Mr Sinclair was a good easy gentleman, +evidently vain of his wife's attractions, and of his lordship's great +appreciation of them. His wife was worshipped, and the fool was +flattered. But was this all? Did he simply look on, or was he basely +conniving at his own dishonour? In England public opinion had decided in +favour of the latter supposition; and public feeling, outraged by such +flagrant wickedness, had thrust the culprits, as they deserved, from the +soil which had given them birth, and which they shamefully polluted. + +Nearly two years had elapsed, and the exiles were still in the +fascinating city to which the ill-fated Elinor had carried her too +easily-led husband. The time had passed swiftly enough. Elinor had but +one occupation--the pursuits of pleasure. Sinclair had only one--the +care of his daughter. He had bestowed a mother's tenderness upon the +neglected offspring, and watched its young existence with a jealous +anxiety that knew no rest--and not in vain. The budding creature had +learned to know its patient nurse, and to love him better than all its +little world. She could walk, and prattle in her way, and her throne was +upon her father's lap. She could pronounce his name; she loved to speak +it;--she could distinguish his eager footstep; she loved to hear it. +Rupert was born for this. To love and to be loved with the truth, +simplicity, and power of childhood, was the exigency of his being and +the condition of his happiness. Both were satisfied--yet he was not +happy. + +It was a winter's evening. For a wonder, Elinor was at home: She had not +been well during the day, and had declared her intention of spending the +evening with her child and husband--rare indulgence! The sacrifice had +cost her something, for she was out of spirits and ill at ease in her +new character. Her husband sat lovingly at her side--his arm about her +waist--his gleeful eye resting upon the lovely child that played and +clung about his feet. + +[And this man was a party to his own dishonour! a common pandar! the +seller of yonder wife's virtue, the destroyer of yonder child's whole +life of peace! Reader, believe it not!--against conviction, against the +world, believe it not!] + +"To-morrow, Elinor," said Sinclair musingly, "is your birthday. Had you +forgotten it?" + +Elinor turned pale. Why, I know not. + +"Yes," she answered hurriedly, "I had. It _is_ my birthday." + +"We must pass the day together: we will go into the country. Little +Alice shall be of the party, and shall be taught to drink her mamma's +health. Won't you, Alice?" + +The child heard its name spoken by familiar lips, and laughed. + +"Will Lord Minden, dear, be back? He shall accompany us." + +"He will not," said Elinor, trembling with illness. + +"More's the pity," replied Rupert. "Alice will hardly be happy for a day +without Lord Minden. She has cried for him once or twice already. But +you are ill, dearest. Go to rest." + +"Not yet," said Elinor, "I shall be better soon. Come, Alice, to mamma." + +It was an unwonted summons, and the child stared. She had seldom been +invited to her mother's arms; and the visits, when made, were generally +of short duration. There seemed some heart in Elinor to-night. Rupert +observed it. He caught the child up quickly, placed her in her mother's +lap, and kissed them both. + +In the act, a tear--a mingled drop of bitterness and joy--started to his +eye and lingered there. + +Strange contrast! His face suddenly beamed with new-born delight: hers +was as pale as death. + +"Is she not lovely, Elinor?" asked Rupert, looking on them both with +pride. + +"Very!" was the laconic and scarce audible answer; and the child was put +aside again. + +"Elinor," said Sinclair, with unusual animation, "rest assured this +precious gift of Heaven is sent to us for good; our days of trouble are +numbered. Peace and true enjoyment are promised in that brow." + +A slight involuntary shudder thrilled the frame of the wife, as she +disengaged herself from her husband's embrace. She rose to retire. + +"I will go to my pillow," she said. "You are right. I need rest. +Good-night!" + +Her words were hurried. There was a wildness about her eye that denoted +malady of the mind rather than of body. Rupert detained her. + +"You shall have advice, dearest," said he. "I will go myself"---- + +"No, no, no," she exclaimed, interrupting him; "I beseech you. Suffer me +to retire. In the morning you will be glad that you have spared yourself +the trouble. I am not worthy of it; good-night!" + +"Not worthy, Elinor!" + +"Not ill enough, I mean. Rupert, good-night." + +Sinclair folded his wife in his arms, and spoke a few words of comfort +and encouragement. Had he been a quick observer, he would have marked +how, almost involuntarily, she recoiled from his embrace, and avoided +his endearments. + +She lingered for a moment at the door. + +"Shall Alice go with you?" inquired the husband. + +"No. I will send for her; let her wait with you. Good-night, Alice!" + +"Nay; why good-night? You will see her again." + +"Yes," answered Elinor, still lingering. The child looked towards her +mother with surprise. Elinor caught her eye, and suddenly advanced to +her. She took the bewildered child in her arms, and kissed it +passionately. The next moment she had quitted the apartment. + +New feelings, of joy as much as of sorrow, possessed the soul of Rupert +Sinclair as he sat with his little darling, reflecting upon the singular +conduct of the dear one who had quitted them. It found an easy solution +in his ardent and forgiving breast. That which he had a thousand times +prophesied, had eventually come to pass. The _mother_ had been checked +in her giddy career, when the _wife_ had proved herself unequal to the +sacrifice. In the mental suffering of his partner, Rupert saw only +sorrow for the past, bitter repentance, and a blest promise of +amendment. He would not interfere with her sacred grief; but, from his +heart, he thanked God for the mercy that had been vouchsafed him, and +acknowledged the justice of the trials through which he had hitherto +passed. And there he sat and dreamed. Visions ascended and descended. He +saw himself away from the vice and dissipation of the city into which he +had been dragged. A quiet cottage in the heart of England was his chosen +dwelling-place; a happy smiling mother, happy only in her domestic +paradise, beamed upon him; and a lovely child, lovelier as she grew to +girlhood, sat at his side, even as the infant stood whilst he dreamed +on; an aged pair were present, the most contented of the group, looking +upon the picture with a calm and grateful satisfaction. + +For a full hour he sat lost in his reverie; his glowing heart relieved +only by his swelling tears. + +The child grew impatient to depart. Why had Elinor not sent for her? + +He summoned a servant, and bade her take the little Alice to her +mother's room. Thither she was carried--to the room, not to the mother. + +The mother had quitted the room, the house, the husband--for ever! + +A broken-hearted man quitted Paris at midnight. The damning intelligence +had been conveyed to him by one who was cognisant of the whole affair, +who had helped to his disgrace, but whose bribe had not been sufficient +to secure fidelity. _Elinor Sinclair had eloped with the Earl of +Minden._ Flattered by his lordship's attention, dazzled by his amazing +wealth, impatient of the limits which her own poverty placed to her +extravagance, dissatisfied with the mild tenor of her husband's life, +she had finally broken the link which at any time had so loosely united +her to the man, not of her heart or her choice, but of her ambition. + +She had fled without remorse, without a pang, worthy of the name. Who +shall describe the astonishment of the aggrieved Rupert?--his +disappointment, his torture! He was thunderstruck, stunned; but his +resolution was quickly formed. The pair had started southwards. Sinclair +resolved to follow them. For the first time in his life he was visited +with a desire for vengeance, and he burned till it was gratified. Blood +only could wash away the stain his honour had received, the injury his +soul had suffered--and it should be shed. He grew mad with the idea. He +who had never injured mortal man, who was all tenderness and meekness, +long-suffering, and patient as woman, suddenly became, in the depth and +by the power of his affliction, vindictive and thirsty for his brother's +life. Within two hours from the period of the accursed discovery, all +his preparations were made, and he was on the track. He had called upon +a friend; explained to him his wrong; and secured him for a companion +and adviser in the pursuit. He took into his temporary service the +creature who had been in the pay of his lordship, and promised him as +large a sum as he could ask for one week's faithful duty. He paid one +hasty, miserable visit to the bed-side of his innocent and sleeping +child--kissed her and kissed her in his agony--and departed like a tiger +to his work. + +The fugitives had mistaken the character of Sinclair. They believed that +he would adopt no steps either to recover his wife or to punish her +seducer, and their measures were taken accordingly. They proceeded +leisurely for a few hours, and stopped at the small hotel of a humble +market town. Rupert arrived here at an early hour of the morning. His +guide, who had quitted his seat on the carriage to look for a relay, +learned from the hostler that a carriage had arrived shortly before, +containing an English nobleman and his lady, who, he believed, were then +in the hotel. Further inquiries, and a sight of the nobleman's carriage, +convinced him that the object of the chase was gained. He came with +sparkling eyes to acquaint his master with his good success, and rubbed +his hands as he announced the fact that sickened Rupert to the heart. +Rupert heard, and started from the spot, as though a cannonball had +hurled him thence. + +"Fortescue," he said, addressing his friend, "we must not quit this spot +until he has rendered satisfaction. Hoary villain as he is, he shall not +have an hour's grace." + +"What would you do?" + +"Abide here till morning; watch every door; intercept his passage, and +take my vengeance." + +"You shall have it, but it must be on principles approved and +understood. We are no assassins, let him be what he may. Go you to rest. +Before he is awake, I will be stirring. He shall give me an interview +ere he dispatches his breakfast; and rely upon me for seeing ample +justice done to every party." + +Fortescue, who was an Englishman done into French, coolly motioned to +Sinclair to enter the hotel. The latter retreated from it with loathing. + +"No, Fortescue," continued Sinclair, "I sleep not to-night. Here I take +my dismal watch--here will I await the fiend. He must not escape me. I +can trust you, if any man; but I will trust no man to-night but one." + +"As you please, Sinclair," answered the other. "Your honour is in my +keeping, and, trust me, it shall not suffer. I will be up betimes, and +looking to your interest. Where shall we meet?" + +"Here. I shall not budge an inch." + +"Good night, then, or rather morning. The day is already breaking. But I +shall turn in, if it be but for an hour. I must keep my head clear for +the early work." + +And saying these words, the worthy Fortescue sought shelter and repose +in the hotel. + +Rupert counted the heavy moments with a crushed and bleeding spirit, as +he paced the few yards of earth to which he had confined his wretched +watch. He was alone. It was a bitter morning--cold and sad as his own +being. He could not take his eyes from the polluted dwelling; he could +not gaze upon it and not weep tears of agony. "Heaven!" he cried, as he +walked on, "what have I done, what committed, that I should suffer the +torment thou hast inflicted upon me for so many years! Why hast thou +chosen me for a victim and a sacrifice! Have I deserved it? Am I so +guilty that I should be so punished?" He would have given all that he +possessed in the world to be released from the horrid task he had +imposed upon himself; yet, for all that the world could give, he would +not trust another with that important guard. Oh! it was the excruciating +pang of perdition that he was conscious of, as he stood and gazed, until +his swelling heart had wellnigh burst, upon the house of shame. He had +brought pistols with him--he had taken care of that; at least, he had +given them to Fortescue, and enjoined him not to lose sight of them. +Were they in safety? He would go and see. He ran from his post, and +entered the stable-yard of the hotel. There were two carriages--his own +and the Earl of Minden's. His pistol-case was safe--so were the pistols +within. A devilish instinct prompted him to look into the carriage of +the lord, that stood beside his own; why he should do it he could not +tell. He had no business there. It was but feeding the fire that already +inflamed him to madness. Yet he opened it. His wife's cloak was there, +and a handkerchief, which had evidently been dropped in the owner's +anxiety to alight. Her initials were marked upon the handkerchief with +the hair of the unhappy man, who forgot her guilt, his tremendous loss, +his indignation and revenge, in the recollection of one bright distant +scene which that pale token suddenly recalled. The battling emotions of +his mind overpowered and exhausted him. He sobbed aloud, dropped on his +knees, and pressed the handkerchief to his aching brain. + +It could not last. Madness--frenzy--the hottest frenzy of the lost +lunatic possessed him, and he grasped a pistol. The muzzle was towards +his cheek--his trembling finger was upon the trigger--when a shrill cry, +imaginary or real, caused the victim to withhold his purpose--to look +about him and to listen. It was nothing--yet very much! The voice had +sounded to the father's ear like that of an infant; and the picture +which it summoned to his bewildered eye recalled him to reason--started +him to a sense of duty, and saved him from self-murder. + +There was an impulse to force an entrance to the hotel, and to drag the +sinful woman from the embrace of her paramour; but it was checked as +soon as formed. He asked not to look upon her face again; in his hot +anger he had vowed never to confront her whilst life was still permitted +him, but to avoid her like a plague-curse or a fiend. He asked only for +revenge upon the monster that had wronged him--the false friend--the +matchless liar--the tremendous hypocrite. Nothing should come between +him and that complete revenge. There was connected with Lord Minden's +crime, all the deformity that attaches to every such offence; but, over +and above, there was a rankling injury never to be forgotten or +forgiven. What that was _he_ knew, _he_ felt as his pale lip grew white +with shame and indignation, and a sense of past folly, suddenly, but +fearfully awakened. A thousand recollections burst upon his brain as he +persevered in his long and feverish watch. Now mysterious looks and nods +were easily interpreted. Now the neglect of the world, the unkind word, +the inexplicable and solemn hints were unraveled as by magic. "Fool, +dolt, mad-man!" he exclaimed, striking his forehead, and running like +one possessed along the silent road. "A child would have been wiser, an +infant would have known better,--ass--idiot--simple, natural, fool!" + +The fault of a life was corrected in a moment, but at an incalculable +cost, and with the acquisition of a far greater fault. Rupert Sinclair +could be no longer the credulous and unsuspecting victim of a subtile +and self-interested world. His affliction had armed him with a shield +against the assaults of the cunning; but it had also, unfortunately, +given him a sword against the approaches of the generous and good. +Heretofore he had suspected none. Now he trusted as few. Satan himself +might have played upon him in the days of his youth. An angel of light +would be repelled if he ventured to give comfort to the bruised soul +broken down in its prime. + +The guard as well as the sleeping friend were doomed to disappointment. +Lord Minden and Elinor were not in the hotel. Shortly after their +arrival, his lordship had determined to proceed on his journey, and with +a lighter carriage than that which had brought the pair from Paris. He +privately hired a vehicle of the landlord, and left his own under the +care of a servant whose slumbers were so carefully guarded by the +devoted Sinclair. Great was the disappointment of Fortescue, unbounded +the rage of Rupert, when they discovered their mistake, and reflected +upon the precious hours that had been so wofully mis-spent. But their +courage did not slacken, nor the eagerness--of one at least--abate. The +direction of the fugitives obtained, as far as it was possible to obtain +it, and they were again on the pursuit. + +At the close of the second day, fortune turned against the guilty. When +upon the high-road, but at a considerable distance from any town, the +rickety chariot gave way. Rupert caught sight of it, and beckoned his +postilion to stop. He did so. A boor was in charge of the vehicle, the +luckless owners of which had, according to his intelligence, been +compelled to walk to a small roadside public-house at the distance of a +league. The party was described. A grey-headed foreigner and a beautiful +young woman--a foreigner also. Rupert leaped into his carriage, and bade +the postilion drive on with all his might. The inn was quickly reached. +The runaways were there. + +Fortescue's task was very easy. He saw lord Minden, and explained his +errand. Lord Minden, honourable man, was ready to afford Mr Sinclair all +the satisfaction a gentleman could demand, at any time or place. + +"No time like the present, my lord," said Fortescue; "no place more +opportune. Mr Sinclair is ready at this moment, and we have yet an +hour's daylight." + +"I have no weapons--no friend." + +"We will furnish your lordship with both, if you will favour us with +your confidence. Pistols are in Mr Sinclair's carriage. I am at your +lordship's service and command: at such a time as this, forms may easily +be dispensed with." + +"Be it so. I will attend you." + +"In half an hour; and in the fallow ground, the skirts of which your +lordship can just discover from this window. We shall not keep you +waiting." + +"I place myself in your hands, Mr Fortescue. I will meet Mr Sinclair. I +owe it to my order, and myself, to give him the fullest satisfaction." + +The fullest! mockery of mockeries! + +The husband and the seducer met. Not a syllable was exchanged. Lord +Minden slightly raised his hat as he entered the ground; but Rupert did +not return the salute. His cheek was blanched, his lips bloodless and +pressed close together; there was wildness in his eye, but, in other +respects, he stood calm and self-possessed, as a statue might stand. + +Fortescue loaded the pistols. Rupert fired, not steadily, but +determinedly--and missed. + +Lord Minden fired, and Rupert fell. Fortescue ran to him. + +The ball had struck him in the arm, and shattered it. + +The nobleman maintained his position, whilst Fortescue, as well as he +was able, stanched the flowing wound, and tied up the arm. Fortunately +the mutual second had been a surgeon in the army, and knowing the duty +he was summoned to, had provided necessary implements. He left his +patient for one instant on the earth, and hastened to his lordship. + +"Mr. Sinclair," he said, hurriedly, "must be conveyed to yonder house. +Your lordship, I need not say, must quit it. That roof cannot shelter +you, him, and----no matter. Your carriage has broken down. Ours is at +your service. Take it, and leave it at the next post-town. Yours shall +be sent on. There is no time to say more. Yonder men shall help me to +carry Mr Sinclair to the inn. When we have reached it, let your lordship +be a league away from it." + +Fortescue ran once more to his friend. Two or three peasants, who were +entering the field at the moment, were called to aid. The wounded man +was raised, and, on the arms of all, carried fainting from the spot. + +Elinor and her companion fled from the inn, wherefore one of them knew +not. The luggage of Sinclair had been hastily removed from the carriage, +and deposited in the house, but not with necessary speed. As the +ill-fated woman was whirled from the door, her eye caught the small and +melancholy procession leisurely advancing. One inquiring gaze, which +even the assiduity of Lord Minden could not intercept, made known to her +the PRESENCE, and convinced her of the FACT. She screamed,--but +proceeded with her paramour, whilst her husband was cared for by his +friend. + +A surgeon was sent for from the nearest town, who, arriving late at +night, deemed it expedient to amputate the patient's arm without delay. +The operation was performed without immediately removing the fears +which, after a first examination, the surgeon had entertained for the +life of the wounded man. The injury inflicted upon an excited system +threw the sufferer into a fever, in which he lay for days without relief +or hope. The cloud, however, passed away, after much suffering during +the flitting hours of consciousness and reason. The afflicted man was +finally hurled upon life's shore again, prostrate, exhausted, spent. His +first scarce-audible accents had reference to his daughter. + +"My child!" he whispered imploringly, to a sister of charity ministering +at his side. + +"Will be with you shortly," replied the devoted daughter of heaven, who +had been with the sufferer for many days. + +Rupert shook his head. + +"Be calm," continued the religious nurse; "recover strength; enable +yourself to undergo the sorrow of an interview, and you shall see her. +She is well provided for: she is happy--she is here!" + +"Here!" faintly ejaculated Rupert, and looking languidly about him. + +"Yes, and very near you. In a day or two she shall come and comfort +you." + +The benevolent woman spoke the truth. When she had first been summoned +to the bed-side of the wounded man, she diligently inquired into the +circumstances of the case, and learned as much as was necessary of his +sad history from the faithful Fortescue. It was her suggestion that the +child should forthwith be removed from Paris, and brought under the same +roof with her father. She knew, with a woman's instinct,--little as she +had mixed with the world,--how powerful a restorative would be the +prattle of that innocent voice, when the moment should arrive to employ +it without risk. + +Rupert acknowledged the merciful consideration. He put forth his thin +emaciated hand, and moved his lips as though he would express his +thanks. He could not, but he wept. + +The nurse held up her finger for mild remonstrance and reproof. It was +not wanting. The heart was elevated by the grateful flow. He slumbered +more peacefully for that outpouring of his grateful soul. + +The child was promised, as soon as leave could be obtained from the +medical authorities to bring her to her father's presence. If he should +continue to improve for two days, he knew his reward. If he suffered +anxiety of mind and the thought of his calamity to retard his progress, +he was told his punishment. He became a child himself, in his eagerness +to render himself worthy of the precious recompense. He did not once +refer to what had happened. Fortescue sat hour after hour at his side, +and he heard no syllable of reproach against the woman who had wronged +him--no further threat of vengeance against the villain who had +destroyed her. + +The looked-for morning came. Rupert was sitting up, and the sister of +charity entered his humble apartment with the child in her hand. Why +should that holy woman weep at human love and natural attachments? What +sympathy had she with the vain expressions of delight and woe--with +paternal griefs and filial joys? The lip that had been fortified by +recent prayer, trembled with human emotion;--the soul that had +expatiated in the passionless realms to which its allegiance was due, +acknowledged a power from which it is perilous for the holiest to +revolt. _Nature_ had a moment of triumph in the sick-chamber of a +broken-hearted man. It was brief as it was sacred. Let me not attempt to +describe or disturb it! + +The religious and benevolent sister was an admirable nurse, but she was +not to be named in the same day with Alice. She learned her father's +little ways with the quickness of childhood, and ministered to them with +the alacrity and skill of a woman. She knew when he should take his +drinks--she was not happy unless permitted to convey them from the hands +of the good sister to those of the patient. She was the sweetest +messenger and ambassadrix in the world: so exact in her messages--so +brisk on her errands! She had the vivacity of ten companions, and the +humour of a whole book of wit. She asked a hundred questions on as many +topics, and said the oddest things in life. When Sinclair would weep, +one passing observation from her made him laugh aloud. When his +oppressed spirit inclined him to dulness, her lighter heart would lead +him, against his will, to the paths of pleasantness and peace! + +Was it Providence or chance that sealed upon her lips the name of one +who must no longer be remembered in her father's house? Singularly +enough, during the sojourn of Rupert Sinclair and his daughter in the +roadside inn, neither had spoken to the other of the wickedness that had +departed from them; and less singular was it, perhaps, that the acutest +pang that visited the breast of Elinor was that which accompanied the +abiding thought, that Rupert was ever busy referring to the mother's +crime, and teaching the infant lip to mutter curses on her name. + +In the vicinity of the inn was a forest of some extent. Hither, as +Sinclair gathered strength, did he daily proceed with his little +companion, enjoying her lively conversation, and participating in her +gambols. He was never without her. He could not be happy if she were +away: he watched her with painful, though loving jealousy. She was as +unhappy if deprived of his society. The religious sister provided a +governess to attend upon her, but the governess had not the skill to +attach her to her person. At the earliest hour of the morning, she awoke +her father with a kiss: at the last hour of the night, a kiss from his +easily recognised lips sealed her half-conscious half-dreaming slumbers. +Alice was very happy. She could not guess why her father should not be +very happy too, and always so. + +For one moment let us follow the wretched Elinor, and trace her in her +flight. Whilst her own accusing conscience takes from her pillow the +softness of its down, and the vision of her husband, as she last saw +him, haunts her at every turn like a ghost--striking terror even to her +thoughtless heart, and bestowing a curse upon her life which she had +neither foreseen nor thought of, let us do her justice. Vice itself is +not all hideousness. The immortal soul cannot be all pollution. Defaced +and smirched it may be--cruelly misused and blotted over by the sin and +passion of mortality; but it will, and must, proclaim its origin in the +depths of degradation. There have been glimpses of the heavenly gift +when it has been buried deep, deep in the earth--beams of its light in +the murkiest and blackest day! Elinor was guilty--lost here beyond the +power of redemption--she was selfish and unworthy; yet not wholly +selfish--not utterly unworthy. I am not her apologist--I appear not here +to plead her cause. Heaven knows, my sympathy is far away--yet I will do +her justice. I will be her faithful chronicler. + +Upon the fourth day of her elopement she had reached Lyons. Here, +against the wish of the Earl of Minden, she expressed a determination to +remain for at least a day: she desired to see the city--moreover, she +had friends--one of whom she was anxious to communicate with, and might +never see again. Who he was she did not say, nor did his lordship learn, +before they quitted the city on the following day. The reader shall be +informed. + +It was on the afternoon of the day of their arrival in Lyons that Elinor +paid her visit to the friend in question. He resided in a narrow street +leading from the river-side into the densest and most populous +thoroughfares of that extensive manufacturing town: the house was a +humble one, and tolerably quiet. The door was open, and she entered. She +ascended a tolerably-wide stone staircase, and stopped before a door +that led into an apartment on the fourth floor. She knocked softly: her +application was not recognised--but she heard a voice with which she was +familiar. + +"Cuss him imperence!" it said; "him neber satisfied. I broke my heart, +sar, in your service, and d--n him--no gratitude." + +"Don't you turn against me, too," answered a feeble voice, like that of +a sick man. "I shall be well again soon, and we will push on, and meet +them at Marseilles." + +"Push on! I don't understand 'push on,' when fellow's not got half-penny +in the pocket. Stuck to you like a trump all my life; it's not the ting +to bring respectable character into dis 'ere difficulty." + +"Give me something to drink." + +"What you like, old genl'man?" was the answer. "Course you call for what +you please--you got sich lots of money. You have any kind of water you +think proper--from ditch water up to pump." + +"You are sure there were no letters for me at the post?" inquired the +feeble voice. + +"Come, stop dat, if you please. That joke's damned stale and +aggravating. Whenever I ask you for money, you send me to the post. What +de devil postman see in my face to give me money?" + +Elinor knocked again and again; still unanswered, she opened the door. +In the apartment which she entered, she perceived, grinning out of the +window, with his broad arms stretched under his black face, the nigger +of our early acquaintance--the old servant of her father's house--the +gentleman who had represented the yahoo upon the evening of my +introduction to the general--the fascinating Augustus. Behind him, on a +couch that was drawn close to the wall, and surmounted by a dingy +drapery, lay--her father--a shadow of his former self--miserably +attired, and very ill, as it would seem, mentally and bodily. Both the +yahoo and the general started upon her entrance, for which they were +evidently wholly unprepared. + +"Elinor!" said the general, "you have received my letter?" + +"I have," was the reply--scarcely heard--with such deep emotion was it +spoken! + +"And you cannot help me?" he asked again, with a distracted air. + +"I can," she answered--"I will--it is here--all you ask--take it--repair +to my mother--save her--yourself." + +She presented him with a paper as she spoke. He opened it eagerly, and +his eye glittered again as he perused it. + +"Did you get it easily, child?" he said. + +"No--with difficulty--great difficulty," she answered wildly. "But there +it is. It will relieve you from your present trouble, and pay your +passage." + +"Augustus--we will start to-night," said the general anxiously, "we will +not lose a moment." + +"Father," said Elinor, with agitation, "I must be gone. Give my love to +my mother. I have sent all that I could procure for her comfort and +happiness. I tell you, father, it was not obtained without some +sacrifice. Spend it not rashly--every coin will have its value. I may +not be able to send you more. Tell her not to curse me when she hears my +name mentioned as it will be mentioned, but to forgive and forget me." + +The old man was reading the bank-bill whilst his daughter spoke, and had +eyes and ears for nothing else. + +"We shall never forget you, dear child," he said, almost mechanically. + +He folded the bill carefully, put it into his pocket, buttoned that as +carefully, and looked up. The daughter had departed. + +Rupert Sinclair recovered from the wound he had received, and from the +subsequent operation; but strength came not as quickly as it had been +promised, or as he could wish. He removed, after many months, from the +inn, and commenced his journey homewards. To be released from the tie +which still gave his name to her who had proved herself so utterly +unworthy of it, was his first business; his second, to provide +instruction and maternal care for the young creature committed to his +love. He travelled by short and easy stages, and arrived at length in +London. He was subdued and calm. All thoughts of revenge had taken leave +of his mind; he desired only to forget the past, and to live for the +future. He had witnessed and suffered the evil effects of a false +education. He was resolved that his child should be more mercifully +dealt with. He had but one task to accomplish in life. He would fulfil +it to the letter. + +Sinclair waited upon his legal adviser as soon as he reached the +metropolis. That functionary heard his client's statement with a +lugubrious countenance, and sighed profoundly, as though he were very +sorry that the affair had happened. + +"These are cases, sir," said he, "that make the prosecution of a noble +profession a painful and ungrateful labour. Surgeons, however, must not +be afraid to handle the knife. What we must do, it is better to do +cheerfully. Don't you think so?" + +Sinclair nodded assent. + +"And now your witnesses, Mr Sinclair. We must look them up. The chief, I +presume, are abroad." + +"Many are, necessarily," answered Rupert. "There is one gentleman +however, in England, with whom I am anxious that you should put yourself +in immediate communication. When I went abroad, he was at Oxford, +residing in the college, of which he is a fellow. He is my oldest +friend. He is well acquainted with my early history, and is aware of all +the circumstances of my marriage. He may be of great service to us both: +you, he may save much trouble--me, infinite pain." + +"Just so," said the lawyer. "And his name?" + +"Walter Wilson, Esq. of ---- College, Oxford." + +"I will fish him up to-day," said the legal man. "We shall have an easy +case. There will be no defence, I presume?" + +"Hardly!" answered Sinclair. + +"Judgment by default! You will get heavy damages, Mr Sinclair. Lord +Minden is as rich as CrA"sus; and the case is very aggravated. +Violation of friendship--a bosom-friend--one whom you had admitted to +your confidence and hearth. We must have these points prominently put. I +shall retain Mr Thessaly. That man, sir, was born for these aggravated +cases." + +"You will write to Mr Wilson?" said Sinclair, mournfully. + +"This very day. Don't be unhappy, Mr Sinclair--you have a capital case, +and will get a handsome verdict." + +"When you have heard from Mr Wilson, let me know. I wish to arrange an +interview with him, and have not the heart to write myself. Tell him I +am in town--that I must see him." + +"I will do it. Can I offer you a glass of wine, Mr Sinclair, or any +refreshment? You look pale and languid." + +"None, I thank you!" + +"And the little lady in the parlour?" + +"I am obliged to you--nothing. I must go to her--I have kept her +waiting. Good-morning, sir." + +Sinclair joined his daughter, and proceeded with her to his hotel. She +was still his constant companion. He did not move without her. His +anxiety to have the child always at his side bordered on insanity. +Whether he quitted his home for amusement or business, she must +accompany him, and clasp the only hand that he had now to offer her. He +dreaded to be alone, and no voice soothed him but that of the little +chatterer. How fond he was of it--of her--who shall say! or how +necessary to his existence the treasure he had snatched from ruin in the +hour of universal wreck! + +Before visiting his lawyer, Sinclair had dispatched a private +communication to his old serving-man, John Humphreys, who, upon the +breaking up of Rupert's establishment, had returned to the service of +Lord Railton, his ancient master. That trusty servant was already at the +hotel when Sinclair reached it. + +"You have spoken to nobody of my being here, Humphreys," said Rupert, +when he saw him. + +"To nobody, your honour." + +"Then follow me!" + +When they had come to Sinclair's private room, he continued-- + +"My father, Humphreys--Tell me quickly how he is." + +"Oh, a world better, sir." + +"Thank God! And my mother?" + +"Breaking, sir. This last affair"-- + +"They are in town?" + +"Yes, your honour--you will call upon them, won't you? It will do her +ladyship's heart good to see you again--though, saving your honour's +presence, you looks more like a spectre than a human being." + +"No, Humphreys, I cannot see them. They must not even know that I am now +in London. I would have avoided this interview, could I have quitted +England again without some information respecting them. I shall be +detained here for a few days--it may be for weeks--but I return again to +the Continent, never again to leave it." + +"Do you think them foreign doctors understand your case, sir?" + +"My case!" + +"Yes, sir--you are not well, I am sure. You want feeding and building +up--English beef and beer. Them foreigners are killing you." + +Rupert smiled. + +"You'll excuse me, sir, but laughing isn't a good sign, when a man has +reason to cry." + +Rupert shuddered. + +"I beg your pardon, sir--I didn't mean that," continued the honest +fellow. "I did not refer to your feelings. I meant your health, sir. +Live well, sir; eat good English fare, and take the bilious pills when +you are out of sorts." + +John Humphreys was dismissed with many thanks for his sympathy and +advice, and with strict injunctions to maintain silence respecting +Rupert's movements. Had Sinclair learned that his parents were ill, or +needful of his presence, he would have gone to them at once. They were +well--why should he molest them, or bring fresh anguish to their +declining years? + +I received the communication of Sinclair's lawyer, and answered it +respectfully, refusing the interview that was asked. As I have already +intimated, I had avoided his house and himself from the very moment that +I had obtained what seemed ocular demonstration of guilt, which that of +his friend and patron, the Earl of Minden himself, could not surpass. +Whilst reports of that guilt came to me through the medium of servants, +however trustworthy, and strangers, however disinterested, I had +resisted them as cruel inventions and palpable slanders. With the +attestation of my own eyes, I should have been an idiot had I come to +any but one conclusion, how degrading soever that might be to my friend, +or contradictory to all my past experience or preconceived hopes. +Nothing, I solemnly vowed, should induce me to speak again to the man, +branded with infamy so glaring, brought by his own folly and vice so +low. I had heard, in common with the rest of the world, of the +elopement, and possibly with less surprise than the majority of my +fellow-men. If I wondered at all at the affair, it was simply as to how +much Rupert had been paid for his consent, and as to the value he had +fixed upon his reputation and good name. I received the application of +the lawyer, and declined to accede to it. + +As I sat reading in my room, upon the second morning after I had +dispatched my answer to Mr Cribbs, of Carey Street, Lincoln's Inn +Fields, I was roused by a knock at the inner door. I requested my +visitor to walk in. He did so.--Rupert Sinclair, and his child, stood +before me! + +I was fearfully shocked. He looked, indeed, more like a ghost than a +living man. Fifty years of pain and anxiety seemed written on a brow +that had not numbered thirty summers. His eye was sunk, his cheek was +very wan and pallid. There was no expression in his countenance; he +stood perfectly passionless and calm. The little girl was a lovely +creature. A sickening sensation passed through me as I mentally compared +her lineaments with those of the joyous creature whom I had met in Bath, +and then referred to those of the poor father, so altered, so wofully +and so wonderfully changed! She clung to that father with a fondness +that seemed to speak of his desertion, and of his reliance upon her for +all his little happiness. I was taken by surprise; I knew not what to +do; the memory of past years rushed back upon me. I saw him helpless and +forsaken. I could not bid him from my door; I could not speak an unkind +word. + +I placed a chair before the man, whose strength seemed scarce sufficient +to support its little burden. + +"Sinclair," I exclaimed, "you are ill!" + +"I am!" he answered. "Very ill; worse than I had feared. They tell me I +must leave the country, and seek milder air. I shall do so shortly; for +her sake, not my own." + +The little Alice put her delicate and alabaster hand about her parent's +face, and patted it to express her gratitude or warm affection. My heart +bled in spite of me. + +"You refused to meet me, Wilson," said Sinclair quietly. + +I blushed to think that I had done so; for I forgot every thing in the +recollection of past intimacy, and in the consciousness of what I now +beheld. I made no answer. + +"You refused to meet me," he repeated. "You did me injustice. I know +your thoughts, your cruel and unkind suspicions. I have come to remove +them. Walter, you have cursed my name; you shall live to pity my +memory." + +"Rupert," I stammered, "whatever I may have thought or done, I assert +that I have not willingly done you injustice. I have"---- + +I looked at the child, unwilling to say more in that innocent and holy +presence. + +Sinclair understood me. He asked permission for her to retire into an +adjoining room. I told him that there was no one there to keep her +company. He answered, that it did not matter; she was used to be alone, +and to wait hours for her parent when business separated them in a +stranger's house. "They made it up at home," he added, "and she was +happier so than in the society of her governess." + +"Is it not so, Alice?" he asked, kissing her as he led her from the +apartment. + +She answered with a kiss as warm as his, and a smile brighter than any +he could give. + +"Wilson," began Sinclair, as soon as he returned to me, "you know my +history. The whole world knows it, and enjoys it. I have come to England +to disannul our marriage. That over, I must save this life if possible: +the doctors tell me I am smitten--that I shall droop and die. The mild +air of Italy alone can save me. Oh, I wish to live for that young +creature's sake! I cannot yet afford to die." + +"Things are not so bad, I trust." + +He shook his head, and proceeded. + +"You, Wilson, must further my views. I have acquainted my solicitor with +our former intimacy, and of the part which you took in this unfortunate +business. You may accelerate the affair by your co-operation and aid. +You must not deny it! Three months to me now are worth ten times as many +years. I need peace of mind--repose. I would seek them in the grave, and +gladly, but for her. I must find them in a land that will waft health to +me, and give me strength for coming duties. You must stand by me now, +if ever; you must not leave me, Wilson, till we have reached the +opposite shore, and are safely landed." + +"What can I do!" + +"Much! The solicitor says, every thing. Your evidence is of the utmost +consequence. Your assistance cannot be dispensed with. See him, and he +will tell you more. We cannot depart until the marriage is dissolved. +Should I die, she must have no claim upon that tender innocent!" + +"Rupert," I exclaimed, "shall I speak plainly to you?" + +"Ay," he answered, growing erect, and looking me full in the face, "as a +man!" + +"You demand of me," I continued, "a simple impossibility! I can do +nothing for you. I can give you no help, no counsel. Ask your own +once-faithful conscience, that once stern and honest monitor, how I, of +all men, can befriend you? I may speak only to destroy you and your +cause together. Seek a better ally--a less shackled adviser. Is it not +publicly known?--do I not know it? Rupert, you have told me to speak +plainly, and I will, I must. I say, do I not know that you yourself +pandered to her profligacy? Did I not, with these eyes, which, would to +Heaven, had been blind ere they had seen that miserable day--did I not, +with these eyes, behold you walking before your door, whilst Lord Minden +was closeted with your wife? Did you not turn back when you discovered +he was there? Did I not see you turn back? Answer me, Rupert. Did +I?--did I?" + +"You did," he answered, with perfect equanimity. + +"And," I continued, "acknowledging this horror, you ask me to advance +your cause, and to speak on your behalf!" + +"I do," he said, with a majestic calmness that confounded and abashed +me--so prophetic was it of an approaching justification, so thoroughly +indicative of truth and innocence. + +"I do," he repeated, looking at me steadily, and speaking with more +emotion as he proceeded. "Listen to me, Walter. I am a dying man! Say +what they will, the seeds of an incurable disease are sown within me. Do +what I may, my hours are numbered, and life is nearly spanned. I speak +to you as a dying man. You saw that child! She is friendless, +motherless, and will be shortly fatherless. I am about to consign her to +Heaven and its mercy. I cannot utter falsehood upon the verge of +eternity, leaving that dear pledge behind me. Upon my sacred honour, I +speak the truth. Listen to it, and believe, as you would believe a +messenger accredited from the skies. I have been a fool, an idiot, +weaker than the creature whom the law deprives of self-control, and +places in the custody of guards and keepers; but my honour is as +spotless as you yourself could wish it. You knew of my difficulties: +something you knew also of my introduction to the Earl of Minden--an +aged villain--yes _aged_ and old enough to disarm suspicion, if no +stronger reason existed to destroy it; but there was a stronger. I +marvelled at the extraordinary interest evinced for a stranger by this +powerful and wealthy nobleman; but wonder ceased with explanation--and +explanation from whom? from one whom I trusted as myself--from my wife, +whom I loved better than myself. It is nothing that I look back with +sickening wonder _now_. I was her devoted husband _then_, and I believed +her. I would have believed her had she drawn upon my credulity a +thousand times more largely. What devil put the lie into her soul I know +not, but early in the friendship of this lord, she confided to me the +fact that General Travis was not her father; she had been consigned to +him, she said, at an early age, but her actual parent was who?--the +brother of this same Lord Minden. It was a plausible tale coming from +her lips. I did not stay to doubt it. Other lies were necessary to +maintain the great falsehood; but the fabric which they raised was +well-proportioned and consistent in its parts. Why did I not enter my +home when Lord Minden was closeted with my wife? You will remember that +we speak of a time when there was daily discussion concerning my +promotion. 'Her uncle,' she said again and again, 'would do nothing for +me if I were present. He was a singular and obstinate man, and would +make our fortune in his own way. He was angry with me for running off +with his niece--whom, though illegitimate, he had destined for greater +honour than even an alliance with Lord Railton's heir; he was further +hurt at Lord Railton's treatment of Elinor, and the proud neglect of my +mother; the conduct of my parents had inspired him with a dislike for +their son, and although for Elinor's sake he would advance our +interests, yet he would not consult me, or meet me in the matter. If I +were present, her uncle would say nothing--do nothing. This was +reiterated day after day. From fountains that are pure, we look not for +unclean waters. Trusting her with my whole heart and soul, I should have +committed violence to my nature had I doubted her. It was impossible: +with the plausibility of Satan, she had the loveliness of angels! Now I +see the artifice and fraud--now I feel the degradation--now the horrible +position in which I stood is too frightfully apparent! But what avails +it all! God forgive me for my blindness! He knows my innocence!" + +The injured and unhappy husband stopped from sheer exhaustion. Shame +overspread my face; bitter reproaches filled my heart. I had done him +cruel wrong. I rose from my seat, and embraced him. I fell upon my +knees, and asked his forgiveness. + +"Walter," he said, with overflowing eyes; "you do not think me guilty?" + +"Punish me not, Rupert," I answered, "by asking me the question. The +sorceress was a subtle one. I knew her to be so." + +"Name her not, friend," proceeded Sinclair; "I have already forgiven +her. I seek to forget her. Life is hateful to me, yet I must live if +possible for my darling Alice. You will return to town with me, will you +not, and hasten on this business?" + +"I will not leave you, Rupert," I replied, "till I have seen you safely +through it, and on the seas. We will lose no time. Let us go to London +this very day." + +No time was lost. We set out in the course of a few hours, and the next +day were closeted with Mr Cribbs. Letters produced by Sinclair +corroborated all that he had said touching the cheat that had been +played upon him. Astounded as I had been by his explanation, it would +have argued more for my wisdom, to say nothing of my friendship, had I +suspected at the outset some artifice of the kind, and shown more +eagerness to investigate the matter, than to conclude the hitherto +unspotted Sinclair so pre-eminently base. The fault of his nature was +credulity. Did I not know that he trusted all men with the simplicity of +childhood, and believed in the goodness of all things with the faith and +fervour of piety itself? Had I no proofs of the wilyness of the woman's +heart, and of the witchery of her tongue? A moment's reflection would +have enabled me to be just. It was not the smallest triumph of the +artful Elinor that her scheme robbed me of that reflection, and threw +me, and all the world besides, completely off the scent. + +Mr Cribbs was the very man to carry on this interesting case. He lost +not a moment. He had been concerned, as he acknowledged, in more actions +of the kind than could be satisfactory to himself, or complimentary to +the virtue of his country, and he knew the salient points of a case by a +kind of moral instinct. His witnesses were marshaled--his plan was drawn +out; every thing promised complete success, and the day of trial rapidly +approached. + +That day of trial, however, Rupert was not to see. The great anxiety +which he suffered in the preparation of his unhappy cause--the +affliction he had already undergone, preying upon a shattered frame, +proved too great an obstacle to the slow appliances of healing nature. +He sank gradually beneath the weight of his great sorrows. About a month +previously to the coming off of the suit which he had brought against +the Earl of Minden, conscious of growing still weaker and weaker, he +resolved to have a consultation of his physicians, and to obtain from +them their honest opinion of his condition. That consultation was held. +The opinion was most unfavourable. Rupert heard it without a sigh, and +prepared for his great change. + +He spent the day upon which his doom was pronounced--alone. The +following day found him at an early hour at the family mansion in +Grosvenor Square,--not alone,--for his little Alice was with him. He +knocked at the door,--the well-known porter opened it, and started at +the melancholy man he saw. Sorrow and sickness claim respect, and they +found it here. The porter knew not whether he should please his master +by admitting the visitors, but he did not think of turning them away. +They passed on. His name was announced to his mother. She came to him at +once. + +"Rupert!" cried Lady Railton, looking at him with astonishment. + +"Mother," he answered placidly, "I have brought you my child--the +innocent and unoffending. She will be an orphan soon--as you may guess. +You will protect and be a mother to her?" + +The proudest of women was sufficiently humbled. The prodigal was +received with a tenderness that came too late--a welcome that had +nothing of rejoicing. He was forgiven, but his pardon availed him +nothing. He was watched and attended with affectionate care, when +watching and attention could not add an hour to his life, or one +consolation to his bruised spirit. The trial came on, a verdict was +pronounced in favour of the plaintiff. The knot that had been violently +tied was violently broken asunder. Upon the evening preceding that day, +Rupert Sinclair had finished with the earth. He died, with his little +darling kneeling at his side. He died, breathing her name. + + * * * * * + +Years have passed since that hour. I have seen much since I followed my +poor friend to his last resting-place. It has been my lot to behold a +proud and haughty woman instructed by misfortune, and elevated by human +grief. Lady Railton repaired the folly of a life by her conduct towards +the child committed to her charge. She did her duty to the lovely Alice; +she fulfilled her obligations to her father.--I have seen vice terribly +punished. A few months ago, I stood at a pauper's grave. It was the +grave of ELINOR TRAVIS. Deserted by Lord Minden, she descended in the +scale of vice,--for years she lived in obscurity,--she was buried at the +public charge. The family of General Travis has long since been extinct. +The money with which his daughter supplied him in Lyons enabled him to +compound with a merchant, whose name he had forged, and to leave Europe +for ever. + +The little Alice is a matron now, but lovely in the meridian of her +virtuous life, as in her earlier morn. She is the mother of a happy +family--herself its brightest ornament. + + + + +HOCHELAGA.[4] + + +LET not the unsophisticated reader be alarmed at the somewhat barbarous +and unintelligible word that heads this article. Let him not be deterred +by a name from the investigation of facts, nor hindered by the repulsive +magic of harshly-sounding syllables from rambling with us through the +pages of an amusing and clever book. HOCHELAGA is neither a heathen god +nor a Mohawk chief, an Indian cacique nor a Scandinavian idol, but +simply the ancient and little known name of a well-known and interesting +country. Under it is designated a vast and flourishing territory, a +bright jewel in England's crown, a land whose daily increasing +population, if only partially of British origin, yet is ruled by British +laws, and enjoys the blessings of British institutions. On the continent +of North America, over whose southern and central portions the banner of +republicanism exultingly floats, a district yet remains where +monarchical government and conservative principles are upheld and +respected. By nature it is far from being the most favoured region of +that New World which Columbus first discovered and Spaniards and English +first colonized. It has neither the mineral wealth of Mexico nor the +luxuriant fertility of the Southern States. Within its limits no cotton +fields wave or sugar-canes rustle; the tobacco plant displays not its +broad and valuable leaf; the crimson cochineal and the purple indigo are +alike unknown; no mines of silver and gold freight galleons for the +Eastern world. Its produce is industriously wrung from stubborn fields +and a rigid climate--not generously, almost spontaneously, yielded by a +glowing temperature and teeming soil. The corn and timber which it +exchanges for European manufactures and luxuries, are results of the +white man's hard and honest labour, not of the blood and sweat and +ill-requited toil of flagellated negroes and oppressed Indians. From the +Lakes and the St Lawrence to Labrador and the Bay of Hudson this country +extends. Its name is CANADA. + +Mr Eliot Warburton, a gentleman favourably known to the English public, +as author of a pleasant book of travel in the East, has given the +sanction and benefit of his editorship to a narrative of rambles and +observations in the Western hemisphere. We put little faith in +editorships; favour and affection have induced many able men to endorse +indifferent books; and we took up _Hochelaga_ with all due disposition +to be difficult, and to resist an imposition, had such been practised. +Even the tender and touching compliments exchanged between author and +editor in their respective prefaces, did not mollify us, or dispose us +to look leniently upon a poor production. We are happy to say that we +were speedily disarmed by the contents of the volumes; that we threw +aside the critical cat-o'-nine-tails, whose deserved and well-applied +lashes have made many a literary sinner to writhe, and prepared for the +more grateful task of commending the agreeable pages of an intelligent +and unprejudiced traveller. Since the latter chooses to be anonymous, we +have no right to dispel his incognito, or to seek so to do. Concerning +him, therefore, we will merely state what may be gathered from his book; +that he is plump, elderly, good-tempered, and kind-hearted, and, we +suspect, an ex-_militaire_. + +Before opening the campaign in Canada, let us, for a moment, step ashore +in what our author styles the fishiest of modern capitals, St John's, +Newfoundland. Here codfish are the one thing universal; acres of sheds +roofed with cod, laid out to dry, boats fishing for cod, ships loading +with it, fields manured with it, and, best of all, fortunes made by it. +The accomplishments of the daughter, the education of the son, the +finery of the mother, the comforts of the father, all are paid for with +this profitable fish. The population subsist upon it; figuratively, not +literally. For, although the sea is alive with cod, the earth covered +with it, and the air impregnated with its odour, it is carefully +banished from the dinner table, and "an observation made on its absence +from that apparently appropriate position, excited as much astonishment +as if I had made a remark to a Northumberland squire that he had not a +head-dish of Newcastle coals." But the abundance which renders it +unpalatable to the Newfoundlanders, procures them more acceptable +viands, and all the luxuries of life. The climate ungenial, the soil +barren, crops are difficult to obtain, and rarely ripen; even potatoes +and vegetables are but scantily compelled from the niggard earth; fish, +the sole produce, is the grand article of barter. In exchange for his +lenten ration of _bacallao_, the Spaniard sends his fruits and Xeres, +the Portuguese his racy port, the Italian his Florence oil and Naples +maccaroni. Every where, but especially in those "countries of the +Catholic persuasion" where the fasts of the Romish church are most +strictly observed, Newfoundland finds customers for its cod and +suppliers of its wants. + +Excepting in the case of a boundary question to settle, or a patriot +revolt to quell, Canada obtains in England a smaller share than it +deserves of the public thoughts. It does not appeal to the imagination +by those attractive elements of interest which so frequently rivet +attention on others of our colonies. India is brought into dazzling +relief by its Oriental magnificence and glitter, and by its feats of +arms; the West Indies have wealth and an important central position; our +possessions towards the South pole excite curiosity by their distance +and comparative novelty. But Canada, pacific and respectable, plain and +unpretending, to many suggests no other idea than that of a bleak and +thinly-peopled region, with little to recommend it, even in the way of +picturesque scenery or natural beauty. Those who have hitherto +entertained such an opinion may feel surprised at the following +description of Quebec. + +"Take mountain and plain, sinuous river and broad tranquil waters, +stately ship and tiny boat, gentle hill and shady valley, bold headland +and rich fruitful fields, frowning battlement and cheerful villa, +glittering dome and rural spire, flowery garden and sombre forest--group +them all into the choicest picture of ideal beauty your fancy can +create--arch it over with a cloudless sky--light it up with a radiant +sun, and, lest the sheen should be too dazzling, hang a veil of lighted +haze over all, to soften the lines and perfect the repose; you will then +have seen Quebec on this September morning." + +The internal arrangements of the chief port and second town of Canada do +not correspond with its external appearance and charming environs. The +public buildings are ugly; the unsymmetrical streets twist and turn in +every possible direction--are narrow and of quaint aspect, composed of +houses irregularly placed and built. The suburbs, chiefly peopled by +French Canadians, are of wood, with exception of the churches, +hospitals, and convents. The population of the city, which now amounts +to forty thousand souls, has increased fifteen thousand during the last +fifteen years. The people are as motley as their dwellings; in all +things there is a curious mixture of French and English. "You see over a +corner house, 'Cul de Sac Street;' on a sign-board, 'Ignace +Bougainville, chemist and druggist.' In the shops, with English money +you pay a Frenchman for English goods; the piano at the evening party of +Mrs What's-her-name makes Dutch concert with the music of Madame Chose's +_soirA(C)e_ in the next house. Sad to say, the two races do not blend; they +are like oil and water--the English the oil, being the richer and at the +top." The difference of descent tells its tale; the restless, grumbling +Anglo-Saxon pushes his way upwards, energetic and indefatigable; the +easy-going, contented French-Canadian, remains where he is, or rather +sinks than rises. The latter has many good qualities; he is honest, +sober, hardy, kind, and courteous. Brave and loyal, he willingly takes +the field in defence of the established government and of British +rights. The most brilliant exploit of the last American war is recorded +of three hundred French Canadians under M. de Salaberry, who, by their +resolute maintenance of a well-selected position, compelled General +Hampton, with a park of artillery and a body of troops twenty times as +numerous as themselves, to evacuate Lower Canada. Simple, credulous, and +easily worked upon, it was at the incitation of a few knaves and +adventurers that a portion of the French population were brought to +share in the rebellion of 1837. There is little danger of another such +outbreak, even though colonial demagogues should again agitate, French +republicans again rave about British tyranny towards their oppressed +brethren, and though the refuse and rabble of the States should once +more assemble upon the frontier to aid and abet an insurrection. The +abortive result of the last revolt, the little sympathy it found amongst +the masses of the population, the judicious and conciliatory measures of +recent governors, have combined to win over the disaffected, and to +convince them that it is for their true interest to continue under the +mild rule of Great Britain. An excellent feeling has been shown by all +parties during our late difficult relations with the United States. "The +Americans are altogether mistaken," said the leader of the Upper Canada +reformers, "if they suppose that political differences in Canada arise +from any sympathy with them or their institutions; we have our +differences, but we are perfectly able to settle them ourselves, and +will not suffer their interference." + +"My countrymen," said one of the most influential French Canadians, +during a discussion on the militia bill, "would be the first to rush to +the frontier, and joyfully oppose their breasts to the foe; the last +shot fired on this continent in defence of the British crown will be by +the hand of a French Canadian. By habits, feeling, and religion, we are +monarchists and conservatives." + +When such sentiments are expressed by the heads of the opposition, there +is little fear for Canada, and ambitious democrats must be content to +push southwards. In a northerly direction it would be absurd for them to +expect either to propagate their principles or extend their territory. +They believe that in the event of a war with England, twenty or thirty +thousand militia would speedily overrun and conquer Canada. In a clear +and comprehensive statement of Canada's means of defence, the author of +_Hochelaga_ shows the folly of this belief, which assuredly can only be +seriously entertained by men overweeningly presumptuous or utterly +oblivious of the events of thirty years ago. When, in 1812, we came to +loggerheads with our Yankee cousins, and they walked into Canada, +expecting, as they now would, to walk over it, they soon found that they +were to take very little by their motion. The whole number of British +troops then in the colony was under two thousand four hundred men. Upper +Canada was comparatively a wilderness, occupied by a few scattered +labourers, difficult to organise into militia, and including no class +out of which officers could be made. Yet, even with this slender +opposition, how did the invaders fare? Where were the glorious results +so confidently anticipated? Let the defeat at Chrystler's farm, the rout +and heavy loss at Queenstown, the surrender of General Hall with his +whole army and the territory of Michigan, reply to the question. And +to-day how do matters stand? "Within the last twenty years, several +entire Scottish clans, under their chiefs--M'Nabs, Glengarys, and +others, worthy of their warlike ancestors--have migrated hither. Hardy +and faithful men from the stern hills of Ulster, and fiery but +kind-hearted peasants from the south of Ireland, with sturdy honest +yeomen from Yorkshire and Cumberland, have fixed their homes in the +Canadian forests. These immigrants, without losing their love and +reverence for the crown and laws of their native country, have become +attached to their adopted land, where their stake is now fixed, and are +ready to defend their properties and their government against foreign +invasion or domestic treason." The militia, composed in great part of +the excellent materials just enumerated, is of the nominal strength of +140,000 men. Of these a fourth might take the field, without their +absence seriously impeding the commerce and industry of the country. +The Canadian arsenals are well supplied, and nearly eight thousand +regular troops occupy the various garrisons. Quebec, with its strong +fortifications and imposing citadel, may bid defiance to any force that +could be brought against it from the States; important works have been +erected upon the island of Montreal; Kingston and its adjacent forts +would require a large army and corresponding naval force to subdue it; +Toronto would give the invaders some trouble. Defensive works exist +along the frontier of Lower Canada. In no way has the security of the +colonies been neglected, or the possibility of a war overlooked. But +there is yet one measure whose adoption the author of _Hochelaga_ +strongly urges, whose utility is obvious, and which we trust in due time +to see carried out. This is the construction of a railroad, connecting +the whole of British America; commencing at Halifax and extending, by +Quebec, Montreal, Kingston, and Toronto, to Amherstburg and the far +west. The essential portion of the line is that from Halifax to Quebec, +by which, when the St Lawrence is closed by ice, troops might be +forwarded in a couple of days to the latter city. In the spring of 1847, +we are told, the canals will be completed which are to open the great +lakes to our fleets. For summer time that may suffice. But the five +months' winter must not be overlooked. And apart from the military view +of the case, the benefit of such a railway would be enormous. "It will +strengthen the intimacy between this splendid colony and the seat of +government: the emigrant from home, and the produce from the west, will +then pass through British waters and over British territories only, +without enriching the coffers of a foreign state. The Americans, with +their great mercantile astuteness, are making every effort to divert the +trade of Canada into their channels, and to make us in every way +dependent on them for our communications. The drawback bill, by which +the custom-duties on foreign goods are refunded on their passing into +our provinces, has already been attended with great success in obtaining +for them a portion of our carrying trade, especially during the winter, +when our great highway of the St Lawrence is closed." + +The estimated cost of the railway, as far as Quebec, is three millions +sterling--a sum far too large to be raised by private means in the +colony. The advantages would be manifold, and a vast impulse would be +given to the prosperity of Canada. The Canadians are anxious to see the +scheme carried out, but they look to this country for aid. As one means +of repaying the expenses of construction, it has been proposed that +tracts of land along the line of road should be granted to the company: +the railway once completed, these would speedily become of great value. +The engineering difficulties are stated to be very slight. + +This proposed railway brings us back to Quebec, whence we have been +decoyed sooner than we intended, by the discussion of Canada's military +defences. We sincerely wish that these may never be needed; that no +clouds may again overshadow our relations with the States, and that, +should such arise, they may promptly and amicably be dissipated. In +disputes and discussions with the great American republic, this country +has ever shown itself yielding; far too much so, if such pliancy +encourages to further encroachment. But if we are at last met in a good +spirit, if our forbearance and facility are read aright, it will be some +compensation to Great Britain for having more than once ceded what she +might justly have maintained. We shall not at present enter into the +subject, or investigate how far certain English governments have been +justified in relinquishing to American clamour, and for the sake of +peace, tracts of territory which it would have been more dignified to +retain, even by the strong hand. Insignificant though these concessions +may individually have appeared, their sum is important. Were evidence of +that fact wanting, we should find it in the book before us. + +"Extensive though may be this splendid province of Canada, it is yet +very different indeed from what it originally was. In the fourteenth +year of the reign of George the Third, the boundaries of the province of +Quebec, as it was then called, were defined by an act of the Imperial +Parliament. By that act it included a great extent of what is now New +England, and the whole of the country between the state of Pennsylvania, +the river Ohio and the Mississipi, north to the Hudson's Bay territory, +where now a great portion of the rich and flourishing Western States add +their strength to the neighbouring republic. By gradual encroachments on +the one hand, and concessions on the other, by the misconstruction of +treaties and division of boundaries, have these vast and valuable tracts +of country been separated from the British empire." + +England has the reputation of holding her own with a firm and tenacious +grasp; and by foreign rivals it is imputed to her as a crime that she is +greedy and aggressive, more apt to take with both hands, than to give up +with either. If such be really the general character of her policy, in +North America she has strangely relaxed it. None, it is true, not even +our kinsmen beyond the Atlantic, highly as they estimate their own +weight and prowess, will suspect this country of giving way from other +motives than a wish to remain on amicable terms with a relative and a +customer. But such considerations must not be allowed undue influence. +It would be unworthy the British character to fly to arms for a pique or +a bauble; it would be still more degrading to submit patiently to a +systematic series of encroachments. Unquestionably, had France stood +towards America in the same position that we do, with respect to Canada, +and if America had pursued with France the same course that she has done +with us, there would long since have been broken heads between Frenchmen +and Yankees; probably at this very moment the tricolor and the stars and +stripes would have been buffeting each other by sea and land. We do not +set up France as an example to this country in that particular. We are +less sensitive than our Gallic neighbours, and do not care to injure or +peril substantial interests by excessive punctiliousness. But there is a +point at which forbearance must cease. Governments have patched up +disputes, and made concessions, through fear of complicating their +difficulties, and of incurring blame for plunging the country into a +war. The country has looked on, if not approvingly, at least passively; +and, the critical moment past, has borne no malice, and let bygones be +bygones. But if war became necessary, the people of England would, +whilst deploring that necessity, enter upon it cheerfully, and feel +confident of its result. There must be no more boundary questions +trumped up, no more attempts to chip pieces off our frontier; or, strong +as the desire is to keep friends with Brother Jonathan, something +serious will ensue. Meanwhile, and in case of accidents, it is proper +and prudent to keep our bayonets bright, and to put bolts and bars upon +the gates of Canada. + +In Quebec, our Hochelagian friend seems greatly to have enjoyed himself. +Judging from his account, it must be a pleasant place and eligible +residence. Such quadrilling and polkaing, and riding and +sleighing--picnics in the summer to the ChaudiA"re falls and other +beautiful places, fishing-parties to Lake Beaufort in the fine Canadian +autumn, snow-shoing in the winter, fun and merriment at all seasons. In +the Terpsichorean divertisements above cited, our author--being, as +already observed, obese and elderly--took no share, but looked on +good-humouredly, and slily noted the love-passages between the handsome +English captains and pretty Canadian girls. The latter are most +attractive. Brought out young, and mixing largely in society, they are +not very deeply read, but are exceedingly loveable, and possess an +indescribable charm of manner. Owing probably to the extremes of heat +and cold in Canada, beauty is there less durable than in the mother +country. Early matured, it speedily fades. The fair Canadians make good +use of the interval, and find it abundantly long to play havoc with the +hearts of the other sex. The English officers are particularly +susceptible to their fascinations, and many marry in Canada; as do also +a large proportion of the English merchants who go over there. The style +of dress of these seductive damsels is simple, but tasteful. In winter, +of course, they are furred to the eyes, as a protection from the +piercing cold, which rivals that of Siberia. Muffed and gauntleted, well +packed in bear and buffalo skins, they are driven about in sledges by +their male friends, who wear huge fur caps, flapped over the ears, +enormous blanket or buffalo coats, jack-boots, moose-skin moccasins, and +other contrivances equally inelegant and comfortable. The extreme +dryness of the air renders the cold much more endurable than might be +supposed. The sun shines brightly, the atmosphere is crisp and +exhilarating; there is rarely much wind. Under these circumstances, the +thermometer may go down, as it frequently does, to thirty or forty +degrees below zero, without any serious inconvenience or suffering being +felt. When a gale comes during the cold season, the effect is very +different. Our author tells us of a certain Sunday, "when the +thermometer was at thirty degrees below zero, and a high wind blew at +the same time. The effect, in many respects, was not unlike that of +intense heat; the sky was very red about the setting sun, and deep blue +elsewhere; the earth and river were covered with a thin haze, and the +tin cross and spires, and the new snow, shone with almost unnatural +brightness; dogs went mad from the cold and want of water; metal exposed +to the air blistered the hand, as if it had come out of a fire; no one +went out of doors but from necessity, and those who did, hurried along +with their fur-gloved hands over their faces, as if to guard against an +atmosphere infected with the plague; for as the icy wind touched the +skin, it scorched it like a blaze. But such a day as this occurs only +once in many years." + +There is tolerable fishing and shooting around Quebec; trout in +abundance, salmon within five-and-twenty miles, snipe and woodcock, hare +and partridge. Angling, however, is rendered almost as unpleasant an +operation for the fisher as for the fish, by the mosquitoes, which +abound in the summer months, and are extremely troublesome in country +places, though they do not venture into towns. To get good shooting it +is necessary to go a considerable distance. But the grand object of the +Canadian chase is the enormous moose-deer, which grows to the height of +seven feet and upwards, and is sometimes fierce and dangerous. In the +month of February, our author and a military friend started on a +moose-hunting expedition, which lasted six days, and ended in the +slaughter of two fine specimens. They were guided by four Indians, +belonging to a remnant of the Huron tribe, settled at the village of +Sorette, near Quebec; a degenerate race, mostly with a cross of the +French Canadian in their blood, idle, dirty, covetous, and especially +drunken. There are other domesticated Indians in Canada who bear a +higher character. During the insurrection, a party of rebels having +approached the Indian village of Caughrawaga, the warriors of the tribe +hastily armed themselves, and sallied forth to attack them. Taken by +surprise, the insurgents were made prisoners, bound with their own +sashes, and conveyed to Montreal jail. The victors were of the once +powerful and ferocious tribe of the Six Nations. Their chief told the +English general commanding, that, if necessary, he would bring him, +within four-and-twenty hours, the scalps of every inhabitant of the +neighbourhood. None of the Red men's prisoners had been injured. + +The moose-hunting guides were of a very different stamp to the brave, +loyal, and humane Indians of Caughrawaga. They were most disgusting and +sensual ruffians, eating themselves torpid, and constantly manA"uvring +to get at the brandy bottle. As guides, they proved tolerably efficient. +The account of the snow houses they constructed for the night, and of +their proceedings in the "bush," is highly interesting. Large fires were +lighted in the sleeping cabins, but they neither melted the snow nor +kept out the intense cold. "About midnight I awoke, fancying that some +strong hand was grasping my shoulders: it was the cold. The fire blazed +away brightly, so close to our feet that it singed our robes and +blankets; but at our heads diluted spirits froze into a solid mass." +Another curious example is given of the violence of Canadian cold. A +couple of houses were burned, and "the flames raged with fury in the +still air, but did not melt the hard thick snow on the roof till it fell +into the burning ruins. The water froze in the engines; hot water was +then obtained, and as the stream hissed off the fiery rafters, the +particles fell frozen into the flames below." A sharp climate this! but +in spite of it and of various inconveniences and hardships, the hunters +reached the _ravagA(C)_ or moose-yard, bagged their brace of deer, and +returned to Quebec, satisfied with their expedition, still better +pleased at having it over, and fully convinced that once of that sort of +thing is enough for a lifetime. + +From Quebec to Montreal, up the St Lawrence, in glorious midsummer +weather, our traveller takes us, in a great American river-steamer, like +a house upon the water, with a sort of upper story built upon deck, and +a promenade upon its roof, gliding past green slopes and smiling +woodlands, neat country-houses and white cottages, and fertile fields, +in which the _habitans_, as the French Canadian peasants are called, are +seen at work, enlivening their toil by their national song of _La Claire +Fontaine_, and by other pleasant old ditties, first sung, centuries ago, +on the flowery banks of the sunny Loire. Truly there is something +delightful and affecting in the simple, harmless, contented life of +these French Canadians, in their clinging to old customs--their very +costume is that of the first settlers--and to old superstitions, in +their unaffected piety and gentle courtesy. They do not "progress," they +are not "go-a-head;" of education they have little; they are neither +"smart" nor "spry;" but they are virtuous and happy. Knowing nothing of +the world beyond _La belle Canada_, they have no desires beyond a +tranquil life of labour in their modest farms and peaceful homesteads. + +Montreal is a handsome bustling town, with a prosperous trade and +metropolitan aspect, and combines the energy and enterprise of an +American city with the solidity of an English one. In size, beauty, and +population, it has made astonishing strides within the last few years. +It owes much to the removal thither of the seat of government, more +still to a first-rate commercial position and to the energy of its +inhabitants. Its broad and convenient stone wharf is nearly a mile in +length; its public buildings are large and numerous, more so than is +necessary for its present population of fifty thousand persons, and +evidently built in anticipation of a great and speedy increase. The most +important in size, and the largest in the New World, is the French +cathedral, within which, we are told, ten thousand persons can at one +time kneel. The people of Montreal are less sociable than those of +Quebec; the entertainments are more showy but less agreeable. Party +feeling runs high; the elections are frequently attended with much +excitement and bitterness; occasional collisions take place between the +English, Irish, and French races. Employment is abundant, luxury +considerable, plenty every where. + +It was during his journey from Montreal to Kingston, performed +principally in steam-boats, that the author of _Hochelaga_ first had the +felicity of setting foot on the soil of the States. Happening to mention +that he had never before enjoyed that honour, a taciturn, sallow-looking +gentleman on board the steamer, who wore a broad-brimmed white hat, +smoked perpetually, but never spoke, waited till he saw him fairly on +shore, and then removed the cigar from his mouth and broke silence. "'I +reckon, stranger,' was his observation, 'you have it to say now that you +have been in a free country.' It was afterwards discovered that this +enthusiast for 'free' countries was a planter from Alabama, and that, to +the pleasures of his tour, he united the business of inquiring for +runaway slaves." On this occasion, however, the singular advantage of +treading republican ground was luxuriated in by our traveller but for a +very brief time. He had disembarked only to stretch his legs, and +returning on board, proceeded to Lake Ontario and to Kingston--an +uncomfortable-looking place, with wide dreary streets, at the sides of +which the grass grows. Nevertheless, it has some trade and an increasing +population--the latter rather Yankeefied, from the proximity to, and +constant intercourse with, the States. They "guess" a few, and +occasionally speak through the nose more than is altogether becoming in +British subjects and loyal Canadians, both of which, however, they +unquestionably are. Kingston is a favourite residence with retired +officers of the English army and navy. The necessaries of life are very +cheap; shooting and fishing good; and for those who love boating, the +inland ocean of Ontario spreads its broad blue waters, enlivened by a +host of steam and sailing vessels, fed by numerous streams, and +supplying the dwellers on its banks with fish of varied species and +peculiar excellence. The majority of emigrants from the mother country +settle in the lake districts, where labour is well remunerated and +farmers' profits are good. But the five-and-twenty thousand who annually +arrive, are as a drop of water in the ocean; they are imperceptible in +that vast extent of country. Here and there, it is true, one finds a +tolerably well-peopled district. This is the case in the vicinity of the +Bay of QuintA(C), a narrow arm of Lake Ontario, eighty miles in length, and +in many places not more than one broad. "On its shores the forests are +rapidly giving way to thriving settlements, some of them in situations +of very great beauty." + +To be in Canada without visiting Niagara, would be equivalent to going +to Rome without entering St Peter's. As in duty bound, our traveller +betook himself to the Falls; and he distinguishes himself from many of +those who have preceded him thither by describing naturally and +unaffectedly their aspect, and the impression they made upon him. The +"everlasting fine water privilege," as the Americans call this +prodigious cataract, did not at first strike him with awe; but the +longer he gazed and listened, the greater did his admiration and +astonishment become. Seated upon the turf, near Table Rock, whence the +best view is obtained, he stared long and eagerly at the great wonder, +until he was dragged away to inspect the various accessories and smaller +marvels which hungry cicerrones insist upon showing, and confiding +tourists think it incumbent upon them to visit. Cockneyism and bad taste +have found their way even to Niagara. On both the English and the +American side, museum and camera-obscura, garden, wooden monument, and +watch-tower abound; and boys wander about, distributing Mosaic puffs of +pagodas and belvideres, whence the finest possible views are to be +obtained. Niagara, according to these disinterested gentry and their +poetical announcements, must be seen from all sides; from above and from +below, sideways and even from behind. The traveller is rowed to the foot +of the Falls, or as near to it as possible, getting not a little wet in +the operation; he is then seduced to the top of the pagoda, twenty-five +cents being charged for the accommodation; then hurried off to Iris +island, where the Indians, in days long gone by, had their +burying-ground; and, finally, having been inducted into an oil-cloth +surtout, and a pair of hard, dirty shoes, he is compelled to shuffle +along a shingly path cut out of the cliff, within the curve described by +the falling water--thus obtaining a posterior view of the cataract. +Chilled with cold, soaked and blinded by the spray, deafened with the +noise, sliding over numerous eels, which wind themselves, like wreathing +snakes, round his ankles and into his shoes, he undergoes this last +infliction; and is then let loose to wander where he listeth, free from +the monotonous vulgarity of guides and the wearisome babble of visitors, +and having acquired the conviction that he might as well have saved +himself all this plague and trouble, for that, "as there is but one +perfect view for a painting, so there is but one for Niagara. See it +from Table Rock: gaze thence upon it for hours, days if you like, and +then go home. As for the Rapids, Cave of the Winds, Burning Springs, +&c., &c., you might as well enter into an examination of the gilt +figures on the picture frame, as waste your time on them." + +With the first volume of _Hochelaga_, the author concludes his Canadian +experiences, and rambles into the States--beyond a doubt the most +ticklish territory a literary tourist can venture upon. Of the very many +books that have been written concerning America, not one did we ever +hear of that was fortunate enough to find approval in the eyes of +Americans. And we are entirely at a loss to conjecture what sort of +notice of them and their country _would_ prove satisfactory to these +very difficult gentry. None, we apprehend, that fell short of +unqualified praise; none that did not depreciate all other nations to +their greater glorification, and set America and her institutions on +that pinnacle of perfection which her self-satisfied sons persuade +themselves they have attained. To please their pampered palates, praise +must be unlimited; no hints of positive deficiency, or even of possible +improvement, must chill the glowing eulogium. Censure, even conditional +commendation, they cannot stomach. Admit that they are brave and +hospitable, energetic and industrious, intelligent and patriotic; it +will advance you little in their good graces, unless you also aver that +they are neither braggarts nor jealous; that, as a nation, they are +honest and honourable; as individuals, models of polished demeanour and +gentlemanly urbanity. Nay, when you have done all that, the chances are +that some red-hot planter from the southern States calls upon you to +drink Success to slavery, and the Abolitionists to the tar-barrel! The +author of _Hochelaga_ is aware of this weak point of the American +character: he likes the Americans; considers them a wonderful people; +praises them more than we ever heard them praised, save by themselves; +and yet, because he cannot shut his eyes to their obvious failings, he +feels that he is ruined in their good opinion. On his way to Saratoga, +he fell in with a Georgian gentleman and lady, pleasant people, who +begged him frankly to remark upon any thing in the country and its +customs which appeared to him unusual or strange. He did so, and his +criticisms were taken in good part till he chanced upon slavery. This +was the sore point. Luckily there was a heavy swell upon the lake, and +the Georgian became sea-sick, which closed the discussion as it began to +get stormy. With other Americans on board the steamer, our traveller +sought opportunities of discoursing. He found them courteous and +intelligent; with a good deal of superficial information, derived +chiefly from newspaper reading; partial to the English, as +individuals--but not as a nation; prone to judge of English institutions +and manners from isolated and exceptional examples; to reason "on the +state of the poor from the Andover workhouse: on the aristocracy, from +the late Lord Hertford; on morality, from Dr Lardner." Every where he +met with kindness and hospitality; but, on the other hand, he was not +unfrequently disgusted by coarseness of manners, and compelled to smile +at the utter want of tact which is an American characteristic, and which +inherent defect education, travel, good-humour, and kind-heartedness, +are insufficient to eradicate or neutralise in the natives of the Union. +"A friend, in giving me hints of what was best worth seeing in the +Capitol at Washington, said, 'there are some very fine pictures. Oh, I +beg pardon; I mean that there is a splendid view from the top of the +building.' I knew perfectly well that those paintings, which his +good-nature rebuked him for having incautiously mentioned, represented +the surrender of Burgoyne, and other similar scenes--in reality about as +heart-rending to me as a sketch of the battle of Hexham would be. To +this day, I admire my friend's kind intentions more than his tact in +carrying them out." + +The expectoration, chewing, and other nastinesses indulged in by many +classes of Americans, and which have proved such fruitful themes for the +facetiousness of book-writers, are very slightly referred to by the +author of _Hochelaga_, who probably thinks that enough has already been +said on such sickening subjects. He attributes some of these +peculiarities to a sort of general determination to alter and improve on +English customs. In driving, the Americans keep the right side of the +road instead of the left; in eating, they reverse the uses of the knife +and fork; perhaps it is the same spirit of opposition that prompts them +to bolt their food dog-fashion and with railroad rapidity, instead of +imitating the cleanly decorum with which Englishmen discuss their meals. +Talking of knives--in most of the country inns they are broad, round, +and blunt at the point, in order that they may be used as spoons, and +even thrust half-way down the throats of tobacco-chewing republicans, +who do not hesitate to cut the butter, and help themselves to salt, with +the same weapon that has just been withdrawn from the innermost recesses +of their mouth, almost of their gullet. In America, people seem to be +for ever in a hurry; every thing is done "on the rush," and as if it +were merely the preliminary to something else much more important, to +which it is essential to get as speedily as possible. At Boston our +traveller was put into a six-bedded room, the only empty one in the +hotel. Three of the beds were engaged by Americans. "I as fortunate to +awaken just as the American gentlemen came in; for it gave me an +opportunity of seeing a dispatch in going to rest rivalling that in the +dinner department. From the time the door opened, there appeared to be +nothing but a hop-step-and-jump into bed, and then a snore of the +profoundest repose. Early in the morning, when these gentlemen awoke +from their balmy slumbers, there was another hop-step-and-jump out of +bed, and we saw no more of them." We are happy to learn, however, that a +great change has of late years been wrought in the coarser and more +offensive points of American manners and habits--chiefly, we are +assured, by the satirical works of English writers. Much yet remains to +be done, as is admitted in the book before us, where it is certain that +as good a case as possible, consistent with truth, has been made out for +the Americans. "Even now I defy any one to exaggerate the horrors of +chewing, and its odious consequences; the shameless selfishness which +seizes on a dish, and appropriates the best part of its contents, if the +plate cannot contain the whole; and the sullen silence at meal times." +The class to which this passage refers is a very numerous one, and far +from the lowest in the country--as regards position and circumstances, +that is to say. Its members are met with in every steam-boat and railway +carriage, at boarding-houses and public dinner tables. They have dollars +in plenty, wear expensive clothes, and live on the fat of the land; but +their manners are infinitely worse than those of any class with which a +traveller in England can possibly be brought in contact. Most of them, +doubtless, have risen from very inferior walks of life. Their +circumstances have improved, themselves have remained stationary, +chiefly from the want of an established standard of refinement to strain +up to. It would be as absurd as illiberal to assert that there are no +well-bred, gentlemanly men in the States; but it is quite certain that +they are the few, the exceptions, insufficient in number to constitute a +class. Elegance and republicanism are sworn foes; the latter condemns +what the first depends upon. An aristocracy, an army, an established +church, mould, by their influence and example, the manners of the +masses. The Americans decline purchasing polish at such a price. The day +will come when they shall discover their error, and cease to believe +that the rule of the many constitutes the perfection of liberty and +happiness. At present, although they eagerly snatch at the few titles +current in their country, and generals and honourables are every where +in exceeding abundance, the only real eminence amongst them is money. +Its eager and unremitting pursuit leaves little time for the cultivation +of those tastes which refine and improve both mind and manners. +Nevertheless, as above mentioned, there _is_ an improvement in the +latter item; and certain gross inelegancies, which passed unnoticed half +a score years ago, now draw down public censure upon their perpetrators. +"A Trollope! a Trollope!" was the cry upon a certain evening at the +Baltimore theatre, when one of the sovereign people fixed his feet upon +the rail of the seat before him, and stared at the performance through +his upraised legs. However they may sneer at "benighted Britishers," and +affect to pity and look down upon their oppressed and unhappy condition, +the Americans secretly entertain a mighty deference for this country and +the opinion of its people. The English press is looked upon with +profound respect; a leading article in the _Times_ is read as an oracle, +and carries weight even when it exasperates. And with all his assumed +superiority, the American is never displeased, but the contrary, at +being mistaken for an Englishman. The stinging missiles fired from this +side of the Atlantic at Pennsylvanian repudiators had no small share in +bringing about the recent tardy payment of interest. The satire of +Sydney Smith spoke more loudly to American ears than did the voices of +conscience and common honesty. + +The old Hibernian boast, revived and embalmed by Moore in a melody, that +a fair and virtuous maiden, decked with gems both rich and rare, might +travel through Ireland unprotected and unmolested, may now be made by +America. So, at least, the author of _Hochelaga_ instructs us, avouching +his belief that a lady of any age and unlimited attractions may travel +through the whole Union without a single annoyance, but aided, on the +contrary, by the most attentive and unobtrusive civility. And many +American ladies do so travel; their own propriety of behaviour, and the +chivalry of their countrymen, for sole protectors. The best seat in +coach and at table, the best of every thing, indeed, is invariably given +up to them. This practical courtesy to the sex is certainly an excellent +point in the American character. A humorous exemplification is given of +it in _Hochelaga_. An Englishman at the New York theatre, having +engaged, paid for, and established himself in a snug front corner of a +box, thought himself justified in retaining it, even when summoned by an +American to yield it to a lady. A discussion ensued. The pit inquired +its cause; the lady's companion stepped forward and said, "There is an +Englishman here who will not give up his place to a lady." Whereupon the +indignant pit swarmed up into the box, gently seized the offender, and +carried him out of the theatre, neither regarding nor retaliating his +kicks, blows, and curses, set him carefully down upon the steps, handed +him his hat, his opera-glass, and the price of his ticket, and shut the +door in his face. "The shade of the departed Judge Lynch," concludes the +narrator of the anecdote, "must have rejoiced at such an angelic +administration of his law!" + +On his route from New York to Boston, the Yankee capital, our author +made sundry observations on his fellow travellers by railway and +steam-boat. They were very numerous, and the fares were incredibly low. +There was also a prodigious quantity of luggage, notwithstanding that +many American gentlemen travel light, with their linen and brushes in +their great-coat pocket. Others, on the contrary, have an addiction to +very large portmanteaus of thin strong wood, bound with iron, nailed +with brass, initialed, double-locked and complicated, and possessing +altogether a peculiarly cautious and knowing look, which would stamp +them as American though they were encountered in Cabul or Algeria. Round +the walls of the reading-room at the Boston hotel were hung maps of the +States, the blue of the American territory thrusting itself up into the +red of the English to the furthest line of the different disputed +points. "At the top they were ornamented by some appropriate national +design, such as the American eagle carrying the globe in its talons, +with one claw stuck well into Texas, and another reaching nearly to +Mexico." + +A remarkably clean city is Boston, quite Dutch in its propriety, +spotless in its purity; smoking in the streets is there prohibited, and +chewing has fewer proselytes than in most parts of the States. It is one +of the most ancient of American towns, having been founded within ten +years after the landing of the first New England settlers. The +anniversary of the day when + + "A band of exiles moor'd their bark + On the wild New England shore," + +the 21st December 1620, is still celebrated at Plymouth, the earliest +settlement of the pilgrim fathers. Thousands flock from Boston to assist +at the ceremony. On the last anniversary, the author of _Hochelaga_ was +present. The proceedings of the day commenced with divine service, +performed by Unitarian and Baptist ministers. This over, a marshal of +the ceremonies proclaimed that the congregation were to form in +procession and march to the place where the "Plymouth Rock" had been, +there "to heave a sigh." The "heaving" having been accomplished with all +due decorum and melancholy--barring that a few unprincipled individuals +in the tail of the procession, fearing to be late for dinner, shirked +the sighing and took a short cut to the hotel--the banquet, not the +least important part of the day's business, commenced. The president sat +in a chair which came over with the pilgrims in their ship, the +Mayflower. Beside each plate were placed a few grains of dried maize--a +memento of the first gift of the friendly natives to the exiles. The +dinner went off with much order. A large proportion of the persons +present were members of temperance societies, and drank no wine. The +grand treat of the evening, at least to an Englishman, was the +speechifying. The following _resumA(C)_ is given to us as containing the +pith and substance of the majority of the speeches, which were all +prepared for the occasion, and, of course, contained much the same +thing. The orators usually commenced with "English persecution, +continued with,--landing in the howling wilderness--icebound +waters--pestilence--starvation--so on to foreign tyranny--successful +resistance--chainless eagles--stars and stripes--glorious +independence;--then; unheard of progress--wonderful industry--stronghold +of Christianity--chosen people--refuge of liberty;--again; insults of +haughty Albion--blazes of triumph--queen of the seas deposed for +ever--Columbia's banner of victory floating over every thing--fire and +smoke--thunder and lightning--mighty republic--boundless empire. When +they came to the 'innumerable millions' they were to be a few years +hence, they generally sat down greatly exhausted." Mr Everett, the late +American minister in London, was present at this dinner, and replied +with ability, eloquence, and good feeling, to a speech in which the +president had made a neatly turned and friendly reference to Great +Britain. + +We prefer the American volume of _Hochelaga_ to the Canadian one, +although both are highly interesting. But, as he proceeds, the author +gains in vivacity and boldness. There is a deal of anecdote and lively +sketching in his account of the States; there are also some novel +opinions and sound reasoning. The chapter on the prospects of America +affords themes for much curious speculation concerning the probable +partition of the great republic. The discussion of the subject is, +perhaps, a little premature; although our author affirms his belief that +many now living will not die till they have seen monarchy introduced +into the stronghold of republicanism, and a king governing the slave +states of North America. He recognises, in the United States, the germs +of three distinct nations, the North, the West, and the South. Slavery +and foreign warfare, especially the former, are to be the apples of +discord, the wedges to split the now compact mass. The men of the North, +enlightened and industrious, commercial and manufacturing, are strenuous +advocates of peace. They have shown that they do not fear war; they it +was who chiefly fought the great fight of American independence; but +peace is essential to their prosperity, and they will not lightly forego +its advantages. This will sooner or later form the basis of differences +between them and the Western States, whose turbulent sons, rapid in +their increase, adventurous and restless, ever pushing forward, like +some rolling tide, deeper and deeper into the wilderness, and ever +seeking to infringe on neighbours' boundaries, covet the rich woods of +Canada, the temperate shores of Oregon, the fertile plains of +California. They have dispossessed, almost exterminated, the aborigines; +the wild beasts of the forest have yielded and fled before them, the +forest itself has made way for their towns and plantations. Growing in +numbers and power with a rapidity unparalleled in the world's history, +expansion and invasion are to them a second nature, a devouring +instinct. This unrestrained impulse will sooner or later urge them to +aggressions and produce a war. This they do not fear or object to; +little injury can be done to them; but the Northern States, to whose +trade war is ruin, will not be passively dragged into a conflict on +account of the encroaching propensities of their western brethren. These +differences of interests will lead to disputes, ill blood, and finally +to separation. + +Between South and North, the probabilities of a serious, and no very +distant rupture, are strong and manifest. "Slavery" and "Abolition" will +be the battle-cries of the respective parties. It may almost be said +that the fight has already begun, at least on one side. An avowed +abolitionist dare not venture into the South. There are laws for his +chastisement, and should those be deemed too lenient, there are plenty +of lawless hands outstretched to string him to a tree. A deputy from +South Carolina openly declared in the House of Representatives at +Washington, that if they caught an abolitionist in their State, they +would hang him without judge or jury. A respectable Philadelphian and +ardent abolitionist confessed to us, a short time ago, not without some +appearance of shame at the state of things implied by the admission, +that it would be as much as his life was worth to venture into certain +slave-holding states. Hitherto the pro-slavery men have had the best of +it; the majority of presidents of the Union have been chosen from their +candidates, they have succeeded in annexing Texas, and latterly they +have struck up an alliance with the West, which holds the balance +between the South and the North, although, at the rate it advances, it +is likely soon to outweigh them both. But this alliance is rotten, and +cannot endure; the Western men are no partizans of slavery. Meantime, +the abolitionists are active; they daily become more weary of having the +finger of scorn pointed at them, on account of a practice which they +neither benefit by nor approve. Their influence and numbers daily +increase; in a few years they will be powerfully in the ascendant, they +will possess a majority in the legislative chambers, and vote the +extinction of slavery. To this, it is greatly to be feared, the fiery +Southerns will not submit without an armed struggle. "Then," says the +author of _Hochelaga_, "who can tell the horrors that will ensue? The +blacks, urged by external promptings to rise for liberty, the furious +courage and energy of the whites trampling them down, the assistance of +the free states to the oppressed, will drive the oppressors to +desperation: their quick perception will tell them that their loose +republican organization cannot conduct a defence against such odds; and +the first popular military leader who has the glory of a success, will +become dictator. This, I firmly believe, will be the end of the pure +democracy." + +May such sinister predictions never be realised! Of the instability of +American institutions, we entertain no doubt; and equally persuaded are +we, that so vast a country, the interests of whose inhabitants are in +many respects so conflicting, cannot remain permanently united under one +government. But we would fain believe, that a severance may be +accomplished peaceably, and without bloodshed; that the soil which has +been converted from a wilderness to a garden by Anglo-Saxon industry and +enterprise, may never be ensanguined by civil strife, or desolated by +the dissensions and animosities of her sons. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[4] _Hochelaga; or, England in the New World._ Edited by ELIOT +WARBURTON, Esq. Two Volumes. London: 1846. + + + + +LETTERS ON ENGLISH HEXAMETERS. + +LETTER III. + + +DEAR MR EDITOR,--I hope you will be of opinion that I have, in my two +preceding letters, proved the hexameter to be a good, genuine English +verse, fitted to please the unlearned as well as the learned ear; and +hitherto prevented from having fair play among our readers of poetry, +mainly by the classical affectations of our hexameter writers--by their +trying to make a distinction of long and short syllables, according to +Latin rules of quantity; and by their hankering after spondees, which +the common ear rejects as inconsistent with our native versification. If +the attempt had been made to familiarise English ears with hexameters +free from these disadvantages, it might have succeeded as completely as +it has done in German. And the chance of popular success would have been +much better if the measure had been used in a long poem of a religious +character; for religious poetry, as you know very well, finds a much +larger body of admirers than any other kind, and fastens upon the minds +of common readers with a much deeper hold. Religious feeling supplies +the deficiency of poetical susceptibility, and imparts to the poem a +splendour and solemnity which elevates it out of the world of prose. I +do not think it can be doubted that Klopstock's _Messiah_ did a great +deal to give the hexameters a firm hold on the German popular ear; and I +am persuaded that if Pollok's _Course of Time_ had been written in +hexameters, its popularity would have been little less than it is, and +the hexameter would have been by this time in a great degree +familiarised in our language. Perhaps it may be worth while to give a +passage of the _Messiah_, that your readers may judge whether a +hexameter version of the whole would not have been likely to succeed in +this country, at the time when the prose translator was so generally +read and admired. The version is by William Taylor of Norwich. + +The scene is the covenant made between the two first persons of the +Trinity on Mount Moriah. The effect is thus described:-- + + "While spake the eternals, + Thrill'd through nature an awful earthquake. Souls that had never + Known the dawning of thought, now started, and felt for the first time. + Shudders and trembling of heart assail'd each seraph; his bright orb + Hush'd as the earth when tempests are nigh, before him was pausing. + But in the souls of future Christians vibrated transports, + Sweet pretastes of immortal existence. Foolish against God, + Aught to have plann'd or done, and alone yet alive to despondence, + Fell from thrones in the fiery abyss the spirits of evil, + Rocks broke loose from the smouldering caverns, and fell on the + falling: + Howlings of woe, far-thundering crashes, resounded through hell's + vaults." + +It seems to me that such verses as these might very well have satisfied +the English admirers of Klopstock. + +You will observe, however, that we have, in the passage which I have +quoted, several examples of those _forced trochees_ which I mentioned in +my first letter, as one of the great blemishes of English hexameters; +namely, these--_first tAe-me_; _bright Arb_; _agaAe"nst GAd_; +_hAe"ll's vAefults_. And these produce their usual effect of making +the verse in some degree unnatural and un-English. + +It is, however, true, that in this respect the German hexametrist has a +considerable advantage over the English. Many of the words which are +naturally thrown to the end of a verse by the sense, are monosyllables +in English, while the corresponding German word is a trochaic +dissyllable, which takes its place in the verse smoothly and familiarly. +In consequence of this difference in the two languages, the Englishman +is often compelled to lengthen his monosyllables by various artifices. +Thus, in _Herman and Dorothea_-- + + "Und er wandte sich schnell; de sah sie ihm ThrA¤nen im _auge_." + + "And he turned him quick; then saw she tears in his _eyelids_." + +In order that I may not be misunderstood, however, I must say that I by +no means intend to proscribe such final trochees as I have spoken of, +composed of two monosyllables, but only to recommend a sparing and +considerate use of them. They occur in Goethe, though not abundantly. +Thus in _Herman and Dorothea_, we have three together:-- + + "Und es brannten die strassen bis zum markt, und das _Haus war_, + Meines Vaters hierneben verzchrt und diesar zug_leich mit_, + Wenig flA1/4chtehen wir. Ich safs, die traurige _Nacht durch_." + +None of these trochees, however, are so spondaic as the English ones +which I formerly quoted, consisting of a monosyllable-adjective with a +monosyllable-substantive--"the weight of his _right hand_;" or two +substantives, as "the heat of a _love's fire_." + +Yet even these endings are admissible occasionally. Every one assents to +Harris's recognition of a natural and perfect hexameter in that verse of +the Psalms-- + + "Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a _vain thing_?" + +The fact is, that though the English hexameter, well constructed, is +acknowledged by an English ear, as completely as any other dactylic or +anapA|stic measure, it always recalls, in the mind of a classical +scholar, the recollection of Greek and Latin hexameters; and this +association makes him willing to accept some rhythmical peculiarities +which the classical forms and rules seem to justify. The peculiarities +are felt as an _allusion_ to Homer and Virgil, and give to the verse a +kind of learned grace, which may or may not be pedantic, according to +the judgment with which it is introduced. Undoubtedly, if the hexameter +ever come to be as familiar in English as it is in German poetry, our +best hexametrists will, like theirs, learn to convey, along with the +pleasure which belongs to a flowing and familiar native measure, that +which arises from agreeable recollections of the rhythms of the great +epics of antiquity. + +And, I add further, that the recollection of classical hexameters which +will thus, in the minds of scholars, always accompany the flow of +English hexameters, makes any addition to, or subtraction from, the six +standard feet of the verse altogether intolerable. And hence I earnestly +protest--and I hope you, Mr Editor, agree with me--against the license +claimed by Southey, of using _any foot_ of two or three syllables at the +beginning of a line, to avoid the exotic and forced character, which, he +says, the verse would assume if every line were to begin with a long +syllable. No, no, my dear sir; this will never do. If we are to have +hexameters at all, every line _must_ begin with a long syllable. It is +true, that this is sometimes difficult to attain. It is a condition +which forbids us to begin a line with _The_, or _It_, or many other +familiar beginnings of sentences. But it is a condition which must be +adhered to; and if any one finds it too difficult, he must write +something else, and leave hexameters alone. Southey, though he has +claimed the license of violating this rule, has not written many of such +licentious lines. I suppose the following are intended to be of this +description:-- + + "That nAt for lawless devices, nor goaded by desperate fortunes." + + "UpAn all seas and shores, wheresoever her rights were offended." + + "His rAe"verend form repose; heavenward his face was directed." + +The two former lines might easily be corrected by leaving out the first +syllable. The other is a very bad line, even if the licence be allowed. + +For the same reason it must be considered a very bad fault to have +supernumerary syllables, or syllables which would be supernumerary if +not cut down by a harsh elision. A final dactyl, requiring an elision to +make it fit its place, appears to me very odious. Southey has such:-- + + "wins in the chamber + What he lost in the field, in fancy conquers the _conqueror_." + + "Still it deceiveth the weak, inflameth the rash and the _desperate_." + + "Rich in Italy's works and the masterly labours of _Belgium_." + +And no less does the ear repudiate all other violent elisions. I find +several in the other translation of the Iliad referred to in your notice +of N. N. T.'s. And I am sure Mr Shadwell will excuse my pointing out one +or two of them, and will accept in a friendly spirit criticisms which +arise from a fellow feeling with him in the love of English hexameters. +These occur in his First Iliad. + + "_Wheth'r_ it's for vow not duly perform'd or for altar neglected." + + "Hand on his sword half drawn from its sheath, on a _sudd'n_ from + Olympus." + + "Fail to regard in his envy the _daught'r_ of the sea-dwelling + ancient." + +Such crushing of words is intolerable. Our hexameters, to be generally +acceptable, must flow on smoothly, with the natural pronunciation of the +words; at least this is necessary till the national ear is more familiar +with the movement than it is at present. + +I believe I have still some remarks upon hexameters in store, if your +patience and your pages suffice for them: but for the present I wish to +say a word or two on another subject closely connected with this; I mean +pentameters. The alternate hexameter and pentameter are, for most +purposes, a more agreeable measure than the hexameter by itself. The +constant double ending is tiresome, as constant double rhymes would be. +Southey says, in his angry way, speaking of his hexameters--"the double +ending may be censured as double rhymes used to be; but that objection +belongs to the duncery." This is a very absurd mode of disposing of one +objection, mentioned by him among many others equally formal and minute, +which others he pretends to discuss calmly and patiently. The objection +is of real weight. Though you might tolerate a double ending here and +there in an epic, I am sure, Mr Editor, you would stop your critical +ears at the incessant jingle of an epic in which every couplet had a +double rhyme. On the other hand, an alternation of double and single +endings is felt as an agreeable form of rhythm and rhyme. We have some +good examples of it in English; the Germans have more: and the French +manifest the same feeling in their peremptory rule for the alternation +of masculine and feminine rhymes. And there is another feature which +recommends the pentameter combined with the hexameter. This combination +carries into effect, on a large scale, a principle which prevails, I +believe, in all the finer forms of verse. The principle which I mean is +this;--that the metrical structure of the verse must be distinct and +pure _at the end_ of each verse, though liberties and substitutions may +be allowed at the beginning. Thus, as you know, Mr Editor, the iambics +of the Greek tragedians admit certain feet in the early part of the line +which they do not allow in the later portions. And in the same manner +the hexameter, a dactylic measure, must have the last two feet regular, +while the four preceding feet may each be either trissyllabic or +dissyllabic. Now, this principle of pure rhythm at the end of each +strain, is peculiarly impressed upon the hexameter-pentameter distich. +The end of the pentameter, rigorously consisting of two dactyls and a +syllable, closes the couplet in such a manner that the metrical +structure is never ambiguous; while the remainder of the couplet has +liberty and variety, still kept in order by the end of the hexameter; +and the double ending of the strain is avoided. I do not know whether +you, Mr Editor, will agree with me in this speculation as to the source +of the beauty which belongs to the hexameter-pentameter measure: but +there can be no doubt that it has always had a great charm wherever +dactylic measures have been cultivated. Schiller and GA¶ethe have +delighted in it no less than TyrtA|us and Ovid: and I should conceive +that this measure might find favour in English ears, even more fully +than the mere hexameter. + +But, in order that there may be any hope of this, it is very requisite +that the course of the verse should be natural and unforced. This is +more requisite even than in the hexameter; for, in the pentameter, the +verse, if it be at variance with the natural accent, subverts it more +completely, and makes the utterance more absurd. But it does not appear +to be very difficult to attain to this point. In the model distich +quoted by Coleridge-- + + "In the hexameter rises the fountain's silvery column, + In the pentameter still falling in melody back;" + +the pentameter is a better verse than the hexameter. Surry's pentameters +often flow well, in spite of his false scheme of accentuation. + + "With strong foes on land, on sea, with contrary tempests, + Still do I cross this wretch, whatso he taketh in hand." + +I will here terminate my criticisms for the present, but I will offer +you, along with them, a specimen of hexameter and pentameter. It is a +translation from Schiller, and could not fail to win some favour to the +measure, if I could catch any considerable share of the charm of the +original, both in versification, language, and thought. Such as the +verses are, however, I shall utter them in your critical ear--and am, +dear Mr Editor, your obedient, + + M. L. + + + + +THE DANCE. FROM SCHILLER. + + + See with floating tread the bright pair whirl in a wave-like + Swing, and the wingA"d foot scarce gives a touch to the floor. + Say, is it shadows that flit unclogg'd by the load of the body? + Say, is it elves that weave fairy-wings under the moon? + So rolls the curling smoke through air on the breath of the zephyr; + So sways the light canoe borne on the silvery lake. + --Bounds the well-taught foot on the sweet-flowing wave of the measure; + Whispering musical strains buoy up the aA"ry forms. + Now, as if in its rush it would break the chain of the dancers, + Dives an adventurous pair into the thick of the throng. + Quick before them a pathway is formed, and closes behind them; + As by a magical hand, open'd and shut is the way. + Now it is lost to the eye; into wild confusion resolvA"d-- + Lo! that revolving world loses its orderly frame. + No! from the mass there it gaily emerges and glides from the tangle; + Order resumes her sway, only with alterA"d charm. + Vanishing still, it still reappears, the revolving creation, + And, deep-working, a law governs the aspects of change. + Say, how is it that forms ever passing are ever restorA"d? + How still fixity stays, even where motion most reigns? + How each, master and free, by his own heart shaping his pathway, + Finds in the hurrying maze simply the path that he seeks? + This thou would'st know? 'Tis the might divine of harmony's empire; + She in the social dance governs the motions of each. + She, like the Goddess[5] Severe, with the golden bridle of order, + Tames and guides at her will wild and tumultuous strength. + And around thee in vain the word its harmonies utters + If thy heart be not swept on in the stream of the strain, + --Not by the measure of life which beats through all beings around + thee, + --Not by the whirl of the dance, which through the vacant abyss + Launches the blazing suns in the spacious sweeps of their orbits. + Order rules in thy sports: so let it rule in thy acts. + + M. L. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[5] Nemesis. + + + + +A NEW SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY. + + +AT MOULINS. + +"I DON'T think so," said the lady; and, pulling up the window of the +calA"che, she sank back on her seat: the postilion gave another crack +with his whip, another _sacre_ to his beasts, and they rolled on towards +Moulins. + +It's an insolent unfeeling world this: when any one is rich enough to +ride in a calA"che, the poorer man, who can only go in a cabriolet, is +despised. Not but that a cabriolet is a good vehicle of its sort: I know +of few more comfortable. And then, again, for mine, why I have a kind of +affection for it. 'Tis an honest unpretending vehicle: it has served me +all the way from Calais, and I will not discard it. What though Maurice +wanted to persuade me at Paris that I had better take a britska, as more +fashionable? I resisted the temptation; there was virtue in that very +deed--'tis so rare that one resists; and I am still here in my +cabriolet: and when I leave thee, honest cab, may I---- + +"_A l'HA'tel de l'Europe?_" asked the driver; "'tis an excellent house, +and if Monsieur intends remaining there, he will find _une table +merveilleuse_." + +Why to the Hotel de l'Europe? said I to myself. I hate these +cosmopolitic terms. Am I not in France--gay, delightful +France--partaking of the kindness and civility of the country? "A +l'Hotel de France!" was my reply. + +The driver hereupon pulled up his horses short;--it was no difficult +task: the poor beasts had come far: there had been no horses at +Villeneuve, and we had come on all the way from St Imbert, six weary +leagues. "_Connais pas_," said the man: "Monsieur is mistaken; besides, +madame is so obliging. If there were an Hotel de France, it would be +another affair: add to this, that the voiture which has just passed us +is going to the hotel." + +"Enough--I will go there too;" and, so saying, we got through the +BarriA"re of Moulins. + +Now, I know not how it is, but, despite of the fellow's honest air, I +had a misgiving that he intended to cheat me. He was leading me to some +exorbitant monster of the road, where the unsuspecting traveller would +be flayed alive: he was his accomplice--his jackall; I was to be the +victim. Had he argued for an hour about the excellence of mine host's +table, I had been proof: my Franco-mania and my wish to be independent +had certainly taken me to some other hotel. But he said something about +the voiture: _it_ was going there. What was that to me? I hate people in +great carriages when I am not in them myself. But then, the lady! I had +seen nothing but her face, and for an instant. She said "she did not +think so." Think what? _Mais ses yeux!_ + +Reader, bear with me a while. There is a fascination in serpents, and +there is one far more deadly--who has not felt it?--in woman's eyes. +Such a face! such features, and such expression! She might have been +five-and-twenty--nay, more: girlhood was past with her: that quiet look +of self-possession which makes woman bear man's gaze, showed that she +knew the pains, perhaps the joys, of wedded life. And yet the fire of +youthful imagination was not yet extinct: the spirit of poetry had not +yet left her: there was hope, and gaiety, and love in that bright black +eye: and there was beauty, witching beauty, in every lineament of her +face. Her voice was of the softest--there was music in its tone: and her +hand told of other symmetry that could not but be in exquisite harmony. +"She did not think so:" why should she have taken the trouble to look +out of the carriage window at me as she said these words? Was I known to +her--or fancied to be so? As she did not think so, I was determined to +know why. "We will go to the Hotel de l'Europe, if you press it;" and +away the cabriolet joggled over the roughly paved street. + +Moulins is any thing but one of the most remarkable towns in France: it +is large, and yet it is not important: as a centre of communication, +nothing: little trade: few manufactures: the houses are low, rather than +high; the streets wide, rather than narrow: you can breathe in Moulins, +though you may be stifled in Rouen. It is the quiet _chef lieu_ of the +Allier, and was once the capital of the Bourbonnais. An air of departing +elegance, and even of stateliness, still lingers over it: the streets +have the houses of the _ancienne noblesse_ still lining their sides: +high walls; that is to say, with a handsome gateway in the middle, and +the _corps-de-logis_ just peering above. Retired in their own dignity, +and shunning the vulgar world, the old masters of the province here +congregated in former days for the winter months; Moulins was then a gay +and stirring town; _piquet_ and _Boston_ kept many an old lady and +complaisant marquis alive through the long nights of winter; there was a +sociable circle formed in many a saloon; the harpsichord was sounded, +the minuet was danced, and the _petit souper_ discussed. The president +of the court, or the knight of Malta, or M. l'AbbA(C), came in; or perhaps +a gallant gentleman of the regiment of Bourbon or Auvergne joined the +circle; and conversation assumed that style of piquant brilliancy +tempered with exquisite politeness which existed nowhere but in ancient +France, and shall never be met with again. Sad was the day when the +Revolution broke over Moulins! all the ancient properties of the country +destroyed; blood flowing on many a scaffold; the deserving and the good +thrust aside or trampled under foot; the unprincipled and the base +pushed into places of power abused, and wealth ill-gotten but worse +spent. That bad time has passed away, and Moulins has settled down, like +an aged invalid of shattered constitution, the ghost of what it was, +into a dull country-town. Yet it is not without its redeeming qualities +of literary and even scientific excellence; somewhat of the ancient +spirit of disinterested gaiety still remains behind; and it is a place +where the traveller may well sojourn for many days. + +In the court-yard of the hotel was standing the voiture, which had come +in some twenty minutes before us. The femme-de-chambre was carrying up +the last package: the postilion had got out of his boots, and had placed +them to lean against the wall. The good lady of the house came out to +welcome me, and the garASec.on was ready at the step. It's very true; the +freshness, if not the sincerity, of an inn welcome, makes one of the +amenities of life: it compensates for the wearisomeness of the road: it +is something to look forward to at the end of a fatiguing day; and, what +is best, you can have just as much or as little of it as you like. There +is no keeping on of your buckram when once you are seated in your +inn,--no stiffening up for dinner when you had infinitely rather be +quite at your ease. What you want you ask for, without saying, "by your +leave," or, "if you please;" and what you ask for, if you are a +reasonable man, you get. Let no traveller go to a friend's house if he +wants to be comfortable. Let him keep to an inn: he is there, _pro +tempore_, at home. + +"I shall stop here to-night, Madame." + +"As Monsieur pleases: and to-morrow--?" + +"I will resume my route to Clermont." + +"Monsieur is going to the baths of Mont Dor, no doubt?" + +"Just so." + +"Then, sir, you will have excellent company, and you have done well to +come here; Monsieur le Marquis is going on thither to-morrow: and if +Monsieur would be so obliging,--but I will run up and ask him and +Madame, the sweetest lady in the world,--they will be glad to have you +at dinner with them: you are all going to Mont Dor. You will be +enchanted: excuse me, I will be back in an instant." + +How curious, thought I, that without any doings of my own, I should just +be thrown into the way of the person whom my curiosity--my impertinent, +or silly curiosity, which you will--prompted me with the desire to meet. +The superciliousness of the voiture vanished from my recollection, and +my national frigidity was doomed to be thawed into civility, if not into +amiableness. + +"The Marquis de Mirepoix would be glad of the honour of Monsieur's +company at dinner, if he would be so obliging as to excuse ceremony, and +the refinements of the toilette." What a charming message! Surely there +is an innate grace in this people, notwithstanding their twenty years of +blood and revolution, that can never be worn out! Why, they did not even +know my name; and on the simple suggestion of the hostess, they consent +to sit with me at table! Truly this is the land of politeness, and of +kind accommodation: the land of ready access to the stranger, where the +ties of his home, withered, or violently snapped asunder, are replaced +by the engaging attractions of unostentatious and well-judged civility; +and where he is induced to leave his warmest inclinations, if not his +heart. Never give up this distinguishing attribute, France, thou land of +the brave and the gay! it shall compensate for much of thy waywardness: +it shall take off the rough edge of thy egotism: it shall disarm thy +ambition: it shall make thee the friend of all the world. + +"Il m'a payA(C) trois francs la poste, te dis-je: c'est un gros milord: que +sais-je!" + +"Diantre! for a cabriolet! Why, they only gave me the tariff and a +miserable piece of ten sous as my pour-boire, for a heavy calA"che! When +I fetched them from the chActeau this morning, I knew how it would +be--Monsieur le Marquis is so miserly, so exigeant!" + +"I would not be his wife for any thing," said the fille-de-chambre, as +she came tripping down stairs, and passed between the two postilions; +"an old curmudgeon, to go on in that way with such a wife. Voyez-vous, +Pierre, elle est si belle, si douce! c'est une ange! She wants to know +who the young Englishman is; qu'en sais-tu, Jean-Marie?" + +"He gave us three francs a post; that's all I know." + +"Then we have two angels in the house instead of one." + +I hate to be long at my toilette at any time; but to delay much in such +a matter while travelling is folly. Yet, how shall one get over the +interminable plains of France, and pass through those ever succeeding +simooms of dust which beset the high-roads of the "fair country," +without contracting a certain dinginess of look that makes one +intolerable? Fellow-traveller, never take much luggage with thee, if +thou hast thy senses rightly awakened; leave those real "impediments" of +locomotion behind; take with thee two suits at the most; adapt them to +the climate and the land thou intendest to traverse; and, remember, +never cease to dress like a gentleman. Take with thee plenty of white +cravattes and white waistcoats; they will always make thee look clean +when thy ablutions are performed, despite of whatever else may be thy +habiliments; carry with thee some varnished boots; encourage the +laundresses to the utmost of thy power, and thou wilt always be a +suitably dressed man. By the time I had done my toilette there was a tap +at the door, and in another minute I was in the salle-A -manger. + +The Marquis made me a profound salutation, which I endeavoured to return +as well as a stiff Englishman, with a poker up his back, extending right +through the spinal column into his head, could be supposed to do. To the +Lady I was conscious of stooping infinitely lower; and I even flattered +myself that the empressement which I wished to put into my reverence was +not unperceived by her. The little fluttering oscillation of the head +and form, with which a French lady acknowledges a civility, came forth +on her part with exquisite grace. Her husband might be fifty: he was a +tall, harsh-looking man; a gentleman certainly, but still not one of the +right kind; there was a sort of rouA(C) expression about his eyes that +inspired distrust, if not repulsion; his features seemed little +accustomed to a smile; the tone of his voice was dissonant, and he spoke +sharply and quickly. But his wife--his gentle, angelic wife--was the +type of what a woman should be. She surpassed not in height that best +standard of female proportion, which we give, gentle reader, at some +five feet and two inches. She was most delicately formed: her face, of +the broad rather than the long oval shape, tapered down to a most +exquisitely formed chin; while the arch expression of her mouth and +eyes, tempered as it was with an indefinable expression of true feminine +softness, gave animation and vivid intelligence to the whole. Who can +define the tones of a woman's voice? and that woman one of the most +refined and high-bred of her sex? There was a richness and smoothness, +and yet such an exquisite softness in it, as entranced the hearer, and +could keep him listening to its flow of music for hours together. I am +persuaded of it, and the more I think of it the more vividly does it +recur to my mind. 'Twas only a single glance--that first glance as I +moved upwards from bowing towards a hand which I could willingly have +kissed. There was the tale of a whole life conveyed in it; there was the +narration of much inward suffering--of thwarted hopes, of disappointed +desires--of a longing for deliverance from a weight of oppression--of a +praying for a friend and an avenger. And yet there was the timidity of +the woman, the observance of conventional forms, the respect of herself, +the dread of her master, all tending to keep down the indication of +those feelings. And again there came the still-enduring hope of +amendment or of remedy. All was in that glance. I felt it in a moment; +and the fascination--that mysterious communication of sentiment which +runs through the soul as the electric current of its vitality--was +completed. + +How is it that one instant of time should work those effects in the +human mind which are so lasting in their results! Ye unseen powers, +spirits or angels, that preside over our actions, and guide us to or +from harm, is it that ye communicate some portion of your own ethereal +essence to our duller substance at such moments, and give us perceptive +faculties which otherwise we never had enjoyed? Or is it that the soul +has some secret way of imparting its feelings to another without the +intervention of material things, otherwise than to let the immortal +spark flash from one being to the other? And oh, ye sceptics, ye dull +leaden-hearted mortals! doubt not of the language of the eyes--that +common theme of mawkish lovers--but though common, not the less true and +certain. Interrogate the looks of a young child--remember even the +all-expressive yet mute eyes of a faithful dog; and give me the bright +eloquent glance of woman in the pride and bloom of life--'tis sweeter +than all sounds, more universal than all languages. + +"I am afraid, Monsieur le Marquis, that I shall be interfering with your +arrangements?" + +"Ah, mon Dieu! you give us great pleasure. Madame and myself had just +been regretting that we should have to pass the evening in this +miserable hole of a town. 'Pas de spectacle; c'est embAªtant A ne pas en +finir.'" + +"And Monsieur is likely to be with us to-morrow, mon ami; for my +femme-de-chambre tells me that he is going to Mont Dor. Do you know, +Monsieur, that just as we were coming into Moulins, we remarked your +odd-looking cabriolet de poste. My husband detests them; on the +contrary, I like those carriages, for they tell me of happy--I mean to +say, of former times. He wanted to wager with me that it was some +old-fashioned sulky fellow that had got into it; but, as we passed, I +looked out at the window, satisfied myself of the contrary, and told him +so. Will you be pleased to take that chair by my side, and as we go on +with our dinner we can talk about Mont Dor." + + +CLERMONT. + +As it had been arranged that I should take an hour's start with my +cabriolet, and bespeak horses for my companions as I went on, I set off +for Clermont early. + +As you advance through the Bourbonnais, towards the south, the country +warms upon you: warms in its sunny climate, and in the glowing colours +of its landscape. Not but that France is smiling enough, even in the +north: Witness Normandy, that chosen land of green meadow, rich glebe, +stately forests, and winding streams: nor that even in Champagne, where +the eye stretches over endless plains, towards the Germanic frontier, +there are not rich valleys, and deep woodlands, and sunny glades. Do not +quarrel with the chalky ground of the Champenois--remember its +wine--think of the imprisoned spirit of the land, that quintessence of +all that is French--give it due vent; 'twill reward you for your pains. +Oh! certes, France is a gay and a pleasing land. My fastidious and +gloomy countrymen may say what they please, and may talk of the beauties +of England till they are hoarse again; but there is not less natural +beauty in Gaul than in Britain. Take all the broad tracts from London to +York, or from Paris to Lyons, France has nothing to dread from the +comparison. But, in the Bourbonnais, flat and open as it is, the scene +begins to change. The sun shines more genially, more constantly; he +shines in good earnest; and your rheumatic pains, if you have any still +creeping about your bones, ooze out at every pore, and bid you a long +adieu. That grey, cold haze of the north, which dims the horizon in the +distant prospect, here becomes warmed into a purpler, pinker tint, +borrowed from the Italian side of the Alps: the perpetual brown of the +northern soil here puts on an orange tinge: above, the sky is more blue; +and around, the passing breeze woos you more lovingly. Come hither, +poor, trembling invalid! throw off those blankets and those swathing +bandages; trust yourself to the sun, to the land, to the _waters_ of the +Bourbonnais; and renovated health, lighter spirits, pleasant days and +happy nights, shall be your reward. + +How can it be, that in a country where nature is so genially disposed +towards the vegetable and the mineral kingdoms of her wide empire, she +should have played the niggard so churlishly when she peopled it with +human beings? The men of the Bourbonnais are short and ordinary of +appearance, remarkable more for the absence than for the presence of +physical advantages, and the women are the ugliest in France!--mean and +uninviting in person, and repulsive in dress! They are only to be +surpassed in this unenviable distinction by those of Auvergne. Taking +the two populations together, or rather considering them as one, which +no doubt they originally were, they are at the bottom of the +physiological scale of this country. Some think them to be the +descendants of an ancient tribe that never lost their footing in this +centre of the land, when the Gauls drove out their Iberian predecessors. +They certainly are not Gauls, nor are they Celts; still less are they +Romans or Germans. Are they then autochthonous, like the Athenians? or +are they merely the offscourings, the rejected of other populations? +Decide about it, ye that are learned in the ethnographic distinctions of +our race--but heaven defend us from the Bourbonnaises! + +See how those distant peaks rise serenely over the southern horizon!--is +it that we have turned towards Helvetia?--for there is snow on the tops +of some, and many are there towering in solitary majesty. No, they are +the goal of our pilgrimage; they are the ridges of the Monts Dor--the +Puys and the extinct volcanoes of ancient France. Look at the Puy de +DA'me, that grand and towering peak: what is our friend Ben Nevis to this +his Gallic brother, who out-tops him by a thousand feet! And again, look +at Mont Dor behind, that hoary giant, as much loftier than the Puy de +DA'me as this is than the monarch of the Scottish Highlands! We are +coming to the land of _real_ mountains now. Why, that long and +comparatively low table-land of granite, from whence they all protrude, +and on which they sit as a conclave of gods, is itself higher than the +most of the hills of our father-land. These hills, if we have to mount +them, shall sorely try the thews of horse and man. + +There is something soothing, and yet cheering, in the southern sky, +which tells upon the spirits, and consoles the weary heart. Just where +the yellow streaks of this low white horizon tell of the intensity of +the god of day, come the blue serrated ridges of those mountains across +the sight. If I could fly, I would away to those realms of light and +warmth--far, far away in the southern clime, where the wants of the body +should be few, and where the vigour of life should be great. The +glorious south is, like the joyous time of youth, full of hope and +promise: all is sunny and bright: there, flowers bloom and birds sing +merrily. Turn we our backs to the cold gloomy north, to the wet windy +west, to the dry parching east--on to the south! + +But what a magnificent plain is this we are entering upon: it is of +immense extent. Those distant hills are at least fifty miles from us; +and across it, from Auvergne to Le Forez, cannot be less than twenty; +and, in the midst, what a gorgeous show of harvests, and gardens, and +walnut groves, and all the luxuriance of the continental Flora. This is +the Limagne, the garden of France--the choicest spot of the whole +country for varied fertility and inexhaustible productiveness. Ages +back--let musty geologists tell us how long ago--'twas a lake, larger +than the Lake of Geneva. The volcanic eruptions of the mountains on the +west broke down its barriers, and let its waters flow. Now the Allier +divides it; and the astonished cultivator digs into virgin strata of +fertile loams, the lowest depths of which have never yet been revealed. +Corn fields here are not the wide and open inclosures such as we know +them in the north and west, where every thing is removed that can hinder +a stray sunbeam from shining on the grain: here they are thickly studded +with trees--majestic, wide-spread, fruit-laden, walnut-trees; where the +corn waves luxuriantly beneath its thickest shade, and closes thickly +round its stem. Bread from the grain below, and oil from the kernel +above; wine from the hills all around, and honied fruits from many a +well-stocked garden; such are the abundant and easily reared produce of +this land of promise. A Caledonian farmer, put down suddenly in the +Limagne, would think himself in fairy regions; so kindly do all things +come in it, so pure and excellent of their sort--in such variety, in +such never-failing succession. Purple mountains, red plains, dark green +woods, and a sky of pure azure--such is the combination of colours that +meets the eye on first coming into Auvergne. + +And yet man thrives not much in it; he remains a stunted half-civilized +animal--with his black shaggy locks, his brown jacket, red sash, and +enormous round beaver; ox-goad in hand, and knife ready to his grip, his +appearance accords but ill with the luxuriant beauty of the scene in +which he dwells. His diminutive but hardy companion--she who shares his +toils in the fields, and serves as his equal if not his better half--is +well suited to his purpose, and resembles him in her looks. Here, she +can climb the mountain-side as nimbly as her master; here, she can drive +the cattle to their far-distant pastures with courage and skill; here, +she mounts the hot little mountain-steed, not in female fashion, but +with a true masculine stride; laborious and long-enduring, simple, +honest, and easily contented; but withal easily provoked, and hard to be +appeased without blood; such is the Auvergnat, and his wife. + +Riom seemed a picturesque town when we drove through it; but our eyes +could not bear to be diverted from the magnificent scenery that kept +rising upon us from the south. We had now approached closely to the foot +of the mountain-ranges, and their lofty summits were high above us in +mid-air. On the right, the Puy de DA'me, cut in half by a line of +motionless clouds, reared itself into the blue sky like some gigantic +balloon, so round was its summit--so isolated. The granite plateau which +constituted its base, was broken into deep and well-wooded ravines; +while at intervals there ran out into the Limagne, for many a league, +some extended promontory of land, capped all along by a flood of +crystallized basalt, which once had flowed in liquid fire from the +crater in the ridge. Here and there rose from the plain a small conical +hill, crowned with a black mass of basaltic columns, and there again +topped with an antique-looking little town or fortress, stationed there, +perhaps, from the days of CA|sar. In front stood Gergovia, where Roman +and Gallic blood once flowed at the bidding of that great master of war, +freely as a mountain torrent; now only a black plain, where the plough +is stopped in each furrow by bricks and broken pots, and rusted +arms,--tokens of the site of the ancient city. + +On turning short round a steeply sloping hill, crowned with a goodly +chActeau, and clad on its sides with vines and all kinds of fruit-trees, +we saw a deep vale running up into the mountains towards the west, and +Clermont covering an eminence in the very midst. What a picturesque +outline! How closely the houses stand together--how agreeably do they +mix with the trees of the promenades; and how boldly the cathedral comes +out from amongst them all! It is a lofty and richly-decorated pile of +the fourteenth century; and tells of the labours and the wealth of a +foreign land. Anglo-Norman skill and gold are said to have formed it; +but however this may be, we know that it witnessed the presence of our +gallant Black Prince, and that it once depended on Aquitaine, not on +France. Yet what fancy can have possessed its builder to have +constructed it of black stone? Why not have sought out the pure white +lime-rocks of the flat country, or the grey granite of the hills? This +is the deep lava of the neighbouring volcanic quarry; here basalt, and +pumice, and cinder, and scoriA|, are pressed into the service of the +architect; and there stands a proof of the goodness of the +material--hard, sharp, and sonorous, as when the hammer first clinked +against its edge five centuries ago. + +"Entrons, Monsieur," said the fair Marquise, as I stood with her on the +esplanade before the Cathedral--the Marquis had gone to see the +commandant. "Entrez donc, 'tis the work of one of your compatriots; and +here, though a heretic, you may consider yourself on English ground." + +Now, positively, I had never thought a bit about Catholic or Protestant +ever since I had quitted my own shores. All I knew was, that I was in a +country that gave the same evidences of being Christian as the one that +I had left; and that, however frivolous and profligate might be the +appearance of its capital, in the rural districts, at least, the people +were honest and devout. I was not come to quarrel, nor to find fault +with millions of men for thinking differently from--but perhaps acting +better than--myself. So we entered. + +The old keeper of the _benitier_ bowed his head, and extended his brush; +the Marquise touched its extremity, crossed herself, and fell on her +knees. + +Thou fell spirit of pride, prejudice, ignorance, and _mauvaise honte!_ +why didst thou beset me at that moment, and keep me, like a stiff-backed +puritan, erect in the house of God? Why, on entering within its sacred +limits, did I not acknowledge my own unworthiness to come in, and +reverence the sanctity of the place? No; there I stood, half-astonished, +half-abashed while the Marquise continued on her knees and made her +silent orisons. 'Tis an admirable and a touching custom: there is poetry +and religion in the very idea. Cross not that threshold with unholy +feet; or if thou dost, confess that unholiness, and beg forgiveness for +the transgression ere thou advancest within the walls. I acknowledge +that I felt ashamed of myself; yet I knew not what to do. One of the +priests passed by: he looked first at the lady and next at me; then +humbly bowing towards the altar, went out of the church. My +embarrassment increased; but the Marquise arose. "It is good to pray +here," she said, in a tone the mildness and sincerity of which made the +reproach more cutting. "Let us go forward now." + +"I will amend my manners," thought I; "'tis not well to be unconcerned +in such things, and when so little makes all the difference." + +"Is Monsieur fond of pictures? Look at that painting of the Baptist, how +vigorously the figure is drawn! And see what an exquisite Virgin! Or +turn your eyes to that southern window, and remark the flood of gorgeous +light falling from it on the pillar by its side!" + +I was thinking of any thing but the Virgin, or the window, or the light; +I was thinking of my companion--so fair, and so devout. Had she not +called me a heretic? Had she not already put me to the blush for my lack +of veneration? Strange linking of ideas! "Thou art worthy to be an angel +hereafter," said I to myself, "as truly thou resemblest what we call +angels here." + +We were once more at the western door; Madame crossed herself again; we +went out. + +"Pour l'amour de Dieu, mon bon monsieur!" "Que le ciel vous soit +ouvert!" whined out half-a-dozen old crones with extended hands; their +shrivelled fingers seeking to pluck at any thing they could get. + +Now I had paid away my last sous to the garASec.on d'A(C)curie at the Poste: so +I told them pettishly that I had not a liard to give. A coin tinkled on +the ground; it had fallen from the hand of the Marquise; and as I +stooped to reach it for her, I saw that it was gold. + +"Let them have it, poor things. I thought it was silver; but it has +touched holy ground, and 'tis now their own." + +I turned round, thrust my purse into the lap of the nearest, and with a +light heart led the lady back to the hotel. + + + + +POEMS BY ELIZABETH BARRETT BARRETT. + + + A WOMAN'S SHORTCOMINGS. + + 1. + SHE has laughed as softly as if she sighed; + She has counted six and over, + Of a purse well filled, and a heart well tried-- + Oh, each a worthy lover! + They "give her time;" for her soul must slip + Where the world has set the grooving: + She will lie to none with her fair red lip-- + But love seeks truer loving. + + 2. + She trembles her fan in a sweetness dumb, + As her thoughts were beyond her recalling; + With a glance for _one_, and a glance for _some_, + From her eyelids rising and falling! + --Speaks common words with a blushful air; + --Hears bold words, unreproving: + But her silence says--what she never will swear-- + And love seeks better loving. + + 3. + Go, lady! lean to the night-guitar, + And drop a smile to the bringer; + Then smile as sweetly, when he is far, + At the voice of an in-door singer! + Bask tenderly beneath tender eyes; + Glance lightly, on their removing; + And join new vows to old perjuries-- + But dare not call it loving! + + 4. + Unless you can think, when the song is done, + No other is soft in the rhythm; + Unless you can feel, when left by One, + That all men beside go with him; + Unless you can know, when unpraised by his breath, + That your beauty itself wants proving; + Unless you can swear--"For life, for death!"-- + Oh, fear to call it loving! + + 5. + Unless you can muse, in a crowd all day, + On the absent face that fixed you; + Unless you can love, as the angels may, + With the breadth of heaven betwixt you; + Unless you can dream that his faith is fast, + Through behoving and unbehoving; + Unless you can _die_ when the dream is past-- + Oh, never call it loving! + + + A MAN'S REQUIREMENTS. + + 1. + Love me, sweet, with all thou art, + Feeling, thinking, seeing,-- + Love me in the lightest part, + Love me in full being. + + 2. + Love me with thine open youth + In its frank surrender; + With the vowing of thy mouth, + With its silence tender. + + 3. + Love me with thine azure eyes, + Made for earnest granting! + Taking colour from the skies, + Can heaven's truth be wanting? + + 4. + Love me with their lids, that fall + Snow-like at first meeting! + Love me with thine heart, that all + The neighbours then see beating. + + 5. + Love me with thine hand stretched out + Freely--open-minded! + Love me with thy loitering foot,-- + Hearing one behind it. + + 6. + Love me with thy voice, that turns + Sudden faint above me! + Love me with thy blush that burns + When I murmur '_Love me!_' + + 7. + Love me with thy thinking soul-- + Break it to love-sighing; + Love me with thy thoughts that roll + On through living--dying. + + 8. + Love me in thy gorgeous airs, + When the world has crowned thee! + Love me, kneeling at thy prayers, + With the angels round thee. + + 9. + Love me pure, as musers do, + Up the woodlands shady! + Love me gaily, fast, and true, + As a winsome lady. + + 10. + Through all hopes that keep us brave, + Further off or nigher, + Love me for the house and grave,-- + And for something higher. + + 11. + Thus, if thou wilt prove me, dear, + Woman's love no fable, + _I_ will love _thee_--half-a-year-- + As a man is able. + + + MAUDE'S SPINNING. + + 1. + He listened at the porch that day + To hear the wheel go on, and on, + And then it stopped--ran back away-- + While through the door he brought the sun. + But now my spinning is all done. + + 2. + He sate beside me, with an oath + That love ne'er ended, once begun; + I smiled--believing for us both, + What was the truth for only one. + And now my spinning is all done. + + 3. + My mother cursed me that I heard + A young man's wooing as I spun. + Thanks, cruel mother, for that word, + For I have, since, a harder known! + And now my spinning is all done. + + 4. + I thought--O God!--my first-born's cry + Both voices to my ear would drown! + I listened in mine agony---- + It was the _silence_ made me groan! + And now my spinning is all done. + + 5. + Bury me 'twixt my mother's grave, + Who cursed me on her death-bed lone, + And my dead baby's--(God it save!) + Who, not to bless me, would not moan. + And now my spinning is all done. + + 6. + A stone upon my heart and head, + But no name written on the stone! + Sweet neighbours! whisper low instead, + "This sinner was a loving one-- + And now her spinning is all done." + + 7. + And let the door ajar remain, + In case that he should pass anon; + And leave the wheel out very plain, + That HE, when passing in the sun, + May _see_ the spinning is all done. + + + A DEAD ROSE. + + 1. + O rose! who dares to name thee? + No longer roseate now, nor soft, nor sweet; + But barren, and hard, and dry, as stubble-wheat, + Kept seven years in a drawer--thy titles shame thee. + + 2. + The breeze that used to blow thee + Between the hedge-thorns, and take away + An odour up the lane to last all day,-- + If breathing now,--unsweetened would forego thee. + + 3. + The sun that used to light thee, + And mix his glory in thy gorgeous urn, + Till beam appeared to bloom, and flower to burn,-- + If shining now,--with not a hue would dight thee. + + 4. + The dew that used to wet thee, + And, white first, grow incarnadined, because + It lay upon thee where the crimson was,-- + If dropping now,--would darken where it met thee. + + 5. + The fly that lit upon thee, + To stretch the tendrils of its tiny feet, + Along the leaf's pure edges after heat,-- + If lighting now,--would coldly overrun thee. + + 6. + The bee that once did suck thee, + And build thy perfumed ambers up his hive, + And swoon in thee for joy, till scarce alive,-- + If passing now,--would blindly overlook thee. + + 7. + The heart doth recognise thee, + Alone, alone! The heart doth smell thee sweet, + Doth view thee fair, doth judge thee most complete-- + Though seeing now those changes that disguise thee. + + 8. + Yes and the heart doth owe thee + More love, dead rose! than to such roses bold + As Julia wears at dances, smiling cold!---- + Lie still upon this heart--which breaks below thee! + + + CHANGE ON CHANGE. + + 1. + Three months ago, the stream did flow, + The lilies bloomed along the edge; + And we were lingering to and fro,-- + Where none will track thee in this snow, + Along the stream, beside the hedge. + Ah! sweet, be free to come and go; + For if I do not hear thy foot, + The frozen river is as mute,-- + The flowers have dried down to the root; + And why, since these be changed since May, + Shouldst _thou_ change less than _they_? + + 2. + And slow, slow as the winter snow, + The tears have drifted to mine eyes; + And my two cheeks, three months ago, + Set blushing at thy praises so, + Put paleness on for a disguise. + Ah! sweet, be free to praise and go; + For if my face is turned to pale, + It was thine oath that first did fail,-- + It was thy love proved false and frail! + And why, since these be changed, I trow, + Should _I_ change less than _thou_? + + + A REED. + + I am no trumpet, but a reed! + No flattering breath shall from me lead + A silver sound, a hollow sound! + I will not ring, for priest or king, + One blast that, in re-echoing, + Would leave a bondsman faster bound. + + I am no trumpet, but a reed,-- + A broken reed, the wind indeed + Left flat upon a dismal shore! + Yet if a little maid, or child, + Should sigh within it, earnest-mild, + This reed will answer evermore. + + I am no trumpet, but a reed! + Go, tell the fishers, as they spread + Their nets along the river's edge,-- + I will not tear their nets at all, + Nor pierce their hands--if they should fall: + Then let them leave me in the sedge. + + + HECTOR IN THE GARDEN. + + 1. + Nine years old! First years of any + Seem the best of all that come!-- + Yet when _I_ was nine, I said + Unlike things!--I thought, instead, + That the Greeks used just as many + In besieging Ilium. + + 2. + Nine green years had scarcely brought me + To my childhood's haunted spring,-- + I had life, like flowers and bees, + In betwixt the country trees, + And the sun, the pleasure, taught me + Which he teacheth every thing. + + 3. + If the rain fell, there was sorrow;-- + Little head leant on the pane,-- + Little finger tracing down it + The long trailing drops upon it,-- + And the "Rain, rain, come to-morrow," + Said for charm against the rain. + + 4. + And the charm was right Canidian, + Though you meet it with a jeer! + If I said it long enough, + Then the rain hummed dimly off; + And the thrush, with his pure Lydian, + Was the loudest sound to hear. + + 5. + And the sun and I together + Went a-rushing out of doors! + We, our tender spirits, drew + Over hill and dale in view, + Glimmering hither, glimmering thither, + In the footsteps of the showers. + + 6. + Underneath the chestnuts dripping, + Through the grasses wet and fair, + Straight I sought my garden-ground, + With the laurel on the mound; + And the pear-tree oversweeping + A side-shadow of green air. + + 7. + While hard by, there lay supinely + A huge giant, wrought of spade! + Arms and legs were stretched at length, + In a passive giant strength,-- + And the meadow turf, cut finely, + Round them laid and interlaid. + + 8. + Call him Hector, son of Priam! + Such his title and degree. + With my rake I smoothed his brow, + And his cheeks I weeded through: + But a rhymer such as I am + Scarce can sing his dignity. + + 9. + Eyes of gentianella's azure, + Staring, winking at the skies; + Nose of gillyflowers and box; + Scented grasses, put for locks-- + Which a little breeze, at pleasure, + Set a-waving round his eyes. + + 10. + Brazen helm of daffodillies, + With a glitter for the light; + Purple violets, for the mouth, + Breathing perfumes west and south; + And a sword of flashing lilies, + Holden ready for the fight. + + 11. + And a breastplate, made of daisies, + Closely fitting, leaf by leaf; + Periwinkles interlaced + Drawn for belt about the waist; + While the brown bees, humming praises, + Shot their arrows round the chief. + + 12. + And who knows, (I sometimes wondered,) + If the disembodied soul + Of old Hector, once of Troy, + Might not take a dreary joy + Here to enter--if it thundered, + Rolling up the thunder-roll? + + 13. + Rolling this way, from Troy-ruin, + To this body rude and rife, + He might enter and take rest + 'Neath the daisies of the breast-- + They, with tender roots, renewing + His heroic heart to life. + + 14. + Who could know? I sometimes started + At a motion or a sound; + Did his mouth speak--naming Troy, + With an I?I"I?I"I?I"I?I"I?I¹? + Did the pulse of the Strong-hearted + Make the daisies tremble round? + + 15. + It was hard to answer, often! + But the birds sang in the tree-- + But the little birds sang bold, + In the pear-tree green and old; + And my terror seemed to soften, + Through the courage of their glee. + + 16. + Oh, the birds, the trees, the ruddy + And white blossoms, sleek with rain! + Oh, my garden, rich with pansies! + Oh, my childhood's bright romances! + All revive, like Hector's body, + And I see them stir again! + + 17. + And despite life's changes--chances, + And despite the deathbell's toll, + They press on me in full seeming!-- + Help, some angel! stay this dreaming! + As the birds sang in the branches, + Sing God's patience through my soul! + + 18. + That no dreamer, no neglecter, + Of the present's work unsped, + I may wake up and be doing, + Life's heroic ends pursuing, + Though my past is dead as Hector, + And though Hector is twice dead. + + + + +THE CONDE'S DAUGHTER. + + +"I SHOULD think we cannot be very far from our destination by this +time." + +"Why, were one to put faith in my appetite, we must have been at least a +good four or five hours _en route_ already; and if our Rosinantes are +not able to get over a _misA"re_ of thirty or forty miles without making +as many grimaces about it as they do now, they are not the animals I +took them for." + +"Come, come--abuse your own as much as you please, but this much I will +say for my Nero, though he has occasionally deposited me on the +roadside, he is not apt to sleep upon the way at least. Nay, so sure am +I of him, that I would wager you ten Napoleons that we are not more than +four or five miles from the _chateau_ at this moment." + +"_Pas si bAªte, mon cher._ I am not fool enough to put my precious Naps +in jeopardy, just when I am so deucedly in want of them, too. But a +truce to this nonsense. Do you know, Ernest, seriously speaking, I am +beginning to think we are great fools for our pains, running our heads +into a perilous adventure, with the almost certainty of a severe +reprimand from the general, which, I think, even your filial +protestations will scarcely save you from, if ever we return alive; and +merely to see, what, I dare say, after all, will turn out to be only a +pretty face." + +"What!--already faint-hearted!--A miracle of beauty such as Darville +described is well worth periling one's neck to gaze upon. Besides, is +not that our vocation?--and as for reprimands, if you got one as often +as I do, you would soon find out that those things are nothing when one +is used to them." + +"A miracle!--ah, bah! It was the romance of the scene, and the artful +grace of the costume, which fascinated his eyes." + +"No, no! be just. Recollect that it was not Darville alone, but +Delavigne; and even that _connoisseur_ in female beauty, Monbreton +himself, difficult as he is, declared that she was perfect. She must be +a wonder, indeed, when he could find no fault with her." + +"Be it so. I warn you beforehand that I am fully prepared to be +disappointed. However, as we are so far embarked in the affair, I +suppose we must accomplish it." + +"Most assuredly, unless you wish to be the laughing-stock of the whole +regiment for the next month; for notwithstanding Darville's boasted +powers of discretion, half the subalterns, no doubt, are in possession +of the secret of our _escapade_ by this time." + +"Well, then, Ernest, as we are launched on this wise expedition, let me +sermonise a small portion of prudence into that most giddy brain of +yours. Remember that, after all, if those ruthless Spaniards were to +discover the trick we are playing them, they would probably make us pay +rather too dearly for the frolic. In short, Ernest, I am very much +afraid that your _A(C)tourderie_ will let the light rather too soon into +the thick skulls of those magnificent hidalgos." + +"Preach away--I listen in all humility." + +"Ernest, Ernest, I give you up; you are incorrigible!" rejoined the +other, turning away to hide the laugh which the irresistibly comic +expression his friend threw into his countenance had excited. + +And who were the speakers of this short dialogue? Two dashing, +spirited-looking young men, who, at the close of it, reined in their +steeds, in the dilemma of not knowing where to direct them. Theirs was, +indeed, a wild-goose chase. Their _Chateau en Espagne_ seemed invisible, +as such _chateaux_ usually are; and where it might be found, who was +there to tell?--Not one. The scene was a desert--not even a bird +animated it; and just before them branched out three roads from the one +they had hitherto confidently pursued. + +After a moment's silence, the cavaliers both burst into a gay laugh. + +"Here's a puzzle, Alphonse!" said the one. "Which of the three roads do +you opine?" + +"The left, by all means," replied the other; "I generally find it leads +me right." + +"But if it shouldn't now?" + +"Why, then, it only leads us wrong." + +"But I don't choose to go wrong." + +"And what have you been doing ever since you set out?" + +"True; but as we are far enough now from that point, we must e'en make +the best of the bad." + +"Well, why don't you?" + +"Why, if one only knew which was the best." + +At this moment the tinkling of a mule's bells, mingled with the song of +the muleteer, came on the air. + +"Hist! here comes counsel," exclaimed the young man whom the other named +Ernest. "Holla, seA+-or hidalgo! do you know the castle of the Conde di +Miranda?" + +"Yes." + +"Where is it?" + +"Where it was." + +"Near?" + +"That's as one finds it." + +"And how shall we find it?" + +"By reaching it." + +"Come, come, hidalgo mio." + +"I'm no hidalgo," said the man roughly. + +"But you ought to be. I've seen many less deserving of it," resumed the +traveller. + +"I dare say," retorted the muleteer. + +"If you'll conduct us within view of the castle you shall be rewarded." + +"As I should well deserve." + +"Ah, your deserts may be greater than our purse." + +But the man moved on. + +"Halte-lA , friend! I like your company so well that I must have it a +little longer." And the officer pulled out a pistol. "Will you, or will +you not, guide us to the castle of the Conde?" + +"I will," gruffly replied the man, with a look which showed that he was +sorry to be forced to choose the second alternative. + +"Can we trust this fellow?" said the younger officer to the elder. + +"No--but we can ourselves; and keep a sharp look-out." + +"Besides, I shall give him a hint. Hidalgo mio----" he began. + +"SeA+-or _Franzese_," interrupted the muleteer. + +"What puts that into your head, hidalgo? _Franzese_,--why, Don Felix y +Cortos, y Sargas, y Nos, y Tierras, y, y,--don't you know an Englishman +when you see him?" + +"Yes," muttered the Spaniard--"Yes, and a Frenchman, too." + +"No, you don't, for here's the proof. Why, what are we, but English +officers, carrying despatches to your Conde from our General?" + +The muleteer looked doubtingly. + +"Why, do you suppose Frenchmen would trust themselves amongst such a set +of"-- + +"Patriots." Exclaimed the other stranger, hastily. + +"All I say;" observed the man drily, "is, that if you are friends of the +Conde, he will treat you as you deserve. If enemies, the same. So, +backward." + +"Onward, you mean." + +"Ay, for me; but not for you, seA+-ores, you have left the castle a mile +to the left." + +"I guessed right, you see," said Alphonse, "when I guessed left." + +The muleteer passed on, and the horsemen followed. + +"I say, hidalgo mio," called out Ernest, "what sort of a don is this +same Conde?" + +"As how?" inquired the muleteer. + +"Is he rich?" + +"Yes." + +"Proud?" + +"Yes." + +"Old?" + +"No." + +"Has he a wife?" + +"No." + +"Has he children?" + +"No." + +"No!" exclaimed the cavalier with surprise. "No child!" + +"You said children, seA+-or." + +"He has a child, then?" + +"Yes." + +"A son?" + +"No." + +"A daughter?" + +"Yes." + +"Why, yes and no seems all you have got to say." + +"It seems to answer all you have got to ask, seA+-or." + +"Is the DoA+-a very handsome?" interrupted Alphonse, impatiently. + +"Yes and no, according to taste," replied the muleteer. + +"He laughs at us," whispered Ernest in French. The conversation with the +muleteer had been, thus far, carried on in Spanish--which Ernest spoke +fairly enough. But the observation he thoughtlessly uttered in French +seemed to excite the peasant's attention. + +"Do you speak English?" asked Ernest. + +"Yes," was the reply, in English. "Do you?" + +"Me English? ab course. Speak well English," replied Ernest, in the true +Gallic-idiom. Then relapsing into the more familiar tongue, he added, +"But in Spain I speak Spanish." + +By this time the trio had arrived within view of a large castellated +building, whose ancient towers, glowing in the last rays of the setting +sun, rose majestically from the midst of groves of dark cypress and +myrtle which surrounded it. + +The muleteer stopped. "There, seA+-ores," he said, "stands the castle of +the Conde. Half-a-mile further on lies the town of R----, to which, +seA+-ores," he added, with a sarcastic smile, "you can proceed, should you +not find it convenient to remain at the _Castello_. And now, I presume, +as I have guided you so far right, you will suffer me to resume my own +direction." + +"Yes, as there seems no possibility of making any more mistakes on our +way, you are free," replied the gravest of the two. "But stop one moment +yet, _amigo_," and he pointed to a cross-road which, a little further +on, diverged from the _camino real_, "where does that lead to?" + +"Amigo!" muttered the man between his teeth, "say _enemigo_ rather!" + +"An answer to my question, _villano_," said the young Frenchman, +haughtily--while his hand instinctively groped for the hilt of his +sword. + +"To R----," replied the man, as he turned silently and sullenly to +retrace his steps. + +"Holla, there!" Ernest called out; "you have forgotten your money;" and +he held out a purse, but the man was gone. "_Va donc, et que le diable +t'emporte, brutal!_" added Ernest de Lucenay; taking good care, however, +this time, that the ebullition of his feelings was not loud enough to +reach the ears of the retreating peasant. "Confound it! I would rather +follow the track of a tiger through the pathless depth of an Indian +jungle alone, than be led by such a savage _cicerone_." + +"Never mind the fellow; we have more than enough to think of in our own +affairs," exclaimed his friend, impatiently. "Let us stop here a moment +and consult, before we proceed any further. One thing is evident, at all +events, that we must contrive to disguise ourselves better if we wish to +pass for any thing but Frenchmen. With my knowledge of the English +language, and acquaintance with their manners and habits, trifling as it +is, I am perfectly certain of imposing on the Spaniards, without any +difficulty; but you will as certainly cause a blow up, unless you manage +to alter your whole style and appearance. I daresay you have forgotten +all my instructions already." + +"Bah! Alphonse. Let me alone for puzzling the dons; I'll be as complete +a _Goddam_ in five minutes as any stick you ever saw, I warrant you." + +"Nothing can appear more perfectly un-English than you do at present. +That _A(C)veillA(C)_ look of yours is the very devil;" and Alphonse shook his +head, despondingly. + +"Incredulous animal! just hold Nero for five minutes, and you shall have +ocular demonstration of my powers of acting. _Parbleu!_ you shall see +that I can be solemn and awkward enough to frighten half the _petites +maA(R)tresses_ of Paris into the vapours." And, so saying, De Lucenay +sprang from his saddle, and consigning the bridle into his friend's +hands, ran towards a little brook, which trickled through the grass at a +short distance from the roadside; but not before he had made his friend +promise to abstain from casting any profane glances on his toilet till +it was accomplished. + +Wisely resolving to avoid temptation, Alphonse turned away, when, to his +surprise, he perceived the muleteer halting on a rising ground at a +little distance. "By Jove! that insolent dog has been watching us. +Scoundrel, will you move on?" he exclaimed in French, raising his voice +angrily, when, suddenly recollecting himself, he terminated the +unfinished phrase by "_Sigue tu camin! Picaro! Bribon!_" while he shook +his pistol menacingly at the man's head--a threat which did not seem to +intimidate him much, for, though he resumed his journey, his rich +sonorous voice burst triumphantly forth into one of the patriotic songs; +and long after he had disappeared from their eyes, the usual +_ritournelle_, "_Viva_ Fernando! _Muera_ Napoleon!" rang upon the air. + +This short interval had more than sufficed for De Lucenay's mysterious +operations. And before his friend was tired of fuming and sacreing +against Spain and Spaniards, Ernest tapped him on the shoulder, and for +once both the young officer's anger and habitual gravity vanished in an +uncontrollable fit of laughter. "By Jupiter! it is incredible," he +gasped forth, as soon as returning breath would allow him to speak: +while Ernest stood silently enjoying his surprise. + +"Well, what think you? It will do, will it not? Are you still in fear of +a _fiasco_?" + +"Nay! My only fear now is, that the pupil will eclipse the master, and +that the more shining light of your talents will cast mine utterly into +the shade. By heavens! the transformation is inimitable. Your own father +would not know you." + +"He would not be the only one in such an unhappy case, then." + +Nothing certainly could have been more absurd than the complete +metamorphosis which, in those few moments, De Lucenay had contrived to +make in his appearance. With the aid of a little fresh water from the +rivulet, he had managed to reduce the rich curly locks of his chesnut +hair to an almost Quaker flatness; the shirt collar, which had been +turned down, was now drawn up to his cheek-bones, and with his hat +placed perpendicularly on the crown of his head, one arm crossed under +the tails of his coat, and the other balancing his whip, its handle +resting on his lips, the corners of which were drawn puritanically down, +and his half-closed eyes staring vacantly on the points of his boots, he +stood the living picture of an automaton. + +"Well, would you not swear that I was a regular _boule-dog Anglais_?" +exclaimed Earnest, stalking up and down for his friend's inspection, +while he rounded his shoulders, and carried his chin in the air, in +order to increase the resemblance. + +"Excellent!--only not so much _laisser aller_; a little more stiff--more +drawn up! That will do--oh, it's perfect!" And again Alphonse burst into +a peal of laughter, in which De Lucenay, notwithstanding his +newly-assumed gravity, could not refrain from joining. + +"Let me see,--That coat fits a great deal too well, too close. We must +rip out some of the wadding, just to let it make a few wrinkles; it +ought to hang quite loosely, in order to be in character." + +"Gently, _mon cher_!" interposed De Lucenay, as his friend drew out a +pen-knife. "To satisfy you, I have injured the sit of my cravat, I have +hidden the classic contour of my neck, I have destroyed the +AntinA¶us-like effect of my _coiffure_--those curls which were the +despair of all my rivals in conquest--I have consented to look like a +wretch impaled, and thus renounce all the _bonnes fortunes_ that awaited +me during the next four-and-twenty hours; and now you venture to +propose, with the coolest audacity, that I should crown all these +sacrifices by utterly destroying the symmetry of my figure. No, no, _mon +cher_! that is too much; cut yourself up as you please, but spare your +friend." + +"_Vive Dieu!_" laughed Alphonse. "It is lucky that you have absorbed +such an unreasonable proportion of vanity that you have left none for +me. To spare the acuteness of your feelings, I will be the victim. Here +goes!" And, so saying, he ripped up the lining of his coat, and +scattered a few handfuls of wadding to the winds. "Will that do?" + +"Oh, capitally! I would rather you wore it than me; it has as many +wrinkles as St Marceau's forehead." + +"Forward, then, _et vogue la galA"re!_" exclaimed Alphonse, as De +Lucenay vaulted into his saddle, and the cavaliers spurred on their +horses to a rapid canter. + +"_Apropos!_" exclaimed De Lucenay, as they approached the castle; "we +ought to lay our plans, and make a proper arrangement beforehand, like +honest, sociable brothers-in-arms; it would never do to stand in each +other's light, and mar our mutual hopes of success by cutting each +others' throats for the sake of the _bella_." + +"Oh, as for me, you are welcome to all my interest in the DoA+-a's heart +beforehand; for I never felt less disposed to fall in love than I do at +present." + +"You are delightful in theory, _caro mio_; but as your practice might be +somewhat different, suppose we make a little compact, upon fair terms, +viz., that the choice is to depend on the seA+-ora herself; that whoever +she distinguishes, the other is to relinquish his claims at once, and +thenceforth devote all his energies to the assistance of his friend. We +cannot both carry her off, you know; so it is just as well to settle all +these little particulars in good time." + +"Oh! as you please. I am quite willing to sign and seal any compact that +will set your mind at rest; though, for my part, I declare off +beforehand." + +"Well, then, it is a done thing; give me your hand on it. _Parole +d'honneur!_" said De Lucenay, stretching out his. + +"_Parole d'honneur_," returned his friend, with a smile. + +"But to return to the elopement"-- + +"Gad! How you fly on! There will be two words to that part of the story, +I suspect. DoA+-a Inez will probably not be quite so easily charmed as our +dear little _grisettes_; and she must be consulted, I suppose; unless, +indeed, you intend to carry the fort by storm; the current of your love +nay not flow as smoothly as you expect." + +"Oh, as for that, leave it to me. Spanish women have too good a taste, +and we Frenchmen are too irresistible to leave me any fears on that +score; besides, she must be devilishly difficult if neither of us suit +her. You are dark, and I fair--you are pensive, and I gay--you poetic, +and I witty. The deuce is in it, if she does not fall in love with +either one or other! + +"Add to which, the private reservation, no doubt, that if she has one +atom of discernment, it is a certain _volage_, giddy, young aide-de-camp +that she will select." + +"Why, if I had but fair play; but as my tongue will not be allowed to +shine, I must leave the captivation part to my _yeux doux_. Who knows, +though?"---- + +"Oh, _vanitas vanitatum!_" exclaimed Alphonse, with a laugh. + +"I might say the same of a certain rebellious aristocrat, who lays claim +to the euphonious patronymic of La Tour d'Auvergne, with a pedigree that +dates from the Flood, and a string of musty ancestors who might put the +patriarchs to the blush; but I am more generous;" and De Lucenay began +carelessly to hum a few bars of La Carmagnole. + +"Softly!" said his more prudent friend. "We are drawing near the +chateau, and you might as well wear a cockade _tricolor_ as let them +hear that." + +It was an antique, half-Gothic, half-Saracenic looking edifice, which +they now approached. A range of light arcades, whose delicate columns, +wreathed round with the most graceful foliage, seemed almost too slight +to sustain the massive structure which rose above them, surrounded the +_pian terreno_. Long tiers of pointed windows, mingled with exquisite +fretwork, and one colossal balcony, with a rich crimson awning, +completed the faASec.ade. Beneath the _portico_, numbers of servants and +retainers were lounging about, enjoying the _fresco_. Some, stretched +out at full length on the marble benches that lined the open arcades, +were fast asleep; others, seated _A la Turque_ upon the ground, were +busily engaged in a noisy game of cards. But the largest group of all +had collected round a handsome Moorish-looking Andalusian, who, leaning +against the wall, was lazily rasping the chords of a guitar that was +slung over his shoulder, while he sang one of those charming little +Tiranas, to which he _improvised_ the usual nonsense words as he +proceeded; anon the deep mellow voices of his auditory would mingle +with the "_Ay de mi chaira mia! Luz de mi alma!_" &c. of the +_ritournelle_, and then again the soft deep tones of the Andalusian rang +alone upon the air. + +As no one seemed to heed their approach, the two young men stood for a +few moments in silence, listening delightedly to the music, which now +melted into the softer strain of a Seguidilla, now brightened into the +more brilliant measure of a Bolero. Suddenly, in the midst of it, the +singer broke off, and springing on his feet as if inspired, he dashed +his hands across the strings. Like an electric shock, the well-known +chords of the Tragala aroused his hearers--every one crowded round the +singer. The players threw down their cards, the loungers stood +immovable, even the sleepers started into life; and all chorusing in +enthusiastically, a burst of melody arose of which no one unacquainted +with the rich and thrilling harmony peculiar to Spanish voices, can form +an idea. + +"Ernest," said La Tour d'Auvergne in a whisper, "we shall never conquer +such a people: Napoleon himself cannot do it." + +"Perhaps," replied his friend in the same tone. "They are desperately +national; it will be tough work, at all events. But, come on; as the +song is finished, we have some chance of making ourselves heard now." +And De Lucenay spurred his horse up to the entrance. At their repeated +calls for attendance, two or three servants hastened out of the +vestibule and held their horses as they dismounted. They became +infinitely more attentive, however, on hearing that the strangers were +English officers, the bearers of dispatches to their master; and a dark +Figaro-looking laquey, in whose lively roguish countenance the Frenchmen +would have had no difficulty in recognising a Biscayan, even without the +aid of his national and picturesque costume, offered to usher them into +the presence of the Conde. + +Their guide led the way through the long and lofty vestibule, which +opened on a superb marble colonnade that encircled the patio or court, +in the centre of which two antique and richly-sculptured fountains were +casting up their glittering _jets-d'eau_ in the proscribed form of +_fleurs-de-lis_, to be received again in two wide porphyry basins. +Traversing the _patio_, they ascended a fine marble staircase, from the +first flight of which branched off several suites of apartments. Taking +the one to the right, the young men had full leisure to observe the +splendour that surrounded them, as they slowly followed their conductor +from one long line of magnificent rooms into another. Notwithstanding +many modern alterations, the character of the whole building was too +evidently Eastern to admit a doubt as to its Moorish origin. Every where +the most precious marbles, agates, and lapis-lazuli, oriental jasper, +porphyry of every variety, dazzled the eye. In the centre of many of the +rooms there played a small fountain; in others there were four, one in +each angle. Large divans of the richest crimson and violet brocades +lined the walls, while ample curtains of the same served in lieu of +doors. But what particularly struck the friends was the brilliant beauty +of the arabesques that covered the ceilings, and the exquisite +chiselling of the cornices, and the framework of the windows. + +"The palace is beautiful, is it not?" said the Biscayan, as he perceived +the admiring glances they cast around them. "It ought to be, for it was +one of the summer dwellings of _il rey Moro_; and those _ereticos +malditos_ cared but little what treasures they lavished on their +pleasures. It came into my master's possession as a descendant of the +Cid, to whom it was given as a guerdon for his services." + +"What a numerous progeny that famous hero must have had! He was a +wonderful man!" exclaimed De Lucenay, with extreme gravity. + +"_Si, seA+-or--un hombre maravilloso en verdad_," replied the Spaniard, +whom, notwithstanding his natural acuteness, the seriousness of De +Lucenay's manner and countenance had prevented from discovering the +irony of his words. "But now seA+-ores," he continued, as they reached a +golden tissue-draped door, "we are arrived. The next room is the +_comedor_, where the family are at supper." + +"Then, perhaps, we had better wait a while. We would not wish to +disturb them." + +"Oh, by no means! The Conde would be furious if you were kept waiting an +instant. The English are great favourites of his. Besides, they must +have finished by this time." And raising the curtain, they entered an +immense frescoed hall, which was divided in the centre by a sort of +transparent partition of white marble, some fourteen or fifteen feet in +height, so delicately pierced and chiseled, that it resembled lace-work +much more than stone. A pointed doorway, supported by twisted columns, +as elaborately carved and ornamented as the rest, opened into the upper +part of the hall, which was elevated a step higher. In the centre of +this, a table was superbly laid out with a service of massive gold; +while the fumes of the viands was entirely overpowered by the heavy +perfume of the colossal _bouquets_ of flowers which stood in sculptured +silver and gold vases on the plateau. Around the table were seated about +twenty persons, amongst whom the usual sprinkling of _sacerdotes_ was +not wanting. A stern, but noble-looking man sat at the upper end of the +table, and seemed to do the honours to the rest of the company. + +The Conde--for it was he--rose immediately on receiving the message +which the young officers had sent in; while they waited its answer in +the oriel window, being unwilling to break in so unceremoniously upon a +party which seemed so much larger, and more formal, than any they had +been prepared to meet. Their host received them most courteously as they +presented their credentials--namely, a letter from the English general, +Wilson, who commanded the forces stationed at the city of S----, about +sixty miles distant from the chateau. As the Conde ran his glance over +its contents,--in which the general informed him that within three or +four days he would reach R----, when he intended to avail himself of the +Conde's often proffered hospitality, till when he recommended his two +aides-de-camp to his kindness,--the politeness of their welcome changed +to the most friendly cordiality. + +"SeA+-ores," he said, "I am most grateful to his excellency for the favour +he has conferred on me, in choosing my house during his stay here. I +feel proud and happy to shelter beneath my roof any of our valued and +brave allies.--But you must have had a hard day's ride of it, I should +think." + +"Why, yes, it was a tolerable morning's work," replied De Lucenay, who +felt none of Alphonse's embarrassment. + +"Pablo, place seats for their excellencies," said the Conde to one of +the domestics who stood around; while he motioned to the _soi-disant_ +Englishmen to enter the supper-room, in which the clatter of tongues and +plates had sensibly diminished, ever since the commencement of the +mysterious conference which had been taking place beyond its precincts. +"You must be greatly in want of some refreshment, for the wretched +posadas on the road cannot have offered you any thing eatable." + +"They were not very tempting, certainly; however, we are pretty well +used to them by this time," replied De Lucenay. "But, SeA+-or Conde, +really we are scarcely presentable in such a company," he added, as he +looked down on his dust-covered boots and dress. + +"What matter? You must not be so ceremonious with us; you cannot be +expected to come off a journey as if you had just emerged from a lady's +boudoir," answered the Conde with a smile. "Besides, these are only a +few intimate friends who have assembled to celebrate my daughter's +fAªte-day." And, so saying, he led them up to the table, and presented +them to the circle as Lord Beauclerc and Sir Edward Trevor, +aides-de-camp to General Wilson. "And now," he added, "I must introduce +you to the lady of the castle; my daughter, DoA+-a Inez;" and turning to a +slight elegant-looking girl, who might have been about sixteen or +seventeen, he said--"_Mi queridita_, these gentlemen have brought me the +welcome news that our friend the English general will be here in three +or four days at the latest; the corps will be quartered in the +neighbourhood, but the general and his aides-de-camp will reside with +us. Therefore, as they are likely to remain some time, we must all do +our utmost to render their stay amongst us as agreeable to them as +possible." + +"I shall be most happy to contribute to it as far as it is in my slight +power," replied DoA+-a Inez in a low sweet voice, while she raised her +large lustrous eyes to those of Alphonse, which for the last five +minutes had been gazing as if transfixed upon her beautiful countenance. + +Starting as if from a dream, he stammered out, "SeA+-orita, I----I----," +when fortunately De Lucenay came to his assistance, with one of those +little well-turned flattering speeches for which French tact is so +unrivalled; and as the company politely made room for them, they seated +themselves beside her. + +"Don Fernando," said the Conde to a haughty, grave-looking man, who sat +next to De Lucenay, while he resumed his place at the head of the table, +"you and Inez, I trust, will take care of our new friends. _Pobrecitos_, +they must be half famished by their day's expedition, and this late +hour." + +But the recommendation was superfluous; every one vied with his +neighbour in attending to the two strangers, who, on their part, were +much more intent on contemplating the fair mistress of the mansion, than +on doing honour to the profusion of _friandises_ that were piled before +them. + +DoA+-a Inez was indeed beautiful, beyond the usual measure of female +loveliness: imagination could not enhance, nor description give an idea +of the charm that fascinated all those who gazed upon her: features cast +in the most classic mould--a complexion that looked as if no southern +sun had ever smiled on it. But the eyes!--the large, dark, liquid orbs, +whose glance would now seem almost dazzling in its excessive brightness, +and now melted into all the softness of Oriental languor, as the long, +gloomy Circassian lashes drooped over them! As Alphonse looked upon her, +he could have almost fancied himself transported to Mohammed's paradise, +and taken the Spanish maiden for a houri; but that there was a soul in +those magnificent eyes--a nobleness in the white and lofty brow--a +dignity in the calm and pensive calmness, which spoke of higher and +better things. + +But if her appearance enchanted him, her manners were not less winning; +unembarrassed and unaffected, her graceful and natural ease in a few +moments contrived to make them feel as much at home as another would +have done in as many hours. Much to the young Frenchmen's regret, +however, they were not long allowed to enjoy their _apartA(C)_ in quiet; +for a thin sallow-looking priest, whom DoA+-a Inez had already designated +to them as the _Padre Confessor_, interrupted them in a few minutes, and +the conversation became general. + +"It is a great satisfaction to us all to see you here, seA+-ores," he +said. "First, as it procures us the pleasure of becoming personally +acquainted with our good friends and allies the English; and, secondly, +as a guarantee that we are not likely to have our sight polluted by any +of those sacrilegious demons the French, while you are amongst us." + +"_Gracias a Dios!_" energetically rejoined the _cappellan_--a fat, rosy, +good-humoured looking old man, the very antipodes of his grim +_confrA"re_. "The saints preserve me from ever setting eyes on them +again! You must know, seA+-ores, that some six weeks ago I had gone to +collect some small sums due to the convent, and was returning quietly +home with a lay brother, when I had the misfortune to fall in with a +troop of those sons of Belial, whom I thought at least a hundred miles +off. Would you believe it, seA+-ores! without any respect for my religious +habit, the impious dogs laid violent hands on me; laughed in my face +when I told them I was almoner to the holy community of Sancta Maria de +los Dolores; and vowing that they were sure that my frock was well +lined, actually forced me to strip to the skin, in order to despoil me +of the treasure of the Church! Luckily, however the Holy Virgin had +inspired me to hide it in the mule's saddle-girths, and so, the zechins +escaped their greedy fangs. But I had enough of the fright; it laid me +up for a week. Misericordia! what a set of cut-throat, hideous-looking +ruffians! I thought I should never come alive out of their hands!" + +"_Jesus!_" exclaimed a handsome bronzed-looking Castilian, whom De +Lucenay had heard addressed as DoA+-a Encarnacion de Almoceres; "are they +really so wicked and so frightful?" + +"Without doubt; true demons incarnate," replied the veracious priest. + +"Come, come, _reverendissimo padre_; you are too hard upon the poor +devils: I have seen a good-looking fellow amongst them, now and then." + +"_Bondad sua, seA+-or_, I'll be sworn there is not one fit to tie the +latchet of your shoe in the whole army." + +"Yet how strange, then," recommenced DoA+-a Encarnacion, "the infatuation +they excite! I am told that it is inconceivable the numbers of young +girls, from sixteen and upwards, who have abandoned their homes and +families to follow these brigands. Their want of mature years and +understanding," she continued, with a significant glance at DoA+-a +Inez--her indignation having been gradually aroused as she perceived the +admiration lavished on her by the strangers, and the indifference with +which they viewed her riper charms,--"may be one reason; but if the +French are so unattractive, such madness is inexplicable." + +"Arts, unholy arts all!" cried the Confessor. "Their damnable practices +are the cause of it. They rob the damsels of their senses, with their +infernal potions and elixirs. The wretches are in league with the +devil." + +"Assuredly," replied Don Fernando, gravely, "you must be right. No woman +in her senses would condescend to look at those insignificant triflers, +while a single _caballero_ of the true old type is to be found on +Spanish soil;" and he drew himself still more stiffly up. + +"The Holy Virgin defend me from their snares!" fervently ejaculated a +thin wrinkled old woman, who until then might easily have been mistaken +for a mummy, casting her eye up to heaven, and crossing herself with the +utmost devotion. + +A suppressed laugh spread its contagious influence all round the table. + +"DoA+-a Estefania, have no fear; you possess an infallible preservative," +exclaimed the cappellan. + +"And what may that be?" responded the antiquated fair, somewhat sharply. + +"Your piety and virtue, seA+-ora," rejoined the merry _cappellano_, with a +roguish smile, which was not lost on the rest of the company, though it +evidently escaped the obtuser perceptions of DoA+-a Estefania; for drawing +her mantilla gracefully around her, and composing her parched visage +into a look of modesty, she answered in a softened tone, while she waved +her _abanico_ timidly before her face, "Ah, _Padre Anselmo!_ you are too +partial; you flatter me!" + +This was too much for the risible faculties of the audience; even the +grim Don Fernando's imperturbable mustache relaxed into a smile; while +to avert the burst of laughter which seemed on the point of exploding on +all sides, DoA+-a Inez interrupted---- + +"But, seA+-ora, I should hope there is much falsehood and exaggeration in +the reports you allude to. I trust there are few, if any, Spanish +maidens capable of so forgetting what is due to themselves and to their +country." + +"Nevertheless, the contrary is the case," replied DoA+-a Encarnacion, with +asperity. + +"Oh! no no--it cannot be! I will not believe it; it is calumnious--it is +impossible! What being, with one drop of Spanish blood within their +veins, would be so debased as to follow the invaders of their country, +the destroyers, the despoilers of their own land?" DoA+-a Inez, led away +by her own enthusiasm, coloured deeply, while DoA+-a Encarnacion seemed on +the point of making an angry retort, when the count gave the signal to +rise. The rest followed his example, and the Conde led the young +Frenchmen to a window, where he conversed a little with them, asked many +questions about the forces, about the general who was to be their +inmate, &c.--to all which De Lucenay's ready wit and inimitable _sang +froid_ furnished him with suitable and unhesitating replies. The Conde +then concluded with the information, that as there was to be rather a +larger tertulia than usual that evening, perhaps they would wish to make +some alteration in their dress before the company arrived. + +The officers gladly availed themselves of the permission, and followed +the maggior-domo up a massive flight of stairs, into a handsome suite of +three or four rooms, assigned entirely to their use. After having +promenaded them through the whole extent of their new domicile, the +maggior-domo retired, leaving them to the attendance of their former +guide, Pedro, who was deputed to serve them in the capacity of +_valet-de-chambre_. + +The young men were astonished at the magnificence of all that met their +eyes: walls covered with the finest tapestry; ewers and goblets of +chased and solid silver; even to the quilts and canopies of the bed, +stiff with gold embroidery. But they were too much absorbed by the +charms of the Conde's daughter, and too anxious to return to the centre +of attraction, to waste much time in admiring the splendour of their +quarters. + +"How beautiful DoA+-a Inez is!" said De Lucenay, as, in spite of all +prudential considerations, he tried to force his glossy locks to resume +a less sober fashion. "She must have many admirers, I should think?" + +"By the dozen," answered the Spaniard. "She is the pearl of Andalusia; +there is not a noble _caballero_ in the whole province that would not +sell his soul to obtain a smile from her." + +"And who are the favoured ones at present?" + +"Oh, she favours none; she is too proud to cast a look on any of them: +yet there are four hidalgos on the ranks at present, not one of whom the +haughtiest lady in Spain need disdain. Don Alvar de Mendoce, especially, +is a cavalier whose birth and wealth would entitle him to any thing +short of royalty; not to speak of the handsomest face, the finest +figure, and the sweetest voice for a serenade, of any within his most +Catholic Majesty's dominions." + +"And is it possible that the DoA+-a can be obdurate to such irresistible +attractions?" + +Pedro shrugged his shoulders. "Why, she has not absolutely refused him, +for the Conde favours his suit; but she vows she will not grant him a +thought till he has won his spurs, and proved his patriotism, by sending +at least a dozen of those French dogs to their father Satanasso." + +"A capital way to rid one's-self of a bore!" exclaimed De Lucenay, while +he cast a last glance at the glass. "So you are ready, milor," he added, +turning to his friend, who, notwithstanding his indifference, had spent +quite as much time in adonising himself. And, Pedro preceding them, the +young men gaily descended the stairs. + +On entering the _salon_, they found several groups already assembled. +DoA+-a Inez was standing speaking to two or three ladies; while several +cavaliers hovered round them, apparently delighted at every word that +fell from her lips. She disengaged herself from her circle, however, on +perceiving them, and gradually approached the window to which they had +retreated. + +"What a lovely evening!" she exclaimed, stepping out upon the balcony, +on which the moon shone full, casting a flood of soft mellow light on +the sculptured faASec.ade of the old castle, tipping its forest of tapering +pinnacles and the towering summits of the dark cypresses with silver. +"You do not see such starlit skies in England, I believe?" + +"I have enjoyed many a delightful night in my own country, seA+-ora, and +in others, but such a night as this, never--not even in Spain!" answered +Alphonse, fixing his expressive eyes on her with a meaning not to be +mistaken. + +"What a pity it is that we cannot import a few of these soft moonlights +to our own chilly clime, for the benefit of all lovers, past, present, +and future!" said De Lucenay gaily. "It is so much pleasanter to make +love in a serenade, with the shadow of some kind projecting buttress to +hide one's blushes, a pathetic sonnet to express one's feelings +infinitely more eloquently than one can in prose, moonlight and a guitar +to cast a shade of romance over the whole, and a moat or river in view +to terrify the lady into reason, if necessary--instead of making a +formal declaration in the broad daylight, looking rather more _bAªte_ +than one has ever looked before, with the uncharitable sun giving a +deeper glow to one's already crimson countenance. Or, worse still, if +one is compelled to torture one's-self for an hour or two over unlucky +_billet-doux_, destined to divert the lady and all her confidants for +the next six months. Oh! _evviva_, the Spanish mode--nothing like it, to +my taste, in the world!" + +"_Misericordia!_" exclaimed DoA+-a Inez with a laugh, "you are quite +eloquent on the subject, seA+-or. But I should hope, for their sakes, that +your delineation of lovers in England is not a very faithful one." + +"To the life, on my honour." + +"Probably they do not devote quite as much time to it as our +_caballeros_, who are quite adepts in the science." + +"Don Alvar de Mendoce, for example," muttered Alphonse, between his +teeth. + +"What! where?" cried the young girl, in an agitated tone; "who mentioned +Don Alvar? Did you? But no--impossible!" she added hurriedly. + +"I?" exclaimed Alphonse, with an air of surprise--"I did not speak. But, +_pardon_, seA+-ora! is not the cavalier you have just named, your +brother?" + +"No, seA+-or--I have no brother: that _caballero_, he is only a----a +friend of my father's," she answered confusedly. + +"Oh! excuse me," said Alphonse, with the most innocent air imaginable; +"I thought you had." + +There was a moment's pause, and DoA+-a Inez returned into the saloon, +which was now beginning rapidly to fill. + +"I am afraid I must leave you, seA+-ores; the dancing is about to +commence," she said, "and I must go and speak to some young friends of +mine who have just come in. But first let me induce you to select some +partners." + +"I did not know it was customary to dance at tertulias," observed +Ernest. + +"Not in general, but to-night it is augmented into a little ball, in +honour of its being my _dia de cumpleaA+-os_. But come, look round the +room, and choose for yourselves. Whom shall I take you up to?" + +"May I not have the pleasure of dancing with DoA+-a Inez herself?" said De +Lucenay. + +"Ah no! I would not inflict so _triste_ a partner on you: I must find +you a more lively companion." And as if to prevent the compliment that +was hovering on Ernest's lips, she hurried on, while she pointed out a +group that was seated near the door. "There! what do you think of DoA+-a +Juana de Zayas? the liveliest, prettiest, and most remorseless coquette +of all Andalusia; for whose bright eyes more hearts and heads have been +broken than I could enumerate, or you would have patience to listen to." + +"What! that sparkling-looking brunette, who flutters her _abanico_ with +such inimitable grace?" + +"The same." + +"Oh! present me by all means." + +"And you, seA+-or," said DoA+-a Inez, returning with more interest to +Alphonse, who had stood silently leaning against a column, while she +walked his friend across the room, and seated him beside DoA+-a Juana, +"will you be satisfied with DoA+-a Mercedes, who is almost as much admired +as her sister; or shall we look further?" + +"But you, so formed to shine--to eclipse all others--do you never dance, +seA+-orita?" + +"Seldom or ever," she replied sadly. "I have no spirit for enjoyment +now!" + +"But wherefore? Can there be a cloud to dim the happiness of one so +bright--so beautiful?" he answered, lowering his voice almost to a +whisper. + +"Alas!" she said, touched by the tone of interest with which he had +spoken,--"is there not cause enough for sadness in the misfortunes of my +beloved country; each day, each hour producing some fresh calamity? Who +can be gay when we see our native land ravaged, our friends driven from +their homes; when we know not how soon we may be banished from our own?" + +"Deeply--sincerely do I sympathise with, and honour your feelings; but +yet, for once, banish care, and let us enjoy the present hour like the +rest." + +"Indeed, I should prove a bad _danseuse_; it is so long since I have +danced, that I am afraid I have almost forgotten how." + +"But as I fear nothing except ill success, let me entreat." + +"No, no--I will provide you with a better partner." + +"Nay, if DoA+-a Inez will not favour me, I renounce dancing, not only for +to-night, but for ever." + +"Oh! well then, to save you from such a melancholy sacrifice, I suppose +I must consent," replied DoA+-a Inez with a laugh: and as the music now +gave the signal to commence, she accepted his proffered arm; and in a +few moments she was whirling round the circle as swiftly as the gayest +of the throng. The first turn of the waltz sufficed to convince Alphonse +that his fears on one score, at least, were groundless; for he had never +met with a lighter or more admirable _valseuse_--a pleasure that none +but a good waltzer can appreciate, and which, notwithstanding all her +other attractions, was not lost upon the young Frenchman; and before the +termination of the waltz, he had decided that DoA+-a Inez was assuredly +the most fascinating, as she was undoubtedly the most beautiful, being +he had ever beheld. + +"_Santa Virgen!_" exclaimed De Lucenay's lively partner, after a +moment's silence, which both had very profitably employed; he, in +admiring her pretty countenance, and she in watching the somewhat +earnest conversation that was kept up between the French officer and +DoA+-a Inez, as they reposed themselves on a divan after the fatigues of +the waltz. "It seems to me that our proud Inesilla and your friend are +very well satisfied with each other. I wonder if Don Alvar would be as +well pleased, if he saw them. _Grandios!_ there he is, I declare!" + +Instinctively De Lucenay's eyes followed the direction of hers, and +lighted on a tall striking-looking cavalier, whose handsome features +were contracted into a dark frown, while he stood silently observing the +couple, the pre-occupation of whom had evidently hitherto prevented +their perceiving him. "Do, _per caridad!_ go and tell your friend to be +a little more on his guard, or we shall certainly have a duel: Don Alvar +is the first swordsman in Spain, jealous as a tiger, and he makes it a +rule to cripple, or kill, every rival who attempts to approach DoA+-a +Inez. Your friend is such a good waltzer, that I should really be sorry +to see him disabled, at least till I am tired of dancing with him." + +"Your frankness is adorable." + +"Why, to be sure,--of what use are you men except as partners? unless, +indeed, you are making love to us; and then, I admit, you are of a +little more value for the time being." + +"The portrait is flattering." + +"Assuredly; you are only too fortunate in being permitted to worship +us." + +"In the present instance, believe me, I fully appreciate the happiness." + +"_Bravo, bravissimo!_ I see you were made for me; I hate people who take +as much time to fall in love as if they were blind." + +"I always reflect with my eyes." + +"Ah! that is the true way; but come," rattled on the merry Juanita, "go +and give your friend a hint, and I will employ the interim in smoothing +the ruffled plumes of an admirer of mine, who has been scowling at me +this last half hour, and whose flame is rather too fresh to put an +extinguisher on just yet." + +"A rival!" exclaimed Ernest in a tragic tone; "he or I must cease to +exist." + +"Oh! don't be so valiant," cried DoA+-a Juana, leaning back in a violent +fit of laughter. "You would have to extinguish twenty of them at that +rate." + +"Twenty is a large number," said Ernest reflectingly. + +"Yes, yes--be wise in time," said the pretty coquette, still laughing. +"If you are patient and submissive, you have always the chance of rising +to the first rank, you know. I am not very exacting, and provided a +caballero devotes himself wholly to my service, enlivens me when I am +dull, sympathises with me when I am sad, obeys my commands as +religiously as he would his confessor's, anticipates my every wish, and +bears with every caprice, is never gloomy or jealous, and is, moreover, +unconscious of the existence of any other woman in the world beside, I +am satisfied." + +"Is that all? Upon my word your demands are moderate." + +"Yes, but as our pious friend DoA+-a Estefania says, perfection is not of +this world, and so I content myself with a little," replied the animated +girl, imitating the look of mock humility, shrouding herself in her +mantilla, and wielding her _abanico_ with the identical air and grace +which had so completely upset the gravity of the supper-table an hour +before. "And then, consider," she continued, as suddenly resuming her +own vivacity, "how much more glorious it will be to out-strip a host of +competitors, than quietly to take possession of a heart which no one +takes the trouble of disputing with you." + +"Your logic is positively unanswerable," laughed De Lucenay. + +"_Ah, per piedad!_ Spare my ignorance the infliction of such hard words, +and be off." + +"But----" murmured the reluctant Ernest. + +"Obedience, you know!" and Juanita held up her finger authoritatively. + +Never had Ernest executed a lady's behests with a worse grace, nor was +his alacrity increased by perceiving that, ere he had even had time to +cross the room, his place was already occupied, as much apparently to +the satisfaction of his substitute, as to that of the faithless fair one +herself. But Alphonse and his partner had disappeared, and De Lucenay +went towards the balcony, to which he suspected they had retreated; but +there was no one there, and De Lucenay stood for a few moments in the +embrasure of the window, irresolute whether he should seek out his +friend or not, while he amused himself contemplating the animated +_coup-d'A"il_ of the saloon. The dark-eyed Spanish belles, with their +basquinas and lace mantillas, their flexible figures, and their +miniature feet so exquisitely _chaussA(C)es_; the handsome caballeros, with +their dark profiles and black mustaches, their sombre costume, +brilliantly relieved by the gold tissue divans, and varied arabesques of +the glittering saloon, they looked like the noble pictures of Velasquez +or Murillo just stepped out of their frames. As Ernest was re-entering +the saloon, the voices of a group of ladies, from whom he was concealed +by the crimson drapery of the curtains, caught his attention. + +"_Ah! Mariguita mia_," said one, "how glad I am to meet you here! _Que +gusto!_ It is a century since I saw you last." + +"_Queridita mia_," responded a masculine tone, very little in harmony +with the soft words it uttered; "in these terrible times one dare not +venture a mile beyond the town: As for me, the mere barking of a dog +puts me all in a flutter, and sends me flying to the window. You know +the news, I suppose; DoA+-a Isabel de PeA+-aflor has quarrelled with her +_cortejo_, and he has flown off in a rage to her cousin Blanca." + +"_Misericordia que lastima_, they were such a handsome couple! But it +cannot last; they will make it up again, certainly." + +"Oh no!" interposed another; "her husband Don Antonio has done all he +could to reconcile them, but in vain--he told me so himself." + +"Well, I am sure I don't wonder at it; she is such a shrew there is no +bearing her." + +"No matter," resumed the first speaker, "the example is scandalous, and +should not be suffered. Ah! it is all the fault of that artificious +Blanca: I knew she would contrive to get him at last." + +"_Aproposito_, what do you think of the two new stars?" + +"Oh, charming! delightful!" exclaimed a voice, whose light silvery tone +doubly enhanced the value of its praise to the attentive listener in the +back-ground. "Only I fear they will not profit us much; for if my eyes +deceive me not, both are already captured." + +"No doubt, child," said a voice which had not yet spoken; "good looks +and good dancing are quite enough to constitute your standard of +perfection." + +"At all events," interrupted another, "they are very unlike Englishmen. +Do you know," she continued, lowering her voice to a whisper, "that Don +Alvar swears they are nothing else than a pair of French spies; and as +he speaks English very well, he means to try them by and by." + +The intelligence was pleasant! and Ernest seized the first instant when +he could slip out unobserved, to go in search of his friend. After +looking for him in vain amidst the dancing and chattering crowd, he +wandered into an adjoining gallery, whose dark length was left to the +light of the moon, in whose rays the gloomy portraits that covered the +walls looked almost spectrally solemn. The gallery terminated in a +terrace, which was decorated with colossal marble vases and stunted +orange-trees, whose blossoms embalmed the air with their fragrance. As +Ernest approached, the sound of whispered words caught his ear. He stood +still an instant, hidden by the porphyry columns of the portico. + +"Indeed, indeed, I must return; do not detain me; it is not right; I +shall be missed; I cannot listen to you," murmured the low voice of DoA+-a +Inez. + +"One moment more. Inez, I love, I adore you! Oh, do not turn from me +thus--the present instant alone is ours; to-morrow, to-night, this hour +perhaps, I may be forced to leave you; give me but hope, one smile, one +word, and I will live upon that hope--live for the future--live for you +alone, beloved one! till we compel fate to reunite us, or die. But you +will not say that word; you care not for me--you love another!" said +Alphonse bitterly. "Would that I had never seen you! you are cold, +heartless! or you could not reject thus a love so ardent, so devoted, as +that I fling at your feet." + +"But why this impetuosity--this unreasonable haste? If you love me, +there is time to-morrow, hereafter; but this is madness. I love no +one--I hate Don Alvar; but your love is folly, insanity. Three hours ago +you had never seen me, and now you swear my indifference will kill you. +Oh! seA+-or, seA+-or! I am but a simple girl--I am but just seventeen; yet I +know that were it even true that you love me, a love so sudden in its +birth must perish as rapidly." + +"It is not true! you know--you feel that it is not true--you do not +think what you say! There is a love which, like the lightning, scorches +the tree which it strikes, and blasts it for ever; but you reason--you +do not love--fool that I am!" + +"Oh! let me go--do not clasp my hand so--you are cruel!" and Inez burst +into tears. + +"Forgive me--oh, forgive me, best beloved! _luz de mi alma!_" + +A sound of approaching footsteps on the marble below startled them, and +Inez darted away like a frightened fawn, and flew down the gallery. + +"Well, stoical philosopher!" exclaimed Ernest, as his friend emerged +from behind the orange-trees; "for so indifferent and frozen a +personage, I think you get on pretty fast. _Ca ira!_ I begin to have +hopes of you. So you have lost that frozen heart of yours at last, and +after such boasting, too! But that is always the way with you +braggadocios. I thought it would end so, you were so wondrously +valiant." + +"But who ever dreamed of seeing any thing so superhumanly beautiful as +that young girl? Nothing terrestrial could have conquered me; but my +stoicism was defenceless against an angel." + +"Bravo! your pride has extricated itself from the dilemma admirably. I +must admit that there is some excuse for you; the pearl of Andalusia is +undoubtedly _ravissante_. But your pieces of still life never suit me. I +have the bad taste to prefer the laughing black-eyed Juanita de Zayas to +all the Oriental languor, drooping lashes, and sentimental monosyllables +of your divinity." + +"Oh, sacrilege! the very comparison is profanation!" exclaimed Alphonse, +raising his hands and eyes to heaven. + +"Hold hard, _mon cher_. I cannot stand that!" responded Ernest +energetically. + +"Then, in heaven's name, do not put such a noble creature as DoA+-a Inez +on a level with a mere little trifling coquette." + +"Oh! she is every inch as bad. I watched her narrowly, and would stake +my life on it she is only the more dangerous for being the less open. +Smooth water, you know----however, you have made a tolerable day's work +of it." + +"Either the best or the worst of my life, Ernest!" said his friend +passionately. + +"What! is it come to that?--so hot upon it! But while we are standing +trifling here, we ought to be discussing something much more important." +And here De Lucenay repeated the conversation he had overheard. "In +short, I fear we are fairly done for," he added, in conclusion. "I hope +you are able to bear the brunt of the battle, for my vocabulary will +scarcely carry me through ten words." + +"Oh, as for me, I shall do very well; it must be the devil's own luck if +he speaks English better than I do," said Alphonse; "and as for you, you +must shelter yourself under English _morgue_ and reserve." + +"Confound him!" muttered De Lucenay: "jealousy is the very deuce for +sharpening the wits. But no matter, courage!"--And so saying, the +friends sauntered back into the circle. + +They had not been long there when the Conde came up and introduced his +friend Don Alvar, who, as they had expected, addressed them in very good +English; to which Alphonse replied with a fluency which would have +delighted his friend less, had he been able to appreciate the mistakes +which embellished almost every sentence. To him Don Alvar often turned; +but as every attempt to engage him in the conversation was met by a +resolute monosyllable, he at last confined himself to Alphonse, much to +De Lucenay's relief. His manners, however, were cautious and agreeable; +and as, after a quarter of an hour, he concluded by hoping that erelong +they should be better acquainted, and left them apparently quite +unsuspicious, the young men persuaded themselves that they had outwitted +their malicious inquisitor. Their gay spirits thus relieved from the +cloud that had momentarily over-shadowed them, the remainder of the +evening was to them one of unmingled enjoyment. In the society of the +beautiful DoA+-a Inez, and her sparkling friend, hours flew by like +minutes; and when the last lingering groups dispersed, and the reluctant +Juanita rose to depart, the friends could not be convinced of the +lateness of the hour. + +"Well, Alphonse! so you are fairly caught at last!" said De Lucenay, as, +after dismissing Pedro half-an-hour later, he stretched himself full +length on the luxurious divan of the immense bedroom, which, for the +sake of companionship, they had determined on sharing between them. +"After all, it is too absurd that you, who have withstood all the +artillery of Paris, and escaped all the cross-fire of the two Castiles, +should come and be hooked at last in this remote corner of the earth, by +the inexperienced black eyes of an innocent of sixteen." + +"Good heavens! do cease that stupid style of _persiflage_. I am in no +humour for jesting." + +"Well, defend me from the love that makes people cross! My _bonnes +fortunes_ always put me in a good humour." + +"Will you never learn to be serious? That absurd manner of talking is +very ill-timed." + +Ernest was on the point of retorting very angrily, when the sound of a +guitar struck upon their ears; and, with one accord, the friends stole +silently and noiselessly to the balcony--but not before Ernest, with the +tact of experience, had hidden the light behind the marble pillars of +the alcove. By this manA"uvre, themselves in shade, they could, +unperceived, observe all that passed in the apartment opposite to them, +from which the sound proceeded; for the windows were thrown wide open, +and an antique bronze lamp, suspended from the ceiling, diffused +sufficient light over the whole extent of the room to enable them to +distinguish almost every thing within its precincts. The profusion of +flowers, trifles, and musical instruments, that were dispersed around in +graceful confusion, would alone have betrayed a woman's sanctum +sanctorum, even had not the presiding genius of the shrine been the +first and most prominent object that met their eyes. DoA+-a Inez--for it +was she--had drawn her seat to the verge of the balcony; and, her guitar +resting on her knee, she hurried over a brilliant prelude with a +masterly hand; and in a pure, rich voice, but evidently tremulous with +emotion, sang a little plaintive seguidilla with exquisite taste and +feeling. The two young men listened in hushed and breathless attention; +but the song was short as it was sweet--in a moment it had ceased; and +the young girl, stepping out upon the balcony, leaned over the +balustrade, and looked anxiously around, as if her brilliant eyes sought +to penetrate the very depths of night. + +"Well, Alphonse," said De Lucenay, "let me congratulate you. This +serenade is for you; but I presume you will no longer deny the +coquettery of your _innamorata_?" + +"Hush, hush!" exclaimed his friend hastily, as DoA+-a Inez resumed her +seat: "be sure there is some better motive for it." + +The music now recommenced, but it was the same air again. + +"This is strange!" muttered Ernest: "her _repertoire_ seems limited. +Does she know nothing else, I wonder?" + +"Silence!" replied the other. "Did you mark the words?" exclaimed +Alphonse hurriedly, as the music concluded. "_Descuidado caballero, +este lecho es vuestra tumba_, &c." + +"No, indeed; I was much better employed in watching the fair syren +herself. _Foi de dragon!_ she is charming. I have half a mind to dispute +her with you." + +"She has something to communicate!" exclaimed Alphonse, in an agitated +voice; "we are in danger." And, running rapidly into the room, he +replaced the light on the table, so that they were full in view. + +His conjecture was right; for no sooner did the light discover to her +those whom she was looking for, than, uttering a fervent "_gracias a +Dios!_" she clasped her hands together, and rushed into the apartment, +from which she almost instantaneously returned with a small envelope, +which she flung with such precision that it fell almost in the centre of +the room, with a sharp metallic sound. It was the work of an instant to +tear open the packet, take out the key which it contained, and decypher +the following words:-- + +"SeA+-ores,--Strange, and I trust unjust suspicions have arisen concerning +you. It is whispered that you are not what you appear: that secret and +traitorous designs have led you amongst us. To-morrow's dawn will bring +the proof to light. But, should you have any thing to fear, fly +instantly--not a moment must be lost. Descend by the small staircase; +the inclosed is a _passe-partout_ to open the gate, outside which Pedro +will wait you with your horses, and guide you on your way, till you no +longer require him. Alas! I betray my beloved parent's confidence, to +save you from a certain and ignominious death. Be generous, then, and +bury all that you have seen and heard within these walls in oblivion, or +eternal remorse and misery must be mine.--INEZ." + +"Generous, noble-minded girl!" enthusiastically exclaimed Alphonse, as +he paced the room with agitated steps. "Scarcely do I regret this hour +of peril, since it has taught me to know thee!" + +"For heaven's sake, Alphonse, no heroics now!" cried De Lucenay, who, +not being in love, estimated the value of time much more rationally than +his friend. "Scribble off an answer--explain that we are not +spies--while I prepare for our departure. Be quick!--five minutes are +enough for me." + +Alphonse followed his friend's advice, and, in an incredibly short space +of time, penned off a tolerably long epistle, explaining the boyish +frolic into which they had been led by getting possession of the +dispatches of an imprisoned English aide-de-camp, and the reports of her +beauty; filled up with protestations of eternal gratitude and +remembrance, and renewing all the vows and declarations of the +evening--the precipitancy of which he excused by the unfortunate +circumstances under which he was placed, and the impossibility of +bidding her adieu, without convincing her of the sentiments which filled +his heart then and for ever. The letter concluded by intreating her +carefully to preserve the signet-ring which it contained; and that +should she at any future time be in any danger or distress, she had only +to present or send it, and there was nothing, within their power, +himself or his friends would not do for her. Having signed their real +names and titles, and dispatched the _billet-doux_ in the same manner +as its predecessor, the young men waited till they had the satisfaction +of seeing DoA+-a Inez open it; and then, waving their handkerchiefs in +sign of adieu, Alphonse, with a swelling heart, followed his friend down +stairs. All happened as the young girl had promised, and in a few +moments they were in the open air and in freedom. + +"SeA+-ores," said Pedro, as they mounted their horses, "the SeA+-orita +thinks you had better not return to your quarters, for Don Alvar is such +a devil when his jealous blood is up, that he might pursue you with a +troop of assassins, and murder you on the road. She desired me to +conduct you to S----, whence you may easily take the cross-roads in any +direction you please." + +"The SeA+-orita is a pearl of prudence and discretion: do whatever she +desired you," said Alphonse. + +Pedro made no answer; but seemingly as much impressed with the necessity +of speed as the young men themselves, put the spurs to his horse; and in +a moment they were crossing the country at a speed which bid fair to +distance any pursuers who were not gifted with wings as well as feet; +nor did they slacken rein till the dawn of day showed them, to their +great joy, that they were beyond the reach of pursuit, and in a part of +the country with which they were sufficiently well acquainted to enable +them to dispense with the services of Pedro--a discovery which they lost +no time in taking advantage of, by dismissing the thenceforth +inconvenient guide, with such substantial marks of their gratitude as +more than compensated him for the loss of his night's rest. A few more +hours saw them safely returned to the French camp, without having +suffered any greater penalty for the indulgence of their curiosity, than +a night's hard riding, to the no small discomfiture of the friendly +circle of _frA"res d'armes_, whose prophecies of evil on the subject had +been, if not loud, deep and numerous. + + * * * * * + +It was on a somewhat chilly evening, towards the beginning of winter, +that Alphonse was writing a letter in his tent; while De Lucenay, who, +when there were no ladies in question, could never be very long absent +from his Pylades, was pacing up and down, savouring the ineffable +delights of a long _chibouque_, when the orderly suddenly entered, and +laid a letter on the table, saying that the bearer waited the answer. +Desiring him to attend his orders outside, Alphonse broke open the +envelope. + +"What the devil have you got there, Alphonse?" exclaimed De Lucenay, +stopping in the midst of his perambulations, as he perceived the +agitated countenance and tremulous eagerness with which his friend +perused the contents of the letter. "It must be a powerful stimulant +indeed, which can make you look so much more like yourself than you have +done for these last five months. You have not been so much excited since +that mysterious blank letter you received, with its twin sprigs of +forget-me-not and myrtle. I began to fear I should have that unlucky +expedition of ours on my conscience for the rest of my days. You have +never been the same being since." + +"There--judge for yourself!" exclaimed Alphonse, flinging him the note +after he had hurriedly pressed it to his lips, and rushed out of the +tent. + +It was with scarcely less surprise and emotion that De Lucenay glanced +over the following lines:-- + +"If honour and gratitude have any claims upon your hearts, now is the +moment to redeem the pledge they gave. Danger and misfortune have fallen +upon us, and I claim the promise that, unasked, you made; the holy +Virgin grant that it may be as fresh in your memory as it is in mine. I +await your answer.--INEZ." The signet was inclosed. Scarcely had De +Lucenay read its contents when his friend re-entered, leading in a +trembling sister of charity, beneath whose projecting hood Ernest had no +difficulty in recognising the beautiful features of DoA+-a Inez di +Miranda. + +"This is indeed an unlooked-for happiness!" passionately exclaimed +Alphonse, while he placed the agitated and almost fainting girl on a +seat. "Since that memorable night of mingled joy and despair, I thought +not that such rapture awaited me again on earth." + +"Oh, talk not of joy, of happiness!" imploringly exclaimed the young +girl. "I have come to you on a mission of life or death. My father--my +dear, my beloved father--is a prisoner, and condemned to be shot. Oh, +save him! save him!" she cried wildly, falling on her knees.--"If you +have hearts, if you are human--save him! and God will reward you for it; +and I shall live but to bless your names every hour of my existence." +Exhausted by her emotion, she would have fallen on the ground, had not +Alphonse caught her and raised her in his arms. + +"Calm yourself, calm yourself, sweet child!" he whispered soothingly: +"our lives, our blood is at your service; there is nothing on earth +which my friend and I would not do for you." + +A declaration which De Lucenay confirmed with an energetic oath. + +Somewhat tranquillized by this assurance, she at last recovered +sufficiently to explain that her father was at the head of a guerilla +band which had been captured, having fallen into an ambuscade, where +they left more than half their number dead on the field. Some peasants +had brought the news to the chateau, with the additional information +that they were all to be shot within two days. + +"In my despair," continued the young girl, "I thought of you; and +ordering the fleetest horses in the stables to be saddled, set off with +two servants, determined to throw myself on your pity; and if that +should fail me, to fling myself on the mercy of heaven, and lastly to +die with him, if I could not rescue him. But you will save him! will you +not?" she sobbed with clasped hands--and a look so beseeching, so +sorrowful, that the tears rushed involuntarily into their eyes. + +"Save him! oh yes, at all costs, at all hazards! were it at the risk of +our heads! But where is he? where was he taken? where conveyed to?" + +"They were taken to the quarters of the general-in-chief in command, and +it was he himself who signed their condemnation." + +"My father!" said De Lucenay, in a tone of surprise. + +"Ernest!" exclaimed his friend, "they must be those prisoners who were +brought in this morning while we were out foraging." + +"No doubt, no doubt, you are right," replied De Lucenay, his countenance +lighting up with pleasure. "Oh, then, all is well! I will go instantly +to my father; tell him we owe our lives to you--and that will be quite +sufficient. Have no fear--he is saved!" + +"He is saved! He is saved!" shrieked DoA+-a Inez. "Oh, may heaven bless +you for those words!" and with a sigh--a gasp--she fell senseless on the +ground. + +"Poor girl!" said De Lucenay, pityingly, "she has suffered indeed. +Alphonse, I leave you to resuscitate her, while I hurry off to the +General. There is not a moment to be lost. As soon as the grand affair +is settled, I will make my father send for her. She will be better taken +care of there; and besides, you know, it would not be _convenable_ for +her to remain here; and we must be generous as well as honourable." + +"Oh, certainly--certainly! It is well you think for me; for I am so +confused that I remember nothing," exclaimed Alphonse, as De Lucenay +hurried away. + +It was not quite so easy a task, however, as he had imagined, to bring +the young girl to life again. The terror and distress she had undergone +had done their worst; and the necessity for exertion past, the +overstrung nerves gave way beneath the unwonted tension. One +fainting-fit succeeded to another; till at last Alphonse began to be +seriously alarmed. Fortunately, however, joy does not kill; and after a +short while, DoA+-a Inez was sufficiently recovered to listen with a +little more attention to the protestations, vows, and oaths, which, for +the last half hour, the young Frenchman had been very uselessly wasting +on her insensible ears. + +"And so, then, you did remember me, it seems!" said DoA+-a Inez, after a +moment's silence--while she rested her head on one hand, and abandoned +the other to the passionate kisses of her lover. + +"Remember you! What a word! When I can cease to remember that the sun +shines, that I exist--then, perhaps, I may forget you; but not till +then. Not an hour of my life, but I thought of you; at night I dreamed +of you, in the day I dreamed of you; amidst the confusion of the +bivouac, in the excitement of battle, in the thunder of the artillery, +amidst the dead and the dying, your image rose before me. I had but one +thought;--should I fall--how to convey to you the knowledge that I had +died loving you,--that that sprig of forget-me-not, that lock of dark +hair, so often bedewed by my kisses, had rested on my heart to the last +moment that it beat!" And Alphonse drew out a medallion. + +DoA+-a Inez snatched it out of his hand, and covered it with kisses. +"Blessed be the holy Virgin! I have not prayed to her in vain. I, too, +have thought of you, Alphonse; I, too, have dreamed of you by day, and +lain awake by night to dream of you again. How have I supplicated all +the saints in heaven to preserve you, to watch over you! For I, too, +love you, Alphonse; deeply--passionately--devotedly--as a Spaniard +loves--once, and for ever!" + +"_Mes amis_, I regret to part you," said De Lucenay, who re-entered the +tent a few moments after; "but the Conde is pardoned--all is right, and +you will meet to-morrow; so let that console you!" + +"Oh, you were destined to be my good angels!" cried DoA+-a Inez +enthusiastically, as she drew the white hood over her head, and left the +tent with the two friends. + + * * * * * + +Less enviable were the Conde's feelings, when at noon, on the following +morning, an order from the General summoned him to his tent, to receive, +as he supposed, sentence of death. Great, therefore, was his surprise, +when he was ushered into the presence of three officers, in two of whom +he instantly recognised his former suspicious guests; while the third, a +tall dignified-looking man, advanced towards him, and in the most +courteous manner announced to him his free pardon. + +As the Conde poured forth his thanks, the General interrupted him by +saying, that however happy he was at having in his power to remit his +sentence, it was not to him that the merit was due. + +"To whom, then?" exclaimed the Conde in a tone of surprise. + +"To one most near and dear to you," replied the General. + +"Who? who?" + +"You shall see." And the General made a sign to Ernest, who slipped out +of the room, and in a few moments returned leading in DoA+-a Inez. + +"And it is to thee, then, my own Inesilla, my darling, my beloved +child," passionately cried the Conde as she rushed into his arms, and +hid her face upon his breast, "that I owe my life!" To describe the joy, +the intense and tumultuous delight of that moment, were beyond the power +of words. Even the stern, inflexible commander turned to hide an emotion +he would have blushed to betray. + +After waiting till the first ebullition of their joy had subsided, +General de Lucenay walked up to the Conde, and shaking him cordially by +the hand, congratulated him on possessing a daughter whose courage and +filial devotion were even more worthy of admiration, more rare, than her +far-famed beauty; "and which," he added, "even I, who have been in all +countries, have never seen surpassed." + +"Though not my own child, she has indeed been a blessing and a treasure +to me," said the Conde; "every year of her life has she repaid to me, a +thousand-fold, the love and affection which I have lavished on her; and +now"---- + +"Not your child!" exclaimed De Lucenay and Alphonse in a breath. + +"No, not my child," replied the Conde. "The story is a long one, but +with my generous preservers I can have no secrets. Just seventeen years +ago, I was returning from a visit, by the banks of the Guadiana, with +only two attendants, when I heard a faint cry from amongst the rushes on +the water's edge; dismounting from our horses, we forced our way through +the briars to the spot whence the sound proceeded. To our great +surprise, we discovered there a little infant, which had evidently been +carried down the stream, and its dress having got entangled amongst the +thorns had prevented its being swept further on. Our providential +arrival saved its life; for it was drawing towards the close of evening, +and the little creature, already half dead with cold and exposure, must +inevitably have perished in the course of the night. In one word, we +carried it to my chateau, where it grew up to be the beautiful girl you +see--the sole comfort and happiness of my life." + +"But her parents, did you never discover any thing about them--who or +what they were--the motive of so strange an abandonment?" exclaimed +General de Lucenay in an agitated voice. "Was there no clue by which to +trace them?" + +"No, I made all inquiries, but in vain. Besides, it was many miles from +any habitation that we found her. I sent the following day, and made +many inquiries in the neighbourhood; but no one could give us any +information on the subject; so, after an interval of months, I gave the +point up as hopeless. One thing only is certain, that they were not +inferiors; the fineness of her dress, and a little relic encased in gold +and precious stones, that she wore round her neck, were sufficient +proofs of that." + +"This is, indeed, most singular!" cried the General. "And do you +recollect the precise date of this occurrence?" + +"Recollect a day which for many years I have been in the habit of +celebrating as the brightest of my life! Assuredly--it was the +fourteenth of May--and well do I remember it." + +"The fourteenth of May! it must be, it is, my long-lost, my long-mourned +daughter!" cried the General. + +"Your daughter!" exclaimed all around in the greatest astonishment. + +"Yes, my daughter," repeated the General. "You shall hear all: but +first--the relic, the relic! where is it? let me see it. That would be +the convincing proof indeed." + +"It is easy to satisfy you," replied Inez, "for it never leaves me;" +and, taking a small chain, she handed him a little filigree gold case +that she wore in her bosom. + +"The same! the same! these are my wife's initials on it. This is indeed +a wonderful dispensation of Providence, to find a daughter after having +so long mourned her as lost; and to find her all my heart could have +wished, more than my most ambitious prayers could have asked! Oh, this +is too much happiness! Alas!" he continued in a tone of deep feeling, +while he drew the astonished and stupefied girl towards him, and, +parting the dark locks on her brow, imprinted a paternal kiss upon her +forehead, "Would that my poor Dolores had lived to see this hour! how +would it have repaid the years of sorrow and mourning your loss +occasioned her?" + +"But how! what is this; it is most extraordinary?" exclaimed the Conde, +who had waited in speechless surprise the _dA(C)noA"ment_ of this unexpected +scene. + +The General explained. His wife had been a Spanish lady of high birth. +Returning to France from a visit to her relations, they had stopped to +change horses at a little _posada_ on the banks of the Guadiana; their +little daughter, a child of eight months old, had sprung out of its +nurse's arms into the river. Every effort to recover the child was +fruitless; it sank and disappeared. They returned to France, and, after +a few years, his wife died. "You may judge, then, of my feelings on +hearing your story, SeA+-or Conde," concluded the General; "the name of +the river and the date first roused my suspicions, which the result has +so fully confirmed." + +"My child, my child! and must I then lose thee!" cried the Count, +clasping the young girl in his arms in an agony of grief. + +"Never!" passionately exclaimed Inez. "_Tuya A la vida a la muerta!_" + +"Not so, SeA+-or Conde; the man who has treated her so nobly has the best +right to her," said the General. "I will never take her from you; an +occasional visit is all I shall ask." + +"But if you will not take her, I know who would, most willingly," said +Ernest, stepping forward. "But first, my little sister, let me +congratulate you upon dropping from the clouds upon such a +good-natured, good-for-nothing, excellent fellow of a brother, as +myself. And now, gentlemen, I have a boon to ask--where there is so much +joy, why not make all happy at once? There is an unfortunate friend of +mine who, to my certain knowledge, has been all but expiring for that +fair damsel these last five months; and if for once our sweet Inez would +dismiss all feminine disguise, and confess the truth, I suspect she +would plead guilty to the same sin. Come, come, I will spare you," he +added, as the rich blood mantled over DoA+-a Inez's cheek--"that tell-tale +blush is a sufficient answer. Then, why not make them happy?" he added, +more seriously; "the Marquis de La Tour d'Auvergne, the heir of an +ancient line, and a noble fortune, is in every respect a suitable +alliance for either the Conde de Miranda, or General De Lucenay. Besides +which, he is a very presentable young fellow, as you see, not to speak +of the trifle of their being overhead and ears in love with each other +already." + +"What say you, my child?--Bah! is it indeed so?" exclaimed the Conde, as +Inez stood motionless, her dark eyes fixed on the ground, and the flush +growing deeper and deeper on her cheek every minute--while Alphonse, +springing forward, declared that he would not think such happiness too +dearly purchased with his life. + +"No, no--no dying, if you please. A ghostly mate would be no very +pleasant bridegroom for a young lady. What say you, General? shall we +consent?" + +"With all my heart." + +"Hurrah! _Vive la joie!_" cried Ernest, tossing his cap into the air. + +"Oh, this is too much bliss!" murmured Inez almost inaudibly. + +"No, dearest! may you be as happy through life as you have rendered me," +said the Count, folding her in his arms. + + + + +_Edinburgh: Printed by Ballantyne and Hughes, Paul's Work._ + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume +60, No. 372, October 1846, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH *** + +***** This file should be named 36530.txt or 36530.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/5/3/36530/ + +Produced by Brendan OConnor, JoAnn Greenwood, Jonathan +Ingram and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Library of Early +Journals.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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